Hey everyone,

I would REALLY like it if you guys send in some ideas for the short stories that I am planning to make. Um... HERE IS WHAT YOU SHOULD INCLUDE:

1. Possible Title
2. Main plot idea
3. Historical event it should relate to
4. Short, quick chronology; a short list of what happens in the plot
5. Percy. You have to include Percy.
6. Must be between the years 500 B.C.E and 1940 C.E. (A.D. for those who don't know)

All right! Good luck and we'll see who gets their story ideas into my short story collection. By the way, if you want you can improve upon one of my ideas and make it more specific. Have fun!

Now, regarding this chapter, I understand some things may make you either go "What? Why so quick?" or "He's not supposed to be like that!" but that my personal choice. Like it, love it, hate it, absolutely detest it... I don't care. Reply to me in a review and tell me why it is bad. Just be careful with your wording. I really don't like people who swear at an author just because something doesn't fit with their belief. NEWS FLASH: NOT EVERY HUMAN HAS THE SAME BELIEFS! THAT IS WHY THE WORLD HAS NO UNITED PEACE!

Anyways, thanks for reading my rant.

SharkAttack719

Chapter 15

Arrows Are a Man's Deadliest Enemy

Day 1 of Peace

I cannot believe I am beginning to write in a journal again, but here it goes. The previous night, Achilles gave up Hector's body to King Priam of Troy so that the prince could receive the proper funeral rites. I am glad that Achilles chose to do so. It was disgusting to know that he dragged the body around like that. I agreed with him that Hector should have died, but the treatment of his body was what split us apart.

In any case, Cassandra also went back to her family. It disappointed me slightly; however, I know, and I have always known, that I will have stronger feelings for Zoë than anyone else. I am not sure whether it is just my own feelings or if it is induced by Aphrodite, but either way, the attraction is still lingering there.

Cassandra was very beautiful, though. Achilles was indeed correct. I am pretty sure that the men were gawking at her as she passed through the camp. Brisēís then told me that before Helen passed through the Gates of Troy, Cassandra was the most beautiful woman in all of Troad. I can agree with that.

Then, as Eos approached and welcomed the entrance of Helios, the word of the Twelve Day Peace reached the ears of the King of Mycenae. Agamemnon was furious with this and constantly fought with Achilles about the matter. I sided with Achilles but never took part in the arguments. Instead, I spent my time with the other kings (Menelaus, Menestheus, Odysseus, Ajax and Diomedes) and ordered the Greek soldiers to relax and take the day off. They deserved a little break.

But Agamemnon was furious throughout the entire day. A stubborn man, he refused to the peace and ordered his troops to march on Troy. But when Achilles showed up, the soldiers immediately stood down. Despite being loyal to King Agamemnon, it was clear who the Greek infantry felt their leader was: Achilles.

Day 2 of Peace

It was pretty much the same thing as yesterday. Agamemnon and Achilles quarrelled, the Greek soldiers often getting in the path of the two mens' rage. In the meantime, I made my way down to Kolonai. There, where the scattered Greek soldiers stood guard, I asked them all to come home. When dealing with the remaining population, I told them to either let the free or enslave them. That was what I did as I passed through town after town. From Kolonai to Pedasus and Lyrnessus to Percote, I sent the Greek soldiers back to the original camp along the Scamander River.

An interesting note, the king of Percote is named Merops. How is that interesting? Well, Merops is the father of Cleite. I never looked further into what happened with Cyzicus, but Cleite turned out to be his wife. She hanged herself after his death. I remember that night clearly... except for the fact that it wasn't clear at all.

It made me remember that my generation was the same generation as Priam, though I was around ten to fifteen years younger than those who I called friends. Had I not been immortalized, I would be around forty-six years of age.

Day 3 of Peace

Agamemnon seems to be getting used to the fact of peace. His arguments with Achilles drastically dropped today and most of the time, I could find Achilles in his tent with a confident look on his face. He was certain that he was doing the right thing, to allow for peace whilst the Trojans grieved for the loss of their prince. I believe that he is starting to become his old self again. He is happier nowadays, more upbeat and his child-self coming out. At twenty-nine, most would say that a child is either one or two generations below them. Apparently children love to have intercourse at the young ages of fourteen.

