Unusual Apprentice
Chapter 1: The Outsider
It's only human to want to accomplish something that no one else has ever done. Some succeed & become very famous while others fail & often regret the failure or attempt something else. This is the mythical story of a 15-year old boy that became the Champion of The Gods trying to be better then what people said he would be. Our story takes place 16 years after the defeat of Ares, the original God Of War, in Athens.
"Lets get up Markavious!" "Lets stay asleep mother." Mumbled Markavious under his breath as he put the blanket over his head. Markavious' mother knew that the only reason her son would get up was to hang out with his friends, but she knew she had to get him out of bed or he'd stay all day waiting for his friends to wake him up. Just then Markavious' friends came to the door. "Is Markavious up yet?" One of the 3 friends asked Markavious' mother. "Well, I attempted to wake him but he just rolled over. He & his father are so much alike that…" "Hey guys! It's not even any sun outside & you are…" "The Athens Army are recruiting again Mark!" Markavious smiled & turned to his mother. "Go ahead." "Thank you so much mother. I'll make you & dad proud okay?" "Just make your self proud Markavious. We will always be proud of you no matter what you do." Markavious smiled & he ran out with his 3 friends to be recruited.
"Speak your name." "Chauvinsta (pronounced show-vin-sta)." "Go on in, next! Speak your name." "Tolliver is the name (pronounced Tall-e-vay)." "Go on in, next! Speak your name." "Markavious (pronounced Mark-cave-e-ous)." The Athens soldier looked at Markavious' feet & then looked him back in the eye. "If you are stronger then you look half man then go on in." "Don't take my satyr appearance for granted, I can kill like the others." "Doesn't matter Satyr, you better be ready for some pain. Next! Speak your name." "Itonover, but you can call me Ovay (pronounced eye-two-novay." "Understood, next! Speak your name." The line was long & full of young men wanted to be in the Athens army & the 4 friends were lucky that they made the top 20 before it got to crowded.
"Why does every one treat me different because I'm not a full mortal? I have been this way for 15 years & people still treat me different." "Mark, they treat you different because they don't know how to treat people who are different normal." "Yeah what Tolliver said, they don't understand that you are a great person despite of being a satyr." "Well Itonover it gets rather redundant when every day you have people that just have to make a comment about having hooves rather then mortal feet." "You are half mortal Mark, you have a mortal body waist up." "Yeah & Mark remember Kratos? The man who became the new God of War 16 years ago? Did you know that he was the son of Zeus & didn't find out until after he became the new God of War?" "What does that have anything to do with being hated for being different?" "He was different too & look at him now." Markavious looked at his friends & smiled. He knew that his friends would always try to cheer him up some how whenever people messed with him about being a satyr.
After 4 hours of registration, the commander of the Athens army came out of an entrance across the Door that covered the desert of lost souls. The 2 men next to him ran up to close the door & then the Oracle came out along side the 2 men & the commander. "This is different, why is the Oracle here?" "I don't know but hopefully this is a good sign." Markavious & Tolliver whispered to each other. The Commander of the Athens army ceased the conversation amongst the young adolescents & the Oracle began to speak. "I would love to thank all of you for wanting to be apart in defending Athens from other threats, but as most of you know we will hold a competition this year to weed out the weaker men ensuring Athens will be protected by the most powerful Army Greece has ever seen." The young adolescents looked at each other with competitive looks, attempting to scope out some weaker competition among them. The Oracle continued to speak to them; "Your journey begins here & shall end in Knossos with an item of importance…Pathos Verdes the 3rd's scrolls." The teens all looked at each other in confusion not knowing why Pathos Verdes the 3rd's scrolls were so important. "Pathos Verdes inscribed... some information of importance to the gods of Olympus. The scrolls are wrapped in a bundle thus making it somewhat easy to locate them. If you are the first man or men to find the scrolls, best the enemies that attempt to stop you, & make it back to Athens you will be in the Athens Army."
The adolescents all clapped their hands & cheered at the award mentioned by the Oracle. Then she pointed to the Aegean Sea & finished with, "May the Gods give you the strength you need to conquer all that stands in your way!" A roar came from among the running crowds of men who ran towards the docks of Athens ready to get Pathos Verdes the 3rd's scrolls. Only 4 young men didn't run with them; Markavious, Tolliver, Chauvinsta, & Itonover walked to the docks of Athens making plans for how they were going to get the scrolls. Will they succeed? Read Chapter 2.