Medusa stared at the heap of dust that was once the many-armed statue of Athena. She wasn’t panting from exhaustion, not a drop of sweat on her brow. It had been too easy to finish off.
Raising her arms, she wiggled her fingers. “I’m still human, right?” Who am I kidding? She sighed and dropped her hands.
Clotho had suggested blindfold training to measure her progress and see if the key would react in some way. When Medusa opened her eyes, she was back at her last stop, with stone Perseus bearing down and his clenched teeth exposed in a granite sneer. Her attempt to push him off had resulted in his instant pulverisation, and the same happened with Athena’s statue. The resulting aether spots had felt like nothing when she absorbed them.
There was still no reaction from the key, and her curse had been silent since her arrival. Glancing around, she took careful note of her surroundings. No movement so far, save for dry leaves rolling past with the gentle breeze.
“As for the Templo Mayor...” Her focus travelled to the pyramid in the far distance. Making her decision, she began a stroll in its direction. As she walked, her mind worked, resuming the thoughts that kept her up for most of the night.
How do I remove my family from Zeus’ watchful eyes? So far, she had survived by hiding in the Moirai’s shadow, but it seemed like her shadow was no longer enough. Zeus had all but defeated the three sisters in the past, and no matter how Medusa looked at it, it was clear that Clotho was hiding from him. And even if the Moirai helped her create portals for easy movement, Medusa knew in her bones it wasn't wise to keep running.
One month. She had to stand before Zeus in one month. Every plan she had come up with so far felt like paper houses. Zeus was a terrifying gale she couldn't predict. Even Clotho, with all her foresight, was at a loss.
Finally, she arrived at the base of the towering temple. This was the place of her second death. They didn't carve her heart out because a cursed one wasn't a worthy sacrifice. Instead, they stabbed it, then a vicious twist, and that was that. At least it wasn’t a beheading. Her fingers twitched with the urge to cradle her neck. And the curse had spared her the sight of Medusa screaming her throat raw, begging for her mother to save her as she was dragged to her death. The corner of her lips dipped.
Releasing a long breath, she took the steps two at a time, trying and failing to ignore the memories buzzing for attention. That day, a crowd had gathered, yelling chants and weeping as they begged the sun god to cleanse the land with her death. For a terrifying, desperate moment, a fierce desire for her stone gaze to return had seized her. She had wanted to kill them all where they stood, chanting for her death.
When she reached the wide topmost platform, her gaze immediately sought the stone altar. No blood or flies. The air didn't stink of horrifying death and decay.
“So, what do you think?” The curse’s voice came from Medusa's right. “I tried to replicate it as best as I could.”
Medusa remained silent as she stopped next to the altar where the sacrificial dagger sat.
“I was expecting a more… emotional reaction.” She strolled into Medusa’s line of sight. Flowing dark hair, a full figure wrapped in the white peplos, and cuffs of gold circling each slim wrist. Medusa had looked exactly like that the day her world was upended in her first life.
“And you got the key!” The curse smiled proudly as she settled into a tall stone chair that appeared as she sat.
“Yes, I got it,” Medusa said dryly, unable to reflect her excitement. “So, what now?”
Instead of giving a straight answer, the curse meandered. “Can you guess why I mixed these trials with our memories?”
Groaning internally, Medusa massaged the bridge of her nose. “I don't have the time to play guessing games. In a month, I’ll stand before Zeus. What I need is fast, practical help.”
“And you think the same goal doesn’t drive me?” The curse asked. “I needed to strengthen your mind to reveal what I know, hence these trials mixed with the low moments of our lives.”
Medusa waited for her to make sense.
“We didn’t immediately die after our first decapitation. Before the key, I recalled pockets of memories years after.”
“Huh?” Medusa whispered, caught in a sudden daze of shock and confusion.
“The key helped me recall the rest.” Her grip on the arms of her chair tightened as she glared ahead, seeming caught in an infuriating vision. “Perseus put our head in a sack and gave it to Athena. I even remember later conversations between them.” Her focus returned to Medusa. “They used us to kill deities.”
