The air was calm, Gaiana and Sophus spent the rest of the day on a hilltops away from the city. The world had been calm all day, a gust of wind passed with sun's warmth to give them both a light sensation as they laid on the ground while staring at the clouds.

"I don't want to forget this feeling," Gaiana said with her eyes closed. She breathed in deep to the air above her. "The feeling, of being saved. Of being so hopeless, but then having a miracle come by."

Gaiana held Sophus' hand as they laid back on the tall grass. "Yeah," Sophus said calmly, "it's like, things have been dark for so long, and now it's finally over. The weight is lifted. This world feels... Lighter."

"This must be what the titan Atlas wants," Gaiana turned her head at him, "what are you gonna do about your dad? Me getting sold was going to release him from his debt, what now?"

Sophus shrugged, "honestly, I don't know. I was so afraid for you I focused on keeping you here, not about what to do after it was done." Sophus clenched his fist. "Honestly, I just want to see that man squirm. I lost my sisters thanks to him, I don't care if he ends up in prison or a slave for all that debt he owes."

"We're still his," Gaiana said, "anything that happens to him, we'll have to pay for it too."

Sophus let out a sigh, "I know. Honestly, me saving you probably means we're all going to end up slaves to some debt collector soon."

They both sighed together. Gaiana said, "you know I tried running away yesterday."

Sophus' raised an eyebrow, "you know, that's both shocking and unsurprising."

"How so?"

"It's shocking that you ran away from something instead of confronting it. And unsurprising that you did another thing that you weren't supposed to."

Gaiana grinned at that. With a frown she added, "it was a stupid plan. I would've died after a week of living on my own."

Sophus leaned on an arm and turned to Gaiana, "do you think we could do it? Run away from my father, and have a new beginning?"

Gaiana shook her head, "your dad saved my life when I was a baby, I still owe him for that."

"I think you owe me more than you owe him." Gaiana raised an eyebrow at that. Sophus said, "think about it, you've been a household slave your entire life, but when things finally went down under, you stopped becoming family and became a commodity."

"So?" Gaiana argued, "he fed me my whole life, that shouldn't go unappreciated."

"Buuut," Sophus leaned in, "if his problems are a consequence of his own actions, why should his family pay for it?"

"Because all we have is family. We'd both be nothing without those ties."

"But in this case, we're worse off for having those ties."

"Sophus," Gaiana grumbled, "he's your father. The least you owe him is your loyalty."

"I'm loyal to you, Gaiana. You deserve that more than he does."

"No I don't."

"See?" Sophus stroked at her autumn hair, "she's humble, too."

"Shut up, bastard."

"Gaiana, start a family with me."

Gaiana sat up, "what?"

"We both deserve lives better than what we have. I love you more than anything in this world. I want to leave him and start something new with you. I want a family worth being happy for."

"Sophus," he did it because he loved her. Gaiana knew that, but she was still grounded in reality. "We don't have money. And we don't have anywhere to go without your dad's home. "

"Yes we do. I know merchants that need sailors. Sailors outside of Greece. I can work for them. Borrow some money to live somewhere, and work to give us both good lives."

"You can't... Start a new life indebted to someone."

"Yes I can," he held her hand. "I swear I can do anything as long as I'm doing it for you. Gaiana, please, I want to start over with you."

Gaiana's hand was warm. His hand was warm. She knew that he loved him and she loved him back. But he was asking her to break her oath to her master, a person whom she promised to always be loyal to.

"You're his son," Gaiana said quietly. Gaiana's forehead leaned in close, and tapped against his head, "if I go with his son does that make this okay?"

"It shouldn't matter. Please Gaiana, just be selfish when it matters. Leave him, and go with me instead."

Gaiana's eyes closed, she envisioned another life where they could be together. "I've thought about it too you know. Running away with you. Like a fantasy tale, like we could somehow live together and away from anyone that tried to control us."

Sophus said, "I could be your husband, and you could be the girl I'd be glad to come home to every day."

"I could work the garden in the mornings, and sell pottery in the evenings. At the end of each day, you could come home and we could talk about how our days went."

"We could have kids someday. Two, in the beginning. And more if you wanted more, but I'm sure the first pair would be enough to keep ourselves busy."

Gaiana placed a hand on her stomach, "they could grow up to be little monsters like the both of us. They'd be rebellious, but we'd know how to handle them because we were like that too growing up."

