Medusa Fate s GameChapter 9
- 3 years ago
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~~Otrera~~
Well, shit.
“Darian, wait!” she said. Damn man was going to wreck the world if she wasn’t careful.
“Why should I?”
“You don’t know what’ll happen if you kill them. You could start what Charon was talking about, or who knows what.”
Darian snarled, and a rasp that sounded less like him, more like the first time she’d heard the mask came through. The tall, robed entities stood before their brother’s vessel, and they cowered with a multitude of shadowy limbs raised, flailing like children’s arms. Children didn’t have half a dozen arms though, and as the Fates trembled, Otrera half-thought they looked kind of like an octopus.
Above them, there were the glowing things that circled the vortex of souls. Still a ways off, but the tendrils of color that wrapped upon sections of the pillar of light were plenty visible, humongous, and pulsing. It was like she could see their heartbeat, except it was their whole body, and each pulse pulled a color from the pillar, whatever color the creature was, brighter, into the main body. Like they were feeding on it.
And as Darian held the Fates in the palm of his hand, other floating orbs started to appear. The city that lay ahead, the enormous temples, the pillars of black stone with windows and doors carved into them, the dome roofs, the colossal hooks that dangled chains as big as roads, each with buildings hanging from them, all of them started to show more of the glowing orbs. Each of the spheres had a collection of tendrils that dangled from them, but the spheres floated, pulsed and radiated a color unique to them. So many colors, each unique, rainbows upon rainbows.
“D-Darian, I ... um—”
“They should die! We don’t need them, we don’t need these creatures manipulating fate, manipulating destiny. We don’t need these vile, abhorrent, disgusting abominations controlling us!”
“Darian, uh—”
“We should kill them. Be rid of them. Toying with our lives, our deaths? We should—”
“Darian!”
“What!?”
“Look up!”
Darian raised his masked face, and slowly lowered his outstretched hand.
The host of floating orbs were drifting in their direction. While a few of them were easily a hundred feet tall, from tendril to orb, many others were only a quarter that size. The massive spheres hovered closer, down toward them and the soul rivers along the cavern floor, while the smaller ones stayed behind them. They came closer as well, but always with their larger brethren in front of them. The cavern became alive. More, and more of the floating orbs appeared in their temples and homes, and they floated around, closer together like a flock of slow-moving birds. The flocks drifted, colored the stone with their glow, and joined in hovering nearer and nearer the two Fate’s Children. There were thousands of them.
“Bellerophontes,” a sister said, “you cannot destroy us. Without our hand, there would be no civilization. We are the spinners, we have woven the tapestry of your history, your tales, your greatest heroes and greatest villains. We are—”
Darian put out his hand, and squeezed his fist. The three sisters all fell flat — not fell, more like squashed into the ground. They shrieked and waved their arms of black mist, but they stayed down, flattened to only a foot tall, with their masks pointed up and shaking.
But Otrera barely noticed, and when she glanced Darian’s way, he was still looking up at the oncoming cloud of colors too.
One of the greater orbs came down closer to them, and as its tendrils drifted near the cavern floor, many of the souls in the running rivers reacted. The colossal creature was navy, and souls of a similar color drifted toward it, while other colors avoided it, depending upon their difference. But the descending orb grew smaller, its tendrils shrank into itself, and its glow started to fade. The souls ceased responding to it, as once it was upon the cavern floor, human feet stepped from its glow.
Otrera gasped and took a step back. From the navy, pulsing light of the creature, a man emerged, tall, muscular, with a long beard of black, and penetrating, brown eyes. He looked fit, healthy, perhaps in his thirties, with a beautiful, almost glowing robe of white chiton.
“Moros ... again you have come. Again you will destroy what we have built.” He swept his arm to the side, stance aggressive. It was comically exaggerated, Otrera thought, but it seemed to be a running theme with the gods. “Be warned, Moirai. Know that I am not my father, and you will not best us so easily this time.”
Darian tilted his head to the side, and looked at the oncoming man. “ ... which one are you?”
The tall man blinked, and looked between him and Otrera. “You are ... not Moros?”
“No, I am not Moros.” Darian stepped toward the newcomer, and the unnamed fellow stood his ground, but Otrera could see the grimace in his face. “I’m just the idiot who’s taken his body.”
The man looked him up and down, and folded his arms across his chest. “ ... Bellerophontes?”
Darian nodded, and snarled again. “And you?”
“ ... I am Hades.”
Otrera slowly lowered her bow, and gawked. She could see his gold mask flicker in and out of existence. The golden mask of a god, similar but different to the Moirai.
Gawking turned into a surprised squeak when Hades fell to his knees, unfolded his arms, and raised his straining hands up to his chest and head. He was in pain, and the veins in his forehead started to bulge as he trembled. For what was apparently an illusion, the illusion behaved quite accurately to human agony, as Darian pointed his palm at Hades’s chest, and started squeezing the air.
“Where are your brothers?”
“I ... will ... not—”
“Where are your brothers!?” Darian’s voice cut through the cavern until Otrera felt it vibrate in her bones.
“Z-Zeus ... and Poseidon ... above ... Olympus...”
Otrera blinked, and looked between Darian and, evidently, the god of the underworld. He broke easily. She winced as her conversation with Chimera walked through her mind. Vile, putrid mound of filth, he’d said of Ares. And for all his threatening, Hades was brought to his knees in seconds.
She wasn’t sure whether to be happy things were going so easily for them, or be terrified.
“Get them. If they’re not both here when I return, I will destroy your Moirai friends, and your brethren.” Darian motioned to the swarm of weird squid-like floating spheres of pulsing colors. “And make sure Athena is here too.”
Otrera shivered and stepped in a little closer to the masked man. He had beef with Zeus, and Poseidon. What would he have done if they were here? And Athena, she imagined the goddess would be a splattered mess of ... whatever these energy balls turned into when they exploded. At least the Erinyes turned to blood, she could understand that. But the Moirai, and these ... gods, evidently, they were what? The more she learned, the less they seemed like powerful gods, and more like parasites.
Darian lowered his hands. The sisters got up, and they made tiny chittering sounds as they did. Hades, coughing and struggling to breathe, got up as well. At least she could understand the signs of discomfort on him ... it? The whole trip was turning into a mind fuck.
