Hey everyone,

A HUGE THANK YOU to those who have followed, reviewed and put this story on their favorites list. I wish I could name you all, but frankly, I don't really have the energy for it. Please go visit my poll to answer the question given if you haven't answered already. It will help me greatly, even if it doesn't seem like it. I can't say thanks enough. By the time this is updated, the next story should be up.

IT WILL FOLLOW THE TROJAN WAR, LIKE MANY HOPED FOR ME TO DO. SORRY FOR THE CAPS BUT I LOVE TYPING IN CAPS. IT'S JUST ENTERTAINING.

With warm regards,
SharkAttack719

Epilogue

Prince Paris of Troy felt powerful.

It was a wondrous feeling that came with the promise he had earned from the goddess of love. Confused? To explain it in the simplest way possible, it all started with a marriage that occurred twenty years ago between a sea nymph named Thetis and a Greek king named Peleus.

The gods and friends of Peleus were all invited to the massive party thrown for the newly-wed couple, all except for a certain goddess who went by the name of Eris, a goddess of chaos, strife and discord.

Zeus didn't invite her to the wedding because all she would do was make the others feel bad. And, so, in anger and retaliation, the goddess threw a golden apple, stolen from the Garden of the Hesperides, with the words "For the Fairest" written on it, into the party where it fell upon three other goddesses: Athena, Hera and Aphrodite.

Ever since then, the King of the Gods searched the world for the perfect mortal to judge which goddess was the fairest of them all. Twenty years after the wedding, when Paris was twenty-five years of age, Zeus came to him. Oh how the Prince of Troy was bestowed with the greatest blessing and the highest honour to be chosen as the one to judge three beautiful goddesses. It was right after a competition in which Ares in bull form had bested Paris' own prize bull, and the shepherd-prince had unhesitatingly awarded the prize to the god.

Soon enough, the three goddesses and Hermes arrived on Troy's doorstep and entered without a word of permission. People bowed to them on the streets, demigods of Aphrodite flocked to their mother like scavenger-birds to carrion.

And then they entered the palace grounds of Troy.

Hermes confronted Priam, Paris' father and King of Troy, and told him that the Judgement of Paris would take place on Mount Ida, in the Troad region of Asia Minor. Paris was to arrive on his own at exactly midday.

And so the Prince of Troy did, in his honour and duty to the gods.

When the goddesses appeared before him, he was too stunned to choose between them. They were all so beautiful in his eyes. Then they offered him gifts.

Hera offered Paris a deal in which he would become the king of Europe and Asia. Athena offered wisdom and skill in war. Aphrodite offered him the world's most beautiful woman.

The choice between those three options was barely a difficulty, even considerably not a difficulty whatsoever. Paris' older brother Hector was already heir to Troy, the most magnificent city in the entire world, and no kingship of any other lands would please Paris. He loved his brother dearly and wanted him to be the heir of Troy. Wisdom and skill in war... what would Paris feel the need to declare war for? In either case, Hector was the most skilled fighter the world had ever seen, and Troy had the best walls the world had ever seen. Troy would hold its ground in any attack, and even then, the walls of Troy had never been penetrated in many of the sieges and attacks by surrounding nations.

The only time in the past when the walls of Troy were penetrated was many years ago when the Greek hero named Heracles broke through with a couple of friends and killed Paris' grandfather, Laomedon. No major damages were done to the city.

And so, Paris' final choice was Aphrodite, giving the goddess the golden apple.

In return, he was to receive the most beautiful woman on Gaea.

"You better hurry up," Hector said as they entered the Greek city of Sparta. "We have to get home quickly to prepare the army. Menelaus will not take lightly to her kidnapping."

Paris nodded and made his way through the crowd with his brother. They were acting as a diplomatic convoy, to pretend that they were negotiating a peace treaty before Paris took Menelaus' wife, Helen of Sparta. She would soon be Helen of Troy.

The Greeks threw a grand feast for the arrival of the Trojans. It was spectacular, a feast of a huge magnitude. Men from all over Greece had seemingly come to meet them, from Athens, Delphi, Thessaly, Thrace, Macedon, Corinth, Argos and more. They were all kings are wealthy nobles of the Greek society.

The Spartans were a very militaristic people, shrines to Ares everywhere and armed soldiers walking around the city as if it were normal. When they entered the main banquet in the palace of Sparta, an explosion of food and guests awaited them. The gods seemed to want the Greeks to know of the Trojans' appearance.

"Come, brother," Hector told Paris. "Hurry up, don't slow down to admire things you will barely see. We will only be here for twelve days, so do not get accustomed to this."

When they got to the end of the man-made tunnel that led them to two empty thrones, Hector walked up and knelt at the feet of the empty thrones. Paris followed that example, though Hector was the one to speak. "Great Spartans of Greece! We are the Princes of Troy, Hector and Paris, sons of Priam and Hecuba. We have come great distances to speak to King Menelaus of Sparta."

"King Menelaus is not here," a friendly voice spoke from behind them.

Paris turned around to see a young man, about seventeen, staring at them. He had messy jet-black hair and sea-green eyes. They sparkled with mischief, yet they held great knowledge in them. That made him seem older than he looked. Paris thought he saw a hair clip hidden in the young man's hair, but he must have been dreaming. A man would not have a hair clip. Slung on his back was a bow, along with a quiver filled with arrows. Paris assumed this young man was a hunter of some sort.

At his side was an older man, a man that looked about nineteen or twenty years of age. He was clearly a warrior, contrasting the younger one in front of him. The way the Greeks seemed to regard him made Paris realized that he was a famous Greek warrior. He didn't look like a Spartan, though. This man looked even tougher, if that was possible.

The man stepped forward, but was held back by the younger man in front of him.

"Calm yourself, Achilles," the green-eyed man said. "They are just here to talk to Menelaus. But I assume, seeing as Menelaus isn't here, they should speak to the Queen of Sparta, Helen. It is only fair that a royal speaks to them."

The younger man turned to the one named Achilles and gave him a stern glare. Achilles nodded tersely before turning to Hector and Paris with an apologetic smile. "I am sorry, but Menelaus received an invitation to a funeral for his grandfather and I am quite mad that he isn't here to see that we actually arrived for a bit. I could have been training. I am Achilles, son of the sea nymph Thetis, Prince of Aegina and the Myrmidons."

Hector nodded. "And who is that young man beside you?"

"I may appear a young man on my outer shell, but one must never judge a person by who they are on the outside but rather who they are on the inside," the mysterious man said. "As for introductions, I welcome to you Helen of Sparta."

Suddenly the crowd parted behind the green-eyed man, and led by a few servants was the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen. This was his prize. The woman he was going to take home to Troy was right in front of his eyes.

Helen of Sparta was no more. She was now Helen of Troy.

Hey everyone,

Hope you enjoy this epilogue.

I apologize for any grammatical errors in the chapter above.

With best regards,
SharkAttack719