*M i d n a*
Æsir Scribe
Well here's the start of the story. I hope that it will only be a trilogy, with probably 10-15 chapters each. I got this first book/story done, but like I said in the sign up thread, I will not be posting it all in one post, that would just probably scare readers away. I will update every other day, or whenever I can. If you read my latest attempts you might find some similar stuff, but I guarantee you that this is a brand new experience, although with some characters from my latest previous stories. And as to the the next story in line, that is halfway done, so as you can see I'm halfway there to having this puppy done. XD
Rated PG13 Expect to find romance, battle scenes, which at times will be bloody and gory, and also some cussing, but not that much.
This story features only a handful of submitted characters from ZDers, but if you feel like you want to join this story just sign up here: Story Sign Up If I am not too far to finishing it I might be able to include your character.
And once again I was too lazy to make up a new map, so I will be using the one I've been using lately:
I appreciate your support. Happy reading. Oh, and I will bring back what I was doing. I will mention the ZD members who are honored in every chapter, except that I will do that using the spoiler tag in case you don't want to know.
The huge bog was her realm, the well hidden large temple was her main residence, and the world of Jindaha was the Serpent Lady’s to watch over. At least that is what Ella Rose had strongly believed in her heart since humanity had lost its perfection many centuries ago. Not a day had gone by ever since her arrival to the bog without the goddess venturing out of her hideout to keep an eye out on many different things. Yes, many different things, for her entire bog was always bustling with some form of activity.
One main thing that she had been keeping a wary eye on lately was an invisible magical seal found underneath the earth’s crust that only she could feel, for she had been the one who had placed it over an entire realm long ago. The sealing of her own brother - named Atturi - had happened nearly five hundred years ago, but the seal's powerful magic would be coming to an end soon. She could feel it, could feel the seal’s power dwindling with every passing day, every passing hour, every passing minute, and every passing second.
As she studied the strength of the magical seal through the use of her inner thoughts and an invisible magical spell on her hand, Ella Rose—also known as Medusa, a name given to her by the humans—easily came to know that the seal would still remain strong for the rest forty four years that still needed to pass before it finally expired.
To a human, or a lesser being gifted with a short span of life, perhaps those forty four years would have seemed like a lot of time to wait on, or live, but not to Medusa. She had already lived a chiliad and more and knew quite well how fast time tended to pass. Troubled, she understood that those forty four years would come to pass soon enough, like a sudden gust passing through an open field in plain spring. When that time came to pass, her brother would be coming out from the dark place that he had been confined to all those centuries. He would not be coming out just to say hi, or admire the world where he had walked upon those five hundred years ago. No, Medusa and the whole world of Jindaha, and everything else that existed in it were in for dark times. For coming along with the return of her brother would be his massive army of demons and other cruel creatures, who –without the presence of their mighty king, their powerful leader – had scattered and disappeared to live both on the surface world and underneath it too. Without their master leading them, the demons and the many creatures that he had created had deemed themselves weak, but Medusa knew that they would be fast to come to his side when the call to join him once again came.
The last time that Atturi had been on the surface realm he'd had in mind destroying the same beings that he had been assigned to watch over alongside with Ella Rose. Atturi, who had been the first ever son to be created directly by the All-Father's hand, was given the gift of being the second most powerful being in the whole universe. His Father gave him great knowledge and wisdom to go with that power, as well as visions of many good things that were to come later in time. But Atturi's heart and mind soon became clouded with avaricious dreams of obtaining over-all power from his Father and for himself. He loved all that God had come to make and his plans for the future, but he wanted all that for himself, he wanted all credit be given to him and no one else.
So, knowing that he had been given great power, perhaps enough to challenge his father’s divine authority, Atturi disobeyed his Father's wishes when the time to obey came. He, and the many celestial creatures that had come with him down to the world of Jindaha, had done the opposite of what they were supposed to do. Instead of watching over the humans from afar in their invisibility state, they exposed themselves to the earthly creatures and killed many of the men. They also took the women – who were beautiful and enchanting to the eye – for themselves and had coitus with them. These actions would bring consequences for the humans later in time, for from the union between god and human sprouted forth the Gigans, colossal creatures of great power.