Neoptolemus was quite the annoying child. His injuries had yet to be healed even after twenty days. He is a lot better now, but I admit that I nearly destroyed his knee when I attacked him. It served him right, though.

Today, when Neoptolemus killed a servant when she didn't give him exactly what he wanted, even Achilles admitted that his son was a ruthless brute.

The fifteen-year-old boy received a lot of negative attention and the healers in the infirmary even wished not to help him. Unfortunately, four more people died at the child's hands today. Achilles wanted to kill him to end the barbaric actions, but I said to let the kid suffer some more.

Day 4 of Peace

Nothing has really changed. Eudoros has been given a grand funeral, though. Not as long as Hector's, but still grand.

Day 5 of Peace

More sacrifices to the gods. I went to the city's gates and sat outside, listening to what seemed to be an empty city. Troy was nearly silent in their lament to the fallen prince. Even the guards were sad; they didn't shoot me with a barrage of arrows when they saw me standing at the gates. It was probably because of the peace treaty.

I wanted to go inside of Troy and mourn Hector with the Trojans, but it didn't seem fitting. Hector was a good man, though. Hopefully Cassandra was enjoying her time back inside of Troy because Troy would fall soon. I might be able to save her in the chaos, but remembering her eventual doom, I also didn't want to see her die in front of my eyes.

Day 6 of Peace

I received an Iris-message from Zoë. As soon as I saw who it was, I threw all of my apologies at her. I said that I regretted what I did to her and said I should have let them through. She was nice enough to say that she didn't care about any apologies. She said that there was a more pressing matter.

Apparently Artemis and Apollo had a little argument regarding my life and Artemis took my side. Zoë relayed the message about how Ares and Aphrodite, who have sided with the Trojans, are looking for my demise now. She said that it wasn't necessarily that they didn't hate me, but they were seeing that I was a threat. Aphrodite was mostly tagging along, but I have a feeling that there is something she is going to get out of this. Zoë looked genuinely worried for me, in which I felt touched and warmed to the heart.

When I apologized once again at the end of the message, she told me that, and I quote, "This is war. It changes people. I am okay that you attacked me. You were defending what you thought was important: your country."

As a reply, I said, "But I attacked you. Remember what I promised you?"

In return, she shook her head and chuckled, as if she knew something that I didn't. Then she said goodbye and waved her hand through the mist. I still ponder upon what she had laughed at. I hope it has nothing to do with the fact that I broke it already. I just have to listen to Achilles. Believe that I have not broken the oath.

Day 7 of Peace

Achilles and Brisēís are more loving towards each other than ever... if you know what I mean. Unfortunately, they're loud enough to keep me awake at night. The Greeks seem to truly be relaxed now, more laid back. The soldiers are enjoying their time. Yet at the same time, I knew that they could run to their equipment and fight in a battle within a couple of minutes.

I told Menelaus to discipline them more, to make them do more work so that they didn't get too laid back. At least that way, it would mean they had a balanced way of living. Hopefully it would benefit them in the end because I decided that I would head to Thrace to find out anything about the Amazons coming from the north. I sent Phoenix and ninety-nine Myrmidons down south towards Cyprus and Rhodes to find out about the Ethiopians. Luckily for me, Achilles allowed me to sacrifice two talents of gold to Poseidon for a very speedy voyage down to the southern islands.

It didn't take too long to get to Thrace, but the harder part is to get the information out of them. I found out a little bit of information tonight but I need more time to discover the numbers of their force and everything. So, here I am sleeping in the bottom of the Aegean Sea where fish stare at me in wonder.

Day 8 of Peace

The Amazons were beginning to send a force that was to arrive in Troy on the day right after the peace ends. The numbers were all over the place, but it seemed that out of everybody I got information out of said that Penthesilea was only bringing twelve Amazons to fight in the war to kill Achilles. That wasn't much of a force, but if I am correct, the men would laugh at them when they arrived. It was up to me to stop the Amazons and Greeks from dying.

When I returned from Thrace, my father succeeded in giving Phoenix a boost. The Myrmidons had gone to Rhodes and heard of a large army of about four thousand men travelling on the coast of Asia Minor. They would also reach Troy the day when fighting was to recommence. They were led by Memnon, King of Ethiopia.

