025: Heleny

  The last words that the school gives to their students in Helena are engraved in the memory of each of them: "Fools and weaklings have no right to decide how and where they will die, you are strong so learn and fight."

  Asterion did not receive his title of polemarch despite having passed the test, they did not recognize him as worthy of receiving such an honor and all of Helena thought he had cheated, that someone had done the work for him and he only took advantage of the lack of surveillance of the system, even so upon hearing this news the archon of light granted him a wish simply out of curiosity, he was the only one with enough creativity to imagine a miraculous scenario where a heleny without any blessing managed to enter and leave the labyrinth, Asterion wish was simple that his only friend did not go to war, it was fulfilled without any objection because they thought of it as a simple whim of the archon; They were right.

  Bran and Asterion left the old school library and during their fifteens they tried to found a smithy for the minotaur slaves in Helena, good quality horseshoes so they would not suffer so much pain in their damaged hooves, both practiced the art of metal creating all kinds of tools, swords, spears, pots, ladles and shields. Asterion forged his first shield of poor quality, small, weak and deformed and yet Bran decided to engrave the katádesmo of protection on it and keep it as a souvenir, both worked from sunrise to sunset on their project learning and fighting like few others, soon some slaves said that Bran was the only free minotaur in all of Helena and far from seeing it as an attack they saw it as a small drop of hope.

  The young men spent the months working as best friends, Asterion minoan improved until it was almost native and Bran strength grew along with his size, the bull always walked looking down to not to push his friend when passing, he remained quiet with the rest of slaves and heleny, he only talked with his friend most of the time about trivialities, occasionally about the future and only once Bran told Asterion that perhaps one day he would receive his blessing, normally the boy got angry whenever that subject was mentioned, but for the first time he felt optimistic and everyone who passed by that street saw the man born under no star smiling while hammering with his thin arms pieces of burnt metal.

  Over time both children took their first step towards adulthood, both blacksmiths at sixteen years old quietly forged tolls and weapons while being cover of ash, Bran had mastered this art to perfection while Asterion, seeing himself outskilled like always decided to dedicate himself to accounts and sales, it was barely a week after the young heleny birthday when it happened.

  -Bran?!

  -[Here.]

  Both of them came out of their rooms, Bran was armed with an axe and a huge noise of falling stones was heard near their home.

  -The… The wall.

  That day of march was the only time in the entire history of Helena that one of its walls collapsed under the attack of minotaurs and from the wall hundreds and hundreds of warriors entered over the rubble and fought against the marked slaves and hoplites, the houses around began to catch fire and some of them had a strange, slightly pink fire, Asterion grabbed a large shield, a helmet and a kerchief that he gave to his companion.

  -[Take care of your head.]

  Asterion said those words while pointing at his forehead, a single blessing on the symbol and it would be the end of Bran, however each of the objects delivered by his friend had the katádesmo “Aegis”, each one was a safeguard against this situation.

  -Let's go.

  The plan was simple, the entrance to the labyrinth at the base of the acropolis was the furthest point of the walls so they only had to run there and wait for the attack to be repelled by the phalanxes and the archons, both ran to the center where the elderly and children protected themselves from the attack, with their blessings they formed small shields to cover themselves and the labyrinth was completely sealed with stone, all heleny over ten years old were armed, like Bran.

  -IT'S A MONSTER!

  A child pointed at Bran with a frightened finger while clinging to his father, Asterion immediately stepped in between.

  -He's a slave, he's on our side.

  Although slavery had been part of the culture of the heleny for centuries, the mark of the archon had only been created a little over twenty years ago, the number of slaves in the capital grew and grew every year thanks to it and the population was with its prejudices at the highest, they feared a rebellion and any seeds of this had to be reduced.

  -I know you child, you are the starless one, without the blessing of our gods.

  From the ring of the old unarmed father a small stone dagger slowly formed.

  -Tell your slave to drop his weapons.

  Bran heavy axe probably couldn't be wielded by any of those present, but that wasn't the reason why Asterion didn't move out of the way.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  -We all know you are a starless traitor you weren't born a heleny, you're just another slave.

  The minotaur eyes became bloodshot, an uncontrollable rage stalked him as he saw how his friend was treated, although Asterion was already used to that treatment, his companion could barely bear the feeling to cut the old man in two. More and more civilians threatened the duo with their blessings, their five-fingered hands filled with lightning, fire, water, wind and stones, fear flooded the mind of the only truly unarmed man in the entire group, but before he could make any decision the gigantic stone wall that sealed the entrance to the labyrinth was completely destroyed, splinters flew in all directions, several ended up buried in the flesh of the civilians who never expected to receive such an attack.

  -[ASTERION.]

  The minotaur's shield protected Asterion from all harm and he quickly stood in front of him ready for any confrontation. From the labyrinth walked a thin minotaur that was quite small for his race, he had black fur and wore no armor, only a black and gold tunic, a bull skull that he used as a helmet and a scythe of the same size with a blue edge, he looked as if he had been born directly from the underworld and behind him dozens of minotaurs advanced through the rubble, none of them wore armor, helmet or shields, they all had red tattoos on their bodies and their weapons seemed worn, some even seemed to be bent from receiving so many blows.

  -[KILL THEM ALL!]

