The Oracle
It was a little past dusk when it began to storm, causing Eurydite to seek shelter on her way to Delphi. The shelter being a small shack in a small village infested with drunken men and women who placed themselves the the laps of boys. It was a plague on mortals, who feasted on the sins of others and cared not for the Gods. Eurydite felt disgusted with these blasphemous pigs and their insolent children. After her years of wandering, she began to see through the eyes of the Gods and in her opinion, found it incredibly disturbing.
As she laid there in the shack, she could hear the drunken songs sung by one individual who was getting very close to enraging her. His song of Orpheus and Eurydice, sung in humorous fashion had made her angry. She held on to her bow, gripping it tight with enragement, feeling herself reach for her quiver of poisoned arrows given to her by the God Apollo should she ever need them.
This annoying bard was the whole reason she was unable to sleep and rest was precious to her. She had gone without sleep for over three weeks and her body, though ageless, still needed respite once in a while. The brunette loathed the idea of leaving the little shack and going out in the pouring rain, but alas, the bard was begging for punishment. Infuriated, Eurydite stood and barged out into the storm, bow in her hand, ready to take aim. She trudged down the road to the little inn where the bard sang off tune and the drunkards laughed at his humorous tale. She stood outside the doorway, taking aim at the bards lyre and letting loose her dark fletched arrow, hitting its mark on the lyre. The arrow managed to cut the delicate strings, causing a twang sound, making everyone stop what they were doing and look to the doorway. There stood a stoic, but angry Eurydite, soaked to the bone with rainwater.
She walked slowly towards the bard, the crowd parting in fear as she walked past. One man even gulped when she set her gaze upon him and a woman hid behind another fearing the Demi-goddess. Though they had no idea who she was, just the air around her seemed to tremble in anger and fear, as if it were afraid. Everyone in the building held their breath as she stopped in front of the trembling bard. His eyes wide with fright and his knees shaking as he held onto his broken lyre. Eurydite stared down at him, her cold eyes reflecting her rage which she didnt know if she could no longer hold back. She wasnt even sure her own father would be able to withstand it, though he most likely could. She reached behind her to draw another arrow from her quiver, pulling it slowly and notching it to her bow.
"If you have anything to say, now would be the time to do so." She said pulling on the bow string, drawing it back and taking aim point blank to the bards forehead. The plump man started crying and promptly threw himself onto the floor.
"My beautiful Lady! What have I done to incur your wrath?" She only looked down at him amused with how he groveled at her feet, scared to death of her. Such a weak man. Taking her foot, she planted it on his back pushing him down to the dirt so that he should taste it. The plump man yelled as he was pushed even further down, tasting the dirt and getting his fill of it before she let him up.
Kneeling down to his level, she placed a finger to his chin, her long hair falling over her shoulder in doing so. Eurydite, so amused, lifted his head so that his eyes would meet her furious grey orbs. She smirked, feeling triumphant at her torture over the man that tortured her with his stupid mockery. His face scrunched up in fear as she opened her mouth to speak.
"Your humorous tale and your lyre have kept me awake. I have been traveling for weeks without sleep and all I want is to rest." She spoke with malice and put up a hand to stall anyone from speaking. "But, you mock the Gods with your horrible voice and keep me awake with your monstrosity of a tale. I will not hear of it again." She stood, a smile of triumph on her face as she pressed her foot back onto the bards back, causing him to groan as he ate the vile dirt again. The men and women around her looked on in silence, afraid to speak out against the angry traveler.
They all watched as she walked out, then in hushed tones, they began to speak.
As she lay down for the final time that night, she felt the air thicken and a familiar presence forming close by. So close, she figured it was standing right over her. She looked up to see the eyes of her Father looking down at her, a stoic look on his face.
"Why can't I sleep?" She complained only to receive a powerful glare from Hades. Sitting up, she brushed herself off and crossed her arms, waiting from him to speak. "It's been eighty years since I last spoke to you and as I recall I was angry with you."
