Medusa

Medusa was a beautiful maiden once, full of promise and hope. She was the goddess Athena's prized priestess.

Until Poseidon was tempted by her beauty.

When he came for her, she ran to Athena's temple thinking that the goddess would protect her. But she didn't.

Poseidon took her right there on the cold floor.

She prayed to Athena for comfort, but the goddess felt nothing but disgust. She made sure that no one would want Medusa ever again.

By cursing her.

One look at the creature she had become would petrify any living thing, anything made of flesh would turn to stone.

It was Athena's one last bit of solace to Medusa that only men were allowed in her prison so that Medusa would never harm a woman.

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Ever since ancient times, many had tried to hunt Medusa, be it to prove themselves, make name for themselves, or to do what they were commissioned to do, but none succeeded.

Today, this small group of dozen soldiers from the kingdom of Argos were ordered by their king to do the impossible. Slay Medusa and prove to the gods that mankind could challenge them, and to the people that they had no need to be so afraid, that even the gods could be defeated.

Orders and duty aside, anything they heard about Medusa along the way had all but proven that they would surely die here, with no chance of victory.

But they were not cowards but soldiers, and they would rather die here than live coward's life of deserters.

As they got closer and closer to the River Styx, the atmosphere among them became more and more solemn. They started mentally preparing themselves for the battle.

Until they spotted a simple-looking cottage.

This was a strange sight.

Who would live in such an isolated place, away from civilization? This was not far from the River Styx and could be considered the gate of the underworld.

They decided to go and see the fool daring enough to live here.

"Knock! Knock!", their captain knocked on the door.

A woman answered, "Who is it?", she looked at the captain, "What do you want?".

The captain looked at her up and down. Dressed in simple garments, she didn't look anything special except being especially beautiful. He couldn't see anything wrong with her.

"Do you know what this place is? You dare to live here, who are you?", the captain asked.

"Not me, I'm just a servant. Lady Io lives here.", the woman answered.

"And who is this lady Io?", he asked.

"She's a guide for those who wish to challenge Medusa. Since you made it here, you are determined to go in. Lady Io would tell you how.", the woman answered.

"We already know-how. We have a golden drachma to bribe Charon.", the Captain replied, but then he thought of something, and asked, "But why does your lady Io do this? I don't think being a guide outside Medusa's lair would pay well... Call her out, I wish to speak with her.".

The woman replied, "She has her reasons... You and your men are welcome inside. There's plenty of food and refreshments.", she opened the door further in and stood on the side, inviting them.

Seeing the captain still hesitating, she continued, "You might have some superficial knowledge about Medusa, but it's impossible to know as much as lady Io. She even knows about a special weapon that can kill Medusa in a single strike... depends on how much you can pay.".

And with that, the captain no longer hesitated.

Lady Io not only told them the story of Medusa but where to find the weapon to kill her.

The captain led his soldiers to Mount of Idols and found a metal box below the statue of Athena.

When they took it out, they had to fight a gargoyle that guarded it. It was a vicious creature made of stone, something never seen before.

They defeated it with great difficulty, but the box was locked and could not be opened no matter how they tried. So they brought it back, hoping that lady Io would know how to open it.

And she did. She had the key.

Astrid sent them to this quest to test them, to see if they were worthy enough to borrow her watch.

After all, it was her only way on and off this world.

So she summoned a gargoyle from her world and ordered it to guard the box.

These soldiers could defeat it, which meant they could bring back her watch safely after using it to transfer Medusa to Himinnheim.

And she was right.

A few hours after the soldiers went in, they came back.

In a simple cottage outside the River Styx.

"So you made it ok?", Astrid asked one of the three soldiers.

Their captain and the rest of their comrades were dead. In the end, the captain sacrificed himself to let one of the surviving soldiers use the watch on Medusa.

"Yes. This weapon is invincible. As the lady foretold, it annihilated Medusa in one strike. I pressed this red button and threw it at Medusa, and she was instantly swallowed by a ball of white light.", a soldier described with excitement, in an almost boastful manner.

"I believe we can defeat even the gods with this weapon.", another exclaimed in excitement.

"How could it be... wasn't it created by the gods in the first place? Don't forget where we found it.", the third soldier who was a little level-headed spoke calmly.

Watching them chatter, Astrid laughed, "Ha! Ha! Ha! That's some good enthusiasm. Take off your armors and relax. Danae will bring you some drinks.".

And so they did.

When they were taking down their armor, Astrid's attention was attracted by something, "This dagger! I've seen this craftmanship, let me see it.", she asked one of the soldiers for his dagger.

Without hesitation, the soldier leaned forward to show his dagger to her, maybe he would even gift it to her if she wanted it.

