Medusa

Clouds, ominous and dark, drifted across the coal black sky, concealing the abnormally large moon. Rain pelted down soaking the soil. A bolt of lightning tore across the sky and a peal of thunder followed. Deep inside a hollow cave, fire burned fiercely and around it creepy shadows lurked; of soldiers and warriors, heroes and kings. All laid lifeless, cold and still, with shock and terror painted forever in their faces. All victims of a fatal look, the gift and curse of the mightiest gorgon of them all; Queen Medusa.

"Poseidon is going to pay for what he's done, sister" Euryale uttered, her tongue rattling like a venomous snake.

"I just, can't help but remember how he made me feel," Medusa said, crimson with rage. "But how can I not? The memory is burned into my subconscious forever, haunting me like the Furies haunt the cursed. I...I remember vividly how scorching pain took over me when he... when he..." Medusa started sobbing, her cries as of a seabird in the wind.

"He forced himself into me, like I was nothing, like I was just some gaping hole in Tartarus, with no value, no feelings." Medusa's eyes, half-veiled by slumberous tears were like the wildest jungles, seen through mists of rain. She felt her soul shaking, and her heart shattering into myriads of pieces, thrown across the seven seas.

All her life, Medusa felt powerful and fierce; mortals feared her and gods respected her; but that image was a stark antithesis to what she was feeling now. For the first time, she felt powerless and frail. After what Poseidon had done to her, she felt like a tangled ball of thorns, filled with

fury, torment, hate and despair.

"And now, Goddess Athena is enraged, holding me accountable for being raped by her uncle inside her holy temple." Medusa felt her stomach twisting and turning to abhorrence.

"So much for Goddess of Wisdom..." Sthenno murmured.

All of a sudden, a bellow, like an earthquake, echoed. "I am Perseus, son of the almighty Zeus, and I am here to deliver Athena your monstrous head." The screeching of bats followed. As fast as Hermes, Medusa rose to her feet, her snake-locks hissing.

"APPEAR MONSTER!" His voice was sharp and merciless.

Medusa felt panic grip her throat like a giant's hand. Her heart was pounding as if it was trying to break through her ribs, and her breath shortened with every passing second.

"I WILL TEAR HIM APART!" Euryale hissed, her eyes blazing with loathe and rage.

"No, sister," Medusa's voice sounded serene and determined, like a soldier going to battle. Plucking up even the last resources of courage Medusa could find in her soul, she marched mightily towards her destiny.

Valiant and dauntless, Medusa stepped outside her lair, coming face to face with her death sentence. Perseus's gargantuan figure was bathed in the silver rays of the moon, his golden armour shining as bright as the North star. Smiling pompously, Perseus held a tight grip on his cold-steel sword that was dripping crimson tears.

Hissing, Medusa jumped as high as Artemis's golden hind, and landed a heavy kick on Perseus' chest. He hardly flinched. Medusa fell face down onto the muddy ground, her face bathing in wet soil.

Smirking, Perseus swung his heavy sword as forcefully as Zeus would have done so himself, hoping to cut the monster in half. As quick as a cheetah, the gorgon rolled over, escaping Hades with only a scratch. Her heart, though stout and brave, was beating like a muffled drum, funeral marches to the grave. Swiftly, Medusa jumped to her feet, her snake tongue rattling, sending chills down Perseus's spine.

Bloodthirsty and merciless, the fearsome hero lunged, trying to stab the gorgon's chest. Dodging, Medusa found the opportunity to scratch sharply with her claws Perseus's inner thigh. An ear-piercing cry escaped the heroic lips. Pain filled the demigods' body like water entering a sinking ship, increasing his fury.

"Die, monster!" his raucous voice was filled with poisonous hate. Enraged, he thrusted with his shoulder, tackling Medusa onto the muddy ground.

"I am no monster!" Medusa said with cracking voice. Tears welled up in her eyes. "Your gods that kill and rape, tearing mortal lives apart with no consequences are the real monsters!" Crying uncontrollably, Medusa felt death's icy touch reach out to her as Perseus was on top her, holding tightly her wrists down. But she was far from giving up.

"Look at me, son of Zeus, look me in the eyes when you pierce my heart" Medusa hoped the hero would fall into her trap. "But you won't, you know why, 'cause you are nothing but a coward" she hissed. "You are no hero, you are just another assassin doing what your gods can't do on their own."

Perseus, well aware of the monster's deathly eyes, ignored Medusa and reached to grab his weapon. Filled with more wrath than Ares himself, the demigod swung his sword to decapitate the gorgon. Little did he know what the three fates had in store for him. As his blade was descending, sending Medusa to the underworld, two snakes from the gorgon's hair bit deep inside the heroic neck, spitting lethal venom, making fates cut Perseus' thread of life.

The hero, his grim eyes wide open, inhaled his last breath and collapsed lifeless to the ground. He wasn't a hero anymore; just another failed assassin of the Olympians. Medusa, brisk as a greased lightning, seized the dead man's sword and beheaded him without thinking twice.

Victorious, Medusa rose to her feet holding Perseus's dead head, bellowing to the heavens with a voice like the booming of great guns "Let this be a promise to all Olympians; your actions will not go unpunished. To all women the Olympians have wronged, tell them, you are not alone. They will pay; one by one, every Olympian will pay for their crimes with sweat, blood and tears."