Tonight, I looked over and saw Pegasus, who has been by my side for what has seemed an eternity. I was there when he was born and we have been together ever since. Without him, I never would have met my lovely Andromeda...
I crept through the cave quietly, careful not to make a single noise. I continued my descent into the dark cave, clutching the shield Athena had given me close to my chest with one hand and grabbing my torch tightly with the other. I tried to silence my breathing, but it was becoming harder and harder as I knew I was getting closer and closer to Medusa. I reminded myself that King Polydectes had sent me on this mission because I am a hero and I am brave. But it was really hard to be brave when I knew death could just be an instant away.
And then I heard snoring. I stopped, knowing that if I continued further into the cave, I might accidentally look upon Medusa and immediately turn to stone. I froze, not knowing what to do. If I made a wrong move, I might turn to stone. If I stood here much longer, she might hear my ragged breathing or nervous tapping and awaken and if I moved closer, she might see the light and come find me.
"What a great situation to be in, " I thought to myself.
I clutched the shield even closer, trying to calculate my next move. I held it tighter and tighter and tighter, and then I realized the shield was the answer to my problem! I turned around and held the shield in front of me as a mirror. I slowly crept backwards, using the torch to light my path. When I could see Medusa's outline behind me, I let the flame dwindle enough in hopes that it would not awaken her.
I took silent steps, backwards, backwards, backwards...
Nervous of what would happen if I waited much longer, I gripped my torch and shield in the same hand, swiftly unsheathed my sword with my free hand, and sliced the Gorgon's head off in one movement.
Immediately, a horse and giant sprung from Medusa's lifeless body! The giant and I made eye contact and he instantly turned and ran out the cave. I looked at the horse and saw that... he had wings? I turned to face him and he approached, seeming apprehensive at first.
"What's a good name for you? Phobos? Xanthos? Balios?" But none of these seemed to match the horse in front of me.
"How about Pegasus?" It seemed fitting, since pege meant "spring" or "well" and we were near the ocean, the ultimate source of water.
I wrapped up Medusa's head, careful to still not look at it, and started walking towards the entrance of the cave. Pegasus followed right alongside me.
When we reached the exit, he bent down as an invitation for me to climb atop him. I took the invitation, but didn't prepare myself to look down a moment later to see that we were flying! I laughed, mostly as a nervous response, but realized this might actually be really helpful. Until now, I had only been traveling using Hermes's winged sandals, but those did not move very fast.
"Hey Pegasus!" I yelled over the wind. "Think you can take me back to Seriphos Island?"
Author's Note: There are different stories on how Pegasus was born, so I chose to use the story of Pegasus springing from Medusa's body after Perseus beheaded her, as this best set up for the rest of Perseus's tale. I thought including Perseus in this story also would help cement their bond further and help lead to the final story of how Pegasus helped Perseus save Andromeda. The most common version of the story had Persues travel using the sandals of Hermes, so I included those as his prior means of transportation. I chose to have Perseus head towards Seriphos Island at the end, rather than tell his adventures immediately after beheading Medusa, to set up the plot for the story of Andromeda. While the story is based on Pegasus, I wanted to look more at his relationship with Perseus rather than Pegasus's story alone. Unlike my story about Cassiopeia, I decided to tell this story from Perseus's point of view. He was not present for the events of Cassiopeia's story, but he was present for all of Pegasus's life. Since Pegasus is an animal, I thought it would make more sense to tell it from Perseus's perspective to add a human element to the story and start tying the characters and stories together. This also allows me to transition into using Perseus's voice for part of my next and final story.