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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Story [Harry Potter] Witches of the White Sea: The Age of Gods and Monsters | 2025 Kessel Run Challenge

Discussion in 'Non Star Wars Fan Fiction' started by Chyntuck, Jan 14, 2025.

  1. Chyntuck

    Chyntuck Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2014
    Title: Witches of the White Sea: The Age of Gods and Monsters

    Fandom: J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World

    Timeframe: The mythical times of ancient Greece

    Continuity: Your guess is as good as mine

    Length: Series of vaguely interconnected one-shots

    Genre: Tentatively humour, but we’ll see where the prompts take me

    Characters: OCs and figures of Greek myth

    Summary: You knew that Greek mythology is about gods, legendary creatures and men. But what of wizards?

    Challenge response: This thread is a response to the 2025 Kessel Run Challenge

    Notes:

    • The ‘White Sea’ (Akdeniz) is the Turkish name for the Mediterranean, which I find wonderfully poetic, hence the title.
    • I’ll be butchering a lot of Ancient Greek words to turn them into Potter-style spells that are still understandable for English speakers. Purists beware.
    • You can expect several sequels to this thread in the coming years. I’ll be focusing on mythical Antiquity for now, but I already have plans for classical Antiquity, the Byzantine era, the Ottoman era, etc.
    Table of contents:
    The Gift of Prometheus – in which you’ll learn how wizards came to be
    The Ophidian Whisperer – in which Asclepius discovers that he can talk to snakes
    The Phial of Circe – in which you’ll learn how and why Circe turns men into swine
    The View from the Walls – in which the Ladies in Blue tell you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the Minotaur
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2025 at 12:11 PM
  2. Chyntuck

    Chyntuck Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2014
    Prompt: Write a story between 100 and 1,000 words that ends with the sentence “For the first time in her life, she felt powerful.”
    Genre: Myth/humour
    Characters: Goetea (OC), Prometheus
    Word count: 987

    The Gift of Prometheus

    Some stories claim that the mighty Prometheus, the wisest and most industrious of Titans, bestowed upon humankind the gift of fire. This is true.

    Other stories claim that he gifted humankind with the arts and the sciences, the knowledge that brings forth civilization. This is, again, true.

    But there is one gift of Prometheus that the stories never mention: magic.

    * * *

    Goetea was a simple woman. She dwelled alone in the forest and lived off the bounty of the land. Her skill at gathering herbs, plants and berries was unrivaled, and the inhabitants of the nearby town eagerly awaited her weekly visits when she came to sell the fruit of her labour.

    There was a morning when she had gone to fetch water from the clearing – thank the Naiads for their favours – and she was resting to recover her strength after heaving the heavy bucket out of the well when she heard lumbering footfalls behind her.

    A very large man came out of the woods. She immediately recognised him and prostrated herself at his feet.

    “Mighty Prometheus! You, here! I thought that you were…” Her voice faltered at the thought of what she was about to say.

    “Chained to a mountaintop with an eagle devouring my liver?” the Titan offered helpfully.

    She hadn’t meant to put it so crudely, but that about summed it up. “Well… yes.”

    He waved for her to stand. “It’s true. I am – most of the time.”

    Goetea winced as she scrambled to her feet. “It must be terribly painful,” she said sympathetically.

    Prometheus chuckled. “Painful? Not at all. I just cast an Analgesic Hex and all I feel is a pleasant titillating sensation. I’m not particularly ticklish, but if the eagle is in a playful mood I sometimes need to cast an Agelast Charm too – you know, so that Zeus won’t notice I’m laughing.”

    There were many words in there that Goetea didn’t understand, but she was ashamed to show her ignorance before humankind’s benefactor. Apparently she’d missed a few crucial lessons if she wanted to be able to hold her own against the primordial god. “If I may ask, how come you’re here now, instead of… you know, up there?” She gestured vaguely towards the skies.

    The Titan shrugged dismissively. “The eagle came around this morning already, and he’s not due back until tomorrow. So I Tachykineticked and came to see if humankind needed any help.”

    “Ta… Ta… Tachykineticked?”

    He frowned. “Yes. You know, Tachykinesis. The ability to transfer one’s own body from place to place instantly – in simpler terms, to disappear and reappear elsewhere.”

    The gods help her, but Goetea had never heard of it. “With respect, Mighty Prometheus… I’m not well-versed in the arts and sciences, but I don’t think that’s something you taught us yet.”

    The Titan smacked his forehead so loudly that Hades, the Ultimate Host of All – may she be forgiven for speaking his name – must have heard it from the depths of the underworld. “Silly me!” he exclaimed with a great gust of laughter. “That was the final gift I wanted to bestow upon humankind when Zeus interrupted me. Would you like to have it?”

    “To… to disappear and reappear elsewhere?” Goetea stammered. “Well, yes, I suppose it would be helpful on market day. Town is some distance away and –”

    “Oh, but Tachykinesis is only one of many things you could do with magic,” he interrupted. “You could also produce things, transform them, make them fly…” He tapped two fingers on her bucket, and it rose of its own accord and hovered before her. Her eyes widened.

