Chapter 1 – The child of Hippolyta

As I walked through the streets of Scythia, I heard the various people whispering. Ignoring them, I held my head high. There was not a single person who did not know of my reputation, considering the great event that happened. The odd looks many of them gave me did not help to alleviate my budding anxiety.

I decided to use the shortcuts I was familiar with to decrease the time it would take me to get home. I began running through some back alleys in order to avoid the eyes of the public, till I began to approach a familiar wall.

I used my momentum to spring off the ground unto the side of one house to the other. I repeated these actions until I got onto the roof. From then I began to run, leap and land from roof to roof. There were a few others I saw doing the same thing, and upon closer inspection, I recognised some of them as being the girls from my class.

Upon noticing me the rest of them kept their distance from me. Nothing new there, I was a pariah within the whole island. As I made it closer, to my home I remembered my lessons from earlier.

“Remember class, Ares is the patron of our nation. Thanks to him being the patron of war, we are considered to be the best warriors under the 12 states. We are generally faster, stronger and better in fighting as a result.

We Amazonian women are therefore also different from other women. We are the only nation where the men look after the children and look after the home. Recently, we have seen an increase in women trying to enter the island as a result.

However, many of them refuse to pay patronage to a male figure, a problem which has also led to many of our women leaving to join Artemis’s group. Another issue is that many of them cannot cope with the harsh terrain due to enjoying easy lives back home. ”

The voice of my teacher paused, as some of the class began to snicker. Amazonian women tended to be rather brash and arrogant, a right they had earned over the centuries. As a result of enjoying their superior advantages, they looked down on anyone unable to reach their standards and respected those who did.

In the past they used to gather men and force them to help seed their children. Later on, they began to domesticate the men and make them take classes such as cookery, sewing and childcare.

But as a state of Ares, men were required to learn how to fight and defend themselves. The only problem for them is that they did not possess the divine bodies and war abilities of the women. This was why they were separated into a different school as supporters.

Men were rarely ever seen in the main academies, unless they were to become the dogs of Ares. In my particular school branch, there was no dog of Ares who was allowed to attend.

Soon my attention was bought back to the lack of buildings for me to jump to. Somersaulting unto the ground, I arrived at my home.

Two female sentries stood apart bowing to me as I approached their field of vision. The look in their eyes was not the usual one I was used to seeing in the streets. Unlike many others, they pitied me for the lack of control I had in the event. That one day had ruined my life as a result. All because of some stupid – there was no point dwelling on it, it would only serve to sour my mood.

As I headed through the compound I began to run once again towards my house. Most children in my position outside of my nation apparently were allowed to use transport to get home. But as a nation under Ares only visitors were allowed to do, unless you were doing a military excursion.

Once I reached the door of my house, I entered the hallways where I was surrounded by the various trophies my ancestors had managed to obtain other the years. There was the head of some emperor that had pissed off one of my great, great, great somethings. He tried to be her consort in order to bear strong children. Well he failed the test and she had dipped his head in amber to preserve it. It was a constant reminder that she would kneel to no man.

There was a portrait of my ancestor who had managed to severe the head of a cyclops and with the help of Ares transformed its eye into a special object that allowed you to see enemies coming from afar.

There was the first mad dog, one of the few respected men in our nation. He was the first male berserker in our family line, the first two become a war dog of Ares. Upon the attempted assassination of his daughter Helena, he had attacked all the people involved with his knitting needles, strangling some of them with the jumper he had begun to weave.

Upon the arrival of his mother and her guards there were various items of clothing in which the attackers had been killed with. He was a hero to all the young males on the island. Many women mocked him as the mad knitter, or the yarn ball strangler. Still he had won the admiration of the people and was one of the few considered for leadership during the succession crisis. An event that was still a sore subject amongst the nation.

As I got closer to mother’s chambers, I saw Adontis, the most troublesome member of our family. She was born with a weak constitution, but was known as the most beautiful woman in the 12 states at the time.

