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Snike
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I semi-promised eimm discord some writing stuff so here's one piece to start:

(Genre: Sci fi)

Yell at me here.

Spoiler

As a Fly to a Wanton Boy.

Creating a hero was supposed to be a simple matter for a god, or so Athena thought. It just took following the stories mortals had spun in another age. The first step was their birth, or origin story, which could be anything from strangling a snake in a cradle to being dipped into a sacred river. It does not have to happen, per se, it just needs to be believed. Simply spreading a rumor was enough, and the masses would convince themselves. Second step: divine parentage. Once again, that could be assured by rumors, but since the hero has probably been changed to a god’s tastes, it would not be that far from the truth. The next step, after waiting for the hero to mature – this could be up to two decades if they are bred from scratch- was to provide them with a call for adventure, or a challenge. That was trickier, but when the all of the planet is under the  influence of Olympus, it is not that difficult to conjure up a war to win or a monster to defeat, with the latter being especially easy to create from the body of a captured rebel. At that point it is merely a formality to offer the would-be hero the divine favor, guidance, and, more importantly, some godly armaments to take advantage of. With the gifts from the gods, the chosen one overcomes the challenge and fulfills their destiny. They become recognized as a hero, a rightful ruler for humanity to rally behind all the while being a living symbol of the power of the gods. The relationship is mutually beneficial between the hero and the gods and saves effort in the long run with regards to quelling any potential revolts. Altogether, creating a hero should be an easy affair, and it has been for hundreds of years.

So, if it was so simple, why did it fail this time? Why now, after centuries of success?

            The would-be hero Perseus’ story followed the formula precisely. He was “born” in a windowless tower to Danae, princess of Argos, and Zeus in the form of a golden shower - which was obviously impossible, though he may as well be the god’s son for all the engineering he was subject to, and the fact that his real father was long dead. He came to shore on the island of Serifos as an infant one stormy night, inside a wooden chest with his mother after they had been cast to sea by the king. That was also false, for two reasons: First, Perseus was already a boy when he came into the gods’ possession. Second, no chest made by man in their current state could hold a grown woman and child. Instead, Poseidon engineered a typhoon and Hypnos swept the island, altering its citizens’ memories, while she brought the mother and son into the fisherman’s hut. The chest was moved in there as well, as a prop. Next, about seven years passed, and the local king was incited to send him away. The gods didn’t even have to intervene this time: as soon as he heard the (accurate) rumor of the gorgon Medusa, Polydectes called for a feast and demanded gifts, setting a trap the young man could not help but fall into. Then, it was a matter of guiding Perseus along the right path. There had been an attempt on his life by the rebels as soon as he landed on mainland, so, to be safe, Athena had taken the avatar of a human woman and joined him. Hermes had joined them sometime afterwards, and sure enough, when the next attack came, it was warded off- but by Perseus, rather than either of them.

They had been careless- Hermes, by splitting off to scout, and she for not paying attention to her surroundings. The rebels attacked atop the Atlas Mountains, and had quickly shot the goddess’ legs out from beneath her, yet, armed with nothing but a broken trident, Perseus somehow cracked their mechanical armor and fought one of. He would have won too, had he not dove after Athena when the rebels unceremoniously tossed her off the side. Which was reckless, yet somehow they had made it down the side of the mountain no worse for wear a feat that made him worthy of the title of hero alone. Yet even despite that near-death experience and setback, Perseus persevered and continued on his quest. Despite their best efforts, the rebels could do nothing to slow his ascent to greatness.

            After regrouping with Hermes, they crossed the Mountains, delved into the Garden of the Hesperides, and returned, with Perseus still unaware of Athena’s true nature, despite how the fact that she wasn’t bleeding despite the holes in her legs. In Athens she left him with the messenger god, in order to change back to a more godly shell. The chosen one then went to the Graeae, successfully, and was gifted the gear needed to kill Medusa -the sword Harpe, a polished aegis shield to see the Gorgon off its reflection, a helmet of invisibility- really a cloaking device, but there was no difference when science was so foreign to these mortals-, and the winged sandals- leg-mounted thrusters-, to actually reach Sarpedon. In exchange, he was ordered to surrender Medusa’s head to the gods after Polydectes was satisfied with it. Then, without further ado, he was off, to take the Gorgon’s head and follow the story. And he seemed all too eager to perform the duty, according to Hermes. So why, then, did everything else fall apart?

