The King of Ithaca Falls Into A Twisted Reality

Chapter 8

Crowley had led them through the campus to a large gate, once they arrived at the front gate the feathered man pointed at a long pathway with statues at either side, then at a building that the path split off to meet. "This is the Main Street, the first building up ahead is the library, I expect both to be clean by nightfall" he warned them before walking away in the other direction, presumably to wherever his office was on the campus.

The Grim gasped, hopping out of Odysseus' arms, "Wow, so this is Main Street, huh? This is incredible!" While it was marvelling, the Greek looked up at the 7 statues, they looked similar to the Helios monument that he was tied to, only smaller with writing on the bases which he couldn't quite read due to distance. "I didn't get to see much of it yesterday. What's the deal with these seven statues? All their faces look pretty scary." The animal commented, drawing Odysseus' attention away from the statues before he could get a good look at them. It then pointed at one of the closer ones, "Like, this lady here looks like she's got some reeeal anger management issues" when the Greek looked at which it was pointing at he saw a meaty woman in an intricate dress with a small heart fan and crown doing a curtsy. It did slightly confuse the king as to how the animal came to that conclusion given that the statue had a wide smile on her face and the base of it was surrounded with roses but looks can be deceiving he assumed.

"You don't know the Queen of Hearts?" a voice spoke out from behind them, making the Grim flinch and Odysseus turn around to see the mystery person. There stood a tall boy with reddish orange hair and bright red eyes, he wore black, shiny, leather gloves and a, somehow, more complicated outfit than the under clothing of the ceremonial robes, Odysseus pities the poor boy for having to wear it. But the most eye-catching and memorable part of the kid was a painted red heart over their left eye and a shiny red jewel pendant within his pocket. The Greek noticed it looked similar to the pens that the housewardens used at the entrance ceremony. "Queen of Hearts? Is she some kinda big deal?" the Grim asked the redhead, the king looked over to the animal and slightly chuckled "All Queen's are 'big deals', however I do have to ask why she is so well known here?" Odysseus questioned the boy, but just saying the word Queen made him think of Penelope, maybe he should get her a statute when he gets back, afterall, ruling a kingdom and raising a child alone for 12 years should be more than enough to get a statue, hades just the fact that she's Penelope is reason enough for a statue, but that off topic.

The Greek got pulled out of his Queen affirming thought by the boy as he started giving more information about this 'Queen of Hearts', "She was a queen who lived in a maze-like garden of roses long, long ago. She was a strict woman who prized order above all. She wouldn't tolerate a rose being off-colour, or her playing-card soldiers being out of step." Odysseus nodded along at that, it made sense, when ruling you had to be strict without it crime and dishonour would run rampant. But the fact that the boy went out of his way to mention such examples made the man confused, while order is good, that seemed a bit overboard, even to him. "She basically ruled over a kingdom of madness, but not one of her subjects dared to defy her" that was impressive, Odysseus had to admit, the fact that women was able to have that much control and influence that she would be known centuries later put a genuine smile on his face, you didn't see that much in ancient Greece, especially when it came to mortals. "You wanna know why? Because the punishment" the boy continued, "for breaking a rule was immediate decapitation!" the exclamation from the redhead made the Greek drop his smile, that was not something anyone should be able to say happily, especially not such a young boy, it put a sour image into Odysseus' brain, ruling with fear and having all those on your side only there due to threats does not make someone a good leader. "Wah! That is seriously messed up!" The Grim spoke out, practically summing up what the Greek was thinking, but the state was completely mistaken by the boy explaining "Pretty cool, right? I'm a big fan. I mean, who would bother to obey a queen that was kind all the time?" the heart-eyed boy asked the animal, it was said in a way like the question proved his point. The Grim did nod at that however, and responded in agreement "Yeah, true. A leader needs to be strong." That statement caused Odysseus to narrow his eyes, being a strong leader meant protecting your people, not killing them, not only that but he had seen first hand how kindness breeds loyalty, Penelope was a perfect example of that, she was a kind and amazing and generous Queen with beautiful eyes that he could stare into forever and never get bored and soft smooth hair that was always shining, needless to say anyone worth oxygen loved her. But alas, Odysseus couldn't bring himself to argue, anything he would say would just be hypocritical, afterall his own leadership had brought 600 of his own men gruesome deaths.