The fires that had plagued the oceans had been extinguished and every bit of reddish light faded alongside them. The island was now clad in the overcast grey of clouds and smoke that suffocated the sky. Were one to look upon the horizon there would become noticeable ever so small cracks in their vision. As if the dark blue itself was folding in on itself and dispersing. The end was near.

But nobody was there to pay attention to the world’s quiet demise. The only steps that could be heard on dry ground were headed for the Gorgon’s lair. Underground, far away from the light of day. Two arrhythmic footsteps and one slow crunching motion of scales upon rubble. Those sounds were all there was to perceive in this shrinking world.

Until she raised her voice.

“How many.”

“Pardon?”

“How many times have you repeated this dream?”

They stopped before the crushed door to the lair. Medusa had stopped slithering forward and asked so in a disquieting tone. Although she did not look at the girl behind her, it was clear that her attention was at the edge.

“Oh.” Eugenia was taken aback for a moment, but gathered her wits quickly. She cupped her mouth and seemed to earnestly think about it. “I lost count.” She admitted after a while.

“Then you truly remember them? All of them?” Medusa asked with a strained voice.

“I can’t say that I remember anything, really.” Surprisingly she denied it. “There are… fragments. Sometimes I see an image of something that hasn’t happened, but I know to be real.” She was not quite sure herself it seemed. “No matter what those visions showed me, I knew what I had to do. No matter how many times I died, I needed to keep trying. For the sake of-”

“Your ‘mission’?” Medusa crossed her arms and bit her lower lip. A sense of defeat had spread through her mind the moment she had returned to consciousness. More than anything she wished to understand how Eugenia had managed to reach this point.

“I came to save you Medusa.” The girl said earnestly.

“Not because I wish to be saved, but because it was your purpose.” Medusa retorted quietly.

“That’s true.” The girl looked at Medusa’s back with a gentle expression.

“You do not even understand what you have done.” The snake woman sighed and moved to the stairs that led into the lair. She subtly gestured Eugenia to do the same. The girl hastily followed and almost tripped over herself.

As Medusa went down the steps, torches lit up along the way and guided their way. With each cone of light the deeply layered murals became visible as well. They did not exist in the real world, but had always been there in this one. Eugenia’s gaze did not even acknowledge them and just kept following Medusa’s bare back.

“You defeated the hero.”

“I didn’t really do anything myself.”

Medusa stopped again and this time Eugenia bumped into her. The Gorgon’s eyes were squinted. The thoughts kept piling on rapidly.

“Your feat is that of a lucid dreamer. Someone who can manipulate the fabric of this world and declare sovereignty over it. With your will and memories you created something new where it did not belong.”

Eugenia smiled neutrally as she could not follow.

“You are an intruder. No perhaps… conqueror would be more apt. As my shell kept repeating the dream endlessly, you only grew more competent. The pieces were never equal.” She surmised.

“There was no other way to save you.”

“What do you believe to have realized?”

“No matter how many times you win against the hero, you will always succumb to madness and destroy this world with your own hands.” Eugenia said with a shift in tone. For a moment she seemed far more overwrought and exhausted. “Is that not the ‘destiny’ of this place?”

Medusa did not respond and instead put a hand to one of the murals. Her nail traced the image of a woman standing among dozens of people. She seemed to be happy, if only for a single moment captured in long forgotten time.

“I realized that I could not stop you. The world didn’t allow me to interfere with your battle. I can’t remember each life I spent on this island, but the fragments I feel - this bitter emotion - it is endless. The previous me and the one before her and all of the ones that came even before that… they all failed.”

Just as Medusa remembered an endless chain of battles in which she triumphed and lost and succumbed, so did Eugenia’s soul remember the countless times she failed to reach her goal as well. Her mind could not comprehend what her soul knew. Perhaps it was better that way.

“I cannot tell why the world is this way, but I knew that you cannot fight the hero. If you do, destiny will grip you by the head and drag you down again.” The human girl stretched her hand after the desolate back of the Gorgon. Medusa evaded her grasp and kept advancing down the steps.

