Names have Power

cw: some uncensored swearing, death

“Wake up, we’re leaving now.” Nefeli urged me, shaking me awake before starting to pack away all of our necessities into her satchel.

The morning light that usually bled through the thin canvas above me was absent, replaced with the dark uncertainty of night.

The only thing I could hear was the sound of Nefeli shoving items into her bag, and my own confused stirring.

Before I could even sit up, Nefeli had everything together and was waiting by the tent flap for me to get up so we would leave. 

She was anxious, on edge, which was unusual for her. Nefeli was a court jester in her past life, or so she said, and could make any situation into a joke, so I already knew something was wrong. 

“What's going on?” I asked, starting to get up and throw on my clothes. 

She didn’t answer.

“Nefeli, what is going on?”

“She’s here.” Nefeli responded. Urgency and terror in her voice. “We need to get going now before she finds us.”

“Who’s here?” I demanded, following Nefeli out of the tent. 

Nefeli didn’t answer. Instead, she walked ahead, out of the clearing where we had set up our tent and into the dense woods surrounding us.

“Shouldn’t we at least take down the tent?” I asked, struggling to keep up behind her.

“No time.” was Nefeli’s quick response. “She would arrive before we’d finish taking it down.”

She surged into the woods, easily stepping over roots and weaving around trees like she’s done this many times before. 

Before I could think, we were out of sight of our tent.

“Who would arrive? Feli, who’s chasing us?” I urged, tripping over a root.

“Names have power, Aka.” she responded. “Keep up, you’ll get us caught.”

I sputtered, struggling to stand up. “Caught? What have you gotten us into?” I demanded, running up right next to her, trying to keep pace with Nefeli. 

“It’s none of your business.” she said, and kept going into the woods.

“None of my business?” I nearly shouted.

“Keep your voice down!” Nefeli hissed. “We don’t need her hearing you. When she gets mad she can hear as much as the break of a twig, so we’re already in deep shit.”

“If it’s none of my business,” I continued in a stage whisper, “why am I being dragged into the woods with you before dawn, because someone is after us?”

“You’re being dragged into this because you’re with me.” Nefeli replied. “But the reason we’re being chased is only between me and her.” 

“Don’t I have a right to know who’s chasing me as well?” I asked harshly. 

“Sure you do, but if I say her name she might as well teleport right to us and end us both right here and now.”

“Fine!” I exclaimed. “If you won’t tell me who, will you at least tell me why this is happening?” 

Nefeli spun around on her heel and faced me. “Here’s a nice tip for you Aka,” she spat. “Don’t anger the gods or they’ll come chasing after you in the middle of the night.”

She spun back around and continued on, her pace even brisker than before. 

I stood there for a moment, shocked. Then I ran after her.

“You angered the gods?” I asked her under my breath. 

“No,” she replied. “I just thought it would get some good laughs if I lied to you and sent you on a wild run through the woods in the dark.” 

“This is serious, Nefeli.” I continued. “How the hell would you anger a god this much?”

“No time.” she responded. “We need to make it to the river for help. There I can tell you everything.”

Nefeli continued on without looking behind her shoulder at me.

“N,” I asked, “do you think she might kill us?”

Nefeli turned around and looked me in the eyes. “She might.” 

After another half hour of walking, tripping over roots, and walking even faster, we made it to the river Nefeli had mentioned.

The trees didn’t end there, they surrounded the bank, the roots dipping their toes in the cool water that reflected the sky. 

When we made it to the river, Nefeli put her bag down, and sat at the bank, quietly staring at the river. The only sound I could hear was the gentle rush of the water and the creaking of the ancient trees, shifting slowly over top of the water.

“Uh, Nefeli?” I asked. “Shouldn’t we be going? You just said that if we stopped moving even for a minute, the goddess would catch up with us.”

She didn’t answer, and instead continued staring intently at the water. 

Slowly, Nefeli dipped her fingers in, swishing the water around in a methodical pattern. 

“What are you-” I started.

“Shut up, Aka.” she whispered.

She continued drawing in the water, and finished her pattern with a flourish, bringing her hand out of the water and setting it on her lap.

We both watched the water. Nothing happened.

“Was that supposed to do something?” I asked.

Nefeli frowned at the water. It had suddenly gone still. There was no small current guiding the river downstream. Instead, the river was as lifeless as glass. 

Then the waves started. 

It started with small ripples in the center of the river, then they expanded, until the river banks were flooding with wave after wave crashing violently onto their soft, spring dirt. 

All of a sudden, the waves ended, as quickly as they had started, and in the middle of the river, a woman stood.