Many people had tried to kidnap her to make her theirs. She was fiercely loved by the people and this led to the war of subjugation, where everyone who had tried to obtain her either were subjugated or slowed up into our empire, or had their nations and people razed to the ground.

It was one of the bloodiest battles in our history and led to her being called the bloody prize.

She was the one that I apparently resembled the most. We shared the same lustre of red hair that grew to my knees, prominent cheekbones and a lithe body that was considered to have perfect skin. All in all, many considered me to be her reborn.

My mother had never been happy about the title as she was one of the few who disliked the trouble Adontis had bought. The only difference between me and Adontis was the eyes. Hers were a bright orange. A colour that stopped me from being exactly in her image.

Eventually she was married off to some foreign warrior who had earned my family’s respect. I was a direct descendant of hers so the comparison were really strong. I worked harder than most to shed the association between me and her. I could never cut my hair, for when I did, it grew back quickly. I did my best to not be seen as weak and just a pretty face.

But just like her the string of the fates had a different plan in store for me.

I entered my mother’s chamber where her favourite consort, Midas was preening himself. We never really saw eye to eye as I thought he was a useless fish, but as my mother’s favourite he was allowed to stay in her royal chambers. Ignoring him I waited for the head servant Jason to prepare my bath and clothes.

Apparently mother had some visitors from the central lands to attend to. As her designated heir, it was my duty to attend and represent her alongside her main husband Iago. I was cleaned by the servants and my hair perfumed. I hated this tradition, as an Amazon warrior why would I need to soil myself with these products and grooming like a central woman. My mother’s answer had been a slap on the head and a warning to respect the customs of our house.

Later on my elder brother, a mad dog explained that it was because many women had complained of their husbands having to deal with their stench whenever they came back from a war or work. Some of them had argued that being a female warrior did not mean we have to go out of our way to act like men from other places. In fact, many of them also groomed themselves, especially those who were nobility or from high ranking houses.

Eventually it was decided that women would have to groom themselves when important figures were around, or at special occasions. I just hated the fact that it made me appear more like a weak maiden given my unfortunate genetic ancestry.

Once I was finished, I was dressed with my crown placed on my head. Iago waited for me as I accompanied him to the delegation room. No words were exchanged between us. I guess he was still sore about his daughter losing out to me in the selection process. She had defected to Artemis’s side and as a result, other men looked down on him. It was not my fault that it had happened.

But the Amazon laws were clear, should any of the children bearing the birth right of Ares appear amongst the queen’s children, then they were forced to fight once they reached 10 as it was believed that the talents given to them would appear from that age and lead them to victory. His daughter was 22 at the time and had lost to me. Not that it was uncommon, whichever daughter usually became queen, their age was not really the determining factor in their victory. Talent was everything.

But the shame of me being the one to defeat her caused her to hate me and regardless of her father’s wishes she left our mother’s court. Mother never lay with him again and treated Iago coldly as a result. It was also the time a young escort soon caught mother’s eye. The one with the golden touch, they called him. It was a golden touch indeed from the happiness mother seemed to show.

We soon reached the hall where we waited for the announcement of our arrival to be made.

“Presenting the royal husband and the rightful heir to the Matriarch, Queen Hippolyta IV, fourth of her name, ruler of the Amazon lands, chosen by Ares and his chosen representative for the Twelve,” proclaimed her herald.

We entered the ballroom where her visitor throne of gold was located. Iago curtsied before sitting next to her whilst I simply stood at her side. As the heir apparent I had no need to show deference, but custom dictated I stood next to her to show discipline and focus. Or something along those line.

Many of the new visitors were swiping looks at me even though they had been warned against doing so. I knew I was beautiful, and looked like something that needed to be protected. According to my mother it raised an instinct to protect me. Regardless of gender outsiders always looked at me, whether it was the jealous glares of the women, or the lustful gazes of their husbands.

These lot had apparently been clued in on the customs though and stopped looking.

