THE THIRD GORGON

By DarkOrbra

CHAPTER 4

THE TYRANNICAL QUEEN

Times were desperate in Angel Land. Nine years ago, Pit and Palutena acted very foolishly: upon hearing the news that their archnemesis, Medusa, was still alive and was attempting to reconquer her former realm of the Underworld, they went to confront her unprepared. Palutena had completely underestimated Medusa and she had set an elaborate trap for them. The Goddess of Darkness had attempted to invade Angel Land twice before: the first time she succeeded, but was quickly toppled by Pit, making her reign short-lived. The second time she acted as the unwitting minion of Hades, but things ended up even worse for her. But the third time was different: the Three Sacred Treasures were gone, the Great Sacred Treasure was in tatters and Hades had been eliminated. Medusa knew that all she had to do was get rid Pit and Palutena, and whoever else might be a threat to her, and the world was at her mercy. Most of the gods did not get involved in her affairs. Just another petty goddess, most of them thought. Just let her have a few unimportant realms and things will eventually deescalate. But they completely underestimated Medusa's wrath. Joining forces with her sisters, they led an army loaned to them by their father to mop up the remainder of the Underworld Army that was still loyal to Hades. Since all the Underworld leaders had been wiped out by Pit, Medusa easily took over the Underworld and made it her base of operations. She formed a new Underworld Army in the haven of the deep dark Underworld, which was flawlessly duplicated from the original. They were beings crafted out of pure darkness rather than the souls of the dead: as Medusa was the mistress of darkness these monsters swore allegiance only to her. Once again, she had become the Queen of the Underworld.

The Lord of the Underworld had the power to manipulate the souls of the dead and convert them into other forms. Hades had plainly rebuilt the Goddess of Darkness by taking a mass of souls and converting them into the form of Medusa. These souls were imprinted with traces of Medusa's mind which soon consumed them. Any connection they had with their previous lives and their human owners was eradicated. It was speculated by some that Hades had simply created nothing more than a duff copy of Medusa. However, if this was completely true, the Rewind Spring would have simply de-converted Medusa back into a cluster of souls, with her mind's influence over them erased. But because this Medusa was created from traces of the original, the Rewind Spring restored her original mind and body: the two Medusas then merged together, becoming a single entity. With a recompleted mind and her powers fully restored, Medusa's thoughts and memories cleared: she was no longer confused, and her vitality increased. The Rewind Spring could have broken the curse that Palutena had placed on her our all those years ago, but had she been exposed to it for too long she would have risked being erased from existence. Besides, she had already regained some of her beauty with her own magic, and people feared her for her serpentine hair. When Hades revived her the first time, she had no memories of her sisters or her family: she was little more than an embodiment of concentrated hatred for Pit and Palutena. After her second defeat at the hands of Pit, she recovered some of her lost memories: she remembered that it was Hades who revived her, and she remembered her sisters and why she even came to Angel Land in the first place. Medusa conspired with her sisters in a new plot to get revenge on both Palutena and Hades once and for all and conquer all of Angel Land.

Once Pit and Palutena were out of the way, the Underworld Army quickly overran the Overworld and Skyworld. The Forces of Nature suffered heavy losses, forcing Viridi to go into hiding. Euryale led the invasion of the sea: the sea monsters and the old sea gods revolted against Poseidon in a coup and supported Euryale, and Poseidon went into exile. Medusa gave rule of the Underworld to her sister Stheno and made Skyworld the core of her new evil empire. Angel Land was now firmly in the hands of the Gorgons, under the ultimate queenship of Medusa. When Pit and Phosphora returned to Angel Land, they discovered that her rule was well established and unchallenged. They quickly found evidence of Medusa's occupying army: first there were the Gorgoneions, the enforcers and religious police of Medusa. They could detect any blasphemy or challenge muttered against Medusa, even if they were just thoughts. That was the terrifying thing about them: they punished thought crime, and if you were thinking about anything Medusa did not like, they would descend upon you without pity. Soon they also encountered Medusa's infantry, the Gorgon Troops. This was the backbone of Medusa's occupation of Angel Land. They policed the humans and kept them in line, and they were trained to quickly quell any rebellion: they were the shock troops of the Underworld Army, a symbol of her power and dominion over Angel Land.

