The Forest Nymph Ch. 02

"Felix, son of Clemens, welcome to Mt. Olympus." Zeus said with a booming voice. He had white hair, a long beard, and a wreath around his head.

"Thank you, sir." I said humbly.

"We have brought you here because we all share a common enemy and a common purpose. We need your help Felix." Poseidon said as he spun his trident in his hand.

"What do you need my help with?" I asked with confusion.

"You know of Agamemnon, correct?" Zeus asked. My heart was instantly filled with anger.

"Yes, the king of Mycenae. He started the war with Troy after Helen left the king of Sparta and fell in love with Paris. It is because of him that my family is dead." I swore.

"The war was never over his brother losing his wife or for political reasons. He was after an artifact within Troy, and the war was just a ruse to get it." Zeus explained.

"What artifact?" I asked.

"The Palladium, the wooden statue that should have won Troy the war. It had the ability to protect a city from enemies and ensure victory. It was why Troy lasted as long as it did." He answered.

"Why was he after it? Did he want it to strengthen his own city?" I asked, trying to imagine what the link was between the sacred statue of Pallas and Serenity being captured.

"No, he wanted what was inside of the statue. You and your fellow Trojans originally believed that it was I that created the statue and sent it down from the heavens, but that is not truly what happened." The goddess Athena muttered.

"Only recently did we find out what the Palladium truly was and who created it. It was vessel to hold and protect a dangerous artifact. The powers imbued in the statue protect whatever city is its home, in order for the city to protect the statue and what it held, so that the artifact within could not be taken and used.

The one who created the statue was Pandora, and the artifact is her cursed box. It is the darkest and most powerful object in the world and Agamemnon somehow found out about it, even when we did not know the secret of the statue." Poseidon interrupted.

"But what does that have to do with Serenity?" I asked.

"Pandora's Box is pure malevolent evil, and I curse the day that I made it. Over the years, the vessel has aged and become more tempered. The darkness within it has grown more powerful than I would have imagined. Even without being opened, it has the strength to affect the world around it with its deathly influence. However, at the cost of this increase in strength, you could say it is being crushed under the weight of its own power.

The box could originally only be opened by a mere human with the innocence of curiosity, light being used to set free darkness. But now that the box has become more powerful, it requires sacrifice to be opened, something more pure than a curious human."

"So it needs a nymph..." I gasped.

"Not just any nymph, but the most powerful nymph alive. Of all the nymphs in the world, Serenity is the most pure and mystical. Even after being intimate with you, she is still far more pure than even a virgin human. You have seen the healing abilities that she possesses and the way that all life reacts to her. I loved her mother with all of my heart, and she was born from that love and my power.

For three years, he's been hunting down nymphs and sacrificing them to the box, trying to get it to open. Only by rumor of the fruits in Serenity's orchard did he ever learn of her exceptional powers. He wants to open the box in the hope that he can wield its power and rule over all in existence." Helios muttered through gritted teeth.

"If that box is opened again, the world as you know it will end. Not even we can stop it if its evil is set loose." Zeus said with his voice full of dread.

"Even if you can't stop the box, can't you at least stop it from being opened? Can't you go down to the human world and stop Agamemnon yourselves?" I asked in desperation.

"No, for Pandora's Box isn't the only artifact he got as a spoil of war. He also stole the Apple of Discord, the apple that started the argument that led to the war itself. With the dark energy radiating from the box, Agamemnon was able to change the nature of the apple. Originally, it only affected goddesses and made them argue, now it is so powerful that it repels all gods and can even drain them of their powers. If we were to enter Mycenae, we would be weaker than regular humans. We need you to stop him." Zeus said.

"Why me?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Because in the Trojan War, you were one of the finest warriors alive. You were in league with Hector, Paris, and even Achilles. It is in sieges like the Trojan War that legends are made, and you are the last legend still alive. You are one of the finest fighters in the world, and what separates you from all others is the fact that now, you truly have something to fight for. You can fight with vengeance in your mind and my daughter in your heart." Helios said, frustrated that he could not save her himself.

