Love & War

Her beauty and grace out showed every other living being in existence; flowing locks the color of chocolate, intelligent eyes that saw and judged everything with grace and dignity. Her features were soft; flawless golden skin with a whisper of a bright glow from beneath was draped over a slender form.

Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, Beauty, and Fertility was every man's wildest dream and every woman's most envied competition.

It thrilled her to entice men with nothing more than a look-- and her magical girdle-- but loathed the stigma that ran hand in hand with the attraction. Mere humans were easily avoided but the most easily attracted when she made the misstep of being in their presence for too long. With just a thought she could either annihilate them or vanish from their sight forever.

It was the Gods of her pantheon Aphrodite had to worry about, the disgusting, intrusive males who all tried to force her beneath them when she denied them her attentions but she had powers of her own, powers many of them did not always anticipate. With a wave of a hand, she could bind them with boundless and eternal love. Devotion of that magnitude terrified and deterred men like them.

Staring into her seeing bowls, Aphrodite twirled her finger in the cool, clear water to change the scene. A man and woman-- husband and wife were fighting violently in a dead of night with screams and shouts that could be heard by those all around. They fought with such passion it drew her to them; they cursed each other, the gods, even Hades himself. It was apparent the two would rip one another asunder if someone didn’t intervene.

As the Goddess of Love she always had a soft spot for those who seemed to lose their way once they were in love, if not properly maintained and groomed it went wild and grew out of control like a weed. Love was much like a garden in that regard, every once and awhile it needed to be pruned, things needed to be plucked and new seeds had to be planted.

With little more than a thought she appeared in the home, a small little hovel not befit of a goddess but it was her duty to help the struggling couple. They continued to fight because they did not see her, the benefit of godliness granting her the ability of invisibility when she chose it and it was the time for it. The last thing she wanted was for the human male to pine after her while his wife stood by and watched, it would only ruin whatever work she intended to do.

With a wave of her hand towards the couple they stopped abruptly and looked at one another and Aphrodite couldn’t help but smile. Even in anger they still loved one another, though sometimes it was harder to find when sadness took over. Another wave of her hand instilled lust, the needed for one another because what was love without some passion? Finally, with one more wave of her hand she granted the woman fertility, the source of their quarrel. Children were wanted but would not come, no matter how hard either of them tried and it was a sad thing to want but not receive.

The next union would spawn the child the two of them desperately craved.

When her work was done, the couple was embracing one another whispering pleas of forgiveness and Aphrodite’s smile grew into a grin before returning to her temple with little more than a thought. Lifting the hem of her chiton as she ascended the steps towards her seeing bowls once more.

Humming the tune for a lyric she enjoyed, she situated herself on the pillows in front of her bowls. Though the moment she looked into the still waters her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach, the grin fell from her lips as the tune caught in her throat. All the love and passion she had strived to spread, that she had just spent countless hours weaving throughout the world was being eaten up by darkness, hatred and death.

By war.

“Ares,” Aphrodite whispered before disappearing from her temple once more.