Hecate's Descent
While Jason snored away, Medea danced.
"I, Medea, offer my prayer to Lady Hecate — goddess of the wilds, she who rules the world from behind the moon! I beseech you: answer my plea and reveal your noble form!"
In one hand she held a costly wine cup; with the other she shook a fruit-laden branch, weaving a beautiful ritual dance without pause. Each time her red hair swayed, the air around her rippled, and the statue of Hecate answered in kind — six eyes flashing as they fixed upon Medea.
"I, Medea, offer my prayer to Lady Hecate — goddess of the wilds, she who rules the world from behind the moon! I beseech you: answer my plea and reveal your noble form!"
One plea alone would not suffice, it seemed, so she danced again. The form was the same as before, but the divine response came fiercer still, and Medea cried out once more to meet it.
"I, Medea, offer my prayer to Lady Hecate — goddess of the wilds, she who rules the world from behind the moon! I beseech you: answer my plea and reveal your noble form!"
Crack!
That made three. The statue's three heads began to writhe grotesquely, then shed their outer shell, and living flesh emerged beneath.
"She's here!"
Whether the statue itself had been the offering that allowed her human form, or she had simply burst free from within it, the naked goddess who sprang forth opened six eyes and fixed her gaze upon Medea. Contrary to expectation, she was not a single woman with three heads. She was three women joined back-to-back as one body — and though her features closely resembled Medea's, she looked somewhat younger.
"—Medea."
The voice that issued from her was pure, yet so low it carried an almost sinister edge. Fully descended at last, she walked toward where Medea and I stood. The sight of three women moving as a single body, never parting from one another's backs, was the very height of the uncanny.
"Forgive me for summoning you so abruptly!"
Medea bowed her head, and I bowed mine as well.
"Yes. Abrupt indeed."
Hecate's tone made it impossible to tell whether she was displeased or not. Her voice sat so low to begin with that reading any emotion from it was a challenge.
"And who is that?"
"I am Perseus the Second. It is an honor to behold Lady Hecate's countenance."
"Perseus the Second…?"
She repeated my name once, then showed no reaction whatsoever. I had expected at least some response if she knew of me — but there was nothing. She was the sort of goddess who made flattery extraordinarily difficult.
"Have you heard of me, by chance?"
"I recall Eris speaking that name. What she said of it, though, I no longer remember."
Eris, goddess of discord.
I had met her once, when I went to see Lord Hades…
While I was still wondering about the connection between Eris and Hecate, she told us to rise. I released my respectful posture and stood tall. All three of the women joined at the back had their faces turned toward me. Whether the sudden summons had soured her mood, she was scowling — and with three faces doing it at once, the pressure felt entirely different from meeting an ordinary god.
"So. You are a hero's descendant. It seems Medea did not call me for her own business. This child does not summon me lightly, after all."
"Yes. I took the liberty of asking her to call you. I fully understand that being summoned without warning is displeasing, so I beg you to restrain your anger."
"Do not assume I will hold my temper simply because you are still a child. Depending on the circumstances, you may not escape a great wrath."
She regarded me with all three heads, then urged me to get to the point. As the object of witches' worship, she carried a distance that ordinary people could not easily bridge. Her tone was irritable from start to finish; even standing here, I could tell her mood was foul.
"Then I shall speak to the heart of the matter at once. The reason I called upon Lady Hecate is none other than this: I wish to ask you to lift the heavy burden that rests upon Medea…"
"Medea. You foolish girl. Did you drag even a child into this to make a mockery of me? I spoiled you, called you pretty, and this is how far you go—?!"
"It is not so! I did not put him up to this!"
"Not so? What do you mean, not so! Did you think that if a child begged, I would set down your burden for you?!"
Apparently she had never expected such words from a child's mouth, for she immediately suspected Medea. A fair judgment — but not the correct one.
"You dare call me out of nowhere and pull a stunt like this! Are you prepared?!"
"Eek?!"
Before I could get a single word in, something magical poured from Hecate's hand — and I thrust out my palm to block it.
