Adriana Calloway
3rd Period English
January 23, 1945

Mr. Zibowitz: This is my example of a story using Deus Ex Machina. Please enjoy!

Prince Rue despised his father. Oh, the garden was lush and green, a place of ceaseless bounty—for which the old hare claimed all credit—and all was right with the lands. No alfalfa, carrot, or delicious stalk of crisp loose-leaf lettuce could possibly hide his father's treachery. Except the foolish townfolk, who showered King Erebos with boundless accolades, though they toiled ceaselessly to produce barely enough to sustain themselves, let alone export to distant countries.

The few who didn't starve, paraded frequently in honor of His Majesty; so much their folly. Rue knew the black seances his father's magicians performed, the esoteric rituals bloody and demonic, which pit God against a pantheon of ill fate, leaving nothing to chance. No farmer could oust them, no cat, dog, or wolf dare chase them, for they were the shadowy heirs of something else. But at what cost?! Rue decided long ago, to thwart his father's corruption of their holy calling, and bring honor to the kingdom once again.

But how?

Hemera would know. She always knew, she of the day, of revelation. Rue wished his love was not so far, beyond the Swamps of Yggdrasil, and the Sands of Ragnarök. She'd departed to prepare for their wedding—their wedding was another scheme of his father, yet one beyond even his capacity for plotting; she would be the instrument of his downfall. But there was no time: Rue knew he must intercept Hemera, and present his plan.

Unfortunately, King Erebos knew, as only he could, of his son's desires to weaken their oligarchy, and let the peasants sup upon their entrails, so said his confidant Fraus, she of light and honor. Though it saddened him, he had no choice but to unleash the will of Cerebus, and withdraw his protection of his only son. The populace must know, and the king planned to present his son's head as proof, that not even the Royal Family existed beyond judgement. Justice would be served, so sayeth Elyon Baal.

And so it was that Cerebus caught Rue unprepared, mired in the Swamps of Yggdrasil, consumed with the overwhelming power of the Tree of Life.

"Bow, foolish prince!" it taunted. "Your father's ignorance has led to your death, and soon, we will consume the souls of all rabbits in your lands, as no army of predators ever dared." It licked its multitude of mouths, clearing saliva from dripping teeth. It would savor this, as it always delighted in the suffering of lesser beings.

"I am lost!" he lamented to the sky, to Demeter, Io, and every significant name he could recall. "Please deliver me from this fiend!"

And so, the heavens saw, and knew their knowledge and power must manifest, or else Rabbits would fall, and perish under the feverish oppression of Thanatos and Hades.

"Begone!" they roared as one, Word filled with power and compulsion beyond measure, removed from time, space, or the Universe itself, to obliterate Cerebus's corporeal form and send him howling into the Styx. So was their will.

"I thank you," Rue allowed, "and hope to never call upon you again, for these are lowly matters of state, and we rabbits shake in your awesome presence." He hoped, at least, to mollify them, placate their incessant need for narcissistic praise, so that he may finally reach Hemera unhindered by pursuing creatures, demons, or even Gods.

The gods knew their work was done, and so they departed, leaving only their memory, a wake of terrible triumph, in their passing. Rue shuddered and shouldered on, passing through the caverns of Mnemosyne, and the seas of Calypso, until finally reaching his fiance, the beautiful Metis. He wondered openly, to the sky, and then the mists of creation, why the gods would involve themselves. Not even humans enjoyed such frequent interaction, it seemed. He hoped he was making the right decision, but he knew sacrificing the innocent was wrong, and his father had stepped over that line.

Let the gods interfere. Smashing and sundering the work of various beasts and invaders was their calling, and Rue would never complain. With the Tree of Life in the distance, falling impossibly behind the horizon, the journey was almost over. She would know, as she always did, how to handle his father and unravel the tangled realms of influence within shady trappings of lesser gods. Those sinister forces manipulated this whole endeavor somehow, and only equivalent beings could resolve them.