Astrid got up to receive it. Which seemed like a completely normal, casual action.

But she grabbed it in a backhand grip and sliced the throat of the unsuspecting soldier, then as if in a singular motion, she plunged the dagger in the shoulder of the second soldier who was sitting on his right.

By this time, the third soldier had already gotten up and was standing behind her holding his sword, just about to strike.

Astrid did not bother to retrieve the dagger, but turned around and punched him in the diaphragm, then followed it up with a strike in the throat.

"Cough! Cough!", as he coughed desperately, she twisted his arm to wrestle away his sword and kicked him away to create some distance.

Then, with a battle cry, "HAAAH!!", she gripped the sword tightly and charged at them to finish them off.

Breaking Athena's curse to forcefully enter Medusa's lair would only alert the goddess, so this was her safest option. But that didn't mean she would let these soldiers walk away.

After all, they had seen how her watch worked and had mistook it for some kind of godly weapon. Leaving them alive would only bring trouble to herself in the future, especially now that she was so vulnerable in this world.

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The sun had risen and it was early morning.

Somewhere in the kingdom of Argos, in the front courtyard of a small manor. One tall and one short, two figures were fighting.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!", sounds of weapons colliding constantly rang out.

The boy went for an overhead strike, but she deflected it to the side, then kicked him in the leg as he passed by, using the weight of his strike to make him lose balance.

Then she followed up with a thrust, which he could only dodge by falling on the ground then rolling back to stand up again.

However, before he could roll back, she had her sword pointed at his throat.

"I told you a hundred times Perseus, DON'T LOSE BALANCE. Stay on your feet.", she scolded the boy.

"It is not easy to do, aunt Io. I am trying.", the boy replied with his head down.

"I told you to use the power within you... your strikes were too light, making it too easy for me to trip you.", she continued.

"But I did...", the boy replied in a low voice.

"NOT ENOUGH!! Just to make it so you can swing your sword, not enough to fight! This is not a game!", she scolded again.

To this, the boy did not reply but kept his head down. He couldn't say he didn't want to hurt her, otherwise, he would receive a beating again.

"Go to your mother. I'm leaving to attend some business and won't be back for a few days.", then she turned around and walked into the house, probably to make preparations for her journey.

Perseus walked towards the blonde woman watching them on the side. This was his mother, Danae.

It had been seven years, and now Perseus was eight years old. Astrid was teaching him how to use his divine power, and how to fight.

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Astrid's goal was in the underworld, where countless monsters and abominations were waiting for her.

But they all had something in common. They were made of flesh, which meant they were vulnerable to Medusa's petrifying gaze.

That was why Astrid went through all that trouble to capture Medusa.

But not long ago, she received a message from Himinnheim that neither Medusa's human form nor her mind could be restored. Which made her nothing but a beast, a loose cannon.

That was unacceptable.

Astrid needed the whole thing. The gorgon and the human, and the human who could utilize her gorgon powers.

If it wasn't possible, then she simply had to make it possible.

After getting ready, Astrid wore her watch and tinkered with it, then disappeared in a ball of white light.

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- Heroes 2006 (TV series)

Eleanor Zoe Bishop, also known as Elle, was the daughter of Robert Bishop.

When Elle was six years old, she accidentally set her grandmother's house on fire.

When she was eight years old, she caused a blackout in four counties in Ohio.

Elle had the unique ability of Electrokinesis, the ability to generate and propel charges of electricity.

But the little girl failed to control it and caused a lot of accidents.

If Astrid didn't interfere, then Elle would be taken by her father to The Company which did a lot of work on people with unique abilities like Elle. Work they called, a necessary evil, included even human experiments.

The seven years old Elle would be one of many victims of human experiments. She would be tortured by her father, who would push her so hard that she would break, becoming nothing but a tool in his hand.

Her father, Robert Bishop was one of twelve founding members of The Company.

At first, he was hesitating. After all, she was his daughter. But when he saw her cause the blackout in Ohio, he made up his mind. She was a 'freak' and must be treated as such.

In the middle of the night, Bob was driving his car at high speed.

There was no traffic on the road. Because of Elle's accident, even the street lights were off. It was dark. The car's headlights were Bob's only means of seeing the road ahead.

Elle was sitting on the seat beside him, "Daddy, I wanna go home.", she complained.

"Just hold on sweety, we're almost there.", Bob comforted her.

"But I wanna go home...", Elle whined again.

Bob held the steering wheel in one hand, and used the other hand to pick up Elle's fluff rabbit that had fallen, "Oh look... Snowball fell and now he's crying. Help me comfort Snowball.".

"He didn't fall... This is his home. He just went to sleep.", Elle replied.

"Under the seat!", Bob exclaimed. This was his car. How come he didn't know?