Ella, who had been sent as co-helper to Atturi, had been betrayed right from the start. Terrified, shocked, and feeling heavyhearted at what her brother Atturi had unexpectedly done, she tried to return to Celestia and inform her Father of it, but Atturi and a host of his followers stopped her before she could manage to leave. Atturi proceeded to offer her a place at his side, which Ella refused immediately. Her brother, who knew that Ella was very strong herself, tried to convince her to join his side so that he could see his ultimate plan for supremacy come true. Ella literally spat on his face and slapped him hard when Atturi assured her that those plans included getting rid of their mighty Father, who they were subject to obey probably for all eternity.
“I am offering you freedom from his constant watch,” had said Atturi back then. “Side with me and you will no longer have the necessity to remain tied to his will. You will be free to do whatever you want. You and I can be the masters of the universe.”
“You fool,” Ella had replied. “We are free to do as we please. You are witness to this yourself with your action. Now nothing good will come out of all this. You’ve disobeyed Father and started a chain reaction that will be the end of everything good and perhaps all of us as well.” And she had slapped him very hard again, hoping that with that slap she would make him snap back to reality. “I will never join your evil plans, brother.”
Atturi, of course, had not taken his sister’s refusal very well. And before Ella was able to use her powers on him, he proceeded to place a sleeping spell on her that forced her to lose consciousness for a long while.
With Ella down and out of it, some of Atturi’s lackeys had rushed towards her, very eager to kill her, but Atturi detained them from doing that with his tough voice.
“No,” he had said as he had approached her. “I have better plans for her.”
While she was asleep and at his mercy, for having turned down his offer, Atturi placed upon her a strong, vile curse which turned his sister’s incredible beauty to sheer ugliness. When Ella had woken up hours later, she came to find out that she had lost her God-given beauty, that she had been turned into a horrible serpentine monster. Atturi had only placed the curse upon her hoping that she would lose heart and come to him begging to be turned back to her original form, for Ella had been proud to be known as the most beautiful creature to ever be created. But Ella never did that, never went seeking to be restored back to her own self. Surely heartbroken and full of shame she returned to Celestia and informed the All-Father of what had happened, although he already knew about everything, being the Supreme Being that he was. He bade his daughter to have patience, let her know that he was working on a solution, and assured her that everything would be alright.
After those horrifying events, humanity lost its innocent state and came to know good and evil and also right from wrong. Atturi and his minions not only continued to oppress and dominate the humans, but the disobedient child – as he soon would come to be known as – created a unique realm underneath the earth’s surface where he and his minions came to reside. Kokytos was the name he chose for his realm. He had the power of creation at his command, so he had created this dark realm for a single purpose, and that was to have every living soul that perished on the earthly realm end there in that dark realm to suffer torment for eternity – opposing his father’s will, which had been the contrary: Ever lasting life and peace.
These atrocious actions did not go unnoticed by the All-Father, who grew very disappointed with his son. The Lord Almighty would respond in a harsh way, but he wasn’t involved directly. What ensued was a long, bloody, and terrible war between the All-Father’s forces and Atturi’s own and even other species that the disobedient child created for his war against the All-Father.
Atturi and his minions, though strong and numerous as they were, would not prevail. After many years passed and the war went on, they were suddenly defeated and put on the retreat by Ella Rose and a handful of other mighty gods who were Atturi’s brothers and sisters. But their victory had come at a great cost of life and after Atturi had done much damage and had changed the cycle of life forever. The gods and goddesses that had come down to fight in the name of the All-Father, at his call, returned to Celestia, their place of origin, where they were to remain. But Ella, who had been transformed into a grotesque, serpentine-like monster, had not gone back to her original world in the heavens after the war had ended; she actually remained in a secluded spot mourning the loss of every life that was lost during the long war. Many of her brothers and sisters believed that she had been ashamed to return to Celestia looking like the monster she had become, but the real cause of her decision to remain behind had been another. Atturi had not been defeated completely, had only retreated and Ella had sealed him in his dark realm. The All-Father knew this too, and so when he heard his daughter’s words through prayer, he was quick to attend her call.
“Give me time, Father,” Ella Rose had pleaded back then. “And I will make sure that Atturi is brought before you to face your justice.”
