By Cynthia Jeanette
Sybilla and her brother Serren offer some payback for what she suffered and they finally go to war against the Fay

Theodora was confused now. The last thing that she knew was seeing Sybilla getting her ass kicked by some massive creature more than a thousand feet tall. Sybilla was fighting Cronus, and he had disarmed Sybilla and began thrashing her. She was helpless under his brutal beating, and then the entire place exploded. That was the last thing she knew and now she was transported to this place just outside of the city. She was looking at the Seven Falls. The place was still destroyed, and the witches could not seem to repair the damage the priests did during the war. She was still the King and began making her way back to the capital. She didn't know if Sybilla was alive or dead.

It didn’t take her too long to make her way back to the capital from the Seven Falls. The people greeted her and her guards took their positions protecting her, but they seemed unsure of how to treat her now. There was some confusion and things didn’t seem right at all.

And her confusion was answered when they made their way down the street and made it to the Palace. There proudly standing in front of the palace was a six-foot tall boy with dirty blonde hair. He was huge, his shoulders and arms massive. This boy was extremely powerful and confident. This was Serren as a boy. Or it is what he would have become if his maturity wasn’t prevented. But he seemed much older than Serren would have been.

Standing behind Serren was a large group of war priests that were following him. These priests seemed much more powerful than the previous ones they hunted down during the war. Everything seemed set in place to reestablish the rule of man over women. Theodora felt so helpless.

Serren was armed with an enormous six-foot long two-handed sword. He held a zweihander sword that was slung across his back. He spoke, “It is nice for you to finally make your way here from Tartarus. Our sissy little sister has survived and defeated the Titan. She is on her way to take control of Olympus and that should be no problem for her now. I challenge you to a duel little sister Theodora for the crown of the Kingdom.” He pulled his zweihander and held it. “I will fight you in the Seven Falls. Let's go and bring your witches to watch.”

There seemed to be no way to avoid this fight. They went back outside of the city and stood at the banks of the great falls.

Serren went to the center of the great falls standing on a blackened destroyed island. The first war priests had taken pleasure totally destroying the Seven Falls as an example of their power. They set fire to everything and caused a huge earthquake that was felt and sent terror across the land to the palace dozens of miles away. Theodora had defeated the war priests there and their hero Godson who fought her with no armor was surprised and defeated by her. Men’s rule did end there, and she began establishing the third age where men and women would be equal.

Serren’s priests stood across from the witches in a half-circle watching from the banks. The witches stood across from the priests watching Theodora. Theodora watched as Serren ignited his magic and the blackened water began turning color. It changed from a blackened muck to a blueish color. The destroyed stones turned alive with green grass and weeds. The falls were restored to what they had once been. Serren was an extremely powerful magician. This wasn’t the Serren that she remembered. There was no comparison and she began to seriously doubt she could defeat him like she defeated Godson. She deceived that man into underestimating her. He paid for it with his life.

He shouted in a magically enhanced booming voice, “You will not deceive me, little sister. I know you have a man's strength in your body. You took it from a talented blacksmith and forced him into a humiliating life. You stole his family and his life. You can wear your armor, I don’t care. I will beat you anyway.”

Serren stood there bare chested with no armor and holding his zweihander. Since he offered, Theodora decided to put her armor on and walk out to meet Serren. This wasn’t the Serren she knew. This was the Serren that Sybilla created as her elder brother who was returning for the throne. This man looked cruel and totally without mercy. She saw the hatred simmering in his eyes. “And now you will pay dearly for what you did to our little brother. I will be his weapon of vengeance. He deserves it even if he did embrace his femininity instead of fighting it like a real man. He never did stand much of a chance. Let's go.”

Serren held his weapon ready and waited. Theodora drew her weapon and stood there waiting for Serren and he didn’t move. “Serren, didn’t you want to fight?”

“I thought you were the one thirsting to be a warrior all your life. What, you can only fight if you use deception?” Serren mocked.

“You have that huge sword, I figured you would come at me first.”

So Serren went at her. He stepped in and did an overhead swing and came down on her block. She blocked his overhead swing and he redirected it to her midsection faster than she could possibly respond. His midsection swing clashed with her armor sending her staggering back and he took advantage of it and came at her a few more times battering aside her blocks and totally disarming her. She realized she didn’t stand a chance against this boy's strength. He disarmed her as if it was nothing.

He backed away and threw her sword back to her. “Girl, I am holding a six foot long sword that weighs nearly thirty pounds. This is designed for attack. You have a simple long sword. I have a massive advantage, especially if you stand back and let me come at you first. This sword is designed for crushing attacks. It will destroy you. Your only chance is if you come at me first, to negate the power of this sword to prevent it from going on the attack. If you let me attack you, you will stand no chance against the weight and power of this sword. But of course, you only had a few weeks of training at most. You compensated for it with magically enhanced speed and power, but you lack the skills and training we men had. Like your brother who spent his entire life training for war. And you stole it all from him in an instant. And trapped him in the life of a maiden. It was a life he wasn’t meant for. He hated it. He felt so helpless and humiliated it. And you wonder why he was so enraged especially watching you take his clothing and train in the sword. You wonder why he did what he did? I know exactly why. You showed you are cruel and totally heartless, Theodora. You are a sadistic monster for how you treated him. You deserve all that’s coming to you. It is shameful he didn’t fight it more. He could have fought it and he had options to really destroy you if he wanted to. But he didn’t fight it and he slowly adapted to the life and even began studying witchcraft. What you did was wrong, Sis. This is why he is the way he is. And now he has defeated one of the most powerful beings in the entire universe. HER Titans have put Olympus under siege and she will destroy Zeus and rule. We will all be kneeling to her in worship as she guides us. Even you will worship her Theodora. She will be our goddess.” Serren almost looked disgusted at that thought. But even he knew he stood no chance against Sybilla now.

