Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end. -Seneca the Elder

When Zoe was a young girl, she enjoyed her time running around and playing in the small but fun fields outside Nuz. The markets were always a place to play tag, and to prank and joke with the shop keeps. The shop keeps were always smiling with the kids, all except a fruit vendor named Basil, who hated children and all other things good in the world.

It was also when Zoe was young that she discovered the magic of books. Because her family had some money, instead of no money, they always kept a few books floating around the house so that when people visited, they would think they had read them. However, Zoe took to them with a passion. She delighted in the journeys of heroes and beasts, and always had the most fun reading those ancient texts that described the Greek heroes and myths.

Her father and mother, seeing their Christian daughter doing this, immediately attempted to stop it. They were good Christians, and did not want the only leverage they had on the Earth corrupted by philosophers and myths. They sent her to read the Bible, but she never enjoyed it like she did the mythological accounts. The Bible, to her at least, was boring, scary, weird and stupid. However, to please her parents, she began to memorize the Bible.

Then, another of her characteristics shone through. Her immense intelligence. It seemed that, if given the chance, she would gobble all the knowledge in Anatolia, and probably more then that. She was always "secreting books away" as she called it to a friend of hers. She was, in reality, stealing from a local nobleman, a true nobleman. He hadn't read any of the books of course, but they were expensive. She enjoyed the rush.

In her teenage years, she was already becoming a nuisance to her family, to Nuz, and to anyone else who crossed her path. She had played sports with the local young men of the town, beating them in many competitions. She then beat her father in a game of chess, even though he had never lost in Nuz. She grew to be an astounding six foot three, dwarfing many of the men in the village, and making many of them feel quite imasculatied. She was constantly attempting debates with everyone from her like minded friends, to illiterate farmers, artisans and peasants who just wanted to buy some bread and move on with their wretched lives.

Finally, as she entered young adulthood, her family had enough. Not only had she not listened to them at all, it was believed by the local priest, a man named Cadimarus, that she was being corrupted by a local man named Cy. The priest also said he caught this woman, this example of un-Christian behavior, kissing a woman. Even though her father had seen her kiss a boy once, this didn't surprise him. At all.

The priest recommended that she be inducted into a local nunnery, not far from Nicaea. The family agreed, and sent her off.

Ten weeks later, just as harvest was coming in, she showed up at their doorstep with a furious Father Cadimarus. Cadimarus told her to sit down.

"Do you know what your God forsaken daughter did to the Nunnery?!" He shouted. The father gulped, and looked at his wife. Why them? Why them, of all the people of Nuz? Why not the Sadigans, who once tried to steal his goats.

"She laid with a nun! A damn nun! Your daughter laid in bed with a nun, stealing her innocence, and her own innocence!" Cadimarus started to pace the house angrily, or as angrily as possible. The father, for his worth, didn't even believe it.

"What's more!" Cadimarus shouted. There was more? "She was caught reading several children some, some, some crap from the Arabs! She insisted it was translations from Greek! How does she know Arabic?! Huh?! How in God's name does she know Arabic!?" Cadimarus was in the fathers face now.

"I…well…I don't know!" The father told the truth as he spoke, and he meant every word he said. The mother chimed in.

"Father Cadimarus, our daughter has always had a knack for learning and such. She probably just picked it up from one of our books." The mother was quiet, reserved and shy, like a woman of Anatolia should be. Her daughter, Zoe, broke all the rules established. Was she not a true believer in Christ? Had they failed as parents? Were they not good Orthodox people?

Zoe, for her part, found it all to be absurd. She had read the Bible, found it stupid and sordid, and chose to read those Greek epics instead. She always imagined herself an Athena, joining Zeus on Mount Olympus.

Now, had she slept with a nun? Yes. Should she have done that?

She chose not to answer that question.

Still, absurdity! Smart, good looking, strong, everything you would want in a male son. Why not her? She was smarter then her stupid father, the dunder-head. She suddenly stood up, and walked out on the conversation.

Father Cadimarus waved her away. He cared little for her. She was a stupid girl anyway.

Sitting outside, she held a stick in her hand, like she was a hoplite of old. She was sitting with a girl friend named Aria, and a local Byzantine soldier named Castor.

"I understand you do not really like the teachings of the Lord, but you must understand—" Castor started, but she threw her hands up in anger.

"Understand what? That, that, I'm supposed to just give up?" She sighed, heavy and deep with regret. Regret of being born to a Christian household. Regret of being a heretic, which she was no doubt. Her girl friend comforted her.

