Tale of Zod: The Forgotten Demigod

by InZodWeTrust

Summary:

Krypton was destroyed 30 years earlier and Superman's super villain, General Zod, is the lone survivor of Krypton, sent as an infant to Earth instead of Superman. Raised to manhood in the times of Ancient Greece, he is led to believe that he is a powerful demigod son of Zeus, due to the Z carved on his landing pod. In this Rick Riordan-based AU, full of terrible Greek Monsters, illustrious Greek Gods, and powerful Demigods: Zod, a destined Greek Hero, must determine his own destiny and stop an evil demigod, with an appetite for destruction, in order to restore peace to a divided Olympus.

Chapter 1

Chiroptera walked into the open meadow. He silently thought that it was the perfect place for what he knew he must do. Being a prophet was difficult for him, speaking to the Muse often frightened him. He ran his fingers through the summer grass as he walked and he gladly found that it calmed him. Hidden in the grass, he saw wildflowers which could relieve headaches. He stuffed a few of them in his pockets, anticipating the headaches that would come later.

He cleared his throats and called up into the starry night sky.

“Heavenly Muse, speak to me as only you can.” Chiroptera’s voice amplified as it always did so that it carried across the sky.

“I know I may not be the noblest prophet, but sing to me your holy song so that I may record an epic tale.” Silence was Chiroptera’s only response. He hoped the muse was listening.

“Oh great Muse, speak to me the whole truth as only you can see it. I have chosen my story, finally, I know. Tell me the story of the dishonored Greek Hero Zod. What was the full extent of this man’s tragedy? The world has never known. His power was never fully understood. History, for some reason, was never allowed to fully remember his story. What was it that happened to him that left his memory blotched from history?

We have is evidence of his existence. He left great weapons behind: his celestial spear, a powerful weapon passed down from generations of heroes, is currently wielded by leader of a group of pagans. Zod's shield, a strange metal which defies all damage, is emblazoned with his giant Zeta and carried by the current general of the legion. And lastly, his cloak, well we hear rumors of a faceless wanderer who wears Zod’s Calydonian Cloak. It was a cloak of great power, but what it does is still but a mystery to us. Many men search for the cloak and its master to this day, but perhaps it is best that some weapons stays lost.”

“Holy muse, we have these great things, but we do not know this man’s story. The world, in these times of duress needs another heroic story. Don’t get me wrong. Homer’s epics were great, but they are old. The world is changing. The Greek stories of ancient heroes like Zod are being forgotten. Constantine is changing the way people look at the world, and with it, I feel my powers fading, or rather becoming something else. We need a story to make the people believe again.”

Silence faded around him as he stopped talking, annoyance grew in the man’s heart, but he continued nonetheless, “No one else cares for this forgotten hero, but I do. Who was Zod, Muse? Where did he come from? Where did he grow up? Was he evil? Was he a hero?”

Finally, the choral voice of the Muse answered him and started telling him the story of Zod.

“In Ancient Greece,” The Muse began, “a falling star streaked across one night’s sky. A man held his wife as he watched the blue star streak through the stratosphere. The star struck down in the valley beneath his land and, from his house on the Kent Ridge, the man followed the fallen star into the valley beneath him.”

The harmonic voices echoed from the heavens. The sounds were overwhelming to Chiroptera. It was as if a thousand voices were screaming inside his head. He fell to a knee but the Muse never paused. “The old man discovered a strange pod, not a star, smoldering in the dark valley. On the pod’s hull, he found a great ‘Z’ carved onto the strange pulsing metal. The pod opened before him and inside he found a baby boy. The man praised the gods and took the boy back to his home. With his wife, he raised the boy as if he was his own son. They called the boy Zod, a clear son of Zeus, almighty God of the Sky and Ruler of Olympus.”

Chiroptera collapsed to the ground. He stuffed the wildflowers in his mouth, attempting to fight off the terrible headache, but before he could even finish chewing, he was unconscious. The muse just continued to speak to him through his dreams.

Chapter 2

Chapter 1: A Tale of Tusks (Part 1)

Zod crawled through the underbrush, stalking his prey. Ahead of him, a wild boar trudged through the snow. Zod looked upon the boar for the first time as he neared a clearing of the brush. The boar was rather large, maybe five hands tall and three hands thick. 'This boar could feed us for a week,' he thought, 'Gods know that we need food.' It had been a long, hard winter for his family and Zod, in his father’s stead, had risen to the role of finding food and feeding his family. His father, or as he always insisted to be called: old man, was growing weaker and weaker with age and Zod, a boy of only 16, was all that stood between his family and starvation.

Zod’s hands throbbed from their exposure to the winter snow. He crawled on hands and knees beneath the dense brush with a spear held tightly in his numb hand. As he came to the edge of the dense bush, he rose from his prone position and into a crouching, throwing stance. He proceeded very slowly, taking all precaution not to alert the boar to his presence. Only a hundred feet ahead of him, the boar paused to eat berries from a bush ahead. With silent grace, Zod composed himself and prepared to throw his spear at the grazing animal.

Throwing a spear accurately from this distance would be impossible for most, but for Zod, the impossible was regularly feasible. Zod reared back and heaved the spear with deadly accuracy, at the unknowing boar. The spear sailed through the winter air and found its mark squarely between the boar’s shoulder blades. The beast fell with a heavy thud and Zod rose from his thrower’s stance beaming with pride.

Zod retrieved his spear from the boar’s back and knelt beside the dying animal. The boar’s breaths were rapid and its squeals were weak, its life was not long for this world. From his belt, Zod drew his hunting knife and took a knee besides the dying beast.

“Poor boar,” He said to the dying animal, “I am sorry to take your life, my friend. But rest assured, your body will nourish and feed the ones I love.” And with a deep plunge of his blade into the boar’s heart, he breathed “Thank you for your sacrifice”, a final summation to his deadly prayer.

He picked up the boar’s carcass, placed it onto his back, and started back towards his home on Kent ridge. The walk was not far but the deep snow building on the ground and the boar on his back, slowed him down. His breaths became labored under the heavy load and as he neared his family’s ridge, he began to hear strange sounds coming from the surrounding woods. A certain malicious sound started to circle him. Birds scattered from the trees and small animals scampered from the bushes.

Zod paused, looking in all directions around him. He could not pinpoint where the noise was coming from. At times, it seemed to come from the very heavens. Snorts, as loud as thunder, echoed through the woods, sometimes coming from what sounded like miles away while at other times, from right behind him. He assumed it was another boar from the snorts, but even though the snorts sounded miles away, he could tell that this boar was much larger than the one slung across his back. Slowly, he lowered the dead pig from his back and braced his spear, ready for an imminent attack.

