Iron Ankles
[Need to kill demons intensifies]
The Hero Who Wasn't
The Spartans were known as the most ferocious fighting force in antiquity. Bloodthirsty, deadly, and unmatched in their talents for mowing down enemy forces, only the strongest survived in their warrior culture.
Ares had never been looked upon with the same respect as the others gods. (Even Hades was more revered.) The Greeks, by and large, despised conflict and saw the deity of battle as a necessary evil. In what may have been a misguided attempt to garner more dignity, he hatched a plot: he would lay with the queen of Sparta, Daphne, and impregnate her with a child who would become a great demigod and, perhaps, the king of the Spartans, leading them to many a victory.
The husband — not knowing the boy was the offspring of the immortal he gave thanks to regularly — named the child Areseus to honor his true father. He adapted well to the ways of the Spartans, excelling in combat, proving to have a sharp strategic mind, and showing great promise. However, the youth decided this was not the life for him. He would instead steal away in the night shortly before his sixteenth birthday — when he was to engage in a contest of mortal combat with a fellow warrior as a coming-of-age rite — by way of Athena's help. The Goddess of Warcraft had thought perhaps if she curried favor with her rival's child, he may be more positively influenced than if he took after his brutish sire.
Now, a decade later, he wanders the country, offering his services as a mercenary. He has fought in great battles, slain monsters and bandits alike, and bedded a princess…or two…or twelve. Thus far, he has denied his destiny as a great hero. But the Fate Clotho has not stopped spinning his thread yet, and perhaps against his wishes, he may be honored in the same breath as champions such as Heracles, Bellerophon, and Perseus…
The Spartans were known as the most ferocious fighting force in antiquity. Bloodthirsty, deadly, and unmatched in their talents for mowing down enemy forces, only the strongest survived in their warrior culture.
Ares had never been looked upon with the same respect as the others gods. (Even Hades was more revered.) The Greeks, by and large, despised conflict and saw the deity of battle as a necessary evil. In what may have been a misguided attempt to garner more dignity, he hatched a plot: he would lay with the queen of Sparta, Daphne, and impregnate her with a child who would become a great demigod and, perhaps, the king of the Spartans, leading them to many a victory.
The husband — not knowing the boy was the offspring of the immortal he gave thanks to regularly — named the child Areseus to honor his true father. He adapted well to the ways of the Spartans, excelling in combat, proving to have a sharp strategic mind, and showing great promise. However, the youth decided this was not the life for him. He would instead steal away in the night shortly before his sixteenth birthday — when he was to engage in a contest of mortal combat with a fellow warrior as a coming-of-age rite — by way of Athena's help. The Goddess of Warcraft had thought perhaps if she curried favor with her rival's child, he may be more positively influenced than if he took after his brutish sire.
Now, a decade later, he wanders the country, offering his services as a mercenary. He has fought in great battles, slain monsters and bandits alike, and bedded a princess…or two…or twelve. Thus far, he has denied his destiny as a great hero. But the Fate Clotho has not stopped spinning his thread yet, and perhaps against his wishes, he may be honored in the same breath as champions such as Heracles, Bellerophon, and Perseus…
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