short story

Small but Great

By: Josh Scott

































My name Egan Euclid I am a fourteen year old boy from the Greek village Celestial.  When I was three years old my mother was killed by Demios the Hydra. My father was a great archer and hunter he would always hunt for the villages enormous feasts. The entire village folk loved my father and my mother. When my mother was killed my father was so enraged he vowed he would not stop until the monster was dead. He left me in the care of my Uncle Darren Celestial’s only black smith to seek revenge for the death of his wife and mother of his only son. It has been eleven years since that horrifying day and I am afraid my father has met the same fate as my mother. 

         My life with my Uncle Darren has been one of great experiences and he has taught me to be a great black smith.  My specialties are horse shoes, weapons, and tools for the village. People of my village have said that my talent has come from Hephaestus the God of black smiths and fire.  I have long desired to make a great weapon to avenge the deaths of my mother and father and bring down the monster who slaughtered them both.  For many moons Demios has intimidated my village and my thoughts with his massive size, strength, and the lack of decency of human life. 

As I work beside my Uncle Darren, I think to myself how I wish to be a great hero like Hercules or Theseus because they both slayed monsters. Hercules killed the Nemean lion and Theseus killed the Minatour. I want to be just like them and slay the five headed hydra. I am a small boy in size but I am very smart and accurate in mind. All the children in my village make fun of how small I am and they pick on me every day about my size, my crystal colored eyes that shine, and my skin that cannot be burned by flames. I try to hide these differences from the other children so they do not make fun of me, but they do not dare touch me because of my Uncle Darren. I feel as if I am just a regular person who wants to do well in the world and help my village have peace from all who does wrong.

Through the years my uncle Darren has treated me like his own son he has taught and trained me how to become a great hunter like my father once was.  On the days of the harvest moon we hunt for the festival’s feast like my father did before me.  On this year’s hunt we managed to kill lots of wild game and the villagers were so excited the festival lasted through the night. There was music, dancing, and more food than we could ever dream of. The next morning I was so exhausted from all the excitement that I snuggled in my hammock and fell into a deep silent sleep.

While I was a sleep I had a dream of an old man. He was a tall man who carried an anvil in one hand and a giant hammer in the other.  The old man was as tall as the tallest tree in the forest and he resembled my father. The tall figure showed me a vision of myself becoming a great hero. My dream started to fade and then all of a sudden the hydra appeared. The hydra was attacking my village again; the blood thirsty beast tore through the villagers, it was a bloody horrific cite. My nightmare was so detailed I could make out the beasts image, it had five heads, its skin was pure black and it had a putrid smell coming from its breath. It had ten long sharp talons that protruded through its paws. Suddenly I awoke with sweat dripping from my brow and I realized that the nightmare was a vision of the future and I knew that hydra would be coming soon to attack my village again. I raced to the warriors of my village to warn them of my vision. They all laughed and mocked me and told me that it was only a childish dream.

I walked back to my house with my head slumped over still upset from the warriors mocking me and wondering why they did not believe me. As I opened the door to my house I looked over and saw my father’s dark black metal bow the one he had used to hunt with. My uncle Darren helped craft this extraordinary weapon with my father when they were young men. While starring at the bow I prayed to the God Apollo to give me the skills and strength to be a great archer like my father. 

         Later on that morning I decided to go to my uncles forge and try to make arrows for my bow. As I walked through the village and into my uncle’s shop I saw a silver metal and I decided to bring it into my uncle’s forge. I then started to melt, pound, and create arrow heads this was something I had never done before. In an instant I had made hundreds of arrow heads. I then realized that the old man in my dream was actually Hephaestus the God of blacksmiths and I then thanked him for the blessing he had bestowed upon me.

When I had finished up on the arrows I went out to my uncles old practice field in the woods and started to try the brand new arrows I had made. Every time I shot one arrow it would hit dead center into the target and go through it without making a dent into the metal of the arrow tip.  It was an awe inspiring experience for me; I had decided to keep practicing with my new weapon until I was perfect.  In less than three hours I could shoot twenty arrows in mere seconds.  It was a great day for me.

         After practice I decided to go and show the other warrior children what I could do. As I walked back I saw an old man had fallen and was on the ground.  I decided with a good heart to help him. I picked him up and brushed him off and noticed there was not even a scratch on him.  I thought to myself how strange that was. The old man had said,” thank you” he then pulled a jar out of his coat pocket and placed it into  my hand. Quietly he spoke, “this is a gift for you and never drink or eat from this jar because it has magical powers could harm you in seconds.” He also stated, “When the time comes you will know when to use the jar.”  I looked away put the jar in my pocket and when I turned around the old man was gone.

I got back to village to show the other warrior children my new skills. I took my bow out and shot one arrow into the target I was so happy that I had not failed this time. But it did not matter they mocked me again and again and they shouted,” You are a freak and that is why your father left.”  I ran so far that no one could find me and make fun of me. I sat by an old tree and cried until I had no more tears to shed. I sat there and I cursed the village children because they made me feel like a failure.

I stood up and screamed to the Gods above, “Why have you forsaken me and left me alone to endure this torture.”  Then a giant flash of bright light came from up above and hit me and I fell over.  I looked up and there I saw two bulky young men. One was in brown armor that looked as if nothing could penetrate it and the other man had armor that was lit up like fire and on the front of it I could see an in print of the sun. I shouted, “Who are you!” and they replied, “We are the Gods Apollo and Hephaestus both sons of Zeus.” I dropped to my knees and knelt before them. In a loving voice Hephaestus said, “My child stand before me and look into my eyes for I am your father.” 

With tears of joy he came over and put his arms around me and said in a tearful voice, “I am so sorry I was not there for you all of these years.”As we talked he told me that I was a demi god and that I will be the one to slay the hydra.  “Take this armor,” he said, “this will help you to kill the hydra and keep you from harm.” Then Apollo picked up the bow and touched the gem stone inside of it and the bow turned into flames. As he turned to leave he said, “I have always been proud of you and someday soon we will be a family again.”

As they left I smiled and started to walk back to my village, but all of a sudden BOOM! The hydra was attacking and it was time for me to become the one that will slay this horrid beast. As I rushed back I seen the dead villagers and fear started to come over me. The people of my village screamed and ran away as the hydra burned down their houses. Finally, when I reached the middle of the village the hydra spoke, “Ha ha I know you are the pathetic human that no one cares about. You are going to die just like your pathetic human mother. Rage came over me and the fire on my bow grew. The deadly hydra came toward me in an attack mode but in a split second I moved out of his way. I raised my bow shot three burning arrows through the first head. The hydra laughed and then stopped and said, “Wait a minute you have burned my skin, now I cannot regenerate it.  I started to cut off all the heads until it came down to the last one. The monster yelled and screamed from all the pain and then I got up pulled the jar from my pocket and knew what to do with it .  I dipped my arrow head into the jar of liquid pulled the flaming arrow back and I roared louder than a lion which could be heard throughout Greece. Finally, I let the last fiery arrow fly straight threw the heart of the hydra and the monster fell to its death. I had killed Demios the hydra.

After the horrible carnage, my village and all of Greece knew my name and how I; the small child, beat the hydra and became a hero.  Although the warriors made me feel like I was nothing and the hydra thought because I was a small boy I could not defeat him they all were wrong. I finally realized in the end I can accomplish anything no matter what others may think of me as long as I can believe in myself.