“I suppose that is as far as you could see.”

“It was far enough.”

“I cannot say how you managed to gather the strength to alter this dream to the point of defeating the hero, but I must accept the consequences. You call it destiny, to me it was-“

“Why will you not look my way?” Eugenia suddenly interrupted her. It was a strange question no doubt, but it seemed to mean a lot to her. “Every time our eyes met you have shown rejection. Something seemed to possess you, make you suffer. Is it my fault?”

“You ask such a thing after everything that happened?” Medusa sighed, but did not give her a glance. The snake hair turned back and focused on the girl instead. Their small black eyes were unfeeling and serene, entirely different from their usual temper. They seemed to see through the human as if she was air.

“When I saw you for the first time it gave me strength.” She muttered. “I wish you could look at me without such pain in return.”

“What you ‘see’ is no more than an illusion. It was never real.” Medusa said sternly.

“What do you mean?”

Finally Medusa seemed out of patience and turned the human’s way. Her cursed eyes met with the dark blots, the void eyes that had been stabbed into Eugenia’s pale face. What emotions could one derive from such an abyss? She had no idea.

“You believe to perceive my appearance?” She held her finger forward and stopped right before the girl’s eyes.

“Of course! I have never seen someone as beautiful as you. No matter how hard it was, I could always keep moving forward knowing that I would meet you again. See those beautiful eyes one more time.” She seemed nearly in trance when she spoke to the Gorgon. The dark voids in her face were unreadable, but her cheeks, her slightly open mouth and her tender expression showed an infatuation that she did not display before.

“That is how she did it.” Medusa exclaimed in surprise. “It should have been impossible for you to remember anything. You were a slave to the rules of this world. To that end I had to seal your memories.” She finally pieced it all together.

“You sealed them away?” The girl tilted her head to the side in wonder.

“Satyr song and old magic connected our dreams. I sensed her intrusion and used my influence to stop her.” Medusa didn’t seem to explain it to Eugenia so much as to get it off her chest. “I could not act freely from inside the puppet, thus I was forced to rely on half-measures. To stop her I had to seal everything about her away. If you had given up surely you would have been banished from the dream.”

“I can never give up.” She shook her head.

“Tenacious to a fault, she imprinted her empty shell with a single-minded will. What irony! The spark for this rebellious fire came from the same place as the seal.” She chuckled at the ingenuity.

“Please Medusa, look at me just once. I want your beautiful eyes to meet mine.” The shell of Eugenia spoke desperately, sensing the inbound end. Their eyes had already met, but she had realized that Medusa never truly saw her.

“You cannot see anything.” Medusa said gently. Despite it all she gazed into the two voids compassionately. A final gesture to this unyielding puppet. “Eugenia, you are blind.”

As if those words were a spell woven by a witch, its sound shook the girl to her core. Her eyes widened and something seemed to pierce her soul. Her lips trembled powerlessly. The void shrank until it took the shape of two eyes. Each eye was white as milk, losing all light and eventually the shock as well.

Eugenia stood still as a statue for a few moments before exhaling deeply.

“I am sorry.” She spoke tenderly to someone who had left them behind.

“I should have expected that you have needless regrets.”

“I put a burden far too great on her shoulders.” Eugenia wiped her wet eyes and gathered her loose emotions.

“At least you returned as yourself. The gathered suffering from those repeated lives should have affected you-”

“I missed you!” Eugenia said with a shaking voice and hugged Medusa without hesitation.

“Foolish girl.” Medusa said disgruntled at the sudden show of affection. “You should not have chased me here. This misery could have been avoided.”

“Don’t say that. You will make her effort seem meaningless.” She didn’t want to hear it right now.

“…you reacted unpredictably. If you had let me seal your memories completely you could have been a proper spectator. The audience leaves at the end of the performance and can return home.”

“What is the point of returning home alone if the actors are imprisoned on their stage?” Eugenia pushed her face against Medusa’s chest woefully.

