“Are you listening to me, son?” Erasmos snaps himself out of his thoughts when his father, Apollo, is trying to give the young half God a lecture about his escapade to the land of the mortals. “Yes, father, I’m listening...” Erasmos chuckles before hopping off the line, “where do you think you’re going?” his father raises his eyebrows making the young man groan at him, “play something for me.” He leans against the throne chair as Erasmos complies and grabs the kithara. His fingers pluck the strings, and the instrument plays a melodic tune. Apollo sighs in satisfaction and closes his eyes. Erasmos looks at his father’s reaction to his music and finds it rewarding. He smiles to himself and closes his eyes to get lost in the music.
“What is she like?” Erasmos breaks the comfortable silence when he finishes playing his song. Apollo opens his eyes slowly and turns away from his son, “Erasmos, you know we don’t talk about her.” The old man faces his son as empathy platers his face. “I deserve to know. She’s my mother.” Sadness and anger linger in Erasmos’ voice. Apollo stays quiet then looks the other way, not being able to see his son upset, “you’re a painter, but I have never seen her in your paintings. Not a song, not a poem about her.” Erasmos gets impatient, making him raise his voice slightly at his father. “Erasmos.” Apollo speaks, but his son interrupts him, “if you’re not going to tell me about mother, I’m going down to find her myself.” Apollo panics as soon as he hears these words come out of his son’s voice. “You are not going back to the land of the mortals.” Erasmos stands in front of his father and stares at him angrily, “watch me.”
Erasmos disappears in front of his father and flies down to the land of mortals. He walks around and finds himself a small, seemingly abandoned farmhouse. He takes shelter and makes himself comfortable, the sun starts to set, and the sky dims, Erasmos begins to rest, preparing himself for the next day in search of his mother. As Erasmos slumbers through the night, Apollo heads down to find his son. He sees the abandoned farmhouse and sneakily makes his way to Erasmos’ bed. “I’m sorry.” Apollo whispers to his son before ripping Erasmos’ tongue out. This causes the young man to wake up from his deep slumber as he screams in pain. “If you wish to stay here, you shall not speak. You’ll understand why, my son.” Apollo steps back while Erasmos covers his mouth to muffle his screams. “You shall have this back when you’ve returned home.” Apollo puts Erasmos’ tongue in a box before disappearing into thin air as he returns to Mount Olympus. Erasmos continues to cry with his hands over his mouth. He wails until he becomes tired and soon passes out.
The following day he wakes up and reminisces the event from the previous night. His fist glows as he clenches it hard but soon calms himself down. "So be it.” He thinks to himself before packing his essentials. Starts his journey and finally, after days of travelling, he reaches Thebes. At this point, Erasmos is feeling exhausted from the trip and starving. He sits in a corner and rests for a little while. He then hears singing next to him, a young man with a lyre. “Do you wish to play the lyre? You seem like you know how to.” Erasmos opens his mouth but remembers that he is not able to speak. He then nods at the young man and takes the lyre. “Demetrios.” The green-eyed man says, Erasmos smiles politely before playing a tune on the lyre as Demetrios sings along. The duo performs so beautifully that a crowd starts to form in front of them. One amongst the group catches young Erasmos striking blue eyes. Imani, a simple mortal with sepia glowing skin and a captivating smile, and with such thievery beauty, Erasmos falls in love. He starts strumming the lyre, a different tune that catches Demetrios off guard and causes him to stop singing. Demetrios lets him have his moment as Erasmos continues to play a loving melody dedicated to a certain young lady. His passion becomes overwhelming. It causes his melody to hum words, Imani glues her eyes to Eramos when she hears the softly sung song.
“Tell me your name, and I shall show you the wonders of the world, in which you should be a part.”
Erasmos hears the words from his lyre and is surprised that he has such ability. Still, Demetrios is unaware, as the only ones who can listen to the singing melody are Erasmos, and the song that was dedicated to, Imani. Demetrios sees Imani’s ravishing beauty. His jaw hangs, then he starts to sing, his deep, strong voice overpowering the lyre.