Kronos stood before his mother, Gaia, with a vacant face. Bags sunk into his skin under bloodshot eyes. The sickle he gripped white-knuckled in his right hand still dripped his father's ichor blood. His grasp refused to loosen. The ultimate sin he'd committed, that of killing his own father, Ouranos, brewed a perfect storm of antagonizing emotions.
Ambitious arrogance spiked freely within Kronos. Tiny jolts of smug electric pulses coddled the pleasure center of his brain at the thought of becoming King of the Gods in Ouranos' absence. But that storm front was met with equal force by the gales and squalls of regret. Kronos laid his free hand across his breastbone and sighed.
"You did what had to be done, my son." Gaia crossed the earthen temple. "Ouranos threatened us all. And he imprisoned your brothers in Tartarus."
Kronos opened his mouth to speak, but only the dust of a stolen voice escaped. He fell to one knee under the weight of having slain the Sky. The blood-stained sickle clanged against the floor in remorseful delight at having finally been loosed of Kronos' stifling grip.
"But rest not, my son," Gaia said. "For your son now eyes your back."
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Blood-Stained Laments
FantasyThis is a contest entry for a Sympathetic Villain. From Greek Mythology, it's Kronos who not only killed his father but also ate his children. Ultimate bad-boy!
