Amaterasu

Without her doubles, Amaterasu felt completely useless.

Well, no. She felt completely self-conscious, which in turn made her useless.

"You're beautiful, Ama," she murmured to herself, pacing in quick circles. "You're amazing. Simply wonderful. No one could ever compare to you. Not ever. You're just so gorgeous!"

She had just started hyperventilating when a gigantic bird crashed to the pavement next to her, leaving a crater.

The bird lay completely still and she wondered if it was dead. She also wondered where it had come from. She looked around, just in time to see an unfortunately attractive man being lifted onto the roof of the building next to her by several thick vines.

His attractiveness did not help her situation at all, and she started sniffling. He was beautiful. More beautiful than her? Maybe? Oh no... oh no... was a guy more beautiful than her? No! It couldn't be! No one could be more beautiful than her! Especially some stupid guy!

"Did you... kill that?" A god asked, interrupting her thoughts. Balder, that's who he was. She'd seen him at the party. He was pretty attractive too.

Amaterasu narrowed her yes at him, wishing she had her light katanas so she could cut off his pretty-yet-threatening head.

Luckily, she didn't have to, because the giant bird chose that moment to declare that it was indeed not dead by picking up it's giant head, blinking stupidly, squawking loud enough that Ama had to cover her ears, and then clamping it's beak around Balder. He screamed, but the sound was cut short by his body being snapped in half.

The bird blinked, tilted it's head, and then spit Balder out. It squawked again as it climbed to its feet.

"Th-thank you, giant bird," Ama stammered. She didn't feel too threatened by the creature, because she was clearly more beautiful than it was. Maybe it had saved her because it realized she was fabulous and should be protected at all cost?

Ama gave up on that idea when the bird squawked again, climbed to its feet, and looked over at her. There was bloodlust in it's eyes. "Ooookay, well, thanks for saving me." She laughed, backing away quickly. "Bye!" She squealed.

She turned and ran as quickly as she could. Amaterasu wasn't sure where she was running to, but she could hear the loud stomp of the bird chasing behind her. She dove into the entrance of a shadowy parking garage, only to crash immediately into Ko'lhamana.

"The roc's egg is up there, so I'm trying to get to it," Ko'lhamana said politely. Ama proceeded to shove him out into the street.

The bird-- a roc, apparently-- ate him.

Ama used the distraction to run up the stairs. If Ko'lhamana was after the egg, then clearly it was important. This was also the building Ama had seen the attractive guy be pulled up by the vines. The egg must have been used to restore godly powers.

She burst out onto the roof to see two identical goddesses and the attractive god all sitting in a massive nest. The offensively attractive god was eating raw roc egg, and the goddesses appeared to be fighting.

"Oh my Hades I can hug you now!" The one wearing a flower-crown squealed. She had her arms around the other in a tight embrace.

"Get. Off. Now," the darkly-dressed one sighed. "I can slap you in this form and if you don't let go of me, I will. I won't feel any remorse. I'll laugh."

"Ooohh I'd love to hear you laugh, Queenie!" The flower-one giggled.

Amaterasu would have slapped her as well.

Seconds later, the flower one was crying and holding her cheek, and the dark one was laughing sarcastically. "Ha, ha, ha."

"Be nice, you're still the same person," the attractive guy said.

Throughout this entire exchange, Ama was slowly sneaking closer to the nest. She just needed a little bit of the egg and she'd be able to defend herself.

"Person!" the flower one shouted suddenly, pointing at her.

The other gods stopped talking to stare at her.

"Heeey." Amaterasu waved, shuffling awkwardly. "Truce?"

~*~

"This tastes disgusting," Amaterasu noted as she tried to get the egg's flavor out of her mouth.

"I know what would fix it... a hug!"

"Spring, stop being stupid."

"Why am I allied with you?"

"Because we are the same person!"

"Oh right. Haha, silly me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jade

“Have you aged overnight? Do you look older than you really are? Then try Ulta's new wrinkle remover. With its magic formula proven to remove wrinkles, why wouldn't you try it?" For some reason, an Ulta commercial is running through my head as I look around at the city. But aged overnight? They don't even know. This city, which was blooming and full of people only yesterday, now looks old and decrepit. Maybe some of that wrinkle remover would help.