The All-Father, ever pleasing and comprehensive, conceded her daughter that privilege, but only for two main reasons. One was because he saw in Ella the tremendous love that she had for the humans and even her own brother Atturi. Deep down, Ella was much like her father: she had not been able to kill Atturi in the battle that they had waged, Ella had wanted to capture him alive, had wanted to turn him to stone and let her father do with him as he thought just. She could not do that because Atturi had retreated, but she had sealed him within his realm. She’d had hope that another time would come for her to attempt it.
The other reason was simple: The All-Father had the power to kill or undo any thing that he had created. He was a god of power, a god of love, was benevolent, all-knowing, and overly patient. He was good to the extent of the word, a being unlike no other in existence. Atturi was his son, the first ever being to be created by his hand. The All-Father would never take life from any living being – not even his disobedient child’s – when he had given it to begin with. He was a god of life, not a god of death.
That is where Ella had come to play a major role. Being the first daughter to be created and second child over all, she became the All-Father’s armed arm after Atturi’s disobedience. She became an intermediate sanctioned by the All-Father himself to fix the problem in the world of the mortals that was Atturi, The Bringer of Death.
“You have the time, my daughter,” he told Ella through the use of thunderclaps, for there was no necessity for the All-Father to be visibly present in the world of the mortals – as the omnipotent being that he was, he was present, but invisible. “But keep in mind that the humans and other species residing down here will be in between it all during your conflict with Atturi. They will suffer much, and so will you in time. But I know what’s in your heart. You want to bring me Atturi alive, and I believe in you. I believe that you can utilize your strength and power to do it, or else I wouldn’t have named you my armed arm. But be warned now: Atturi has the right to deal with you too. I’ve taken away his power of creation, but his other powers remain the same, so be cautious. He will have to wait until that seal that you placed on his realm expires, and what’s more, I have placed a magnetic field over the entire earth so as to prevent him from escaping through other means. His scattered creatures will be allowed to reside in the world, for to me they are living beings as well, I won’t raise my hand to destroy them. But as to Atturi, Ella, listen to me now and listen well because these words are genuine. If you succeed in bringing him to me, dead or alive, I will make sure that everything that he ruined is made right again. If you fail to bring him down, I will allow him to remain alive and do as he pleases down there until someone else delivers him to me. Is this clear?”
Ella had agreed with the terms, for her father was just. With the chance that he had given her, he had also given Atturi an opportunity to defend himself. Ella had suspected that there was more meaning to it than what she knew, but she never could figure it out.
From that day on, she had really wondered why the All-Father had let her know that if she failed someone else would have to deliver Atturi to him. But the answer to her dilemma was quite clear: The All-Father would never stain his hands with blood, would never use his righteous power to kill a being, be it human or god. That is why right from the moment that Atturi had disobeyed and challenged his supreme authority the All-Father had not utterly destroyed him, because he loved all his created sons, daughters, and other lesser beings equally. That is why if Ella failed in her mission, then someone else would have to deliver Atturi to the supreme, righteous god, because as the loving father that he was, he would never be able to get mixed up in chaos, would never be able to perform evil actions. Ella took heart in her mission. If she managed to deliver Atturi to him, then he would surely keep his word and be making things right again. That, Ella desired with a passion.
Before leaving her daughter that day, the High God offered to her a powerful sword named Arektäris, which in the human tongue would mean Soul Reaper. This sword was given to her for exclusive use against Atturi, who had many means to deal with Ella; the All-Father merely had evened the odds.
And so it was that Ella Rose had remained in the troubled world of Jindaha. She watched over it waiting for the seal to expire so that she could once again attempt to bring Atturi down. She had kept her monstrous form, despite her father wanting to remove the curse the same day that she had returned to the heavenly realm. Ella had refused, believing that her monstrous form would only inspire her in completing her mission. The monstrous form, she thought, would be a reminder to her of what her brother had done to her so many years back. In time, her monstrous form would only bring her trouble with the many species residing in Jindaha.
Many things, both good and bad, but mostly the latter, had come to happen in Jindaha during the passing of the centuries. Ella had endured many troubles right from the beginning of her time there. She had escaped the clutches of death many times at the hands of those that she had sworn to watch over, for there residing amongst the humans had remained sympathizers of Atturi. These were not the dark creatures that he had created for his war against the heavens, those had scattered all over the earth when the end had been near for them all. No, these were human servants who had been forced to follow Atturi. Very soon Ella would come to know that though Atturi her brother was gone from the surface world, there remained a bit of his presence through followers who had come to venerate him.
