“I am very curious about who you are Hercules…so answer a few questions for me…”
“Where are you from and what do you do for a living?”
Hercules answered honestly. “I am from the outskirts of Greece, and by living I was a shepherd.”
Pericles picked up his cup of wine and took a sip. “Tell me Hercules, who are your parents? Are they notable in society?”
There was a short moment of silence. He didn’t know whether to tell Pericles about his real parents or his adopted parents. He decided, considering the situation, and that he didn’t know Pericles, to tell him little about either.
“Yes,” said Hercules. “They are notable in society, but I will not tell you who they are, for you would not believe me if I did.”
Pericles laughed. “Very well Hercules, keep your secrets. I suppose that I wouldn’t have believed your performance in the Olympics if I had not seen it for myself. But tell me, with your great skill, speed, and strength why have I not heard of you before? Why, for the last ten years that I have ruled I haven’t even heard your name, for I am sure that a person of your skill and intelligence must have a reputation able to reach me, the great ruler of this land?”
“I have been in hiding, away from your city-state?”
“Ha, away! Tell me, Hercules, who have you been serving? The Persians? The Spartans? Tell me, you must be a spy, but what information were you gathering? Why have you now come into Athens?” Hercules was silent, although Pericles looked calm and patient. “Look, we can either do this the hard way, or we can do it the easy way…either one works fine with me.”
“I serve no country but my own—Greece,” replied Hercules. “And I must say that I have been to Sparta, but I do not serve them. I, like you, am for the uniting of all of Greece.”
Apparently this was not the answer Pericles was looking for. He sighed and then led Hercules out onto his great balcony overlooking the city of Athens.
“You should know that I am not ignorant,” said Pericles. “I know of the creatures that have been flying over this land. They swoop around like large, devilish bats! And they could have done great damage to our city should they desire. But that is not what they want. They are looking for someone. Who could that be?”
Hercules shook his head. “I do not know for sure…”
“I think I do,” replied Pericles. “I think they are looking for you. But why?”
“Perhaps it is because I wish to be a great hero,” replied Hercules.
“I know what a hero is,” said Pericles. “A hero has an obligation to his people and he will serve them as long as he has an obligation. But once he becomes a God that is when he leaves them, just as Zeus and Hera have left us.”
“They have not left you,” replied Hercules. “It is just that now they must look from afar.”
“From afar? Well why? Why can’t they help? Aren’t they great Gods, the greatest that live?”
“Yes, but even Gods must follow their own laws…”
Pericles looked upset. “You know what Athens was once like Hercules? Athens was once a grand monument for the great Gods. People were willing to abandon their very own children just to construct great monuments to the great Gods. People believed in the Gods because they could see their workings. But now where are they? It seems that all the Gods have abandoned us. And now, I, as great ruler of Athens, must find a way to keep their faith bright.”
“The other Gods do not come anymore because there is no great God that will lead them.”
“And do you Hercules, believe yourself to be that God?” asked Pericles. “I mean you must, with that name and all…”
“Not yet, but someday perhaps.”
“Hercules, I don’t think you know who I am. There is a reason that I am the undisputed ruler of this city. Although I possess no title of King here people treat me as king and refer to me as such because of what I did for this city. I gave these people hope in all the Gods—in Zeus, in Hera, in Apollo, in Athena, in Artemis.”
“Yes, but that will no longer protect you or your city,” said Hercules. “The Gods you and your people worship will not be enough.”
“What does a mere shepherd boy know of such things?” mocked Pericles.
“I want the people to belief in something else,” said Hercules. “One being, one great being that far surpasses our Gods that, to my mind, come and go with the times—albeit far slower than mortals.”
“Now you come to preach religion!” exclaimed Pericles. “I will not have you speak this way to me in my house! The Gods you see, the Gods we worship, are who, in the end will save us!”
