Chapter 1 APOLLO

Paint.

There were so many colors and options available in that store that had in itself the fragrance of new materials and in the middle of it all...

Eyes.

Eyes are green as amazonite, bright as moonlight, and graceful as a feline.

Apollo couldn't look away and stop thinking about how he would paint that pair of eyes again and again if they allowed him to.

He didn't know if love existed, but inspirational muse at first sight? Well, in this case, he could not even dare to question.

Apollo was a simple person, so to speak; he would see a striking feature, become obsessed with it in specific, and try to convince the person to pose. It had been this way with all his other inspirations, which were never limited to color, size, or anything else.

Noses, hands, mouths, eyelashes, freckles, and hair - usually separately - made that beautiful young blond man approach.

A young blond man who... considered himself cursed.

Yes, cursed.

He could sustain himself with his paintings, sketches, or even anything he set his mind to, but there was always a catch.

All his muses never survived after the second painting.

Was this because of some macabre ritual? Some strange position, or even because of mistreatment?

No.

It was simply fate, bad luck, so to speak; they sometimes even suspected that his name had brought all the evils that had befallen the Greek god who had once carried it.

Well, that's what he used to joke about since there was no other logical explanation, but in the end... maybe the next one would survive.

He still had hope.

"Excuse me..." surprisingly, the green-eyed woman approached him without any outside influence. "Can you help me? I am color-blind and... I really wanted to give a gift to a special person..."

"Unexpected," the blond didn't help thinking; he also didn't help to have in his little head that maybe the universe was smiling at him again.

"Yes, of course," a gentle smile filled his lips, "what do you intend to give him as a gift? Paints?"

"Oh..., no..." the girl spoke as she looked confusedly at the paints in her hand, "I'm going to paint a picture for him, but I need to get colors that match."

A color-blind girl painting a picture? In Apollo's mind, this was a rather unusual combination that would make a significant disaster or a great work of art.

"Well, you can take these if you want a more sober painting," he took a few options and handed them over, "or you can take these if you want something more cheerful and lively..."

"Something lively!" Her eyes twinkled with excitement, "I want the gift to give good feelings and memories to him."

Cute.

That had been entirely and extremely cute.

"So here it is," the golden-eyed man just handed over the paint tubes, "I hope you have luck with your gift."

"Me too," the girl replied with a soft laugh, "you never know the outcome in my case."

"I can help you if you want," Apollo soon offered, "there are some easels over there on the balcony part."

Yes, besides a store for art supplies, that place also had a part just for artists to unleash their imagination and gifts.

No wonder that was Apollo's favorite place.

"Are you going to help me?" The young woman still looked incredulous at the proposal, "What do you want in return?"

"Be my muse," he replied without shame, "your eyes caught my attention as soon as I saw them."

"I am flattered," she tried to emulate a pompous tone. "Then I believe I will be your inspirational muse, my dear sir," she bowed slightly, wanting to satirize the old ways.

"Easy like that?" The blond didn't help but wonder since the previous times he had to try to convince and even practically beg.

"Easy like that."

It was different, strangely different.

So different that Apollo could hardly resist the instinct to pinch himself to see if this was just a dream, which would be rather cruel if he woke up.