The God of Olympus

by Matthew Argyle

  ******

  After Hercules flew away from his underworld island Hades’ look went extremely serious and angry. Herakles went up behind Hades. “Why have you sent him there? Why delay the war? We could have overpowered him and put him into prison right here.”

  “It is not just him I am now after,” said Hades. “You must have patience Herakles. The day will soon come when you may swing your great club with vengeance against the world. But we must wait just a little longer. I don’t want any God-power in him, not even a drop. There must be no chance that he can return.” Hades smiled. “But for now you must go to the deep part of the underworld and bring me Megara. It turns out that she will be of great use to me.”

  Chapter 9: Divisive Turns

  Philoctetes was sitting patiently awaiting the return of Hercules so that he might be given more insight at to Hades’ plan, and so that they might discuss how to defeat him. The sky was darkening and Philoctetes’ eyes filled with joy when he saw Hercules and Pegasus return safely. “Praise be to the Gods that you have returned from that awful abode in safety!” exclaimed Philoctetes, as he jumped up from off the ground and ran over to a fire he had started. “Come and eat! While you were gone I killed a wild boar and by an open fire I have cooked his meat. Come, eat, and rest, for here we may discuss what is to be done next.”

  And so there, around the fire, Hercules and Philoctetes shared a meal together. During the meal Philoctetes spent a great deal of time keeping Hercules up-to-date on what was occurring throughout the Greek world. “Right now Hercules, Athens is a democracy, but it is a failing democracy. They don’t know about Hades’ or the war. The Spartan King doesn’t know about it either. He believes that the Athenians will attack them. He has ordered that all their men swiftly prepare to defend themselves against attacks that he believes are sure to come upon them.”

  “So Hercules, you must tell me everything,” said Philoctetes. “No mortal man has been to Hades’ underworld and returned to tell the tale. What is it like there? What is he like now?”

  Hercules then began to explain everything—the massive underworld, the thousands of servants Hades’ possessed, the army Hades’ had created and the many evil Gods and heroes he had under his command, Hades’ throne room and the magical globe he possessed, and, finally, came the greatest disturbing news. “Philoctetes, he made me do a deal with him. I was the only way to delay the war, at least long enough to allow Greece to prepare…”

  Philoctetes suddenly looked concerned and didn’t let Hercules speak any further. “What deal? What deal did you do Hercules?”

  “Hades could assault and destroy the Greek world now if he really wanted to, but there is one soul that he has yet to obtain—a woman on the far reaches of this land, on an island to the northwest. He so much desires to have this woman under his command that he asked me to go to her and find out her weakness, what he may do to have her. If I do this for him he will postpone his assault on all of Greece.”

  “And you agreed to do this,” said Philoctetes.

  “Yes, but there was no contract and I still have my choice to go. But if I don’t all of Greece will fall under Hades’ dominion.”

  “I know you think it right, but I think it unwise to go to that island. It does not feel right to me. There still is much work to be done here. Athens and Sparta are close to an all-out war and now, more than ever, you can stand as an example to these people. You won the Olympic Games Hercules! You can now preach to these people of the evil of Hades! You can prepare these people for the return of a hero!”

  “That is not what this is about Phil,” said Hercules. “It has to be about something much more…something you are afraid of. Do you not trust me? I have ever followed your counsel and guidance and you don’t trust me being on that island alone.”