Hercules could sense Pericles’ anger. “I must say what I am here to do. I fear that your nation is under a more dangerous threat than any outside nation. Your threat comes from a dark individual, someone who lies within your very own country and has been secretly acting deviously within it, preparing for a great war.”
“Tell me Hercules, this is of great concern to me. Who is this man?”
Hercules paused. “The man I speak of is Hades, dark ruler of the underworld and master of death and evil!”
Pericles looked slightly alarmed at first and then laughed. “Ha! Hades you say! That is the great message that you bring to me!”
“Why do you not believe me? You believe in Zeus, Hera, and Athena, but not Hades? Do you not know who Hades is? He is no ordinary God. The God who will war against man is a God of evil, a God of the dead. He has been secretly, under your very nose, been capturing the loyalty of so many of the people here. Sir, your city is corrupt and already ready to fall! You must warn the people and prepare them for war, because whether you like it or not war is coming!”
Pericles paused for a moment and then spoke. It seemed like he was trying to calm himself down. “Hercules, you must know that I have not achieved my great, powerful, respected position in this society through believing foolish traditions! No, I have got it through reason, and through being able to see the folly in other’s words. Know this Hercules! There is no Hades, as certain as I live, and there is certainly nobody within my own kingdom acting deviously within it. For a long time I have been working my magic, attaining what political power is necessary to govern this great city of Athens. And now my ruling power is expanding. I have nearly enough power to control all of Greece and now you tell me that I cannot fend off one God!” Pericles then let out a subtle lie. “You should know Hercules that the Hellanodikai did not think your performance fair—that perhaps you drank and consumed some chemical to give you super-human strength and speed. I don’t know. But either way you will need me to support you if you are not to be disgraced. And support you I will, if you do something for me. As you may know Athens is a crumbling city-state. I don’t want to bother you with the technicalities or politics, but I need someone to help build up Athens again. I need you Hercules. And, if you accept, you can do that. You will unite the entire Greek world under the banner of Zeus and Hera. Sparta will no longer continually be a threat to me as they will be crushed like ants beneath my feet!”
Pericles led Hercules back into the privacy of his own living room. Hercules sighed. “I am sorry Pericles, but I cannot help you in fighting against Sparta, for I must help unite the world of Greece before a great war comes to us from Hades.”
“Whose side are you on?” yelled Pericles.
Hercules tried to remain calm. “I am on no side but humanity’s.”
Pericles laughed insidiously. “Ah, but the man who is on no side will end up finding himself dead in the middle of the battle.”
Hercules suddenly felt something dark in Pericles. Pericles placed his cup of wine down on the table. “You must know, Hercules that I have many spies and servants of my own in this city and I have much power here…to cover up the disappearance of even a winner of the Olympic Games!” Suddenly Pericles paused. Hercules then watched as several of Pericles dark servants moved in towards him from the dark corner of the room. They each were armored and stood with
spears and shields. “You see, you I fear slightly…for not only do you have amazing physical abilities, but you also appear to be quite crazy and this combination is quite dangerous. Guards, take Hercules away! Lock him in the dungeon!”
“Wait!” yelled Hercules, as he was suddenly seized upon by Pericles’ armored guards. “You cannot do this! Locking me away won’t help your nation, but it will destroy it…Hades will come and when he comes all of Greece will suffer…”
Hercules pushed several guards away, but more and more armored guards came until they were able to get chains around him. “Not likely Hercules…not likely. If you ever reconsider I will may be able to release you.”
Hercules wanted to say more, but couldn’t. He now knew that Pericles, like much of the Greek world, was being corrupted. Philoctetes had warned him that dark times would bring even the most virtuous and righteous people to iniquity.
Hercules didn’t know what was wrong with Pericles. Was he scared or intimidated by him? He didn’t know for sure. What he knew for sure was that he needed to escape soon or else Greece was certainly doomed.
Chapter 8: Hades’ Offer
It was not yet mid-day when the leader of Hades’ flying spies flew down through the oculus and entered Hades throne room. There he saw Hades, as he often was, staring down at his globe. He seemed quite upset. His hands clung to the edge of the globe with veracity.
