The Devotion of Aephius

The following is a tragic folktale that exists within Pereclos, a Greece-inspired kingdom located in the fantasy world I'm creating, and which is the setting for many other stories I'm writing (warning—includes themes of sex, murder, and suicide):

Long, long ago, before the Muses conquered the pantheon, there was a young prince named Aephius, and he was madly in love. 

Yet before he was madly in love, he was lonely, (despite his countless efforts) unable to find a woman worthy of his devotion. Renowned for being the most handsome man in the entire kingdom, Prince Aephius famously lived a life imprisoned in a cycle of temporary bedfellows. It was said that the gods had cursed him with too much handsomeness, to the point where finding a woman to marry—a suitable partner of equal attractiveness and personality—was impossible. 

When he was thirty-years old, his father, King Ereos, became very ill. Aephius immediately began praying to the gods and goddesses once he found out, begging the pantheon to save his father. The prince received no answer, however, for the gods were cruel, and their main form of entertainment was watching mortals suffer. 

So—angry and disheartened—Aephius began to spend every waking hour beside his father’s sickbed, trying to ignore the inevitability of his death and focusing instead on enjoying his company.

When King Ereos had reached his final days, one of the gods finally decided to fulfill Prince Aephius’ prayer, appearing in Ereos’ sickroom in a puff of mist.

It was Mereus, god of the seas, and one of only a handful of deities in the Pereclosi pantheon known to be devoid of cruelty.

Aephius—utterly stunned—rushed over to the god and fell down to his knees, pleading with Mereus to save his father’s life. 

Mereus, however, only rested a consoling hand on Aephius’ shoulder. Then he walked over to the dying King Ereos, and said, “You were a great king, Ereos. I will grant you a dying wish for your service. Ask, and if it is within my power, it will be granted.”

Ereos used all of his remaining strength to prop himself on his elbows and, in a shaky, quivering voice, tell the god, “Give my son a worthy wife, of both beauty and character. A spouse who will brighten his life for the remainder of his days.”

“What?!” Aephius asked out of shock. Tears in his eyes, he went over and clung to Mereus’ arms, asking the god to heed his request and not his father’s.

But Mereus had tears in his eyes, too. The god gave Prince Aephius a sympathetic embrace, then disappeared in a shower of salty mist. The prince fell to the floor and wept.

Meanwhile, as Prince Aephius wept on the floor beside his father's sickbed, Mereus visited his demigod children.

Life as a mortal was dangerous during this epoch (the Epoch of Tragic Beauty); and life as a demigod was ... less dangerous, yes, but barely so.

For this reason, Mereus had decided to make the island of Bephri the home for his half-mortal children (he had no children with any other deities, for he preferred the kindness of humans compared to the usual cruelty of immortals). Mereus had made Bephri a safeplace from the gods, a modest-sized island protected by a legion of hippocampi.

Mereus had two dozen children, most of them younger than ten. At Mereus’ arrival (after he emerged from the Saddened Sea), these children were busy playing in the white sand of one of the island’s many beaches, seeing who could find the largest seashell within a few minutes. Mereus smiled and laughed as he watched his youngest children play. After seeing Prince Aephius so depressed, he found solace in this. 

However, Mereus had two older children, both thirty-years old: Riella and Daphnis, twins. Yet despite that, they looked nothing alike; their only similarity was possessing black hair and pale skin. 

Riella was extraordinarily beautiful, whereas Daphnis was extraordinarily unattractive and malformed. Because of this, Daphnis had been sabotaging every single one of Riella’s relationships since they were children. Much like Aephius, Riella was stuck in a cycle of loneliness. 

So it was that Riella was in her usual spot in the small, seaside forest, meandering through the olive trees, watching the glittering sunlight as it flitted down through the canopies overhead. 