Whoooosh—!
Once again, brilliantly roaring flames swept Hecate's curse aside. All three of her faces froze in open astonishment.
"What is this?"
"I ask that you hear me out to the end. The witch Medea is a faithful servant who has followed Lady Hecate all her life. Such a woman would never do anything to offend you — so surely this small child must have acted on his own, no? Please, calm your anger and recall the loyalty of Medea, who has served you all this time. Is the Medea that Lady Hecate knows the sort of fool who would do this to you?"
"……Hmm."
Medea hastily bowed her head and prostrated herself, and Hecate seemed to recover her temper at once, shaking her head. She had flared up in the moment, but upon reflection she conceded her own error.
"I let my temper get the better of me. I admit it. Medea is not a child who would do such a thing to me."
I had thought her a fierce goddess, but I never expected her to attack first — cold sweat was pouring down my back. Medea, terrified of Hecate's wrath, had fled behind me; I straightened my spine protectively and faced Hecate head-on.
"So you truly called me because you wished to free Medea?"
"That is correct. She is a witch who has lived long enough for a human life to end many times over. In all those years she has faced people she never wished to see, and lost every chance at a new family. I thought the time had come to release her from that duty."
"Why do you take Medea's side? What is the meaning of this?"
"I am a member of this generation's Argo expedition. In keeping with a hero's virtues, I wished for my friend Jason's great deed to be properly accomplished — but that is impossible so long as Medea's hysteria does not cease. Without resolving this, the expedition was clearly doomed to fail, so I heard her circumstances. Even knowing her old story, her plight was so pitiful that I wanted to free her from it. However — if even my plea is met with the demand that she continue this curse-like duty, then you ought to give us a reason that everyone can accept."
Hecate listened and seemed to wonder whether such words could truly come from a child's mouth. She shot Medea a sidelong glance, as if suspecting the witch had drilled the speech into me.
"I swear upon the River Styx that this act of mine was not at Medea's instigation."
"……Hmph. What an audacious little brat."
Only after I played my final trump card did Hecate accept it. She raked both hands through her three heads of red hair, then spat out to Medea why she had imposed such a thing in the first place.
"The reason I set that task upon Medea is none other than Hades's command."
"Lord Hades's?"
"More precisely, Hera started it."
It was a story from the distant age of the original Jason.
"Hera, enraged at Jason for betraying his wife, wished to punish Medea as well — but that fell under my jurisdiction. Medea was a witch I personally watched over, so Hera ordered me to punish her. Yet as you well know, I am rather well-respected among the other gods. Even the Queen of Heaven could not treat me lightly. And like Hades, I hold a greater stake in the Underworld, so I could ignore her words and protect Medea unharmed."
Her tone had softened somehow. She was quick to anger, but it seemed she had cherished Medea. This whole situation, too, was against her will.
"And so much time passed. By then Medea had only just taken the throne as Queen of Colchis — and in that period, the second Jason gathered the crew of the Argo of his own accord and came to Colchis. It was a situation Medea herself never wanted, and this fool, her eyes going wild at the mere words 'Jason's successor,' slaughtered them all. The Argonauts the second Jason brought were also descendants of heroes, most of them of that bloodline — and she killed every last one. It was a tremendous loss to this land."
The vanishing of heroes.
Was that how the epithet system came into being?
I had long been curious about many things in this world, and Hecate had casually answered one of them.
"For those of us who knew an age of rampaging hero-descendants was coming, it was a great shock. Unrest broke out across the lands as well, and many heroic bloodlines were severed, so we thought to quietly bury the catastrophe Medea had caused — but Hera, who still looked upon Medea with loathing, reported the matter to Hades. Ordinarily neither Hera nor Hades holds authority to command the other, yet Hades, too, was displeased that the souls of so many heroes had flooded into the Underworld, and he turned his anger on me. As I said, I hold a stake in both the surface and the underworld — but I could not defy a command issued by both Hera and Hades. For the crime of failing to manage my witch, I was confined to the Underworld."
