Genre: Drama, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Slice of Life, Supernatural, 

Summary: Greece was once filled with gods and goddesses. The people looked up to them with admiration overflowing in their hearts. But, were the gods and goddesses always kindhearted? No. Sakura Miyawaki, a priestess of the Sacred Temple of Athena, learned that the hard way; when her hair turned to snakes and her vision was 'blessed' with such horrifying power because of a curse, a goddess casted upon her. Will she remain in such tragic fate? Or will she meet someone who'll save her?

Word Count: 6048

Hashtag: #KkubiFestival_EpitomíTonAsterión

Epitomí ton Asterión

Back in the day, kings and queens ruled over Greece. Whilst sitting on their extravagant thrones, the future of the rich land laid upon their hands. With a snap of a finger, barters happened; executions existed. They held Greece painfully in the neck. The people were incapable of doing what they want; they weren't entitled to their freedom. The minute they first opened their eyes to the world, they were already a slave, a servant to the noble. 

Until the year of 700 came by. The royalties and nobles were stripped off their power; with nothing, not even one plot of land, left in their possession. 

The people were struck in awe. How could a group of normal looking people have so much power over the boastful royalties? Who are they, really?

They possessed incredible power and competency. And there they realized that those people were not mere humans. They were the gods and goddesses, Homer, an author, mentioned in one of his pieces of literature. 

The people looked up at their saviors and worshipped them, continued giving them praises and offerings to appease their hunger. The gods and goddesses also had faces that gave off such great aesthetic pleasure, which resulted to mortals testing out their luck with even one of them. However, it was of to no use. The gods and goddesses stated that they only wanted a bond with an individual that is 'equal' to them, which the people assumed, was also another god or goddess. 

The mortals practically just gave up on a dream that was already judged as impossible, however, they still continued on to worship the immortals. 

Decades passed on and more immortals descended upon the Earth as heirs or mentees of the gods and goddesses. One of the famous mentees was Sakura Miyawaki. She was a mentee, who then became a priestess at the Sacred Temple of Athena. She was widely known for her beauty and equal kindness she showed to the people of Greece, no matter what status they had in life.

The mass truly adored her, maybe a little bit more than they adored the goddess of war and wisdom. That was when it all fell apart. 

Similar to the masses, the gods have also taken a liking towards Sakura. This was a side of the immortals that they would not want the public to know. The people may look at the gods and goddesses as people who are gifts from the beyond. However, the truth was, they just wanted to govern and rule over people that were, let's say, 'easy to control'. 

Least to say, the gods looked at Sakura like she was a piece of meat. They looked like predators waiting for the right moment to pounce on their prey. And of course, this doesn't go unnoticed by the gods' female counterparts. 

The attention that was once showered to them was nowhere to be found. Instead, Sakura has been the talk of the town in both the commoner realm and Olympus, itself. 

As time went by, the goddesses grew jealous of Sakura, but, there was one goddess that was the most jealous of them all. Athena. Goddess of war and wisdom, Sakura's mentor. 

She was extremely jealous of how the gods and the people showered their adoration and affection for Sakura. She thought, how did such a lowly immortal outrank a goddess? That was truly unacceptable. 

With these vile thoughts running through her mind, she tried thinking of a plan for Sakura to fall into her ruins. And as she continued thinking, a familiar god passed by. Athena smirked as an idea finally came to her mind. She was going to use him.

Poseidon, god of the seas.

 Upon better observations, Athena noticed the stares overflowing with lust and desire that the god made over Sakura and if Athena was to make the woman fall to her doom, she had to use a god that was both powerful and influential, and Poseidon was a perfect fit. 

Lucky for Athena, Poseidon was everything but intelligent. With just a few words of seduction, the god immediately gave in to her grasp. 

With Poseidon lured in to her plan, she made the pieces fit and turned the puzzle into her own design. 

After word spread out that Sakura seduced a supreme god for power; the people abandoned her. Acting like they didn't like her in the first place. Amusing, how people were quick to turn their backs against her with just a splash of fabricated reports.