Sophus said, "we'd be that strange couple that the whole town would talk about. Not together because someone told us to, but because we broke the laws of nature and married out of real love."

"Our kids could grow up to be as honest as we are, and we'd unleash them to the world to cause mischief like we do."

"I could grow old, grateful to the world just for being alive and together with you."

"And when I'm old enough, I want my last words to be; 'the gods loved me, for letting me live so well.'"

Sophus leaned in close and kissed her on the lips, "I want this, more than anything else in the world."

Gaiana tapped her forehead onto his, making the final decision. "I want this too."

XXX

They were out all day together, barely worried that it became night. They almost forgot that they'd still have to face Archos either way. Regardless, Gaiana and Sophus went to their home together, more confident in the decision they made together.

Sophus had to get back his savings, and neither of them wanted to leave without having a final word with Archos. Gaiana wanted closure for this chapter in her life, and Sophus wanted to scold him for all the misery he'd put them through.

The door opened slowly. Before them. In the living room, Archos sat drinking water in front of the fireplace, with Zora sitting across from him.

"What the fuck?" Sophus and Gaiana said.

Archos turned to them, he got up and clenched the cup in his hand.

Zora raised an arm, signaling for him to calm down. "I was worried you both already ran away together," Zora said in a raspy tone. "Eloping is quite popular these days, but it typically never ends well without a plan. Good on you two for coming back."

Sophus glared at the doctor. Gaiana only stepped behind Sophus to practically hide from her. She knew she was free now, but the thought of Zora just snatching her away was still fresh in her mind. She didn't want to succumb to anyone else ever again.

"Sophus," Archos said standing up from his chair, "you really are a scoundrel."

"I freed Gaiana," Sophus said with a glare. "You never treated your family fair, and she didn't deserve to be owned by some cretin."

Archos gritted his teeth, but Zora grunted a laugh between his dark cloak. "Child," Zora said, "despite what you believe, I'm not here to haul her off like some shiny object."

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Sophus glanced back at Gaiana, and she shook her head in disapproval. He still stood in defiance to Zora, "you can't have her."

Zora bit his lips. Archos said, "listen Sophus, Zora won't just give us the silver mines for her, but also money and other slaves. You can have a dozen whores if you just-"

"Gaiana isn't a fucking whore!" Sophus tugged at his own hair, "how many times do I have to tell you, I don't lust her, I love her! From all the times she's beaten me to all the times she's held me, I love all the little quirks and deviations that make her more than the average woman. Gaiana is different, Gaiana is a gem. I love that so much, what I want is to be hers for the rest of my life!"

Gaiana huffed out a laugh.

Sophus glanced back at her. He whispered, "what's so funny?"

"You talk like you want to be my slave."

"Well... I mean... I'd be okay with it as long as you're not kinky."

"No promises."

Archos rubbed at his eyebrows, "children. You're both fucking children."

Zora let out a deep sigh with a slight smile. "No, Archos. I know what's happening here. It's just two more people angry at the world around them."

Zora stepped up from the chair, and unsheathed the cowl covering his face. Underneath the scarf which had covered most of the head, a woman's face was revealed. Her black hair looped down to her ears, straight cut across the bowl of her head with a hairball tied to the top of her head.

She loosened the ball, allowing the hair to release beneath the shoulders. It glistened from the crackling fireplace.

Sophus and Gaiana cocked their heads back, "you're a girl?"

Her face wasn't just womanly, it was flawless. Her grey eyes illuminated against the rest of her tan skin complexion. There was a slight shine to her face with the living room fireplace, and they could only imagine how her skin beamed outside in the daylight. It was almost a tragedy that she kept her face hidden all the time, like withholding her beauty was a disservice to the world.

The raspy voice that Zora once had disappeared, and Zora spoke in a serene naturalistic tone. "Gaiana, your fate is more than just to be another person's servant. I wanted to buy you at any price so that you could become my apprentice. You shouldn't live as some measly servant or a docile wife to another man."

Sophus' lips scrunched. Gaiana said, "but I want to marry him. More than anything in the world."

"And what do you mean apprentice?" Sophus asked. "You've bought dozens of slaves in the past, what happened to all of them?"

Zora sighed, which was oddly arousing in her overtly feminine voice, "They all moved to Egypt. I can teach and practice medicine here as a man, but never as a woman. Slave girls can only learn so much with me. Once their training here is complete, I send them to Egypt to continue their studies as a physician."

"Why?" Gaiana asked, genuinely curious.

