1204 AD. The Bosphorus Massacre.

The sea was choppy and rocked at the hulls of the galleys ferrying the vast force toward the Bosphorus strait. Two hundred ships filled the sea leading up to their destination, the shining beacon of the Roman Empire. The Byzantine capital of Constantinople. The ships were ferrying thousands of Crusader forces in their holy offensive against the forces of the Byzantine Emperor and his lapdogs. Those that sneered at the rightful leader of the Christian world. It was at the blades of the Crusaders justice would be delivered.

At least that was the official story. In reality it was a matter of economics and retaliation. The previous year the siege of Constantinople had seen Emperor Alexios IV placed in power, a pro-Crusader leader that was very much not in favor within the Empire. Eventually he was deposed and executed and Emperor Alexios V attempted to force the Crusader forces in the region to leave without paying them. The Crusader forces were indebted to Venice and thus it was decided by both leadership groups that the taking of occupation of the city would handle those outstanding debts.

The salty spray lapped along the sides of the vessel that Sir Antonio de Galin found himself upon, the Venetian born knight resting his hand along the side of the ship as he looked off into the sky. The clouds were clear yet still the waves fought. A curious thing. He felt a hand along his shoulder slap down as another taller and broader shouldered figure joined him. A jovial laugh escaped the lips of his fellow knight.

"Still with the glum looks to the skies? Worry not, Antonio, God is on our side today. The second we cross the Bosphorus the battle will be won already." The larger man said.

Sir Julian Vestar was a veteran of a number of battles upon land, yet, as Antonio had found he was not so gifted in matters of navigation or sea travel. The dark haired Venetian looked at the Milanese born fellow and lifted his brow. "If God could see fit to bring His grace and improve the choppy waters would soothe my nerves quite a bit." The Crusader remarked.

The oars struck the water below in a rhythms as the galley made its way through the waters. Soon enough the straight would be visible. Anticipation was filling Antonio but also a strange sense of foreboding dread. Ever since he had been a young man learning in the court he had always gotten an itch upon his palms at incoming danger. And today they had been itching something fierce. It was a constant thing really. Perhaps it was simply dreading the battle itself that was to come, any sane man would even if they believed in the righteousness of their cause. He most certainly did not believe in the righteousness of this. He knew well what it was. An action taken in greed, not in the will of God.

"Tsk, you worry too much, Antonio. Keep it up and that hair will be speckled as grey as your father's in no time." His fellow remarked.

"This the usual outlook of the Milanese to incoming danger?" The younger Crusader remarked with a roll of his eyes.

"Only the daring ones." Was the glib response.

Antonio sighed at the chuckles that followed that. He leaned against the side of the galley and crossed his arms, looking at the others of his fellows that were moving around here or there. It was quite a busy bit of preparation. People were armoring up and preparing for battle. Indeed the Byzantines would no doubt have positioned their forces anticipating where they would attack. It would not be an easy siege. Antonio himself was fully dressed and ready for battle as was Julian. Would be a hard fought thing but they had the advantage. Even still he couldn't shake that feeling in his bones that something wasn't right with the sea. With the air.

Julian leaned beside him and offered a wineskin to him. The younger crusader considered it for a second before shrugging and taking it, drinking from it. A bit too sweet for his tastes. "Would rather something with a little burn going down." He mused.

"I hear you there, not to worry, we'll be drinking the finest liquor in Europe when we take the city." Julian said with a smirk.

Now there was some motivation that Antonio could get behind. Said in his thoughts rather than aloud as of course, marching for the glory of the church should have been far enough motivation. Julian was a simple man, not really one that cared about the politics behind the scene. However Antonio was well aware they were fighting for the cause of man, not for the Will of God. Even still, he took up the sword as his vows required. Perhaps that was what was leaving such an ill feeling in his gut.

There was a series of shouts that were coming as some people were looking out ahead of them. Ah yes, the Strait would be coming into view now he supposed. The Crusader turned idly to take a look at the way their ships would be going in the distance. He had been here a couple of times with his father back when he was younger and he always remembered feeling awe upon gazing at the last Great City of Rome.

