The skies gloomed on the current day, the consistent, dominating sound of battalions marching southward. At the front of the ten-thousand man army, two men and a boy rode horses. The man leading, had great, gleaming armor with the mold of a wolf on each shoulder pad. He donned no helmet, his pitch-black hair flowing through the morning sky. His sea-green eyes scanned the tree-controlled, fog dominated land in front of him.
"Poseidon, we should wait for the clouds to clear before marching further." The other man said. An older, shorter man, a mage, clearly shown by his robes. He was a mouzgra, tactician. He had maps and plans scrolled up in a sleeve slung around his shoulders.
"Not a chance I let us waste another day, Chiron. We must be at Roden by the next nightfall. I smell their reinforcements from here." Poseidon was lying, trying to motivate Chiron to agree. Roden had no reinforcements coming. No empire would dare step towards the Ruthage's armies. A cruel world, the boy knew from an incredibly early age. The kingdom he was a prince in, the most powerful, came with valuable lessons. One of the most valuable was this; once the Ruthage singled you out- there was no help coming.
"What do you say, Perseus?" the boy flinched. He hated his first name. The boy looked to his father; sea-green eyes met the exact same.
"I say we give the soldiers some rest. You both know equally as well that Roden has no reinforcements on the way." Percy said, and heard some sighs of thanks from the soldiers closest to them. Poseidon smirked, almost chuckling at the boy.
"I've taught you too much, Perseus. Using my own lessons against me." Poseidon said, the smirk staying. The three halted their horses, turning back to the army.
"Set up camp for the day- we must wait for the fog to clear on the day. We will be at Roden within two days. Get the word down the line." The soldiers either started spreading the news down the line, or started to get comfortable where they were.
"Milady." A mage said to a woman sitting in a couch. She was clearly royalty- you could tell by the crown on her head, or the robes she donned. She had servants feed her grapes.
"Nicholas. What do you have for me?" the woman responded, shooing the servant away. The mage, Nicholas, bowed to a
"We've received word that Ruthage is two days out from Roden." The woman gasped, her eyes shooting to the girl across the room from her, a girl merely five years old.
"Get my granddaughter out of here." The woman said worriedly. A servant picked the girl up, to many pleas and cries, and carried her out of the room. "This is good and bad , Nicholas."
"Yes, Aphrodite."
The woman stood, walking towards a window that overlooked her kingdom.
Hyphen.
The new-age kingdom on the continent, having come into power just a mere three centuries ago. They were known for their brutality- no captives or prisoners of war, as well as their almost elitist hatred of the northern kingdoms. All but one.
A man barged through the doors. A tall, nearly six-foot-four, buff man with battle scars lining the skin that wasn't covered by his royal robes. He analyzed the situation, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"You know." He breathed out, and Aphrodite nodded.
"If they take Roden, not only does that give them a monopoly over the mining districts, but-"
"It's a direct gateway to our front door." The man said, walking towards the woman. "Aphro, I love you. If they try to come to us, I swear on our grave that the Olympiad will send a million men to counter their offensive." Aphrodite sighed a breath of relief, a smile plastered on her face as she looked up into the face of her husband.
"Even if your father sends his troops, I don't know if we can fight them off, Ares."
"You must have faith, my wife. Our numbers will win us the war, if it comes to that." Aphrodite shook her head.
"Ruthage has the greatest army on the continent. I don't know if numbers will be enough." She turned to Nicholas. "Send for Pallada and Piper, give them the news." Ares turned her to him, and kissed her forehead.
"I must send a letter to my father."
"Why don't my brothers come on these journeys, father?" Percy asked his father, who smiled down on him.
"Because of how bloodlines work, they're being prepped to rule, prepped to take my position as king one day." He said, rubbing the back of Percy's head.
"Why don't I get that same training?"
"Me and your mother- we've decided already that the chances you're the heir to the throne are slim to none. It'd require for everyone else in the family to die, Percy, so we decided we'd rather prep you to be the greatest general, greatest commander the continent has ever seen." Poseidon said, proudly looking down on his youngest son.
"Why are the odds so low?"
"You've yet to come and realize our strength, not only as a family, but as a royal one. We have control of the strongest army on the continent, not only that, but once we're done with Roden, we'll have complete control over the mining districts, only tightening our grip on the continent." Poseidon finished, but Percy felt something was off.
"But you told me yourself the mining districts are near useless to you. What else would we want Roden for? The best thing to come from there is the bard Yurn." Percy grumpily said. Poseidon laughed.
