2.12: The First Mission

Location: Attica

Time Remaining: 15 years

Athena stood on a rise overlooking Piraeus and Moschato, which sat on either side of the mouth of Cephissus’s river in Attica.

“I have a number of missions for you, my friend,” Athena said to the owl perched on her shoulder, “But your first mission will be something very personal. An old friend of yours is in need of help, though she does not know it.”

“Hoo?” The owl cried.

“Your priestess, Echo. She ended up directionless after the destruction of your temple, and now she’s fallen into the thrall of one of the men who assisted Hera in destroying it.”

The owl’s feathers ruffled, “Hoo?”

“His name is Narcissus. He’s the son of Cephissus, the titan who tends this river, and his mother is a nymph, so we’re talking about someone who’s more than half titan himself. He’s stronger, faster, and tougher than an ordinary mortal, but more problematically he’s… charming.”

The owl looked at her with eyes that were clearly skeptical.

“I know it sounds ridiculous, but somehow or another he’s swayed many of the people in the town are practically worshipping him.”

The owl huffed.

“Exactly. We Olympians may be overselling ourselves when we tell people we’re gods, but Narcissus is an outright charlatan. Unfortunately, he’s gathering enough of a following that it’s opening a debate on Mt. Olympus. Aphrodite wants us to grant him a divine legacy, make him fully one of us.”

The owl flapped angrily.

“Yes, one more Olympian mucking about. And this one could become the most dangerous of us all. We can’t allow that to happen. We need to break him, dispel any further notions of making him a ‘god’.”

The owl gently poked Athena with one of her talons.

“Me? No. I’ve made my opinion on the matter clear. Zeus will be furious if I go down and deal with Narcissus while he’s deliberating on what to do, and if I have to work off some grudge with Zeus again, my future plans will become more difficult.”

The owl tapped its talons impatiently.

“Well, okay. The other problem is I don’t know how he’s been charming people the way he is, and there’s no guarantee we’re immune. If I’d confronted him and fallen into his thrall, then that would be that – no back up for me. But now, I can send you to deal with him, and if something goes wrong, you still have me to come rescue you. Fair?”

Adresteia jumped off Athena’s shoulder and glided silently down towards the nearer of the two cities. Narcissus probably didn’t have enough of their ancient bloodline in him to shape shift or conjure objects, but it wasn’t unheard of, and even more remarkable powers could pop up in someone like him. In fact, Hera had dedicated much of her life to understanding their genetics, but she’d largely found that the expression of their genes was very nearly unpredictable.

If a Titan had, for example, the power to control electricity, that Titan’s children were more likely to have that ability as well. The Titan Skyfather, Oranos, had been an electromancer, as had his son, Kronos, and his grandson Zeus. As far as Adresteia knew, none of Zeus’s siblings shared the power, and none of Zeus’s children had inherited the ability from their father. Instead they had a wide range of abilities that Zeus himself didn’t possess – super speed, the ability to channel sunlight, etc. Titan genetics was a study in statistical probability, and never provided any certainty.

So, although Narcissus was a Titan/Nymph hybrid rather than a full Titan, there would still be a great degree of uncertainty in dealing with him. Adresteia had fought him once before, and defeated him handily, but that was no guarantee he would fall so easily this time – any exceptional powers he may 

have, could have manifested in the past few years.

The first matter, to address, though, was Athena’s fear that Narcissus had some extranormal sway over other people. Any such power would likely be insidious – in attempting to observe it in action, Adresteia might very well expose herself to it, and there was no guarantee that she’d have immunity do to being a… well, not a goddess. She couldn’t think of herself as a goddess anymore, but she was clearly more than the average Titan. Whatever she was though, she couldn’t invest all of her faith in it protecting her from Narcissus’s power.

Adresteia stalked the town from above, trying to glean intel while keeping her distance. There were flowers everywhere – mostly daffodils. They were planted in clay pots, gathered in baskets and wagons, and even growing in the city’s streets. People wore chains of their blooms, and every person had at least one daffodil tucked into their hair – notably, a white blossom with a distinctive, shock-blue center.

