The spirit of Apollymi reunited again with her body, which was in her private garden, a place where she usually found some degree of peace. But not that night. Screaming, she unleashed her boiling anger in energy waves. Her majestic power swept through the air knocking down everything in its path, including the two Charonte demons posted inside her garden. The demons flashed away an instant later, fleeing from the fury of their lady and mistress.

Apollymi felt so stupid. When would she learn? She should have never go to see Savitar. She hated him.

With good reason.

But earlier that night using one of her sforas, she watched Apostolos in the human world while he was fighting the demons that were terrorizing New Orleans. She wanted to make sure he wasn't harm. She knew her son was a great warrior, more than capable of handling himself in battle, but she couldn't help to worry about him. In the heat of the scuffle, she got a disturbing glimpse of Savitar that hijacked her attention.

A demon attacked Savitar from behind and slashed him on the back. She assumed that wouldn't slow him down in the slightest. Back in the day, she had seen him come out victorious of many fights, even while he was more wounded than that. The Chthonian was a force of nature during battle.

None of his enemy could win against him.

However, he'd struggled to keep up with the frenzied assault on him. The demon would've been successful in killing Savitar for good, if it wasn't for a female that went to his aid. If Apollymi wasn't mistaken, it was Samia, one of her son's Dog of War. The one mated to a were-bear.

It took several minutes, and a lot of united skill from everyone involved on the fight, to send the demons running away. Once that the demons were defeated and unsure of his condition, Apollymi couldn't stop the urge to go and see herself if Savitar was all right. It had been a silly impulse, she knew that. But for some reason, she had worried about him.

Being honest with herself, she knew exactly why she had lowered the emotional wall around her and let herself feel something else than hatred for Savitar.

In the recent years, her son and the closest to him had found love and happiness. The family had getting bigger by the minute. They tried to include her as much possible, visiting her often, all except Apostolos who couldn't go to her without freeing her. Despite to loving her, Apostolos still protected the world and humans against her wrath.

It was amazing how that fact could swell her heart in pride and break it into pieces. All at the same time. She respected his honor, but hated the fact that couldn't get close to him. She didn't begrudged his bliss, but it did make her feel lonely. She was trapped in Kalosis without the possibility to do what she wanted most. To hold her her son between her arms.

But neither could find someone who could help to ease her loneliness. It had passed long time since she thought herself as a woman. In her desires and needs. She hadn't been with a man since she had turned Archon, along with the rest of the Atlantean pantheon, into stone.

As odd as it could sound, the very few times that the fleeting thought about finding a lover crossed her mind, the image of Savitar popped into her head. She saw him in his ridiculous and childish clothes. The open Hawaiian shirt let plenty room for her to see his ripped abs and his hard pectorals, kissed by the sun and adorned with tattoos. However, his eye candy body was incomplete without his beautiful manly face. The persistent beard of three-days of growth he had made him look even more seductively dangerous than he already was. And his violet eyes captivated her as nothing else did.

They were the window to Savitar's true self. They could be scary and colder than the south pole, or scorching and inviting, with the promise of unimagined delights.

More than that, she could see in them an agony so soul-shattering to which she could relate. Even when she constantly profess hatred for Savitar, she could also see a kindred spirit in him.

And as much as Apollymi wanted to deny it, their usual battles of caustic words made her feel alive. Savitar was as fast and lethal with his tongue as he was with his sword. He didn't treat her with obnoxious care as most people did. He wasn't afraid to tell things in her face.

In modern human terms, they could be called frenimies.

She thought he knew her enough to tell the difference when she was looking for a fight with him and when, even as rare as it was, she demonstrated real concern for him.

But one single visit had showed her how mistaken she was.

"Apollymi," Savitar called, going out to the garden through the open French doors.

Startled by his sudden arrival, she did her best to compose herself in a heartbeat. She wiped the unwanted tears running down her cheeks as her rage tripled. She couldn't stand other people looking at her crying, when she was more vulnerable. She pivoted around to face Savitar, barely reigning on her emotions. The breeze refreshing the night raged, mimicking the storm inside her. "How do you dare to come here?!"

"It's only fair," he said, stopping a few steps away from her. "You appeared at my home without invitation not long ago," In spite of his unbashful words, his voice sounded taxed.

She cared nothing about his argument. She had gone to his island out of concern, but the invasion to her realm was with the sole purpose of provoking her. If he stay a second longer, she was going to kill him. She wanted to do it so badly. The only thing holding her back was the fact of her son would be very upset if Savitar died by her hand. "Get out!" she snarled at him. "I don't want to see you ever again!"