"Then I will do it, but there are still answers that I seek. How is it that Serenity was not able to see the soldiers of Mycenae, and how is it that you didn't know of Agamemnon's plans until now?" I stated in confidence.

"Because he is a retched thief." A course voice swore. I looked to the back of the room and saw a man step out of a shadow as dark as night. His skin was deathly pale and he was wearing dark clothes that looked like rotting animal skins.

"Hades..." I muttered in fear.

"On his way home from the ruins of Troy, he managed to sneak into my realm while I was busy dealing with all of the dead from the end of the war. While I was distracted, he stole my helmet of invisibility. Using the box that my brother so foolishly created and forgot about, he changed its nature as well. Now the helmet's power can affect those that aren't even wearing it, and not even we can see them from our realms. But at the cost of this change, gods and regular humans when face-to-face can see those that are under its affects.

Agamemnon knew we would be watching him after the war so he had the nerve to personally steal from me!" He spat. I turned back to Zeus.

"You will be facing the entire city of Mycenae on your own, but you will not be unarmed." He hummed.

On cue, Poseidon slammed his trident down on the floor. Ten feet away from where I was standing, the marble tiles opened and three pedestals rose up, each topped with an artifact. On the first was a golden single-edged sword with a weighted end for hacking that was tempered off to a sharp tip for stabbing, on the second was round shield with a surface of goatskin and edges lined with golden tassels, and on the third was a cape of lion skin.

"The blade is the Sword of Peleus; it grants the user unstoppable strength throughout his body and the weapon itself never breaks and never dulls. The shield is the Aegis; it is layered with hide of a goat from my foster-mother and I used it in my battle against the titans. Like the sword, it will never break or sustain damage. The cape is the Nemean Lion Hide, and it will increase your durability to the point where getting slammed in the chest with a war hammer wouldn't even crack a rib and a sword slash across the back would barely draw a bead of blood. With these three weapons, you will be able to fend off the armies of Mycenae when you storm the city, and you will be able to fight on even ground against Agamemnon with Pandora's Box." Zeus explained.

"What should I do with the artifacts in Agamemnon's possession after I defeat him?" I asked with my body shaking with excitement.

"Use this." Hades said as he threw an object from a pocket of his cloak. I caught it an examined it closely. It was a thick metal spike, covered in incantations and topped with a small skull.

"Plant this in the ground and it will open up a portal to my realm. The Apple of Discord, Pandora's Box, and my Helm of Invisibility will be pulled in, along with that retched thief. The helm will be back in my possession, the artifacts will be dropped in the river Styx and lost forever, and Agamemnon will burn for eternity in my realm. Just make sure you use it when the box isn't open and he isn't holding it, or he might able to stop it." He cursed.

"So Felix, will you slay Agamemnon for us?" Zeus asked. In reply, I ripped off my blood-soaked shirt and put on the lion skin cape.

"If it meant rescuing Serenity, I would slay everyone in the world." I snarled.

Serenity dangled naked in the Mycenaean throne room, hanging from a chandelier by her wrists. Sitting on the floor below her was a goblet, half-full of her tears. She was wrapped in a glowing aura that was protecting her from the toxicity of the world outside her forest, but that wasn't all it was protecting her from.

Agamemnon was sitting in his thrown, with his hand over the jet-black jar of Pandora. The vessel was wrapped in a dark fog and seemed to emit the sound of deep chanting. Under normal circumstances, prolonged exposure to the box would result in death, but Agamemnon had kept the vessel around him for so long that his body had almost adapted to its evil. However, anyone that looked at him would know he was experiencing heavy negative affects.

His skin was deathly pale, in contrast to the black swollen veins that bulged just below the surface. His hair was little more than scraggly white wire, while his eyes had an icy blue shade, but were so sunken in his skull that it gave him a demonic gaze. He hadn't slept in over a year and his blood was dark and thick with sickly evil, but his strength was far beyond human limitations and his endurance was in whole other leagues. He was no longer living, but neither was he dead. He was a dark abomination. Up above his throne were the Apple of Discord and Helmet of Hades, both twisted by the power of Pandora's Box and protecting Agamemnon from the sight and wrath of the gods.

