Fated for War - Book 1 - Destroying Fate

Fate

356 B.C.E – Dawn of Alexander the Great

Underworld, Hades, near Tartarus in Nyx's realm

The Moiraie made a mistake.

A Big One.

That in and of itself was enough to make the world itself tremble at its core: the fates made a mistake. They weren't the type to usually make mistakes, in fact they never had; weaving the threads of life with such precision not even a string was out of place.

This was their first mistake, and it was enormous.

So enormous in fact, that it caused the largest, most well-known scandal in all of Olympus and the mortal realm of Greek History...

That's how big the mistake was:

Ares and Aphrodite.

Now, if you don't understand what is meant by Ares and Aphrodite, let's just get to the explanation.

Aphrodite was married, to Ares' only full-blooded brothers...yes.

But then she decided to run off with Ares and have their own illicit affair. Well, not really run off.

They just had the affair right in front of poor Hephaestus' face.

It wasn't as if Ares did not have other lovers, the list of children he fathered from others was long. It wasn't as if Aphrodite had no other affairs either, one was even killed by Ares out of jealousy (so they say).

What it was, however, was the fact that the two would always find themselves back in each other's beds in a tangled heap, without a voice of conscience telling them to stop.

So how was this the fault of the Fates?

You would be wrong to think that it must have been because their threads were fated to weave together as each other's mates, no.

Aphrodite was rightly matched with Hephaestus, she was just a bit of a rebel against fate (understatement).

The issue was with Ares.

Ah, that bloodlust Enyalios, it seemed as though trouble always followed in his wake.

Everyone was paired with someone, a soulmate in a sense. Sometimes the fates would pair the two by Lakhesis weaving their threads together. But when it came to the Olympians and those who shared their blood; the matter of weaving was out of the Moiraie's hands.

The case of Ares?

That's a different story.

-

"This will not end well."

Atropos shot her youngest sister a sarcastic glare. "Really Klotho? I never would have guessed."

Klotho's hurt expression and the frustrated one of Atropos caused Lakhesis to sigh in desperation, dropping the dull grey thread she had been holding and burying her face in both her hands.

"How is this possible? She was not meant to declare chastity. She...she was meant to be his mate."

Atropos angrily cut the three threads in her hand at the same time, grabbing more to continue her endless task. "And yet she did...she defied fate Lakhesis."

"But her thread, it was drawn to his...like all the others before. They were meant for each other. I-."

"Then you should've let the nature take its course instead of going to weave them together Lakhesis."

"But the prophecy said-."

Footsteps echoed against the walls of the cave and interrupted their conversation, the three sister Moiraie looked on as a midnight blue chiton swept across the floor of the chamber, signaling their mother's entrance.

"Are you still moping?"

-

Nyx entered the chamber where her three daughters sat, studying each of their gloomy expressions with a knowing one of her own.

The youngest Klotho was usually the liveliest, as one could expect from the weaver herself. Shimmering golden waves cascading down her back to the bottom of her spine, dressed in an ivory chiton that pooled around her feet and complimented her glowing skin.

Then came Lakhesis, auburn locks brought up in an intricate design and an azure peplos in color. The middle child and, like all middle children, too often overlooked.

And lastly...her eldest of the three, Atropos. Ash gray hair that hung loosely and dauntingly over her face, a black midnight chiton resembling that of her mother's and one that nearly swallowed her form and gave her the look of death...as one would expect from the cutter of threads herself.

Only one thing they shared in common, their grey eyes that had seemingly endless secrets in their depths. Other than this, they were sisters, yet they could not have looked more different. Their corpse-like appearance was only show to strike fear in the hearts of the defiant, Olympian and mortal alike.

"Mother."

Nyx glanced at Klotho's direction before her attention rested back on her fiery Atropos.

"Are you all still moping?"

Anger flashed in the eldest's eyes before her lips parted.

"What are we to do about this?"

Nyx's eyes focused on the glowing thread of red...the one of Ares. Yet this thread was mangled and somewhat atrocious to behold. It was entangled with that glittering sand-like thread of his lover Aphrodite. Aphrodite's thread was not meant to be fated with his. That vivid glaucous blue that hung upon the loom was to be his.

That is, until she had vowed her chastity.