Medusa shook her head, certain. “But Athena looked me in the eye the day I turned into a gorgon and nothing happened to her.”
That day, Athena had appeared like some saviour, descending from the sky in radiance as the cowering humans looked on in awe. Then she subdued Medusa, covered her eyes and dragged her in chains through the streets of Athens as the people cheered. A bitter smile twisted Medusa’s lips. Maybe I should kill Athena first.
That far-away look returned to the curse's face. “Our eye of petrification grows stronger depending on some factors.”
Medusa’s heart sank. “I see.”
“There’s something called the inferno.” The curse continued in a low voice. “A practice some deities perform on their blood carriers where they put them through a series of tragic events that shape their minds and hone specific emotions. If the blood-carrier is of blessed blood, obsessive loyalty is usually the result. If you're cursed, the results are almost always lethal.”
A chill washed over her. So that's what it's called?
“It didn't end with what Athena and Poseidon did to us. Even after our head was severed, our inferno did not end.”
“...”
The curse looked away as if ashamed. “After our eventual death, the monolith copied the inferno. Our reincarnation loops and the intensities of our emotions as we endured through lives—”
“And you're fine with this?” Medusa asked in a low, tight voice. “You're fine with the monolith using us like this? Even assisting it?”
Her curse’s face fell. “We must be realistic. Does it matter the hand we hold if we'll crush our enemies in the end? I thought you met our husband. Didn't he tell you of our origin?”
“That was not my origin!” Rage blasted through her. “I was born to Phorcys and Ceto, and you—” she stabbed a finger at the curse “—you were shoved inside me. You are not me. You are a parasite—the root of my suffering!”
“Hey, calm down.” Hurt and panic coloured her face as she reached for Medusa.
Medusa flinched away and flung an arm at their surroundings. “Look around you! They turned us into their tool. If you really believe we're the same, you'd agree with me.”
“I understand, but—”
“You do not understand.” Medusa cut in. “If you were never in my life, I would have lived and died an ordinary girl. But this… this horror breaking my back, living and dying and living again, then meeting that man. He's dead, and I'm here alone, fighting to survive, fixing his mistake. Now you speak of an inferno?” As her head grew hotter with each word, the air around her sizzled. “For the first time in my torturous existence, I considered ending my life because of… of some rock's manipulation? Ha!”
“You are bleeding.”
“And you think I care!” Medusa harshly swept an arm across her bleeding nose.
“You have to stop.” The curse gestured in a calm-down motion, eyes pleading. “Your aether…” She looked at her as if seeing something Medusa couldn't. “Sorry. I'm sorry, okay. But…”
“But what?” Medusa spat, suddenly feeling deflated. “I'm so terrified I feel like I'm losing my mind. I don't think I can do it. I can't appear before Zeus this soon.” She had never felt the urge to run and hide like she did at the moment. “He'll see through me and make my life hell. I just know it. And all my plans are pitifully hopeless.”
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Her curse dropped her arms. “I agree that Zeus is a wild card. Completely impossible to predict. But did I tell you?”
Medusa swiped a thumb across her nose as her fury rapidly cooled. “Just talk already.”
“Zeus isn't as invincible as you think.”
Looking up, Medusa nodded in a go-on motion. “Tell me.”
“Several years after our decapitation, Athena used us to rebel against him. She put our head on a pike and used our eyes against her enemies. Our petrification evolved to the point of working against high deities.”
Medusa’s legs gave out. They put my head on what? “You… you're not lying?”
She got off her chair and settled across Medusa. “Our father, Aunt Phorcydes? Even our sisters. They sought revenge years after our decapitiation, but…” The curse shook her head. “Our parents were the first high gods to die from our gaze.”
Medusa’s fists trembled on her thighs, and for the longest moment, she couldn't speak.
“Can I see?” she finally asked. “Is it possible?”
“It is, but I'd advise against that. Perhaps when your mind grows stronger.”
Medusa stared at her trembling fists. Fine. It’s fine.
“It’s been terrible even for me since the key revealed all our memories. We lived a very long, torturous first life, even to the point of insanity.”