“Let’s go, Otrera.” Darian took a step forward, and the whole of the underworld moved out of his way. The Fates hovered to the side, around him, and Hades did as well.
As Darian stepped toward the vortex, it was like watching a sea part. All the gods floating above had descended closer to them when Hades had, but now that Darian was walking forward, they made way. Such a myriad of colors, rainbows over rainbows, hundreds upon hundreds of glowing tendrils of light, all swaying with their movements as they opened the path.
The two Fate’s Children stepped into the city. There were no roads, only the soul rivers, and none of the buildings were really on the cavern floor. Some were a bit low, attached to the stalagmites, but none could be reached by them. You’d have to be able to fly. And sure enough, some wings started to become visible as the Amazon stared up at the colossal buildings above. Erinyes, more of them. And other creatures started to stick out their noses ... and snouts. Weird things, with glowing faces similar to the gods’ bodies, but they walked on all fours, with black wings that looked more like bat wings than anything. More and more oddities stuck their noses and snouts out of their homes and temples, some with extra heads, some with extra tails, some almost human shaped, and all with varying degrees of glow to their eyes or limbs or claws.
As they walked by, Otrera re-nocked her arrow, but kept it lowered as they drifted past the enormous stalagmites of black stone that jutted up from cavern floor. The closer they got to the vortex, the more the floor started to slope downward. The color of the souls near the base was dark, blacks and heavy colors that made her depressed just to look at them. Some of them pushed up for the massive judge statues, and as they approached the monoliths of stone, some of them changed color and started to drift upward. Others were cast back down, and rejoined the swirling pool of souls at the bottom of the crater.
A crater the size of a city.
Ridges in the black stone let her find her footing. Every step was cautious, slow, but Darian’s were determined, hard, as he walked into the pit. Otrera looked behind her, and stared at the cloud of glowing dots. They’d moved back together, and they were all looking at them — or at least, it seemed so. They didn’t have faces. But some of the larger creatures were coming down to land next to Hades, and they too were beginning to transform into their human shapes. They turned to each other, chatted, whispered, eyes wide, hands up to their lips. More and more they looked human, with each of them dressed in the garbs she’d come to expect of gods sitting on Mount Olympus. The underworld wasn’t Mount Olympus though, no clouds to be sat on or anything. No grapes either.
The crowd stared at them, soon an army of human-looking gods of many shapes, sizes, and hair colors. Many were trembling, and holding hands. A few were placing their fingers upon Hades’s shoulders, fingertips glowing with various colors. Healing him, maybe? Many of the other floating orbs still in the air landed upon the balconies or floors of the nearby temples, and they too transformed into their human disguises while they looked down at the two Fate’s Children from above.
Every single god in the underworld — and that was apparently a lot more gods than they knew — was staring at them. Otrera shivered and stayed close to Darian. But as they walked deeper into the crater, things didn’t get much better.
The rivers of souls spilled into the deepening cavity. Many of the souls had already left the river, and were floating up or down in the pillar of light, but many more were still grounded. It wasn’t until the streams opened up and spilled their contents into the crater that Otrera started struggling to see. Faces in the colors swam past her, around her, over and under, with the fading trails of their bodies behind them. Some opened their eyes, some did not. Features were lost in a haze, so no matter which way she looked, all she could see was an unending tide of blurry faces.
“You have any idea what you’re doing, Darian?”
“Yes. I can see ... I can feel it. You’ll see.”
Oh, wonderful. She’d see. Not exactly filling her with details, or confidence, but she had no choice but to follow him anyway. Into a towering pillar of swirling light comprised of what must have been a million souls. Just wonderful.
Well, she did decide to help him after all. Just didn’t realize that meant walking into a literal tornado of the dead. Turn back? The thought made her laugh, and she slung her bow back over her shoulder. Run to where? And besides, the deeper they went into the crater, the more she wanted to stick by Darian, and help him save Medusa.
Gods she was dumb.
The pillar grew brighter, denser, and she found herself squinting trying to peer through the blinding pillar. They’d past the three judges, and for a moment, she thought they’d step on her. But the stone giants were unmoving. She stopped by one of their toes, and looked it up and down. There were bumps and lines in the skin, same as a human, as if someone had taken an actual man, turned him into dark stone, and made him a couple hundred feet tall. And as she grew near, she heard a quiet thud coming from the statue once a second.
A heartbeat.
She gulped, and jumped a couple times down the slope to rejoin Darian.
“You think they’ll let us out of here when we’ve got Medusa back?” she said.
“They’ve defeated Moros once before, at great cost from the sounds of it. I’m betting they won’t risk that again for the sake of keeping Medusa’s soul.”
“Maybe. They are gods, fickle, prone to bouts of stupidity and obsession.” She shrugged and stepped in closer to Darian’s side again, until they were shoulder to shoulder. “I was expecting ... well, not this. It looks like there’s thousands of them, Darian. And a lot of them look like kids.” A glance back at the crowd proved it. Hundreds of the floating orbs of light had landed, and transformed into a human shape, many looking no more than ten years old. And why did they look human at all? The Moirai didn’t.
The priests of the world would spontaneously combust if they knew how inaccurate their understanding of their masters were.
“They’re not kids. They’re parasites.”
Otrera shook her head, and grabbed the man’s wist. “Maybe, maybe not. Let’s just ... focus our hatred a little, alright? They’ve done a lot of bad things, but only a few of them deserve your punishment.”
Darian sighed, but nodded. Funny that the man was more receptive than ever, now that he was wearing the mask of doom. Seeing the Moirai there, at his mercy, she expected him to kill the sisters, and leave the world without their guidance, twisted as it was. The sisters did have a point though, much as the thought disgusted her. Would civilization even exist if it wasn’t for the people’s worship of the gods, their attempts to appease them?
Good gods she was starting to sound like Chimera. Get out of your head.
Darian pressed on, and stepped into the pillar of souls. The colossal obelisk was solid light near its center, and Otrera raised a hand again to block some of it out. Darian did no such thing, and he reached out a hand to her while the other reached for the pillar. She took it, and took a few deep breaths, before she followed him into the burying light.