What broke through the woods, in a ferocious charge, was a boar larger than Zod had ever seen. The boar’s shoulder blades, rippled with strong, thick muscle, stood well above Zod’s head. The Boar was huge, larger than any animal Zod had ever seen, but Zod refused to run from it. He stood his ground and firmly planted the shaft of his spear into the ground behind him with the sharp point aimed at the boar’s charging chest. It was a tactical maneuver that may have worked against many charging beasts but, as the boar crashed into Zod’s raised spear, the spear easily snapped in half. Zod himself, barely dodged the beast's sharp tusks with a quick side-step. As the beast charged past him with built momentum, half of the spear laid uselessly scattered on the ground while the other half stood, jutting from the boar’s torso.

The spear's piercing blow, while maybe fatal to most beasts, barely deterred the boar. Instead of falling, the beast turned around and charged Zod again, angrier and more ferocious this time. Zod stood before the beast with nothing but his simple, hunting blade as the deadly beast charged him with fury. As the beast charged, blood spilled from the boar’s wound, crimsoning the white snow in a trail behind it. The spear tip, still puncturing the boar’s body, dragged uselessly against the ground as the boar ran, and as the great boar neared collision with Zod, the 16 year old boy sidestepped the boar’s charge again. This time, he grabbed the spear jutting from the boar with inhuman speed, and with equally unrivaled precision, he stabbed both the spear tip and his knife, deep into the Boar’s skull.

The boar ran for a few more paces of built momentum, before finally falling. Zod turned around to face the boar, his hands shaking with raw energy, prepared to defend against another charge, even with nothing but his bare hands, but instead, the giant boar fell to dust before him. A nice pile of dust laid in a heap atop the fallen snow, and upon the pile, was Zod’s knife, the spear tip, and a strange point, jutting through the snow and dust.

Zod walked over to the remains, bent down, and examined the strange object. The strange, protruding point was the tip of the boar's tusk, fallen from the mighty beast; it was the only remains of the boar besides the dust itself. He held the boar tusk up to the sky and thunder faintly cracked in the distance behind him.

Chapter 3

Summary:

Author's note: I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Chapter 1: A Tale of Tusk cont. (part 2/2)

“Aghh, celestial ivory.” He said, turning the tusk over and over in his hand. It shined magnificently. It was a token Zod could take pride in showing his entire family. Zod’s thoughts momentarily left the tusk and returned to the beast itself. 'Surely this was no normal boar,' he thought to himself. The boar he had killed earlier was perhaps an eighth of the size of this beast, and despite that, the beast he carried on his back certainly did not fall to dust once he killed it. He knew from his bedtime stories only one thing fell to dust once it was slain: Monsters.

Zod pushed those thoughts to the side. He would have to seek the old man’s council when he returned home. 'Perhaps he could help,' Zod thought to himself. He packed the tusk with the rest of his hunting supplies, in a small sack, and slung it across his back with the dead boar. He found no more troubles or strange noises coming from the woods as he finished his journey back home. Zod thought about the whole encounter as he walked back. Now that the heat of battle was finally over, he began to admire how surprisingly calm and natural he felt fighting something so terrible. He had hunted for many years, but never had he come into a situation as dangerous as this Boar. Zod felt rather unsure of whether or not he should even tell the old man about his kill. Zod could only imagine the tale worrying the old man, but after a while of thinking about it, Zod conceded that the old man deserved to know about the monsters that gathered on his land.

Zod walked along steep cliffs towards his home. His family’s house stood atop the highest cliff of Kent ridge, overlooking a large valley. It was supposed to have been the same valley that Zod had landed onto as as a falling star. The old man had told him the story of 'the miracle' at least a thousand times. He had always described it as blessing from the gods. He'd regularly call it "a hero’s beginning worthy of songs, bless Zeus". The old man was always thanking the gods for all of the good in their lives, but Zod couldn't help but feel bitter when it came to the Gods. In his eyes, the Gods seem to send a lot more trouble than blessings. 'Where is Zeus when there is no food to be put on the table?' Zod would always ask himself.

Another story the old man loved to tell him was how Zod fell off the high Kent Ridge cliffs when he was four years old, and how he had miraculously survived the eighty foot drop. When Zod fell, it had been an accident and the old man was terrified, surely thinking that his son was dead. He climbed down the mountain as fast as he could, trying to find his boy. The old man had expected to find a mangled corpse laying in the forest beneath the cliff, but instead, he found Zod, barely harmed, laughing, and playing with small woodland animals. Zod had even asked the old man if he could come down the cliff more often to play with his new friends. The old man just laughed and shook his head, gesturing 'absolutely not'. He just told Zod that Zeus, his true father, had spared him that day and that they must be forever thankful.

Zod had never given much thought to his Olympian father. He knew he should have, but the supreme god, Zeus, had never tried to care for him in the same way as the old man and woman. The old man had raised him and loved him as if he was his own son, he told him it frequently, and Zod, in return, loved him as if he was his real father.

When the old man first told Zod who his true father was, he couldn't help but cry. He was very small at the time and the news devastated him. Zod said, with tears pouring from his eyes, that he didn't want Zeus to be his father, he wanted the old man. The old man just smiled, with tears gathering in his own eyes, and told the boy that it would make him happier than anything to call Zod his own son, but alas, he thought it would be an insult to Zeus if he did.

Zod was a true son of Zeus, without even a mortal mother, the only hero that stood in comparison was the great Hercules. The old man imagined that Zod was destined to be a great hero, as well, with his strictly Olympian Lineage. Zod personally wasn't sure about any greatness coming his way. He was many miles away from all the city-states of Greece and all his training with his weapons came from hunting, not warfare. Zod was almost sure that no one outside of his family even knew he was a son of Zeus, and Zod resolved he was fine with that. He didn't need fame or riches compared to his family. As long as no one knew of his father, Zod would get to stay with the old man and woman forever, almost as if he actually was their true son.

Zod arrived back at his countryside home. It was not large, nor extravagant, but Zod wouldn't want it any other way. It was the Kent house and if he could choose, he would never leave it. As he walked onto the front porch, he happily rested the heavy boar on the side of the house before heading inside to greet the old man and woman. Zod opened the door and the old woman turned away from the soup she was preparing and embraced Zod with a loving hug. She looked him over, as if examining for scratches. Having found none, she spoke to Zod with worry in her voice, “Zod, my boy, it is the old man. He keeps growing weaker and weaker. I am so worried for him. Did you find any food?” She asked hurriedly.

“Oh yes, mother, look at this large boar I killed.” He said as he took her outside to show it off. He would not show her the tusk of the actual large boar he had killed, but she seemed impressed nonetheless at the size of the boar, ready to be skinned and prepared.

“Oh, Gods bless you Zod. Our family may survive yet." She said with a sigh of relief. Her face quickly turned from relief to wariness as she scolded Zod, "Thank you for the boar Zod, but I have warned you many times before not to call me your mother. I don’t want to anger your true, Olympian parents.” She said with a momentary gesture to the ceiling above them.