    “I could do this?” she whispered in wonder. “I wouldn’t need to carry these heavy buckets anymore?”

    The Titan stepped forward and touched his thumb to her brow. There was a tiny spark, like fresh logs did sometimes when she threw them in the fire, and she felt a sensation of warmth spreading throughout her body.

    “Try it,” he said. “The spell is Aerostatê.”

    At that moment a flash of lightning erupted across the sky, followed by an ominous roll of thunder, and the voice of Zeus echoed over the land. “Where is he?” he demanded to know. “Why isn’t he on the mountain?”

    Prometheus gave the roiling clouds a worried glance. “Oops! I have to go.” And with that he spun on his heel and disappeared with a pop.

    Goetea was so terrified that she remained frozen in place, wondering if the Omnipotent to Whom All Are Slaves – may he absolve her of her transgressions – would turn his wrath against her, but the storm soon moved away. Apparently she was too small, too insignificant to warrant his ire, she thought with a bizarre combination of bitterness and relief. She went to lift the bucket – gods, it was heavy – and stopped dead in her tracks.

    She tapped two fingers on the wooden edge, like Prometheus had done, and whispered: “Aerostatê.”

    And, to her disbelief, the bucket rose into the air.

    Now to get it to follow her as she made her way home. “Err… Acolythê?”

    The bucket moved obediently and came to hover at her side.

    She began to walk back to her hut, glancing at it every now and then to verify that it was still there. She fully expected it to fall to the ground, or worse to vanish altogether – Plutus hadn’t graced her with sufficient wealth to purchase another – but no. It floated quietly behind her until she was able to tip its contents into the basin where she washed her clothes.

    She returned eagerly to the clearing to fill it again and was able to magic a full bucket out of the well with that single word. She fell to her knees and sent a silent thanks to Prometheus the Bestower of Gifts, wherever he was now. Her brief encounter with him had transformed her. For the first time in her life, she felt powerful.

    -------------------------------------


    Linguistic notes:

    Goetea (γοητεία) was the archaic Greek word for magic. It was replaced by ‘magea’ (μαγεία) which gave us the word ‘magic’ in many European languages.

    Analgesic and Aerostatê presumably need no explanation.

    Agelast (from Greek ἀγέλαστος) is a legit English word that means ‘one who never laughs, a mirthless person’.

    I made up Tachykinesis from ταχύς, fast (see for instance ‘tachycardia’) and κίνησις, movement (see for instance ‘kinetic energy’ in English) as a substitute for Apparition/Disapparition

    Lastly, if you’re wondering why the spell Acolythê looks so much like ‘acolyte’, it’s because the English word ‘acolyte’ derives from Greek for ‘follower’.
     
  3. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Ultimate Drableteer and Guess Which Mod Winner star 8 VIP - Game Winner

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Great blend of lyrical mythology and humor. =D=
     
  4. Vek Talis

    Vek Talis Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 12, 2018
    A delightfully flippant way to introduce magic to the world. [face_rofl][face_rofl][face_rofl][face_rofl]
     
  5. devilinthedetails

    devilinthedetails Fiendish Fanfic & SWTV Manager, Tech Admin star 6 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Jun 19, 2019
    Ooh, I love Greek mythology retellings, so to combine that with Harry Potter is to mix two of my favorite things[face_dancing]

    I'm always happy to see references to Naiads.

    I love the matter-of-fact manner in which Prometheus offers this line. It made me chuckle.

    [face_laugh]

    Prometheus is endearingly absent-minded.

    I appreciate that her first thought is of the practical detail of how it would make market day easier.

    There is a great sense of magic, whimsy, and experimentation here.

    Fantastic first entry in your Kessel Run! It really does feel like a fusion of Harry Potter and Greek myth, and I'm excited to see where your muse will take you next=D=
     
  6. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    I am a lover of Greek mythology so. More gods coming to do their magic?
     
  7. Nehru_Amidala

    Nehru_Amidala Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2016
    I do love Greek mythology, and I like the occasional HP story, and that led me here. Great story, and it makes sense that Prometheus would be the one to bring magic to the humans. I also like he was able to trick Zeus, but now I have to wonder it took for Heracles/Hercules to show up.
     
  8. Chyntuck

    Chyntuck Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2014
    Thank you all for reading and reviewing!

    @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Thank you! I've had the concept of this thread on my mind for some time now, but I wasn't confident that I could strike the right tone between mythology and humour. I felt that I'd found it with the first prompt, and I'm glad you thought it worked!

    @Vek Talis Thank you! The truth is that, when you look at Greek myths, the gods are pretty flippant in their actions, so I thought I'd take it one step further and make it about magic too!

