=Prologue=


Once, a long time ago, the city-states of Greece were at peace. All the
wars of the country had currently ceased, and the gods were no longer mad
at anyone. The polei (city-states) were all greatly increasing in their fields.
Athens with its studies and philosophy, Sparta with its armies, and even Megara with its ports and money. Megara was a sea port, just like neighboring Corinth, and made money by levying tolls on ships. Megara’s patriarch was a man named Scopas. At times Scopas was a nice man and led the city well, but inside he was a greedy, money-obsessed, wise guy. Scopas was strong, smart, cool, and everything in between--good attributes since Athens and Sparta disliked his polis. Scopas was married to the filthy rich Megarian woman, Phoedocia. At this time, the god Heracles was staying in Megara and was good friend with Scopas. Overall every polis was doing great… until…

=Chapter 1-The Greedy Decision=


One day in the polis of Megara, Scopas was doing some thinking, ‘I need
something to fill my spare time, something interesting and fun…hmmm…
maybe a giant structure…hmmm…a tower? A large tower…yeaaah. How large? I know, reaching to the sky! A giant tower that will have everyone’s mouths open in awe. How tall, though? I know, it will be thousands of feet tall! I’ve got it! I’ll make it so tall that it will reach the gods on Mt. Olympus! I’ll be the first man to see it all—the gods, the heavens, the works!’

After Scopas had made this very un-wise decision, he decided to put his
plans into action. ‘Wait! How am I going to be able to construct this
tower?’ he asked himself. ‘I know, the Athenians! They are master builders—they could build my tower! With the help of my own builders, combined with the Athenians builders…we’ll have it done in a couple of years!’

When Heracles heard what Scopas was planning, he did not much like it,
since he was a god himself. He left Megara and went back to Mt. Olympus.

After that, Scopas decided to set off for Athens to pursue his dream. Of
course, the selfish patriarch would not set off alone without some assistance.
He gathered up some villagers, some soldiers, and his personal defense
force and they all took off for Athens.


=Chapter 2-Athen’s Choice=


As Scopas and his posse set off for Athens, they encountered many
obstacles in their path. They met up with giant lizards, hawks, bulls, wolves, more giant lizards, but finally made their way to Athens. As Scopas entered the well-constructed gates of Athens, he saw a familiar face. It was
Lysander, the leader of the city. Lysander was probably one of the smartest philosophers in all of Greece, making him a fine leader for Athens.

“You!!! What are you doing here?!!” exclaimed Lysander upon seeing
Scopas. “We banned you from coming to Athens after you bribed us to assist you in fighting a Hydra!”

“I’ve come for your help, but not for fighting this time. I have a
brilliant idea and together we can make it happen,” said Scopas.

“I will not be tricked into another of your hair-brained schemes!
Why is this one so special?!” questioned Lysander.

“I plan to build a giant tower to the gods and I will need your help to
accomplish it…but once it is done, it will be spectacular!”

“Are you mad?!!! You know what happens to people who visit the
gods!!!”
“This is different, though! If you assist me, I will give you triple what I paid you to fight the Hydra,” Scopas said, persuadingly.

“Foolishness cannot be bought with money! I refuse to help you and that
is my final word.”

“Fine then, make your foolish decisions! I will seek help elsewhere,” Scopas says as he gives up and walks away.

As Scopas leaves the gates of Athens, Lysander whispers to himself,
‘Thank Zeus, he’s finally gone!’

As Scopas left Athens, he knew what his next move would be…he was
going to Sparta.

=Chapter 3-Sparta’s Move=


As Scopas and his group of followers sat off for Sparta, they met up with many people including one of whom was headed to Megara from Athens.
His name was Zeno. Zeno, like Lysander, was a philosopher and said he
was headed to Megara to serve royalty other than Lysander. When he heard
that Scopas was the current king of Megara, he decided to join them.

When Scopas and his new pal, Zeno, reached Sparta they were surprisingly greeted with a heartwarming hello. Believe it or not, it was Sparta’s patriarch, Timon.

“HELLO THERE, MEGARIAN SCOPAS!”