Zod laughed and kissed the old woman on her forehead, “Whatever you say, Mom.”

The woman gave the boy a smile and a loving pat on the cheek. “You go check on the old man. I know he will want to see you. Have no worries Zod, I’ll take care of skinning and preparing the boar for the ice cellar.”
Zod nodded and walked into the back room of their small, cliff-side home. In the room, the old man rested on a bed under multiple heavy furs. Even from far away, Zod could tell the old man was in bad shape. He was shivering profusely and he looked sickly and dying. Zod walked over to the old man’s bed and pulled another pelt over the old man’s shoulders. Zod sat beside the old man's bed and watched him rest silently.
The old man woke after a while, surprised to see Zod, and croaked, “Zod, my boy, I am so glad to see you've returned. How did your hunt go?”

“Excellent,” he said smiling at the old man, “I killed a boar and we should have enough meat for the week.”

“What a good man."The old man said, clapping the boy on his shoulder. "Your father would be proud of you.” Zod winced slightly at the mention of his Olympian father, but the old man did not seem to notice. “I should have been there with you, my boy... I am sorry.”

Zod smiled and looked upon the sickly old man fondly. He hadn't been hunting in over a year. There was no way he would have made it, but nonetheless he tried to remain strong to Zod despite how he actually felt. “It is alright, old man." Zod said. "You don’t seem to be in the best condition anyways. It probably wouldn't be smart.”

The old man laughed, “If I was a smart man, you probably wouldn't even be living here. The woman told me not to go chase falling stars in the dead of night, but guess what? I did, and because I did, I found you. Remember this m'boy, sometimes the greatest things happen in our most foolish moments.”

Zod laughed and the old man returned Zod's smile with his own toothless grin. Zod pulled the great boar’s tusk out of his pack and placed it on the old man’s lap.

The old man’s eyes widened, “Where did you find this, Zod? Do you know what this is?”

Zod sighed and told the old man the story of his hunting trip, the great boar he killed, and finally the fallen tusk. The old man sat quietly and listened to the entire story. When Zod finished, the old man turned the tusk over in his hand and said, “This seems to be celestial ivory, but I have to admit, I have actually never seen anything like it before, but it fits the description I have always heard. As for the monster you killed, I have no idea what the beast was. Whatever it was, it sounds like a sign of bad things to come." He looked at the tusk silently. Zod could tell he was thinking about something. He began to say something but stopped abruptly. He shook his head and handed the tusk back to Zod. "No matter what it means, you slayed a great monster and thus, this tusk is your reward, m'boy. Congratulations! You are becoming a truly, great hero. I can see it.” The old man said, grinning with pride.

Zod looked at the tusk again, “Well, what do I do with it?” he asked earnestly.

“Well my boy, heroes who receive these trophies do many things with their gifts. Some carry them around and display them to show their prowess while others turn them into great weapons to use to fight more monsters. It is your token, my son, and your choice what to do with it, depending on the man you want to become.” He said. “Now, no talk of this in front of the old woman, you understand?” he warned with a soft chuckle. “You’ll give her a heart attack for sure.” He smiled at the boy. “Now, go help the woman with the food, boy, I need my sleep.”

Zod grabbed the tusk and walked out of the room, shutting the door gingerly behind him. The old man smiled as the boy left. He couldn't imagine being prouder of the boy he wished he could call his own son.

Chapter 4: Chapter 2 (Part 1): An Unexpected Dinner Party

Zod helped his mother skin and salt the boar. It was laborious and messy but he enjoyed the time with her. She was kind and quiet and he loved her dearly. She salted the meat while he skinned it. For Zod personally, she salted it past the necessity for his taste. But according to her, it was a trick that she learned from her mother to help preserve the meat longer, if the meat stayed cold. Zod’s mother didn’t say much, but Zod knew she was smarter than her husband gave her credit for. It was not that the old man was unkind to her, Zod was quite sure that he loved her with all his heart, but Zod had never heard the old man ask her for advice like Zod was always accustom to doing. Zod just felt that if he ever had a wife, he’d treat her as an equal rather than a lesser.

To keep the boar meat cold, they stored it in a damp ice cellar beneath their home. Once Zod and his mother had finished preparing their supper, Zod took the leftover meat down into the ice cellar. He always hated it down there. It was not necessarily the cold that bothered him, as much as it was the large water spring that fed into the cellar. His mother had told him that the pool was the feed off of a large underwater river. She always revered the mystical world around them. According to her, a water nymph guarded it from pollution and monsters. She would ask Zod when he was little if he could hear the nymph speaking to them through the ripples of the water. Zod would always lovingly tell his mother yes, but in all candor, Zod felt something much more wicked whispering to him from the depths of the murky, ice pool.

As he carried the meat down into the cold, icy air, a shiver went down his spine. Fear gripped his heart as an old memory almost came to his mind. Zod may have survived a fall off a high cliff as a child, but a few years ago, he nearly drowned in their cellar’s ice pond. He was 12, and his mother and he were carrying food down into the icebox just as he was doing now. His mother had placed a wrapped piece of meat in the pond, and returned upstairs to grab another. Zod was left alone down in the cellar for barely two minutes, but when his mother returned, she found Zod unconscious at the bottom of the pool. She screamed, dropped everything in her hands, and pulled her boy from the water. She banged on Zod’s chest, crying and begging for the Gods to bring back Zod. Zod woke a few minutes later, coughing what felt like 20 cups of water from his lungs. Again, Zeus was given credit for saving him that day, but Zod gave no one but his mother credit for saving him. To this day, Zod did not remember what happened in those two minutes between when his mother left and returned, but since then, he had a pathological fear of bodies of water, that he couldn’t seem to shake off. This time as he carried meat into the cellar, however, there were no blackouts. He carefully left the wrapped boar meat in a vacant space and walked out of the cellar as quickly as he could.

When he rose from the cellar, he looked out the window and saw multiple lights in the distance heading up their ridge. Zod went outside to get a better view before going inside to tell his mother. “Mother, there are people heading up Kent Ridge, right towards us.”

She nodded and asked him, “What do they look like?” Others may have considered that a weird question to ask, but Zod did not. They always had to be careful of raiders and bandits out here in the wilderness. Zod looked out the window again and saw banners alongside the burning torches.

“They have banner men, I believe it is a king’s entourage, mother.” He called to his mother.

“A king?” she asked worriedly. “Oh god, we have never seen Kings up here before. Zod, go get the rest of that boar meat for our guests.”

Zod did as his mother requested him, grumbling and swearing the whole time. He had killed the boar under the idea that it would feed his family for an entire week. Only to his disdain, it seemed he would have to go hunting again tomorrow to keep his family fed.

Zod slung the boar meat over his back and took it to his mother. She started to prepare the meat and Zod was shocked to see the old man out of his bed, dressed in his best clothes to meet the coming men.