“My Master!” declared the flying servant.
“Have you news?” asked Hades.
“Hades, we have seen Hercules.”
Hades suddenly turned around. He had a large smile on his face. “Tell me more!”
And it was here that the flying servant told Hades of all he had seen. He told Hades of Hercules and his competition in the Olympic Games. He told him of his journey a small house near Delphi. He told Hades of his journey to Athens, and to the house of Pericles.
Hades laughed as he lifted up his staff. “Ha! The Olympic Games! What an odd move for him? Why risk exposing himself to the entire evil world? He is young and naïve. He must not believe the world to be so evil. He must not truly understand my great influence in the world. We could use this to our advantage.”
“No, this is not what I want! Hercules is on the verge of becoming a great symbol to the people—a symbol of hope and greatness.”
Hades turned around and saw his three dark, hooded Fates. “Fates, tell me what I must do to defeat him…Tell me how to win the war against Hercules!”
“We cannot tell you how to win, for although you call us ‘fates’ we cannot actually alter fate, for were we to even attempt to help you to change fate our fate would be immediate death. But alas, this is not what fate dictates!”
“Silence!” boomed Hades. “Enough of your complex notions! Simply help me!”
“You will know what to do!” they said, and then they suddenly disappeared into the darkness. They seemed to taunt Hades while appearing to help him.
Hades decided to disregard the Fates and looked back down over his globe. He spun his great globe so the part closest to him was of the city of Athens and zoomed onto Pericles palace. There he searched through the building until he saw, through the wall, Hercules, chained and sitting in a dark prison. He smiled insidiously. “There you are Hercules! After all these years!” Then Hades suddenly turned away and looked up through the oculus. He lifted his staff high in the air and said, “The time is nearing great Zeus!” Then he turned to face his flying servant. “Go and watch the land! Find out anything you can about the developments occurring in the Greek world, but let me deal with Hercules!
Hades’ flying servant didn’t want to get blasted again with Hades’ staff so he just nodded and flew off, up through the oculus.
Then Hades said to himself, “Now I will make a visit to this Hercules!” And so Hades turned into a ball of smoke and shot up through the oculus and off towards Athens.
******
Hercules tried to resist being captured, but he knew that he did not yet have his complete Godlike strength. He knew this from his inability to defeat Milo in a wrestling competition. Hercules was strong, but not that strong. His speed and other great abilities were mostly from growing up and the training he received from Philoctetes. Only a small part of his God power remained in him now.
So, what Hercules found himself in, after he was completely knocked out, was a deep and dark dungeon. Only one window lingered in the prison and it was small and on the far north side of the prison, covered by hard steel bars. Surrounding Hercules’ hands and feet were steel bands and, attached to those steel bands, was a thick steel chai that connected to the wall. The sun was preparing to set now and the light left poured down through his window.
It was clear that Pericles did not care about the condition of his prison, for it seemed very old and much of the floor and walls had large gaps or cracks in the stone. This made it a perfect place for all sorts of devious vermin, such as rats, snakes, and spiders to crawl around. Here Hercules was brought to think about his heroic mission. How was he to achieve it? At the moment it seemed like a great impossibility. Since he had won the Olympic Games and talked with Pericles he had only seemed to make things worse. And Greece, he knew, was ready to fall.
But, after all of his sufferings, he felt a glimmer of hope as he suddenly heard a familiar voice. “Hercules!” rasped the voice. “Hercules, is that you?” Hercules looked up and over at the window where he saw a hooded figure with a familiar face.
“Philoctetes!” exclaimed Hercules with joy.
“I am glad I found you Hercules!” said Philoctetes. “I wondered where you went after several hours.”
“You were wrong,” said Hercules. “Pericles is no longer a good or wise man…he has fallen and now only cares about power…Pericles will not stop until has ultimate power over this city!”
