I do not own the rights to any of these characters. All of these characters are either based upon Greek myth or the Percy Jackson series created by Rick Riordan. I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to read my story. If you can, please let me know what you think of the story; all feedback is appreciated. Cheers!
Heat rose to meet his gaze as his eyes surveyed the damage. It seemed like the entire mountain was on fire. The effects of the damage were exacerbated by the vibrations that resounded through the area like an earthquake. Several buildings and statues fell to join the other structures that had been reduced to ash and rubble. He heard the screams of the overpowered and the yells of the victorious. Luminous blasts of energy bounced from place to place, like children playing with rainbow-colored firecrackers. Satyrs and nymphs tried to flee the scene, only to realize that there was no escape from this destruction. His eyes swept up to the grand palace. Several creatures, demigods, and embittered minor gods violently tore through the area. They were knocking pillars down, defacing statues, and publicly executing the victims who were either not fast enough nor strong enough. He looked at the moon, partly to escape the destruction and partly to disassociate himself from his part in this. The moon, forever vivid and perceptive, looked back at him as if it saw everything he did. It judged him and prompted him to admit the reality. Once he looked back at the apocalypse overtaking the area, he realized that what he did could not be taken back. Olympus had fallen, and the gods were doomed to die by his hand.
Some time ago…
Asteria watched as Calix ran on the beach, trying to catch a wolf that was no bigger than he was. The night sky was brilliantly adorned with stars of all types. She thought it was almost as beautiful as her son. As she watched him sprint after the animal, she noticed that his form was perfect. His tiny limbs were moving in perfect conjunction for the most efficient achievement of distance over time. His smile stretched for miles while his feet took him just as far. His aura, however, his aura, was what captured her attention. His power was spiking exponentially as the chase went on. He gave off the energy of a hunter, of someone who chases and kills for sport.
Discomfort crawled up Asteria's body. Neither she nor her husband ever took to hunting; they lived a humble life of peace and balance with the animals on the island. Their food sprung from the ground in the form of edible vegetation, so they took great care to not harm any of the creatures. After all, they were just visitors and they needed to show the natives the proper respect. In turn, the animals have treated them with respect and love, and Asteria made it a priority to reflect those feelings upon them. Through her marriage to Perses, she came to realize the importance of a balance between life and death. She learned to stop saving every animal that was in trouble of losing its life because it was the cycle of existence. Life becomes death, and in turn, breeds new life. Asteria had no problem with those who hunt out of survival because that has its place within the natural cycle. However, commercial hunters brought a different kind of death with them; a death that bred humiliation instead of new life. Consequently, Asteria had no respect for those that hunt for entertainment. She had tried everything in her power to pass that belief on to her son. Yet, here Calix was, with the eyes and smile of a killer. Asteria recognized his birth parents' genealogy manifesting itself and knew that the time had come to tell him where he came from.
At the risk of disappointing Calix, she snapped, a sharp sound that cut through the night and seemed to deafen the noise of the crashing water. The stars glowed brighter for a moment. The wolf turned on a dime and made a beeline straight towards her. Calix followed eagerly. When the wolf reached her outstretched hand, it evaporated into mist. Calix sat down in front of her as his smile faded from view.
"You never let me hunt."
Asteria sat in the sand, facing her son with open arms. Begrudgingly, her son turned so they were facing the same direction and leaned into her embrace. When he touched her, she could feel the adrenaline and power flowing from his body and returning him back to his base level of stimulation. Together, they faced the water and the glowing backdrop of celestial bodies. The wind coursed through the beach, but seemed to split upon reaching their embrace so as to not chill them.
"Is hunting something you would like to do?"
"Yes!" Calix's arms flung into the air in an exasperated fashion, as if to say, Duh, Mom!
Asteria kept her eyes to the stars. Power flowed through her and a star streaked across the sky.
"To what end?"
As she expected, there was silence from her son. She sighed and rubbed his hair.
"Son, look up at the stars."
She felt her son's head tilt upwards and she focused. Immediately, the stars began to brighten and shift. They moved around slowly to create a shape. As if on cue, she felt Calix's chest heave up and down in laughter. She knew he loved it when she did that. His laughter ceased when he saw what she was creating. The shape was that of young Calix. The wind turned into a warm breeze and did not split when it reached the pair this time.
She concentrated once more, and some other stars created to form a wolf-type constellation. She then began to animate the constellations as she narrated her point.
"The hunter is one who does not care for the balance of life and death. The hunter is one that likes to kill for no reason and harbors hostility towards all living creatures. Those that kill for sport have no respect for life."
With her words, the Hunter constellation began to move and chase the Wolf constellation across the sky. Calix, now engaged in this presentation, scrambled up and turned in a circle as he followed the constellations' chase. The Hunter constellation notched an arrow in his bow and shot a projectile of stars into his target. The Wolf constellation slumped and did not move anymore. This time, a cold breeze whisked through the beach air and Asteria saw Calix cover his arms.
