by Jessica Cage
His gurgled grunt was her confirmation that she hit the spot she aimed for. The pace of his heart quickened for a moment and blood dripped on her shoulder. The weight that hung over her fell away and his body hit the steps beside her. The helmet fell from his head and she caught the last moments of his fleeting life.
"I hope our mother is waiting for you wherever you're going next and I hope she makes you suffer for the disgrace that you are." Delilah kicked the sword from his hand. He struggled to speak but whatever his final thought was, she would never know it because as blood spilled from his mouth the life left his eyes.
Delilah immediately began to climb the stairs. The battle was far from over. Her true enemy, Athena was inside the temple. Hundreds of slithering bodies ascended the stairs beside her only making room for Asa when she landed next to her.
"Are you okay?" Asa asked as her wings folded into her back vanishing from sight.
"I'm great." Delilah wiped the blood from her mouth. "I'm ready to kill this bitch."
"Sounds good to me." Asa waved her hand and the modified harpe blade, the weapon Iris had deemed the god killer, appeared.
The doors to the temple opened to reveal the dark interior. Delilah instructed her snakes to move to the perimeter of the space. They slithered along the floorboards and climbed the pillars as she passed by. Their soft hissing were her comfort as the doors shut behind them cutting out the sounds and light from the outside.
"Delilah I know," Athena walked forward illuminated only by the light from the candles that lined the walls, "but who are you?" She looked at Asa.
Asa spoke no words but as she moved forward the mask that revealed her true self melted away.
"Oh my! Calypso!" Athena clapped her hands together, giddy with her recognition
"I go by Asa now." The siren corrected the goddess.
"How wonderful, this explains Ares' ill-fated return to Earth.” She laughed. "I always said his little tryst would come back to bite him in the ass! Can’t say that I’m sad about the loss though."
"Yeah and now I'm here for you." Asa lifted the weapon in her hand and shook it at Athena. “Care to join your pal?”
"Now why would you want to do that? I've done nothing to harm you." Athena frowned.
"You've done plenty." Asa started.
"You turned my mother into a monster!" Delilah yelled and the snakes around them hissed with echoes to her anger.
"Your mother was a whore and she got what she deserved. She soiled my temple!" Athena said vehemently.
"My mother was raped by your monster of a brother and you decided that she should be punished because you were too weak to take on Poseidon," Delilah corrected her. “You’re nothing but a coward.”
"If that's the story you've been told, so be it." Athena shrugged. “I am not here to debate you on events that you weren’t even born to witness.”
"It’s the truth and you know it is." The scepter appeared in Delilah’s hand yet again.
"All I know, is that your mother got what she deserved. It was just and fair." She stepped closer to them but remained out of reach of both Asa's blade and Delilah's scepter. "What I don't know is how you came to be. How have I never known of you until now?"
"My mother was carrying me when you turned her." Delilah offered her clarity.
"Oh look at that!" Athena cried out as though she'd just won an award. "You exist because of me."
"You have got to be kidding me." Asa scoffed and shook her head in disbelief. "Just like a god, anything to inflate your already oversized ego."
"She should be grateful for what I did to Medusa." Athena rolled her eyes, exhausted with the conversation. "She wouldn't be here if I hadn’t."
"I wouldn't be here, that's true. I would have lived a full and happy life with my mother. I would have known her. Instead I never got the chance to see her face because of you. You took that life away from me." Delilah slammed the scepter again on the floor and it hummed with untapped power.
"Oh, so you're really here for revenge. Is that what it is? Blame me for your mother being a slut. Fine." Athena held her hand out and the golden sword from her fallen warrior came through the doors behind them and landed in the palm of her hand. "You took out the god of war, let’s see how well you do with its goddess!"
"Bring it," Asa baited Athena.
Delilah and Asa circled the goddess who kept a steady eye on them both. Asa was the first to lunge forward, but Athena dodged her. She knelt, lifted Asa from her feet, and threw her across the room. Delilah jumped at her when her back was turned but her efforts were deflected just as Asa's were.