Darkness struck like a hammer. The moment her head passed into the pillar, all light was gone, even from behind her, and endless black buried her, crushed her, and robbed her of her senses. All of them. She squeezed her hand, and felt nothing. She spun around, and saw nothing. She cried out, and heard nothing.
Just when her lungs decided they didn’t want to breathe anymore, she fell forward onto her knees when a flash of white blinded her. Light once more. Darian was standing next to her, and her hand was still in his.
“Another barrier,” he said. “Sorry. And just ... stay near me. You’ll be stuck here if I have to leave without you.”
“Good ... to know...” She sank her free hand’s fingers into the grass, and coughed on a few failed attempts to breathe. Was that what it felt like to die? Gods she hoped not.
Grass? She looked down, and squeezed the earth in her fingers a little. Indeed, there was grass, and soft earth, and a gentle breeze. She looked up, and gasped. The sun. Oh gods, a beautiful sun was high in the sky, and it washed over the land with a gentle, warm glow.
As she stood up, she blinked down at the white flowers around her feet, and further out down along the green valley before them. Or at least, it should have been green, but the grass was ultimately overwhelmed by the unusual white flowers, with raised stalks in their center that bore white pedals from many blossoms.
White asphodels, in unending amounts. They poured over the smooth hills around them, and swayed with the breeze.
“ ... Asphodel Meadows,” she said. “It’s ... beautiful.”
“I wonder how Elysium looks.” Taking his own deep breaths of the beautiful scenery, Darian gave her hand another squeeze before letting go, and started walking down the gentle slopes. “Come on.”
“You know where we’re going?”
“I can see — feel pulls of something. I can tell where Elysium is, and ... I can tell where Tartarus is.”
“You could take us to Elysium?”
“ ... I could.”
She shivered, and followed after him down the grass and flowers. “Awfully tempting.”
“Yeap.”
“Think you can rescue Medusa, and just go to Elysium?”
“Maybe. Probably. But ... this place ... the afterlife, I don’t think it’s permanent.”
“What do you mean?” She got in beside him, and stared up and around at the rolling hills, the warm but pleasant sun, the flowers, the quiet. No birds chirping or anything, but the silence wasn’t cold or dead. It was soothing.
“Moros said Medusa was going to Tartarus for a thousand years before she’d be reborn. And ... I can feel a flow here. I can feel things going up, going down, and then ... leaving. Leaving the underworld, and the afterlife.”
“Leaving? To where?”
Darian looked up, and stared into the clear sky above. “ ... back to the living.”
“Oh...” She’d heard the argument of reincarnation before, from people in the far East. Course, everyone just dismissed such absurdity as just that, absurdity. Not so absurd now. Would such an idea spread in Greece, if she mentioned it to others?
Over the next hill, they stopped, and looked out to the valley below. A city, a Greek city, with homes by a flowing river of glistening, clear water, and temples. For a second, she grit her teeth, and craned her neck to see what face or statue would adorn the temple’s front.
But there was no face of gold, no statue, no adornments — not with a recognizable face or symbol anyway. As she and Darian approached the city, they found no markings of the gods on any of the walls, any of the homes or temples, nothing. All they found was a vast array of pleasant buildings, with many built close enough to the river to drink of it freely. Not that she imagined the dead needed to drink.
And, upon getting close to the city, the dead did indeed emerge. She expected to see souls like in the soul rivers of the underworld, but instead, she found people. Just people, regular looking people, standing around, chatting. They wore typical white chitons and tunics, and they walked the grass — no roads — between the buildings, many with hands held, and of many ages. The city was big enough to house maybe a thousand souls, which made no sense to her. Not big enough to house all dead, even if they were being reborn regularly.
But damn, it was beautiful. She and Darian walked down the closest thing to a road, and as she looked around, she noticed the people walking by wore no sandals. Not only that, they were slightly see-through. Just slightly of course, and not in a gross way that exposed bones or organs. They looked beautiful, and as they continued through the crowd of dead, she noticed none were disfigured with a wound, or old, or weak. Everyone looked perfectly healthy.
And they were ignoring the two Fate’s Children. A pleasant change from the underworld.
It wasn’t long before the sounds of moans and groans started to become obvious. Otrera quirked a brow, stuck her head around one of the buildings, and raised a hand to her lips. In the alley between two of the buildings, a man and woman were having sex. Naked, clothes tossed aside, a woman was on her hands and knees, and the man was behind her, holding her hips, and pounding her. Otrera blinked a few times, and stared. The woman’s hair was hanging beside her neck, and the look on her face was absolute bliss.
And bliss turned into orgasm as the woman arched her back, and dug her fingers into the grass.
“Otrera?” Darian said.
“I ... I uh...”
The woman lifted her gaze, caught Otrera’s, and smiled an exhausted, sweat-dripping smile. The man behind her did the same. A lovely young man, with nice shoulders and a hard chin.
“We don’t know you,” he said. “Come join us?”
Strangers inviting strangers for sex, without even bothering to ask names. If this was the Asphodel Meadows, what could Elysium possibly have better?
Always thinking with her thighs.
Darian took her hand, and dragged her away. “Come on, one look at sex and you break like a neglected wife.”
She frowned, and pushed the man a couple feet away, but fell instep beside him anyway. “I’m a grown woman! I—”
More groans stopped her, and she forced herself to keep walking as she looked by the windows. Most of the homes had a pair of people fucking. Some had triplets. More than one had half a dozen people, with arms wrapped around each other, pushing their bodies up against walls so Otrera could see them through the windows. And one window had a woman leaning out through it, her hands on the sill, her large breasts dangling underneath her and bouncing with the rhythm of a long, gentle fuck.
This time Darian stopped, and took a few moments to stare. Otrera couldn’t see through his mask of course, but she knew what was going on in his big dumb head.
“You really like tits,” she said.
“What, you don’t? I saw the way you looked at Medusa.”
“Hey! I ... I love a good pair of tits, except my definition extends to a lot more than only big ones.” She frowned at him some more, even tried to scowl a little, but it all sort of washed away, and turned into a laugh. Darian laughed as well, and the two forced themselves to walk past the woman clearly enjoying herself.