As he stared at Serenity's naked body, he couldn't help but lick his lips. She was the most beautiful and voluptuous nymph he had ever seen and he desperately wished to ravage her. For as long as he had been hunting nymphs, he and his men loved to rape them as well. While the violation of their purity almost always killed them like poison and prolonged the search for a way to open Pandora's Box, they all agreed it was worth it.

But Serenity was different; she was much more powerful. The aura that was wrapped around her was known as the Nymph's Shade and it protected her from the outside world. Nymphs could never leave the place they were born, but if they did or were taken away, they would prolong death until their return with the Nymph's Shade. But Serenity's Shade had taken a whole other purpose; it was protecting her from touch.

The second Serenity had been captured, the Mycenaean soldiers had tried to violate her, but were frustrated with the discovery that they could not touch her skin. The energy of her Nymph's Shade had condensed and hardened into a solid membrane that was as hard as glass and strong enough so that it could not be broken. Her skin could not be touched in any way, meaning that she could not be violated or entered and semen and saliva would just burn off like water on hot metal before it could even make contact.

The throne room was almost pitch-black, for all windows were covered and only a few torches and lanterns were burning. The room reeked of blood and rotting flesh and the floor was covered in bones and half-eaten bodies. Not long after Agamemnon came back from the war, he stopped eating fruits vegetables all together. A year later, he was a ferocious cannibal that would rape and kill his prey before eating them. His personal assistants had to search the city of Mycenae for orphans and homeless people to throw to him.

One of his personal assistants walked through the dark room, kicking aside the bones and pieces of human flesh in his way. He was a very sadistic man, also taking pleasure in torture and rape, especially when it came to nymphs. Like his king, he couldn't help but lick his lips and stare at Serenity's beautiful naked body.

"It won't be long now, she'll only be able to keep her Nymph's Shade going for another few hours." He hummed.

"Yes, once that membrane finally breaks, I'll be able to sacrifice her to Pandora's Box. Of all the nymphs in the world, she is the one that will be able to open it." Agamemnon chuckled.

"It's strange that she refuses to lower her Shade. Doesn't she know that the stronger she makes it, the less time she has to live? She would rather die early than let us sample her body..." His assistant replied.

"I think that is what she wants. She wants to die early and die untainted. The soldiers told me that they encountered a man with her in the forest and that she was crying when they killed him. She obviously loved him, and wants to join him in the afterlife without having been violated. It's so pitifully sweet." Agamemnon growled.

The doors at the end of the throne room opened and a soldier stepped in, instantly averting his gaze so that he wouldn't have to look at his demonic king or the half-eaten bodies that littered the floor.

"My king, there are reports of a man being lowered from the sky in a golden chariot at the outskirts of the city." He stated nervously.

"Ha! It looks like the gods have finally found a messenger boy to thwart me. I will not let one man ruin my plans; send every soldier in the city to kill him! I want you to bring me his severed head so that I can force this nymph-whore to look into the eyes of the man who died for her!" Agamemnon laughed sadistically.

I stepped off of Helios' chariot at the outskirts of Mycenae. In the distance, I could see Agamemnon's palace, sitting beneath twisting black clouds. The entire city was like an overturned anthill as the citizens locked themselves in their homes and soldiers were brought into formation to apprehend me. On my left arm was the Aegis Shield, in my right hand was the Peleus Sword, and hanging from my neck was the Nemean Lion Skin.

"This is as close as I can bring you, the power of the Apple of Discord won't let me enter the city." Helios said as I cricked my neck.

"Thank you." I said simply.

"Do not thank me, just please save my daughter." He nodded before taking off. I nodded in return and turned back to the city.

"AGAMEMNON!" I roared at the top of my lungs.

I then bolted forward, sprinting into the city as fast as I could. With the Sword of Peleus increasing my strength and stamina, I was able to run twice as fast as before. As I zoomed down the streets of Mycenae, I could hear the shouts of soldiers as they all swarmed towards my position.

Up ahead, a line of soldiers blocked off the street and turned to face me with their bows raised. In perfect synchronicity, they all launched their arrows, sending the barrage of bolts flying down the muddy street towards me. I didn't slow down or raise my shield as the arrows whistled through the air and bounced off my skin. With the Nemean Lion Skin increasing my endurance to superhuman levels, the arrows were less harmful than bee stings.

