The following day ran slowly, Helios had languidly traveled along the light blue path during all day long; he had already visited his most favourite human being, the little baby Hephaestion, whose mother had been cuddling him while sitting in her own garden. He followed his way and finally decided it was time to visit his beloved moon again.
When the evening arrived and the sky started to turn dark, with very few stars adorning the nigh sky, a person clad in a heavy and dark cloak could be seen abandoning the royal palace through the back gates. The pace was careful and extremely silent. The person moved rather slowly, in spite of the fact that it looked rather small. The clad person made the way towards north, in the direction of the outskirts of Pella, and continued the walking until it reached the area where most of the farms were. The person made the way to the most distant farmhouse, following the instructions given to find it. The person stopped to regain the breath, which was going out of the mouth like little puffing and panting. The person reached the desired house and hid in the darkness for a while, using the dark sky to cover her presence. It was waiting for the perfect moment to strike because it knew that the possibilities would never be many.
But this person was not alone, it had brought one of the most poisonous snakes that it had in her possession. The person took the snake lovingly in the hands and approached to the mouth, in that way, the person whispered the instructions to the snake that had his yellowish eyes staring back into big green ones.
The clad person went on walking a bit further ahead and setting herself below the baby's chamber window, she raised her arms and let the cold-blooded animal slip through it.
Selene, the moon, who was still looking after the one-month old baby Hephaestion, saw movements near the Amyntoros farmhouse. She moved further and made her moonlight a bit brighter so she could see better and discover if something unusual was happening. However, when her light lit the cloaked person and she saw the delicate and very well known features, she did not really pay more attention to that; the person in question was a common visitor during the night time and Selene has seen her walking around many times before.
The snake, which had been released inside the baby boy's chamber some minutes earlier, slid quietly and with sinuous movements towards the crib and it climbed up by one of the wooden legs. When it reached the top of the baby's bed, it positioned itself, near the infant's head, and got ready to attack and bite the little one in his vulnerable neck. However, nothing ended as it had been thought, the baby Hephaestion chose that moment to wake up and fixing his gaze on the snake, it dropped dead to the floor, next to the crib. The baby went on sleeping peacefully.
The woman, who had climbed to a little boulder with a lot of difficulty, could not believe her eyes, what she had already seen was impossible, her most powerful and deadly snake had perished because the little One had looked at her; this baby could not be killed because he was highly protected by something or someone very powerful. The young woman thought that, maybe, she was a protégée of one of the goddess, who tended to fall in love for the pretty ones, being Aphrodite her first choice.
The woman realized that she had to think about something else quickly, another thing had to be done; something more powerful and everlasting.
She had not done something like that in a long time but she was confident that if she could focus, this new plan would be successful. She stepped down the boulder she was on, walked up to the parents' chamber and whispered some calm words, she casted a sleeping spell on them and that enabled her to slide - through the back door- into the house. She reached the baby's door chamber, she started her mumbling, which started to sound louder and more agitated, and finally she got closer to the crib and set her hands above the baby's head.
A strong blue light flooded the inside of the crib as soon as the woman performed a human transmutation spell, the one and only prohibited spell of all. When the blue light extinguished, the woman gave a last look at her new creation and with satisfaction painted on the face, the cloaked woman abandoned the farmhouse, leaving behind a trail of hate and future pain.
The Macedonian queen walked back to the palace and sneaked into it without being seen, as she used one of the hidden doors, built in former times to have a quick exit whenever a danger existed.
While she was walking to her chambers, she had to stop and grab her belly, her unborn child had been kicking her repeatedly and without mercy since the very moment she left the Amyntoros farmhouse. Even though she was accustomed to the kicking, this was different, she felt as if the baby inside wanted to hurt her.
She continued her walk as soon as the pain subsided but she could not go further, luckily, her older maid, the one who had been gathering the information for her, was coming towards the entrance door to see if her lady was coming back. The maid snaked one of her arms around the queen's waist and with the other took her hand to keep her balance. They went walking slowly to the chamber, the old woman was worried and expressed her concern to the queen. Olympia tried to calm her down, saying that she had taken a longer walk than the one she had expected and that that was the cause of her tiredness.
The maid made the queen enter her room and helped her to take her sandals and the heavy cloak off. She poured Olympia a glass of fresh water to let her regain her breath and moisten her dry throat. She finally lied down on the bed and suggested to the maid that she would better call for the doctor and the midwife.
A strong and long contraction traveled along her full body and made her gasp, the pain was so intense that the young queen bent her body like a ball, acquiring a typical fetal position. The contractions followed one after the other without so much difference between them. The queen was now, lying on her back, with one of her fists clenched while her other hand was grabbing the bed sheet tightly.
After a particular long and severe contraction, she closed her teary eyes and she saw – even with her eyelids closed- her latest premonition: her unborn child would be a son, descendant of the strong and heroic Achilles, a son who would prove himself to be courageous as a lion, wise as dolphin and quick as a fox. She had also dreamt about a thunderbolt striking her swollen belly and given through this, the most powerful energy to the little One inside her.
She felt exhausted, as if she was going to fall into a deep slumber, when the baby showed his head crowning, she pushed hard three times and in the fourth the baby was born, giving a powerful shout, announcing the whole world that he was there, being part of it and ready to conquer all.
Half an hour later, the Macedonian king Philip II was introduced to his firstborn and heir to his throne. The midwife put the baby between the king's strong arms and he proceeded to look at him carefully, looking for any flaw. He started by the little head, covered in thin golden hair, the small body had a skin as white as the finest marble, his arms and legs were quite thin but in spite of the small size, the king Philip could see the strength within the little body and he felt proud.
The priest came closer to meet the prince and in that moment the little One decided to yawn and opened his still blurry eyes, and the priest gaped in astonishment. The priest had a closer look to the prince's eyes and he discovered they had different colours, one grey and one green.
King Philip asked if that was a good or a bad omen and so the priest calm the king down. It was an extraordinary good omen because he foretold two big kingdoms for the prince to rule. The king showed his pride by lifting the newly born up and saying with his deep voice: "This is my son, Alexander, the next king of Macedon and of any other kingdom he dared to conquer"
Queen Olympias was really excited, her heir had been born healthy and with a good omen; his father was feeling proud of him and all the perils, which had been threatening his existence, had already disappeared.
Now, she could rest for a while and plan her life in advance with her beloved son by her side.
Meanwhile, in a distant farmhouse, the people in the house were awakening from a very deep sleep. All of them were suffering from a strong headache, as if their senses were still numb, as if they had been drinking heavily the nigh before.
A sense of in tranquility invaded the lady's mind and a bad feeling nestled in her heart.
Determined but light footsteps could be listened running towards the baby's room and in that moment, a painful cry invaded the early morning because Iris, the lady rainbow, had found blood in the empty crib and her son missing.
Her dreams shattered in thousand of pieces and she could only think who could have been evil enough to harm an innocent and helpless baby.
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