99. Crius and Eurybia
Crius and Eurybia
Their palace was built upon the clouds.
It was said that Eurybia used the flint
inside her own heart to make its doors,
walls, and windows. That Crius,
God of Constellations, crafted
each statue, each artefact inside
from the burning heart of a dying star.
That their three sons were so powerful
because each of them bore Eurybia’s
brute force and Crius’s powerful hands,
which he used to wrangle the stars.
When Astraeus, Perses and Pallas’s
oldest brother, sent the clouds to carry us,
we felt ourselves lifted and taken
so high into the sky that Styx and I
held on to each other tightly,
sure we would fall into the sea.
But then the clouds parted
and we saw it. A white marble
palace where no palaces should be.
Our consorts took our hands
and helped us down.
We walked together through
the ornate silver gates.
Two figures stood before us.
I tensed and Styx did too,
expecting Eurybia and Crius
to be as cold and dark as their reputations
had depicted them to be.
Instead, two kind old faces
smiled and welcomed us all
with wide open arms.