How Rhetra got her Necklace

How Rhetra got her Necklace

One day Eryx made a helmet. It was a magical helmet, enchanted through a powerful gem that she placed in the metal. The helmet, through this enchanted gem, allowed the wearer to see into the future. 

Why did Eryx make this thing? Did she want to see the future? No. She had no interest. In fact, it would spoil her fun to see such things. She loved surprises almost as much as she liked making trouble. Why see the future and spoil the fun?

No. She made this helmet to make the others, her brothers and sisters, her uncles and aunts, and her cousins, jealous. She didn’t need a reason to make them jealous, even though she had at least a fistful to choose from. They drank without her. They spoke of her behind her back. They lied to her when she asked about when the next time they were going hunting was. No matter. Eryx expected those things. She didn’t care about reasons or revenge. 

No, it was for joy that she made this helmet, the joy of making others covetous of the helmet. The joy of seeing where their greed would lead. Had Eryx put on the helmet, she would have seen her left hand being chopped off by her half sister, Rhetra. Even if she had seen such a vision, Eryx would have giggled and wondered how such an event would have come to pass. Then she would have gone right out and made her puzzle with the helmet as the prize anyway. She did not care about costs or consequences.

She drew maps and made puzzles. She spawned monsters and dug dungeons. It was a long game and she had deep pockets. When all was ready, giggling like an underslept child, she snuck a scrap of paper, the first clue, under every god and goddesses pillow.

Most sent human heroes to do the work. Brave warriors or clever wizards. They failed. Eryx knew this would happen. She laughed as the mortals died in her dungeons, on the poisoned claws of her minions. The rest of the gods were less amused. Several gave up. Some got furious and swore vengeance. A few became determined to capture the prize and deigned to seek out the helmet on their own.

Eryx watched and danced with joy. She watched from her griffon, grinning as the heroes failed. She watched from the woods, snickering as the gods began to bicker and blame one another. She watched through her magic pool, giddy as her sister Rhetra and brother Leontius got closer to the prize.

Rhetra, with her fierce spear and boundless wit charged through the challenges. Leontius followed her, sniping monsters with his powerful bow and sneaking past as many dangers as his dexterous feet allowed.

Eryx knew they would arrive at the final challenge, so she transformed herself into a fox and hid behind a bush to watch. Just as she hoped, the mighty siblings arrived at the cottage at the same time. It was the final piece of the quest, and the location of the helmet. They had spent five years of their immortal lives tracking this treasure and for Eryx it had been her best prank ever.

Rhetra and Leontius fought. Neither could win. They were gods of the same generation, of the same immortal lineage, and matched equally in power. They knew this, and yet they fought for five days and five nights before both were so tired they fell over, exhausted.

They decided to share the helmet. Rhetra would get the prize for fall and winter. Leontius would have the helmet for spring and summer. Eryx was appalled. An end to discord? She dashed past her half siblings, into the cottage. They, of course, recognized their half sister and were furious with her. Of course this entire adventure had been one of her terrible jokes.

The brother and sister forced open the cottage door and found Eryx. She was, still in fox form, sitting on a great oaken table next to the helmet. She had removed the magic gem from the helmet and was in the middle of swallowing it.

Eryx smiled and laughed. It had been a fine game and she didn’t want it to end. Rhetra threw her spear and split the table in half. Leontius shot an arrow and cut off one or Eryx’s ears. Still, the Eryx swallowed the gem and dashed to the open door of the cottage.

Leontius slammed the door. Rhetra drew a knife and sliced off one of Eryx’s paws. The fox looked at her bloody stump and laughed again, surprised. She turned and leapt out the window and was gone.

Leontius and Rhetra decided to not chase their sister. They guessed that she would hide and want them to find her. They did not want to play the game and yet they knew that they had to pretend to seek their sister, or she would move to a new game. So every year, they pretend to hunt her, so that she does not start new mischief.

Rhetra took the paw and brought it to Poeisis, the great smith. They encased the paw in a great blue gem and strung it onto a necklace for Rhetra to wear, so that all could see what happened when you played games with the golden goddess.