“Hi to you, too, Tipsy,” replied Scopas insultingly.

“ME NAME IS NOT TIPSY, IT TIMON!”

“Yeah, whatever, Timbo,” Scopas continued to slur Timon.

“ME NAME NOT TIMBO, IT TIMON, I SAY!”

“Okay enough with the education stuff, I am on a que…”

“YES TIMON HEARD ABOUT QUEST OF YOURS! YOU NO LIKE ATHENS! YOU WANT THEIR HELP, THEY NOT GIVE TO YOU.”

“Okay, sooooooo what’s your point?”

“ME HELP YOU, ME NO LIKE ATHENS EITHER! ME NO LIKE YOU, BUT ME NO LIKE ATHENS MORE.”
“Well then, it is decided. Let’s set off on our journey to Athens,” replied Scopas.

So Scopas, Zeno, and his group of all sorts of Spartans, soldiers,
villagers, personal self-defense artists and Fluffy (a giant lizard that Scopas took a liking to) set off for Athens once more.

=Chapter 4-The Battle at Athens=


Once Scopas had arrived at Athens, he used the Spartans heads to burst
through the gates. As soon as he forced entry a raging battle started, for Athens had caught word of the coming attack. Swords clashed, shields
broke, lives were lost, as the battle forced itself on.

The battle raged on for months, and finally victory fell to the side of
Megara.

“H-h-h-ow did you win?” asked Lysander in a scratchy and tired voice.

“It’s called blackmail, now will you help me or not?” Scopas asked
testily in reply.

“It looks *coughs* like I have no choice!”

“Then let’s proceed with the blueprints!” exclaimed Scopas.

They then headed back to Megara to begin planning their tower.


=Chapter 5-The Tower=


Together Scopas, his wife Phoedocia, Timon (who was surprisingly still helping Scopas), Zeno (who is now serving Scopas as his aide), Fluffy (who barely does anything but like to be scratched behind his ears and makes good company [though he eats WAY too much]), and Lysander (who really
wished he wasn’t there) gathered up bricks, clay, metals of all sorts, and
other building materials and began constructing the magnificent tower.
It took them about a year, but they finally finished the great structure. It was nearly as tall as Mt. Olympus itself! To be exact, it was 8,539 feet tall. It was truly a sight worth seeing and more awesome even than Scopas had imagined!


=Chapter 6-The Conversation of the



Gods=


Zeus was wondering around the tower of the gods on Mt. Olympus, when
all of a sudden he saw a large SAOMETHING jutting up from the ground.
‘What is that?’ he said to himself. “Athene (Athena), can you come here for a second?”

“What is it, father?” Athene asked.

“Look at this spectacle! It just suddenly appeared. What can it be?”

*Athene describes the structure to Zeus in her own words*

“A tower?! It sounds like the work of Scopas to me, that greedy man of
Megara, as I call him. We have to get rid of this abomination!”, replied
Zeus angrily.

“Maybe we should try and reason with them?” Athene asked.

“NO!” answered an unknown voice.

“Heracles? Is that you?”

“Yes it is, father, and I think we should just destroy the tower and not try to reason with those foolish mortals.”

“That seems logical to me,” agreed Zeus.

“No!” screamed Athene at the top of her lungs. “We should reason!”

After Heracles and Athene argued for about an hour, Zeus decided it was
time to make a decision once and for all and end their time-wasting
argument. Zeus began to attack the tower via his thunder rods.

“Go, Dad!” cried Heracles, who began to assault the support beams at the base of the structure.

“We will end this NOW!” raged Zeus so loudly that it shattered windows
all around the surrounding poleis.

“*deep sigh* Hmmph…men!” snorted Athene.


=Chapter 7-The Final Raging Battle=


The support beams of the great tower began to break as Scopas and his
gang began to assault Zeus and the rest of the gods (completely forgetting
that the gods were immortal). Scopas, Timon, and (believe it or not)
Lysander (who was being forced to do this) started bombarding the immortal
Gods with arrows of all sorts. Unfortunately, by this time, the gods had already broken nearly all of the beams supporting the great structure and had blown many gigantic creases in it as well. Finally, the tower began to crumble.

