The Blessing of Fire

This a story that just came into my head a bit ago and I just couldn't get it out. So I'll try to vent it here.





I don't have any names for my characters, so I decided to go with some Latin.





There was a boy. A boy who I still don't have a name for, who, by accident, walked into an ancient temple of the god Zeus. It was broken down and you could barely tell it was a man made structure. The boy, who had decided to explore the caves he had found in the ravine behind his house, had never expected to find anything as cool as this.(Just to let you know, this is in the twenty-first century) He was just a typical school boy, only thirteen years old. When he stepped into what used to be a magnificent temple of the gods, Zeus felt a bit of power return to him. He saw the young boy in the cave and decided to try to rescue the world that he had accidentally created. He gave the boy a power. A power equal to any magician or mystic ever to exist. So from now on I will call this anonymous boy Ignis, which means fire in Latin. Ignis felt a strange shiver go down his spine. He then felt amazingly sleepy. He returned to his home and fell asleep so early his parents were wondering if he was ill.





The next day when Ignis woke up, he felt the exact opposite of the day before. He felt every fiber, every sense of his body was supercharged. He went to school and got every answer right. He won every race in gym and he was the first to get out the door at lunch. He had been running every square inch since he had woken up, yet he didn't feel the least bit tired. He stayed in this state for three days. Three days he felt superhuman. Then, at the end of the third day, one of the bullies noticed how energetic he seemed. He saw saw accurate he was in class, and he decided to pay him a visit. Ignis had encountered this boy several times before in a fight and every time he had lost. When he saw the bully coming towards him he tried to hide but it was too late. The boy came up and said in his face," so you're feeling pretty good huh," he spat and said," not anymore," and with that, the boy aimed a punch at Ignis. To Ignis it seemed that this bully, who I am now forced to name Mark, was moving in slow motion. Not Matrix slow-motion, but still slower than the average human speed. He had so long to calculate his reaction that by the time Mark's fist was halfway to Ignis' face, Ignis had slipped behind him and kicked him in the back, hard. Mark flipped over into the mud. Ignis was almost as surprised as Mark, almost. He realized that it made sense that his reaction time would change along with his physical form. He grinned, and skipped away. The next morning, he didn't go strait to school. First he went to the old ruin in the cave. When he took a step in their, he felt absolutely normal. Nothing changed at all. He took another step, nothing happened. He turned to the left and saw a statue of Zeus, in surprisingly good shape. He looked into the statue's eyes. It's eyes suddenly closed, opened again, and statue took a step towards him. Ignis, however, didn't scream. He couldn't. There was a voice in his head, a voice so deep and powerful that Ignis couldn't think of anything but the words it was saying."You have returned, I wondered if you would. Don't be frightened, I won't hurt you." The statue held out his left hand. "Come," it, no he, said. Ignis followed him to the back of the temple. There he saw an old door. The statue opened the door and gestured for him to step in. Ignis obliged. Through the door was Olympus, where many heroes were trained such as Ajax and Theseus. He looked into Ignis's eyes and said, "concentrate." Ignis closed his eyes and cleared his mind. "What am I supposed to be doing?" He thought. "I want you to destroy that statue over there." replied the statue. "How?" Asked Ignis. "You must concentrate on two things," said the statue, "the statue, and fire." Ignis pictured the statue the Zeus figure was pointing to and then he pictured a huge fireball flying towards it. BOOM. The statue was gone in a huge pile of ash. The Zeus figure was staring down at him with pride in his eyes.







ONE MONTH LATER





He had, by that time, realized he had to act normal when other people were in the area. It wasn't normal for a thirteen year old school boy to be answering seventh grade questions with his free time. It wasn't normal for the youngest student in the class to be the fastest, strongest and most fit. And it was not normal for kids to beat up bullies twice their age. By this time he knew that whatever he had, had to be kept secret from his friends, his family and everybody else in the world. He lived his life on a completely changed schedule. He woke up in the morning, ate breakfast, was the first person in school. He then left school at lunch, went through the other way into the ravine behind his house and practiced using his powers. Then he would get back to school just before class started and finish the day as usual. Then after school he would go and receive more training from varying embodiments of different gods. Then he would fall asleep instantly.







