Bound by the Ring

Commissioned by Rjit

Written by HikerAngel

“Beloved! It is time to cease this madness! Your reign of terror on Olympus must cease this instant!” came Zeus’ booming voice, lightning crackling in the sky with each word.

“Beloved? You call me your beloved and yet I am nothing of the sort! You lie and cheat on me with other women! That is no way to treat your wife.”

Zeus steeled his eyes and sighed. “And destroying Olympus is no way to treat your husband, Hera! This is madness! You have tried to kill Aphrodite on three different occasions now!”

“What will you do, Zeus? Turn into another crow and attempt to woo me over once more? I’m tired of your infidelity. And Olympus will fall because of you!”

Anger grew within the lightning god’s eyes. “No, I’m afraid it is you who will have to fall, Hera. You are no wife! You are a constant thorn in my side. But I know of a way to silence you for good.”

Hera screamed in pain as golden cuffs tightened themselves around her wrists and ankles, the molten metal of the gods searing her flesh while compressing tightly around her muscle and bone. She was strung up by chains from the clouds, held within a X-shape as she was stripped of her armor and weaponry.

“If you will not be a loving wife to me, then perhaps you will learn humility forcefully obeying the selfish biddings of mortals!”

“No! No! Noooooo!” Hera screamed, her resistance useless as she violently squirmed within her restraints. A tiara that resembled more of an oversized engagement ring descended from the heavens slowly, approaching the top of her head. “Zeus! I will have vengeance! I will have—“

Her declaration was cut short once the tiara made contact with her hair, her entire body suddenly dissolving into light and entering the large cloudy opal that resided within the head of the tiara. The head garment then shrunk down to a more fitting size for its appearance—that of a ring.

Zeus gingerly clenched the tiny ring within his meaty fingers, regretfully examining the form his beloved Hera had been forcefuly jammed into. But he didn’t dwell on it for too long, nonchalantly shrugging as he tossed the ring off of mount Olympus so that it may be finally out of sight and out of mind. After all, he was a busy God with many women to woo!

~

Adam gazed longingly at the engagement ring within the little black container. Oh, how it taunted him with a lifetime’s worth of regret. Sure, he may have bought it off of some shady website, but the seller promised it was an authentic! Worn once by great warlords and powerful wealthy elites, it was said that such a ring could bring great fortune to anyone who wielded it.

And Christina responded by rejecting him wholesale!

So now, here he was—alone with no wife, no girlfriend, and a down payment on an expensive ring he likely could have paid off if he had a fiancé he could have split the coverage with. But no, all he had left was a half-carat of hydrated silica and regret.

“You’re just like me, little ring, you know that?” Adam mused to himself, pulling the opal out of its container to admire it more thoroughly. “Cloudy, under-appreciated and ultimately pointless… also we’re both due for a cleaning it seems. I haven’t taken a shower since she broke my heart and it looks like the cheap plastic casing I bought to accompany you hasn’t accomplished its only purpose of keeping you dust-free!”

Gripping his sleeve within his fingers, he did his best to clean the precious gemstone of its accumulated debris. “I’m gonna need you squeaky clean if I’ll even have a chance at a resale valu—ACK!“

The ring became red hot in his hand, causing Adam to instinctively drop it to the floor—only it never hit the ground. It floated in midair mere inches from where he had released it from his grasp, the opal encrusted within the band glowing bright. And then, the ring began to expand in size, floating upwards until it was a few centimeters from the ceiling.

Adam cowered in fear. He didn’t believe in the supernatural, and yet he wasn’t about to discount an ancient curse as punishment for those who wore the ring. Scuttling into the nearest corner, her hid behind his knees as a strange presence began to emerge from the ring, taking shape as a humanoid creature.

“Oh god, oh god!” He shouted, fearing the worst. “Oooh please, ghost of the ring! I-I didn’t know you were cursed! Whatever it is, I’ll learn my lesson! I promise!”

“Hmm… I had nearly forgotten how good it felt to be worshipped...” Came a distant, echoing voice that was noticeably feminine in nature. “But unfortunately, I am not here to punish you. Instead, I am here to grant you three wishes, my master.”

Adam cracked open a solitary eye in an attempt to confirm the truth, and what he saw caused both eyes to open wide. The woman that stood—no—floated before him was simply one of the most beautiful women he had ever laid eyes upon. Her long, waist-length hair was curled into a fantastically large braid that drooped over her shoulder, with gilded ties to keep it in place. Her clothing overall was sparse, limited to some semi-opaque cloth draped around her waste like a loincloth and two skimpy pieces of satin which left very little to the imagination atop her chest. Her face was as greek as one could get, with tantalizing olive skin and heightened, defined cheekbones that added an air of authority to her presence. The enlarged opal ring adorned her head like a crown, though it still looked more fitting when smaller and placed around a finger.