“How did you know that I sealed your memories behind those eyes?”

“You have a strange sense of humor.” Eugenia replied dryly.

“Hmph.”

“The only way to impart some of my memoires onto her was to link my will to the sight of Medusa.” She explained.

“Using the sight I granted her to force her to pursue this mission endlessly.” The very first time that Eugenia had laid eyes upon Medusa’s puppet she had been forced on an unavoidable path. Thus their plays had been made. It had taken countless repetitions, but eventually Eugenia’s will had overcome the walls that Medusa had erected for her.

And yet…

“You must leave.” She said resolutely.

“You cannot possibly try to convince me that you want to continue this nightmare!” Eugenia was taken aback and separated from Medusa’s chest.

“My self has returned, so I cannot continue the cycle mindlessly. There will have to be changes.” She admitted.

“Why do you force yourself to stay trapped?!”

“…” Medusa looked a little happy when she saw Eugenia’s genuine anger. This righteous feeling that had overcome the girl was all for Medusa’s sake. Even if she had decided to stay alone, she could not deny the sensation of gratitude she felt.

“Medusa, you know that this is what she wants.” She said bitterly.

“It is too late to argue with me.”

“I can’t let you turn into that.” The girl lamented.

“Then I have already shown you something unsightly in the real world.” Medusa said with a hint of shame and turned back towards the murals.

“It hurt… to see you that way. You were writhing about like a mindless beast.” Eugenia confirmed.

“Once you awaken you will need to leave the island. It is safe no longer.” Medusa said matter of factly.

“That is not going to happen!” Eugenia declared. “We will wake up together and overcome this as well, like we did all those times before.”

“Not this time.” She smiled comfortingly for once and grabbed Eugenia’s irritated waving hand. “I know that you shan’t ever relent if I do not explain it to you. Close your eyes.”

Eugenia seemed suspicious for a moment, but then did as she was told. The next moment she gasped as she could see again, just like her puppet did before. But her point of view was strangely high and far sharper.

“I am letting you see through my eyes.”

“How-?”

“This is my dream.” Medusa answered curtly. “Now follow me.” She dragged Eugenia by the hand and kept looking at the murals. It became clear quickly that they were sequential. Each was another moment in the life of a central figure.

“Is that your past?” The girl wondered.

“Correct. In this deepest depth of my soul my life’s story is clearer than on the surface. Nothing can be omitted from my eyes, not even those things that I have forgotten while awake.”

“Forgotten? But you told me that your memory is perfect.” Eugenia seemed confused.

“I did not lie about that. Everything that happened in my long life can be recalled to the last detail. Unless my head is severely injured I will be able to remember each breath, each word spoken and each step taken.” It was a burden of the divine that mortals did not comprehend. A life without the blissful embrace of slow oblivion.

Mortals would eventually forget everything, including their fears, shame and anger. But the gods and those alike could not simply forget a grudge. It would live on in them as if it was still the first day they held it. This was the reason that the gods did never forgive easily. Something that caused rage must be balanced with something that soothed it. There was no natural progression towards ignorance of the past.

Depending on who was asked, this in itself was already considered a curse.

“Then how could you possibly forget anything?”

“You should know now that memories can be sealed away, just as I did to you.” Medusa stopped her descent before a greater mural than those that came before. Until now the tale had followed Medusa as a lower deity, but here before them was a painful moment that had deeply scarred her memory.

Athena stood above the collapsed body of the woman and judged her with her spear. Lightning hit the sparsely drawn temple and snakes pushed out of the woman’s head. Her body transformed into a misshapen creature. What followed was a rampage like no other where many humans were slain and petrified. The temple and island were destroyed until they turned into the ruin that now spread across it.

“You met my sisters.” Medusa’s finger pointed at two beautiful women that stood at each side of the Gorgon. The beast had ended its rampage when they appeared.

“Euryale and Stheno.” Eugenia had met them once in reality, but the remnant memories of this dream had left a far deeper impression on her.

