As Demetrius sailed up the Nile on the Eastern edge of Africa, far to the west, on the very edge of the known world, Orion looked down on a desolate and alien landscape rocketing beneath him from the winged back of Pegasus. Despite the grim atmosphere of this distant corner of the world, since his interaction with Athena, Orion had been ecstatic as he felt progress was finally being made on his task. The constant aching in his sealed balls drove him on, but taking Athena's advice, he did NOT conjure Hecate nor did he return to Delphi and subject himself to further torture by his ex-girlfriend Pythia. Armed with the information on how to castrate an immortal, he no longer needed Pythia now so once again he left her high and dry. He could not help but chuckle to himself as he imagined the fury of Pythia raging against his continued absence and being denied her revenge as he sailed off on his journey.
Obtaining the fang of Ariadne would require every skill he ever honed as a hunter. Her tragic story was well known throughout Greece, and the venom of her spiders were highly sought for their torturous teasing properties. A beautiful princess of the incredibly wealthy King Midas, and a demi-goddess in her own right, her vanity had, as is so often the case with the Gods, led to her tragic downfall. A skilled weaver of almost Olympian God-like skills, her claim that her creations outshone all others on earth, surpassing even the great Athena herself, had caused the rage of the Goddess to be uncorked and poured out over her in a deluge.
Cursed by being transformed into a hybrid Human/Spider monster by Athena, Ariadne was also banished from all normal human civilization. Sent beyond the Atlas Mountains past the remote western edge of the Sahara, for centuries she had lived alone. Ariadne was desperate for Human companionship but was feared by all living creatures save one, Spiders. As decades turned to centuries and centuries melted into millennia, slowly the human part of Ariadne melted away and her more monstrous qualities from her spider blood became dominant.
Now, having been separated from her beloved Greece for so long, her memories of her former glory grew dim and her appetites became more bestial as her soul grew blacker and more decayed with each year's passage. Blood, and best of all, Human blood that had been tortured and boiled in pain was all that she craved now. Through her still potent magical powers, she ensured that a steady harvest was supplied to slake her unquenchable thirst when she was discovered by the few humans living in this area. To the primitive tribes in this desolate land, she was worshipped as a Goddess, and their regular sacrifices to her kept her well-fed.
Unknown to Orion was the fact that despite her transformation into a monster, her normal human womanly needs not only remained intact, but had grown exponentially over time. Her venomous spiders, so sought after for their unique properties for causing suffering, were actually her children. Ariadne, through her primitive human priests, demanded not only a constant supply of female victims to slake her hunger for blood, but she also demanded male victims to mate with so that she could reproduce. The poor hapless victims were first tied naked in the jungle for her to find, toy with, milk and then impregnate. Planting her eggs inside the warm bodies of her male sacrificial victim, her fertilized eggs would grow and feed on their host before rupturing out of their stomach a week after implantation. This horrifying detail was yet unknown in the outside world, and had Orion been aware, it is no doubt his cheery disposition would have been far more muted.
For hours he and Pegasus had flown over the sun scorched desert with no sign of any life spotted for miles. Truly they had flown "off the map" as even caravans from the prosperous cities of North Africa dared not to venture this far south. Not a drop of water was anywhere to be found and the further they flew the few Oases that dotted the landscape grew more and more infrequent. Each mile also brought more stifling heat and as the rest of the world slipped relentlessly into winter, in these lands it was perpetually summer. Sweat pouring off of his brow, Orion had just begun to grow worried until he finally spotted what he was looking for. There in the distance, like a giant blanket of thick green silk in a sea of brown rock was the edge of the endless jungles of Africa. Here is where the Sahara ended and the dark continent began, and he and Pegasus now would finally be able to land and find water.
Landing on the soft burning sand, both man and horse looked at the green darkness before them in wonder and trepidation. It would be impossible to find Ariadne by flying over the jungle as the canopy of trees were so incredibly thick they blocked out almost all light from the jungle floor from the sun overhead. The rest of this journey would have to be on foot, and once a base camp was established, Orion would once again head out alone. Hacking and cutting through twisting vines, after an hour of hard slogging, Orion's ears pricked up at the most delicious and tantalizing sound imaginable, soft gurgling running water!
Breaking through the brush, both Orion and Pegasus sighed as they saw it. There in front of them was a small pond overflowing with cool, clean water fed from stream inching up from the south. All around this pond stood countless flowering bushes and fruit trees heavy with scent and fruit and just waiting to be harvested. Pulling down a Pomegranate branch into his hands, Orion broke open the pod and with one hand fed Pegasus while with the other he thrust the ripe red delight into his own mouth. Ravenously devouring the juicy red treat, Orion quickly stripped off and dove into the water.
