The Mystery of Minako

Minako's family had fallen from the ranks of nobility. Her father had gambled away all of their assets and was now deeply in debt. Her mother did not have the ability to think on her own and was doomed to fall with them. Her brothers had been sent away to war. If they could prove themselves in battle, perhaps they would restore honor to the family. But that did not solve the immediate problem; Asmita. He was here to collect on her father's debts and he had nothing to give, except for Minako.

Minako was given to Asmita to pay for her father's debts. She would be a slave in his household until he grew tired of her. But before they left, Asmita wanted to prove to Minako's father who was in charge. He raped her in front of her parents, causing all three to cry. Minako felt true pain, true anger, true fear. She could never go back.

For some months Minako was solely the property of Asmita. He enjoyed watching her cringe at his touch. Eventually, though, he grew tired of her and wanted another concubine, so he sent her to his men's barracks. The next year of Minako's life was torture. She cried frequently and there was never a day when she didn't have several bruises. After a particularly harsh night, Minako began to bleed profusely from her womb. The medic was called in to examine her and he pronounced that she was having a miscarriage. She soon passed out from the loss of blood.

When she awoke she cried at finding herself alive. The medic told her that the miscarriage had been severe, but he had managed to keep her alive. She was determined to kill him for that. Then he gave her news that tore her heart into a thousand pieces, she could never have a child. Minako screamed in agony, as though the sulphorous flames of Hell were consuming her. The one gift that God gave to all women, and she was denied it, had it taken from her. Truly, God hated her.

That night, as she was recovering and cursing the name of God, a demon approached her. "God has left you," it said "you will never know love now for even Heaven itself has turned its back on you. I hear you cursing the name of The Rejector. My kind curse it as well. Tell me, Minako, would you like to hurt The Rejector?"

Minako hissed at the demon, "I would give my soul if it meant revenge on all those who have hurt me!"

"Then so it shall be," the demon replied. "If you give me your soul, I will give you power and you will destroy the lives of anyone whom you think has hurt you."

"What is your name," Minako asked. "For I know there are very few that can give this kind of power."

"My name is Sonneillon, but my master is Persophone. She sent me to you."

"Persephone feels my pain. To her alone would I give my soul. What do you need me to do?"

Sonneillon took out a contract written out by Queen of Hades herself and told Minako "eat it and it will become one with your body so that you can never break the contract and she can grant you your desire through her power."

Minako ate the contract and felt herself change. She felt the coldness of Persephone seep through her soul. She felt her body changing drastically, painfully. She could not tell which way was up. Her body tried to reject the contract by throwing it up but she forced it to stay down through sheer force of will. She would have her revenge. Finally she blacked out.

The next morning the medic came in to look at her and was greeted by the most beautiful face he had ever seen. It was enchanting, intoxicating, everything a lover of women could ever dream of and more. It was so beautiful that it distracted him from the giant, twisting mass of branches and leaves that was behind it. Minako still blamed the doctor for causing her to live when she wished to die so she reached out with a clawed hand, tore out his heart and ate it. He watched her eat it but was too entranced to know what she was doing until his body caught up and died. With the consumption of his heart Minako felt a growth from one of her branches, a blood red pomegranate. 

She wreaked havoc through the barracks. No one was able to fight her. Her face would change into whatever that person thought was most beautiful and he would stop. That is when she would strike. She cleaned the barracks of its hearts and left with more than a hundred pomegranates growing amongst her leaves. 

It was then that she turned her attention to Asmita. He had heard there was a disturbance in the barracks and went with some guards to investigate. He first saw Minako from the side and saw the monster she had become. He ordered his men to attack the creature but when Minako turned to look at them, they stopped. Even Asmita was so taken aback at this beauty that he forgot all about the monster that lay behind it. He dropped to his knees and begged for her blessing for one as beautiful as she must be a goddess. 

"Do you think I am beautiful," Minako asked as she ripped out the first guard's heart and ate it.

"More beautiful than the sun after a year of darkness!"

"Would you ever hurt me," she asked, tearing out the heart of the second guard.