Otrera did take a glance back though, and grinned as the woman gave her a tiny wave. Everyone was so damn happy. The kids — in a different section of the city than the sexually crazed, thankfully — were running, playing, wrestling, throwing rocks in the river, and the adults were chatting, telling tales of their lives, and fucking like rabbits.
Some of the people faded out as they approached, often mid action, and a new person replaced them doing something different nearby. Overlapping afterlives? She couldn’t tell, all she could tell was she was seeing more people than the city would suggest she should be able to see.
It wasn’t exactly right for the two of them to be having a nice evening stroll, with Medusa’s fate as it was, and she could tell Darian wanted to move faster. But at the same time, he was the one setting the pace. Maybe he was lost, or just struggling to figure out how to use the mask? Medusa had a thousand years in Tartarus before her, and Athena had only brought her to the afterlife that same day. Five minutes to peek around and see what the afterlife was like wouldn’t—
“Otrera?”
Otrera froze. Ice in her veins, feet turned to stone, petrified, unable to move as the voice resonated in her mind, in her memories, and made her grow faint. But, after a couple seconds of silence, she turned to face one of the windows.
“ ... Aeryn?”
Aeryn, moderate height, fit like any Amazon, with long blond hair, and a sharp chin to match her sharp wit. One of her best warriors.
And of course, Aeryn was naked, her pert breasts on display and her nipples blatantly hard. She was leaning forward against the window on her elbows, and she was smiling. Not a typical smile, not a ‘hello friend’ smile, but a blissful smile. And as Otrera stepped in closer, she blushed. Two other women, and one man were in there too.
“Nallia. Jonnah. What are you two sluts doing?” she said as she got closer.
The other two Amazons got up from their squatting positions around Aeryn’s legs. They were wearing their loincloths, but that was it. A couple of brunettes, Nallia was a short thing like Otrera, but with large enough breasts for the two of them, and then some, while Jonnah was a tall woman, thin, with a nasty scar down her chest.
There was no scar.
“You two look great,” she finally managed to say. Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.
“I can’t believe it’s you, Otrera. We ... we looked for you! You never came.” Aeryn held out her hands, and Otrera took them. She squeezed, and stared down at Aeryn’s fingers, at how they filled Otrera’s hands like fingers should, at how they were warm, and pulsed with life. Slightly see-through though. She was dead, no mistaking that.
Nallia and Jonnah got into the window too, elbows on the sill, and they each took Otrera’s hands to squeeze them.
“Queen Otrera,” they both said. They all looked aroused, and ready to fuck at a moment’s notice. Their queen visiting them didn’t seem to spark an ounce of shame or shyness in them — good. She’d hate herself if she spoiled their fun.
Darian had stopped a few feet down the path, and when she looked his way, he nodded, and leaned against a nearby building. She had a few minutes.
“Who’s that?” Otrera said, and she gestured to the naked man standing behind Aeryn. At least he wasn’t fucking her anymore; even Otrera would have found mid-sex dialogue a little awkward.
“This is Vasilis. He was a fisherman, when he was alive. Poor fool never had a wife or lover. Lonely man, too nice. We like to keep him company.”
“H-hello,” he said. “Your friends have spoken much about you.”
“Have they?” Otrera laughed and grinned at the man.
While her sisters of battle were comfortable with the situation, Vasilis was not. He was blushing even more than she. An older man than the girls, maybe in his mid forties. He was in good shape, but that seemed to be something that just happened in the Asphodel Meadows. He had a soft look to him, with a short beard, long blond hair, and quiet, brown eyes. And from the look in his eyes, she could read him clear as day; he didn’t have a mean or aggressive bone in his body.
Not exactly her cup of tea, but the girls seemed to be having fun spoiling him, what with Aeryn sticking her ass out for him, and the other two girls around their legs. Maybe she should have died and stayed dead, if this was what awaited her?
“You’re still alive,” they said as they looked her up and down. “What’s going on?”
“Um, er ... well, that’s the guy that killed you.” She gestured to Darian. He stood upright, shocked no doubt, but she waved him off. “I was saved by a sorceress, and long story short, she turned out to be a bitch. Bellerophontes and I worked together to kill her, and now we’re here to save his lover. She shouldn’t be dead.”
“Oh! So romantic!” Nallia leaned out the window, huge breasts jiggling — focus, Otrera — and waved at him. “You were such a beast in battle, little man! And ... what’s with the mask?”
“It’s, um...”
“Longer story again, don’t worry about it.” Otrera shoved Nallia back through the window by the forehead. “So ... Asphodel Meadows.”
“Yeah. Sorry Otrera, but none of us got to Elysium. And judging from the people we see, so few do. Dying in battle isn’t enough, you have to ... well we don’t know.”
Darian sighed and looked to the sky. “You have to ... change the world ... to get in there.”
They all raised a brow at him. Something on his mind, she’d ask him later.
“But,” Otrera said, “you girls seem to be having fun.”
“Oh, it’s such a nice place Otrera. No hunger, no thirst, no disease, wounds are healed, everyone is healthy, horny, and friendly. Something about this place, it ... it brings people together, in whatever way lets you be happy. Some people have even stayed for decades, content to enjoy the different faces.”
“Stayed?”
Aeryn nodded and continued. “When we want to leave, and be reborn, we can. Any time we want. When we feel refreshed, revitalized, and ready to go back to the living, try life again, we can. Until then, we get to relax here, and just ... be happy.”
Maybe she really should have died. But then, she’d never have met the big dumbass she left in Aethiopia.
“Do you remember anything from your previous lives?” Otrera said.
“No, not really. Some hazy images, but that’s it. But I can feel my previous lives in ... well, my soul I guess.”
“You want to ... come join us?” Jonnah said. “Been a while.” With a wink, she stepped back toward the man they’d captured, and leaned in to put a kiss on his cheek as she pressed her breasts against his arm.
Vasilis started to visibly tremble, and Otrera winked at him. She’d break the poor guy.
“Nah. Really want to, but can’t. I have to keep going. And besides, you girls could use the break.” And I have a lover.
