He and It Chapter 163: The Serpent of Pharisee (29)

Chapter 163: The Serpent of Pharisee (29)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

Far below the earth, there was a long, echoing howl of horrific proportions.

The demon god roared. His body swelled rapidly and in a flash he overturned the mirror that Nyx had given him. He could see and hear nothing. Echidna’s golden eyes radiated a monstrous fire. He became as large as Typhon, and as majestic as a Titan. He hooted and whistled, and his mad voice was like ten thousand hurricanes blowing over the sea; like a miserable dog that has been kicked and beaten to death.

The dungeon of Arima was shattered, the veins of the earth groaned as they were dismembered, and the ancient kingdom of Cilicia, which had been used from the beginning in the suppression of Echidna, was lifted up by the now mountainous spine of the demon god until the capital city tumbled to the ground.

“Dorus!” The demon god bore the weight of a thousand mountains, his claws broke through the earth and almost reached upwards to grab the stars in the sky. “Dorus!” 

His mournful cry, shocked all four directions of the Wind gods, from Delphi to the continent of Europa on the other side of the ocean, all heard his blood-drenched cry. The snake demon’s long hair was like a raging river. His left eye was the sun, his right eye was the moon, as he struggled out the wreckage, spit and venomous saliva spread everywhere. His expression was hidden under a sky full of gathered clouds. He stretched out his huge arms, and his ancient golden tattoos were like circling dragons that glittered on his dark skin.

“Hermes, my brother.” Artemis stood on a cloud and urgently tugged at the fleet-footed god. “Go quickly to the rescue of those fools and take them away from the poison of Echidna!” 

She was speaking of the artist who had collapsed at the gathering, and of Palaemon, who hadn’t made it more than a few steps. They had all gathered around the boy, but as soon as they heard Echidna’s roar, they all fell to the ground and their eardrums overflowed with blood.

Hermes ventured down, and with a gust of wind, carried the men to the safety of some heights with a view of Arima’s palace – what was once a palace, but now resembled the jagged bones of a great beast, pulled up and laid bare from a deep in a burial mound.

“Dorus!” the Demon God madly screamed. For a moment he carried a nation of beings, towns and villages, of mountains and forests, of farmlands and rivers on his back, then he broke free from the earth. The weight was too much for his serpent’s tail which burst its scales and spewed out lakes of poisonous, putrid blood.

The earth, the seas, and the underworld trembled, while the wind gods and the cloud gods huddled together in panic, turning the heavens into a boiling cauldron. The stars were dislocated; the sun and the moon appeared in the sky at the same time; and the onlookers watched the ancient demons riot and wondered if it would be like to the rebellion of Typhon of old, and if they needed to changed into small birds and beasts to escape alive from the sacred mountain of Olympus.

Echidna had left the cage that held him!

–The news spread, and the Gods gathered on the summit of Olympus, watching in horror the movements of the lower world. Nymphs of the forest, springs and streams, and the river gods and mountain gods, who were more powerful than them…many could not escape in time and perished from the poison. The demons of the lower realms heard Echidna’s screams of agony, and took that as a call to war with the Gods, and responded from all over the known world.

The person at the center of all that attention, Echidna, couldn’t be bothered with distractions. He soon found the location of his lover, a human boy lying breathless in the delicate woods.

“Dorus. Dorus…” the snake demon shrank in size. He changed back to his normal form and trembled as he prostrated himself beside his lover. “Dorus, look at me. What’s wrong with you? …Dorus…” 

He shivered and touched the boy’s cheek. Black blood flowed from his seven orifices. His entire body was bruised, and only a cloud of gorgon’s blood, barely, feebly, protected his heart’s veins.

Echidna could not utter a word, only one hoarse cry after another. He wanted to wail, but his tears, like red lava, couldn’t flow, only blackened his vision.

Great grief drove the snake demon to extend his fangs and bury them deep into the human’s veins, he tried to suck out the deadly poison, but as soon as he tasted the toxin tainted blood, Echidna woke up from his trance.

This was the snake venom of the original Echidna for which no antidote existed.

The Gods of Olympus…No one but those Gods could use that poisonous blood!

At that moment, Echidna hated himself so much that he wanted to die almost instantly. Still, with faint hope, he desperately sucked at the blood and flowing poison and begged fate for mercy until the pus-purple color was half gone from his human’s body, and his original pale complexion was slightly revealed. He had sucked almost two-thirds of the blood out the man’s body.

With the venom contained, the balm that Xie Ning had used, and the blood that he had taken, began to work again, restoring him to a faint state of sanity.

His eyes were completely blind, so he could only sense his partner’s touch on his swollen, hot and slightly numb skin.

