Land of our Forefathers: Chapter 1

Explanation of terms:
Acropolis of Athens: The citadel or stronghold of the city of Athens.

Archers: Soldiers wielding a bow who fired upon the enemy using arrows. They sometimes wielded small shields and a helmet. The luckiest of them were lightly armoured with chain mail as well. They were considered missile troops, often used as an auxiliary to provide support to the main body of the army.

Ballista: A mobile field artillery piece that fires a projectile (often a spear or javelin) at tremendous velocity. The result is that it has an enmormous stopping power, able to skewer several men at once and pierce armour.

Ekdromos (Plural: Ekdromoi): A light variant of the hoplite armed with a circular, round shield and a short sword.

Hoplite: A soldier in Ancient Greece who wielded a spear (Typically the Doru spear) and a hoplon (The shields that they wielded and were named after).

Peltast: A lightly armoured or non-armoured soldier wielding javelins for throwing. They were considered missile troops and skirmishers. Sometimes, they were armed with a helmet and a small, round shield.

Phalanx formation: A formation in which hoplites or pikemen form a rectangular, block like formation, at the front of which the first few rows of hoplites or pikemen lower their spears to form a wall of spears. The next few rows then raise their spears/pikes at a 45 degree angle and the back at a slightly higher angle. To an extent, the raised pikes can help deflect some arrows. This formation was used by the armies of Ancient Greece and those of Macedon (For example, the armies of Alexander the Great of Macedon).

Quinquereme: A sailing ship with five levels/decks of rowers.

Strategos: The Ancient Greek equivalent of a general in the army.

Before the the two World Wars, Colonization of the Americas, the Napoleonic Wars, the Middle Ages, the Dark Ages, the Roman Empire, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Kingdom, there was Greece. The land in which our forefathers grew up in, and theirs and so on. Eons of unrecorded history all unknown to man until now. What you are reading now is a rare recording of one of the greatest, and yet, unknown quests known to the Immortal and Mortal world. Surpassing even Aeneas' journey from Troy to the discovery of Rome and even those of the heroes of old, I, Androkles of Athens, will tell this tale to those who wish to hear of the Old Days.

Chapter 1: The Siege of Athens
The quinquereme glided smoothly through the waves of the sea, her prow slicing through the calm waters as a knife through butter. I leaned against the foremast and beheld a sorrowful sight in my eyes. My city, birthplace of democracy, city of the Goddess Athena, burned. Her once proud, white stone walls lay crumbled. Atop a high, rocky outcrop the Acropolis of Athens, the city's citadel, lay. What monstrosity I saw cannot be put into words that would do the sight justice. Even from the sea I could see what I will now describe to you. Monsters, hordes of monsters at the Citadel's gates, hammering away at it with a hideous minotaur-head battering ram. Giants of varying sizes hammered at the proud gates, bending and denting the reinforced wooden gate.

My lieutenant, Stephanos, came by my side: "Strategos, sir, we're approaching land. The men are eager to fight." I smiled at the son of Poseidon: "Aye Stephanos, they will soon get their battle. Give order for the men to prepare for battle, I want every hoplite, archer, peltast and Ekdromoi armed and ready for battle. We will re-take Athens and restore to her, her pride and dignity." With the help of many children of Poseidon and sons and daughters of the wind gods, the ships glided fast towards the port. Putting on my helm and fixing the straps of his armour, I looked down at my shield. Upon it's surface, it bore the symbol of the owl and the olive branch, both signs of my patron and mother: Athena.

As I'd done many times in the past, I kneeled and raised the shield, sliding my arm through the leather strap, gripping the shield's handle and securing it to my right arm. Standing up, I drew my short sword, named War's Path, and took a deep breath. Suddenly, the ship was rocked by a projectile, no doubt from a ballista. The flaming javelin had embedded itself in the prow of the ship, directly in front of me. As more projectiles hurtled through the air, some hitting their mark, the ship I was on lurched to a stop; we had come to shore. Raising my sword, I turned back and shouted, "For Olympus!"

Amid cheers from my comrades, I jumped over the edge of the ship, landing in a defensive crouch behind my shield. Looking up, I instinctively sprang up and charged the horde of monsters on the beach. Jumping over the hedge of pikes laid out by some scythian dracanae, I landed on my feet in the midst of the formation of snake women. They hissed and bared their sharp fangs as I slashed in a wide arc, vapourizing several of them. Side-stepping away from a spear thrust by one of them, I cut the spear at its shaft and followed with an uppercut, vapourizing another. Behind me, I was concious of my soldiers engaging the enemy in combat. I looked around and saw Stephanos amid the fray, slashing and stabbing hellhounds as if in a maddened frenzy.