She looked a little older than me, about Nefeli’s age.

Her skin was as pale as a crocus, her long dripping hair almost the same color, hinted with the color of the sky.

Her eyes were a shocking blue, as bright and cold as ice, and yet they seemed to hold a friendly light.

Her ears were the strangest thing, they were pointed at the tips, looking almost like…

“A nymph.” I said.

She smiled. “What an astute observation.” 

Her voice reminded me of cold stream water, calming, yet jarring at the same time. 

“Never fail on the dramatic entrances, do you, Rydia?” N asked, an amused fire in her deep green eyes. 

Rydia laughed. “It’s good to see you again, Nefeli.”

So this was the Rydia that Nefeli had been obsessed with for the past three months.

One day after having gone to the stream, Nefeli had come back to camp with a love-stricken expression on her face, and my first wondering was how a man would have made it this far into the woods.

Many men had come and offered themselves as husbands to Nefeli; that is why we moved deep into the woods, so they would stop bothering us mostly, as well as our interest to learn about the medicinal herbs that grew here.

Nevertheless, I had not doubted that there would be a man that would come one day and succeed to steal Nefeli’s heart.

Yet, I was wrong.

It turns out it was a Nymph that Nefeli had fallen in love with. Another female just like herself, named Rydia.

It was normal for same-sex attraction to happen to someone at least once at a young age, but that was only boys. It was never heard of for a woman to fall in love with another woman and yet, there stood one right next to me. 

I had gotten used to Nefeli’s rants about Rydia over the months:

How her hair would shine in the sun and sparkle like the sand of the pristine Athens beaches, or like the glittering snow on the highest points of Mount Olympus. 

How Rydia’s eyes reflected her river itself, bright and curious.

And most importantly, how her personality never changed. It was always the same around Nefeli, inquisitive, kind, adventurous, and loving. The beautiful stability of her personality is what Nefeli was in love with the most. 

I never, however, thought that I would get to meet the Nymph herself.

“It’s an awfully long way away from your camp,” Rydia noted. “I’m assuming this isn’t a normal occasion considering that, and the fact that you brought an…” she looked over at me. “Observer.”

“Look, if you too want to kiss or whatever the Hades it is you do when you meet up, go ahead. It’s none of my business.”

Both women blushed, their entire faces flushing as if they were having a contest on whose complexion could create the more vibrant color.

Rydia’s face had turned the color of the sky at noon, and Nefeli’s, the color of a ripe fig.

Nefeli cleared her throat. “That is not what I am here for,” she started,

“This time.” I added.

Nefeli glared at me, then turned to her lover.

“This is my younger brother, Akakios. Please excuse his lack of control, he’s been working on it.”

Rydia laughed, but her laugh was cut short by the sounds of large rustling in the bushes behind us.

“Nefeli, is that you?” a taunting voice asked. 

The voice was definitely a woman’s, but it wasn’t human.

It had that tone that definitely belonged to someone far more superior to anyone of our race.

A deep, ethereal tone, with the smoothness of honey- no, not honey, Ambrosia.

The voice belonged to a goddess. 

“Is that-” Rydia started.

Nefeli stopped her. “Names have power.” she whispered. Then added, “we need to get out of here right now.” 

Rydia nodded, and closed her eyes.

The water around her parted, and started peeling away from her.

It turned around in every possible direction, catching every angle of the sun until she was standing on the bottom of the river, a completely dry, rocky surface. 

Nefeli wasted no time in grabbing my wrist and running onto the ground right next to Rydia.

Before I could get a single word in, Rydia opened her eyes again, and the water of the river came crashing onto us. 

I gasped in shock, fully expecting that I was about to drown, but instead found that I could still breathe.

Nereid magic, I supposed. 

Nefeli and Rydia were both looking up at the surface of the water, so I did too.

A woman, no, goddess walked into our range of view, it almost seemed as if she just materialized out of the foliage. 

Her skin and hair were both extremely dark. Her skin was the same color as the wet soil around us, speckled with small white freckles like stars in the sky. 

Her hair hung around her shoulders in a hundred tiny braids, each flaked with tiny bits of gold.

She wore close to nothing, and I felt the need to shield my eyes, for a goddess’s body was too holy for a mere mortal to look at in person.

Come to think of it, I’m not certain how all the sculptors were able to portray the Olympians naked if they weren’t able to view them that way.

Nefeli nudged me.

“You need to look.” she whispered to me, her voice barely audible. “I know it’s unholy, but we need to see where she is or else she may sneak up on you from where you least expect it.”