"Don't you put your toys... I mean, doesn't Snowball live in the treehouse?", Bob asked.

"No. He just goes there to visit Barbie. They are having an affair, like you and Mrs. Petrelli.", Elle's sentence made Bob nearly drive his car into the trees. His eyes went wide like a deer caught in headlights.

He turned his head to Elle to explain to her that it was all a big misunderstanding, but then thinking about where he was taking her, it all seemed kind of pointless.

With a sigh, Bob turned his eyes back to the road, and just then, "Bang!", a big white ball of light suddenly appeared in the middle of the road.

Bob was so surprised that he turned the wheel so quickly that he lost control of the car.

With the sound of tires skidding on the road, the car hit the tree.

Elle's head hit the airbag and she became unconscious.

But Bob was still awake. He was bleeding from his head and nearly unconscious.

He first checked Elle, who seemed fine, then he shakily opened the door and slowly got out.

A woman was standing in front of him.

"Help... Help us! My daughter... she...", Bob tried to ask for help.

But the woman asked him instead, "Are you, Robert Bishop?".

Bob was instantly alarmed, "You... who are you? How do you know my name?".

By now, he was starting to regain control of his faculties.

"Just answer the question. I'm with The Company. I was sent here to assist you because of the blackout.", the woman replied.

"Nobody knows about this. And I don't remember giving that order.", Bob asked suspiciously.

"We received a new asset just hours ago. He can see the future. He saw you in this accident.", she replied.

"I see... I wasn't informed probably because of the blackout.", Bob calmed down slightly.

"Is this your daughter, Eleanor? The one that can control electricity?", she asked.

"Yes... that's her. We call her Elle.", he replied.

But as soon as he spoke, the woman took action.

She punched him hard in the diaphragm, "Cough! Cough!", making him slouch and breathe heavily.

Then she kicked him in the side of his knee and bashed his head into the roof of the car.

As Bob laid unconscious on the road, "Sigh! I really need to learn some useful mind control spells. This is tiresome.", she spoke to herself.

Over the years, aside from training Perseus, she only managed to learn Telekinesis. This wasn't very productive.

Astrid got into the car and fixed the driving seat as further back as possible.

Then she lifted Bob with Telekinesis and bashed his body into the windshield from inside.

Because of the sheer pain, Bob woke up and cried out, but Astrid promptly pushed one of the glass fragments into his neck. This was enough to kill him.

Then Astrid put the driving seat back into the original place.

The whole thing looked like an accident. It looked like Bob lost control of the car probably because of the darkness. He didn't put on his seatbelt, so he hit the windshield, where a glass fragment lurched into his neck, and he died.

Astrid then took off Elle's seatbelt and picked her up.

One day, Elle would grow up and she would want to know what happened to her father and why he abandoned her.

Astrid had just the story prepared for that day.

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Astrid took Elle back with her.

When the little girl woke up, Astrid told her that she was a friend of her father's, he entrusted her to her, and he left for a better place.

Then after all the crying and whining was over, Astrid gave her the Elixir so she would grow healthy.

From now on, Elle and Perseus would be raised together as siblings.

The reason Astrid did all this was simple. Because she had arranged for Medusa to be bound to Elle's mortal soul.

This wasn't something new, but a page out of Merlin's handbook.

Astrid arranged for Medusa to be bound to Elle as Merlin had once bound the Demon, Etrigan to the mortal soul of Jason Blood.

It was only much easier in Himinnheim, not because of all the exotic magic that Kol later introduced, but because of the native magic of this land.

Many species here, like werewolves, Dragons, Malivore, were based on transformations. They had a human form and a monster form. The magic here already worked like that, so it was easy to do. Especially since Medusa was once human.

As for why Astrid chose Elle and not anyone else?

In the original timeline where Astrid didn't abduct Elle, Elle was experimented on by her father for years since she was seven, and it only stopped when her mind broke.

Then her memories of it were erased and she became a tool in her father's hand.

Later, after many years, Elle discovered the truth of what happened, yet she held no grudge against her father. She still loved him dearly and sought his approval.

This was Elle's love for her father.

After Astrid replaced her father's place in her heart and became her parent, Elle would be completely loyal to her, even much more than her subjects back in Himinnheim.

Furthermore, the spell they were using to bound Medusa to Elle only resembled the one Merlin used. It wasn't the same thing.

After it was done, Medusa's mind would be completely erased, and only her memories would be left.

Thousands of years of combat experience was of great strategic significance.

To not lose her mind to thousands of years of memories, the subject needed to possess enough willpower, which might take years to train. So she had to be trained since childhood.

Elle's original ability, Electrokinesis, was greatly boosted after taking the Elixir, and would once again improve after she merged with Medusa.

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