Theodora understood and went at Serren with her full speed and power. But she didn’t get in a hit at all. She swung at Serren and he simply pivoted away. He slid away just out of her reach or pivoted and turned. Serren was playing with her, just avoiding her. Then she rushed in with an overhead swing. Instead of pivoting away from it, he closed the distance and blocked it. Then easily disarmed Theodora. He gripped the handle of her sword and tore it away from her hand.

“This fight is over!” Serren loudly declared.

“But I am still standing,” Theodora said weakly.

Serren sneered, “For now. This isn’t a fight to the death. We don’t want you to die. The Goddess wants you to live to see the rule of man be restored, and to live under it once again. Forced to watch all of your corruption and so-called progress toward equality be destroyed before your eyes. The Goddess also wants you to get married. We will find the perfect man for you. Perhaps a Fay to secure peace between our two kingdoms.”

The thought of marrying one of those Fay sent shivers of revulsion through her body. But she guessed that these two thought it was fitting. After all. It was a marriage that started it all. Facing an unwanted marriage sent her into action. Even if her brother had wanted to end it for her, he didn’t have the strength to stand up to the lords threatening war if he called it off. She did have the strength and faced the war against that family and won. She knew that Serren was going to go out of his way to make the rest of her life in misery and suffering. The sadistic and cruel look on his face told her that.

“You are still standing, and I guess that means you aren’t ready to admit defeat.”

Theodora shook her head, but she still knew she stood little chance against Serren.

Serren stepped forward and struck Theodora across the face with the pommel of his huge sword. She staggered back and fell. The crown fell from her head. “You will wish you had admitted defeat. Now I will have to beat it out of you! Bitch.” Blood was streaming down her face. Serren reached down and tore her shimmering chestplate off of her body.

He felt it and said, “Disgusting corrupted witchcraft from Hekate. This is why witches must be destroyed.” Then Serren crumpled the plate armor between his hands and ignited his own power. The armor was blasted apart. Much of her strength left her when Serren ripped her armor off. She was humiliated and defeated. And it didn’t look like Serren was in any way ready to end this.

He pulled back and threw a vicious kick right into her midsection. Theodora cried out in pain as she gripped her stomach. She curled in pain. Serren kicked her stomach again and then kicked her in the chest. Serren was just beating his little sister by now. It was clear the fight was over, but Serren wanted to punish her. “You trapped your brother in a life he hated, you kept humiliating and hurting him. Then you made him pregnant and he had his twins. You let the man that assaulted him go on a deal you made with that family's loyalty. Luckily, he wasn't raped by that boy. Somehow, Sybilla destroyed and killed him. But You crushed your brother's male spirit. There was nothing left of the brave warrior boy after a year. You may as well had murdered him. Now, you will pay.”

Serren reached down and grabbed a handful of Theodora's hair and pulled her head up by her hair. He made a fist in the other hand and slammed it into her face at full power. He kept a hold of her head and thrashed her face several more times before he threw it back down. Blood was streaming down her face now. Serren pulled his sword back out and raised it above her head. Theodora was helpless, beaten and in pain. Serren swung the sword down on Theodora’s leg, cutting it clean off by the thigh. Theodora cried out in agony.

Serren reached down and took Theodora’s crown and placed it on his head. He yelled for all, “Bear witness that as of now, I am King of the Shattered Isles. I rule, and the rule of Man will be reestablished at the Seven Falls. Theodora, you have just begun to pay for stealing your brother's crown. Your punishment isn’t anywhere near over.” Then Serren pulled back and threw another powerful vicious kick right into Theodora's ribcage. Everyone heard a loud cracking sound as his foot connected with her ribs. Then he kicked her across the face shattering her jaw. Theodora cried out in agony and then went limp as she blacked out. Serren stood over her, laughing. “It is very clear that girls can’t fight. She should have never even tried. Had any of the men been competent, Her rule could have been prevented.”

Then Serren glared at the witches who were looking fearful and defeated. There was no denying that they were now defeated by Serren. He said, “Priests, seize the witches and kill them. Then heal Theodora. Don’t let her die. And seize the witches and put them to death for their treason. Witchcraft is a crime against the crown. We will follow Goddess Sybilla. Now let's go back to the capital and see Brom Lancaster and the boy he has surrendered for Sybilla's transformation.”

The Titans had put Olympus under siege. The Gods of Olympus sensed impending doom and defeat as the Titans were released and then marched on Olympus. The powerful gods were under siege. Sybilla and Rhea, along with Atlas marched into Olympus as the Gods all surrendered, knowing they stood no chance against Sybilla or Atlas now. They marched into Zeus's chamber and took his crown.

Zeus knew that he stood no chance now. And his fellow gods weren't by his side. Hades stood against him, conspiring with his rebellious wife Hera to help Sybilla. Poseidon also refused to help him. Zeus stood alone against the power of the Titans now. He sat there facing Sybilla who had the strength and power of his father Cronus now. He knew he stood no chance and stepped off the throne and gave Sybilla his crown.