Then later, I received a message from my father via Hermes, who gave me a sly wink. My father wanted to introduce me to a special new metal called steel. It was stronger than bronze and was very, very rare. Poseidon said that Hephaestus had only recently figured this out and wanted to perfect it before showing it to the mortal world. I could be one of the first to have a test trial.

So, I offered Anaklusmos to my father and Hephaestus along with half of another talent of gold for the forge god... since this was a test trial.

Day 9 of Peace

I got Anaklusmos back. The one thing about this sword was that it had been tampered with. I felt that it wasn't completely pure anymore. The important thing was that the sword still looked like it was made of celestial bronze, though with a hint of the new silvery look. I knew Zoë's power was still in the sword. In some ways, it represented a human. A human always looks similar throughout life, their face just changing. The personality... some things were set in stone but some things could be influenced by others. However, deep down inside, it would take a radical change to be able to transform someone's soul into something different. In a way, I liked this because it would be a constant reminder of what humans were.

Then later I tested out the sword, and it worked very, very smoothly. When I took my leather armor and slashed at it, the armor instantly fell apart right where I cut it. I know that this weapon is very deadly. I better control it.

I could almost hear the city of Troy getting ready and preparing for the final funeral rites that were to take place tomorrow. There was just this aura around the city that astonished me. Nothing like that ever happened for the Greek funerals... not even Patroclus' funeral held this much emotion. Then again... this was the heir of Troy, the next king.

Day 10 of Peace

The funeral rites were today. I could see the smoke coming from the city center. There wasn't much that happened today. Agamemnon and Menelaus were planning the next battle for the day after the twelfth of peace. The sixth day was when Agamemnon accepted the days of peace. He furtively worked to devise a good plan to fight the Trojans and Ethiopians.

Day 11 of Peace

The city of Troy erupted into feasting and the citizens mourned Hector happily. I can hear their voices echoing over the city walls. Meanwhile, word that the Amazons have crossed the place where the Symplegades used to be passed to me. They must have been moving fast if they were so far away when only a day and a half separated them from arriving as had been planned. Considering they were only bringing twelve Amazons, it would have been easy to move fast. Meanwhile, the Ethiopians had only moved up to Lydia. Their army would definitely have to move slower as it consisted of four thousand troops.

Day 12 of Peace

I waited impatiently at the empty and desolate city of Dardanus as the Amazons forces passed through. They obviously had seen the empty Trojan towns on their way, so the sight of Dardanus didn't seem to surprise them. Seeing me would have been the most surprising event of their day.

Indeed it was. The leader, wearing regal armour and a warrior's helmet, halted the Amazons, who weren't carrying much, as they approached the north side of Dardanus where I stood.

"Who are you?" Penthesilea asked immediately. "And what business do you have here waiting for us to arrive?"

"My name is Perseus," I said. "But you can call me Percy. I am here to stop you from coming to Troy and causing the death of not only your warriors but wasting yourselves in helping the falling city." I didn't want to admit that many Greeks would fall at their hands.

"Priam offered us a great prize should we help Troy," replied the Queen of Amazons smoothly. But I could hear that little tremble in her voice that definitely showed she was not here for the prize.

"I heard that you accidentally killed Hippolyta," I said carefully, not wanting to set off the explosion that seemed destined to happen.

Penthesilea scowled, trying to hide her true emotions. "Yes."

"And to appease the gods, you wish to fight in a battle to the death whilst serving those that are not your own?"

"Yes."

"I admire your courage and your battle prowess as Amazons, but I wish not for the death of many Greeks with you."

"This is just to protect your own men? What are you the king of? Athens? Sparta?"

"I am a peasant from Athens, but also an immortal demigod. A son of Poseidon."

Luckily Dardanus was next to a river so all I had to do was summon water and sent it flowing everywhere. Lifting my hand, I caused the river to explode and the water to trickle uphill toward the thirteen of us, surrounding us in a small circle of water. With another waved of my hand, the water was sent flying back into the river.

"If you are truly an Amazon, it is not a shame to die in a battle to see whether you are able to pass on to the next challenge, is it? A duel, perhaps? I assure you that your fierce women will be able to take your body back and give it the proper funeral rites. Or, if I lose, you can throw my body into the sea. If it is your wish to die, I assure you that I will not hesitate."

