Important note:
This chapter contains traces of assault and abuse. This may be upsetting for some readers. Please be aware and mindful of this if you continue reading.
- Athena
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"Urm hi, sorry to bother you, but could you tell me where I can find Odessa?" Nike asked a young satyr lying in the shade of a tree.
The victory goddess had followed her mother's directions to a village hidden away in the forest. It seemed surrounded by magical creatures of all rankings. The only ones that weren't represented were the Olympians, but with this amount of nymphs around, Nike doubted it would take long for them to get here.
"Odessa? What could you possibly need her for?" The Satyr asked, turning up their nose.
"She has information that I desperately need."
The satyr snorted.
"She only speaks cursed words, winged stranger. Trust me, you don't wish to talk to her."
"Yes, I do. Just tell me where to find her, please." Nike sighed.
The satyr gave her a suspicious glance. The angel wondered why Odessa was so loathed by the people around here. This young creature in front of her wasn't the only one she had asked on her way throughout the village. Some people had even turned around and walked away the moment she had asked about the woman.
"It's your doom minor goddess." The Satyr stated.
'Minor goddess.'
The words stung in Nike's chest. She ruled over victory and yet still people saw her as less merely because she was no Olympian. It did not mean she wasn't as powerful as them. In fact she ensured they looked as powerful and majestic as they did by granting them their victories.
However the angel kept her mouth shut. That satyr would eventually figure out who they had offended.
"You can find her if you follow the main road until you go past the village. Follow the small flowy trail up the hill. There you should find the wreck of a house where she lives."
Nike gave a nod and thanked the satyr even though the words left a bitter taste in her mouth. Instead of walking she chose to put her wings to good use and flew towards the house on the hill.
When she let her feet touch the ground once more she saw the satyr had been correct about one thing. The house was a wreck indeed. Pots in front of the house that had held seeds and grains had been smashed. The door was unhinged and there were small pools of blood in various places, seemingly leaving a trail that led inside.
"Odessa?" Nike called out.
"Odessa, are you here?"
No reply came, so the victory goddess took the liberty to enter the house. She followed the trail of blood and it led her to a fireplace. In front of it sat a fragile figure with their back towards the angel. They were muttering something that sounded a lot like a prayer to Hestia.
"O-odessa?" Nike hesitated.
The person in front of the fire didn't reply right away. They finished their prayer first.
"You're new... I've never felt an aura like yours before... Except in... Styx... Yes, the ego. You both think you're the best... You always win..." They started muttering.
"Are you Odessa?" Nike asked, feeling rather uncomfortable.
"That is what my parents named me, yes... But these days people call me anything but my name... So you tell me who you think I am..."
"Have you ever met Odessa?" Nike asked her wife.
They had sat down on a bench in one of Olympus' fancy parks. The victory goddess was picking some loose feathers from her wings while Athena fiddled with the edge of Aegis, which she was wearing loosely around her shoulders like a cape. The angel knew the both of them felt more comfortable if their hands were busy when they talked as deep as this. It allowed both of them to stay in the present rather than disappear into their memories.
"Once..." Athena admitted.
"However, my father forbade me to speak to her, so I went to see her behind his back."
"How did that go?"
"It was messy. It took forever for her to let me inside and when she did, she wasn't allowed to tell me what happened to mom. So instead she gave me a book and pushed me out the door. I read the whole thing on her doorstep. I tried to speak to her again, but she would no longer have me."
"Does that bother you?" Nike wondered, noticing a certain bitterness in her wife's words.
"Yes and no." The wisdom goddess replied.
"On one hand, yes, I have never laid a hand on her. All I wanted to know was what had happened to my mother and to speak about it with someone who knew. On the other hand no, because I know she swore an oath and she is still harassed everyday for the prophecies she speaks. I don't blame her for losing her voice..."
'Losing her voice.'
To Nike the phrase seemed to be made for Odessa. Although she never literally lost her voice, she was afraid to use it.
The angel could hardly understand what it would be like. She couldn't imagine being so afraid to speak as Odessa was. To her her voice was one of the most important things and she definitely wasn't afraid to use it whenever something was bothering her.
