Creature
The gods were detestable creatures, arrogant and proud beings which Rio detested. She had seen them appear, like death she was the most powerful and ancient being on earth. When she heard that she was going to see more gods she didn't pay much attention to them, but when they began to create havoc she knew they were going to be a pain in the ass.
She didn't hate all the gods of course, the Nordic gods didn't get into so much trouble or other gods were calmer. But the Greek gods...those were another story.
Those gods were rampant, they thought they were unstoppable and were always leaving trouble in their wake, first she ignored them as usual, she did her job and collected their souls, she didn't ask why the number of souls was so high and she just did her job. But when she began to realize that many of the souls they collected were from young ladies she was upset.
She wanted to know what was going on so one day, posing as a bird, she spied the god of love Eros, someone who spent a lot of time around humans.
She waited patiently until she witnessed for herself. Eros, the god of love, had shot a young lady, a nymph, with a lead arrow so that she would hate Apollo, but Apollo shot her with a golden arrow so that she would fall in love with him. Rio was perplexed seeing how the personal problems of the gods caused harm to people, she was angry. Rio kept watching them, seeing how these stupid gods ruined that poor nymph's life. Apollo chased the girl all over the Earth, but she transformed into a big laurel tree when he touched her so that the girl finally perished, Rio watched everything from a distance.
Naturally Rio had directed the girl to her eternal peace but that didn't mean she wasn't angry.
The straw that broke the camel's back was all the bastard children the gods had left on earth. She didn't even mind the children, but for the gods to satiate their filthy needs with innocent women only to leave them to their fate with their children, big universe Rio wanted to kill them.
She had gone to Olympus to ask them to stop with their stupidities or they would have to deal with her, obviously they laughed at her, saying they will not follow the order of someone “inferior” to them, the laughter continued until Rio using her magic making one of the gods bleed making her point clear.
The gods had frozen at the sight of the blood running down the body of one of their brothers, the golden liquid staining the floor and the god's clothes, and all because of this “inferior” being.
Time passed and obviously they paid no attention, but neither did they mess with Rio after the demonstration of her power and her telling them her identity. They were scared.
Rio still hated them, but specifically hated Poseidon and Zeus... big universe indeed they were idiots. Poseidon had tried to seduce her after her demonstration of power the day she had had enough, but Rio using her magic made him bleed just as bad or worse than the other god, making Poseidon leave her alone and now he was afraid of her. And well Zeus... he was a natural born idiot.
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There was a mystery that Rio wanted to solve and it had her restless.
Some time ago Rio had been guiding souls of young warriors to the other side, everything was normal but the souls kept arriving more and more. The problem was not the amount of souls, since the arrival of the gods she had gotten used to it, the problem was that these souls always appeared in front of a large cave... without a body to see.
The cave was well hidden between a mountain, almost invisible if you looked from afar, but for some reason Rio in her death form could not enter and it seems that as soon as someone died their souls were expelled from the cave. Rio was curious.
She had tried to find out from the nearest villagers what was going on in that cave. Posing as a young rural girl she began to listen to different myths about this being.
She began to hear stories of warriors who returned frightened from the cave, saying that there was a monster in the form of a snake that was unstoppable with its prey, other stories were the same, but they said that this monster was an approval of the gods and that if they managed to kill it they would have eternal glory, that is why many warriors had tried to kill it.
Another thing that caught the attention of death was that apparently this monster did not attack women, something that frightened the village more because they said that at any moment the monster would get tired of killing young warriors in the darkness of its cave and would come for the women that according to the villagers, the monster was going to use them to satisfy its desires and that was the reason why it did not kill them.
The stories only captivated Rio's curiosity more, so one day she decided, she wanted to meet this supposed monster and know who was in charge of increasing the work of death.
Death decided to go to the cave at night, but this time it was in her human form, in Rio Vidal. It was not very different from her, except for the bones Rio and death were the same person.
She could feel the air making her dress dance the closer she got to the entrance of the cave, when she got there she stood still as she remembered everything she had heard from the peasants. She wasn't afraid, holy universe of course not, she couldn't die so there was nothing to fear, but she was very curious about the creature she was going to find there. She breathed in the fresh night air and with a determined step entered the cave, using her glowing magic to create a green fire to light the way.
The entrance to the cave was no different from an ordinary one, there were vines hanging down and tree roots decorating the walls, it was like walking down a long, musty hallway.
Rio walked in silence, the different stories about the creature running through her head as the green fire painted her skin and showed her shadow.
When the hallway ended and led her to the center of the cave Rio was enchanted. The cave was decorated with tall thick pillars made of marble, riches lying all over the cave floor, barrels full of gold and diamonds scattered like leaves and shining from the various torches that were placed, but what amazed her the most were the endless perfectly polished stone statues that were all over the cave, some broken, some complete and some completely destroyed.
Rio kept walking, her gaze restless as she didn't know what to look at since everything was somehow enchanting.
“You are the first woman to enter here” a penetrating voice said from the shadows, Rio turned quickly to see the creature speaking but instead found nothing but the statues.
“Who's there? come out, I can't see you.”
