POINT OF VIEW: DYLAN
Friday, October 13, 2028, around 11.30 P.M
"You're ... bleeding?!" Dylan exclaimed incredulously as he glued his eyes on the wound on Athena's cheek. A few days ago he had witnessed her trying to pierce herself with a butter knife, and the knife could not even peel her skin. This time, something that had just hurtled past her face managed to make a scratch on her cheek. Did her power suddenly diminish again?
"Dylan, get up and find a safe hiding place," Athena said with a stern voice, while at the same time glaring at whatever was in the alley. He quickly rose to his feet, but he did not promptly search for a safe place. Instead, he shifted his focus to the same direction as Athena did.
A womanly figure was standing in the alley, the distance was approximately two meters away from Dylan and Athena. She then started walking towards them.
"Dylan, why are you still here?!" Athena said. "She can hurt me, so she definitely isn't a human!"
"How rude you are, o mighty Athena, the goddess of Wisdom and Battle Strategy," the womanly figure suddenly said as she got even closer, making Dylan and Athena look towards her again. "I am curious to know who this mortal is that has become your slave this entire day."
"Who are you?!"
"I am your loyal priestess, my holy goddess," the woman said when the moonlight and the street lamp were finally able to reveal her. Dylan had expected the woman to be someone resembling Athena, dressed in ancient clothing and ancient war suits. Nevertheless, what he saw right now was just a woman with sunglasses, red T-shirt with gray words 'The Rock', and gray jeans. She was not any closer to his very own imagination. He became unconvinced that the one standing in front of him was the one who had just managed to hurt Athena.
"Medusa ... How is it possible?!"
"Medusa you said?" Dylan responded as he looked at Athena. "Was she the one who did inappropriate things in your temple?"
"Move back, Dylan. She is dangerous," Athena said, completely ignoring the question. Simultaneously, her hair went untied and a helmet materialized on her head. Her casual T-shirt changed into body armor fully covering her upper torso, shoulders, and upper arms, while her jeans transformed into a Gladiator-style black skirt fully covering her thighs. A sword materialized in her right grip, and a circle armor in her left grip. She then aimed the tip of her sword towards Medusa, before she said, "I will kill you this time."
Medusa threw her head back and laughed. At that time, her strands of hair suddenly formed braids. It was almost like a blink in an eye, so Dylan did not have a clear view on how they could turn like that. While he was still wondering whether the transformation was real, Medusa's T-shirt and jeans turned wavy. The shirt became some kind of armor that seemed to be solid and hard, while the jeans became one with the legs, with scales all over the surface. The same transformation also happened on her arms, with sharp fingernails as additional attributes. Medusa then stopped laughing and stared back at him and Athena. Unexpected to him, her face skin had turned gray. Grinning at them, she said, "One more transformation."
The braided hairs of Medusa suddenly moved like wind was blowing through them. The tips then floated, and the entire braids became solid. Scales also grew all over the surface, followed by the tips grotesquely turned into snake heads. Witnessing the last change, Dylan was stunned. Medusa then grabbed her sunglass temple. All of a sudden, Athena elbowed Dylan and screamed, "Shut your eyes!!"
Dylan bumped the wall and slumped to the ground. Groaning in pain, he was distracted by Medusa's scream. He looked back at her, only to see Athena was pressing her sunglasses against her face. She struggled to extricate herself from Athena, but then the goddess jumped backwards and landed near him. "I have made your sunglasses stuck to your eyes. You will never be able to take it off unless I make it happen," Athena said with a stern voice.
Medusa grabbed the sunglasses temple and pulled it. Like Athena had said, she could not remove it. She shifted her focus back at Athena and lurched towards her. She swung her arms, but Athena managed to avoid the sharp nails by throwing back her head. Quickly Athena raised her shield, but Medusa managed to somersault a few steps backwards. Hissing like a snake, she ran back towards Athena. Her snake hair straightened, similar to normal snakes preparing to target their prey. Raising her sword and shield, the goddess also hurtled towards Medusa.
The scratching sounds were produced as Medusa did not stop swinging her arms, and Athena concentrated on blocking the brutal attack. Unexpectedly, two snakes on Medusa's head stretched and encircled Athena's neck, making the goddess lower her shield and focus on extricating the snakes from her neck. Medusa did not wish to waste the moment, as she punched Athena's chest, making the goddess fall and lay on the ground. Kneeling one knee on the breastplate, Medusa rapidly punched Athena on her face. Seeing it, Dylan wanted to help. But the thought that the enemy was not an ordinary human hesitated him, making him can only tremble, while at the same time grinding his teeth.
"Kolaseos seem to have made you lose your combat abilities," Medusa said as she kept pelting Athena. "Pallas will surely be disappointed if she still lives!"