    @devilinthedetails Thank you!
    As I'm sure you've already guessed, this is going to be a pretty lax retelling of Greek myths :p
    Agreed! The Naiads are such cool little deities in the Greek pantheon. I'm hoping to have an opportunity to bring them in as proper characters during this Kessel Run.
    Well, that's the thing when you combine myths with the wizarding world, right? Everything becomes, "no biggie, I can sort it out".
    This was possibly my favourite line to come up with. The one thing I like best about the Potter'verse is all the spells and charms and their fancy names, plus the way they're used to disguise magic to Muggle eyes – so I just let my imagination run free here and this is what it came up with.
    So. Canonically, Prometheus is the thoughtful one, and his brother Epimetheus is absent-minded (I mean, that's quite literally what their names mean), and I considered making magic the gift of Epimetheus instead. But Epimetheus is pretty lame by Titan standards, and it's a fact that Prometheus was interrupted by Zeus and that he's been through a lot... so I ultimately decided to combine the two.
    Well, if we're being honest, the poor woman has no idea what Prometheus is talking about, so she's trying to bring it down to a level she can understand :p
    Thank you! 'Whismy' is very much the word I'd use to describe magic in the Potter'verse, and what attracted me to this story concept was the idea that, at this early stage of the history of humankind, any wizards and witches would have to make it up as they go along. I hope I can keep it up for the rest of the KR!

    @earlybird-obi-wan Thank you! Oh yes, the gods will be all over this thread, some of them encouraging magic, others trying to keep it secret...

    @Nehru_Amidala Thank you! Indeed, given all that Prometheus gave to humans, it would make sense that he gave them magic too. And yes, Heracles will definitely show up in this thread; as a matter of fact the final vignette will be about him – just read on!

    Thank you to all readers, reviewers and lurkers! The week 2 story is coming right up.
     
  9. Chyntuck

    Chyntuck Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2014
    Prompt: Write a story between 400 and 800 words using third-person omniscient POV in which a character teaches another character something.
    Genre: Origin story
    Characters: Asclepius and the snake on his rod
    Word count: 800

    The Ophidian Whisperer

    The stories say that Chiron, the most well-learned of Centaurs, took in the orphan Hepius and taught him everything he knew. Hepius was kind and compassionate, and he grew to be an accomplished healer until his mentor instructed him to share his knowledge in the mortal realm. His deeds bore all the markings of legend and humankind came to worship him as a god.

    But Hepius had another skill, one in which Chiron was not allowed to train him. He only learned of it when he struck out on his own.

    * * *

    As a young man, Hepius was dedicated to improving his craft, and it was his dedication that had led him to this remote corner of the woods near Epidaurus. Many healers had failed to cure the ailment that afflicted the eyes of King Ascles, but Hepius didn’t want to give up. Chiron had given him a pouch of unicorn horn powder when he’d left the Centaur’s abode, and he was hopeful that, with this precious substance, he could create an Ophthalmic Philtre to restore the king’s sight.

    He’d found over the years that some plants had properties Chiron never mentioned, and he didn’t understand why. How could he, when Zeus Almighty had ordained that the existence of magic remain a well-kept secret, lest every mortal should demand to be blessed with the gift? He wondered instead if his mentor had intended it as a trial, and it was a question he meant to ask if the Fates allowed them to cross paths – but for now, he had gathered stems of artemisia and he was in search of mandragoras, whose root he’d never used but knew to be key to his task.

    He finally spotted a clump of the rosette-shaped leaves and knelt in the dirt to dig up one of the taproots when a hissing voice said: “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

    Hepius looked around to see who had spoken, but there was no one save for a harmless snake. He thought he must have imagined it – indeed, being ignorant of magic, he was not aware that he had the gift – and returned his attention to the mandragoras.

    The snake darted forward and wrapped itself around his wrist. “Dont! Boy, just… don’t.”

    This time Hepius couldn’t deny that it was the creature speaking. He lifted it to his face and gave it a curious look. “How is it that I can understand you?”

    The serpent sighed. Unlike Hepius, it knew everything about the shroud of secrecy surrounding magic, and it found it tiresome to explain itself again and again. “You’re an Ophidian Whisperer. In other words, you can talk to snakes.”

    The young man’s lips puckered to form a silent ‘oh’.

    They sat there for a moment. Hepius wondered how he could have acquired this talent; yet, as he thought of it, he realised that, even as a child, he’d often heard whispers when snakes were around. The serpent, for its part, pondered how much to reveal. Zeus wouldn’t be happy, but really, wasn’t the boy bound to realise that he had the gift on his own? Besides, there was the matter of the mandragoras; this young man came across as kind and gentle, and it didn’t feel right to abandon him to his fate.

    It reared its head a little to bring it level with the youth’s eyes. “You’re going to need ear protection if you want to uproot mandragoras. Their cry can kill a grown man.”

    Hepius snorted. He hadn’t quite overcome his surprise at conversing with a reptile, but this, he could simply not believe. “How could they cry at all? They’re plants.”