“They were originally part of me. When I was cursed to become mortal we separated. That is all I told you before.” She recalled.

“Yes.”

“They should not have opposed me here. It is incomprehensible how you turned them against my shell.” She muttered in irritation. It could be said that without the help of the Gorgon sisters Eugenia could never have defeated the hero or stopped the Gorgon’s clash with him.

“I don’t remember much, but I know that they wanted the best for you. Nobody understood you better than them… because they are part of you.” The girl seemed certain of that.

“Inconceivable.”

“Medusa, maybe deep down you wanted them to-“

“Quiet. We have no time for that.” Medusa brushed her words aside and continued the story told by the murals. The stairway seemed endlessly long somehow. It went far deeper than was possible in reality.

“I always wanted to know one thing.” Eugenia who shared Medusa’s vision witnessed the early days of the sisters daily life together. Long stretches of uneventful days that were occasionally shaken up by raiding expeditions trying to slay Medusa. The sisters at first were like empty vessels. They did only as Medusa willed them and had no minds of their own. But somehow, as the solitude spread across the island, something changed.

“Out with it then.” This was the one opportunity where Medusa would answer anything.

“Why did your sisters leave the island?” It was a simple question, but unbeknownst of the former priestess, it was at the crux of everything.

“They were nothing but facets of me that were discarded. They had only one purpose – to give me company.” Medusa retold the events seriously. “I did not tell them what to do. I never even acknowledged them. Not until they started to become more.”

“Is that…” Eugenia saw the change clearly. As time went on the sisters gained their own personalities and began acting with self-interest and desires. In return Medusa changed as well. Perhaps it was the spark of life that they had received, but the Gorgon started to respond to them and seemed to find solace in their companionship.

It was all too familiar.

“It was a foolish play that we enacted in our small stage. I do not regret it, though.” The pictures had a certain warmth to them. Something that had been utterly missing before.

“You loved them like they were family and I am certain they felt the same. I don’t understand why you would ever separate.”

“It was my curse.”

“What?” Eugenia grabbed Medusa’s hand tightly in surprise.

“The curse that woman put on me went far beyond rendering my sight deadly and my appearance ugly.” She looked upon the next sequence with stern eyes.

Another expedition came to slay the monstrous Gorgon and expectedly they were petrified wholesale. It was a trivial battle, no more challenging than any other before. But something was different.

“There was something I have forgotten. No, rather it was erased from my memory. The day I lost myself to the curse.” Medusa quietly pointed at the scene before them.

Carnage.

A bloodbath of destruction and wrath. In its center, the bodies of Stheno and Euryale, covered in countless wounds. They laid amidst crushed statues and burning nature. The cause of this horrific scenery was none other than the snake woman lashing out all around her. Her silvery-purple eyes were no different from the Hydra’s and her appearance became unrecognizable. That creature was without the doubt the true Gorgon. That monster which in all legends ignited an intense fear and respect.

“My sisters cannot die easily. They bore the wrath of my beastly form for many days. Inexhaustible rage controlled my mind and I hurt them endlessly.”

“How horrible.” Eugenia swallowed her tears and held on with her shaking hand.

“Athena’s curse forces me into isolation. Not for my inability to cross eyes with mortals however. It deteriorates my sense of self. With each passing year I grow baser, less intelligent. You must have seen it in the waking world, I am merely a shell that moves on instinct now.”

Eugenia did not respond, but Medusa could tell from her stiff body that she knew what she meant.

“Abusing the power of my curse for my own gain hastens the process. That is why Athena allowed my legend to persist across the centuries. Every time I turn my foes to stone it will eat away at my soul. Every time I overstrain my eyes I will be lesser.”

“That’s what she wants.” Eugenia said sadly.

“I am all but lost already. Do you understand? There is no meaning to stay by my side. I will only come to hurt you.” She spoke emotionlessly, objectively. It was the only way she could convey it to this stubborn girl completely. “Euryale and Stheno left me behind as well. They knew that I was a lost cause. They did not have to bind themselves to my fate, so they chose to live freely.”