Eventually the gods had run out of things to teach him. They would just have him train constantly, over and over until he could do most of them while pondering the meaning of life and solving a division question involving zero and infinite at the same time. He didn't see any point to it. Nobody on earth could compare to him. He could prevent an atomic bomb with a flick of his hand and could run around the earth in about thirty minutes. He could jump and exit the solar system by ACCIDENT! He was getting so bored of his training that one day he just decided not to go. He went strait home. He didn't enter the temple for another two weeks. He had dreams of some of the gods waving at him, gesturing for him to follow them. He always woke up before he had the chance to even consider it. He lived his life even better than he had been when he was receiving instructions from the gods. He had total control over his life and the lives of several others. But what he didn't know was that the gods had not instructed him on one of the most important subjects. History. He didn't know that when one of the two major gods decided to extend his power,  the other one had to react to match the the others power. And the other major god just happened to be Kronos, king of the titans and one of the most evil beings ever to exist. Banished to the Underworld, he hated his son, Zeus, to the point of killing him in the cruelest way possible. He knew that the way he was looking for was not harming Zeus directly, but by hurting the things he cared about. He knew that he had to balance the abnormality Zeus had created when he gave Ignis power of fire and gravity and telekinesis. He decided to create a replica of Ignis, but of one of eviler intentions. So Infusco now becomes part of the story , which means shadow in Latin. But Ignis didn't know anything about that. He thought the most evil thing in the world was a bomb. Soon he would discover why Zeus put in the effort to create someone as powerful as him. When he abandoned his training, he betrayed the trust Zeus had put on him and Kronos had the chance he needed to put his plan into action. So now it's time to hear the other side of the story.







On the other side of North America, in a place quite isolated from the rest of the world, lived the boy who would almost destroy the world he lived in. I don't have a name for him either. He lived in a small house with his father. His mother had died of a new, unheard of disease two years ago. She was the only one in the family who made any money. When she died and after the grief retreated a bit, he and his father had moved out of America and up into Canada. They lived about a kilometer from a small town. They went in their every week to buy what they needed. There was a big forest a couple hexameters from his home. Sorry if I sound kinda technical but I think this story deserves a good description. He would play in the forest often. It was a good place to forget all the worries of life. But today when he went in everything seemed darker. He went a different way from what he usually did. It led him to a cave. In the cave there was a temple. A temple so well preserved that it could have been built only yesterday. He went in slowly.  He could barely see his hand in front of his face it was so dark. He looked at the ground. It was brimstone. Black, lava stone. It seemed a dark omen. He tripped and did a face  plant into the hard rock. He heard a strange grumbling from bellow. He found some stairs that led into the ground. With some apprehension, he took a step forwards. The grumbling came again, louder this time. It seemed to be coming from right where he was standing. There was a huge crack and suddenly a huge figure rose up from a huge crevice in the ground. It was the titan god Kronos. He suddenly shrunk down to the size and shape of a twenty year old man. He didn't say a word. He just stared him strait in the eye with a smile on his face. Then, in a flash of dark powder he was gone. The boy who I can finally name Infusco, felt so tired that he went strait home and went to bed.



Again, this is the part in the story when the main character wakes up the next day and becomes a demi-god, but as similar to Ignis's as they are, I'm going to describe them anyway.

Infusco woke up early, even though his country school didn't start until eight. He went into the kitchen. His father was still in bed, not surprising, since it was only six. He but some toast in the toaster and took a quick look at the newspaper. It was mostly just talk of the storms lately and a car crash in the city. Nothing to interest him. He switched on the television. Again, very little on. He realized that it was ridiculous. He, a thirteen year old boy, was up at six on a school day just because he felt like it! It was unheard of. But he knew he couldn't go back to sleep. So he just sat there staring. He must have been doing that for several minutes. Then he shook himself when his toast popped up. Time to do something. He got the toast and went outside. Even more ridiculous. It was the middle of winter at six o'clock in the morning! Maybe it was better to stay home today. Well, it didn't matter, he would never be able to convince his father and he would never dream of cutting. He went to the forest. What was he doing? He didn't know. He found that he was headed in the direction of the cave. He was screaming at himself, trying to at least tell himself to put on a jacket. Then he realized he wasn't even cold. And he remembered checking the thermometer before he left. minus ten degrees. In the winter, with no sun, no heating what so ever and he was out here in the forest up to his knees in water and he wasn't even chilled. Now THAT chilled him. He finally gained control of himself and went to school. It was not a normal day. But all day he had felt somewhat cold. Not spine-shivering cold but a slight chill. He had felt it in the woods too, but not any colder that he was right now. Returning home, he found a note on the fridge that said,"Gone to buy something for dinner, I'll be back by seven, Dad". Well, something normal. He decided he should try to find the cave again just to prove to himself that he wasn't crazy. So, after putting on his jacket, he left into the woods. He went into the part he had explored before and realized that he had been to this part of the forest before. He had found no cave. Still, he had to prove to himself that he wasn't delusional. He continued to search for the entrance. He found it, but not where it had been before. He shivered. He walked into the cave, but slowly, hoping what happened last time would not happen this time. He stood where he had been before, but this time he was not shaking. He stood there for a full minute. Then he heard applause. "Congratulations, I must admit that I underestimated you. I thought you would just leave this place and earn a fortune but no, times have definitely changed." It was the same figure from before. Infusco managed to get a good look at him for the first time. He looked around twenty, with a medium build and muscular arms and legs. He was incredibly handsome and gentle looking, but there was something about him that seemed suspicious. "My name, in your language is Kronos, king of the Underworld and father of the gods. I gave you powers forty-eight hours ago, but you have not used them. You have strong self control. That is useful to me and my few allies." Said the man, or Kronos, as he said he was. Suddenly, he disappeared. Infusco stood there for a moment, frozen. Then he sensed a movement behind him. He spun and ducked as he saw a nasty looking longsword flying towards his head. "You are quick, but are you strong?" Said Kronos. Kronos then gestured towards a pillar halfway across the temple. It flew towards Infusco with incredible speed. Infusco acted on instinct alone as he twisted and grabbed the pillar by it's base. He grunted slightly and threw it away. "Woah, how the hell did I do that?" He exclaimed. "You are no longer human. You will now be known by me and everyone else as Infusco. Your old life is over. You must come with me now, or unfortunately, I will be forced to destroy you" Said Kronos, with a small smirk on his face.

