Preface
The Greek Pantheon had three Maiden Gods.
Athena, the goddess of wisdom and battle tactics, who had sprung from Zeus’ head fully formed in battle armor. Hestia, goddess of the Hearth and daughter of the Titans Cronos and Rhea. And Artemis, a goddess who held many titles as Goddess of the Hunt, Lady of the Wild, and Keeper of the Moon. Her lineage came from Zeus and Leto, shared with her twin brother Apollo. The Maiden Goddesses kept their vows of purity and virginity. They had never lain with a male, nor produced offspring as a result. Until Artemis was bedridden by the pain in her back.
Just as Athena sprung from Zeus’s head decked out in battle armor, Artemis’s offspring came into the world from her backbone, donning the armor of a Huntress. Some believed that she was a result of Artemis’s love for Orion, whom her brother had slain in order to preserve her maiden hood. Some believed that she was the result of Artemis’s manifestion brought to life. Whatever the case, the Pantheon had a new member who was welcomed with open arms. For the most part.
There was a prophecy. One that foretold the ruin and usurpation of Zeus by a descendant of Artemis. The King of the Gods never gave the prophecy the time of day, secure in the knowledge that Artemis was a Maiden Goddess, and could not produce an offspring without laying with a man. And he was right. Artemis had never laid with any man. But Gaia always found a way.
Zeus waited hundreds of years, plotting and scheming. The young goddess was popular amongst the Pantheon, it would not be an easy feat to remove the girl without starting a war on Olympus. Even Hades, secluded in his part of the world, lit up at the mere mention of the kin. So, he enlisted the help of the Fates, beings whom controlled the lives of every soul from Olympus to the Underworld. They warned him that cutting the young lass’s thread would not resolve the prophecy but he was blind with paranoia. It was the perfect plan. Until Dionysus intervened.
Dionysus has made it a point to have the Pantheon underestimate himself by being a crazed and drunk God whose only priority was to party. That way he could learn of all the dirty secrets the gods did their best to hide. And, on top of that, he was absolutely taken by Artemis’s miracle offspring. So when he overheard Zeus’s plans for the young goddess, he immediately took the matter to Artemis.
Artemis had three different titles, each correlating to where she was ruling. If she was in the sky, she was often referred to Selene, Goddess of the Moon. If she was of Earth, she was Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt. And if she dwelled in the darker depths, she was known as Hecate, Goddess of Witchcraft. This version of her was the least known as she mostly dwelled on Earth or with the sky, but nevertheless, she was more powerful than she let on.
With the help of Dionysus, who himself had been resurrected when Hera killed him and his mother, and Hades, they devised a plan in which Atropos would still sever the thread, but she would be resurrected in a new life. There were holes in the plan, such as being unable to remember her past at first, but she would slowly begin to recollect her memory after her 26th birthday.
And so the fateful day came. Dionysus and the young goddess were racing through Artemis’s domain when she felt the breath leave her lungs. Dionysus cried out for help and one by one, each god and goddess from the Pantheon came and tried to revive the dying goddess but the deed was done. Her thread had been cut, and Hermes had to direct her soul to Hades.
She was treated like a Queen in the Underworld for many centuries until Hades led her to the River Lethe. He instructed her to drink and she shall be reborn into the body of a mortal for a second shot at life. And so she did. And not mere minutes later, green eyes the color of the luscious forest opened at a hospital in Oregon.
A goddess, reborn.