Sybilla looked down cruelly at Zeus. “You continually humiliated your wife Hera. You caused many mortals pain by your infidelity. This is Hera’s will, I have no problem executing it for her. We have the most fitting punishment for you, Zeus.”

After taking the Crown of Zeus, Sybilla reached her hand out and touched Zeus on the chest. His god elixir began draining from his body and his ethereal glow dimmed and diminished away. His powerful body shriveled down and he lost his immortality. He was a human boy now. That wasn't enough. Then Zeus began transforming before their eyes. His boyish chest swelled with fat and mammary glands. His hips swelled, his face softened into a beautiful feminine oval shape. It lost his hard male edges. Zeus turned into a human female. Then she was sent to live in the Shattered Isles under the rule of Serren.

The Gods were assembled before their new Titan Queen Sybilla. They all knew that even combined, they stood no chance against her. Sybilla now ruled Olympus. She roared, “Hekate, step forward and face your punishment.”

Hekate stepped forward showing fear in her eyes. The arrogant and cruel goddess that led the witches of the Shattered Isles now looked small and very frightened.

“My suffering was because of you. You led my sister to transform me into a girl, and steal my life away. It was all your doing and you must pay for making me suffer. I suffered horribly all because of your stupid plot. It is all your doing and you made me feel like nothing but a SACRIFICE. You have to pay.”

Sybilla stood in front of Hekate with her mighty fists. Hekate said, “I know you are angry but I needed to make things better for everyone. The people and the women were suffering under the priests. It needed to stop. You should have realized that.” She looked very sad. “The suffering of my subjects pains me so much, Sybilla. Please.”

“It’s hard to undertand all of that with as much pain as you inflicted on me. You all destroyed my life and they took pleasure in it all. I can’t understand that. A better plan may have been to encourage my mother and sister to educate me on the injustices they all lived under. Teach me about your love and the religion of the Goddess so I understood what must have been done. So I could reign as king and free the women of the Shattered Isles and take down the church. But no, your plan was to destroy me and inflict horrible suffering on me. That way I suffered and got so embittered and hateful that I hate the women and your people. And I want to inflict my suffering on them all. Great plan, cunt.”

“That would have never worked,” Hekate said to Sybilla. “It was the rule of Man then. Your father would have never allowed your mother and sister to educate you on that. You were to be educated by the church.”

“You were the Goddess. You could have encouraged them to, and encouraged my father to stay out of it.” Sybilla replied.

“What about Ares, it was his church.” Hekate pointed out.

“Ares was never that interested in it. Anyway, he isn't that sexist at all. Many of those priests were violating his ways. He was a warrior God, but not sexist. His sister is the Goddess of War, both sisters are. And then he knows the Goddess of the Hunt. If he was that sexist as the religion says, his sisters would kick his ass, rip his balls off and feed them to him. He wouldn’t have had a problem with my mother and sister taking care of my education. It could have been done in secret away from my father's eyes. Then this wouldn’t have had to be done to me. But then you and your people wouldn’t have had fun humiliating the boy princess. So fuck you all.”

“That could have been done but I don’t know if many of the people would have accepted that,” replied Hekate.

“Another good plan was to change me, then love and guide me instead of being so harsh and cruel to me. I could have supported my sister then and we would have stood together against the enemies of the Kingdom. But the witches had so much fun demeaning the boy princess, didn’t they?”

Sybilla pulled back and slammed a fist across Hekate’s jawline. The impact was devastating, and Hekate, the Goddess flew back from the force of the Titan’s punish. Then Sybilla leaped into the air and threw a devastating kick into Hekate’s chest and she collapsed from the force. Hekate screamed in pain. Sybilla stood over Hekate, repeatedly kicking her in the ribs and chest. Sybilla beat her face in. Hekate was beaten, and badly bruised by the time the sadistic beating ended. Then Sybilla drained Hekate’s elixir and made her into a mortal woman. She took Hekate in her arms and went down into the mortal world, standing in front of a badly beaten Theodora. She looked up through her swollen eyes and saw the beaten form of her beloved Goddess, now demeaned into the form of a mortal woman. Theodora cried. Everything was lost, and now their goddess would live helpless under the rule of man. All hope was lost. Sybilla laughed and left the Goddess with her to suffer under Serren’s rule. “Hekate, I am really considering making you marry Serren and be his wife.”

Sybilla materialized back with her family. She saw her husband Syrina and the man she loved, Adam. She fell in love with the man as a woman.

Syrina said accusingly, “So Sybilla, my beloved wife. You couldn’t let your grudge go. Now you accomplished everything you wanted. You crushed your sister, you had her crown stolen away. You destroyed her progress and subjugated the women under men once again. I hope you are proud for destroying our hopes and dreams. That also includes your daughter.’

Sybilla smiled as she took her Daughter Blaze in her arms and held up a vile with Hekate’s elixir. She fed it to Blaze and she drank it. Sybilla said, “Blaze is your hope. She will defeat Serren. When the time comes. It will be your job to make sure that Gerrick grows up right. Don’t let him be taught like I was. Teach him to respect and love his sister. They will make a mighty team when the time comes and they will change the world and defeat my older brother Serren. Blaze will reign as their queen.”

