//primeval gods belong to me! Pride belongs to my friend Nate!
xxx
-Escape-
« It hurts to think that you weren't powerful enough to prevent your sister from being stabbed and cursed by one of your own. Never in my life would have I imagined Ishtar capable of betraying Elpis. I watched them grow closer to each other, I watched him take her to the battlefield and work alongside her. I watched him being overprotective of her. I don't understand why he turned on her so much that he decided the best for all of us was to curse her? I am afraid he wanted to kill our sister but couldn't gather enough courage to complete the task. It shocked me and hurt so much that I didn't even hesitate and sided against him and Ayasha. It wasn't clear to me back in the days what could possibly motivate the two of them to act the way they did. It didn't ring a bell.
I loved Elpis. She was the baby of the family. The latest born out of love between Chaos and Gaea. Well, love... I don't know if it was what motivated the two of them to have one more child but it certainly made the purest of us all. At least, that was what we liked to think. Elpis was kind, she was loving, she was curious about everything and I mentored her. I taught her about love and about the strength and resources one could find when in love. She followed me everywhere and I loved teaching her. I loved protecting her. She was the very best that came out of our parents and I wanted to protect that.
Maybe that was the reason I first didn't notice the change in her. I refused to acknowledge she had grown up and was her own woman and coddled her, manipulated her along our siblings to keep her « innocent » and naive. We didn't see her romance with a sin coming. We couldn't anticipate this union. Something bothered me when she destroyed the Sumerian Pantheon. I couldn't put my fingers on the « why » she did it but it should have made sense from the very beginning. She was capable of love and produced light, but she was capable of the worst wrath that could be produced. The one that came from a broken hope. Hope was cruel, hope led to despair and none of us saw that coming. She, who was raised in some sort of Eden had matured without us realizing that it was because she encountered a SIN. She wasn't a girl anymore, but a woman.
When it was discovered that she was in fact, in love with a SIN, our mortal enemies it really caused troubles within the pantheon. Many blamed Ayasha for not having anticipated it but others like me were thrilled. Maybe if she was involved in a relationship with our enemies there was a way we could spare ourselves a war and work towards partnership instead. I, for one, was supportive of this union because I could see how happy Elpis was. I could see how beautiful she was becoming. I could tell Pride was making her happy. Yet she was betrayed and stabbed and a war broke between the primeval gods. I escaped the war and hid on Earth, more concerned about finding the human my sister was forced into than fighting a pointless war. Unfortunately, the curse came at me and I forgot about Elpis. I forgot completely up until she scratched her seal. I felt it within my soul that she was alive and I decided to search for her vessel. In my hubris, I nearly was found by Ayasha but it was Khrön who found me.
We talked about the past, about the present and about our resolve to find Elpis. It felt good to have an ally again. It felt good to be myself again. I was still in hiding, determined not to be found by my siblings while I was looking for our sister. What was my surprise when Khrön was discovered and executed.
xxx
-Hold your breath-
« They killed Khrön. They killed the messenger of the gods! I cannot believe it! I felt it, his essence vanished to the void. I heard his scream as they killed him. He vanished. He disappeared and I knew that he would never come back to me. I couldn't breathe. Fear crept into my heart and I started to think. How could I approach Elpis without being spotted on by Ayasha? My vessel doesn't look like me at all because I always change it and I never expose too much of my power. I never use it, to be honest. I never influence anyone, never let them peak at my godly nature, never ever! Because Ayasha had eyes everywhere she would have spotted me. I would have been treated like Khrön who was tortured and maimed to the point he only was at half of his original power. I didn't want to be crippled.
So I held my breath. I was hoping that Elpis might eventually get out of the safe place she shared with Pride so I could meet her myself. I wanted to tell her how sorry I was for failing her. I wanted to hold her in my arms, I wanted to cry and express my gratitude that she found a way to escape from her prison. I wanted to meet Pride and tell him that I wanted to work with him if that allowed me to protect Elpis. It was all that mattered! My pantheon was slaughtered, gods were forced to work for Ishtar and Ayasha or killed and tortured. I didn't have much choice but to align myself with my dear sister and protect her the best I could. So I decided to act like a fool. I knew Sins had minions all over Earth and I started to look around for any of those who could take me to Pride. I wasn't very lucky. They would not give me time to explain and rush back to the Underworld.
I couldn't even enter the underworld because while I knew Pride might allow me to explain myself and we had a common goal, I didn't know of his siblings. That didn't work until I found one of his minions and sent a message about him meeting me so we could talk about how we could protect Elpis. I also gave to the minion a piece of good faith in the form of Elpis golden bracelets I kept from the « crime scene ». They were hers, forged by myself and contained a strong magic capable of protecting her from one fatal blow from the All-Father. They would dissolve after such an attack, but it was a gift from me to avoid her destruction if the All-Father came to hate her. It contained most of my power of my glory days when I was still worshipped so I thought it was a good idea.
