Valentine's Day: "Through The Veil"
In the vast expanse of space, the cosmos swirled, their colors intertwining, twisting together into infinity, kissed by the glittering light of the sun. The Creator saw this sight for eons, and while it pleased Him, He felt maybe, it was time for a change.
So He drew in a breath, bringing the swirling cosmos into His great lungs, holding them there for a moment. When He blew them out, the cosmos spun more closely together, forming a great ball. The ball became solid, and changes began to take place on its surface. Water began to flow, grass and trees began to grow, and clay and mud began to form vast mountains and valleys. The Creator was pleased. Snow and ice began to cover the top and bottom, and the Creator made sure that this happened in equal measure. When the ball was perfectly balanced, He blew another breath and set the new world spinning. Ever spinning, around on itself, and in a larger path around the glowing sun that would bring life and nourishment to it. Balance was the key.
Soon, the Creator decided He should share the beauty of this new world he had created, and touching His fingers to it, he drew back clay and began to form it into a shape He called Human. Some He called Male, some Female. The differences between them would allow them to create more of themselves on their own. When He had made a sufficient amount of Humans to start with, He divided them into three groups, and breathed life into each one. Some, he made Gods. They would have special gifts and rule the new world from above. Others, He made Demons, and they, too would have special gifts, ruling from below. In addition to these gifts, the Creator gave the Gods and Demons the gift of immortality. With balance above and below, He placed the third group on the planet itself. They were to be the keepers of the new world, with the Gods and Demons guiding them.
The Creator left the Humans on the planet with only one gift; free will. They could do whatever they pleased. The Gods and Demons became jealous of the Human’s gift, which allowed them to decide whether or not they would accept the guidance offered by the immortals or reject it. The Gods and Demons began putting themselves on the planet; fighting, loving, and even breeding with the Humans, creating demi-gods and demi-demons, and changing the Humans’ very nature. The Humans were helpless against the greater powers, and chaos began to spread throughout the new land. The Creator was not pleased.
He banished the Gods and Demons back to their homes; the Gods to Mount Olympus in the clouds, and the Demons, to the Underworld of Hades. He wrapped the world in a veil, thin enough to see through, thick enough so it could not be breached. The Demons and Gods could still see and hear the Humans, but they could not directly interfere with them any longer.
The Gods and Demons raged with anger at the Creator. “What are we to do now? How can we watch over a planet we have no contact with?” they asked. The Creator heard their cries, and had anticipated that it would come to this. He decreed that they could whisper through the veil, and the Humans would have free will to decide if they would listen or not. This was not enough for the deities, as the Creator knew it would not be. He then decreed that one day each year, one deity from each realm could pass through the veil and enter the world, walking among the Humans. The deities wanted more, but they saw the Creator was not willing to concede the point.
And so it began, a calendar was created that calculated the amount of time the chosen deity could remain under the veil. It was based on the spinning of the world and its position around the sun itself. This was what the Creator had deemed a day, and this was the length of time each pair, one God, one Demon, could spend on the planet’s surface. Each pair chose a specific day, and the pairs were matched based on their powers. If a Demon could bring fire, it was paired with a God who could make water, and so on. The Creator found the balance for each pair, and was pleased.
*************
February 13th, 2010
Cupid stretched his thickly muscled arms over his head, letting his white toga slide off of one massive bicep when he lowered them. Stifling a yawn, he cracked his knuckles and looked at the playing cards in his hand as if he could not be more bored. The sun’s rays danced through the tall, white pillars bordering the room, reflecting off the shiny surface of the solid gold gaming table his arms were resting on. The green felt that covered the center of the table was a welcome distraction from the brightness, covered as it was with mead goblets, baskets of various fruit, and poker chips. A cool breeze blew in the clean, fresh air of Mt. Olympus, momentarily pushing out the odors that came with a manly, mead-swilling poker party. In the house of Dionysus, these smells were a constant presence. Resting his chin on his fist, Cupid gazed out between the pillars that supported the roof and allowed the air access to the open home, high up on the mountain.
“Cupid! For the love of the Creator, will you play your hand?” Dionysus shouted, slamming his goblet of mead to the table.
Tarquin, the Satyr at his left, stretched his incredibly long goat tongue across the golden table and lapped up the resulting spill.
Satyrs were generally frowned upon on Mt. Olympus. Their presence only served as a reminder of the ancient times when Gods and Demons were still breeding with humans, and in the case of Satyrs, Centaurs and some others, mating with the animals on the planet as well. The Creator made a special place for the half-lings in the forests on the planet, and gifted them with the ability to cross the veil to either side, Olympus or Hades, so long as they had no contact with the Humans.
