On a sunny day that appeared to be like any other, there was a loud ruckus in an otherwise peaceful temple as a man staggered through the doors in a desperate attempt to avoid his pursuers, of whom, were hot on his trail. He panted as he slammed the large doors behind him, and leaned back against them as he took a moment to catch his breath. Finally, after a moment when his breathing began to slow, the man stepped forward to move further into the large room as he called out.

?1

My goddess, I'm here.

The man looked around for a moment as he waited for any kind of response before receiving none and calling out again.

?1

My goddess?

?2

Yeah, yeah. I'm here.

The man turned around at the sound of the voice and dropped to a knee as he bowed his head to the deity that had just appeared before him.

?1

Aphrodite. It is my honor to be able to…

APHRODITE

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Worshiped goddess and all that.

The goddess waved her hand dismissively, clearly in a hurry to cut to the chase of their conversation.

APHRODITE

Well, Maecanus? Did you get it, or not?

MARCANUS

Oh. Yes, of course, my goddess.

The man reached into his shirt and retrieved a small pouch that he then handed over to the goddess, and watched as Aphrodite opened and dumped the contents into her hand.

APHRODITE

So this is the Mystic Diamond, huh?

The goddess held up the sizable gem as she took a moment to admire its beauty.

APHRODITE

Nice. Too bad I can't keep it.

The man gave her a look of confusion.

MAECANUS

What?! Then why did you just have me risk life and limb to get the thing if you aren't even gonna keep it?

APHRODITE

Because it's a literal star from the night sky. Duh.

The love goddess rolled her eyes before returning to admiring the diamond.

APHRODITE

This little baby is gonna become the center of my constellation.

She casually tossed the diamond back to the man.

APHRODITE

Here, now take it to my priest in Parnassus. He's gonna shoot it into the night sky for me.

MAECANUS

I'll put it up there for you right now, most beautiful of goddesses.

He held out an arrow toward the goddess.

MAECANUS

Tie your gem on my arrow, so my shaft can bring you...satisfaction.

Aphrodite smirked at the obvious double entendre before reaching out and snapping the arrow.

APHRODITE

Trust me, you have no idea what would bring me satisfaction.

She put her hands on her hips as she continued.

APHRODITE

Look, just take the diamond to Pamassus. I got a guy there that's gonna launch it into the sky for me. But you gotta be there by nightfall.

MAECANUS

As you wish my goddess.

The man bowed his head for a moment before returning his gaze toward Aphrodite.

MARCANUS

But there's just one small problem.

APHRODITE

Yeah, yeah. Xena, her little bard, and their wanna-be tough guy friend are hot on your trail. Relax, I got just the thing to take care of them.

The goddess smirked as she snapped her fingers and a small bottle magically materialized in her hand.

APHRODITE

I call it 'Obsession.' One whiff of this stuff, and whatever you're thinking about at that minute turns into an overwhelming obsession.

The goddess motioned behind her.

APHRODITE

Now go. There's another way out, that way. You just leave the warrior princess and her pose to me.

Maecanus nodded before motioning to the rest of the men he had with him to follow as he hurried through the temple and out the back exit as Aphrodite smirked and disappeared just as a trio of travelers hurried into the temple.

GABRIELLE

How's it even possible for Aphrodite to steal the North Star?

XENA

She stole the Mystic Diamond from the temple of the heavens.

The warrior stood looking for any signs of the men they had been pursuing.

XENA

And unless we get its powers back before nightfall, the North Star will go out, and the world will be in serious trouble. All travelers on land and sea look to the North Star as a guide. And it's the Mystic Diamond's powers

that keeps it shining.

JOXER

So you mean without it, things that go bump in the night really will go bump in the night?

XENA

Exactly.

Xena looked toward Joxer who the two women had run back into some days before after having been on the road and having several more adventures since the warrior woman had single-handedly stopped the invasion of the Persian army against Greece. Of which Gabrielle had since made a full recovery from the poison that had nearly killed her thanks to the antidote Xena had managed to get off of an enemy soldier.

GABRIELLE

Xena, there's no sign of Maecanus.

The dark-haired woman began to scan the temple.

XENA

Look around and see if they could've stashed it somewhere around here.

In agreement, the trio spread out to look around the temple for the diamond.

While searching under tables and in baskets of various items left by some of Aphrodite's worshipers in tribute to the goddess, Joxer came across an interesting series of paintings that he eyed with curiosity.

JOXER

What's this?

Gabrielle walked over to where the man stood and studied the painting for a moment.

GABRIELLE

Oh, that's the story of Attus, the ape-man, and the Princess, Gaea.

The young woman smiled as she recalled the tale that she had learned from another bard one night while she and Xena were staying at an inn.

GABRIELLE

It's actually quite the beautiful love story.

The bard moved on to continue to explore the temple as Joxer stayed looking at the painting in clear fascination with what the tale about the subject might be.

JOXER

Ape-man, huh?

Suddenly, unseen to Joxer or the others, Aphrodite appeared behind the man and with a smirk took out the bottle of obsession, sprinkled a bit of it onto him, and watched as he stood there for a moment and scratched his head and made an unintelligible grunt.

Moving along, Gabrielle stopped to look at a carved golden picture that hung on the wall, which depicted multiple people in various sexual positions. Some of which got a curious raise of an eyebrow from the bard, until her eyes fell on one pair in particular that she studied for a moment before turning to look over at Xena.

GABRIELLE

That's not humanly possible.

The warrior looked over to where the blonde stood, and after taking note of what the woman was pointing at, simply shrugged.

XENA

Sure it is.

Xena then returned to her examination of the temple as Gabrielle's eyes went back to the mural on the wall and studied it a bit more as Aphrodite again appeared unseen to mortal eyes and poured some of the obsession mixture over her. After which, the bard smirked while looking at the mural, and out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Xena again as a series of thoughts began to flood her mind.

Meanwhile, Xena continued walking around the temple.

XENA

You know those guys Aphrodite had steal that diamond are probably headed for Parnassus.

The dark-haired woman stopped in front of the temple's altar, where various items were laid out as offerings to the goddess.

XENA

The priest there is an expert astrologer. And who knows what stupid thing Aphrodite wants him to do with the thing?

Idly, Xena picked up a large fish that had been left there and gave it a sniff before grimacing at the smell of old fish as Aphrodite moved still unseen to where the woman stood.

APHRODITE

Okay, double dose for you, Warrior Babe.

Taking the bottle, the Goddess poured an extra large dose of the mixture over Xena as the warrior took a closer look at the fish in her hand.

APHRODITE

Big mistake. You're never getting that smell off your hands now.

Suddenly, Xena lowered her arm and turned toward Gabrielle and Joxer.

XENA

That settles it. The North Star is on the verge of extinction. And now the fate of the whole world lies in our hands. Which means there's only one thing we can do now.

The warrior held up her arm again.

XENA

Time to go fishing.

TO BE CONTINUED…