Author: Anne-Marie
Distribution: Anywhere, just let me know (I like to link and stuff, ya' know)
Rating: PG-13 ish (nudity ;) nothing really awful though)
Summary: The time of the gods is drawing to a close and the virgin goddesses get together to give humanity one final gift. (Oh I know, a certain some one's ego is going to swell at being called a gift to mankind) Basically, another take on the origins of Jareth story. Can be taken as a prequel to "This One's for the Children" however, both can be viewed as stand alones.
Disclaimer: Contains some elements of "Clash of the Titans", the owl namely, also has a sort of vague idea from the Star Trek episode "Who Mourns Adonis?" mostly Greek myth based, and of course "Labyrinth", all copyrights are held by their respective owners, aka, not me! I wish…only the original ideas and wording within this story are mine, please don't use those w/o asking me J
Feedback: peachybean@hotmail.com please do! I absolutely adore feedback, let me know what you think of this. It is one of my more thought out works. Also let me know if a foot notes page is needed, b/c I included a bunch of allusions to myths that I didn't fully explain.
~*~*~ Creation Dawns~*~*~
Their time was drawing to a close; no matter the amounts of nectar and
ambrosia they consumed, the world they reigned over had changed.
Questions that gods could no longer be the answer to were filling the minds
of humankind. The goddess of Wisdom was aware of these changes, she
still wished to help those who might need to cling to the old ways, even
when she herself would no longer be there for them. She stroked the
snowy owl that perched on her shoulder in thought.
"You have served me will my friend. Perhaps it is time
I repaid you."
A plan in her mind she strode out of the great hall purposefully
to find her sister.
Moonlight bathed the goddess of the hunt as she stood in the
clearing. A bow hung loosely in her fingers; a quiver was slug across
her back, yet she was not hunting. Her deceptively youthful face
was tilted, looking up at the stars that were eons from Olympus itself.
Thoughts of the past and the future filtered through the goddess' mind.
A change was tainting the air she inhaled tingeing her thoughts with nostalgia.
"Sister Artemis," Athena spoke softly as she entered the clearing
where the other goddess was moon bathing.
"You felt it too," it was not a question.
"For some time now, which is why I am asking your aide for one last
gift to mankind."
"I have a feeling that you would have me saying yes even if I
began with the intention of saying no. So let us pretend you have
already persuaded me, what is it you wish Athene?"
Athena closed her clear gray eyes and nuzzled the owl on her
shoulder.
"I wish to repay an old friend and leave a guardian for those
most in need of protection after our departure. First we need to
pay a visit to the sculptor favored by Aphrodite."
The sculptor and his handcrafted wife were asleep, as were the
rest of the household when the two virgin goddesses appeared in his workshop.
It was shadowed with moon and starlight still forms were scattered
with in the entire area. A fine white dust could be seen everywhere creating
an ephemeral atmosphere.
"Within these dust and dream covered walls is what we seek sister."
"Yes, I believe I see what you seek, over there in the far corner,"
Artemis extended the bow she held. A ray of moonlight fell from a
window and onto a marble stature of a man. Not an ordinary man though,
as was his nature, Pygmalion had grown tired of the everyday male physique.
Instead, with this statue he had chosen to depict what a male nymph might
look like. His ability to create rivaled that of Prometheus.
The figure was in a reclining position, his right leg was extended straight
out on the ground, while his left leg was bent at the knee, his right arm
bent out so his elbow rested on the upright knee, the fingers of that hand
dangled loosely. His left arm was jutting straight to the ground,
holding up his figure. Fine wisps of marble hair fell in varying
lengths down the figure's back and in his face. His face was slightly
gaunt emphasizing his aquiline nose and angled brows; a look of mild amusement
was curved into his thin lips.
"This sculptor is a blessed man," Athena gazed at the statue
as Artemis nodded in agreement.
The goddesses brought the figure to the moon-drenched glade Artemis
had been contemplating in earlier.
"Here we part my friend," Athena took the owl from his habitual perch
on her shoulder and set him on the shoulder of the reposing statue, "Do
not fear though, soon you shall be rewarded."
The owl blinked trustingly up at his mistress.
Athena took off her war helmet as Artemis relieved herself of
her bow and quiver. The two goddesses stripped to their flesh, disrobed
the moonlight illuminated their bodies as the slowly began their dance.
Lithe naked bodies moved in unison, ringlets of immortally golden hair
cascading down each perfectly curved back, emphasizing and exaggerating
the sway of each movement. Leaping and twirling they called upon
the powers of the gods to leave on last gift to humanity.
Athena stepped out of the dance and towards the figure and her
feathered friend. Her hands reached into the sky pulling a golden
bowl from the air.
"I bathe you in nectar and ambrosia, from the goat Amaltheia,
from the drops that fell from the lips of the infant Zeus, kind of the
immortal gods and ruler of Olympus." She poured the contents of the
bowl over the heads of the owl and the statue; it looked as is they were
being bathed in liquid sunlight. When the last drop fell from the
bowl, only one form remained, where there had once been two. The
owl and ever-faithful companion to Athena was gone. The statue now
had even more of a natural look, the surface was flesh, yet still marble
white, blood coursed beneath in the veins. The hair was no longer
marble; it had taken in some of the golden color it had been bathed in.
The eyes however, were still blank.
Athena resumed her dance throwing the golden bowl into the sky where
it disappeared amongst the stars and Artemis stepped forward. Her
white arms extended towards the sky, she grasped seeming to pluck a star
from the heavens.
"The heart of the might, yet gentle, Orion." A crystal orb appeared
in her open palms.
"It was given to me as a gift, but was taken away in spite, I
bestow it on you. " Thoughts of Niobe and her children filtered through
the goddess' mind, she was not with out compassion.
" To use for watching over the innocents, let never the boasting nor
thoughtlessness of an elder interfere with the care of a child."
She placed the orb by the statue's chest, where its heart might have been.
In a burst of silver light it dissolved into the naked marble chest, as
the light dimmed a tri-cornered golden pendant could be seen hanging from
the statue's neck marking where the orb had been. Artemis resumed her dance.
The virgin goddesses whirled and pranced around the reposing
figure until first light. As dawn broke in the clearing a silver
mist encircled the three figures, and the one laying in the center tried
to blink away the light that was finally entering his eyes.
The dance stopped.
The goddess of hunt and the goddess of wisdom looked the figure
turned man.
"He is confused..."
"Understandable."
"Your name is Jareth," Athena stepped towards the naked man.
He smiled toothlessly and without a word stood up stretching
his arms over his head. As he brought his arms down slowly, feathers
and wings replaced hair and limbs. The goddesses watched as a white
owl flew above the mists in the clearing.
"His eyes..."
"A reflection of his parts. "
The owl fluttered in front of them and within a heart bean the
nude form of the new man was standing before them.
"Thank you," he spoke his first words as a tear slipped down
his pale cheek.
The goddesses smiled at him and stepped forward to pull him into
a naked embrace. Each took one of his hands in their own.
"There is much to learn before we must leave you dear Jareth."
"Come and we will show you what you must do in our absence."
The sun crested the glade in a glory of pinks and purples like dew
speckled across the air the glade glinted with the silvers of magic that
had been woven that night.
The three nude figures walked off to the caverns in the north,
disappearing in the miring mist that were slowly absorbing the suns warm
rays: making them look as if Midas had been the one dancing.
The dance was unfinished.