Arachne was a young man, his hands red from the tightly weaved thread throughout his palms. He plucked each string as if it were a harp, humming as if the strings made a song. This project was a custom made one for the new recent Artemis temple, and as such the tapestry took around two months to complete. While Artemis was the goddess of virgin females, the priestesses of Artemis trusted Arachne to weave a tapestry fit for their goddess.

Arachne, however, often thought he was greater than the gods. He was born inside one of the regions the Greeks captured and as consequence to those guards, he had never dared to keep his tongue shut when he wished to speak his mind about these gods. Once, Arachne even spoke as if he was a better weaver than Fates themselves!

Hades, the god of wealth and the king of the underworld, heard this foul remark about his kingdom’s spinners, and alerted the fates of this young man’s challenge. The three fated sisters, Clotho, the spinner, Lachesis, the measurer, and Atropos, the cutter, prepared to make an embark to see this daring man.

Arachne, now holding his completed new tapestry, brought it to the temple of Artemis. He returned to his small shop to see three older women – one spinning thread along her bony fingers, with the others accompanying the first woman in measuring and cutting.

“You have made a fateful choice, fresh one.” The one in the middle spoke in a deepening one, her face revealing to be wrinkly and old, but never seeming to ever be withering like flowers did once they crumbled. “My name is Clotho, with my sisters, Lachesis,” The dreadful woman spoke, pointing to her right, “and Atropos.” She ended with her left. “We have heard your challenge and have wished to bring it to you. We will give you two months, with Lachesis to watch over you as you complete this challenge. If you fail to complete to our level, Atropos will cut your thread of life. Do we make ourselves clear?” All spoke with the final sentence, gathering a bold look from the child; without hesitation to the demanding challengers, he bowed. “Loud and clear.” Arachne remarked, preparing his weaving section for a new tapestry. “If I win, you will grant me immortality, just as a god. Do we have a deal?” The three fated sisters nodded, bowing to the male, and disappearing in a black smoke in front of the god of wealth.

Arachne began his tapestry, tales all to do with heros failing to go against the gods – Hercules, going mad against his family; Dionysus – wandering for years after Hera’s sickening curse; Bellerophon and his proud mind going to try to become one of the gods himself.

The two sisters that worked on their own figured one of the underworld stories – Hercules gathering Cerberus from its master; Sisyphus escaping the chains of the winged god Thanatos; Orpheus and his lost wife – Eurydice; Hades kidnapping Persephone and bringing her to the Underworld.

Both wonderful in its own, but together, they looked as rivaled as Olympus and the Underworld. Hades against Zeus. For this, there would have to be more than one judge.

There were the three kings, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Then fell the other children of Rhea and Kronos: Hera, Hestia, and Demeter.

The talented gods approached each subject, observing as if it was one of their own sons.

Hades, with Persephone at his side, picked the one of the underworld’s stories– their own kingdom. Demeter sat with her daughter for this decision, however all others picking the young man’s tapestry.

“I suppose that settles it.” Clotho spoke, the three sisters bowing their heads to the weaver. “We have agreed to allow you to become immortal. We offer the underworld as home.” The three sisters gathered his string in hand, bringing it to Zeus as he weaved it into a gold thread – a thread that granted immortality. Arachne was going to become the god of spiders – an animal who weave the most wonderful tapestries of all.

Arachne, the one who went against the sisters themselves.