  Philoctetes looked sad and shook his head. “No, of course I trust you. I have placed all of my hope in you. But if you go to that island it will just be you and her and I don’t want you to get hurt. I know Hades and his ways much more than you do. I don’t want your heart to suffer, for I know what it is like to fall in love and then have your heart broken. Don’t you understand Hercules?” Philoctetes was near tears. “You are like a son to me! I don’t care if you have the greatest Gods as parents. To me you are like a great son—my son. When I saw you win the Olympic Games you don’t know how proud I was of you! I felt so happy for you! I felt like your father, and I have never felt that way towards another person before. And you being a hero doesn’t matter much to me. You can fail at every single heroic endeavor that you do, but if you are happy, then I am happy! You see Hercules, I could rescue all of Greece from the hands of Hades and his forces, but if I lose you all is lost! I would retreat back to that wretched island never to come back to the world again!” Philoctetes paused for a moment and walked around Hercules in a circle. “Hercules, we all come of the age when we experience the Ultimate Feeling. Some feel it when they are younger than others, but it is certain that all people, at one time or another feel it. This feeling unites all mankind, but cannot be yours, as the hero. This is always my last speech to the hero and the hardest for the hero to hear. As a hero you must love people, but you cannot love a woman, or at least express your love for a woman.”

  “Cannot express my love? Why? Why cannot I love a woman? Is that not what man was created for?”

  “Yes, but not the hero,” said Philoctetes. “You must be the anomaly. Until your hero mission is complete you cannot give your heart away to a woman. Give you heart to all these people, these people you must save, but not to a woman. If you put a woman ahead of these people you will never be able to save them. Don’t you understand Hercules? Hades could have assaulted the Greek world the last thirty years, ever since you were born. But he does not because is afraid of the greatest of Gods, Zeus, Hera, and now, you. He wants both you and your parents out of the way. That is his true motive. You see Hercules, you cannot defeat Hades alone. Even Zeus cannot and could not defeat Hades alone. No one God can defeat another God on their own. No, the only thing that can defeat Hades is the selflessness of two individuals—two individuals that make one hero—individuals to connect the mortal world and the God world! Only when the God becomes in the same state as the mortal and the mortal as the God will all things be at right again! You must get to know the mortals here truly in order for this to occur.”

  “Look, this deal is the only way I can save my people,” said Hercules. “I have seen what power Hades has assembled. He has great armies, and I have seen the people here, so full of deception and weakness. This is the only way that I might be a hero.”

  “Don’t!” exclaimed Philoctetes. “This is how I lost all the heroes in the past—by them making deals with Hades. Anyone who does deals with Hades ends up regretting it, or dying by it. So don’t do a deal with him, even if it appears in your best interest. And something tells me that if you go it will be your undoing. I sense a trap.”

  “As do I,” replied Hercules. “But it may also be a great blessing. You know that I cannot be a hero unless I try to save everyone, and I have to try to save this woman. That is, above all, what my heart tells me I must do. I have been loyal to it so far and it has no led me astray. And if I don’t certain doom will come upon the world. This I know.”

  “Be warned that Hades can imitate nearly everything. He can make the darkest night seem bright. He can make the foulest smell smell sweet. He can make the darkest flower seem most beautiful. He can make the nastiest fruit taste delicious. Above all, he can make the most evil person seem good.” Philoctetes sighed and turned away. “Perhaps you must learn the hard way. Very well…go, for your training under my hand is now officially complete.”

  “I am sorry Philoctetes, but I must go. I will return as speedily as I can.”

  After that the two separated. Hercules went off with Pegasus to prepare for bed. Both he and Pegasus (although especially Pegasus) were tired from all the journeying. Even with all their worries they both quickly
went to sleep.

  They both woke up, however, immediately after the sun began to rise. “We must go quickly and make it to the island,” said Hercules to Pegasus. Hercules quickly grabbed his sword that lay up against a tree, mounted Pegasus, and prepared to fly away.

  Hercules thought about going to Philoctetes to tell him he was leaving. But Philoctetes didn’t approach of going to that place anyway. Philoctetes acted like going to up to the mountain garden was a terrible move, but to Hercules there seemed no other way. How was he to defeat Hades without going? He could certainly not kill a God. And the longer he stayed the more souls Hades could rally to his cause. Somehow he felt in his heart that this woman, this woman in the mountains, was the key to everything—the key to defeating Hades and making everything right again.

  Philoctetes was awake and mourned as he watched Hercules leave, up for the woman in the mountain. Philoctetes looked up with soberness towards the skies…and said, “Goodbye my friend.”