"Angry over what? My protection?" He spoke with his weak voice. It seemed his power was diminishing even more, most likely because of mortals trying to change their fate. Eurydite had already assumed it was this Oracle in Delphi that had done this. The Oracle that eased the fears of passing travelers who feared death.
"No, not because of that." The woman said, looking down. Now that she remembered it, she had not known what she was angry for, or why she was still angry. "I don't know why I was angry and I still don't know why." Hades seemed pleased with the answer and spoke.
"There is something I need of you." The God spoke, taking a few steps to touch her hair. It was a strange thing for her to know that Hades was somewhat caring and yet he was also a deceiver, tricking many Gods to get what he wanted. Although, Eurydite knew that most of the Gods had their own trickery. Most of them were her cousins who never paid any attention, except for Apollo, who seemed to care. Though she knew Apollo was also in it for his benefit and not hers. "A task that I cannot do myself."
"If I do this task, what do I get out of it?" Eurydite asked, curiosity growing within her at her father's request, spiking her interest of him. "It is rather hard to travel on foot these days." She said plainly as though she were tricking him herself, coaxing him to dote on her should she prove worthy.
Hades, being the cruel and adamant God he was, showed no true feeling to her. This was a request he could afford to give in to, though she had to complete her task first. Although he knew that once the task was done, she would be hunted down by the Gods requiring a visit to Hephaestus for a certain object. There would be consequences to every demand made, but it was worth the power struggle.
"Kill the Oracle." The words seemed to bounce off the walls and strait into her, chilling her to the bone in the way he said them. It felt like she should begin to dig her own grave, knowing that she would be burying herself alive. The cold and empty look in his eyes told her just how much he really cared, which is to say, not at all. "Kill the Oracle and I will give you whatever you ask." She didn't say anything, just thought about how she was going to do the task asked of her, but eventually she looked up at her father and nodded.
"I will do it, but if this Oracle is gifted with prophecy, won't Apollo know that I am coming? Will he not try to stop me?" She asked him, knowing he probably knew the answer. Hades saw all from the Underworld and knew what every God and Goddess was capable of.
"Do what you must; you are a cause for war." So that was it, Hades had just admitted she was indeed a tool to the destruction of the Olympians; a tool to give Hades power above Zeus. "I will be watching." Then she was alone.
Eurydite fell back down and thought about how she was going to kill the Oracle without getting noticed by anyone. Even the priests that surrounded the Oracle were armed; even if passive they had sworn to protect her against any threat. The brunette wasn't a weak woman, but she wasn't an idiot either. Hades wanted to test her ability, only as an assassin on his side, but she wasn't quite on his side. She would rather serve a beast than that of the Gods.
Morning came just as Eurydite had begun the journey to Delphi. The birds were chirping, the sun beating down upon her dark haired head and her fearlessness replaced with excitement. For eighty years she had traveled, seeking the words of prophets to lead her to what she craved, but somehow it eluded her. Perhaps if she did what Hades asked of her, she would finally get it. No matter what he said, she wanted it and she would do anything to have it. Was it also what he had craved? She didn't know, but it made her curious enough to do as he asked. It wasn't love she had for the God, but more so that of enthrallment. She wanted to understand what exactly he was made of and what had influenced him to do as he does.
All these thoughts abruptly stopped when she saw a shimmer of gold in the corner of her eye, causing her to immediately dread the person who had come to try and stop her. She kept walking as he matched her pace, shinning armor and handsome features never made her feel happy. He was a bane to her very presence.
"What do you want?" Eurydite said, tired of the Olympian's interference for the last time. Apollo was constantly getting in her way and for no reason at all. She began to feel as though he had more than a simple reason to constantly come down from Olympus and try to persuade her into stopping the so called ridicules quest.
"I know what Hades has asked of you and I have come to stop you. See reason Eurydite, he only means to destroy everything you hold dear." The words Apollo uttered had instantly angered her, causing her to stop and lash out at him in anger.