“Ah…” Xie Ning’s lips quirked and he let out a weak sound. It was like he had swallowed a mouthful of strong sulfuric acid, and he was forcing the remaining muscles to churn up his bloody vocal cords and throat.

So much pain, so much burning torment. Xie Ning seemed to be divided into two people, one was paralyzed on the ground, falling into hell, and only wanted to use their remaining thoughts and reason to beg Echidna quickly kill him and give him relieve with a with a sharp, quick death; the other flew in the sky, and was looking sadly at the tragedy. Revenge was too far away at that moment, and it was too late to inquire into the cause; he just didn’t want to break Echidna’s heart, and more than that, he didn’t want to make him weep.

Echidna heard him make a sound and scrambled next to his cheek as he hoarsely said, “No, don’t speak, Dorus! Don’t you do anything now. I’ll save you, I’ll save you…” 

“Forget…forget…I…” Xie Ning gasped sharply. Moment by moment, the agony increased, and the pain exceeded the threshold of what the human body could bear. He wasn’t afraid anymore. “I…want you…you…” 

Fishy cold blood rushed up in a ***, sticking in his throat and making it difficult for him to spit out the last word.

Echidna grasped him in desperation, and trembled as he touched him everywhere randomly. He didn’t know how to hold him closer, tighter. His heart fell and he finally broke down and cried out.

“Never!” He kissed Xie Ning’s cheeks, fingers and skin, with everything in his soul. “How can I forget you? Kill me! You take my life with you! You belong to my hands, you belong to my heart, you belong to my eyes and lips…Mine, mine! All mine!” 

He took Xie Ning’s cheeks and went to suck the poisonous blood again, but it was a futile effort. Echidna’s venom was inexhaustible, it was like a deep-welling spring, it always comes back in an endless torrent until it eats away at the victim’s vitality, so that they go to the Underworld with the traces of the poison on their souls.

Xie Ning could not say that he was lucky, nor could he say that he was completely unfortunate. If he did not have the medicinal blood of the Gorgon, he would have died the moment the poisoned wine touched his lips. He had drunk that miraculous medicine that could bring people back to life, but it could only enable him to hang in limbo; unable to live, unable to die.

For a moment, Echidna seemed to be completely lost. He kissed Xie Ning’s burning skin long and slow, inch by inch. He murmured and stroked his bloodied hair, or shook him gently, as if he wanted to wake up his lover from some illusory dream. Then in a split second, every line of Echidna’s face twisted up in a warlike manner, and he hysterically whistled at the Heavens, snarled, and cried as if he wanted to tear apart the people who were against him. To tear apart the whole world that was against him.

This intense hatred spread up to the sky, where it frightened the powerful gods and sent the weak ones into retreat. It spread to the sea, causing the surface to fade into the sour blackness of a stubborn stone. It spread down to bottomless Tartarus, where except for Typhon, who applauded and shouted, the rest of the Titans sighed with a mournful sigh, for they all knew in their hearts that this was a battle that would be extremely difficult to win. 

Zeus stood on the summit of Mount Olympus, his golden crown held an ominous shade of darkness, and looked down with great displeasure at the scene below.

“Mayhaps it was a mistake for me to stay out of it,” he said gravely. “For look at what you have done!” 

“Though you may disbelieve it, this will come to an end soon, Father of the Gods,” said Phoebus Apollo, ¹ and he said solemnly, “The threat He has posed to the earth will end now, this very moment, once and for all.” 

“Do not speak against me, and do not speak to me of impracticalities!” Zeus frowned. “Thou has done such a thing and made it difficult for me to raise my sacred thunderbolts, for what a grieving god wants, he can find his own reason for.” 

Of all the other Gods, only Aphrodite’s face was vaguely flushed with a most unpleasant indignation.

“This does not seem like a just action, Apollo, think what Themis would say!” Aphrodite questioned resentfully. “How is it that Apollo, the glorious and far-reaching Apollo, has become a user of intrigue?” 

“Soft-hearted Goddess of Love, please do not overrule the resolutions of the Gods.” Apollo retorted. “Thou speaks powerful words as if from the lips of the Goddess of Justice, but thyself are not acting in the name of pure justice. Thou are fighting against us for thy own authority!” 

Aphrodite’s eyes opened wide. She stepped forward, and her girdle of love radiated a precious light. Just when the Goddess of Love was about to attack the Far-Shooter for the sake of her own unoffendable dignity, Hermes quietly pulled her elbow, and persuaded her in a soft voice.