“Wow, you’re… beautiful!” He blurted out before quickly covering his mouth. It was as if the sheer resplendence of her form compelled him to be honest about his feelings in her presence. He expected her to be furious or maybe even a bit flattered, but she didn’t even seem phased by his comment, as if she had heard it hundreds of times before.

“Mmmhmm, anyways, let me guess, you want money, power and your own empire, is that right?”

Adam’s head was spinning. This was all too much for him to process at the moment. Even his logical mind couldn’t deny the sight before him: a true-to-form genie! No longer frightened, he slowly unwound himself from the curled-up position in the corner and walked up to the floating woman in the middle of the room. The closer he examined her features, the more familiar she appeared to look. Not a person he knew, per se, he just couldn’t quite put his finger on how she looked familiar.

“Err, so, you’re one of those… genies, right?” He nearly couldn’t get the word to leave his mouth, it all just sounded so ridiculous to say!

“Yep,” she replied very matter-of-factly. “C’mon, gimme your three wishes already and make it snappy.”

“Huh, you don’t seem too happy like most genies I know.”

“Oh really? And how many genies other than me do you know, exactly?”

“…Fair point.”

“Look master, as the years become centuries I’m finding that I prefer the solitude of the ring more than any minuscule view of this damned earth.”

“Aw, even if I were to reserve my third wish to set you free?”

That caused the genie to pause for the briefest of moments, a sight of genuine surprise within her eyes that was quickly dashed by millennia of cynicism. “Yeah, that’s rich, master. Like you’d actually discard a third of your limitless potential towards someone you just met. Out of the thousands of humans who came across me before, none of them even cared about me.”

“W-well I care about you! Besides, I don’t think I’d really need three wishes. I mean, All I’d really like at this moment is enough money to pay back what I already spent on your ring and, er, well… a wife would be nice, I suppose!”

The genie sighed. “I’m afraid I cannot grant that second one anymore, master. It is forbidden.”

Only then did Adam notice the large, golden cuffs that were fused into her arms and legs. “Oh no, what happened? Did some spiteful wisher who hated the concept demand that you refuse it?”

As if realizing that she had revealed more than she desired, she froze up briefly. “Err, never mind all that. The rules of genies have always been rather arbitrary anyways.”

“So there’s other arbitrary rules, then?”

“…No, just that one.”

Adam’s eyes narrowed. The genie bit her lip nervously as she could visibly witness the gears turning within his head.

“Wait a minute… wait a minute! I know how I recognize that face! Y-you’re Hera, goddess of marriage!”

“N-no! No I’m not! Where would you get such a ridiculous idea?” The genie sputtered, her eyes darting back and forth nervously.

“Well then you must have amnesia then, because…” Adam paused for a moment, retrieving one of the many books from his shelves and flipping through the contents until he found the page he was looking for. “…that’s you, alright!”

Sure enough, the artist’s rendition of Hera was the spitting image of her, though it did fail to catch much of her beauty.

“NgggAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!” her disgruntled growl suddenly escalated into a cacophony of divine rage as the room around the two of them cracked and crumbled. What could only be described as light itself peered through the cracks, as if the faulty drywall was Adam’s only defense against the overwhelmingness of the heavens themselves. She began shouting angrily in what Adam recognized as greek, and what he could only assume were not kind words. But this genie’s rage was quick to peter out once the futility of resisting properly settled in, the walls resorting themselves and resealing the light. Accepting defeat, the genie simply sighed. “Very well, you’ve found out my shameful secret, master. I am no ordinary genie. I am actually Hera, goddess of marriage.”

“Whoah…” was all Adam could muster in response. “Well, tell me Hera, why are you of all gods cursed to be a genie?”

“My master, this is precisely the reason as to why I wished to remain an anonymous genie! It is shameful for Hera, goddess of marriage, queen of the heavens, loyal wife to many, to be reduced to such a pitiful plaything for the amusement of mortals!”

“Aww, well I don’t think it’s shameful! You’re giving people three chances to improve their lives!”

“Yes, and I watch as they waste it on money and infinite booze, or make me wear demeaning clothing such as this!” She gestured once more to the skimpy satin strips that adorned her body. “Can you believe someone actually wasted one of his three lifetime wishes on making me look like this?”

Without hesitation, Adam steeled his nerves and made his first wish. “Hera, I wish you had the freedom to dress however you want!”

She paused, but did not protest. “Your wish is my command, master.”

With a clap of her hands the wish was granted, enveloping Hera in a cloud of mystical sparkling smoke. Where the off-purple shroud cleared, Hera’s appearance had changed. Instead of the skimpy purple and yellow satins, her beautiful form was instead draped in regal cloth, more befitting a goddess of her once-stature. Her outfit remained revealing, but no longer comically so. There was now an artfulness to her scantily-clad nature, one that deserved to be etched into stone to be cherished by generations to come.

“Ah! There we go! That’s a sight befitting the wife of Zeus!” Adam spoke, as if admiring a painting at the Louvre. A hint of a smile from Hera broke through on her mouth, though it was quickly soured upon the mention of a certain lightning god.

