Euryale did not know what response
she had expected from the two women, but the screaming match that had then
ensued had most definitely not been it. After what seemed like ages, the two
women had come to the conclusion that it was not each other they should be mad
at and had summoned the whole of the sisterhood together in the great Oracle
chamber deep within the temple and revealed the travesty that had occurred.
Unrest had moved through the gathered women like a wave coming to the shore and
the screaming it seemed was set to resound through the country side much as it
had resounded through the chamber in which Euryale had asked her seemingly
simple question in the presence of the High Priestess and the Oracle. Before it
got out of control, however, the High Priestess called for silence and with her
support the Oracle described a solution. All within the sisterhood would take a
vow of celibacy forgoing pleasure in order to focus on their higher calling. By
the time the decree had settled into all the sisters minds, relief was almost
palatable in the air. Sadly, it was not to last for not even a fortnight passed
before Apollo appeared within the temple courtyard in a flash of light and a
wave of heat. All gathered could see that Apollo was furious. When the High
Priestess appeared with the Oracle in tow, to politely inquire as to what help
they could provide to him in easing his anger, they were loudly informed that
“They” were the cause of his anger. That he had come to the women of the
sisterhood as he had for time incalculable and been turned away with none of
his usual comforts. He had approached many of the sisters, in many, different
guises, and not one had lain with him as was his right. To this the High
Priestess informed him that the Sisterhood of the Oracle of Pythia was not in
fact required to provide those types of services to any being, be they God or
man or anything in between. That the temple, and all who dwelled within, were
the sole purview of the Fates themselves and were not to be used as anyone’s
personal harem. That they were sorry he was upset, but that they were only
thankful that his deception had finally been revealed to them.
Euryale felt her face pinch up at the
memory of what had followed even as the mass of lizards that made up her hair,
sensing her distress, began to make soothing noises. Sighing softly to herself
she crooned back to them softly before once more reliving those moments within
her mind’s eye.
At hearing the word revealed, all of
the anger that Apollo had been displaying and the courtyard grew eerily silent.
“And how is it that I a god have come
to be revealed unto thee, Priestess?” Apollo had quietly asked as his gaze
roved the amassed crowd a strange gleam having replaced the anger in his eyes.
No sooner had the High Priestess and
the Oracle called Euryale forward and told of the part she had played in
thwarting Apollo’s deception, then had Apollo turned his banked fury upon
Euryale herself.
Unable to kill her, as the High
Priestess had said all who resided in the temple were under the protection of
the Fates themselves, and he would have surely done so if he could have.
Instead, Apollo had chosen to Curse her. His terrible screeching frightening to
those who heard it.
“ YOU! YOU HAVE TAKEN SOMETHING FROM
ME WHICH I VALUED ABOVE ALL OTHERS AND IN DOING SO YOU NOT ONLY SHALL YOU BE
PUNISHED, BUT YOU SHALL KNOW MY LOSS AS WELL!” He bellowed. Taking a deep
breath and throwing out his arms in her direction, Euryale found herself alone
facing an angry gods wrath quaking in fear and abandoned on the steps leading
in to the temple proper and all within the Sisterhood watch in horror as Apollo
decreed her fate.
“ I WHO AM A GOD ABOVE MEN SO SHALL
YOU BE PLACED ABOVE WOMEN, CHANGED AT A BASIC LEVEL TO REFLECT THE LIGHT IN
WHICH I PERCIEVE YOU IN THIS MOMENT. YOU VILE SNAKE OF A WOMAN. “
The change had started immediately.
She had fallen as her legs began to move of their own accord. It had been
painful, but not as painful as watching them fuse together into the form they
now held. Her scalp had begun to burn, and reaching up to feel what was wrong
she had found masses of scaly flesh pushing themselves from her skull. She had
screamed then, screamed until Apollo had called her to silence, before
continuing to curse her.
“AS I CAN NO LONGER HIDE MY TRUE
NATURE FROM THOSE I ONCE SAUGHT OUT SO TOO SHALL YOU BE UNABLE TO HIDE YOUR NEW
NATURE FROM THOSE WHOM YOU WOULD SEEK OUT. FOR ALL THOSE WHO LOOK UPON YOUR VISAGE
SHALL BE TRANSPARENT BEFORE YOUR GAZE AS WAS I.”