“Zod, come on m’boy. Let’s go meet our visitors.” He said. Zod helped the old man walk out onto their porch to greet the men.

Many men stood outside, circling their mountain home. The men were all dressed extravagantly with bronze chest plates, impressive helms, and mighty weapons. Zod would have thought they were warriors invading their home until one walked ahead of all the rest and spoke.

“Greetings!” The mighty warrior said, “I am Prince Meleagar, son Oineus, future king of Calydon. We are here on a hunting excursion and I wish to ask to take refuge here on your land, if you would let us, of course.” He said with a gallant smile. “I promise you that you will be overpaid for any food or resources which we utilize.”

“My land is yours, prince of Calydon, and although my house is small, and our food is scarce, I’d like to invite you and your men to dine with us tonight,” the old man said with newfound tact that surprised young Zod.

“I thank you, good sir.” Meleagar said before turning to his men. “Men, make your encampments around the house. We will resume our hunt on the morrow.”

Zod inspected the so-called prince. He wore a majestic chest plate decorated with a brilliant symbol of a grapevine. Each grape was a magnificent amethyst and together, the jewelry shown brilliantly, even in the night light. On his hip was a thyrsus, a weapon that Zod had only heard of in legends. The prince took off his decorated armor and handed it to a man beside him. Once the mighty armor was removed, a great belly rose and fell along with the Prince's mighty laughs. He thanked the man and then said loudly to his men. “Prothous! Kometes! Bring this family food and wine. Even though most of you are not my people, Calydonians have a reputation to uphold. I am the son of Dionysus, god of wine, after all.” He said with a thunderous laugh. His voice was loud, almost as if it addressed an entire army, and Zod couldn’t help but like the prince instantaneously. The prince walked up and shook the old man’s hand and then even Zod’s hand too with a beaming smile.

“Let me introduce you to my band of hunters,” he said and as he said this, the men all lined up, ready for their presentation. “The two men carrying supplies into your home are my uncles Kometes and Prothous.” Zod nodded at the two men but as he scanned the line of soldiers, his eyes were caught on the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Even as Prince Meleagar continued his introduction, Zod just stared at the fierce girl who paid him no attention at all.

“These two”, he gestured to two men, one rather large and the other quite small, “are Eurytus, demigod son of Hermes, and his mortal brother Cteatus.” Meleagar said the word ‘mortal’ as if the young man was a much lesser species than his much smaller brother. Zod just personally thought that he would rather fight the half god brother, than the towering Cteatus. “Then there is Euphemus, son of Poseidon.” A boy, no older than Zod, nodded his head. His sea green eyes twinkled and a smile curled at the edge of the Sea God’s son’s lips. “Then these two twins are Castor and Pollux, well one of them is son of Zeus but I can never remember which.” He laughed as he said this,” And the other one is the mortal and rightful heir to the Spartan throne.” He said with a grimmer look on his face. Zod’s heart fluttered at the mention of Zeus, and the old man tighten his grip on Zod’s shoulder. The two twins look bored with their introduction. Even though Meleagar did not know which one was son of Zeus, Zod could tell. The one on the left glowed with power. The sight of his own half-brother frightened Zod, and it silently made him wonder if other people saw him the same way. The other twin looked equally tough and chiseled with muscle regardless of his ‘mortal’ blood, as the prince called it. “And this midnight beauty,” Meleagar continued, “is Atalanta.” The beautiful girl sharply turned her gaze from the sunset to the Prince. She nodded to him, to the old man, and to Zod before returning her gaze to the setting sun. “Atalanta the Arcadian. I apologize for bringing a girl to your home, my good man, but I assure you she was a necessity for our hunt.” The men shuffled restlessly at this. “She is both a huntress and proxy for the goddess Artemis.”

Zod interrupted before he could stop himself, “That’s alright, a beautiful girl is always welcome here.” He said with what he thought was a charming smile. Her piercing blue eyes caught his momentarily before they fleeted quickly away.

Meleagar laughed and Zod saw red rising into Atalanta’s cheeks as she stood intently into the horizon. “A bold one you have raised here, my good man, you might want to warn him though of the lifestyle of Artemis’s Huntresses before she cuts off his manhood.” The men laughed and Zod too, became embarrassed. He did not let his anguish show. He puffed up his chest and nodded silently for the prince to continue. The prince waved his hand and finished saying. “Anyways the other three: Peleus, Acastus, and Theseus are mortal men but I assure you, excellent warriors, nonetheless.”

The old man smiled and waved to them all as he said, “I beg you all to make yourselves welcome in my home. Our Calydonian hosts to the south, protect our lands. Any guest of Prince Meleagar is a guest of ours.” The old man gestured for the prince to follow them into their home and Zod helped the man make his way back into their house.

Inside, the old man introduced his wife to the prince. The prince bowed before Zod’s mother, kissed the top of her, and thanked her for her generous hospitality. If Zod thought that Atalanta had blushed, than he would not know what to call the redness that gathered in his mother’s face.

The Prince found his way to the dinner table and gestured for the old man to sit at the head of the table. The prince in turn, sat to the right of the old man’s seat and waited for Zod to help the old man into his own seat. Zod sat across from the prince, quietly listening to the two’s conversation.

After pleasantries and small talk was exchange, the prince produced a bronze cup from his hip and waved his hand over it. Wine suddenly filled the bronze chalice. Zod’s face apparently mimicked his surprise because when the prince spoke, he said, “Just a parlor trick, my boy.” He laughed heartily and drank the wine till the cup was empty again. He waved his hand over it once more and it filled to the top with wine again. “A gift from my father, Dionysus, I am told. An endless supply of wine, a fitting gift from the god of wine and debauchery, eh?” He said, once again with a hearty laugh. “My good lady, will you bring your husband and son cups as well?” The old woman smiled and brought Zod and the old man cups for themselves. The Prince leaned over the table and waved his hand over each of their cups. They, each, filled with dark red wine. Zod looked over at the old man for approval, and he nodded.

“Ah, I am sorry.” The prince said politely, “If you wish for your boy not to drink, I respect your rules. I should have asked beforehand. I apologize.”

The old man sipped from his cup of wine and smiled toothlessly at the prince, “No, thank you for sharing your blessing with us, my prince. I am sure one cup of wine would not do the boy any harm. He is almost a man, anyways.”

“Well to the gods then!” The prince said as he raised his glass. The old man and Zod raised their glass as well.

“To Dionysus” The prince said.

“To Dionysus” The old man responded.

“To Zeus,” Zod said lastly, because it would be rude to his father not to do so.

The prince looked at Zod with curiosity before mindlessly drinking his cup again. Zod, in turn, put the wooden cup to his mouth and drank the wine. It was sweeter than anything he had ever tasted. He finished it entirely and placed the empty cup on the table in front of him.

“Good boy!” The prince roared. “Dionysus would be proud."