“Zeus… that old fool!” Hera bellowed, distraught as light threatened to erupt from her very being. “He constantly breaks his oath and desecrates my domain so willingly! Has he forgotten that I am also the goddess of marriages? It is as if he never cared at all!”

“I-I’m sure he cares! He’s just… I dunno!” Adam replied in a panic, fearful of an light-filled outburst from Hera that would leave him as but a shadow on the wall.

“He claimed to be the ruler of the gods, and yet he ultimately exists to reflect the desires of man! How ironic is it that I must exist now to reflect the desire of one man only!?”

Hera snapped her fingers and Adam’s lackluster couch was upgraded to a sprawling ocean of cushions and pillows, taking up nearly a third of his living room. She wasted no time hopping within the pillowy mound, taking a much-needed load off.

“Ahh that’s much better… thinking about him makes me very stressed. Thankfully, your wish has loosened the ring’s restrictions upon my magic—nhg, wait.”

She had landed in such a way that one of Adam’s ceiling lights was shining directly into her face. Instead of simply moving over or using the most minor amount of magic to dim the lights, she instead morphed the entire room into something more akin to her liking, leaving it impossibly large like some sort of pocket dimension.

“Wow, it’s looser than I thought. Couch upgrades, sure, but paradoxical rooms? That’s… new.”

Adam’s head was spinning. An imprisoned goddess was relaxing on his couch—And her powers were returning beyond what even she thought herself to be capable of. Just what in pandora’s ring had he unleashed upon this world…?

…Whatever it was, there was no denying that it brought a prominent blush upon his face, one Hera took immediate note of.

“Oh? Does the sight of my power arouse you, my master?” She wondered cheekily, placing and hand on her head and laying on her side as her bedroom eyes naturally drifted downwards towards the obvious tent in his pants. “I must say, I’ve met some odd patrons in my time as a magical servant, but you might just be the most unusual.”

“The-the good kind of unusual, right? Like a beautiful rose in a scorched wasteland kind of unusual?”

“Mmm… maybe.” Hera replied with a knowing wink, giving away more than she was letting on.

Adam tried his hardest to hide his obvious erection, hopping into the expansive couch only to immediately regret the decision once he landed next to Hera. He tried to escape, but the cushions were like quicksand, trapping him within their endless comfort. Hera found herself unable to stifle a giggle as Adam hopelessly fumbled and bumbled about, the resulting attempt leaving him closer to her than he was earlier as he fought against the pillowy tides.

“My master, if you wanted to get close to me, all you had to do was ask,” she playfully taunted, scooping up Adam in her grasp and levitating above the sprawling expanse of squab. He didn’t squirm in her hold, stunned into staying put by the twin hemispheres of supple flesh that pressed into his back. To be within this goddess’ grasp was like a rollercoaster. He was now high above what he thought was possible and could hypothetically be let go at any time, but a part of him knew that—much like the aforementioned coaster—that this experience was designed without him getting hurt in mind.

Even at a fraction of her restored power via a technicality, her warmth was radiant and comforting, impossibly calculable against his own status as a mere mortal. Adam relished the moment, the feel of a woman against his flesh. If this surreal cuddle lasted forever, well, he’d just be okay with that.

But much like another aspect of a rollercoaster, it didn’t last very long.

The atmosphere of the room dropped a dozen degrees or so, with Hera slowly lowering Adam back to the cushiony couch.

“Hmm? Is something wrong, Hera?” Adam asked,

Her response was only after a few moments of hesitation. “I shouldn’t… I shouldn’t be cuddling you like this. My loyalties still lie with Zeus.”

“Oh… well, that’s fair, I suppose. I aught to make my next two wishes so that you can be free and return to him! I’m sure it’s been a while since you’ve seen him!”

“Well, that’s just it. He’s the one who trapped me in this ring, my master. He’s the reason I am bound to grant people wishes.”

“What!?” Adam replied in shock, only to remember that he probably shouldn’t have been all that surprised. He was a bit of a history buff, especially regarding Greek Mythology—although perhaps “Myth” was no longer a sufficient prefix! Zeus was know far and wide for being ethically dubious at best and downright abusive at worst.

“Then screw Zeus! He’s a no-good cheater and an idiot!” Adam confidently declared, only for his confidence to immediately falter upon realizing the just-proven-real god he was currently insulting.

Hera didn’t offer a passionate rebuttal, instead she simply sighed. “Truthfully, he could cheat on me as many times as he wants. He could remain blameless every time I attempt to harm one of his flings. He could trap me in as many rings as he desires and I’ll still feel this attachment towards him.”

“And why’s that?”

“It's because he knows I won't and can't leave. I’m the goddess of marriage, I’m practically stuck with him, as per our contract. Zeus is not afraid of me leaving, but he also hates it when I try anything else. That is why I am so angry. I was stuck in a position where I had so little power. And now, I have even less power than I started with. Cursed to be a slave to selfish humans.”