"Then you are still in the Underworld even now?"
"I am. The fact that your name came from Eris's lips means you have been to the Underworld yourself, does it not? You audacious little brat. You have no sense of how precious a life is."
So in the end it was Hera scolding Hades, Hades scolding Hecate, and Hecate scolding Medea — a chain of blame cascading downward?
From Hecate's perspective, it must have been galling. She seemed to be airing her grievances, and as we talked her mood loosened considerably; she even cast a sympathetic look toward Medea. I still considered Medea's crime quite grave, but the two of them — something like master and disciple — looked after each other and shared their feelings.
"In other words, if Lord Hades can be persuaded, both Lady Hecate and Medea will be free."
"That is the shape of it. Hera cannot command Hades, so if that man alone changes his mind, both Medea and I are free. I have been held in the Underworld so long I cannot go to the surface — if you can persuade him, both Medea and I would be overcome with joy."
"Then make me one promise."
"A promise?"
"If Lady Hecate succeeds in rising to the surface, I would have you promise to contribute to the world together with your witches. In addition, let Medea raise as many new heroes as the number she once killed — and since Lady Hecate's relationship with Lady Hera has surely soured, I ask that you exchange a few words through me and dissolve the grudge. Do this, and every problem that plagues Lady Hecate will be cleanly resolved."
"I have spent a long time in the Underworld, and I have had my own thoughts on this situation. Very well — not a bad proposal. Medea, so long as it is not Jason, you have no complaint about being involved with heroes, do you?"
"Yes! Of course not!"
"Good. The two of us agree to it. But can you truly persuade Hades?"
At those words I struck my mace against the floor and spoke with full confidence.
"Do you know Lord Hades's character? He, too, must feel conflicted in his heart about confining a fellow god to the Underworld. Much time has passed; he is surely looking for a reason to release you."
"Truly?"
"Since the two of you have promised to contribute to the world, I too shall swear upon the name of Zagreus the Second."
"Wh— Zagreus? Wait! Stop! That name is Hades's forbidden word—?!"
Whoooooooosh!!!!!!
Along with Hecate's startled cry, the world went dark without warning. Blue flames suddenly enveloped the entire room. For a moment I wondered if I had unconsciously used my authority, but it was not my doing — the blue fire that appeared through the darkness took human form and looked down upon the three of us.
"Zagreus, you say?"
I started, wondering if I had spoken something I should not have — but the voice coming from the blue flames was deeply familiar.
"Hm? Could that be Lord Hades?"
"Oh, that voice…?"
The blue flames gradually settled into a proper human shape. A handsome middle-aged man with black hair and black eyes that suited him well appeared abruptly in our midst, blinking as he looked over the two women and me — himself seemingly unsure why he had been called.
"Ah, Perseus. You gave me quite a start, summoning me so suddenly."
"That is my line, my lord. Er… where did you appear from…?"
"It was when I bestowed your epithet last time. I imbued a power so that if you ever uttered the name of Zagreus, I would appear."
"Why?"
"Did you not say you would build a new altar for me? But I thought humans who considered me dangerous might interfere with your work. Everyone knows how foolish the mortals of the surface can be, do they not? So I laid a little scheme just in case… if a situation arose where you invoked Zagreus's name to cow someone… I would appear and drive back those who doubted your actions…"
"You wanted to give me a scare?"
"Ahem…"
At my words, Hades looked sheepish and averted his gaze. Then he surveyed the surroundings, tilted his head in a manner unsuited to his dignified appearance, and broke into a grin.
"Still — I do seem to have arrived at rather a good moment, don't I?"
"Yes, you have. Your unworthy son was just about to descend to the Underworld to see his adoptive father, so you have saved me the trouble."
"Ho? Something must be afoot. I happen to be free, so let me hear your story."
Lord Hades spoke as though he were my own father, telling me to leave it all to him, and took a seat. Hecate and Medea, still not fully grasping the situation, sat down after him — and quite unintentionally, we found ourselves deliberating how to turn Hera's heart.