Of course, they would still have to live under Serren’s darkness for over a decade before Blaze would be anywhere near ready. But that was the price they had to pay for the evil they had all done to Sybilla. They deserved it all. Sybilla would enjoy watching Serren destroy many of the women’s dreams of liberation. A boy named Serren so long ago had dreams of a life that was destroyed by those women. Serren would sterilize the islands
of the witches.

But for now, it was time to inspect the progress of the army, meet the lord of the Lancaster’s for the last time before they are dissolved forever, and the boy they had submitted for her transformation. And then to take the war to the Fay. Sybilla wasn’t sure about Serren being part of this war. He was bred to be a warrior and would insist on being on the front lines with her. But he was more likely to be hurt by the Fay than she was here. But, Serren would insist and refuse to be left behind as King. He would be on the front lines with her whether she liked it or not. And it was his right.

Theodora was transported back to the palace under guard to be secured, and for recovery from her injuries. This was going to be the first time she would not be going out to war with the troops. She was going to be sidelined and left behind as her little sister and older brother took care of things. That was demoralizing and infuriating. She wanted to fight and was going to be refused. And there was nothing she could do about it but lay there and hurt from her injuries. She didn’t even have a leg to stand anymore. Serren had beaten her brutally.

Then, Sybilla did one of the cruelest things she could have done to her. Of course, it was one of the things she really deserved. She had sought out and found the man Feather that Theodora had remanded and made a palace maid. He was abducted and forced into the life against his will. She found the extremely small and weak man wearing a maid’s dress dusting the palace with a feather duster and brought him to the room where Theodora was recovering from her beating.

The tiny weak man glared down at Theodora hatefully. She was no longer wearing the crown, and was laying there with one leg and still covered in bruises. Part of her body was bandaged up. He didn’t bother to hide his contempt for her anymore, like he did when she was the King over him.

Sybilla said, “Speak your mind now, let her know what you really think of what she did to your life. You have nothing to fear from her anymore. Her power has been destroyed. Our brother Serren now wears the crown and men will have nothing to fear from women like her any longer. He will be a just and noble king.”

“You had become my enemy the minute you took my strength and my life away you ruthless, sadistic bitch. I hope you suffer for what you did,” the small man snarled.

“Take off that dress,” Serren said. “Your body will be restored.”

Feather lifted the heavy maids gown over his head and threw the humiliating garment on the ground. Serren’s features glowed with his internal power and he touched Theodora and the small man named Feather. The stolen strength was pulled from Theodora's body and she felt her body weaken. The strength she had was pulled from her body. Feather’s small frail body enlarged with rippling powerful muscles once again. His arms enlarged, his chest and stomach. He had the body he was proud of once again.

He smiled with pride. He had worked years to gain this and some bitch that didn't deserve it took it away just because she wanted it.

“You obviously cared for nothing and nobody in your quest for power. You are beneath contempt. You are not worthy to be the King. I no longer have to address you as my lord. That’s a relief.”

She said in a weakened voice, “I just felt it was wrong that I was so weak as the King. Almost every man was stronger and more able than I was to fight. I didn't want to be afraid anymore.”

Serren said with contempt, “You deserve to be afraid after how you treated your little brother. And now, Urwin, I have an offer to make you the Lord of the Lancaster Isles if you want. You will hold the title of Duke and reign over those Isles.”

The man shook his head, “I know nothing of being a lord. I simply want to get back to my family and be a blacksmith. That was what I was meant to be before that bitch stole my life from me.”

Then Serren said, “I will have to put some limits on the power of the King over private citizens and their businesses. So this does not happen again. And the women who bullied you into becoming a maid will be lashed in the town square. Now lets see the Lancasters.”

Sybilla took the lead as they went out to face the Lancaster family. Brom was standing there with his wife, his daughter and a teenage boy standing in front of them. They were being detained by the palace guard on Serren’s order. They looked frightened and Brom looked demoralized and afraid. Sybilla smiled in triumph.

She strode up to the demoralized man and his wife with a smirk. Sybilla looked down at the small frightened teenage boy and said, “I assume this is the boy you are offering me to transform into a girl. How does he feel about being offered?”

He spoke up in a meek trembling voice, “Please, my lord Sybilla. Don’t do this to me? I don't want to be a girl. Please?” He pleaded with tears rolling down his face.

Sybilla just looked into the boy's eyes cruelly.

Brom said, “There is no reason to do this to the boy. He has done nothing to you. He just wants the life that he was meant for.”

She looked cruelly into Brom’s eyes as he withered back in fear. “Why do you care? And, there is nothing wrong with being a girl. I learned that boy. That’s what was told to me. And Brom, I wanted my life too. But no one gave a damn about me. Not you, not your family. Immediately after my sister seizing my crown and making me her little sister in front of everyone. You rallied to her, you went to her and helped her secure her rule. You offered her advice and your friendship and love. You cared nothing of how it all affected my life. Not one damn bit.” Sybilla snarled in anger. “So I thought you were into this type of thing and would care nothing for this boy's life. It happened to me, so why not make it happen to a member of your family so you experience what it is like. You can callously look into this boy's eyes as if he deserves it just like I did. If you think he doesn't deserve it. Neither did I. I wanted my life as a boy, but it was stolen from me. Perhaps you should have risen your voice and defended me instead of turning your back on me. It's too late for that now. This is your punishment.”

