mythology - short stories

Achilles Come Down

His hands shook as they refrained from touching her, from pulling her in and wrapping himself around her, drowning in her hair, her skin, her clothes, her laugh, eyes, smile. She turned with a smirk and an audacious eyebrow raise, beckoning him in. He lunged, grabbing her, ready to make true on his wish, staring in wonder as her solid form turned to mist in his hands as she moved further away. Her laugh drawing him in. And of course, he followed alike a lost puppy, begging, and whining to return to comfort, home, safety. She was his home, and he would follow her to the ends of the world if it meant she stayed that way.

She had moved again, this time into a series of winding corridors, the maze he called his heart, a maze she owned. He chased after her, but she was quick, twisting and turning through corridors and secret doors, the map laid bare for her to see as he stumbled blinding, led only be the light she left in her path and her infectious laughter. Finally, she reached a dead end, casually bracing herself against the cold walls, releasing an exhale of laughter through her nose. He slowed his pace to a walk as she smiled up at him through curling lashes, nothing but the faint smudge of rouge high on her cheeks, concealing her natural face to him, which he proceeded to wipe away when he reached her, his build towering over hers.

"Finished running, are you?" he mused quietly,

"I knew you wouldn't let me get too far," she whispered back, lips tracing his jaw.

"That's because you hold my leash," he allowed himself to concede, "always have, always will my darling."

She let out a sigh of agreement, before leaning to his ear, their bodies pressed so tightly together he could feel her heart beating in his own chest, as if they had swapped hearts giving the other all they were, all they could be.

"There is no me without you." She uttered the vows they had made that beautiful day, where she dressed as the angel he was sure she was. He leaned down to express his love, but she did not allow him to rest in her arms for long, pulling away with a giggle.

"What?" he asked with a smirk, but she was already gone giggling behind him, the chase beginning again.

But as he turned, blessed by the smile she gave him, all pearly white teeth and rosy cheeks, the warning shout he cried was not quick enough as a wash of deep red replaced the once pure and untainted white of her smile. Her mouth filling with blood, the sword protruding from her stomach like a handle. She stared at him questions not asked soon enough, answers left unfulfilled as she spluttered up blood onto her previously fresh clothes, eyes full of fear, splitting his heart in half, the ground crumbling beneath his feet.

His own scream woke him up, sweat and tears blending on his face like paint on a pallet, as he gripped her pillow and sobbed on their - no, his bed that seemed to have outgrown him. He herded himself into the far corner of the bed, afraid to taint the little he had left of her. Fear and sadness battled in his heart, the heart he had given her, only to find spilled on the floor next to her lifeless body, his rage and grief clouding his vision.

He looked now, tears blurring the image he was presented with, bookshelves filled with stories she promised she would read eventually, tubes of lipstick on the floor next to the frame of their mirror, the glass decorating the floor, plants dying from the loss of her nurturing care, hair ties never to be used again and lotion left to lose its scent with age. The room provided nothing but a reminder of what he had lost, of the days she would never live, the stories she would never tell, the jokes she would never hear. Tea left to go cold in mugs would become a rarity and soon he wouldn't find a scribbled note on the bedside table or a quick sketch left to be forgotten on a desk.

His breath started coming in pants and he found himself struggling to make sense of the unfair hand life had dealt him. The voice of his pained grandmother coming back to him as she lay in her deathbed, "an invulnerable body does not give way to an invulnerable heart, my dear." How correct she was all those years ago when he was simply a boy believing himself undefeated.

His shot out of the bed, racing out of the door as the walls started closing in on him, not bothering with layers or shoes, simply running for the sake of running. He ignored the pain in his feet as he tore through the forest, loose branches ripping into his feet and calves, he did not flinch from the pain but instead welcomed it, begged it to help him make sense of all of it, the pain in his legs matching that in his heart. Except his feet healed as quickly as they tore open and his heart would not.

He found himself upon a lake and without thinking ran in, his pace slowing as the water pulled him back, resistant to newcomers. But he pushed forwards until he was up to his chest, his tears flowing into the water as his body shivered in an attempt to increase his temperature. But he simply closed his eyes and fell back into the inky water, allowing it to surround him and not fighting when it pulled him under, grabbing and tugging to bring him closer, the way he once pulled his love in.

But it was not his beloved he saw when he fell into the water, but the face of a young girl, dressed in the clothes of a warrior. He had the sense he had met her before, but every time he reached for the faint memory it escaped him, falling into the deep canyon of his mind.

"What are you doing to yourself boy?" she asked with a coldness he recalled, yet emotions shone brightly in her eyes, aged beyond her apparent years. He didn't reply just stared, unable to tear his eyes away from her face.

"You should know that now is not your time boy. It is too early to determine your fate yet."

"But not too early to determine hers?" He spat the harsh words without thinking and something like shame crossed the girls face, good. Let her be ashamed, let them all be ashamed for the life that was cut too short.

"You know we had no power over that, the gods do not control the fates, even omnipotence has its limits."

"But why her? Why not me? Why... why did you give me hope?" he stuttered over the questions as his tears flowed into nothingness in the water surrounding him, merely a droplet in the vast lake.

"Wouldn't she ask the exact same question?" Wise beyond her years certainly. The girls face betrayed the knowledge those old, old eyes held, the secrets she kept and the lies she saw through.

He closed his eyes again, too tired to think about such things and asked, "is this all a dream?"

"Of course, it is you know better than that." She scolded.

"You know what I mean, is-is this all real, or did the lake actually drown me?"

He heard her sigh before relaxing, "I suppose it is time you wake up," and with no further goodbye he woke up, coughing and moving to sit as a water nymph rubbed his back soothingly.

"you ought to be more careful in the water this time of year, had to fight off 'bout five Cetus just to get you out," the nymph spoke with a slightly rough accent, throat scratchy from the air she was not used to breathing, "and you may not, but I rather value my life, so if you would like to not do that again, t'would be greatly appreciated." She punctuated her last statement with a swift smack to the back of his head, before diving back into the inky depths of her home.

He sat back up, watching the nymph swim into the depths, the ache in his limbs slowly fading into nothing as he was once again filled with a hollow nothingness. He stood and began his walk home wishing the warrior girl would have simply taken pity on him as she once had a monster from legends past. But he was no monster, he was a hero, a story of light and the knowledge that someone could always be saved, and he would be damned if he gave up now. After everything she had sacrificed to ensure his survival.

So, as he walked, he set out to make a legend of himself, for what had he to lose? 

a/n: okay so I'm legit scared to post this cause i'm not emotionally stable and I feel like this isn't my best work but at the same time I wanted to post it so if it gets some traction I'll post the medusa part and the Death part, but yes pls comment and give feedback and shit cause I need it lol :)