Amdirlain’s PoV - Maze
When Amdirlain teleported back to Athena’s cell, she found the olive tree had regrown. Athena was already awake and pacing out the chamber’s walls, but Amdirlain recovered her dress before she pushed a thought toward her. “Been awake long?”
Athena spun and set her back to the closest wall, her stance reminding Amdirlain of an Olympic wrestler.
“Yes.”
The anger in the single word broke through the static, no doubt aided by the hunger Athena’s aura showed gnawing at her.
“Apologies for having kept you waiting, but I needed to practise. How about I deal with your hunger again?”
It was easier to establish a link to Athena, but it wasn’t a simple task, only Ki Infusion allowed contact.
Psychometabolism [Ad] (12->13)
“You are a hypocrite, aren’t you?” asked Athena, and Amdirlain’s laughter slapped against her thoughts.
“Are you hoping I’ll kill you?”
“You said some deeds you’d heard credited to me disgust you. Yet even if they were all true, wouldn’t they still have been my choice? You were supposed to have been about choice and freedom, from what I heard. Aren’t I allowed the choice and freedom to act against my enemies?”
“Is it true that you were jealous of the original Medusa and Poseidon? Where was her choice or freedom after you cursed her?” retorted Amdirlain and controlled her urge to dig her fingers into Athena’s shoulder.
“Love isn’t a game for the meek. She was my enemy—I got her out of the way. At least I let her live, didn’t I?”
Amdirlain didn’t reply immediately but ?constructed a mental image of a sturdy stone room with a low table and two comfortable armchairs facing each across it. The walls were white-washed stone, a single steel door set in one wall, and though the chamber was well lit, there was no obvious light source.
A decorative strip that ran a complete circuit around the room was an unintended feature. Its subject was a prisoner tossed into a pit, and despite the traps and trials, her journey through the Minotaur’s Maze ended with them leaving together through a tunnel that shone with sunlight. At the spontaneous addition, she snapped a mirror into existence and confirmed she appeared as an Anar clad in a summery white dress shot through the blue highlights. Satisfied with her appearance and the room, Amdirlain dissolved the mirror. With her attention split between the image and the Maze, she willed the door open and yanked Athena’s awareness inside. As Athena’s form collapsed, Amdirlain caught and eased her body to the grassed ground effortlessly.
The woman who appeared within the room possessed the classical Grecian look: Mediterranean golden brown skin and brown hair with sun-lightened hints throughout its length. The long hair that spilled past her shoulders provided a backdrop for her round face, unmemorable brown eyes, sharp nose, and hard-set lips—dressed in a simple blue linen dress that hung to her knees and cinched at the waist by a knotted belt. Laces of white leather looped around her calves from just below her knees to secure rugged sandals. Despite her attire and off-balance entry, she still projected a military commander’s presence.
She had barely steadied herself when the door slammed shut with a steely ring.
With a smile fixed in place, Amdirlain smoothed the dress her mind had instinctively provided and settled into a chair. “I thought this might be an easier way to have a conversation.”
“You didn’t give me a choice to come into this place either,” accused Athena and paced in front of the door.
At her sharp tone, the smile Amdirlain had assumed disappeared, and her hardened gaze startled Athena. “Currently, I’m the goddess of nothing, but neither are you, Athena. You still have a choice, sit down or not.”
“What is this place?”
“It’s the starting formation of a Mind Palace, and my mind governs here,” admitted Amdirlain. The difference between the technique Duurth had instructed the others in and the landscape of her Soul had become apparent after Livia’s revelation. “It’s a mental technique I learnt from a species that have little to do with humans.”
“Because Elves are so much better?” Athena asked and motioned towards Amdirlain.
[Advanced Telepathy [M] (5->6)]
Amdirlain tried not to allow herself to react to the notification, but ?Athena’s gaze narrowed at Amdirlain’s momentary happiness.
“They rarely ?associate with elves, either. In my case, they made an exception since I had assisted them,” explained Amdirlain.
“You seem smug about that,” noted Athena snidely.
In response, the bark of laughter that erupted from Amdirlain took Athena aback.
“No, holding your mind here in our out-of-phase states is a better challenge than only listening to your mind.” corrected Amdirlain. Knowing her lack of social skills would give Athena an advantage, Amdirlain dissolved the table and spare chair to confuse the issue. “Since you don’t want to sit.”
“Why did you drag me in here? Don’t tell me it was simply to improve your progress.”
“You seemed upset about your hidey-hole, so I thought to provide a more comfortable setting to talk.”
“And if something finds us?”
“Currently, I have my focus split between this manifestation and the chamber,” reassured Amdirlain.
“And if I want to sit down now?”