Sybilla reached out and touched the chest of the small teenage boy and began chanting in the language of the Goddess. The boy in front of them began transforming into a girl. His hair grew out, his face softened, and his chest swelled with two mounds. His hips and legs were reshaped. He turned into a girl in front of their eyes, and he wailed in despair. Sybilla said, “Enjoy your life now. And Brom, perhaps next time you see an injustice happen, maybe you will oppose it, or it may be on your family next. Let that be your lesson. Your debt has been paid to me. Your family is stripped of all of your titles and landholdings. The gifts my sister gave you to betray me are mine now. Your family has nothing and now you have a daughter. I put a seal on her so no witch can turn her back.”

The boy collapsed in tears as Sybilla turned and walked away to examine the state of their new army and prepare to march off to war. The wailing girl had hoped to march off with the soldiers soon and that life was taken away from her. She had no idea how she was going to live the rest of her life. She had no idea why this was done to her. She had heard what Sybilla said before changing her. If that was true, she could hardly blame Sybilla for her anger at them. When one sees an injustice, one should speak out and her father Brom clearly failed that. So now he faced an injustice as a result. The girl glared into her father's eyes with hatred and total contempt. “We should all stand against injustice, you failed to take a stand, and I paid the price of your cowardliness and failure. This is your doing.”

Sybilla watched the king's troops training on the field and she was greatly impressed. This was no longer the poor army she feared to take out to war. The arquebus troops were firing much more accurately now. Their fire was consistent and accurate. Their rank firing was impressive. They could fire as a group on a target, and then the second row would aim and fire while the front line reloaded. Their reloading skills had greatly improved, and they could pour fire on an enemy on a consistent basis. They were able to fire between two and three times each minute.

Their bowsmen were able to fire much more accurately and quickly. Their swordsmen were now deadly and swift and their knights were lethal. This was now an army ready for war. Sybilla was very proud of her generals.

Sybilla stood there with King Serren proudly, and she said, “This is now an army trained and ready to march to war. Assemble tonight, we march out to war. The situation is dire. The Fay are marching toward the capital as we speak. They are ready to besiege the capital and overrun us here. We march out to meet them and crush their army. Then we will retake the cities and towns they took and burnt. We will march to victory. So kiss your children and your wives. We march out tonight.”

Serren looked contemptuously at Sybilla and said dismissively, “You are marching with us?”

“Yes,” Sybilla answered, “of course, I am. I trained many of these troops and their generals. This is largely my army.”

“But you are a woman,” Serren replied. “We don't need a woman marching with us to war. You may be a goddess but you still have the strength of a woman under it all. We don't need you on the field.”

Sybilla burnt in anger at Serren’s words. But this is what she wanted and what she asked for. But now she knew how her sister felt all of those years being dismissed out of hand for her sex. Knowing she was meant for more. There was nothing to be done with Serren’s attitude. She replied, “You will need me to march with you. You have a large and very competent army now. But still, you are outnumbered three to one. And may I remind you, the average Fay solder is three to four times as strong as a human male in his prime. Without me, your army may be defeated. They will surely put up a fight much better than the first time. But you still may lose without my help and my friend’s Rhea and Atlas.”

Serren shook his head as if he totally ignored what the woman said to him. “We won't need a woman marching with us. But you are a Goddess, so if you insist, there’s nothing I can do about it. But a woman doesn’t belong on the field.”

Sybilla felt like kicking Serren’s ass. She was starting to understand how Theodora felt all of those years. But that was left to someone else. Sybilla set this all up and it went exactly how she had initially planned. It had worked perfectly, and she was enjoying watching the Goddess and Theodora’s plan fall within a year. It all turned over right in their faces and they were helpless to do a thing about it. It was great. It was going to end. It had to end.

A goddess wasn't going to let anyone else march in the lead. They all set off toward the front that was rapidly approaching the capital. Sybilla demanded she marched in the front of the army, leading them. Even great powerful Serren had to very reluctantly submit to it all. The threat that if he got to disrespectful to the goddess that put him in charge, and she could reconsider her decision any time and find another to replace him eventually took. That pissed him off, but he knew he had to respect the Goddess in some areas. So he marched behind Sybilla as they marched. The horns were blaring and the singers were singing hymns of glory as they all marched out. She remembered being trapped as a teenage girl watching her sister gloriously march out with her shining crown and armor, being honored the way Sybilla wanted to be honored so bad. Theodora’s comments about Sybilla being pretty hurt. She was nothing more than a pretty face for the Kingdom, while Theodora took power and respect. Sybilla’s hatred simmered, and now she was finally getting the respect she wanted. She didn’t wear the crown of the Kingdom. But that was okay. She wore the crown of Olympus. There was no one anywhere that could question her say on anything now. Even the great Kings had to kneel to her authority.

They marched out of the city gates and went on their way. The great marches were exciting at first, but as they left the city, the marches to war became an exercise in boredom, and monotony. After an hour or so after leaving the city, it was really boring and rough on the soldiers. They sung their hymns to keep from getting too bored. Sybilla’s thoughts went to the boy she so joyously destroyed in front of his father. She hardly knew his name, but the look in his face said everything. She was ashamed, it was horribly wrong. This had more to do with hurting the father than anything having to do with the boy. He was irrelevant. It had worked as intended, the father was crushed. But the innocent boy was also crushed, and she knew what that was like all too well. Now she had done the same thing. Sybilla knew she was wrong, and she had to fix it. Unlike herself, she highly doubted the boy could handle a girl’s life as she did. She saw his despair, and knew it would not end well. She wasn’t suited for it and didn’t have the strength to deal with it. Sybilla resolved to fix it after their first battle.