"But when the hunter succeeds in killing his target, there is nothing. There is no balance, no shame, no benefit but the feelings of dominance and narcissism."
The Hunter constellation picked up the Wolf and tossed it across the night sky, where it exploded into a random collection of stars; it was an animal no more. It notched another arrow of stars and ran off into the night, exploding into stars as well.
"In turn, the hunter just continues his never-ending quest for blood. Is this what you want to be? A bloodthirsty hunter who kills for sport?"
Calix turned to his mother. His white robes whipped around in the now violent wind. His silver eyes melted Asteria's heart, as they always did. The wind blew his brown hair back as if the ocean was reaching out and pulling it towards the water. She gave him a smile and extended her hand. He regarded it for a second and reached to grab it. Once he grasped it, the wind dissipated and was replaced by an easy breeze. Calix looked down to the sand.
He whispered, "I am sorry, Mother."
Asteria pulled him close and hugged him tightly. She noticed that her son was not hugging back and gently pushed him back to face him. He had tears welling up in his eyes. He spoke softly.
"I do not want to be one of the bad people who kills animals. But hunting calls me. I like it. I cannot make it stop. It is where…I feel like I can breathe the best. When I hunt, the world becomes clearer and I feel closest to…my soul. I do not know if that makes sense. I have tried to push it down, but it just comes back stronger. I see death in my dreams. My dreams are full of me hunting and killing, and I cannot make it stop."
Asteria stared at him and had to call upon her husband's resolve to stop from weeping as well.
He sniffed and reached for her. "Please make it stop, Mother?"
She pulled him to the ground once more so his head was in her lap and his body was stretched like an arrow to be shot into the water.
"You are not an evil child. You have one of the purest hearts I have seen. But your conflict is not lost upon me. I have told you that we took you in, but it's time you learn where you came from. Close your eyes."
Calix obeyed and Asteria put her fingers to his temples. She began to concentrate. A white light flowed through her fingers and once it reached Calix's head, it expanded into small ripples of energy.
"You have the spirit of a hunter because you came from two of them."
She felt Calix slip into unconsciousness and she began to project images that illustrated her story.
"Your father was the Gigante Orion, a man who was born to hunt. He excelled at whatever endeavor he embarked on."
Asteria flashed an image of a towering man through Calix's mind. He was standing in a forest and wore hunting gear. The man had light brown skin and wild, dark hair. His eyes were alive with curiosity and humor. He looked up to the sun shining through the treetops and smiled brilliantly in gratitude for another day. He reached back to grab his spear and leapt onto a tree branch. From there, he hopped from branch to branch, tracking a large lion that was running on the ground beneath him. The wind blew with his run, as if trying to push him to go faster. Orion executed a front-flip onto another branch in front of him and reached for a nearby vine. Once he secured it, he shifted his weight and swung through the air. He threw the spear with his empty hand and yelled as it impaled the lion through the back of its head. The spear sliced through the lion's outstretched mouth and embedded itself into the ground, nailing the carcass down.
"His skills along with his honor and charisma made him the first male to find favor with Artemis, one half of the Twin Archers and the Olympian goddess of the Hunt, the moon, chastity, and animals."
An image of Orion falling to the ground to survey his catch was played through Calix's unconscious mind. He watched as the dream manifestation of his father inspected the lion's mane, teeth, and fur. As Orion examined the angle of the spear, he heard something and immediately drew his bow. Three arrows were notched in it, and the curiosity in his eyes spiked. What he saw prompted him to lower it slowly; a group of women geared to hunt standing in front of him. The women all seemed like they were poised to fight and none of them seemed particularly unsettled by the dead lion. Instead, they regarded Orion like he was an outsider that they had only heard of in legends.
Their eyes flickered to one woman who was leading the group. The group's energy seemed to either surround her or emanate from her. She had long black hair that cascaded down to her chest. She had olive-colored skin and glowing silver eyes. Her jawline was sharp and rigid, like she was the default alpha of whatever group she found herself in. She radiated the beauty of a pack of wolves; one is content admiring from afar, but getting too close would be dangerous. She was dressed in black and brown hunting gear, and her silver arrows had glowing golden inscriptions on them. The heads of the arrows twinkled in the light and the sunlight seemed to turn its attention onto her. Orion's attention was diverted as well as he regarded the figure in front of him. There was a ripple of discomfort through the group of Hunters, for they felt something they had sworn off; attraction.
"He found so much favor in fact, that she extended an invitation for him to join her tribe of Hunters; the first male to run with her. Her very decision caused unrest among her Olympian relatives. They shamed, intimidated, and ostracized her. They were already so familiar with her status as a virgin goddess that they refused to accept anything that may point to a change in that identity."