Dionysus had a soft spot for the half-creatures, and offered up his home for the use of any that were traveling in their realm. No one could party like a Satyr, and Dionysus lived for the party life. For a party as good as this one, he could put up with the smell of mead-soaked wet goat which permeated his home.
Tarquin was a favorite and frequent guest in his home, not only because he knew how to party, but because he always brought new and interesting things from the Earth or the Underworld when he came to visit. Plus, he willingly put up with whatever Dion put him through. This day, Dionysus made a game of tossing tiny laurel-leaf rings onto the goat’s horns, which protruded just above his human forehead. While he waited for Cupid to play his hand, Dionysus tossed yet another ring. It caught the tip of the horn, circling around like a hula-hoop before settling down at the base and resting on the Goat’s head.
“Score!” he yelled, “I think that’s a new record!”
“Where are you getting all these rings?” Tarquin demanded. “Did you make them ahead of time? And why must you play with these? They are not toys!” he added, pulling off the ring and stroking his upright but cork-screwed horn self-consciously.
“They’re just so darling, I can’t help myself!” Dionysus pulled an innocent face and shrugged his shoulders.
“Darling he says. Darling! You know, I could make comments about your body parts, if you want to go there…” Tarquin threatened.
Dionysus held up his hands in surrender. “Cupid, today, if you please!”
Still feigning boredom, Cupid took a bite of the flamefruit that Tarquin had brought from the Underworld and smiled, showing the glowing orange pulp squished between his perfect white teeth. He loved the sweet but spicy hot flavor of this rare treat, savoring it before quenching its heat with a swallow of mead. Putting the goblet down, he lowered the fan of cards from in front of his face and rotated his massive shoulders. “Have it your way, then.” He sighed again, blowing his curly blonde hair from in front of his eyes. “Royal flush! Read ‘em and weep, boys!” Cupid laughed long and hard as he slammed the cards face up on the table. The other players’ eyes bulged in disbelief.
“Cheat! You’re a cheater, you are!” yelled Theseus, pointing at Cupid while trying to right the ring of laurel leaves that sat askew on his head. He got up from the heavy table, knocking his golden armchair backwards as he threw his losing hand to the floor, the chair’s thick cushion flying.
“Come on, Thee. Don’t be like that! You’re too drunk to try and pick a fight. Besides, Cupid is twice your size. He’d kill you, and you know it.” Dionysus tried to calm his friend. “Nothing ruins a great party like a drunken argument that no one will remember tomorrow anyway.” Although, the more he considered it, Dionysus thought a good fight might be just what this party needed to really get rocking.
Cupid stood too, and reached out a hand to Theseus, partly to make peace, partly to steady him before he ended up face down on the floor. “Theseus, my good friend! It was merely my lucky day! Don’t you want me to go into the world with luck on my side? Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day! My day to roam the Earth! That is what we’re here to celebrate, right?”
The fight went out of Thee about the same time his ability to stand did. He took Cupid’s hand and suddenly lost his horizon. Cupid yanked Thee up by the hand and held him there while Dion got Thee’s chair back underneath him. Theseus connected with the chair before the cushion was retrieved, making a ‘thunk’ that made everyone at the table cringe.
“These flamefruit-things are marvelous!” Thee exclaimed, reaching into the basket on the table to take another one as everyone settled back into their own chairs. “We’d never know about this great stuff if it wasn’t for you, Tarquin! I love you, Man - uh, Goat!” Theseus leaned back, draping a leg up over one arm of his chair, giving everyone a view they in no way wanted. Pointing at Cupid again, he said, “You’ll knock ‘em dead tomorrow, Kid. You’re a winner, Cupid! That’s what you are! I love you too, Man! You are going to kick some Demon ass tomorrow!”
At the mention of the Demon he would be sharing the world with tomorrow, Cupid’s face grew dark. “I am so sick of her undoing all my hard work. It’s a huge world; I don’t understand why she has to follow me around messing things up for me, when she could be on the other side causing a full scale war! If it wouldn’t take eons for me to get a new partner assigned, I swear to the Creator I’d wring her scrawny little neck and be done with it!”
Dion put a hand on Cupid’s arm, trying to stop his party from turning into a full-fledged bust. “Hey, Big Guy! What’s with the attitude? We made a plan, remember? You’re all set for her tricks when she shows up tomorrow.” He didn’t feel the need to bring up that Cupid could just as easily leave Eris to do her work on the planet and go about his own business. “She’s not going to know what hit her!”
“It’s a great plan. We all agree.” Tarquin said, using his goat ear like a spoon and dipping it into Thee’s goblet, while shuffling the cards in both of his human hands. His goat tail twitched with each sip. “She’ll never see it coming, that’s for sure!”