They started seeing the Fay Army in the distance after many long hours of marching. They didn’t have far to go. The Fay’s vast army started coming into sight. Their front line of soldiers in their shining armor assembled for battle whiletheir flags waved in the air . They were there waiting.

The Fay Army started seeing the vast army of the Shattered Isles marching toward them. They quickly assembled into battle formations. Their commanders saw it and had been wondering where their army was all this time they have been marching from the border into the interior smashing through city after city with no opposition. Where was the new army that their king was raising? It was finally here, and their commander knew what was going on. They were training and this wasn't a fresh new army. These were trained and seasoned troops facing them. And they were obviously under new leadership. A young man was leading them, with some small woman in the front. They were both obviously monarchs and very experienced.

The Army of the Shattered Isles assembled to face them. The flanks of the army was very strong and assembled into an enclosure formation. The Fay commanders observed this with alarm. Oh no, they thought. Not only was this an enclosure formation to exploit the Fay’s weak flanks. The flanks of the Army of the Shattered Isles were also armed with new powerful weapons. The Shattered Isles now had firearms. That was about the perfect weapon to fire into their flanks and destroy the Fay’s wings. Even though the Army facing them was still outnumbered three to one here. This was going to be a fight. But, the woman took the center of the army facing them where they were the strongest and unbeatable. What was that woman thinking? So did the boy.

She still needed to punish the God Poseidon for what he did to that tortured woman and have a talk with Athena that she will never forget. Poseidon would learn what it was like to be hunted for his beauty and not have the strength to fight the hunters. Especially in this culture where a woman keeping her virtue is one of the most vital things for her and where the society goes to ridiculous and oppressive levels to protect and control women. It was one of the things Serren kept throwing in Theodora’s face constantly. It wasn’t as fun when Theodora threw it in her face. And since she was changing society for the better for women, it shouldn’t have been, but Theodora was having just so much fun she couldn’t help it.

The woman in the front shouted at them, “This is your one chance to turn away, and leave the Shattered Isles. We won't pursue you, and you will be allowed to leave in peace. If you insist on fighting us, we will have no mercy. We will destroy your army, and pursue you to your homeland. We will destroy your homeland and your cities.”

These people were very confident, thought the Fay General. It was almost laughable, but there was something strange here. He felt a strange new power emanating from the center of the formation. It was coming from that woman. He couldn't figure it out. It wasn't any of the power of the Olympian gods. If it was Zeus or any of them, it wouldn't bother him at all. They could deal with Zeus. He knew better than to annoy the Fay. They cared nothing about the Olympian gods. This was something different. It was something far worse. Their commanders started having a very bad feeling about this. The Human troops bearing firearms leveled their weapons at the flanks of the Fay. The Fay troops turned to face them and raised their defenses. This was going to be a fight far different from their first. This woman was obviously very competent and she knew the Fay weaknesses.

The Human flanks moved into flanking position on the Fay, the first three ranks leveled their arquebus weapons and opened fire on the Fay ranks. Then they knelt to reload as the second three ranks leveled their weapons over the heads of the first three and fired their weapons. By the time they were finished, the first three rows were ready to open fire again. It was a tactic that they were relentlessly drilled in and they fired like an unstoppable machine. Since the Fay had turned to face the flanks their weakness wasn’t as exposed to the concentrated firing and it didn’t do as much damage to the Fay ranks. But they were powerful firearms and they were killing Fay now. The Fay found it difficult to advance and attack the Human flanks under this intense fire and began to fall back as the Humans advanced.

They figured the middle was rather weak and Sybilla and Serrren stood there with their troops ready for the right time. Sybilla pulled out her scythe and Serren pulled his enormous zswiehander sword ready for combat. The Fay were told to attack the front ranks hoping they would be able to flank the Arquebus troops. It was at that moment that the heavy knights up to the top of the formation unexpectedly rode right into where the Fay were weak when they were busy trying to withstand the intense fire from the arquebus troops. The Fay were being devastated.

The Fay marched into the middle ranks of the Humans where they felt the Humans were weak. They couldn’t have been more wrong and Sybilla tried to get Serren to fall back, but he refused. He would not take battle commands from a woman, even a Goddess. Sybilla feared for his safety in this. Sybilla marched forward and began totally destroying every Fay she encountered. She swiped dozens of them at once with her scythe. The Fay found they were totally helpless against this powerful woman. They attacked her in groups trying to take her down. She was completely invulnerable. They could not hurt her in any way and she wiped them out with a tiny fraction of her strength. The commanders in the back watched it with fear and he suddenly understand. Especially with Atlas beside her. He yelled, “She’s a titan. Withdraw. Withdraw.”

The Fay had lost over fifty percent of their forces by that point and it didn’t seem to end any time soon. But the Fay had been totally surrounded and Sybilla was having the most fun marching into the Fay ranks destroying them all.

The Fay had lost another thirty percent by the time they were able to organize an effective withdraw from combat and broke out of the enclosure. It made no difference. The Humans were in a bloodlust and refused to let them go. The pursuit was relentless, and they were all hunted down and killed to the last. There was no avoiding Sybilla and she beheaded the Fay top generals one by one. It was a resounding victory for the humans.

