By Mike Ciani
Callisto was up early, as it was normal for her while she was a warlord. The early bird gets the Xena she would remind herself while chuckling.
For the most part, the renegade Amazons’ village was nestled in silence and serenity. Callisto, however, heard some activity around Alti’s hut and decided to go out and see what was going on.
She watched as two young Amazon women clad with green headbands entered Alti’s hut. With that, Callisto decided that she’d join their little party herself.
Alti asked the two women, “You completed your mission, then?”
Conara, a tall, thin, but athletic looking blond stated, “Yes, mistress, we placed the amulet exactly where you told us to.”
Leytia, the other girl, was a bit older with red hair and a robust figure. She then added, “Xena found the amulet and the whole village became suspicious. Then, we decided to use that opportunity to leave.”
Conara then said, “And no one even recognized us in the village.”
Alti then said quite smugly, “Excellent. Xena has the Amulet of Spirit that was given to me. Now, on the night of the full moon, I’ll be able to chant a spell and the amulet will steal all the powers of the person holding it. Then, with that, I’ll be able to claim all of Xena’s powers and her many skills. I’ll become a force to reckon with and will crush Xena easily. Hahahaha.”
Callisto, who had been listening in on this discussion, took the opportunity to interrupt by sayingm “Really now, Alti. You make all of this sound quite easy, but as I have found out many times before, dealing with Xena is never easy.”
“Ah Callisto. Do not underestimate my powers or the power of the amulet Xena carries.”, Alti stated.
Callisto grinned and shot back, “True, perhaps…but Alti remember this. I was once a goddess and was much much more powerful than our dear Xena ever was, and yet time and time again, she still found ways of defeating me. She knows how to use power against the person who wields it.”
Leytia, interrupted by saying, “We all have total confidence that the mistress will defeat the Warrior Princess.”
Callisto glared at the young Amazon and said through gritted teeth, “Alti said not to underestimate her powers, but she had better not underestimate Xena’s powers.” With that, the Warrior Queen stormed out of the hut. Before exiting though, she gave a courteous smile and waved at a tied-up Joxer, who was sitting glumly in the far corner of the hut, near a collection of headdresses.
After Callisto left, Leytia angrily glared at Alti and asked, “How much longer do we have to put up with that nutcase?”
Alti smirked, “When Xena’s powers are mine and after she has been obliterated, then we’ll deal with Callisto. I won’t be needing her around after I have reduced Xena to a shell of her former self. Hahahahaha.”
Having said that, the three women in the hut started laughing loudly. Joxer, who was stuck in the corner had a shocked look on his face though.
Callisto started walking around the village to clear her head a bit. Alti really was getting on her nerves. As she was walking, she let her mind start wandering.
Her thoughts drifted to the past, her childhood, her time as a street urchin after her family was killed. She then recollected about her days as a warlord and a goddess. Ultimate power was hers, but also with it came ultimate defeat, when she realized that her lust to quell the pain within wouldn’t happen with revenge on Xena.
Callisto was walking around in such a daze that she didn’t notice, until it was too late, that she had walked right into someone. Two women fell hard to the ground.
Callisto immediately yelled, “Watch where you’re going you little…” She stopped suddenly when she saw the angry glare on the face of the young woman she had just run into. And to make things worse, it was Olya’s face who had the angry glare on it.
Olya shouted right back at the Warrior Queen though, “No, you watch where you’re going. I was yelling your name just before you walked right into me. You’re obviously not deaf, so it must mean that you were too crazy and off in your own little world to hear me yelling to you.”
Callisto was stunned, and her face showed it. All she could think was this little girl just yelled at me. Such a defiant and flippant tone this girl displayed. And she certainly wasn’t afraid, was she? In a way, it reminded Callisto of her younger days, before she had became a fierce warrior.
Callisto grabbed Olya by the arm and yanked her into a nearby empty hut.
Olya shouted, “Hey, what do you think you’re doing, let go of me now.”
Callisto then quietly said, “Do you really hate me that much?”
Olya stared directly at the warrior and said, “Yes, I do!”
Callisto crooked her head to one side and asked, “OK, how about this then? You hear me out for the next couple of minutes and after that you don’t have to ever talk, look, or listen to me again. Now, do we have a deal?”
Olya sulked and said, “Yeah, I guess so. Go on and say what you want. Not that it will change my mind about you or Xena.”
“Very well then! I don’t want to change your opinions about myself or Xena. We’re both very bad women, you know. I’m Xena’s monster. She created me when she burned my family to death when I was a child.”
Olya was wide-eyed now and she said, “Wait…you mean that Xena killed your…”
“Mother, sister, my entire village. Yes, she did. She couldn’t even answer one simple question for me during the whole time,” Callisto snapped.
“What question did you ask her?”
“A simple one. I asked her ‘Why?’ And she never did give me an answer to that question. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t know the answer or maybe’s she’s afraid to admit her answer. I really don’t know. Even to this day, she could never tell me why she ruined my life.”
“So that is why you helped kill Xena’s son, so you could make her feel pain like you did?”, Olya inquired.
“Yeah, and it didn’t do me any good. It was at that moment that I knew that I had traveled down the wrong path in life. After that, I helped Hope a little more, figuring that maybe she could give me oblivion, which was all I wanted at the time. She ended up using me though. She teased me at first, by promising me a chance to redeem my life by going back in time and saving my family. I had to kill Hercules’s mommy first and I failed at that, so I never got a chance to save my family. Things got messed up, as I even ended up killing Ares’s nephew, the god, Strife.”, Callisto stated flatly.
Callisto was droning on, “After that, Hope promised me oblivion, but she joined up with Ares and ended up just using me. So, I joined Xena. Oh, don’t look shocked Olya, I told Xena that I would scratch her back if she would stab mine.”, Callisto laughed, “Of course, Xena didn’t want my help, but her little pet brat talked her into it. In the end, Gabrielle and Hope both went over the edge of the lavapit, so I used that as an opportunity to push Xena over the edge. She stabbed me with a dagger coated in Hind’s Blood and I was so thankful to her at that moment, but then, as you can see, I didn’t find any sort of peaceful oblivion. I was sent to Dahak’s realm, but I escaped, I’m pretty good at that. And now…well here I am.”
Olya sat there mesemerized by the tale she just heard. She finally said, “Listen, you had it tough. And instead of trying to live with your pain and honor your family, you decided to spread that pain around and it ended up hurting me. I only want revenge on Xena, I’m not planning on giving my pain to anyone else.”
Callisto huffed, “Olya, that is exactly what Alti is counting on. Yes, you say you only want revenge. I did to at first, you know. But soon that lust for revenge, it takes on another form. It becomes a twisted expression of spreading pain. I learned that the hard way!”, Callisto then added angrily, “Alti has made revenge look so good to you, but yet you don’t realize what it does to your soul. That lust to feed your pain, it takes over your existence, until that’s all you are about.”
Olya defiantly asked, “Why would mistress Alti deceive me? She has done nothing but help me so far.”
“Because she has no problems using people just like Hope used me while I was a goddess. I was just an end to further her means.”, Callisto answered.
“And you’re saying that Alti won’t use you. Is that it Callisto?”
“Oh, I’m sure she’s planning on using me and getting rid of me afterwards. She has a good plan for Xena right now, but she’s about to find out that even the best laid plans can be changed.”, Callisto said cheery sneer.