Adam thought long and hard, his hand scrunching up his chin as he weighed his options. He knew Hera originated in a different time, reflecting the societal standard established during Ancient Greek times. Unlike, say, the Abrahamic god, Zeus ands Hera were made in the image of man, not the other way around. Ancient Greek men viewed marriage as a necessity and a duty, not a partnership. Women existed to bear children, preferably male children. If Hera were to be free, that aspect of her godhood would need a major rework.

“Well, I could always just wish for you to no longer be the goddess of marriage, right?”

Hera paused, raising a sculpted eyebrow. There was almost a sense of worry in her eyes. “You’d… really waste a wish on that? On top of the one you gave to restore my attire’s honor and the one you already promised to reserve for my freedom?”

“Well, if I were to, say, wish that you were the ‘goddess of being completely unstoppable’ then that wouldn’t exactly be a waste of a wish, would it?”

“I… truly, you confound me, my master.”

“Please, just call me Adam. Besides, it’s what you deserve! I’ve studied up on the legends, your marriage vow has often led to some truly unhappy relationships!”

“Okay, but-but, what about what you deserve, my master?” Hera responded earnestly—clearly, the “my master” title was beyond her control. With a wave of Hera’s finger, she telekinetically retrieved Adam’s wallet from his pocket.

He protested, but was unable to chase after the wallet as the sprawling couch beneath him betrayed his feet once more. Hera didn’t even have to rummage through his wallet, retrieving a small photo of Christina from the front lip as if she knew where it had been this whole time.

“Her.” She spoke very matter-of-factly. “She was going to be your wife, right?”

“H-how did you know?” Adam replied, dumbfounded.

“Well, first off, you mentioned you’d wish for a wife and second, I’m the goddess of marriage. If anyone’s going to know about the common conventions of such an act it’s going to be me.”

“…fair.”

“Now, while I can’t wish for her to be your wife, if you wished correctly, I could alter several situations in your favor to make her fall in love with you all over again. Sure, Zeus didn’t intend for me to be able to do that, buuuuut I’m sure with the ring’s laxer rules it’ll be a cinch.”

Adam didn’t immediately respond as he appeared to be lost in conflicting thought.

“Is that a good plan, my master?”

“Oh! N-no! It’s not that at all!”

“Then, whatever could be the problem? All you need to say is ‘I wish’ and I’ll do the rest for you.”

“The problem is… well… I don’t think I love Christina any more.” His answer was vague, spoken with a lack of conclusivity that made Hera wonder if there was more. But as a genie, she was not allowed to pursue it further, only given the freedom to make possible suggestions at most.

“Very well. If that is not what you desire for your second wish, then what is it?”

Once more Adam shut his eyes tight, making sure that he considered every implication of what his next wish would be.

“Hera… I wish your status as the goddess of marriage was replaced with the status ‘the goddess of being completely unstoppable!’”

The genified goddess’ brow furrowed, but she did not object farther. “Your wish is my command, my master.”

She clasped her hands together, but instead of a cloud of smoke her body was engulfed within a blinding light. A feminine scream of pleasure bellowed from every orifice of her body, stacking atop one another to create otherworldly ecstasy.

And yet, this ecstasy was… resisted. Her form glitched and stuttered, even as it continued to float high into the air. Adam was afraid the surreal sight would just phase through his ceiling.

“H-Hera! Are you going to be okay!?” Adam exclaimed, though all he could do was watch in suspense still trapped within the nigh endless expanse of goddess-generated cushions.

“I-I’m going to be… fiiIIiiIIiinnNNnnEEee!” She replied in a strange pitch-shifting tone, jumping between discomfort and nigh-orgasmic levels of pleasure within milliseconds of one another.

When her body finally returned to its more familiar state of existence, Hera was thoroughly frazzled. Her breathing fluttered adding more fatigue to quickly calm from. “Wow… that was… this is…” She attempted to put her feelings to words, coming up short despite being her status as a goddess.

“It’s a… good feeling, right?” Adam asked, worriedly clasping his hands together.

“Verrrry good, hehe…” Hera replied, briefly slumping into a drunken stupor as her words slurred in a swing rhythm. Her tone rapidly switched between perfectly coherent and unintelligible as her body and her ring continually fought the changes wished upon her. She then grunted, physically overclocking her limited power just to focus her mind. Even within a lucid state, a purple glow around her body continued to pulse and throb, occasionally causing her discomfort as it became thicker before she had to manually put additional effort into suppressing it. “Ugh, this meddlesome ring is still hindering my powers!”

“But I don’t understand!” Adam asked, equally frustrated—not even because he had wasted a second wish, but only because Hera wasn’t free yet. “If you’re the goddess of being completely unstoppable, then how come you are still bounded by the ring’s limitations?”