"I... Build bridges between worlds. A slave girl who would've died too young on her own, learns medicine with me, and she can then share that knowledge with the Egyptians. After she learns medicine in Egypt, she can come back to Greece and give the Greeks Egyptian medical practices. This exchange allows for more lives to get the best treatment possible. I don't just do it between Greece and Egypt, I've sent people through Cyprus, Sicily, and Ionia as well. I guess you could say my... Circle, emphasizes on saving as many lives as possible."

"Circle?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not for a man's ear," Zora said with a slight smile. She shot a wink at Gaiana, which deeply unnerved her. Zora gestured at Archos. "My offer is still up, if Archos allows it."

Archos nodded and pointed at Gaiana. "Citizen or not, you are still a women which means I still own you. Zora has agreed to wipe away all of my debt in exchange for your ownership. We'll be better set than we ever have our entire lives."

Gaiana put her head down, not wanting to come eye to eye with a man she considered a father. Sophus spoke for her, "we're not better off without Gaiana. You don't even deserve such a happy ending."

Archos glared back at him, but Zora continued speaking before he could disrupt anything. "Your fate is brighter than you know, Gaiana. Not just in medicine, but in everything. I can teach you art, philosophy, and wisdom that were never available to you before. I know the Gods want this from you, you can be more than what you are now, as long as you seize your own destiny."

Gaiana didn't trust her. Pure selflessness was too rare to believe in. Gaiana shook her head, "until today, the Gods only ever intended for me to die as a slave at the hands of others. Don't ever talk to me about fate or destiny."

Zora cocked her head back, surprised that a lifelong slave could be so rebellious. She turned over to Archos, who only murmured, "I warned you about her..."

Zora let out a sigh. She began disrobing her clothes. The outermost layer of her dark cowl was the thickest layer. Underneath it was a thinner white tunic which touched lightly against the rest of her body. Her feminine body was a perfect match for her already impressive face. A willowy physique was highlighted alongside the tunic, and it almost seemed like she was of near goddess stature by her mere features alone.

Zora lowered the strap from her shoulder, revealing a bull tattoo across her shoulder.

With her breast halfway exposed by the gesture, Sophus' eyes lowered to her breasts. Gaiana punched him at his hip for staring. Gaiana whispered, "She was literally a man a moment ago."

"My eyes are outside my control," he whispered back.

Zora pointed at her own tattoo, and then pointed at the mark on Gaiana's back, "much like Gaiana was found on a hill and left to die, I was found in an Egyptian river, also left to die. A family that took pity on me allowed me to become a physician, and it's because of that mercy that I was able to learn so much."

Gaiana rubbed the tattoo on her own back. "You were marked like I was."

Zora nodded, "except unlike yours, mine is Egyptian. Your tattoo is Atlantean, signifying that you are descended from the Atlantean people."

"Atlantean? I'm Atlantean?" Gaiana paused for a moment, "wait, what are Atlanteans?"

Zora let out a soft laugh. "Atlanteans are an enlightened people, Gaiana. You are descended by ancients older than the Greeks and Egyptians alike. The tattoo on your back? Its a map, possibly a map to your family fortune."

"Fo...Fortunes?"

Zora nodded, "now do you see why I wanted to buy you? You're not just some slave girl that can serve as a worker, you're a treasure. A key to unlocking an inheritance greater than anyone could imagine. It is your destiny to find your people's heritage. The Gods will it, and it would be a disservice to your lineage to neglect such a great responsibility."

Zora bowed her head to Gaiana, "if you'll allow it, become my apprentice. Be my disciple in the arts of medicine, and together we can use your map to reclaim your birthright."

Gaiana and Sophus stared at each other for a long while. There was a silent communication between them, almost like it might be the last time they saw each other again. "Why can't Sophus come with me?" Gaiana asked in a more sympathetic tone. "He could be my husband, help me, and I could still find my birthright."

Zora's lips scrunched, "you can't be a wife and a physician at the same time. It's too much responsibility. It can only be one or the other."

Gaiana swallowed. Archos said, "it shouldn't matter what she wants, she's not married and I still own her."

"Shut up," all three of them said. Zora added, "I can only train you, if you want me to. Prosperity only works when done through freedom of choice, you can't just be my apprentice as a slave.""

Gaiana said, "I need to... I need to think."

Knowing Gaiana would say no if given enough time, Zora said, "I'm leaving Athens tonight. Now will be your only chance to leave this city forever."