As time wore on and the creatures residing on earth settled down and continued to live on, the humans began to keep a track of time, dates, and years. (The humans had started doing this sort of thing 350 years ago) Around that time, the All-Father’s armed arm had had to retreat to a secluded ambient to the east which would later come to be known as Medusa’s Bog, or the Serpent Lady’s Realm. Her name became known as Medusa, given to her by the humans, who had been the first of species to ever lay eyes on her untrue form after the first ever war. Medusa was a name that many came to hate, fear, and even love. The goddess became a prize, her head a valuable trophy that many warriors had wanted to acquire. Seeking to slay her and claim her head as a prize, warriors from different realms and belonging to different species had come to the dangerous bog seeking the famed Serpent Lady, but many lost their lives in that place, if not at the hands of the ferocious creatures that lurked there, then at the hands of the mighty goddess, who’d had to defend herself from the threats. Through slaying and turning to stone – via a God-given power behind her eyes – many of the warriors that had attempted to eliminate her, Medusa had made herself be respected and feared. The number of warriors seeking her head dwindled as time wore on, until few were those souls who dared to attempt what so many had tried and failed at. But even in the new current era, in this running year of 350, warriors were still adventuring into the terrible bog every now and then seeking the famous Medusa that they’d heard about through early rumors and twisted tales. In the current era she was just a myth, and there lived none on the surface realm of Jindaha that could claim that he or she had laid eyes on her before. But knowledge about her had remained, had survived, either through rumors or stories, and so Medusa was believed to exist in the east.
That early morning, as she found herself at the base of the mountain, Medusa felt so depressed, so lonely, and even sad, the latter mostly because of the many warriors that had come to perish under her name throughout the passage of time. She knew that she was not at fault, humans were stubborn creatures, but she still blamed herself for the loss of so many lives. Picturing those many souls – and the many others from people who perished every day – being tormented day and night in Kokytos made her feel worthless. And her latest thoughts never helped her to calm down, either, rather had made her feel much worse. Though forty four years still would have to pass before she would get a chance at confronting Atturi, Ella could already picture the dark times in store for the world. And she felt her heart heavy and sad because of that.
*End of Prelude*
Rated PG13 Expect to find romance, battle scenes, which at times will be bloody and gory, and also some cussing, but not that much.
This story features only a handful of submitted characters from ZDers, but if you feel like you want to join this story just sign up here: Story Sign Up If I am not too far to finishing it I might be able to include your character.
And once again I was too lazy to make up a new map, so I will be using the one I've been using lately:
I appreciate your support. Happy reading. Oh, and I will bring back what I was doing. I will mention the ZD members who are honored in every chapter, except that I will do that using the spoiler tag in case you don't want to know.
Honored ZDers: Meego, Myriadviper42
A Dragir’s Tale
By: Atsuma
Prelude: (A Daughter’s Sadness)
The Serpent Lady’s Bog, April 7th, Year 350
By: Atsuma
Prelude: (A Daughter’s Sadness)
The Serpent Lady’s Bog, April 7th, Year 350
The huge bog was her realm, the well hidden large temple was her main residence, and the world of Jindaha was the Serpent Lady’s to watch over. At least that is what Ella Rose had strongly believed in her heart since humanity had lost its perfection many centuries ago. Not a day had gone by ever since her arrival to the bog without the goddess venturing out of her hideout to keep an eye out on many different things. Yes, many different things, for her entire bog was always bustling with some form of activity.
One main thing that she had been keeping a wary eye on lately was an invisible magical seal found underneath the earth’s crust that only she could feel, for she had been the one who had placed it over an entire realm long ago. The sealing of her own brother - named Atturi - had happened nearly five hundred years ago, but the seal's powerful magic would be coming to an end soon. She could feel it, could feel the seal’s power dwindling with every passing day, every passing hour, every passing minute, and every passing second.
As she studied the strength of the magical seal through the use of her inner thoughts and an invisible magical spell on her hand, Ella Rose—also known as Medusa, a name given to her by the humans—easily came to know that the seal would still remain strong for the rest forty four years that still needed to pass before it finally expired.