"So you mentioned Styx allowed Odessa to speak her truth to you and only you... Did she?" Athena wondered.
"She did. But it didn't come easy. With every word she spoke she expected my mother to pop into the room and take everything from her." Nike remembered.
"I believe that you are Odessa, the oracle that predicted my friend's fate."
The word friend left a bitter taste in the victory goddess' mouth. Even after a year she still wasn't ready to face the ugly truth that Metis would never be hers.
Odessa shrugged humorlessly.
"Who exactly are you speaking of, angelic deity...? I've predicted many faiths over the years and often they were bound to oaths... If you wish to know what happened to your... Friend... Go ask your mother..."
Nike was taken aback. This woman had not looked at her once yet she seemed to know everything about her.
"Yeah, about that-"
"She sent you here..." Odessa's fragile voice finished.
"She did yes. She told me that you'd be able to tell me what happened." The angel explained, trying to shake this gloomy feeling that was growing inside her gut.
Odessa slowly stood up, her body shaking and clearly having trouble to balance itself. The mortal turned around to see face to face with the goddess.
Nike's eyes scanned over Odessa's bruised body. The oracle's dress was ripped to give better access to her chest and hips. It was full of dry bloodstains that seemed to have come from her nose and lip. Her right eye seemed to have swollen and had a shade somewhere between dark blue and purple.
The victory goddess was no doctor but she figured injuries like these didn't just happen because she fell or did something in a careless manner. No, injuries like these had been inflicted by another.
"And what exactly is it that you seek... Daughter of Styx...?" Odessa asked, scanning the angel from head to toe.
"The truth about my friend."
"Are you sure you wish to know...?"
"Yes." The angel said, sounding very convinced.
"I cannot provide you with that... I have sworn an oath to-"
"My mother I know." The victory goddess cut the oracle off.
"But she has made an exception. I swear on my wings she will not persecute you for it."
Nike could've sworn to her mother's river once more, but she had about had it with Styx and her oath's. No, she would swear on that which was most important to her personally. Her wings.
Odessa studied the angel, seemingly determining whether or not the angel's wings were that important to her. As if she was contemplating if the victory goddess even used them in the first place.
"If I see your mother turning up... I will no longer be the only broken soul in this room..." Odessa muttered eventually.
"Metis is no more..." She stated in a regular tone.
"What do you mean no more?"
"I predicted she would have a child... One that would surpass their father, Zeus, and claim the throne of Olympus... For themselves when they would come of age... Our king rather kept the throne for himself and swallowed his wife..."
Nike felt nauseous. Her current boss had swallowed her best friend. She shuddered at the thought alone. All because he thought he could outrun a prophecy?
Spots started dancing before the angel's eyes. Her head was getting lighter and her body was shivering.
"What happened to the child?" The victory goddess managed to utter.
"Oh she paid her father back... She caused him splitting headaches and was born through a cut in the king's skull... If I can believe the nymphs of Olympus... She let out an ear piercing war cry... I assume she became one of the other Olympians..."
"What is her name?"
"Athena, goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare..." Odessa said, her eyes glistening in the dim light that came through the windows.
Nike looked at her wife sitting on the bench with her. She still had the fabric of Aegis between her fingers.
"Thank you for telling me." Athena said.
"I know that this probably didn't come easy to you..."
"You're welcome." The angel smiled ever so slightly.
She sighed, glad to have this weight off her shoulders. That feeling however didn't last long. Now that Nike told Athena the full story, that means she broke the oath she swore to her mother. Her next visit home wasn't exactly going to be a pleasant one.
The victory goddess shuffled closer to her wife and placed her head on her shoulder. She could feel the wisdom goddess wrap a protective arm around her. Feeling warmth, Nike realized that Athena had wrapped Aegis around her.
Having Aegis and her wife near made the angel feel like she would be fine. Although there was one thing that kept bothering her.
Over the centuries Nike had learned one thing. You could try as hard as you wanted to, but you could never outrun a prophecy. It will always catch up with you in the end. Even when your name is Zeus.
'I predicted she would have a child... One that would surpass their father, Zeus, and claim the throne of Olympus...' Odessa's voice whispered in the angel's ear.