Tragedy of hunting and love (two of a kind)
Words by Segundo
“You are the better hunter, my love.”
Orion has never failed to mention this to Artemis whenever they hunted together. The glint of his eyes, the zeal of the moment, and the words unfolded under the glow of the argentum spheroid brought an erratic tempo to her heart. His bearded face was marred by a scar near his temple — a remembrance left by the folly of a young and arrogant hunter that added more grit to his already handsome face. The moonlight hindered the mascot of nighttime and saw every wrinkled eye smile he offered, it witnessed and blessed them with adoration and reverence.
Orion was attractive, with sharp features, a deep set of eyes, and a gigantesque physique that could embrace Artemis to safety. He held her face in his hands like a precious sapphire, gripping as if his life depended on her. By his hands, a feeling of thousands of cinders exploded, and the luscious aura of the surroundings bent to the middle of the forest where they stood. They gazed and drowned at the sight of each other.
“You are my moon, the light that illuminates the darkest of the skies. Platinum hair that complements the cerulean depths of your ocean eyes. Button nose, lips delicate and pinker than the softest petals of carnations in Demeter’s garden. Were you perhaps kissed by Aphrodite?” uttered Orion.
She hummed softly and swayed their bodies together. And in the tension, the electric intensity that permeated the moment, she kissed him. He tasted like wine and catastrophe, a taste forever etched at the base of her tongue.
Artemis was hyper aware of the state of affairs, the comforts that were becoming and unbecoming to her. She knew she’s blanketed by a false sense of reality, and any time now, someone might seize it and leave her in the harsh winter winds to perish. Fear enveloped her whole goddess of being and succumbed to peril the night she slept in.
And as luck would have it, the cosmos has already spoken. They were slaves to written divinations, damning every letter to hell but in the end, the stream of words was too much and drowned in the waves of the prophecies. They were materials of tragedy.
The poison of envy struck them, darted by Apollo. They shared the womb together, identical in faces, but as different as night and day. He grimaced when he foresaw that Artemis was willing to give up her vows for a mere giant. The anger and bitterness built up inside and he crafted a way to cease their intimacy.
Apollo saw Orion bathing in the great lake, body fully submerged and features hazy due to the distance. Artemis accepted the challenge of her twin brother to hit the seemingly innocent rock from afar.
She hit it effortlessly, not knowing it was her lover’s head.
His life extinguished, body limp, and life drained from his face. The ruckus of the skies stopped, and a flashing light sliced through the heavens. It’s time to go, isn’t it? She refused, dismissed the pain of regret, and placed Orion to the constellations. The mightiest hunter of the night sky.
“You are the better hunter, my love.”
He’s a star, the most magnificent of all. Artemis could only look at him from afar, he felt nearer as they were both placed in the heavens, but he was light-years away.