It wasn't that she didn't want to go, it was that she didn't want to leave Sophus behind. She loved him more and more as the minutes came by, but what Zora offered was exactly what Gaiana had wanted for most of her life.

Sophus took her by the hand, "whatever makes you happy."

Gaiana's heartbeat calmed. He was still the sanctuary in her world, and she wanted to be with him forever and always. It was then that she knew what the right answer was.

"I want to stay with Sophus," Gaiana said. "I've lived my whole life as a slave. I never needed a birthright before and I don't need it now. Sophus has been the only light in my life my entire life, and I want to be by his side forever."

"Hold on," Archos intervened, "Gaiana still doesn't have a choice on the manner! Gaiana-"

Zora raised a palm up to stop him, "it's okay, Archos. I think I now have a better idea of your character from this whole ideal." A light mist filled the house around them. It moved inside like a sentient being, gradually filling the cracks and entryway into the building. It was light and alluring, like a mystic lake trying to get inside. "You're emotional. Living life brashly based off of your own hedonistic whims."

The mist became heavier as it seeped in. Like a blanket of fog, the air became moist for all three of them before Sophus and Archos began choking. Their legs became fragile as Gaiana's body became paralyzed in place.

"Zora," Archos choked, "what's... Happening?"

Zora looked directly at Gaiana. She raised a glowing necklace with a gemstone attached to the end of the gold chain. It glowered, and Zora's eyes began to glimmer lightly. It was like a star map was unraveling itself within her pupils, and Gaiana's eyes lit up in response. The tattoo behind her back-illuminated with light.

Zora said, "you don't just need training, you need discipline. Choosing lust over destiny is not just immoral, its unjust. And you clearly don't deserve your own free will. You thought being a slave was hard? That was never true slavery. You've just lost your body privileges.""

Gaiana's mouth trembled and the tips of her fingers lost feeling. The feeling in her finger tips were lost. A tingling sensation tingled behind her back, spreading out from the tattoo across her body. Every sensation across her tingled as she failed to move by her own decision.

Zora twirled her crystal forward. Gaiana's limbs posed upward like a scarecrow. Like a doll attached with strings, Gaiana's movements twisted and turned like a plaything. The conclusion was clear: Zora had complete control of her body's will.

Zora tapped the gem onto Gaiana's forehead. "Now, I want you to remember this. Do not cross me. This is only happening because you didn't know your place. I still need you for now, but everyone else is expendable. For every disobedience you cause, someone else will suffer on your behalf, do you understand?"

Gaiana's head nodded slowly, feigning obedience for the sake of fear.

Zora nodded to her. "Take all of Archos' olive oils, and pour it around the building. Pour it on wood, cloths, and everything else that will catch on fire. Once you're done with that, grab a torch from the fireplace and set their home on fire. Ignore them if they struggle to escape, if the flames don't kill them my poison mist will. I'll be outside after you're done. When you come to meet me, don't look back at the flames."

Zora left the front door without another word. Gaiana's body wordlessly moved across the rooms as she grabbed the olive oil to do the task at hand.

"Gaiana," Sophus sobbed out, "please, stop."

Gaiana wanted to say so many words to him, but nothing came out. I'm so sorry. I can't control myself. Please help me I'm scared. So many things she wanted to say to him. I love you more than anything in the world. Don't hate me for this, I don't want this. I'm sorry and I love you. I wish we could run away together. Please, someone, the Gods, help us please.

Olive oil dropped over Archos' body. It scattered easily across the house floors. Gaiana walked up to the fireplace and grabbed a torch from the flames. I'm sorry. She took the torch and headed toward the door. Without looking back, she dropped the torch behind before walking away.

Just like Zora had ordered, Gaiana didn't look back at the flames as they rose. She only met with Zora in solid silence. Heading onto the road, crackles and heat grew as they walked away from Archos' house. Her childhood home burned slowly but Gaiana couldn't even look back. Instead, Gaiana looked up, trying to catch sight of the smoke covering the sky. Only a sliver of the crescent moon caught her eye.

"It's nothing personal," Zora said. "Right now I'm just stomping out that rebellious attitude of yours. There's no better way to change someone than through instantaneous terror."

Gaiana could smell the smoke over her. Black smog and watery tears completely covered the stars above her. She could barely speak out,"please Gods, save me."

Zora said, "don't be naive girl. The Gods favor me far more than they favor you."