Chapter 24 astrion's home

The queen gave birth to a son and named him Asterion. Apollodorus: The Library, Book III, Chapter I I know people accuse me of being arrogant, of being withdrawn and unhinged.Such accusations (and I will punish them in due course) are ridiculous.It is true that I do not leave my house, but it is also true that the doors of my house (there are infinitely many) are open day and night, and that anyone or animal may come in.Here you can't find the beautiful clothes of women and the luxury of palaces, only silence and desolation.This house is unique in the world. (Some people are lying when they say that there is a similar house in Egypt.) Even my slanderers admit that there is not a single piece of furniture in the house.Another absurdity is that I, Astrion, am a prisoner.Do I have to repeat that there is no closed door here, no lock here?Besides, I sometimes went to the streets in the evening; and returned before dark, for I was frightened to see the faces of the common people, which were as flat and pale as open palms.Although the sun had gone down, the helpless cry of a child and the vulgar prayers of the parishioners showed that they recognized me.People prayed, ran in all directions, and prostrated themselves on the ground; some clustered around the pedestals of the horned temple, and some piled up stones.I believe there are still people hiding in the sea.It is no small thing that I have a mother who is a queen; I cannot mingle with the common people; though I am humble enough to wish to do so.

In fact, I am unique.I'm not interested in the fact that one can communicate information to another; I, like the philosopher, think that nothing can be conveyed through the art of words.I'm a man of big things, and I don't think about trivial, annoying little things; I don't even remember the difference between one letter and another.I was careless and impatient with everything, so I couldn't read or write.Sometimes I regret that the days and nights are too long to pass. Of course, I have no shortage of entertainment.Like a young ram about to attack, I ran through the stone corridors until I rolled dizzily to the ground.I hid in the shade of the water tank or at the corner of the corridor, playing hide and seek alone.Sometimes I fell off the roof terrace and hit my head badly.I can pretend to be asleep anytime, anywhere and snore with my eyes closed. (Sometimes I do fall asleep and wake up in the dark.) But of all the games, my favorite is pretending to be another Asterion.I pretended he was visiting, and I showed him the house.I respectfully said to him: Now we go back to the previous fork, or now we enter another courtyard, or I have said that you will like the small ditch, or now you will see a reservoir full of sediment pool, or you'll also see basements that split in two.Sometimes I get it wrong and we both laugh happily.

Not only did I come up with these games; I thought about houses.All parts of the house are repeated several times, every place is another place.There are more than one water tank, courtyard, drinking trough, and feed trough; there are fourteen feed troughs, drinking troughs, courtyards, and water tanks each (that is, infinitely many).The house is as big as the world; or rather, the world.However, I got tired of the courtyard with the water tank and the gray cloister with gray stones, so I went out to the street and saw the Horn Temple and the sea.It was a bit inexplicable at the beginning, but the night scenery suddenly made me understand that there are as many as fourteen oceans and temples (that is, infinitely many).Everything is repeated several times, fourteen times, but only once for two things in the world: above, the intricate sun; below, Asterion.Maybe I was the one who made the stars and the sun and the big houses, but I don't remember.

Every nine years nine people walk into this house and let me free them from all evil.I heard their footsteps or their voices at the end of the corridor, and joyfully went forward to meet them.The ceremony was over in a few minutes.One by one they fell, and I didn't get a drop of blood on my hands.They stayed where they had fallen, and the bodies helped to distinguish the corridors.I don't know who they were, but I do know that one of them prophesied when he died that sooner or later my savior would come.Since then, I no longer suffer from loneliness, because I know that my savior is still alive and will finally rise from the dust.If I could hear all the voices in the world, surely I could hear the footsteps of my savior.If only he would take me to a place where there are not so many corridors and so many doors.What will my savior look like?I wondered.Is he a cow or a man?Perhaps a bull with a human face?Maybe exactly like me?

The morning sun glistened on the bronze blade.Not a trace of blood remained on it. "Do you believe it, Ariana?" Theseus asked. "That Minotaur didn't defend itself at all."