"May my life and soul be forfeit if any harm should come to you!"

"Do you wish to lay with me," she asked, killing the final guard.

"No," Asmita responded. "You are far too precious of a thing to be soiled in the bed of any man! I will protect with all I am to make sure no one will ever sully your beauty."

"But I have already been hurt," she responded. "I have already been sullied by many. Many have called me an ugly whore and beaten me because of it."

"Whoever they are," Asmita yelled "I will see to it that they are brought to justice. I will kill them myself!"

"Prove to me you are a man of your word."

"I will slay whoever hurt you. Just point me to them." 


Minako smiled, raised her hand, and pointed to Asmita. "You, Asmita. You are the one who hurt me. You were the first one to hurt me and treat me like a whore!"


Asmita was taken aback at this, but so engaged was he with the beauty of her face that he took out his dagger and slit his own throat. Minako took one of the pomegranates from her branches and squeezed the juice onto his throat, "You have forfeited your life, now you will forfeit your soul as you swore to do. Soul of Asmita, I command you to serve my queen, Persephone and never see the light of Heaven or day again." And it was done.


Minako wandered until the daylight came around. She hid in a nearby cave for the rays of the light burned her and she could feel her face change to match her twisted form. She fell asleep still thinking of all those who had hurt her.


In her dreams Sonneillon came and visited her, "You have had your fun. Now it is time to serve your queen."


"But there are still others to take revenge upon," Minako protested.


Sonneillon laughed, "do you really think the Queen of Hades cares about your quest for revenge? She has been trying to get her hands on Asmita's soul since he first propositioned a woman. You were just the right tool for the job. Now she has other work for you to do."


"But my quest is unfulfilled! She owes me total revenge!"


Sonneillon shook her head and whispered "they never read the contract. You wanna know what that contract said?" Minako nodded. "It said that were giving over your soul to the Queen of Hades and whatever she wanted, you would do. Admit it, your entire body is telling you to come with me to meet her and find out her new orders."


Minako could not deny the pull she was feeling. She realized that she had been the fool. All of her life, she had just been a tool, an object. She was never in control of her own fate. She was never in control of anything in her life. She just kept getting used. God rejected her, her parents had rejected her, Asmita had rejected her and even all of the men of the barracks rejected who she was. 


Suddenly Minako felt a fire stirring inside of her. She felt her anger rise to new levels she had never known of before. Her branches caught on fire and her body burned. Sonneillon stepped back "what's going on?!" Minako would have answered if she had known. All she knew was that this anger, this fire, felt good. She knew it was a power that she could use to control her own life and be who she wanted to be. This was the fire of her soul, her essence that no one, demon or angel, human or deity could destroy. As the flames consumed her she became more aware of who she was as a person, what her role in the greater plan was, and most importantly, her true name. "Adero," she whispered.


It is unknown, to this day, what happened to Minako-Adero after the flames consumed her. Some say she was reincarnated and lived a happier life. Others say she is serving the Queen of Hades. But a very few believe that Minako-Adero was purified in mind, soul and body by the fire and became a deity in her own right. A deity that protects women during childbirth, comforts them after a miscarriage and ruins the lives of any who hurt them.

How Spiders Got Eight Legs

Once upon a time there was a woman who was gifted in the crafts of weaving, sewing and writing. No one could tell a story as she could; she would tell her stories in the form of weaves, embroidery, quilting and written word.

As her society dictated, she needed to marry. Many men came calling for her hand but she refused them all. When approached by The Council about why she would not marry, she answered "any man can provide for a good family and look good, but these traits only last a few years at best. Find me a man who can tell a story as well as I, and I shall marry him."

The Council was aghast at her arrogance. All of their sons had been refused. So they devised a plan to punish her and teach her a lesson.

The Council collaborated for weeks crafting the finest story they could think of. When they were done, they gave it to Amleth and told him to tell it to The Storyteller and she would marry him. Amleth had never been able to get a wife for he was mean, cruel and used his fists more often than his words. Excited at the prospect of being allowed to marry, he rushed to The Storyteller's home and proceeded to tell the tale, accompanied by The Council.