“Hey! I’m not drinking that now!” Theseus yelled, shoving his elbow into Tarquin’s human ribs. Dionysus snapped his fingers, and a new goblet filled with mead appeared in front of Thee. Being the God of Drink, Ecstasy and Celebration had its advantages. Tarquin snatched up the goblet he had dipped his ear in, and drank it down.
The other players laughed at the spectacle of the drunken Thee, the prim and proper God of Literature, with his knee up over the arm of the chair, fighting with the Satyr over his mead. From the laughter rose comments and toasts that no Demon was going to get the best of the God of Love. Cupid would soon be rid of the albatross around his neck, and the world would be his for a day. And Cupid intended to fill the world with more lovers than it had ever seen, to make up for Eris’ past interference.
It didn’t take long to put Cupid back into a party mood, and soon he was laughing along with everyone else once again. The players at the table averted their eyes from the commando view up Thee’s toga while Dionysus called forth more mead all around. Now renewed and regrouped, everyone enjoyed the Underworld fruit and the free-flowing mead, taking their sticky, mead-coated cards from Tarquin’s deal.
*****************
From all outward appearances, the flames in Hades appeared to consume anything and everything within. In reality, they gave no heat, and flickered only for theatrical purposes. Eris had all but blocked them out entirely long ago, but only now took notice as they reflected in the mirror of her dressing table, scattering their snatches of red and orange light around her room. The sharp scent of brimstone had blended into the background, overpowered by the spicy scent of flamefruit blossoms from the trees outside. A warm breeze caught the gauze curtains up in a gentle dance, billowing them out onto the open balcony that overlooked the horizon of Hades. Eris felt the breeze lift her hair as she returned from yet another trip to her closet with an armful of garments, tossing them onto her giant, round, gauze-curtained bed.
“None of these is right!” Eris shouted, scattering the Demons that had gathered near the bed, sorting through the last batch.
“I’m telling you, wear the gold one. It’ll match perfectly, plus you look great in gold.” Nysa soothed in her honey-coated voice that matched her honey-colored hair and skin. The dancing flames from Hades horizon seemed to be captured in Nysa’s snake-like pupils as she locked her eyes on the golden toga. In one smooth motion, she wrapped her slender arms around a massive pillar and swung herself closer to the garment on the bed.
“You don’t think it’s too much?” Eris held up one of her Golden Apples of Discord next to the toga to compare. Eris had no intention of wearing the gold toga. ‘As if I would take fashion advice from the Demon of Deceit.’ Plus, she knew that Nysa desired it for herself, and would eventually try to steal it, yet again. Eris held the toga up to herself in the mirror, modeling it with a look of serious consideration. ‘If I can get Nysa to try for the toga once more, it’ll be the fifth attempt this month. Oh, the beautiful argument that would come of it!’ She shivered at the delicious thought.
‘What’s in Nysa’s nature that drives her to steal from all of us? She’s the Demon of Deceit, not Jealousy. How had she grown so selfish and spoiled over all these centuries?’ Eris wondered, not for the first time. ‘Maybe her inflated sense of entitlement come from deceiving herself. She truly feels that she deserves to have our things.’ Eris thought she might have touched on something there.
Nysa’s home was filled with the best of the best, almost all of it gotten through devious means. Her high-tech media center was pieced together from various deities; whoever had the best components soon found them missing. Jewelry and clothing were favorite finds too. The other Demon women would not wear their best pieces if they knew Nysa would be at a gathering. Since they were Demons, it wasn’t a problem to get new things to replace the old. Plus, it was far less hassle to replace something than try to get it back from Nysa. ‘Once she has her beady little snake eyes on something, there’s no rest for anyone until she has it. Well, you’ve come to the wrong place, Sister. The others might give up their things to you, but no one loves a good fight more than I.’ Eris was the only one able to keep her things from Nysa’s clutches, mostly because her love of Discord made her just as tenacious in fighting to keep her things as Nysa was to take them. It drove Nysa mad that Eris would not bend to her will like all the other Demons, and made her all the more determined to take from Eris what she could.
Eris took to obtaining new items she had no interest in, just to spark Nysa’s desire. The golden toga was just such an item. She plucked a flame fruit from the bowl on her dresser and took a bite as she pondered tossing an Apple of Discord at Nysa. ‘I am the Demon of Discord, after all. Causing my friend to covet something so strongly that she feels the need to steal it should really be expected.’ Clearly, Nysa’s Serpent Demon nature kept her emotions stoked quite nicely all on its own, so there was really no need. ‘Nysa will make another try for the toga. She simply can’t help herself. It would be sad, if it weren’t so much fun!’
“You’ve got to dress for success, Eris! If this plan is going to work to get Cupid out of your way, you’ve got to make a statement. Go with the gold.” Persephone said from a pillow on the floor in the corner, draining the last of her wine. “Now, where are those darling boys with the wine flasks? I seem to have run out again!”