“It’s because the ring limits my ability to exist. Ponder this hypothetical, Adam: imagine if this wasn’t real life but instead an erotic story on the internet. I couldn’t exist outside of that story then, correct? No matter how hard the reader believed it, I am limited by the medium I am trapped within, even if I could push it to its limits. Understand?”

“I… think so?” Adam replied, scratching his head. “Odd choice for an example, but I suppose I understand. Like, even if you could break the forth wall and make the narrative your plaything, you still couldn’t exist outside the story, right?”

“Correct. Alas, I understand if you wish to reserve the last wish for yourself. It would be selfish of me to take your last desire. You deserve something that you want.”

Even though she was clearly in discomfort from the ring’s influence clashing against her new overwhelming power, as if she could burst at any minute, she remained as quiet and contemplative as possible.

“All I could ever want right now is to see you happy.” Adam shot back confidently without any hesitation, knowing in his heart of hearts that what he was saying was true.

“Do you… do you really mean that?” She asked, her face falling unsure and sorrowful like a scared little kitty.

But a simple nod from Adam’s head reassured the new goddess of being unstoppable beyond a shadow of a doubt. Maybe… just maybe… humans really weren’t that selfish after all.

A wobbling smile spread across Hera’s face as she fought back tears. “That’s… that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about me.”

“Well, it‘s true! You’ve suffered enough! You deserve to be free and take revenge against the gods on Mount Olympus who have wronged you.”

“Even if it’s… all the gods?” Hera replied with hesitancy, afraid that her honesty would ruin her chances in getting that third wish for herself.

“I’m sure you have perfectly legitimate reasons to hate all of them, Hera,” Adam replied sweetly, cupping the goddess’ cheek, only for Hera to reciprocate the action. Adam’s face turned red hot, the mere touch of her hand exciting him more than she could ever know. His heart raced, but he did not let that distract him from his true goal. Her body looked like it was about to erupt from the clashing forces of unstoppable power and immovable restraint, he needed to act fast.

“Hera, I wish you were free. Free from the ring’s control. Free to be your own goddess and live on your own terms.”

Four sources of light erupted from the cuffs on each of Hera’s limbs as the forces that bound her slowly lost their power and effectiveness. The ring that was once confined to her head popped off like a cork, shrinking back to a more recognizable size by the time it landed back in Adam’s palm. Only this time, Hera didn’t retreat into the opal with it, remaining as she floated in the middle of the room. She took a long, deep breath, the taste of freedom passing her lips for the first time in several millennia. It was sweet and salty and bitter and all manner of pleasant and unpleasant, but if there’s one thing it was not: restrictive.

No more discomfort, no more resistance. The goddess was finally free.

Hera drew a hand up her lithe figure, basking in the powers both new and old. “The time for vengeance has finally arrived,” Hera announced, chuckling darkly as she felt reality contorting to her whims once more. Her repressed joints cracked as new life was breathed into them, ones beyond Adam’s comprehension as a mere mortal. But even if he didn’t understand the minor complexities, he knew what Hera was about to do.

“Fuck ‘em up, Hera.”

“You bet I will, Adam.”

That was the first time she had called him something other than “my master.” It was true, she really was free.

Like a paraplegic magically healed, she didn’t just take a simple step first, but a great leap. What could have been a short flight to Olympus was instead a warp, the fabric of reality bending to Hera’s unstoppable whims as she moved the world until it placed her exactly where she wanted it too, within the throne room of the lightning god himself.

Zeus himself jolted to attention, startled by the sudden presence of his long lost lover. He seemed to have been phased out into a stated of contemplative complacency, appearing bored and disconnected from everything.

“Hera! It’s you!” the lightning god exclaimed, more surprised at the sheer sight of her than anything. “You managed to escape the ring. I assume you have not learned anything since your last rampage then if you find yourself back into my throne room.”

Hera sneered at the arrogance on display, only for her rage to fade away, simply replaced by a self-confident smile. “Oh Zeus, then you would be mistaken. For I have learned something during my  of imprisonment, that it is not merely your wives that should be punished, but you, alongside all of Olympus.”

“Bold words coming from the mere goddess of marriage.” Zeus exclaimed, his fingers crackling with static charge as lightning bolts formed within his palms. “Perhaps I’ll teach you a new lesson. One of respect… and pain!”

He unleashed storms of lightning upon the goddess, each individual pore of his godly skin unleashing 300,000,000 amps of sheer energy. The powerful blast arced and waned, tearing through stone through its discharges as it traveled at light speed to connect with Hera’s body. The roar of its power superseded the sound barrier as it often did, ensuring fear was the last emotion those beneath him experienced as their flesh melted and blood boiled.

And then, nothing happened. Hera didn’t even flinch. The lightning was simply around her one millisecond, only to vanish the very next. Once the goddess realized that what had just transpired was the extent of Zeus’ attack, she stifled a giggle out of embarrassment for the once-revered god.

“Was that all you could really manage? Or were you just going easy on me because I was always secretly your favorite?”