“You are wrong...”

“It does not matter if I am victorious against every enemy that comes for my head. Just like the hero of this nightmare, new foes will appear endlessly until I lose myself. I share the fate of mortals now, there is an end to my woven future. I have no place next to the divine and I am the enemy of all mortals. This is who Medusa, the Gorgon of Sarpedon, truly is.”

“I said you are wrong!!” Eugenia shouted into the echoing tunnel.

“Please, do not try to fool yourself for my sake.”

“I am not! Medusa, do you not understand how they felt at all?” She grabbed Medusa’s hand in both of hers and raised her head. “They left you because they wanted to protect you!”

“What nonsense-“

“They loved you more than anything in this world. That’s why they knew that if they stayed with you it would continue to worsen your state. You couldn’t calm down as long as there was an enemy near you. To the Gorgon, every deity is an enemy. That is why your condition worsened when they stayed with you. When I met your sisters they were only concerned for you. They would wait days in dangerous territory just so they could make sure I would not hurt you.”

“…” Medusa could not respond, because she already knew. She had tried to hide this part of the curse, but there was no fooling Eugenia.

“I don’t believe that you are a mindless thing. Even now, while you slumber in the lair to repeat this eternal nightmare, you are still not lost. No matter how many times I approached you, you would never hurt me. Instead of slaying me, your suffering shell embraced me.” She spoke with conviction. “Even when you lost so much of yourself, the true you is still in there. The kind woman who would embrace me even though I am human. A useless human with the blessing of the goddess that did this to you.” She clung to Medusa’s arm as if to prevent her from leaving.

“You are not my enemy.” She spoke honestly.

“I will never become your enemy.” Eugenia confirmed. “But my blessing causes your curse to react. I am sure of it now. All this fighting, all the times you faced the gods, all the while I kept trying to get closer to you… It all took its toll.”

“…yes.” There was no use denying it anymore. Not here.

“My love has always been selfish. I knew this, but… you warned me several times that you cannot be loved. Maybe I understand your reasons better now.”

“It is not your fault. Your presence has little consequence compared to all else.” How unlike her to try and comfort someone. Actually she should have realized by now that this was not strange at all. In the depth of her dreams, she had no need to lie to herself.

“For my sake you ended up here.” Eugenia said with a grave expression. “Instead of rampaging as the curse controlled you, you sealed yourself inside this nightmare.”

“You are too sharp at the strangest of times.” Was there anything she could hide from this intrusive girl anymore?

“The hero is an avatar of Athena. Even my other self realized that as she kept trying to save you. That means you have been fighting Athena’s essence endlessly without rest. You are still fighting back. You never gave up.”

“I will not be ended easily.” She agreed.

“But that is what Athena wants! You must have realized already, there is no way you wouldn’t. By facing the avatar so many times the curse only progresses faster.”

“That is mere speculation-“

“Tell me. If you continue to repeat this nightmare, when will you lose everything?” She insisted on a response.

Medusa sighed. “I will last far beyond your lifetime. Do not take me lightly.”

“Again, for my sake you would suffer this way.” She bit her lip strongly. “You told me I could stay on Sarpedon as long as I wished. Is this how you want to keep your word?”

Medusa only looked at her face with compassion now.

“There is no meaning to such a promise if you aren’t there with me!” She pulled her hands away and separated their connection. “I came back because I wanted to be with you. Only you. Instead of protecting me, you only left me alone again.” She said at the edge of tears.

Medusa knew how much Eugenia loved her. There was no way any mortal would come to the dream world through Satyr song and overcome her control of the dream with willpower alone. There should have been no such miracle. Defeating the avatar of Athena was impossible for mortals, even more so in this dream which had a predestined outcome.

This reckless, boundless and stubborn love was what irked her the most. It would have been so much easier if she just grew dependent on her, like a duckling that imprints on the closest creature. Once it grew old enough it could sever those ties and survive alone. But love was a poison that could not be cured with time.

