Legend of a Hero

Chapter 4

A/N - just trying to update faster and finish this story

Third Person POV - Narrator

Some believe in parallel universes such as what if our story's protagonist Perseus was able to keep in contact with his beloved Piper after the war? That parallel universe would end in their love. Another parallel universe would be what if instead of living, Perseus asked the gods to kill him? That world would surely end in chaos, the gods greed would overpower them in the end. Another parallel universe would be what if everything went Perseus' way and he got everything he want in the end? His mentor Achilles still alive? He would surely love that. His father still around and he had no godly laws to withhold him from seeing his son? He would love that as well.

But there is also one more alternative, what if with the power he has, Perseus rebelled against the gods? A new era would be born and that era would help expand the world as we know it. Human technology improvements would sky rocket. Surgery on human beings would be quick, easy and very simple. Future tech such as flying cars would exist, cars that could be driveable under water, and many many more.

But when there is too much good, there must always be something bad to counter it.

Regression to the mean once again.

If that alternative became a reality then the gods would cease to exist. Their history erased from the books.

And maybe that was what the world needed the most.

Ω

Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so they ask themselves, will their actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear their names long after they're gone, and wonder who they were, how bravely they fought, how fiercely they loved?

People live their lives bound by what they accept as correct and true. That is how they define reality. But what does it mean to be correct or true? They are merely vague concepts, their reality may all be a mirage. One's reality might be another's illusion. Can we consider them to be simply living in their own world, shaped by their beliefs? We all live inside our own fantasies. But however, you are the only one who can create your own destiny, forge your own path, you must deem what you see and hear as true or correct.

Knowledge and awareness are vague, and perhaps better called illusions, what you see and know is not always true, however the only thing in our world that is true is that, we do not know what kind of person we truly are until the moment before our deaths, as death comes to embrace you, you will realize what kind of person you truly were. That's what death is, don't you think?

However, those who forgive themselves before their death, and are able to accept their true nature, can die and move on to the next life peacefully, and that was what Perseus wanted to achieve.

Change was impossible in this fog of ignorance, love would always breed sacrifice, which in turn breeded hatred, and the end result is pain, the cycle was a very vicious one, however many believe that overcoming this pain can end this cycle.

Sometimes you must hurt in order to know, fall in order to grow, lose in order to gain because life's greatest lessons were learned through the pain.

And Perseus had experienced that first hand, his thoughts going back to the priestess he fell in love with during the Trojan War.

And so, our story continues.

*Flashback*

"Why are the fates so cruel Achilles?" Perseus was no older than the age of eight, he was much younger but his eyes were still the same glowing green.

Achilles sighed, "Perseus, time is like a wheel, it only goes forward, and nothing you do can push it back, you live in the present, think of the future and remember the past, but what happens in this exact moment is your own doing, your own choice. The fates do everything in their power so heroes like us can experience tragedy, they think it's going to make us stronger, but in the end it only fills us with sadness and leaves us hollow inside."

"All of us experience fear, we experience it everyday. Whether it be fear of battle, fear of losing someone, everyone has a fear. But only in death are we free of it and that is something the fates cannot control."

"We control our own destinies."

"I think I understand what you mean." Perseus' voice was childlike, his master laughed and said "Do you now? Come here, our training isn't over yet."

Achilles stopped and turned around, "One last thing Perseus, never regret anything, it's too late to regret, reality is just cruelly moving forward and nothing you can do will make it any better, just accept what happens and learn from it."

*Flashback end*

Around 1500 AD

Perseus travelled the world after he helped with Constantinople, his travels brought him first to India where he shaved his head bald and studied with various monks to control his emotions.

This training method allowed him to suppress all his emotions during a battle or confrontation, no longer did Perseus let anger cloud his judgement. He thought that maybe if he had learned to control his emotions his master Achilles would not have had to die the way he did.

Perseus later went on to meet Shiva. Having dedicated this short period of time to helping others and controlling his emotions Perseus would help others in need and in doing so helped an elderly woman as she was getting robbed.

The elderly woman turned out later to be the reincarnated form of the deity Shiva.

His confrontation with the deity was short lived.

Shiva did not have a physical form, instead he was more like a ghost.

"Young Perseus, there are not many people out with a kind heart and spirit like you. I believe that you can change the world." was all the deity told him before he raised his arm and pointed his palm towards Perseus.