Regaining my composure, I ducked just in time for a spear shaft to skim over my head. A sword came out of somewhere and gave me a shallow cut on my cheeck. Slamming my shield into the snake woman's side, I knocked her back. With another quick stroke all that was left of her was her spear. Around me, the soldiers locked shields and began pushing the monsters back toward the mountain pass. Joining them, I raised my shield and advanced with them. Finally, they retreated, howling like demons in the afternoon sun. Slightly bloodied but undetered, I gave the order to form a phalanx.

Armed with Celestial Bronze spears, my company advanced slowly up the stone road, spears jutting out from overlapping shields to present a hedge of spears out front. As we made our way up the road, we were suddenly waylaid by a company of giants. Appearing from over the side of the road, there was nothing I could do as I watched three giants smash the phalanx from the right flank with clubs. Caught at the end of one such blow, I was thrown violently into the air, the world spinning around me. I landed on my back, the armour breaking my fall but definitely brusing my shoulder.

Spitting blood and sand from my mouth, I rolled just in time to avoid being pulverised by a giant. The giant's club pounded the ground where I just was and the Laistrygonian raised it's club again, roaring in anger at being cheated of a good and easy meal. Drawing my sword, I sprung up to my feet and leapt back a few feet. I took a few short, static breaths before charging. The giant roared and raised it's club to answer my charge. Swinging it's club, I ducked and jumped stabbing it in the right side of it's neck before landing. It gave a surprised grunt before it disappeared in a cloud of yellow vapour. As it died, I watched wearily as the last of the giants were finally subduedby the arrival of more pikemen from the mountain pass. Looking ahead, he glanced at the city's broken gates. They had arrived, but would they be too late to save the city?

A few hours later, the entire Athenian army was enganged in the streets of Athens herself. Hand to hand combat ensued and fighting for ever street and building occured everywhere. Slowly, the streets were cleared and the monsters pushed uphill to the citadel itself. Leading a small team, I raced up the main street of Athens which led to the Acropolis. To my horror, we were too late. The door had been broken down and the floor was littered with soldiers of the Athenian Guard. Stepping through the entrance, I entered into an indoor courtyard. Smashed marble covered the ground, undoubtedly from fountains, which now emptied their water onto the ground. Walking even further, I gripped my spear, fearing the worst.

Finally, we arrived in the council room, a bright white room which held many rows of seats for representatives to sit in and in the centre, where a podium stood, stood a shade. Dressed in the garment of a Greek hoplite, it simply sat there, upon a pile of rubble. It's eyes glowed a faint yellow and its skin, or whatever it was, were a sickly purple shade; transparent. Looking up it said in a deep and metallic voice that sounded like iron scraping on rock, "Athenians, welcome to your hold. I have destroyed this city, killed many of her inhabitants and slain your so called elite guard and now you have the nerve to fight me? Come, let us not talk, for actions speak louder than words."

Without warning it sprung up, launching its spear at the soldier beside me. Caught unaware the unlucky man to my right gasped as a spear suddenly protuded from his chest. He sagged and collapsed to the ground, eyes wide open, dead. Enraged, I called out to the monstrosity, "Who are you and who are you working for!? Why are you here?!" It replied, it's lips curving upwords into a smile, "Then you are truly oblivious, just as the master said you would be. You will find out soon, son of Athena, you shall see what part you will play in all of this."

Charging, I raised my sword bringing it down as I got near the shade. It was quick, blocking and then parrying the attack. I performed a backwards somersault and landed, a few rows above him. It smiled maliciously once again and charged, slashing and hacking through several rows of wooden seats until it reached me. As it drew near, I attempted to knock it back by slamming the rim of my shield into its side but it grabbed the shield and twisted his hand, throwing me over it's head. I landed on the marble floor, groaning. Looking up weakly, I saw it charge at me, sword bent downwards. As it swung its blade down at me, something appeared in front of me, blocking the sword. Gazing up, I looked into the still face of Stephanos.

His eyes flitted towards mine for a second but rolled back lifelessly as he collapsed to the ground. Grinning, the shade brought it's sword back up to finish me with a single blow but I was ready, rolling to one side and dodging the thrust. Kicking at the backside of a chair, I used the momentum to tackle the shade, knocking it over and sending us both to the ground. Quickly drawing a dagger from my sleeve I stabbed down into its neck over and over until it disappeared. Sighing with exhaustion, I passed out.

The funeral of Stephanos was a simple but solemn affair. A pyre had been set up in the centre of a courtyard and his body had been laid on a bundle of sticks. Placing a single drachma on his lips, I prayed to Pluto and to Athena to let him reach the Underworld and Elsiyum. Then, I lit the pyre with a torch, staring silently as smoke from the pyre of my friend rose up to the heavens.