The women circled me, like the coiling and binding of the snakes they were infused with. The power radiated for them, yet still bowed to the matriarchs. Legends of old, they were some of the few capable of penetrating through the veil before the gates had been built. So little was known about them...

I shook, my hands curling for swords not there. They were like wraiths of death, floating in the shrouded forest. Their veils floating this way and that, a fog threatening to lift and reveal the deadliness beneath. Unlike gargoyles, there was no known cure for Gorgon petrification. This must be what it felt like to be vulnerable, to be scared...to not be special. My life would end just like any others, nothing more than a statue under their gaze.

The matriarchs each embodied a different snake. Unlikely to be Earthly snakes, they still had strong similarities. One pale and thin, with long green snakes far past her waist, hovered in my left peripheral. Her snakes hissing insistently with each weave of through the air. They could've been mistaken for living vines. My other side stood one with tan and brown snakes. In echo of its earthly cousins, the snakes had rattles which twitched and shook. The woman was a deep brown herself, beautiful in her stark difference from the others. The final, the red eyed one had come to a stop front and center. Her snakes a deep abyss of black with small reds eyes as well. It was daunting having so many eyes on me, between the snakes, Gorgons, Blue and Red, there has to be close to 30 pairs or more. It reminded me of the monster stories Ruth used to tell before bed. Of little Alice getting lost in the woods...

I cleared my throat, coughing at the sudden lump that threatened me. Fearing burning worse than the strongest medicine the scientists used to force down my throat. Pitri, I was doing this for Pitri. I stuck up my chin. I would not cow to these snakes, these Others. I'm...I was the savior of humanity. It may not hold the same worth and reveal it once did for me, but it did mean something.

"Honi, come here." The red eyed one hissed softly.

I leaned over, attempting to see this new potential foe. A willowy girl with yellow snakes for hair approached. Her steps were careful and seemed to be calculated, occasionally hovering mid-air and adjusting. A slight hissing could be heard from her snakes each time. I tilted farther trying another angle to read the girl when the faint whiff of human drifted through the air. My back straightened with a snap, so this was the one sparred, the little halfling. Her veil was filmy white as compared to the other Gorgons shadowy grey. I wasn't sure I liked this girl, though she was very pretty. Her face revealing a mixed decent, perhaps of the area former known as the Middle East.

"Yes mother." Her voice was more lyrical, yet soft and airy, lacking the hiss of typical Gorgons.

The girl hovered, her muscles seemed to be constantly twitching and adjusting, in particular her jaw. Just so slight a movements, they would have been invisible to any regular human. The red-eyed matriarch waved her hand in gentle becoming motions urging her daughter forward. I was cautious of what this little halfling was doing. She was not likely to be as powerful as her mother or any of the other matriarchs. She wasn't even likely to be stronger than the lower level Gorgons, so why pull her out from hiding.

"We have questions." Rattles emphasized the dark-skinned ones statement.

Bending backgrounds as though dipped, I tilted to look behind me to where she had moved. I would've been such a graceful dancer. The wind filled with hisses of snakes as I blinked at her, holding my position. I rather enjoyed being the center of attentions at times such as these. This was my stage, the role I was created to play, a savior...even if it wasn't the exact same character description.

I hummed, my throat vibrating with the tune. My tatters of clothing swished in time as I straightened into a spin. Lost in myself, lost in a song no one could here. I could hear Pitri, but it was more than a ghost of a laugh, imaging his reaction to my childishness. I stopped dancing, no longer warm within my spotlight. It was cold to dance alone.

"Ask." My voice croaked and cracked from an emotion I still wasn't sure I felt.

"Who are you?"

I opened my mouth and a slight shift went through the girl's white veil. She was doing something, but what. Her eyes had closed, hiding the slits of yellow. I closed my mouth, twitching into a frown. Curious, so curious, and more so suspicious. I was always taught never to trust Others, what if this was a trap?

A gentle pressure came to rest on my head. I turned to see Red smiling.

"It's alright lovely. Please feel free to speak without worry. These people will not harm you."

Blue bobbed her head, shaking her jewels about in her eagerness to reassure. "No harm shall come to our little pet. We shall not allow it. It would be a waste to something so pretty."

I closed my eyes, revealing in the touch. My eyes opened to meet Red's once more. A slight inclination of my head was all I gave for acceptance. I suppose the fact I was basically I shiny new toy to the two Lamia would have to be enough insurance for now.

"Alice. They call me Alice."

The words dropped from my mouth, heavy weights, still not as venomous as I had expected. Just last week...had it really only been that long? Last week, last week I had become enraged when Pitri revealed my name to the Dryads. It seemed so long ago. Was a I truly not the same person? Could I even call myself Alice? Alice was their name, for a savior, for a hater of Others...I wasn't sure I was that person anymore. I had changed so many times since coming out of that hole.

Honi's lashes fluttered beneath her veil, barely visible as they disturbed her veil. Finally, she opened them and gave her mother a firm nod. The Gorgons seemed to relax, just the slightest.

"What are you doing?" I stepped forward, my curiosity getting the better of my fear.

She shrunk in, a startled animal. Her snakes hissing with disapproval and far more confidence than the girl they were attached too. A ghost of a person, that's what she was. Not someone used to the world, or anyone beyond her little sphere of life. Sheltered...like me.

"I'm..." I choked on the words and ground my teeth. Think of Pitri. "I'm...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

Yellow eyes flashed beneath as she looked at me. I think she was shocked, I was. I had changed so many times...nothing more than a fickle child lost in a land I didn't understand.

Perhaps that was why they called me Alice.