Perseus' eyes were no longer the dull sea green they had been since the Trojan War, instead they were a bright emerald that had an everlasting fiery glow to them, almost as if he had a fire in his eyes.

Learning meditation from the monks allowed him to access some of the blessings he had received from Shiva in the next years to come.

In battle his sword would be covered in the destructive black flames of Shiva, the flames would burn until the enemy or whatever was completely destroyed. At first Perseus had no control over the flames, but practice makes perfect and in due time he was able to control it.

It was his ultimate offense.

Perseus was also able to heal using the power of the flames, and even though he wasn't as proficient in healing, he was still making progress.

Perseus' travels also took him to imperial Japan, where he trained under the shogun, learning the way of the samurai with the Japanese increased his already natural abilities with the blade and combined with the flames of Shiva, Perseus was literally a one man army with his sword skills.

The Japanese were a very fierce set of individuals who believed that dying should be celebrated as the one who died, died with honor.

His time with the Japanese taught him to be quick and precise, not to toy with the enemy, if there was a way to end the fight quickly, do so. If one had powers to use then use them, and if you use them don't marvel in the attacks outcome, follow up with another attack. There was a fine line between arrogance and confidence and Perseus knew where he stood. He was prideful but he wouldn't let his pride get in the way.

Many of these attributes made Perseus who he was and these attributes didn't go unnoticed by the gods of Japan.

His time with the samurai and the people of imperial Japan was soon to come to an end as the shogun era was starting to die off so Perseus knew he would have to continue his travels once again. Susanoo visited him later that night. The ocean within them brought them together and in turn the storm and sea god also blessed Perseus.

Perseus was able to conjure a humanoid figure that looked like a tengu at will, from what Susanoo told him there would be many stages of manifesting the figures final form. So far Perseus was only able to manifest the tengu's ribcage around him which acted as his ultimate impenetrable defense.

And so Perseus' travels continued, he had assisted the allies in the world wars as much as he could, giving them the idea of the atom bomb was just one of the many things he had done to help.

He had also played a significant role in stopping terrorist groups after the 9/11 attack.

His travels continued on until he finally found peace within himself.

Unknown Location - Present Day

The three men walked forward and stood around the large tube filled with green liquid, it was almost time. A new era was about to dawn on mankind.

The green liquid started draining and the figure instead the tube grew until he was about the size of a tall man, around 6'5".

The figures body and facial features started taking shape, his body was shredded to the bone, the man had barely any visible fat on him and his muscles were big and his veins bulged.

The man grew long dark hair and opened his eyes to reveal pure black, he didn't have a pupil or anything.

The three men walked forward with an air of profound excellence, as if expecting the man in front of them to bow before them.

That was not the case.

The man in front of them laughed, and did something the men didn't expect, he grabbed the leaders face and punched a hole through his chest and left him there on the floor to die. The other two followed soon after. The man laughed once more, "Erebus bows to no one, darkness shall rise!"

His laughter echoed throughout the dark dimly lit cave.

He snapped his fingers and the three men's creation stood before him, the boy's large wings were folded tightly into his back, his eyes were slits and a bright yellow and his talons razor sharp.

"Bring me that young immortal who goes by the name of Perseus."

The creation nodded swiftly and flew out the cave with an emotionless look on his face.

Ω

A lone figure flew in the midnight sky on a cold night, from the land below it was seen as a mere animal, but upon closer inspection one could see that it wasn't an animal at all, but instead it was a human. A human scientifically altered. There was no emotion left on the boy's face. Large wings sprouted out from the boy's back, he had talons instead of nails, and much of his skin was covered in feathers. If one were to look at his face, his eyes were sharp and intense, and very calculative like a hawk's.

"Perseus." It was as if the boy's voice was set to replay and every few seconds he would say, "Bring Perseus to my lord."

The three men had done something to him, but he wouldn't live to find out. The boy's body had already started to give out on him, patches of small grey dots were flickered all over his skin under the feathers, gray liquid dripped out of his mouth and down his lips. It was a sign.

A sign that meant that the three men's experiment was a failure.

With another flap of his large wings, a camp view was seen.

He could see Perseus sitting in front of an ablaze fire to keep himself warm, a small tent behind him, big enough so he could keep his stuff and sleep inside.

Perseus sensed his presence long before the boy could see him, and waited patiently.

