Thanatos: The White Dawn

(22)Celebratory White Fangs and Dysfunctionality

Hypnos and Poseidon were laughing at something an older-looking demi-god was saying; his toga a faded beige and adorned with a golden clasp. Hypnos was dressed in his godly attire, like most of the gods here- it was a light grey toga, with a silver braided belt and a short dark grey cape hanging from his shoulder. Poseidon was dressed similarly, except his toga was dark blue, shorter and garlanded with golden details.

Thanatos' toga was short, like Poseidon's, but a deep black and with dark, metallic silver details running along the seams and the shoulder. He wore a black cloak around his shoulder; it dragged slightly on the floor and folded around his left upper arm. It was hard to imagine him looking any more handsome...

Upon his head he wore a dark silver crown- it was very plain and simple, just a crescent-shaped band with a simple ring in the centre. Hypnos wore the same crown, but lighter in colour. Poseidon's matched most of the other gods in his family; it was golden band of laurel leaves.

"I'm curious..." I lifted my chin up to meet his eyes. Thanatos was sipping on his red wine. He smiled down at me and chuckled; "Aurora curious? How unexpected."

I rolled my eyes, but laughed despite it; "What does your crown symbolise? You and Hypnos are the only ones with that kind."

Thanatos grinned; "It's to show our family tie. We're the son's of Nyx; hence, the circle in the centre..." He pointed to the ring; "It symbolised the moon seeing as Nyx is the goddess of the night. If you look at Gaia's decedents, you'll see they all have a golden crown made from Laurel leaves. As you know, Gaia is the goddess of the Earth."

I nodded as I examined Poseidon's head; his crown was slightly bigger, probably because he was one of the princes of the realm as Zeus' brother. Thanatos continued; "You see, there are only two main families in this world that really matter. Yes, we're all one family; technically, as we stem from Chaos, and Gaia and Nyx are sisters, but we rarely see it that way."

He emphasised his point as he lifted his pinkie ring to my face, it was a dark, metallic band made from Hematite and dusted down, leaving it with a satin finish. He always wore it.

"This was given to me by my father. Hypnos has the same one, but silver. It's a symbol of the family we're from- the 'old' family."

"The 'old' family is basically everyone from Nyx and Erebus' union, right?"

"Right. The ruling family is from Gaia and Uranus' union. Cronus was the prominent child there, and from his marriage to Rhea, Zeus was his most powerful son."

My eyes glanced to Apollo who stood with his white and gold toga at the centre of the terrace, engaged in cheerful conversation with a large crowd of admirers; "And now Zeus' most powerful son is continuing the legacy."

Thanatos nodded, his red glare finding Apollo's blond head in the crowd; "Seems so. I suppose it was inevitable."

"Your family isn't very extensive, not like this." I looked around the vast fields of the palace as the guests danced and drank. These gods and demi-gods all mainly stemmed from Gaia, not from Nyx. Nyx only ten children, according to Thanatos and Hypnos.

"Earth birthed more offspring, thank the gods. The Night isn't nurturing; only life's necessities breed from her. Harsh and inescapable."

"But beautiful nonetheless." I smiled up at him.

He certainly was magnificently striking when the candlelight hit him just right; his dark hair pushed back, unruly like a lion's. Thanatos' eyes softened. He dipped down to kiss my lips. I touched his cheek with my fingertips, the feel of stubble grazing against the soft skin.