One of the Amazons stepped forward with her spear ready, but Penthesilea stopped her.

"Very well," she said. Pulling out her own spear, she stepped forward. "Let us duel."

I nodded respectfully and pulled my hair clip out.

An Amazon snorted. "What is a hair clip going to do?"

Rolling my eyes, I flipped the hair clip and it turned into Anaklusmos, my prized sword. Then I tapped my bracelet and Aegis sprung out. Now, the Amazons looked afraid and worried for their leader.

The Queen of the Amazons leaped forward and thrust with her spear. Knowing I needed to finish this as soon as possible, I sidestepped and hacked her spear in half. Then, with the flat of my sword I smashed her helmet causing her to fall down.

I took Anaklusmos, and as she prepared herself to die, I stabbed my sword right through her heart, through her shoulder where it was unprotected. She was dead as quick as the fight had started. While the Amazons stared in shock, I bent down with a rose in hand and placed it into her hand. Then, I made her hands sit in such a formation that it looked as though she were smelling the flower.

"The Queen of Flowers, a rose," I said. "May Hades allow for you to pass on as a warrior who fought to her death. She fought well but was not skilled enough to defeat her opponent. Let the gods remember you as one who fought nobly."

I turned to the Amazons, nodded, and made my hasty departure.

The Amazons respected Perseus' request to not head to Troy and they were not seen on the day they were supposed to arrive. Storing his journal in a special box, Perseus got up from his bed and grabbed armour.

Today was when battle was supposed to recommence. The Ethiopians had reportedly arrived in Troy the previous night, just as the feasts were finishing for Hector's funeral.

Perseus wasn't sure what it was, but something was making him feel as if this was a moment of doom, as if something bad was going to happen today. Unfortunately, most of his feelings did come true, and dread coursed through his veins.

He grabbed his helmet, his bronze breastplate, his leather arm-guards, his quiver full of arrows, his bow, Aegis and Anaklusmos, before heading outside. Taking a deep breath, he prepared Keravnos to lead a chariot. Like with his feelings, the breath didn't seem fresh. There was just that... fear creeping up his spine.

He shook it off and went back to fixing up Keravnos to a chariot.

Just as he completed his task, Achilles appeared and walked up from behind him. "Ready for another day's work of fighting?"

Perseus sighed. "I guess so."

The son of Thetis nodded and turned around, shouting, "Myrmidons! Meet me outside the campsite. Try to form a line and hold your positions before we start moving forward towards the walls of Troy."

He hopped onto the chariot that Perseus had been fixing up and said, "All right. Shall we be off?"

The son of Poseidon patted Keravnos' back. "Sure. Let us head out."

By the time all of the Myrmidons left the camp and formed ranks outside of it, the Greek army had just barely got themselves organized. They looked more like one giant cluster of soldiers rather than an army... like a disorganized militia.

Turning to face the Myrmidons, he estimated a rough number of men. Of the twenty-five hundred that had come to Troy, one thousand remained. It was a long and hard fought battle, many men lost on both sides. He knew most ships would have to be refilled with rowers after the loss of some in Trojan attacks, but most of the men who survived were veterans now. They had survived and endured in a long and hard fought war.

"Myrmidons!" shouted Achilles, raising his sword. "Forward!"

They let out a monstrous battle cry, one that rang over the beach and the plains with a flame of hope. It seemed to echo the Trojan War itself; a nine year siege that preceded the largest battles that Gaea has ever known. The desperation, the hope that the warriors could go home, all of the emotion that the Greeks felt was shouted in that one battle cry.

"Forward march!" Menelaus shouted to his disarrayed troops. "Get in a line!"

The Myrmidon advance seem to boost the morale of the Greek army. Quicker than before, they rearranged themselves so that they were in a long, thin line that stretched across the Plains of Scamander. The Greek army look poised and ready to fight by the time they reached the halfway point to the city itself. The only thing standing in their way of getting to the gates were the Trojan and Ethiopian armies. The four thousand Ethiopians looked ready to fight with Egyptian-type weapons. Most held spears, but Perseus could see contingents of khopesh-armed men. There were also a lot of bowmen that joined the Trojan ranks.

