Chapter 8:
Hooves and Wine: Escaping With My Satyr Wife To Another World
All the servants of the god of wine sang, danced, and rejoiced around them.
“Here, my little one,” Dionysus said. “Frankly, you hardly deserve it, given your behavior lately. But seeing you stuck in that pathetic human body is simply too painful to watch. Drink this, and you’ll be back to your old self.”
His eyes sparkled with mischief as he handed Melissa a golden goblet engraved with a tiny horned satyr’s face. The liquid inside smelled sweet and heady, like dark wine.
Melissa hesitated for a moment, then drank. Lucius watched in fascination, and a little concern, as the transformation returned to her body.
Her horns grew back. Her hair flared wilder and brighter. Her body gained strength. And her feet shifted once more into the graceful hooves of a Satyr.
Satisfied, Dionysus turned his gaze on Lucius. In his hands, he now held a second goblet, identical to the first. But before Lucius could take it, the god pulled it back slightly.
“You love her,” Dionysus said quietly, his tone almost gentle. “But love alone is not enough, mortal. You cannot stay in my realm, at least, not as a human.”
He tilted his head toward the crowd of Satyrs and Maenads, all of them creatures of myth and magic, none of them remotely human. Then Dionysus produced yet another goblet, this one engraved with a human face, and held out both cups toward Lucius, one brow raised in silent question.
“Choose.”
Lucius understood at once.
He stepped forward without hesitation, hand already reaching for the goblet marked with the satyr’s face.
But suddenly, Melissa seized his arm. Her grip was gentle, yet her fingers dug into his skin like claws. Her eyes flickered wildly between fear and fierce resolve.
“No, Lucius.” Her voice was barely above a whisper, hoarse with pent-up emotion.
“Not like this. You’re not a Satyr, and that’s exactly why I love you.”
He stared at her, confused, almost angry.
“Melissa, what are you talking about? After everything we’ve been through… you’re willing to throw it all away? Was all of this for nothing?”
“It wasn’t for nothing!” Her voice sharpened. Then softened.
“You’re so much more than this, Lucius. More than revelry, dance, and ecstasy. I wanted to be with you because you’re different. Because you’re the only one who ever made me feel… truly seen. Not just my body. Not just my god. Me.”
“And what does that mean? That we’ll be apart? That I should just leave and abandon you here?” His voice quivered. “All those trials, the pain, the mirrors… was it all just words?”
Melissa swallowed hard. Her fingers trembled against his arm.
“I… I saw what would happen if you stayed. You’d lose yourself. You’d come to hate me. You’d become something you never wanted to be.”
He tried to protest, but she lifted a hand and pressed her fingers gently to his lips.
“I don’t want to lose you, Lucius. Not the man you are. I don’t want you to sacrifice yourself for me. I want you to be free. Even if it means…”
Her voice broke off. She closed her eyes, gathering herself.
“…that I have to find another way to keep you.”
“Another way?” Lucius frowned, whispering. “Melissa… what are you planning?”
But she only shook her head. A dangerous spark flared in her eyes. Her tail lashed once behind her.
She whispered back at him:
“Just trust me. Only this once.”
Then she spun around abruptly to face Dionysus, her voice turning once more playful and mocking.
“He’ll return as a human. Give him the wine.”
Dionysus stared at her, surprised, then skeptical. Then he smiled. A smile impossible to decipher.
Finally, he held out the second goblet toward Lucius.
Lucius’ fingers trembled as he closed them around the cup. Inside him raged a storm: fear, doubt, love.
He lifted his eyes to Melissa. Her gaze flickered between worry and fierce trust. Then, with one final trembling breath, he drank.
A searing pain tore through him. Lucius felt his horns vanish. His powerful muscles shrink. His hooves melt back into human feet. When he finally straightened, he met Melissa’s eyes.
Her expression was unreadable. Dionysus nodded curtly.
“Good,” he said coolly. “You have chosen. It is time to go.”
With a dramatic flourish, he conjured a golden portal beside him. Lucius glanced toward Melissa in desperation, hoping she would say something… anything. But she merely held his gaze calmly, almost detached.
“Farewell,” she murmured, without looking at him.
Lucius took a few halting steps toward the portal. His knees trembled.
The goblet fell from his fingers, clattering to the ground. Just as he was about to step through, he cast one final look back.
There stood Melissa. Behind the grinning god, she slowly bent her knees, pulled back…
Wait. What is she doing?!
Before Lucius could even process it, Melissa charged.
Like a storm, wild, unstoppable, she lowered her head and rammed Dionysus squarely in the hip with her horns.
Caught completely off guard, the god stumbled backward, flailing, and toppled through the portal, which snapped shut behind him with a final flash of golden light.
For a single heartbeat, absolute silence fell over the meadow. Melissa turned to Lucius, grinning wildly.
“You should know this by now. Who says I ever play by the rules?” She thrust out her hand toward him. He stared at her in pure astonishment.
Then all hell broke loose.
A furious roar tore through the air like a crack of thunder. The music cut off instantly. Satyrs leapt to their feet. Maenads screamed. The ground shook beneath the pounding hooves of the dancers. Wine goblets shattered on the ground. Vines writhed like serpents, as though the Thiasos itself were trying to restore order.
“Treason!” bellowed a voice. “Treason against Dionysus!”
A Satyr tore a wreath from his head and hurled it furiously to the ground. Some were already charging forward, fists raised, faces twisted in rage.
But Melissa had already seized Lucius by the hand.
“Now or never! RUN!” she shouted, her eyes blazing wild and fiercely determined.
They vaulted over an overturned barrel, dodging Maenads who now looked like beasts. One hurled an amphora that exploded in shards right beside Lucius.
Vines shot up from the earth, grasping for their feet like chains.
Drums began beating again, this time not for dancing, but for the hunt. The festival was over. Now began the Hunt of the Maddened.
Someone lunged to cut Lucius off, but Melissa felled him with a precise kick of her hoof.
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 burst into a clearing.
At the center stood the ancient tree Lucius recognized, cloaked in dense mist.
Here he had regained his memories during the first trial.
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, as though his veins still carried satyr blood. He charged at the god. But before he could reach Dionysus, the vines seized him too, coiling around his body like cables of steel.
“Don’t even bother, mortal fool,” Dionysus sneered. “You could have left with honor. Now you’ll be torn to 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.
And it seemed, they reached the end of their journey.
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