“Enjoy the floor,” replied Amdirlain and gestured at Athena’s feet. “Choices often have a way of disappearing or being stolen by another''s plans. You could have asked Apollo about that before my friend killed him.”
The words had Athena’s jaw clenching, but her reply was still calm. “I’d heard you were a kind sort given to rescuing useless slaves,”
Amdirlain took in the provocation in Athena’s tone and word choice. “I thought your goal was to take useful information to Hestia. Did something change your mind?”
“I had time to think. You butchered Set’s priesthood in a single night and killed him off,” clarified Athena, and her demeanour grew stern. Her gaze quickly hardened when her words only gained a cheerful smile from Amdirlain. “That level of murder would have taken cunning and planning, and that sort of act speaks of one willing to betray.”
“I can only claim the first part of that evening’s events. A few years ago, your words would have bothered me, but I’ve gone over all the foulness I saw in their minds and know I cut out a disease. I certainly had no expectation it would kill Set. Indeed, technically, it didn’t and would only have crippled him. He had allowed someone into his Domain that took advantage of his sudden weakness,” corrected Amdirlain and tilted her head in thought. “Happy about his death, not so happy that your fates’ demonic allies snatched up the power from his demise.”
“The Moirai were involved?”
“Not sure, but their allies were in exactly the right position to take advantage of the situation,” stated Amdirlain. “Almost seemed fated or something.”
“You’re just trying to twist-”
Amdirlain slapped a hand onto her thigh and cut her off. “You want to find something you can point the finger at and say, oh, the shame you should feel. I’ve some news for you: I know I’ve made mistakes. But I’m ashamed of zero of them because I didn’t stand by and leave evil to remain unchallenged. Repeatedly one Greek god or another committed an atrocity, and the rest of you did nothing. Care to claim you can say the same?”
“So much for letting others have their choices,” retorted Athena.
“You can have all the choices you want, but if you take an evil path through life, I’ll be happy to help someone kill you. I support those who improve the world with their choices. If your choice brings no harm to others, you can do whatever you want. Life is complex and filled with shades of grey, but we should seek to lighten them.”
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“That’s big of you,” snorted Athena.
Amdirlain bit off a retort and softened her reply. “Is the story about Arachne true?”
The question jerked Athena’s gaze back to Amdirlain’s as if she’d slapped her. “What has that got to do with this?”
“The story I heard was Arachne was a genius weaver and challenged you to a contest. She worked hard and produced a magnificent tapestry, far better than anything previously woven. In response, you wove one using the elements of nature itself and cast it across the sky. The girl killed herself upon seeing she would never be the best. I found it interesting that when a Mortal challenged you to a crafting contest, you didn’t keep yourself to Mortal limits but crushed her dreams.”
“That didn’t occur in the Titan’s realm. How do you know about that tale?” demanded Athena angrily. “I know it’s not in the legends the humans tell here.”
Ignoring the heat in her tone, Amdirlain smiled at her. “Did you reincarnate her as a spider afterwards so she could spend her days weaving beautiful webs?”
“She loved weaving,” whispered Athena, and Amdirlain held her mind in the image as it tried to shy away.
[Advanced Telepathy [M] (6->7)]
“Your choice broke her, and her choice to take her life hurt you. You had restrictions that prevented you from restoring her to life, but you gave her a way to do what she loved again,” replied Amdirlain. “Sounds like some choices there that caused a lot of pain. Choices aren’t about delivering a happily ever after to everyone; that’s impossible. Ideally, choices are about taking control of your actions and accepting the consequences—good or bad—then trying to do better next time.”
“How do you know Arachne’s story?”
“I know lots of things, Athena,” replied Amdirlain, and the warmth in her smile vanished, “but you’ve earned none of that information. Now, do you want a chair or not?”
“Yes.”
The chair reappeared, but Amdirlain didn’t replace the table. “Why did you decide to pick a fight?”
Athena frowned and settled herself in the chair. “I’m not sure.”
The same rage that had seethed through her yesterday spiked, and Amdirlain doubted the wisdom in this approach—being able to see Athena’s features had triggered its return.
“I’ve been guilty of poking at those who’ve scared me more than once. Now, other than shattering you, force-feeding olives to give you a clean slate seems like an option. Still feel like trying for a fight?”
Athena flinched at the ancient rage that burned through Amdirlain’s mind. “What are you?”
“That’s information you don’t get,” growled Amdirlain, holding back against the growing tide. “I’ll need time to calm down. We have a history you don’t realise and that I''m not sure I''ll share, but I''ll warn you that it inclines me to kill you. My suggestion is to not push your luck unless you are set on dying. Do you want to continue with our deal from yesterday or not?”
When Athena nodded, Amdirlain released her from the mental image and contained the rage within the pattern. As each cycle flared, she didn’t ?push the anger down, instead imagined it as metaphysical fuel for the phoenix’s flames.