To a human, or a lesser being gifted with a short span of life, perhaps those forty four years would have seemed like a lot of time to wait on, or live, but not to Medusa. She had already lived a chiliad and more and knew quite well how fast time tended to pass. Troubled, she understood that those forty four years would come to pass soon enough, like a sudden gust passing through an open field in plain spring. When that time came to pass, her brother would be coming out from the dark place that he had been confined to all those centuries. He would not be coming out just to say hi, or admire the world where he had walked upon those five hundred years ago. No, Medusa and the whole world of Jindaha, and everything else that existed in it were in for dark times. For coming along with the return of her brother would be his massive army of demons and other cruel creatures, who –without the presence of their mighty king, their powerful leader – had scattered and disappeared to live both on the surface world and underneath it too. Without their master leading them, the demons and the many creatures that he had created had deemed themselves weak, but Medusa knew that they would be fast to come to his side when the call to join him once again came.
The last time that Atturi had been on the surface realm he'd had in mind destroying the same beings that he had been assigned to watch over alongside with Ella Rose. Atturi, who had been the first ever son to be created directly by the All-Father's hand, was given the gift of being the second most powerful being in the whole universe. His Father gave him great knowledge and wisdom to go with that power, as well as visions of many good things that were to come later in time. But Atturi's heart and mind soon became clouded with avaricious dreams of obtaining over-all power from his Father and for himself. He loved all that God had come to make and his plans for the future, but he wanted all that for himself, he wanted all credit be given to him and no one else.
So, knowing that he had been given great power, perhaps enough to challenge his father’s divine authority, Atturi disobeyed his Father's wishes when the time to obey came. He, and the many celestial creatures that had come with him down to the world of Jindaha, had done the opposite of what they were supposed to do. Instead of watching over the humans from afar in their invisibility state, they exposed themselves to the earthly creatures and killed many of the men. They also took the women – who were beautiful and enchanting to the eye – for themselves and had coitus with them. These actions would bring consequences for the humans later in time, for from the union between god and human sprouted forth the Gigans, colossal creatures of great power.
Ella, who had been sent as co-helper to Atturi, had been betrayed right from the start. Terrified, shocked, and feeling heavyhearted at what her brother Atturi had unexpectedly done, she tried to return to Celestia and inform her Father of it, but Atturi and a host of his followers stopped her before she could manage to leave. Atturi proceeded to offer her a place at his side, which Ella refused immediately. Her brother, who knew that Ella was very strong herself, tried to convince her to join his side so that he could see his ultimate plan for supremacy come true. Ella literally spat on his face and slapped him hard when Atturi assured her that those plans included getting rid of their mighty Father, who they were subject to obey probably for all eternity.
“I am offering you freedom from his constant watch,” had said Atturi back then. “Side with me and you will no longer have the necessity to remain tied to his will. You will be free to do whatever you want. You and I can be the masters of the universe.”
“You fool,” Ella had replied. “We are free to do as we please. You are witness to this yourself with your action. Now nothing good will come out of all this. You’ve disobeyed Father and started a chain reaction that will be the end of everything good and perhaps all of us as well.” And she had slapped him very hard again, hoping that with that slap she would make him snap back to reality. “I will never join your evil plans, brother.”
Atturi, of course, had not taken his sister’s refusal very well. And before Ella was able to use her powers on him, he proceeded to place a sleeping spell on her that forced her to lose consciousness for a long while.
With Ella down and out of it, some of Atturi’s lackeys had rushed towards her, very eager to kill her, but Atturi detained them from doing that with his tough voice.
“No,” he had said as he had approached her. “I have better plans for her.”
While she was asleep and at his mercy, for having turned down his offer, Atturi placed upon her a strong, vile curse which turned his sister’s incredible beauty to sheer ugliness. When Ella had woken up hours later, she came to find out that she had lost her God-given beauty, that she had been turned into a horrible serpentine monster. Atturi had only placed the curse upon her hoping that she would lose heart and come to him begging to be turned back to her original form, for Ella had been proud to be known as the most beautiful creature to ever be created. But Ella never did that, never went seeking to be restored back to her own self. Surely heartbroken and full of shame she returned to Celestia and informed the All-Father of what had happened, although he already knew about everything, being the Supreme Being that he was. He bade his daughter to have patience, let her know that he was working on a solution, and assured her that everything would be alright.
