The Argive: Gates of Hades, Book I, Chapter II

Chapter II

In dark, beautiful times...

Nine years passed since king Philip of Macedon, murdered at the wedding of his own daughter. After that, his successor, his son Alexander, became the leader of his kingdom, to carry on the legacy of his father. Since then, the kingdom of Alexander entered a prosperous and thriving era. One could say, a golden era. He put down the rebellions at Panonia, Illyria and Thrace. He made every Greek City State who opposed him, to submit to his rule. He burned to the ground the city of Theba, who challenged his authority. After all that, he turned his eyes on the prolonged enemy of Greeks, the Persian Empire. He called a synod at the city of Corinth, where all the Greeks, except the Lacedemonians, announced Alexander the leader of the campaign against the Persian. Against all odds, Alexander managed to defeat the huge Empire, into three major battles at Granicus river, the plain of Issus and the battle near the village of Gaugamela. He seemed to be unstoppable, a god on earth. Noone could oppose him. The whole world was his for the taking.

The life on Delphi kept going. Noone blamed them for the assassination of king Philip. The regime of Alexander, kind of helped the faith to thrive. All the Greeks were under one ruler. It was the first time, after hundreds of years, where there was peace in the land of the Greek tribes. The Brotherhood's numbers were increasing by the day. Achilles, a full grown man by now, we was growing on strength and wisdom. His Elemental powers, with the guidance of the Priests of the Temple, were increasing too. He was mastering Water Manipulation, the gift which was given by his father Poseidon. The rank of the Warriors of the Temple, was divided into small groops of individual, usually six to seven. Achilles, was the leader of such a groop. Due to his agility and speed, he was given the name "The Silent Assassin". He was wearing a light armor and above this, he was wearing a cloak with a hood. He was always carrying the Celtic Dagger, with which he killed king Phillip. He was trained to use it for stealth assassinations, in contrast with the other weapons he was using, sword with shield, which he also carried with him (a small but strong shield under his cloak and a sheathed sword, right under the shield) and a spear, which he was using during one to one combat. There were another five members in the squad. Nikolaos, was a fire Elementalist. He was about between the ranks of the Priests and the Warriors. He was actually a member of the priesthood of Delphi, but he was accompanied Achilles and the rest of the squad. He wore a blue chiton, with a belt for his daggers. In his past life, he lost his parents during the attacks of the Paionians in the region of Epirus. Some bandits later raised him. At the age of fifteen, he was captured by some Macedonian soldiers during some heist, but he managed to get away. With nowhere else to go, he chose to give himself to the Gods, and since then he lives in the Temple. He was extremely skillful with the daggers (throwing and slashing). Also, he was a master of Fire Manipulation, which kind of made him weak against Elemental fight against Achilles. Alas, he was the most knowing and intelligent amongst the team. The other male members of this team were to Spartan brothers, Aristedes and Dienekes. Born and raised to be glorious Spartan warriors, only to be cast away from their own society, due to a dissagreement of opinions. When Phillip declared himself leader of all Greeks at Corinth, the State of Lacedaimon, remained neutral. While at the gathering at Corinth, only the two Spartans showed up to show their support to the king. Later, the rest of the Spartans found out about it and they send them into exile. They tried to become members of the army of Philip, but the king had banned all the Peloponnesians. With nothing left, they became members of the brotherhood. They were just bodyguards at the beginning, but their unmatched skill at Greek weaponry, made them teachers of arms for the recruits. Achilles himself learned from them. They wore the original Spartan armor and the warrior's tunic. Simple soldiers, with unmatched skill. The rest of the squad were females. Thalestres and Antheia. The best archers of the whole Temple. They say that Artemis herself showed up at their initiation ceremony and gave them her blessing. They were not related, but their friendship was everlasting. Or so they said. Thalestres was surely an attractive woman, but not as bright as Antheia. She was always "male" woman. Her voice, they way she moved. sometimes the language too. She always wanted to be the predator. That's way she was following Artemis' virginity path. Well, it wasn't that the only reason. Five years ago, Achilles and Antheia almost got married, but their relationship came to an end, due to Antheia's behavior. So, broken hearted, she vowed to the goddess never to be with a man. After some time, Thalestres became to close to Achilles, resulting to their relationship. All of Delphi were saying about the most beautiful couple of their community. This only worsened the already heated things between Achilles and Antheia. She never got mad with her best friend, but she never forgave Achilles. They continued to work as a team together, but their personal life was a little bit more complicated.