Riella lived in the island of Bephri, yes, although her home was not the driftwood palace on the top of the tallest hill, but instead this forest. Ever since she was thirteen this place had been her true home, after Daphnis had ruined her chances of having her first kiss with the son of a sailor whose crew had been seeking refuge on the island. Daphnis had snuck small dung droppings of an ibex goat into Riella’s bread at supper, causing her to vomit all over the handsome sailor’s son’s clothes. After that, he had no interest in kissing Riella, or even being within a few feet of her. 

Afterwards she had retreated to this forest, crying as she bathed in a stream. She was walking along the bank of that same stream now, actually, memories of that night appearing in her mind with frustrating clarity. Ever since her sister had ruined that night for her, Daphnis had sabotaged every single one of her courtships thereafter. And why? All because she was insecure of her ugliness, of her malformation. She did it out of pure envy, such a petty reason.

Riella sighed, then collapsed down to the forest floor. “I’m cursed with eternal loneliness,” she proclaimed aloud. “All because of my ugly, jealous sister!”

In truth, there was nothing she wanted more than to leave this island forever. That way she could be away from Daphnis and find a man or woman to love and marry. 

But she couldn’t, of course. She was her father’s favorite child, and the motherly figure for all of her younger siblings. Whenever Mereus was away from the island—which was quite often, since he had many duties in Elarathea (heaven, the immortal realm)—Riella became the overseer. 

Sighing, Riella dipped her hand into the stream, letting the warm, clear water rush and murmur across her pale skin. Gazing up through the gaps in the treetops, she watched the billowy, subtropical clouds sweep slowly across the sky as she heard hippocampi neigh in the distance, somewhere close to shore. 

A lump was forming in her throat when her father arrived. 

She immediately stood up and wiped her eyes, standing up straight. “Father,” she said, bowing. 

“Daughter,” Mereus said, smiling as he opened his arms for an embrace—which Riella accepted eagerly, clinging onto her father for comfort. He smelled of salty seawater, as always.

“I have news,” Mereus said. 

“Oh?” Riella asked curiously. “What may it be?”

Mereus grinned widely, revealing teeth white as sea foam. “Daphnis will be overlooking this island while I’m gone from now on …”

The next day King Ereos died, and Prince Aephius was coronated shortly after, superseding his father as king of Pereclos, the Pearlescent Kingdom. Then a few days afterwards, there was the most opulent funeral any mortal had ever seen in the city of Malaphnis (the capital of Pereclos is so old that its existence stretches back to even this epoch, the prehistoric period that precedes the Muses’ Usurpation). 

After the funeral, when Aephius was in his bedroom of the Palace of Alanya, mourning his father’s death, a knock came at his door. 

It was a woman, the most beautiful person Aephius had ever seen, with black hair and pale skin. Suddenly all of his grief was forgotten, and simply looking at her was a solace unlike any other. After beholding her, the woman smiled. “My name is Riella, demigoddess of the seas, daughter of Mereus,” she said, her voice sweeter than honey. “And I am your blessing.”

Aephius collapsed onto the floor and clutched Riella’s legs, weeping and laughing.

From that day onward Aephius and Riella fell in love quickly. The demigoddess became Aephius’ lifelove, and likewise with Riella, for she had never known a man as attractive and kind-hearted as the newly-crowned king of Pereclos. The both of them had been unable to find someone to marry their entire lives, until now, where they had each other. It was a fateful romance.

The two young lovers wed a year later. The kingdom was a joyous place at the time of their marriage, for Riella the Consort (having experience from overseeing Bephri) often offered her demi-godly advice to King Aephius in ruling the kingdom. 

The wedding of Aephius and Riella is still known as one of the most beautiful and opulent weddings in all of history. People from all over the kingdom (and beyond) came to attend the occasion. It was such an event that it became a festival (originating the modern aristocratic tradition of hosting a wedding festival, rather than just a simple ceremony).

On the first night of the wedding festival, Aephius summoned his pet phoenix, Cephreos, with a whistle. 

