Atlantis — Poseidon's Temple
Damon was, honestly, a little surprised. He had never bothered to personally visit his brother's kingdom before and, now that he was finally in Atlantis, he had to admit that Poseidon had done a pretty good job maintaining the place. Sure, that had come after two or three conversations about certain things that definitely needed to change, but the result was still impressive and that didn't take away from the work the God of the Sea had done.
Right now, however, Damon wasn't there to admire the kingdom. The redhead stood inside the throne room with Athena and Medusa, all three looking directly at Poseidon after Damon had finished explaining exactly what he intended to do. The lesser aquatic gods who normally occupied the chamber had already left alongside Amphitrite, although the Queen of the Seas had taken a few moments to properly greet the new King of Olympus before leaving, a courtesy Damon had returned in kind.
"Uhhh... well, I don't know, brother," Poseidon finally admitted, his voice making his hesitation toward the entire proposal more than obvious.
Damon simply rolled his eyes, not surprised at all by the God of the Sea's response. In fact, it was almost funny seeing him show so much cowardice now that he was the one about to experience the consequences of his own actions. Before the redhead could answer, however, a much softer voice laced with venom spoke first.
"You didn't show this much hesitation when you decided to violate me without my consent."
Medusa's words were enough to make an uncomfortable silence fall over the throne room as Poseidon and Athena turned toward her. The purple-haired woman remained completely serious, her eyes fixed especially on the God of the Sea with no intention of softening anything.
Poseidon clenched his jaw slightly, but the moment his gaze met Damon's, he immediately understood that he didn't have many options. His older brother's expression made it perfectly clear that Poseidon could agree willingly or Damon would simply make sure he went through with it anyway. If he wanted to preserve even a small part of his pride, cooperating was the smarter choice.
That didn't mean Poseidon had completely changed the way he thought. In his opinion, yes, what he had done had been pretty fucked up, but for thousands of years the gods had lived with the mentality that they could take practically anything they wanted. Poseidon himself had acted that way countless times. The difference now was that there was finally someone above all of them willing to establish limits and force them to respect those limits.
In the end, that was exactly the importance of having a figure strong enough to enforce the rules and keep the other gods under control. Only Elohim knew how much chaos the different deities around the mortal world would have caused if no one had ever imposed limits on them... or, more accurately, how much more chaos they would have caused than they already had.
"Fine, brother. I'll do what you ask," Poseidon finally declared as he rose from his throne and began walking closer.
Damon nodded in satisfaction. Apparently Poseidon had finally grown a second head, and fortunately that one seemed considerably smarter than the first. "Good. This is what we're going to do," the god replied, getting straight to the point.
With a wave of his hand, Damon exercised his authority and two metallic structures appeared in the middle of the throne room. They were simply two narrow beds with small metal rails along the sides, enough to keep anyone in position during the process. Poseidon stared at the two beds with a solemn expression, while Athena, though clearly nervous, raised no objection.
"Lie down," the red-haired god ordered.
Both deities obeyed quickly. Athena settled onto one of the beds while Poseidon took the other, and Damon slowly walked between them before stopping in front of the pair. Medusa remained several steps farther back with her arms crossed, watching everything while part of her still seemed unable to believe Poseidon and Athena had truly agreed to submit themselves to this.
Damon raised his left hand and a crescent moon mark appeared in the center of his palm. It had been a long time since Hagoromo Otsutsuki had given him that mark during his previous life, back when he had still been fighting Kaguya, but Damon had never forgotten what it represented or the abilities he had learned to develop from it. At this point, with everything he had gained and learned since then, using it to manipulate the perception of two gods was hardly difficult.
Besides, Damon already had everything he needed. When he restored Medusa to her human form, he had gained enough access to her memories and the emotions rooted within them to understand with considerable clarity the fear, helplessness, rage, and suffering that had shaped her life. With that in mind, all he had to do was force Poseidon and Athena to experience a fraction of what Medusa had felt from her own perspective.
"I'm telling you again, this won't physically harm you," Damon explained while looking first at Athena and then toward Poseidon. "But your minds will believe everything you feel is completely real. So don't try to resist. You'll only make it worse."
Poseidon released a heavy sigh while Athena simply closed her eyes. Damon placed the moon-marked palm against the God of the Sea's forehead first, and the mark emitted a purple glow. Instantly, Poseidon's eyes opened completely as his body tensed and both hands gripped the metal rails at his sides. Damon removed his hand and walked over to Athena, repeating the exact same process against the Goddess of Wisdom's forehead.
Athena shuddered as well. For her, the punishment focused primarily on the consequences of her own decision. She experienced the desperation of watching her body begin to deform without being able to stop it, the feeling of slowly losing everything that made her a goddess, the fear of accidentally looking at her own children and turning them to stone, and then endless years of isolation while being hunted again and again by heroes who saw her as nothing more than a monster.