Calix's dream shifted to Artemis and Orion running with one another as they led a pack of Hunters through the forest. It was raining, and lightning struck intimidatingly in the distance. Thunder resounded through the area and nature itself seemed to be trying to scare them. Instead of looking up at the violent sky, Artemis and Orion looked at one another. Orion smiled at her, invoking one from her as well.
"She refused to listen, though, and from that love came you. Once you were born, Artemis was revolted by you. Your birth was a physical manifestation of her forfeiture of respect, love, and acceptance from her family. As I have told you many times, morality and power are two things that do not correlate well with one another. She wanted to destroy you."
Asteria flashed an image of Artemis holding a child in her hands, one that was swaddled in Orion's hunting clothes. He stood, shirtless, in a tent as he watched the goddess hold the child. Orion's smile melted when he saw her expression. Artemis dropped the child and stood, drawing her bow and arrow from thin air and pointing it at the infant.
"Orion was horrified by his lover's dedication to her identity. He swallowed that fear and used his charm to convince her to sleep on her decision until dawn. That night, Orion took you and brought you to the Aeagan Sea. He had heard of the story of a Titaness fleeing to an island in that sea to be safe from Zeus' aggressive advances. He said a prayer to that woman."
Images of Orion taking the child to the shore of a large body of water flashed through Calix's mind. Orion dropped the child into the water and closed his eyes in a silent prayer. Ripples flowed through the water, and a supernatural force created a current that washed baby Calix out to sea.
"When dawn came and Artemis prepared to kill the infant, she realized that you and Orion were gone. She hunted you two down. And what a great hunter she was. She hunted you two to the Aeagan Sea and found her lover and her child there. Orion tried to reason with her, but she immediately eradicated the child. Little did she know, Orion's prayer had paid off; the Titaness understood his plight and resolved to help him. She had cast an illusion over the rock and in Artemis' blind rage, the goddess thought that a rock was her child. The Titaness found it amusing because her grandfather, Kronos, had done the same thing. In Artemis' eyes, she had fulfilled her duty. To Orion, however, this was a sign of one of two realities; either the goddess he loved had changed into a monster, or he never truly knew who she was. They fought by the water, a brutal fight full of passion and emotion."
Asteria showed a slowed fight between Orion and Artemis. She depicted it as she envisioned it was; a beautiful clash of two great powers, a fight full of perfect form, deadly attacks, and godly energy.
"Artemis barely won the fight, but could not kill him due to his Giant physiology. She then departed and took her Hunters with her after telling a tale of Orion's self-centeredness and aggression. You were safe though; Orion had put you in the water and prayed to that Titaness for safe travels to the mythical island."
She showed the infant being rushed to a beautiful island by the current. Falcons, seagulls, and fish raced to the island along with the child and the wind was blowing with them.
"A chance of survival was better than certain death for you. When he finally came back to consciousness and had healed up enough to stand, he was attacked. Not by a physical attack, but by a barrage upon the mind. When he stood, he saw an ant. He felt an overwhelming urge to kill the ant, and so he did. Once he did, he felt the urge to kill the other ant he saw. After that, he saw a deer and went to attack that as well. After that, he saw a fish. And a beetle. And a bird. And a squirrel. He was driven mad. He hunted and killed every single beast in that forest until he ran into a giant scorpion. That beast ended his rampage, and the body of your father was found in the forest."
An image of Orion standing shakily played through Calix's mind. When Orion turned, however, his eyes reflected chaotic bloodlust as opposed to the curiosity and gratitude that once inhabited it. Orion began to furiously stomp, run, punch, and kick every animal he saw. The dream faded to black with the echo of Orion's screams.
"You made it to the island though, in the hands of the Titaness and her reluctant husband. After speaking to Orion's spirit about what happened through necromantic conjuring from the Titaness, the pair decided to take you in and hide you. The Titaness decided to change your name as well, to Calix."
Calix opened his eyes slowly and Asteria stared down at him. His silver eyes were producing tears that seemed to flow from a never-ending pool. His body shook violently as if trying to purge the sad memories from his mind. She kissed him on the forehead and hugged him.
"You come from two hunters, Calix. Hunting is in your nature. However, the inclinations that one has does not need to translate directly into actions. An individual can learn how to grow and evolve past what they were made to do. You can too. It is important to treat every animal with the same respect you treat me and your father. Wildlife is something to be celebrated, not disrespected. Do you understand what I am telling you, Calix?"
Calix nodded. His mother caressed his face and regarded him for a second with kind eyes. She proceeded to stand and walk towards their crystalline cave. Before she entered the cave, she turned to look at her son once more. He had not moved yet and was looking up at the moon. Though most of his body had stopped shaking, his hand was still trembling. She watched his fingers formed into a tight fist as he met the gaze of the large celestial body. Asteria kept all these things in her heart and prayed that the nighttime would eventually bring Calix peace.