A sea of gold

Xenia ran like a maniac without looking back for a second. She always knew this day would come eventually, but she never expected it would bring along the wrath of the furies.

Alecto, Megaera and Tisiphone were known to pursue vile criminals to the ends of the Earth, driving many of a sound mind to the brink of madness. But wasn't the unforgivable crime the murder of a parent? Her only wrong was owing two-hundred-and thirty-seven drachma.

And though she had been saying the same thing for the last half-dozen years, she genuinely intended to pay her debt as soon as she got the money. The lender, however, had lost all faith in her. So, per the terms of their agreement, she was to become a slave.

Six years ago, when she borrowed money from the famed creditor Aniketos, she thought it worthwhile to enlist her freedom as security. After all, she needed the cash to bring her dying brother back to life, so the prospect of slavery was but a relatively small sacrifice.

With the agreement in place and money in her possession, she proceeded to buy the Elixir of Asclepius from a passing merchant. But when Zosimo drank the concoction, nothing spectacular happened immediately.

She sat by her brother's bedside in silence as she waited for a miracle to occur. Time seemed to slow down as her anticipation only multiplied the weight of suspense. Like a pendulum coming to rest, the flame of the candle which lit the room decreasingly flickered, and the moths dancing around it appeared increasingly sluggish.

Before long, the world came to a halt relative to Xenia, and the only things that remained in motion were her thoughts. "I have staked my life on this medicine, the merchant told me grand tales of its extraordinary healing powers, and it cost so much that there's no way it won't do anything for my brother."

And Xenia was right, as the mixture promptly sent Zosimo into shock.

In a moment of surreal horror and unimaginable dismay, Xenia worked frantically to prevent her brother from dying. She threw a blanket over his body to keep him warm and held his legs up until his breathing stabilized.

"Zosimo, my dear!" She called out to her brother, but no reply came forward. The drink had made his condition worsen, and though he managed to escape going into a coma, the brief ordeal left him in a persistent vegetative state.

Since that day, a pang of guilt haunted Xenia, drilling into her being to depths rivalling the bowels of the Mariana Trench. Her brother's debilitating condition was a product of her carelessness and folly. And Xenia could only atone by nursing him daily.

Then two nights ago, Xenia's childhood friend came barging into her home with a terribly distraught look on her face. Elpis, who was sweaty and out of breath from running, began speaking without resting to gain some composure.

"You have to leave right away, Xenia. Your life is in danger!" Elpis warned.

Knowing Elpis wasn't one to joke around, Xenia's heart began racing immediately. Several questions filled her mind, but was there enough time to get all the answers?

"What do you mean my life is in danger?" Xenia inquired, confused as to why she suddenly had to live in fear.

"It's Aniketos," Elpis filled in. "He took your matter to the furies, complaining that you fell back on your agreement to become his slave if you failed to pay him back."

"What?" Xenia exclaimed in disbelief. "I thought I had more time."

"More time? I don't know the details of your deal with Aniketos, but it's been six years! Hasn't it?"

"I know, I know," Xenia replied as she paced around, trying to process her current situation.

"Even if I have to leave, I can't just abandon Zosimo," Xenia said finally- the thought of leaving her helpless brother alone almost hurt physically.

"You worry about yourself, Xenia, and let me take care of your brother," Elpis replied without skipping a beat.

Warm tears rushed to fill Xenia's eyes as she moved closer to embrace her dear friend. "I can't thank you enough," Xenia began as she pulled away, "but I promise you, I will return with enough money to pay off my debts and thank you for your kindness."

Without thinking twice, Xenia packed a single change of clothes and four days worth of food. Before escaping into the darkness of night, she placed a kiss on her beloved brother's forehead and bid Elpis goodbye.

Then she ran.

Xenia ran like a maniac without looking back for a second. She always knew this day would come eventually, but she never expected it would bring along the wrath of the furies.

She needed to get as far away from home as possible. The distance would buy her some time before the furies inevitably found her. And somehow, she had to make a ridiculous sum of money before then. But how on Earth was she going to do that? And where was she even running to anyway? As these questions bounced around her mind, she was too preoccupied to notice the figure perched along the side of the road.

As Xenia ran past, the stranger suddenly grabbed her by the arm, causing her to stop in fright. She was relieved to find the stranger was only a beggar but was impatient regardless.

"Do you mind letting go of my hand?" She demanded emphatically. The stranger, however, only tightened his grip on her arm. Xenia instinctively pushed back on the elderly man as she tried to yank herself free from his grasp. But the man's vice-like grip denied her freedom. He was impossibly strong for his age, which made Xenia begin to panic all over again.

"What's wrong with you? Let go of me!" She screamed. But the old beggar refused to let go of her. He held on to her and sat quietly in the blackness of the night. Xenia struggled some more before eventually calming down. She accessed that the stranger was more of a nuisance than a direct threat. Consequently, she decided to attempt reasoning with the fellow.

"Excuse me, but I'm in a hurry. So, could you kindly let go of my hand?" Xenia asked in the most cordial tone that she could muster.