"Precious-"

"How dare you to call me that?!" she threw her hand out with deadly intent. Savitar flew through the air hitting the marble wall across the garden. She held him pinned against it. "We're not friends! What gives you the right to use endearments with me?! I hate you! Nothing would make me happier than bathe in your blood. I should have done it long time ago."

"Would say sorry," Savitar gasped out, "but I know that means nothing to you. And I'm tired to ask for you forgiveness."

"As I'm tired to hear it. I'll never forgive you! There are some things that sorry can't fix. You, more than anyone else, should know that."

Savitar held his tongue. There was no need to confirm or deny those words. Apollymi had spoken only the truth. She drew closer to him with regal stride, holding her gaze into his. Savitar's eyes had not longer their usual amethyst tone. The irises had taken a tangerine hue, a clear indication of an intense feeling taking place inside him.

Guilt, defiance, anger, hatred... Apollymi didn't care which. All she cared about was to end his life. It would be so easy to kill him right there. The force pinning him against the marble wall was crushing Savitar inexorably, but he wasn't making any effort to stop it. He was just there, letting her to vent her wrath against him.

If he had wanted, he could've fought back and freed himself. He was a god-killer after all. And more than that. His power could rivaled hers.

Even injured as he was.

His passive attitude enraged her even more than his sudden appearance on Kalosis. It felt like if he was pitying her. Nobody pitied her, they feared her. She was Apollyimi Kataastreifa. Apollymi, the Great Destroyer.

Her eyes ate him with hate, and taking pleasure in to be witness of the last moments of his worthless life. He was like a bug under her shoe about to be crushed. Savitar's eyes never left hers, in clear defiance.

The exchange between them awakened in her more than just hatred and anger. It triggered an old memory. One that Apollymi didn't wanted to remember.

The recollection was of the first time they met. She had been drawn out of Katoteros to the human world by a gory battle between ancient Gods. Although she hadn't been directly involved in the battle, she felt in her element; death and destruction was the only thing in sight. The only nuisance to her bliss was the apparition of a Chthonian, who stopped the ongoing carnage.

It was Savitar itself.

At the time, he recently had received his powers. His demeanor was absolutely feral, like a wounded animal ready to tear apart anyone who dared to get too close to him. The Gods who dared to do so, quick and painfully, learned their mistake. They walked off with their tails between their legs. If nowadays people thought of Savitar as cold and scary, they knew nothing. Apollymi hadn't seen such formidable sight before.

It puzzled and thrilled her, in ways she couldn't explain.

She didn't know she was staring at him until Savitar spun around. His eyes fired splinters at her. Only centuries later, she understood how a stare could hold so much agony and hatred. It was the same expression she wore in her eyes every time she looked at herself in a mirror.

When Savitar was about to take his last breath, she released him. She couldn't do it. The feeling of kindred spirits she shared with him stopped her from killing him.

She hadn't done such a thing before.

As soon as Apollymi release him, Savitar slid down and hit the floor, leaving a smear of blood on the wall. Made a bone lump on the hard surface, he coughed repeatedly trying to catch his breath.

"Get out, before I end what I started."

The threat was delivered in such eerie calm voice, that couldn't be more intimidating if she had shouted it. She wouldn't give him a second chance. She headed inside before fulfilling the threat without warning, she couldn't looked at him anymore.

Savitar surely had suffered from brain damage, either in the fight earlier that evening or while Apollymi had tried to kill him, because he ignored her warning. He wrestled himself to a sitting position, leaning his back against the wall. "You don't even want to know why I came?" he croaked.

Apollymi came to a halt, under the door frame, clenching her fists. They were so tight, that her knuckles lost their color. Breathing hard, she made herself to unclenched her hands and put one of them over his shoulder. I took everything she had to heal his back injury, instead of killing him.

Savitar grunted and cursed as her kind touch drew out whatever poison had infected him, and sealed the wound closed. He looked up to her to thank her, but she lift her hand silencing him. Apollymi had reached that night all her limits and surprised herself not snapping into the ruthless goddess she was. "I've healed you. Now... go!"

She kept walking on until she heard him whispering "Wait". Two heartbeats later, he was standing behind her. "We have to stop doing this."

"Easy. Stop coming to where I am."

"What if I don't want to? What if I can't stay away from you?"