Looking behind once again, Perseus saw that the Greek bowmen formed the rear of the army. They were behind all of the Greek infantry soldiers.

He turned to Achilles and asked, "Ready?"

Achilles hopped off the chariot and put on his helmet. "I am always ready."

Letting a couple of male servants take away the chariot, the two prepared themselves for battle. Perseus put on his own helmet and pulled the hair clip out of his hair. A little flip and it turned into a gleaming bronze and silver sword. He tapped Aegis making the head of Medusa spring out.

The Ethiopians seemed to be a little more aware now that this young seventeen-year-old boy was actually a danger.

Then the Greek horn blew and the Myrmidons charged. They were followed quickly by the Greek forces.

The battle started out at a standstill. Unlike when the Trojans had ambushed the Greek camp, both armies were poised and ready for battle. It was more like when the Greeks were fighting back against the Trojans. There didn't seem to be a clear winner. It seemed as though two sides were deadlocked.

Immediately, Perseus went to attack the Ethiopians. They were the ones he decided that he couldn't stop peacefully. Their king was, after all, related by blood to the Trojan royals. Even then, Memnon was also supposedly a demigod, so it would make interesting.

It seemed like forever before he could destroy the front lines of the Ethiopians. Rolling in between a gap, he cut the legs off of the two soldiers standing in the second line. Then, he stabbed the two men who were in front of them. That sequence took maybe three seconds, and the overflow of Myrmidons that pierced the gap was devastating to the Ethiopian army.

The Myrmidons, who knew that pushing only through the middle was bad, began forcing the outsides harder. Phoenix screamed to pierced the left and right flanks.

An arrow whizzed by Perseus' head and hit the helmet of a soldier behind him. Then another arrow struck and went straight through his eye. Cursing, he pushed further.

Perseus had to give the Ethiopian soldiers and commanders credit for the confidence and morale. They pushed back, and for once, the Myrmidon army could not overtake the Ethiopians. The main Greek force was all around them, crashing into the Trojan army. It was just about as successful as the Myrmidon attack, except that the Trojans shut their front lines back up and surrounded those who had gotten stuck inside.

The Ethiopians did no such thing and left themselves vulnerable.

It was clear the Trojans were fighting for Hector and their morale was much higher than that of both the Greeks and Ethiopians.

Perseus turned to Achilles, who was right beside him stabbing an Ethiopian spearman, and said, "I am going to go check on the other forces. The Trojans seem to be holding out and killing more Greeks than they are to Trojans.

"All right!" was the short reply.

Perseus tapped Aegis and made his way through the Myrmidon forces towards the Greeks on their right. Over there was Agamemnon, Ajax, Menestheus and Antilochus. The last was a son of Nestor.

As much trouble as Agamemnon had caused in the past year, he was, admittedly, a very good commander.

The right side was doing considerably better than the left side, the Trojan line having been forced back by the sheer force of the Greek army. Perseus turned to the bowmen at the back of the army and ordered, "Fire on the right! Fire on the right!"

They did as he asked and a barrage of arrows were sent flying at the army. It wasn't necessarily to kill them, but just as the Trojans used them for, it was to send them into disarray. The waves of arrows smashed into the Trojan ranks on the right, killing some Greeks on the way, but eventually doing their job. One of the men in the front line collapsed, and immediately, Agamemnon pushed through.

Turning around, he gave Perseus a discreet nod of appreciation.

The son of Poseidon nodded back before having the archers direct their attention to the left side, where Greeks were dying and Trojans were not.

But suddenly, a wave of fire arrows streaked into the archers' ranks, setting them ablaze.

Looking up at the walls, Perseus could see Paris leading the archers, and shooting some of his own arrows, pointing at him and the archers. Since the archers were lightly armor, they were burned quite easily. Perseus tried to save him, but he figured if the water doused over everyone, he would indirectly cause some casualties that should not have happened. Now fire arrows rained down on the foot soldiers of Greece. With metal armor, the arrows only got stuck and didn't set the man on fire. It would sometimes kill, but that was mostly the arrowhead.

In the chaos, the Myrmidons had to fall back a little. The estimate of one thousand Myrmidon soldiers came down to about nine-hundred fifty. Slowly, the Trojans reinforced the right side (or their left side) and pushed Agamemnon back. The Greeks were losing the battle and it was all because of those archers.

