Athena's Protector

The world started coming back into focus. The blacks and the greys were folding into the cold morning. Her head was pounding and she sore everywhere. Not only that, but between her legs. As this fact floated to the surface of her consciousness, her eyes snapped open. Last night came rushing back as she pushed herself up.

Poseidon. He. No, he, he, he…no, no, NO!!!!! Her mind started racing, remembering everything that happened to her last night, after she had performed the evening rites as Athena’s head priestess. She had blown the last of the candles out and was making her back towards the quarters where she and her sisters lived in Athena’s temple. As soon as she was out of the open, where others could have seen her, she smelled salty, sea air, and then she was grabbed. She started struggling and screaming, but…this was a god. Yes, she was the head priestess of the goddess of war, Athena, she knew how to defend herself; she could disarm an attacker, were he mortal. But this was a god, the god of the sea, Poseidon, an immortal being. All her struggling would do is irritate him, especially after she had refused him before.

After that, she shied away from that train of thought, not wanting to remember at all what had happened to her. Not in that way. She came from a wealthy family for gods’ sakes. She was pledged to Athena’s temple when she was eight years old and she remembered very little of her life before it. She knew all the women in that temple, grew up with most of them. She also knew what would happen now. She, she had been, raped. She was no longer pure. She was no longer a virgin. She was no longer a daughter of Athena.

No, this can’t be happening. This can’t be happening…her mind started racing again. She pushed herself up to her knees, pulling her robe around her, trying to keep up what was torn and desecrated, to cover what she could. She looked around her, trying to remember where it was Poseidon took it. As she looked up, she could feel her mind starting to crack again. She was in the courtyard outside of Athena’s temple. She could see it when she took her morning walks before she started the morning rituals to start the day. Poseidon never took her anywhere. He not only violated and desecrated her as a vessel for Athena, but he desecrated Athena’s temple, her home.

She was raped. Medusa…Medusa, that was her name. She knew this, and she also knew the repercussions for what happened to her. She would be “released” as head priestess, kicked out of the only home she really knew. She could not return to her family in order to pursue means to a marriage that would beneficial to her house. She was, in a sense, damaged goods. She could go nowhere. When this realization hit her, her mind went blank. Completely and absolutely blank.

~Part 2~

The sun was rising and blinding her eyes. This light woke her up, and she started to her feet, pins and needles rocketing through her system, and wrenching sore and damaged muscles. She already felt out of place, she had to leave before anyone saw her. Gathering up the damaged robe around her bruised body, Medusa hurried out of the courtyard and headed down to the shore. She knew there to be caves and riddled out rock where she would be able to hide until she figured out what she could do…to sustain her life and make sure she wouldn’t be killed by her family.

As she made her way down to the shore, she started sobbing; all of what happened to her…was it only last night that she was still Medusa, head priestess for Athena? So much had changed within the last 10 hours. What was she now? Who was she now? Men destroyed the only life she knew, as Athena warned, but this wasn’t her FAULT! She hadn’t done anything to deserve this; she had served her goddess willingly and perfectly. She had no desire to be with men, she protected her sisters from those in the village who came for “worship” expecting something like Aphrodite’s temple, but this wasn’t her life. She was meant to live her whole like with her sisters, and die a virgin, to join with Athena’s hunters in the after life.

Athena, goddess of the moon and your daughters…please, please, help me. I have done nothing wrong; I have followed in your footsteps and done all that was ever required of me. Please, help me; send me a messenger, something, anything to know that you still see me as your daughter. It wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t my fault. And this continued on as Medusa ran to the seashore. The ground under her feet turned from rock and gravel, to sand, cool and soft compared to the gravel outside the temple. The change in texture stopped Medusa’s rambling to Athena and she collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath.

As she caught her breath, the sand rough against her cheek, she noticed something odd about the shore. She had visited this several times, to learn how to deal with shifting grounds and sands, and how to use the grounds to her and her sisters’ defense. But this, this was different. The shore it’s not my fault wasn’t what she had expected. It was the same though, but there was something off, something that made Medusa’s hair on end.

She pushed herself up to her feet, shifting her balance in order to be more stable, in case something, or someone, was to rush her.

Be calm my daughter, came a voice. Medusa whirled, dropping her hand behind her back to the small knife she would keep there to cut her meat from meals. She had no idea how to use it, but she felt it to be a better weapon that just her hands. Even if to just using it in a way to just scare whoever was trying to sneak up on her. Her hand grasped nothing, when she remembered where her knife ended up last night. Don’t, just focus, she told herself. But who was behind her wasn’t someone she was expecting to see.

Medusa dropped to her knees, bowing her head to the sand. Athena, her goddess, Athena was standing there on the seashore with her. “It’s not my fault, it’s not my fault, it’s not my fault,” she started her mantra again; hoping against all that Athena would realize this and do nothing to her. She just wanted to live.

As she kept her head down, Medusa finally realized what it was that was different about the seashore. There was no life on the beach, nothing moving, nothing breathing. Just her and Athena. As Medusa continued her mantra, she felt Athena kneel beside her. Be still my daughter, I know. I know, Athena murmured to her, and Medusa felt Athena wrap her arms around her, and Medusa felt loved. After what happened to her, this was the last thing that Medusa expected from anyone, let alone Athena. But to receive this kindness when it was least expected, it completely broke all of Medusa’s barriers down.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it wasn’t my fault, I tried to do all that you taught us,” she sobbed, clenching her arms around Athena and just letting all the pain, sorrow, trauma, and everything else she had been hiding beneath her mask out.

