Actually a piece from my Deviantart page. It's definitely not a favored one of mine, but I found the angle it came from entertaining. Didn't capture it as well as I did in my head, but oh well. Hope you enjoy, Medusa has always been my favorite amongst the Greeks.
She was once a beauty that was rare, a woman that was both gentle and strong. Always prepared to defend the temple, the most devoted to the Goddess. Yet she suffered a fate that was undeserving of her, one that made my stomach turn with its unjust. I could remember when I first saw her body crumbled upon the ground, standing in a group with the other remaining priestesses. They were horrified and yet did nothing to assist. I had to shove through them just to get to her, the fallen beauty who laid exposed and weeping. She was violated by an act that was not uncommon in our era, but still just as traumatizing. Everything she knew fell apart that night when Athena herself emerged and ended the Medusa I once knew. We were forced from the temple which soon became the beast's home. Forced from the life she once knew, alone for the rest of her days, she had to adapt. She had to live off of the only thing she had come to know, hatred.
iMedusa never took her beauty for granted, she did not wish for anything but to worship the Goddess. To live amongst her sisters within the temple. The once beautiful home to us, now a prison to my sister, my friend. The other girls fled to find another means of worshiping their Goddess, I did not. Rather, I left the only home I knew and made way to the nearest city. I spent five and a half years gaining what ever money I could gather, the supplies I would need, and then I returned to that only home I ever knew. Athena's curse prohibited me from entering the sorrow filled temple, but that did not mean I could not await upon the outside.
iThe temple sat on the side of a cliff, a short span of steps leading up to the beautiful monuments. Tall, white columns held up the heavy structure, but it could be seen that this place was designed for worshiping a Goddess. We survived all our years here with the small garden and animals. It would need reviving but I came prepared. It took a few weeks for things to become settled but they managed out well. I made a small camp at the front of the temple, a promise to never leave her side.
Medusa did not come to see me, I could understand her distance, but I was here now to be with her. We were like sisters at one time, to disregard that would be an act worthy of burning in Hell for. I stayed there for months and in all that time there was not a single sign of Medusa. Come the seventh month of the year was when a sound came to my ears, near the mouth of the temple. It was a quick sound, piercing and sob-like. I had been knitting when it occurred, the fabric in my hands had fallen and I looked questioningly. It was then an idea struck, I removed a ball of yarn from the box and made my way to the opening. Laying down upon my stomach I stared into the blackness that dared not to give away a single secret. With the yarn ball in front of me I held it out and with a small bush rolled it. The ball left my sight, entering through the doorway. I awaited several moments in time before something reached my ears, movement. And then the ball of yarn came tumbling back to me. I found my lips to be smiling on their own, and this time without any hesitation rolled the yarn back inside. There wasn't as long as a wait as the ball came back my way. We continued this repetitive game for hours each day. Never once did a word escape either of our mouths, but our eyes were upon one another. She could see me, and even if I could not view her I could still visibly see the memory of her. That alone was enough.
I spent every day with her, and at night my form retired to the tent for a rest. The day would start over, again and again I spent sitting outside of the jaws of the temple. I'd start to read poetry, tell tales I had picked up over those years I was gone. She'd never respond and half the time she could of very well been not even there, but it did not stop my ramblings. And over the course of years I even told her stories before I parted ways, when no more of my life stories could be told I would tell her fairy tales. Every thought was shared, I gave her the company she once had, even if we could no longer be in each others arms I gave her all that I could from where I was.
Alas, even if time meant nothing for my dear Medusa it did mean something to me. I was sitting against the temple, the yarn ball was rolled back out to me. Giving a soft laugh I rolled it back to her and commented on how this game was still as entertaining as they first day we started it. There was a soft murmuring, feminine, I nearly thought I heard her chuckle but dismissed it. Must of been the heat. The ball of yarn once more it my hand that sat beside him, taking hold of it I was preparing to toss it back when pain arose. Everything around me seemed to blur, confusion stunning me. I knew I was ill from this very morning, when I continued to stumble and forgot my way time and time again. But only now did it occur that it was fatal, when I could feel my body slumping further against the warm temple. The ball of yarn tumbled from my grasp and rolled near the entrance, only it never made it quite so. I couldn't speak, nor do anything to alert the woman I had sworn my company to. It must be my only regret, to leave her within a single word. Without her knowing verbally how dear she was to me. I died that evening with only one regret, my soul as it left my body seeing the ball of yarn and how it just barely made it to the blackness of the temple. Just out of her grasp. It hurt to know that the object would forever be there to torment her.
Over the many years that passed the body of the once young priestess decayed, the ball of yarn lost its perk, the animals had long since died and any signs of a garden was now gone. The camp had been destroyed with time, any items of hers were now buried. Medusa stopped coming to the entrance upon that day, she burrowed herself away and destroyed the insides of the home she was imprisoned within. Her hatred gave way to molding the temple, which became an inferno, an opening to Hell itself. It seemed as if the cliff had embraced the temple, black jagged rocks wrapping around its crumbling form. It only gaze Medusa more room to wander now, more places to hide away within for the rest of her days.
Every man that found her never left, she had become a game to mortal men. Many tried to taunt her, to kill her, and in the end she only ended up decorating her dismal lair. By the time the young hero Perseus she was far too lost to be saved, spite, hatred, and all negativity had eaten away at her. The beauty was still within her face, but the ghastly appearance of her lower snake half body and the pets woven into her scalp made even him form a look of fear. But this man was smart, he avoided her eyes well. They battled for a long time within the lair until finally he did the unexpected. His body laid upon the ground and within his hand was a mirror, one he used to mark her movement. She was launching down upon him with all intention to make him just another decoration. But Medusa did not see he had eyes in the back of his head, and when she had neared only then did his blade precisely swing. Her head had fallen into his hands, a tool for him to use at his disposal. Her body laid forever within the once temple of Athena, keeping the curse that was intended just for her. Now separate she could only watch as her trophy head was used to eliminate enemies, and then was given as a gift to a king.
Still, Medusa was in some sense happy to be rid of that temple, and its empty walls. Even if she was now to be stuck within a beautifully crafted case for the rest of her existence.