That immediately struck Adresteia as suspicious, but she couldn’t see any way that the flowers could somehow enthrall the people to a particular person. Mind controlling plants seemed entirely plausible, but from what Persephone had told her, plants of any sort were notoriously fickle entities with no sense of dedication or loyalty – if a flower could somehow enslave a human being, it would use them to its own benefit, not command them to follow some other person.

Adresteia was considering her options when she saw a familiar face on the crowded streets – Echo. The woman was hustling along with a basket of fruit, headed somewhere important, and that seemed promising. Adresteia followed her from above, all the way to a nice estate overlooking the bay. The place seemed consumed by hedonic revelry; people were crowded around its topiaries, gardens, and a beautiful reflecting pool. Adresteia’s didn’t see Narcissus among those outside, but her gut told her he was there, somewhere.

Adresteia kept vigil over the party through the day and after the sunset, her owl eyes making it easy to monitor what was going on in the dark. Just past midnight, the party seemed to finally take its toll on the majority of the guests, with many of them passing out on lawns, next to the reflecting pools, or in any number of ridiculous places. Adresteia saw that as an opportunity.

She quietly flew down amongst some sleeping revelers, transformed into a human, and donned some clothing that had been abandoned in a nearby tree. She tried to pluck a flower from a girl’s hair, intending to simply wear it as a disguise, but, disturbingly, it had taken root in the girl’s scalp. Adresteia shifted her fingers on one hand into talons, and delicately snipped the flower off rather than yanking it out and potentially awakening the girl. Adresteia created a small arc of lightning between her fingers to cauterize the flower’s stem before tucking it into her own hair – a disguise was a disguise, but she didn’t want a vegetable boring into her brain.

Adresteia picked up an abandoned wine pitcher and began strolling about, refilling people’s drinks. All things being equal, the best disguise was that of a servant. A woman serving wine had access and anonymity. In most cases the only people likely to recognize that you didn’t belong were the other servants and – unsurprisingly – they were generally under-motivated to report suspicious persons.

Adresteia listened to the drunken chatter of the conscious party guests as she did the rounds.

“Narcissus’s message changed me man. It completely changed my world. All of Greece needs to hear his message.”

“Righteous, brother, his message is righteous. Whatever it is.”

“Yeah, I mean it’s not really clear, is it? But it’s just… life changing. Like, you don’t really have to understand it to understand it.”

“That’s true, that’s so true.”

“True, true, true,” Adresteia heard a familiar voice. Echo bustled past, on her way to something important, so Adresteia cautiously followed her into the estate’s main building, where the building occupiers had set up an improvised court.  

Narcissus himself lounged on a throne that had clearly been made with limited resources, by someone desperate to make it look like they’d spared no expense. The man was much larger than the other mortals in attendance, and his garment hung open at the front to show an impressive set of muscles underneath tanned skin. His long, blonde hair hung over a square face with sharp eyebrows and a strong jaw that bore a prominent cleft in its chin. His blue eyes, though small and widely spaced, were both piercing and affable.

Adresteia felt something tugging at her mind. A fascination, an interest. A desire to get closer to him, to touch him. She began to worry that whatever power Narcissus had was affecting her. She felt her skin flush, and more disconcertingly an odd sensation between her legs, that was both very pleasant and very unwelcome. She shifted her posture uncomfortably, trying not to let the sensation distract her, and began picking up abandoned cups and trash, maintaining her servant façade.

Two men were talking to Narcissus, neither of whom, notably, had flowers in their hair.

“Look,” one of the men said, “You’re a fun guy, Narcissus. We all says what a fun guy you are. We love working for you. You ask us to, we’ll put in hours and miles because we know you’ll make it worth our while. But it’s a job for us, not a religion; you know what I’m saying? We got families.”

“No,” Narcissus said, “I’m afraid it’s not at all clear to me what you are saying.”

The other man tried to explain more bluntly, “Look, we know you’ve got some sort of whammy you’re using on the people here that makes them… really agreeable, and that’s great. We ain’t got no problem with that, right Sal?”