Sybilla ran up to her older brother to inspect him. She seemed very concerned when Serren pushed her away and said, “Take it easy, sis. I am very strong and hard to take down. Theodora found that out even with her immense strength. Many men fell to her, except me. I have my skills and my strength. I may not be a God, but I am still much stronger than anyone else. There's a reason I am King. And a reason you aren't. I am exactly what you wanted to rule the Shattered Isles. Have some faith in me.”

“If we were facing regular human foes then I wouldn't be as worried. But we are facing Fay. They are many times stronger than you. And you prefer to fight face to face with your sword. They could have defeated you.”

Serren laughed bitterly and said, “No, they couldn’t and found that out when I cut down Fay after Fay. This isn’t a regular sword. This sword was created for me by the Elven Kingdom.” He smiled and said, “Theodora wasn’t the only one with tricks of her own. She can keep Justice if she wants. I have a vastly superior sword, so much so, that if I wanted, I could have shattered her blade with one strike. But I felt that would have been insulting to my ancestors who held that sword proudly. Having a woman hold it is probably insulting enough. I made sure she will never fight again. I hoped she liked her one year of glory. It's now over and its back to living a woman’s life.” They both laughed. Serren still hardly respected Sybilla except when he was forced to.

Then Sybilla turned to her elder brother and said, “You take command now. Their first army is defeated, you go on to glory and retake our cities and begin reconstruction. But don't get cocky. I have been raising another army that will join you shortly. We will have roughly seventy thousand troops.”

He looked at her sternly and said, “Yes, I know. This was the easy part. Just wait until they bring their seasoned troops in, and their mages to the front and begin fighting with fire. They underestimated us, and it cost them. They won't make that mistake again. But we can handle it. I won't underestimate them either. We can counter their mages.”

“I have some business in the capital, and I will rejoin you soon.” Sybilla said as she saddled her horse and rode back to the capital with her personal guards from her temple.”

Her horse leaped up into the sky and flew the rest of the way. Sybilla had acquired the horse Pegasus. She wished she could have got some of the Dragons from the Elves. Since the massive war, most of the Dragons took refuge with the Elves. The Dragon Kursar was captured and bound to the ground in front of the first major temple to Ares and used as a guard. Theodora and Arcadia freed the dragon during their assault on the mountain temple and killed the priests, destroying much of their power over the land. Kursar was killed by the priests during the restoration war. Kursar was the first and most powerful of the dragons.

The Lancaster were still going to pay but they would pay a different way. Sybilla landed in front of the palace and said to the regent, “Please summon the Lancasters and that new girl. I need to speak to them.”

The regent bowed to the Goddess saying, “As you wish.” and he turned and walked away.

Sybilla decided to enter the palace and go through some of her memories. And then to visit some of the more forbidden parts of the palace for her since she wasn’t the King.

First, she entered the King’s personal office. It had once been her father's office and she occupied it for a short time before she was overthrown in that humiliating coup. This was now her older brother's office. She had occupied it for several weeks and it was a few weeks of utter frustration. She was only sixteen and very far from ready for the responsibility. She didn’t even have the strength to oppose the older lords pushing him to agree to his sister’s unwanted wedding to one of the worst lords there was. He knew that he had to, but he couldn’t and didn’t want to plunge them into war. The frustrations and responsibilities were overwhelming and his mother and sister weren’t really interested in helping him. He was so unprepared and that was one of the things that convinced his family he was unworthy. So they changed him to a girl in front of all of the lords and crowned his cruel sister. She was older and more prepared, but she was a monster. And now Sybilla was following that example. If they want a monster, let them have a monster. Serren will bring them to their knees.

Then Sybilla went to Serren’s old bedroom. It was mostly empty now. None of his old stuff was there. Serren’s old clothes were stolen by his sister. He was given Theodora's clothes and her corsets. He remembered his first forced dressing and beating by Rose Bucket and her mother Stone. He had to endure a beating before he was willing to let them dress him. He really fought it. They really hated him, but he had forcibly seduced Rose when he was Serren. He didn’t know she didn’t want it. He was taught and assumed that all women were willing and fell for him. So those women had a lot of fun humiliating him. He couldn't blame them, but he still felt like a meaningless sacrifice. He felt like he was led to it all since he was young. That was all that he thought, and no one ever considered to try to teach him right. Rose and Stone were really going to pay for what they did to him. He felt nothing but humiliation, and that was the plan. They all agreed they had to be harsh and cold to him. And now they are wondering why Sybilla wants them too to burn. They really can't understand it.

Then she visited the bedroom Theodora occupied as a teenager before she occupied the King’s royal private chambers.

She wasn't welcome here very much and was ran out. But now she was a Goddess. She could go anywhere she pleased. No one could stop her from invading Theodora’s chambers, and she would probably be forced back here when Serren took over the King's private chambers.

Sybilla went to the back where Theodora stored her old artwork. Much of it didn’t surprise her at all. They were pictures of her as a warrior. She was a pirate in many of them, a sailor fighter in others, or a swordswoman in many of them on a field of battle. There was one where she was rescuing a weakened Serren from a field of battle where he was wounded. That never happened. Thankfully. There was one sad picture that really struck Sybilla. That was one painting where Serren is a girl crying in a window while Theodora and her father walk out to go hunting. Leaving Serren at home. She wanted to be respected as a boy so much and wanted her father's approval and love. Gerrick could not do that and he would not. That hurt her so much that she lashed out at Serren so hard over things that were never his doing.