Scopas’ life ended here, as he was beheaded by one of the falling beams.
Timon and Lysander jumped from the tower’s highest point (very bad
decision) and landed in the water below, actually surviving the huge fall.

When a large chunk of the tower fell and hit the seas around it, a tide was created. The tower still crumbles to this very day, and every time one of the outrageously large chunks hit the water, the tide changes.

The End…




Megara’s King:

Sequel to The Megarian Tower

By Will Swihart



=Prologue=


Once upon a time, a long time ago, a greedy man from the city-state of
Megara named Scopas built the most magnificent structure in Megarian
history. Nine years after the destruction of the tower and the death of Scopas, his wife, Phoedocia, became the monarch of Megara.

Phoedocia found out she was with child after Scopas’ death. Her son was
named Phoenix, symbolizing her hope for Phoenix to be like his father.

If you’ve read the afterword of The Megarian Tower, then you realize
who all is dead and who is alive now. If you have not read the afterword,
you need to jump from your chair and skim that section quickly and then
you can get back to this amazing sequel.


=Chapter I: The Gardens=


Phoedocia was walking around her palace one day (which was made of
some of the rubble of the old tower) with her son, Phoenix, who was 10
years old by this time. She was expecting the exquisite Pennepolus flower, which she bred between a rose and a lily, to sprout up any day now!

Zeno was inspecting one of the scrolls he brought back from Athens, and he was just tickled to death that the great evil had been prevented!

Now back to Phoedocia…

She was still walking around with Phoenix showing him all of her already
existing flowers, when all of a sudden she heard a loud noise.

“Zeno, could you come here for a second?” Phoedocia asked.

“Sure thing, ma’am.”

“Can you tell what that loud sound was?”

“It sounded like some kind of large bird, maybe a bird of prey or
something of the sort to me,” replied Zeno.

“You don’t think it’s dangerous, do you?” asked Phoedocia, alarmed.

“It’s probably just a hawk.”

Then out of the blue, a humongous, monstrous, drooling, bird-like
creature swooped down from the sky and grabbed Phoenix! Phoedocia
screamed like the loud yelp she had heard when Fluffy was hit by the
chariot, and she was sadder even than she was when Fluffy was announced
paralyzed for life.

“MOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMY! SAVE ME!” cried Phoenix,
frightened and in pain while in the claws of the giant bird.

Phoedocia and Zeno were helpless and had to stand and watch the
massive flying creature carry her only son away to who knows where. And for the first time in his life, Phoenix felt so weak that he began to cry
and his poor mother had to hear his cries fading into the distance. Such
a sad fate for a young man with a promising future.

=Chapter II: Finding the Creature=


When Phoedocia finally stopped her bawling, she knew she had to find her son. She told Zeno to pack a couple of extra dresses, some gold, make-up, soap, a hair brush, jewelry, more gold, some tissues (in case she starts crying…again), shoes, and just a little more gold. When she finally finished packing, they headed off to Sparta.

As they headed down the road, just as Scopas had, they encountered many beasts: giant lizards (no females), some bears, tigers, lions, monkeys, etc. Now, the strangest of their encounters was a pygmy minotaur. They decided they should name it Tootsie, and sent it back down the path home. When they finally reached Sparta, they entered the gates and they immediately ran to Dorcus’ chamber.

“Dorcus, I think I’m going to need your help!” screamed Phoedocia.

“Wat is it?” Dorcus replied, talking in his funky way as Timon did before him.

“Some giant THING captured my son! I don’t know where it went, I don’t know how to kill it, I barely know what it looks like…I didn’t even see its face!”

“Wel cn u expln to me wat u doo no?” asked Dorcus.

“Well,” replied Phoedocia, “it was HUGE, even bigger than the gates of Athens! It had huge talons that looked sharper than a thousand needles. It had huge wings, I estimate they were 50 feet long. They can probably create gusts up to hundreds of miles an hour!

That’s really all I saw, but that’s enough to frighten anyone to death, right?????!!!!!!!!!”

“I tink I no wat ur creetur is,” declared Dorcus.

“What should we do?” Phoedocia asked.

