Paris, St-Michel café:
Elpis was sitting at the table of a Parisian café. She enjoyed the sweet humdrum of the city, those who partied the night before and were nursing their headaches, and those who were starting their day and indulged in a little coffee break early in the morning. In the quietness of the morning, there was Elpis. Still dressed in a beautiful white tuxedo and matching white leather shoes, her fingers were tapping against the table she was sitting at. Her hair was neatly put into a tight bun with only one rebellious lock falling on her nose. She tilted her head to the side and gently grabbed her cup of coffee. She took a sip and chuckled darkly, noticing a familiar presence nearby.
"Long time no see, Jupiter. Come, have a seat." -She invited the Roman god to sit at her table. He hesitated for a second but ended up sitting next to the goddess. His meat suit was a middle-aged man with silver hair and brown eyes and dressed in a black suit with a blue shirt.-
"I haven't heard from you in a long time, Elpis. What brings you here?" -He asked, still hesitant-
"Here? Don't I have the right to roam the Earth?" -She asked, lifting one brow as she looked at his face-
"It is not what I meant. Of course, you have the right to be here, but I wonder why you decided to sit so close to my... "base of operations"?" -At that, Elpis laughed. She couldn't help herself. It made Jupiter furrow his brows but he kept his composure.-
"A base of operations? What is this, Jupiter? I thought the mortal realm was the playground for everyone. »
« It used to be like this. Back when we were… Powerful. The mortals have changed their ways. They no longer worship us. Some of us can survive because there is a revival of paganism and polytheism. » -He explained sternly-
« I see… So your realm is wherever your followers gather, did I have it right? »
There was quite something about Elpis, something that unsettled the god because he wasn't used to seeing her like this. She didn't seem afraid, quite the contrary. She seemed so powerful and confident in her white tuxedo. He didn't know if she was pretending and being cocky or if she genuinely felt superior.
« More or less. I still have power. This city, these people, they are going through a revival of the Greek and Roman period of their history. Paris is mine. »
« And you decided to come to me and show off ??? What? To impress me? »
« I see that you’re quite different from what I remember. Before you would have… » - He tried to tower over her. He put his hand on her back but she didn't flinch-
« Cowered? Probably. I would have been meek, obedient, docile. If you came and lectured me like that? Oh, I would have apologized and made myself shrink before you. » -She mused. Her sharp gaze set upon the god who felt compelled to remove his hand from her back. Elpis clearly wasn't impressed. Jupiter swallowed a lump and gathered his thoughts. he had to think of something that wouldn't betray his confusion. He kept eye contact but put both of his hands on the table so she wouldn't think he was up to something-
« What’s different today? »
« I’m sure you’re aware of a war coming to the primeval pantheon. I’m sure you’re aware that I am coming for them. For their betrayal… for my pain. » -Her facial expression darkened as she answered.-
« I’m aware. Ayasha came to me. She wanted my expertise on war. And she wanted to know on which side I would be. »
At the mention of Ayasha, Elpis' jaw clenched and her eyes were alight. She narrowed her gaze and swallowed a lump before she leaned into her chair and nonchalantly grabbed her cup of coffee for another sip.
« Oh, I know how my sister works. She was convincing, wasn’t she? What did she promise you?" -Jupiter realized that it would be wise for him to leave. Elpis was no longer the goddess he used to know, she wasn't easy to intimidate or control like before. He realized that if he stayed there, she could become angry to the point of wanting to kill him and he wanted to survive. She noticed he was trying to leave and quickly said.- " Ta ta ta… stay here. We’re having a chat. »
« She… promised me to restore me to my former glory. She promised me more power if I brought you to her. » -He had a hard time swallowing a lump-
« How predictable, Ayasha! You haven’t told her just yet, am I right? And why is it that you didn’t give in to her as soon as you saw me? » -She asked, curbing a brow as she was curious to hear how he wanted to justify meeting with her sister-
« I had to see for myself. » -She frowned and pursed her lips-
« See what? »
« If you truly became the monster she said you were. » -It made her smirk and she twirled her loose string of pink hair with her forefinger. She paused for a moment just so he could realize the situation he was in. She could see his jaw clench but there was still hope in his eyes, hope to run for his life and survive to tell the tale to Ayasha. Elpis wanted to snuff it most dramatically.-
« I picked Paris for a reason... Honestly, I wanted you to find me, and you did. »
« I don’t follow you, Elpis? » -Did she really say she did everything to be found?-
« Do you remember when I used to be younger? When I was naive, easily manipulated…. I didn’t even realize how much of a toy I was for the gods and goddesses across pantheons. They all wanted something from me, my kindness or a pound of my flesh. They all wanted to use me for their own selfish interest. Do you remember, Jupiter, in the garden of Everything... Do you remember our little conversation? » -She asked, moving her hand so she could hold onto his. Jupiter's knee-jerk reaction was to take his hand back and for the time being, Elpis chose to let him do as he pleased. She wanted him to feel unsettled by her actions and could barely contain her joy at watching him squirm and shrink before her-