It's the same city, of that I am sure. Same Golden Gate Bridge, same Hollywood sign, only older. It seems like a scene straight out of one of those newly popular dystopian books. But this can't have happened in such a short period of time. It must be a trick of the Fates. But whatever it is, this whole changing arenas thing is screwing with my mind. 

It is nearly midmorning when I first see a sign of any other habitation. And even then, it's only some small animal, but it scares me shitless. I throw my trident at it, and impale the fox. It bleeds to death before I realize that I seem to be alone. I've been walking for hours and still nobody has showed up. Something is off. And I don't know why, but the silence feels like a premonition of the assured death to come. 

It is just as I think this when a fog sweeps across the city. It is barely noticeable, and tints the air a slight purple color. But when it reaches me, I feel a wave of nausea sweep over me. I fall to the ground, my legs suddenly unstable. The world is spinning and I feel like I'm spinning with it. But then it is gone.

As I stand back up very cautiously, I know something is different. And it's not in the world outside. It's within me. There is what feels like an empty space in my chest. I am missing a part of me, something I have never lived without. I am not a goddess anymore. And there is only one thing that could do that to a god. Basilisk venom. Oh, the Fates are clever. And now they will make us fight to the death while we are weak. Very smart. But how will we get our powers back? It’ll have to happen at some point, unless thins whole thing was a setup to kill us. 

But it seems that I don’t have to wait too long for my answer. In the distance, I hear the scream of an eagle. I spin around and see a bird approaching from the horizon. But it shouldn’t be that big when it’s that far away. And then it hits me. That’s not just any bird. It’s a roc.

Roc eggs, along with phoenix tears and a dragon’s heart, are the only known cures for basilisk venom. Most people don’t know about the roc’s eggs, but then again, I’m not most people. I am thousands of years old, and I’m ready to kick some roc ass.

The roc swoops low over the city, its majestic gold feathers gleaming in the morning light. The reflections of the sun make it seem like it’s rising again over some of the buildings, bathing the metropolis with an amber light with beautiful undertones. For a second I am in awe. Then the roc catches a glimpse of me and I am not in awe. I am in trouble.

Getting eaten by a bird is not usually part of my plans for a morning. A typical morning for me consists of waking up early and making myself eggs benedict, which I have been really craving lately, and then going off to work. But it looks like today I will get my eggs benedict, albeit a little different from usual. And for me to get them, that means I will have to fight for those eggs.

I start to sprint as soon as I see the roc is after me. But I only make it a few meters before it has almost caught up with me. I am not used to the lack of speed this human body has, which means that I am exerting myself more than usual. But just when I think I am this bird’s breakfast, I spot an open door. I dive through the opening as the claws scrape through the space I was just occupying. It is then that I realize that my trident is still where I left it, impaled in the fox. Great. Just great. So now I have to fight a roc with no weapons and no powers. I thought this whole ruling the world thing would end up being a hell of a lot easier than it has been. Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone else just dropped dead and I was proclaimed ruler? But that clearly won’t happen. Not if I know the Fates and what psychotic bitches they are. And I think I do know them pretty well, which means I will have to fight tooth and nail for any power I want, whether or not it belongs to me. 

It is then that I hear my phone buzz. Apparently the device I picked up yesterday still works in some capacity. I don’t know how it has survived, but it has. And it’s then that I hear the words “voice recording stopped” come out of the phone. And all of a sudden I know what I will do.

The phone must have inadvertently recorded the sounds of the roc and me running from it. Now I just hope I have something I can salvage to use to my advantage. And when I listen to the recording all the way through, I am more than pleased to find the call of the roc embedded in the device. Now, where were those speakers I saw?

It takes a few minutes of walking to find the technology shop I saw while running from the beast. But when I do, and see the state of it, I know I will need some help hooking everything up. So I pull the phone back out and hope Erl still has his on him.

