The Favoured Son of Heaven

The Goddess Daphne

Memphis found himself floating in the middle of nowhere. The place seemed endless and the only colour that could be seen was grey. It was like a void. "Where am I? Is this hell?" he asked himself but here was no answer. The void was deathly quiet and bleak looking. There was nothing to keep one occupied in such a place like this, only to continue floating on forever into oblivion.

Memphis didn't know how many years, months or days had passed as there was simply no way to tell time in a place like this. It seemed as if time ceased to exist in this place, with the only thing seen was the endless grey void. Memphis felt that he was close to his breaking point as the lifelessness and colourlessness was driving him crazy.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light and Memphis vanished from the void. Memphis was stunned by this sudden change and checked his surroundings. He found himself to be in what was like a Greek temple with large pillars and all. There seemed to be no one around until Memphis caught sight of a beautiful breathtaking lady reclining on a huge bed, eating grapes. The lady had long golden hair which had been braided to reach her waist and she wore robes of gold and white. Her skin was flawless and her body perfect. Models on earth would be deemed average looking when compared to her. Memphis' eyes went wide. "G.. g...goddess," he whispered aloud. As if sensing his presence, the lady lifted her head.

"Aw you poor thing! You were that dead soul floating in Toros. I'm glad I was able to pull you out of that horrid place," remarked the lady as she quickly sat up and looked at Memphis in concern. Memphis asked, "My lady, what do you mean?" The lady rose up and waved her hand, making a golden table and two golden chairs appear instantly. "How rude of me to bring in a guest but forget to give them tea!" she remarked, clicking her tongue in frustration and making a golden teapot materialize in her hands. "Come sit down, pitiable mortal and let's have tea," she said, waving Memphis over. Memphis walked over and took a seat. The lady poured him some sort of golden coloured liquid and also poured some for herself. She took a seat opposite him and started sipping her beverage with natural elegance. Cautiously, Memphis tasted the liquid in the cup and to his surprise, the taste was simply heavenly. He continued to take short sips in long intervals to make the tea last.

"My lady, I do not know your name," said Memphis after they had finished the tea and the lady had made it disappear. "Haven't I told you who I am?" the lady asked in surprise. Memphis shook his head. "Aw that is bad of me. Anyways I'm Daphne, Goddess Daphne. I was taking a trip to the other side and I saw you floating in that accursed place. Poor you! It seems like you've had extremely bad luck to end up in such a place. I took you out and brought you here and it turned out I was right. By my divinity! It's as if you were the enemy of your previous world. You had such a bad life and an even worse ending. Trash, to sum it all up. As a Goddess of my caliber, I can't have a mortal like yourself suffering such an ailment, not if I can help it," Goddess Daphne said in one breath. Memphis was finding it hard to follow her rumblings. At least he had caught a few key things and he asked, "My lady, what are you going to do about that?" He was curious to find out. All of this seemed like a dream to him. Never in his life had he thought he will meet a goddess so he was finding it hard to keep his curiosity down.

"I'm going to remove your bad luck and send you to live a better life, obviously," she said, rolling her eyes as if she expected that he would know the answer.

Memphis was surprised at her statement. "What do you mean?" he blurted. "You've been trash all your days and I'm going to remedy that and make you a favoured son of heaven whom the elements work in his favour so you can enjoy a better life as compared to your previous."

Memphis' eyes went wide. "You would really do that for me?" he asked. "Why not? You've suffered too much and you deserve better," shrugged the goddess.

"We don't have much time to waste. Come closer," she beckoned him forward. He moved closer and she laid her index and middle finger on his forehead. Black energy began to seep out of Memphis in droves, shocking him to the bone. "What on earth us that?!" he exclaimed. "Your bad luck," answered Goddess Daphne. "WTF!?! I was having this much bad luck? Hell, this kind of bad luck could fill an entire Olympic swimming pool!" thought Memphis. Very soon, the removal of the black energy was done and the Goddess started to inject white energy in him to replace the bad luck.

"There you go!" said the Goddess, nodding and stepping back to admire her handiwork. A wave of her hand dissipated the black smog into nothingness. "Thank you Goddess Daphne, I will forever be grateful," Memphis knelt down and bowed. The Goddess smiled and lifted him up. "Don't worry about that, just make sure yo make the best of this second chance. I'll be sending you down to a new world to continue your new life," said Daphne. She waved her hand again and Memphis vanished.

The smile then left her face. "Your plan has been foiled Zalmar, there goes the last of his kind. I have ensured your darkness can never hurt and corrupt innocent mortals again," said Goddess Daphne coldly.

In a far away realm, a woman with black hair sat in utter darkness and chains. As if hearing her name, she raised her head with a wicked smile. "We shall see, Daphne, we shall see," muttered Zalmar and she closed her eyes with that dark smile which promised untold misfortune.