“You better take it easy, Persey. We already had to put you on the floor because you kept falling out of your chair! If we have to lay you out on this bed, you’ll be lost forever in Eris’ gowns!” Thalassa the Siren Demon said in her sing-song voice, smoothly slicing through the water towards the side of the large pool in the center of the room. Resting her elbows on the pool’s edge, she continued, “Besides, I think you’ve scared the poor boys away for good! You shouldn’t bite them so hard!” With one tip of her blue-scaled tail, she flipped her long aqua hair out of her face and nodded towards Eris’ bed. “Toss me another flamefruit and let’s see the green one again,” Thalassa sang.
“I am so tired of that romance-loving, Goldilocks-looking, muscle-bound jerk making more work for me on the one day I should be having a blast up there!” Eris tossed the flamefruit to Thaly, then threw the golden toga back onto the bed with the others and glared angrily into her mirror. She flipped her jet black, waist-length locks back over her shoulder and looked back at her friends through her reflection’s golden eyes. “I can’t wait to get him out of my hair for good, so I can finally enjoy myself instead of wasting all my time undoing all his disgusting romantic deeds - Ugh! I don’t even want to picture it!” She shook her head to clear the mental image, and ran her hands down her blood red toga to smooth it.
“It’s a flawless plan, Eris. We’ve spent all day working it through. You can’t possibly fail, and tomorrow, the world will be yours! To Eris!” Nysa wrapped her forked tongue around the words as she raised her glass. The other Demons joined in the toast. Eris was determined that Cupid would not ruin one more day on Earth for her as she raised her glass with her friends.
Laughing with pleasure at the thought of her success, Eris went back to the bed and drew the white toga from the growing heap. No sooner did she have it and turn from the bed than Nysa made a snatch for the golden toga.
**************************St. Valentine's Day, 2010
As the new day dawned, each deity waited restlessly at their entrance through the veil. Cupid stood rearranging his arrows in their quiver and checking his bowstring for tightness on Olympus, while Eris polished the golden apples in her satchel in Hades. They would each be granted invisibility for the duration, but any magical creature would be able to see them. This meant the only time they would be visible would be to each other, since neither planned on being anywhere near a forest where the half-lings lived. They were each on a mission. Finally, the clocks struck 6:00 am simultaneously, and the respective veil openings parted, allowing them entrance to the Earth for 24 hours.
*****************
Cupid landed in a bustling city, commuters rushing past on their way to their jobs.
“How great is this?” Cupid asked himself as he looked over the smorgasbord of possible love connections spread out in front of him. He spied a particularly promising couple at a bus stop, eyeing each other with a painful shyness that he could make disappear in an instant. He hated to do this, but he was going to have to sacrifice this couple in order to draw Eris out. Once the Humans had been struck by his arrow, Eris would feel an immediate pull to come and undo the union he had just created. “Shame. They’d be great together.” Cupid drew back and let his arrow fly true. He had mastered a shot that would pierce both Humans with only one arrow. While his quiver held infinite arrows, one of his special gifts, the skill benefited him greatly during his limited time on the planet. Less time shooting left more time for romance.
The invisible arrow shot by the invisible archer sailed right through the couple, and the result was immediate. The man turned to the woman and asked if perhaps he’d seen her on television. The woman beamed, but her response was drowned out by the arrival of the bus. The new couple entered the smoke-belching, rumbling behemoth together, finding adjoining seats. Cupid could see them talking animatedly as they rode off into the sunrise. “A lame line, but apparently effective.” Cupid mused, shaking his head and looking around for Eris. With the beginnings of the morning sun catching highlights in his golden locks, Cupid headed in the direction he sensed immense anger and hatred. A sure sign that Eris had struck.
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Eris landed in front of an apartment building filled with families going through their morning routines. She turned her back to the faded brick building, ready to seek out Cupid and get him out of the way early on, but the Humans’ conversations drifted down to her like little feathers, tickling her interest.
When she heard the couple in apartment 3A, Eris thought she might have time to throw one little apple before she went looking for that meddlesome fool.
“Sweetheart, what do you say you and I both call in sick and stay in bed all day?”
“Really? Do you mean it?”
“Absolutely! We can order in some Chinese later, there’s still wine in the fridge, let’s do it!”
Eris walked through the security door, one of the advantages of being a Demon, and headed up the stairs to the third floor. She walked through the door marked 3A, and reached into her satchel. As the wife went to the phone first to make her call to her workplace, Eris tossed the Golden Apple into the space between the couple. She could immediately see the change come over the previously love-struck couple’s faces and knew she had them.
The wife put the phone back down and turned to her husband. “Wait a minute. Are you trying to get me fired? It’s the baby thing again, isn’t it? You think if I don’t have a job, then I won’t have a reason to wait to waddle around town pregnant!”