“Welcome gentlemen and ladies,” spoke my mother. Gentlemen was considered an insult by men here, it was also an insider joke for those in the room who weren’t foreigners. Those who were aware said nothing, but a few looked quite aggravated. Mother must be dealing with people she didn’t like then.

“Be at ease during your stay here and I welcome you to relax and enjoy the designated districts,” she finished. Everybody understood the implication of her emphasis on the word designated. It was imperative that the foreigners stick to their own zones, especially considering that the other areas did not take kindly to outsiders.

Doing as trained I watched as the rest of the room began to talk and joke with one another. It appeared that they all knew who each other were. At first glance many of them looked like ordinary people, who obviously needed to go on a diet.

But, I could see the taunt muscles that appeared to be strained by the clothes they wore. You would assume considering the indication that the suit was costly that these people could afford to have gotten better fitting clothing.

It was very likely that this was just a way to show off to each other. After all, mother oiling her skin with Midas’s own skin lotion was probably her attempt to make her muscles be put on show. I realised that the general friendly atmosphere was really a battlefield where these people were attempting to show off their strength.

It made me wonder why mother was displeased to see these fellow warriors.

Once the food came out many of them started to have that look in their eyes that my sister the moderate maiden had. Before I knew it, they began to gorge themselves on the roast boars and the rest of the condiments. There was even one who had eaten two and a half boars to himself. Iago looked at them with displeasure. I couldn’t blame him. Even mother could not compete with their appetite. And she had eaten a boar on her own.

As the night wore on, soon they started to chat less and less until mother decided to address the reason as to why they were here.

“Well as you are all nearly finished and it quite late, I will not dally any longer. It is time for you to make your case as to why my child should attend your academy,” uttered mother. I was completely surprised, but I had a neutral expression on my face. My training ensured I would not make the mistake of letting my façade slip. No wonder she was annoyed at them coming. Mother had discussed with my father at great lengths, about attending the academies.

My father had been against it due to him saying he wanted his children to be uncorrupted by the politics and machinations of the central world. He had claimed (according to Midas) that their governments were too complex with their various machinations.

Midas had accused my father of being a villain, for which I had twisted his so called golden arm until it broke. Insulting an Amazon’s parents was wrong, especially that of the royal family. As he was not even eligible to be a husband of my mother, he could do nothing but complain. When he went to inform mother that time she had slapped him down warning him that he should have known better.

Ever since then she kept us apart.

But he was likely right. I had never met father face to face. He always saw her face to face, but she banned us from interacting. On my becoming heir apparent, she relinquished control to him of my other siblings, born from their union.

I didn’t really care what he was. It was most children’s dream to know both parents. I was the only one unfortunate enough to not know mine out of all my siblings. She had said that it was only fair as until I came of age and went through the rites of maiden hunt.

Still, it seemed mother was willing to bow down to no man as per usual. If a man from outside tried telling her to do one thing, she always did the opposite.

As soon as she motioned for them to begin. The men began to come forward.

“Hello, I am a representative for the Titus Academy. I was known as The Titan back in my day. If you come to my academy, you would be allowed to have all your expenses paid for. We would offer you personal tutoring from the best geniuses available. All of our graduates have gone on to high ranking placements,” finished the slightly bald woman.

Hearing the name Titan I assumed that she was a fierce noble warrior, but when she finished it was apparent that she was a genius type hero. Well apparently, her genius did not extend far enough to know that Amazons as a whole spat on those who used only their brains to improve themselves.

Sure we still learnt things about strategy and other things, but we also had to work hard at improving ourselves. A school like that whilst not fit for a follower of Hades, was fit for a dog of Athena. To us it was quite insulting.

“I am Carmine Stones. I am the head of Reach academy. If you were to join our academy, we would offer you exactly what Titan (He snickered in her direction. I guess all others also found the name ridiculous) offered as well as personal training from the Avenger,” he finished.

