Aph:"mankind has denied our existence, yet still we exist. They called us gods, once, but we are not the perfect idols they envisioned. We are flawed. We are broken. We are immortal, doomed to live forever with the mistakes we have made. The mistakes of Gods are not ever trivial or fleeting.
I remember everything, my entire life up until now. Every step I have taken, every sip of wine, every heart won, every kiss placed upon my lips. Every time I saw him. The first time I didn't, couldn't, know anything about him. He dressed like the rest of the mortals, but I noticed him because he couldn't quite hide his differences. His mannerisms, his speech patterns, his habits. He stood out from them, was more refined in a time when the gods resided atop mount Olympus, and a refined man was not even a concept yet. He was graceful, smooth, charming and secretive. I wanted him in my bed. But when I descended to seduce him, he was nowhere to be found.
I'd never been denied before. For centuries I would remember him. Wonder who he was as I watched history unfold. Picture him in my mind when I took lovers. I wasn't quite obsessed, not yet. Not until I saw him again.
It seemed impossible, for he was a mortal like the rest. But the truth cannot be hidden when it is as blatant as the face one wears. It was the same man, with his strange ways, pretending to belong with the rest of the mortals and failing in subtle ways that made him stand out fromnthe rest. And I craved to have him.
I got to speak to him this time. He couldn't have known who I was, for I went to him as a mortal woman. But I went too late, for he was vanished again by the close of that very day. I was irate. I went to my brother, Zeus, and demanded he help me hunt down this man. Zeus was quick to strike me down, calling me the fool I was for being so intent on a mortal man. A mortal man will only die, leaving me to weep with heartbreak.
More time passed, centuries again. I never expected to see him again. I watched mankind flourish, growing more intelligent and crafty every year. I watched great wars that seemed like they would be the downfall of the mortals. Yet no matter how they cut one another down, the always found a way to recover.
The third time I saw him I had long been living in secret, my existence denied completely by humans. I was not able to be who I am. I'd lived a lie, pretending to belong with them, to be one of them. I had almost lost myself in my lie when he came to me. He asked me who I was. I told him. He was not fearful. He simply took to one knee and revered me. It was enough to remind me, I am Aphrodite, goddess of love! I will never be a simple mortal, doomed to live, love, and die in moments! I would exist for eternity!
...
But once more, he was gone before I ever got to taste him.
Three more time I've seen him. Three more times we have discussed life, mortality, and time. For he revealed to me that he comes from a future in which they've invented a machine which can undo time, casting one passenger back or forward, as he specifies.
It is now the year from which he traveled, the year he left every time I've seen him. Centuries have slowly played out for me. For him, each time was only the course of a fortnight. This last passage of time was the longest I've gone without seeing him. But when I saw him last, he had given me a date, time, and location for when I might see him. Meet him. In his own time.
And so I waited.
And now I stand at the entrance to the Greek history museum. My heart races, my mouth is dry, and I contemplate leaving without ever going in. I cannot bring myself to move from the sidewalk in front of the building.