“Goddess, do not be angry and do not act,” the divine messenger said. “Look at the countenance of our Father and know that, though he is not so happy, he has favored his wife in his heart and that, though he said he would not meddle with Apollo’s resolution, he did not, hinder the plan of provoking the wrath of Echidna. Do not oppose all of them at this juncture. Think what an unfavorable position it would place thee in.” 

Aphrodite, thought angrily on his words, and had to stop her advance. 

Just then Palaemon awoke. As he was a demigod hero, he awoke earlier than the others who had been concussed by Echidna.

He opened his eyes and saw that he was at the peak of a high, shaking mountain, with a few artists, some who were dead, some alive, beside him. He looked down blankly. The earth below him was a sea of poison and fire, the sky was dominated by a monstrous storm, and both were on the verge of shattering from the demon god’s cries of anguish.

“…What have I done?” He muttered hazily to himself, the gruesome sight of Dorus being poisoned still echoing deep within his mind. “Gods, what have you made me do?” 

Palaemon’s hands trembled uncontrollably and his blood boiled in his veins. When he thought about it, what an unforgivable thing he had done! He had been a liar, a betrayer, a vile man, who had associated the cruel words of the Gods with such harmlessness that he had willingly dripped poison into a goblet and coaxed Dorus to drink it. Sadder still, he was then convinced that it would be enough to brighten the young man’s mind, and sober him from the compulsion of that demon god!

He paved the way to the Abyss with what he thought was an act of kindness but with no more honor, and no courage to speak of. From that moment his treachery would be spoken of for all eternity on earth, and the foolishness of his heart would serve as an example for parents to use in educating their children and their children’s children.

“Behold!” they would say. “What a great fool was the son of Achelous, the river god, who betrayed the trust of a king, and sent a blameless youth to the burning furnace. He became that golden apple of the Trojan War, responsible for the world’s plagues!” ²

Palaemon fell to his knees, frozen like a stone statue, and gazed in a cold silence at what was going on beneath the mountain.

What honor was there in being a despicable coward? He raised his hands to the sky and cried out, “Gods, why are you against me? Of all mankind, why have thou made me a sad and despicable laughing-stock? O, that I have not a wife or children, and that I may not, so that after my death, they may become the slaves of others, to be ill-treated by cruel masters, and be clothed as paupers, and eat the food of the poor! I pray my parents will not be ashamed of my death. I do not ask for the mercy of any man or god. Nor for a funeral, nor for a sacrifice, only that Death takes me away at once, so that my blood may wash away my ignorance and my guilt!” 

When he finished his cries, he drew the sword that had killed the poisonous dragon, defended the capital city of the kingdom, and hunted with his friends, then turned the blade inward and crashed into it with determination.

The sword pierced his heart, and Palaemon killed himself, leaving the rocky ground of the cliff red with gushing blood. Later, Zeus felt pity for him and raised his soul into the sky as an immortal constellation.

On the earth, Echidna embraced his lover, and as he mourned, he came up with a crazy idea. The snake demon moved like an arrow, and descended through the fallen Arima, then laid his dying lover on that fertile ground. Then he tugged out the cradle of swaddling cloths, and wrapped the young man’s body securely.

“The skin of man is clay, the bones are stone, and the Earth is the Mother to all of you. I wish for Her unending power to ease your pain and heal your life,” he murmured, kissing his lover’s cheeks and the corners of his lips one by one. “Now, I will avenge your death, and I will do what I should have done a long time ago. Dorus, wait for me. Don’t be afraid. Wait for me. Wait for me.” 

With that, the demon god straightened his body. He grabbed the dragon’s teeth, as numerous as the stars in the sky, and he showered them over the land of Gaia. Giant after giant emerged from the soil, like the ancient Giants born of Gaia herself, their hair long and unkempt, with scaly dragon tails at their backs, more savage, stronger, and more ferocious than the giants born of the common gods.

“Go up to Mount Olympus!” he cried harshly. “And tear the limbs off of the Gods in that starlit palace. Set the skies ablaze and make the seas boil! Let the Gods plead with the Oracles of the Goddess of Fortune, but thee will die like dragon’s teeth, and grow from the bosom of the Earth!” 

The demons of the world rejoiced at the command to the offense, while the ancestor of the monsters spewed poisonous saliva, and incited wildness and malice in the hearts of men. He brought more mischief than Typhon, for while Typhon stole Zeus’s thunderbolts and broke Zeus’s sinews, he fought alone. Echidna had stirred up all the forces of resistance. He was more like the awakened Earth Mother of old, commanding the Titans, and waging war to overthrow the King of the Gods.

“This is what thou has done,” Zeus said grimly, in a voice that rumbled like thunder and shook the land. “Answer the call to war, answer the call to war! All the Gods of Olympus shall fight in defense of their home!” 