Now there was a different feeling that filled him. Confusion. He turned fully and leaned out over the rails to take a look at what they were coming up upon. A pair of pillars rose up high in the sky on either side of the strait. The one on western shore was before where the grand city was. The other was rising from Anatolia. Looking up the pillars rose up until they came into contact with fabric. Red and purple fabric that was as fine as any that Antonio had seen. Then he looked further up and felt his breath catch in his throat.

"H-hey, Antonio. I thought I heard something like that had been in Rhodes? Didn't it collapse?" Julian managed to utter as he was also gazing up.

This wasn't the mythical Colossus that had stood astride Rhodes. It was instead a rather heartachingly beautiful dark haired woman. Her softly curling raven locks spilled down her shoulders. Upon her head rested a circlet of gold, a phoenix upon its center. Finery of gold and jewels adorned her body. She was the type of maiden songs and poems were written about. She was also so massive it defied all belief. The pillars rising from either side of the Bosphorus were her legs, bare until her shins met the fine dress. Fine sandals adorned with gemstones wrapped around her feet, which were planted upon two different continents really. Her eyes were the strangest thing about her. Purple. A brilliant and burning purple.

Thunder filled the air as she opened her mouth, rippling out across the fleet. There was not a single man that couldn't hear her voice. "Corrupt Crusaders and lapdogs of Venice, you sail within the sovereign lands of the Roman Empire. Lands defended by Empress Juno Alexi I, the chosen inheritor of the power of the Gods."

The voice was enough to bring Antonio to his knees as the woman spoke down upon him and all those in the fleet. Gods? Plural? That was most certainly a heresy that neither the Byzantine Church nor the Latin Church would have tolerated. And Empress? This was all rather news to the Crusaders. Antonio was at a loss for words as he was very quickly finding himself unable to process much as the titan of a woman filled his vision.

The woman waved a hand out behind her. "The previous year you humiliated Rome. You bloodied the nose of the Empire. You placed a puppet upon the throne. This displeased Rome and its people. So I am the manifestation of that displeasure, the displeasure of god and mortal alike. There are two choices always offered to the enemies of Rome. Rome offers peace or war, the choice matters not to Rome. You all have made your choice quite clear at least." The woman boomed, setting a hand on her hips. "So let us have our war then, Crusaders. Let us see the strength of your convictions before those of Rome."

With that said there was a tearing noise of sorts that ripped through the air, one unlike Antonio and indeed all the Crusader forces had never heard before. Juno lifted her foot up from the western shore, the ground she had been standing upon having cracked a good deal under the weight of the miles tall titan. Debris fell from the sole of her sandal and toward the waters below, splashing down and in some cases, smashing into ships and flooding them with water as the shadow of her sandal sole loomed over the advance ships.

Antonio's ship was a bit further back from the advance ships. Those galleys were already frantically trying to turn around, trying to spin themselves back the way they had come before. However the shaking seas and the fact they hit other ships near them was not helping them. The shadow of Juno's sandal sole loomed over dozens of warships as they scrambled and some men even jumped overboard in full plate armor. Others prayed to God to save them from this demonic being that had appeared before them.

The result was the same regardless and Antonio could only watch in terror, awe, and horror as the woman's foot slowly lowered down toward the sea. The air screamed around her descending sandal and the shadows around the ships grew darker and darker until her foot smashed down. Her sandal smashed into the sea, splashing around the place it impacted and also absolutely destroying any ships that had been caught beneath.

The waves caused by the impact were enough to immediately capsize the ships that were caught nearby, the vessels turning on their sides and sinking down. Those like Antonio's shook violently and he had to hold on to something to avoid being flung off. Julian was not so lucky. He ended up flung over the side of the ship with a cry along with a number of others. The Crusader swallowed hard as he tried to right himself and was thinking desperately.

"Quick! Don't worry about getting back the way we came! Get us to shore! Now!" He barked.

Evidently a few others in the fleet were having the same idea. If they stayed out in the water they were all going to die without a chance. If they got to the shoreline then... maybe. Just maybe they'd have a chance. Though... Antonio looked up at the woman as she gazed upon them in turn. Those purple eyes were filled with utter disdain for all of them. He very much doubted anyone could fight against that.