The other man nodded, “Exactly, Vic, we ain’t got no problem with it, but we want to make sure this relationship of ours remains professional.”

“Professional?”

“Yeah, you know, strong tit for tat sort of thing. We don’t want to…” the man seemed to run out of delicate wording.

“We don’t want to lose ourselves in your grandeur, Lord Narcissus,” the other man said.

“Lose yourselves?” Narcissus scoffed, “What on earth would make you worry about that? This is where people find themselves. I put them in touch with their passion, give them something to focus all of their attention upon. Do you see any strife here? Any discord? I can fuck a man’s daughter in front of him, and he thanks me. I can fuck a man in front of his wife, and she doesn’t become jealousy, she simply begs to be next. Everyone here is unified by a common interest.”

“Pleasing you…”

Narcissus shrugged, “Is that so terrible? Ordinary people living ordinary lives have one interest – pleasing themselves. They run about, each of them following their little, conflicting agendas, to satisfy their own particular needs and desires. I simply determine that desire for them, removing all the conflict that stems from everyone trying to fulfill their own aims.”

“And, and that’s great,” Sal said, “Really great what you’ve got going on here, and we look forward to a long and profitable future together, but we’re perfectly happy deciding for ourselves what we want.”

“I see,” Narcissus said, “You’re idiots.”

“Pardon?” Sal bristled.

“I am… a gift. A divine gift. I bring peace and harmony to man wherever I go. But you spurn that, because you think it should be up to you to decide your own desires? That is a foolish notion. Does a lion decide it desires meat? Does a tree decide it needs the sun? What we want and need is decided by nature, and nature has wisely decreed that man should desire my love above all else,” Narcissus held out a hand filled with sparkling light. One of the distinctive white and blue flowers appeared in his palm as the sparkles died away.

“Well… uh, good for nature,” Vic said, “But I never was much into nature. Strictly a city boy myself. Terrible allergies.”

“Yeah,” Sal said, “My second cousin, he got eaten by a rabid deer on a camping trip, and that was it for me. I said, no sir. I’m all for the unnatural life myself.”

“Take a single whiff of this bloom and all of your worries will be gone. Instantly.”

“Uh… no thanks?” Vic said, “Like I said, allergies. I’m already gettin’ all snotted up thinkin’ about it.” The two men backed away.

“Well, now you’re just insulting me,” Narcissus said. He snapped his fingers and the other men in the room converged on the two guests, stopping them in their tracks and bringing them back to the throne. “You two are unbelievable, really. How hard is it for people to grasp what I’m offering. Clarity, peace, love… happiness. Look at Echo,” Narcissus waved Adresteia’s former priestess over, “Echo was the high priestess of a temple that I destroyed. She was left directionless, purposeless, and – between you and me – more than a bit brain damaged. But now look at her – vibrant, full of life, happy. Echo, tell the men you’re happy.”

“Happy, happy, happy!”

“See? Happy! And it’s all because, for me, she would do anything.”

“Anything, anything, anything!”

“And that’s the way it should be.”

“We understand!” Vic pleaded, “But… please… don’t make us like her!”

Now Narcissus’s demeanor turned, “What is so wrong with being like her?! Echo is a good and loyal servant, a blessing in this house. She is selfless, hardworking, dedicated. You should aspire to be as wonderful a servant as she is.”

“But we don’t want to be servants!” Sal cried.

“And that is exactly the problem,” Narcissus said angrily, “Thinking you know what you want!” He stood up from his throne and calmed down as he held up the single flower in his hand, “You know, I could have my men hold you down while I choke you with this flower, but I don’t think that would really prove anything, do you?”

“No, please!” Sal begged, “Don’t do that.”

“It’s alright, I won’t. You two are really caught up in this notion of free will, and, well, I think it’s ridiculous, but I’m not unwilling to humor you. So I’ll give you a choice. Only one of you has to accept the flower’s blessing.”

The men looked at each other in alarm as Narcissus held the white and blue blossom out between them. “So who will it be?” Narcissus asked.