“Silence!” Zeus bellowed, though Hera did not seem phased or ever angered by his harsh words. The lightning god himself felt it, a palpable sense of this scrimmage being one-sided. Nevertheless, he did not give up. Steeling his grip, resplendent battle armor manifested atop his form. Hera didn’t even bother with armor. She seemed more than content with fighting in her loose fabrics.

He shouted a war cry before charging at her, Hera didn’t move a muscle. His entire body was engulfed within a sphere of pure electricity, Hera simply allowed the smirk on her face to grow wider. Zeus’ spear of energy collided point-blank with the bare midriff of Hera’s lithe body, and yet it was Zeus who found himself launched backwards with enough force to eradicate a civilization. All of his gilded armor was eviscerated on impact. His body was sent colliding into his own throne, reducing it to rubble and ash. He grunted as blood dribbled from his nose and mouth—it was as if all the force of his attack had just been used against him.

Now it was time for Hera’s retaliation attack.

A purple aura surrounded Zeus as well as much of the rubble around him. He was hoisted into the air, grunting as he tried and failed to break free of Hera’s unwavering telekinetic grip. A mere manicured finger was all it took to restrain him. A sultry chuckle exited past her crimson lips as she sauntered closer to him, bending her finger to tighten her restraint upon the god of lightning.

“You’ve become weak, Zeus. Olympus is in shambles—a shadow of its former glory.”

“I don’t—I don’t understand!” The lightning god bellowed, his words barely producing a distant rumble of thunder from miles away. “In the years since the fall of the Greek Empire, we’ve gone without worship! Humans see us as mere myth! How are you more powerful than you were before!?”

“Because, you old, doddering fool, while you relied on the masses to believe in you and grant you power based on a scientific occurrence, my power never faltered, based on a more nebulous concept that requires faith in one another to work. And now… I have someone who has faith in me and loves me for who I am. I have love, and faith, and you have neither! One too many broken hearts has left you weak, and my rejection of you shall be the final nail in the coffin.”

“Just a mere single mortal professing his love to you? That’s enough to make you a god!?” The lightning ‘god’ exclaimed in disbelief.

“Oh my dear Zeus, I’m no longer just a god.” She began to say in an overly sweet voice, only for her tone to shift dramatically, the cadence of her voice carrying from every angle and dimension like the universe itself was saying it so she didn’t have to.  “I. AM. NOW. THE. GOD!”

The marble pillars and cobblestone floors separated into loose debris that slowly floated away. Nothing else mattered, this was simply a personal conflict between two gods. Or more accurately, one god and something beyond a god.

“But… you aren’t the only god who’s remained relevant in the modern day…” Zeus added ominously as his power began to fade, “after all, lightning may have been figured out, but war? War’s more prevalent than ever.”

There was a sudden bout of noise behind Hera, though its alerting would be too little too late as the goddess suddenly found herself engulfed in a myriad of explosions. A clap of her hands and the harsh yellows and oranges dispersed, allowing her to better see who had ambushed her.

“Hello, Athena.” Hera spoke casually, as if this were merely a surprise run-in on the street and not a battle for the heart of Olympus.

“Hera.” The war goddess replied in similar fashion. “You may have given me struggles in the past, but wartime technology has increased drastically since we last fought. Lay whatever weapons you may have down and surrender, as they’re no match for my firepower.”

The war goddess’ attire looked right out of a modern battlefield instead of a spartan chariot like Zeus’ had, her outfit decked out with enchanted camouflages and Kevlar-based padding. Athena had a right to think she stood a chance—here she was, adapted to the times and built for the very purpose of fighting, unknowingly backed by the entirety of the Military Industrial Complex, while Hera merely had vengeance and the fervent support of one singular man.

Athena waited patiently for Hera to draw a weapon, but when that didn’t happen, she shrugged and drew her own weapon—a nuclear missile launcher.

“Ah, the atom bomb. Yes, I am all-too-familiar with this marvel of human ingenuity. The simple split of an atom is all it takes to erase entire countries off the map, and yet… we are all made of atoms.”

As if her phrasing wasn’t cryptic enough, her hand glistened that familiar shade of violet. She was levitating something, but Athena couldn’t tell what it could be. Then, the goddess of war suddenly felt a sharp pain within the deepest part of her core, as if something at the atomic level within her body was somehow clenching a part of her. Athena immediately put two and two together, but at that point, it was too late.

Hera’s telekinesis split a phosphorus atom within Athena’s body, causing a split-second chain reaction that erupted and destroyed the war goddess and every creature of Olympus and beyond. Of course, Hera was not affected in the slightest. Being unstoppable meant she was unstoppable, not even a nuclear bomb generated from the godliest atoms themselves could singe even a hair on her head.

And then, everything was back to the way it was.

Athena should have been obliterated, separated atom by atom and scattered across the cosmos. Only she wasn’t. Instead, she found each piece of her slowly reassembled like a jigsaw puzzle until the familiar form known as “Athena” had been restored to her original appearance.