"Oh? Trying to get to shore are we? As though I'd allow you to profane the soil of Rome with your dirty steps." Juno boomed on high.

Her other foot lifted up from Anatolia. The new Byzantine Empress cast her foot over the next part of the fleet further back. Much, *much* closer to where Antonio was. The clouds parted wherever she moved, breaking and spiraling around as though the sky itself bent to the will of Juno. The dark haired woman brought her foot down much like she had the last, a large wave splashing out. Antonio had to hold on tightly, had to ensure his grip was not something that could be cast off as the boat shook violently.

Their large fleet was absolutely in tatters before the pair of steps that the Empress had taken into the sea. The walls of her sandal soles still rose above the waves and her well polished toes curled in delight, shaking the waves with the subtle movements. It was indeed like an ancient deity had stepped down from the heavens to render divine justice upon them. It was heresy to think it but Antonio had no other way to rationalize it.

The woman chuckled as she watched the ships scattering around. "Not such a strong conviction it seems. Worry not, your deaths will serve as an example to all those that would seek to humiliate Rome. It's a high honor really. You'll have immortality not in your deeds but rather in your end."

Juno reached down with a hand, a group of ships behind where Antonio was being sucked in toward her hand due to the displacement of the water caused by its entry. Dozens of vessels and hundreds of sailors and knights found themselves settled in a lake of water formed in the palm of the woman's hand. The vast titan lifted her hand up again and toward her face. The air was thinner up there and already people were coughing and wheezing and sputtering for lack of oxygen. She snorted.

"A mere movement is enough to render you so low? How disappointing." She remarked. "Ah well, I've never been to Italy. So I am curious to sample its fare." The woman mused as she started to tip her hand back and opened her maw wide open.

All those below watched in horror as countless gallons of seawater and the ships that had been sailing upon them started to spill down toward her open mouth. Hundreds of tiny figures sprinkling past her flawless lips, which sealed shut a moment later. She seemed to swish the water and the contents around her mouth, testing it a bit. It was horrifying for anyone below to watch, but it was all they could do.

*Gulp*

The noise filled the air as she swallowed daintily and tapped along her chin. "A bit salty. Not unpleasant really." She remarked as she turned her eyes upon the last major force of the ships. Antonio's force.

His heart froze upon seeing those purple orbs settle almost directly upon him. It was a paralyzing thing really. Having the gaze of that massive titan upon him. The shoreline was so close and yet so very far away. There was no chance they would make it in time. No chance they could escape the wrath of this being that had been so angered and roused by the destruction that was attempted upon her empire.

"All grant you all the highest of honor. An end where you are touched by skin blessed by the Gods themselves." Juno said with a smirk.

She reached down and started to fiddle with the straps of one of her sandals, the vast straps whipping around and slicing into ships nearby that had managed to escape being crushed immediately. That done she slowly slid her massive pale foot from within the sandal and idly flexed and curled her toes. Moisture was flung down from between them and to the ground below as it started to move overhead. Fear gripped Antonio's heart as he watched it coming closer and closer, inevitability with it really.

The shadow of her bare foot was soon vast overhead the last of the ships, the pale sole above wrinkling a bit as she curled her toes above them in a teasing motion. Mocking their efforts to escape her shadow. All around him people were jumping into the sea in vain. Others prayed to God. Antonio for his part simply chuckled. His instincts had been right the whole time. This had been a fool's errand from the start.

"When I finish here with you, I will walk across the lake of the Empire and stand over Venice. The last thing the fools of Venice will see is the sight you see now, my sole taking over their sky." The words of the Empress boomed out as her sole descended.

Death was almost instant for anyone that she stepped upon there. Her foot smashed down in a mighty stomp that shook the world for miles around. For hundreds of miles really. It was unlikely there was anyone in the region that didn't feel the step of the Empress as it came down upon the foolish Crusaders. As it ended the ambitions of Venetian greed and ground the warriors of the Latin Church into nothing beneath the waves of the sea.