“I got a wife and three kids,” Vic said, “Please don’t make me do it.”

“And what?” Sal said, “Because I still live with my parents, my life matters less than yours?”

“If he puts the whammy on me, whaddaya think he’s gonna to do next, Sal? He’s gonna have me bring the wife and kids here so he can do it to them, too. Please, I’m begging you, Sal… don’t make me do this.”

“Screw you, Vic!” Sal punched him, knocking him to the ground. Vic grabbed him as he fell and the two ended up rolling around on the floor, beating each other with their fists. Narcissus dropped the flower next to them. Sal came out on top of the squabble, clapped one hand tight across Vic’s mouth to pin it shut, and shoved the blossom under Vic’s nose. Vic tried to hold his breath, struggling to push Sal off of him, but he couldn’t hold out forever. Eventually he failed, and took a deep breath.

Narcissus pulled Sal away with his prodigious Titan strength, and helped Vic to his feet, looking deeply into his eyes as he tucked the flower behind his ear. “Do you see now, Vikiteous? Do you see the truth now?”

“Yes Lord Narcissus,” Vic smiled at him, “Thank you! Thank you!”

Sal got to his feet and backed away, “So, we’re good now, right? You said only one of us had to take the flower, right?”

“Oh…” Narcissus snapped his fingers, “I forgot to finish what I was saying. Only one of you had to take the flower, but it’s on him to prove his devotion to me.” Narcissus picked up a knife from the table next to his throne and handed it to Vic, “You love me, don’t you Vic?”

“Of course, Narcissus.”

“And it’s important to you that you show the world how much you love me, isn’t it?”

“Yes, of course!”

“Kill your friend for me.”

Vic didn’t hesitate for even a fraction of a second, he simply turned around and plunged the knife into Sal’s chest. Sal screamed in pain, but when he didn’t immediately fall, Vic pulled the blade out and stabbed again. He followed the body to the ground where he continued stabbing Sal, tears rolling down his face.

“Vic,” Narcissus said, “Why are you crying Vic? You’ve made me happy – you should be happy!”

“I watched him grow up,” Vic wiped the tears from his eyes, “I just… I can’t believe it came to this.”

“You did what had to be done, Vic.”

“I… I guess… if that’s what you wanted, then yeah. But I don’t think I’ll ever really forgive myself.”

Narcissus sighed, “Fine. I don’t want to have to listen to your girlish weeping. Kill yourself.”

“My lord?” Vic looked at him in shock.

“I giveth my love and I taketh away,” Narcissus said, “I can find someone else to lure people into my city, and you have irritated me, Vic. Remove yourself from my existence, please.”

Vic turned the knife around and plunged it into his gut repeatedly, shredding his abdomen and spilling his entrails as he continued crying in anguish.

“Gods, this has to be the least efficient suicide that I’ve ever watched. You’re such a disappointment, Vic.”

“Vic, Vic, Vic,” Echo shook her head.

After several seconds of spraying blood and flying viscera, Vic fell forward on the knife and stopped moving.

“Well, I guess if we’re going to boost tourism, we’re going to have to put in the legwork ourselves. No more relying on an outside agent.”

“Agent, agent, agent!” Echo pointed straight at Adresteia.

“Well hello there,” Narcissus noticed the unfamiliar serving girl and his men gathered around her, “You’ve got a flower in your hair, but it’s gone all wilty, hasn’t it? As my flowers root themselves in their hosts, I’m guessing you didn’t get that from me. Pulled it off of someone outside, didn’t you? Plucked it from their head and came sneaking in here to spy on me.”

Narcissus’s men herded Adresteia over to the Titan.

“You are beautiful,” Narcissus said, studying her. Adresteia felt that same uncomfortable awareness of her own body when he said it, and it sickened her that he somehow still had that influence on her. “You’ll be a wonderful addition to my garden.”

“Your garden?” Adresteia asked.

“My harem,” Narcissus said, “Surely you don’t think I have sex with everyone I bring in here? There’s only so many hours in the day.”