“And you won't” Rio raised her head to the ceiling of the cave which was decorated by different intertwined roots, far in the background she could see the creature, it didn't look clear but she could recognize something like the silhouette of a... woman?, the creature was a woman?.
“You are the creature that is killing these warriors?” she asked curious watching as the silhouette slithered quickly into the large roots like a snake.
“Creature? I have been called many names but I have never been called a creature” the voice sounded more distant but also as if it was behind Rio, she turned quickly to try and see the woman.
“What are you then?” a long tail caressed Rio's feet, death looked down at the floor better spotting the large tail of this ‘creature’, it was a dark purple color, scaly like a snake and with green highlights.
“Answering your earlier question. Yes, I am the monster that ended those men's lives” Rio couldn't see her now, her frantic gaze trying to search for the woman. Something about her, in her voice, her tone made Rio's breathing steadily falter.
“But... it's too bad for you darling” said the woman now behind Rio, death felt the woman's breath on the back of her neck, she wanted to turn around and so she was going to but she felt the woman's hands on her shoulders forcing her to stay immobile in her place.
“It's a shame that someone so handsome would come to die in this cave” Rio couldn't turn around or maybe she didn't want to. She lowered her gaze to see the woman's hands, long black nails that shined as if they were painted, the fingers black to the knuckles then showing pale skin decorated with purple scales but even with them humanity could be seen on the woman's hands.
So the villagers were not lying. A tail much like a snake's and hands with shiny scales.
“You are a gorgon” was not a question. The woman's hands slid caressing Rio's arms and as the latter was about to turn around she felt a rush of air as she saw the woman hide again.
“What a smart girl, I almost feel sorry for having to kill you” the woman sneered from the shadows.
“You're not going to kill me.”
“Are you so sure darling?” the woman laughed.
She watched as the woman moved through the shadows almost like a gentle dance, she began to walk around looking at the statues, she remembered some faces of the souls she had guided, others she did not remember. She saw the different treasures absorbed by their beauty, she felt how the woman was watching her from afar. Rio wondered if the woman knew who she was.
“You shouldn't be here darling, this is not the place for you.”
“Oh yeah...and what would be the places for me?” Rio asked amusedly remembering how the woman had said she was going to kill her but hadn't done anything yet.
“Mmm I don't know” she felt a gust of air make her hair dance as the woman passed quickly behind death, her fingers teasing Rio's back as if she wanted to tease her. “Maybe in some stupid village or town, a house or maybe attending to some man and taking care of children” the woman let out a mocking laugh and walked away from Death hiding in the darkness.
“I don't like men” was the only thing death replied, she could feel the woman's attitude change, almost as if the woman relaxed.
“Is that true? Mmm, now you're getting more interesting darling.”
“Men are useless, on the other hand women are wise and intelligent, and also very good to the eye.”
“I'm not going to argue with you on that” the woman actually laughed, a human laugh that sounded like she had been locked up years ago. How long would the woman have been in this cave all alone?
Rio was about to speak when she felt new souls calling her for release, she breathed in disappointment and for the first time in her existence wished she didn't have to do her job.
“I have to go...” death swears she saw how the woman in the shadows was disappointed by her words.
“And who gave you permission to leave?”
“Myself, I know you're not going to kill me” Rio began to walk, circling the statues and feeling the riches scattered beneath her feet.
“Why so sure darling?” the woman was closer to her now, Rio could confirm this as she felt the voice louder and clearer.
“Because you would have done it the moment your hands started touching me” Rio said with a flirty smile, looking up and seeing the silhouette of the woman standing a few feet away from her. The green fire made the woman's purple scales glow a little.
“You're someone very peculiar you know? you're the first person in years who isn't afraid of me” the woman said backing away as if she was afraid Rio would get a better look at her with the green fire torch.
“Why would I be afraid of you?” Rio asked trying to get closer to get a much better look at the woman but seeing that the woman backed away every time Rio took a step death stopped.
“They all do” finished the woman without moving from her position and examining Rio further.
Rio said nothing and prepared to leave as she felt the souls call grow louder by the second, she was already heading towards where she had entered when something in her made her turn and she rested her vision on the woman who still hadn't moved from where she was.
“What's your name?”
“Medusa” Rio caught the lie immediately.
“It doesn't sound like your real name.”
“Because it isn't, but it's the one I have now.”
“What was your name before?” Death asked curiously, she wanted to know more about this woman and why this one didn't show up to Rio and hid in the shadows.
“Agatha, I used to call myself Agatha Harkness, but that was a lifetime ago.”
the voice of the woman, of the gorgon, of Agatha sounded distant and wistful.
“Agatha Harkness” Rio repeated, tasting Agatha's name on her lips and realizing she didn't dislike how it sounded coming out of her mouth, in fact she loved it.
“You're not going to ask my name Agatha Harkness?”
“I haven't decided if I want to know yet,” she answered honestly.
Rio just let out a small chuckle and shook her head in amusement. “My name is Rio, Rio Vidal” she said as she started to walk out of the cave.
Behind her was Agatha who was smiling with fascination at the name of this mysterious and peculiar woman. “Rio Vidal... yes you're a unique woman” Agatha whispered as she watched Rio's green fire disappear implying that she had finally left.