Time and time again they attacked but the goddess gave them a run for their money dodging and deflecting every attack they attempted. The more they went for her the happier the woman seemed as she quickened her pace. Instead of tiring she only gained more energy. The fight fed her, and Asa and Delilah were in trouble.
Outside the temple, more harpies arrived, more than Tethys could handle on her own and she was running low on the magical ammo she'd taken from the armory. Their efforts to free Themis continued and with the growing numbers the pillar began to rumble.
"We have to let the fates free, now before it’s too late!" Rhea found Phoebe and Iris in a corner. Iris had her eyes locked on the chest.
"I've been trying to tell her that," Iris responded to Rhea. She'd followed Phoebe away from the battlefield and found her attempting to hide the chest. "But your sister won't let them out of the damn chest!"
"Phoebe what is this about?" Rhea shot another bomb off to buy them more time from the hell dogs.
"It isn't time!" Phoebe screamed. "You can't let them out!"
"Are you insane?" Iris yelled. "We're losing out here and if Themis awakens, that's it. It's over for all of us."
"I said no." Phoebe dug her heels in.
"This is not up for debate dear sister!" Rhea started toward Phoebe with intent to take the box from her.
"No!" Phoebe lifted a hand and held it out to Rhea, she blasted her sister with the power of the moonlight she commanded.
While Phoebe focused on Rhea, Iris took the chance and tried to grab the box from her, but Phoebe turned her power on the goddess. The force of her light forced Iris to back away for a moment but then her own light, the show of rainbow, began to fight back. Iris lit up and when Phoebe moved to block her eyes from the light, Rhea jumped forward and quickly grabbed the chest from her sister’s hold. She hit the worn latch that barely held the container closed and the seal was broken.
As the lid lifted, smoke escaped the chest and then three orbs of muted light rose from within. They hovered in midair humming a familiar lullaby then with a flash of light, shot off in different directions.
The first landed inside the chest of Iris who then rose into the air, her light show only getting brighter as she did. The blast of her light blinded the harpies long enough for Tethys to bring the remaining birds down beneath the water where they drowned to their deaths.
The second of the souls landed in the chest of Delilah who was flying, back poised to crash through a nearby pillar after having just taken another powerful blow from Athena. Instead of landing on her back as she’d done previous times, she hung in the air.
The third soul found its way to Asa and as it settled within her, her body shifted, changing form from siren, to sphinx and back. She too floated in the air. Athena watched the display in disbelief as the third woman, Iris, was brought into the space by the soul that inhabited her body.
Once reunited, the three fates dropped to the floor.
“What is this?” Athena asked.
“We are the fates.” The women said in unison. Their voices mutated with tones that failed to blend with their own.
“Excuse me?” Athena stepped back from the three.
“I love this body,” Asa’s hands caressed her flesh as Clotho took control of her.
“Me too,” Lechesis stretched the arms of Iris and smiled as the rainbow rolled across he
r flesh.
“This one is strong,” Atropos flexed the arm of Delilah. She cocked her head as the snakes alongside her moved to her command.
“You are the fates?” Athena frowned. “How is this possible? The titan still sleeps!”
“Themis? Oh, we haven’t seen her in ages!” Clotho responded. "How I would simply love to have a reunion with her."
“Nevertheless. You are here now, and you are mine to control.” Athena boasted. "You will do as I command."
“Control? Oh no, no. Not again!” Lechesis reached her hands out to her sisters who quickly grabbed hold of her. “We will not be used by the gods again.”
As the three became connected, Athena stepped back from their show of strength. They lifted to hover just above the ground and their eyes glowed with the light of the souls within the borrowed bodies. Just as she moved forward, prepared to take the fates on, a blast of power knocked her over and when she looked back the three women remained.
