Hero's Journey

He woke up in the middle of a forest. It did not look familiar to him, it looked… nightmarish. The trees were nothing but thousands of black pillars, twisted to look like trees. The thing that fazed him most was that they seemed to move as he looked away from them, twisting differently each time he saw one. A glint of aquamarine shined from next to one of the trees in the distance. It could have been a torch, but it gave him a chill down his spine.
He heard a slight murmuring in the distance.
“Hello?” The man shouted. “Is anyone there?”
He then realized that this must be a nightmare, the twisting of fears into a dream!
“Hah!” he thought. “What a fool to be frightened by this!”
The man felt one of the trees, and was surprised, as it had a solid feeling to it-- one of onyx, or glass. The man felt like someone was watching him. He turned around again, and saw the same aquamarine glint, except this time, it was closer. The man felt another chill, more intense though. The man decided to pinch his arm to wake up, escape this nightmare. He shut his eyes, ready to wake up, and felt pain--Not where he pinched, but in his leg, a sharp pain. He opened his eyes and cried out as he saw the handle of a dagger protruding from his thigh. Eyes wide and filled with terror, he ripped the knife out, and saw his blood on the blade.
The man saw the aquamarine glint again, and what was creating the glint. It was an eye. The eyes of a dark shadowy figure. The shadow began to take form as it got closer. The man tried to run, but his leg buckled under him. He glanced back at the shadow to see that it had taken form, and that it was right next to him
A cloak black as night--An old stain of blood remains, once crimson, now a faded shade of rust. It was worn with pride, as if it was intentionally left there, as a warning or trophy. She wore a hardened look, with eyes that seemed to cut. Her white hair was tied back in a ponytail; she didn’t want anything in her way. She appeared to be about 16 or 17 years of age.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered in his ear “I’ll make it quick”. The man screamed, but was cut off short as a blade of steel punctured his neck. Wiping the blood from the blade on his shirt, she sighed “I need to do something else with my life”. Looking up from his body, she began to walk out of his house, stopping to make sure she left no trace she was there, and to make sure his sleep looked natural. She didn’t really kill people; she put them into a permanent coma state, a very nice way to end someone.
Elsie met with the man who placed the bounty on Eider Yach in the tavern. She always wanted a good reason to kill; in this case, Eider stole everything from the client so he couldn’t feed his family; a good enough reason for her. After receiving the payment of 50 drachmas, enough for about 3 months of food, the client left quickly, giving his thanks. Tucking the pouch into her cloak pocket, she noticed a man watching her from the corner of his eye. He had a cane with a decorative grapevine running down the side of it and a pinecone handle. He stopped watching her, only to drink down the rest of his beverage, which was spiced wine, a variety not sold here. As Elsie was leaving, the strangest thing happened.
Elsie pushed the door open, and began to leave, when the noise stopped. She turned around to see what happened, and was surprised to see everyone drunk on the floor. Everyone except the man with the cane, who was still drinking his wine, turned around and said “We have a jo-” the man hiccupped “a job for ya lass.”
The man was obviously drunk, but she was listening. A man that drunk, something horrible must’ve happened to him.
“What could a drunkard like you offer me?” Elsie said chidingly.
“Alright, how bout, a li’l explanation?” He slurred.
“Of what?” She demanded, now interested.
“Who I am, who you are, and what we are.” The man said this with a smile, and pulled back his hood, showing long blond hair, an ivy band around his head and an effeminate appearance. “I am the great god Dionysius!” he shouted, holding up his cane, then said calmly “Shall we go for a walk?” grinning insanely and taking a drink from his bottle.
Elsie sighed, assuming she had no choice, as this man has had obviously had too much to drink. She was growing tired of his rambling, so she decided he needed to rest. She walked up to him, and tapped his head saying “Sorry.”
The man stood there grinning madly at her as she tried to put him to sleep.
“Why isn’t this working on you?” she asked getting wide eyed.
“Rock beats scissors, god beats demigod.” he said smiling calmly “Or maybe in the case of a stone axe, rock beats paper. Whichever works.”
“What are you?” she said panicking, expecting him to get angry and react.
