new day dawning

Apollo had been given an apprentice, his young grandnephew Aureus, and he had no intention of leaving the boy without training though daily he felt his body was failing him. Curse these mortal forms - but he had expected it, and for as hard as he'd used his body throughout his life he had aged remarkably slow, but alas all good things must end. He refused to allow his advancing age to rob him of his dignity and usefulness, and had been using much of his energy to patrol. He rarely had energy left over after, so he had not done as much with the boy as he'd wanted. Rather than skip a necessary patrol, he chose instead to teach Aureus as he went.

He had told Aureus the night before to join him at the castle's fallen and rotted gates as dawn was breaking over the horizon, and here he stood waiting for the boy and watching the lightening sky as he prepared himself. The boy wasn't late. The sky was getting brighter, but there was some minutes left before the sun broke free of the earth's bounds. It was a restful, quiet time, one he intended to enjoy while he could.