Poseidon, on the other hand, received a different treatment. Damon didn't need to recreate exactly what had happened in order to make him understand. It was enough to force him to experience the absolute absence of authority and control, two things he was far too accustomed to possessing as one of the Big Three and King of the Seas. Feeling completely helpless in front of someone vastly superior to him, unable to decide what happened to his own body and with no way to escape, was more than enough to strike directly at his pride.
As the minutes passed, Poseidon tried to resist again and again, only to constantly find himself facing an impossible barrier. The harder he fought, the greater the feeling of helplessness became. His fingers tightened violently around the metal rails while a muffled scream escaped his throat.
Athena wasn't doing much better. The Goddess of Wisdom gritted her teeth as involuntary tears began gathering at the corners of her eyes. Inside the illusion she watched her children die in front of her, saw her appearance and beauty slowly wither away, and felt everything she had ever considered hers slip from her grasp. Even when she tried reminding herself that none of it was real, she couldn't ignore the emotions embedded deep within her chest. No matter how tightly she closed her eyes, the images and feelings simply continued.
Medusa watched everything in silence. Her attention remained focused mainly on Poseidon and, although the purple-haired woman wasn't exactly celebrating his screams, there was a satisfaction in her violet eyes that was impossible to miss. For countless years she had prayed and begged for help while carrying the consequences of everything alone. Now, for the first time, the two deities responsible were experiencing at least a small portion of that suffering.
Damon said nothing as the God of the Sea's screams continued to grow louder. He simply allowed the process to continue until he decided both of them had experienced enough.
The moment the glow of the marks disappeared from their foreheads, Poseidon and Athena remained completely still on the beds while desperately trying to catch their breath. Sweat covered their faces and parts of their bodies, and both still gripped the rails tightly, needing to convince themselves more than once that the illusion had truly ended.
Damon crossed his arms in front of them. "I hope this serves as a lesson." Neither of them bothered answering, but both were listening.
The redhead looked toward Poseidon first. "Especially you. The next time you decide to sleep with a woman, use your head before any other part of your body. If she doesn't want it, then it doesn't happen. I shouldn't need to explain something that basic to a god who has existed for thousands of years."
Poseidon remained silent, still breathing heavily.
Damon then turned toward Athena. "And you, placing curses on people isn't necessarily a problem. Sometimes they're necessary. But if you're going to condemn someone to live for centuries with one, at least make sure you have a good reason and understand the consequences of what you're doing." Damon gestured slightly toward Medusa. "God knows how many people ended up dead because of a curse you placed in a moment of anger. And out of every curse you could have chosen, did you seriously have to give her the ability to turn anyone to stone with a single look?"
Athena closed her eyes and lowered her head slightly, somewhat embarrassed because she knew perfectly well that Damon was right. She could have punished Medusa in many other ways if she had truly believed punishment was necessary, but in her anger she had ended up placing an extremely dangerous curse on her, one that not only condemned the woman herself but also countless people who crossed her path over the centuries.
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Several hours later, Damon had decided that enough was enough.
Medusa also seemed satisfied with the result. She couldn't say that she had forgiven Poseidon or Athena; something like that wasn't going to happen in a few hours after centuries of suffering. However, at the very least, she no longer looked at both deities with the same pure hatred she had shown in the beginning. What happened with that relationship in the future would depend on them and, more importantly, on time.
Damon also had no intention of controlling Medusa's life after freeing her. He had promised her freedom and intended to keep his word. She could go wherever she wanted, live among humans, remain within Greek territory, or begin an entirely new life without any interference from Olympus.
However, Damon also offered her another possibility. "You can come with me."
Medusa raised her gaze slightly.
"If you want, you can become one of my priestesses," Damon explained calmly. "You would have a place on Olympus and be under my protection. You're not obligated to accept, but the option is there."
The purple-haired woman remained silent as she seriously considered the offer. She was human again. That was exactly what she had wanted for centuries, but she also understood that simply returning to the mortal world and pretending to live like an ordinary woman could bring problems of its own. Her appearance alone could attract unwanted attention, and Medusa knew perfectly well that there were still plenty of gods, monsters, and supernatural beings who would care very little about her consent if they ever decided they wanted something from her.
On top of that, it probably wouldn't take long before news that she had regained her human form began spreading throughout the Greek Pantheon. Medusa wasn't naive. She knew perfectly well that during the centuries she had lived as a Gorgon, she had killed countless people, many of them completely innocent and some directly connected to different creatures, heroes, or supernatural beings.
Not everyone would be as understanding as the Greek King. It wasn't difficult to imagine that more than a few might try to seek revenge now that she no longer possessed the same monstrous body or the abilities that had once made her such a threat.
Becoming a priestess of the King of the Gods changed that situation completely. Very few would be willing to touch someone directly under Damon's protection and, after everything that had just happened, Medusa was certain Damon would keep his word.
The woman looked back toward the redhead before finally nodding. "I think I'll accept."
A small smile appeared on Damon's face. "Then, welcome."
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P@treon: Brotato