“If anyone deserves a break, it’s you, my queen.” Aeryn squeezed her hand again, and patted her knuckles.
“Maybe someday. Not today. Have you seen the other girls?”
“A few have gone back to the world. Many are around, enjoying themselves as we are. The Asphodel Meadows will bring us together sometimes, and sometimes it keeps us apart. Whatever will best let us relax, and be content.”
Thank you Asphodel Meadows, for not bringing back her entire tribe for her to face. She’d break down into a sobbing mess if she had to look each sister in the eye again.
~~Chimera~~ He did not like where this was going. The ship moved at a slow pace, or at least he thought it was slow. In the middle of the night, the stars and breeze should have been more than enough of a guide, but the fog of the dead blocked his senses. It felt almost as if they were holding still, but the rest of the crew assured him they were moving, slow but steady. Crew. He sneered, and looked across the deck to the others. The two satyrs were chatting about the tale of Bellerophon,...
~~Darian~~ The journey was not as easy as he’d been hoping. It was a fool’s hope to think it’d be a casual stroll down in the country, but still, he had pictured himself in a simple tunic with Medusa beside him, walking at leisure wherever they desired. Instead, he was weighed down in armor with provisions and a bedroll strapped to his back, not to mention a shield, a sword, and a spear. He looked at the beautiful creature next to him, his one saving grace on this fool’s quest. Medusa kept...
~~Darian~~ Darian took a small step back, and kept his sword up and ready. “Patrius.” “Patrius ... the guard from Tiryns?” Otrera came up beside Darian, sword as ready as his own, and scanned over the group of villagers. They were just people, armor as old and untended as a farmer’s sword, and untrained hands fumbling with their equipment with just as much clumsiness. Their fingers floundered over the weapons, and their eyes glazed over their work, half open, with heavy shoulders and...
~~Otrera~~ Otrera looked down at herself, and sighed. She was naked, laying down in the grass, and staring up at the moonlit sky. Her head rested upon the lap of a nymph that was combing her long black hair. Another nymph was massaging her legs and working her fingers into the tight muscles. They never said anything, the beautiful women touching her, but they smiled, and giggled — so they had voices at least — and traced her many scars with their fingertips. She had much darker skin than...
~~Darian~~ Darian growled, louder than he wanted to, and when he glanced at Medusa, she was looking at him with a confused expression. No luck there, she’d heard them, and she lowered her human half down next to him. She kept looking at him through the corner of her eye, but the monsters before them weren’t the sort you took your eyes off of. “It’s Darian now. Fuck off,” he said. The three winged women glared at him, exposed their shark teeth, and scowled. But they said nothing; the masks...
~~Darian~~ Discovering that the red-eyed guards on the bridge were actually undead was an unwelcome surprise. He should have guessed it; not the first time he’d fought Andromeda’s summoned skeletons. Skeletons shouldn’t have been able to scream, though. They didn’t have any flesh or throat or muscle. They shouldn’t have been able to do anything but lay on the ground, like dead should. But his eyes and sword told him differently as his blade hacked through bone, bone, and more bone. Their...
~~Chimera~~ “We are in luck,” he said. “Gaia has provided.” Pinna and Medusa were up the moment the words were out his mouth. He waved them to sit back down, and he walked over to join them next to the satyr. “Did you run into anyone?” Bellerophontes said. “Anyone out there that might be trouble?” “It is as you said. The villages are far from here, but I did see other ships approach nearby waters. It would seem other cities are using Paros as a bay for trade. We should be cautious if we...
“Damn, damn, damn. Computer give me results of damage on the ‘squirt drive’.” ‘Squirt drive locked in drive mode and at full power. Attempting to cut power to drive to release controls and return to normal space.’ I had just hit execute on a jump when a ship coming out of jump slams into me and throws everything upside down. Now here I am travelling at 10 times light and can’t get the drive to shutdown. I don’t even know in which direction I’m going as the impact tumbled the navigation gyros....
Fantasy & Sci-Fi~~Medusa~~ “So, what do you think?” Darian said. He posed for them, a brown cloak wrapped over his body, dirty edges and blotches of stains on it. Chimera grunted, but Medusa smiled and slithered around him. “You look charming.” “I’m not supposed to look charming! I’m supposed to look forgettable.” He adjusted the horrible garb, but no matter how he wore it, his great smile and young face showed through. “You’ll have to hide your face then.” She reached for his shoulders, and pulled the...
~~Darian~~ “ ... Bellerophontes.” The world stopped. The air petrified, the breeze ceased, and the crickets and birds faded away. The world died around him until it was as if sitting atop a stage, lifeless. Cold crept along his skin until he thought his tears might have frozen on his cheeks. They weren’t, but every sense in his body told him they should have been The mask was alive. Or at least something was talking through it. “Bell ... phontes...” The voice sounded buried, like...
~~Otrera~~ Patrius showed up come dawn, as promised, as did the three men. No bandages on his skin this time, not after Chimera explained it didn’t help much. Once Otrera and her companions had taken a whiff of Athena’s gift, they set out into the night. Sneaking around at night was much easier with Athena’s special jar of whatever to wash away the curse. She didn’t like it, smelling something odorless to free her mind of some sorceress’s curse. It was a lot of talk, conjecture, a lot of...
Hey, hey, hey!Still here? To be honest, I wasn't sure you would be. People probably think I'm a bit much to take all in one go. It's true. I can be a total motormouth most of the time but that's just my way of hiding how nervous I get around others. The same goes for the cussing. I swear for a reason. Men are always coming on to me and I've discovered the best way to put them off is to use the language as a kind of weapon. Works every time. But it's not really who I am inside so don't...
Love Stories~~Chimera~~ “The sun will be rising very soon,” he said. “Fuck. Fuck fuck. We can’t sneak into the city come sunrise. Fuck.” The little queen stomped around, and punched him in the leg. She was only a little thing, and her punches were powerful enough to send her back a foot or two across the grass from its own force. Fate’s Children punched hard, and he winced as her knuckles hit muscle. “Your fault.” “I am sorry.” The adorable bundle of fury rolled her eyes, and looked around at the...
