"Till Death Us Do Part" by Jurious
--Based on and inspired by Disney's Hercules movie and TV series. (This is a redux of my original fanfics "Daughter of Demeter" and "Discord and Death")
Prologue
I would like to tell you a story, if you can spare me the time. Me? I have all the time in the world, but I know that you don't. I could tell you how much time you have left, if you like? Well, perhaps not… that would be more than a bit unkind. (And let's face it, some secrets are better left kept.)
I know many of you fear death. I, on the other hand, wouldn't know much about that. Why? Because I'm immortal, a child born of two deities, so will never die. (Or so I thought… but I've recently had a close call.)
Some would call immortality a curse, whilst others would do anything to trade places with me and live for all eternity. So many of you mortals, even to this day, continue to try to cheat death. You're getting better at it, I'll give you that, but you'll never be able to prevent the inevitable. I'll be a little upset if you do because I'll be out of the job!
You must think me quite rude – I've made no attempt to introduce myself whatsoever. Well, like I said, some secrets are better left kept, and this secret I shall keep until the tale has run its course. To be frank, the tale isn't even mine to tell, but it is a tale I believe is well worth your hearing.
This story is about love and hate, just like nearly every other story ever told. I'm sure there are a million-and-one other labels you could apply to it as well, but I've no interest in complicating things any further than that…
Some say every story should begin at the end, so let me take you to where the tale approaches its climax. I want you to put yourselves in my sandals and imagine a great beast towering before you, a hideous creature made up by the darkest of magic. This monster sports three heads, one serpentine and two lupine, and it bears its dragon-like body on four, sturdy legs. Its tail is long and stretches out far behind so that it may keep itself in balance, and two pairs of feathered wings, black as the night sky, sprout out from its back. It is indeed a formidable beast.
I stand before this creature with my scythe in hand and wonder where to even begin my assault. This monster must be destroyed, there is no question, for it threatens not only the domain of my father, but the equilibrium of the entire world – for if one part of the earth is thrown off-kilter, the rest will soon follow, I can assure you.
Even so, you might ask why an immortal like myself would fear this creature because my life can never be taken from me? I believe there is an idiom in your world which says "never say never". All things can come to an end, and this beast represents just such a finality, for a venom flows from this monster's fangs which could extract the very immortality from my body. Yes, now you understand. Fear for my life is for the first time a very real thing, and death itself a grave possibility.
Do you have a picture in your head now? Try to imagine the fear, the fear of not so much dying, but of losing the stability of the world in which you have always lived. Think about losing the people which have always been there for you. Think of the possibility that you might fail. Can you manufacture these feelings? Can you see the three-headed monster before you? Are you as close to being in my sandals as possible? I hope that's a yes because I'm now going to whisk you back to the beginning of the tale and, as my father might say, "leave you hanging". (Forgive me; I've inherited a bit of a wicked streak from my dad.)
It is three years since an assault was made on Mount Olympus by the youngest of Cronus' sons, the troublemaker Hades. He and his brothers, Zeus and Poseidon had, eons before, inherited a third of the world each between them – Zeus the skies, Poseidon the seas, and Hades the netherworld - but Hades had never been satisfied with his lot. It was this which had driven his scheming and plotting to the extreme, which cumulated in his releasing of the Titans and attempting to usurp Zeus' place as king of the gods. But Hades failed spectacularly and wound up falling into the depths of the Well of Souls within his own land of the dead. Many pondered on the chances of Hades ever making it out of that infernal pit of death but, after three long years of struggling, he at last escaped that vortex to breathe the noxious, sulphuric air of Tartarus once again.
So what happened next to this iniquitous God? His crimes against Zeus and the entire pantheon of gods could never be forgiven, whether they had taken place three or three hundred years ago. And yet one had to ask whether it was even in Zeus' power to banish any God from his providence, no matter how severe his crimes. The curse of the Olympians is that your function – be you god of love, of wine, or of the sun – is yours for life, and once you have been woven into that great Tapestry of Fate, you cannot have any hope of altering your destiny. It is something that Hades would always strive to overcome, and something Zeus would always attempt to deny, but they could do nought but accept that they were doomed to live out their days just as the three Fates had ordained; they would always be brothers and would always be rulers of their vast realms.
(That is until the Fates take it upon themselves to overthrow them, just as Zeus and his brothers overthrew the mighty Cronus and the Titans in the last age. As I mentioned earlier, all things can come to an end. But I digress…)
Until I fool you into thinking this tale is wholly serious and doom-laden, and saturated by my tedious talk of wars and grudges, I will end my prologue here and let you indulge in the story. I shall look forward to seeing you again (in my sandals) right at the end, and we shall then face the three-headed beast together…
TBC...?