Adresteia’s body rebelled against itself – part of her was aroused by the thought, her skin burning with excitement, but her face betrayed the churning in her stomach that came with the idea.

“Well, and now you look like you’re going to go and toss your wine right here. How about that, hm?” Narcissus said, “Didn’t you hear me explaining how this works to these two fine gentlemen?” Narcissus nodded to the corpses on the floor. “You think it sounds bad now, but really,” Narcissus conjured another of the blooms, “Once you’ve smelled this, you’ll change your tune. All you’ll want is to make me happy – and you will! Just like Echo; whatever desperate goals or gods you’ve spent your life clawing your way towards, they won’t matter anymore. Your past failures won’t matter anymore. All that will matter to you is satisfying me, and, my goodness you shall certainly have no trouble doing that. Mmm…”

Narcissus gazed into her eyes and pulled aside his garment to show more of his chest, rubbing it gently. He sat back down on his throne and spread his legs so she could see under his tunic. Again, Adresteia’s human body was racked with a wave of chaotic sensations. She felt both carnal hunger and revulsion at the same time; it was like being stricken with a sudden desire to eat rotten meat.

“So that’s it?” Adresteia focused on the task at hand, “People smell your flowers and then they fall in love with you?”

“Well, there’s a bit more to it than that,” Narcissus reached down and began touching himself absent mindedly with the flower in his hand as he looked at her, “I can tell you’ve already noticed I have something of an effect on people, women especially. But to really make a connection after sharing the blessing of my flower, eye contact afterwards is vital. Otherwise the person just gets sort of vaguely euphoric,” he held the flower between his legs, “Why don’t you get down there and see if you like what you find, hmm?”

Adresteia’s knees almost buckled, but she gritted her teeth and resisted his pull, “I’ll pass, thanks.”

Narcissus sighed, “Well, force her then,” he ordered his men.

They grabbed Adresteia’s arms and tried to force her down, but she resisted. “Last chance,” she said to the men struggling with her, “If you can fight his control at all, now’s the time. Just let go of me and run away.” None of the men loosened their grip.

Well, I tried, Adresteia thought. Adresteia morphed into her Nemesis form, and focused on pulling every bit of heat energy out of the air around her. The men holding onto her screamed as their arms froze solid all the way up to their elbows. Their limbs cracked, fell off, and shattered on the floor. Adresteia still felt the tug of Narcissus’s powers on her mind, but the terror of his worshippers gave her a rush of energy that eclipsed the sexual tension.

“You!” Narcissus cried, “How…? We destroyed your temples! You have no worshippers! A goddess without worshippers isn’t a goddess!”

“I’m not a goddess,” Nemesis said, “Gods perform miracles for those who are devoted to them. Gods reward supplication, obedience, and faith. They dangle the promise of eternal peace and happiness before their followers to keep their love and devotion. I don’t care if anyone follows me. I don’t care if anyone even knows what I’ve done for them. I bring balance, justice to the world by destroying those that betray and abuse their fellow man in order to tip the scales of life in their favor.”

“I am no man!” Narcissus said, “I am a god! You owe me your fealty! You should be punishing people who’ve wronged me!”

“That would have mattered, once,” Nemesis said, “But things change. I’ve changed. I don’t give a damn who your father or mother was, or what blessing fortune bestowed on you when you were born. Gods and men are all the same. Petty little beasts that prey on the weak to increase their own strength.”

Narcissus looked at his mutilated followers – some of them were still alive, but they would bleed out as soon as the stumps of their arms thawed out. “You believe yourself to be so much better? Why do you hunt if not to feed your own desires?”

“Hm,” Nemesis smiled, “Do you know what an ‘apex predator’ is, Narcissus? Artemis taught me all about them, about how important they are. Without them, the other predators, the weaker predators, grow in number, destroying the natural balance. An orca doesn’t need to be morally superior to a great white shark to fulfill its purpose. It just needs to be deadlier.”

Narcissus grabbed another knife off the table and thrust it into Nemesis’s bare chest, but the blade folded like papyrus.