Taking action, he shouted at the Greek commanders, "Fall back! Fall back until we're out of the archers' range!"

Even Achilles knew this battle was not in their favor, which was saying something because he loved fighting in the worst odds. But this was not just some game.

"Perseus!" shouted a old man, jogging his way over to him. "Perseus!"

"Nestor! What are you doing here? You could be killed! And why are you wearing armor?"

"I wanted to fight, but I learned that Memnon has killed my son, my poor Antilochus. And I wanted revenge. I challenged Memnon to a fight, but he declined humbly. Please, either kill him yourself or have Achilles kill Memnon."

"Very well," Perseus responded.

Rushing back into battle, Perseus reinforced the back-pedaling Myrmidons. The Trojans and Ethiopians seemed to take their time to catch up with the Greek army. Once the Greek armies were out of range of the arrows, the Ethiopians led the pressing charge with the Trojans following suit behind him.

"Achilles!" he called. "Nestor wants you to fight Memnon to avenge Antilochus."

"What?" replied the son of Thetis.

"Nestor wants you to fight Memnon to avenge Antilochus!"

"You fight him! He is a very good fighter from what I've seen. End him quickly."

The Ethiopians were within shouting distance now, but Perseus always had a very loud voice so it didn't always matter where people were. "King Memnon of Ethiopia! Show yourself and fight me! You can end this. Your soldiers do not have to die!"

Immediately, a man wearing the same armour as his own spearmen halted the charge and stepped forward. "Negotiating peace in the middle of a battle? Very cowardly if you ask me."

Memnon's voice was very foreign, a deep but vibrating voice that seemed to resonate over the cliffs and valleys of the world.

"Not peace. A duel."

The Trojans following Memnon's army into the attack seemed to halt in confusion, and the Greek soldiers had time to rearrange themselves. In a matter of seconds, a whole battle seemed to come to an end.

"A duel to avenge Antilochus."

"May this brave young man's soul be harnessed and caressed by Hades," Memnon said, pulling out his sword. "Let the gods honour his bravery and courage to fight."

"They say you are the son of dawn," Perseus said. "Is that true?"

"Let us fight, not speak."

"Very well."

Perseus stepped forward and immediately sized up his opponent. Memnon was a little taller than him and his stance was very rigid. So, he crept closer to Memnon and waited for the Ethiopian to make the first strike. It seemed as though Memnon was waiting for him to make the first strike after they stood there for a minute.

The tension building up behind him was immense. He knew he had to do something before more war broke out. And then he made the very first move of the duel.

He tapped Aegis and it retracted back into a bracelet. Then, he charged forward. He feinted a strike and rolled between Memnon's legs. The King of Ethiopia was too stunned at his trick to even strike him while he rolled under. But Memnon was quick to react.

Immediately after Perseus rolled under and struck, he turned and held his shield up. Anaklusmos clanged off the shield, and Perseus had to activate Aegis again.

Memnon struck forward, a seemingly harmless strike, but then he twisted his sword so that it cut a gash on Perseus' shield arm. It worked, but the son of Poseidon didn't even feel it.

That was when Memnon went in full overdrive and began attacking like crazy, even Perseus wasn't sure he would be able to fend himself off. He would sidestep and jab, block and parry, feint and stab. That was when Perseus found out Memnon's weakness.

The soldier fought like a highly-trained warrior... but the only reason he was a good fighter was because he had good analytics. He could easily tell someone's fighting style when they fought, learning if they were defensive or offensive, conservative or wild, a stabber or a slasher.

It was a style of combat that Perseus had only seen in one other man: Hector.

The weakness of that fighting style, however, was the fact that it was harder for them to fight someone with a solo fighting style, someone who was used to fighting alone rather than in an army. They would need to be unpredictable and have nearly no tendencies.

Perseus took advantage of that. He went on the complete offensive, drawing on the interest of all on the battlefield. With each stroke, Memnon sidestepped, blocked and parried. It seemed as though Memnon had finally found what Perseus fought like until the latter changed into a conservative fighting style. The son of Poseidon would attack at completely random times, aiming for the chinks in the armor. But with that conservative style meant going on a little defense as well.

