The God of Olympus (14 page)

“Isn’t that what a deal is?” replied Hades.
“In order to gain one thing you must give up another.  And these mortals are not given much to begin with, so they don’t have very far to fall.”

Hades looked over as Hercules’ eyes sudd
enly shifted to his staff.  On top, surrounded by four small black spikes, was a small white globe that suddenly grew powerfully bright, illuminating the entire room.

“Yes, you covet my power,” said
Hades.  “All my God-power is contained within this small globe on my staff.  But do not worry Hercules.  By divine law this globe cannot be taken and used by anyone except me.  And this globe cannot be broken except by God-power, or God-magic, and since I gave you that potion you have very little of that.”

Hercules looked up at the staff and then at all the laborers e
nslaved under Hades’ dominion.

“Take me away from this place!” demanded Hercules.
“I will see no more of this.”

             
“Very well,” replied Hades.  “You must now come and see my grand underground army!”  Then Hades took Hercules into Hades’ great armory.  The room was massive, thousands of feet long and wide.  Thousands of shields, swords and armor lay on the sides of the cave.  Thousands marched in line and stopped and bowed before Hades.  Hades smiled.  In the room Hercules could see three large men approach Hades.  All were arrayed in black.  One held a spiked club.  The other held a sword and the other a bow.  “Meet Herakles, Ares, and Hephaestus—Gods and fallen heroes who, at my command, are creating enough armor and weapons for a great army to assault the world!  You must behold the army that I have been creating in secret on this island—an army to defeat the Greek world and place it under my dominion.  Then after that I will war my great war against the Gods and take over Zeus’ kingdom.”

             
After Hercules had seen the great armory Hades led Hercules onward, down another wide, but dark corridor until the hallway opened up into a large room.  Then Hades began speaking flattering words to Hercules:

“Yo
u know Hercules, you are not like other heroes, other heroes that I have seen. Your foolish father and mother gave of themselves for your benefit—to make you into a Super-God, the greatest God that ever existed! Imagine Hercules, with my help, you could become a Super-God! You would have power that no other God has—a power to control all other Gods!”

“Why would you help me?” asked Hercules.
“You were the one who made me part-mortal in the first place.”

“Yes, because I didn’t know whether you would side with me or not. You know, I couldn’t risk having a super-God as a villain to me, a super-God that could defeat me.
You see Hercules, let me teach you something. This is one of the grand mysteries of all dark villains. All villains in the history of the world have lusted for power, and this is a lust that is quite impossible to fill, given their natural abilities. Thus it is the obligation of a true villain to allow another to achieve great power—greater power than even he possesses, so that he may show the world what a true villain can do. You see my staff Hercules, the power of my staff, the power of all those souls who gave me greatness, through me and my magic, can be brought into you—thus making you the greatest of all villains and even a super-God!”

Hercules paused.
“Your words are full of lies and deceit Hades,” said Hercules. “You would tempt me with great power, but power is not my main objective. My main objective is the peace and prosperity of my people. It is you who would have me as your ally, an ally to destroy the world and bring you to power.”

Hades smiled insidiously.
“Oh, Hercules, you misunderstand me. Of all the great masters in the history of the world…”

“Stop your vain words,” replied Hercules.  “I will never join you.”

              This seemed to anger Hades, but he kept his cool.  He nodded and pointed forward.

             
Then, towards the center of the room was a jagged hole in the floor that was over twenty-five feet in diameter.  A soft, light greenish-grey smoke protruded up through the hole.

             
“Do not go too close to the hole,” said Hades.  “For you do not want to fall in.  Even the darkest of wraiths do not dare go near this place.”

             
“What is this?”

             
“Tartarus!” exclaimed Hades.  “This place is the underworld of the underworld.  All those truly evil and unruly souls are sent here where there is no return for them, unless someone willingly goes in there to take their place.  But nobody loves the souls in Tartarus, which is why nobody comes for them.  They are the lost of the lost and the miserable of the miserable.”

             
Hercules looked behind him and saw that Hades himself would not go within thirty feet of the pit.  But Hercules was driven by his curiosity and so he went forward to just a few feet away from the pit.  He looked back again at Hades, who stood in the same spot with his staff in his right hand.  Hercules took a moment to look into the pit, and saw that it was deep, deep enough with the thick smoke and air to not see the bottom.  Then Hades spoke: “Tartarus is a place that has enough power to kill even a God, so even I do not dare go into that place.”

             
Hades thought of shooting a blast of dark magic at Hercules right then, sending him down into that dark abyss, but he held back.  He knew that he might miss or a hit might push Hercules too far, past the opening.  So, for now, he held back.

             
Hades then led Hercules forward to what would be the last room on his tour—his own high council room.  “Now you must come to my room, the greatest of all the rooms of this underground palace, and the place which I spend the most of my time.”