So Infusco began the long sessions needed to create a proper demigod. He was approaching his so-called destiny, but he didn't enjoy it.



After several months, Infusco learned all about Greek mythology and the gods. He learned the true (in Kronos' mind anyways) nature of Zeus and the rest of the gods. After a while he became more and more accustomed to the darkness and chills that accompanied Kronos everywhere. His mind became corrupted from too much exposure to pure hate and rage. He was becoming the perfect warrior that Kronos had hoped he would become.



Ignis had just returned from school, a great day, and was sitting on the couch watching TV. His mind drifted over the past few days. Something had been bothering him, like an itch he just couldn't reach. He wondered if Zeus could have anything to do with it. So he went down to the temple. He found the statue standing where it usually did when he came unexpectedly, but there was a angry frustrated look to it's face. As Ignis entered, lightning and thunder came down. The statue stretched and then boomed at Ignis,"what have you done boy!". Ignis didn't understand, he had just taken a few weeks off. He couldn't understand what the god was so upset about. They were both immortal. Time did not affect them. What      difference could a few weeks off make? The god looked so angry, Ignis guessed that it would be a mistake to question him, so, he just took it. "Thanks to your little holiday, Kronos now has the power to create another one of you!!! And knowing Kronos, he'll use that power as soon as possible!" Ignis took a step back, suddenly realizing why Zeus was so pissed. Because of his month off, there was an evil version of him running around somewhere, ready to strike.




After a month of more training, Ignis was bored again. While he would never take another vacation, he was wishing he could. So he endured. After five weeks Zeus said, "I've got for you to do." Finally, something that didn't involve blowing stuff up. "I need you to blow up a Blackhound" Never mind.

When he reached the location of the Blackhound, he was, once again, bored. So, he played a card game, with his left hand against his mouth. It was fun and useful at the same time. He had fun playing and used them after as kindling for the fire. Then he realized that he was thirteen and, overnight, had gone halfway across the country, lugging a sword, gone to battle and evil beast. Didn't his parents even care!!! Oh well. Back to looking. He found the hound at about three in the morning. He wasn't even tired, but that was completely normal for him. It was scary. It had REALLY big teeth. He grinned. He was really going to enjoy this. The hound was completely black, with a squashed face. It looked like a hybrid between man and dog. Kinda like a werewolf. It was strong, he knew it, and probably fast too. He wouldn't have any trouble with it. He ran forwards and quickly slashed horizontally through the beast. He didn't feel the slightest resistance. Incredible. But, it wasn't his strength or the sword that made it that way. His sword had passed right through it. It didn't seem to make any difference to the blackhound, it just continued to pant and growl. He suddenly realized how bad it smelled. Gross. It needed a bath, bad. He landed gracefully, and turned to face the blackhound, it's eyes were so red they seemed to bleed. Then it made it's first move. It moved fast, as he had predicted, but clumsily, like it hadn't fully developed proper balance yet. It's claw flew towards Ignis. He ducked and it's paw sailed over him. He jumped back and summoned a huge fireball, throwing it at the beast. It hit him square in the chest and knocked the beast back, but it just stood back up and circled Ignis. Ignis knew that he wouldn't be able to keep this up for long. He needed to come up with something fast. He leaped forward and thrust right into the blackhound. It snarled at him and slashed him through the arm. Ignis gasped but managed to bring himself back to the battle before anything else happened. Okay, so a sword went right through it, and fire wasn't powerful enough to pierce it's flesh. It was time to improvise. He was sweating. He had to do this fast. He thrust into the blackhound again, but this time he added some fire into where the sword had pierced. The effect was instantaneous. It howled so loud that Ignis had to cover his ears. It was burning from the inside out. He grabbed his sword and made his way back to home. Before he'd gotten far however, a dark form landed in front of him."Very interesting."It said in mock admiration,"you actually defeated it. I must say I didn't expect that you would be strong enough, or smart enough as it were."It started to laugh. All Ignis could do was stare. The figure was the same height as him. He started a small fire in his left hand and held it up. It was Infusco. Just as Zeus had said. He looked exactly the same as him. His mouth fell open. He took a step back."My, my. You really are an amateur aren't you. Poor poor Ignis.


