Page 3 of Meduso
“Well, I shouldn’t be complaining as much as you. After all, you’ll only get to see him…” she then paused, realizing the hurtful words she was about to utter.
I knew exactly what my sister was going to say. That I would only get to see him in my limited lifetime, or something along those lines. Euryale wasn’t wrong, though. Our parents were gods, and Stheno and Euryale were both immortals. I, on the other hand, was born as a mortal. My life would end, and I would be gone from this world and sent to the Underworld at some point in time. A concept I never quite understood nor could fathom. Everyone around me would go on living for hundreds and thousands of years. I would experience death, as they called it.
My father, Phorcys, God of the sea and dangers of deep, explained it to me rather bluntly when I was little. I can still remember his exact words to me to this very day. “Meduso, fear not, son, but you are what we call in this world a mortal. An unfortunate omen bestowed upon our family. It’s not your fault, though. It was a curse struck upon our family from the Olympian gods. A warning to let us know of their power and our place in this world. If we want to remain at peace and in isolation from the rest of the world, we need to abide by their rules.”
Euryale meant no harm in what she was saying to me. I knew deep down she cared about me and there was no malevolence behind her abrasive remark. “It’s okay Euryale. I understand…” I had no intention of making her feel bad, so I did my best to change the subject. “Tell me of Echidna and what to expect.”
My sister’s eyes lit up as I made this request. Her face equally brightened. “I’d thought you never ask!” she stated with jubilance. Secretly, Euryale was a gossip. She loved to inform me about everyone’s business and the latest scandals and stories occurring up on the surface and on Mount Olympus. She reveled in having the opportunity to tell me things I was not privy to already.
“Echidna is similar to our mother, except her skin is viler and grotesque. Black with dark green scum,” Euryale described.
“Does she at least speak?” I asked.
“Of course! She’s not like Ladon in that sense.”
“Well, why have I never met her yet? Why doesn’t she live with us?”
“Meduso, you think things so simply. She married Typhon, an enemy of Zeus. She lives in a very isolated cave in Arima, the mountains of Cilicia.”
Euryale expected me to make sense of all of this, but I was still at a loss. I had no idea what any of this meant, besides the fact that Echidna’s husband was an enemy of Zeus. And well, being an enemy of Zeus was someone I knew never to associate with.
Euryale must have caught on to my cluelessness. She rolled her eyes and further elaborated on the subject. “Cilicia is on the surface. Echidna lives on the land, which is why we never see her. That and she has to stay in hiding based on the fact that she is married to Typhon, that ugly, stupid monster.”
Things were starting to become a little clearer for me.
“So, Echidna is in hiding? In fear of Zeus and his wrath?”
“Precisely. Our parents lied to the Olympian gods claiming that we disowned her. That she was banished from our oceans and was to never to be seen by any of us again.”
“Our parents lied to the Mount Olympus gods!?” I exclaimed, shocked as ever.
Euryale covered my mouth with her hand to keep me silent and peeked around the corners to make sure no one was overhearing our conversation.
“Shhh!!! Don’t let anyone else hear you say that! But yes, they did, for our own protection. We check in on Echidna once a year. She informs our father when it is safe to visit. We wouldn’t dare step foot in that cave knowing Typhon…”
Euryale was caught off-guard, as her statement was interrupted by a deep, loud voice that sounded almost demonic. “That will be enough, Euryale!”
She and I turned around to see that our father, Phorcys, stood behind us. Euryale became immediately apologetic. “I’m sorry, father, I was only…”
“Go!” he screamed at her. Euryale sprinted down the hall and out of sight. I too started to head in her direction, but was immediately halted by my father. “Not you, Meduso! Come with me!”
I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around towards my father, but hung my head low, not daring to look him in the eye. The anger in his voice led me to believe I would be punished. As I heard his footsteps, I then glanced upward to see he had his back to me, and so I followed him, heading into one of his private chambers.
“Son, it’s time for you to start learning more about the surface.” His tone was more solemn and less irate. My head lifted to directly meet my father, Phorcys’s gaze. My father was a fierce god. He was strong, muscular, and his features were oceanic at its finest. His hair long and silver, swaying back to his scaly, fishlike tail. He had skin, or rather a carapace, similar to that of a crab. His hands were that of humans, like mine, but his legs were the claws of crustaceans.
“But I thought I’ve learned all about the surface already. You’ve told me about the gods and goddesses that walk the surface and we met Athena…” as I explained my learned lessons to him, he pounded his fist down on the throne he was now seated in to silence me.
“No, Meduso! Foolish boy. The gods and goddesses only walk the surface to associate with the mortals, when necessary. Most of them remain on Mount Olympus or elsewhere in the clouds, in the depths of the oceans like us, hidden in mountains or somewhere secluded on the surface. It is the mortals who live, breathe, and walk on the surface freely.”
There it was again. That word that my father cringed at every time he mentioned it. Mortal. He rarely talked about mortals, yet I was one of them.
Did he despise me too?
I continued to listen to him. “Soon, the time will come when you and your sisters will walk among them yourselves.It is important for you to know that mortals must be obedient to the gods.Do you understand?”
I nodded.
“Good. Now I know you and your sisters sometimes speak ill-willingly of them, but such conversations should never take place on the surface. For the gods are always listening. They can see and hear everything you say when you are on their world. Just like your mother and me. Do you, Euryale, and Stheno, really think all of your discussions within our palace walls are private?”