« I-I do. I remember looking for you. I knew you enjoyed the garden so I thought I could find you there. You looked… perfect. Young, beautiful. I went there to talk to you. To try and woo you. I wanted to make you my queen. » -He said. She could sense that he meant his words. He really went there with the intent of making her his consort. What he failed to admit, however, was the way he reacted when she rejected him. A brief flash of light crossed her gaze and her voice became colder. It dropped a few octaves.-
« You scared me that day. You didn’t want to listen to me. You acted like a beast. Unlike Ares who tried to force me… you let your anger speak. Your fists, your kicks…. You bruised me because I said no. » -She accused.-
« I wasn’t… my anger just got the best of me. I didn’t mean to hurt. » -He tried to make a case for himself, but it didn't move Elpis who kept going. Jupiter didn't even realize that the people around them had disappeared because Elpis had teleported them in front of the hotel that was standing where the Garden of Everything was. She cast a spell to confuse the god who still believed they were at that Parisian café-
« But you did. You hurt me. And you laughed and I could see your fucking cock get hard and struggling to escape your robe. You enjoyed it. » -She accused again, stomping the floor hard-
« It was a moment I deeply re-- »
« Enough of your lies! You had no remorse back then. You have no remorse today. You wanted to see if I remembered you. You wanted to see if you could break me and use me to do your bidding. Did I hit the bullseye?»
« ……..Yes. » He curbed a brow. « And why did you bring that old thing between us? » -He wanted to reverse the balance of power. He thought that he could talk his way out of her revenge. Jupiter wasn't naive, he realized that she wanted to make him pay for what he did and if she was as powerful as Ayasha told him, then he was most likely to be in danger. Elpis laughed and undid her confusion spell. Jupiter blinked as he realized they weren't at the café and not in France anymore. He could feel that he was less powerful than before. Panic, she could see the panic in his eye and as she relished in the feeling, Elpis grinned and replied with an amused tone-
« Oh, I wanted to tell you exactly why I will kill you. »
« Revenge? Is that your motive? » -He tried to move and then realized that he couldn't. A shiver went down his spine and he asked- « What are you… I can’t move! I can’t mo— »
« I think revenge is more than enough of a reason to want to destroy you. You can feel it, can’t you? Fear choking the life off of you as we speak. You know I have the power to do what I promise. it's a pity what they have done to the Garden of Everything but it doesn't matter. This is where you made me feel like I was nothing. This is where you hurt me and this is where I will hurt you, really... really... bad! »
He watched as her hands slowly turned white. Elpis then lifted his body up to the sky. He felt her golden aura spread and crush his body. A sense of dread overwhelmed him and the god resorted to pleading for his life. His words fell on deaf ears, for the goddess did not care about his pleading. Instead, she summoned her Scythe, Omega, and started to twirl it in her hands. Jupiter noticed that because of her influence and the power demonstration, Life started to blossom. Trees became greener, flowers bloomed, and the animals were frantically running away or flying away from the scene. She tilted her head to the side, pondering about what she wanted to do to him. Omega separated essences from vessels and made the pagan God even more vulnerable to her power, which was exactly what Elpis wanted to happen. She cast a spell that contained the two gods under a forcefield. Humans were unable to see what was going on and she would contain the consequences of her actions within the field so it wouldn't disrupt the mortal realm. Smiling, the goddess twirled her scythe and in one swing separated the vessel from the body.
She then allowed the body to drop to the floor and outstretched her hand toward the blue essence of the God above her. She allowed her essence to become stronger, to let the despair she felt when she was being trapped in human hosts flow from her body to his essence. Jupiter, still conscious but unable to focus, started to feel dread and fear. He realized that he couldn't escape her trap and that no matter what he wanted to do, there was nothing he could have done. Elpis' hands started to glow brightly and her Light shone so bright that it started to eat at his essence. Elpis was absorbing his life force. She was eating him... killing him... destroying his very conscience. He couldn't scream for he had no vessel and he couldn't escape because of the force field. Her body became alight and the flora at her feet started several cycles of birth and death. She yanked her head back, and as she absorbed the god, her body was now just pure light. She smiled and slowly removed her forcefield, as her body was slowly going back to normal. It was something she didn't know she could do, absorbing another god? eating at his essence? Jupiter was right when he said that he was far less powerful than usual. She felt the energy boost but it didn't allow her to keep this form of pure light for a longer while. It was alright. She was alright. She had her revenge and it only was the beginning.
-TBC-
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