"And where is it that you must hurry off to?" The man queried, speaking up for the first time. He asked the question in a very condescending manner- almost like he knew something Xenia didn't.

Xenia felt a little at ease to know she could at least communicate with the stranger. Her decision to tackle the problem through dialogue started to seem promising. Though she understood the stranger had no right to hold her hostage or know her whereabouts, she decided to try playing along.

"I don't know," Xenia replied honestly, "I'm running for my life, and I need a lot of money." As her last words rolled off her tongue, she couldn't help but feel slightly awkward. It's not like a beggar who can't help himself needed to know she needed money desperately.

"I see. So that's why you were going to run past me without giving me a morsel of food." The beggar replied, much to Xenia's annoyance.

But Xenia decided to be hospitable regardless. She reached into her bag for one large tiganite, which the beggar enthusiastically collected and wolfed down. As he finished the baked goody, he looked up unsatisfied and expectant.

At this point, he had let go of Xenia's arm, leaving her free to ignore his needs and walk away. But instead of taking off, Xenia drew another large tiganite from her bag, which the beggar devoured hungrily once again. Once more, the man looked unsatisfied and expectant.

The routine was getting old, and Xenia's patience was drawing thin. One last time, she fished a large tiganite from her bag, which the beggar consumed very eagerly. This time around, as he finished the food, he appeared satisfied. But with that, Xenia had one less meal for the journey ahead.

Xenia lingered for a bit, expecting the beggar to say a blessing or prayer for her. To her disappointment, the man simply sat in silence without so much as a "Thank you". She was about to protest before deciding against it- she had wasted enough time already.

Xenia had only taken a few steps when the old man spoke up from behind her, "If you seek wealth, I know of a place- a location that proves that riches have taste. It's filled with gold as far as eyes can see. But beware, T'is guarded by sister's three."

Xenia spun around, but the old man was nowhere to be found. In his place, however, was a majestic Eagle that had a map in its beak. Xenia looked around dumbfoundedly as she approached the bird and recovered the map. She uncurled the folded piece of paper to study it, noticing the patch of gold marked with a red 'X' symbol. The marked spot had to be the sea of gold the old man spoke of, and their encounter was surely divine.

Xenia followed the map and had several adventures before she arrived at her desired destination, but those are stories for another time. When Xenia arrived at the sea of gold, it wasn't anything like she imagined. She had envisioned a house with a room chockfull of gold coins. However, she was standing in front of an open field with majestic trees which produced golden apples. Somehow, she had ended up in Hera's garden.

"Imagine how much I could make if I sold even one apple?" Xenia thought as she surveyed the field around her. She carefully looked around for any signs of the Hesperides, but they were nowhere in sight. And since Hercules had long slain the Ladon, Xenia didn't have to worry about the Immortal, hundred-headed guardian.

So, she strolled into the garden, ready to harvest a few apples and leave as quickly as she had come in. To her dismay, however, she couldn't touch a single tree, let alone an apple. She tried to pluck the apples using several methods, including throwing stones and using sticks, but nothing worked regardless of how hard she tried.

Downcast, Xenia was about to walk away when a voice rent the sky above her. It was the goddess Hera, and she was furious that Xenia had tried to steal her golden apples.

"Foolish mortal! Of course, you had no idea that my apples could only be retrieved by a relation of the Hesperides," Hera taunted.

The voice of the goddess boomed like thunder, causing Xenia to cower in fright. As she bowed her knees in terror, the goddess materialised in front of her, taking on a more human form.

"I don't know how you found my garden, but you will pay for your attempt at theft with your life," the goddess informed Xenia.

Xenia broke into tears, weeping as she told her story to the goddess. She informed her of her sick brother, and how she got into debt. She explained that she wasn't motivated by greed and simply wanted to buy her freedom so that she could be there for her brother.

Moved, Hera took pity on Xenia. "The apples belong to the gods. So, you wouldn't have had them for long anyway," She explained. Then Hera beckoned Xenia to follow her and lead the way to a lonely pear tree on the outskirts of her garden. The tree had pear fruits of the most dazzling yellow that Xenia had ever seen.

"You may have three of these pears," Hera said. "They aren't made of gold but are still worth more than any gemstone coveted among your kind." The goddess promptly plucked three pears and handed them to Xenia.

Overwhelmed with gratitude, Xenia opened her mouth to thank the goddess, but she couldn't find her words. It wasn't that Xenia was speechless because the kindness of Hera had overwhelmed her. No, she had lost her ability to speak.

"That is the price you must pay in exchange for the pears," Hera now informed her.

When Xenia returned home, she was able to sell two pears for over four thousand drachmae, making more than enough to fulfil her promise to Elpis. She made the last pear into a cake by accident one day and fed Zosimo with it. To her greatest joy and amazement, the fruit from Hera's garden fully restored her brother's health.

With more time on her hands as a result of her brother's recovery, Xenia was able to write about her adventures on the way to the garden of Hesperides. Her works became famous children stories as well as cautionary tales against shady merchants.