183. She Appeared One Day from Nowhere
She Appeared One Day from Nowhere
I was resting after the birth of my third child,
Kratos – my child of strength.
He came into this world with a wail so loud
Nike covered her ears
before cleaning and swaddling him.
When she placed Kratos on my chest,
I was startled to see that like me,
he had split eyes. Of all my children,
he was the loudest, the angriest,
and perhaps this was why he looked
the most like me. But where I wore
my rage with a repression,
Kratos embraced his. When
he was taken by his sister and aunts
to meet his grandfather,
I fell back into the comfort
of a deep sleep. Until I heard
the knock, knock, knock.
I turned to the balcony,
where the sound was coming from,
and there she stood.
Metis, in all her treacherous
glory. Gone was
her black shroud.
She now wore fine clothes
made of golden silks.
Upon her head was a golden wreath.
And I noticed the sword
by her side, an adamantine
atrocity, large and brutal.
But I knew from her face,
she was not here to harm me.
She would not be so foolish
to come here to hurt me.
For what was I worth?
I was of no true value to this war.
When I gestured for her to enter,
I murmured a quiet spell
to ensure my chamber doors
remained shut so no one entered.
‘Metis,’ I said coldly.
‘Why are you here?’