“I’m… alive again?” Athena spoke in disbelief, feeling up her own body just to make sure what she saw and felt were verifiably real. The world around her looked as if it had never been destroyed mere moments earlier.

"Indeed you are.” Hera replied, dismissively floating away, knowing she was simply above all of this. “All of you are still gods at this very moment because of me and my infinitely unstoppable power keeping you alive. The truth is, Athena, I never wanted to kill you. I was simply so consumed by rage that I acted out back then and did things I never should have done. I promise to be a benevolent ruler going forward. At least—much more palatable than that fool, Zeus.”

She gave the recently reincarnated thunder god a malicious side eye, with him immediately recognizing his place and backing off. Though that wasn’t enough for the once-tortured goddess.

“Oh Zeus, you won’t be getting off the hook that easily, I’m afraid.”

With a wave of her finger, she twirled all of the lightning in the sky around her finger like spaghetti on a fork, applied some sort of centrifugal force until it morphed and hardened into a more permanent fixture—an oil lamp. She didn’t even need a fancy ceremony to seal his fate, a mere swish of her other finger and a kicking and screaming Zeus was reduced to light and bottled up within the lamp.

Hera chuckled, a sly smile becoming a permanent fixture across her face. Her mind had already conjured up a series of hyper-specific rules that would ensure Zeus could never escape his bondage as a permanent genie. The was no lesson to be learned for him, only endless servitude by the worst humanity had to offer.

“I believe my work here is done. After all, everyone seems to understand where they belong in the hierarchy of power, hmm?” Several titans nodded, bowing before their one and only true leader. “Good. Then I really ought to be…”

Hera paused, remembering a particular someone she knew she just had to visit. “Hmm, well perhaps there’s a certain score I’ll need to settle first.”

~

Hera strolled into Aphrodite’s domain like a hungry tigress, the brunette stunner’s lush, braided mane splashing across her shoulder as she turned to take in the scene.

Aphrodite could only stare, jaw agape, at the pinnacle of feminine beauty floating before her. Aphrodite may have been the impossible standard of feminine beauty, but Hera had a physique that kicked it up a notch further. Her platinum-brown mane gained volume and vibrancy, luscious hair threatening to erupt from her braid. Her eyelashes were bolder, longer, combining with her swelling lips to form a deviously knowing smile.

Even so, Aphrodite’s traitorous eyes dipped below Hera’s chiseled stare to the goddess other immutable assets. Her filed out breasts led to a taut, defined stomach—curvaceous hips leading to endless lengthened legs formed of shapely feminine muscle.

“Say it.” Hera commanded softly, loud enough for Aphrodite to hear.

“W-huh?” The supposed goddess of beauty replied in a haze, breaking from the trance that the mere sight of Hera’s form had put her within.

“Say. It.” Hera repeated, this time with slight impatience. They both knew exactly what needed to be said. It was only a matter of whether or not Aphrodite could bring herself to say it.

“Y-you’re prettier…” she spoke with extreme hesitancy, as if uttering the words were blasphemous.

“Prettier than what, pray tell?” Hera replied, raising a sculpted eyebrow and acting aloof. She was reveling in watching Aphrodite suffer.

The other goddess found her face red as she strained, a mixture of embarrassment and defeat as the words caught within her throat gagged her. “Prettier… than… me!” Her eyes rolled into her head as she vocalized the thought, immediately fainting on the spot.

“Well, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Hera remarked, the smile on her face only growing larger as she stood over the felled Aphrodite. “Almost put up as much of a fight as Zeus.”

She briefly considered having her way with the other gods that had attracted her ire over the years, but shook the thought out of her head. Vengeance… it no longer motivated her like it once had. Instead, it was as if a massive weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. She could finally enjoy life without the fear of an unfaithful, ruthless husband.

Hera was finally free.

~

Adam sat at his front porch, conflicted as he stared into the sky. There had just been noteworthy breaking news about odd weather patterns over Greece, but that was the only thing he could actually tie to the enchanter with a goddess he had just freed and given ultimate power. If he never saw Hera again, he could live with that. Sure, he spent three whole wishes on the genie that granted them, but seeing her face happy for the first time in what was likely millennia was worth it.

Oh, who was he kidding? He was still lonely.

But just as the intrusive thoughts were beginning to get to him, he heard a voice behind him.

“Adam, I’ve done it. Zeus knows his place. My vengeance is quelled.”

“Oh my god! Hera! You came back!” Adam shouted, whisking around and hugging the goddess with all his might.

“Yes, I’ve returned, Adam. After all, I owe you nothing but the finest rewards for freeing me while also imbuing me with the power to defeat Zeus.”

“Aww, you don’t have to pity me or anything! You’ve got the whole of Olympus to rule over now, right?”

“Yes, that is true, however… I want to stay here, with you.”

“H-huh!?”

