Stories Of Zoltah

Hercules

Though it can be argued that the Olympians were a cowardly and lax people – spending most of their time seeking the finer aspects of life, some among them were as valiant as the Asgardians, and even fewer were far more courageous. One of these rare Olympians, whose legend would later on travel across the cosmos, reaching even the far away world of Earth, was Hercules, commander of the Olympian army.

Born to a young mother, who out of panic and fear abandoned her only child deep within the Nemean forest wrapped in swaddling clothes, Hercules knew danger from the very first day he drew his first breath. For you see, the floor of the forest where he found himself abandoned that fateful night, was legendary and largely avoided even by the older amongst the Olympians, owing to the assortment of magical creatures, creeping within. From serpents that sprouted more heads upon having one cut off, to winged creatures with serrated teeth emerging from multiple heads, the forest was where all of the creatures roaming across Zoltah were thought to have been born. And none among them, were as ferocious as the beast that came to be known as the Nemean lion. As self-proclaimed king, the gigantic lion nearly half the size of a towering oak tree, with a mane thick as ten fleeces, and claws and teeth sharper than most swords, trampled over the dense thickets as it roamed unchallenged. Unbeknownst to the young infant, the pulsating tremors reverberating across the ground and jolting him out of the depths of a deep sleep, belonged to this lion, and letting out a shrill cry, Hercules squirmed and screamed at the top of his small lungs. In a matter of moments, nearby serpents who had heard the incessant cries, slithered their way along the ground – over protruding roots and around slanted boulders. But before they could answer their prey's call, the three headed dog which would later be called Cerberus after Hades tamed it, leapt over them and arrived first at the scene, its lowered heads growling as strands of saliva dripped to the ground while dangling from jagged teeth. With glowing, ruby-red eyes and fur as black as night, Cerberus sniffed the air with his three noses, gently stalking across the clearing towards the squirming bundle struggling for aid. Suddenly, the ground quaked faster and louder the nearer Cerberus stole, and in the whisk of a feather, the Nemean lion leapt out from the trees - unleashing a roar so loud, that Cerberus, as fierce as he too was, whimpered and retreated.

What followed over the next few years, was unlike any sight that I or the other sentries had ever witnessed. The lion, perhaps mistaking Hercules for some sort of cub, would go on to raise the young boy as its own - defending him from the other creatures, all the while feeding and nudging him towards water. It was only after a group of hunters led by the Olympian, Megara, had wandered close to the forest that the Nemean lion, realizing that Hercules belonged with his own kind, roared and swiped its claws menacingly at him, as he sent the confused boy away to be with the others. From my tower, I saw a tear well up inside the lion's eye, as he watched Hercules trail off into the distance now under the protection of Megara and her party. The years would go by, and the once feral child, with tangles of unkempt hair and restless, searching eyes, found a home with Megara, who raised Hercules as her own son. She trained him in the arts of archery, swordsmanship and grappling – realizing that he was born imbued with strength far greater than most celestials when he began to shatter boulders with even the slightest of squeezes. Impressed, Megara who at the time also enjoyed the ear of Zeus and seeing that Olympia needed a commander for its newly established army created in a bid to fend off the incessant Asgardians, offered up Hercules's name for the prestigious post. Once they had arrived at Mount Olympus, Zeus took only one glance at the burly warrior presented before him – build like a brawny statue with courage blazing from deep within his eyes and accepted his posting, from then on, treating Hercules as though he were a son.