Odysseus slowly wiped the sweat from across his lip. The air tasted stuffy and humid. It was dense with the wood that had been salvaged from wrecked boats, and the mildew scent was heavy. It was the perfect disguise for the blood-soaked muddy greeks.
He slowly lit his torch as he checked the stars through the tiniest opening they had made in its back. Too small to peer into the darkness, but plenty to peer out. The stars were bright. It was midnight.
"Alright, my brothers listen closely." The greek captain said, adjusting the light leather armor donning his chest. "Tonight we make the Trojans pay. Ten years of war, they've killed us slowly, but now we will be the ones who slay."
He placed a firm hand on a younger soldier's shoulder. His shoulders tense and shaken by a decade of battle. His brown eyes and muddy face turned to the king of Ithaca. "Think of your families and your children." The king turned to another. A man of age with thick beard and weathered bronze armor. Arrow holes dotted its plate. "You're families wonder where you've been."
He strode toward the secret hatch. "They're growing old, and yet we are still here." He turned to his men with the eyes of a warrior glowing fiercely. His messy hair peeked out from under his bronze plumed helmet.
"Do what I say, and you will see them again!"
"YES, SIR." As every man stood.
"Diomedes will lead the charge! Agamemnon will flank the guards! Menelaus will let our mates through the gates so we can take the whole city at large!" The entire crew stood behind him, donning their helmets and drawing their swords, and Odysseus could feel the subtle rock of the horse as the distant greek army approached in silence. Only their horse on its wheels would feel the trembling earth. The hatch to the horse dropped, and the giant Diomedes leaped out, leading the charging men with a roar. Agamemnon was the first to slip away, and Odysseus could hear the slice of a knife on flesh as he slaughtered the sleeping guards. Within minutes, the city was in chaos. Then, the gate crashed down as Odysseus ran down the street, barking orders and slashing his way.
"Teucer will shoot any ambush attack!" As the man ran alongside the king of Ithaca."And little Ajax will stay back!" As the young man pouted and was snatched up by Diomedes. "Nestor, secure Helen and protect her!" As the man ran up the nearby stairwell, and made a mad dash towards the queen's chambers as an army ran through the front gate. He turned and shouted as his voice echoed in rhythm to their marching steps. "Neo, avenge your father, kill the brothers of Hector!"
"Yes, Sir!"
"Find that inner strength now!" He roared as blades and spears cracked, wood splintered, and building after building became as candles in the city.
"Use that well of pride!" As he hasrd a roar of yes sirs across the battlefield, the drums of war a sound like thunder in his ear.
"Fight through every pain now! Ask yourself inside!" As the king took the first step to the palace rise, his blade already wet with trojan blood as the sky cracked with lightning.
"What do you live for?! What do you try for?!
What do you wish for?! What do you fight for?!" As a great clap of lightning shattered the sky, and the roof of the palace of Troy burst into flames. For even the gods seemed to will this. In that fire, Odyssseus saw home for the first time. It was a simple battle away.
"Penelope..." The king lightly whispered as his steps began to ascend. "Penelopeeeee... and Telemachuuuuuuus! I fight for us! I fight for us!" As his blade tore down another soldier of Troy.
He heard something then, like the great cry of an eagle. His eyes drifted up to the raging clouds, and he swore for a moment that there was a great eagle flying between bolts of lightning themselves. Truly, Olympus itself had joined them. He could feel Athena's hand on his as he wielded his blade, and guided it through every chink in their armor.
He felt a flash as his eyes fell on the bird, and a great beast in terrible armor slashed at him from. Nowhere. He could not react as the man simply appeared, but then, too did he vanish.
"Who was that?"
"A vision."
"Who said that?!" The king turned around, blade out and shield raised and ready. Slowly, an eagle landed on his blade as his eyes widened beneath his helmet.
"What is to come, cannot be outrun. Can only be dealt with right here and now." The voice boomed, and the man knew that it was Zeus.
"...Tell me how."
"I don't think you're ready." As the eagle flew towards the palace, and Odysseus gave quick chase.
"A mission to kill someone's son, a foe who won't run. Unlike anyone you have faced before..." as the eagle landed beside a window, and Odysseus gazed toward a simple oak door ahead.
"Say no more. I know that I'm ready."
'I don't think you're ready.' The Chief God's voice echoed as he marched down the hall, his blade gripped tightly in his palm.
The door creeked open slowly, and the King of Ithaca felt his fury turn cold. An infant's room still fresh with paint across the walls of decorated trees. The crib barely aged. The boy, barely born.
"It's just an infant... It's just a boy..." He leaned down as his weapons clattered to the floor, forgotten and unwanted now. "What sort of imminent threat does he pose that I can not avoid?" As he lifted the fair skinned child into his arms. Its blanket was soft, his hair, dark, and as he was lifted, his beautiful baby blues newrly stole the heart from the warworn king.
The eagle was sat on the crib edge, rain crashing across the windowsill nearby as lightning burst through the city like wheatt set ablaze. "This is the son of none other than Troy's very own Prince Hector. Know that he will grow from a boy to an avenger." The eagles voice spoke as the king's eyes witnessed it all. Decades of rage, of anger, of hate, transforming this innocent babe into a monster who knew only violence. Even the look of those now red eyes, so devoid of warmth, newrly undid him then and there.
"One fueled with rage as you're consumed by age. If you don't end him now, you'll have no one left to save." As Pdysseus felt his whole spine stiffen. His eyes locked on the eagle, and his mouth began to taste dry.
"You can say goodbye to..." As it seemed like the wind itself sung for the God who ruled all others. 'Peneelopeeeee.'
"I could raise him as my oooown!"
'He will burn your house and throne.'
The king swept his hand in an angry fury, his eyes starting to turn red.
"Or send him far away from home!
'He'll find you wherever you go.'
"Make sure his past is never knooooown!"
'The gods will make him know.'
"I'd rather bleed for ya!"
'He's bleeding you.'
"Down on my knees for ya! I'm begging, please -"
'Oh, this is the will of the gods!' As the eagle was gone. The king was alone now, with only the infant and his weapons.
"Please...don't make me do this... Dear gods don't make me do this..." As he slowly slumped against a wall, craddling the cooing child in his hands as the sounds of war, all he had known rung out like a song across every wall. For even the rain could no longer drown out the bloodshed he had brought to this place.
'The blood on your hands is something you won't lose. Now, all you can choose is whose.'
And the king wept, as he felt the weight of Olympus and its deeds begin to burden him.
He stared down at the precious babe. His eyes burned near as fiercely as the city, for even the rain did nothing to still its burning end. The air slowly grew thick with the smell of ash, and Odysseus felt his muscles burn
How could the gods ask such a thing of him? How could they ask him to end someone so innocent for sins he had not yet even committed. His hand lightly brushed the infant's cheek, and the little one smiled up at him. Slowly, the king stood.