Part 2: Chapter 8

Dionysus

When the tall and mighty gates to the city had opened, out came a contingent of heavily armoured and armed guards. They marched briskly but with purpose, keeping their eyes on me and the mass of my followers behind me. There must be about a hundred of them that came out and took formation.

From where I stood to the front line of the contingent, there was a wide stretch of land space which I knew would act as my battleground in the upcoming moment.

It was just then the guards suddenly parted way for a sole person who was coming to the front of the line. This particular person was no guard. He was wearing armour made of shining steel – whereas the guards wore armour of plain copper – and he was not wearing any helm like the rest, revealing his face to me.

This man was clearly a demigod, for he had that certain faint aura of divinity flowing within him. And even with his shaved head and his face that was marked by scars attained from years of battle, he possessed beauty that was greater than that of a mortal's but lesser than that of a god's.

The man came to a stop alone in a spot ahead of his guards, same as how I was standing alone ahead of my followers. Like me, he was only armed with a sword – which was in its scabbard that was hanging from a belt around his waist – and a shield.

He and I engaged in a stare-down, looking hard into each other's eyes, feelings masked by a look of neutral indifference.

But then, I could feel a smile playing on my lips, and it was I who spoke first.

"Greetings, Perseus," I greeted to him in a voice loud enough for him to hear, with a tilt of my head in his direction. It took me a lot to have a tone of mock friendliness in my voice as I spoke to him. "At last, we meet."

Surprisingly, he returned the gesture, smiling as well as he replied from across the distance between us, "Greetings as well, Lord Dionysus. Although, I will admit, I had hoped we had met under better circumstances."

I supressed the flare of annoyance that appeared within me, keeping my façade calm and smiling politely while I fought to hold back the cuss words that were playing on the tip of my tongue. "Indeed, it should have been that way. However, your actions had prompted this… unfortunate event. That we must not forget," I replied with a fake smile plastered on my lips and my voice speaking in fake friendliness.

To my amusement, annoyance became apparent in Perseus' eyes, and I beamed internally at the thought that I had managed to get back at him for his insolence. But unfortunately, he returned to that façade of smugness in just a fleeting second, acting as though my words had no effect on him.

"Might I ask, my lord," he said, putting clear emphasis on the title. "What had you done to the women that your actions had affected? Why have they all suddenly gone to sleep on this particular day? Was there reason?"

Ah, he was bound to have brought that topic up sooner or later. "Oh, that. Oh, I was just thinking that they must be so tired running around your city, screaming all day without any purpose like a bunch of wild animals. So why not give them a rest?" I answered him, very aware of the heavy coating of smugness in my voice. And then, I added with a smile, "Am I right to say this, Perseus?"

Now that really ticked him off. His entire facial features changed; his eyebrows pulled into a dark frown, his eyes turned stony as they start to glare at me, and his lips were pressed into a thin line. Even his hands, which had been hanging nonchalantly at his sides, started to ball up into tight fists, trembling fervently; a sign that his anger that he had been harboring towards me may reach its breaking point any minute – or second – now.

"Now what has gotten you so worked up, Perseus?" I questioned in mock innocence, continuing to smile at him.

My heightened sense of sight was able to catch the fleeting moment of his trembling fist starting to inch towards the sword at his waist. Instinctively, the fingers of the hand that was holding onto the hilt of my own sword started to tighten, anticipating his moment of attack.

But all of a sudden, he took a deep breath and visibly started to relax, before asking, "May I ask; who is she?"

I became confused at his question for a moment, until I noticed where exactly his line of sight was directed at. I promptly turned my head around to look at Ariadne, who was still standing on the chariot, her back straight and her posture firm as a show of confidence.

But the look on my wife's face told me that she too was as confused by Perseus' strange question as much as I was.

Turning back to look at Perseus, I answered, "That would be Ariadne; my wife, and the queen consort of my Bacchic rituals; she who wears the crown Corona and the one who dances gracefully among wildcats."

For some strange reason, Perseus' face suddenly became enlightened, and he smiled in somewhat realization. "Ah, yes! Ariadne! I have heard of you from tales that were spoken years ago," he exclaimed.

I do not know why, but I felt myself tense at that moment.

And then, with a big grin, Perseus added cheerily, "Now I know who you are! Ariadne, the guardian of the Labyrinth of Crete who had single-handedly destroyed the tradition of the sacrifices to the Minotaur! Ariadne, the traitor princess of Crete who committed treason towards her royal family and was banished from her own homeland! Ariadne, the foolish and naïve cow-brained girl who thought she was in love with a man she does not even know! Ariadne, the …"

At that exact moment, I finally snapped, just as Perseus finished with his final blasted words.

"… whore of Theseus."

I spontaneously emitted a loud howl of rage and fury as I finally charged at Perseus at full speed. My arm rose over my head, my hand tightly gripping the hilt of my sword as I readied to swing it down upon the damn demigod once the right moment arrive. As I ran, I could feel myself burning hotter and hotter with anger.