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This guy had done his work. Even mother’s eyebrows rose in respect. The Avenger was the modern female icon for championing equality. She was popular with men and women for her fair approach. She was also the most powerful warrior from her reality. She had stumbled into ours whilst banishing a greater demon called Mr Pickles from her home planet. It was every Amazonian’s dream to be trained by her. I would definitely earn the respect of all my peers, maybe even Iago.

Well, it went on and on with the various delegates. Expressing their offers. One person offered me an enchanted blade that trapped my enemies in limbo for a few hours. Another offered a copy of Excalibur. The blade was not as good but still miles ahead of most other blades. One of them even tried to seduce me into joining, which really angered me. It was very likely he had not been warned about such actions in my presence. Iago found it mildly amusing.

Eventually after offers that ranged from vehicles to personal tutoring and protective armours, they were told to come back in two days’ time for the decision. They were escorted to their rooms within the residential palace.

Meanwhile, mother took me to her private study. Once we were there, she loosened her robe and threw the ceremonial crown to the side of the room. And proceeded to let out an unbecoming fart, which had me gagging.

“Ah, you seem to bring me nothing but trouble child,” she moaned. I was pretty sure this was her favourite saying. Scratch that. According to the polls of the palace staff, that was her third favourite saying after those damnable idiots or why was my child born to be pitiful.

“Sorry mother,” I intoned, which was probably my second top saying of all time.

“Which academy did you pick for me mother,” I added. Obviously as only the heir apparent, it was up to my mother to decide my future. Anybody who is part of the nobility usually had no say in their future which generally was decided by their family. It was important that the decisions were done by them in order to ensure that it was the best thing for not just their name, but also their nation.

“Don’t you worry. Your school was picked out ages ago. Your villain of a father, ensured this decision years ago,” she replied. This confused me. I had expected her to say Reach academy, or the Strike-Wood institute. But she had shown no smile at any of the ones who had come forward. And there were many, many delegates who wanted the child of the Amazon Queen.

My mother was popular in the central world. She was also known as the liberator in a war she had fought 40 years ago freeing a bunch of female children from slavers and helping them to start their own republic. She was ranked amongst the top ten known warriors. Having her progeny go to your school, increased your chances of looking good to the world. Not to mention, it was likely I would end up as a top tier warrior upon graduation.

“How are your studies going,” she added.

“I am at the top of my class for everything, except for martial techniques,” I answered. The look on her face spoke volumes. It was not my thought my body was not suited to the techniques being taught. Most warriors had a fair bit of muscle at my age. Unfortunately, mine was slender like the prissies on central. It was unfortunate for me that the techniques did not suit my physiology.

“Pandey, would have been top. It’s such a shame she lost to you,” mother retorted. Pandey had been her favourite. She was not only strong, fast and an amazing warrior but she also was inspiring to all of the nation. Mother made no secret of her disappointment that I was never as good as her.

She conveniently forgot the fact that Pandey was not at the top for her studies, she was more of a brute in every stretch of the word.

Still I had no choice but to grit my teeth and wait for her to continue. I understood why she was heartbroken. It just wasn’t fair to me.

“Go and pack your things. Go to the treasury and ask for a cash card. Then visit the mad dogs for an escort to the central,” she said after a while.

“You must also go and get your own armour made. Sadly, none of ours will work for you. It’s such a shame you were born a boy Adonis, “she finished. Bowing respectfully I left.

Yes I was born a male.

In central this would have been a good thing. As the heir to the Amazon Empire, it was a disgrace. I had a twin sister when I was born. Only despite her inheriting the traditional Amazon strength when she came out, she did not have the divine body.

Instead it had been inherited by me. It was unprecedented that a male could receive this in our family. It just never happened. As a result many people began to feel as if I was a child destined to trouble Amazonian society.