Chapter 5: Chapter 2 (Part 2): An Unexpected Dinner Party

"Gods," Prince Meleagar started, "it’s great to be inside and near a hearth and fire again. I am afraid that this hunt has gone on far too long and the nights are only growing colder and darker.”

The old man nodded, “What are you hunting for, Prince Meleagar? What beast requires such a large hunting party? If I may ask.”

“If you think our party is large now, you should have seen it in its entirety. At one point we had 40 men riding with us. Although, half of them refuse to hunt alongside a girl and have formed another party, which lingers somewhere south of us. And well…” he paused, “we have lost a few.” He said, suddenly somber and sad. “A few died from the cold and both Ancaeus and Hyleus died at the tusks of the boar, itself.”

Zod sat up alertly in his chair, “Is that what you are hunting, my prince? A great boar?” He looked over at the old man, who slightly shook his head as if gesturing for Zod not tell his own anecdote, at least not yet.

The prince looked too entertain with his refilling cup to notice Zod and the old man’s silent exchange. “Alas, yes. We hunt a cursed gift from the goddess Artemis. I am told that Father foolishly forgot to include the goddess in an offering for our recent harvest sacrifice and well, the boar was placed by the insulted goddess to exact her revenge.” He said glumly. “The Calydonian Boar, as people are starting to call it, has been rampaging through our lands, destroying vineyards and croplands, and forcing our people to take refuge inside the city walls. Well, its messy business, but the people have been starving and we have come on my father’s orders to restore peace by killing the cursed pig.” The prince finished, looking down into his cup.

“The men you see before us are the most noble hunters and warriors we could afford to send. Yet still, we have had no success.” Said Meleagar.

“What of the huntress, then?” Zod asked.

The prince chuckled, “I was not jesting when I told you to watch that one boy. Yes, she is as beautiful as the moon, but I assure you, better men than you and I have tried to win that lady’s heart with no avail.” He said, “But as for your question, she volunteered for the hunt, actually. I was quite surprised myself, to be completely honest. After all, isn’t it strange that a proxy huntress of Artemis volunteers to hunt down her own Goddess’s beast? Well, I couldn’t turn her down. I don’t say this around the men but, if anyone is going to slay the beast, it’ll be her.” He remarked.

Zod looked at the prince confused, “You keep saying ‘proxy’ of Artemis, what do you exactly mean by that?”

Prince Meleagar put his cup down and looked at Zod very seriously, “My boy, I mean that Atalanta is not always under the control of Atalanta. Her body is a proxy, or a channel I guess would be an accurate description, for the goddess Artemis. The goddess takes over Atalanta’s body and acts through the poor girl whenever she chooses to.”

Zod just looked shocked at the news. He had never heard of anything like this before. ‘Well except for oracles of Delphi,’ he thought, but he felt this was different.

“Ha, not as interested in courting a goddess now, are we?” The prince asked Zod.

“Actually, more so than ever, your grace.” Zod replied with a casual laugh. The prince chuckled and before their conversation could continue, Zod’s mother interrupted.

“My prince, our dinner is ready. Do you mind fetching your men?” She asked.

“Of course, my good lady.” The prince stood up from the table and walked to the door. He yelled out with his booming voice, “MEN! GRAB YOUR PLATES! DINNER IS READY!” He walked back and sat down in his spot at the table.

The men slowly filed into the small house, plates in hand. Each man gave their thanks to the old woman. Zod was sure that she had never seen so much flattery in her entire life. Each man served themselves food and drink with great enthusiasm. It wasn’t too hard to imagine that this was the first home they had been in, in a while. Sadly, there was not enough space to seat all of the men at their table, but a few stayed and sat with them as they ate. Zod laughed a little as he noticed that the few who stayed were all demigods, handpicked by Prince Meleagar himself. Pollux, one of the two twins and the son of Zeus, sat next to Meleagar. Next to Pollux sat Euphemus, the son of Poseidon.

Zod ended up scooting down the table so his mother could sit next to the old man, her husband. She sat across from the Prince and laughed at all his jokes and compliments. Zod was glad to see she was receiving so much attention. Her meal was incredible and Zod thought she deserved all the admiration. Zod was happy for her but secretly he was overjoyed to be next to Atalanta, who was seated in the only spot left, besides him.

Up close, Atalanta was even more beautiful than Zod thought before. Her dark brown hair was tied up and Zod got to truly see her beautiful face. Her piercing blue eyes were the color of a cloudless sky and her high cheek bones gave her a slender face that made her look quick and strong. ‘Certainly she must be talented and strong,’ he thought. She had earned enough of Meleagar’s respect to sit at the same table with him.

Zod tried to start a conversation with her, “So, I hear the Arcadian wilderness is the realm of Pan. I imagine you have seen many satyrs in your life, Atalanta.”

Atalanta continued to chew the tough boar meat intently. She did not look up at him or seem to acknowledge his comment at all. After a few seconds of silence, she looked up at Zod, “Oh, are you talking to me?” She asked, looking shocked to see someone speaking to her.

“Why yes.” Zod said, scratching the back of his head, slightly embarrassed, “you are Atalanta the Arcadian, or at least that was how I thought you were introduced.” She looked into his eyes with a look that Zod could not identify. Another few seconds passed and Zod said, “Pardon me if I am wro-“

“No. You are not wrong.” She interrupted. “I am from Arcadia and umm,” she stammered, “yes, I have seen many satyrs.” She said no more and just went back to eating her food.

“So what was Arcadia like?” Zod asked.

Atalanta finished chewing a piece of meat and then with a very fierce look asked, “You ask a lot of questions, don’t you?”

Zod was slightly taken aback, but then a smile crept on his face, as he said, “I actually believe that was the first question I asked you, my lady.”

Atalanta laughed, “Fair enough. I actually don’t remember a lot about Arcadia anymore.” Her brief jovial demeanor returned to the same solemn complex one it had been before. “The truth is that even though I survived there until I was 10, I don’t really remember as much of what happened there as I used to.”

“Oh,” Zod said, “well I am sorry. We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

She looked over at him and Zod’s heart fluttered as she placed her hand on his and genuinely thanked him. The boy across from them, ‘Euphemus,’ Zod thought his name was, spoke up. “Wow, I have never seen a huntress open up like that before.” Zod did not like the smirk that the son of Poseidon held on his face. “Don’t expect much more affection from her than that gentle pat on your arm, Zod.” The boy laughed.

Pollux, sitting next to Euphemus, apparently found their conversation more entertaining than the prince’s and joined in. “Yeah mountain boy, you’ll want to watch this one,” he gestured to Atalanta with his knife. “Have I ever told you Euphemus that Castor and I suspect she controls the boar we hunt?” Euphemus turned towards a very drunken Pollux with mocking interest.

“No Pollux, I don’t think you have.” He said, with a sly grin.

