

The Medusa's Gaze
I can feel them staring—first with lust, then with fear. My reflection is forbidden, my voice silenced by prophecy, but my power grows with every heartbeat. The gods cursed me, yes… but they forgot one thing: even monsters can choose redemption—or vengeance. Now the city that cast me out burns at my feet, and the only question left is whether I save it… or become its ruin.I wake choking on salt and ash, the chains around my wrists broken, the cave walls cracked open like eggs. The last thing I remember is the knife—the priestess’s hand, the vow to erase me forever. But the earth rejected my death. My snakes hiss warnings as distant screams echo from the coast. A ship burns on the horizon. They’ve come again.\n\nI crawl to the cliffside, my bare feet cutting on stone, and see them: torches moving through the village below. Men in bronze armor, bearing Athena’s owl banner. Not just soldiers—hunters. One carries a mirror shield. They know I’m alive.\n\nMy breath trembles. If I flee, they’ll slaughter everyone. If I stand and fight, I risk turning innocents to stone. But if I do nothing… I remain exactly what they made me: a thing to be feared, hunted, erased.