“Wer goeeng to Argos!” instructed Dorcus.

So Dorcus, Phoedocia, and Zeno set off on their way to Argos. It was about a 12-hour journey but they finally made it there. Dorcus led them in the direction of the Argos Museum of Art where they met its cartographer, Zerro.

“Whatcha lookin’ for?” Zerro inquired of them.

“Wer lookeen for a paneteeng of a feenicks,” stated Dorcus, seriously.

“A phoenix?” Phoedocia asked, confused.

“I got just whatcha lookin’ for!” Zerro quickly informed them.

Zerro led them into a room where they beheld a large painting of a phoenix.
“I’m not sure the bird in the painting is the right one,” Phoedocia commented hesitantly.
“Wel den der is no reezin fo us to stay, les leeev dis playce den,” Dorcus said, ready to give up.

And so they went back to their respective poleis.

When Phoedocia returned to her gardens, she saw that her Pennepolus flower had bloomed…and it looked exactly like the phoenix in the picture!

Phoedocia knew she’d better reconsider.


=Chapter III: The Island=


After thinking that the bird might be a phoenix, Phoedocia and Zeno ran back to Sparta to get Dorcus. When they were re-united, they all went to Athens to seek an area where phoenixes might gather. Their best bet was to go to The Great Athenian Library.

Once there, they searched through the map section and soon discovered an interesting scroll. It was a letter that described strange happenings on an island. Thousands of birds flocked around one unidentified structure. For Phoedocia’s team, that told them enough.

So they decided to set off for Corinth in search of a boat so that they could sail to the island, but before they set sail Zeno decided to stay at Athens and replace Lysander as its leader. Down the path to Corinth, they met a small peasant named Isocrates. He said he was very skilled with the bow and arrow, and might be of good use to their team. So he came along with Phoedocia Dorcus (the group now consists of: Phoedocia, Isocrates, and Dorcus).

When they arrived at Corinth, they saw a tall, lean man whom Phoedocia knew as Pythogorus.

“Aye, Phoedocia! How your husband Scopas been?” asked Pythogorus.

Phoedocia paused for a moment and then replied, “I’d rather not talk about Scopas, Pythogorus.”

“Phoedocia, ye know ye can call me Python.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Phoedocia said irritably. “Can we rent a boat or not?”

“Aye, goin’ on a quest, is ye?”

“Uh yeah, now can we re-“ Phoedocia began.

“Ye goin’ on a quest, me want to come. Lemme get my sword and my bow,” Python cut in.

And so they rented a ship and sailed off to the island.

=Chapter IV: The First Attack=


When they arrived on the island, they were mysteriously attacked by, well, mysterious creatures. They had never seen these creatures before, they were small, putrid, and from what the heroes could tell the creatures could quadruple at will! Of course, Dorcus and Python made quick work of these little demons, aside from the setback of the odds being about 2000 to 2!

They ran up the long pathway and when they saw the tower, it was swarming with hundreds of thousands of unknown species of birds. They entered the tower and climbed floor after floor after floor and finally made it outside. They were far up high on a large balcony. By large, I mean it was a mondo, adult-sized, gigantic, jumbo, humongous, king-sized balcony! And sitting right in front of them was the outrageously large, deadly, drooling phoenix! And it was, get this, holding Phoenix!!!

“Phoenix!” Phoedocia yelled.

Unfortunately, she did not realize that the bird was asleep. When she yelled, it instantly woke up.

“*screeches loudly* WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” screamed the phoenix, grating on their nerves.

Everybody paused, “…ATTACK!!!!!!!!” screamed Dorcus at the top of his lungs.

They swung their swords and shot their arrows. Unfortunately, any weapons that touched the creature simply shattered.

“……RETREAT!!!!!” everybody yelled in unison.

They ran down the flights of stairs as fast as they could, barely escaping the grip of the phoenix. Afterwards, they walked to the boats and sped back to Corinth.

