Pyrros
The Greek god of fire
Often seen in dragon form
SYMBOL
The Ouroboros, or serpent eating its tail
HANDY ACCESSORIES
A flaming torch-it represents his status as the god of fire
A necklace beaded with claws-it represents his strength and sometimes merciless behavior
POWERS
He controls not just fire, but temperature itself. Pyrros decides whether or not it would be a hot, sunny day to spend playing in the meadow or an icy, freezing one to spend inside, curled up in a wool blanket.
The Day of Fire
Crete-a dark, dreadful place. After years of fighting with the mainland, they had grown weary and so tired they couldn't grow crops for themselves or make offerings to the gods. The gods of Mt. Olympus grew angry with them, and Zeus, the king of the gods, almost destroyed Crete with his lightning bolt, when Hera, his wife, stopped him. "Zeus," Hera pleaded softly, "We need to teach the people of Crete a lesson. They are wrong for stopping their duties, but you shall not kill them for it." Zeus immediately agreed to Hera's wise words, and he started a fire on the far reaches of Mt. Olympus, maintaining it for three days. During those three days, the sky became so bright, not one solider nor wife nor child dared come outside in fear of being blinded. The light died down after those three days, and in the place of the fire lay a small, red dragon, hot to the touch. Zeus lay the small dragon in a nymph's house overnight and retreated to Mt. Olympus to watch. The nymph, named Anemone for her swift movements as she ran, woke up the next morning to find the dragon in her bed, curled up and fast asleep. You would expect her to scream, but Anemone wasn't like other wood nymphs. She was calm and did not talk all day, unlike her talkative, gossiping friends. She touched the dragon, then gasped. The scales were hotter than lava, and Anemone almost expected the dragon to melt at any second. Once the dragon woke up, Anemone vowed to take care of the dragon until it grew up. She couldn't just let it die, even though dragons were a merciless, dangerous species!
After just months of taking care of the dragon-naming it Pyrros for his hot scales, teaching him to fly and speak Greek, feeding him-Pyrros was almost full grown. Anemone also knew that dragons blew fire-unlike anyone else in Crete-and had done a good job of keeping Pyrros from setting the land of Crete on fire. But, one winter day, it grew so cold that even the gods of Mt. Olympus couldn't keep themselves warm. Demeter apologized for mourning over Persephone, her daughter who was stuck as queen of the Underworld for half a year, but she missed her so. Everyone envied Pyrros for his warmth, and soon everyone in Crete wanted one of his scales. Not wanting to be robbed of his warmth, Pyrros flew to Mt. Olympus to ask Zeus for help. He could not go to the Oracle to ask a question-no one had told him about it, in fear that he would tear it down on a rampage. As he approached the top of Mt. Olympus, the weary dragon settled on a ledge to rest and regain his breath. A stray dandelion had been carried by the winds made by his large, leathery wings, and was now dancing in front of his nose. "Go away, dear dandelion. Zeus will not like you as an offering. I'm going to give one of my warm scales," Pyrros sniffed stubbornly, waving it away with his claws. The dandelion drifted away, but the cold winter winds brought it back to the annoyed dragon's muzzle. "I said be free!" Pyrros snarled, waving the weed away with his tail. The dandelion again danced around the dragon, only to be carried back to the dragon by the persistent winds. "I said-" Pyrros was about to tear the weed in two when he accident inhaled, breathing in the dandelion with it. He choked and coughed, and he finally sneezed the dandelion out. His eyes closed, nostrils flared, and mouth opened, he breathed a gargantuan ball of fire the size of Crete. The fireball flew all the way over the mainland of Greece and covered Crete. The island went up in flames within seconds, bringing all its people-including Anemone-with it. The people of Greece saw, and cheered Pyrros on, for this fiery ball of heat had warmed up the mainland of Greece, and all the snow had melted into fresh water, reviving all the crops and livestock. Pyrros grew to be proud of his power, and helped the people of Greece make fire. And that is how the people of Greece used fire to warm themselves during the time of Demeter's mourning.