In what appears to be a dark, abandoned temple, in front of a damaged altar, three creatures can be seen pacing. Their large wings are spread, revealing their coal-black bodies, with snake-like hair and blood-shot eyes. Anger and hatred can be felt emanating from their very souls (if they had souls). Their appearance would strike fear deep into anyone who was unfortunate enough to cross paths with them, and a deep, fear-driven respect was held for them by all. People even feared to speak their names, instead referring to them as “The Kindly Ones”, lest they be their next target.
The creature in the center suddenly stopped pacing, frozen in place as her eyes locked in on a corner of the temple. “Do you ladies hear that? it sounds like we are not alone in our wait. I smell immortal blood. Reveal thyself, at once!” she spat, eyes blazing with fire.
The three she-creatures all united in staring at the shadowed corner, but no figure emerged. The creature on the right sighed in exasperation, “You are imagining things, sister. You are still distraught over Ares’ son being offered immortality.”
The center creature grew stiff at these words, then dawned a look of pure vengeance. “A treacherous act that one committed, and we are expected to let him get away from it? We are the Furies, we persecute those who have violated immortal law! We seek PUNISHMENT. We seek REVENGE. WE SEEK JUSTICE! I shall not be shoved aside by the whims of the gods, I am of older rank than them. I will not be silenced!”
The third Fury, who had yet to speak up, quietly added, “Sister, you can still seek your revenge on he who is called Eurytion. Just because he can never completely die and experience the torture of Hades does not mean we cannot seek to kill him.” Her voice grows louder. “In fact, we can kill him as many times as we want, because he will continue to come back! Such is the, ahem, blessing of being immortal.” She smirks as she speaks the last part, a glint of fire in her eyes.
At this, all three Furies rose, their bodies changing in the shadows of the temple. Wings shrunk, hair turned soft, and bodies grew arms and legs. Each Fury took on the appearance of a maiden, and as they changed, the temple changed as well. As if the previous appearance had been a sheet covering an ornate chair, the temple was suddenly filled with the light of numerous torches. The altar became covered in offerings, and statues of gold and precious gems appeared out of nowhere. To anyone who entered, the three women would have appeared to be three maiden priestesses bringing offerings to the gods.
“Come, my sisters. We have unfinished business with this new…immortal.” Three pairs of eyes gleamed like the flames in the torches behind them.
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Pingback: Greek Mythology | Imagination and Inspiration with a Dash of the Irrational
It’s nice to see this continuity of Greek mythology in your work so far; it seems to be working pretty well. And I really like your description of the Furies in the first paragraph. The most I know about the Furies is from an episode of “American Dragon: Jake Long,” (or I might be mistaking them with the Gorgons). It’s interesting how even though all three of the Furies have the same abilities and duties yet they still have very different personalities and a designated leader. And it’s also cool how they use charm and deception to ensnare the immortals; it’s kind of sad how gullible and easily fooled some of these immortals can be. But it is a little weird that they’re really into killing others (when they’re actually supposed to seek justice) and choosing vengeance and what not but I guess that’s what it means to be a Fury.
Surprisingly, I have actually heard of Furies before. I used to watch Charmed frequently and the Furies made an appearance in one of the episodes. Upon your first description of them, I did not know that they were Furies because I remembered them being beautiful women that were extremely charming. However, at the end of your post everything came together and made sense. Because of this, I was able to remember the times that the Furies got angry and sought revenge when they looked disgusting and scary. The picture is awesome, too, even though it is extremely terrifying looking. Actually, when I first read your description of the Furies, I laughed out loud. Want to know why? I immediately thought that it was probably exactly how I looked after 17 hours straight at THON. Now that is very real and very scary. Back to your story, though. It’s ironic that people call the Furies “The Kindly Ones” because they are simply trying to avoid being their next targets. However, this is very similar to real life and the saying “keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” Anyway, keep up the great work! Your stories are refreshing and interesting to read.
I found one line spoken by one of the furies particularly interesting. She said that they seek both punishment and justice. Justice doesn’t necessarily always require punishment. If one seeks both justice and punishment, I can’t help but wonder if justice will be quickly neglected in order to fulfill the unnatural desire to punish. I guess this might potentially be why these furies are so scary. One wouldn’t want to be the subject of unjust punishment by a force that simply wants to punish. I can’t be sure though, with my little (read, nonexistent) knowledge of these creatures.