I looked at Nefeli skeptically, wondering if it was just her way of justifying her acts of looking at the body of a goddess with lust, but she seemed to be completely serious, so I nodded, and looked back up.

The goddess was peering around the bushes, perhaps looking for something. Or maybe someone? It was hard to tell with her.

The goddess’s eyes glinted with malice and excitement, and, oh gods, her eyes were yellow.

Not the soft amber brown that came in some people’s eyes, no, her eyes were those of a serpent’s, with shocking bright yellow irises and slits for pupils. 

I choked on the air (water?).

I knew who this goddess was. 

The goddess of strife and discord was not someone you’d like to make your enemy.

Name saying or not, we were doomed either way.

“Eris.” I choked out.

Immediately, I regretted it.

Eris would have been able to find us either way, but saying her name just quickened the inevitable, and I was about to have my life end an hour earlier than it should have.

Nefeli glanced at me in shock. 

It was hard to tell what the look on her face was. Betrayal? Resentment? Guilt? 

“Names have power, Akakios.” she said, her voice barely a whisper.

I winced, she had used my full name. She never uses my full name unless she’s upset. Very upset. “You just killed us sooner.”

Her reaction made me feel worse about myself, but there was no going back now. I slowly turned my head away from Nefeli and looked back up towards the surface of the water. 

The goddess had perked up, her stature now making her look like a dog who had just been called for dinner.

She walked slowly over to the water where we were, and laid down on the bank on her exposed stomach, looking directly at us in the water.

“Hello, Nefeli.” she taunted. 

Now that Eris was closer to us, her voice sounded even more ethereal, even more coated with enough Ambrosia and Nectar to kill a legion of men. It made me sick.

She looked over to Rydia. “There’s no need trying your magic here, Nymph.” she said. I couldn’t tell if it was a threat, or just a statement, but either way she would have meant it, it sounded unpleasant.

“I’m a goddess.” she continued, amusement in her voice. “I’m able to see through all magic. All you’re doing is wasting your energy.”

Rydia glared at Eris, but I noticed her muscles relax, and felt the water around us thicken.

I started to choke on real, material water, believing that Eris was going to indirectly have us drowned, and then go about her day.

But instead, I felt myself being forcefully pulled out of the water, and shoved onto the soaking bank.

I started throwing up river water, and noticed Nefeli next to me, doing the same thing.

Eris clicked her tongue. “What an undignified way to act in front of a goddess.” she mused.

I noticed that in literature, poets write gods to have kind voices, and speak in aristocratic languages.

That was absolutely not true.

The way Eris spoke reminded me of an illiterate person I would pass on the streets of Athens. One with very bad manners, as well.

Nefeli stood up and glared at Eris.

“Like we’d act dignified in front of someone as shitty as you.” she spat.

Eris raised one eyebrow, not looking surprised in the slightest. “Still as feisty as I remember you.” she said, walking up to Nefeli. 

With the two standing right in front of each other, it was apparent that Nefeli was a good deal taller than Eris, which was quite unusual, since the gods loved to tower over the mortals to make them feel inferior.

But Eris knew better.

She knew that she didn’t need height to still be intimidating. 

Nefeli glared down at Eris. “What do you want?” she demanded.

Eris laughed. “You damn well know what I want.” 

“Oh?” Nefeli tested. “You’d have to remind me.” 

Eris glared at her, then relaxed, and smiled unpleasantly. “Very well, I’ll remind you.” 

Nefeli braced herself for something, but nothing happened.

She looked at Eris. “Was something supposed to happen?” she asked dryly. 

Eris grinned and nodded towards me.

Nefeli looked over, and her eyes widened.

I tried to speak, ask what Nefeli was shocked by, but I found I couldn't. 

I reached my hands toward my face, but they passed right through. I tried again, but they passed through again.

I stared at my hands, and took a step back.

They had started turning into smoke. 

Tendrils of black shadow passed over them, enveloping them, until all that was left was shadow and black dust. 

I tried to move, to speak, to do anything, but I couldn’t. 

All I could do was watch while smoke wrapped around my torso, my legs, my feet, until I felt nothing. 

Until I was nothing.

I couldn’t see, but I could still hear. It is true, what they say, that the last sense to leave you after death was hearing.

I heard Eris’s harsh laughter. “Good luck finding all of his ashes.” she said. “His eternal rest is on your conscience.”

I realized then, how ruthless the gods really were, and how far they would go to get revenge, until it meant killing the innocent and traumatizing the young.

Rest was only an idea, in reality, all there was, was pain, and nothingness.