The dial tone rings a few times before he actually picks up. His voice is bleary from sleep, but when he hears me he perks up somewhat. “Hey, Erl. I need some help.”

“What’s up, Jade? Pleasant surprise to hear from you, but I’m more shocked these things still work. Just woke up, and to my shock it appears we’re somewhere in the future. And the future doesn’t look good.” 

“Oh, nothing much. Do you feel different?”

“Well, now that you mention it… A little bit. Why?”

“Because the Fates have pulled a trick on us. They took away our godly powers.” I hear a long string of swear words come from the other side of the phone, and it sounds like he drops a few things too.

“Shit. You’re right. That can’t be good. How did this happen? What would have the power to do that?” 

“Basilisk venom. It’s happened to me once before, and the only cure we have access too are roc eggs. Apparently the Fates brought one in for their little game. But I need your help. I’m at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and 4th street, and I think I know how to get our powers back. The only problem is that I can’t do it alone. I need your help.”

“I’ll be right over. What are we planning to do anyway?” He seems excited, like he has just been shot up with adrenaline.

“You’ll see. I’ll tell you when you get over here.” And then I hang up on him and wait.

It doesn’t take as long as expected for him to get here, and as soon as he sees what I’m standing by, he understands. “Okay. I’ve got it. But do you have a recording?”

“Of course. I need you to play the recording off my phone through the speakers. Rocs are very territorial, so she will come check it out. And that’s when we strike. She’s got her nest on the Golden Gate Bridge, so we need to set this on a time delay. Kind of like an alarm. I’ll get that set up on the phone while you make it so the speakers are compatible. Some of them will need some alteration, but you basically just need to hook as many of them up to the phone as you can.” The entire time I am telling him this, he is ripping out wires and putting them together, and doing other things I don’t even understand. All I care is that he gets the job done. 

Only a few minutes later, Erl has cobbled together a massive speaker system, with one port for me to plug my phone in to. I set the alarm for twenty minutes from now and plug it in. And then we get to walking.

It doesn’t take long before we see the bridge, but we still have a long way to go. And we’ll have to be even more cautious because we don’t want the roc to see us. So, dodging between buildings and cars, we slowly make our way down to the bridge, until we have made it right to the maintenance ladder we will need to climb. And then we wait.

It actually doesn’t take long for the alarm to go off after we get there. Only about a minute or two. But when it does, the fury of the roc is unleashed. She flies off, screaming at the noises to challenge her or something like that. All I know is that we will only have a few minutes to get the job done.

I scramble up the ladder and make my way to the top. But when I get there, I am surprised to see that somebody has already beaten me to it. Persephone Pluton is standing in the roc’s nest. 

Erl makes his way up the ladder behind me, but Persephone has not seemed to realize that either of us are here. But her head snaps up when he steps on a bone and snaps it. “Kill them.” Persephone’s voice is hoarse and raspy, and she seems mad because of the disruption of the silence. But then she speaks again, and her tone is much softer. “No. Let’s not kill them, they deserve to live.” She seems kinder, but then angry. “No. We have to kill them.” Her eyes cloud over with fury as she dives for Erl. “Die.” 

They struggle for a few seconds, but it is clear that without their powers, Persephone has the advantage. She fights like she is a UFC wrestler, and her fury soon gets the best of Erl. He plummets over the edge of the nest and into the water below. There is nothing I can do but watch. Persephone leans over the edge, and begins to talk to herself. “Did we do that? Did we really just kill someone? Why did we do that?” And it is then that my boot catches her in the back and she falls off too. 

I walk over to the middle of the nest and select the egg I want. They are, surprisingly, smaller that I would have expected. I crack it open and drink the fluid inside, feeling my powers come back. Once again, I am a goddess. And now I can go kick some mortal ass. Anyone who comes near me better watch out, because Jade is back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ko'lhamana

The demented spring goddess is arguing with herself again. “It’s not morning sickness, it can’t be! Well, it could actually—Oh, be serious!”

“Oh, be quiet. I told you, I’m feeling sick too. I can’t tell what it is, though, which means my powers are sapped. Yours are too, aren’t they? Then we’ve been poisoned.”