The Gods flew down to the summit of the sacred mountain to meet the demon’s onslaught. Herakles, the god of heroes, was the first to rush toward Echidna. The snake demon roared in fury, seized the body of Zeus’ son in his hands and hurled him toward Apollo’s golden chariot.

“Do you think you’re still the same half-human, half-god, fate-favored hero who could slay a Titan in battle?” Echidna snapped. “Become a fawn again and flee, as you did against Typhon, and I will take vengeance even more brutal than he did!” ³

The four heavens shook, and the hair of the snake demon danced wildly. His form was greater than that of the Titans, and as he struck the clouds, Atlas, who had the heavens on his back, shouted aloud, shook his shoulders, and flung the stars of the heavens down to the sea. ⁴ Around Echidna’s waist the wind gods circled in vain, only to have their wings torn off one by one, drenched in gold and blood, and knocked down into the muddy ground.

“Why destroy my happiness? Why break my heart?” The demon god shed thick tears like blood. He was crying in pain, and because of that pain, his killing methods became more and more tyrannical. “You brutalized Dorus! You will not even allow me to have that small peace, so I want you to pay a price more painful than death!” 

He shattered the shield of the God of War. The golden arrows of the Sun God and the silver arrows of the Moon Goddess melted under the venom sprayed by Echidna. Poseidon drove his chariot of twelve seahorses in a mighty wave towards the enemy, but the horses were choked by the serpent’s magic tail, which was strong enough to encircle the world, and they were all crushed to pieces. Then Echidna dragged the Sea God’s chariot out of the water, and caused Poseidon to turn into a silver fish and run away, for the enemy’s power was no less than that of the old troll Typhon, plus it was a hundred times more intense when catalyzed by despair and anger.

Here Echidna, without waiting for his adversary to speak, cut the noble body of Apollo, and left on his golden chest a number of monumental and horrible scars. The sister of the Sun God rushed to his aid, but the demon god likewise seized her silver chariot, and caused it to smash the Hunt Goddess’s silver crown.

When their mother Leto, ⁵ saw her daughter bleeding and her son struggling in pain, could not help but cry out in fear. However, she was only a goddess of nurture, with little power to fight, and could only hide in the higher vault of the heavens.

Hermes flew behind the demon god, and tried to end the catastrophe with a sneak attack, but Echidna found him at once, and informed the divine messenger maliciously that if he caught Hermes, he would tear off the two thighs of the God of Swiftness, so that he would have to crawl like a maggot on the ground with only a pair of arms.

Hermes, pale with fear, fled from the battlefield and sought refuge in the arms of the Father of the Gods.

“Stop here, Echidna!” Pallas [Pallas is another epithet but so old they don’t know what it means. shrug] Athena came to the battlefield. She was clad in golden armor and held up a great shield. “Stop now. There is room for thee to turn back!” said the Goddess along with the God of War, as they blocked Echidna’s progress. However, the battle raged for days and they couldn’t pierce the ancient god’s scales, while every wound left on his skin spilled deadly venomous blood that ate away at the light of the gods.

“Seek the oracle!” Athena said. “The Fates decreed that Echidna can only be slain by a demigod hero. Who is that hero?” The earth was in chaos and the dark sea was covered with poison, while giants and demons swarmed under the sacred mountain of Olympus. They followed in the footsteps of their predecessors as they uprooted and piled up the high mountains of Thessaly, Oeta, Athos, and so on, as a ladder up to the homeland of the Gods, ⁶ where those who could not fight against Echidna went to fight against their enemies. “Where are they?” 

“That is what I fear,” Zeus said with a thunderbolt in his hand as he looked down on the battle. There was worry in his eyes in addition to anger. “The Fates have retreated to the Underworld. They do not intend to fight, nor do they want me to see the threads of their work.” 

The Father of the Gods sighed deeply. He made up his mind, rose from his throne, and with all his strength, grasped his weapons – divine lightning, thunder, and terrifying thunderbolts. He struck Echidna again and again, and the poisonous winds, flames, earthquakes, and dazzling thunderbolts mingled together to frighten the eternal Gods of the Underworld, and even Gaia, the Earth Mother, woke from a drowsy dream. She opened one huge, hazy, chaotic eye and looked at all that was happening to her.

However, no matter how the Father of the Gods dealt with the rebel demon, he could not kill him completely, because destiny had already decided that this Echidna of the opposite sex could not be destroyed by any god, even their King.

Facing Zeus, Echidna came back to life again and again. His poisonous blood almost flooded the land, purging all life from it. He roared and laughed. He laughed at the cowardice of the Gods, and swore to kill all his enemies.