Sorrow and anger twisted her gut, but in their midst was a subtle comfort. They tried to avenge me. At least I wasn't totally abandoned. “You said Athena rebelled. Did she win? How did she defeat Zeus?”
Her curse shook her head. “In the end, she lost.”
Medusa released a hollow chuckle. Well, no surprise there. “Then what did Zeus do when her rebellion failed?”
The curse scoffed. “Who said anything about Zeus winning?”
“Then who won?” Was it a stalemate?
“The rebellion succeeded and Zeus was imprisoned, but there was a probability they didn't take into account.” A bitter scowl twisted her face. “Perseus. He betrayed Athena and took the entirety of Cosmolith for himself. At the end of our first life, Perseus won.”
***
Perseus quietly chewed on a strip of dried meat as the sound of the waves played in the background. It was a cool morning with the sea breeze whipping at his hair and the deck gently rocking beneath him. He had woken up even more determined to survive, and if it meant shamelessly attaching himself to the hag, so be it. Phorcydes was her name, from what he learned, and she was the true captain of the ship. The crew treated her every word with a deep reverence, and she possessed the ability to control sea beasts, even to the point of using them as occasional propellants for the ship.
It had been several days since he snuck into the ship with the plan to find his way to his home island somehow. There were things he needed to confirm from his uncle, and he wished to see his brother. Knowing Linos, he would have cried a lot when Perseus disappeared, and his uncle would have treated him with nauseating softness instead of toughening him up. All that would change once he returned.
“Did you sleep well?”
Perseus raised his head and met the hag’s piercing stare. For one with such an aged appearance, her green eyes were far too bright and youthful. And she frequently smiled in a disconcerting manner that worried him, almost as if she could see his secrets. But that had to be impossible. He had asked the goddess if there was a possibility and was still waiting for a response. Save for the time she plucked him from Drys Valon, she had remained mostly silent and surrendered all decision-making to him. That he ended up on a ship belonging to the aunt of the girl he killed was a coincidence he never imagined possible.
“Yes. I give my thanks.” He stood and offered a slight bow. He planned to be on his best behaviour, even helping before being asked, but the crew hardly let him assist them. “Regarding what I asked, is it possible?”
Instead of answering, she cocked her head like an owl and peered at him unblinkingly. Speaking of owls, Perseus’ gaze slid to the beast-human standing at her side. She was an Opsianian, the first he had ever seen. He didn’t know they were so tall and slender; quite fascinating. The contrast between her dark grey skin and snow-white hair had been what first drew his attention; then he noticed the morphing fingers. Now she watched him like elder Kadmos used to, as if something was wrong with him. Though her accusatory gaze infuriated him, he was in no position to show his disdain…yet.
“That’s why I sought you out,” the hag answered at last. “And yes, we can take you to your island, but it's a long way off our course.” She stared at him again and smiled that smile that didn't quite touch her eyes. Perseus resisted the urge to squirm.
“What do you want? What payment can I make?”
She sniggered, gaze turning amused. “What do you have that I could want?”
Pride denting under the jibe, Perseus hid his displeasure by focusing on the half-eaten meat he still held. “I’m quite skilled for a blood-carrier. I carry Zeus’ blood.”
“So you said, but your body is a mess.” She gave him an unimpressed sweep from head to toe. “And I predict months before anything can be made of you.” Again with that probing stare.
Perseus clenched his teeth until his temples throbbed; how he loathed this weakness. If she knew he was useless to her, why tell him she would consider his request? Why seek him out as if she had a favourable answer?
“I am good at blacksmithing.”
“Hmm.” She did another owl neck bend and narrowed her eyes to slits. “I came to tell you.”
Hope surged. “Tell me what?”
She strolled over and placed her hand on his shoulder. Her gaze lingered on the markings on the side of his face before she met his eyes. “Boy, do you know you lack foresight?”
Flinching at the sting of her insult, Perseus looked away. “I do not—”
“You wish to return to Seriphos.” Something flickered in her eyes and vanished almost as fast, but Perseus recognised it. Pity. She pitied him, but why? “Child, your island has been eaten by the sea.”