“Bronze won’t cut it, Narcissus,” Nemesis said as she channeled the energy brimming in her body into a writhing ball of electricity between her talons, “Now, let’s see what happens when someone smites a god.”

Nemesis unleashed the stored energy as a bolt of lightning, hoping for a one-hit knockout blow on Narcissus, but Echo jumped in front of the bolt. She fell backward into Narcissus, but he tossed her aside like used laundry.

“No!” Nemesis cried, catching the woman’s limp body and cradling it.

“Some lion you are, crying over a gazelle,” Narcissus condescended. He punched downward at Nemesis with the strength of his river titan father, but Nemesis dropped Echo and caught his fist in her grip with one hand. The impact was jarring enough to make her own arm hurt, but she didn’t let it show. She tightened her grip, puncturing the back of his hand and palm with her talons as she slowly stood back up.

Narcissus grabbed her wrist with his free hand, but Nemesis slashed at him with her other claws, opening smooth red cuts on his abdomen. Narcissus cried out in pain and jumped back, tripping over his own throne and falling down with it. He scrambled onto his hands and knees behind it, searching for a weapon. Nemesis disintegrated the piece of furniture with another, weaker bolt of lightning, exposing her prey. Narcissus jumped up and ran for the exit, searching for something, anything that he could use to harm her.

Nemesis calmly walked after him, “I punish hubris, Narcissus, and you are fat with it!” Nemesis licked her lips hungrily.

Narcissus grabbed a brazier of hot coals and threw it at Nemesis like a bucket of water. Nemesis batted the contents away with her black wings, but the glowing embers ignited the rug between them, and the flames quickly spread about the room. The distraction jarred Nemesis from her one track pursuit, and she ran back to Echo.

The woman’s heart was stopped, but being knocked back into Narcissus hadn’t done her too much harm otherwise. Nemesis could still sense the faint electrical field generated by a dying nervous system. She thought back to when she’d killed and revived Tellus and Minia’s child years ago, and hoped she could do that again. She put her hands on Echo’s torso and channeled another shock into her body. Echo’s body convulsed, as if she were alive again, but then she fell still as the dead. Nemesis tried again, and then again, as the flames drew closer, but the last tinge of life Nemesis could sense in the woman’s body faded away and she was gone.

Nemesis scooped up the woman’s body and headed back towards the exit. The flames lapped at them but she drained the heat around her, stifling the flames as she passed through them.

Outside, Narcissus was, surprisingly, still waiting for her, a small army of his followers surrounding them. More surprisingly, he was wielding a distinctive silver sword.

“A Promethean blade?”

“Yes,” Narcissus said proudly as he waved it about in the air, “A priceless relic from the Titanomachies. Amazing the things people will give you in the name of love.”

“You had a sword that can kill a god, and you weren’t keeping it with you in your throne room?” Nemesis said as she laid Echo down gently on a marble bench, “What, did you forget and leave it next to your chamber pot?”

Narcissus’s mouth twitched in a way that suggested that her offhand sarcasm was actually accurate. “Protect me! Destroy her!”

Nemesis started to charge up a lightning strike, planning to unleash an arc that would stun the whole oncoming wave of two dozen people, but there were children and elderly humans in the small mob – a shock that would stun the strongest of the men would likely kill the children. Nemesis took to the air, flapping out of the reach of the mob and weathering the paltry projectiles they threw at her.

There were multiple reflecting pools around them; they were at most a foot deep, but if she could bait the majority of the enthralled people into one, she could incapacitate them long enough to deal with Narcissus.

She flew to the far corner of one of the pools, and taunted the crowd to come after her. Not surprisingly, Narcissus stood back and watched as his mob of followers ran after her. They swarmed around the pool to reach her, but she took off and flew back across to the other corner as if playing a simple child’s game. The mob turned around and ran back the way they’d come, but she simply flew to the other corner again. This time the mob separated, a portion of them running to face her, while a portion stayed at the other corners, waiting for her to come to them.