"What a story Amleth," she exclaimed when he finished. "But you did not write it and you have no others. Therefore I will not marry you."

"That was never the agreement," The Council retorted. "You only asked for a man who could tell a single story. There was never a requirement that it be his own or that there be more than one."

The Storyteller had been caught in her own trap. She reluctantly agreed to marry Amleth and he was eager to have a wife to do his bidding. Years passed and Amleth became meaner and meaner, especially when their union produced no children. Amleth blamed The Storyteller for not being able to carry a child to term and beat her continuously for it.

In desperation she sought the aid of The Healer. She begged him for the means to carry a child to term, using her storytelling art, she conveyed to The Healer the pain she suffered and the importance of having a child. He was moved by her words and gave her a potion, but warned her to only drink one drop each time she wanted a child. The Storyteller thanked him and ran home.

When she got there, she was so desperate for a child that she drank the entire potion right away. That night she conceived and soon her belly swelled with pregnancy. Amleth was pleased and let her be for a time. Soon, however, she felt that there was something unusual about her pregnancy. She sought the advice of The Midwife who told her that she was in such pain because she was carrying more than one child. How many, she couldn't say, but she knew The Storyteller's womb to be full of life.

Finally The Storyteller gave birth to four children, three boys and one girl. Amleth was please with three sons and let her be, but so did everyone else. The Storyteller had no one to help her care for these four children while still fulfilling her duties as a wife and partaking in her crafts. She grew frustrated and realized she would need more arms than what she had.

Using all of her weaving skills, she wove for herself two sets of arms and attached them to her sides. They were strong enough to hold each of her children, even as the children grew older.

At the age of one, each child was finally given a name. To his sons, Amleth gave the names Gahiji, Andrej and Hariraja. To her daughter, The Storyteller gave the name Ebru, in the hopes that she would take after her mother's talent. The Storyteller was not disappointed.

As the children grew, Amleth's fuse shortened. He demanded more his children and his wife, expecting them to show how great he was by their being perfect. The boys began training with weapons and hunting when they were taking their first steps. They were ripped from their mother's arms and trained to be men before they were boys. Amleth demanded more children from The Storyteller and beat her soundly when she failed to produce more. Ebru he did not acknowledge.

The children developed a hatred for their father that mirrored The Storyteller's. She weaved stories to encourage this hate. It built and built until it was time for Ebru to marry.

Ebru had inherited her mother's talents which made her highly desirable as a bride. The Council brought their male descendants to forward as prospects and gave Amleth bribes to win over his favor. But Ebru's desire was for Tomomi, the son of The Healer. Tomomi had proposed, but Amleth had chased him away and starting breaking his daughter's will so she would marry a child of The Council. The Storyteller refused to have her daughter follow in her path and wove poisonous threads into her arms and legs. Amleth died on contact that night when he tried to lay with her.

The Storyteller was brought before The Council and given one chance to defend her actions. The Council had been against her for years so she would be doomed if she did not tell the greatest story of her life.

She started softly, calling upon all of her skills and began weaving her tail of woe, frustration and anger. She called upon Calliope, Clio and Melpomene. Soon her daughter joined her story, adding Terpsakhore and Euterpes' touch. The Council began to weep at the beauty and tragedy that these women were able to weave.

When their story was finished, The Storyteller and Ebru were silent and awaited The Council's judgement. The Council decreed Amleth to have been a poor man, not worth the talent that he married into. Therefore, The Storyteller would have to be the one whose approval was sought after regarding the hand of her daughter. However, murder could not go unpunished. The Storyteller was condemned to weave extra arms for all of her female descendants that whoever sought to marry into the family would know that she and hers were dangerous.

After Ebru and Tomomi were married, The Storyteller saw the effects of the potion The Healer had given her as her daughter gave birth to several children, many four at a time. Using her extra arms, she was able to help Ebru take care of them, earning herself the nickname Grandmother Spider.

So remember this, those who tangle with Grandmother Spider's kin, do not treat them lightly, or ruin their works, for she has weaved them many arms of poison and power, and they will use them.