Perseus stiffened. “That… what do you mean?”
“There was an earthquake, and in its wake a tsunami came. Seriphos no longer exists.”
His ears rang.
“Sad. I quite liked that island.” She clicked her tongue and shook her head.
Linos. All Perseus could think of was his brother. Swallowing thickly, he forced words out, each coated with denial and desperation. “How do you know this? We are out at sea. Perhaps you're joking?”
She patted his shoulder once before letting her hand drop. “My taste in jokes does not run that dark. As for how I learned of this, I have my ways.”
Pressing his back against the wooden wall, he slid to the floor.
“Did you not consider your home when you rebelled against Athena? Did you naively believe her to be some merciful paragon of justice? It’s all nonsense, boy.” She turned and spat a glob of spittle overboard. “All that concerns that wench is a desire to be worshipped and to dominate.”
Linos’ face flashed before his mind's eye. Craddling the back of his neck, he bent over as he struggled to breathe. So clouded by ambition was he that the possibility of Seriphos suffering completely escaped his mind.
Seriphos is gone. It rang in his head, over and over like the bells of his home island. He had to ask the dark goddess; he had to know.
Did you know she would do this?
First, there was silence, then she answered. Was that not a possibility you considered?
A bitter contradiction seized Perseus. Fury at himself for feeling this pain and heaviness in his chest and the shameful desire to hide and weep. My brother can’t be dead. It can’t be. The plan was to return to Seriphos in great might and show Linos the reward for the powerful. To make him loathe his weakness and kill those parts of himself that were too much like their father.
You should have warned me.
Why? Although her voice was harsh and cutting, a faint note of confusion was discernible. You wanted power. I gave you power. Now leave me be, I have much to consider.
Ha. Disbelieving laughter escaped. Something was unravelling in Perseus' mind. Burying his fingers in his hair, he tugged, forcing himself to think past this horrible news. It may be false. She said I have nothing to offer, but that may be part of her game.
“Though I applaud you for the blow you dealt Athena, your presence on my ship is a massive risk.” The hag sighed to the sky while the Opsianian continued watching Perseus with that look in her eyes.
“What you did at Drys Valon was an affront to three gods,” the hag continued as her focus settled on him once more. “And one of those gods is Ares, who happens to be a friend I have no desire to offend.”
Only one thought consumed Perseus’ mind. “Can you take me there?”
“Take you where?”
“I wish to see Seriphos with my eyes.” He met her unblinking gaze.
“But your little island is off course. Going there would add close to a week to our journey.” Her already wrinkly face formed deeper furrows as she scowled at him. “All you have is your skill as a blacksmith. How is it worth adding days to my journey?”
Perseus bowed his head, his pride creaking under the weight of what he must do. “I would do anything. Please take me there.”
The dark goddess scoffed. And you believe you’re in a position to make such an offer?
Ignoring her, Perseus raised his head, making sure his desperation showed on his face. “I give you my word.”
“Hmmm.” Phorcydes gave him that searching look, this time even more probing than it was before. “Very well.” She nodded. “I shall accept this ‘word’ of yours and head for your island.”
His word? What nonsense. Once he recovers enough of his powers, he’d flee and kill whoever dares to block his path. His loyalty belonged to himself alone. No sooner had the thought settled when the hag flashed over, grabbed his index finger and pricked it with a needle. In the space of another blink, she pressed a drop of his blood into what resembled a complex compass. It happened so fast, he barely saw it coming.
“What was that?” He spluttered in a rage, forgetting his decision to act subservient.
After pushing the compass lid shut, she patted his marked cheek. “I know a hateful little pup when I see one.”
Turning to leave, she motioned for the Opsianian to follow. “We shall visit the remains of your little island the day after tomorrow. Prepare your tears.”
Can't say I am satisfied, but it's way better than the eyesore I planned to publish some days back. If you see errors, bring them to my notice.
And I dropped a quick poll, cause why not?
Between these two, whose POV would you like to see?
