Intelude: War

The rest of the 1000-year punishment seemed to pass in a breeze for Pluto. Honestly, he quite enjoyed it, he was doing what he wanted for once, instead of killing deviants, which was a bit tiring now in Pluto’s opinion. He continued to study magic, although because Zhered-Na had passed away, Pluto left the sanctum in Albion, and travelled back to Greece. He went back to his old home, it was overrun with vegetation. Signs of bandits were present in the house, and it was a mess.

Pluto then cleaned and fixed his home. He even put new things such as concealment magic and protection magic to guard against invaders. Finally, he went to Helen’s grave. He cleaned her grave, and decided that he would make a statue to put on her grave. He searched for a marble deposit near his home, and carved a statue for her.

As he finished it, he put it on top of her grave, marking it.

He talked in front of her grave for a while, telling his journey so far. He knew that Helen was dead, but he had missed his talks with her.

After that, he decided to go to Sparta to buy some new things like furniture and food. But when he arrived, the entire place was quite tense. He heard whispers of war, and the Spartans were nervous. He was curious on what this might be, so he decided to sneak to the palace of Sparta. Inside the palace, a lot of men gathered in front of the throne, seemingly arguing with each other.

“We should abstain in this conflict.” said a man, Pluto assumed that he was a politician.

“Abstain?!” another man roared. “Our lands are about to be conquered, and you want to abstain!?”

“It is safer this way.” said the man who argued that they should ‘abstain’, whatever that means. “Even if we fight the Persians, our helots will rebel!”

Oh, is it the time already? Pluto thought. The men continued to argue against each other, shouting and roaring in the hall. The kings however, looked annoyed. The king then slammed his spear to the ground, shutting up the entire hall.

He stood up, and said proudly. “We will go.”

“My king?!” a man shouted. “What about the helots?!”

“I will bring a small band of elite men among us,” said the king. “We would join in with the Thebans and Thespians, the rest of you may protect this city. If I never come back, my son will be the successor. There’s another king beside me anyway.”

All of the men in the hall suddenly turned silent. A man then bravely spoke. “Very well, my king.”

The king then walked out of the hall, and he commanded his servants to gather three hundred elite men at once, and they will travel to the north in a few days.

Pluto took an interest in this. Isn’t it cool to be a hero in the battle of Thermopylae?

And so, Pluto exited the palace, and quickly registered to be one of those three hundred men.

—

As they travelled towards Thermopylae, where the battle would take place, the Spartans were now resting on the side of the road, camping as they felt their stomach. King Leonidas was known to be stern, yet he was sociable. The king often sat with his soldiers, seemingly gossiping about their daily lives, he heard their complaints, and tried his best to fix his mistakes.

Now, Pluto was sitting with Leonidas himself, eating a newly cooked porridge that Pluto had just made for the group.

“You have a good sense of cooking my friend.” said Leonidas as he patted Pluto’s back.

“It’s just an ordinary thing my king.” smiled Pluto. “A friend of my has more talent than me.”

“Really?” Leonidas laughed. “Tell me his or her name then, I would want a skill similar to yours back in my palace.”

“His name is Gilgamesh, my king,” said Pluto solemnly.

Leonidas suddenly frowned. “A Persian? Your friend is Persian?”

“Apparently so. Met him some time ago while I was travelling.” hummed Pluto.

Leonidas sighed. “The greed of kings only brought people away from each other. It’s a pity.”

“You are a king yourself.” smirked Pluto.

Leonidas laughed, as well as the other soldiers around them. “I suppose it’s true! I hope that I was a good king to you all.”

“You are, my king.” said a soldier.

“Then I’m glad.” smiled Leonidas. The king then looked at a man beside him. “Alexios, how’s your sister, Kassandra, is it?”

Alexios chuckled. “Yes, she’s growing strong, sooner or later she could probably beat me in single combat.”

Leonidas nodded proudly. “That’s what a Spartan woman should be.” Leonidas then turned to Pluto again and said. “Phobos, is it? I never saw you in Sparta, you said you’re travelling?”