            First, there were the rebels. They had managed, somehow, to reach Sarpedon and ambushed Perseus there as he was about to kill Medusa. It was no wonder why he failed that time: they had used an electromagnetic pulse weapon and disabled the armaments, so the helm failed and he could not use the sandals to escape. All the same, he made it out to the forest, where Athena had intervened- and decimated the rebel forces- and then to the actual island village, where Hermes was waiting, before dropping dead to poison, allegedly. A setback, but nothing the gods could not repair. This was not the first time that a would-be hero had died before his time. Even Cadmus, the dragon slayer, did not slay the snake in one go. And so his body was brought to Hades, repaired, and revived, in the course of a week. All the while the goddess of wisdom swept Sarpedon to make sure there would be no more interference, aside from the Gorgons. When he left the mainland a second time, Athena thought that surely he would return with Medusa’s head this time.

Which he did- but with her neck and body attached. Somehow, instead of just killing the monster outright, Perseus had decided to take her prisoner, or so he said when Athena inquired the night after he had returned to the mainland, when she had discovered both man and Gorgon sharing a fire. It was impressive, but it was not following the edict of the king, nor that of the gods.

“This will make up for my tardiness,” Perseus explained, at the time.

“And our condition?” Athena had asked.

“You will receive it, afterwards,” he promised, reluctantly.

And the issue was settled, at least for the time being. Even with the extra body to mind, Perseus was on his way to the land known as Ethiopia, where he would happen upon the sea monster Cetus, slay it, and rescue the Princess Andromeda. Even with Medusa alive, that would surely be enough of a heroic feat to right the story, with the rest being smoothed out in time.

            He sliced Cetus apart with a swing of Harpe, and rescued the princess. Yet, instead of demanding he marry Andromeda, and all the drama that entailed, Perseus instead stole her away in the dead of night, unwittingly sparing the princess’ uncle and his entourage and going off the storyline yet again. Still, even though that sped up his return to Serifos, the damage had already been done: Polydectes had already enslaved Danae, and so there was no conceivable way that Perseus would let that stand. And, as long as he followed through and petrified the king, the rest of the details could be corrected.

            Perseus returned home and confronted Polydectes, as expected. As expected, he used Medusa to turn him and his sycophants to stone, and as expected, in his place he put Dictys, the fisherman who had ‘found’ the wooden chest on the morning of their arrival, onto the throne. Unexpectedly, however, he did not marry Andromeda nor did he kill Medusa, as promised. Instead, the hero delayed, citing one reason or another to avoid having to perform that iconic act. He was constantly traveling to and from the mainland with the winged sandals, carrying scrolls back and forth for purposes unknown. What time not spent in transit was spent in the palace, assisting in governing the island. Eventually, however, Athena forced him to accept a deadline of the end of the year to present the head to her, and not a moment later. While this was in part due to impatience with the gods’ champion, another fact was his own health: in order to keep the heroes from rebelling, when they were engineered, their bodies were engineered to expire within a certain time limit if left untreated. Perseus’ limit was shortly after the end of the year, so he would have no choice but to kill Medusa, if he wanted to survive.

            Even given this deadline, the monster slayer hesitated still in beheading the Gorgon. His trips abroad became fewer and fewer as the months passed, until it was Andromeda, and not Perseus himself, who took the winged sandals and traveled to the mainland. Perseus secluded himself inside the palace to the point where Athena wondered if he was bedridden due to the programmed illness, and yet, all the same, on the cloudy day Medusa was supposed to die, he still made it to the shrine where she was to be killed, the island’s temple to the goddess of wisdom.

            He shuffled in, aegis shield on his back with, helped along by a walking staff and a silver-haired woman in a traveler’s robe by his side, the latter carrying a large bag over her shoulder. It took them a minute to scale the stairs up to the main area with the woman being ready to catch her companion if he slipped and fell. Once they made it up, she brought him over to a temple pillar, close enough so that he could lean on it. Then, she opened the bag, brought out its contents- Harpe, the helmet of invisibility, and the winged sandals- and placed them at the statue’s foot. Finally, she took the shield off of Perseus’ back and propped it up against the same statue, before nodding to the man and leaving the temple outright. As soon as she was gone Athena decided to reveal herself.

“Where is Medusa?” she asked.

“She’s not coming,” Perseus said, quietly. The goddess studied him. What had once been a youth in his pride looked little more than a bag of skin and bones, as though he had been a grape left out to dry for far too long, and to that effect his chiton was far too loose though he had worn it for years. All the same, his eyes were still the same sharp green. And there was something in them she could not quite understand.

“The agreement was the head of –““A gorgon, I know,” the hero interrupted.

“Then, how do you propose to supply one?”

“Simple: I want to take Medusa’s curse onto myself.”

There was a silence, then Perseus started to laugh, before erupting into a fit of coughing.

“I guess even the gods can be surprised, every now and then,” he said, when the fit calmed down.

