Trauma stained her eyes and heart, as she was turned away by one she served so righteously.

Heart turned cold, as the souls she would soon see. Athena turned her back, after every one of her pleas. So she left, retreating to a cave for solitude.

Only for the stories to start, turning her to something new. A mysterious beauty, wronged by the gods. What could she have done, to get a response so odd?

Soon they came, first driven by their curiosity. What kind of monster could be turned away by the gods if not due to her own horrible deeds?

Her anger burst from her eyes, stopping them in their tracks, the fear forever etched on their faces like stone, sculptures made of glass. They filled her cave, one after another. The stories never stopped, turning her into a monster.

Soon she had snakes for hair according to them all, but no one had really seen her. Those who met her eyes were soon under her thrall, unable to move and as still as a stone.

Her glass garden grew and grew but no one understood how, this beautiful woman had become a monster now. Every man who went to see the gorgon in her cave, never came out no matter how brave.

Until a great king sent a suitor to bring him her head, while actually hoping he would simply end up dead. Armed with a shield from the Gods, to assist him in his task.For he had heard to look upon her would be his last.

What he saw in the reflection made him stop in his tracks. What he saw was not a monster, there was no hair made of asps. It was a beautiful woman, whose eyes told a story. That anger and pain gives you no glory, only nightmares and trauma that go on unhindered. How had this beauty become so feared?

What pain had her tortured for all these centuries passed, how had she come to have all these sculptures of glass. All of men, and his curiosity grew.

He put down his shield, and it was then that he knew. All these stories that turned her into a monster, a creature to be feared. Were stories from those who had wronged her, who wanted her alone. So she could never tell her story, one she could own.

So he went to the ground, dropping his shield, and listened while she spoke of all the pain she could never heal, her isolation silenced her grief and those she spoke to turned to fragile glass. Except for this man, who could learn of her past.

As she cried she asked him please, put an end to her, giving her much wanted peace. Use his god sword, and take off her head.

With tears in his eyes, he did as she begged. Vowing before he did, to share her story told true. This would never happen again, and he was eternally sorry.

From her severed neck, sprouted a horse. Full white with wings, a being so absolutely pure. Innocence returned to a victim so wronged.

His act of kindness, had ended her fight. Before he left the cave, he shattered every sculpture in site. All these men, had wronged one woman or more. Their souls were a thing real men would abhorre.

All these men had deserved her rage, for all the women they had forced into a version of the same fate.

As each one shattered, he swore to them all. The women they hurt, was the reason for their fall, their stories all the same as that beautiful woman, no matter how small.

So misunderstood, her innocence had been turned into her dungeon. Someone else's wrong, turned into her ultimate destruction.