             
So Hades led Hercules up a long, spiral staircase up to the highest room of his underworld.  There Hercules beheld a long room with a hole above that let true light shine down into his room.  Hades pointed to what lie directly underneath the oculus.  “This is my globe, and with it I can zoom in and see where everyone is at all times.”  Hades moved his fingers over the world and with it, could zoom in and out to various places in Greece.  “For example, I see your trainer Philoctetes now.  He is sleeping under a tree by where you left him.  He must be waiting for you to return, but got tired after all of his travels.  I could send men to kill him now, if I wished.”

             
“Why couldn’t you find me before then, when I was a young child and was lost from you?”

             
“Hah, because I first must know your general location,” said Hades.  “There are thousands and thousands of people in Greece.  It would take me forever to search for them all and by the time I would have found you you would have appeared much different.  But that is what my winged servants are for.”

             
“Very well,” said Hercules.  “But why have you done this?  Why give me a tour of your underworld?  What’s in it for you?”

“I gave you a tour of my great abode.  You have seen what people are like under my command.  You have seen their sufferings.  You have seen t
he labors they must perform day-by-day.  And you have yet to see the true devastations that may come upon all of Greece.”  Hades looked back and pointed to Hephaestus, Ares, and Herakles.  “Hercules, they await my command.  If you do not do this for me war will come swiftly upon Greece and all of Greece will die just like your loved mortal parents did.  What I require is the same as I told you in that prison.  I desire to know the secret to obtaining her soul—the mysterious island woman.  You give me that then I will give you back the souls of all these people that labor in my underworld.  And you cannot take forever in this task just to delay the war.  I will give you one day for travel and three days on the island, for on eve of the ending of the third day on the island I will come to you.  So you must be quick!  What will it be?”  Hercules was still hesitant.  “You did not do a deal with me before and your mortal, earthly parents died.  More evil will befall this world if you do not deal with me!”

“Stop!” yelled Hercules.  “
I see that this must be.  I will go.  I will go to the island and find this woman.  I will try to discover what you may do to gain her soul.”

“Excellent!” exclaimed Hades
.  “But you must be off swiftly.  In a few hours night will come upon us and in order for this deal to be effective you must arrive at this island by tomorrow…you have a long journey yet.”

Hercules nodded and walked away, down the stairs. 
“Remember, Hercules,” said Hades.  “I have this globe so I shall know if you leave that island without completing your mission.  As soon as you do our deal will be broken and war may commence.  Leave your shepherd’s staff here.  That will be a sign to me that you have truly accepted my deal.”

Hercules
nodded and set his staff against the wall.  After this Hades led Hercules back out of his underworld, after which the gate slammed shut behind him.  Hercules looked outside and saw Pegasus lying down against a large rock.  He was clearly tired, but managed to get up.

“I am sorry,” said Hercules.  “But we must be off again.
We haven’t time to waste.  We must find Philoctetes and then go to the island of Corfu, far to the northwest.”

Pegasus looked sad.  He clearly was tired after all the traveling he had done.  But he was tough and strong and obeyed Hercules.  As Hercules rode Pegasus off to the northwest he looked towards the north and prayed he would be able to accomplish his mission soon.

******

After Hercules flew away from his underworld island
Hades’ look went extremely serious and angry.  Herakles went up behind Hades.  “Why have you sent him there?  Why delay the war?  We could have overpowered him and put him into prison right here.”

“It is not
just him I am now after,” said Hades.  “You must have patience Herakles.  The day will soon come when you may swing your great club with vengeance against the world.  But we must wait just a little longer.  I don’t want any God-power in him, not even a drop.  There must be no chance that he can return.”  Hades smiled. “But for now you must go to the deep part of the underworld and bring me Megara.  It turns out that she will be of great use to me.”

Chapter 9
: Divisive Turns

Philoctetes was sitting patiently
awaiting the return of Hercules so that he might be given more insight at to Hades’ plan, and so that they might discuss how to defeat him.  The sky was darkening and Philoctetes’ eyes filled with joy when he saw Hercules and Pegasus return safely.  “Praise be to the Gods that you have returned from that awful abode in safety!” exclaimed Philoctetes, as he jumped up from off the ground and ran over to a fire he had started.  “Come and eat!  While you were gone I killed a wild boar and by an open fire I have cooked his meat.  Come, eat, and rest, for here we may discuss what is to be done next.”

And so there
, around the fire, Hercules and Philoctetes shared a meal together.  During the meal Philoctetes spent a great deal of time keeping Hercules up-to-date on what was occurring throughout the Greek world.  “Right now Hercules, Athens is a democracy, but it is a failing democracy.  They don’t know about Hades’ or the war.  The Spartan King doesn’t know about it either.  He believes that the Athenians will attack them.  He has ordered that all their men swiftly prepare to defend themselves against attacks that he believes are sure to come upon them.”