"All too clever, Percy." Poseidon sighed. "Me and my advisors have come to fear the alliance between Hyphen and Olympiad. We believe it best to make our mark, let them know where they stand."
"And Roden is that mark?"
"Think about your studies, Percy. Roden is two days north of Hyphen, and between them is a notoriously easy travel."
"You think taking Roden as a threat." Percy frowned. "That doesn't make sense. Can't you just send them a letter of threat? That worked well last time." Poseidon laughed.
"I would love to do that as much as you, Percy, but King Zeus of Olympiad is not as easily threatened and much more hot-headed than King Eureka." King Zeus. All Percy has heard of him was that he was quick to anger and married to his sister. His mother and father didn't talk about that royal family much. He also understood that their son, Ares, being married to Queen Aphrodite of Hyphen gave them an incredibly strong stake as the most powerful family on the continent. They would be, if the royal family of Ruthage didn't exist.
As the sun rose on the new day, Percy woke in his tent, his father's bed opposite him already empty. Percy stood, throwing on his clothes, walking out of the tent. He wasn't surprised to see most, if not all of the soldiers within distance already donning the sign Ruthage black armor, ready to march on Roden. Percy spotted his father talking to Chiron, and sprinted towards them. Chiron spotted the boy and smiled.
"The young prince has awoken." Chiron said. Poseidon turned, beaming down on the pre-teen. "I know he's the youngest, but I can't help but think of how bright Perseus's future is." Chiron said with a wink to Poseidon, who rolled his eyes in return. Another man stood himself to Percy's right, a built man who held his helmet between his torso and his arm. His blue eyes shot a wink down to Percy as he nodded to Poseidon.
"Lord Poseidon, the army is prepared and ready to march. We have confirmed that there are resources en route as well as reinforcements to stabilize the city, once we've breached." The man said. Poseidon nodded stiffly.
"Well done, Achilles. Accountable as ever. Give the order that we march at noon. I don't want to keep our hosts waiting… too long." Poseidon said, and Percy sensed the cruelty behind those words. The one thing he hated most about this process was the bloodshed. He'd seen it once before, when a stray village of about five-hundred just north of Ruthage rebelled against his father's new law, adjusting the taxes for wheat farmers. He'd said something about making an example of them, and when a villager attacked one of the soldiers, he ordered the entire populace to be massacred. He loved his father, but could never handle the brutality. But, nonetheless, he understood the reasoning. You don't show and emit strength by negotiating to victories.
As the army marched, the walls of Roden within view, Percy's attention was grabbed by a large obelisk streaking from the ground to the sky. It was no more than twenty feet tall, on the smaller side, but beautiful nonetheless. Obelisks were pure black structures in the planet that were formed when the Great Transformation happened, which in turn allowed humans to utilize magic. Chiron was one of these people, a mage, who uses magic to predict outcomes and strategize for war. Chiron was also like a second father to Percy, along with Achilles. Both of them were there for him, training him, teaching him, when Poseidon couldn't.
They emerged over a hill, Percy, Poseidon, Chiron and Achilles leading, with four battalions of horses following them first, then the thousands of other soldiers. Before them, sat an army of no more than two-thousand, as well as King Eureka of Roden about forty feet in front of the first line of soldiers.
"Percy, come with me. You as well, Achilles." Poseidon said, dismounting and walking down the hill. Achilles and Percy followed suit. They descended the hill, meeting the King and his escort, a large man with bulky, large armor, as well as a helmet that hid his entire face. A mutant.
"Poseidon." the King said. Poseidon nodded, a confident smile on his face.
"Eureka. How much I dislike meeting on these terms…" He trailed off.
"It seems they're under your conditions, my friend."
"As they do. Will you surrender?" Eureka shook his head.
"I believe that if I do, I'd go against my vows and promises to my people." Poseidon nodded solemnly. "You've brought your son?" Eureka said, an eyebrow raised at Percy. Percy frowned underneath his helmet. He didn't like the King's tone, something about it was sinister.
"Showing him the ropes. Not every child of mine will be a political zombie, Eureka." Eureka laughed.
"I respect that, Poseidon. You always were the smartest of us." Percy's neck tingled. He heard the whistle of the arrow.
"Father!" Percy screamed, drawing his blade and slicing the arrow in half. The front half was misdirected and bounced off Poseidon's armor, who stared down the King of Roden with a sinister, cruel smile. Percy growled, turning back to the King and his escort in a battle stance.
