This is a short little thing I wrote, didn’t edit much.. just enjoy it for what it is. – Hatton
Good God PR
James Hatton
Victoria looked at her hand. She could see the marble floor beneath as her fingers oscillated between solid and translucent. She coughed once, which lead to a second, followed by a complete fit. The pain in her gut was unbearable. She was a Goddess, how was this happening?
Kratos, one of her three siblings that sat on each of the sides of her bed, took her knee in his tree knotted hand and gave it a supportive shake, “You can fight this, my sister.”
Victoria could do nothing but nod weakly.
Bia, sitting at the foot of the bed, watched with a look of grim disgust. “We must do something, siblings. How can we be so powerful and yet so weak!”
Zelus looked down to the floor and spit, “It is them.. the mortals.. they are jealous of us.”
Victoria rolled her eyes, she had heard these sentiments of her siblings for the entirety of their lives. She opened her dry flaking lips and the other three hushed. “..it is.. I think… a battle … I have lost.” She believed it too. Never before had she felt so close to defeat. Never before had belief in her been so low.
The silence that had been broken by Victoria’s coughing fit descended on them yet again. They each watched while they did what the gods and goddesses were best at.. planning and scheming.
While the others kept their own counsel, Bia’s face was a constant shifting painting of thought. On occasion she would begin to stir, muscles tightening, body almost hovering off the chair. The others would watch, awaiting some grand plan to spill out from her, only to see she found the flaw in her own plan as she slipped back into her seat, defeated.
This time though, she laughed. A loud laugh. A fierce laugh. A laugh that made the muses down the hall lose their train of thought. A laugh that dulled the blade Vulcan was forging below. If this wasn’t a sickness of belief, that laugh alone could have healed Victoria. “I’VE GOT IT!”
They all looked to her.
“WE FORCE THEIR HAND!”
And all at once, they sunk back into their seat, dejection on their faces. “What? What is it! I just said I had a plan! Did you not hear me?!” Bia looked from face to face, wide-eyed.
Kratos responded first, “Bia, I love you, but this is always your plan. Force this. Make this work. Do this now. We cannot force their hands. Their free will makes it all but impossible.”
Bia wasn’t dissuaded. Even as her brother tried to break her spirit, her smile only grew larger. “Yes, my brother, but Victoria has something that the rest of us don’t have.” She paused, hoping that others would see what she was saying… none did. “She has items of effigy.” Again, Bia paused. Again, blank looks from everyone including Victoria. “When the warriors go to battle, they would light effigies, would they not?”
Zelus nodded, “Yes. It would invigor the soldiers.”
Bia smiled, “Yes!” She clenched her fist as if nothing else need be said.
Zelus continued on, “You burned your enemy’s effigy though.”
Bia kept nodding, goading Zelus to continue on. “And what would it do to the other side, eh? If the enemies burn your symbols… what do you do?”
Zelus’ eyes widened, “You… You believe more fiercely! You defend your God! You fight harder!”
Bia and Zelus laughed together. Dust from the columns above sprinkled down on Victoria’s bed.
Kratos looked to Victoria and they shared a confused shrug before looking back to the other two. “So what? Victoria has no such enemy. Her other name is spoken in terms of sport and of triumph. How do we, in her last fleeting moments, get people to burn her symbols so that others believe all the more?”
Now that Bia felt they all were where she was a few moments prior, she told them the plan. The more people destroyed, the more the enemies would care. The more they cared, the more belief would be pushed back into Victoria’s heart, healing her. When she had laid out everything, Bia looked to her sister. “May we do this on your behalf Victori–”
Bia was cut off by Zelus, who excitedly interjected, “I do believe given the circumstances, we should use your other name… Nike.”
To answer their question, Victoria lifted her heavy head. Even that gesture made her breathing dusty and ragged. She knew the end was near, so perhaps this was her one last chance. She loved her siblings and their drive. Even if she didn’t think it would work, she had to let them try.
“..just do it.”
