“Who ARE you?” The question echoed in my ears a second time as I felt a sudden burning sensation in my left hand that started at my finger tips and travelled down to well up in my palm. The burning seemed to only increase as it felt like the skin was being melted away. It became unbearable in a matter of moments and I yelled out in pain and kicked a foot off the wall behind me as hard as I could in what I thought was a feeble attempt at breaking free of her. I knew that she was stronger than me, with her being a god, but I was surprised to find that I had succeeded in knocking her a feet away from me, just enough space for me to slam back against the wall, desperately trying to scratch the rope in an attempt to free my hand so that I can stop the burning. Catarsus saw this as an attempt to escape and quickly drew her bow, ready to put my life to an end. As she took aim, she was surprised to find Zeus himself lowering her bow softly before moving closer to me. He effortlessly turned me around and held me against the wall as he looked to see what was causing me such discomfort. The burning slowly started to cool and in a matter of moments, my hand had felt fine again, but a gasp and a sharp intake of breath stopped any calm from coming over me, as what Zeus found on my hand would seal my fate. Lying across my palm was a tree with the earth woven into the bark. The tree itself seemed to made by my own blood under the skin, but could be easily felt over the skin and before everyone’s eyes a single leaf grew on one of the twelve branches. Zeus took a step back before quickly releasing my restraints and moving to Catarsus.
“Take him far away from here. I want you to go investigate the release of Cronus and, if possible, recapture him, but I do not want you to let him out of your sight. Catarsus, this order shall be your right of passage and if you complete it, you will be honored as an official Deity. Be careful though, for staying for extended periods of time on the land lessens are natural powers.” He then turned back to me before continuing,” I have not decided yet whether you are with us or against us human, but that choice has been taken from me. I must now put my faith in you, go with Catarsus and deal with the Titan. You are no longer an ordinary human, that mark is the sign of Gaia. She has blessed you with what is known as the power of the oppressed, and this is the first time it has ever been used so do not take it lightly. You will head north of the grand city towards the tallest peak, this is where Cronus was imprisoned, and you will find out what has happened. If you fail us, I will have you smite you with the wrath of every god, do not test me. If you succeed however, you will be forgiven of the crimes you were convicted of.” With these final words, Zeus swiftly walked out of the hall and towards his own quarters, followed closely by four of the five gods, leaving only the last female in the halls with Catarsus and I. Catarsus for the first time seemed as shocked as I had been as she propped herself against the wall beside me trying to comprehend what was happening. It was then that I noticed the final god approaching me with a soft smile. She seemed genuine and her smile reminded me of Agnis, which put me at ease as she spoke.
“I have watched you protect and shelter those children for some time now human, you are a kind hearted man no matter how I look at it and I believe you when you say you had nothing to do with this. If Cronus has really been freed, that means the Titanomachy will come to pass a second time, and I don’t think we will prevail on this occasion. This is why I must ask a great deal of you. You must fight to stop the titans, if not, those children you so sought to protect will die just like we shall.” Her smile remained, but the pain in her eyes was very real, but this did not stop the obvious concerns from coming up.
“How can I stop them I’m only a carpenter, I have never owned a sword, let alone used one to fight a fabled titan. I think sending me on this quest is the same as killing me without using your own hands.” My concerns were very realistic, but this didn’t hinder Hera, as she simply turned and walked back towards Zeus’s desk. She stood beside his deck and firmly pulled out a large sheathed sword before bringing it back and handing it to me. Unsheathing it to my surprise revealed a bluish-green, sword about 2 feet long with a 8-inch hilt and a single Amethyst gemstone in the middle of the hilt with a white lightning strike going across it. The sword itself felt heavy in my hand, but as I brought it up to swing down once, it seemed to cut through the air effortlessly, going at a fast enough speed to leave a light green trail behind the sword as I swung. As I swung it faster in faster, it felt more like this sword had always belonged to me, and to my shock, even Catarsus seemed impressed with the natural swordsmanship. This thought was quickly suppressed when she quickly pointed out how poor my stance was and that I’d have no chance against a real soldier with that form. Hera smiled and spoke softly once more.
“That sword once belonged to Perseus, given to him by Zeus himself to fight the Gorgon. It is only fitting that you use it to fight the Titans. I leave my faith with you human, and hope that our paths may cross again.” With these parting words, she took her leave as well, heading in the direction the others had went, leaving Catarsus and I alone once again. I sheathed the sword once more, putting it across my back for easy access before gazing down at the tree that now adorned my palm. This was all so overwhelming for me, yet I felt calm and prepared now that this was here. Something changed inside me when the first branch grew, and I feel like the path for my future has been laid out in front of me. Catarsus coughed softly to get my attention before turning and heading towards the doors. I followed closely behind and started to walk beside her as we reached the doors. She opened them quickly and turned to me before speaking.