“Is that all you have?” She grinned as she steadied herself. “You’re mine.”
“Think again,” Asa spoke no longer controlled by Clotho who was still harbored inside her body. She took the harpe sword and tossed it to Delilah. Delilah caught the sword and nodded. “Iris, light it up!” Asa issued the command and Iris did as she was asked. Within moments the blinding light from within her filled the space and while Athena covered her eyes, Asa surprised them all.
The sound was melodic and paralyzing. As Asa’s voice rang out stronger than ever before and Calypso sang her siren song. The chaos of the world fell still as the remaining harpies ceased their flight and fell to the ground outside as their minds drifted into a deep slumber. The titans and the hell dogs they faced fell as well. Delilah, Iris, and the gorgons remained unaffected. Her target, Athena wavered but remained conscious. She cried out, angered that she had lost control of the fates and abandoned her task of releasing Themis.
Though Asa’s power clouded her head, it wasn’t enough. Athena ran to the back of the temple. The three followed her but stopped when she reemerged holding a bag in her hand and wearing a demented expression.
Delilah recognized the bag immediately and called out the warning to the others, “Look away!”
As Athena pulled the contents from the bag, Delilah dove in front of Iris who she turned the artifact on.
Medusa’s head hung there with her eyes wide open. Instead of turning to stone, Delilah took in her mother’s gaze for the first time in her life. She felt the love of her mother who smiled for a brief moment. Then Medusa’s mouth fell open and a loud and piercing scream rang out around them. Athena dropped medusa’s head to cover her ears, and Delilah jumped forward to catch it. She cradled the head in her arms lovingly before she turned the fatal gaze on Athena.
The goddess leapt forward, ready to fight again, but when she looked into Medusa’s eyes, her body stiffened. The stare of the gorgon wasn’t powerful enough to take her down, but it was enough to turn her to partial stone. Her limbs stiffened and her flesh hardened but Athena was still alive.
“That was close.” Iris stood behind Delilah and frowned when she saw Athena’s eyes moving. “The bitch is still alive.”
“Not for long,” Asa appeared by her side, holding the harpe sword again and gave it back to Delilah. “You want to do the honors?”
Delilah took the blade from Asa after carefully placing her mother’s head back into the bag that would keep both Medusa and her friends safe. She turned to Athena and with each step she took toward the living statue, Athena’s eyes widened. Her cries for help were muffled by the hard encasement of her lips.
“This is for my mother, and for every other soul that you’ve harmed along the way.” Delilah looked Athena in the eyes as she buried the blade into her chest. The stone embedded in the hilt of the sword lit up as the soul of Athena was drawn from the body and pulled into the stone, forever to be trapped with the other gods that had been cut down by it.
“Is it over?” Rhea met the women outside the temple. Tethys and the gorgon sisters climbed the stairs behind her. “Is the goddess dead?”
“It’s over.” Delilah nodded.
“Glad to have that over with.” Rhea stopped at the pillar that held her sister. “What about Themis? Do we just leave her like this?”
“I never figured out how to open the pillar, and I’m not sure we’re strong enough to do it.” Delilah shook her head.
“I think I may know how,” Iris peered at the side of the pillar. Faintly engraved on the smooth surface was three markings. The symbols of the fates. “I think the fates are the key.”
“What?” Asa squinted as she tried to see what Iris could.
“That makes sense,” Tethys commented as she reached the top of the steps. “Perhaps that’s why Phoebe was against us opening the chest.”
“Where is Phoebe?” Asa scanned the faces around her. “Was she hurt?”
“No, she took off.” Rhea nodded in the direction her sister had run. “I don’t think she was very happy with us forcing her to open the chest.”
“So, what do we do now?”
“I think we have to let Themis free.” Iris frowned. “It doesn’t feel right, walking away while she is still trapped.”
“How do we do that?” Delilah asked.
“I’m not sure.” Iris lifted her hand to touch the stone and when she did her hand was drawn to it like magic. “Um, a little help here?” She tried to pull away but couldn’t.