And now, where Palutena's temple once stood, was the ominous vista of the heart of Medusa's empire: Cor Vilgium. It was a pitch black structure, surrounded by an impregnable wall and had many spear-shaped towers. In the courtyard was a garden, decorated by the stone statues of the petrified – those unfortunate enough to meet the gaze of Medusa.

Euryale had arrived from her undersea capital city to visit her sister. She came across the immense gate of the castle, preceded by a long vast bridge over a moat of poisonous substances. Her cohorts knocked on the vast door. The doors creaked open to reveal a pale, googly-eyed hunchbacked man dressed in dark robes.

"Welcome, Mistress Euryale." He said in a slimy voice. "Your sister is expecting you."

"How do you do, Agaso." Euryale said. "I hope Lady Stheno does not keep us waiting. Medusa will have a fit if she's late again, and that didn't turn out well for you, did it?"

"I am the great Medusa's punching bag." He replied. "I live to be abused."

"Of course you do, my dear Agaso." She replied. "Sometimes she needs to take her aggression out on somebody, and it can't be me or Stheno, can it? That's all humans are good for, after all."

"Sometimes she hits me, but if I'm lucky she hits Palutena instead." Agaso replied.

"Palutena is still alive?" Euryale said. "I told her to do away with that plaything of hers years ago."

"What, and then leave me to be – er, yes, you're absolutely right, Lady Stheno – er, I mean Lady Euryale!"

"Did you just call me Stheno, or I am mistaken? And I'm never mistaken, am I? Or do you not agree?"

"Yes, you're one hundred-and-ten percent correct, Mistress."

"Good, because if you had said otherwise then I would've told my little sister to get the red hot poker out again. I hope you haven't forgotten about that little incident. You couldn't sit down for over month."

"If only I could forget."

"But consider yourself fortunate: I won't tell Medusa what you called me. But calling me Stheno is an affront. You shall have ten lashings for it."

"Yes Mistress Stheno – err, I mean Euryale!"

"Make that twenty lashes."

Agaso led Euryale up a long winding staircase into the tower. They went through a door where they saw a counter with a skeletal secretary sat at a monitor and PC. The receptionist was dressed in a red blazer with a white shirt underneath and a black tie with blue stripes and a black skirt. Her head was detached from her body, which was resting on her desk. Her face was completely decomposed, leaving behind nothing but a skull, blonde hair and eyeballs in her sockets. On the desk was an empty mug of coffee.

"Good evening Skeletary the undead secretary." Euryale said. "Is Lady Medusa available?"

"I'm afraid Mistress Medusa is in the middle of one of her high powered rigid routines with Palutena, Lady Euryale." The receptionist replied. "I dare not disturb her: she can be murder to deal with when her rituals are disrupted. I mean, look at what happened to me!"

"Now this had all gone too far!" Euryale said. "I told my sister she shouldn't keep goddesses as pets. Why hasn't she just put the wretched girl out of her misery?"

Meanwhile, Medusa was sat upon her cobra-shaped throne holding some chains in her scaly hands. The much abused Palutena, dressed in rags, was held in chains around her throat and her arms and legs. Medusa stroked her like a household pet.

"My grandmother told me a prophecy once," Medusa said, "when I was a little girl she said the day would come when I would discover that I was the living spirit of darkness and I would meet my spiritual twin. I would counterbalance my twin's light with my darkness, and when the balance was in my favour I would restore the primal gods to their former glory. And you knew deep down in that pious mind of yours that this day would finally come." Palutena did not say a word. There was no evidence that she could even comprehend what Medusa was saying. "Poor Palutena, this is too much for you, isn't it my old friend? What happened to the happy-go-lucky Palutena I knew all those years ago? What happened to that sense of humour, that oh-so playful banter and that spirit? Did somebody break that spirit? Now who could have done that? Oh yes, I remember: it was me!"

"Medusa, why do you keep her here?" Euryale said as she entered into Medusa's throne room followed by Agaso who was wearing a blindfold. "As long as she lives, she's a threat to us."

"I never had any interest in killing her," Medusa replied, "I only wanted to make her suffer as much as she made me suffer. After all, she was the one who turned our hair into snakes and separated us, who left me in exile in the Underworld to rot and to become used and abused by a madman. It was she who sent her nasty pet angel to murder me. Most of all, she blamed me for what Poseidon did to me. She said it was all in my head."