Instead, Nemesis jumped into the center of the pool, leaving herself surrounded by Narcissus zealots on all sides. The raging civilians swarmed into the pool to close on her, splashing through water up to their calves. Nemesis stood her ground in the pool, concentrating on the heat energy in the water. She willed it to move from the water into her body, rapidly draining the heat from the reflecting pool. Ice formed around Nemesis and at the edges of the pool. The Greek men and women, many of whom had never seen ice in person, were overwhelmed with confusion, but before they could react to their predicament, the pool became a thick slurry, and finally a glossy white solid.

Nemesis used her prodigious god strength to break herself free, but the people who’d heedlessly chased her into the pool were, for the moment, trapped in ice nearly up to their knees. She flew over the trapped worshippers and confronted Narcissus once again.

“I’ll grant you that was clever, little birdy,” Narcissus said, “But I’m still more than capable of killing you myself.” The demigod rushed at her swinging his promethean blade. The steel wouldn’t burn her the way iron would, but unlike bronze or tin, it could cut her, just as it would a human being. They were also one even footing for strength and speed – if anything, Narcissus had a bit more raw strength – but Nemesis certainly had more training and experience.

She dodged backwards as Narcissus attacked, and began using her wings to confuse him, flapping them around like a squirrel flipping its tail to throw off a striking snake. They paused briefly, each sizing the other up, and Nemesis spread her arms and wings, exposing her naked body, making herself an easy target. Narcissus lunged again, but with a beat of her wings Nemesis jumped sideways, dodging the attack. Blurring into a dark shadow, Nemesis’s talons lashed at Narcissus’s sword arm, inflicting ice cold lacerations along its length. Narcissus shouted in pain and anger, and moved his sword to his other hand.

Nemesis released the energy she drained from the reflecting pool as a bolt of lightning that grounded in the demigod’s antique sword. Narcissus shouted again and dropped the blade involuntarily when the shock ended. He scrambled to recover it again, but Nemesis slid in and kicked the weapon, sending it clattering into the reflecting pool behind him.

The man was still dangerous, but he was disarmed, open for Nemesis to deliver the killing blow. Athena had wanted to send a message, however. It wasn’t enough to eliminate the upstart god, he needed to be broken. Nemesis had an idea of how to do that. It was risky, but… it would be artful if it worked.

Narcissus scooted back towards the pool, throwing furtive looks behind him to try and spot the sword in the pool without making it look obvious that he was trying to reach the weapon.

“Too bad all you can conjure are those lame flowers,” Nemesis said, casually conjuring an apple and taking a bite as she kneeled down to look him in the eye. “Any final words the great god Narcissus wishes to leave us with?”

“You’re mine, bitch!” Narcissus, feeling quite clever, conjured one of his flowers and thrust it up towards Nemesis’s face. Nemesis, wholly anticipating the strategy, spat the chewed up fruit in his eyes, momentarily disorienting him, and grabbed his hand and arm. She twisted his wrist around and bent his arm like a prybar, forcing the flower back into his face until he inhaled its fragrance. She grabbed the flower, released Narcissus, and pulled back. The man wiped his eyes clear in time to see the back of Nemesis’s clawed hand clobber him, striking hard enough to spin him around. He nearly fell into the pool, but Nemesis reached out and grabbed his long hair. She twisted the golden locks around her fingers and then forced Narcissus’s face downwards until he was staring at his own reflection in the light of the burning building.

“It’s so… beautiful!” Narcissus declared, “Nothing in this world shines as brightly with the divine truth of the gods!”

Nemesis inserted the flower behind the demigod’s ear and released the man, letting him fall face first into the shallow pool. He pushed himself up on his hands, sputtering and splashing.

“Where! Where did it go! It’s gone! No no no… it’s gone!” The sloshing water calmed enough that Narcissus was able to see his reflection again, “Oh, praise the gods, I despaired I would never see such beauty again!”

With the heat of the burning building melting the nearby ice, most of Narcissus’s worshippers were able to break free of the ice and come stumbling and crawling on their numb extremities towards Nemesis. Narcissus remained absolutely still, terrified to upset his reflection again.