    Hades take Zeus and thrust him into Tartarus, the snake cursed in the privacy of its mind. “They’re not just any plants, boy. They’re magical plants.”

    “Magical?”

    “Yes. And you – you’re a magus. Don’t you ever wonder why you can do things others cannot?”

    This revelation left Hepius silent and pensive. “Chiron told me of the gift of Prometheus when I was little,” he said finally. “I thought it was but a tale.”

    “Oh, it’s absolutely real, and you have it. I could teach you about it if you’d like.” The young man nodded eagerly. “All right. Stuff some grass into your ears and get those mandragoras. We can talk on the way back.”

    And thus it was that Hepius returned to Epidaurus with a snake wrapped around his walking stick. “By the way, I never asked you,” the serpent said as they entered the town. “What’s your name?”

    “Hepius.”

    The snake thought of it for a moment. “Right. Once you’ve cured King Ascles, we can make it Asclepius. It has a nicer ring to it, don’t you think?”

    The healer grinned. “Asclepius. Yes, I like the sound of that.”

    -------------------------------------------

    Endnotes

    ‘Ophidian’ is a legit English word that means ‘relating to snakes, snakelike’ (from Ancient Greek ὄφις, snake).

    The Ophthalmic Philtre made from wormwood (artemisia), mandrake (mandragora) and ground unicorn horn is this world’s version of the Oculus Potion that exists in official Potterlore.

    Lastly, the etymology of Asclepius as Ascles + Hepius isn’t something I made up; it’s suggested in a single, rather obscure 12th century Byzantine source. I don’t believe it makes linguistic sense for a second, but as I said in my opening notes, I’m willing to butcher Ancient Greek for the purposes of storytelling in this collection.
     
  10. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    Great to see a Greek tale about how the stick and the snake became the sign of the healers.
     
  11. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Ultimate Drableteer and Guess Which Mod Winner star 8 VIP - Game Winner

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Fascinating how Hepius learned about his gifts. I like reading about natural plant based cures. :cool:
     
  12. Vek Talis

    Vek Talis Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 12, 2018
    Despite the allusion to the caduceus... I'm still worried about anyone trusting a snake. [face_worried] But so far, he seems like a decent sort. Hopefully the king gets his sight back.
     
  13. Mira_Jade

    Mira_Jade The (FavoriteTM) Fanfic Mod With the Cape star 5 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jun 29, 2004
    This, once again, is a fascinating idea for a Kessel Run thread! I love how absolutely creative your muse is! [face_hypnotized]

    I have to start by confessing that I never got into Harry Potter, so I only know the bare basics of the fandom. Which may be a good thing here, as this is quite literally a different time and place entirely. But I've always found tales of mythology fascinating, and this is certainly that so far! [face_thinking]


    The Gift of Prometheus
    I love how naturally this added to Prometheus's character as we already know him. This very much felt like an extension of the original myths.

    [face_laugh] This entire exchange about the eagles absolutely delighted me. [face_tee_hee]

    Goetea is absolutely adorable. I love her humility and her good heart and her simple "salt of the earth" nature. [face_love]

    I am all for giving Zeus the slip like this. [face_mischief] [face_whistling]

    This was absolutely heartwarming. It's . . . magical, for lack of a better word, and I found myself smiling in happiness and pride for Goetea by the final line. [face_love]



    The Ophidian Whisperer
    Ooh! I like how this echoed the opening of your first story! It's really clever framing all around. =D=

    I can feel just how done with life the serpent is, and it amused me greatly. :p I appreciated the use of third-person omniscient POV in this instance, too, so that we could glimpse its thoughts as well as Hepius'. =D=

    Somewhere, Hades is saying: oh gods no to this idea. [face_tee_hee]

    And so it begins. :cool:


    Your Run is off to a fascinating start so far! I can't wait to see how the prompts inspire you next. [face_love] =D= [:D]
     
  14. Chyntuck

    Chyntuck Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2014
    Thank you all for reading and reviewing!

    @earlybird-obi-wan Thank you! I thought that making up little origin stories for famous Ancient Greek symbols and mythical elements like the rod of Asclepius would be a fun component of this fanfic project. I actually have another one coming up in the next story!

    @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Thank you! I imagine that a lot of medicine this far back in the past was about plant-based cures (although I'm sure that some of those had a habit of killing the patient :p ) There was also a lot of mystical, shaman-y stuff going on, including the presence of (non-venomous) snakes in "hospitals" because they were believed to have healing powers [face_dunno]

    @Vek Talis Thank you! Yes, Asclepius was absolutely the decent sort; he's the patron god of doctors even today, in a way. The story doesn't say if King Ascles recovered his eyesight, but I imagine that he did (as a side note, I'd never heard of King Ascles before and I don't expect I ever will again – maybe there's no official end to his story anyway). Just as a side note, I want to say that, despite what many medical associations in the United States seem to believe, the caduceus and the rod of Asclepius are two different things. The caduceus (two snakes wrapped around a stick, held by Hermes) is a symbol of commerce, whereas the rod of Asclepius (one snake around a walking staff, held by Asclepius) is a symbol of medicine. Yeah, I know, it's confusing :p Snakes were considered sacred animals in Ancient Greece, and they would bring you luck whether you were a merchant or a patient, so you'll find the symbolism in many places.

    @Mira_Jade Thank you and welcome to this thread!
    Heh. Blame my husband. We were talking about the Sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders with friends (don't ask why we were having this conversation) and Mr Chyn said at some point that it happened because Boniface de Montferrat was a dud, a loser and a Squib. That's when I first got the idea, but I soon realised that there was no reason I should limit myself to the Byzantine period, and I have an entire series of story collections in the works, starting with this one and going all the way up to the 20th century.
    I don't think you need to know anything about Harry Potter to follow what happens here, other than the very general concept of the Potter'verse, so you should be good to go if you want to continue reading. You'll have to tell me how you managed to stay away from it :p I was one of those who didn't want to get engulfed in the Potter-craze back in the day, but there was a moment when I had to give in because I felt that I was missing entire chunks of conversations between friends!
    I also thought that it made sense in the context of Greek mythology that Prometheus would be the one to introduce magic among the mortals. It just fits with everything the taught mankind, you know what I mean? I did consider Circe, who is the sorceress-goddess, but when you look at her story she isn't really one to share...
    :p Thank you. It was fun to write too. If you ever have a look at the HP books, wizards are extremely flippant about things that Muggles would consider a big deal, so I wanted this ficlet to be something of an origin story for that.
    Thank you! It was such good fun trying to imagine the first person who was granted the gift of magic. I went through a few iterations, but this is the one that I thought worked best. She's just a simple person, she doesn't really get what he's talking about and to her, magic is just something that would make the only life she's ever known a little bit easier.
    [face_laugh] Confession time: of all the gods, Zeus is possibly my least favourite. If you look at just any myth, he's such a complete jackass who insists to hold others to standards that he doesn't uphold himself. He never gets "punished" in the original stories because he's the king of the gods and all that, but I wanted to have a few characters take the mickey out of him in this collection.
    [:D]
    Thanks! I decided to keep these little intros for all the stories in this thread; they're not really necessary plot-wise but I like framing my "magic" myths like that – and it works well with the embedded narrative prompt of the final vignette.
    TBH I was almost disappointed when I saw the omniscient POV pop up, because it's the standard POV for this sort of tale and it didn't feel like much of a challenge – but then I was left with the whole wide world of possible stories before me, and I had a hard time choosing one in particular. I ended up going with this one because of the snake; it's not really a beast for which you can describe body language in 3rd-person-limited, so omniscient made things easier for me. And yes, it's totally done with Zeus and thinks that his godly schtik is getting old... [face_laugh]
    [face_laugh]
    [:D]

    Thanks again to all readers, reviewers and lurkers! Next story coming right up!
     
  15. Chyntuck

    Chyntuck Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2014
    Prompt: Write a story between 500 and 1,200 words that takes place at a wedding and features at least one EC and one OC in speaking roles.
    Genre: Evil humour
    Characters: Circe (who is an established character in Potterlore; she’s mentioned as being featured on a Chocolate Frog card in Philosopher’s Stone), Aeëtes, OCs, mentions of other mythical figures
    Word count: 1130 (+ 65 for the intro)
    Notes: I decided to keep my little intro in italics for all the stories of this thread, but I’m not considering part of my challenge response for this particular prompt. The story below stands on its own merits anyway, and I didn’t include the intro words in the word count above.

    The Phial of Circe

    The stories say that Circe, daughter of Helios, was an enchantress who captured men visiting her island and turned them into beasts. Her skill with herbs and potions was unrivalled, and she is remembered as the original witch.

    But even gods and magi must learn, and Circe had to experiment with her philtres. The most famous of those had its trial at an improbable time.

    * * *

    The sorceress Circe was bored.

    She had agreed to leave her abode on Aeaea as a favour to her brother Aeëtes, who was marrying off his daughter Chalciope to Phrixus; but quite frankly, if this was what a royal wedding looked like in the kingdom of Colchis, she shouldn’t have bothered. The venue was mediocre, the food was subpar, and the guests… Well, the guests were mortals.

    Worse, the guests were Amagi – mortals who had not been blessed with the gift of magic by the Titan Prometheus. Neither had the bride and groom, or Aeëtes himself, for that matter – although his elder daughter Medea appeared to have some magical ability herself. Still, it made for a very disappointing extended family, and Circe was already looking forward to returning to her island and limiting her interactions with them to a few short scrolls for her nieces and nephews’ birthdays and for major feasts dedicated to the divinities. The messenger god Hermes wasn’t keen on his sacred cranes being used as carrier birds, but he would have to tolerate it in this particular case. Despite not being an Olympian, Circe was a goddess herself, and membership in that family had its privileges, after all.

    For now, however, she had to sit through this loud, raucous, loutish celebration with as much civility as she could muster. She retreated to a table off to the side of the hall and cast an Echodialysis Charm around herself to silence the noise, hoping to remain mostly unnoticed until she could make a polite escape.

    Alas, it was not to be. Circe had been graced with great beauty by her divine ancestors, and, as the evening progressed and the wine flowed, she found herself attracting the attention of an ever-growing number of inebriated men who came at her with pick-up lines so crude and contemptible that even that reprobate Dionysius and his posse of satyrs knew better. The first few were fairly easy to deal with – a Mystification Jinx was enough to further disorient their alcohol-befuddled minds and make them forget what they had been doing – but there came a point when her latest suitor simply collapsed into a chair at her side, and she realised that she would have to resort to more drastic measures.

    She dug into the drawstring purse hanging from her sash for her jar of Hypnos Powder, firmly intending to put the man to sleep, but what she found instead was a small purple phial. She turned it around in her hands curiously, wondering what it could be, when she suddenly remembered. It was a philtre she had brewed some time ago, but she wasn’t certain of its properties and she hadn’t had the opportunity to try it out. A wicked grin spread on her face. If this man was so kindly volunteering to be a test subject, who was she to say no?

    “Tell me, handsome stranger,” she asked with her most beguiling smile, “have you ever had Essence of Aphrodisia added to your wine?”

    “Essence of Aphrodisia?” the Amagus said thickly. “Sounds like something you and I could use, innit, gorgeous?” He gave her a lecherous wink.

    “Indeed it does.” She tipped a few drops of the liquid in his glass and watched him down it in a single gulp.

    For a moment nothing happened. Then there was a puff of smoke, and suddenly a dragonfly was buzzing where the man had been sitting. She swatted it out of the window and returned her attention to her phial.

    Was that really all the philtre did – to turn mortals into dragonflies? She had spent quite some time on it, as far as she could recall, and this result was somewhat disheartening. Still, a single test subject was not nearly enough, and when another Amagus came to her table, she spiked his wine with a few purple drops.

    This one turned into a gerbil. It gave a terrified squeal at the sight of the party and darted away to hide in a hole in the wall.

    Now this was interesting. Apparently the philtre would transform any who consumed it into an animal, but a different one each time.

    For the next several hours, Circe remained seated at her table, throwing seductive glances at any men nearby to expand the sample of her study. A sparrow. A rabbit. A tortoise. A hummingbird. A squirrel. A bat. A mole. A goldfish – she quickly filled a glass with water and dunked it inside. After a few dozen tests, Circe decided that the experiment was conclusive. Her potion was a Polyzoomorphic Philtre that transfigured Amagi into random small animals.

    There were only a few drops of the liquid left at the bottom of the phial when Aeëtes spotted her and came to sit at her table. “I didn’t expect that our guests would leave so early,” he said.

    Absorbed as she was in her magical studies, Circe hadn’t paid attention to the party. She noticed as she looked up that the crowd had thinned considerably, and that it consisted now of a majority of women. She hadn’t realised that the – ahem – callers at her table had been quite that numerous. “Ah, you know how men are, brother dear,” she said diplomatically. “They cannot hold their wine, and they’re probably sleeping it off already as we speak.”

    The king of Colchis sighed. “Sadly true. Can I hope to entice you to dance now, sister? You have been sitting all evening. But I will need a drink first. I am absolutely parched.”

    Circe was tempted to retort acidly that she would most definitely not dance at a mortal celebration, but the words died in her throat as her eyes fell on the phial. Aeëtes was her brother, and he hadn’t done anything to her… except for inviting her to a party that was preposterously beneath her standing. That was reason enough to attract her vengeful ire. If he was asking for a drink of wine… why not, after all?

    There was a puff of smoke, and a tiny hedgehog appeared on the chair where the king had been sitting. It yelped in fright as soon as it took in its surroundings and rolled up into a ball.

    With a satisfied smile, Circe stood up and made her way to her apartments in the palace. Her niece’s wedding had turned out to be unexpectedly fruitful, and she was looking forward to codifying the philtre once she was back in Aeaea, with a few tweaks to include larger beasts into which bothersome suitors could be transfigured – wolves and lions, perhaps; or, more appropriately, swine. As for the kingdom of Colchis… it would have to do without its ruler until the effects of the potion wore off.
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2025
  16. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Ultimate Drableteer and Guess Which Mod Winner star 8 VIP - Game Winner

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Too fun! LOL Circe's phial certainly had an intriguing effect, not the same each time either. [face_rofl]
     
  17. Vek Talis

    Vek Talis Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 12, 2018


    :eek: The Scandal!


    Haha, now, I can certainly sympathize with her there.


    Ok, now, she's starting to go a little overboard.


    And now she's totally lost all sympathy, lol. Purposely luring these guys to their doom (or temporary doom at least, though maybe the gerbil or dragonfly might get eaten while they're out frittering in the wild). That's just going way too far. [face_rofl][face_rofl]

    Funny, but too far. [face_shame_on_you]


    Certainly not her own brother? [face_worried]



    :rolleyes:

    Is she going to turn his name from Aeëtes to Sonic? o_O

    =D==D==D= Excellent response to the challenge, Chyn. :)
     
  18. amidalachick

    amidalachick Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 3, 2003
    This is so creative and such a fun idea, and I've enjoyed every word so far!

    The Gift of Prometheus

    This was such a good use of the prompt! I especially like how she uses this wonderful, magical gift to make her day-to-day life easier. That's a true gift!

    The Ophidian Whisperer

    I love this mental image! And I love the idea of a snake whisperer. :D

    The Phial of Circe

    I think I just found my answer to "If you could have one magic/superpower what would it be?". I'd love to be able to tune everyone everything out whenever I wanted. :p

    [face_laugh] I feel like she would get along with Yzma from The Emperor's New Groove. :p

    Siblings. :p At least the potion's temporary (although, is she sure about that?)!

    Brilliant job on these so far, and I can't wait to see what else you come up with! =D=
     
  19. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    Love to se Circe in this and testing that potion on the mortals. And she is sure disrupting that wedding party with men turning into animals.
     
  20. Chyntuck

    Chyntuck Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2014
    Thank you all for reading and reviewing!

    @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Thank you! I know that Circe is said to transform men into swine in myth, but I thought that there should be a bit mroe variety in the experimental phase :p

    @Vek Talis Thank you! Your review made me laugh so much, with the progression of your reaction paralleling the progression of Circe's little experiment getting increasingly out of hand.
    Yeah, can you imagine that?
    Yes, so far, so good, right? Having to deal with persistent drunks at parties is a problem all women have faced, and I've often wished I had a magic trick to rid myself of them.
    Ya think? [face_laugh]
    I hadn't thought of that, but I can promise you that no dragonflies or gerbils were harmed in the writing of this fic.
    Dude. This is Greek mythology. Most certainly her own brother!
    Haha! Maybe she should, and then someone can write the crossover to end all crossovers? Thanks for reading!

    @amidalachick Thank you and welcome to this thread!
    Thanks! One writing element that makes the HP books so well thought-out IMO is the fact that we see a lot of magic being used for day-to-day tasks and not only for Big Important Things like fighting wizarding wars, so I wanted to carry over a bit of that in this story collection.
    Thanks! I spent some time wondering why the snake would wrap itself around Asclepius's walking stick to give us the symbol we all know, and I wasn't coming up with anything good – until I thought to myself, "keep it simple, stupid; he's doing it for reasons of locomotion" :D
    You and me both!
    Totally :D [face_mischief]
    That is another excellent question! Although I guess it's lucky that the potion wasn't poisonous in the first place...
    Thanks again; I'm glad you enjoyed what you read here!

    @earlybird-obi-wan Thank you! The truth is that Circe isn't what you'd describe as a nice person, and I tried to keep that element here; but I did want to turn aroud the 'predatory woman' trait that is usually attributed to her, and I found that combining these two aspects made for a fun tale. Thanks for reading!

    All righty doo! I have a story written for week 4. I've spent the past hour or so going back and forth between "this is a cool little fic" and "ohmigosh this is terrible I should delete it" so I'm taking a page out of amidalachick's book and posting it before I can overthink it.
     
  21. Chyntuck

    Chyntuck Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2014
    Prompt: Write a story between 100 and 1,200 words with an unreliable narrator, using one (or both) of the following additional prompts: ‘Don’t stop, don’t think, don’t look back’ or this picture
    Genre: Myth/humour and probably a few other things too
    Characters: the Ladies in Blue fresco (see illustration below), Poseidon, Minos, Pasiphaë, Asterion/the Minotaur
    Word count: 788
    Notes: One of my favourite magical elements of the Potterverse is the talking portraits that travel from frame to frame. Add to it the fact that I’ve been itching to try my hand at the 4th-person POV for some time, and you get the story below. You’re welcome/I’m sorry (choose whichever option applies to you).

    [​IMG]

    The View from the Walls

    Of the many stories of the Ancients that were written in song, few are better known than the myth of King Minos. It speaks of the curse cast on his son Asterion, who was born a man with the head of a bull. None who ever saw him lived to tell the tale, and all that is established of his existence stems from whispered accounts of servants and courtiers who were quick, when asked, to deny knowledge of the facts.

    But what if there was a witness who survived the passage of time?

    * * *

    We are the Ladies in Blue, painted in bright colours on the plaster of the walls. Our frame stood by the royal magazines of Knossos, yet we travelled across the palace through the other frescoes that ornamented the halls. From our vantage point, we saw all, and we heard all, and we knew all.

    (Unless we didn’t, and we’re making this up.)

    We will tell you the secrets of the house of Minos. He was a cunning man who befriended the Lord of the Seas. He preyed upon that friendship to persuade Poseidon to send a pure white bull as an auspicious omen at the dawn of his reign; but when the time came to sacrifice the creature to the god that had elevated him to rule as king instead of his brother, he gave in to his greed and hubris and slaughtered a lesser beast.

    (Did he really think that Poseidon wouldn’t notice? It’s a fair question.)

    (Or, it could be that divine power is overrated. Minos would have known.)

    We will tell you the story of the curse upon his house. We were there, on the walls of the throne room, when Poseidon came to exact his revenge. His fury was awe-inspiring and wondrous to behold; he ordained that the bull should be the king’s undoing, that his wife Pasiphaë should lust for the beast –

    (Shhh! We don’t repeat idle gossip. We know it’s not true.)

    (Do we?)

    We will tell you that Pasiphaë gave birth to the boy Asterion, who had the body of a man but the head of an ox. He was a monster who fed on the flesh of humans, a danger to himself and to his own.

    (But we knew that Minos was a magus, and that his son’s deformity was only for the eyes of the gods.)

    (How could we know that he was a magus? Darling, you’re talking to a fresco. What more proof do you need?)

    We will tell you that Minos went to war with Athens, and that, for his victory, he secured a tribute of young men and women as fodder for his son. He demanded that they be children of noble families, whose skin is soft and tender, claiming that a boy of royal lineage should be provided with the most delicate meals.

    (No, we weren’t there for that. It’s just what we were told.)

    (No, of course we don’t believe it. Bulls eat grass, not people – and Asterion only became the Minotaur whenever Poseidon was watching; his father used to transfigure him with a Zoomorphosis Charm.)

    (No, Poseidon wasn’t watching all the time. He had to attend to his duties as a god.)

    We will tell you that Minos ordered the construction of the labyrinth and that he had Asterion confined within its walls. The beast-boy spent his life there trapped in the narrow alleys, his only companion a strip of the starry sky above.

    (Oh, we’ve seen the place: a palace within the palace, with banquet halls and music and comedians to entertain the young Athenians who were brought to be Asterion’s friends. It was quite a wild party, if we say so ourselves – and we’ve attended parties galore from our place on the walls.)

    (How could we have seen the labyrinth? We’re a magical fresco, dear. We can go wherever there is a plastered wall.)

    We will tell you that, over the years, a roof was built over the labyrinth to hide the youngsters from view. No one ever saw the Minotaur and his victims, and many wondered if he existed at all. It was later said that he was killed by Theseus and that the sacrifice of young Athenians came to a halt. The Lord of the Seas believed it, and he was satisfied that his vengeance was served.

    (Was it?)

    And now, museumgoer, you know the truth of the tale of Minos. It is for you to take the legend of the Minotaur and transmit it to others, so that they know to avoid the wrath of the gods.

    (Or, you could choose to believe the magical version. Just don’t tell anyone that it came from us.)

    ----------------------------------------

    Endnotes

    The much-disputed ‘Ladies in Blue’ fresco was found on the Minoan-era archaeological site of Knossos in Crete and is now on display in the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion.

    There are many squicky stories in Greek mythology, but the tale of Pasiphaë and the Cretan bull is possibly the squickiest of them all. It would certainly not be TOS-compliant for me to write the details of it here, but you can read about it on Wikipedia.
     
  22. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Ultimate Drableteer and Guess Which Mod Winner star 8 VIP - Game Winner

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Fascinating POV. An intriguing and well known legend. :cool:
     
  23. Vek Talis

    Vek Talis Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 12, 2018


    A. (that's the choice I took.)


    I'm liking the 4th Person wall breaking.


    o_O I find that a bit... dubious.


    Savory. Add some fava beans and a nice Chianti.


    Poseidon could have given the bull a Carnivorous Charm to make him eat meat.

    I find your arguments 2 dimensional.

    No, that's the fresco talking.

    :oops:


    Spoilsport.



    And so it ends, the tale of the Minotaur or the Zoomorphosis Charm, whichever your prefer. =D= Your challenge is well done, just like the Minotaur's victims (drums put emphasis on the joke, ending in a crash cymbal).
     
  24. earlybird-obi-wan

    earlybird-obi-wan Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2006
    I like how you have the ladies in blue describing the Minotaur saga. I have been there to the palace in Crete
     
  25. pronker

    pronker Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 28, 2007
    A perfect sunny day after many of rain, so here come fascinating hours of reading:

    I like how she fit magic right in with her life. She's simple but not stupid.

    Marvelous reworking of the myth and yes, the snake is as friendly as snakes get.^:)^

    Oh no, run for the hills! Circe's miles above her present company in terms of wit and ability, and she knows it, the queen.;)

    Hee, lovely group of ladies telling all to us mere mortals. I appreciated the backstory on the real fresco and wow, it does resemble Mucha's work ... [face_cowboy]
     
    earlybird-obi-wan and Chyntuck like this.