"Everything I hold dear? What do you know of that? I have nothing! I have always had nothing! No fear, no family, just patronizing Gods who use me for their own benefit! I have every right to throw everything I don't have to the carelessness of you immortals!" She fumed as Apollo only looked at her, slightly caught off guard of the anger she had held within her for so long. He had to take a step back as she took one forward. "You will have to kill me to stop me from doing what I must do and I am not afraid to die. Tartarus has been closed to me and Thanatos will never come for me, so I have nothing to lose." She walked past him as he only stood and watched her go, continuing on her path to Delphi. Apollo was sure that if Zeus found out about this the Demi-Goddess would be hunted down by every one of the Gods.
It was midday when Eurydite had made it to Delphi in a much better mood than the morning when Apollo had decided to come and warn her. As she strode up the steps to the temple that housed the Oracle, she thought of how to get the deed done as fast as possible. Her first task was to seek an audience with the Oracle herself, to see her and know exactly what she was going up against. It would be easy, unless the Oracle knew she was coming.
Once she got to the top of the steps, one of the priests came up to her, asking to take her weapons. Eurydite handed every one of them over except the poisoned dagger hidden between her breasts. It was small enough to bring in and yet its bite was strong enough to kill a bull in one minute. The priest never suspected a thing as he wordlessly led the brunette into the Oracle's chambers. What Eurydite saw when she got there was completely different then what she was expecting.
There on a stone pedestal was a young girl no older than ten years, dressed in a white vale with white robes. Eurydite noticed that her head was shaved, as though she was pure and innocent. This had gotten the brunette to suddenly change her mind, but then again, the girl on the pedestal seemed lonely. The older woman sat in front of the Oracle, her eyes meeting the young girl's.
"Oracle, I have come to know my fate." The girl in front of Eurydite only smiled kindly, making the brunette woman feel guilty, an unfamiliar feeling to her. "What is it that you see?" It was a simple question, but the young girl only nodded in answer, a strange notion.
"The Gods will punish you for setting me free of this mortal body." Eurydite nodded, understanding what the young girl meant. She was once mortal, but had been cursed to live as a prophet for the enjoyment of the Gods. She was sacred to Apollo and to Morpheus, as well as all of the mortals who believed she was the aversion to their fate. "A God peruses you and has been for many years, do not deny him." This caught Eurydite off guard. A God had interest in her? Apollo wasn't that interested in her, was he? What other God could find her amusing?
"Will I ever get what I seek?" The brunette asked the Oracle, curiosity as peaked as ever, but no answer was given as she pulled out the dagger between her breasts.
"I cannot see your fate; it is shrouded by Hades, for he prevents you from dying." Eurydite nodded, knowing the true answer. Her fate wasn't her own and never had been since the day she jumped off the cliff. "I am not afraid to die Eurydite, daughter of Hades. I shall tell him you did well when I see him." In an instant, the girl grabbed Eurydite's hands and plunged the dagger into her chest, leaving the brunette in shock. "Thank you." The Oracle whispered before letting go of her last breath.
The priests in the chamber all looked on as Eurydite lowered the girl to the floor, feeling somewhat shocked but all the same, triumphant. She quickly got to her feet, running through the corridors and out to the mountain side where her weapons waited for her. Just as she had made it out, a silver tipped arrow had come from out of the sky and pierced her flesh. Eurydite found herself shocked once more as she looked down to see an arrow that belonged to Artemis, sticking out of her chest, just above her heart.
Gasping in pain at seeing the arrow, she found herself unable to breathe as she began to fall sideways onto the ground, feeling her head hit stone. Pain erupted from her temple as she saw darkness in front of her and arms of black encircle her.
"Father, help me." She whispered out as she saw his face and felt his fingertips upon her cheek. A new emotion had come from a dark abyss inside of her that she never knew existed until now, when she was close to dying and most likely would be unable to recover.
Well…that was somewhat of an eventful start, okay maybe not but it will get better…and longer. Thank you for the Reviews! I love you guys!
I am also planning to do a different ending to Wrath of the Titans because well…there would be no Twelve Labors of Heracles if Zeus had died. What were the writers thinking when they came up with the storyline?
Fact: Heracles is actually the great grandson of Peruses and rescued Theseus from the Underworld when Hades turned him into stone for attempting to abduct Persephone.