  Only Bran and Asterion understood the order of the thin minotaur and clearly there seemed to be no exceptions in this, the horde of bulls charged against the civilians without any mercy, the elderly and children were trampled without hesitation while panic swept through the city. How did they destroy so much stone like that? How did they discover this entrance? How did they destroy the Helena west wall? All these questions appeared at the same time in the future polemarch mind, but there was no time for solutions, Bran grabbed his friend and fled the bloody scene.

  -[Library.]

  Bran ran towards the library of the academy where they worked for years, it had a hidden passage under a bookshelf where they could take shelter, however one of the tattooed minotaurs crossed his path.

  Bran ran towards the academy library where they worked for years, it had a hidden passage under a bookshelf where they could take shelter, however one of the tattooed minotaurs crossed his path.

  -[I-I am a mycenaean.]

  It was a desperate attempt by Bran to save both of their lives because he knew that every citizen of Mycenae stops being a citizen once they become a slave, defeat is not allowed and with one of his fingers cut off on each hand he was no longer able to use blessings, he was no longer useful to them.

  -RAISE YOUR ARM BRAN!

  The tattooed mycenaean was armed with a bloody mace full of spikes everywhere, this was received by Bran shield in which the weapon was buried, the minotaur quickly kicked his enemy in the chest breaking some of his ribs, however his enemy quickly got up and the catalyst ring on his nose lit up with a crimson color.

  -He is blessed by Rhea, he will not die so easily.

  As Asterion climbed down from his friend arm he quickly looked back, the troop of minotaurs was busy destroying the town and their leader was simply walking towards the stairs leading to the Parthenon, they had some time.

  -A clepsydra cycle is all I need friend, come on.

  Asterion ran to the nearest house jumping over the window, the mycenaean followed him but was stopped by Bran, the warrior weapon was behind the minotaur with four fingers and so the latter charged with his axe with a vertical slash that would have cut his enemy in half if it weren't for the terrible pain in his back that made him deflect the cut, the spiked mace that was on the ground was shot towards the mycenaean, a thread of blood connected the blessed and the weapon thanks to Rhea.

  -[Dirty slave.]

  A blow that went to Bran chin was stopped by the shield and with it he pushed his rival away once again, he removed the bloody mace stuck in his back and this time he wielded it as his weapon.

  -[Go ahead, bring it to you.]

  The force of the thread of blood was no match against the strength of the minotaur and the axe was out of reach of his enemy, on paper victory was assured, but a blessed one is never truly unarmed.

  - Ρο? -

  The mycenaean eyes turned completely red and he jumped against Bran with such force that both the ground where his enemy was standing and his own shield were destroyed by the enemy force, the impact was such that his weapon flew out against his will and seeing him up close he saw how the veins all over his body seemed to be about to burst and when he was about to be hit with all of his enemy strength a tiny blade was stuck in his neck.

  -ASTERION!

  The blade in his left hand was completely embedded and when the mycenaean tried to look at his other opponent a fork was stuck in his eye.

  -BRAN HIT HIM!

  The minotaur left arm was shattered and with splinters of the broken shield all over his forearm, but the right one was still in perfect condition, he hit his enemy right on the blade burying it even deeper, however he was received by a blow to the chest that would have broken his entire spine if it weren't for Asterion grabbing the minotaur other eye with his fingers in a desperate attempt to remove it.

  -HIT HIM IN THE EYE!

  This time the mycenaean pushed Asterion against the house, breaking several wooden planks along the way, and Bran finally realized what his friend plan had been and this time the blow was against the fork stuck in the eye, which was inserted until it reached the enemy brain. With a wound that was impossible to heal, he began to writhe against the stones, at which point Bran recovered his axe and cut off the head of the minotaur.

  -Ast… Asterion.

  Bran limped as he entered the destroyed house and saw his friend with his head covered in blood, however he was still breathing and his eyes were half open.

  -Bran… Let's go.

  The minotaur helped his friend up and they both walked out of the house, their bodies were on their last legs and they could barely open their eyes properly, as they left they saw how all the civilians who had gathered at the base had been annihilated, the mycenaeans were now walking in their direction.

  -[Asterion… Run.]

  Bran raised his axe, but his companion did not flee, instead he removed the blade stuck in his enemy's neck and prepared himself alongside his friend.

  -[Let's go.]

  The thin minotaur with the scythe looked Asterion straight in the eyes, for a moment they both seemed to stop their thoughts and before they both gave their order two bolts of lightning descended upon the army.

  -The archons.

  Both descended in a trail of white and yellow light upon their enemies, Jason and Silaus were covered in minotaur blood, both seemed to have finished defending the north and south of the city where the walls had not yet fallen, now they were heading from the center to the west exterminating every minotaur in the way. The archon of light immediately set his sights on the leader of the enemy troop and the dioskuroi focused his gaze on the two warriors who had killed a Mycenaean.

  -Ha! You were right Jason, even the starless heleny can stand up to these beasts, you did well to give him that slave.

  The hope that both had lost was immediately recovered, both warriors radiated a warm light that made him think that everything would be fine, but what really reassured Asterion were Silaus words, never before had a heleny recognized an achievement of the frustrated polemarch and a smile appeared on the young man face.

  -Thank you.

  The archon gaze rose to see in the distance a sea of ??flames advancing through the houses, the strange fire had a different color than normal and among it a single minotaur advanced, he was slightly taller than his peers, had simple copper armor and strange rings surrounding his horns, his double-edged axe dragged against the stone creating small sparks along the way.

  That was the first time that the legendary minotaur Theseus met the starless heleny Asterion.