After those horrifying events, humanity lost its innocent state and came to know good and evil and also right from wrong. Atturi and his minions not only continued to oppress and dominate the humans, but the disobedient child – as he soon would come to be known as – created a unique realm underneath the earth’s surface where he and his minions came to reside. Kokytos was the name he chose for his realm. He had the power of creation at his command, so he had created this dark realm for a single purpose, and that was to have every living soul that perished on the earthly realm end there in that dark realm to suffer torment for eternity – opposing his father’s will, which had been the contrary: Ever lasting life and peace.
These atrocious actions did not go unnoticed by the All-Father, who grew very disappointed with his son. The Lord Almighty would respond in a harsh way, but he wasn’t involved directly. What ensued was a long, bloody, and terrible war between the All-Father’s forces and Atturi’s own and even other species that the disobedient child created for his war against the All-Father.
Atturi and his minions, though strong and numerous as they were, would not prevail. After many years passed and the war went on, they were suddenly defeated and put on the retreat by Ella Rose and a handful of other mighty gods who were Atturi’s brothers and sisters. But their victory had come at a great cost of life and after Atturi had done much damage and had changed the cycle of life forever. The gods and goddesses that had come down to fight in the name of the All-Father, at his call, returned to Celestia, their place of origin, where they were to remain. But Ella, who had been transformed into a grotesque, serpentine-like monster, had not gone back to her original world in the heavens after the war had ended; she actually remained in a secluded spot mourning the loss of every life that was lost during the long war. Many of her brothers and sisters believed that she had been ashamed to return to Celestia looking like the monster she had become, but the real cause of her decision to remain behind had been another. Atturi had not been defeated completely, had only retreated and Ella had sealed him in his dark realm. The All-Father knew this too, and so when he heard his daughter’s words through prayer, he was quick to attend her call.
“Give me time, Father,” Ella Rose had pleaded back then. “And I will make sure that Atturi is brought before you to face your justice.”
The All-Father, ever pleasing and comprehensive, conceded her daughter that privilege, but only for two main reasons. One was because he saw in Ella the tremendous love that she had for the humans and even her own brother Atturi. Deep down, Ella was much like her father: she had not been able to kill Atturi in the battle that they had waged, Ella had wanted to capture him alive, had wanted to turn him to stone and let her father do with him as he thought just. She could not do that because Atturi had retreated, but she had sealed him within his realm. She’d had hope that another time would come for her to attempt it.
The other reason was simple: The All-Father had the power to kill or undo any thing that he had created. He was a god of power, a god of love, was benevolent, all-knowing, and overly patient. He was good to the extent of the word, a being unlike no other in existence. Atturi was his son, the first ever being to be created by his hand. The All-Father would never take life from any living being – not even his disobedient child’s – when he had given it to begin with. He was a god of life, not a god of death.
That is where Ella had come to play a major role. Being the first daughter to be created and second child over all, she became the All-Father’s armed arm after Atturi’s disobedience. She became an intermediate sanctioned by the All-Father himself to fix the problem in the world of the mortals that was Atturi, The Bringer of Death.
“You have the time, my daughter,” he told Ella through the use of thunderclaps, for there was no necessity for the All-Father to be visibly present in the world of the mortals – as the omnipotent being that he was, he was present, but invisible. “But keep in mind that the humans and other species residing down here will be in between it all during your conflict with Atturi. They will suffer much, and so will you in time. But I know what’s in your heart. You want to bring me Atturi alive, and I believe in you. I believe that you can utilize your strength and power to do it, or else I wouldn’t have named you my armed arm. But be warned now: Atturi has the right to deal with you too. I’ve taken away his power of creation, but his other powers remain the same, so be cautious. He will have to wait until that seal that you placed on his realm expires, and what’s more, I have placed a magnetic field over the entire earth so as to prevent him from escaping through other means. His scattered creatures will be allowed to reside in the world, for to me they are living beings as well, I won’t raise my hand to destroy them. But as to Atturi, Ella, listen to me now and listen well because these words are genuine. If you succeed in bringing him to me, dead or alive, I will make sure that everything that he ruined is made right again. If you fail to bring him down, I will allow him to remain alive and do as he pleases down there until someone else delivers him to me. Is this clear?”
Ella had agreed with the terms, for her father was just. With the chance that he had given her, he had also given Atturi an opportunity to defend himself. Ella had suspected that there was more meaning to it than what she knew, but she never could figure it out.
