That was ten years ago. The disappearance of my mother. The departure of my best friend, Astinos. A great amount happened in those following ten years.
My father led the search party for my mother after, what felt like, months to find her. And he did. He found her mangled body on the side of track, surrounded by hundreds of other desecrated corpses. He carried her corpse home from that patrol. Her skin marked with the cuts and bruises of a mighty battle. But that was not all. They had defiled the corpses in other ways. Ways that I only understood with age. But their murders had no honor that day.
I can remember the bloodlust my father had after that journey. The fury in his eyes for the following months, even numbering a year. He was, even to this day, changed from then. My father was no longer himself.
Even when he encountered her. The mother of his youngest children. Xanthe. The mother of my brother and sister could not coax him back.
Of course, I had changed also in those passing years. I grew into a woman, attracting the eyes of men and the jealousy of women. I was educated in the Spartan ways. But I was also educated in the ways of war. The sword became my pen and the bow became my poetry. I was my mother's daughter.
Artemis still kept me close, almost taking the role of father in my life. His wife had also produced more sons since Astinos. Artemis now had two young boys and two young girls to fill his time. One of the boys had already found himself at age seven, whilst the other was only four. I had been there for them in their childhoods, especially for the youngest male, Alexios. He clung to my like ivy to a tree. But I could never take my mind off the lightness to Astinos.
I found myself sat beneath the same tree that had filled my childhood, the nymph tree, watching two children that induced the thought of so many memories. All filled with the young boy that had managed to complete my six years in a matter of months. The two boys, Alexios and Theron, ran around the tree swinging two wooden swords. One carved beautifully with patterns, whilst the other sport a childish decoration… The two wooden blades of my childhood. Everything about that moment seemed somewhat sentimental. The only thing missing was him. Astinos.
"Eula, can you be the monster?" Alexios giggled as he ran toward me with the familiar toothy grin. His words forced my gaze away from the earth below to the young, brown haired boy before me. Behind him stood the little blonde haired boy that was constantly being mistaken for my own son. Theron, my baby brother at five years old, stood with a dirt-covered face and gleaming blue eyes.
"Me? A monster?" I gasped with a playful smile. Alexios giggled again, running away at the sight of my smile. My hands pushed against the bark of the tree as I stumbled to my feet after the two young boys. Both standing together as they struggled to lift the two square chunks of wood that would serve as their shields.
"I'm going to gobble you both up." I snarled as I dragged my feet closer and closer to the little boys. Theron, being the older of the two, was the commander. And with his immature voice, he gave the commands. At his word, the two boys lowered to lock their wooden shields with their wooden swords poking over the top.
"Kill the beast." Theron commanded with wide eyes. I stopped in my tracks, watching the two boys with a grin upon my broken lips. "Attack!" And the two boys charged. My body bracing for the crash of the shields and the jabs of the flat tips of the wooden blades.
Their bodies smashed into my frame, knocking me back a few steps till I gained my footing and started to push back. I could hear the strained groans from the two young boys as they pushed with all their strength against the wooden shields.
With one well timed push, the two children pushed with the strength to push me back once more. And, with some good theatrics, I fell to the ground.
"The beast has fallen, kill it!" Alexios cried out with a grin. The two boys dropping their shields as they leaped onto my fallen figure. Their flattened, wooden blades jabbing at my frame till I gave one last dramatic breath and drifted my eyes to a close.
"The beast is defeated!" Alexios giggled. My frame stayed frozen with eyes still firmly shut.
"Eula?" Theron whispered as one of the two bodies slipping off of my frame. "Eula, wake up." He cried again, poking at my frame with his hands till his pokes turned to shakes. "Eula, we were just playing." He whimpered.
My body sat up sharply, snatching the frame of Theron into a tight embrace. Alexios stood at the foot of the tree, swinging around as he clung to the trunk.
"Can you teach me to fight, Eula?" Theron whispered into my ear as he cuddled close. With a gentle release, my head gave a nod in his direction. His lips curving into a wider smile.
"Eula… Someone is coming." Alexios uttered as he ran back to my side. My eyes snapped away from the brother in my arms to the body appearing from the shadow of the mountain. My hands carefully pushed Theron's little body away as I rose to my feet.
"Theron, take Alexios back to the city." I snapped. Theron looked to me with wide, teary eyes. "Now. Go." I shouted, pushing their small frames toward the city as I snatched the bow and sheath of arrows from the foot of the tree.
With an arrow docked on the string, the stranger came nearer and nearer till I could vaguely make out their features.
He was tall. Muscles covering his tanned skin. With dark hair and dark orbs hidden beneath the Spartan helmet. Something new, but also something familiar.
"Name yourself, stranger." I growled, pulling the string of the bow to my cheek with the arrow firmly docked. The man froze. His frame lowering as he lowered his shield to the ground. His large hands raised then, moving to the helmet that covered his features before it joined the shield on the ground.
"Name yourself." I repeated in a stern snap. His bark-coloured eyes gazed towards me in a confusion of emotions. A dash of shock, surprise and confusion… But also, what seemed to be, a dash of awe.
The stranger took another step forward. A smile tugging at the corner of his lips as he stared, dazed toward me.
"You knew me once." He said, never removing his eyes. My fingers clung to the bow, not relaxing at the sound of his voice. But even that seemed familiar.
"What?"
"You knew me once." He repeated, taking another step toward me. My frame took an instinctive step back, raising the aim to his gaze. "Think about it." He muttered as his hands raised.
My mind was everywhere. You knew me once? What was that supposed to mean? He words repeated again, each time taking a small step toward me till he stood less than two meters away.
"Have you forgotten me already, Eulalia?" The stranger said in a hushed voice. His voice speaking my name causing me to flinch and the bow to lower.
And then, it hit me.
"Astinos?" I said in, what sounded like, a whimper. His lips turned to a smile as his head nodded, his hair moving with the nod.
In the blink of an eye, the bow was thrown to the floor as my figure leaping into his. I felt how his muscled arms caught my frame and pulled me into an embrace. My arms clung to his shoulders as my legs curled around his waist.
"I told you that I would come back."