"Spare my family, Poseidon." Eureka said, not as confident this time. Percy heard stomping behind them, and four Ruthage soldiers walked an archer forward. Poseidon turned, staring down the man.
"I pity you. First blood to be spilt today." Poseidon whispered to the archer. He turned back to Eureka. "May we mark the beginning of the battle of Roden, the fall of Roden." Poseidon said. He motioned, and Percy and Achilles walked to his side, and they walked back up the hill.
"Kill him." Poseidon said over his shoulder, and Percy heard the men beheading the archer. The cries from the archer, of empathy.
"I'd like to be with the footsoldiers, dad." Percy said to Poseidon, who smiled down on him.
"You always hated horses." Poseidon said. "Protect him. Guard his back." He said to Achilles, who chuckled.
"After what just happened? He's protecting me."
Percy and Achilles stood in line with the footsoldiers behind the horses as the call to charge was made. They ran forward, Percy and Achilles emerging beyond the large battalion of soldiers, the first to make contact. The horsemen ran down hundreds, the first few lines of soldiers. As Achilles and Percy made contact with the Roden army, there was a clear difference between the two. Achilles was shredding down soldiers, tearing waves after waves of Roden men down, not looking back on the corpses he left in his wake. Percy was expertly maiming and disarming, never killing anybody. He cut off hands, feet, legs, arms, but never killed. He masterfully used his smaller form to weave between strikes and blows, never getting touched. He tripped soldiers, butting their head with his sword, knocking them unconscious. He didn't have the heart to kill.
The battle had been going on for over ten minutes, Achilles and Percy had still been on the front lines, Achilles tearing down legions of men, Percy disarming, maiming and wounding. Percy had never felt so alive, so free. He was barely touched, outside of the common scratches and dirt. He was never in too much trouble, and was more than able to fend for himself. There was one point where he tried to dodge a strike, but a soldier shoulder-checked him into the ground. He was about to strike Percy down, but Achilles cut off the soldiers arms, which unfortunately landed on Percy's chest.
"Are you alright, General?" Achilles asked, and Percy nodded, a little stunned. He felt the same tingling on his neck.
"Duck, Achilles!" and Achilles shot to the floor. Percy's sword shot forward, and he heard and felt the piercing of metal and flesh before he saw it. He opened his eyes, scared to death of the sight. On the blade of his sword, a dead Roden soldier was staring back at him. Percy quickly pulled his sword back, and the man dropped to the floor, lifeless. Percy knew he was dead, but still rushed to his side, checking his pulse. Tears started to form. Achilles grabbed Percy's arm, dragging him deep into Ruthage ranks, to safety.
"I-kill…" Percy stammered, crying. Achilles kept walking him through the army. Percy didn't want to look up. He was afraid the soldiers would see him crying. Soon, Achilles stopped, and Percy slowly looked up at the man, who was glaring down at him.
"Percy. You have to understand that this is what will happen in your life. People will die, you will kill people, thousands, I have no doubt. I need you to come to reality." Achilles knelt down, now shorter than the five-foot-ten Percy. "You saved my life back there. You traded a life for a life, you're even." Achilles said, smiling up at the boy.
"Butcher's bill." Poseidon asked, and Chiron closed his eyes.
"I sense seven thousand Roden dead, no more than five hundred Ruthage dead." The battle had waged until sundown, until the last Roden soldier was lifeless. Somewhere halfway through, Kind Eureka was killed, and at that point the decision was already made. Ruthage had won.
"Perseus. I feel something is wrong with you." Chiron said, and Percy's eyes shot up. They were in Poseidon's royal tent, waiting to march on the Kingdom. They had no more than a two hour walk until the main walls.
"Nothing, Chiron." Percy mumbled.
"He killed his first soldier today." Achilles said from behind Percy, and Poseidon's eyes shot up, staring down his child.
"Is that true?" his father asked. Percy shamefully nodded.
"The same feeling came as when they shot the arrow at you, father. I felt someone's life was in danger, and I told Achilles to duck, and I just thrust my sword out like you taught me, and I didn't even see it pierce-" Achilles' hand on his shoulder made him stop talking.
"He demonstrated by far the highest level of expertise and swordsmanship today, my lord. I have no doubt he disarmed, wounded or maimed over five hundred Roden men himself. He's the greatest swordsman we have." Achilles said, smiling proudly. "He told me to duck around a dozen minutes into the battle, and I trust and believe everything the royal family says, so I did as he said. He saved my life. I would've been another corpse on that field if not for your son's actions." Poseidon chuckled.
