Several days later, on the road to the island of Cypros, Lorne caught wind of news coming out of the kingdom of Corinthos.
Their king and city-builder Sisyphus, despite having met death three times over, had returned safely from the underworld once again and was greeted with cheering crowds lining the streets.
The people of Corinthos, who had always had a fondness for cleverness and cunning, hailed him as the most resourceful hero in all the mortal world.
Now, flush with his newfound prestige, Sisyphus was throwing a great feast in the royal palace to celebrate his rebirth.
Throughout the banquet he regaled his guests with elaborately embellished accounts of how he had hatched scheme after brilliant scheme to slip free from Hypnos's close watch, outwitted the terrifying three-headed hellhound, cleverly obtained the golden bough from the queen's garden, and at last made his way back to the world of the living with the help of the ferryman Charon.
As one of the actual participants, Lorne could not have cared less that Sisyphus had written both him and Thetis entirely out of the story and claimed all the glory for himself.
On the contrary, the more elaborately that old swindler boasted and the more attention he attracted, the better it served Lorne's interests.
After all, with a wall like that standing in front to absorb the blows, every mess Lorne had stirred up in the underworld could be effortlessly deflected, the blame neatly shifted onto Sisyphus's head.
Even if the old fraud eventually ran into trouble, was caught by Hecate wandering the earth or some other god of the underworld, and was thrown back into Tartaros to suffer his punishment all over again, Lorne was not worried in the slightest.
For one thing, he and Thetis had kept their disguises layered throughout, and someone at Sisyphus's level was nowhere near capable of seeing through their true identities.
For another, the two of them were careful at every step, leaving behind almost no identifying information, and even kept a particular habit of knocking people unconscious before any sensitive conversation.
Sisyphus had spent more of the journey blacked out than awake.
So even if Sisyphus were caught and proved loose-lipped, the trail would only lead back to Adonis.
The natural assumption would be that they were just some hired mercenaries sent specifically to retrieve the Cypriot prince.
Which would shift the blame quite neatly onto Aphrodite.
Between a plant deity and a major Olympian god, there was certainly enough mass to carry a solid load of responsibility.
Perfect.
Lorne reviewed every detail of the underworld journey one more time, confirmed there were no life-threatening loose ends, and then, satisfied, cleared his mind and stepped out of the dense woodland where he had been resting.
The outline of the Cypriot city-state came into view ahead.
The breeze carried the scent of open fields and the fragrance of flower petals.
The bay curved in a beautiful arc toward distant mountains.
The morning sun at its rising was gorgeous enough to make the eyes swim, and the foam of the waters off Paphos rose and layered in swells.
After everything that had happened in the underworld, seeing this beautiful landscape again gave Lorne a strange and disorienting feeling, as though he had returned from another age entirely.
Almost there.
Counting the time, Thetis and Echidna should be arriving at around the same point.
He would need to let the three Gorgon sisters know in advance so they could head out of the city to meet them.
Lorne thought for a moment, then casually produced a Gorgon token, activated the resonance inscription within it, and reached the three Gorgon sisters on the Areios Pagos to explain the situation.
Upon hearing that their mother had come back from death and was about to arrive in Athens, Medusa was overcome with joy, her attachment and gratitude toward Lorne beyond anything words could measure.
Stheno and Euryale, however, were far from pleased, still harboring resentment over the old grudges of being poked and whipped in the buttocks.
Because after a certain scoundrel had done what he did, he pulled up his pants and ran away, leaving the two of them behind to be identified as the ones behind the drugging incident when Hestia investigated the matter.
In the end, the infuriated goddess of the hearth gave them a thorough and repeated beating over the course of several days, leaving the two of them bedridden for half a month straight.
"Asclepios was the one who mixed the drug for you, and Asclepios was the one who gave you away. If you have a complaint, take it up with him.
What does any of it have to do with me?"
Hearing the two little monsters' unreasonable accusations, Lorne immediately put on an aggrieved expression and argued his case.
But the moment those words left his mouth, the atmosphere on the other end went utterly still.
Stheno and Euryale opened their mouths and then closed them again, unable to speak. Medusa beside them had her lips pressed tightly together, her expression conflicted.
Lorne caught their reaction, his mind turning rapidly, his face shifting.
"Something has happened to Asclepios?"
The phrasing was a question. The tone was a statement.
Faced with Lorne's scrutinizing gaze, Medusa, who had never been good at concealing things, was the first to falter as she pressed her lips together and answered in a quiet voice.
"He is dead. It happened while you were away..."
"How did he die? Give me the details." Lorne pressed at once.