“Medusa is still in that shell. You are still with me.” Eugenia muttered stubbornly.

“When you wake up, I suggest that you pray to the messenger boy that he takes you back to the mainland. He has grown obstinately fond of you. I know that he will assist without asking a price too great.” She settled her hand on Eugenia’s head who was shivering in response as the tears finally spilled out.

“Hic… no… I can’t…” She kept speaking incoherently between tears as Medusa took her down the stairwell deep into the center of the lair.

They passed by the remaining murals which depicted the story of their meeting and all that happened since. It was infinitesimally short compared to the long history before it, but they were more expressive than most of her life. It had only been such a short time, not even worth mentioning in the long lifespan of her kind. Merely a bump in the road.

Yet Medusa would cherish it for the rest of her time. No matter how much she lost herself, these memories were ones that she could not throw away. She would not forget them like she did hers sisters’ kindness. It seemed that she had really changed the most in the end.

The lair was different from what her shell had resided in. This was closer to what the real world’s lair had been. This spot that they had worked on together and turned more homely. The animal furs and skins on the ground, Euryale’s atrocious pictures on the walls, the comforting glow of the fluorescent holes beyond the cracks. There were no torches so far below as they would have taken away precious air from Eugenia. She had never had a need for light down here and Eugenia didn’t either.

She let her down gently on the furs and allowed her to sob for a while. Eugenia could not see this nest that they had built together. She thought it was a shame. No matter how much the girl insisted to not mind her blindness, Medusa considered it a tragedy. For one who loved the world so much to have no way to perceive it completely was cruel indeed. That is why she granted her sight in this dream at least. The images of this dream could have given her a better memory of her time on Sarpedon.

“I did something unnecessary again.” She chided herself quietly. This needless kindness had bitten her back spectacularly.

She breathed in the fake air and took all of it in. Now that the ‘destiny` of this nightmare had been destroyed, she would have to face Athena’s influence differently. The convenience of losing herself in slumber as her shell kept repeating the cycle was no longer an option. Yet she felt no resentment for Eugenia’s actions. Deep inside her heart of stone…

“I don’t want to be alone.”

Words like swords cut Medusa in the back. She could not turn her gaze forward when something was still holding her back.

“You will not be alone.” She decided that now was not the time to act brazen and selfish as she was prone to. She could afford to be with Eugenia until the final moments. For that purpose she lowered herself onto the furs and let the girl rest on her curled snake tail. “I have seen it through my shell’s eyes and I remember the tales you told me. You have people you care about in the human world. That reckless merchant and his wife, the healers that saved your life, the priestess that taught you and that foolish looking boy who seems to bear affection for you.” She spoke calmly and played with Eugenia’s long chestnut hair, curling it around her finger intimately.

Eugenia still hid her crying face behind her arms.

“You are endearing to those you meet. It may sound no better than flattery coming from me, but there will be a place for you wherever your steps take you. You are nobody’s pawn. You have no enemies. You are truly free.”

The opposite of Medusa. Perhaps that is what she had always…

“If I am free to be wherever I want, to be with whomever I want… then I will stay at your side.” She muttered between her arms.

“I cannot deny you that.” Medusa admitted, but then decided to take it a step further. “But if I could ask something of you, my first and only wish.”

“!” Eugenia stopped her sobbing in surprise.

“I want you to be happy.” She said with a full smile.

Eugenia raised her head up and her milky eyes locked on to the cursed eyes of her beloved. Albeit they should not have seen anything, they seemed unusually focused. The salty trails of her dried tears were visible. Swollen red eyes were not pretty, but she still found them endearing. Really, everything about that face was…

“That is an unfair request.” She said hoarsely.

“I know.”

“Even though I have the same wish for you. What you are saying is that there is no happiness if we stay together. Not for me… not for you.”

“That is right. I will be happy if you can enjoy your life. Staying with my shell out there will only bring you livelong agony.”