Orhêthurin’s rage feels far too personal, I’m not sure I want to know what else went on. Does choosing not to let a past life decide for me make me a hypocrite?
When their exchange resumed, Amdirlain kept it a simple thought connection and tried to imagine Athena as a disembodied narrator. They pushed through the day, seeing only a few improvements until eventually fatigue filled Athena’s aura.
Rising to her feet, Amdirlain patted Athena’s shoulder. “You need rest. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
Sating both their appetites with Sustenance didn’t take long, and Athena just fell asleep on the grass. Amdirlain didn’t teleport away but constructed a mental image and tinkered with details. While she’d learnt the tools for Psionic combat and defending the minds of others, her hidden state had eliminated the need to protect her own. Yet, with the vines linked to her, it was best to assume that wouldn’t be the case fighting them. From an inner mental fortress, she set about constructing an environment inhospitable to plants but also with elaborate decoys.
With Orhêthurin’s message about the vines having fed on death and pain unleashed by True Song, she sought memories to bait them away and draw them into traps. The creation of the Dretch’s blood fields and the deaths of the King and Chorus gave her a starting point. From the billions of years before the vines had taken hold, she beckoned more memories forth.
A kaleidoscope of species bled through her mind amid fights that ranged from quick notes to others where she’d sung for hours. So many of them contained a complexity of music interacting with her foes’ songs that it proved impossible for Amdirlain to understand what had occurred. The sea of sound they struck through wasn’t the deliberate growth of music that had activated the mantles. Instead, the fights contained strikes of sound unleashed through Orhêthurin’s automatic recognition; even when the songs ran on, she adjusted them instinctively and on the fly.
Still, it wasn’t the knowledge to fight with True Song that Amdirlain sought now, she needed the songs of death from the aftermath. Those she found and drew into the mental constructs until she had to stop and prepare more. Each time the pattern flared the phoenix into ash, she kept herself open to memory connections until glowing flesh forced her to stop.
With that source of material momentarily stymied, she held off on duplicating the same memories into constructs, unsure if the vines’ minds would recognise them. Instead, she set up more environmental images, purely hazardous and not just to plant life, the heat-blasted landscape of Mercury was the first cab of that rank. Along with that landscape, she included other mundane but inhospitable memories: the salt flats of Lake Eyre, a drought-baked summer at Broken Hill, a raging bushfire, and more besides. Before Athena awoke, she’d finished the memory framework for hundreds of attack and defence constructs.
Athena jumped when Amdirlain made her mental presence known. “You in a better mood this morning?”
“You''re here.”
The surprise in Athena’s mind made Amdirlain reassess Athena’s previous attitude, and she placed a hand on Athena’s shoulder. “You weren’t poking me because you were afraid of me. You thought I was going to leave you.”
“You’ve no reason to help me or Hestia and plenty of reason to hate us,” observed Athena.
“You''re a secondary beneficiary, and Hestia, I don’t hate. Hestia and I have the most to gain from this arrangement. I’ve already given you a key, so speak up if you want no further part in this.”
“Hestia gets forgiven because she left before Apollo’s attack? She was part of the pantheon for many years, yet you forgive all because she objected and got smacked?” enquired Athena, and Amdirlain could detect only curiosity in her thoughts.
“It’s not someone’s first choice that matters, Athena, or even their hundredth; people are always changing,” countered Amdirlain.
“Then why were you bringing up my past deeds?”
“Because I’ve seen no sign you’ve changed from those stories, Athena,” huffed Amdirlain, her frustration leaking through the connection. “I’m already giving you the benefit of the doubt, and you want to throw insults around. You seem to want to win a verbal fight with me; I thought you’d be wiser.”
“But-”
A sudden edge in her mind prompted Amdirlain to cut in. “We’re not friends, Athena, and I certainly don’t need to explain myself to you. I tried to be friendly and made you an offer that I certainly didn''t need to, and you wanted to start with the verbal jabs. Take it or leave it, but now I''m taking all the keys if you want to leave it. You can rot here.”
Athena didn’t respond immediately, and Amdirlain started counting down to herself. When the count reached a hundred, she lifted her hand from Athena’s shoulder and moved towards the hidey-hole.
“Fine!”
Though she heard the mental yell just fine, Amdirlain still collected the keys and double-checked the count. Stamping hard against the ground, she listened to the echoes react to the metal and collected the concealed key from amid the grass. Athena tried to snatch the keys while Amdirlain was securing them, but Amdirlain intercepted her strike. With Athena''s hand secured in a vice-like grip, she reopened their mental link. “Did you think I was bluffing?”
“You’d take it?”
