A Greek Story
PART 1
Years ago, after the War of the Titans, heaven, earth and the hell were filled with chaos. There were only two bright places all around the world – Zeus's perfectly splendid shrine on the top of Mount Olympus and Poseidon's magnificent palace in the middle of Aegean Sea.
In an ordinary day, Poseidon's dolphin warned him there was something unusual happed in Delos, an isolated island full of palms. He went to Delos and surprisingly found it was his brother, Zeus, with a young girl trembling in his arms. Only a glimpse, Poseidon was amazed by how beautiful was the girl though the disheveled blond hair and messy clothes indicated her displaced situation. She was more noble the Hera, more graceful than Venus and even more determined than Athena though. She was much more gorgeous than any goddess Poseidon had ever seen.
Zeus put down the girl then said: "My dear brother, I always know that you are the most loyal and brave one in all of the gods. This girl, Leto, is my true love, and she is pregnant with my twins." Poseidon looked at the girl's protruded belly. Zeus continued: "Hera, my jealous wife, swore to kill Leto and my babies and she prohibited other gods offer shelter to Leto. I know you are the only one who is not afraid of Hera. So, please, my dear brother. Please do me a favor of taking care of Leto and my babies, protecting them from Hera. I will take them back when the twins are born." "Ok, brother, I promise you I will protect them." Poseidon answered without any hesitate. Actually even he didn't know why he accepted Zeus's request, because of loyalty or that girl?
No one can touch Zeus's woman. However, Poseidon just couldn't control himself don't love Leto. In the following days, Poseidon made shells into the most gorgeous bed for Leto, made pearls into the most delicate necklace for Leto, made the sea wave play the most touching melody for Leto. Leto was offered to Zeus by her father for surviving in the War of the Titans. She yielded to her miserable destiny because Zeus is the strongest and most grumpy god in the world, no one dare to enrage him. But Poseidon gave her a glimmer of hope. It was the first time she wanted to fight with fate. She totally fell in love with Poseidon.
Several months later, Leto took three days giving birth to the twins, one girl and one boy. It took her three days. Poseidon delivered the babies and felt it was so suffering for women giving birth. So when Zeus came, he begged Zeus allow the girl to be a virgin goddess. Zeus was very happy for his new kids. He named the boy Apollo, also the god of and named the girl Artemis, also the goddess of moon. Such a playboy as Zeus, he already forgot Leto after months. He only felt happy with the babies. So, he took the twins with his but left Leto on Delos. Actually, it was good news for Poseidon and Zeus because Zeus would not break them up. They lived together and a year later, their son was born. They named him Orion and hoped the family will never be separated.
However, good times didn't last long. Nothing could be concealed under Zeus's eyes. One day, Zeus came to Delos and roared to Poseidon and Leto: "You will pay for your disrespect to me!" With this he raised up his hammer then hacked to Leto with a black flash. Only one moment, Leto was turned into black bubbles. She died. Poseidon felt as if a knife were piercing his heart. He used his power to hide the baby's nature of god and threw him to the mundane world so that Zeus could not find him. Zeus roared to Poseidon: "I will never forgive you, my brother. I command you stay in the sea forever! Or I will kill you and your baby!" The baby was adopted by an old hunter who lived at the foot of Mount Olympus.
PART2
20 years later.
At the foot of the Mount Olympus, a young woman is hunting in a forest. She has chased a roe for several days. Every time, it ran away at the last second. She pulls the bow and stretches it to the utmost, then holds her breath and aims at the roe. At this moment, another arrow shoots into the roe's eyes. Artemis is totally shocked. She is the goddess of hunting, but this man or woman hunts even hunts better than her! She goes to find out who is that hunter. This young man is tall and strong with handsome face. She falls in love with him at first sight. The young man also has a crush on this beautiful and noble woman. They exchange names. Her name is Artemis and his name is Orion. They love each other very much and experience unprecedented happy. One day, Artemis brings Orion to her father. She does not want to be a virgin goddess any more. She will beg her father, Zeus, allow her marry with him.
When Zeus seeing this young man, he knows this young man is Poseidon's son. They look exactly alike. Zeus wants to revenge so he does not expose Orion's real identity. After Artemis and Orion leaving, Zeus calls in Apollo and tells him Orion is the son of the person who killed his mother and Orion will hurt his sister, Artemis. Apollo is totally controlled by his anger. He swears to kill Orion. Then, an idea strikes him.
Days later, Apollo invites Orion to compete with him who can hold breath underwater longer. Orion accepts his invitation and walks into deep water. Only the top of his head is out of water. It looks like a little blackspot from afar. When Orion is standing in water, Apollo goes to tell his sister that there is a blackspot in the middle of water, and he does not believe she can shoot it. Artemis is so confident with her hunting technique that shots the blackspot without any hesitation. Orion's body floats up after a scream.
Artemis is inconsolable. She cannot believe she killed her lover! After that, she move to the moon and isolated herself from any others. Looking at his favorite daughter, Zeus regrets. But the death is final, no one can bring Orion back to Artemis. Zeus transforms Orion to constellation looks like a hunter and put it near Artemis. Apollo feels so sorry to his sister and he is trying to ask for her forgiveness. However, Artemis even does not want see him, the person lied to her and killed Orion. Artemis never meets Apollo in the rest of her life. That's why the day and night never meet each other.