357: ζωή
Trigger Warning: attempted suicide
Author’s Note: Google how to pronounce the name after you finish reading the chapter… or right now if you’re too curious 😉
Zoe plummeted into the waiting maws below the cliff, darkness swallowing her whole.
“No!” Ever fell to his haunches. Rocks dislodged by his knees fell over the edge. Something was building inside him, something unbearable. He tried to cry, but choked on his agony. His neck was stiff, blood roaring through his jugular.
“Why?” He cried, throwing his head up. Chronos, Gaia, Chaos and Nyx kept their gazes fixed firmly on the apprentice reaper, unable – or unwilling – to provide an answer. “Why does it have to be this way?”
He turned and ran back, slipping and falling at the feet of the Moirai.
“Why were we destined not to be together?” He clasped at the Fates’ habit near her feet. She stared down at him, face obscured by the veil. Was she disgusted by him? Sympathetic? Or indifferent? Neither what they felt, nor their answers would have mattered, even if they decided to speak. All that mattered now was that Zoe lay broken because of him.
He had to get to her; he turned and sprinted.
“Ever, no!” Nyx reached her hand out, just as he leapt over the chain fence linking the wooden posts together. Arms spread, leaving his tears behind, he fell.
Dying wasn’t what Ever expected. He didn’t feel his body get pierced by the sharp stones at the bottom of the cliff, nor feel his bones get shattered from the impact. In fact, there wasn’t any pain whatsoever. What he did feel was a sudden lurch almost as someone caught him under his armpits.
He raised his head to look at their face, only for there to be an almighty lurch that pushed it back down. Something — or someone — was working quite hard to pull the two of them together upwards. While he couldn’t see their face, It was hard to not see their pair of resplendent, diaphanous wings, spanning twenty feet across on their back. Light gently pulsed through a network of veins across the wings. He had to know who — or what — this being was. Just as he tried to look up again, they flapped their wings again, once more forcing his head down as they charged upwards.
She giggled.
Ever strained up, coming together face to face with his girlfriend, a mischievous grin on her face.
“Zoe?”
“Mm-mm,” she said, shaking her head. Her hair which had been unkempt and dull now shone amber like it was alight, fluttering as she flew upwards.
He stared at her as long as he could before she flapped her ethereal dragonfly wings again, forcing his chin to his chest for the third time. Of course it wasn’t her; she was dead at the bottom of the cliff. Ever himself had done the deed. Yet this being looked and felt like Zoe but at the same time, it was not quite like her.
“There you go,” Not-Zoe said, depositing Ever back on solid ground at the top of the cliff. “No more throwing yourself off cliffs, OK?”
Ever stared up at the being, or rather, her baby bump. She rested her hands on it and pulsed with a gentle, yet powerful light.
“Zoe…”
“You’re saying it wrong,” shaking her head, her locks this way and that. “I am ζωή, the Goddess of Life.”
“ζωή?” Ever said hesitantly.
“Yep!” Her smile made his breath catch. “Much better.”
With a straight back and arms loose by her side, she beat her wings once as she moved towards the Primordials.
“We welcome ζωή,” Chaos boomed, “the Goddess of Life and congratulate her for her Ascension!” He looked more joyous than the time he tasted ice cream for the first time.
“So…” Gaia said, stepping through the air towards the newest goddess, “you did decide to make my Spring your responsibility.”
ζωή turned to Mother Nature and folded her wings down, the edges overlapping.
“I’m doing it for all Life: fauna, flora and humans alike.” ζωή said with dignified intensity. “Not for you.”
Gaia pursed her lips and gave a curt nod. “I would appreciate your help.”
ζωή smiled, radiating a warmth that made Ever forget to breathe. She walked through the air until she reached Chronos. She extended a hand, laying it on his scaled cheek. His forked tongue flickered out in surprise.
“Finally, I can touch you.” She stroked his face and looked into his eyes. Chronos made to look away, but she just floated back into his line of sight.
“If I choose you,” ζωή said, intentional with her emphasis, “will you release your hold on earth’s nature?”
A cautious smile crept to Chronos’ face. “No one’s ever chosen me before.”
“Until now.”
“I would have released the hold on earth’s nature even if you hadn’t chosen me.”
“I don’t think that’s what the Moirai had in mind.”
