Disclaimer: This story about goddess is (of course), fictional, has nothing to with Olympian pantheon of Greek mythology and religion written in Homer’s Iliad or whoever’s and purely for fun. Also, this disclaimer is really unnecessary.
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Atë, Até or Aite, depending on where you’re from or what your reference is. To simply define me, I’m a goddess. In a gist, I’m a goddess of mischief, but if you are curious enough, I’m willing to tell you that I am more than that. I am the Zeus’ first daughter from Eris, I am the goddess of mischief, delusion, ruin, and folly.
I have ruined lives ever since I was banished from Mount Olympus, after a little prank I pulled on Heracles, Daddy’s little boy. According to those who has little knowledge about the truth, they put the blame on me, besides, who dares to blame the horrifying, terrific, powerful Hera, wife of Zeus. Hera had been jealous of Heracles even before he was born.
So, what shall I tell you about? There are many adventures I went through after I descended from Mount Olympus, for example: when I made Erato (one of the Muses) fell in love with a mere mortal, or when I put grated lotus in Eos’ wine and she couldn’t wake up and the day almost didn’t come? There was even one time when I blinded Heracles when he was finishing one of his tasks.
I should probably tell you how The Mighty Religion of Greek has lost its glory and the existence of gods and goddesses were being questioned. You see, there were times when every Greek knows the major gods and goddess, they believed in Zeus and the Olympian deities, the Titan deities, the Oceanic deities, and the Chthonic and even Primordial deities. Every mortal worshiped their gods and goddesses, both major ones and minor ones; I was worshiped whenever the naughty little ones misbehaving. For so many hundred years, we reigned with nothing to be afraid of.
As Greece became larger and well-known, many immigrants came or were brought in. These people have their own beliefs; the Romans have their own gods and goddesses, the Norse, the Mesopotamians and the Celtic, too.
It took sooner than we realized, that the mortals became less and less ‘believing’ in our existence, until we were nothing more than memories. The Greek Mighty Religion became Ancient and then it became myths as if we never happened at all. We stayed on only in books and folklores.
Back then, I was always playing around, being mischievous and laying unfortunate events on everyone I met. Hades reigning underground, Hermes ran around from one place to another place, Aphrodite keeping the love grows between new couples, and so on and so forth. To your amazement, though, we still do what we do, but we are invisible to mortals. Many minor gods and goddess had successfully vanished and their tasks were being taken over by major gods or goddess.
After all of these, even Chronos couldn’t turn back time.
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I was approached by Ares a few decades back, who was very happy – too excited even, when he saw me.
“I still can’t believe that you’re still here,” he admitted.
“I miss out all the fun when I pull pranks on these miserable mortals?” I smirked. “I’m never bored, Ares.”
“I don’t think I’ve seen you since the Guelderian Wars in 1500s,” he said.
“Oh, I saw you many times after that, but you were too busy inspiring the warlords, and your peak season was during the World War I?”
“And World War II.”
“I still never thought that we would have to step outside Greece.”
“And Father still hasn’t let you back into Mount Olympus? As mad as he was after the battle of Troy, he was willing to heal my wounds.”
“Haven’t you heard? He sent Litea to bring me back, a few centuries ago, but I refused to return; I outran her. Can you imagine her expression in that repulsive face, and with her crippled legs? After all, what is the point if all we do now is travel around the world to do our duty?”
Then I left him, but not without leaving a vision of Aletheia, our sister, someone he held in his heart dearly, and whose whereabouts is unknown. I think Ares hated me more than ever.
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“It was never the worship or the temple, or even acknowledgment from the mortals we were looking for,” Aphrodite told me a few decades back. “What matter the most was the ability to live comfortably, never having to break a sweat to get tasks done. Look at those mortal, they work hard most of their lives, and at the end, all of them have to face Hades. We never have to care about the afterlife, because we’re immortal. ”
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A few years back, I met Aletheia. She was still as beautiful as ever, and spoke of the truth painfully like she always does. “We’re coming to a complete end. Look at the major religions on this Earth, and look how many of the population ever remember that we exist. Even Father is growing weary. Maybe you should go to Mount Olympus to see him.”
“If he wants me back, he’ll find me.” And I left her, after all this time; I’m still not able to trick Aletheia in any way. She’d always rebuke my trickeries and mirages I created.
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Hermes was my favorite brother. We shared great memories tricking people, but he was mightier than I am. At one moment, I decided to leave him and did my own magic. I’ve been missing him lately, but I could not find him.
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note: this story was also published on my other blog.
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