"I had no idea that I would see you out here. It was actually complete coincidence." Ignis hated that bemused look that he had never shown on his own face, he hoped. The resemblance pissed him off. If he spent some time in the Arctic, lost all trace off a tan, stopped sleeping until he had deep circles under his eyes and dressed in black armor, nobody would be able to tell them apart. There wasn't even a chance of his own mom recognizing any difference. Infusco read the look on Ignis's face, and said,"Well, what did you expect from your counterpart. I mean, obviously I didn't look like this before I found Kronos, but I'm not surprised at all. You really should give up your job working for that douche bag Zeus, there really isn't much reward, at least, that's what Theseus told me." Ignis took another step back and his mouth opened even wider. " Theseus.... But, doesn't he still work for Olympus?" Asked Ignis, puzzled. Infusco's eyes widened, "You are kidding. Zeus didn't tell you that half his army abandoned Greece in favor Tatarus!?!"     


"No, and I have a feeling that's not all he hasn't told me." Said Ignis, his voice getting quieter as he spoke, until at the end all he heard was a whisper. "Which army? Zeus has had many." Ignis was trying to get a grip on this conversation before he got completely lost. "The one led by Agamemnon in the battle for Troy." Infusco answered. "They didn't even wait for Agamemnon to rescue Helen. If they hadn't left, there would have been no need for the giant wooden horse. And there weren't any of Agamemnon's troops in there either, it was a bunch of Spartans who had decided to help out with the battle. I've been asking Kronos who the real enemy was, but he said that if I really wanted to know, I would have to wait until after I killed you." Infusco smiled, revealing perfect, pearly white teeth. Ignis took a breath and raised his sword. "If you wanna fight, let's do it!" he said aggressively. "Oh come on, you know very well that I would win. You just spent half an hour in heated combat with a blackhound, and I see you've been wounded too. I will wait until the victory will be worth something to me." And with that, he disappeared.




"Infusco! Are you sure? ... I did not foresee this." Ignis had made his way back home relatively easily. His debriefing with Zeus was not so easy. God's have all the time in the world, being immortal, and therefor, they take their time. Ignis had to tell him the story four times before Zeus bothered to listen to him. When he told Zeus about Infusco, Zeus exploded into worry."Did he fight you? No, of course not, you are still alive. So you did defeat the blackhound?" Ignis nodded."Good, that's out of the way. But Infusco is a much bigger issue. We must deal with this as soon as possible." "Zeus," Ignis asked, "Infusco told me that half of the army led by Agamemnon betrayed Olympus. But they didn't did they? History says otherwise." He had started steadily, but at the end his voice had become a whisper. Zeus let out a long sigh. "I wondered whether he would bring that up. What else did he tell you?" "Well, he said that Theseus had betrayed the gods. Well, not directly, but he said that he had learned from him, so I assumed that's what he meant." Zeus looked puzzled."Theseus has not betrayed Olympus. Are you sure that is what he meant?" "Well, yes. I am." Zeus' look went from puzzled, to curious, to alarmed, all in a mater of seconds. He moved his hand through the air in a circular motion. A window appeared in the air in front of him."Hermie, get me Theseus. Now." Hermie's head disappeared, then, he reappeared, holding a large book, covered in handwriting."He hasn't been seen for months sir." Said Hermie. He frowned, and turned a few pages."He was punished last he was seen." Zeus was looking more and more alarmed."What was he punished for?" Zeus asked sharply."Ummm, let's see." He turned a few more pages. He was muttering to himself under his breath."Ah, here we are. Rebellious activity. Odd, usually it's more detailed." Hermie shut the book and looked up at Zeus."Is that all sir?" He asked cheerfully."No...no that is all Hermie." Hermie smiled warmly and disappeared, taking the odd mirror with him.