"Gosh, you two make it sound like I'm mad." He said, standing. He walked to Percy, who was still sitting. Poseidon knelt at Percy's side. "It's tough, your first kill. I understand. I had an even worse reaction."
Percy's face peaked. "Really?"
"God's yes." Chiron interrupted. "Your father was a screaming, crying mess after his. Took me four spells and two days to calm him down." Percy smiled.
"Another in a long line of men who will no doubt tremble under your hand. I'm proud of you, son."
'I'm proud of you' rang in his head until dawn.
They marched on Roden at dawn, and by the morning, the people woke to the wrong army at their doorstep. As they stood outside the primary walls, Achilles and Percy paced in front of the two battalions they were in command of.
"We spare the citizens. No torture, rape of any kind. If you are caught, it is punished by execution." Achilles roared, and was met with 'aye' from the hundreds of men in front of them. Achilles nodded.
A horn blared, and arrows tipped in fire flew above Percy, embedding themselves in the wooden door. The fire ate through the door with immense speed.
"Aether fire. Magical." Achilles mumbled. Percy had never seen it before. He looked back, and the flames were pure white. It was gorgeous. "Ready, kid?" Achilles asked, and Percy nodded.
The horn blared again, and Percy and Achilles sprinted forward, followed by the thousands of men eager to breach the city. Percy and Achilles were in first, disarming and cutting down the very few soldiers daring to guard the doors. The soldiers got to quickly searching and gaining control of the city, and before they got to the royal castle, Percy spotted two men dragging a girl back into an alleyway. Percy sprinted to them. He got there, and caught them stripping the girl down to her underwear.
"Stop it." Percy said, but it came out weak. The men looked up, and smirked evilly. "I am your general. Rape is punishable by execution. We have strict orders to spare citizens."
"You're no fucking general." One of the men said, drawing his sword and walking forward. Percy drew his own in return. "Dumb fucking kid. How'd you get that armor?" the other spat. Percy growled. He felt his anger surging through him. The man jabbed his sword, and Percy quickly deflected, and parried the followup attack. He saw an opening in the man's offense, and knew he could cut off the man's sword hand, or disarm him, but his anger carried his body another way. He surged his sword forward, piercing the chestplate of the Ruthage soldier. He drew his blade back, and the man dropped dead.
"Punishable by execution." Percy growled, staring down the other soldier. "Who's your commanding officer?" Percy spat. The other soldier was afraid now.
"Jace Tuck, fourth battalion, commanding officer is Castellan." Percy's heart dropped. Of course Castellan's battalions are doing this shit.
"Bring your buddy to Commander Achilles and tell him everything that happened. Tell him Perseus sent you." the man nodded, quickly picking up his friend's lifeless corpse and dragging him away. Percy turned to the woman.
"Who are you?" She asked, staggering.
"Perseus Jackson, General and Heir to the Ruthage throne." he said, sadly. "I'm sorry for that. We gave orders to show mercy and kindness to the citizens here. Clearly the message was not passed somewhere." he said, reaching his hand out. She shook it.
"And you…?" he trailed off.
"Sophia Alda. Thank you for saving me." Percy nodded.
"If you see any other soldiers doing the same stuff, let someone know. There's only a few bad apples."
Percy stood aside his father in the Roden throne room. Poseidon didn't like to sit in the thrones of dead kings, as he found it disrespectful and bad omens for the future. 'If I took the place of a dead man, I think I'd find myself beside him soon enough.' he'd told Percy. Poseidon and his advisors were currently negotiating something of importance with the now-ruling queen, Gypsey, Eureka's wife, but Percy wasn't paying attention. He was looking out the window at a magnificent view. Roden was built as a central hub between two major places- Azotela, where the mages go to study, to train, and Tetun, the kingdom on the other side of the Great River, which divided the west side of the continent. There was a great bridge built over the river, allowing for armies along with traders to cross. Tetun was also known as the mining kingdom, widely recognized as the Kingdom who put out the greatest metals and contained the best blacksmiths. Therefore, whoever controlled Roden, had a monopoly on a lot of minerals going North.
basically, I wrote this like nearly two years ago and am currently getting back to writing more of it.
it was only picking up dust in my docs, so I decided to post it. I have some more stuff in storage, and if you like this (so far) let me know, I've got around 6 more already written + more coming (until the semester hits lol)