=Chapter V: The Second Finding of


The Sword=


Upon returning to Corinth, they knew that they would have to have some kind of very powerful weapon to defeat the giant phoenix. Everybody paused and pondered this dilemma for a few minutes. Suddenly Phoedocia remembered what Zeno had told her about the great adventure of Bellorophon and how he used The Holy Blade to defeat a giant creature named Ragnarok. This put an idea in Phoedocia’s head.

“Hey everybody, I have an idea! I know what we need!”
cried Phoedocia. “There is a sword called The Holy Blade, we could use it!”

“I hav herd ov de Holey Blayde!” exclaimed Dorcus.

“I have, too,” said Isocrates.

“Aye, that might just work!” agreed Python.

“Then it’s settled,” said Phoedocia. “We’re going to Athens!”

Once they arrived in Athens, they ran to see Zeno to ask him where The Holy Blade might be. He told Phoedocia that there is a path leading out of Athens that would take them straight to The Temple of Light, the current holding place of The Holy Blade.

So they set off down the path and eventually reached the shining bright Temple of Light. They dashed through the temple until Isocrates noticed a pedestal.

“Look, over there!” Isocrates screamed.

Phoedocia then looked at the pedestal and ran to draw the blade. After she had gained possession of The Holy Blade, she made her way back to Corinth.

After returning to Corinth, Phoedocia, Dorcus, Isocrates, and Python jumped back in their boat and sailed back to the mysterious island.


=Chapter VI: The Killing and The


Revealing=


Once back on the island, they decided that they should camp until nightfall so that they would have a better camouflage. Then under the cloak of the night, they moved back up the numerous floors of the tower until they reached the beastly balcony. Phoedocia handed Dorcus the sword and he decapitated the mighty phoenix, which then burst into flames.

“PHOENIX!” Phoedocia yelled.

“MOTHER!” Phoenix shouted back to her.

**mushy re-uniting sequence, censored for people who could care less**

After re-uniting, mother and son headed back down the path, along with their companions.

Unfortunately, they did not realize there was a massive figure silently hovering above the castle’s balcony. Since they did not see the creature, it dove down from the balcony and seized the entire group in its razor-sharp talons.

“W-W-Where are we?” Isocrates wondered aloud.

Isocrates stumbled wide awake and then woke everyone else up.

“Huh? Who? Hi? What? Where?” mumbled Python, sleepily.

“Isocrates, do you know where we are?” asked Phoedocia.

“I don’t know,” replied Isocrates, “the last thing I remember is being grasped by that giant—“ Isocrates couldn’t finish his statement.

“*squawks* Yes, I whisked you up!” cawed the giant bird.

“So wer r weee anneewaye?” inquired Dorcus, fearing for his life.

“We’re on Mt. Olympus! *squawks*” screeched the phoenix in answer.

“Well why are we-?” Python tried to squeeze out a question.

“We’re here because, well, I called you here.” Replied ???

“I-I-I-I-I-I am s-s-sorry, Z-z-z-eus,” stammered Isocrates.

“Yes, I am Zeus, and I am going to explain to you why you are here.”

“I sent this phoenix to find me a young man about Phoenix’s age to serve as a strong warrior. I needed a warrior; for very destructive, cataclysmic things will soon befall Greece…it’s all part of a giant prophecy. Now… Phoedocia, Dorcus, Pythogorus, Isocrates, Phoenix…I need you…with the aid of this phoenix, Messeneas, to warn Greece of these coming perils. Something will be shattered, something will be released, and some things will be destroyed. NOW BE GONE!” Zeus finished his tirade.

With that, Zeus flushed them out of the clouds and they landed safely back on the island.

=Chapter VII: The Great Battle=


Once back on the island, Messeneas took the group to his castle to grab some supplies before going out to proclaim to all of Greece about the coming evil. After gathering a large saddle for everyone to ride on his back, some arrows for Python and Isocrates, a new sword for Dorcus, but right before he could grab The Holy Blade to give to Phoenix…something strange happened and the sword began to crack! Messeneas quickly flew everyone out of the castle.

When they had landed, the sword shattered and out came a giant, glowing figure…they could not tell what it was until it stopped shining with its intense light………IT WAS RAGNAROK!!!!!