ζωή and Chronos turned their attention to the Fates standing on the cliff behind Ever. They blended so well into the dying shadows, only those who knew what to look for would have been able to see them.
“Goddess ζωή.” Chaos said, “I’ve chosen you too,” he said, letting his shrewd eyes soften since he crafted the first aeon. He clasped her hand, turning it skywards. Gently, he placed a kiss on her open palm.
At that moment, something deep and ancient shifted.
The corners of ζωή’s mouth creased gently. “Let’s put things back to how they’re meant to be.”
With his eyes still on his chosen one, Chronos raised his free hand to the blushing sky. A wave of energy exploded outwards from Chronos and ζωή, enveloping the world in a matter of seconds. They waited. A minute passed. Then two. Nothing happened.
“That’s interesting,” he said, brow furrowing. “I’ve released nature but... I don’t think it’s responding.”
Gaia closed their eyes. Moments later she opened them, wearing a frown identical to Chronos’.
“He’s right. I don’t sense time’s hold on earth’s flora anymore but… the cycles haven’t resumed.”
“I’m pretty new to all of this, but let me see if I can try.” ζωή closed her eyes – and immediately gasped.
She was still there, floating above the cliff, but she was also traversing the Lifescape, her own domain. Flames no larger than tea lights flickered and shone, covering an expanse that stretched and rolled farther than human comprehension. She soared across an endless sea of embers green, blue and red: flora, fauna and human, respectively. Billions upon billions of souls for the living upon earth.
She dived in amongst them. While the blues and reds danced and roiled in delight, celebrating that their liege had finally Ascended, the greens sat frozen. She waded across to a grouping, cupping a few in her hands. Their flames didn’t flicker and nor were they warm. She tried stroking them, cooing at them, rubbing them on her cheek, nothing got them to dance like the others. What was strange though was that she could sense that they noticed her, which gave her some hope. While the greens were definitely alive, they certainly weren’t living.
“I… can’t seem to coax them out of it.” ζωή said, opening her eyes while chewing on the inside of her cheek. “I think I still need to figure out my powers.”
“Or perhaps…” Nyx said. “Perhaps your powers work just fine and there’s another captor keeping nature hostage.” The other gods regarded the goddess of the night, while she stared at the sliver of sun that had crested the horizon. “I must leave. ζωή, Olympus beckons.”
“Sure thing. Let me wrap up a couple things first.” ζωή faced the cliff, took a deep breath and called: “Nika!”
Moments later, the ghost cat zipped out of the shadows past Ever, leaping off the cliff. He ran through the air, up ζωή’s outstretched arm, eventually settling on her shoulder.
“Do you want to come with me to Olympus?”
^Ugh, if I must.^ Nika drawled, affectionately bumping his head into hers.
“That’s a yes, then,” ζωή grinned. Looking at Ever, her face radiated such a divine love that he spontaneously wept. She formed a telepathic connection with him for the very last time.
✝Look for Taylor. Spend your last days with her. You deserve each other.✝
Nyx had already disappeared, as had Chaos and Gaia. Chronos lingered, but ζωή urged him to go first.
*Our baby…*
✝…will grow up with a heart even bigger than their father’s, so that they won’t have to defy the Fates to fit everyone into it.✝
She turned to leave, looking back over her shoulder one more time. Eyes glowing ochre, her auburn hair rippled even though the air was still.
✝Good-bye ice cream boy.✝
Anyone passing by would have thought that the man standing at the edge of the cliff was looking at a bird or a plane – only there wasn’t one anywhere to be seen. He had been there for over three hours now; the sun was much higher in the sky.
So transfixed he was at the spot where he last saw his girlfriend that he didn’t notice that the Moirai hadn’t left with the other gods. In the shade of the trees, she watched him. She was surprised at her own curiosity in Ever but let herself indulge in it. By the end of next week, would he be sad? Or shocked? Maybe even happy? It was fun to speculate, even if she knew the result.
Without another word, she turned on her heel and left.
“You deserve each other” is the perfectly venomous response.
Knew I liked Zoe… (and the Greek Zoh-ee - I have an English, Russian, and French keyboard, but no Greek one so I’m just transliterating the pronunciation).
🖤
I did not expect Chronos hanging out in Zoë’s mind (did I get the right letter, there?) to result in their romantic pairing! I mean, I love that, but I think I needed a little more from Zoë. Also, feel very much vindicated that she did have a plan.