"We always liked to hang in the granary. Lets go there for a bit." Aria said. Zoe nodded. But as they walked, she thought to herself. What a world, what a world. Cadimarus was back in her house, waiting for her to return so he could scold her again. Another scolding, another day. Everyday until she died, probably. And she mused.

What she would give to be a Greek Reborn.

She opened her eyes. Looking around, the lightning that was streaking toward her was no longer a threat. Rather, she was in some strange plane of reality. Not in front of the granary anymore, being held prisoner by that Western brute. She was among none of her companions or foes. Of course, she didn't even know where Castor was in the real world.

She stood up. She held her arm as she looked around. Turning, she saw that she was in a court of sorts. Twelve massive seats, with statues of those old Greek Gods, cracked and ruined. They were falling onto the floor, which rippled like water but was solid like land. Was this hell? Was this Limbo?

"Neither, my child." Came the deep, resounding voice of a woman. The woman was wearing a toga, with a Spartan helmet and a chest plate of bronze.

"Where…where am I?" Zoe asked. She was terrified, but was too confused to run or panic.

"Why's it matter?" The woman said. Zoe saw her, tall as a tree, strong as an ox, smiling like a child. Zoe looked to her right.

A mirror, one she didn't see before, showed her reflection. Her short, groomed black hair that sat on her head. Her light brown complexion, her athletic body. She felt face, to know it was her. That this was real.

"You know, I always liked the curious. Those seeking out more." The woman said. She stopped smiling, and looked at the seats. The woman pointed to one. "That one's my father. What a dick, eh? But you know all about that." The woman looked at Zoe.

"Are…Are these the Greek Gods?" Zoe asked. She was trembling now.

"Seems to be." The woman said. "And I am all that's left. I thought…" The woman held back tears, and frowned in anger, clenching her powerful fists. The woman then looked down at Zoe. "I thought that I would be…standing here, the person who awakened the Gods and Goddess'. But they're time is gone, I guess."

Zoe was confused, to say the least.

"Then…Who are you?"

She smiled. The woman laughed a hearty laugh. "Why, my child, I am Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and War!" Athena lowered her head to Zoe's level. "And you, my child, are my messenger."

"But…But…I…"

"Called for help, if I remember?" Athena said. She cocked her head to the left. The reflecting floor rippled. "Yes. I remember."

"But…why me?" Zoe asked.

"Don't look for answers you already know." Athena said. Then she grabbed the hand of Zoe. Zoe felt her arms screaming with power, her head screaming with rage, her heart screaming with passion.

"Now go. Do my wonders!"

Zoe opened her eyes. Standing before her, a foolish bishop and a failed rapist. She looked down. She was taller then she was before, standing like a giant among these puny children. She clenched her fists. She felt a power like no other coursing through her, a deep beating something making her feel like a god. Was she a god? No…no. A mortal god. What was that called again?

A Demigod? Yes. Yes, a Demigod. Then, from the sky came a bronze chest plate and a spear.

After killing that foolish man who tried to have his way with her, she looked toward the bishop. He was a Catholic one, which explained why he was already on his knees.

"The power of Christ compels you!" Shouted Bishop Adhemar. Nothing. He pulled out a cross, and nothing happened. He fell to his backside, as she walked up to him. She lifted her hands, and tried to summon anything, and in her hands, came a ball of flame and fire.

"Are you one of the Crusaders?" She asked.

"Yes!" Adhemar replied. She smiled. The other women behind her, who seemed to be half like her, which makes them…something…smiled too. The soldiers all stepped back.

"Go and tell your Crusader friends that this is no longer the land of God. Nor is it the land of Allah. This is the land of Zeus, and Hera, and Athena." Zoe threw Adhemar across the desert sand. "And if you don't leave." She threw a fireball at one of Rolkin's compatriots, who set ablaze. "I will slaughter you all."

She and the others picked off some random soldiers, but stuck to their plan mostly. She turned to the four other women. They all were looking at themselves. Amazons, they were, yes, Amazons!

She wandered back into Nuz, with the villagers all backing away in understandable fright. Then, a familiar face ran out from the church.

"Foul Crusaders, face my uhhhhh—"

To say that Castor was surprised is an understatement. "Come on." She said. "I got something to show you." Zoe grabbed Castor and took him with her. He did not object. She also murdered Cadimarus as she left, for no real reason other then revenge.

She walked all the way to that nunnery, freed the nun she slept with, then walked all the way to Nicaea. She saw the Crusaders, who charged her. Not knowing what they were doing, she took great delight in slaughtering the lot. The Greeks she managed to bring with her took to the slaughter like lions to the prowl. Soon, even that famous Bohemond was on the ground, bleeding his life blood away.

And soon, the Emperor was next. For the glory of Olympus knows no bounds.