“Why?” the goddess asked. “Why throw away your life for a monster?”

“Because she wasn’t a monster, not before the curse. Which you laid on her, right?”

“… I did.” Was there a rebel in the palace?

“That’s what I thought. Curses can be carried, like that of Atlas, so I am asking to take on her burden.”

“Even though she petrified everyone on the island of Sarpedon?”

“All the same. Besides,” he said, pointing at his chest, “this body won’t last.”

“We can fix that. As soon as you present her head, I can-“

“Not happening.” “Why?”

”You owe me for the mountain,” the hero said, ignoring the question. “I am asking this of you, as a favor.”

Another silence. “Are you sure?”

“That’s why I came alone.”

“What about that silver-haired woman?”

“She offered to help me up the stairs. It’s difficult as-is.”

“And the others?”

Perseus hesitated, and at first Athena thought that he would change his mind.

“They will get on,” he said eventually, and her hopes were dashed.

“Very well,” the goddess said in response. All Perseus saw was a snap of her fingers, but she issued a series of commands back to Olympus, and within seconds, somewhere inside the Serifos palace, Medusa was returning to her original form. Another snap of the fingers, and now the man supposed to slay her was transforming, as his bronze curls turned into serpents, his fingers erupted into brass claws, and wings burst out of his backside. Despite the agony, the man managed to keep quiet as he turned into a monster, only grunting rather than the screaming that his counterpart had unleashed.

“…Is it over?” he asked, having moved his eyes to focus on the statue.

“You are now a Gorgon, yes,” Athena said. She approached him and picked up the sandals, then the helmet. Both vanished- transported back to Olympus.

“So this is how she feels… Alright, I’m ready. Do I need to do anything?” 

“Just stand still and keep your eyes open.”

“Okay.” The goddess took the aegis shield and put it aside, before finally picking Harpe up from the marble floor.

“This is your last chance. Just say the word, and you can walk away from this.”

“I’ve made my decision.”

“Why? I cannot understand why you are throwing everything away.”

“I don’t expect you to. Especially you, of all people.”

“Me?” Why not? She was the goddess of wisdom.

“Never mind. Just hurry, before they get here from the palace.”

Athena hesitated still, for a moment. She thought about sparing his life, but then remembered what happened to those former gods, Persephone and Apollo. They had been destroyed for defying Olympus, and there was no doubt that she would be next. So, in the end, she took the man by his snake hair, and swung the sword.

***

It took about a minute for the blood to stop gushing, but once the flow did subside, Athena sent Harpe away and grabbed the aegis shield with her free hand. Then, she pressed the slain monster’s head against the shield. Surprisingly to any would-be onlooker, the shield swallowed up the head, before twisting to reflect the horrifying grimace of Perseus’ face, albeit in gold rather than in flesh.  And so the agreement was held, but at the cost of the hero. The goddess started down the stairs, leaving the corpse and her own statue- half-melted and half crimson- behind, untended. They did not matter any longer, and so she left, all the while wondering

    A woman with golden hair and brown eyes- Medusa the ex-Gorgon- soon arrived at the entrance of the temple and froze as soon as she saw Athena.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded. “Where’s Perseus?”

Athena pointed back up to the main level. Medusa sprinted up, and seconds later let out a horrible cry. The goddess continued along her way, out of the temple and off to the port, disguising herself as a traveler just before coming into public view. The silver-haired woman was at the port, waiting.

“So you’ve killed him,” she said, as soon as Athena drew close. The goddess stopped cold in her tracks.

 “Killed who?”

“Danae’s son. Who else?” Why did she know about that?

“What are you talking about?”

“At the temple, I mean. That was why he was heading there, after all. And why you were hiding until I left, correct?”

Athena hesitated, alarmed by this revelation. “Who are you?”

The woman shrugged. “A bystander. I’m not your enemy, if that’s what you mean.”

“If what you said is true, than you would know that he chose this fate.”

“And you could have spared him from being a shield ornament.”

“I had no choice!”

“Did he?” the stranger asked, before tossing a small silver heart to Athena. The latter caught on reflex.

“What is this?” the goddess asked, looking at the trinket. It was a pendant

“A reason why,” was the answer, but when Athena looked up, the woman was gone without a trace. Which should’ve been impossible, yet there was no sign that she had cloaked or teleported away. It was as though she was a phantom.

Something to investigate, in any case. But first, the locket. She opened the locket and once again froze, staring incomprehensibly at the contents.

It was a picture of two children: a boy and a girl. The boy had bronze curled hair and sharp green eyes, while the girl was blonde, with brown eyes. They were smiling together.

 

Edited by Snike
clarification+ feedback rules
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