Aephius had named Cephreos after the mortal architect who built the Palace of Alanya as a gift to Resephone (the Muse of architecture), who had overseen the construction of Malaphnis. As he flew down to the site of Aephius and Riella, the surrounding citizens all gathered around. Back during this epoch, phoenixes looked the same as modern ones: massive, eagle-like creatures with fiery, multicolored-plumage—red, orange, and yellow, with a scattering of purple feathers.

Together, as newlyweds, the King and the Queen of Pereclos mounted Cephreos. They watched Malaphnis grow small as the phoenix soared higher and higher, then farther and farther southeastward. 

Some time later—miles above the earth, with the starlit Saddened Sea far beneath them, and the bright night sky overhead—the two newlyweds consummated their marriage, fornicating on phoenixback, with the warm subtropical air blowing all around them, and the stars high above shining brilliantly. 

From that night onward, Aephius and Riella continued to fall deeper in love. Because of their happiness, they were both able to rule better than most monarchs the kingdom had ever seen, and soon Pereclos reached its height of prosperity. Baseborn and highborn alike were all happy and productive and altruistic.

This prosperity didn’t last for long, however. 

One day, as Aephius and Riella were strolling through one of Malaphnis’ many public gardens, Mereus appeared in front of them, forming from foamy mist. 

Riella hurried over to her father in surprise. “Father! What are you doing here?!” she asked excitedly.

But Mereus did not look like his typical jovial self; no, he looked as if he was suffering from a great burden.

“What is it father?” Riella asked, now worried as she noticed her father’s facial expression. 

“You are in grave peril,” Mereus said. “Acliptus, the king of the gods, has discovered that I answered the late Ereos’ dying wish.”

“What?!” Aephius asked incredulously. “How?”

“He is the god of time, mortal king,” Mereus replied to his stepson. “He almost never looks into the past, but something provoked him to. Well … someone,” the god finished lamely. For Aephius it was such an odd thing, seeing a god portray such a human emotion.

“Who?!” Riella demanded intensely. 

The god of the seas looked humanly ashamed. “Your sister Daphnis.”

“Of course!” Riella shouted with much anger. 

Mereus sighed. “Your sister grew dangerously jealous of your marriage to Aephius,” he said, “more jealous than she ever had before over any of your previous courtships. So she abandoned Bephri and visited an Oracle, where she used her eviri (final fateful wish). She asked the Oracle to show her the circumstances behind your marriage, and how you managed to marry the most handsome man in the kingdom. Once your sister found out that I had betrayed the pantheon by granting a dying wish to a mortal, Daphnis made a declaration to Acliptus.”

“What danger are we exactly in?” King Aephius asked Mereus, terrified for his wife. 

The god seemed afraid to answer, hesitating, till he finally said, “As my punishment, Acliptus will condemn Riella to hell for eternity. My own daughter!” Mereus, fuming, looked at the King and Queen. “I vow to stave off the king of the gods as long as my godly powers will allow, but there is no way of knowing exactly how long I will last. You must flee this kingdom and hide someplace far away. I … I’m so sorry, my daughter … and my son,” he finished, looking at them both with immense shame. “I have failed you both.” 

Then he disappeared in a shameful shower of mist.

After Mereus had warned them of Acliptus’ desire to exact revenge on him, Aephius and Riella escaped Pereclos during the dark hours of postmidnight, eloping on phoenixback. Cephreos’ flight was so swift it became legendary; mythopoetic for those who had witnessed the phoenix soaring in the air above them at an impossible speed. (It was this flight that birthed the popular modern proverb “faster than Cephreos”—which is still frequently used today.)

Cephreos eventually landed in the continent of Sorohnis, choosing a resting spot amidst the savannas of the province of Nalisier. 

Aephius and Riella remained hidden there for many days, finding comfort in admiring the foreign wildlife—the nightlions, the cheetahs, elephants, zebras, rhinos … 

When they had deemed that they had hidden long enough, they flew back to Malaphnis, the capital of the Pereclos. Upon arriving, the two lovers immediately rushed to their bedroom in the Palace of Alanya and slept like newborns.

