Eos

The lustrous crimson glow from the setting sun warmed my cheek as I ran; panting breathlessly as I stumbled over the folds of my saffron gown, my golden sandals slapping the summer dried ground. The note Hermes had given me was wrung tightly in one fist; tears stung the corners of my eyes.

            Panic was choking my throat as he danced in the back of my mind; his face drenched with the golden glow of the dawn, smiling up at me with that crooked, loving smile and eyes that always spilled with laughter. I could still remember the way they had lit up when I had told him of the request I had made with the dark-clouded son of Cronus to make him immortal, and the way that had in turn wept when we both realized my mistake as we both stare in horror at my beloved's first strains of grey hair. I had wanted us to be together, but not like this.

            “Tithonus!” I cried before I’d even mounted the stairs leading into my sun-bathed house.  

“Tithonus!” Perhaps he couldn’t hear me, his hearing had eroded to nothing ages ago, not long after his sight and the ability to move his limbs. My bright mortal star had flickered and aged with cured immortality binding him to life. He was all but dead and thanks to me and the accursed Zeus, he could not die. There was a hollow pit forming in my stomach as I round the corner to his chambers and was stuck with an unbridled wave of despair. The doors, golden and decorated with dancing nymphs, were closed. “Tithonus!” I shouted, beating my rosy fingers against the doors to no avail. Tears sprout from my eyes and spill down my cheeks as I claw fruitlessly at the lock until my nails are raw and bleeding. “Open the door! Please!”

            But there was no answer from inside. I slumped to the ground in an uncontrollable fit a weeping, uncurling the note where it had been crumpled in my white-knuckled hand.

            I shall burden you no longer, was all the note said.