Delilah moved in to help her but as she did, her hand slammed against the stone as well. “I’m stuck,” she looked back at Asa.
“Right, and I’m the third so I guess it’s time for me to get stuck too.” Asa sighed and stepped forward, lifting her hand to the stone. Just as with Iris and Delilah, she became attached to the pillar.
Heat radiated from the palms of their hands as the pillar trembled and when the stone cracked, the three women stumbled back. Each of their heads dropped back, their mouths opened, and the souls of the fates exited their bodies and shot off into the sky.
“Is that it?” Tethys looked at the pillar. “It cracked but she is not yet free.”
“Maybe we have to wait,” Rhea touched her sister’s shoulder. “Themis was never one to rush.”
While the women waited to find out if Themis would emerge, Delilah approached her gorgon aunts carrying the magical bag in her hands.
“Stheno, Euryale,” she spoke to them and held out the bag. “I have something for you.”
“What is this?” Stheno hissed.
Instead of answering her question, Delilah opened the bag to allow the two to peer inside. “I want you to have her. Take care of her for me, please. I can’t think of a safer place for her.”
“Sister,” Euryale sighed, and a tear fell from her eye. “What have they done to you?”
Stheno took the bag from Delilah, “We will take great care of her niece.”
“Thank you.” Delilah smiled and hugged the only real family she’d ever known. “It won’t be long before we can return you to your home.”
“Actually, I rather like it here, but home sounds nice. I miss my cave.” Stheno smiled.
“I miss not having to keep my eyes cloaked.” Euryale laughed.
“Something’s happening!” Asa yelled from the top of the steps and everyone ran to join her.
The stone that housed the last titan that they’d aimed to release broke apart and when the dust settled, Themis appeared on her knees.
“Sister!” Tethys ran to her side and helped her to her feet. “Are you okay?”
“Where are they?” Themis asked in a raspy sound. “Where are the fates?”
“We don’t know, they shot off after you were set free.” Rhea answered her as she moved to her side opposite Tethys.
“We must get them back before she does.” Themis looked at Rhea and then at the other women who surrounded her.
“Who?” Asa asked.
“Phoebe, she wants them for hersel
f. And if she gets them, I fear what she might do.” Themis breathed deeply as she spoke.
“Wait, Themis wants the fates for herself? Why?” Iris questioned.
“She wants war, she wants revenge and if she has the fates under her control, she’ll have exactly what she is looking for.”
“Well, I guess we know why she was so intent on not setting them free.” Stheno crossed her arms.
“Yeah, she wanted them all for herself.” Euryale responded.
“We have to stop her.” Themis stood now on her own. “She will destroy Earth if she starts that war. There will be nothing to come back to.”
“Well, you ladies up for another girls trip?” Asa’s laugh was empty as she sat down on the top step.
“We might want to clean up around here first.” Iris commented on the bodies that were littered around the area.
“She’ll have to find them first, right?” Delilah asked. “What are the odds that she will be able to locate them and convince them to work with her?”
“Slim to none. Either way, we better get to them before she does. We’ve already destroyed Oikos, and nearly brought Fidi to its knees. The last thing we need is some crazed titan bringing hell on earth.”
“I’ll need some time here,” Delilah spoke. “I need to make things right before I return to Earth.”
“I’ll stay with you,” Iris offered.
“No, you must go with Asa and the others. They will need your resources.” Delilah pulled her into her arms. “I promise I will return to you, just as soon as things are made right here.”
“Yeah, okay. You’re right.” Iris took a deep breath. “I’ll be waiting for you.”
Delilah lifted her hand and her scepter appeared. She slammed it against the ground, this time with controlled force, and opened the portal to Earth. One by one the women who’d come with her to save her home passed through the opening. Stheno and Euryale reluctantly slipped the charms back around their necks to return them to their unwanted legs.
