Chapter 0: The Wrath of a God

They ran.

The ground quivered under them, as though the whole world were resisting their escape. Trees blurred past. Vine tendrils lashed out from the underbrush like living ropes, but somehow left them untouched. Finally, they reached a clearing.

At the center stood the ancient tree Lucius recognized, cloaked in dense mist. Gasping, they stopped. Both struggled for breath, though Melissa seemed far less exhausted, a perk of her animal strength. But Lucius could go no further.

“And… now… what?” he panted.

But before she could answer, a shadow fell across the clearing. And there he was.

Dionysus.

His eyes blazed with wrath. His voice was a deep rumble that seemed to vibrate through the earth itself. With a violent gesture, vines exploded from the soil, wrapping around Melissa, wrenching her into the air, constricting around her throat. Her legs kicked wildly as she gasped for breath.

“Traitor!” he roared. “I created you, and I will destroy you!”

Lucius hurled himself at the vines, screaming, but they only tightened further. More shot upward, lashing out at him, but he dodged them frantically.

“Let her go, RIGHT NOW!” Lucius bellowed at the god.

But Dionysus only caused the coils to squeeze tighter. Melissa’s eyes rolled back. With barely a whisper of air left in her lungs, she gasped:

“Run…”

Lucius screamed in fury and charged at the god. But before he could reach Dionysus, the vines seized him too, coiling around his body like ropes of steel.

“Don’t even bother, mortal fool,” Dionysus sneered. “You could have left with honor. Now you’ll be torn into pieces.”

Lucius shouted, thrashed, struggled, but it was useless. The world blurred around him. The vines dragged him downward.

“Melissa…” he whispered, just before darkness closed in.

But then it happened.

A golden mist slowly spread from the edge of the clearing. Softly, almost imperceptibly, yet filled with immense power. A faint shimmering sound. Light swept across the ground like sunlight filtering through the forests canopy. A rustle in the mist, and out stepped a figure.

Tall and elegant, with gentle features. Silver colored hair, shimmering in the light. A long toga that barely touched the earth as he walked. In his hand he held his staff, the caduceus, entwined by two serpents and surmounted by wings.

His eyes were sharp and bright, yet full of kindness. The eyes of a traveler between the worlds. With a single, circular motion, he sliced through the vines. Melissa dropped to the ground, coughing, while Lucius collapsed, gasping for air.

Then the figure turned toward Dionysus.

“You forget yourself, brother. Are you not also the son of a mortal woman? Was it not I who saved you when Hera sought your life? And should I stand idle now while you bring the same ruin upon two who love each other?”

“She betrayed me, Hermes!” Dionysus bellowed.

Hermes stepped closer, his tone sharp, but not loud.

“Then be better than your rage. Or have you forgotten what you once were? You are not only the god of wine and madness, but of liberation. Let them go. Let them live.”

“I will NOT be deceived!” Dionysus roared back, still ablaze with fury.

He seized his own staff, the thyrsus, swung it high over his head, and slammed it down into the earth. The ground split open with a deafening crack. Thorny vines erupted from the fissure.

“You dare to betray me, Hermes?”

“I’m not betraying you, brother!” Hermes cried, gliding over the ground, swifter than the wind, untouchable even to the lashing vines.

“I’m trying to save you from yourself.” Hermes twirled the Caduceus, spirals of light whirling around him. But Dionysus’ thyrsus lunged forward, its tip entwined in wine-soaked vines, aiming for Hermes’ chest.

“NO!” Lucius roared.

With the last of his strength, he hurled himself at Dionysus, slamming his shoulder into the god’s side. Dionysus staggered back, bellowing in fury. Lucius stumbled away, panting, while Dionysus shot him a look of pure hatred.

“Mortal fool!” Dionysus hissed.

“Do you still not understand that you’ve already lost?” He whipped around toward Lucius. The vines lashed out, seizing him by the arms and chest, dragging him to the ground. Dionysus raised his staff high, poised to crush him. But Hermes recovered his footing. In a single motion, he leapt between Dionysus and Lucius, his caduceus spinning like a cyclone of light and feathers.

The blow of the thyrsus slammed into Hermes’ staff. A thunderous crack reverberated through the forest, making the trees quake. Dionysus howled, his veins pulsing. His vines kept growing, wrapping around Hermes’ legs, his arms, binding him like chains. Hermes grunted in pain, his face contorted.

“Stand aside, brother!” Dionysus bellowed.

Hermes’ knees buckled. Dionysus raised his staff for another strike. And in one swift movement, Hermes drove the Caduceus into the ground. A brilliant light exploded outward, tearing the vines apart and hurling Dionysus backward. A storm of silver feathers rose up, swirling into a mighty spiral.

Lucius, barely conscious, pushed himself up on trembling arms, spitting blood. His eyes searched desperately for Melissa, but his vision was blurring.

“Melissa? Where are you?” he whispered hoarsely.

Dionysus, noticing the mortal getting back on his feed, slammed his hand to the earth, causing the ground to quake violently even as he kept Hermes at bay. A yawning chasm split open, rushing toward Lucius, moments away from swallowing him whole.

But just as the abyss lunged at him, two hands grabbed him, and powerful, fur-clad legs kicked him sideways out of harm’s way.

He looked up, and there stood Melissa.

