Cursed

Aphrodite

Aphrodite appeared to be floating, as she walked barefoot across the stepping stones scattered throughout her garden . She took this time every day to admire her roses glistening in the morning dew. Mount Olympus may be the abode of the Gods, but in Aphrodite’s mind it was all for her. The fields of roses she nurtured went far past the comprehension of any mortal’s eyes. Every particle of air was filled with the flower’s powerful scent. If the Goddess of Love wasn’t enticing enough on her own, the rose’s intoxicating aroma put those who dared to enter her realm into a trance. Luring them away, into her castle of pleasures and exquisite pain. For even though she was the Goddess of Love, she showed no mercy to those who dared to trespass on her lands.

The Goddess shed her silk kimono like a snakeskin, and patrolled the rest of her garden naked. Her pale skin was luminescent against the dark reds of the roses. For Aphrodite, pleasure and pain were all but one intense emotion. Which is why she sought out to get high off both feelings. She loved the way the thorns protruded from the green stalks of each rose, how something could be equally beautiful and violent. She dove straight into the thorny bramble, her body disappeared into the thick tangle of roses.

Behind a maidservant approached and gathered the silk robe off the grass. She held it up in front of her, shielding her eyes from where she last saw Aphrodite. She knew that by looking directly into the eyes of a God or Goddess she would be cursed to return to her homeland, the mortal realm. Never again would she know the neon pinks and reds of Aphrodite’s garden or the ecstasy her body felt waking up each day in paradise. She was just as addicted to the smell of the roses as she was to the Goddess herself.

Aphrodite heard the servant breathing nervously behind her, so she used her powers to raise herself from her bed of thorns. She drifted down to land in front of the servant, blood dripped off the end of her toes. Every inch of her white pearly flesh was covered with tiny beads of blood. The surface of her skin glistened as bright red droplets trickled down her arms and legs. She laughed at the shocked expression on her favorite servant’s face. The Goddess smiled and brought her wrist to her mouth, gently sucking the blood from her punctured skin. She offered her arm forward, whispering into the servant’s mind. Would you like a taste of me, Saphene? Seeing the innocent longing look on her servant’s face gave her great pleasure. She giggled and licked her lips with a sigh at the delicious taste of her own blood, like cinnamon spice and brown sugar.

Aphrodite closed her eyes while she worked her magic into a pink aura that surrounded her body. After she’d finished the healing, there wasn’t even a trace of blood left on her freshly healed skin. Now she was ready to hear whatever it was that Saphene needed to interrupt her morning for. She walked up to Saphene and allowed the servant to slip the silk kimono back over her shoulders. Saphene looked timidly from side-to-side so as not to stare directly into the Goddesses eyes. Aphrodite picked a ripe peach from a golden bowl on a table nearby, and began walking up the stone stairs of her white marble palace. She sucked the juice from the fruit as the sticky, sweet, nectar ran gushed around her mouth.

“Walk with me and speak quickly Saphene. I have many other tasks that I must tend to.”

“There is word, from Zeus.”

“Oh, and what might that be?”

“He’s under attack, the Titans are invading the walls as we speak.”

“I assume this attack has something to do with his brother Hades?”

Saphene nodded silently, never once making eye contact. Aphrodite sighed with annoyance.

“Those brothers with their constant bickering are so maddening to me! This is the last time I intervene in their absurd brawl. Saphene, bring me my best dress. It’s time to go pay the Lord of the Underworld a visit.”

Zeus

Zeus had already been alerted by the guards of the outermost gates of Olympus that the six Titans were on their way. He had known the Titan’s were coming long before the information came to him, for the winds themselves spoken to Zeus of the foul stench, wafting off the flesh of the mighty beasts. Zeus gazed out of his balcony down into the hearts and minds of his loyal guard, comprised of demi-gods and mortals alike. He had personally trained most of them since they were young and reckless boys, whose egos if left unchecked would run his city to the ground. Zeus had been there for each of them, guiding them through their phase of puberty and into their manhood. Their fidelity to him was unwavering.

Looking down at them now Zeus saw beads of sweat form on their brows, as the news slowly spread of that Titans imminent approach. The fear in their eyes was palpable and it angered Zeus because he had to accept that many brave soldiers were about to die. Knowing that his brother was the one responsible for this senseless attack made his blood boil even more. Zeus’s two favored guards from his innermost circle, Kratus and Bia, paced the halls of their great God’s chamber. Both watched closely for the slightest motion from Zeus, eagerly waiting to carry out his instruction. Kratus and Bia were aware of how on edge all the other warriors were and didn’t want to miss the signal from their mighty leader to attack.