My sister was to become a mad dog, unheard of for a female in our family. As a result she was doted upon by my sisters and full blood brothers. But they treated me like a parasite. As if I had leeched her birth right, forgetting that it was up to Ares himself to give us our abilities. Only my mother’s other sons showed any family love towards me. They had grown tired of the sexism that existed in our nation and found it unfair that men were not allowed to rule.

They talked of the central land where men and women were apparently equal. But even they never dreamed of going against the might of mother. She was truly a fearsome being indeed. My own father’s children despised me out of jealousy. I had a chance to become like a woman. I had a chance to possibly even rule, as unlikely as that seemed.

As I grew up, I was given the nickname Adontis. Many believed that like my namesake, I would also be nothing but just a pretty face, like Midas. However, mother regardless of how she felt about me stealing her daughter’s birth right as she put it, made sure that I would not be a disgrace to the family name.

As a result I was pushed harder than all her children. She even had me train under the Spartan known as the immortal to toughen up alongside herself. I grew up outdoing their expectations. I was tougher than any of her children. Nimbler than all of them, hungrier to win than the rest of them. The Immortal had praised me calling me a hard working miracle. I studied more than the rest.

I fought the girls and beat half of them to a bloody pulp.

Other boys looked up to me a champion for their cause. I stuck up for them when they were being bullied by the bigger girls. And upon reaching my tenth birthday, I was soon known as strong Adontis, a joke on the weakness of Adontis and upon me being better than most of the girls.

When the trial to see if I wold develop a talent happened, I was given the mark of Ares. That was when my mother began to be afraid of the danger I posed. My sister had then challenged me as it was becoming more and more apparent who was likely to win the throne. In her haste she forgot the golden rule. Regardless of age, in a trial of talents your age was nothing. She used her enhancing talents to rush at me. Many would consider this overkill, but she did it to teach me my place. After all she was the eldest. And I was nothing but a little boy.

But the mark of Ares manifested and allowed me to see her weak points. Whilst she could best me in strength and stamina, I was quicker. And with the mark of Ares I was soon able to tire her out. All I did was divert her attacks away with the smallest of effort. She was still a seasoned warrior and I lacked the boosts granted by age in my own body physique. Not to mention she was much more experienced than me in combat.

But the mark was not just for show and soon she began to suffer the downside effects of her abilities. Boosting yourself with your own energy whilst it will increase your abilities temporarily, it would also tire you out quicker. Eventually I used my small fists to hit her pressure points and sap her strength.

Still my sister’s abilities were not just for show, she prepared one final attack to take me out and aimed a kick at my kidney. There was nothing I could do to avoid it with the speed she moved at. And then a spear appeared sticking out of her foot. She stumbled in her advance and fell to the ground.

After that happened, no one could deny the divine intervention of Ares and I was crowned the victor.

I will never forget the look of loathing in my sister’s eyes. Who could blame her, after all I had stolen her birth right. The shame at losing to me, not just the younger sibling built also a male through unfair means grated on her. I tried to apologise and give her the crown but instead she spat in my face and hobbled out of the arena.

Instead of the customary applause, there was silence and several jeers. It was an unprecedented result in our history and the beginning of the great divide. Many people tried to get the results reversed. They feared for what it meant for them as women. Would the men soon all receive divine bodies and try to become warriors? After mother refused to disagree with Are’s decision, several of the women left to join Artemis. Even though it would mean they would lose their divine bodies, many of them would rather that, than be ruled by a man.

They advised their daughters to stay away from me. For some it was to protect them from others who may not take kindly to it, for others it was because they did not want to be associated with the troubled one.

My time in school was horrible. I remember - enough of that. I don’t want to repeat that experience.

Taking mother’s advice I selected a random mad dog and proceeded to her treasury. I won’t bore you with the rest of the crappy details. Mother had informed me that the academy would provide what I needed.

Once I had done all that she had commanded, I proceeded to go to the hall. The endless chatter ceased as soon as I entered. I went to stand by my mother’s side.

