The Writer's Voice Contest #15 -- BROKEN EROS

Broken Eros
Young Adult Mythological Fiction 
78,500 words

Eros, the god of love, is supposed to save humanity from their loneliness and despair, however he is the one in need of saving.

After his love, Psyche, was taken from him by the hands of the mother he adores, Eros fled Mount Olympus and relinquished his duties, inevitably leading to the downfall of selfless and unconditional agape love. For 2,549 years, torn from his family and estranged from his mother, Aphrodite, Eros has lived amongst the lust and deceit of humans in an attempt to lose his identity completely.

Until the moment Mariposa, a descendant of Psyche, walks into his life.

When the destined pair is brought together, Eros finds himself whole again. But Aphrodite’s jealous heart leads her to interfere once more, setting Mariposa up to betray Eros. The pain of losing his one true love again forces him to escape back home to Mount Olympus, leaving Mariposa defenseless in the hands of the spiteful Aphrodite.

To fight for a chance to get Eros back, Mariposa becomes Aphrodite’s slave and is forced to endure excruciating tasks. But when she is sent down through the gates of the underworld she finds herself without hope of escaping and ever seeing Eros again. Eros must find a way to look past his broken heart and find her before she is eternally lost in his world’s darkest place. Bringing selfless love back to humanity must begin with his sacrifice.

Please enjoy the first 250 words of BROKEN EROS below:

BROKEN EROS

ἡμέρα Ἕρμου (Wednesday)

On my sixteenth birthday a celebration that was larger than life itself went on amongst my family. I was finally of age. Of my forever age. I was now able to live out my purpose on Earth; to serve others in ways that no being ever has before. It has been 3007 years since that birthday, to the day. And since then, my world has flipped completely upside down. What was once celebrated is now a tragedy. My family, who once found harmonious joy in my existence, now punishes me in ways that the human world is blind to. My purpose in this world has been lost in the depths of the darkness that encircles me. Every moment that I am awake I fall further and further away from anything I have ever known to be real. In the thousands of years since then, I have been running; trying to leave that former life behind me. However, every year on this day I am overtaken with the memories, the pain, the betrayal, and the loss. 

Buried deep in my black hoodie, I keep my head down as I walk up Main Street to the school I have been attending; shielding my eyes from the blinding sun that bounces off the frozen mist clinging to my face. My heavy charcoal boots crunch over the blanket of dried leaves that have long since made their transition from life giving luscious shades of green burning out in a blaze of glorious reds and oranges.