“Kratus, even now as my body fills with anger towards my brother, I still remember a time of peace between us. As young brothers we were once unencumbered with feelings of jealousy or betrayal. Do you think it’s foolish for me to hope for that again?”

Kratus looked up at the mighty Zeus and watched as a single tear carved it’s way down his stoic face. Zeus’s jaw clenched at the great pain this memory inflicted on him.

“Your brother has yet to serve his greater purpose my lord, and when he does, you will achieve the relationship with him that you long for.”

Before Zeus could question the meaning behind Kratus’s words, they were interrupted by a loud crashing sound that only a large boulder could cause. Zeus went to the balcony and watched in horror as the Titan called Hyperion heaved large rocks at the walls of the palace. Of his palace. The Titan’s eyes looked glazed over as it turned it’s mutated face upwards. Zeus spit as the foul stench of sulfur floated up into his nostrils. He knew the smell well, it was the scent of blood and infection coming from the Titan’s body. Zeus yelled down at the giants.

“Hyperion, Crius, Oceanus, Coeus, Lapetus, Cronus what do you seek?”

They’re six blackened mouths replied in perfect unison.

“We seek your death.”

Zeus motioned to the two servants to grab his armor. Wordlessly Kratus placed the heavy armor around Zeus’s board shoulders. The solid gold chest plates had intricate carvings of war scenes etched in mother of pearl on them. Bia offered Zeus his sword, bowing as the God reached for his weapon. The sword was bent into sharp zigzagging angles to mimic the lightening that Zeus’s magic was harnessed from. Now clad in all his armor he was ready for the battle, six against one. Zeus shouted from atop the wall.

“Titans be warned. My men and I will slaughter all of you with great ease. However, if you wish to walk away unharmed, go and fetch Hades and bring him to me. Only then will I spare your lives.”

The Titan brothers looked at each other and then back up at Zeus. The infection caused their mouths to foam. What Zeus didn’t know was that Hades had injected each Titan with a vial of blood from his three-headed beast Cerberus. It’s rabies had taken over the minds of the Titans and turned them mad. Their hunger for the King of the Gods was all-consuming and rotted the very skin on their bones. Cronus’s eyes rolled in the back of his head, while his jaws snapped open and shut with such force that it shook the ground beneath him. Oceanus replied.

“Our brother wants to know what a golden god tastes like Zeus. We cannot accept your request”

All at once the Titans released a growl and charged the wall. Zeus and his guard braced themselves for their attack, as lightning filled up the sky.

Hades

Hades, with his blacked out pupils, scanned the body of his beloved three-headed dog Cerberus. Each of its three heads whined as Hades elongated fingers weaved through Cerberus’s short black hair. Finally landing at the desired location, a perforation in the dog’s skin that oozed with green mucus.

“Cerberusssssss.”

Hades cooed, putting the dog in a trance with each murmur of its name. After a while of chanting, Cerberus’s body went rigid and then collapsed. It lay kicking at the God of the Underworld’s feet, off into a magic-induced dreamland filled with three-headed rabbits.

Hades used his magic to pull a needle and thread out of thin air and began sowing gingerly at the dog’s wound. Even though it was caused by Hades himself, he knew there was no other way to get the Titans completely under his control. Yet he still felt empathy for the dog’s blood sacrifice. The glow of Hades’ green skin radiated cold energy around Cerberus’s body, keeping the animal’s fever down while his powers worked deeper into the infection. He began to sweat and his muscles tensed and flexed at the sheer weight of the animal.

A noise in the distance signaled Charon, the ferryman of the river Styx, accompanied by a guest. Hades barely looked up when Aphrodite approached him, storming off the ferry. He continued petting his three-headed dog Cerberus, having finished his sutures. Aphrodite took one look at Cerberus with disgust and then approached Hades, her red silk dress storming around her long legs.

“I assume you know why I’m here.”

Hades rose from the ground, his body looked almost like a man’s but each limb was lengthened with defined musculature. The very sight of him was exuding strength and lust. Once he was on his feet he towered over the Goddess of Love. She looked up into his black eyes without fear.

“How pathetic of you to send the Titans to do your dirty work. Have you no honor?”

Hades started as if to speak but then his mouth cracked open into a wide grin, his white teeth sharpened into points like tiny icicles. He laughed at Aphrodite but a noise like that of a hiss came out of his mouth instead.

“You speak of honor and yet you know it was Zeus himself who banished me in the first place. If Zeus was gone I would be able to roam freely. I’m only having a little brotherly fun with him, you couldn’t possibly understand.”

