CLEON

On an island almost as unheard of as the place were Zeus, the king of the gods
grew up there was a small village called γέννηση νερού which is believed to be the birth
place of water. This island was home to only a few handfuls of farmers and fishermen.
Among those few residents live one man called Cleon who the people liked but were
nervous around. Although they did not know why the felt cautious around him since he
had never been anything but kind and helpful they felt something in their gut when they
were around him. Neither this man nor any of the villagers realized he was the son of
the great earth-shaker himself… until one day.
He was out in the field helping a neighbor when there was a tremble in the earth
and the row he was plowing began to split open and a hideous rotting form, the size of
a small giant, began to pull it’s self out of the crevice. When it was fully out it stood strait
up and looked around as if it was searching for someone. Its face was twisted with rage
and its hot, rancid breath seemed to make the back of Cleon’s neck boil. With an angry
bellow that made the earth tremble the giant disappeared into the distance with a few
long strides. Cleon was frozen on the spot in amazement for what had just taken place
only feet from were he was standing.
Later that day when Cleon finally got his wits back under control he set off the
ocean knowing that he could not return home since the temptation to tell people what
had happened would be to great and they would have kicked him out of the village
thinking that he was going crazy and who knows what he would do to them and their
families in his state. As Cleon was ascending Aenos on his way to the ocean he had the
strange feeling you get when someone is watching you.
As he turned around there was a high pitch squeal and he was hit on his side
and sent flying forty feet into a pool at the base of a giant waterfall that was cascading
down on top of him driving the air out of him with tremendous force and drove him
underwater. As he was went down he held what was left of his breath and as he started
making his way to the surface a hand shot down through the water and grabbed his
head and held him under and started to crackle with laughter at how easy it would was
to get its dinner today unlike the day before were its pray was a centaur who had shot
an arrow into his foot and ran away. Underwater Cleons’ vision began to blur
from the lack of oxygen and as he gave up hope of survival he let out his breath and
waited for his death, but to his surprise when he took a breath preparing for water to
rush into his lungs, instead he got a breath of air and began to choke in astonishment.
The Harpy above water was shaking in anticipation for his meal when he saw the
bubbles from Cleon choking reach the water and knew it would only be moments now
before he could pull his victim’s remains out and begin his feast. The harpy pulled Cleon
out of the water a minute or two after the bubbles had ceased to reach the surface and
as he was going in for the first savory bite he noticed for the first time the eyes were
following his movements and with a shriek of fear at his meal he took of in a panic flight
for the safety of his him in the forest only to find that with each beat of his wings his
progress to the woods was non-existent and turned to find himself face to face with the
very thing he had tried to kill who was holding him by the foot.
As Cleon was reaching out a hand toward the harpy to strangle it in revenge he
was stopped bye a woman’s voice from above his head on a tree branch. As he looked
up searching for the mysterious woman who wast preventing him from riding the world
of one evil little monster he saw an intelligent looking owl that seemed to be studying
him as if it was deciding what it should do. As Cleon was taking in the owl it opened its
beak and the woman’s voice called to him “You must not harm Zeus’s minion”.
The harpy began to crackle its evil laughter again and mimicked the owl’s
voice, “Yes boy, let the harpy go.”
The owls eyes switched off of Cleon and to the harpy and said “Yes let the harpy
go, Zeus has declared that this harpy will lead you to the giant you saw earlier so that
you may kill it before it get its revenge on your father Poseidon and destroys the rest of
us gods.”
“What?!?” shrieked the Harpy, “You must be mistaken Zeus would never make
me help such a horrible thing as this weak human here.”
At the same time Cleon was awestruck, “My father was a fisherman who died at
sea when I was born not one of the great sons of Cronus”
The owl ignoring the Harpy’s pleads for mercy said to Cleon, “No your father is
Poseidon ruler of the seas and the only one who had been able to put that giant who is
the son of Ares the god of war and Ate the goddess of evil and misfortune into Tartarus.
Since it is because of you that the earth has opened to allow him freedom it shall be you
who will put him back in or destroy him. Well that and Poseidon is busy in the sea and
no one else is capable to do it except you who has power over water as he does.”
With that the owl spread its wings and flapped once causing a large gust of wind
that forced the harpy and Cleon to shade their eyes for a second and when the looked
again the owl was gone and in its place lay a sword balanced perfectly on the branch.
As Cleon took the sword down he saw the sword was anything but ordinary. It was
made up of a sea green handle and did not have a steel blade but one out of nothing
but water for it curved up and down all the way down the blade like a wave. Cleon who
had been excited by such a magnificent sword started to started to wonder its purpose
since a blade could not be sharped nor could he see how a wave could cut anything but
as he swung it experimentally at the thick tree branch it cut through the wood as if it was
nothing but butter.
While he was distracted with the sword he did not notice the muttering harpy turn
and start flying away until he heard the thunder, saw the tree reflecting the bright light
and felt the searing heat from behind him from a bolt of lighting come down from the sky
and struck the ground feet in front of the retreating harpy encouraging him to stay with
Cleon.
After the lightning bolt the harpy gave up in defeat and returned to Cleon. As they
sat around the camp fire that night the harpy told Cleon that he know about the giant
who had run through the forest earlier that day and distracted him from the boar he had
cornered and then got away. He also said that he still had the sent of the monster so he
could follow it and show Cleon were it was. The harpy had become very eager to help
Cleon because he couldn’t wait until he could leave and go back to his lovely nest full of
his treasures he had found through out the years.
Cleon and the Harpy had left camp and had been traveling for two days without
incident and both were pleased by the easy journey so far with their only worries being
each other trying to take out the other behind their backs. On the third day they were
traveling through the massive cemetery of hero’s each of them seeing names of people
they had only heard of in stories as children such as Hercules, Theseus, and Perseus
when they saw a large bulky figure standing in the distance with eyes that seemed be
be on fire with hate.