The boy landed softly in front of him, his wings tucked behind his back. His eyes staring off into the distance, and his arms stood at his sides. He had the look of a dead man on his face.

"My lord wishes to speak with you." The boy's voice was soft and childlike.

Perseus raised an eyebrow, this usually never happened to him. The last time a god spoke to him was thousands of years ago.

The boys eyes turned pitch black and his body jumped. "I have been waiting for over three millennia to speak with you young Perseus."

'Ah, so the boy was being used a median so this god could speak to him.' Perseus thought, 'He's a cautious individual.'

The possessed boy walked back and forth, he had a smirk on his face as he stood in front of Perseus who was still seated in front of the fire.

The 'boy' raised his arms above his head and his wings extended outward. "Open your ears and I shall tell you about a better world. Open your eyes and I shall show you a better utopia. I have the power to vanquish all who oppose me." The 'boy' continued on laughing, darkness surrounded them as Perseus found himself seeing a vision.

It was himself standing above the defeated gods with a triumphant look on his face, a beautiful girl by his side.

Piper.

Even the god noticed the look on his face after Perseus saw his beloved.

"Yes Perseus, you can have it all. Join me and we can bring the dawn of a new era!" The boy's body jumped again and his head hung down, blood was dripping down his nose, eyes and mouth. The feathers on his skin and wings started falling to the ground one by one until there wasn't any left. The boy soon fell to the ground and died moments later, his body turning to ash with the wind blowing it away.

The gods laughter still echoed throughout the forest campground where Perseus had set his tent up.

It gave Perseus lots to think about.

The gods were merciless and only cared about themselves.

Their offspring were left to defend and care for themselves all because of the gods' foolish ancient laws, and none of it would change if they had their own way.

It was at that moment that Perseus decided his own fate and the rest of the world's fate.

He would put an end to the gods rule, he would create a world where demigods would thrive and no one would go through the same pain he did.

Perseus stood up and used his foot to throw some dirt on the fire to put it out and put his cloak on over his armor, his master's armor, and put the hood up and walked away from his tent to create his own destiny.

Ω

A war was coming.

The gods knew it, there was a strange lingering feeling in the air that made them all nervous and uncomfortable.

Changes had taken place, humans were no longer believing in the Olympians. Their seats of power were slowly and surely fading away due to the neglect of the humans believing in them.

Some minor gods had already faded away. One minor god who barely escaped, or whoever was erasing the minor gods from reality let him escape had said that the man had a black cloak over old Greek armor. The gods were told that the said man had glowing green emerald eyes, his sword covered in a black blaze of flames and a bright blue manifested ribcage of a tengu around him as he single handedly made many minor gods fade.

The minor god described him as an inferno of destruction, he was swift and precise. There were only but a handful of minor gods left and the Olympians were keeping the remaining ones on Olympus for safety purposes.

From what everyone could see though that even the mighty Olympians were afraid, and even if they weren't, they soon would be.

Because Perseus was coming for them all.

Ω

After the Trojan War

A few thousand miles beyond the fallen city of Troy was a girl walking alongside the dirt road. Her movements were slow, her kaleidoscope eyes were emotionless and dead, her once beautiful brown hair was a mess, even the dress she once cherished so much as a priestess was dirtied and covered in dirt and dried blood.

Piper didn't have much to live for anymore, her entire city was destroyed, her family gone, the other priestesses she served with most likely killed mercilessly.

She had nowhere to go, she had seen how the man whom she was in love with destroy her only home without a second thought, she saw him kill her prince without a second of hesitation.

A tendril shot out in front of her, it was mostly shapeless except for it's dark eyes.

'You have nowhere to go priestess.' A deep voice echoed in her head, 'Your life is hanging by a thread, allow me to help.' The voice was soft and full of love.

A bright light flashed in front of Piper and there stood a woman so beautiful that many would kill to even look at her, the love goddess Aphrodite.

"Grab my hand, young one and come with me." A motherly smile was embedded on her face as she looked at the defeated form of her daughter in front of her, it made her heart break. She was always against the ancient laws not allowing them to contact with any of their children.

Piper grabbed her mother's hand and they both disappeared with a flash.

Never again to be seen until the time was right. And that time wouldn't come until Perseus had destroyed all but a few of the gods.

A/N - sorry that this chapter was all over the place but it needed to be done so i could get all the background information out of the way. next chapter will include the start of the war.