Aphrodite's Curse [Yan!DSMP x Reader]

II | First morning of the Festival

Certe tute iubebas animam tradere, inique, me
inducens in amorem, quasi tuta omnia mi forent.

Despite the great discomfort the bed gives you, you've slept better than in the previous days. Maybe it's because you're not travelling at the moment? Whatever the case may be, you feel well-rested again, and a lot more than you did yesterday.

You're aware of the busy planning that you have today. Because Schlatt insists that you do so, you're forced to go with him to the three tragedies that will be acted out in the theatre. Thankfully, though, after that, when other festivities will take place, you and the other warriors are allowed to leave.

The plays in and of themselves are rather interesting to watch. The stories of the past, the three masked actors, the chorus: it's as talented as what you've seen before, though you can't help but wish Schlatt just allowed you to do what you feel is necessary.

Tubbo's sitting next to you through it all, though, and you can't help but crack a joke once or twice. Tommy, who is seated next to his closest friend as well, hears them too, and his obnoxious laugh tends to annoy his father and older brother, though you welcome it.

The first play in and of itself isn't that interesting. It starts out with five characters, each representing seemingly a different nation: Cretes, Attica, Elis, North Argos, and the fallen Troye. The five characters end up finding an old papyrus, on which something is written regarding some sort of a treasure. Throughout the tragedy, we discover more of the painful pasts of the personages, until inevitably it comes down to deciding who will get the treasure. As expected, North Argos wins.

The second play, written by the same playwright, is better than the first. For one, the chorus gets more chance to sing and narrate the story, leaving you absolutely in love with their voices. The sounds will always be clearly audible, no matter where you'd sit, but you can't help but be thankful you're seated on the lowest row, closest to their stage. In any case, the rain conveniently decided to show themselves during this one, leading to a rather painful scene between the main character and an unnamed figure, whispering in his ear and that of his brother to commit the most horrible crimes imaginable, ending in the genocide of their entire town. You yourself have no clue who this unnamed figure may exactly be, or at least be meant to represent, but you can only assume it's some sort of a god or a titan or possibly a spirit. But no matter what it represents, the way the guilt of the main character leads to him killing himself too, leaving the town abandoned and alone, saddened you too.

And then the last play; that truly fascinated you. A group of people had been invited to go to some fancy party honouring one of the gods, when one for one they all got killed off. The gore was sung about with much detail, the characters were murdered in very unique ways, though they lost you at the end. The god that they were honouring, who was someone you'd never heard of before, was in a sense behind it all. Well, not him directly, but he did it through another object. When they first showed it to you, you thought it was a basilisk's egg. It looked like one. However, once the name of the belonging god was dropped, you realized it was not such a thing.

"Who is this 'Xifodeos' they're talking about?" you ask Schlatt, knowing that he too must've honoured him sometimes. After all, it's not the first time you hear the god's name. In the past, your king has asked you if you were interested in partaking in the rituals surroundings Xifodeos' existence, and his sister's, whose name you have forgotten. However, because you never heard of this deity before, and much more prefers sacrificing or honouring in private, you always declined.

"You don't know Xifodeos!?" Tommy whispers with a little squeal, eyes widening as Wilbur too hears the blonde's surprised words. The Mycenaean king, however, simply looks at you through the corner of his eye, before looking down on his son's shock.