So, life continued to the beautiful Delphi.
"We live in great times" Nikolaos always was saying. He kind of worshipped Alexander and the Macedonians, but always knew the wrath of the Gods, if Alexander would become a tyrrant like his father. But, all was about to change. One day, Nikolaos and Achilles, were testing their Elemental powers, beside a nearby lake. Nikolaos was an exprert at his speciality, but he had an dissadvantage against Water Manipulation. In the other hand, when they were away from a water scource then Achilles had a dissadvantage, because he could not find water to manipulate. Now, the fight was on Achilles territory. Blasts of water and fire were coming out of their hands, aiming at each other. Of course they had taken precautions and used ward sprells.
"Tired yet?" shouted Nikolaos from his position.
"Son of a God, remember?" he answered laughing.
"Demigod or not, I will not go any easier on you!" he said and send a huge fireball towards Achilles. He stambled and wasn't able to deflect the attack. He was sent flying and landing on his back.
"Yeah!" Nikolaos cheered. Achilles made a painful grimace.
"For a demigod, you got your ass kicked alright" said a cloaked man, who appeared from thin air, and now was standing above his haed. Nikolaos fell to his knees immediately.
"Lord Poseidon!" he shouted fromhis excitement. Achilles stood up immediately hearing the name of his father.
"Achilles, kneel..." heared a whisper from Nikolaos.
"No, I don't think I will" he said, staring right into the eyes of his father.
"Everything is fine, my child. You can stand" Poseidon said. Nikolaos obeyed. "It's not an unusual phainomenon the disrespect I get from my son".
"You get what you deserve, old man. First of all..." Achilles started but Poseidon stopped him.
"Nikolaos, my child, I would like a moment with my son". Nikolaos just nodded and dissapeared in seconds.
"So, father" Achilles started. "Why are you here?"
"I was in the neighborhood, and I said <<Why not visit my son?>>".
"Please, cut the crap" Achilles said, as he was washing his wounds at the lake. "Every time you visit me or any of these priests here, is only to ask from us a task or an errand, because you cannot move your royal ass from your thrones".
"Watch this tongue of yours, young one. You may be my son, but I am an Olympian non the less!" he shouted and the sky went a little dark for a second. He lowered his voice and relaxed his nerves.
"But you are right, I am here for a reason". Achilles chuckled. "But things have gotten far worse than we had imagined". Achilles wiped his hand in a towel and started walking with his father.
"So, what's the occassion this time?"
"I have to explain the situation back from the very beggining".
"I have time. Tell me".
"Well, after we the Gods defeated our ancestors, the Titans, we imprisoned them in Tartarus. We had to decide who among the big three, me, Zeus and Hades, would be the Keeper of the Underworld. Nobody really liked Hades, due to the fact he almost turned to Kronos at some point, we chose him. As you can understand, he didn't like it a bit. He said we were traitors, traitors to the cause. Back then, we thought he was exaggerating. But we saw the real danger at the Trojan War. It was not a simple war. Helen, Hector and all of the heroes, were just a part of the story. Have you ever wondered why the war lasted for ten years? The Greeks had at least twice the army. It was Hades. Hades made a deal with Priam, to give him power when his plan was completed".
"Wow, back up. What was his plan?"
"Our power, after we defeated the Titans, came from your worship. As long as we have people to worship us and make offerings to us, we will have power. Well, Hades wants to take that away from us".
"He wants to destroy the human kind?!"
"Yes. So, he said to Priam that at India, there are the Gates of Hades, which can be opened with a divine weapon. They never managed to gain one, but Hades and his forces opposed us and made the war last long. I was the one who told Achilles about this. It was then, when they realised that they could never take the city by force. Achilles then killed by Paris, but Odysseus managed to take the city with the trick of the Trojan Horse. It was then when your brotherhood was formed".
"What? What do you mean?"
"Odysseus, Philoctetes and Neoptolemus, with the presence of all the twelve Olympians, gave up all their divine weapons, the Sword of Peleus, the Shield of Achilles and the Bow of Hercules, to scatter them to different places on the earth, so no man alive reclaim them. That's why your brotherhood never allows someone to gain power. Because power gives strenghth. That leads to arrogance and the defayance of us".
"So, it is about your monopoly of piety".
"It is about the fate of the world! Don't you see? And now Alexander gained to much power... Let alone he already has two out of three weapons..."
"What? How did you miss that?"
"His piety is undoubtfull... We' ve been played... And I need your help".
"Do you know were the last weapon is?" Achilles asked. Poseidon drew the dagger from Achilles' belt.
"You always carry it with you".
"Too much to bear, to much to bear right now..."
"I know, son" Poseidon said. "Take your time. You will speak to noone elese about what you heard ecxept your team. We live in dark times, son. Be careful".
And saying that, he dissapeared.


Author: Geralt Of Rivia