“Then—then what we do?”

“There’s an antidote around here somewhere, obviously. Possibly something to do with that horrifically huge bird flying around?”

She follows me as I hunt down the building on which the bird is nested and up the fire escape to the roof. We’re not the first there; the bird is tearing into the corpse of the Erlking. It abandons him when it sees us, however.

“What now?!”

I seize her head and turn it violently to the side. She drops like a sack of shoes. “That.”

The bird accepts my offering and doesn’t notice me go into the nest and kick in an egg.

I don’t care for being mortal. I want it stop now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yemeya

Day 4.  I knew it would come to this eventually.  

The gods didn't scatter throughout the arena like they usually did.  They just stood there, allowing the gravity of what lay before them to fully sink in.  It was New York…barely.  Trees had long since pierced through the paved streets, and only the skeletons of sky-scrapers remained.  Vines and moss grew over cars, payphones, fire-hydrants, parking meters, as if they were a mere forest floor, and not the remnants of a once-illustrious human civilization.  Were they all gone? How did this happen? When does this happen?  Yemeya's maternal nature gave her the sensation that somehow it was all her fault.  

“Welcome to your next task.”  Yemeya's urge to rip Camazotz's sardonic tongue right out of his mouth grew more with every word he spoke.  “As you can see, there will be no pesky mortals in your way this time…well…except for yourselves of course.”  Wait…what does he mean by –AAH!  Vicious, stinging pain came ripping, tearing its way through her every muscle.  All of the gods doubled over with the pain.  Now that she was looking for it, she noticed the faint green mist in the air.  Basilisk venom.  “That's right, kids!  You are now…mortals!  Now, it wasn't easy for us to get ahold of that venom, so we want to see all the fist-fighting, scratching, clawing, and bleeding that you can dish out!  Have fun!” 

Camazotz's sickeningly un-fake laughter ended the telepathic message.

The pain was intense, to say the least.  Everything that made her what she was, wrenched out of her being.  Any movement whatsoever seemed impossible.  She felt the gravity of the earth weighing down on every bone, she could feel herself age with every second.  UGH!  She felt a blow to her back that dropped her to the hot, dry ground.  She couldn't see who it was, but she knew they meant to kill her while she could be killed with mere force.  She saw the metal pipe rise above her adversary's head and rolled just out of reach of its strike.  With nothing weapon-worthy in sight, she grabbed a handful of the chalk-like soil and flung it where she perceived a face to be.  It worked!  She heard him cough and the metal pipe fell to the ground.  She might have grabbed it, but she took no chances and ran.  Run! Run! Run!

“Yemeya!”  Thank the gods!  It was unmistakably Nyx.

“Where are you?”  Her eyes stung every time she tried to open them past a squint.  “I can't see!”

“Can you smell that dampness?”  Cold, clammy, sewage-like.  “Right there! Feel for the ladder.”

There was a small hole…a man hole…?  She felt for the sides of the ladder and managed to half-crawl-half-slide down the slimy metal contraption.

Beneath the reach of the venomous fumes, she could think clearly, and almost see. 

“Persephone?”

“Not yet.  We'll keep an eye out for her.  Are you okay?”

She nodded, wiping tears from her eyes.  She could make out the contrast between Nyx's black hair and pale skin.  “I'd say we just wait this one out down here, but…”

“But you want to kick some asses that you couldn't kick when they were mortal.”

“Heh, yeah…something like that.”

Camazotz interrupted once again: “Sick of being mortal yet?  Well, you're in luck!  I just happen to be feeling generous, enjoy it while it lasts.  In what used to be the ‘Grand Central Station’, lies the cure to your current…situation.”  He giggled, obviously proud of his little song.

Nyx and Yemeya looked at each other.  “We need whatever it is he's talking about.”  

“Yeah, and so does every other god here.  Be smart about this, Nyx.  It's going to be a bloodbath.”

“Of course it will, and it'll be every god and goddess for themselves, which is why we win.”

“Alright.  What do you propose we do?”