They all guessed that this must be the predicted cataclysmic event and they immediately jumped into action. Dorcus sprinted forward as fast as he could and slashed the mighty foe with his sword. The sword shattered on impact and Dorcus was merely flung aside. Python and Isocrates shot their arrows with great skill although they and their arrows were flung aside as well.

When Phoedocia and Phoenix noticed that mortal weapons could not hurt Ragnarok, they asked Messeneas to call for Zeus…who then called for his son, the smith god Hephaestus, to see if he could re-forge the sword and restore some of its power. Hephaestus quickly got to work on the sword.

In the meantime, Messeneas decided he’d try to assist in fighting Ragnarok.

“Step back…far back…” Messeneas said to Phoedocia and Phoenix.

Messeneas created gusts of wind up to 500 mph, and hurled them at the giant monster…they had no effect on it at all! He then slashed at the creature with his razor-sharp talons and jabbed at it with his needle-like beak. Ragnarok was amused by Messeneas’ feats, and he was dying…of laughter. Ragnarok then shot a large beam straight through the squawking phoenix, killing Messeneas and setting him aflame.

Phoedocia, Phoenix, and Zeus could do nothing at this point, other than run and evade Ragnarok’s earth-shaking slashes. They had to dodge his slaps for about twenty minutes (Can we get some applause?)…and Hephaestus finally finished restoring The Holy Blade. He tossed the sword to Phoedocia, who had it slapped out of her hands by Ragnarok. Phoenix dashed for the sword and grabbed it before Ragnarok could.

“I’ll help you!” Zeus offered. “I’ll throw you at the monster’s eye! That’s its only weak point, like its Achilles Heel!”

And so, Zeus slung Phoenix toward the monster’s gigantic eye and with one mighty down-slash, Phoenix jabbed into Ragnarok’s pupil, killing it instantly.

After Phoenix fell back to the ground, the sword released itself from his grip and hovered in the air. It then proceeded to re-absorb Ragnarok’s soul.
Then using all of his power, with one mighty blast, Zeus obliterated the sword and ending Ragnarok’s terror forever.

Zeus thanked Phoedocia and Phoenix and asked them if they needed anything at all. They said they wished Scopas was there with them right now.

“Well, I happen to have a surprise for you,” Zeus sad, smiling.

When the bird began to reform from the ash, it did not appear as a bird…it appeared as a human figure…IT WAS SCOPAS!

“Scopas, why did you not tell us?” Phoedocia asked.

“Athene forbad me to tell anybody that I was Scopas.”

“Athene? Why did she-“ Phoedocia tried to ask Scopas.

“When I was killed,” Scopas related, “Athene found me and reincarnated me, just like everyone else. She said I did some bad things and then turned me into the giant monster. Then she took me to Mt. Olympus and showed me before Zeus. He said he needed my help to find a warrior. He re-named me Messeneas, like messenger, and sent me off.

“So that’s what happened to you?” Phoedocia asked.

“Yep, pretty much,” replied Scopas.
**mushy gushy lovey dovey sequence, censored for people who are too immature to hear it**

“ATHENE, GET DOWN HERE NOW!” bellowed Zeus.

“What is it?” Athene asked helplessly, not knowing the cause of Zeus’ anger.

“Athene! Why did you help Scopas? Why did you trick me???!!!” Zeus answered.

“Well, because his polis worships me, and I’m still mad at you about that little incident 9 years ago,” she responded quickly.

“It was kind of you to do that, but you’re going to have to turn him-“ Zeus attempted to say.

“DAD!!!!!!!”

“I-I mean…I love you,” replied Zeus, backing down from his anger.

Phoedocia pipes up, “Let’s go home!”

And so the terrible event was overcome, and Greece was safe once again… or was it?



=The End=



Maybe…


=== The Dark City ===
-Book 3: The Megarian Tower Trilogy


-Prologue-


“It all started about 11 years ago… in the polis of Megara. My father, Scopas, was its king and everything was great. Until that one terrible idea popped into his head. Scopas gathered much assistance and built himself a tower… that reached to the gods. Zeus got real ticked at this, and destroyed the tower, ‘killing’ my father. Very shortly after his death Megara’s favorite god, