Paradise can wait: Medusa

This is a story of Medusa and the order of Medusa.

Order of Medusa is a knightly order with a particularly strange secret initiation ritual: if one wished to ascend to the higher ranks of the order, then one must pass the trial of stone. This means looking directly into the decapitated head of the Medusa. It is as dangerous as it sounds, some turn to stone immediately, however for many the transformation is only partial. As a result you have knights with skin thick as stone and constitution of a mountain, strong powerful and indomitable. This change comes with a price however, eventually all of the knights will fully turn to stone, taking their rightful place in the hall of the great. The statues of the knights turned to stone are all displayed in the great hall. It is rumored that one day all of the knights will once again spring back to life to answer the charge of their lord.

The story kicks off, when the knight's secret hideout is attacked when the bulk of the forces is away on a mission of great importance. The Chapter Master of the order of Medusa himself comes to the Teutonic Chapter of Marienburg asking for help, asking specifically for Blucher, who is famous amongst the knights for his investigative skills. The sacred head of the Medusa had been stolen, without it order does not exist. Blucher agrees to help.

The trail leads him to a cult of Lilith a Vampiric organization, devoted to the worship of the daemon and having a goal of wiping out all of mankind. "lilith is still pissed that Adam didn't leave Eva for her and so has a rage boner against all of Mankind". (it is important to note, that there is a bit of a confusion amongst the cultist. They assume that Lilith only wants men as in gender men dead, when in reality she wants to destroy all of mankind, because they are all children of Adam. This will be important later down the line) They wanted to bring back Medusa to life, so that she would impart her wisdom onto their cult. They partially succeed , bringing the decapitated head of Medusa back to life, however falling short of giving her a new body to boot.

Blucher interrupts the ritual and kidnaps now alive head of Medusa. She is witty, snazzy and not as much of a horrible creature as one would expect from her given her reputation.

"Oh, my hero, please let me have a good look at your face :3"- Medusa to Blucher after being rescued.

They travel together for a time, during which more truth is revealed behind the Myth. Medusa claims that she was servant of goddess Athena, or Minerva and was forbidden to know a man. She says that Poseidon raped her. Apparently Athena did not care for the fact that Poseidon forced himself onto her or the fact that Poseidon was no "man" but a god. She cursed Medusa to be a horrible murderous monster until her death. With Medusa dead the curse was lifted and with her being revived, she is back to being a relatively sane individual.

Further down the line she fools Blucher into burning down temple of Athena . Bringing down wrath of goddess on Bluchers head. Athena is a rather callous and vengeful individual. But at some point on the story Blucher is taught by a mysterious, "power to will the gods". The stranger whispers only one word in Bluchers ear. Then the stranger shrinks pitifully and looks sad, he gathers all of his strength and it seems he is attempting to swallow something only to choke and cough. He looks up at Blucher in anger and vanishes.

(I am an asshole but I have to put in "what that mouth do" joke in here somewhere"

"Fuck you Athena you bitch!"

Later the true story of Medusa is revealed to Blucher, the real reason why she was cursed. It was not Poseidon who raped her, nor was she raped at all. She had an affair with a mortal.

Even laterer the identities of Chapter Master and Medusa's secret lover are revealed. It is Perseus. He was the one who braved the terrifying form of his former lover to put her to rest. But Medusa was not able to turn Perseus fully to stone by just looking at him, I somehow have to show or imply that it was because Perseus was bawling the whole time through. His eyes filled with tears reflected Medusa's image back at her, meaning that her gaze did not fully land on Perseus.

I end the story with two lovers somehow being re-united. Perhaps in stone.