"My people! It is I, Athena, goddess of war and wisdom. Prior to your knowledge, Sakura Miyawaki is a priestess at my temple and I want to apologize for letting such unholy being infiltrate the holy lands of Greece. Do not fret, because I, myself, will punish Miyawaki for the crime that she has committed.", ending her sentence, the people of Greece erupted into cheering and claps for the goddess. 'I have everything under my control.', the goddess smirked. 

Athena walked through her temple with an extra sway in her hips. She was in a very good mood as she thinks of how to punish Sakura and banish her from this place. It was happening once and for all. 

"Teacher! Wait for me, I have something to talk to you about, please.", Sakura's voice echoed throughout the vestibule. 

"I'm afraid we don't have anything to talk about anymore, Sakura. You have put the name of my sacred temple in the depths of humiliation. You do not deserve to be a priestess! Such embarrassment.", Athena spat. 

"I did not seduce Poseidon! I was not at fault!", Sakura cried.

"So are you implying that the supreme god forced you into his way? Haha. Stop making such jokes, Sakura. I never knew you had that in you.", the goddess laughed maniacally.

Sakura fell to her knees as her tears spilled once more. 'Such pleasant sight. That's what you get for taking what was rightfully mine.'

Footsteps echoed throughout the empty walls of the room as Athena headed towards Sakura.

"For breaking the constitution that binds this land together, you must be punished. You shall grow snakes as hair and turn every person who looks you in the eye, into stone. You shall be lonely for all eternity in return for committing the grave sin of adultery with a supreme god. Everyone in this world will be disgusted by you." 

PRESENT

The story of the ill-fated woman lived on. It was passed from generations to generations, with the old people cautiously warning the younger people to be wary of the snake haired woman. 

However, there was a commoner who came to not believe this story, Kwon Eunbi. As a child, she shivered in fear at the story of a woman who could turn people to stone with just a glance. However, as she grew older, she came to understand the word 'doubt'. 

Back when the issue was at its prime, the higher ups never presented any piece of evidence to support the 'crime' that the priestess supposedly committed. They simply reported that Sakura was an adulterer and that she victimized a supreme god. And of course, with the people's high trust in the immortals, they didn't question it atleast once and believed it on the spot. However, Eunbi was unconvinced. 

But, she was only a commoner. Even if she wanted to find out if it did happen that way, she didn't have the power. And of course, she wouldn't risk getting on the immortals' bad side just for the benefit of the doubt.

"Eunbi! Would you mind getting a few herbs from the forest? The children are starting to complain that hunger devoured them already. Haha, such cute little kids.", her aunt laughed brightly.

"Of course. I'll go now.", Eunbi smiled.

"Be careful, my dear! And don't forget that you should not cross the fence in the middle of the forest, the gods and goddesses barricaded it for a reason.", her aunt replied.

Eunbi nodded as she picked up her basket and headed to the forest. 

The forest was divided into two parts: the common forest and the forbidden forest. It was rumored that deep in the forbidden forest lied the lair of the gorgon and that was why the immortals' barricaded it; to perhaps stop the people from going beyond or maybe to stop the gorgon from terrorizing the city. Who knows? 

Eunbi picked up all the herbs that she could find, she wanted to pick an amount that would last them for a week. The forest creeped her out too much so she doesn't want to go there ever so often.

While picking up herbs, all Eunbi could hear in the forest were crickets and birds singing. However, a faint noise reached her ears. 

It was a voice of a woman. She was.. crying? 

Eunbi felt a gush of sudden bravery rush through her veins. She had the sudden need to find the source of the noise. 

She walked and walked. However, her eyes widened when she saw a familiar fence. 

"The noise. The woman. She's beyond this fence.", she muttered to herself. 

 Eunbi paced back and forth trying to decide whether she was to proceed and find the crying woman or would she stop with this fake bravery and just head home to her family. 

She was torn. 