  ******

  It was early in the morning when Pericles’ servants found that Hercules was not in his prison. When Pericles’ servant informed Pericles that Hercules was gone, Pericles summoned his chief servant, the chief Hellanodikai, ran to the prison and flung the door open. There he found Hercules’ chains blown apart and scattered all over the ground. He saw the window completely without bars, as the bars were scattered all around the street in front of the prison.

  “This was not done by physical strength,” said Pericles, as he knelt. “The chain was snapped suddenly and the bars on the window were not bent, but blown away!”

  “What does this mean?” asked the Hellanodikai.

  “It means that my greatest fear has come to pass,” said Pericles. “Hercules possesses come devilish magic…a magic that I was unaware of previously.”

  “What must we do?” asked the Hellanodikai.

  “Above all we must find Hercules,” said Pericles. “We must act now if we are to find him. He may have yet paid a visit to the Spartans. But if he is in Athens or the land round-about we must find him. You must go and inform all the captains of my guard to scour the city in search of Hercules, but do it in secret, for many people like Hercules I do not want them to know that I am trying to capture him.”

  The chief Hellanodikai nodded. “Very well sir.”

  After that a few spies were sent out throughout Athens and the land round about to find Hercules.

  Then, while they tried to find Hercules, searching everywhere throughout the city, Pericles went up alone to the Parthenon in Athens. There he was so desperately in need for an answer to his questions, to know what to do now. There he thought about all that disturbed his mind greatly, about Sparta and about Hercules.

  “Any moment war may begin!” he said to himself. “Any moment my great kingdom may fall! Hercules has escaped my grasp! Where to, I do not know! People think so highly of Hercules. He must desire to overthrow me…to rule Athens. After all, what else would he want to do with that name!”

  There Pericles stood before the statue of Athena. The statue was very large, made of ivory and gold. In the statue Athena stood upright, and wore a tunic reaching to her feet. On her breast was, crafted in ivory, the head of Medusa. She held the statue of Victory in one hand and in her other hand she held a spear. Pericles felt so weak and confused. There he muttered these words:

  “Oh great God Athena, patron God of this city!

  What would you have me do?

  Hercules has escaped and now is up to no good!

  Oh great God Athena,

  Tell me, where are all the other Gods?

  Where is Zeus who dwells in the highest of all skies?

  Where is Hera, whose glory and goodness would destroy any evil?

  Where is Aphrodite whose beauty would cure a man of any illness?

  Where is Poseidon, who sails on the deep seas?

  Where are all these great Gods?

  Do they sleep? Do they not care for mortals any longer?

  All my life I have tried to create a democracy,

  With hope that you will come to me, to help me,

  But now you are gone!

  Please, Athena, what would you have me do?”

  Pericles became very disturbed now. He fell onto the ground and waited desperately for an answer, but none came. Then he lifted himself up, and with tears beginning to stream in his eyes, he turned away from Athena.

  “And so I see now what must be,

  For with true freedom people would perish

  Without the grand Gods all freedom goes rotten

  And chaos and death reign supreme!”

  Pericles moved outside of the temple where he could overlook all of Athens. There he saw only darkness, but he imagined what could be. He could see Athens in flames. He could see people running frantic in the streets. Great buildings and statues toppled to the ground. He felt it was a great vision from the Gods. “Oh yes, I have been granted a great revelation! I see what shall befall my great city if I do not do something.”

  Then Pericles looked up into the sky and said,

  “All of Greece will feel the wrath of days gone by,

  Without you by their side!

  All of Greece will stumble and fall without me to fight,

  Without me to guide their steps,

  And so drastic steps I must make,

  In order to best preserve us from this fate!

  Yes, I shall order this city!

  I shall make it the city of Zeus, Hera, Athena, Poseidon, and Aphrodite!

  Whether you live or not makes no difference!

  For I shall be their Savior!

  I shall establish order.

  I shall establish a great army.

  I shall establish unity.

  I shall save Athens!