The man frowned and rubbed his eyes “did I not already tell you?” he said. “Lemme spell it out for you; G-U- no no no, G-O-D. I am a god; the god of wine, parties, and madness. Dionysius!” he handed Elsie the bottle of wine, and said “Have a sip. Its good wine” he said grinning. When Elsie didn’t take the bottle he said “Don’t like wine? Ha-ha! More for me then!” then took a swig. Dancing past her and out of the tavern, everyone began to wake up, groaning about their headaches. Sighing, Elsie assumed she had no choice but to follow him into the night.
“Where are we going?” Elsie shouted up to Dionysius, who was humming a tune she didn’t know very well. “At least he’s sober now” she thought.
“I’m gonna’ take you to your clients.” He said he was still humming that tune, so she decided to ask about it.
“That tune, what’s it from?” Elsie inquired.
“You sure are full of questions, aren’t ya lass? If you must know, it’s Euterpes’ song; she’s the muse of song. A very lovely tune. Maybe you’ll get to hear it when we get there.” He grinned as he said this.
They were coming to a clearing in the roads where they decided to setup camp for the night.
“Mortals,” Dionysius scoffed “always needing rest and such.”
“Hey, earlier you said something about what I am, could you tell-” She was cut off.
“I remember. In the morning. Now sleep.” Dionysius then passed her the bottle of wine. She refused to take a sip yet again, he said “No wine? Okay. Fine. I won’t share it again.” Dionysius then took a sip and began to hum the tune from earlier. Elsie closed her eyes as she faded off into sleep.
Elsie looked through the cave, when she saw a large gate. It was made of a silvery metal, but this was not what grabbed her attention. What she noticed were demonic looking dogs with red eyes staring at her, and the skeletons looked like charcoal sticks put together in an evil fashion.
While she expected them to attack her, the dogs howled, and the skeleton looked at her. It drew its weapon, which was as black as its bones, and approached her. Elsie tried to run, but her feet were stuck in place. When it got close enough, the skeleton didn’t strike, but instead it recoiled, sheathed its weapon and saluted. It disappeared into mist and vanished before she could say anything. She noticed she could move again, and began to walk towards the gate.
The dogs growled as she moved towards them, but then sat down obediently as Elsie got closer. She wondered what was beyond the silver gate, and touched one of the silver rods.
The moment she did, a great voice boomed at her saying, “Who are you, mortal? And why didn’t my monsters kill you?” As Elsie turned around, a man began to form. He was a tall man, with piercing green eyes that shone through a helmet of red metal, with black horns on each side. Along with the helmet came a matching suit of armor, and on his hip was a black sword that seemed to be made of the night itself.
“Answer mortal!” He shouted. His voice seemed hollow, almost fake.
“M-my name is Elsie” She said. The green gaze from the armor faulted for a moment, and his shoulders seemed less tense, as if she had said something shocking and unusual. He quickly regained his composure.
“Last name as well!” he spoke in a more refined manner now, so much as if he was afraid of the answer
“I-Its… I don’t know. My mother never gave me one” she spoke quietly, “she left me when I was three.”
“Ah. I see. Did she happen to tell you who your father was?” he inquired.
“No, but she often said I looked like him, hence the hair.” She said, pointing to the ponytail.
The man reached to his helmet, slowly taking it off, showing hair the color of the moon. He appeared to be about 30, with a white stubble. “I’m glad to finally meet my daughter.” he said kindly, giving a smile as he said it. “My name is Phobetor; son of Nxy and Erebus. I am the dream deity of nightmares.”
Waking up to the sound of screaming, Elsie quietly looked around and saw a gang of bandits that numbered about 20, robbing a merchant and his family of their caravan. Turning around to wake up Dionysius, she saw he was still asleep, clutching the wine bottle for dear life. Elsie decided not to wake him up, as he would likely have a hangover. Turning to the bandits, she saw they were threatening to kill the father, while his family watched. The look of terror she saw put her into action.
She was trained to assassinate, not fight with brutes in steel, but that didn’t stop her from trying. She reached for her steel sword, and rushed forward, and with a quick tap, one of the bandits was passed out on the ground. She knew all of them wouldn’t be that easy, but they seemed to back away, like she was some kind of demon, or monster.
