BEST OF FRIENDS AND ENEMIES
UNTOLD TALE OF DARKNESS
"Okay, so I probably bored you to death with my backstory, but this is where it gets interesting⦠Before the Titans, there was an even older family of gods, perhaps the oldest family of gods in the entire divine pantheon. There was a primordial sea god known as Lord Phorcys: people refer to him as the old man of the sea these days. He ruled over a vast undersea empire of sea monsters and creatures of the ocean. Both he and his sister-wife, Ceto, were begotten by Gaea and Pontus. Gaea was the goddess of the Earth, as you know, and Pontus was the living spirit of the sea (maybe I should mention that they were also mother and son. Do think that's weird?) Phorcys and Ceto were the second generation of the primordial gods, and together, they had many children, most of whom were monsters, but they had three daughters whom would become of great importance. This trio was known as the Gorgons.
The Gorgons begun life as beautiful sea deities and wielded powerful magic. Stheno was the eldest, and she was truly immortal and could revive herself whenever slain, just like the Immortal Phoenix could. The middle sister was named Euryale, and she too had this gift to bring herself back to life: not even Hades had that ability. But the youngest and the most beautiful of the three was Medusa, and I'm sure you all know who she is. And no, despite fan speculation, she is not my sister, not by blood at least anyway. But about Medusa, she had a fatal weakness: she could not revive herself after being killed like her sisters could. This made her vulnerable.
Phorcys, the Lord of the Sea Monsters, ruled the sea for eons before even the first Titans appeared. When his father Pontus had been deposed by the Titan Oceanus, Phorcys and the other sea gods were forced to submit to the younger gods. Once the Titans had been defeated, the rule of the ocean had been given over to Poseidon. Because her son had to accept kingship from the younger unruly gods, the matriarch of the primal gods, Gaea, had told the Olympian gods that if they did not compensate Phorcys and his direct descendants in some way, there would be consequences. She told them that they would have to concede some of their gained territory to the future daughters of Phorcys.
After the Titan war, the Gorgons were born. By Gaea's decree, rule over Skyworld was to be split with the most beautiful daughter of Phorcys: her granddaughter Medusa. I remember as clear as day when I first met the young Medusa. Back then, her beauty was unparalleled, as she began life as a beautiful sea deity. I never thought of her as a bad person. She said to me:
'Palutena, Goddess of Light, my name is Medusa, daughter of Phorcys, the old man of the sea. Me and my sisters, Euryale and Stheno, offer our services to you. We want to do our best to please you, my Lady.'
I sensed no malice in Medusa's heart. I then asked her:
'Medusa, daughter of the sea, what is it you want?'
'I only want to live here with my sisters. We lost our home when the Titans took over.' She responded.
'You have powerful magic, don't you?' I said to her. 'You must use it for good, not for evil.'
'You have my word, Lady Palutena.' Medusa said. 'We heard how benevolent you are. We only wish to put things right.'
'Medusa, I can sense you and I will become very good friends.' Palutena said. 'Stay true to your word, and you will be rewarded.'
And as Gaea willed it, we ruled Skyworld and the human realm together. Medusa was also appointed to rule darkness in order to maintain the celestial balance. She was no longer just a member of a family of has-been immortals: she was now my equal and my antithesis, and as I ruled the day she ruled the night. But my eye was not the only one she caught: my uncle, Lord Poseidon of the waves became infatuated with her, mesmerized by her sheer beauty. He often came to Skyworld to see her.
But it became clear that Medusa had a strong disdain for the human race. Even though her family had protected and gave safe passage to humans that entered their domain since the dawn of humanity, when the Titans took over, the humans abandoned their support for the ancient sea gods and supported the revolting younger gods instead. Medusa deeply resented them for this. She also believed that they threatened the creatures that lived in the night, the beings she had patronage over. And things were about change for the worst.
A number of gods were complaining that the humans a breeding uncontrollably and were desecrating the earth wherever they went. The divine pantheon told me I needed to control them. I refused, but if only I had listened. So Medusa, who had a deep desire to wipe the human race off the face of the Earth, was brought in as 'pest control', as she so delicately put it. Where I would bless humanity, she would curse humanity. She was told to control the human population explosion and she did so with pleasure. She was there simply to undermine all the work I had done. I often was at war with my own co-ruler. Had the other gods allowed it, she would have driven the human race to extinction.
The friction between us continued. She often met with Poseidon in our temple. One day, I discovered that they had desecrated the temple by making love in there. Medusa claimed that Poseidon had done so against her will: I pretty much took everything Medusa said with a grain of salt at this point in our relationship. In retrospect, I don't know what the truth was, but what I did know was that she honestly believed her story was the truth, and I could tell that she had been left deeply disturbed. She vowed to wipe humanity off the face of the Earth regardless of the consequences against her from the other gods, and she kept true to her threats. I had to do what I did to protect the human race.
'Medusa, I should have read in your heart that you were completely mad!' I said to her.
'I am the daughter of the primordial gods!' She replied. 'My family were here long before yours. You are the one that is mad: mad enough to have such blind faith in the faithless mortals.'
'The time of the primordial gods has long passed.' I said to her. 'Surrender now, or face the consequences.'
'What are you going to do, oh Goddess of Light?' She sneered. 'Kill me?'
'Your punishment will be far worse than that.' I told her.
Then we fought the most bitter battle we ever fought. After making the biggest sacrifice of my life, I finally defeated Medusa. True to my word, I did something far worse to her than kill her. I turned her hair into snakes and sent her into the deep, dark Underworld, but now I realise that was the biggest mistake I made in my entire lifeā¦