  And how many shall praise my name,

  The name of Pericles!

  No more shall they praise Zeus or Hera,

  But it will be Pericles, Pericles the Great!”

  And so, in Pericles’ mind, only he could save Athens and he was to save it using any way, if necessary. And so the mind of Pericles became worn and distorted.

  ******

  The moments after Philoctetes saw Hercules leave were filled with deep sadness. Not only had Philoctetes wanted to go with Hercules wherever he went on his journey, but he had also feared Hades and his power would work devastations on his young hero, as it had many heroes in the past.

  He looked down towards the earth in sadness. He then looked up towards the heavens. “Zeus, what would you have me do? The hero you have given me to look after, your own son, has left, has disobeyed my counsel.” Philoctetes looked up into the sky, hoping to see, or at least hear the words of the great God. But for several moments he heard nothing. “Or is it true? Do the Gods really sleep? Do they no longer care for the affairs of mortals or cursed beings like me?” Philoctetes looked down and turned away. He didn’t think that anyone was coming. But then something miraculous happened.

  He suddenly saw a brilliant light emerge from behind him. He turned around and there saw Zeus, all arrayed in white, a white so bright that it seemed as if it was “white light.” Then, next to Zeus, was Hera, a goddess with bright blonde hair dressed in all green.

  “We do not dwell in temples made with mortal hands,” said Zeus. “But we can dwell here in nature. And we can come now because Hades’ eyes are now set on other affairs—our dear son Hercules.”

  “So it is really true?” asked Philoctetes. “The boy is your son…the son of the greatest of Gods!”

  Hera nodded, moved forward, and ran her hands along Philoctetes’ furry face. “Yes, my dear Philoctetes,” said Hera. “And we have watched him from afar since he came into this world.”

  “Now Hades has set a trap for Hercules,” said Zeus.

  “I am sorry, I told him not to do deals with Hades…I told him not to go,” said Philoctetes. “I can still go to him! I can take a boat and go to that wretched island!”

  �
�No,” said Hera. “Do not go. Hercules’ fate is now bound with the fate of this woman, so he must go to her. Instead, you must now concentrate on other affairs. You have trained Hercules well and, if you continue forward, will be able to shirk away the curse you have been given.”

  Philoctetes smiled. This brought him great joy. “Very well, what else must I do?”

  “You must now go to Athens,” said Zeus. “There you must look over the city and protect it from corruption, for as we speak Pericles is working malice within it. Driven by his desire to maintain his great praise and power, he has done terrible things. You must prepare Athens for Hercules’ return, for the day will come shortly that war will come upon all of Greece!”

  “But how can I do that? I am cursed!” exclaimed Philoctetes. “People will not listen to me, but will fear me!”

  Zeus looked to Hera and said, “Come, we must go! Hades’ gaze has shifted away from Hercules for the moment and he may see us away from Mount Olympus.” Zeus turned away from Philoctetes and began walking away.

  Hera nodded and followed. “But wait!” exclaimed Philoctetes. “How am I to accomplish this great task?”

  Hera turned back for a moment and smiled. “Oh, when the time comes you will know Philoctetes. Of this we have no doubt.”

  After this Philoctetes watched as both Zeus and Hera disappeared, back to Mount Olympus.

  Philoctetes was amazed at what just happened. He didn’t know how he alone was going to look over and protect the city of Athens, but he knew that, if Zeus and Hera commanded him to do so, it must be possible. He put out the fire he had started, turned around, looked over the mountain range, picked up his small bag and cane, placed the hood over his face and began the long walk to Athens. But even he could not imagine the corruption waiting for him.

  Chapter 10: Meg and the Garden of Alcinous

  It was mid-day when Hercules approached the infamous island of Corfu, just to the west of the Greek mainland. The island was by no means extra-ordinarily large, and by comparison, was much smaller than the island of Crete, where Hades had his underworld. From a distance Hercules could see that the island was very lush, and much of what existed there was covered by heavy vegetation, rock, and trees.