οὐ γάρ τίς μ' ὑπὲρ αἶσαν ἀνὴρ Ἄϊδι προϊάψει:
μοῖραν δ' οὔ τινά φημι πεφυγμένον ἔμμεναι ἀνδρῶν,
οὐ κακὸν οὐδὲ μὲν ἐσθλόν, ἐπὴν τὰ πρῶτα γένηται
"No one can hurry me down to Hades before my time, but if a man's hour is come, be he brave or be he coward, there is no escape for him when he has once been born."
Homer
The Iliad (Book 6, Lines 487-489)
Translation by Samuel Butler (1898)
The only guarantee in life is death. Thetis prophesized that Troy would be the final resting place of Achilles. But if he had to die here, he would at least choose how he would meet his end. This war he would fight on his own terms.
Agamemnon ordered the ships to halt some distance from the shores of Tory but Achilles disregarded the order. The Myrmidons followed his command, not that of Agamemnon; Achilles did not wish to fight as part of the Greek army but as his own force. In his heart, he had no more love for the rest of the Greeks than he did the Trojans. But honor and duty mandated that he fight beside his fellow countrymen.
The ship continued to sail at full speed. As the shore drew ever closer, Achilles could begin to make out the individual soldiers manning the defense positions and the archers drawing the first bows out of their quivers. Behind him, the fleet of Greek ships faded into the distance, into obscurity and irrelevance. As far as Achilles was concerned, it was now his small troop of highly efficient Myrmidon warriors against the entire Trojan army. He would have it no other way. No matter if he faced a thousand opponents or a million, Achilles neither needed nor wanted any more than his loyal contingent.
Perhaps in a way, Achilles actually wanted to die. Or perhaps knowing that he had to die eventually, he wished to go out in a blaze of glory as the thought of growing old and dying of boredom horrified him.
The seconds ticked away as the beach was only a couple hundred meters away at this point. He savored each moment knowing it could be his last. He relished the cerulean blue sea and the feel of the cool breeze against his face. Even the smell of brine from the water below was a familiar comfort to him.
He knew that easily half of his men wouldn't make it 100 meters past the beach, a dozen of them wouldn't even make it off the ship considering the number of Trojan archers. He would grieve for their loss but he wouldn't be able to save them, not that they wanted to be saved in any case. Each Myrmidon was here of his own free will and knew that he would probably never see his homeland again. Each longed for the glories of battle and through death many would attain it; Achilles would not dare deprive them of it. He spoke a few words to motivate his men instilling in them the courage for the coming fight.
They psyched themselves up for the battle that was now only seconds away. The hull slid smoothly onto the hot dry sand of the Anatolian shore and was followed no sooner by a volley of arrows which rained down on Achilles' men. Jumping off the ship, Achilles charged the Trojan army with his shield held high and spear in hand.
The Trojan War had begun.