“I am deeply sorry,” replied Philoctetes, as he looked down at poor Hercules, chained and starving. “When I knew the man he was a good and just man…and perhaps that man is still there deep down…but never-mind that now…I must get you out of this prison.”
“The chain is thick!” yelled Hercules. “Even with my Godlike strength I cannot rip it apart!”
Philoctetes nodded. “Well then I certainly can’t…not with my strength. Do you get food and drink here? I will go get some...”
“No,” replied Hercules. “I will be fine.”
“Then I will go get help,” said Philoctetes.
“Who? Who will come and help us?”
“Of this I do not know,” said Philoctetes. “But I will find someone.”
Then Philoctetes left Hercules. The streets were filled with people, but none would help Philoctetes. Many, in fact, were celebrating their long journey back from watching the Olympic Games. “Help!” yelled Philoctetes, as he grabbed a man’s shirt. “Hercules is in prison! I need someone to help rescue him.”
The man who saw Philoctetes only laughed. “Hercules the Heroic, the winner of the Olympic Games!” Philoctetes nodded. “He is not in prison! He is in Pericles’ great palace drinking the night away!”
“No…he is not…” mumbled Pericles, before the man just walked away.
Philoctetes roamed the streets for nearly an hour, but could tell this was getting nowhere. Half of the people were drunk. Nobody would believe him, for they saw Philoctetes as a beggar or a criminal—a figure with a dark cloak and hood.
Philoctetes was getting desperate and yelled, “My name is Philoctetes and Hercules needs help!”
After Philoctetes said these words he suddenly felt a hand grab his and pull it into the darkness. He looked back to see a dark, hooded figure, with one outstretched finger that beckoned him to follow. Then the mysterious figure disappeared in the dark alleyway. Philoctetes didn’t know what other option he had so he followed, not knowing exactly what dark deed would transpire.
******
Hercules waited until several hours had passed, but there was still no sign of Philoctetes returning to hel
p set him free.
There was a calm silence for several moments and then a rumbling sound. “Who’s there?”
Hercules waited for a response, but none came. Then a grey mist began to creep along the ground towards Hercules. “So that is what these people do to a hero huh?” said a voice. “Put him in shackles inside a dark stone prison. Well, I should say that I am not surprised. After all, you have already seen how terrible some of these people can be.”
“Who are you?” asked Hercules, as he stared into the darkness. The man suddenly emerged from the darkness, into what light was illuminated by the firelight next to him.
“You have never met me, but I am sure you have heard of me.”
Hercules looked up at the figure and was astonished. He was fairly tall, although not noticeably tall. He was completely bald and wore no hat. He was arrayed in dark robes and held an elegant carved black staff in his right hand. His eyes were a dark black and his skin seemed smooth, but was dark and not of a color known to any mortal man. This is what stood out the most to Hercules—Hades’ dark grey skin.
“Hades!” exclaimed Hercules.
“You caught me!” said Hades, as he reached his hands out to shake his hands. Hercules didn’t not take his, nor could he because he was chained up. “Oh, yes, I forgot, you are still in chains. Well, here…” Hades suddenly pointed his staff at the chains and blasted them apart.
Suddenly Hercules hands were free. “Now we can shake!” This time Hercules could shake his hand, but he didn’t.
“I do not shake hands with the Prince of Darkness,” said Hercules boldly.
“Wow! Harsh name! Well I suppose that is not the worst thing I have ever been called,” said Hades. “But really I had hoped that we could be friends. You see, your empire in comparison to my empire is, well, there really isn’t a comparison. I have men, Gods, and fallen heroes at my command and you, well, you have nothing frankly.”
“How are you here?” asked Hercules. “How did you get into this prison?”
“By my power of course,” replied Hades. “You see, I have the ability to turn into a dark smoke and move at very fast speeds. I can go nearly anywhere. Except the heavens, of course; this is why I used my chariot so long ago to take you away from that awful palace above Mount Olympus.”
The God of Olympus Page 9