“You keep protecting me. You keep sacrificing things for me. You just continue to be such a… such a fool!” Eugenia grimaced painfully and then slapped Medusa as emotion overcame her.

“I must have learned it from you.” Medusa said coquettishly and held the slapping hand to her cheek, not allowing it to retreat. “Will you take responsibility for molding me into this?”

“So it will always be my fault.” She said with the weakest smile. That was the gesture of someone who had given up.

“Nobody is without faults.”

“I never saw you committing any wrongs.”

“You are quite blind after all.”

“…” Eugenia seemed lost for words and simply kept enjoying the feeling of Medusa’s cheek against her hand. Although the Gorgon’s face was cold as ever, there was comfort in this closeness.

The world around them was collapsing rapidly already. The island outside the lair was all but gone. The stairway was turning to dust as well. The dream came to an end on the third day, as it always did. It rarely reached this moment, because the loop began the moment Eugenia died.

Of course she had realized this already. Medusa forcefully restarted the dream whenever Eugenia was slain. For if she experienced true death in the dream, her body in reality may have reacted aversely. Just another sign of her unnecessary kindness.

In mere moments even this small innocent space would disappear completely and they would be torn apart again. This time the dream would not begin anew - not for her anyway. She knew that Medusa would force her out completely now that she was back in control. Kygnos merely connected their dreams, but there was no possibility of a mere Satyr’s song to chain their dreams together. It had been an uphill battle from the start, but only Medusa’s sunken consciousness being slow to react had given her this one chance.

It was all dark for Eugenia, it always had been. She could feel Medusa’s face in her hand, she could sense her breathing in front of her and she could smell the fragrance of her body. These blessed ears of hers seemed useless without the flow of air or the rustling of clothing. It had never brought her happiness.

At the border between waking and slumber, where all things collapsed and were laid bare, she could truly sense what mattered. Medusa’s wish was like a hot iron ball pressing into her chest. At the end of her strength and her will, all she could do was accept that burden. The burden of making happiness from despair.

Medusa’s burden was far greater still. She could not wallow in self-pity in front of the one who had carried it all. Her mind accepted it, but her heart was a stubborn animal. Winding, clawing and growling freely.

Each of them had a burden only they could carry. Wasn’t that poetic? Maybe some songstress would weave a good one from this tragedy. It was a rather cynical thought. Only they would ever know what was lost this day.

“It is time.” Medusa said with a look at the collapsing reality around them.

With everything stripped bare down to their very souls, Eugenia noticed something. In the darkness that she called her companion she could see something. Her white eyes widened.

“You will have time to weigh your options out there. I do not ask you to decide right away naturally, but you will make the right choice, I believe in that.” Medusa was speaking her final goodbyes already. She was convinced of this ending.

Her stinging silvery eyes penetrated Eugenia’s darkness. From those two silver centers flowed a thin web throughout the Gorgon’s entire body. It had spread everywhere already. This was-!

“I am sorry that I could not give you what you longed for. Asking you to forget about me is impossible with your short human lifespan, but if you remember me… I would love to know that you think of my stronger self and not what you find out there right now.”

“I promise that you will always be the true Medusa to me.” Eugenia agreed. Despite the darkness she could sense that Medusa was smiling. The many veins of silver formed an expression inside the contours of the woman.

“Thank you.” She seemed content. This was goodbye.

As they were starting to disperse like dust in the wind, Eugenia’s consciousness started to perceive herself from outside. What she ‘saw’ set her mind aflame.

“May you live a long life full of happiness.” Medusa was fading away.

But Eugenia’s soul refused this outcome.

“We each carry our own burdens.” She said as the world around them was frozen in time.

Medusa looked around in shock. She had not expected the deterioration to be locked down at the last moment. This was still a dream, so the dreamer could influence it. And there were two dreamers here.

“You cannot stave off the end for long.” She seemed disappointed at Eugenia’s pointless resistance.

“Medusa’s burden is the curse that Athena forced on her.”