As I left the minion who, I hoped reported to his master, I was moved yet again because I felt Elpis essence. It was faint, exceptionally faint but because I was in contact with the bracelets and my bond with Elpis was restored, I could feel her on Earth. Somewhere I could not pinpoint due to the Sin's aura. But she was there and I smiled. Last I knew, however, was that my smile stopped the minute I heard a familiar voice calling me « Sitaa. Long time no see! ». It was Ayasha. She found me because for a brief second, I wasn't on my guard. I let my essence burn in hopes that maybe Elpis could spot me and join me. Foolish heart! You brought me to my demise!
xxx xxx
-Loyalty-
xxx
I looked into her eyes as she walked towards me, smug and feeling powerful. She grinned at me, her hands on her slender waist. Her green eyes were glowing brightly with excitement as she finally caught me. «I finally found you, traitor. I knew that sooner or later you would make a mistake. I was peculiarly focused on you. » She whispered, her fingers running over the black strands of hair that teased my shoulders. « Ayasha, goddess of knowledge or serpent extraordinaire? » I said, earning a slap on my face before she collected herself and stopped walking in circles. Her hands were on her waist and her peachy lips curled into a snarl. « You can call me whatever you want Sitaa. It's not going to change your future. You fled from our kingdom, you sided against Ishtar and then fled the conflict like a coward. » She accused me. All of that was true so I didn't shrug. Yes ! I left. Yes ! I betrayed Ishtar after he betrayed Elpis. Yes, I was a traitor but they went too far. They killed the All-Father, they cursed Elpis and all of that for what? For power? For the thrill of it? Ayasha didn't seem to be very affected by her own words as if those deaths weren't unnecessary and sad? We lost brothers and sisters. We lost our father, killed by the very hands of Isthar, how could she be happy about it?
I furrowed my brows and crossed my arms over my chest. My powers were reduced almost to nothing, I wasn't going to leave the scene, I was dead! I knew it! But if I died, I wanted to die with my head held high. She narrowed her eyes and groaned at me. « Where is Elpis? » I shrugged at her « I don't know. Haven't seen her. » It was true. I haven't. I tried to reach out to her but I couldn't just find her. « Oh really? Sitaa, this is very serious, we need to find her. We need to find her before she and that sin bring destruction and death upon us. » She said, trying to play the kind and concerned sister but the more she was talking, the easier it became for me to understand her. She relished in the situation. She relished in the loss of our pantheon and the curse of Elpis. She relished in the power she was holding against me. She kept talking about how Khrön resisted and pretended to be brave while she believed he was pathetic and a slob. She believed he was useless « messenger of the gods? Please, we never needed him just like the Greeks didn't need Hermes! He died like he lived, a total disgrace. » her words stung, made me furious, I curled my fingers into fists and held back a little bit. She kept rambling, telling me about Elpis and about how much she despised her and felt betrayed by her decision to love a sin despite /her/ warnings.
I was seeing the big picture. She wanted to be in control, to have people fall in line, to rule with fear and it hit me like a truck. Ishtar was being manipulated by our sister. He was nothing but a pawn in her evil scheme. She was dangerous. I lost my cool when she started to insult Elpis. « She was no more than a titan poop.. maybe even less than shit actually. Even Titan shit is more valuable. » I growled at her « Stop saying it ! » but she laughed and kept talking. « She always pretended to be innocent and pure. Pure ? My ass! She was nothing but a whore, a sin's whore. Maybe Pride shared her with his siblings who took turns raping her dirty cunt! She should have been, it would have wiped her smug-- » I lost it. I slapped her hard. It was hard enough for her cigarette to fall onto the floor, her cheek to turn red and her nose to bleed. How dare she say such things about our sister ?. « How dare you Ayasha? You speak of her with disgust because she fell in love with a sin, but at least someone loved her. You never found what she did when she met him and you will never find it. You are ugly, despicable. » I screamed at her before her minions restrained me.
« Shhh shhh. You are being emotional today. » She said as her eyes flashed a greener light, deeper and more tormenting light as her lips flashed an evil grin. I knew she was going to kill me. « You really don't know where she is? » I spat at her face, making her growl lowly before she took a tissue and wiped it out of her face. « Fine Sitaa. I really can't say I don't enjoy this because I really do. And » She snapped her fingers, stopping mortals from moving or noticing anything because we were on another astral plane. « I will make you scream! »
I died later on after she tortured me. I was hoping as she tortured me that Elpis could hear and feel my soul vanish. I used the remaining of my power to emit the brightest energy signal I could, flaming myself up like a beacon of Hope, like her.. as a tribute. I remained loyal, not disclosing the information Khrön obtained about her current location and died there.
Asma felt it in her heart. She felt the screams of the goddess trapped within her. She felt sadness engulf her to the point that she could only sit on her bed and cry. Elpis was already distraught about the death of Khrön, but even more, now that one of the few goddesses to have ever loved her was just murdered.
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