Based on the reaction of the three of them, he had already half-expected the answer, but this unexpected development still settled like a stone in his chest.
And as the other end recounted everything that had happened regarding the god of medicine during his absence, Lorne's expression shifted through several changes.
That stubborn fool had still refused to obey him and bring his work with the elixir of immortality to an end.
Even after every last sample of the elixir had been taken from him and the supply of Gorgon blood had been severely depleted, his passion for medicine did not extinguish.
Instead, he changed his approach and began experimenting with ordinary medicinal herbs in search of a substitute capable of producing comparable effects.
It had to be said that this future god of medicine was genuinely gifted beyond measure.
Through relentless trial and effort, while he had not managed to fully replicate the original elixir of immortality, he succeeded in producing an imitation from ordinary herbs that was only somewhat inferior in effect.
Essentially, as long as a patient still had a breath left in them, a single bottle could drag them back from the gates of death.
The potency was slightly below the original, but this version could be mass-produced.
And to make matters considerably worse, Asclepios was constitutionally incapable of sitting still.
He wandered constantly from city-state to city-state, treating difficult and unusual cases.
Over time, the use of the elixir was all but inevitable.
And when Asclepios, during a period of civil unrest, successfully saved the dying fourth son of King Minos, a figure named Glaucos, this deeply forbidden substance attracted the attention of Zeus, the king of the gods, who happened to be passing through.
What followed was a conversation, and then Zeus, in a furious rage at Asclepios for defying the order of life and death, declared that this threatened the immortality belonging only to the gods and summoned his thunderbolt to strike this grandson of his dead.
Having heard Medusa's account to the end, Lorne pressed his fingers to the throbbing vein at his temple and cursed inwardly with feeling.
That idiot. He obviously could not keep his mouth shut.
What did he mean by threatening the "immortality" possessed only by gods? Even the genuine elixir of immortality could not even accomplish that, let alone the somewhat inferior imitation Asclepios had been working with at the time.
For that particular old schemer Zeus to have struck personally, Asclepios most certainly failed to recognize the Olympian king's identity, then got carried away in conversation, and let slip his ambition to develop an advanced immortality elixir by way of the golden apples.
Upon hearing his dear grandson's grand ambitions, Zeus would naturally have been unable to sit still and promptly dispatched Asclepios to the next world without hesitation.
He had gone through all the trouble of making a trip to the underworld, thinking it would be enough to keep this young fool alive, but in the end, it still couldn't stop him from deliberately courting death.
That stubborn, immovable temperament was exactly like his father Apollo.
What was done was done. Lorne rubbed the aching tension between his brows and let out a long, quiet breath before continuing.
"And then? Did Artemis, Athena, and Hestia step in?"
"They did. After it happened, all three of them went to the great temple of Olympos together, hoping to at least preserve Asclepios's soul."
Medusa gave a nod, her spirits sinking further as she spoke.
"But Asclepios's soul has vanished..."
Lorne paused slightly upon hearing this. "Vanished?"
"You believe what Zeus says?"
"That's right! It is obvious he struck too hard, and Asclepios could not even keep his soul intact. That cold-blooded old man!"
Stheno and Euryale, on the other side, could not help cutting in, speaking up for Asclepios, with whom they had gotten along reasonably well.
Listening to the two of them, Lorne's brow gradually drew together.
Whether following the original mythological course of events or judging by the present situation, reducing Asclepios to ash and projecting an image of cruelty would not serve Zeus's interests.
Destroying Asclepios's body first in the name of divine justice, then yielding gracefully to the pleading of the gods, elevating his soul to become a constellation ornamenting the divine authority of his sky, and thereby bringing the power of healing under his own hand.
That would have been far more in keeping with Zeus's interests and entirely consistent with the patterns he preferred to play.
The constellation of Ophiuchus in later legend had come about in precisely that way.
But now Asclepios's soul simply vanished, entering neither the underworld nor Zeus's possession.
"Vanished. Vanished."
Lorne turned the two words over slowly, his expression thoughtful, a faint, carefully concealed gleam stirring in the depths of his eyes.
"Understood. First go out of the city and bring the serpent mother and Thetis up to the Areios Pagos. Then keep watch over the site where Asclepios died. Do not let anyone near it before I return."
"Alright."
Medusa did not fully understand but as always maintained her obedience to Lorne without question, gave a serious nod, and then as his signal cut off the communication, rose to leave the city with her two sisters.
As the light and shadow before him dissipated, Lorne tossed the faintly warm Gorgon token into the magical array and looked out in the direction of Athens, his eyes narrowing slightly.
