Not Playing by the rules

Chapter 7

Nemesis stood in the doorway and the smirk on her face told Aphrodite all. She meant business.

The Goddess of revenge was today adorned in a form-fitting black leather suit with boots and crop in her hand and a jewel encrusted belt loosely hanging on her beautiful waist. How much Aphrodite detested this creature she could not get over the fact that the look actually suited her and she would definitely would like to try that sometime but definitely not in black.

Nemesis stepped over the threshold and the three sisters took in a sharp breath making themselves shudder at the sound of the heels of her boots.

“Oh you blind goats, come on, you know much better than that,” said Nemesis, as the crop in her hand snapped on the marble floor making a sound so loud that it reverberated all throughout the refurbished Elysium.

“Why do you always have to make this a power game Nemesis? You have a designated role in the vices which have been given away at birth itself then why are you so keen on fighting it? It is your duty to take care of the genuine cases of revenge on Earth rather than draw your attention to such petty lover’s quarrel,” said Clotho trying to make her understand.

“I really do hate reiterating myself but I would repeat myself for the sake of making myself clear once again that you guys know me better than that and even should know me better than I do myself. It is my job to look after the genuine cases of revenge on Earth, very true and I can see very beautiful opportunity here. It has been quite a number of years actually that I have come across such a case which can built from scratch. Now if you say that you guys do like happy endings then I must beg to differ, it has been seen that the tragic endings have the best bite,” Nemesis said with a giggle.

Aphrodite snickered her lips and gagged visibly.

“You are a disgusting creature Nemesis. Every time I try to convince myself otherwise you speak such things that makes me understand that some cases are gone since birth, they can have no changes in them. You being a celestial creature are stuck with all the hatred in the world for eternity. Do you really know how painful and sad that actually is?” asked Aphrodite while the sisters of fate sighed.

“Oh no no no…you don’t get to play the good guy and make me the bad one here,” said Nemesis as she stepped forward and drew herself to her full height before Aphrodite.

“Do you really think Nemesis that you can scare me so easily? And that too with your height? Seriously?” scoffed Aphrodite as she turned away from the other woman.

“This is a sacred space Nemesis, despite whatever your differences might be you have to sort them out at the neutral grounds and you know that better. If there is any kind of altercation in this place before us then you know that we would have no choice but to report the happenings to Hera and she will not take it lightly since you have been known to break the rules as often as you can,” said the eldest sister of fate.

“And would not that be nice dearest?” sniggered Nemesis.

“You are the Goddess of divine Retribution Nemesis, how can you act like a petulant child?” asked Lachesis.

“Oh shut up you bloody visionless moron!!! You guys are the ones who are supposed to be neutral, which meant that you needed to inform both of us about the incident but instead of that you made a choice and you made a biased choice. Where does that exactly put you all?” asked Nemesis, as if spitting venom.

“We make the choice because we have the authority to do so and we do that because we are the judges of which is good and which is not. Clearly you have forgotten the last time you incurred the wrath of Hera because if you have then I would really like to remind you what Hera did when she came to find out. The conditions which prevailed and the situations which were created were not something which were suitable at all. A great race almost came to death just because of your foolishness. And now again you are going to start something of that same sort,” said Atropos in her usual monotone which was unnerving for most of the creatures.

“How even after centuries are you still saying that I was the reason for the destruction of the Trojans? How could even insinuate such a thing? DO you have no conscience at all? This vile woman who has been after me since the beginning, who has perpetrated all the lies and everything behind it, she is never told to be the culprit but me, I am always the victim but still who gets blamed? ME!!!” screamed Nemesis, her voice getting dangerously high and that was not a good sign at all.

Aphrodite looked at her and then started laughing out loud as if it was one of the best jokes which she had heard in the last century.

“Trust me Nemesis, this was truly one of the most original jokes I have had heard in a long time. I think I shall go and inspire some new author in order to create a play portraying you as the victim. Wow….marvellous, what a concept Nemesis!! I cannot believe that you after so many years have started thinking originally which might in some way provide some kind of entertainment to mankind,” said Aphrodite after controlling her laughter with great difficulty.