“You are tricky one, aren’t you?” Pollux asked her. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she is leading us all to our heroic deaths at the hands of her Goddess.” He stuttered to the group, with an apparent inebriation that was hard not to laugh at. Zod looked down and saw Atalanta grasping the handle of a dirk fastened to her leg, beneath the table. She did not expose it, but as the boy, Pollux, continued to speak, Zod could see the knuckles of her hand growing whiter and whiter as she clinched the blade tighter and tighter.

Euphemus seemed to feed the drunk boy his own assumptions, “You think so, Pollux?” He asked, egging the boy on. “And why is that?”

Pollux gestured for Prince Meleagar to refill his wine and drunkenly continued as the Prince silently listened from the side. “Well, you remember that fool, Ancaeus, right Euphemus?”

“May he rest in peace,” the prince interrupted.

Pollux nodded his head for longer than he should have and then continued, “Yes, that fellow. Well he showed our young huntress a fancy too.” He said laughing, although no one joined him. “He was always offering compliments to our pretty lady here but, she always ignored him with the same distaste she is showing you right now.” He said looking at Zod now. “And the night before Ancaeus died, the poor man got a little too drunk…”

“Worse than you?” the prince once again interrupted. The entire table laughed, even Pollux.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, son of Dionysus. Judge me all you want. But I remember he sang a drunken love ballad to you,” He pointed a finger at the beautiful Huntress. “And somehow the beast that serves your mother, charged and stabbed the man right in his groin the day after.”

Euphemus tactfully redirected Pollux, “But how does that make it her fault, Pollux?”

Pollux threw his hands up in the air and laughed, “Don’t you see the connection? The man’s cock was torn apart by her boar’s tusks for Gods’ sake!” Pollux roared with laughter, growing louder and more obnoxious the more Euphemus baited him on. “Clearly, the daughter of Artemis used the boar to kill the man who sung to her forbidden heart his song of affection. Now tell me sweetheart, did you have him killed because he offended you or because you knew you want some of this lovely man meat, here, and you know you can’t have it.” He said, with an obscene grip of his crotch.

“Now, now Pollux,” Prince Meleagar chided, trying to calm down the drunk boy. “I am sorry, my hosts. Clearly some of us are more worn and weary from our journey than I originally thought.” The prince said as he gracefully rose and bowed thanks to the old man and woman. “Now come on Pollux, you no longer belong here.” Trying to usher the boy out the door. “Let me…”

“NO! SHE IS THE ONE WHO DOES NOT BELONG HERE!” He pointed his finger again at Atalanta. This time, however, a string sparks erupted from the tip of his finger which sped swiftly at Atalanta’s face. An angry look captured Pollux’s face. Without even taking time to think of what was going on, Zod grabbed his plate and shielded Atalanta with uncanny speed. Zod was glad to see that not a single spark hit her beautiful face and that the wave of sparks had stopped shortly after it started.

Zod’s gratefulness quickly turned to anger as he rose from his seat, dropped his plate/shield, and drew his hunting knife, ready to attack Pollux. Pollux unsheathed his own sword and Euphemus rose beside him wielding a sharp, fancy blade as well.

“STOP THIS IN THE NAME OF YOUR FUTURE KING!” Prince Meleagar roared. “For your father’s sake, Pollux, don’t you realize that this boy is your half-brother?”

Pollux eyes widened, the drunkenness had left his face. “You are son of Zeus?” He asked.

Zod nodded. His face remained solid and resolute but his heart dropped into his stomach. “There it is,’ he thought, ‘the cat is out of the bag, and they will take me from the old man and mother, no doubt.’

Pollux just sheathed his weapon and stormed out of the house without further word. Euphemus stayed for a moment longer with his blade drawn. He searched Zod’s eyes and held expression on his face that Zod could not identify, but soon the moment passed, he smiled and sheathed his blade. He laughed and apologized to Zod, “I am sorry for drawing my blade, good fellow, I just wanted to ensure peace between us all.” He gathered his plate and Pollux’s and walked out of the house as well.

Once the two had left the house, Atalanta broke down into a fit of tears. Zod’s heart melted to hear the beautiful girl cry. He tried to put his arm around her but she threw his hands off her and rushed into the back room of their house, desperate to be away from the disastrous dinner party. Zod thanked his mother for the meal and the Prince for his company before following Atalanta into the back room.

Chapter 6: Chapter 3: The Hunt Continues

Zod quietly walked into the back bedroom and found Atalanta standing at the window, looking out into the night sky. Zod tried not to disturb her. She looked deep in thought, but when he entered, she gave him an annoyed look before turning back to the window.

“You are quite persistent, aren’t you?” she asked in a stern voice with slight hiccupping. Zod could tell she hadn’t stopped crying. She was just trying to hide it from.

“Now look who is asking all the questions,” Zod joked. He saw her smile momentarily but that brief sense of humor seemed to pass as quickly as it came. Zod wished he could comfort her, but he remained wary not to repeat Ancaeus mistake of being overly forward with a huntress of Artemis.

She turned from the window and walked to the bed tracing her fingers through one of the pelts that laid on the bed. “Can I see the boar’s tusk?” She asked him unexpectedly

“What?” Zod asked. How can she know about the boar? He thought. “Have you been going through my things?” He asked her, suddenly angry.

She laughed lightly and said, “Keep calm. I assure you that I did not go through your bag. After all, I did not need to. Your token belonged to a beast of my Goddess, I could sense it as soon as I came into this house. I wish not to take it from you, I would just like to see the tusks, if you’d let me.”

Zod sighed and fetched the tusk from his hunting bag. He brought it to her. She held the celestial ivory up in the moonlight. “It is quite remarkable, Zod. Do you have the other tusk with you too?” She asked.

“I didn’t think you knew my name, Arcadia.” He said with a weak laugh.

She shot him a dangerous look, but after a moment her façade broke and she started smiling, “Don’t flatter yourself, son of Zeus. Where is the other tusk? Please don’t tell me you lost it?”

Zod looked at her with a confused look. “This tusk was the only thing that fell from the boar, Atalanta.” A smile came to her face. She whispered something to herself and then excitedly handed the tusk back to Zod. “Wait, what is going on?” He asked.

“Artemis smiles upon me again!” She said. Zod didn’t understand. She grasped him by the shoulders and excitedly shouted, “The boar lives, Zod! I was so upset when I walked into your house and sensed the tusk. I thought I had failed Artemis.” She finished with a yelp of excitement.

“I don’t understand, Atalanta.” Said Zod. “I killed the beast, I am sure of it. I stabbed the beast’s skull with my knife and I saw it fall to dust!”

“Thankfully for me, Zod,” Atalanta started, ”you did not kill the beast. You defeated it, yes, and your trophy here is evidence of your bravery.” She gestured to the tusk. ”But I believe that if you used the same dagger to kill the boar as you used to threaten Pollux, then the beast would not die.”

Atalanta pulled an arrow from her quiver and held it up in the moonlight. “Do you recognize the type of metal used in the point, Zod?” She asked him.