“Your false god doesn’t love you,” Nemesis said to the people, “He only ever loved himself, and he’s paid for his hubris with his sanity.”

Narcissus’s followers desperately tried to pull the half-titan away from the pool as the fire spread beyond the main building and overtook the surrounding gardens. None of the mortals were strong enough to move him; it was as if he’d become rooted to that spot. Adresteia was afraid that the people would stay with him as the fire engulfed them all, but evidently his hold had weakened. Maybe it was because Narcissus was now a victim of his own power, or maybe it was because he hadn’t explicitly ordered them not to save their own lives, but survival instincts overwhelmed devotion, and most of the people fled from the fire when Adresteia created an opening for them to escape through.

She watched the rest from the air as the fire in the surrounding buildings spread to the hanging gardens and topiaries in the central courtyard. When Narcissus’s clothes caught fire, he could have easily batted the flames away and gone on with his day without a wardrobe change, but instead he remained there on his hands and knees – inches away from lifesaving water – staring at his own reflection as the fire slowly spread across his body and cooked his flesh, peeling it away from his bones.

Athena arrived in the morning as the flames died down, assuming the guise of an old woman to inspect the smoldering grounds. Adresteia joined her, also in human form, and quietly explained what had happened.

“He was… he had some sort of power that worked immediately on sight. It made me feel things… want things that I didn’t think I could… It was… unpleasant.”

“How so?” Athena asked as she studied one of the strange flowers she’d picked up from one of the carts outside.

“I felt like I wasn’t in control of myself.”

“Well, I’d say you clearly were,” Athena said, “Otherwise, I doubt we’d be having this conversation.”

“I could feel myself bending, though… the man was loathsome. I only had to watch him for a few minutes to see that, but I still wanted him to…” Adresteia shook off the thought, “It revolts me.”

“Well, there is a reason I’m celibate,” Athena said, “I don’t like the idea of someone else, anyone else, having sway over my decisions. But I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a voice in the back of my head that longed for more, sometimes. That longed to find someone I could trust implicitly, someone worth surrendering a measure of my power to.”

“Have you ever come close?”

“In another life,” Athena said, “Anyway, the important thing to remember is, what Narcissus made you – and all of these other people feel – wasn’t real. Now, tell me about these flowers.”

“Narcissus was conjuring them, just as you or I might create a garment or a piece of fruit.”

“A half-titan with matter creation powers?” Athena was surprised, “That’s remarkable.”

“I believe these strange flowers were the only thing he could create, though,” Adresteia said, “Their fragrance seemed to amplify his effect on people. I watched a man kill his friend, and then himself, simply because Narcissus asked him to.”

“So, he was using his conjuration powers to create a living botanical parasite that worked in conjunction with his other powers?” Athena summed, “Fascinating.”

“I couldn’t save Echo,” Adresteia said, “She sacrificed herself to protect him.”

“Well, from the sound of what you experienced, that may have been a mercy,” Athena said.

“But… I mean… I was so close. If I’d moved a second faster, or fought less aggressively, I could have freed her with the rest of the people he enslaved.”

“From what I’ve seen of the town,” Athena noted, “The extent to which people are saved seems variable. Some seem furious with Narcissus for controlling them, but others are praying that Aphrodite will intercede and rescue his soul from the gates of the underworld.”

“I think we ought to burn the rest of his flowers, just in case,” Adresteia said.

“All of them?” Athena said, “Don’t be silly. Imagine what we could learn. In fact…” Athena conjured a strange sort of silver blade and plunged it into Narcissus’s charred husk, removing  a portion of the raw flesh and blood that remained under the scorched outer skin.

“What are you doing?” Adresteia asked.

“Just preparing for the future, my friend,” Athena said as she dropped the excised tissue into a glass bottle, “The secrets of Narcissus’s body could be very valuable to the right person. Now that this threat is dealt with, I have another mission for you.”

“What sort of mission?”

“Well, tell me – how do you feel about boats?”