022: Defect
Five hundred and thirteen years after Helena
-I can't delay it any longer Asterion, they'll take the minotaur in a week, but don't worry, we'll get another one.
Asterion had managed to delay his companion call to the west for a year, he had done it by explaining to the director that he needed a minotaur to experiment with the katadesmos and that Bran was perfect to fulfill that role, but time had already run out, they would take his companion if he didn't do something.
-But, but there has to be another way.
The boy knew what that other way was, he had not yet revealed to anyone his discovery with the word “aἰγίς” because until now the minotaurs had not discovered that power, but if they did it could result in a catastrophe, the heleny have been using katadesmos for less than fifteen years and it had given them a crucial advantage in these times, the fact that minotaurs can use this weapon even better than the heleny is a recipe for disaster, but Asterion did not want to reveal that information because it would be a sure death sentence for his companion.
-You heard me kid, I understand that you want him for being an abandoned like you, but we are at war and the west needs more soldiers, be thankful that you are not one of them, starless.
The director tried to get the boy out of his office, in just two years almost all the young men who trained and studied at the academy would become soldiers; most of them hoplites, some blacksmiths or engineers, but all armed, in Helena everyone is trained for war. Still, the slaves are property of the city and they are the ones who harvest the land outside the wall, who clean the drains, sewers and who bury the corpses because of that there are only two positions who are allowed to order them over any other civilian or soldier: The highest authority the archons and their servants the phalanxes.
-Give me a year.
-That's enough Asterion, even if I wanted to, I can't do that order anymore, the phalanxes asked for more troops for the west.
-I'll take the polemarch test, if I become part of a phalanx I could make that decision, right?
-Asterion what you say is impossible, I know you're desperate but you don't have to throw away your life like that.
-The polemarches test only requires mapping a path to an exit from the labyrinth, I can do it and what do you lose? If I die you will all be better off, you will no longer have to be afraid that you will lose your blessing.
-If it were that simple all my students would be polemarches, get out of here.
To no one surprise, Asterion was thrown out of the place. The boy went all over the city, looking for some member of a phalanx who would give the order for his friend to stay in Helena. He walked through the huge city without rest, It wasn't until dusk was visible on the horizon that he decided to ask the last person who crossed his mind for help.
Asterion walked through the main market. It was just beginning to get dark, but the place was still relatively full of vendors and customers. Of all places, the boy slowly approached an old blacksmith shop where a tall, burly man, with his black hair full of ash that was camouflaged among his gray hair, the blacksmith was lightly hammering a knife from his forge, he didn't even notice the boy in front of him.
-Father, I need your help.
The man didn't even look at the boy, he kept hammering.
-Get out of here Asterion. I'm not your father anymore.
-I promise this will be the first and last time, you are a caestus, please.
The blacksmith threw the hammer at him, the blow hit the boy in the knee and the pain threw him to the ground, he writhed on the floor while his father went to pick up his tool.
-Get out of my life, defect of nature.
Asterion grabbed his father leg.
-In exchange… Tell them not to take the minotaur from the library to war… I swear I will never appear in your life again.
The man kicked his son down the street, but he still did not let go of his leg.
-One-year Asterion, I will extend his life for one year, then if you appear in front of my store again, this time I will point the hammer at your head. Did you hear me?
-Understood.
Asterion crawled as far as he could, he did not have the strength to reach any temple, he lay down in the mud with a smile, but he was also scared, he could not extend his friend life forever, he had to prepare to do the impossible, the labyrinth is the cradle of hundreds of beasts and the only route to hundreds of places, next year he would have to face the abyss and he could not do it alone, nor accompanied by a minotaur with four fingers.
-Hehe, I can't think of anything, not a single plan.
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The stars barely illuminated the child covered in blood and mud, in the night of mediocrity he cried alone in silence, overwhelmed by the burden that had been placed on his scrawny shoulders, he slept as he had never slept before.
