Page 41 of The Night Belongs To Lovers

“You will return with me to my villa in Greece, and we shall strategize our next move. I will train you harder so that none may affect your mind again. Together, we will build a new, stronger army. And when the time is right, we shall reign fire upon Rome.”

“Enough, Olympius! Would you hold me a prisoner? Is revenge all you can see now, the blood of your enemies all you desire?

“Where is the god who told me he would sooner die than have harm come to me? Can you not see that is what you do by taking my free will? To call me broken because I choose to enact that freedom? Please do not prove me right in showing a pattern of disregard, as I once again bring up Antium.”

“No, beloved, it is you who does not understand. I am doing this to protect you. You are not seeing clearly. You must trust that I know what is best.”

“And there is that voice of elder god arrogance, again! Best for me? No, best for you! Where once I saw love in your eyes, now all I see is the truth—you love only your vengeance. And I have had enough of bloodshed. No, Olympius, no more war. I want no more mortal lives thrown to the fire for your never-ending grudges.

“This obsessive drive for revenge befouls you. I no longer want any part of it. I want a future where we explore the world, free of ancient resentments and pointless vendettas. Release me, and let us start anew elsewhere, far from Rome. Please, unburden yourself. I will help you. Release me.”

“I—I cannot let you leave me. I love you, Coriolanus, I need you, but I must have my revenge. To give it up, I—”

But Olympius could speak nothing further. He could not comprehend the idea of never having vengeance upon Rome; the mere suggestion of it paralyzed him.

Olympius’ sudden frozen state and lack of focus lessened the invisible bindings holding Coriolanus in place. The warrior-god struggled momentarily before his power was strong enough to shrug off his imprisonment.

And seeing that nothing he said had made any difference, Coriolanus swiftly flew away, heartbroken, leaving his torpefied Maker, lover, and soulmate to remain alone amid the cold darkness of the starry night sky.

FORTUNA

The Present

THEgoddess Fortuna sat alone at a table inside the Mediterranean bistro on Queen St. West. Her face was pensive; she was lost in deep thought, contemplating her next move. Nearly thirty minutes had passed since the warrior-god left the establishment with his prey. The diners remaining in the place occasionally broke the silence around her with their clinking of utensils and whispered conversations.

Despite sitting near Coriolanus during his exchange with the mortal and intensely watching, Fortunawent unnoticed by the god, even when she first entered the establishment, as eye-catching as she was. Her ability to stay undetectable to other immortals regardless of proximity or their age and power was without equal.

Fortuna styled her dark curly hair in a long double-twisted ponytail with genuine gold woven into it. She wore a metallic blue satin maxi skirt and a V-neck blouse in black linen with long puff sleeves. On her feet, Grecian sandals shimmered in a vibrant gold shade to match her expensive jewelry and the gold in her hair. Classic in her Mediterranean loveliness, she looked every bit the modern, twenty-first-century fashionista.

The goddess of luck and fortune was presently in Toronto to reunite her favoured star-crossed lovers and finally break the curse upon Olympius that haunted them. Through her gift of foresight, Fortuna experienced a particularly powerful premonition of this very night several months back, filled with details of an event significant enough to potentially liberate the lovers from perpetual heartache and banish the ghost that secretly tormented them.

Long ago, Fortuna took it upon herself to monitor the tragic love story of Olympius and Coriolanus throughout the ages. The sinister ghost of Olympius’ Maker was the root cause of their initial breakup and continued to sabotage every opportunity for their reconciliation and everlasting union. The Fates forbade Fortuna from directly telling the lovers about the curse and the apparition’s animosity toward them, but she could subtly manipulate situations and events.

And she often did, nudging Olympius and Coriolanus down specific paths amid the grand theatre of their lives. The goddess never crossed the line into outright meddling but created scenarios that allowed luck and chance to work their magic on the two gods.

And without fail, the apparition always showed up to spoil things.

Not long after Coriolanus first left Olympius, the warrior-god had booked passage on a ship sailing from Italia to Greece, choosing not to use his power of flight to cross the waters. He had wanted the long journey amid the company of mortals, having his fill of boisterous gods.

Having foreseen Olympius coming to his senses and going after Coriolanus to apologize and make things right, Fortuna had gone to the port ahead of him to witness the reunion. But she arrived too late to prevent the apparition from setting fire to the dock, burning to ash every sail-worthy ship. The malevolent spirit carried out the crime in the false flesh of Olympius, ensuring that others saw that face as the perpetrator of the sinister act.

When witnesses described Olympius’ features to Coriolanus, their thoughts verified his Maker as the culprit. The enraged warrior-god saw this as another attempt by Olympius to restrain his autonomy and punish him for leaving.

This incident at the dock, which the goddess did not foresee, set any potential reconciliation back years.

A particularly devastating turn of events in the tragic love story of the two star-crossed lovers occurred in fourth-century Brittania.

Having assumed the guise of Gian, a humble tavern owner, Coriolanus, despite his broken immortal heart, finally found a sense of contentment, even some solace, in the peaceful setting of a quaint coastal village in ancient Devonshire. The gentle lull of the ocean and the warm embrace of the welcoming locals helped ease the pain within his wounded soul.

One hundred years had passed since Olympius’ last unsuccessful attempt to reconcile with Coriolanus. However, despite past failures, he finally mustered the courage to try again. Finding the warrior-god was never an issue for Olympius, given that he was his Maker and could instinctively locate Coriolanus anywhere in the world through their blood connection.

Shortly after deciding to reunite, Olympius saw Fortuna in a waking dream, warning him of a terrible event about to happen. She urged him to act quickly in seeing Coriolanus yet could not reveal further details or explain the urgency. Although her messages were often vague, Olympius knew to trust her portents.

That very night, he took to the dark skies from his residence in Greece and flew as fast as he could to Britannia.

Having ventured out on a feeding excursion as the sun set on the village that evening, Coriolanus was some distance away from his new home. At this opportune time, the apparition, with its malicious intentions, materialized in the physical realm.

Upon again assuming the form of Olympius, hardly a challenging endeavour anymore for its ghostly state, the apparition killed everyone in the village with its powerful pseudo-flesh, leavingonly one mortal alive to inform Coriolanus about the evil that transpired in his absence and to ascribe blame to Olympius. And the warrior-god just happened to return moments after the real Olympius arrived.

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