With a challenging roar, I raised my sword above my hand and then slammed it down onto the ground. From the force of the impact, a devastating shockwave erupted from the point of contact, surging outwards in all directions. Carts along the sides of the street were ripped to pieces, buildings shattered into storms of splinters and shrapnel, and the soldiers were all knocked off their feet with bone-breaking force.

Without missing a beat, I jumped over them and continued onward, facing my next challenge. Fifty feet away, several dozen soldiers had filled the street and were charging towards me with their shields raised and their spears drawn. I ducked down behind my shield and increased my speed, slamming into the mob headfirst. Their spears instantly shattered against the power of the Aegis shield, and any that weren't destroyed were deflected or missed me completely.

The soldiers were thrown back by my enhanced strength, and with that opportunity, I began hacking and slashing with my sword. With a monstrous snarl, I carved down all the soldiers in my path, cutting through and piercing their armor as of they were all garbed in parchment. Blood filled the air with every slash and every stab, as I would send the Peleus Sword driving through their hearts and lungs or slash them from shoulder to hip and tear open their ribcages with ease.

As I moved deeper and deeper into the horde, the soldiers began to attack me from all sides, trying to attack from some exposed angle. While my magic-enhanced skin protected me from harm, few could even make it past my sword and shield as I fought with every last drop and shred of experience from the Trojan War.

Five years of fighting were all flashing through my mind, with memories of all I had killed mixing with the image of those currently dying before me. In my mind, I was invincible, and no one could challenge me. In the past, I was practically a legend in the city of Troy, and now that legend had returned to wreck havoc upon the enemy of my old home.

As the battle progressed, more and more soldiers were being drawn from throughout the city. In a matter of minutes, the entire Mycenaean army was grouped around me, with every soldier reaching out in the hopes of delivering the lethal strike that would turn them into heroes. But no matter how many stepped up, they could not overcome the power of the Olympian weapons.

Every slash or stab they delivered barely managed to break the skin, every attack that I blocked cause my enemy's weapon to shatter when it touched the Aegis Shield, and every strike I dished out with the Sword of Peleus carried with it the strength to rip entire soldiers in half.

I moved through the city at the same speed as a runner carrying a message, hacking away at every soldier in my path without a moment's hesitation or drain of time. To kill multiple soldiers at once, I would slash the air with all my strength and send a crescent blade of compressed wind that had the power to rip over dozens of soldiers at a time, or stab the ground with the tip and create a seismic shockwave that would level the entire area.

In just a couple hours, I had slain several thousand soldiers, and the rest were fleeing the city in fear for their lives. I staggered up the front steps of the Mycenaean palace, gasping for air and completely exhausted. After all the men I had just killed, I barely had the strength to walk, and even with the Nemean Lion Skin increasing my endurance, I was covered in blood from all of the slashes I had sustained in battle. They were shallow, but every inch of exposed skin burned. I fell to my knees, trying to catch the breath that would not return.

'So tired... I can't move...' I thought to myself.

Collapsed to the ground without a single spark of energy within me. But when I hit the ground, I landed awkwardly with my sword beneath me. The tip of the magic blade had poked my side and blood was slowly streaming out. The pain of the knick brought up memories of when I first met Serenity, and how she healed my wounds with her tears. The image of her beautiful face and the sound of her sweet voice echoed through my mind, reigniting the flames within my heart.

"No, I refuse to let Serenity die. I refuse to let the one I love lose her life because I am too weak. I refuse to stand by while all that I care about is taken away from me." I cursed as I pushed myself back up onto my knees. I slowly got back on my feet, ignoring the aching tiredness in my body.

"SERENITY!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

My voice echoed through the halls of the Mycenaean palace, carrying the single word all the way to the throne room. Hanging from the ceiling with her Nymph's Shade dwindling, Serenity's tears ceased their steady fall. Her eyes widened as she heard her name and recognized my voice. She thought she had seen me die, but there was no way she would mistake my voice.