Epilogue: A Toast to Our Eternity

Caisey balanced a tray of goblets filled to the brink with both hands, bumping the heavy gray doors open with his back. Gingerly, he entered the room and walked the several paces to the small table placed at the center of the room.

“Finally, boy. What took you so long? It is far from your first time.”

“Sorry,” Caisey said, placing the tray on the table before the three goddesses. “I got distracted.” He lied.

Caisey hadn’t been distracted. He’d been stalling for time. The thought of seeing Lady Clotho was daunting, unfortunately for her kind temperament, every single time. The mental fortitude he needed to deal with Lady Lachesis’s unlikeable personality tired him more each time he arrived at her door. And Lady Atropos just plain terrified him. The very elderly goddess of death seemed so eager to rip his soul out through his mouth and skin it with her perfect teeth.

Lady Clotho shook her head as Caisey set her drink down in front of her. “Sir Caisey is so scatterbrained!” She laughed, her sweet voice tittering like a song. “It’s what I like most about him.”

Caisey cringed. She always knew how to ruin a good moment.

A quarter of a year had passed since Caisey had become a permanent resident of the Gods’ Realm. At the Beggar’s Dinner Party, Caisey had accepted a goblet directly from Zeus’s hand, a goblet that was twice as large as any he’d seen before. It was a smoky black and gray color, with a golden rim and Zeus’s lightning bolt emblem melded to the front. Its shiny red rhinestones added weight to the already heavy goblet, and Caisey felt his heart pounding in his chest.

His hand had trembled wildly when he raised his goblet to toast. He turned his eyes on Rina who stood at his side, her own pretty blue goblet raised to eye level. She was wriggling her legs and shimmying her body in a show of her excitement, and Caisey mouthed ‘Calm down’ at her. She shook her head and mouthed back ‘I can’t!’ And Caisey had to look away, or else the wide smile that was hurting his lips would quickly turn into laughter at her cute antics.

Caisey’s world had transformed instantly the moment Zeus’s voice rang about the Banquet Hall, stating, “The Chosen One, Caisey Legna, has accepted the goblet of the gods. Together, we shall toast to his eternity as a fellow god of our magnificent realm. You have our welcome, Sir Caisey.”

“Welcome, Sir Caisey!” A chorus of voices shouted and all the goblets in the hall went up and their contents gulped down to seal the deal.

Caisey had immediately felt a surge of power overtake him, the feeling growing as he drank every last drop of drink in the goblet of the gods. It had been a surreal moment, and Rina had pounced on him in front of every wide eye at the dinner party.

And everything had been marvelous from that moment on.

Until reality called and he had to honor his promise to Lady Atropos and the other Fates. It was what landed him here, playing board games with them weekly for the rest of his now unnatural lifespan.

“I start.” Lady Atropos said in her cavernous voice. She took a pair of centuries old dice and clattered them against the table with a vicious throw. Caisey hurriedly shielded his eyes from another ‘accident’ and watched as the dice landed six and snake eyes side up. “I move eight spaces.” Lady Atropos announced, taking her crystal ball-shaped game piece and moving it around the board the designated eight spaces.

No one said a thing. Just Lady Clotho picking up the dice now and giving it a gentle toss for her turn. It was always like this, like playing games with the dead.

Caisey’s ‘service day’ couldn’t end soon enough, and when it did, he went whining to Rina like he always did.

“Riiiinaaa,” he cried as he pushed his way through the large palace doors. Of course, he didn’t in his right mind believe she could hear him from this far back, but it was always good to put in the practice before actually reaching her. That way, she’d baby him with more attention and tenderness than before. He smirked, thinking of how spoiled he was about to be.

“Riiiinaaaa!” He whined again, louder this time, and shoved the doors to their room open.

A pillow smashed against his face the moment he passed the threshold.

“Rina!” He cried, aghast, pressing a hand to his face. “What’d I do to deserve that?”

Rina was standing with her back to him and her arms folded, having promptly turned around after chucking the pillow in his direction. Her black hair tumbled down her back, having grown over the past several months. Her white, bellbottom stretch pants sharply standing out against the varying shade of blue scattered about the room.

Upon hearing Caisey’s question, she swung her body around to face him and a smile sprang to Caisey’s face before he could even think about it. She looked gorgeous—black hair parted into pig tails at the top and the rest hanging down at the back, her bangs falling wispy over her blue eyes… which were narrowed at him as he crossed the floor towards her.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice milky sweet.

