Gift for the Gods, Part I
“What I want, Parker…or Patrick. Whatever. What I really want, you can’t give me. But you can help.”
My name is Atë, the one who leads men astray, the Goddess of mischief and ruin. I am a fallen Goddess, at least that is what I tell myself. It helps lessen the sting of what happened. They say family is everything. Yeah, I would believe that if it wasn’t for the hard lesson I learned so quickly. A simple task she asked and I happily obliged. Hera is the mother of all Gods; who am I to deny her? I wanted to be in her favor, so how could I not? It was simple really to trick Zeus into swearing an oath. He, regardless of his stature, was still a man and men alike bent to me. All I did was help secure that Eurystheus would be born first and it worked like a charm. But boy, does Zeus have a temper. When he found out, he tossed from Mount Olympus and told to never return.
“What I want, Parker…or Patrick. Whatever. What I really want, you can’t give me. But you can help.”
“She was stealing, and there are others here who are involved, too. You need to shut the entire place down until you find everyone,” I whispered.
Before I could form my next thought, a hand grabbed me by my throat in a painfully tight grip.
“You are more of an idiot than I thought if you think you can fight, or even hurt, Zeus. You would never win, no matter who is on your side.”
“Wanna see? That is your power, right? Seeing the past. Want to see my dirty little secret?”
“You’re late.” bellowed the voice inside. I smirked. “Yeah, you’re pretty serious about that whole thing, aren’t you, Chronos?”
Anger bristled the hairs on my arms as I felt my rage start to swell. Parts of the tile near my feet started to corrode as my temper flared.
“Look, you’re not taking me back to those boring Gods who tried to stop me. Move out of my way before I smite you like those stupid mortals.”
“We’ve known each other for a while, Hera, and now you, like everyone else, will suffer.”
“They haven’t fought in a war in centuries.” I paused, my voice turning cold. “And besides, the last time the Titans didn’t have me.”
“I’m the Primordial of Darkness, Atë. The shadows belong to me, and now so do you.”
“I saw right through you before. No, you’re nothing but a piss-poor little witch with a boatload of daddy issues.”
“I know that. I would never hurt Clio, but I also don’t think I should be the one you’re worried about, Starlight.”
Eros shot Clio a look, his brows furrowed as he playfully nudged her. “Why can’t she light Pan’s tail on fire? Payback seems like a perfect justification.”
“Ok, fine, I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m up to something, but I also wouldn’t necessarily say I’m not avoiding something, either.”