~~Otrera~~
Otrera looked down at herself, and sighed.
She was naked, lying down in the grass, and staring up at the moonlit sky. Her head rested upon the lap of a nymph that was combing her long black hair. Another nymph was massaging her legs and working her fingers into the tight muscles. They never said anything, the beautiful women touching her, but they smiled, and giggled — so they had voices at least — and traced her many scars with their fingertips. She had much darker skin than the typical Greek; perhaps they found the pink scar tissue on her dark skin interesting? Not a one of them had a scar, not Perseus or the nymphs.
The nymph combing her hair was a taller, curvy creature with heavy breasts that nudged against Otrera's forehead every so often. The one who'd been having anal sex with Perseus only a couple hours ago was the one working her legs. The little woman had some strength to her, and Otrera groaned when her fingers managed to wear down the tightness in her quads. Her noises earned some more giggles, but she didn't care, she was being pampered and gods damn it, she deserved some pampering.
Andromeda and Perseus were a good ways down the river. The hidden garden was large enough that anyone could have their privacy, and from what Otrera could hear, Andromeda was enjoying her privacy a lot. The water carried her husky moans along the river and around the Hesperides' garden, enough so the nymphs smiled at each other, and more than once got a little frisky with Otrera's body.
She let them. How many years had it been since a man or woman had touched her? Hard body, short, thin, lean, small breasts, she was a tiny warrior and that didn't make for many sexual opportunities. Was it so much to ask for some sexual relief? After hearing the moans of Andromeda, it was starting to get to her too. A minute later, she reached up, took one of the busty nymph's hands, and set it on Otrera's breasts.
The nymph giggled, got the idea, and instead of combing the Amazon's hair, started to massage her breasts with both hands. And Otrera melted into it. Hands, on her body, kneading her pert breasts and caressing her nipples in circles with thumbs. Fingertips teasing along their undersides. Gods, she needed—
"Otrera."
Quirking a brow, she looked between the two nymphs. They smiled at her, but otherwise continued to caress and spoil her. Could have just been her mind?
"Otrera."
No, definitely not her mind. She stood up, glanced around, and then looked at the nymphs. "Hear that?"
They shook their heads.
"This... is your garden, right? If someone was here, you'd know?"
They nodded. Of course they'd know, they were nymphs, the Hesperides.
She frowned, reached down to pick up her scabbard, and started walking toward the noise. With a hand on the sword grip, ready to draw at a moment's notice, she stepped into the garden with slow steps on bare feet.
It wasn't that she didn't realize she was investigating a mysterious voice whispering her name, alone, in the middle of the night, in a secret garden. It wasn't that she didn't understand how stupid she was being, going alone into the middle of the garden where the trees were dense, to pursue the voice the nymphs did not hear or sense. But...
"Otrera."
But the voice called to her, like a shadowy caress on her spine. It danced on her skin, worked up her toes where they touched the soft grass, ran up along her naked body until it tingled on her neck. It was quiet whisper, and she could taste its depth, like smoke. Even smell it.
The moonlight broke a trace of light through the canopy. It glimmered along the golden apples of the center tree, and over the mask that sat upon the boulder next to it.
Like a scene straight out of a poem. She walked over to the boulder, naked as a bird, sheathed sword in hand, and a beam of moonlight shining down on both her, and the mask. The black mask, with its weird, swirling lines of silver. Eye-holes, a parted mouth, and a thick body of obsidian; not a material she recognized. She wanted to say rock or some weird metal, but neither rock nor metal could carry black that deep.
And the world came to a stop. The breeze silenced, the leaves stopped rustling, and all was quiet. Her breathing slowed, but each breath was shallow and hard. Cold, but not cold. Like a heavy fog pressed down on her, but she could not see or feel it. Like someone was covering her mouth with icy fingers. But a fool she was, and she took another step toward the mask.
"Otrera." It spoke. Faint shimmers of white glowed from its eyes and mouth when the quiet voice slipped from its black frame.
"... who are you?"
It laughed, a dark and covered sound, like someone speaking from underneath layers of rock. "Does it matter?"
"Of course it fucking matters. You're a mask." She was whispering. She didn't know why she was whispering, but it felt like the right thing to do. It's not like what she was doing was wrong, or that it would matter if Perseus or Andromeda caught her; and yet, she whispered, like it was a dark, dirty secret. "Does Andromeda know you can talk?"
"No," it said. Again, more laughter, raspy and layered. "Are you... enjoying my gift?"
She froze. "Gift. Being a Fate's Child?"
"Many lives... to make, Amazon Queen. Do indulge," it said. It talked well, for a mask, but its voice was smoke and death. The sort of voice she imagined the darkness held, when wolves and lions prowled within, hungry. A voice of teeth and bloodlust, harsh and filled with rasp, alongside deep waves of power like a rumbling earthquake, but all spoken through layers of earth and metal, as if from a prison.
"Indulge? I took the gift so I can — the fuck am I telling you for?" She stepped closer to the mask, and stared down at its unmoving form. For all she knew, she'd gone crazy and was hearing voices.
"Ares's favor will not come, little Amazon."
She growled. "Fuck you."
"And while... god of war cares not... for Amazons' failures, I am... intrigued... by your stubbornness."
"Yeah well, it runs in the family."
"Ah... family." The mask chuckled, and for a while, the white glow ceased. But it returned as a gentle mist once more, and the verbose mask began again. "My sisters... not be kind to one... obtained the gift... unsanctioned means."
"Sisters... gift..." She took a step back. "W-what are—"
"Hush... little Amazon. The gift... yours to use, and use freely. The strength of many lives... bless your vessel. You are powerful... hard to kill, and glory... drawn to you as you it. But Ares will not care. And your life... eternal torment... Fates capture you."