At those words Euryale had turned in
confusion to look upon the High Priestess, who had come to crouch beside her on
the warm stones, and that look of confusion had turned to one of horror as the
High Priestess herself began to turn into glass. It had started with her eyes
and quickly spread to every part of her body. Fearing for the gathered sisters
she had quickly covered her face as best she could, placing her face into her
no longer temple white stola. As her new body shook and heaved with sobs of
sorrow, she vaguely realized that Apollo was still cursing her.
“LASTLY, KNOW THAT I WILL NEVER LOOK
UPON YOU WITH BENEVOLENCE AGAIN NOR WILL ANY ASPECT OF MY STATION. SIGHT YOU
MAY HAVE, BUT THE FATE OF YOURSELF AND ANYONE WHOM YOU SHOULD EVER LOVE WILL BE
HIDDEN FROM YOU.” Apollo snarled at her.
“AND SHOULD YOU FIND YOURSELF, EVER,
BENEATH THE SUN. YOU. SHALL. BURN!”
And burn she had as she had struggled
to push herself and as much of her new form back into the temple proper and out
of direct sunlight, patches of her skin blistering scraping off onto the
paving. Apollo’s malicious laughter had followed her into the artificial light
cast by torches and fires within the temple, even as he had vanished and the
oracle had rushed to her aid, being careful to keep her face turned aside so
that she would not fall under the power of Euryale’s new visage, she quickly
grabbed a light tapestry and placed it over Euryale’s face.
“We will help you, Sister, as best we
can for we have brought this curse upon you.” The Oracle had whispered to her
before a few of the larger sisters had carried her into a darkened room in the
caverns below the temple. There she had discovered herself anew as the sisters,
protected by the ever present darkness, had treated the wounds the sun had left
on her flesh. Even as she regained her strength hidden beneath the temple, she
could still see Him. Apollo. In his rage he had knowingly, or perhaps unknowingly,
cursed her to be placed above women, even as he was a god above men, and the
power of her sight had grown to a level often times reserved for the Fates
themselves.
In the few months she spent under the
temple healing she watched Him. Him, with his pettiness and his temper. She saw
the happiness and sorrow he felt as he traveled answering the prayers of those
in need that he could, and she hated him for destroying who she had been and
then moving on without remorse.
Eventually though in her solitude she
thought to put her visions to the task of finding a companion or companions who
would not be transformed by her curse. Her visions had shown her Stheno, with
her strength, and Medusa, with her tears, and although she hadn’t known their
names at the time she had covered herself as best she could and gathered what
food could be spared and saying goodbye to the sisters and the oracle had
disappeared into the night. She had followed her vision for a few weeks, hiding
in caves or even burying herself in the ground as best she could and still be
able to breath during the day in order to avoid the painful light of the sun,
before she had found Stheno in a cave by the sea.
Glancing again at her sister,
striking with the dark scaled bodies of her snakes blending seamlessly with her
similarly dark hair, their red faces like roses moving against the dark curtain
of it, their blue bellies flashing as they turned this way and that. Always
watchful, always on her guard, that was Stheno.
She had in fact attacked Euryale when
they had first met in that sea side cave. After Euryale had explained her
situation and also her visions, Stheno had grudgingly joined her in her quest
for companionship. Eventually they had even begun calling each other sisters,
and Euryale had felt that they had develop as strong a bond as any during the
travels that had subsequently led them to Medusa.
Turning her head once more a short
look showed, Euryale that Medusa was still crying, so with another sigh, she
turned her attention back to Stheno.
They had found Medusa and together
they had traveled many months to come here to this out of the way place far
from the sea, but Medusa still had these episodes. Each time an episode
occurred Euryale wondered if Medusa would ever truly be free of her past, and
embrace her new life with them, or if she would fall into madness. But she
could not see what would be for now she loved Medusa as much as she loved
Stheno.
“Do you think it will be asss bad
thisss time as it has been the othersss, Ssstheno?”
Leaning slightly towards Stheno,
Euryale felt no need to expand upon her question as Stheno would know what she
was truly asking, as she had known every time Euryale had asked, every time
this had happened after the first time.
It took a moment for the response to
come and when it did Euryale could barely hear the words, Stheno’s low gravelly
voice barely more than a growl as she answered, moving gently to wrap her arms
around Euryale, before speaking into her hair.
“They are only tearsss. It could
always be worssse.”
There you have it in all it's unedited goodness. I've done part of the next part, but it's long and complicated and i stopped in the middle. >_< Hopefully I'll have something to post next week.
Kay buh bye!
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