Mortal
03 Mar 2019Today’s prompt: “You are a midlevel Greek deity, hoping to move up the ranks of Olympus. What are your powers, and how will you use them to impress Zeus and the others?”
Oh my gods, you guys, Hera is so nice!
You really don’t know where she got her reputation for being a harpy. Ever since you showed up on Olympus and introduced yourself as the God[dess] of Perception, she’s been nothing but delighted with you.
“Ooh, ooh! I want to see how it works!” she said as soon as you introduced yourself. She tapped her husband Zeus on the forearm. “Honey, turn into a bull!”
“No,” Zeus said, frowning.
“Okay, okay, I’ll turn into an animal. You guys, too!” she told the other assembled Olympians.
“Sure, I’m game,” said Ares. Hephaestus nodded, and Aphrodite and Artemis smiled.
“No obvious animals, like peacocks or rams or owls,” Athena said.
“Okay, close your eyes and count to ten. Then open your eyes and tell us who’s who,” Hera said to you.
You closed your eyes. At first, you heard footsteps as the Olympians traded places, then hooves and the flap of wings as they changed forms. You counted down, then opened your eyes.
There was a vulture in a tree, but after a moment, the image flickered. It’s as if everything goes to static, and then, emerging from the static, the faint outline of a strong, well-armed man with a salt-and-pepper beard.
You pointed to him. “Ares,” you say. You quickly went through the rest of the animals. “The panther is Athena. Aphrodite is the warthog. Hephaestus, you’re the big lizard.”
“Komodo dragon,” he corrected.
“Komodo dragon,” you agreed. “Artemis, you’re a goat. And Hera, you’re a robin.”
The gods all returned to their normal forms and exclaimed over your parlor trick. “We are going to be besties from now on, I just know it,” Hera said. Zeus looked a bit petulant. You don’t know what his deal is.
One day Hera invites you for a visit, so you go to her palace on Olympus. The place is pretty empty when you arrive.
“Where’s Zeus?” you ask after you’ve greeted Hera and made some small talk.
“Oh, he’s off doing his own thing. Anyway, today I thought it might be fun to take a little trip to Earth. Maybe go to the beach.”
“That sounds nice,” you say.
You and Hera stroll along the beach. It’s magnificent – white sand, a slight breeze, brilliant blue water made that much more pleasant by the late June sun. Several men and women are bathing or swimming.
“Look at that,” Hera says. “I wonder why that swan is attacking that woman.”
“Oh, that’s Zeus!” you blurt out.
“Zeus!” Hera says. The swan looks at her, then at you, a look in its eyes as though you’re the skunk at a picnic. Then it flies away.
The woman makes a quick bow to Hera. Hera seems satisfied, and you continue your stroll.
You’re fitting right in at Olympus. Hera has you over every day now. Zeus still doesn’t seem to like you, but he doesn’t interact with you much, and Hera’s so kind, always with the nectar and ambrosia and dishing the hottest Olympian gossip. And then Hera suggests another trip to Earth. “Let’s check out that tower King Acrisius built,” she says.
“Okay,” you say.
You walk around the tower, admiring the view from the ground, but then Hera suggests having a look at the scrollwork at the top of the tower. You both fly up. There, you see a skylight, and a pool of golden rain streaming through the skylight and into the chamber of a young woman.
“Zeus?” you say, honestly surprised to see him in a form like that.
“Zeus!” Hera says.
If water could give you a dirty look, it would have. And then it evaporated away.
“Well, that’s that sorted,” Hera says.
You’re a bit confused. “We’re not just going to leave this woman there, are we?”
“A woman imprisoned on high in a gilded cage?” Hera says. “You’re right, it is a bit … familiar.” With a wave of her hand, the bars over the skylight fall away and a rope ladder attaches itself to the parapet of the tower and cascades through the skylight into the room. The woman shouts out in gratitude and relief and grabs hold of the first few rungs as the two of you fly away.
When you arrive back at Olympus, Hera says she’s had a lovely time today and bids you farewell. As you are about to leave her palace, Zeus appears from the shadows and grabs your arm.
“Just because you’re immortal,” he hisses into your ear, “doesn’t mean you can’t be killed.” He lets you go and storms off into the palace.
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Some time later, you arrive for your visit with Hera. When she opens the door, she announces, “I thought we’d take a little trek across the countryside today.”
“That sounds lovely,” you say.
You walk past people tending gardens and herding sheep and goats. It’s a lovely day, and the smell of fresh hay is in the air.
You’re just about to pass a field where a young woman is tending a herd of cows and bulls, when you notice a white bull walking toward her.
“Oh hey, Zeus!” you say, and wave at the bull.
Zeus turns to you, still in bull form, looking absolutely furious. He charges toward you. And you feel it for the first time in your life: mortal dread.
You run from the bull, but still it tears after you. “Zeus!” Hera shouts. “Zeus, stop!” He doesn’t heed her cries.
There’s an agonizing sharpness in your side. What is this? Is this what pain is like?
Zeus’ horn pulls away from you, covered in gore. Your blood continues to seep out. It’s a mortal wound. A mortal wound. It doesn’t make any sense.
You look at Hera. There’s a shocked expression on her face. Zeus has transformed back into his normal appearance and stalks toward her.
“Come, Hera,” he says, his massive hand encasing her shoulder as he pulls her away from you, back toward Olympus. You collapse on the road. She glances back at you, and sobs. But she doesn’t fight him.