The next day, as they were bathing in their terrace pool, the earth itself shook. Suddenly a figure crashed into the pool with them, twice as tall as a mortal, with glowing skin like sunlit gold. 

It was Acliptus himself, the king of the gods. He seized Riella, who punched the king-god as hard as she could in the face. The strength of her blows surprised Aclitpus, but he was still unphased. Laughing, he disappeared in a shower of golden sparks as Aephius was rushing over to try and save his wife. Aclitpus had taken Riella to Didrae, the realm of hell, and Aephius hadn't been able to stop him … 

After Riella’s unfair condemnation, Aephius became a completely different person: an antithesis to who he had been while married to Riella. He sequestered himself in the Palace of Alanya for weeks. And when he eventually left, he abdicated his position as king and departed Malaphnis with Cephreos the Swift. After his departure, the palace’s servants found Aephius' crown resting on his featherbed, a golden, bejeweled diadem broken asunder.

Aephius once again sequestered himself, but this time in a small forest in the region of the Scattered Wildwoods. He found a place near a river (now known as the River of Blood and Tears). He remained there for weeks, silent, lethargic, brooding. Cephreos nudged his beak against Aephius’ shoulder many times, but could nerve console him.

Eventually, one night, Aephius mounted Cephreos—which excited the phoenix greatly—and flew him to a small, nearby village. There, Aephius dismounted wordlessly and trudged into the village. 

Minutes later, the wooden buildings began to burst into flame. That was when Cephreos glimpsed Aephius walking through the village green, wielding a torch. 

Appalled, Cephreos called in terror. When the entire village was aflame—men and women and children screaming—Aephius came back to Cephreos. He had a dark, villainous expression, so unlike himself. “Nothing can keep me away from my beloved wife, not even Aclitpus himself. I will be with her once again.”

Before Aephius could mount the phoenix, Cephreos soared into the air, calling in dismay as he flew far away from the burning village, abandoning his master. 

Afterwards, Aephius continued to commit crimes. He committed any sins he could think of, therefore he would be condemned to hell, too, where Riella was. 

Aephius murdered hundreds of innocent people, committing numerous heinous sins using the wealth he had acquired as king (which he had brought with him after abdicating). The once jovial, kind-hearted king was gone—dead. What remained was a soulless villain that committed genocide, theft, arson, and many other crimes. 

Around a year or so later, when Aephius had deemed that he had done enough—that he was undoubtedly condemned to hell—he visited the same river that he had flown Cephreos to after fleeing from the Palace of Alanya. 

He went over to the riverbank and fell down to the soft, tall grass. Looking at the reflection of the stars and constellations in the water, he remembered doing the same thing with Riella many times, back when they were courting. 

A tear fell down his face, plopped into the river, and then another, and another, till he was weeping horrifically. “Why are the gods so cruel?!” he shouted through sobs. “This shouldn’t have happened!”

Suffering from unbearable guilt, Aephius pulled out a dagger and slit his own throat. He fell into the river, bloodying its water, turning it unreflective. 

When Aephius entered the realm of hell—Didrae—he found himself imprisoned on a rocky island surrounded by bloodred lava. He tried with all his might to break free, but couldn't. Then he saw something in the distance:

Another rocky island surrounded by the same lava. Another prison cell. And inside was Riella. 

Weeping, Aephius opened his mouth to cry out to Riella, but noticed that his mouth was sewn shut. Then he saw across the river of lava that Riella’s eyes were gone, replaced with stones of onyx. Riella could speak out to Aephius, but he could not do the same; Aephius could behold Riella, but she could not do the same …

By the time the Muses conquered the pantheon (thousands of years later), Aephius and Riella had gone insane. Sympathetic, Cephrella—the Queen of the Muses (the new pantheon)—put them out of their misery and buried them, together, upon the highest hill in the realm of heaven, Elarathea, surrounded by bright green grass and flourishing, multicolored flowers.

There they remain, for eternity.