"You do not get to mention her name!" Athena was enraged. Simultaneous with her newly emerged emotion, spikes emerged from her shoulder protectors. These spikes launched against Medusa, making the serpent lady squeal in pain and topple backward. Athena promptly rose to her feet and darted to Medusa who also hurriedly rose to her feet. Athena swung her sword, but in the last seconds Medusa managed to duck down, thus severing only two of her snakes. The severed head melted as soon as they fell onto the ground.
Hissing once again, Medusa somersaulted back. This time, she unexpectedly landed on the wall at the back, like she was the superhero Spiderman. Looking up with a glare, smoke emerged from her legs and blanketed the entire lower part of her body. From the spot where her feet were glued on the wall, the smoke grew wider and longer. The smoke then began to disperse, revealing something enormous that wriggled side to side. Dylan's eyes instantly went wide with terror when he finally learned that this wriggling enormous object was a giant snake body, attached to Medusa from her waist area.
Medusa jumped towards Athena, her arms were ready to embrace the goddess. Athena jumped, but Medusa successfully threw her arms around Athena's legs. With one quick movement Medusa smashed Athena to the ground, before she pinned her down with her giant snake body. Athena dropped her sword and shield, and she flailed her arms; she was attempting to touch the giant body.
Suddenly, two snakes emerged from the giant snake body and entwined Athena's wrists, thus restricting her from moving her hands.
"This is what I've always been waiting for two thousand years!" Medusa exclaimed as she opened her mouth, revealing snake-like fangs in it. Opening her jaw wider, she moved her body lower towards Athena. But Athena raised her head, making her fangs clatter against the goddess' helmet.
"I have enough of this!" Athena exclaimed. Followed by it, Medusa suddenly screamed in pain and threw her upper torso back. Massive blood flowed out from her snake body as she straightened it, giving Dylan a clear view on what was happening: the entire upper armor of Athena was unexpectedly full of spikes, and most of them pierced the snake body.
The spikes went down, thus freeing Medusa and making her crawl back. Athena rose to her feet and grabbed her sword, before darting to Medusa. She jumped and severed three snakes from Medusa's head. Enraged, Medusa flailed and tried to scratch Athena. The goddess ducked down repeatedly, until she spotted an opening to stab the snake body. Medusa once again screamed in pain. This time, her snake body started to melt, similar to what happened to her snake hairs earlier. After a little while, Medusa finally returned to her first monstrous form.
Medusa dropped to her knees and started showing signs of exhaustion. Athena approached her and grabbed her by the throat. Raising her sword, she said, "Now I shall finish what Perseus has failed to do."
"NOO!!!" Dylan shouted, making Athena look over her shoulder.
"Why did you yell 'Noo', Dylan??"
"Aa ... I – ".
"Take your business somewhere else!" someone suddenly showed up from a window on the third floor. "I don't care if you want to steal, kill, sell drugs, or whatever! Just don't disturb this place again!"
"I ... I'm sorry, Sir ... we will leave soon."
"If you do commotion again, I will definitely call 911," the man threatened, before he shut the window again.
Dylan looked back at Athena. "We have to keep our voice down. People are trying to sleep here."
"Okay, I will kill this monster in silence."
"No ... no ... ," Dylan shook his head and made an X with his hands.
"Why do you say 'No' again?" Athena clearly looked dissatisfied.
"I ... said no because ... Is it really necessary to kill her?"
"Of course! she is a threat to humanity," Athena said. "Like I said earlier, a hero named Perseus should have finished this simple task a long time ago. Too bad he could be bribed. A fatal mistake I confessed. Now I shall finish the task before she starts ravaging everything."
"But she's weak now," Dylan defended. "Look at her. She's wounded all over the place, and she barely could even stand anymore."
"You do know that every living being is bestowed with the ability to recover, don't you?"
"I'm aware ... But – "
"I will not attack you again," Medusa suddenly said. She had opened her eyes, and her breathing rhythm had gotten slightly stable than before.
"You are foolish if you think that simple statement will make me release you."
"I will not attack you again ... ," Medusa repeated her words again. "Because you've grown stronger like you used to be."
"What do you mean??"
"Why don't ... you release me?" Medusa asked. "You know .... It's hard to talk ... like this."
"Athena, please release her," Dylan said as he placed his hand on Athena's grabbing-Medusa's-throat-arm.
"If I release her, then she can attack me again."
"Then just behead me now. I'm already weak. Surely you can bring me down in just a few seconds, can't you?"
Athena clenched her teeth. But then she released Medusa, making her cough several times. Medusa then crawled to the wall and held onto it to stand up and steady herself.