As they approached the figure held a hand out to signal that they ether stop
there or feel his wrath. After a few seconds of silence the figure spoke in a deep voice
that reminded them of the hissing sound of metal on metal “I am a generous god and
I will give you this one and only warning. Turn around now and leave my son alone for
he shall set things right in Olympus and put the other gods in their places and I shall
ascend and be known as the king of gods like ought to be. I am the God of war so the
others are to weak to hold such authority over me as they do now. If you continue you
will die ether by the hand of my son or if you get a lucky shot and kill him than you shall
have worse things then hell to pay, you will have my wrath and trust me that is much
worse than kind, gentle Hades.” and with that he erupted into flame and blew away in
the ashes.
As they stood there hesitating not sure what would be the best thing to do, go
forward and upset some of the gods or turn around and go back that would upset the
other gods. As they stood there wonder they realize that no mater what they decided
they had already upset Ares for hands started to sprout from the ground and pulled the
rest of their bodies along with them. They saw now that Ares had called the hero’s who
had died in battle from the ground to destroy them.
When all the skeletons had finished climbing out and were all armed the saw
that there was only a half of warriors and their hopes began to rise since the Cleon was
a natural sword fighter who had grown up playing hero games with other kids in the
village when he was younger and had gotten use to the sword he now held. As the fight
began Cleon quickly dispatched seven with ease and then realized those must not have
been buried here on since they weren’t skilled warriors but the other five were skilled
with their weapons and were actual hero’s who wouldn’t be defeated by any old farmer
who held a sword.
As Cleon fell back from the hammering blows that were sent with massive force
he knew he had lost as finally one sword came in an arch and slapped his sword away
sending it hurtling at least ten meters to his left. The skeletons advanced on were he
had backed away and was now cornered with his back to a large bolder. The skeleton
in the front was raising his sword slowly, savoring his victory he reached the climax of
his reach and swung. Cleon heard the deadly hum of the sword coming toward its mark
and he lifted his hands in front of his face as if to ward of the blow and as he did his
emotions mixed with his desperation caused his hand to send forth a raging geyser to
the skeletons that sent them flying backward causing their bones to go scattering in all
directions. With the effort of the water being called forth Cleon dropped, to tired to care
what happened anymore.
He woke hours later to the mouth watering aroma of a boar roasting over the fire
and a part of it was tore off and sitting on a rock a foot away from him. When he tore his
concentration off of the juicy, crisp meat he saw that the harpy was sitting on the other
side of the camp fire muttering how it was a waste of food to put it over the fire so the
human could eat it the way he liked it even if the human could control water. Cleon in
between mouthfuls asked how much farther ahead the giant was since he had decided
that nothing would please him more than upsetting Ares after what he did. The harpy
replied only by pointing to his right.
When Cleon looked to were the harpy was pointing he saw nothing until a bolt
of lighting in the distance and he saw a large mountain reaching into the heavens and
a giant stumble back down the mountain a step from the force of the bolt and then
continue back up. In his shock he dropped the piece of meat into the fire causing the
harpy to be more upset how all this work for a human and he goes throwing it away.
Without stopping to listen to the harpy’s shout of surprise he Cleon jumped
up, grabbed his sword and ran towards the mountain. He becomes so concentrated
on thinking of a plan that as he is running he doesn’t see that he is running across
the water just as often as land and since the water is were his power lies his speed
is greatly accelerated when he is on it and when he finally gave up on planning he
snapped back into the present and stumbles when he finds himself only a few hundred
meter away from the giant and the harpy is nowhere in sight. Cleon stood their not
sure how to go about this fight since he had been hoping to fight the giant he had seen
earlier but now the giant now looked twice as tall and its angry face was also showing
smug arrogance and the fact that he was hold Apollo and shaking the god like a rag
doll.
The gods were the first to spot him and started yelling up a storm for him to hurry
up and do something. The shouting not being directed at him anymore caused the giant
to drop Apollo and turn around to see who this new threat was but when he couldn’t find
any his anger flared to a new height at being interrupted from his fun for nothing. Then
out of the corner of his eyes he saw Apollo make a run for it down the side of the hill to
a human who reminded him of someone but he was to upset to place it and instead ran
after Apollo.
As Cleon watched the giant he didn’t see Apollo appear at his side until Apollo
yelled “Do something immediately or I will make you!”
Cleon turned his head to Apollo and before he could ask how Apollo would make
him he was grabbed by his arm and hurtled toward the giant and it was all Cleon could
do to swing his sword. As he landed behind the giant he heard with satisfaction the
giants scream of pain and when he looked he wasn’t sure if he should be pleased or
upset since he had only nicked one of the fingers, but that finger was now engulfed in
water and then froze solid and fall to the ground shattering into pieces.
It was the shattering sound that made him understand how special the sword
was and how he could win and it shouldn’t be to hard to win since a few strokes the
giant would be unable to move. As he advanced he swung, hacked, and rolled his way
closer to the giant watching only what was at the tip of his sword and that’s were his
fatal mistake was, he was getting to confident and wasn’t paying attention to anything
except for what was in front of him.
Cleons’ confidence sky rocketed as he saw the giants foot move back a step,
but the mistake of not looking at the tree the giant held only lasted a second as the tree
slapped him down the side of the mountain. The last thing he saw before he fainted was
the sight of the giant leaping of the mountain and coming down on top of him and a wall
of water stop and wrap around the giant. When he regained consciousness he saw a
man standing by his side holding a trident. saying the words Cleon thought he would
never hear “I am proud son, And you are home.”