"It was midnight. On the water..."*In the dim dark recesses of the mind where dreams are born, my imagination created a world for me to live and play in without fear of consequence. And in that place, I could do and say the things I wanted to say to the one person I wanted to say them to the most.In this dreamworld, from out of the blue swirling void, the man took form and came to me with a smile. He was the light upon my dark and he took my hand in his as we walked along the moonlit shore of...
Love StoriesThis is set in the world of the TV show Flashforward. When everyone on the planet blacked out for two minutes and seventeen seconds they got to see a glimpse of their lives six months from then. The visions of the Samms family were different than most. In the future not all of them would be the same person, or even the same gender.... (NOTE: This picks up where 'Altered Fates: Flashforward' left off but it can be read on its own.) ALTERED FATES: FLASHFORWARD...
ALTERED FATES: RETURN TO KENNET COVE by BobH (c) 2004 (Author's note: This tale is a sequel to, and contains *major* spoilers for, ALTERED FATES: THE X-FILE. It also features appearances by several characters who have encountered the Medallion of Zulo in other stories of mine.) ****************** Having driven down the hill and into the town proper, Julia Tamm parked her car next to the harbor wall. Smiling lovingly at her infant daughter asleep in the child seat...
(Author's Note: This story takes place after Altered Fates: Return to Kennet Cove, and contains spoilers for that tale.) ALTERED FATES: THE CULT By BobH (c) 2004 June 7th, 1968. Barry Hudson, gunned the motor on his ancient VW Beetle, urging it on through the choking dust thrown up by its passage over the bumpy dirt track leading to his destination. "C'mon, you Nazi piece of crap," he said through gritted teeth, "just get us over this rise and we're there, I promise." When...
ALTERED FATES: FLASHFORWARD by BobH (c) 2009 *** (This story is set in the world of the TV show Flashforward.) *** For 17 year-old Lacey Mikulski this was a hard time. She was trying her best to keep her mother's sprits up but her mother wasn't the only one hurting. "I miss her too, you know," she said softly. If her mother heard her she...
ALTERED FATES: AGENT ZULO by BobH (c) 2011 "Yes, baby, oh yes!!" I moaned, bending over the motel room desk as my partner took me from behind, grasping my hips and snorting as he rammed himself into me. Red-faced and breathing heavily, the effort seemed to be taking a lot out of him. Giving one last thrust that almost pushed me into the wall, he came with a final labored grunt. Having shot his load he pulled out of me and sat down heavily on the bed, sweating...
Altered Fates: Triptych By BobH (c) 2003 Lucius Duvall checked his reflection and nodded his approval at what he saw. His hair and beard might have long since turned silver grey, giving him an illusion of age and wisdom that, in terms of age at least, was beyond his years, but both were immaculately trimmed, their edges razor-sharp. His suit was tailored to perfection, the trouser creases sharp and straight; his shoes polished to an almost mirror-finish; the carnation in...
ALTERED FATES/X-FILES: THE SCAM By Bob H. (c) 2003 FBI HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON, DC. FBI agent Fox Mulder was starting to hate working alone. Hidden away as he was in the windowless room of a back basement accessible only via a corridor lined with dusty storage racks, he often felt both unappreciated and as forgotten as many in the bureau would like the X-files themselves to be. He sometimes went days without seeing another living soul between the time he entered the J. Edgar...
In the year 2065 the United States is a theocracy in all but name, and at the center of the system sits the Medallion of Zulo.... ALTERED FATES: 2065 A.D. by BobH (C) 2013. (Note: While not essential to your understanding and enjoyment, you will get more out of this story if you first read my tales 'Altered Fates: The Cult', 'The Chapford Wives', and 'Amazons', on which it draws quite considerably. All are available here on FM.) 1: Ray Standing at the altar before...
The Fates by Janet Stickney [email protected] The only way to overturn cruel Fates is to use the truth Destiny is fate aggravated by chance. That's what dad always said. As I dressed I knew that it was true. Why else would I be pulling on a skirt? I finished dressing, joined my mother for breakfast, and thought about how the fates had been so kind to me. My name was Jeff Grant. I'm 16 now, yet this all started when I was 15, just out of school for the summer. I...
The Fates by: Janet Stickney [email protected] The only way to overturn cruel Fates is to use the truth Destiny is fate aggravated by chance. That's what dad always said. As I dressed I knew that it was true. Why else would I be pulling on a skirt? I finished dressing, joined my mother for breakfast, and thought about how the fates had been so kind to me. My name was Jeff. I'm 16 now, yet this all started when I was 15, just out of school for the summer. I had no plans...
Altered Fates: The Things We Do For Friends part 1 of 5 By Morpheus I stood in the school bathroom with my half soapy hands underneath the water faucet, grimacing as I rinsed them off. Then pausing for a second, I looked up and into the mirror that was hung on the wall in front of me. The same familiar 14 year old boy that I always saw looked back at me with a sour expression. His messy brown hair was in need of a cut and his nose still had blood dripping from it. "Shit."...
ALTERED FATES: THE X-FILE REOPENED by BobH. (c) 2003 For those of you interested in continuity, this story takes place during the first half of the final season of The X- Files. It's a sequel to my story ALTERED FATES: THE X-FILE in the sense of being set after that tale and making reference back to it, but you don't need to have read that one to follow this one. MARRIOTT HOTEL, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND It was her walk as she strode into the main bar that had first...
As always, any comments or criticism is welcome. Feel free to email me at [email protected]. This story is dedicated to the creator of the Altered Fates Universe, Jennifer Adams and to the cast and crew of the 60's television series The Fugitive, still perhaps the finest drama series made for television. I also want to thank Steve Zink for his editing and general story help. Author's Note: Thank you to the original creators of the Fugitive TV series. Below is the cast, mostly...
The great bear savaged as it ate the young king tearing his stomach up and clawed him ripping him to bloody shreds. Later when he had calmed down the bear took human form again the rage had subsided and he looked at his prize as had been promised by his new goddess the dark goddess of love and lust Laure standing there smiling in that strange but rousingly tight and shining attire, Barak walked quickly over to where Ce’Nedra stood screaming and crying at what had just happened and grabbed...