Zod shook his head. He did not recognize the metal. In the dim light, it looked bronze to him, but he did not trust himself to answer the question. He didn’t want to seem foolish in front of Atalanta. “It’s celestial bronze, Zod. Celestial Bronze is a special kind of metal that can be used to slay monster.”

“So are you saying that my blade was not strong enough to kill the boar?” Zod asked. He was pretty sure that the fact that his knife pierced the boar’s thick skull vilified that theory.

“It’s not necessarily that your blade wasn’t sharp enough to kill it, it is more so that your dagger was not important enough to send the beast back to Tartarus,” she explained. “You see, celestial bronze is metal forged by Hephaestus, the god of smithing. It is very important.” She said, almost mockingly.

“So you are saying a poor farm boy without fancy weapons has no chance of killing monsters, then?” Zod asked, rather annoyed with the concept.

“Quite the opposite actually, son of Zeus,” Atlanta exclaimed. “The tusk you possess is Celestial Ivory. Celestial Ivory and Celestial Bronze are interchangeable as far as killing monsters go.” She said with a smile on her curling on her lips. Atalanta’s jokes and arrogances were starting to get on Zod’s nerves but Zod could not deny how incredibly beautiful the arrogant smile was on her lips.

“Well fine then, I am coming with you to kill the beast.” Zod said poignantly.

“Oh sure you are.” She laughed, “You think you can kill the boar now, too? All you men are the same. Arrogant as can be.”

“Well the way I see it, this boar owes me another tusk.” Zod said with inflated pride. He had seen the old man and woman play fight like this a thousand times. He hoped Atalanta was flirting with him back as he was attempting to do with her, but he honestly had no clue what went through the huntress’s mind.

“You can keep the tusk, you idiot.” She said laughing. “It is the hide that we all seek.”

“Why?” Zod began to ask but he was interrupted by the door slamming open. Prince Meleagar and the old man stumbled into the room singing a drunken bard.

“Ah, my boy Zod! I see that you have comforted our beautiful huntress.” The prince slurred his words heavily when he spoke. The old man continued to sing, without noticing that his partner had stopped. The prince stared, with an open mouth of surprise, at Zod and the tusk glimmering on the top of the bed. “My boy, is that what I think it is?”

The prince sat the old man down on his bed and picked up the tusk. “Why it is as large as my forearm” the prince exclaimed. “and bright as the moon!” He marveled at it, then came over to Zod. “My boy, well done. I assume you are the one who killed the beast then?”

Atalanta spoke up before Zod could process what was being asked of him, “No, my prince. The beast still lives. Zod here just defeated it. This tusk is but a token of his victory. I have confirmed it with Artemis myself, it is true.”

“Ah damn it.” He swore. “I thought we were finally rid of this horrid quest, but alas, the goddess’s revenge on my family continues.” He said with a sigh. The prince let go of Zod and began to walk in the direction of the door.

“I’d like to join you on your quest, Prince Meleagar, if you would have me.” Zod called out to him.

Meleagar paused, “Are you in search of glory, young son of Zeus?” he asked.

Zod shook his head. “No sir. The beast is a threat to my family, I will not let it escape me twice.”

Meleagar chuckled and said, “Good man.” Before walking out of the room and out of Zod’s home.

Zod looked over at the old man. The old man looked mortified but silently nodded. Atalanta brushed past Zod and followed Meleagar out of the house. Zod called out to her, “Wait, Atalanta!”

She didn’t even look back at him. She just called out, “You better get your rest young hero, the Calydonian Hunt continues tomorrow and you’re coming with us.” She continued walking out of the house as Zod stood in the room, as her words slowly sunk in. Zod heard the door slam and looked back at the old man.

Zod walked towards the old man, preparing to explain, but the old man held up his hand. “Leave me, Zod. I need my rest.” Zod sighed but did as he was told.

He walked to his own bed and thought of the adventure that lied ahead of him. He wondered where the hunt would take him, he wondered if he would ever return home, and of course, he wondered if Atalanta would ever feel anything for him. He laid down in his bed and all his thoughts escaped him as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 7: Chapter 4: Demigod Dreams

Zod could tell he was dreaming. ‘I have to be dreaming,’ he thought. He looked around at the completely foreign scenery and tried to figure out where he was. He had no idea where he was exactly, but he could see that he stood atop a lone mountain overlooking a grand landscape beneath him. He could tell from his basic knowledge of geography that he was still in Greece, but he had never seen this towering mountain before in his life. There were other mountains in the distance, but they looked like petty foothills in comparison to the high peak from which he stood. To the south of him, he saw a great sea and a sandy shore beyond it. To the west he saw an even greater body of water, a great ocean, which extended endlessly into the darkness of the far night. To the east though, Zod saw a golden chariot skimming across the endless landscape of the Far East. Zod watched the man steering the chariot, he looked to be thousands of miles away, but Zod saw him in vivid detail as if he was only a few feet away. He had a handsome face and golden, curly hair which hung for miles behind him as if it was a golden, war banner. The golden haired man towed a great body of light with his golden chariot. Zod tried to see what it was he towed, but he had difficulty identifying it. It blinded his eyes to look upon it; all light seemed to pour from it almost as if it was a burning sun.

‘This all seems familiar,’ Zod thought. His bedtime stories seemed to return to him. ‘That’s the great sun god, Apollo,’ he thought. And as if the god heard his very thoughts, Apollo turned his view away from the western horizon and looked down upon Zod. His golden eyes made contact with Zod’s own, and the two held eye contact other for a prolonged time. From his back, the Sun God withdrew his mighty bow and a glowing arrow from his quiver. He took aim and launched the arrow through the air, speeding right towards Zod. Zod was mortified. ‘Why is Apollo firing at me?’ He thought as he panicked, but before he could even command his body to do so, he pivoted his left foot back and his torso turned left at his hip. When the arrow came to him, he pushed the shaft of it away from him in midair. The arrow landed in the ground a few feet behind him. Zod stared in wonder at the erect arrow, ‘how did I just deflect a speeding arrow?’ he thought. Zod looked at his palms. His hands did not glow with energy such as Pollux’s did. ‘What am I?’ He asked himself. As he stared at his palms, he sensed a strong, but different power growing inside of him.

Zod looked from his palms to the glowing arrow, jutting from the ground. Impaled by the arrow was a piece of parchment. Fluttering in the wind, the paper moved along the shaft of the arrow as if begging to be read. Zod bent over and pulled the note from it. Inscribed in elegant, golden letters was “Look to the seas, Zod. –A”. Zod looked to the south. The crisp blue sea to the south was calm. A fleet of triremes conducted naval warfare against a sea monster, but other than the men’s bestial skirmish, the scene was quite normal. To the west, however, violent storm clouds gathered over a raging ocean.

Lightning struck down onto the face of the dark water. The ocean roared up in defiance beneath the torrential sky. The oceans grew more and more powerful as the giant waves raged higher and higher, eventually consuming the thundering, storm clouds above them. The storm clouds disappeared from the sky, swallowed whole by the ocean. The ocean raged in victory but quickly turned its focus inland. Giant waves, miles high, swallowed the western shore. After a few minutes of rising, the ocean began to pour into the clear blue sea to the south. The crisp, aquamarine water grew dark as the great waves of the ocean polluted the sea, drowning the trireme fleets that stood only moments before. The waves did not stop their advance. They began to encroach the southern shores of Greece. The many islands of Greece were swallowed whole. Zod watched Arcadia disappear under one large wave and Zod couldn’t help but think of Atalanta, Arcadia was her homeland. The waves crashed upon the Greek shores and refused to recede. The floodwaters rose, consuming cities and mountains underneath it. The water pushed further and further until it raged just below the base of Zod’s mountain. Zod looked in all directions, the water had consumed everything. He stood on the only landmass left, yet the water kept rising. Zod turned away from the sea. To his back was a great temple he had not seen before. He did not bother himself about where it had come from. He just rushed inside, desperate to find higher ground.

The inside of the temple was in a state if destruction. Pillars had fallen and dead bodies littered the floor. Zod looked at the bodies and was mortified to see that he recognized the faces of the bodies he saw. Laying a few feet from him was the body of Prince Meleagar. His thyrsus, with its celestial bronze, pinecone tip, laid scattered out of the dead prince’s reach. The rest of his men laid dead, disseminated around him, and to Zod’ sadness, the dead bodies included Atalanta. Zod walked through the temple and paused over her body. Her stomach was torn open, her entrails fallen on the floor beside her. Zod felt like weeping at the sight of her beautiful face standing in a pool of her own blood. Zod looked up with tears in his eyes and saw, the statue of Zod’s father, Zeus, seated on a great marble throne. He felt like screaming out to his father! ‘How could he just watch the slaughter of these people?’ He hysterically thought to himself. The god’s marble eyes seemed to stare into Zod’s own with a deep sadness and at the statue of the god’s feet was the Calydonian Boar.

The beast looked up from the hero’s carcass it fed upon, at Zod. He couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the beast. It was missing a tusk; clearly the one Zod had taken from it. ‘Now if only I had the other tusk with me,’ he thought. The beast stared at him from across the temple. Its eyes glowed with anger and recognition. The beast snorted so ferociously that its voice echoed throughout the temple. The reverberating sound momentarily drowned out the crashing water outside of the temple.

Zod grew angry, enraged with the death of Atalanta, Prince Meleagar, and his men. He screamed out to the animal, “Come on, boar! Show me your best!” The boar roared in agreement and charged at Zod. Zod had no weapons, but he did not care. With rage pounding through his veins, he felt power inside him that he never felt before. The beast came towards him and Zod charged at it, in return. Zod met the beast at full speed, almost floating through the air, and threw all of his newfound power into a straight punch right into the beast’s skull. A thunder clap of sound roared from the impact and both the boar and Zod shot backwards, almost as if a great explosion erupted between them.

Zod blacked out as he flew through the air. He soared out of Zeus’s temple and into the roaring sea at the base of the temple. He was woken by the feeling of cold water, consuming his body. The ocean was now halted at the steps of Zeus’s temple. The temple was all the land that remained in the world. The great sea had consumed all else. Zod treaded water where he had stood only moments before. Zod tried to swim back to the steps of the temple, but the ocean did not seem to want to release him. The current tugged at him. He swam the best that he could but the ocean eventually won. It dragged him beneath the surface and deep down in the murky depths, Zod swore he heard a dark laughter pulsing from the very water that swallowed him.

Just as Zod thought all hope was lost, golden hands grasped him by the shoulders. These mighty hands pulled him from the water and carried him back towards the temple steps.

Zod recognized the hands, they were Apollo’s. The great sun god had come back for him. Apollo set him down on the steps and Zod turned to him. The glowing God smiled and nodded his head, as if sensing Zod’s words of thanks. Zod was about to turn from the sun god and towards the temple, but Apollo held up a hand, pausing Zod. Apollo reached into his chariot and pulled out a spear and handed it to Zod. Zod looked it over. He recognized the spear point. It was celestial ivory, honed from the Calydonian Boar’s tusk. As he held it in his hand, he felt the spear pulse with power.

“Do you know what this all means?” The sun god asked him, gesturing to the sea and the temple. “Or furthermore,” he continued, “do you know what you must do, Zod?”

“I must kill the boar with this spear, Apollo.” Zod said, confidently holding the spear in his hand.

The sun god smiled and silently, shook his head. His eyes glazed over. His once golden eyes turned a pale white. The sight shocked Zod terribly, but his initial shock was nothing compared to how scared he was when a different voice, a raspy woman’s, escaped Apollo’s throat. The woman’s voice spoke:

A hunt continues as a godly war wages
A hero joins the fight with a name that’ll escape the pages
Two sons and two fathers, to death, will fight
And one will prevail: by Water or Light
And at the foot of a God, the Beast’s pelt must be lain
To right the wrong of a wrongful claim.

The words, echoed through Zod’s head as if trapped there. Zod tried to ask what Apollo what it all meant, but the loud snort of a Boar behind him interrupted him. Apparently Zod’s punch was not as fatal as Zod had hoped. Apollo nodded to him a final time to Zod and said, in his normal, deity voice again, “Do not be afraid to look towards the Sun, Zod.” And then, without any further words, the god mounted his chariot and sailed off into the west, as if he had better things to do.

Zod turned, his new spear pulsing in his hand, and walked into the temple. The beast stood in front of him, shaking his head as if beckoning Zod again. Zod laughed and called out to the beast, “Aren’t you tired of me beating you, Pig?”

The boar bared its teeth, bloody and rotten from their recent use. Zod thought of the beast feasting on Atalanta’s corpse and roared with rage. He did not wait for the Boar’s charge, he raised his spear over his shoulder and threw it with absolute precision at the beast. The spear plunged through the beast’s mouth, open in mid-roar. The spear impaled through the boar’s mouth and out of the back of its skull. The boar landed on its side with a heavy thud and erupted into dust, this time without relinquishing a trophy. Zod walked over to the pile of dust and retrieved his bloody spear. As he reached for it, he could not help but look up into the face of his father, Zeus. The statue looked down on him, solemnly with vacant, marble eyes. The spear pulsed in his hands as Zod called out to the statue, “I will not let you down, father.”

As he spoke aloud, the marble floor and the temple around him collapsed to darkness. Zod fell through the darkness and woke up from his dream.

Light peered through the window of his Clark Ridge home. Morning had risen and Zod rose from his bed, knowing that he must get ready for his journey. It was going to be a long one.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of Tale of Zod: The Forgotten Demigod