The husband stepped up to his wife, ready for battle. “As if I’d want someone like you to be the mother of my children! All you care about is that stupid job! You couldn’t be a good mother if your life depended on it!”
As the argument heated up, Eris smiled her dazzling, ruby red smile and headed for the door. As fun as it would be to stay and watch this play out, she was sure this act had drawn Cupid’s attention. She could picture him already on his way, and she intended to meet him with everything she had. She was stopped in her tracks by a profound feeling of new love, and realized Cupid had already begun. She barreled off, following the sickening sensation, to where she knew Cupid had to be.
***********************
The two deities moved through the city, headed straight for each other, as their friends watched from the other side of the veil.
Tarquin the Satyr wrapped a human arm around Nysa’s tiny waist while they enjoyed the spectacle, feeling the silky material she had draped around her lithe body.
“That’s a very beautiful toga, Nysa. Is it new?” Tarquin ran his hand up and down the golden fabric.
“It was a gift.” Nysa replied, her forked tongue licking wine from her lips as she took one of Tarquin’s goat ears between her thumb and forefinger, stroking it gently. The sensation made his goat leg twitch, hoof tapping on the marble floor.
Nysa’s head was still a bit sore from the hair pulling the night before when Eris had caught her trying to take the toga again. The wine had made her forget, and she gave Tarquin’s ear a sharp tug for making her remember.
“Hey!” he yelped. “If you want the rough stuff, at least let me finish my mead!”
“Later, Goat. We need to make sure that everything goes to plan, first.” Nysa returned to stroking his now sore ear, smiling just enough to show a bit of fang. “I don’t understand why they never just ignored each other and got about their business like all the other pairs do.” Nysa hissed, watching the two immortals hurl themselves toward each other on the Earth.
“What do you mean, you don’t understand? I thought you understood perfectly! I thought that’s why we made the plan in the first place!” Tarquin stepped from Nysa’s reach with an accusing look on his human face.
Nysa waved his accusations away with her hand and sipped her wine. “The reasons are not important. The results, that’s what will matter.” Somehow, Tarquin felt sure Nysa didn’t mean the same results that he had been planning. There must be something that he didn’t know, something that only actual Gods and Demons knew and didn’t feel the need to share with a Satyr. He had been played!
“Nysa! What have you done?” Tarquin asked, backing away from the Demon of Deceit. He edged his way towards the veil portal while her back was turned. Before he could slip through, she appeared before him, blocking his way. He never saw her change form, but he could swear she slithered over to him at lightning speed, so smoothly that that not even a hair on her head had been displaced.
“I? You were just as much a part of this plan as I was, Tarquin. Who delivered the plan to Cupid, as though it were his own? Let me think…oh! I know! It was you! And who will Cupid blame if this ends badly for him? Wait…I think I know this one, too…you again!” Nysa crossed her arms in front of her, managing to look casual, yet threatening at the same time. It was her snake eyes. Tarquin had always thought they were so sexy, but all he saw in them now was menace. He had to think. He had to get back to Dionysus, back to Olympus, and find out what would happen if the plan worked. What was he thinking, scheming with Nysa? He forgot who she was, thinking only that she was Eris’ closest friend. ‘Talk about your all-time backfires.’ He scolded himself while he tried to come up with an escape plan.
Tarquin sniffed the air, scrunched up his face, sniffed again, and let out the biggest, most ridiculous fake sneeze that had ever left a nose, human or otherwise. He let his goblet fly, striking his target dead-on. Nysa’s golden toga was dripping with the thick, sticky mead, running down the length of it in slow little trails.
“You imbecile!” she shrieked. “Do you know what I went through to get this toga?”
Tarquin took the opportunity to duck through the veil before she could realize what he’d done. He’d go to the only place on the Earth that his kind could be transported to; the forest, as half-lings had not been granted invisibility like the immortals were. But from the forest, he could cross the veil again into Olympus.
******************
Cupid thundered on at speeds only a super-powered immortal could see or reach, surging towards the battle that would give him free reign over the Earth for his one day a year. He went over the plan in his head as he traveled in the direction of aggression so intense, it could only be the trail of Eris. He knew they would meet soon, and he wanted to be ready to end her meddling once and for all.
‘The Satyr said to aim for her heart, the only place that could be pierced by my arrow. I’m only going to get one shot before she catches on, so I can’t miss - as if I ever miss.’ Cupid practiced the shot in his head hundreds of times, ever since the Goat had helped him come up with the plan.