“So Hercules, you must tell me everything,” said Philoctetes.  “No mortal man has been to Hades’ underworld and returned to tell the tale.  What is it like there?  What is
he
like now?”

             
Hercules then began to explain everything—the massive underworld, the thousands of servants Hades’ possessed, the army Hades’ had created and the many evil Gods and heroes he had under his command, Hades’ throne room and the magical globe he possessed, and, finally, came the greatest disturbing news.  “Philoctetes, he made me do a deal with him.  I was the only way to delay the war, at least long enough to allow Greece to prepare…”

             
Philoctetes suddenly looked concerned and didn’t let Hercules speak any further.  “What deal?  What deal did you do Hercules?”

             
“Hades could assault and destroy the Greek world now if he really wanted to, but there is one soul that he has yet to obtain—a woman on the far reaches of this land, on an island to the northwest.  He so much desires to have this woman under his command that he asked me to go to her and find out her weakness, what he may do to have her.  If I do this for him he will postpone his assault on all of Greece.”

             
“And you agreed to do this,” said Philoctetes.

             
“Yes, but there was no contract and I still have my choice to go.  But if I don’t all of Greece will fall under Hades’ dominion.”

             
“I know you think it right, but I think it unwise to go to that island.  It does not feel right to me.  There still is much work to be done here.  Athens and Sparta are close to an all-out war and now, more than ever, you can stand as an example to these people.  You won the Olympic Games Hercules!  You can now preach to these people of the evil of Hades!  You can prepare these people for the return of a hero!”

             
“That is not what this is about Phil,” said Hercules.  “It has to be about something much more…something you are afraid of.  Do you not trust me?  I have ever followed your counsel and guidance and you don’t trust me being on that island alone.”

             
Philoctetes looked sad and shook his head.  “No, of course I trust you.  I have placed all of my hope in you.  But if you go to that island it will just be you and her and I don’t want you to get hurt.  I know Hades and his ways much more than you do.  I don’t want your heart to suffer, for I know what it is like to fall in love and then have your heart broken.  Don’t you understand Hercules?”  Philoctetes was near tears.  “You are like a son to me!  I don’t care if you have the greatest Gods as parents.  To me you are like a great son—my son.  When I saw you win the Olympic Games you don’t know how proud I was of you!  I felt so happy for you!  I felt like your father, and I have never felt that way towards another person before.  And you being a hero doesn’t matter much to me.  You can fail at every single heroic endeavor that you do, but if you are happy, then I am happy!  You see Hercules, I could rescue all of Greece from the hands of Hades and his forces, but if I lose you all is lost!  I would retreat back to that wretched island never to come back to the world again!”  Philoctetes paused for a moment and walked around Hercules in a circle.  “Hercules, we all come of the age when we experience the Ultimate Feeling.  Some feel it when they are younger than others, but it is certain that all people, at one time or another feel it.  This feeling unites all mankind, but cannot be yours, as the hero.  This is always my last speech to the hero and the hardest for the hero to hear.  As a hero you must love people, but you cannot love a woman, or at least express your love for a woman.”

             
“Cannot express my love?  Why?  Why cannot I love a woman?  Is that not what man was created for?”

             
“Yes, but not the hero,” said Philoctetes.  “You must be the anomaly.  Until your hero mission is complete you cannot give your heart away to a woman.  Give you heart to all these people, these people you must save, but not to a woman.  If you put a woman ahead of these people you will never be able to save them.  Don’t you understand Hercules?  Hades could have assaulted the Greek world the last thirty years, ever since you were born.  But he does not because is afraid of the greatest of Gods, Zeus, Hera, and now,
you
.  He wants
both
you and your parents out of the way.  That is his true motive.  You see Hercules, you cannot defeat Hades alone.  Even Zeus cannot and could not defeat Hades alone.  No one God can defeat another God on their own.  No, the only thing that can defeat Hades is the selflessness of two individuals—two individuals that make
one hero
—individuals to connect the mortal world and the God world!  Only when the God becomes in the same state as the mortal and the mortal as the God will all things be at right again!  You must get to know the mortals here truly in order for this to occur.”

             
“Look, this deal is the only way I can save my people,” said Hercules. “I have seen what power Hades has assembled. He has great armies, and I have seen the people here, so full of deception and weakness. This is the only way that I might be a hero.”

             
“Don’t!” exclaimed Philoctetes.  “This is how I lost all the heroes in the past—by them making deals with Hades.  Anyone who does deals with Hades ends up regretting it, or dying by it.  So don’t do a deal with him, even if it appears in your best interest.  And something tells me that if you go it will be your undoing.  I sense a trap.”