“Well, one-way-or-another, these pipes must lead to the station.  We should be able to get there virtually undetected.”

“Then what?”

“I'm thinking!”  Yeah, so am I… thinking that this is a BAD IDEA!  Someone stirred at the top of the hole.  So much for undetected.  “Come on!  Let's Go!”

“But, what about you're plan?”

“We'll make it up as we go along.  Come on!”

They weren't being followed, but they ran anyways, their mortal legs frustratingly sluggish.  We don't even know what we're looking for, let alone how to get ahold of it!  

Somehow, they managed to find their way to the station.  Nyx held Yemeya back beneath the ladder, “Okay.  I'll make a distraction while you look for the cure.  Once you get it…well…do what you do best.  Okay?”  Yeah. Okay. That's a great plan!  Before Yemeya could object out loud, Nyx was already bolting out of the hole, yelling and screaming like a madman.  Then…silence.

“Yemeya!  Get up here!”  

Nothing.  No fighting, no gods, no cure…nothing.  Yet, there was an anxious suspense dangling in the midst of the silence.  “Psssssst!”  Someone hissed from a shadowy corner of the empty station.  Persephone?  “Get back.”  She mouthed, frantically waving her hands, “GET BACK!!”  Something is very wrong about this.  The bodies of Jade and Bast lay in twisted poses on the tile floor, but it didn't look as though they had been killed by mortals…or gods.  Before anyone could move, an ear-piercing screech resonated through the hall.

“What IS that?”  It must have been at least fifteen feet tall, it's wings ten times that.  It was the stuff you hear of in legends, but never expect to actually see with your own eyes.  It must have something to do with the cure.  It's blood? No, that's too simple.  Behind the angry, Jurassic-sized bird she caught a glimpse of the nest.  Its eggs! That must be it.  The bird began to charge, Yemeya ducked underneath of it, her agility being her only advantage over the monstrous thing.  How do I get to that nest?  Nyx followed through with her distraction plan.  She waved and shouted frantically, luring the beast away from its nest.  Swiftly, and as silently as possible, Yemeya approached it.  The eggs themselves were the size of a small car, and the nest had more than enough room for the three of them.  As she got closer she noticed it was made of scraps from the city: bent car doors and various other pieces of scrap metal along with some large twigs and vines.  She grabbed a piece of pipe sticking out from its towering side and began to climb, but she had been spotted.  No longer interested in Nyx's shenanigans, it charged once again at Yemeya.  Much to her own surprise, she managed to tunnel her way in to one of the apertures of the giant nest's wall, which was soon quacking with bashes from the bird's colossal beak.  You wanna kill me so bad, you'll tear your nest apart to get to me.  She wormed her way through whatever cracks she could find.  Gradually, the light was filtered through less and less debris, and she found herself near the top if the nest.  She could see the eggs.  The bird had stopped pecking, waiting for her to give it a clue of where she was, and that was just what she did. 

“Hey!”  She stuck her upper body through the top of the nest, keeping one of the enormous eggs between her and the bird.  “Over here!  Come get me you stupid, over-sized chicken!”  The bird took her up on her offer, and dove at the nest.  Yemeya jabbed the particularly sharp piece of metal she had waiting in her hand at its face with all her strength.  It let out a terrible screech.  Quickly grabbing another piece of metal, she stabbed the nearest egg.  Its slimy, yellow contents flooded the nest.  The bird had recuperated and was beginning to attack again, but it was too late.  She had her powers back.  Everything seemed so effortless after having been mortal.  Giant birds and sewage aren't the best combination, now, are they? 

“Yemeya!” Nyx called from the station floor.  “Now's our chance.  We can be the only two here with powers!”

Yemeya considered it.  Could I really wipe out all of these gods at once…with such an advantage? It just doesn't seem right…

“Well?? What are you waiting for?  You can end this!”

No. It wouldn't be right. “I'm sorry.”  She began to climb down from the nest.  “I guess I just don't have it in me.  You can have at 'em, though.”

“Nah.”  Nyx scooped up some egg-goo.  “Besides, they're just pesky mortals.”