Eugenia spoke as if in trance.

“And my burden is the blessing that Athena forced on me.”

Medusa turned quiet and focused. Eugenia was far from desperate now. She seemed almost serene.

“Can you see it Medusa?” She asked as she stretched forward her invisible hand, pointed directly at Medusa’s silvery eyes. “Can you see our ‘burdens’ now?”

“I do not.” She admitted. To her everything must have been a swirl of colors about to fade from existence. She could not see what Eugenia did.

“The burdens have the same cause. They are of the same nature, just opposite.” She spoke with confidence that even surprised herself. “Your curse spreads from those eyes. I can see it, I can see it all! It has infected your entire soul already.”

“You see… my curse?”

“And my burden is the blessing on my ears.” She tapped her half faded ears. From them a strong silver light shone and enveloped her entire head. “We are the same!”

Medusa for once seemed to be unable to keep up. But something about Eugenia’s ecstatic revelation began to worry her.

“Do you not see? This means we don’t need to be separated.” She declared.

“!” Realization struck Medusa’s mind and she immediately held back the hand that had extended towards her. “You cannot! It is not possible!”

“Right now our souls are connected. We are closer than we can ever be in the physical realm. If it’s here, if it’s right this instance, then we can change fate.”

“Eugenia, stop it.”

“I have always been powerless. I was nothing but a burden to you. My weakness, my love, my ideals, they are all a burden. I am tired of seeing you carry both of us. So please… let me share that burden.”

“You will not be able to survive.” Medusa shook her head emotionally.

“The curse is too strong for you alone. This blessing has never been useful for me alone. But now… I think that there was meaning to it. If only so that I can finally do something for you in return.” Eugenia touched her ear and the glow spread to her hand. As she moved it forward it left behind a long glowing trail.

Half her blessing.

“How could you…” Medusa was overwhelmed. This was beyond anything she had ever felt.

“I don’t want to be alone.” Eugenia repeated with a tearful smile. Medusa had let go of her left hand, so she moved it to her right eye. As she touched it an intense heat spread through her fingers. This was a pain that she could hardly bear.

“But-“

“Medusa, you have to be honest. You told me that you would never lie to yourself.”

“I am destined to be a monster!” She said angrily.

“I have met someone who had two sides. One was a woman who struggled to show her face and the other was a brave captain that lived for the sake of his crew without a face. Neither was the true self. I was born to be a priestess of Athena, a chosen one, but I renounced her and became just a normal person. Sometimes we can be what we want to be rather than what we are destined to be. All it takes is the strength to change.”

“The strength…?”

“You said it yourself, you are truly strong. Stronger than destiny. You can stop living in fear of Athena’s will.”

How could a mere human absolve an ancient being of her fear? Was it not too arrogant to claim such haughty things? Humans were truly greedy.

“Tell me your honest wish. You don’t need to hide anymore.” The frail human soul exuded more will than the mighty Gorgon had ever shown.

“I…”

“Say it.”

“I do not want to be alone!” Medusa shouted as tears ran down her ancient eyes.

“I won’t let you be alone.” Eugenia agreed and moved her hands.

Her right hand touched Medusa’s soul and her left hand touched her own. The silvery strands were drawn into the opposite directions. Blessing and curse mingled, rejecting each other, but ultimately forming a deeper strand. Only here where their souls could touch directly could they share these burdens. Connected at last.

And there was one more connection to complete them.

Eugenia’s ephemeral lips entwined with Medusa’s. Even in this collapsing world with nothing but their souls left, the kiss felt deeply rewarding. It was not forceful and there was no resistance. The purest expression of love.

They finally separated after what may have been only a moment or an eternity.

“This kiss had meaning, didn’t it?” Eugenia said delightedly.

The dream ended.

And a new day began.

Destiny’s grip was not easily shaken, but the blind woman and the Gorgon had moved beyond what each one of them could bear alone. They had fought to meet another day at each other’s side. A hard earned moment of respite.