'Let us hope things are as I imagine them, and there is still a way to turn this around.'
The trouble in Athens was already a done deal.
Dwelling on it served no purpose.
The immediate priority was finding a way to make up for the losses.
After a mission this difficult and costly, someone has to cover for it, right?
Lorne reached into the magical array and retrieved the golden sacred cup holding Adonis's soul, his quietly flickering gaze settling on the Cypriot royal city ahead.
* * *
"What? Asclepios is dead?!"
In the flower-filled royal palace, the goddess of love on the bed wore an expression of startled sorrow.
"How tragic..."
"Surely you should have known about this far sooner than I did?"
Lorne cut through Aphrodite's surface-level sympathy without ceremony, his smile carrying a cold edge.
"Or perhaps, having witnessed the full fury of the god-king's thunderbolt, you are hoping to distance yourself from Asclepios and from the elixir of immortality entirely?"
"That is not so at all!"
Aphrodite shook her head repeatedly in denial, her expression shifting to one of embarrassment and helplessness as she explained.
"I only learned of what happened to Asclepios recently. I had every intention of helping, but the tragedy was already over by the time I knew, and Zeus had already destroyed his soul. What could a poor woman who cannot even control her own marriage and her own heart possibly have done?"
As she spoke, the goddess of love seemed to be touched by some painful memory, arranging her features into an expression of welling tears, the kind that made it impossible to reproach her and made one want only to pull her close and offer gentle comfort.
"Perhaps." Toward the goddess's look of heart-rending fragility, Lorne remained entirely unmoved.
He answered with quiet calm and then let his expression turn cold. "Regardless of that, Asclepios died because of your business with Adonis. That is an undeniable fact."
"I understand that, and I will compensate you." Aphrodite made her pledge with conviction, her gaze burning as she looked at this messenger who had returned from the underworld. "As long as my Adonis can come back to me, I will do anything you ask."
The aura of her beloved was on him.
And the fact that he had returned successfully from the underworld and was standing here demanding answers proved that this dangerous venture had most likely achieved its purpose.
But at this moment, Lorne looked furious.
"Compensation? What will you use to compensate me? Asclepios was not only a dear and cherished friend.
He was also the attendant god candidate I had gathered for Lady Hestia. Can you pay back something like that?"
"The goddess of the hearth and the god of medicine?" Aphrodite blinked, looking genuinely taken aback.
"Food and medicine share the same roots. I originally intended to use Asclepios's gifts in the healing arts to expand the scope of Lady Hestia's divine authority. That way I could help a friend while also earning Lady Hestia's regard. And now, because of your affairs..."
At that point Lorne cut off his own account and turned away with barely suppressed fury.
"Forget it. There is nothing more to say. Our arrangement ends here."
"No!"
Watching the only lifeline her beloved had left about to walk out the door, Aphrodite grabbed Lorne's arm in a panic, her face filled with pleading.
"I will compensate you. I promise I will."
Then the goddess glanced back at Adonis lying motionless in the flower-strewn bed, steeled herself, pointed toward the door, and spoke through clenched teeth.
"I will let you choose one of the three Charites under my charge to take Asklepios's place and become an attendant god of Hestia."
"No thank you. Asclepios has barely gone cold, and I have no desire to join him just yet."
Lorne shook his head, unmoved, and continued making as if to leave.
"All three of them. All three of them will answer to your command from this day forward."
Seeing him appear utterly resolved to want no part of these troubled waters, Aphrodite, with nowhere left to turn, went all in and put every chip she had on the table.
"With the blessing of the sacred pool of Paphos and the power of the three Charites fighting alongside you, I swear that even if Hestia's heart were made of stone, she would not be able to resist you."
Hearing the words, Lorne, who had been walking toward the door, finally stopped and turned back with an expression of a man gritting his teeth and surrendering to the inevitable.
"Fine. I'll help. I'll risk it all. Whatever punishment the god-king sees fit to hand down, so be it."
As he spoke, with the air of a man throwing himself to his fate,
Lorne produced the sacred cup and with grim resolve released the seal on Adonis's soul.
"What can I do? We are the same kind of people, you and I."
As the translucent and strikingly handsome form of the beloved Adonis settled into the body waiting in the flower-strewn bed, soul and flesh merging and beginning once more to stir with the warmth of life, Aphrodite looked at the figure standing in the doorway, immeasurably tall and steadfast in her eyes, and felt her heart fill entirely with something she had no other word for.
"Thank you," she whispered, again and again, the only words she could find in that moment.
"Thank you..."
(End of Chapter)