Present
-Commander! Look at this.
Hundreds of minotaurs were dead on the wall, they didn't even manage to destroy the doors, they were slaughtered with extreme ease which disturbed the phalanxes quite a bit, the polemarches were sure that this was a trap, but they couldn't see what the target was.
-This minotaur came out of nowhere; it has a different seal than the dioskuroi.
-What are you saying?
The minotaur had a circular seal on its chest, but this one was totally different from Silaus, it was a one-horned goat.
-Can different seals be made?
-I don't know soldier, I've never seen anything like this, the seal of slavery is only possible thanks to the fifth favor of the dioskuroi, it shouldn't be able to be replicated.
-What's going on here?
-ATTACK!
A new horde of minotaurs was approaching the wall and the soldiers had no time to study the seal, nor were they going to get anywhere, only Asterion and Jason knew the meaning of that terrible symbol.
…
Asterion, Laconia and Jason walked through the cavern that a month ago was a complex structure full of petroglyphs and paintings on the walls, now it was just a hole in the ground, the group found corpses of myrmekes and cynocephali along the way, not all of them had managed to survive.
-You said that your other phalanxes would clean the labyrinth, Jason.
-And that's what they did, never before had so many ants appeared in the labyrinth, something is making them emerge to the surface.
-… Let's continue.
The group arrived at the old checkpoint that was destroyed by the myrmekes on the way to Skiathos, Silaus was in the ruins of the temple destroyed by Asterion looking for clues, he had lost track of them.
-Jason, what are you doing here?
-The minotaurs were repelled very easily, I decided to come and give you a hand.
-It's not necessary, especially if you bring your pet.
He said this while looking at the polemarch.
-They disappeared, I don't understand how, there are traces that they crossed three different routes, but it's impossible to know which one they actually went through, it's as if they had vanished, you know, like when you use your blessing.
Silao main phalanx stood up with their weapons in hand.
-There's something strange here Jason, answer me, what are you doing here?
-You always follow your intuition, partner, you already know the answer.
-How did you find out?
-Traitors don't deserve explanations.
- Πατέρας -
- Τζιτζίκι -
Fifty electric spheres the size of a head were born from Silaus ring, these seemed to have a consciousness of their own and launched themselves directly at Jason who from his fleece sent dozens of cicadas shooting at the spheres. The lights and rays illuminated the room in a brutal spectacle. Both archons seemed to be equal in strength with their blessings.
-ASTERION!
A flaming arrow was heading towards Asterion, Laconia managed to deflect the arrow with his sword, the polemarch of Silaus had fired the arrow and his four companions were on their way to continue the attack although they were slowed down by Jason, his cicadas of light destroyed everything they crossed so they walked carefully to Jason phalanx.
-NOW!
A rain of arrows fell on Silaus and his men, from the ruins of the temple came hundreds of cynocephali who decided to stay to take revenge with their own hands, however the enemy bestiary, a corpulent man like a bear, full of scars and with a brown beard raised his enormous hammer almost the same size and hit the ground with all his strength, his ring surrounded by small stones lit up and a rock ceiling was born from his hammer, protecting his entire squad, he had not even needed to use a favor to protect himself from that attack, but Asterion knew perfectly well the capabilities of Helena strongest soldiers and his goal was not to eliminate them with that attack.
-SAGITTARIUS!
Lita was freed from the blessing of invisibility granted by Jason, the cynocephalus had in her hands a totally disproportionate bow, almost twice the size of the archer and tensing it would have been impossible if it were not for her blessing, a cypress arrow that looked more like a harpoon designed to hunt whales was launched at Silao, the archon reacted at the last second and the arrow only managed to make a small cut on his leg, but it did not matter, because the favor placed in the arrow was the real present.
- Βέλος -
The arrow exploded in a shower of bone-like splinters that pierced much of the archon body, dozens of spears buried themselves in his flesh, but none were able to cause him any substantial damage.