“Brotherly fun? Since when is pitting six against one in a battle considered fun? It’s cruel Hades, even for you. Anyway you’re looking more like you belong in this demonic world than ever before.”

Hades looked down at his hands, every day the feeling of death crept deeper into his veins, turning them a dark purple that stood out crisp against his thin green skin. There was a time, long ago, when Hades and Zeus were often mistaken for twins with their tanned skin and golden hair. But that was before their father Chronus turned on them and their mother Rhea devised a plan to send Hades deep into the Underworld where she knew Cronus’s wrath wouldn’t find him. For even though Zeus was the most powerful of his siblings, Hades was secretly his mother’s favorite. What she didn’t know was that the Underworld would turn Hades into something dark. While he lived there his soul would be tormented by the spirits that haunted his realm, forcing him to become the very thing which even death itself feared. A monster.

Aphrodite knew his story and yet she purposely chose to dig her emotional claws deeper into him. She had always known his weak spots simply by looking into his eyes. When he finally looked at Aphrodite, he did not notice the hatred seething in her eyes, but instead he saw her body. It looked sumptuous in silks that curved and clung tightly to her breast and hips. Her hair cascaded in golden waves that curled tightly at her collarbones and then pushed back over her shoulders ending at the crux of her lower back. But her mouth is what distracted Hades the most. Her bottom lip looked wet and plump. Both of her lips pouted like two ripe peaches resting on each other. He wanted to taste her, to consume the opulent essence that made the air around her body glow pink. He wanted to make her his.

He took a step towards her, his head tilted curiously sideways. Suddenly Aphrodite closed the space between them, grabbed Hades by his throat in one hand, and with the other squeezed his groin.

“You can look, but you don’t get to touch.”

She growled in his ear, releasing her grip on him and shoving his body backward. He cackled at the surprising strength of the Goddess. He loved to provoke this rage inside of her, it was the closing thing he would get to fucking her and they both knew it. He would never hurt Aphrodite, for more than anything he wanted her by his side as his consort of the Underworld.

“Aphrodite, let’s make a deal. I will spare the torturing of my brother in exchange for you to remain with me in the Underworld.”

“Never!”

Dolos

Dolos, the trickster God, lounged on a hill torturing bugs that crawled over his legs. He had just come from watching the violence that raged between Zeus’s army and the Titans. He relished in the sights and sounds of such chaos but took off when Kratus and Bia tried to capture him. When it came to getting his hands dirty, Dolos would rather run than risk his life.

His bug torturing was interrupted when he overheard voices echoing through the ground beneath him. Deep in the earth he recognized the pleasant sound of bickering. Dolos thrived off the chaos of a good argument as he excitedly bet down and pushed his ear flat against the dirt. After listening closely recognized the hissing sound of the Lord of the Underworld and his excitement was almost unbearable.

“Who would dare argue with the God of the Underworld?”

He spoke to the bugs crawling next to his face. His curiosity became insatiable. There had to be a way to spy without risking his life. In his current form he would be susceptible to the wrath of Hades. He decided to transform himself into a black rat snake, knowing that Hades wouldn’t think twice of a creature such as that in his lair of darkness.

After he transformed, he slithered down a hole, descending deep into the dirt. He traveled tirelessly for many miles down into the ground, but finally came out on the other side, and entered into the Underworld. Hiding in a nearby cave he was able to witness Aphrodite and Hades hurling insults back and forth like javelins. His snake mind delighted in watching their strained faces as they spewed their frustrations at each other. Dolos spoke in hisses as he watched the God and Goddess’s argument unfold.

“Aphrodite, Zeus, and Hades have gone on for too long with their powers unchecked. It’s time to tip the balance back in the favor of chaos. I will strip them of their immortal bodies and watch as they squirm like bugs to try to find Mt. Olympus again.”

Dolos closed his beady eyes and entered a trance, mumbling to himself while his snake body rocked back and forth;

I am the trickster

Who can deny my clever

Curse upon those

Three gods I have chose

In a human body with woes

Their god form they won’t know

Until humility can grow

Upon hearing the curse Aphrodite and Hades looked up at the tiny trickster God in horror.

“What have you done Dolos?”

“Great ones, your egos have far exceeded your wits. I curse you all to be reborn in the body of mortals. Then you will be powerless, and in your fragility you will truly know what it means to be alive. You may return to your immortal bodies once you’ve found a way to break my enchantment. The choice is yours.”

With this last word, the snake’s body began to vibrate. When Dolos recovered, he was back in his own body. Looking around he smiled, the gods had vanished.