Just as I was finally right in front of Perseus, I swung down my sword, aiming for his head and hoping that a crack in his skull would end him there and then.

"DAMN YOU!" I heard myself bellow in rage while I was in the midst of it. "DAMN YOU TO TARTARUS!"

Unfortunately, he had his shield in hand, which he had used to block the blade. In addition, he used the bulk of his shield to push me back and away from him, so that he had enough space to draw his own sword – an adamantine one, which I knew was given to him by Zeus – from his scabbard.

A smug grin was on his lips as he asked in a taunt, "Now what has gotten you so worked up, Dionysus?"

I growled at him like a wildcat would growl at an opponent. Raising my sword so that the tip was pointed at him threateningly, I snarled under my breath, "You may insult my rituals, you may insult my followers, and you may insult me. But never, and I say NEVER, insult my wife, you insolent swine!"

Perseus charged at me and swung his sword, but I managed to block it with the blade of my own. The sounds of sharp metal clanging against each other was clear in the air, interlaced with the mingled cries of both my followers and his soldier guards that erupted with each swing of either of our swords. Their noises were loud, getting louder with every second that passed.

While I loved having a crowd for whatever I do, I had no time to think of putting on an act to entertain them. This was a serious time for me, because I was terribly set on getting revenge on Perseus for, not only committing an act of hubris against me, but also for having the insolence to dare to insult my wife.

And I especially did not take a liking to the fact that he was saying Ariadne's name with that other damned demigod that I – even after seven years and having not met him once – still so very much despised.

I channeled all the rage that was pent up and building up inside of me, and used it as a sort of fuel to drive me into attacking Perseus without any stops or breaks in between. I was spontaneous, with more movements coming on right after the next. There was no stopping me; I was like a wildfire that could not be tamed.

"Did you honestly think you do not deserve this?!" I asked him in a seethe of breath. "Did you honestly think that your insolence would be taken lightly?! You are a fool if so!"

Perseus, who was staggering to his feet after having lost his balance for a while, snarled back in response, "You are a fool for being a god of such insane acts! Encouraging others to drown their wills in wine, rendering them to lose all sense of humanity within them! You're turning them from decent mortals to wild animals!"

That sent me in another bout of rage, and I ran towards him with my sword extended out to stab him right in the chest, if Fate allowed it. Unfortunately, it seemed that Fate did not allow it, and it helped to make Perseus throw himself to the side to avoid my incoming attack.

I spun on my heel to face him, taking heavy, threatening strides towards him as I thundered, "No matter what I do, you still have no right to insult a god!"

I swung my sword at him, managing to scrape my blade against the metal of his steel breastplate, sending him falling back down to the ground as he tried to get up.

"You do not think that you have right!" I continued on hotly.

Another swing, another scrape of my blade against his breastplate, sending him falling again.

"You are a fool!"

At that precise moment, Perseus seemed to have gained sudden momentum, for he quickly stood up in quick speed, and immediately directed a sideways swing of his sword in my direction.

Thankfully, I managed to duck down just in time to the deathly blow which could have sliced my neck had I still remained standing. But upon seeing the advantage I had gained from move, I stuck out my leg and gave him a sideways kick to his waist. Luckily, he had no time to dodge that, and he immediately tumbled to the ground.

In a flash, I stood up and tackled him to the ground, just as he was about to get up. My actions had caused the watching crowd to gasp in shock and surprise, before turning into a big and loud mindless chatter all over again.

Perseus was in a daze towards the turn of events that had just occurred, but that daze turned into pain when I curled up my free hand into a fist and punched it against his face. I could hear a faint crunch noise when my hardened fingers came in contact with his nose, which was then followed by a stream of blood starting to trickle down one of his nostrils. A faint purplish bruise was also starting to blossom on his cheekbone, just a few inches short of his eye.

I could not stop myself from letting out laughter of satisfaction at that moment. Seeing him in pain and it was because I had caused it? Now that was something I really liked at that moment.

But my moment of glee was cut short when I unfortunately did not anticipate the punch of retaliation he struck at me in a quick flash.

And it was then I discovered that, despite the fact that he was a demigod, it was either he possessed the strength of a pure god, or it was because my mortal side was bringing down my strength. But I refused to think that it was because of the latter, and decided that it must be the former.

The force of his punch was able to push me off him. I started to stagger to remain upright because I lost balance when the soles of my feet were pressed against the earth once again. With a quick self-assessment of my body, nothing seemed to be hurting. A few cuts here and there from the minor slashing of Perseus' sword and falling to the ground multiple times, but I was so far alright.

But all of a sudden, a shrill scream emanated through the air, shocking me out of my thoughts. In confusion, I wondered what the scream was for, but it then took me a few seconds later to realize that it was Ariadne's.

And it was just then, in my daze of wondering why my wife was screaming, I felt a sudden sharp slice against my arm.