From that day on, she had really wondered why the All-Father had let her know that if she failed someone else would have to deliver Atturi to him. But the answer to her dilemma was quite clear: The All-Father would never stain his hands with blood, would never use his righteous power to kill a being, be it human or god. That is why right from the moment that Atturi had disobeyed and challenged his supreme authority the All-Father had not utterly destroyed him, because he loved all his created sons, daughters, and other lesser beings equally. That is why if Ella failed in her mission, then someone else would have to deliver Atturi to the supreme, righteous god, because as the loving father that he was, he would never be able to get mixed up in chaos, would never be able to perform evil actions. Ella took heart in her mission. If she managed to deliver Atturi to him, then he would surely keep his word and be making things right again. That, Ella desired with a passion.
Before leaving her daughter that day, the High God offered to her a powerful sword named Arektäris, which in the human tongue would mean Soul Reaper. This sword was given to her for exclusive use against Atturi, who had many means to deal with Ella; the All-Father merely had evened the odds.
And so it was that Ella Rose had remained in the troubled world of Jindaha. She watched over it waiting for the seal to expire so that she could once again attempt to bring Atturi down. She had kept her monstrous form, despite her father wanting to remove the curse the same day that she had returned to the heavenly realm. Ella had refused, believing that her monstrous form would only inspire her in completing her mission. The monstrous form, she thought, would be a reminder to her of what her brother had done to her so many years back. In time, her monstrous form would only bring her trouble with the many species residing in Jindaha.
Many things, both good and bad, but mostly the latter, had come to happen in Jindaha during the passing of the centuries. Ella had endured many troubles right from the beginning of her time there. She had escaped the clutches of death many times at the hands of those that she had sworn to watch over, for there residing amongst the humans had remained sympathizers of Atturi. These were not the dark creatures that he had created for his war against the heavens, those had scattered all over the earth when the end had been near for them all. No, these were human servants who had been forced to follow Atturi. Very soon Ella would come to know that though Atturi her brother was gone from the surface world, there remained a bit of his presence through followers who had come to venerate him.
As time wore on and the creatures residing on earth settled down and continued to live on, the humans began to keep a track of time, dates, and years. (The humans had started doing this sort of thing 350 years ago) Around that time, the All-Father’s armed arm had had to retreat to a secluded ambient to the east which would later come to be known as Medusa’s Bog, or the Serpent Lady’s Realm. Her name became known as Medusa, given to her by the humans, who had been the first of species to ever lay eyes on her untrue form after the first ever war. Medusa was a name that many came to hate, fear, and even love. The goddess became a prize, her head a valuable trophy that many warriors had wanted to acquire. Seeking to slay her and claim her head as a prize, warriors from different realms and belonging to different species had come to the dangerous bog seeking the famed Serpent Lady, but many lost their lives in that place, if not at the hands of the ferocious creatures that lurked there, then at the hands of the mighty goddess, who’d had to defend herself from the threats. Through slaying and turning to stone – via a God-given power behind her eyes – many of the warriors that had attempted to eliminate her, Medusa had made herself be respected and feared. The number of warriors seeking her head dwindled as time wore on, until few were those souls who dared to attempt what so many had tried and failed at. But even in the new current era, in this running year of 350, warriors were still adventuring into the terrible bog every now and then seeking the famous Medusa that they’d heard about through early rumors and twisted tales. In the current era she was just a myth, and there lived none on the surface realm of Jindaha that could claim that he or she had laid eyes on her before. But knowledge about her had remained, had survived, either through rumors or stories, and so Medusa was believed to exist in the east.
That early morning, as she found herself at the base of the mountain, Medusa felt so depressed, so lonely, and even sad, the latter mostly because of the many warriors that had come to perish under her name throughout the passage of time. She knew that she was not at fault, humans were stubborn creatures, but she still blamed herself for the loss of so many lives. Picturing those many souls – and the many others from people who perished every day – being tormented day and night in Kokytos made her feel worthless. And her latest thoughts never helped her to calm down, either, rather had made her feel much worse. Though forty four years still would have to pass before she would get a chance at confronting Atturi, Ella could already picture the dark times in store for the world. And she felt her heart heavy and sad because of that.
*End of Prelude*