“Yes,” said Pluto. “I travelled around Greece, sometimes outside of it.”

“Where’s the farthest you’ve gotten?”

“Hmm… Albion.” said Pluto, surprising Leonidas.

“By the gods, you have some strong legs to be able to get there.” laughed Leonidas. “You have a relative in Sparta?”

Pluto smiled weakly. “A daughter.”

Leonidas raised his eyebrows. “You look too young to have a daughter, outside of wedlock?”

Pluto shook his head. “I took her in.”

“Oh yes, that makes more sense.” nodded Leonidas. “Where is she now?”

“Hopefully, in Elysium.” answered Pluto.

“Ah, my condolences…” murmured Leonidas, making the atmosphere rather awkward.

—

As the Spartans and the other army of Greece arrived in Thermopylae, the army prepared themselves for a battle to the death. They saw the approaching Persian army, 250.000 strong. Pluto was impressed, it was 2.5x larger than the Trojan war, but they were underequipped, only wearing light armour and short swords.

The Greeks meanwhile, are armoured to the brim. Bronze armour from head to toe, along with a formidable shield and short spear. The Greeks set up a phalanx line in the narrow path of Thermopylae, making the number advantage of the Persians almost useless.

As the Persians charged, the Greeks fought back. Persian bodies started dropping, piles of corpses were stacking up in front of the Greeks, and most of all, the Spartan frontline. Pluto was fighting in front, holding a shield and spear like Thena usually did. He killed many Persians, his body was soaked in blood, and Leonidas commended him for his fierceness.

The Greeks fought for days and showed no signs of losing. Xerxes was pissed, he could not penetrate the Greek line. But then, a miracle for the Persians suddenly appeared, a traitor from the Greeks came to Xerxes’s camp, and offered an alternative path.

Xerxes was overjoyed, and he quickly sent his army towards that alternative path, making the Greeks overwhelmed.

All hope was lost for the Greeks. Some of the army surrendered, and the remaining Greeks were cornered.

Leonidas had an idea of making himself a shield for the retreating men. But he was stopped by a man, Pluto, or Phobos as he named himself in this age.

“Let me do it, my king.” said Pluto. “You have a family to go home too.”

“You, Phobos?” questioned Leonidas. “Do not be foolish, you will die instantly if you try this alone.”

Pluto smiled, he took something from his pocket, a crimson ring. He wore it, and his eyes turned red. “I have some tricks, my king, you should go and lead the retreating men.”

Leonidas was doubtful. Magic? How can that be? But then he saw a sight that he thought he would never see in his lifetime.

A simple stab of a small spear was able to kill hundreds of men in one go, as a crimson wave of energy appeared from the tip of Pluto’s spear.

“You should go, my king.” said Pluto calmly as the other soldiers were surprised. “I might not be able to hold this for a long time. Three days should be enough, right?”

The king gulped, and nodded. “Men! Retreat!”

And so, the forces of Greeks retreated. Pluto defended Thermopylae for three days straight, the Persian morale was broken, but they kept moving forward. Xerxes was enraged when he heard about Pluto’s deeds, but when he saw him in action, he shed a cold sweat. Bodies piled up around him, and he was bathed in blood.

As soon as the three days were over, Pluto disappeared completely, as if he wasn’t there in the first place. If not for the countless bodies scattered around the ridge, Xerxes would not believe that Pluto existed.

Because of Pluto’s actions, The Greeks successfully retreated, and after they rallied against other Greeks, they pushed Xerxes’s army, ending the Persian invasion bravely. It was a Pyrrhic victory for the Greeks, but it was victory nonetheless.

King Leonidas returned home, Pluto’s face was all he could think of when returning to his wife. When he had a son later on in the years, he would name him Phobos, Honouring Pluto’s name and ‘sacrifice’. The king didn’t know, however, that Pluto did that to test his skills as a single combatant.

And so, the legend of a nameless warrior who had the power of the gods, he who defended against the persian invasion single handedly was immortalised in songs and poems. But for the people of the modern world, they would probably not believe the story to be real, right?