When I had finally regained my balance and looked ahead, I saw that Perseus was still standing a few feet ahead of me. At first, I wondered why I felt the close range of attack when he was clearly at a distance, but it was then I realized that he did not have his sword with him. Looking behind me at the ground, I saw that his sword was on the ground, a few feet behind me. It was only then I realized that he had thrown his adamantine sword like a javelin at me.

Looking at my arm, I saw that there was indeed a clean slice in my skin that looked to be long and quite deep. From it, shimmering golden ichor was spilling like a waterfall, streaming fast down the length of my forearm and dripping onto the ground from my fingertips.

As I continued to stare at my new wound, I heard the demigod chuckle. "Well, it looks like you are not truly invincible, are you?" he taunted with a smile.

I did not say anything in return, only keeping my eyes focused on the slice in my skin. I could only hear the low – and irritating – chuckle of Perseus, as well as the cries and shouts of the crowd, and the sound of Ariadne screaming my name in panic and worry.

However, I did not react to any of that. Instead, I simply closed my eyes, gathered my aura within me, and willed the ichor to stop spilling and the wound to slowly close up. I let out a sigh of relief when I could feel the parted skin slowly coming back together. When I opened my eyes again, I saw that what was once the slice was now just a reddish-pink scar. No matter; that could be healed completely with ambrosia later on.

I could hear the cries and shouts turn into gasps of surprise and amazement. Looking back ahead, I saw Perseus staring back at me with an awe-stricken expression with just a hint of shock.

When I noticed that he was now unarmed with only just his shield, because he had foolishly thought that throwing his sword at me was a good idea, I smirked in amusement. "I bet you have forgotten that only a true god could cure himself from any wounds inflicted upon him, did you?" I asked with a taunt in my tone. "And you did not think through your plan far. Now, you are sword-less, and have no means to attack me back, do you?"

I wasted no time in charging towards him, my sword now being swung in my hand to attack. Luckily, this time I was able to get the point to slash him across his thigh. He yelled out in pain just as the blood started to flow. Immediately, he fell to his knees from the pain. But I did not bat an eyelash as I swung my sword again, having the blade slice his arm.

"Doesn't feel too good, does it?" I asked in a laugh, swinging my sword again to aim for his face.

But just as the blade was about to strike down, Perseus had managed to bring his shield to block his face, effectively stopping the deathly blow I had intended for him. But the impact of my sword upon the shield was so strong and forceful that the metal of the blade had managed to crack the wood of the shield into many pieces.

Before I had time to register any of it happening, the pieces of wood fell down to empty land. I realized then that Perseus was starting to run back to where his guards had stood, limping slightly due to the gash on his thigh. He was shouting to them unintelligibly, clearly exhausted from the duel.

I could not hold back the laughter that was building up in my throat. It came out of my mouth sounding amused and, definitely, full of mirth. I was laughing at how cowardly the demigod looked, running away back to the protection of his mortal guards. I could only assume that this meant he had finally given up, and that I had reigned victorious. An internal part of me jumped in joy at that thought, satisfied that I may have finally won.

I was not the only one to think so. Behind me, my followers, who had been indeed an involved audience, roared in excitement. All of them cheered my name and jeered at Perseus. I could even hear some cursing the man's name and his family, and some singing hymns to me.

I was about to turn around to smile at my thiasus, wanting to enjoy the satisfaction with them; the satisfaction that was just aching for a celebration afterwards.

But before I could do so, I was stopped by the words that were spoken by Perseus.


Ariadne

I have heard many tales of this man, who everyone considered as a hero, a savior and, by a foolish some, a god among men. Words of him being the most honorable and respectable man to ever be known were spoken by the tongues of many. However, considering what he had just spoken about me just now, which still stung me painfully even until now, I doubt those statements were even true.

But other than stories of praise of him, there was mostly the stories of his greatest feat; the slaying of Medusa.

Countless times it was told, the story of his encounter with the cursed and fearsome snake-haired gorgon with the supernatural ability to turn anyone who looked directly into her eyes into stone. The reason he had done so was to bring it as a gift to the king of Seriphos, who had lusted after his mother Danaë. He had entered the lair of the gorgons when Medusa was asleep, using only a mirrored shield given to him by Athena herself to guide his way inside so that he would not risk being turned into stone, and having decapitated Medusa's head from her body with just a single blow of his sword to her neck. Upon his return to Seriphos, he had used the head to turn the king into stone, after having discovered that, in his absence, the king had threatened, abused, and maybe even assaulted Danaë, which caused her to seek refuge in a temple.

There were many rumors about what Perseus did with the decapitated head afterwards, but no one knew which one was the truth.

However, the most famous one was that he had placed the head of Medusa upon his shield, to use her supernatural ability – that was rumored to still be active, even after her death – in combat, if the situation called for it.

And speaking of his shield…

Perseus staggered at a steadfast pace towards his guards, shouting a command at the top of his voice that was loud enough for even me to hear.

"Give me the shield! Give it to me now!"


Author's Note:

OOOOOOHHHHHH... This are about to get messy from here guys!

Muse of Fanfiction