She looked down at her arms, and saw they were a smoky kind of black, like a wildfire’s smoke, yet she was not on fire. One of the bigger outlaws gripped his broadsword tightly, and cautiously strode toward her, his sword ready to block. She drifted toward him, and realized she must be some kind of ghost, or dream apparition. She then gripped her blade, and swung it at him, wanting to break his block, but the man jumped back and slashed at her midsection. She braced for the impact, the pain, but there wasn’t any, just a chill where the blade would’ve been. The man got a look of terror in his eyes, as the killing blow passed through Elsie, doing nothing.
Many of the bandits had already fled, and the few that stood to watch the leader fight her were now running, fearing she would come after them. The man who was once a powerful leader was now cowering in fear of what she would do. She reached forward, and extended her hand. She noticed he flinched when she reached for him. She grabbed his arm and pulled him up to his feet.
“I don’t ever want to see you again,” she said in a wispy rugged voice that was not her own.
The man went wide eyed and flinched as he thought the apparition couldn’t talk, and was shocked to hear its voice. It was a chilling voice that he knew would haunt him for years.
“Y-yes, I’ll j-just be leaving n-now.” The man stumbled back toward his home, shocked he was even alive.
After watching the leader walk away, Elsie looked toward the family, and saw they were cowering from her. Confused, Elsie looked around, as to what could be frightening them, but then realized that she might not have changed back into a solid form yet. She looked at her arms, and saw they were still the black gas. She went back to Dionysius to wake him up, and saw that he was awake.
“You know, you put on a good show.” He said smiling, “Don’t know why you spared him though.”
“Didn’t feel like getting blood on my hands,” Elsie said calmly “Do you know how to change back to human?”
“Ehh…No. Try focusing on human though, or calm down.” He took a sip of wine. “It’s worth a shot anyway.”
She began to breathe deeper, and closed her eyes as she felt gravity again, and the feeling of weightlessness went away. She felt the weight of her cloak come back, and the sword on her hip, but she also felt a new piece of gear on her. Looking at the armor she was wearing, it seemed to be made of a metal she has not seen yet, and felt warm, like she was next to a fire, or in the sunlight. It was a black armor, and she heard a voice she recognized as her father echoing from inside the helmet.
“Do not take this gift lightly, Elsie, it is made from a metal in the underworld called void stone. With it, you can take the form of a smoke demon. You will not be able to be touched by mortal metals because your body will cease to exist in it. Beware though, the weapons of gods. These will be wielded by beasts and monsters from the underworld. Those weapons will hit you, and while the armor will protect you, you will be able to be killed, and you will need to rely on your skills as well as your blade. I will teach you to focus your skill along the way.” The echoes then stopped, and a glowing line appeared where the bandit had struck.
Remembering the family, Elsie ran back to where the caravan was, and saw the family picking up everything that was lost. As she approached, merchant noticed Elsie, and walked over to her
“Thank you,” The man said with a thick accent “you must be the ghost that helped us, so I will give you a gift.” He then walked to the back of the caravan, and opened a compartment the bandits hadn’t found. It appeared to have weapons of all variety, and a few talismans, but the one that caught her eye was a sword of black glass, of obsidian. Elsie picked it up, and noticed it had letters carved on the side, that wasn’t in any language she knew.
“I don’t remember that blade in my stock.” He said confused. “You can keep it. It is a gift after all. The man close the chest, went back to his family, and began to help picking up the rest of his stock.
Elsie walked off, holding the blade gingerly in her hands. It resembled the one Phobetor had at the gate, but the design was different. His was a straight shortsword, this one was more of a makhaira shape; a forward curving blade, that’s about 3 feet in length. Elsie decided to take a swing at a nearby olive tree.
She lined up with the tree, and readied her stance, and swung in a cleaving style at the trunk of the gnarled tree. The sword hit the tree, but didn’t stop there, no, she swung through the tree, and straight into the ground, where it stuck. Shocked that such a light sword could do that, she pulled the blade out of the ground, and noticed ash falling off the sides. The tree was set on fire, and it soon burnt to a charcoal stump.