‘Of course, this will definitely be the smallest target I’ve ever aimed for.’ He grinned at his own sarcasm. ‘The question is, why is she coming at me like a freight train? Why is she not stopping to cause more trouble along the way? Eris would never miss an opportunity to create havoc, and at the speed she’s coming at me, she’s clearly not slowing down to play.’ These thoughts barely had time to register for Cupid before he sensed her suddenly closer than she should’ve been. He swiped his curly blonde locks out of his alert, blue eyes as he took cover behind a stand of trees in a city block that had been turned into a mini-park for the apartment dwellers whose buildings surrounded it.
*******************
Eris put her head down and barreled forward, raven-black tresses trailing in the wind behind her. ‘This is the last time that giant fool will ever get in my way!’ Her thoughts wrapped around the millions of unpleasant endings she’d imagined for Cupid all these years, bringing an evil smile to her crimson lips as she ran. ‘Any of those would be delicious to watch, but sadly, I won’t get a chance to play with him first. Get ready, you muscle-bound ape, because Mama’s got an apple just for you!’ Eris came to a sudden stop when she sensed him nearby. She didn’t see him, but she didn’t have to. So much romance danced in air that she was certain she’d vomit if she didn’t nail him with her apple in the next 30 seconds.
Looking around for a place to hide, Eris spied a tiny park tucked in amidst the tall apartment buildings that made up the neighborhood she found herself in. Running flat out towards it, she skirted behind an enormous fountain at the park’s center. Placing a hand on the cool marble to steady herself, she reached into her satchel and pulled out a Golden Apple. Eris looked around, getting her bearings and keeping an eye out for Cupid. Still keeping a hand on the fountain, her golden eyes followed the line of sight down her arm and up the fountain, which featured a winged cherub pulling back a bowstring, pointing an arrow down at anyone passing by. “Are you freaking kidding me?” she screeched, pulling her hand from the fountain as though she’d been burnt. A loud, echoing laugh told her she’d given away her position, but it also gave away the position of the comedian who found this abomination so amusing. Eris’ eyes narrowed into slits, focusing on the direction of the laughter.
******************
Tarquin skidded to a stop at the door of Dionysus, goat tongue hanging out of his human mouth, panting hard. ‘Immortals never got winded.’ He thought bitterly. He knocked on Dion’s door, resting his hands on the coarse, curly fur on his legs and leaning over to catch his breath. Just as he raised his hand to knock again, he heard whistling in the distance. Following the sound, he spotted Dionysus and Theseus, strolling towards the white-columned playhouse pavilion nearby.
“Dionysus!” He yelled with what little breath he had left. Dionysus smiled, waved, and continued walking in the other direction towards the pavilion. “I’m going to gore him, I swear I will.” Tarquin told himself as he trotted off to catch them.
When he finally caught up, he had no wind left to tell them what was happening below, so he simply blocked their path until he could speak again. “Cupid…” he sputtered. “Cupid…plan…bad!”
“Silly Goat, the plan isn’t bad at all. Cupid is finally going to get the girl he’s been secretly crushing on for centuries!” Dion waved Tarquin away with his hand and tried to move past him. Tonight’s play was to be dedicated to him; it would be poor form to be late!
“No! Nysa…Nysa made plan…she said… it was bad.” Tarquin was finally starting to regain his breath again, and explained how the plan the ‘he’ had come up with was actually Nysa’s plan. “I thought Nysa wanted to see them together, too, but she doesn’t! Whatever’s going to happen, she knows more than she’s saying. She’s acting like something bad will happen to Cupid and Eris because of this, not like they’d finally get together!”
Now he had Dion’s attention. His mead-soaked mind tried to go over the plan they talked Cupid into, but he could only grasp pieces of the memory.
“Was I drinking when we talked about this?” Dionysus asked.
“You’re always drinking!” Tarquin yelled. “Since when does that matter?” he turned to Thee for help.
“Pretty drunk, we were.” Theseus stated, thinking back to the poker game when they’d first discussed the plan before presenting it to Cupid. “What exactly was the plan, again?”
Tarquin threw up his hands in frustration. “The plan! The plan where Cupid has to shoot Eris with an arrow in her heart! Nysa talked Eris into the same plan, except Eris has to hit Cupid with a Golden Apple! The plan!”
“Wait, I don’t remember anything about Eris hitting him with an Apple of Discord, do I now?” He stroked his chin, thinking back. “Regardless, they can’t do that! They can’t use their weapons against another immortal!” understanding dawned in Thee's mind.
“Of course not,” Echoed Dionysus, sipping from his ever-present goblet, “Everyone knows that!”
“O.K., Number one, I only found out about Eris and her apples today. Number two, not everyone knows that! I didn’t know that! If you knew that, why didn’t you stop this? For that matter, why didn’t Cupid say anything?” Tarquin gripped his horns and moaned in disbelief.
“Hello, we were drunk!” Dion replied, looking at Tarquin as though he’d lost his mind. “Besides, we just wanted the kid to stop chasing that girl all over Creation and finally do something about his feelings! It’s obvious she wants him just as much.”