“Enough, enough!” Hera shuddered and shouted. “Apollo, look at the madman! He is not to be yielded to! He will not be reconciled! Why do thou wait? Tell us thy plan!” 

Apollo pressed his bleeding wounds, and looked at the ancient savage demon. In fear and anger, he exclaimed, “Echidna! Does thou not wish to save Dorus?” 

The bloodstained serpentine eyes of the demon god shuddered. He hurled himself away from Ares, and against Athena’s spear. He stared hard at the Deity of Light and Medicine.

“We can swear on the river Styx,” Apollo said. “That if thy will gather thy venom from the earth, retreat from Mount Olympus, and willingly serve in Tartarus, the Gods will help thee to ease Dorus’s sickness, so that he does not suffer more pain, as he deserves to live!” 

Echidna hissed. “That is the poison of the original Echidna. If I can do nothing about it, who are you to make such promises?” 

“We can bestow a blessing,” Apollo lay in the Lunar Goddess’ arms, panting hard. “We cannot heal him wholly, but the Gods can always do what thou cannot, and that is to bestow a blessing.” 

“How dare you call yourself a glorious god when you are so cowardly and lowly!” Echidna stormed. “You are the ones who started this, and now, you want to use him as a bargaining piece to extract concessions from me? Ah! I’ll have to rip your tongue out to atone for mentioning Dorus!” 

“It was an unfair trade in the first place.” Athena understood Apollo’s meaning instantly. She murmured, “Thy love for the boy is blind and fanatical, and whether thou wilt admit it, Echidna, thou cannot beat us outright in the near times. However, your human…how long can he hold out against the pain of the poison? Twenty, fifty, a hundred years? We can run, we can hide. Can thou catch us? How will thee fight a transparent enemy?” 

At that moment, Echidna’s heart shook violently.

He thought of Dorus, of his tormented lover, and his fury died down. The strength to resist slipped away.

Dorus, he thought bitterly. My heart…The love of my life.

“If thou wilt leave the mortal world, and wreak no more havoc on its creatures with thy venomous saliva,” said Dionysus, as he struggled to his feet, the shattered staff of the God of Wine in the pocket of his robes, “We shall diminish infinitely the evils of the serpent’s venom in thy man, and shorten and diminish his pains infinitely.” 

“Think of the offer!” Demeter rushed to say, for she’d had enough of the destruction of grain and farmland, “The God of Healing ⁷ shall heal his wounds, Apollo shall restore his vision of the horizon, Zeus shall give him an aura of harmlessness, I shall give him life that will not be cut off….Think on it, he will prosper! He will prosper!” 

“…If I go down to Tartarus,” Echidna said in a barely audible voice. “I will have no chance to meet him again.” 

When he heard his words, a small smile finally escaped Apollo’s lips.

“When his lifespan as a mortal ends, we will consider thy service in Tartarus finished,” he said. “At such time, thou and he can live together in the Blissful Lands of the Underworld, together forever. ⁸ How is that?” 

Echidna’s vision trembled, he tried desperately to think, to find out the trick in the offer, but his mind was in chaos. Only Dorus’ face, his smile, his tears, his open mouth spitting out words of love…his blackened eyes, making himself forget what he looked like…all of them circled through his mind and there was nothing else.

“Then do it!” Zeus said majestically when he saw that he was wavering. “As King of the Gods, Father of all gods and men, I swear by the waters of the River Styx that if thou whilst withdraw the venom that has flooded the seas, skies, and lands, put an end to this rebellion, and go down to Tartarus to serve, then we shall bless your mate and put an end to his suffering. At the end of his life, we will deem your service complete and send his soul to the Underworld to join you in the Land of Bliss. Otherwise, let the Gods never see the light of Olympus again, and suffer more than in the Abyss!” 

With that, the King of the Gods asked, “Does thou agree?” 

If only Dorus would get well.

Echidna turned back and looked in Arima’s direction. I can do anything.

The Demon God withdrew his gaze. He was covered in blood, his broken golden eyes stared darkly at the many gods who were still gasping for breath.

“… Well,” he said. “I agree.” 

At the same time that Echidna agreed to bind herself with the Oath, the divine messenger, Hermes, arrived noiselessly in the collapsed ruins of Arima, and stealthily maneuvered past the guarding giants to land beside Xie Ning.

He picked up the unconscious young man’s head, he leaned it back, took out the golden cup of the Gods, and poured the liquid inside between the other’s dark purple lips.

–It was clear wine. The wine of eternal life.

 

Editor Gaea’s note: Catch what the Olympians’ did there? Told you that you’d hate them even more.