Upon longer decision making, she finally came to choose to just go home to her siblings. However, the moment she stepped a foot away from the fence, the sobs thundered althroughout the forest. 

Eunbi felt a shudder from her shoulders to the tip of her toes. What was this unbelievable aura of despair?

Eunbi must've lost her sanity for a second because the moment she gained full control of herself once again, she was already in the forbidden forest. 

The noise was clearer. Eunbi felt her feet walk on their own. It was as if it has this electrifying feel that's pulling her closer to the source. 

She continued walking until she could see a variety of statues from afar. She observed one of the statues as she chuckled. 

"Oh man. She looks just like my friend Chaeyeon! Except Chaeyeon was killed..", Eunbi stopped for a second as a realization came to her. "by Sakura.", sh*t! Eunbi wanted to run but her feet were glued to the ground. She couldn't move, she was paralyzed. 

"Is someone there?", a soft voice echoed. 

'Curse you, Eunbi! What kind of dangerous sh*t did you get yourself into again?', she thought to herself.

Under the heat of the scorching sun, Eunbi could feel her sweat dripping down her forehead. However, it was doubled. Along with the fastened pace of her heartbeats, Eunbi could feel goosebumps all over her skin.

The woman's footsteps echoed loudly through Eunbi's ears. If this woman was indeed Sakura, she's dead meat. Or should she say, dead statue. 

Eunbi slowly turned around to face the woman as she took deep breaths to calm herself. 

Sakura Miyawaki. Eunbi couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was indeed true. Sakura was a beautiful lady, however, her snake hair overlapped it. 

"Who are you? Why are you not turning into stone? Are you a goddess? Don't tell me they sent you here to go for my head?", the woman laughed bitterly. 

"Stone? What stone? Where am I? Frankly speaking, I got lost in the woods. Mind helping me find my way back?", Eunbi replied. She couldn't believe what she was saying. 

"It looks like you do not know who you're dealing with right now. Did the immortals erase me from the peasants' memories too? Well, if that's the case, let me formally introduce myself to you. I am Sakura Miyawaki, the cursed immortal.", Sakura smirked. 

“Uh.. You are not erased from our memories. However, I myself is confused as to why I am not turning into stone."

Eunbi heard Sakura let out a chuckle, "Fate's playing another game. I tell you what peasant, be gone in 10 seconds before I change my mind."

Eunbi remained intact on her position. 

"Oh? Do you not want to go ba-"

"Be my friend."

The cursed woman stood in shock as she heard those words fall from Eunbi's tongue. It was a sentence she didn't expect to hear; especially from a citizen of Athens. 

"Interesting.", Eunbi couldn't read Sakura's eyes. Like as if, it was used to hiding emotions for so long. 

"Sure, peasant. I hope you won't regret it.", Sakura let out a small smile.

Days passed and Eunbi kept meeting Sakura secretly. It was like they were Romeo and Juliet, only meeting behind everyone's back for the love that they have is impossible. But of course, not the love part. 

"Kkura? I'm here.", Eunbi called out. 

"How many times do I have to tell you? Don't call me that.", Sakura folded her arms as she looked at Eunbi with attitude.

"Stop with that attitude of yours, Kkura. We've been friends for so long.", Eunbi closed her eyes as she let the sunlight graze upon her skin.

"For all I know, we've only been friends for a week.", Sakura snickered. 

"Hey, that’s still quite long.", Eunbi let out a little giggle. 

"Say Kkura, why have you never tried reaching out to people?", Eunbi's curious eyes met Sakura's poker face. 

"You're seriously asking me that? Doesn't mean my curse doesn't work on you means they don't work on others too. That's not how it goes, dumb head.", Sakura flicked Eunbi's forehead. 

"Ouch! Stop that.", Eunbi paused. "But, doesn't it get lonely? I mean, all these years, you've been alone. Only trees, grass and these statues surround you."

"Those statues were people too, Eunbi. And of course, I did get a feel of loneliness. I was delighted whenever I heard footsteps or voices