Tarquin shot Dion a dark look and focused on Theseus. “Look. What happens if Cupid shoots her? What happens if she hits him with an apple?”
“Well, they’d both be banished, of course. They would be stripped of their powers and made to live on the Earth as Humans, they would.” Thee answered. “But they’d still be immortal. The Creator really wanted to make a point. With a fate like that, what kind of idiot would want to take a shot at another immortal?”
“Nysa knew this.” Tarquin thought out loud. “She wanted Eris to be banished. Why would she want that? Eris is her friend.”
“Duh,” Dionysus chimed in, “Maybe because she’s the Demon of Deceit? What are you doing, messing with her anyway?”
“Have you seen her? She’s freaky hot! Plus, she does this thing to my ear…”
Theseus cut him off before he had a mental picture he’d never be rid of. “Look, both Cupid and Eris know about this rule. Either they’re both too lust-crazed to think straight, or their will has been tampered with. If that were the case, then the person who did the tampering would be the one to face banishment, that’s for sure.”
“The flamefruit!” Tarquin remembered. “Nysa gave me that whole basket to bring to the poker game when I spent the night before with her!”
“Tell me you did not take fruit from a serpent from the Underworld.” Thee said grimacing with his eyes squeezed shut and fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.
“I told you, she’s freaky hot, and that thing she does-“
Both Gods covered their ears until they saw Tarquin’s lips stop moving.
“Well, instead of giving us the Fruit of Knowledge, this serpent gave us the Fruit of Un-knowledge, she did!” Theseus surmised. “No wonder none of us saw the problem with the plan!”
Suddenly, Dionysus got a ‘eureka’ look on his face. “Let’s get back to the portal. I think I know how to fix this. It’s never been tried on an immortal that I know of, but it’s worth a shot.”
***************
Cupid tracked the sound of Eris cursing to her location behind the fountain. He hadn’t noticed the cherub-version of himself that adorned the top of it when he hid behind the stand of trees, but thought, ‘I couldn’t have planned that better myself! I sure was a cute baby.’ Knowing his laughter had given him away just as quickly as Eris’ burst of temper had done for her, Cupid knew that, at last, the game was over. He plucked an arrow from his quiver, and lined up his shot, waiting for Eris to show herself.
****************
Eris could see the glint of sunlight reflecting off of the tip of Cupid’s arrow, where he stood ready to fire it from behind the trees. She plucked a golden apple from her satchel and clutched it, taking aim to launch it. Unlike Cupid’s arrows, her apples didn’t need to make contact, they only needed to land in the vicinity of her target. The problem was, she couldn’t get the apple anywhere near him unless she stepped out from behind the fountain to make the throw. It seemed they had a stalemate.
*****************
Cupid chanced a glance around the trunk of the tree and saw Eris’ white toga and raven tresses peeking out from behind the fountain. ‘I have a shot, but it won’t strike her heart. Should I try anyway?’ He loosened his grip on the arrow while he thought about what to do next. Suddenly, he heard a whisper. ‘Was that my name?’ He snapped his head around behind him, trying to see who could’ve possibly crept up behind him without his notice. The wooded area he hid in stood empty. “Who’s there?” Cupid whispered back, bow string once again at the ready. He laughed at himself when he realized his defensive move. “Well, they do say love is a weapon. I guess we’re about to find out if that’s true… Eris? Have you come out to play?” Cupid surveyed the area once again, but found nothing. He glanced back in the direction of the fountain, and saw glimpses of Eris, still safely tucked away there.
“Cupid!” the whisper sounded again. “Listen to me! You mustn’t shoot Eris, it’s a trick!”
Now Cupid was baffled. Why couldn’t he see the owner of this voice? It seemed the voice was coming from his own mind, but surely that couldn’t be right. ‘I would know if I were talking to myself, wouldn’t I? O.K., now I’m talking to myself. So this other voice couldn’t possibly be me. Am I going crazy?’
The voice came again. “Cupid, you were deceived. Don’t shoot that arrow at Eris, you must shoot her apple instead. Shoot the apple, Cupid! The apple!”
Cupid continued to look around him, completely baffled by this new development. There was still no possible owner of the voice anywhere near him. Then understanding dawned on him. The veil. ‘This must be what it’s like when someone speaks to you from behind the veil! It’s a wonder that every Human on this planet hasn’t been driven insane by now!’ Cupid smacked himself in the head, trying to dislodge the bizarre feeling this voice had caused there. ‘That’s just creepy.’ He checked on Eris once more, but she didn’t seem to be having the same inner struggle that he was. She appeared to be crouching in place behind the fountain, waiting for him to make a move. Cupid moved into the clearing, in plain sight of the fountain, and drew back his arrow.