“Truthfully, I have only ever been happy twice in my endless existence… when I am tending to my crows, and when I was here, with you.” She replied, twiddling her fingers and averting her gaze. “I would… like to experience this happiness again. If it’s all the same to you.”

“I would like that very much!” Adam spoke without the slightest hint of hesitation.

She smiled weakly, yet it was happy. Her eyes threatened to tear up, but she resisted. This was no time to bask in a well of emotions, Hera had work to do.

“Then allow me to make myself feel more at home.”

A clasp of her hands together and her attire shifted, returning to the skimpy satin reds and purples that Adam had become all-too-familiar with once Hera was first released from the lamp. His jaw practically dropped at the sight.

“B-b-but, I thought you hated that outfit!?”

“It’s true that I prefer the more traditionally greek attire, but I noticed how much you were eyeing this outfit earlier and, well, I suppose I wanted to do something that you would like.” Hera replied, languidly draping her arms around Adam’s shoulders, spreading the crimson of his flush cheeks all across his face. “Speaking of which, I believe you mentioned that you’ve attempted to capture my likeness before, hmm?”

“Well, I… I mean…” Adam sputtered, not wanting to admit his rather embarrassing schoolyard crush he had always had on the goddess. “I may have… drawn you a few times. Y’know, just to get some practice in.”

Nonplussed, he had averted his eyes, but when they inevitably fell back onto Hera, she was holding one of his old school notebooks in her hands, a wicked smile on her face. “I think I’ll just browse a little, if you don’t mind?”

He scrunched up with nervousness as the goddess of being completely unstoppable perused through the pages, pausing occasionally to remark at the cuteness of a few particular pieces that caught her eye. Eventually, she landed on one that brought a delighted giggle to her mouth, immediately turning the composition book around and holding it to her chest.

“Aww, she looks just like me!” Hera added facetiously, revealing a very crude stick-figure-esque drawing of what was supposedly her, if the name beside it was any indication. “Look at the little gal! She’s very cute!”

‘Cute’ could be… argued. Adam’s skills certainly weren’t in art. Not to mention, he had depicted her in a far more angelic way, with a prominent white dress and large, angelic wings, which—especially the latter—she was never really depicted with in not-so-mythological canon.

Adam chuckled, still somewhat embarrassed, as he took the book out of Hera’s hands and slid it back onto the shelf. But when he turned back around, he was greeted to a fading purple light and Hera looking more beautiful than he could have ever imagined. She now boasted an angelic set of wings, ones that nearly stretched from one side of the room to another, on account of them being an accurate recreation of younger Adam’s depicted proportions. Her dress was lengthy and white, yet still managed to cling to her body, proudly displaying the curvature of her supple breasts and the depths of her chiseled abs.

Adam nearly fainted at the sight of Hera.

“Oh my… oh my goddess…” the mere mortal spoke at the sight of a true goddess granting all of the wishes he didn’t even know he wanted. “I could just… I could just marry you right now!”

“Well…” Hera replied, shrugging her shoulders with a nonchalance, only to retain a knowing look in her eyes and smile. “Why don’t you? We’ve got a perfectly good ring after all.”

Adam choked on his breath.

Hera chuckled sweetly. “I’m guessing that’s a yes, then?”

“B-but you’re no longer the goddess of marriage. Why would you want to settle down at all now that you’re finally free from all those obligations!?”

“Because no longer being that goddess means that I don’t have to marry the first unfaithful meathead I encounter. It means that I can instead wait until I meet the right person. Someone who’s kind, and faithful, and falls head-over-heels for me in a heartbeat… someone who I could be their angel. Their goddess. Their wife.”

She levitated the ring out of Adam’s pocket, positioning it between the two of them as it floated in midair, the light capturing its majestic cloudy white.

“…And I think I finally found that person.”

~

“Yes… Yes, I am aware. No I will not be surrendering it anytime soon. Bye.”

Adam could feel his body getting giddy as Hera finished a rather nonchalant phone call that had been holding her up just beside the bed. Adam couldn’t make out what was being said from the other side of the receiver, but he knew that whoever it was, they took orders from Hera now whether they wanted to or not.

And yet, the conversation was of little concern to the goddess, quickly vanishing the enchanted piece of technology so that she could free her hands for cuddling as she crawled under the covers to join Adam.

“Who was that? He sounded afraid from what little I could hear,” he asked as Hera nestled into the sheets, pressing her body up against her husband for warmth, even if she radiated more warmth by default.

“Oh, pay no mind, that was merely the Abrahamic God admitting that my power now far exceeds his own.”

“…Oh.”

The realization that Adam’s wife was now the most powerful person in the entire universe was just beginning to settle in his mind. They been married for three days now, yet just who exactly he married was finally sinking in. Hera could tell, after all, she could read his mind, even though she promised not to do it all the time.

She was Hera. Goddess of the heavens, former goddess of marriage, current goddess of being completely unstoppable—but most importantly, she was in a happy relationship.

Adam wouldn’t have it any other way.