Please send or leave comments so I know whether my time writing this was well spent! Thanks for all comments. _______________________________________________ A Tale Of Hollywood Mystery And Magic, And An Unusual Medallion! An Altered Fates short story by Caleb Jones (Inspired by the Oscar winning actress, Hilary Swank.) Hilary Swank read the headline one more time, still unable to believe last night's events were true. "Swank Wins Oscar" Sun, Mar 26, 2000 05:54 PM PST LOS...
(Author's Note: This story provides a finale to all the Altered Fates tales I've posted here to date. It contains spoilers for, and resolves dangling threads from, most of those eleven stories. I wrote them out of sequence, but I always knew where each of them fitted in the overall scheme. Read in order, the larger story should all fall into place with what might have seemed stray characters and random bits of business all connecting up. Even if you read the individual stories as they...
ALTERED FATES: A CHRISTMAS TALE by BobH (c) 2012 Ed Geraghty sat down heavily on the changing room bench and sighed. He felt every minute of his fifty-six years, and then some. Any positive effect on his health of thirty five years pounding the streets delivering mail had been more than offset by the same number of years spent drinking hard liquor to excess. Not that this was an option open to him any more, given the precarious state of his liver. He was not a bad man, and had...
Altered Fates Story This story is copyright 1998 by the author. It may be posted and archived on any free site. If you wish to post on a for-pay site, contact the author. Altered Fates: The Hit Man By Ran Dandel I couldn't believe my good fortune. After countless hours following-up various leads, rumors, and downright lies, I reached my goal. I had located the fabled Medallion of Zulo. This prize would ensure my reputation, and insure that I would reach the pinnacle of my...
Altered Fates: Milkshakes at Midnight by Bashful [email protected] This is the tale of a young married couple, the husband's brother, and how the Medallion of Zulo altered their fates. Frank and Debra Walker had been married for close to three years when Frank's brother Ed moved in. Ed had lived with his parents until they retired and moved to Florida. Ed was frequently out of work and living with his parents had taken the stress out of finding a permanent job. Now Ed was...
I originally had no intention of making this an Altered Fates story. However, after my first two drafts turned out horrible, I decided to try a different angle with it. This is what resulted. Altered Fates: Auntie Em By Morpheus Corey winced as his foot went into the puddle of water, muttering "Damn" to himself. He was already completely soaked through from the heavy rain, which gave no sign of letting up. Shivering in his wet clothes, Corey really wished that he hadn't ...
I've had this story in mind for quite awhile, but the first time I started writing it, Eric came out with a very similar Altered Fates story called The Baby-sitter Caper first. Because of that I put this one on hold for awhile. Well here it finally is. I know that the ending leaves a lot that could be done afterwards, but I left off where I was on purpose. Perhaps I'll do a sequel, or perhaps I'll just leave the rest to the readers imagination. Altered Fates: Babysitting By...
Hello I've submitted stories before as Lisa, Alyssa's Magic, Strings, and the Gift of Dreams here is a story that has been on Jennifer's site for a long time and I'm finally submitting it here, It is an Altered Fates Story. Altered Fates: Chris and Marissa By Rena Marissa Moore was having a bad week. She had just been laid off from her job as a receptionist for a small software company. It wasn't a great job, but it paid the bills. The company had been purchased by a slightly...
Altered Fates: A Complicated Affair By Theunknownauthor Everything you are about to read is true! Every person, place or thing that is mentioned in this account is real, although I am changing the names and not giving any exact locations. I am doing this so that readers won't try to verify the validity of this story on their own. This isn't an easy story for me to tell, but I feel that I need to get it off my chest. For almost a year now I have been reading various accounts...
Altered Fates - Lost and Found by cj Permissions: Archival and/or sharing of this story, along with derivitive works - WITHOUT profit from reselling/repackaging, are permitted as long as the story remains complete, unchanged, and correctly attributed to its original author "cj". These permissions are to be included with shared or archived story, and extended to any derivative works. Written permission from the author is required for any "for profit" use. Special Thanks: Thank you,...
“Damn, damn, damn. Computer give me results of damage on the ‘squirt drive’.” ‘Squirt drive locked in drive mode and at full power. Attempting to cut power to drive to release controls and return to normal space.’ I had just hit execute on a jump when a ship coming out of jump slams into me and throws everything upside down. Now here I am travelling at 10 times light and can’t get the drive to shutdown. I don’t even know in which direction I’m going as the impact tumbled the navigation...
“Gods I need to get laid,” the Amazon said. Chimera rumbled something like a chuckle, took a deep breath, and sat down next to her. She was leaning against a rock, standing, and him sitting down next to her put him at eye level with her. It let him look out over the grass and sea the same way she saw them, as a tiny, short thing unable to see everything. The thought made him chuckle again. “The fuck you laughing at?” she said. “Nothing.” A shrug and another chuckle later, he motioned to...
This story is intended for the entertainment of adults only. Copyright (C) 1999 by Maryann. All rights reserved. Permission Is hereby granted for non-commercial use of this complete and unaltered text. Electronic storage of unaltered copies for personal use is also permitted. Any other use of this text is a violation of copyright. No hardcopies may be made without written permission from the author. Altered Fates- The girl with the Rose Colored Tattoo. By: Maryann ...
Altered Fates: A Study In Childhood - By Innocent Guilt Hi, my name is Jeffery Smith. If you stumbled onto this little story of my life then I hope it helps save you from the fate I am in now. Well, lets go back to where it all started. It was my first days of college. I was a freshman at Undeclared Medical College. I was head strong, naive, stupid, and thought I could take on the world. I had just finished high school as top of my class with some off the wall theories in the...
Following my debut story last week (Lord's Prayer), along with the feedback I've received (thanks Eric Bloodstone, Jennifer Adams, Mindy Rich and all the others) I have gotten the bug ! This is a spin-off story from Lord's Prayer which, I hope, wraps up this episode. If found that, although this started out at an even pace, it turned fairly dark about half way through as the story took on a life of it's own and reflected the mood I was in at the time. Hope that some still enjoy this...