*************
Eris saw her chance, and rose immediately, firing off her apple, and ducking back behind the fountain to dodge the arrow Cupid had been aiming. She watched the apple fly through the air, seeming to move in slow motion, and suddenly it was on the ground between them, an arrow piercing its center. At the same time, a ‘pop’ filled the silence in the park, and brought them both out into the open.
They took careful, almost timid steps toward each other, getting closer and closer, until a small span of lawn was all that separated them. Without warning, they launched themselves at each other, meeting in an embrace. Clutching, kissing, unable to tear themselves away, the immortals acted on every feeling they themselves were unaware they had. Luckily, pretty much everyone else on the other side of the veil were more that aware.
******************
“What’s happening? Why are they doing that?” Tarquin asked. “I mean, I know why they’re doing that, but what happened?”
“Their weapons. They canceled each other out. For the rest of this day, they are no longer at odds. Eris isn’t ruled by her need for Discord, and Cupid isn’t ruled by his need to make Romance. It’s all them down there. Not their jobs, not their obligations, just them.” Dionysus laughed, watching the spectacle on Earth heat up. “They really should get a room before it’s too late.”
“Too late.” Theseus said, looking away.
“This is great, maybe now they’ll both get it out of their systems and get on with their lives!” Tarquin pondered that idea for a moment before adding, “Do you think they’re going to get it out of their systems in one day?”
They all returned their focus to the action in the park.
“Not a chance.” Dion stated. “But it’s a start.”
“Do you think they’ll be mad about losing out on their one day to do their thing on Earth this year?” Tarquin asked.
They all looked back again.
“I think they’re doing it.” Thee answered. “Now that we headed off the disaster, I think we’d better get to the Council and tell them about your friend Nysa. Maybe you should hang here for awhile - she’s going to be pretty hot, she is!”
“She’s smokin’ hot! And did I tell you about that thing she does - “
The immortals shook their heads and walked away, leaving Tarquin alone with his thoughts.
*****************
February 15th, 2010
“Are you sure Nysa won’t mind us hanging out here for awhile?” Cupid asked, jerking the game controller in the same direction as his avatar, who narrowly dodged a missile attack.
“Positive.” Eris answered, thumb tapping out a round of missile fire on her own controller. In fact, she was certain that it would make Nysa insane with anger to find out what Cupid and she had been doing in her house. Eris smiled at both thoughts - of Nysa’s rage, and of what they had been doing there. “Nysa is going to be gone a very long time. She’ll be glad someone is here to look in on her home.”
“Any word on when the trial will happen? I still can’t believe she was able to get to both of us like that. Die! Die!” Cupid’s avatar missed his mark, and Eris’ avatar escaped unharmed.
Eris shook her head, eyes never leaving the screen as her avatar launched a new attack. “The council is allowed to hold her until the Creator decides to check in. The last time He came around was the Great Flood, if I’m not mistaken. She’ll be gone awhile.”
“Dionysus really saved our hides with his plan.” Cupid said, his thumbs now doing the shooting. “Nysa was sure she’d get away with it because we ate the proof, but we don’t have to present the proof until it comes to trial. By the time that happens, no one will even remember why she was locked up in the first place.”
“Ha! Fragged you!” Eris shouted. “Poor Nysa. I’ll make sure to pay her a visit so she doesn’t get too lonely. I was thinking of having a new toga made, just for the occasion. Something in gold, maybe…” She let the thought trail off with an evil grin, then changed the subject. “You know, we really started something with this whole visiting-each-other’s-realm thing. Who knew you could come to the Underworld and I can visit Mt. Olympus anytime I want? We’re going to have immortals all over the place now.”
“No one ever thought to try before now. If we were smart enough to work out a compromise, no doubt other pairs will do it, too. Things will definitely be different on both sides now!” Cupid’s laugh changed to a howl of disappointment as his avatar died a bloody, violent death.
‘Ding!’ A timer sitting above Nysa’s enormous T.V. screen chimed through the living room, where Cupid and Eris were playing Nysa’s high tech video game system.
“Discord time is officially over! Now it’s time for Romance!” Cupid declared.
“You only say that because you’re losing!” Eris sneered, throwing her controller to the floor.
“Well, if you want, we could just keep playing, but that will cut into Romance time. Your call.” Cupid replied, folding his massive muscled arms and looking bored, as though he didn’t care which choice Eris made.
Eris launched herself at Cupid, knocking the sofa backwards and into the deep pile of cushions on the floor, landing on top of him. Her answer was a deep, lingering kiss that promised much more.
“You forgot to set the timer.” Cupid whispered in her ear, running his hands through her raven hair, still tousled from the last ding of the timer.
“I know.” Eris purred.