Some heroes were slayers of monsters,
bearing the name Perseus or Theseus.
Some were slayers of men,
bearing the name Odysseus or Achilles.
Some slayed their pride,
some were slain by it.
Some broke the hearts of loved ones,
and some were left broken beyond repair.
Aria was a slayer of nothing.
She was a slayer of no one.
She did not fight,
nor did she love.
But in the eyes of the people of Greece,
her pride was great.
For Aria was the only of her kind in Athens:
one who disbelieved the gods.
Orphaned at birth,
and raised by the streets of Athens,
Aria held no faith in Zeus.
Aria sought no godly favor,
burned no offerings,
and never knelt in prayer.
Aria led a lonely life of simplicity,
until the day she did not.
Athena could not stand it.
To be disrespected,
to be disbelieved,
to be renounced in her city,
was unforgivable in the eyes of any god.
But Athena, in her wisdom,
devised a plan of revenge upon the mortal.
Aria would soon know Athena to be real.
Athena told her siblings of her plan,
and stole away to her holy city,
disguised in robes of white and purple.
With olive skin, raven hair,
and eyes like storm clouds,
Athena appeared as any other mortal.
And upon seeing her for the first time,
Aria knew her to be the most beautiful person in the land.
Athena put her plan into action,
finding Aria and requesting her help.
Knowing herself to be no hero,
Aria declined reluctantly.
But Athena insisted,
and Aria could not find it in herself to refuse.
And so Athena led Aria on a journey,
and Aria succeeded in every task.
Every new victory encouraged Aria.
Every monster slain,
every village saved,
and every person helped,
restored Aria's faith in herself.
But it conjured no faith in the gods.
For once, Athena found her wisdom blinded.
By the beauty of a mortal, no less.
At last, Zeus discovered Athena's plan.
Displeased with his daughter's secrecy,
he ordered her to return to Olympus.
But Athena, in her blindness,
disobeyed her father in favor of the mortal.
Enraged by this, Zeus destroyed the village.
Along with it went Aria, whom Athena had grown to love.
Athena grieved until her tears doused the flames.
Athena went to Dionysus and begged for his help.
Feeling pity for his sister, Dionysus agreed.
Knowing he needed the help of Hades,
who would never directly defy Zeus,
Dionysus traveled to the underworld.
He intoxicated the ruler of the underworld,
and the judges of the souls,
and threw all of Hades into chaos.
In the middle of such wildness and confusion,
Dionysus retrieved Aria,
and stole her away to the world above.
Athena was forever thankful,
but spoke nothing of it,
as she was overcome with emotion
upon seeing Aria once more.
But Dionysus knew.
Athena looked after her lover,
until Aria's dying day.
And when that day came,
Athena knew no end to her tears,
until Artemis came to comfort the weeping Athena,
under the soft light of the newly-risen moon.
Artemis knew the pain of loss,
and she grieved with her sister.
"She called me her goddess."
Athena said to her sister.
"Your plan was successful, then."
was all Artemis replied.
"I loved her."
"She loved you, too."
Athena was distraught to have lost,
but grateful to have loved.
Athena knew not how much time had passed.
Years felt like days to gods.
But now days felt like years.
Athena wandered the land of Greece.
She answered prayers,
but she saw no miracles.
She wondered idly if this was how it felt,
when Demeter lost her daughter.
Days upon days later,
Athena found herself on Olympus.
She found no peace in fields,
nor in her temples.
And her home seemed to only worsen her grief.
Her father arrived,
as did her siblings,
but she had never felt more alone.
But suddenly there was light in her life again.
Upon looking up, she saw a beautiful woman.
Adorned in robes of gold and white,
dark brown hair in a plait,
eyes as green as when she was born,
and a smile as bright as every day Athena had seen it,
stood the new minor goddess;
Aria, lover of Athena, goddess of faith.