As always excessive praise is always welcome No copyright infringement intended. The rights belong to CBS and Childhood Sweethearts. CJ and I are just having fun not meaning any harm. Altered Fates: Domestic Tranquility with The Nanny By Eric and Caleb Jones Fran Fine's annoyingly nasal voice hammered at Maxwell's ears like a sledgehammer. She was sexy and lovable but oh, that voice of hers. Perhaps he should insist she go to a voice training class, but every time he hinted at...
ALTERED FATES Sisters Revenge by Kathryn Nelson Copyright - Kathryn Nelson, 2001 Kyle Emerson was 18 and had just graduated from high school. Finally, he was free from those teachers he thought were weird and all the studying his mother made him do. He was registered to go to a local community college in the fall but he now had the summer off to enjoy himself. His mother had saved up the money for him to go to college but he needed to pay for his own car and all other...
(Author's Note: For anyone concerned with continuity, I figure this story occurs somewhere around the middle of the run of the X-FILES.) ALTERED FATES: THE X-FILE By BobH (c) 2002 FBI TRAINING FACILITY, QUANTICO, VIRGINIA. With her usual methodical efficiency, FBI agent Dr. Dana Scully had carried out a full post mortem examination of the two bodies that had been shipped to the morgue here at Quantico. Her partner, FBI agent Fox Mulder, had asked her to do the autopsies so he...
CARNIVAL OF MIRRORS: FOUR FATES By BobH (c) 2004 Cedar Junction, MA, May 16th, 1987, 2:40 pm: Hot dog franks sizzled on griddles, sugar was spun into floss and onto sticks, vendors hawked their wares. The crowds swirled around happily, shouting and laughing, unaware of the danger that lurked among them. Reed Carter rubbed his stubbled chin thoughtfully and took in the scene before him with the experienced eyes of a predator. The fair had come to town two days earlier, the rides...
Altered Fates - The Book Dealer by KathyB Paul Mortonson was from Palo Alto. He was born there. He was raised there. He went to school there, college too. He met a girl from there, got married there and settled there. He even worked there. Paul owned and operated a small, independent book store. His specialty, and his passion, was rare and collectable books. Palo Alto, for those who do not know, is a community of some 60,000 people. It sits in the northwest corner of...
Altered Fates - The Mistakes of Others By KathyB Learn from the mistakes of others; life is too short to make them all yourself. Chapter #1 Jim Collins was nothing if not methodical. An engineer by trade and obsessive compulsive by habit, he carefully planned his day's activities so as to minimize wasted effort. He rose routinely at 5:00 am, tended to personal hygiene as the situation warranted, poured a cup of hot black coffee from his...
Altered Fates - The Medallion comes to Fairview Part III. Hide and Seek Previously: In Part I - Justin Donovan and his Dad moved back to Fairview after Justin's Dad (Sean) retired from the United States Marine Corps. Justin began his senior year at Fairview and quickly fell for Laura. Laura's friend Becky in an attempt to make her boyfriend jealous went out with Todd, the school drug dealer, and was raped. Knowing Justin's ability as a fighter Becky got Laura to help her in a...
The Medallion of Zulo was a powerful instrument of fate, but sometimes the fate it brought was death. ALTERED FATES: THE DAUGHTER by BobH (c) 2014 I woke screaming, lurching upright in bed as that scream subsided into great, wrenching sobs. It was the sounds again, those terrible cracking and snapping sounds I couldn't escape. The bedroom door burst open then Carol was there, taking my tiny body in her arms, rocking me back and forth, my head on her breasts,...
"Altered Fates: What are friends for?" - By Flyover State. Synopsis: Tiffany and Ryan are best friends. As young kids, the two girls meet Tyler, a kid new to the neighborhood. Now in high school, Tiffany and Tyler are dating. Ryan's love for Tiffany has grown more than sisterly, and she knows it won't be reciprocated. Follow Tyler, as Ryan brings her plan to fruition, and the aftermath of his choices thereafter. Multiple changes occur (other characters) age regression,...
Altered Fates: Dennis (I know, its not the greatest name, but it works) By Morpheus ([email protected]) Walking home from work, I happened to look down, and saw a small brass colored medallion sitting in the gutter. Curiously, I pulled it out and held it up examining it. When I'd seen it, I'd hoped that it might be worth something, but as I looked at it, I realized that it was only a cheap piece of costume jewelry. Probably for kids or something. I noticed that there was a...
Altered Fates : What Friends Are For! By Paul1954 Clare looked across at her children, Ginny aged 7 and Jack aged 10, and sighed. She returned her attentions to the mirror in the hallway and finished touching up her lipstick. It was a typical Saturday morning at the Walter's home with Clare's husband Des sleeping off the results of a Friday night drinking spree spent with his co-workers and her children glued to the television watching the trash that passes for children's TV...
AF: A Double Dose of the Medallion By Julie Jeff was on his way home from another typical day at the office. He wasn?t in a big hurry. It wasn?t that he didn?t want to go home, but there was no big rush. As he pulled up in front of the house he noticed his wife Beverly wasn?t home yet. That was no surprise. She had been working longer and longer hours and now it seemed they rarely saw each other anymore. Beverly was a computer programmer and even when she was home, she...
When I wrote Auntie Em, I had no intention of writing a sequel to it. However, after I finished it I started thinking about a few other ideas I had for the main characters and decided to use them as well. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, this one turned out quite a bit longer than I'd anticipated. For those of you who haven't read Auntie Em first, I suggest that you do before reading this. Altered Fates: Auntie Em II By Morpheus Emily felt bored....
Altered Fates: A Promise Kept By Jennifer Adams "Mike! Where have you been?" Connie asked. It was more of a demand rather than a question. She had been waiting and wondering where her husband had been for several hours. He wasn't normally a man who left and didn't come home. At least not until SHE came back to town. SHE was Mike's childhood friend. They had been neighbors growing up and played together all the time. Her name was Dana. "I'm sorry dear. I was over at Dana's...
Lyle's Story by Grendel There are two sides to every story. Most of us would prefer to see the world in black and white, but the decisions we make are never as clear- cut as that. I know that I've made some enemies in my life, and perhaps with hindsight some of the pain that I've caused could have been avoided, but I've never deliberately acted with malice. I've just made some bad choices. I grew up in the shadow of my elder brother, Ken. He was the Golden Child, the...