"You know what I mean, sister." Euryale said. "Now it is confirmed that the angel that is a thorn in our side still lives, he could save her and spoil all our plans." Palutena had overheard what Euryale said, and she suddenly started to take interest in the conversation.

"I'd say Pit is too late for that." Medusa replied. "About nine years too late, in fact. The world cannot go back to how it was any more than we can go back to how we were before Palutena cursed us."

"Palutena cursed us because we stood by your side, sister," Euryale said, "and we'll stay by your side till the very bitter end. You cannot revive yourself after death like we can, so Stheno and I must look out for you and protect you. I don't want to lose you again."

"I am not your kid sister anymore, Euryale." Medusa said. "You don't need to worry about me. In fact, since the Rewind Spring restored my body, I never felt better. The Three Sacred Treasures are no more, and without those, Pit knows that I am unbeatable: him being alive is just a minor setback in our plans."

"Don't underestimate the angel, my sister; you know what he's capable of despite being a worm." Euryale said.

"I don't intend to, my dear Euryale." Medusa replied. "I'm already one step ahead of you: I've put a price on his head so large that every bounty hunter in Angel Land will be desperate to get their hands on him before my army does." She then turned to Palutena, who for the first time in years had a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "And I want you to know this Palutena; the reward money will be triple if they bring me his still beating heart. Don't hold your breath about ever seeing him alive again, as the next time you see him I'll feed you his heart, raw…"

That fateful day nine years ago changed the face of Angel Land forever. The tsunami devastated the Overworld, ripping apart many of Viridi's troops and levelling many cities to the ground, killing thousands in the process. Entire forests were severed by their roots and scattered. Medusa, with Palutena at her tender mercy and believing she had gotten rid of Pit for good, took advantage of the chaos and desolation caused by the tsunami on the Overworld and launched her mighty invasion force in a surprise attack. They overran the remnants of the Forces of Nature, who were caught off-guard and still weakened by the tsunami and the loss of their greatest champion, Phosphora. It was a terrible slaughter and nobody knows what exactly happened to Viridi. The Centurions were nothing without Pit or Palutena and they did not survive the merciless onslaughts of Medusa's army.

Medusa had joined forces with many other gods looking for an opportunity to grab more power, promising them rich pickings in her new empire. The old gods, some of whom were members of Medusa's own family, rallied behind her in droves and swelled her army with reinforcements. She even hired bands of mercenaries to fight a war of attrition against any opposition. She was soon spearheading one of the largest invasion forces Angel Land had ever seen. When she took control of Skyworld, life was about to go from bad to worse for humankind. She even humiliated Palutena by having her dragged in chains through every city and paraded her in front of the humans, showing them that she had finally broken Palutena. What's even worse is that she had Palutena tied to a post and had her publicly flogged until her back was bloodied. Even to this day, Palutena still has the scars from her lashings. This broke any last morale of the humans. Palutena's nine years of torture and captivity has taken its toll on the goddess. Medusa has finally had her revenge.

Pockets of resistance were quickly quelled. Medusa had a single policy when it came to revolts, and that was to slaughter all those that oppose her with extreme prejudice. However, there was still one city that had managed to escape Medusa's iron fist. The last free human city-state, Liberty City, had formed a pact with Medusa: she would allow them self-rule as long as they paid her steep taxes. The king of Liberty City was able to hold onto semi-independence from Medusa's evil empire for the remainder of his reign, but that all ended after his death. Once she received word of the king's demise, Medusa moved in to claim the throne for herself. To prove to the inhabitants that she was in charge, she had the entire elected city council publicly hung in the streets. This angered the residents of the city and they began to revolt. They successfully drove Medusa's garrison of the city away in a bitter guerrilla war, with some obvious outside help. Medusa responded by blockading the city and preventing any supplies from reaching the inhabitants. The residents of the city are slowly being starved to death. Medusa has no interest in bringing the city under her rule anymore: she simply wants to wipe it off the face of the Earth.

When all hope had seemed to be lost, Pit, Palutena's thought-to-be-lost greatest champion, had returned. Phosphora, Viridi's greatest champion, was also a symbol of hope to the demoralized inhabitants of Angel Land, but is she too late to save Viridi? Will the last of the angels and the Lightning Flash be able to survive in a world where Medusa reigns supreme?