“How dare you make fun of me in this way Aphrodite? You are a scorned vile woman and you know it. That is the reason that you were married off to that insane crone who stays hidden in the mountains..” said Nemesis, her beautiful face contorted in rage.

“My father is an utter bastard and I know that. I have no doubts or qualms about it but you are no less Nemesis. You know his nature, you have seen what Hera can do still you went to follow a path which would have brought nothing but downfall. You did not suffer Nemesis, your child did,” Aphrodite replied in a calm voice.

“What do you mean to say Aphrodite? How can you say that I am responsible for her sufferings? It was you who promised Paris in the first place that he would be awarded with the most beautiful woman in the mortal world. Did you even consider that you were pawning off the destiny of my child? Who gave you the authority to do so in the first place?” asked Nemesis, her voice much lower than her previous sentence but still the rage was palpable.

“We did,” said the three sisters in unison.

Nemesis turned at them perplexed at the answer.

“What ddo you mean you did? What did you do?” asked Nemesis not understanding what they wanted to say.

“We told her to do so and that is the reason she did Nemesis,” replied Lachesis.

Clotho continued where her sister left off saying,” When you handed over that egg to Hermes you had no idea that he would take her to Leda and she would grow up as Helen who would be married off to a hulk of a man against her wishes. It was the destiny of the child of Leda to be married to Paris, the younger prince of Troy so that she would be crowned as the Princess of Troy and later on as Queen. You were the one who was scared of Hera and her wrath and sent your child away in hopes of being protected. Your maternal instincts took over your logic and senses and you were the one responsible for this Nemesis. You cannot blame Aphrodite for your actions solely.”

“That is not true. You are lying to me so that I would back away from instigating Athena to hate Leon. This another trick of yours. I know it,” whispered Nemesis, as if she was speaking to herself and trying to convince that it was not true.

“You know better than us Nemesis that we are cursed to tell the truth if not anything. We are the most hated ones in this entire universe, people swear in our names and they say that we are the ones responsible for all their mistakes and their wrong-doings and every single thing is attributed to us. But we are the only ones to work with the threads, the choices they make, the choices you made were always yours and we have just moved them forward as your destinies shaped themselves. It would be a folly to think otherwise really,” said Lachesis knowing that Nemesis was going to do something rash once she came to know of this.

“I never wanted Zeus to look at me. I never wanted his attention at all. I wanted to be left alone. I wanted to be me. I did not want to be treated like a pawn in the game like everyone else,” said Nemesis as she looked at Aphrodite who looked as serene as she always does.

“There also you had a choice Nemesis. You could have not saved the swan which was being pursued by the eagle. You could have given in to your normal sense instead of calling upon your milk of mortal kindness and left them the way you were. You were given a choice and you chose to save the swan,” said Atropos snapping off a thread punctuating the end of her statement.

“Still you would say that it was my fault? How can you be so blinded by the plot that I was submerged in by Aphrodite and Zeus?” asked Nemesis, her previous rage and fury all being replaced by a misery.

“You still do not understand, is it?” asked Aphrodite with a smile.

Nemesis looked at her helplessly and said,” I have waited for centuries to get an explanation for this but I haven’t and today I am coming to know that it was all my fault and my wrong choices. It is not something you can easily come to terms with and as well as accept the fact that you guys are shit.”

The look on her face was smug once more and she said,”What did you guys think? That I would believe every piece of nonsense you say at the drop of a hat? And me? I did not commit any mistake or perjury at all and neither did I do any kind of wrong by sending my child away from me so that she could remain protected from that ugly b***h who can do anything to my beautiful daughter. What did she miss? Almost nothing…She is still known as the most beautiful women in the world and the greatest war of history was fought between Greece and Troy just for her sake. What could a woman ask for more?”

“Yeah really!! That is the one thing that a woman could ask her for, is it not? To be the cause of death and destruction of thousands of mortals and be hated by an entire race just for the sake of what? The foolishness of their mother,” said Aphrodite as she looked at the sisters.