“What did you do?” Dionysius shouted as he ran toward her. He glanced at the sword, then realized that she must have found the gods’ gift to her, from Hephaestus. Calming down, he said “That’s a good gift, you know. From Hephaestus himself.”
“Hephaestus? The forge god, right?” She said confused.
“Aye. I think it’s a prototype, or a new design. Haven’t seen this one before.” Dionysius said, examining the blade. “Well, let’s be on our merry way then.” They began to walk forward, then he said, “So, what we need your help with is that a plague has been sweeping across Greece, and we are asking few demigods for help, and you were a strong demigod, even though you’re from a deity’s bloodline. We think it originated somewhere in Achaea, and we believe one god would be involved, at least one. Some symptoms of the sickness are insomnia, getting progressively worse, then they fall into a coma.” He explained. “Apollo is doing everything he can to prevent this from happening, but we need to find the source to stop it.”
They continued on their journey, with Dionysius teaching her to refine her skills along the way. They ran into a few bandits here and there, and then one hydra along the way, but her sword made quick work of them, as the only way to kill a hydra is to cut off the heads, and cauterize the wound before the heads can grow back, and the sword, which she has trained with immensely, burnt the last immortal head off.
Believing it might be important, she drained a vial of the blood, careful not to get any on her fingers, as it is a highly toxic liquid that will kill you within minutes. She tucked it into a pocket in her cloak for safe keeping, to use it later, because it’s a rare material.
“Where is the camp you mentioned earlier?” Elsie asked gasping for breath.
“Umm… Around the next bend, I think” He replied
They followed the trail, which led into a large clearing full of armored soldiers, varying in age and size, and Elsie wondered if they are all demigods. There were about a dozen tents in the clearing, and each tent had a different sign above it, depicting different gods; Zeus, Poseidon, Hermes, Ares, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, and Dionysius, although there were only a few for Zeus and Poseidon.
“Where’s my tent?” Elsie questioned him.
“They’re actually not too happy about me bringing in someone from minor god bloodline” He spoke this quietly, almost guiltily.
“Where do I stay then?” Elsie asked
“Talk with the camp leader, he’ll help you out. He’s the one in silver armor with the gold sword.” He then pointed into the crowd, then began to drink his wine.
Elsie saw the man almost immediately, as he was larger than most. He looked to be about 19, or 20, holding a bronze shield. As she walked up to him, she got many cold stares from many of them. The man then turned around and saw everyone staring.
He shouted “Back to work!” He looked to Elsie and asked, “What can I help you with?”
Feeling nervous, she asked, “Where would a daughter of Phobetor go?”
“Sorry for not having a tent setup, but most minor gods aren’t very strong. I’m sure the Hermes tent will help you out.” He said this almost sad “Speaking of strength, what can you do?”
Deciding not to mention it yet, she kept her sword hidden. “I can put people to sleep, and then give them realistic nightmares, and my armor allows me to transform into a smoke demon.” She said calmly
“Do you think you could show me?” he said as he examined the armor
“Sure, name’s Elsie by the way.” She hadn’t used the smoke form in a while, but Elsie knew how to activate it, due to the training on the way. She focused on the fear in others, and closed her eyes. She then felt herself go weightless, then she opened her eyes, and saw as everyone had their weapons ready, as if she would attack them all.
“That is definitely a demon.” the leader said calmly, but his eyes showed fear.
Changing back, she saw people trying to ignore her, but they were staring from the corner of their eyes she noticed the leader seemed a bit shocked.
“That’s a very unique talent indeed.” The leader then cleared his throat, and said “Go introduce yourself to Hermes’s cabin; they’ll like to meet you.” He resumed whatever he was doing before, and Elsie began to walk off toward the cabin.
“Also, Elsie, you’re on a scouting team this afternoon!” He shouted over his shoulder. “Get ready!”
Elsie nodded, then continued toward the tent. When she got to the tent, she heard noises like laughing, and hushed whispering. Pulling aside the curtain, Elsie stepped in to what looked like a game of chess between the tent.
“Odd.” She thought. “No one looks older than 20 in here. In fact, most appear 15, 16, and 17.”