Shh, my child, I know, I know. I should have protected you better, Athena told her, stroking Medusa’s hair, and just holding her daughter. She knew this would happen, but she didn’t expect it to happen to Medusa so soon. But time moves differently for gods than it does for mortals. I promised to protect you and I did not. I’m sorry for this Medusa, and I’m sorry for what happened to you. But I can promise you that this will never happen again, to you or to anyone else.

“How? How can you promise that?” Medusa asked, finally looking up at Athena. She was beautiful.

I will make you a protector of all women.

“H-how? I’m not a protector, what would I be able to do?”

You will be able to stop men in their tracks, stop them for ever doing anything like this to you or any of your sisters, Athena stated, pulling Medusa up so both were standing. You will be a symbol, a warning to all these…men… Athena snarled, her lip curling, which wish to do you harm, or your sisters in my temple harm. You will be a protector of all women who are in need of you and your power. Athena pulled Medusa into a hug and she fell into it grateful that her goddess didn’t blame her, but wished to make her stronger.

When she pulled out of the hug though, what she saw in Athena’s eyes scared her a little. And she heard…hissing. Like that of snakes, but closer, as though they were…in her hair! Jerking away, Medusa quickly put her hands to her head, but instead of hair, all she felt was scaly flesh that writhed and moved beneath her hands. She chocked back a scream as she realized that she no longer had hair. She had snakes for hair. Other than the snakes for hair though, Medusa felt normal. Better than normal actually. It was as though what had happened to her last night had never happened. All the evidence of it was swept away. Sore muscles healed, robes fixed, her eyesight even seemed to be a little bit better, though that just might be her imagination.

She looked to Athena, who seemed to be surveying her, looking for a flaw. “What happened to me?” she asked, her hands going back to her head, where she realized that snakes were a lot heavier than its previous occupant of hair.

I made you a protector. You will now be able to protect yourself and other women from the destroying touch of men, Athena replied, placing her hand’s on Medusa’s and holding them before they could reach the snakes. There have been changes made to your body, but they are all for your good, she told Medusa, hoping the girl would listen to reason long enough for her to realize what a gift she had given her. Medusa could now become what she would have been all along, only now with the power of Athena behind her.

“What sort of changes?” Medusa inquired, wondering what she could do to men with a head full of snakes. Besides give them a heart attack.

You have the snakes to use as personal messengers to me as well as to your sisters and my daughters in my temples. You will also be able to milk the poison from them once they reach maturity, she started to reply, taking note that Medusa seemed to be taking this all in stride, once she got used to the idea. I also made it so that your very sight will turn men to stone. This seemed to cause some consternation to Medusa.

“St-stone? I can turn men to stone just by looking at them?” she asked, this new bit of information seeming to turn herself to stone. “How can I turn men to stone? Why, when, HOW?” the last question coming out as shout, more than a reasoned inquiry.

Athena raised an eyebrow at Medusa, chiding her new protector a bit. “I’m sorry, but what you said just doesn’t make sense.”

You can turn men to stone. Think for a second, child. How would this help you in protecting women, and yourself for that matter?

While slow in coming, the meaning behind this new power hit Medusa and she sat on the sand. “You mean…if I were to see a man doing what Poseidon did to me, I would be able to stop him? Stop him completely?” she asked, not quite believing what she had figured out, wanting to hear it from her goddess to make sure she wasn’t just making things up from thin air.

Yes, you’ll be able to stop him. But, you’ll need to look him directly in the eyes in order to access this new power. If you do not, then he’ll continue to destroy other young women. This is another reason for your new pets. They will give pause to any man, thus giving you the opportunity to stop him forever in his tracks. Once she finished explaining this to her new protector, she kneeled in the sand next to her, pulling her into another hug. This may not seem like the best way to protect you now, but your power works on all men. Even those you may come after you now that you no longer have the protection of my temple or your family home. I am still looking after you. She lifted Medusa’s chin so that she was looking into her eyes. There were unshed tears there that reflected Athena’s face back to her. She could see how Medusa saw her, a kind and caring mother figure, someone who could protect her, and gave her the power to protect others. This wasn’t who Athena always was, but she did look after her own.

I am sorry that I was unable to protect you when you most needed me, but now I’ll always be with you. I’ll always be able to protect you and others now. With this, Athena stood up and pulled Medusa up as well. Placing her forehead against Medusa’s, she gave some final advice.

Make this area your home, but be sure to travel far and wide. Protect all those who fall under my grace, and protect yourself. Keep men away from my temples and keep them away from my daughters. This is your new charge now Medusa. You may not be my head priestess anymore, but you are more now. And the sacrifice of your beauty, your hair will be sign unto all that you are who I have made you to be. With this, she pulled away and vanished.

Medusa stumbled slightly, her balance slightly off till she righted herself. Placing her hand to her head again, she could feel the snakes…her snakes, writhing, moving, and tasting her. She have never been a fan of snakes, but these…these she could learn to love, especially as they were a gift from Athena. All of her was a gift from Athena to other young women. And she would do as Athena had commanded her. This seashore and this temple would be her home, but Medusa would travel far, she would travel to other lands and she would protect all women, young and old from the corroding touch of man.

Drawing herself up to her tallest height, she turned her back on the life she knew, and began to create another life for her. A life devoted completely to Athena.