Farewell

Lucius woke up with a throbbing headache as the morning sun spilled brightly into the kitchen, where he lay covered by a blanket on a pile of straw.

“Ugh, my head… and why is there straw?”

He slowly looked around, rubbing his temples, piecing together what he could remember of the previous night.

Was any of this even real?

He threw a glance at the chaos all around him: empty wine bottles, sand and water stains across the floor. A single small hoofprint was pressed into a forgotten pat of butter under the kitchen table.

It was…

But the satyr herself was nowhere to be seen.

Lucius sighed and rubbed his face, his eyes flicking toward the kitchen door as though hoping she might burst in at any moment, dripping, a wine bottle in hand.

Slowly, he stood, grabbed one of the empty bottles, sniffed it, then set it down again, retching.

As he mopped up a puddle of weird-smelling liquid with a kitchen towel, Lucius suddenly felt a restless tingle in his chest, a quiet fear he couldn’t quite name.

“What is this feeling again?” he muttered in confusion.

Suddenly, a faint clink echoed from the hallway, and Lucius spun around.

And there she was.

Peeking in from behind the door, only her horns and one sparkling eye visible.

When he noticed her and their eyes met, she immediately pulled her head back behind the edge of the door.

“Melissa?” he called cautiously, his heart racing.

Seconds later, almost shyly and with an unfamiliar flush across her nose, she finally stepped out.

Lucius crossed his arms, though he couldn’t hide the relief at seeing her.

“You know, I’ve got quite a headache from all the wine we drank last night!” It was meant to sound like a complaint, yet he was smiling. “Do you satyrs always party that wildly?”

Melissa blinked in surprise at his changed demeanor. But then she grinned mischievously and planted her hands on her furry hips, as if she were entirely her old self again.

“Of course! Honestly, last night was nothing compared to the feasts Dionysus himself throws.”

Lucius snorted. “Then I’d better pack enough painkillers when we go visit him.”

But the moment he finished the sentence, something in Melissa’s expression shifted, something soft, almost like guilt.

“Well… about that…” She shifted nervously from one hoof to the other. “I don’t actually have the authority to just take you into his realm like that…”

Lucius’s eyes widened.

“W-what does that mean?”

Her voice suddenly turned strangely serious, carrying a weight it hadn’t held before.

“It means… that this is farewell for good, my little wizard…”

He went pale, and it felt as though something unspeakably important were being torn away from him.

“But… we had a deal!” he protested.

Melissa sighed. “I shouldn’t have checked on him before leaving…” she whispered softly to herself before turning back to him.

“I’m really sorry, Lucius. But Dionysus isn’t just joy and celebration. If I simply brought you to him, he might turn you into some animal on a whim, or do something else to you entirely. Trust me, he’s done it before…”

Lucius stared at her in disbelief, letting her words sink in.

Turn me… into an animal?

But her warning only made him hesitate for a heartbeat.

“I-it’ll be fine! You can vouch for me or something, right?” He placed a hand over his chest. “I’ll take the risk myself!”

Melissa merely shook her head. “Think of me the next time you throw a party…” she said quietly, as if trying to keep her usual playful tone.

Only her eyes betrayed her, though Lucius couldn’t see them, as she had already turned toward the door.

Then she ran.

Lucius clenched his fists in determination, as if a fire he had never known before had ignited within him.

No. I don’t want this to end already…

Following the sound of her hooves, he hurried after her.

He chased her through the kitchen and out onto the veranda.

But as he looked around frantically, he could only catch a glimpse of her tail disappearing into the thicket of the dense forest.

Damn it, she’s too fast....

“Melissa!” he called again as he finally stopped, breathless, before the dark green wall of trees.

Only the chirping of birds and the wind rustling through the treetops answered him.

Lucius stood there for a long while, letting his gaze drift as if she might return.

But eventually, when hope faded, he slowly went back to the house, his shoulders slumped.

“Farewell…” he whispered one last time.

Then the front door clicked shut behind him.

᯽᯽᯽

Not far away, just a few meters deeper in the forest, Melissa leaned against a tree, her eyes closed.

She clenched her teeth, slamming her horns against the trunk, sending it trembling.

After letting out a long breath, she started walking, lost in thought, muttering under her breath.

But the deeper she ventured into the forest, the stranger it seemed to her, for the veil that usually showed her the way back was nowhere to be seen that morning.

When she realized it, Melissa stopped and scratched her head.

“Crap, where did that stupid mist go? Am I supposed to wait here until tonight…?”

Suddenly, a voice cut through the stillness of the woods.

“Did you get lost?”

Melissa whipped her head around.

A man was leaning against a nearby tree.

Tall, with gentle features, silver hair, and a long robe. In his hand, he held a staff with two snakes coiled around one another.

“Who are you?” she snapped.

He smiled.

“Don’t you know?” he asked softly.

Melissa studied him more closely and only now noticed his radiant aura and the sheer power emanating from him. His eyes were bright and wise.

Her gaze dropped to his winged sandals.

“Hermes, Traveler Between Worlds…”

The god nodded.

“That’s what some call me. Though it seems you were rather eager to rival that title…”

Sweat trickled down Melissa’s forehead.

“That wasn’t my fault! The veil was open, I just...”

But Hermes simply raised a hand.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to reprimand you.” He tilted his head slightly. “You didn’t cause much trouble anyway. Aside from turning a mortal’s head…”

Melissa clenched her teeth.

“That… that was just a game! Just an excuse to celebrate, nothing more…”

The trickster god regarded her for a moment, his smile never fading.

“Ah, is that so? Well, if that’s the case…” He moved his staff in a graceful motion, and a blazing light burst forth, tearing open a rift, a portal of light, mist, and white clouds. “Here you are. It will lead you back to the green hills of my half-brother’s realm…”

Melissa raised an eyebrow skeptically as she examined the portal.

“Why are you doing this? What do you want in return? You gods never do anything for free…”

But Hermes merely laughed.

“Do you truly think so poorly of me, young maenad? Rest assured, I have no ulterior motives.”

Even so, Melissa hesitated. But in the end, she stepped toward the portal anyway.

“Thank you…” she said, and after Hermes gave her an approving nod, she finally leapt inside.

The god, however, remained standing there for a while after the rift of light and clouds had vanished again.

He turned his head with quiet curiosity toward the direction from which Melissa had come.