And she never understood her need to be a warrior. Girls shouldn’t fight and most women didn’t want to fight. They often saw war as a waste. During the time of the matriarchy, that’s how it was. The King was called the King or the Great Mother at that time. The greatest mothers were those that led in times of peace and that peace brought prosperity. Theodora never understood that and wanted to be a warrior king like her father. It cost her so much.

One of the greatest kings or great mothers was called Devinia. That name means blessing of the Goddess. Devinia was Devin, the first born son of the third King during the Matriarchy. Erenia was cursed to have three sons. Many of the witches and women thought that Erenia must have displeased the Goddess to have no heirs to her throne. The witches considered choosing a daughter from another family to crown.

But there was something about Devin. He was very thoughtful to his younger siblings and helped them any way he could. He was a thoughtful and caring boy. Devin had many of the qualities of a young girl. He was selfless, brave, compassionate, caring and courageous. He showed great care to his younger brothers. It seemed that Devin was longing for a girl’s life. But he didn't want to really be a girl. But like other boys at that time, sensing the superiority of a greater sex he longed for the life. Erenia often caught Devin sneaking into the witch's library reading books of magic meant only for the eyes of females.

Boys often went thought the phase of wanting the rights of the superior sex, but Erenia saw something different in Devin. He seemed to have the mental acuity of a girl.

So Erenia went to the high witch of the order of Hekate and asked if there was some way to give her son the gift of girlhood. After much consultation and prayer, they all decided that there was a way. They called the spell the Blessing.

Erenia went to her son Devin and explained that he was to be honored with a new sex, Elevated to female and made the heir to the throne. He resisted and explained that he had fallen in love with one of the most beautiful females of the Kingdom. Allania and she had even asked for his hand in marriage. He wept and suffered, but to his mother’s pride in the end he consented to the transformation. He did what a girl must and put other’s needs before her own. Devin consented to his mother’s wishes and the wishes to the entire Kingdom. In what became known as blessing day, He was transformed before the entire Kingdom and made the heir to the throne.

Devinia threw herself into her new life and duties to the Kingdom with the devotion expected of a woman. This was proof that it was the will of the goddess. Under her rule, the land knew peace and much prosperity. She bore three strong brave girls. She became known as one of the Great Mothers.

Since that time, when a boy showed great promise he was honored with the blessing to be elevated to the status of women.

But that was not what was done to Serren. It was also supposed to be done with the boys consent. The great blessing was corrupted to do harm to the boy and crush him in the eyes of his family. Revenge was demanded. This horror was not an act that could be ignored. Serren’ wrath spread across the entire kingdom.

Then she went to the throne room that would never be hers. She had a much greater throne now anyway. It didn’t hurt her and observed that it was now Serren’s, and he was going to rule with the iron fist of a tyrant. Sybilla had poured all of her hate and malice into Serren.

Then the regent came in with the Lancaster family and the young girl that had obviously not got anywhere near acceptance of his new sex.

Sybilla walked up to the grieving family. She had learned that they had abdicated all of their titles to the Isle of Lancaster. Serren was going to choose a new family to rule the lands. She looked at the young suffering girl and said in a voice full of sorrow. “I am sorry for what I did, Greg. I will restore your masculinity. If that is what you want.”

The girl looked up with hopeful but doubtful eyes and said, “Yes, Please. I cant live this life. Please.”

Sybilla smiled warmly. “It was done to me and your family ignored all of my suffering. It was almost like your dad approved of it. So I will restore you on some conditions. First, you will leave your family and I will put you with a new family to be raised in the great temple. So you won’t be taught the male supremacist bullshit and be doomed.”

His family looked totally shocked at this. But they accepted for the sake of their son and knew it was for the better.

Sybilla touched the girls chest and she again was transformed into the form of a young man. His shoulders broadened, his face hardened to that of a male face. His hair shortened and his hips shrank. He was a young teenage boy once again and he smiled.

Then in the eyes of his grieving family. Sybilla took the young man on her horse and flew away not even allowing them to say goodbye to their son. Her guards followed in their large eagles and they flew up to the mountain fortress temple.

They flew up to the snowy peak and landed next to the enormous door which Theodora forced open during her assault. Their restoration was slow and had not even touched this temple yet. Her guards and helpers came and they began clearing out the bodies Theodora left during her attack and cleaned it up. Then they saw her family. Syrina and her children Blaze and Gerrick were there and they ran into the arms of their mother.

Sybilla told her husband, “This is our new boy, Greg. I have rescued him from his old family and their ways. Can you accept him Syrina?”

Syrina looked at the boy and nodded. He looked kind and loving. She said, “Yes, of course and we will restore this temple for you. And your new religion.”

Sybilla smiled and kissed her husband. Then she said, “Remember, Blaze will be the heir. No one knows it but we already see how rapidly she is progressing. She will defeat Serren and claim the crown. We will do this when our new religion is ready to take control. Until then, we will gain power in secret and wait for our time. We will allow the war religion control until then.”

Syrina smiled and said, “So basically, we are to grow in secret and wait for our time. We will usurp the old religion like your sister Theodora. I think you don’t know what a shock that will be. It wont be a peaceful transformation like you think it will be.”

“They started it,” was all Sybilla said with a wicked smile.