             
“As do I,” replied Hercules.  “But it may also be a great blessing.  You know that I cannot be a hero unless I try to save everyone, and I have to try to save this woman.  That is, above all, what my heart tells me I must do.  I have been loyal to it so far and it has no led me astray.  And if I don’t certain doom will come upon the world.  This I know.”

“Be warned that Hades can imitate nearly everything.
He can make the darkest night seem bright. He can make the foulest smell smell sweet. He can make the darkest flower seem most beautiful. He can make the nastiest fruit taste delicious. Above all, he can make the most evil person seem good.”  Philoctetes sighed and turned away.  “Perhaps you must learn the hard way.  Very well…go, for your training under my hand is now officially complete.”

             
“I am sorry Philoctetes, but I must go.  I will return as speedily as I can.” 

             
After that the two separated.  Hercules went off with Pegasus to prepare for bed.  Both he and Pegasus (although especially Pegasus) were tired from all the journeying.  Even with all their worries they both quickly went to sleep.

             
They both woke up, however, immediately after the sun began to rise.  “We must go quickly and make it to the island,” said Hercules to Pegasus.  Hercules quickly grabbed his sword that lay up against a tree, mounted Pegasus, and prepared to fly away.

             
Hercules thought about going to Philoctetes to tell him he was leaving.  But Philoctetes didn’t approach of going to that place anyway.  Philoctetes acted like going to up to the mountain garden was a terrible move, but to Hercules there seemed no other way. How was he to defeat Hades without going? He could certainly not kill a God. And the longer he stayed the more souls Hades could rally to his cause. Somehow he felt in his heart that this woman, this woman in the mountains, was the key to everything—the key to defeating Hades and making everything right again.

Phil
octetes was awake and mourned as he watched Hercules leave, up for the woman in the mountain.  Philoctetes looked up with soberness towards the skies…and said, “Goodbye my friend.”

******

              It was early in the morning when Pericles’ servants found that Hercules was not in his prison.  When Pericles’ servant informed Pericles that Hercules was gone, Pericles summoned his chief servant, the chief Hellanodikai, ran to the prison and flung the door open.  There he found Hercules’ chains blown apart and scattered all over the ground.  He saw the window completely without bars, as the bars were scattered all around the street in front of the prison.

             
“This was not done by physical strength,” said Pericles, as he knelt.  “The chain was snapped suddenly and the bars on the window were not bent, but blown away!”

             
“What does this mean?” asked the Hellanodikai.

             
“It means that my greatest fear has come to pass,” said Pericles.  “Hercules possesses come devilish magic…a magic that I was unaware of previously.”

             
“What must we do?” asked the Hellanodikai.

             
“Above all we must find Hercules,” said Pericles.  “We must act now if we are to find him.  He may have yet paid a visit to the Spartans.  But if he is in Athens or the land round-about we must find him.  You must go and inform all the captains of my guard to scour the city in search of Hercules, but do it in secret, for many people like Hercules I do not want them to know that I am trying to capture him.”

             
The chief Hellanodikai nodded.  “Very well sir.”

             
After that a few spies were sent out throughout Athens and the land round about to find Hercules.

             
Then, while they tried to find Hercules, searching everywhere throughout the city, Pericles went up alone to the Parthenon in Athens.  There he was so desperately in need for an answer to his questions, to know what to do now.  There he thought about all that disturbed his mind greatly, about Sparta and about Hercules.

             
“Any moment war may begin!” he said to himself.  “Any moment my great kingdom may fall!  Hercules has escaped my grasp!  Where to, I do not know!  People think so highly of Hercules.  He must desire to overthrow me…to rule Athens.  After all, what else would he want to do with
that
name!”

             
There Pericles stood before the statue of Athena.  The statue was very large, made of ivory and gold.  In the statue Athena stood upright, and wore a tunic reaching to her feet.  On her breast was, crafted in ivory, the head of Medusa.  She held the statue of Victory in one hand and in her other hand she held a spear.  Pericles felt so weak and confused.  There he muttered these words:

“Oh great God Athena, patron God of this city! 

What would you have
me do?

Hercules has escaped and now is up to no good!

Oh great God Athena,

Tell me
, where are all the other Gods?

Where is Zeus who dwells in the highest of all skies?

Where is Hera
, whose glory and goodness would destroy any evil?

Where is Aphrodite whose beauty would cure a man of any illness?

Where is Poseidon, who sails on the deep seas?

Where are all these great
Gods?

Do they sleep?  Do they not care for mortals any longer?

All my life I have tried to create a democracy,

With hope that you will come to me, to help me,

But now you are gone!

Please, Athena, what would you have me do?”

             
Pericles became very disturbed now.  He fell onto the ground and waited desperately for an answer, but none came.  Then he lifted himself up, and with tears beginning to stream in his eyes, he turned away from Athena.

“And so I see now what must be,

             
For with true freedom people would perish

Without the grand
Gods all freedom goes rotten

And chaos and death reign supreme!”