“Hmph!” she said, then leveled him with another glare. “I see you’re enjoying your weekly game with Lady Clotho.” She spat the goddess’s name.

Meanwhile, Caisey just spat.

“RINA! LADY CLOTHO??!” He exclaimed, goosebumps of ‘ick’ spreading all over his body. “You can’t be serious! She’s—She’s—!” He didn’t want to say ‘hideous,’ but it was so on the tip of his tongue that it showed all over his face.

That’s when Rina burst out laughing, guffawing so loudly a cherub rushed inside the room to check on her. She waved him out, screaming, “I’m fine! I’m fine!” But she wasn’t, judging by the way she clutched her stomach and cried “Ow!” after every other breath.

“Oh, Case, you’re hilarious.” She said, coming down from her fit.

Caisey frowned, “That wasn’t funny. I still have ick-bumps all over my body. You don’t know how hard it is to get that lady’s face out of my head. It’s a shame she’s so nice.”

“I hear ya,” Rina said, rubbing her stomach. She blew out a sharp breath and starting walking for the door. Although Caisey had just entered, he followed. “Well, that was fun… You know? I could help you with that.”

“With what?” Caisey asked, though his mind was sounding warning bells.

“The Fates. I could help you get out of that deal you made.”

“Oh, no you don’t,” he refused, shaking his head forcefully, “Never again. Not after last time.”

“It still worked out, didn’t it?”

Caisey couldn’t deny that. “You have a point.”

“Of course, I do!” Rina chirped, twirling. “Simply put, did they ever offer you a drink to seal the deal?”

Caisey’s eyes widened in understanding. Then a smile stretched his face. “No!” he breathed.

“Exactly.” Rina said confidently. “We can talk to them about it later. Now for the surprise.”

“That’s surprise enough,” Caisey whispered tearfully. Then, gathering himself, he asked, “Also, what surprise?” His ears perked up like a dog. If he’d had a tail to go along with the wings, he’d resemble like the winged horse, Pegasus.

Rina sang, “You’ll see soon enough!” and whisked Caisey away from the palace.

Ten minutes later, Rina had Caisey blindfolded somewhere outside in the vast golden city of the gods. He asked repeatedly, “Are we there yet? Where are we? Why am I blindfolded?” and “What’s the surprise?”

Rina shut him down every time until finally, she steadied his shoulders and made him stand still. She swiped off the blindfold with the flare of a TV show model, and yelled, “Tah-dah!”

When Caisey opened his eyes, they stood before a home the size of a mini mansion, tens of times smaller than the godly palaces of the realm. Confused, Caisey looked to Rina for explanation, but before she could say anything, the oak front doors of the home opened and out exited Don and Lisa. To Caisey’s surprise, they appeared about two years older and noticeably more mature.

Caisey’s mouth dropped open like a lead ball and he cried, “No way!!”

“Yes way!” Don screamed back, bounding over to Caisey like a child. Lisa followed after him, crushing him together with Don and Rina in an emotional group hug.

Back during the Beggar’s Dinner Party, Caisey had taken the biggest risk of his life. Trusting that Lady Lachesis would hold up her part of the bargain, he had asked Zeus for a weekly token to visit the Mortal Realm for the rest of a human’s natural life. Only, he—and Rina, though begrudgingly—had decided to present the tokens as a gift to Lady Rán for Elise, who could no longer be in contact with the goddess who had become her best friend.

Surprisingly, Lady Rán had shed tears of joy and gratitude. She had thanked Rina with a bear hug so tight, Rina had to fight to get her off. Then, Rina had scrubbed herself down in the baths later, much to Caisey’s amusement as he stood cackling outside the door.

Now, the thing that had been keeping him up at night was finally resolved.

“We’re able to visit as many times as you summon us, Sir Caisey, our incredible godly friend.” Don said with a mocking bow.

“Shut up,” Caisey said, but anyone could see how happy he was. He hurried over to Rina and gave her a grateful kiss on her, surprisingly, already puckered lips. “Were you expecting that?” Caisey asked, laughing.

“Obviously. That had better been your next course of action. I was just waiting.” She flipped her hair and Caisey rolled his eyes.

Forever the sassy goddess. He thought, and brushed Rina’s long bangs aside with a finger, once more letting himself get lost in her mesmerizing ocean blue eyes. No, he thought as Rina smiled up at him like she knew what he was thinking. The same way she had when they first met.

She was something special. And although Caisey had now earned golden wings to match hers, she would always be the girl he’d met that afternoon at the theater.

My goddess, he thought.

Forevermore.