Pegasus whinnied with joy as she lowered her mouth into the pond and began to drink her fill. Sighing with relief Orion slipped beneath the surface and drunk in the water as the cool stream chilled his overheated body. Here they would set up camp and Pegasus would have plenty of food and water while he continued on his quest further into the leafy green darkness. For now, however, he and Pegasus had earned a rest and he decided his journey would begin in the morning.
As he leaned up against a cold smooth rock and enjoyed finally being cool, Orion slowly drifted off, chuckling again as he descended into the land of sleep as he imagined the fury of Pythia. His dream was accurate as far away in Delphi, she howled in rage as it became apparent he would never return. Far more upset even than Pythia was Hecate, who in her dark foreboding palace shrieked in impotent rage as she saw that her plans for Demetrius were slipping from her fingers. Once again she had been double crossed, first by Artemis and now by Athena and her anger boiled in her veins as she tried to think of a new way to capture the nemesis of her son.
Stewing in her rage and alone in her chambers, Hecate was weaving a path of destruction through her palace. The sounds breaking glass and splintering wood echoed through her dark halls as she rampaged through her kitchen, smashing and cursing everything in sight. Her poor petrified servants trembled and hid, desperately wanting to stay out of her sight when she was in this state of unrestricted madness. Over the din of destruction, Xicar her chief servant heard a knock on the main palace door, barely audible over the symphony of disaster being performed by Hecate. Opening the door, Xicar was astonished when he saw the glowing handsome body of Apollo standing on the stoop.
His mouth opened wide but Xicar could not speak. Hecate did not get many visitors, and certainly even fewer divine ones. A pariah amongst the other Gods, her palace was far off the normal social circuit, so having Apollo suddenly show up was highly unusual.
"APOLLO! I, well, I am honored you have come, please, please come in!" he stammered. Apollo forced a grin on his face and entered. This was truly no social visit as he was here on a mission and that mission was to get the blood of Medusa. He shuddered at what price Hecate would extract as her reputation preceded her but for now, Apollo had to fake as much charm as he could in order to get what he had come for.
"Xicar, looking as fit as ever I see!" Apollo lied as the withered bony servant smiled adoringly at the false compliment. "Is Hecate about? I have business with her."
"Yes, yes of course. Let me go fetch her." he grinned as he hurriedly ran down a black hall towards her chamber. His mind racing along with his feet, he hoped that the sudden appearance of Apollo would bring a smile to his dark Mistress's mood. Her desire for vengeance on Demetrius had completely consumed her and this latest twist had sent her into a blind rage. Her son Alexandros was tortured and teased for the next thousand years because of him and she had no greater desire than to torture and destroy the one man who brought about his downfall. Apollo's sudden appearance may be a sign that fate, always a fickle bitch, was turning once again in her favor.
Hecate's eyes grew as wide open as Xicar's had when she learned of her unexpected divine visitor. Now narrowing her face she twisted it into a smirk as she knew Apollo well, and knew that if he was here he wanted something and he wanted something very badly. Waving her hand over her body, she instantly robed herself in black leather, making sure to look as darkly alluring as possible. Hecate was a clever Goddess and knew that she had a part to play in the drama about to unfold and for that she needed to be clad appropriately. Walking into her main receiving hall, she looked at Apollo with a false smile of disdain as she could sense his unease.
"Well well well Apollo, you certainly are slumming today aren't you?" she laughed as she approached him. "Now, I know you are here for something, so, what is it you want?"
Apollo glowered back and responded. "No one could ever accuse you of being chatty Hecate! Yes, you are correct, I am here for something. I am here for the Blood of Medusa."
Cackling in delight, Hecate clapped her hands. "Oh Apollo, I do so appreciate directness. Now, what on earth does a powerful God like you need with the Blood of Medusa? Are your considerable powers failing you now?"
Apollo bristled at the suggestion, and had not wanted to spill too many details of his plans, but now decided that it best to go ahead and tell Hecate about his plot. She was well known as a lover of revenge, and perhaps knowing his plans, she would not demand too much a payment for the blood. Certainly there was no love loss between Euphrosyne and Hecate and as Apollo described his plans for Euphrosyne, Hecate's eyes glistened with malicious delight. Imaging the beautiful and popular Euphrosyne, naked, spread shamefully wide and frozen into stone to serve as a fountain in Apollo's garden she smiled. Seeing her stone breasts perpetually coated with wine, her frozen pussy forever teased and exposed, as she painted the scene in her head, the images filled her with unimaginable joy. Hecate was an extremely malicious Goddess, and nothing pleased her more than tales of revenge, especially on those who she did not like and Hecate certainly did NOT like Euphrosyne.