"Is it okay if I ask you one more favor?" Medusa asked. "I would like you to undo the manipulation that glued these sunglasses on my face. I promise you I will not petrify this young mortal."
"His name is Dylan," Athena said as she touched the sunglasses temple. After the manipulation was undone, Medusa sighed in relief.
"Now ... Athena ... I would like to ask you something. Weren't you aware that since the day you cursed me, never even once I tried to take revenge against you."
"I don't answer a question. I demand an answer."
"I never took revenge on you because you were so strong and intelligent and watchful!" Medusa shifted her focus to Athena. "But this mighty goddess had turned so weak and defenseless when I finally came across her in Kolaseos. She could only sit on the ground and looked desperate for a few days straight. It was something I never saw in her before we were all dumped into this realm."
"You've been monitoring me all this time??"
"To find you is something I never intended when I first landed in Kolaseos. But to finally see you after wandering for weeks or maybe years, I considered it as fate."
"Wait ... wait ... ," Dylan interrupted. "I'm kind of lost here. Now I would like to ask whether it was not just the Olympian gods who were sent to Kolaseos, but also the mythical monsters?"
"Gods, monsters, or other beings that humans have lost their faith in or no longer believe in their existence, all of them will be dumped into Kolaseos. Especially for me who lived in exile in a cave far from human civilization. Plus I killed most of the heroes sent to assassinate me. It surely is a shortcut for me to be forgotten."
"How are you going to kill me in Kolaseos?" Athena asked. "Everyone will lose their motivation, their power, and their strength. How will you take revenge on me if you also do not have these attributes?"
"I lost all the attributes you just mentioned. But after I saw you, the desire to take revenge on you lived again. That's why even though I remained powerless like you, I never let my eyes off you. That's why when I saw you approaching a portal low enough to be reached, I immediately followed you. Too bad when you were finally out, the portal was suddenly shut."
"It was Dylan who shut the portal. You should not be able to get out. Unless there is another portal somewhere nearby."
"This mortal can shut the portal?!" Medusa said as she looked at Dylam; a disbelief expression flashed across her face.
"Did you find another portal?" Athena asked with a stern voice.
"I did find another portal, Athena," Medusa answered as she looked back at her. "After I lost you, I was enraged. At that time, my entire body was suddenly filled with the energy I had never felt for a very long time. With this overwhelming energy, I could walk much faster than I usually do, and I cannot be distracted by anything trying to hold me back at Kolaseos. In the end, I managed to find another portal, and I finally could get out. Nevertheless, before I lost my consciousness, I did not see you anywhere."
"Where did you get out?" Dylan asked.
"Not far from here. After I managed to regain my consciousness, I learned that I've been hundreds of years in the future. With the desire to kill Athena still burning in me, I started studying everything about this new world, so that I may find and kill her immediately."
"If you've been waiting for me in this alley, then it means you have found me much earlier."
"I only found you today when I was purchasing an egg sandwich. You were just leaving a library with this mortal, and you looked so fully recovered. For a moment I hesitated to keep going with my plan. However, after pondering for quite some time, I decided to gamble and ambush you here."
"Such a futile attempt, as I now have been fully recovered."
"I now am aware of it. That's why I now decided to suppress the desire to kill you. One day when I have gathered the required support to bring you down, I will surely come back for you."
"When you come back to be defeated again, I will no longer show mercy to you."
"I know you won't. Because I would have killed you and you will not be able to show mercy to anyone anymore," Medusa said, before she started walking towards the alley opening.
"What makes you so angry, Medusa?" Dylan suddenly asked, making Medusa stop and face him again.
"Excuse me?" Medusa responded, she looked totally annoyed with the question.
Dylan instantly regretted the question. Medusa walked back to him and said, "After Athena cursed me and fabricated the entire truth, you're asking me why I am so angry at her?"
"Fabricated the entire truth? What do you mean?"
"What I mean is Athena, your beloved goddess, has spread the news that I, her loyal priestess, has accepted to sleep with Poseidon in her temple. The truth is, I was raped by Poseidon, and I have yelled for help from Athena. Instead of helping me, because she was too cowardly to confront and fight Poseidon, she cursed me into a beast like this."
Dylan shifted his focus to Athena. "Is this true?"
"She is lying."
"I dare you to show my memories."
"You can show your memories?" Dylan responded in disbelief.
"Most immortal beings can."
"The memories must have been fabricated."
"I do not possess the ability to alter memories. If you want to see the truth, I can show it to you."
"Athena?" Dylan looked back at the goddess.
"She's lying!" Athena exclaimed. At the same time her breathing rhythm turned slightly faster. Realizing that there was something usual with Athena, Dylan turned to Medusa. "Show me your memories."