Rants and Rambles

Myth Part Five

(If you are still reading, I am shocked by your patience)

And then they played. Zeus started first, placing his falcon on the board. Then it was Robyn's turn. She placed the sparrow on first. Zeus moved his falcon to the side on his next turn, allowing for another bird to come onto the board. Robyn did the same on her turn. Then it was Zeus' turn again. He placed his osprey on the board next, and Robyn placed her swallow. The turns went on like this for a while, until all of the pieces except for the hawk and the crane were on the board.

This was when the game really began.

Robyn was the first to capture a piece, taking Zeus' heron. Zeus' eyes flashed with anger, and a few turns later he took Robyn's kingfisher. They were even again, both with five pieces. Neither of them had put their most powerful piece on the board yet, and for good reason. Those pieces were important to save until the end, as otherwise there would be a good chance that they could be captured while you weren't paying attention.

Athena watched this whole affair with interest.

Robyn took Zeus' falcon next, and then she took his egret. In retaliation, he took her swan and her sparrow. Now Zeus only had his owl, his osprey, and his hawk left, the latter not even being on the board yet. Robyn had her swallow, her robin, and her crane left, again with the latter not being on the board.

Neither of them talked during the game, as they were too focused on what the other player was doing to their pieces. Suddenly, Robyn narrowed her eyes. In a few swift moves she had taken Zeus' owl and was closing in on his osprey.

Zeus' eyes flashed again, and then he moved his hawk onto the board. He used it to quickly take Robyn's swallow, and to push her pieces away from his osprey.

Robyn brought her crane onto the board. And suddenly, after only a few turns, Zeus had lost his osprey, and his hawk was being pushed to the outside of the grid. And then, the game was done. Zeus had lost all of his pieces, and Robyn still had her crane and the robin on the board.

She stood up, and covered her mouth with her hands. Robyn let out a small squeak of joy, and then whispered, "I won."

"I won." Louder this time. "I won." Even louder. And then it was a deafening roar. "I won."

Zeus' face was purple with rage as he stood up.

"H-how d-dare you," he stammered. "How dare you? How dare you?" Zeus bellowed.

"No." Robyn straightened her back and lifted her chin. "How dare you. How dare you break apart my family? How dare you murder my father? How dare you? This was your doing, and you have no right to treat anyone like you have treated me," Robyn cried. Hot, angry tears ran down her face. She didn't wipe them away. They stayed there as a tribute to her pain.

"I have chosen my prize," Robyn said. "I want you to go live on Earth. I want you to live like everyone else for a change. I want you to realize that what you are doing is not acceptable. I want you to live out your days in the most poor parts of the world. I want you to be treated like dirt, so you will realize that what you have now is something that you should've been grateful of. I want you to be stripped of all of your godly powers, and to become a normal human being. But no, you will not be mortal. You will spend all of eternity being one of the people you used to bring down. That, is what I want, and that, is all you deserve."

Zeus stood there, his mouth open and gaping at the tiny mortal who dared to defy him. And then he said this in a cruel, cold tone, "You know, I should've disposed of you a long time ago, just as I did your father. You are nothing. You mean nothing to me and the rest of the world. You are just a tiny, insignificant part of this world that should've stayed put and kept to herself. And this is all your fault. I will not be stepping down, and I will not be living among mortals. I will stay up here, in my palace, for the rest of eternity. You made a mistake in coming here, and I will not have that mistake reflect on me."

Zeus gave a small, humorless smile. It dripped of savage, barbaric, brutality. It was the smile of someone who knew that he was powerful.

And then he had an idea. His eyes lit up with the thought of it.

"I know what I should've done a long time ago," He said. "I should've done this."

Then, Zeus used his powers, and Robyn felt herself shrinking. She kept getting smaller and smaller.

And then, Robyn couldn't remember who she was, or what she was doing in this room. And what was a room anyway? And who was Zeus? And why were there wings on her back? And what were wings, anyway? And what were all these questions in her head for?

Zeus smiled his cold smile again, and then he bent down and picked up the robin on the floor. It had an amber colored beak, and it's chest was a fiery red. The bird looked exactly like the metal version sitting on the table.

"What did you do?" Athena asked in horror.

Zeus turned around and, still smiling his cold, empty smile, simply said, "I turned Robyn Vlahakis into what she was. A tiny, insignificant, robin."

Now ~
Zeus brought the small robin to land and released it into the wild. It flew away.

And that was that. That was the end of Robyn's tale. She didn't remember anything about her past life or the people in it. She didn't remember Antain, or Eileen, or Athena, or Zeus. She knew nothing except for being a robin.

And Robyn played the part of a robin very well. She was a very fast learner, and after a few days she had found the best ways to crack open a seed or to tug a berry off of a vine.

Zeus went back up to Olympus and pretended like the whole ordeal had never happened. Athena knew better than to protest. To do so would guarantee her banishment from Olympus.

But, Athena did do one last thing for the Vlahakis family. She repacked the game board and the little metal birds, brought them back to Athens, and set them on Eileen Vlahakis' doorstep.

The next day Eileen would wake up and she would find them when she was walking out of the door to go into town. Then, when she would realize what they were, and what they meant, she would sit down on the front step, and she would cry for her niece. She would cry for Robyn, and for Antain, and for all the things that she didn't say to either of them.

But, eventually, she would move on. And Eileen could only pray for the day that she wouldn't cry when she saw a robin pecking at her window.
Robyn Vlahakis was soon forgotten, and so was her story. Eventually people stopped looking for the young woman who went missing years and years ago.

And that was the end.

Not the end. Life still went on for everyone else.

That was just the end of this story.

This story is at it's end.

Το τέλος

(Thanks for reading!)