Memnon attacked, switching his own style so that he could match Perseus'. At that exact moment, Perseus went wild. He attacked on all fronts, rolling between Memnon's legs and cutting thin wounds where Memnon was vulnerable. He slashed and hacked where possible, using Aegis to slam into Memnon more than he used it for defense.

It wasn't long before Memnon fought in a panicked manner. He wildly swung whenever Perseus got close, and that was exactly what the son of Poseidon wanted.

He somersaulted over the Ethiopian King and then disarmed him, twisting his sword so that he had no choice but to let it go. Then he smashed Aegis into Memnon's face before stabbing Anaklusmos through the king's shoulder and straight into his heart.

To the stunned Ethiopian and Trojan armies, this meant another death to one of their leaders. To the cheering Greek army, this meant another death to one of their enemy's leaders.

With a roaring battle cry, the Ethiopians and Trojans surged forward to attack.

"Don't grab Memnon's armour!" Perseus shouted as things delved back into a giant battle.

Slowly, as the day passed, the loss of Memnon was too much and the Trojan and Ethiopian armies retreated back into the city. But the fatal mistake for the Greeks was that they pursued them.

They were once again in the range of the Trojan archers.

As Perseus fought some of the remaining Trojan soldiers that had been trapped against the wall, Achilles fought at the gates of Troy, almost standing exactly in the spot where he killed Hector.

That thought processed a little too late.

Perseus turned around when the Trojans had been killed only to see Paris on top of the walls aiming his bow right at Achilles. That wasn't even the worst part. Next to him stood a young, beardless man wearing a white tunic with golden trimmings. The symbol of the lyre was clearly sewn into his tunic.

"Apollo," he muttered.

The realization hit him.

"Oh no!" he exclaimed. "Achilles!"

He pulled out his bow and fired an arrow right at the god of archery. But just a split second before, Paris had fired his own bow. The arrow seemed to be travelling in slow motion, along with every single other object in the world.

"Achilles!" Perseus shouted once again, nothing else in the world mattering to him. Despite his loud attempts to get the son of Thetis' attention, it was useless. He saw the arrow pierce Achilles' heel, right in the only spot he was mortal. And that little stick of wood with a metal head killed him.

The explosion and roar of Achilles turned everything back into real time and blasted all around him back at least fifteen paces.

Perseus ran up to the dying hero and lifted him up in his arms.

Blood flowed from Achilles' wound like a waterfall, as if all of the blood wanted to leave his body. Achilles' face looked pale, life draining from it. His eyes were dark and nearly lifeless.

"So my hunches were right," coughed the hero.

All fighting had stopped after he had been shot, most watching as Perseus held Achilles sadly in his arms. The Greeks looked stunned not knowing that he was actually vulnerable. Phoenix and the Myrmidons did know he was vulnerable in one spot, just not where it was.

"The heel," Phoenix whispered.

"Is this truly the end?" asked Perseus as tears came to his eyes. "I should be stronger than this."

"It is fate," Achilles replied. "Tell my mother I love her. Tell Brisēís that I love her as well. Make sure she lives long and happy, even if with another man. Maybe the gods admire me in death and let the mortals know my name: Achilles, student of Perseus and hero in the Trojan War."

"I—Of course I will."

"And Percy... remember. When it comes to friendship or serving your country... sometimes loyalty to your friends is better. Make sure you are happy and make sure... make sure Zoë knows you... you care for her more than Greece. I've learned that the hard way. I will always remember everything... you have done for me... Percy..."

Perseus looked up to see Thanatos standing over him. A ghostly image of Achilles stood next to him and waved before the two descended into the ground.

"Achilles is dead," he said, choking from his sorrow.

But that sorrow was short-lived. It slowly turned into anger. Apollo had taken this too far. He had helped Hector kill Patroclus... which Perseus could barely stand. Now, he helped Paris kill Achilles.

Vengeance would not consume him like it did Achilles, but Perseus now had one goal: to make Apollo pay.

Hey everyone,

Hope you enjoy this chapter. Remember to tell me if you like it or not.

I apologize for any grammatical errors in the chapter above and if any historical facts are actually wrong. I have spent my time looking through different websites, and even a couple of books, but the story that will continue may have incorrect historical info. Still, I believe it just adds to the effect.

Thanks a bunch,
SharkAttack719