“I would like to make this very clear to you human, you are not my equal and you never will be. You may have the sign of Gaia, but you will never be a true god. You and I have to work together to deal with this, but understand well that this is not a partnership. You will do what I say when I say it.” Her condescending attitude almost made me rethink going through with this, but I knew that Hera was right about the children. I couldn’t let them die like this, so I will take in all the pain, all the hatred, I’ll take it all so that the sun may rise another time. I nod my head to let Catarsus know I understand, after which she whistled sharply calling to her wolf once more. As he came trotting up moments later she introduced us,” This is Lukos, my companion for as long as I can remember. He is a rare breed of wolf that are natural hunters and he is one of the strongest animals alive. If you so much as even look at him wrong, I will gouge out your eyes.” She seemed very serious about this as she mounted Lukos before waiting for me, but as I moved closer my eyes met Lukos and I saw a sense of calm and happiness in them that made me smile. He truly was her companion and he lived to protect her. No matter how much I disliked how she treated me, seeing how happy she made him made me think about what type of god she really was as I mounted Lukos behind her before he quickly began his run towards the land. As we descended, I took the time to actually look over Catarsus and noticed that she was actually a really beautiful woman, if you got past the ego. She stood only a few inches below me at 5’8″ and had a great natural curvy form to her, but it looked like she didn’t have a single strand of fat on her. It was obvious that she took good care of herself and seeing her in this light made me wonder why she hadn’t stopped to say goodbye to any lover before we left.
We reached a small town about a 4 hour hike before the grand city where we stopped to get some food. The hunger had surprisingly gotten to Catarsus more so than normal with it being her first extended stay on the land, so as we moved through the various stands offering food for sale, she saw many things that intrigued her pallet. This was the start of our problems however as I knew I didn’t have much money as it was and wasn’t sure how much she had brought with her when, to my dismay, I watched her pick up one of the freshest apples I had ever seen and take a large bite out of it before moving on without paying for it. I was naïve to believe that she would understand she had to pay for this food and I watched as the owner of the food stand quickly charged after her yelling obscenities along the way. He caught up to her quickly and turned her around to yell at her for stealing from him, but this being new to Catarsus only made her think he was challenging her authority as a god. Just before she was going to berate this man about his belief in the gods, I was able to step in. I quickly apologized to the man and asked him how much that and another apple would cost, only to find out all I had would just barely cover it. I quickly paid the man however and grabbed the second apple, but put it in my pack instead of eating it, with Catarsus watching me all the time. The apples looked large and succulent, so I was relieved to find that it had curbed her hunger as we started moving back to where Lukos laid in wait. As we approached, Lukos looked up, expecting to see Catarsus bring him food she didn’t have. Catarsus quickly mounted Lukos ready to leave in the hopes of maybe hunting for some food for him before he gets too hungry, but to her amazement watched me take out my small pocket knife and begin to chop up the apple I had saved. I cored it cleanly before cutting it up into 12 pieces, of which I fed them all to Lukos who ate them happily before licking my hand softly. I smiled knowing he approved before joining Catarsus atop him as he started his run once more across the landscape. It only took her a few minutes to ask about what had happened.
“Why did you pay for that man’s offering? He should have been grateful that I chose his food to eat.”
“It doesn’t work that way down here, they don’t know you are a god so they only see you as an ignorant thief.” My words seemed to get through to her a little as she nodded her head silently before continuing.
“Okay I can understand that, but then why did you buy Lukos an apple as well? He’s a grown wolf who can hunt for himself you know.” She said proudly, boasting her companions hunting abilities that she had perfected.
“The same reason you chose to eat that apple instead of hunting for your own food. Receiving a gift you want but don’t expect is a very nice feeling that people should feel every once in a while. I am glad Lukos enjoyed the apple.” To this I actually heard Lukos bark once like an excited dog.
“Okay? So I’m guessing you have your own food in that bag of yours that you just don’t plan on sharing with me huh?” Catarsus concluded as she rationalized why I wouldn’t buy myself food. I sighed, tiring of these questions that she was genuinely asking, even though seemed sarcastic in their nature.
“No I don’t have any food for myself. The reason I didn’t buy myself food is much more simple than you are making it: I couldn’t afford food for myself. You two are fighters, you will need your strength when the fighting begins, so I was more than happy to help.” My answer was truly how I felt and after a few moments of silenced, she responded.
“Cat.”
“What?”
“My name, I don’t like hearing Catarsus, it makes me feel old. You can call me Cat okay Justin?” For the first time she used my name which made me smile.
“Okay Cat, I like that.” We stopped once more for a brief hunting break to get more food before reaching the outskirts of the grand city. We once again left Lukos hidden before moving towards the city gates. As we moved closer I grabbed us both cloaks from some unsuspecting civilians. I made sure our faces were covered before nearing the gates where we were stopped by the guards.
“Whats your purpose in Greece friend?” The guard ask kindly, but you could tell those words were lined with venom. These men were prepared to dispose of any threat. I tried remain calm being so close to my past as I spoke.
“Just passing through, we are heading for Mt. Crone for our honeymoon.” I lied hoping he would buy it, but it was to no avail.
“Honeymoon to Mt. Crone? Whats your real purpose here, raise your hoods.” He ordered with a serious tone, ready to kill us off. I was left with no choice and unhappily raised my hood to reveal my face to the man. I watched as his eyes narrowed then widened in awe. “Justin….You’ve returned. Come with me now!” With that the guards quickly surrounded us and lead us inside the city and away from the civilian population.