“Not only the key from you, but I’m also going to reclaim the rest I’d given out in this region. There are plenty of regions to help, but I doubt you’ll find out where they are. Have a nice eternity.”
“Please wait.”
“I’m not playing, and I don’t need you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“A forced apology means nothing,” retorted Amdirlain, her thoughts cold and hard.
“Since you have the upper hand, it''s all I can give, isn’t it?”
“What are you sorry for?”
“Insulting you and picking a fight," replied Athena, but Amdirlain could feel her still testing Amdirlain''s reaction.
“Pity you’re not sorry for all the people your family killed in the Gods’ War.”
“Zeus would have started that with or without me. Neither Nike nor I fought by his side when Hecate found Thor for him,” explained Athena. “The first days were chaotic, but so many gods and mortals went crazy with bloodlust. I was the Goddess of War, but it wasn’t warfare; it was butchery.”
“And if it had been warfare?”
“Then I would have fought to win for the side I believed in, which wouldn’t have been for Zeus. You can believe that or not, but he was already dead when the bloodlust swept over the kingdoms. The two kingdoms descended from Roma were the surest means to restore stability, so Nike and I sought to speak to Minerva. It sounds like you know how that turned out.”
Amdirlain offered her a key, and Athena looked at it in surprise. “You just had to be honest. I don’t have to agree with you, but I don’t tolerate games where people have suffered. Shall we start again? A new beginning, you could say? Hi, I’m Amdirlain.”
The immediate reaction from Athena was harsh scepticism. “You’re just willing to let it go?"
Unsure about the rages’ source, Amdirlain tried to push ahead. “I’m pretty sure we’ve not met before coming to the Maze. Since I don’t know you personally, why don’t we get to know each other?”
A riot of thoughts washed through Athena’s mind and swirled the shades in her aura. Eventually, she nodded, and Amdirlain heard her clearly. “I’m Athena. What brings you to my humble abode?”
“Just thought I’d do a bit of travelling and pass out some chances at a new beginning,” Amdirlain glibly offered.
Her words, offered partly in jest, chilled Athena with uncertainty. “Do you think the key will allow me out?”
“I know they do,” reassured Amdirlain, letting go of her hand. “My first Solar went through a Trial to earn her promotion to Celestial and rescued dozens in doing so.”
“Did they see the Titan?”
“Some did; most talked to one of his servants,” admitted Amdirlain.
Athena shuddered, and fear overflowed their connection. “I don’t want to talk to him.”
“I’m sure the feeling would be mutual. The mental image was more effective for progress. Shall we attempt that again?”
“It seemed from your mind''s rage that you wanted to rip me apart yesterday,” Athena warily responded.
“Not entirely untrue. More smear you over the walls and leave you a mewling mess of pain.”
Rather than debate the matter, Amdirlain reformed the room and drew Athena inside. She could feel the rage edging upward at the sight of Athena again and turned the chair around before she sat down.
“You seemed unsure when you indicated that we’ve never met, but I don’t remember ever meeting you,” offered Athena.
“At least some of your family murdered those I cared about. Let’s leave that be before the memories provoke more rage; after all, we’ve agreed on a fresh start. Why don’t you tell me about the tale of Troy? Is it true Ares opposed your support of the Greeks there?”
Athena laughed in strained amusement, with Amdirlain’s explanation putting her back on edge. “He whined to Zeus about it and then whined more at the injury I inflicted when he confronted me directly. The Trojan war didn’t occur in the Titan’s realm either. You know, the more you say, the more curious I get.”
“Then perhaps you should be the one doing the talking,” replied Amdirlain.
“Eris might have kicked off a contest between us with the apple of discord, but Aphrodite was the one that waved Helen’s likeness in front of Paris as a bribe. I admit both Hera and I offered bribes, but at least we only offered him personal advantages. Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful of Mortal women. Then when he ruled in her favour and asked for his reward, she replied: I just told you where she was, do the work to get her. Oh, and did I mention she’s married?”
Amdirlain restrained herself from commenting, and Athena continued with her account.
* * *
The day of keeping the connection to Athena via the Mind Palace provided progress in leaps and bounds. The strain had pushed Advanced Telepathy to breakthrough but had left Amdirlain nearly drained of Psi energy by the end. As Athena settled down to rest again, Amdirlain knelt to cycle.
With her flesh still filled with Ki, Amdirlain began cycling the Psi reserves alone, and the electrical energy jumped between the meridians in a way she’d never seen. In its wake, it caused a strange strobe effect that washed away tracks of shadows and illuminated the vines. Though it let her determine their surface clearly, it provided fewer details of what lay beneath the leaves. In their out-of-sync state, she heard barely a whisper of mental noise, far less than any of the maze’s inhabitants, as the energy brushed across them.