Somewhere Between El Paso and Huston
"The great God Pan is dead, and it was a man who killed him…"
She played music with a smile in her face and a shake on her hips as the audience of men became entranced by her seducing voice. A woman like that had no place to be there, not after you had heard her sing. Before she uttered a word of her song she had seemed so mundane and unassuming you could have met her in person and still forget her face except by the fact that she was well past her prime. But now? Oh yes, now she was something completely different: she had discarded the worn shall that covered her torso and shoulders, revealing a bust and butt that became shinier and grew in volume the more she sang; the more the audience looked at her the greater her glow was; the more her sweet tune resonated inside the place the more the crowd adored her. Soon every man in the bar was awing and drooling at this bewitching beauty, so were the women, and even the beasts and insects, all creatures with eyes to see and ears to hear had paused to just listen to this goddess of bronze with long lacquer hair and red lips that could seduce stone.
One song became two; two became a one hour experience where no-one wanted the show to stop, not the audience whom emptied their valuables at the feet of the amazing woman they had had the honour of listening to, nor the woman whom, for the first time in longer than anyone else in that Nation had been alive, had again tasted fame, glory, and recognition, and she had let it intoxicate her, despite her better judgment. But she could not stop herself, she needed the money, and more importantly, she needed the energy of the adoring crowd to keep her living, to keep her on her journey, to get what she needed to earn another precious moment of life, and then some. The woman had taken a very big risk by putting such a show, but she guessed the odds were in her favour, and for her troubles she had come out with a few thousand in cash and a very nice car courtesy of an infatuated admirer that, when enough time passed, would regret his hasty decision, but right now, the fact that this woman had accepted his gift had elevated him to the status of rapturous joy, and when she kissed him, well he had been so happy his heart literally stopped and had to have an ambulance save him from an early trip to the boneyard.
Richer, energized, and, more importantly, with a new set of wheels, the woman continued her journey. She travelled to El Paso with a simple goal: To find a store that would sell her Apple Cider. Now, one would wonder, what sort of woman would travel through the entire state of Texas for some Cider? Particularly this woman who appeared to gain power and youth as she sang to adoring fans? A woman like that should be on the top of the Billboards, surrounded by all sort of men and women, enjoying the adoration of billions, tasting pleasures that reserved for the true elite, living a life of luxury that mere mortals could not afford to comprehend. The fact was her life was one mere mortals could not comprehend for she was not mere, and, as long as she got another bottle of the Cider she was after, she was no mortal either, at least in the chronological sense.
The woman had lived under many names for many centuries, but the name most people that knew who she really was would know her has Euterpe, the Muse of Music. Nearly Two-Thousand years ago she had been part of an elite group known as the Greek Gods. Her name was invoked by every musician and poet that sought inspiration, and when she was not feeding on the gratitude of men she had the honour to entertain the Olympians atop Mount Olympus with her talents beyond anything mortal men could dream. With the help of the God Apollo, God of the Sun, Oracles, and Music, she had peeked into the future of music, and seized for the Gods the instruments and melodies that the world itself had yet to have the capabilities to conceive. She was a Rock Star before Rock was even a thing, and her patrons granted her access to luxuries no man of mortal lineage could ever dream of taste. Now, nearly two-thousand years later, she had gone from a fact to a myth, having to live in the fringes of society, never allowing herself to be heard or seen for too long for fear as she may be found and killed.
She had been there, Euterpe had seen it with her own two eyes when the God Apollo was entranced by the prophecy, as she celebrated the festivity to end all festivities the pure sun that shone over Mount Olympus dimmed, the clouds disobeyed Lord Zeus Commands and all the Godly faces turned pale as Gaia cried in pain her last breath. All Gods in horror heard clear as day that the Titan of the Earth had been slain, her energy released into the very earth, no longer under the power of one entity. Demeter and Persephone cried and shivered as their connection to the earth itself was diminished, and in their own bones felt the death of the second of the Primordial Deities, and aged in a day what they did not age in millennia.
When the wail of death was over God Apollo spoke in trance, not in his trance, the Gods of Olympus knew of Apollo and his trances and this was different, this one did not belong to him, it was something different, something angry and spoke in words she could recall by heart to this day.
'The Kings who stole the crown have eaten too well. They have hoarded the gifts of men for themselves and have fashion of their own flesh and blood Gods that feast on the spirit of humanity.
For too long this Gods have allowed to sully the name God, for too long they have tricked the world, and in turn they have tricked themselves into believing to be what they are not. Now their time is at hand, no longer they will be allowed to hoard what was not for them to hold, nor to parcel and gift as their own what they did not create. The time has come for true justice to be served, for the true Crown is a burden that no mortal being could ever bear, and its throne too magnificent for those who have fallen prey of the temporal pleasures of the world to be worthy of it.
This shall be your first and last warning, relinquish now all the power you have taken for yourselves, that you have illicitly pass down to your children, and their children. Surrender to the true power that has lorded over this world before there was a world and you may yet still have a place in heaven. Do not, and may the pit of fire be for you the place of eternal rest'.
Apollo did not know what happened, but he was certain, he knew that whatever spoke through him had dominion over all Olympians.
Hades and Thanatos confirm to Zeus what the God of the Heavens already knew, Gaia was indeed dead, though her soul was not bound to the Underworld. Lord Hades had consulted with Tartarus itself about where Gaia's soul might be, but not even Chaos itself could believe his own children could die.
A few weeks after Apollo vanished from Olympus, no one knew where he disappeared, and to this day nor has Euterpe. But soon after Apollo's vanishing HE appeared onto Olympus. Each God had decided to fortify itself in his or her Kingdom. Euterpe and her sisters had chosen to be with their father Zeus in Olympus, but the mightiest of all mountains was not safe, for one night, as they dinned in Hestia's ambrosia the man felt upon them. He was dressed in pitch darkness, a darkness so dark light could not escape its surface. His only weapon was a sword, a shining blade made of the most radiant silver, so pure it awed everyone who dare look into it. Before any God present knew what happened Lord Zeus's head was lopped off his shoulders, and landed on the main tray devoid of all life. Non of the presents could comprehend what they had witnessed until the energy stored into the dead god's body burst into the heavens, no longer bound by the will of their master. Terror befell the great dining hall as the man went after the other attendants of the hall. Euterpe witnessed the death of her sister Erato, the muse of Erotic poetry, right in front of her eyes. It was only the timely intervention of Athena and Ares that prevented Euterpe from suffering the same fate of her sisters.
After that fateful day Euterpe had been on the move, her power diminishing as this Avatar of Death, came after the entire Greek Patron and beyond. Anywhere she had found refuge and worship this man has appeared, killing Gods and heroes of legend, leaving behind a power vacuum that was being filled by the new faiths coming from Judea and other corners of the world. Euterpe had not always been alone in her journey, she had made friends, and had learned to blend and tolerate the presence of mortals around her. She had learned that Athena was still alive, and so were some of sisters and other Olympians, but the Pantheons were thinning. In vain Gods had tried to procreate with mortals to create new heroes to stop this assassin of Gods. Now deities that where once at war with each other and would have slaughtered their worshipers on sight had been forced into uneasy alliances, uncomfortable living arrangements, and worst.
Once the rulers of the world, omnipotent, and omnipresent; the be-all and end-all for humanity. Now they scraped by, barely hoping to see anther day. Biding their time to strike back at this assassin and its master, the God that has taken everything from them.
Euterpe drove to El Paso for her Cider, and maybe, this time, she would be able to join her brethren to fight back.