Elsie noticed many of the teens were talking, and then the oldest looking guy in the cabin gestured for her to sit with them. Elsie sat on one of the cots near him, and asked, “What exactly are we doing out here?”
“We’re hoping one of the scouting teams comes back with good news. We want something to do.” one of the girls replied
“Monsters!” someone from outside shouted. “Everyone help!”
Elsie ran out with the rest of the tent behind her, and readied her sword, as she saw a hydra with a skeleton rider come charging past her. Elsie jumped back as the hydra snapped at her, narrowly avoiding the venom filled bite, although she can’t say the same for one or the Ares members. The Hydras tail whipped around, and before Elsie could avoid it, she was hit in the head, and was knocked out before she hit the ground.
Elsie remembered this place, the cave, and the silver gate, it was where Phobetor was! “Father!” Elsie called out, but was soon hushed as she saw the silver gate was opened
“Elsie!” She heard from somewhere. “You need to stop it! They’ve opened the gates! They now have access to all mortals’ dreams, plunging them into endless sleep!” Find the demigod behind this, and you must stop him!” the voice stopped.
Elsie paced toward the gate, looking into it, only to see the bodies of sleeping forms all neatly lined up on walls, all in shelves. She wandered along the shelves until she saw some of the people from camp; the leader of the camp, the Hermes tent leader, the girl who was playing chess. Everyone looked like they were in stress, tossing and turning, in absolute terror. She came to the thought that they were all having nightmares, horrible dreams.
She might be able to help them, but she will need to enter their dreams, and wake them up that way. Elsie moved to the Hermes tent leader, and moved into his dream.
It was night time, and she saw the Hermes leader, off in the distance, running down an endless corridor, toward a door that moves further and further away from him. Elsie began to run after him, and after a 2 minute chase, she tackled him.
“Get off!” he shouted “I have to… I must get to the door” He was now looking at the door, which had come back to taunt him.
“What’s behind the door that’s so important to you?” she asked.
“My childhood memories! They’re very important to me!” He yelled.
Forcing the door to return, he scrambled up to open it, revealing a memory of him, when he was about 3, at his party. His family was there, congratulating him. Elsie saw tears well up in his eyes. She decided to tell him it was a dream.
“Wake up,” she said calmly.
“What?” he said confused
Pulling him up off the shelf, he awoke, and became still.
“You know, I didn’t think you’d make it this far.” An evil voice said from near her
Spinning around, she saw a person who looked familiar to her. Eyes filled with shock, it was the face of her mother that stared back, hate in her eyes
“No, I’m not your mother, but I am a goddess. Behold, Erida, the goddess of hate!” she yelled, and cackled evilly. “Stand down mortal, and I’ll let you live out your short life!”
Readying her blade, she activated her armor, preparing for a fight. Erida said “You do not surrender?” She said confused “Then die!” A spear made from a shifting colored metal appeared in her hands, and she swung at where Elsie was, but she evaded it, nearly losing her head, but the shaft of the spear swung around, and hit Elsie’s side, hitting her to the floor. There was pain, but not as much as if she had been hit with the tip of the spear, which would have killed her.
Picking herself up, she charged the goddess, and swiped her midsection, seeing ichor flow, but soon healed over. “Hatred is what fuels me. You can’t kill me, you hate me!” Erida called out.
Upon hearing this, Elsie closed her eyes, and began to focus on justice. Reaching into her cloak, she quickly coated her blade in the hydra’s blood, which should weaken the goddess enough for Elsie to deliver the killing blow, solving the plague. Elsie dodged the spear shaft, avoided the tip, and then struck Erida in the shoulder, poisoning her with hydra venom.
“Ahhhhh!” the goddess screamed, out of pain. Eridas’ legs buckled from under her, having her kneeling before Elsie, who swung at the goddess’s neck, promptly ending the screaming, and burning the bod to ashes.
Feeling weak, Elsie felt where the spear hit her, and realized she must be bleeding internally, and knew she didn’t have long. She proceeded to help everyone of their nightmares, letting everyone wake up, and thus curing the plague. Gasping for breath, Elsie smiled. She was finally a hero. Elsie closed her eyes, and fell asleep for the last time.