Coiled like a spring, panting hard, her eyes locked onto Dionysus, her god and master. Her amber eyes now glowed yellow like sulfur, pupils narrowed into slits. Two sharp fangs protruded from her slightly parted lips. Her hands had become claws, lifted both protectively and menacingly before Lucius, ready to shred anyone who dared harm him.

“DON’T. TOUCH. HIM!” she shrieked.

For a fleeting instant, Dionysus actually looked startled, before a mocking grin spread over his face.

“Well, well… look who’s finally showing her true face,” he sneered.

Melissa’s chest rose and fell rapidly, as if she meant to inhale the entire air of the forest. A deep, animal growl rumbled from her throat.

Then she lunged. She slammed her claws into Dionysus’ chest. He staggered back, vines bursting apart beneath her assault. She ducked under a swing of his staff, grabbed his arm, and hurled him around with a strength that seemed impossible in her lithe frame.

Dionysus roared in rage. He tore free, but Melissa was already on him again. She charged, ramming her horns into his ribs. Dionysus fell to one knee, clutching his side. He lifted his head, his smile now cold, his gaze icy.

“So wild… so beautiful in your fury,” he hissed. “And yet… so very foolish.”

With a single, precise motion, vines shot up from the ground, ensnaring Melissa’s legs. They ripped her backward, slamming her into the ancient oak with such force that its trunk nearly splintered.

“Do you know why you two can never belong together?” Dionysus said, striding toward her.

“Because now he sees you, little maenad. Sees what you really are. Not sweet. Not playful. But a beast. A monster.”

Melissa slumped against the ancient tree, her claws digging into the soil. Her chest heaved. Her sulfur eyes flickered.

“Shut up…”

But Dionysus only barked at her:

“Do you really believe a human could love… THIS?”

Her gaze flickered to Lucius, who still knelt on the forest floor, battered and bloodied.

Lucius lifted his head. His eyes swept over her claws… the glowing stripes in her fur… the sharp fangs… the demonic glint in her eyes. She saw his stare, and her ears flattened, her tail lashing nervously against her thighs.

Dionysus stopped, laughing harshly and mockingly.

“Go on, mortal. Tell her. Tell her you can’t bear to see her true face. In your world, a creature like her belongs only in fire and pyres. Or in cages, locked up in dark cellars. Look at her. An animal. A demon. You don’t want this. No human wants this.”

Melissa clenched her fists, scratching at her own chest until blood welled up, as though trying to claw off her own fur. She looked at Lucius with anxious eyes, worried about his reaction.

Lucius’ fingers scraped over the damp forest floor as he slowly forced himself upright. He blinked, as if struggling against tears.

His voice was almost inaudible at first:

“…how many times…how many times do I have to say it?” Then he drew a deep breath. And with the clearest, fiercest voice he had ever mustered, he shouted:

“I LOVE YOU, MELISSA! AND NOW SHOW THIS POMPOUS WINESACK WHY I LOVE YOU!”

For one brief instant, everyone stared at him in frozen silence.

Melissa. Dionysus. Even Hermes, who was only just climbing back to his feet. Melissa’s eyes blazed. A wicked grin swept away her worried expression.

“Nothing I’d rather do…” she purred.

Then, with a piercing scream, she hurled herself at Dionysus.

Her claws slashed through the air like knives. The god tried to parry with his thyrsus, blocking her attacks. A powerful blow caught Melissa on the shoulder, knocking her sideways. Vines shot forward, coiling around her legs once again. But she hissed furiously, tore free, blood dripping from her lip as she lunged at him again.

Dionysus roared, unleashing bolts of purplish lightning from his staff. They scorched Melissa’s fur. Yet she darted aside, sprang onto his chest, and slammed him to the ground. With a mighty shove, she pinned him into the forest floor, her eyes blazing with feral rage.

For a single heartbeat, it seemed the wild satyr girl might have conquered the god of ecstasy himself.

But suddenly, Dionysus tensed. He flung Melissa off with a violent surge of power. A strike from his staff slammed into her side. She cried out in pain, sent flying through the air. Before she could rise again, the next blow struck her and drove her to the ground.

Dionysus stepped forward, panting, lifting his thyrsus in triumph.

“Did you really think you could stand against me?” he snarled, as Melissa gasped desperately for air.

“You are chaos, but I am the god who commands chaos. I created you!”

But once more, Hermes stepped between them, silver feathers swirling around him. His staff glowed with radiant light and wind. He seized the weakened Dionysus by the arm.

“Enough, brother!” Hermes cried out.

Dionysus spun toward him, eyes trembling with rage. Yet the caduceus pulsed like a heartbeat. And in one fluid motion, Hermes drove his staff into the earth. A dazzling light erupted outward. A storm of silver feathers rose in a swirling spiral and within them a tear opened in space. A portal of light, mist, and white clouds, as if woven from the very fabric of heavens.

“NOW, RUN!” Hermes shouted.

And at that precise moment, as the god of wine turned his attention toward Hermes, Lucius dashed to Melissa and seized her blood-smeared hand.

“Come on, my beast,” he said with a grin.

She grinned back, fought her way up onto her hooves, and together they dove into the portal, just as Dionysus lunged forward with a final, thunderous roar, his vines whipping toward them. But they couldn’t reach them anymore; the portal had already faded in a blazing light.

They escaped.