“Now many of you are wondering which school my son shall be attending. Well we recently received a delegation from Virtue Academy who arrived last night,” she said whilst glaring at a man who was stood by the food bar with his back turned. Seemingly ignoring her, he continued to eat the various condiments laid out in the hall.

“After a discussion, my son decided to attend due to him wanting to him being a massive fan of the hero Paragon, he professed his undying sentiment to attend the same school as his hero,” continued his mother.

This was news to him. Of course he had heard pf central heroes, the Amazons weren’t dumb enough to not keep tabs on the rest of the world. But he was no fan of Paragon or his team. Neither did he hate them, he was just indifferent.

But he understood her ploy. By making it seem as though he choose this school simply out of fan boy admiration, then it would not be seen as an insult to other schools. Whilst many of them had a pretty good idea of what was going on, they could not afford to reject his mother’s words. She was still the queen of a nation after all. As much as he hated what she did, he could not deny the results.

“Thank you for visiting my island, hopefully you will be able to recruit some of our other young ones. The shuttles shall arrive in 20 minutes to take you where you need to go,” she concluded.

The rest of the room began to converse with one another. Many of them had been to see some of the girls form the island to select them for their own schools. Losing out to the School of Virtues was fine, they were the considered to be the top school on the planet. If you were the forefather of what is considered to be modern super-heroism, it would be no surprise that only the best would generally get into your school.

Once the shuttles arrived, the congregation began to make their goodbyes before leaving.

Soon I was left in the throne room with mother and the man still at the food tables. Ignoring him, mother proceeded to sigh as if working out what to say to me. This was normally the point where the parent would try to make up something about being proud of their child. Or showing some form of care.

“Do not disappoint me at the school. This opportunity given to you means you must not disgrace the family name. I expect you to become a council member at the school in your first year. Any less than that and you will be shaming the family name,” warned mother.

“Yes mother, I will mother,” I replied back.

“Do not forget you are the heir apparent to my kingdom. Be stronger than any other person there. Be faster, smarter and more agile. Well you know the drill, be the very best student there. I have arranged for you to be instructed by an acquaintance of mine in a different form of martial arts. He is an otherworlder known as Swift Palms. He is a master fighter from his own world and his martial arts are superior to most of the other ones taught.”

By that she meant the Immortal Spartan had made the recommendation. The number of non-consort male friends mother had could be counted on her fingers. The Spartan as always was looking out for him.

“Well that is all, remember to continually push past your limits. The charlatan over there will take you to the academy,” she finished.

I saluted her and then made my way over to the man. That’s my mother for you. There was no hug. No loving words. Bing an Amazon did not mean you did not show love to your families. If it was Pandey – no, there was not a point in thinking about that now.

“Excuse me sir, my mother says I am to leave with you,” I said to the figure who appeared to still be eating.

The man turned around, and I saw a familiar face there. He appeared to be one of the Template models I had heard so much about. This one appeared to have been defective. It was well known that the Virtue Benevolentia, was a collector of waifs and defective things doing her best to ensure that they ended up useful.

He stopped eating, nodded his head and wiped the grease from his face.

“Me Arwain. Me take you to school now?” he asked.

I nodded my affirmation.

“Good. Follow me.”

I understood now why mother had not been happy, to someone of her standing an inferior template was like giving your child mouldy bread instead of cake. It was insulting and kind of rude considering her position.

Still I let him lead the way to a special shuttle. We entered as I gave a last goodbye look at my mother. I saw Midas there leaving with her. The door shut taking me away from my future kingdom. I was loathe to call it a home, after all the island had felt like a prison. I could not wait till I reached Central. I would be free from the machinations of those who sought to do me harm.

I looked at the mad dog standing on guard in the shuttle. That could have easily been me I thought. Doomed to a fate where I would never have the same level of freedom. Even if I was an unwanted child, I was still better off than my brothers or the majority of men right now. Besides, it was a chance for me to also find my father.

I looked at the data card mother had kept secure which had my father’s identity on it. I looked forward to getting the help necessary on Central to find out who he was.