-IF THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT JASON, GO FOR IT!
Every heleny born with five fingers receives a blessing from a god and in childhood they receive their first favor, a power that borders on the strength of a divinity, from there each favor must be earned by pleasing their god, to be a hoplite you must first earn your second favor, phalanxes are usually composed of warriors with their third favor and only more experienced warriors obtain the fourth favor, the fifth favor is only reserved for beings with heroic strength, capable of changing history and contrary to the other favors, the fifth is completely unique, there is no other blessed with a fifth favor equal to another, this is why they are capable of performing impossible feats.
- Φευγαλέος -
Jason remembered the first and last time he had seen that macabre favor designed specifically by Silaus, from his ring hundreds of sparks ran through every corner of the labyrinth and hit the seal of the two-headed horse, however his seal did not activate instant death, instead the electricity in the bodies of all those marked went to their nerves and what was thought impossible was realized. The cynocephali that attacked Silaus phalanx lost control of their bodies, their nerves controlled by the dioskuroi directed them to attack those who had freed them, pointing their bows at Asterion and Jason.
-In a few minutes, every marked one not only in the labyrinth, but also in Helena will enter these ruins to kill you Jason, I had planned to do this a long time ago, thank you for planning this for me.
The favor consumed the mark, since they would die after a day because their bodies would not withstand the continuous passage of that electricity, so Silao needed to accumulate as much as he could to generate his personal suicide army against each and every one of the archons. The cynocephali tensed their bows against their will, including Lita who aimed directly at Jason polemarch, but Asterion laughed lightly.
-What do you think is so funny starless?
The question was asked by the polemarch of Silao, a woman with red hair and a cloudy eye.
-Your powerful seal, the fifth favor granted by your god has a defect Silao!
The illusion of light was broken revealing Niko who stopped the electricity passing through Lita body, he carried a small bronze shield with which he covered the cynocephali chest to prevent her from being affected by Jason attack.
- Καθρέπτης -
A beam of light emerged from the fleece towards all those marked, Jason fifth favor was also able to break the rules of favors as it was able to copy any favor it had seen up close. Quickly the nearby cynocephali were marked once again, this time with the symbol of a one-horned ram and regained control of their bodies, however the power of the copied favor was always only half as powerful as the original.
-Fifty percent of those marked are now free, although I focused on securing everyone here, so Silao, how much time do we have now?
Silao hit one of the spheres of his first favor against Jason with his bare hands, the sphere of electricity was cut in half by the demigod's saber. The beam of light that marked the cynocephali was stopped by Niko small shield and his katadesmos vanished, meanwhile Asterion and Laconia joined them.
-Captain, I am at your service.
-We have to defeat him now 'Terion, my companions must be holding back those who were not marked by Jason so they will not be able to leave the labyrinth.
-Polemarch, give us your orders.
Silaus phalanx stood in the middle, it was composed of a polemarch with a bow blessed by Hephaestus, a bestiary with a colossal hammer blessed by Hercules, a caestus with a charging shield blessed by Zeus, a thracian with twin short swords blessed by Aura and a sagittarius with a large cyclops killer bow blessed by Amphitrite. A complete phalanx of five against an incomplete one without a member and with a polemarch without a blessing, Asterion still had his mocking smile.
-I have a plan.
…
Through the corridors of the labyrinth, a tumult of cynocephali tied their loved ones so they wouldn't walk back to the destroyed temple and in front of them some strong footsteps were heard, they were too few to be myrmekes and not strong enough to be cyclops, even so they resonated through the cavern like a terrible omen, however the cynocephali relaxed when they saw in the distance two white horns with a copper bracelet on each one.
Sagittarius: The weapon of the phalanxes, in battles their task is the simplest and the most difficult of the group, to eliminate their enemies, they fight with colossal bows and light swords, they are usually blessed by Hephaestus and Amphitrite.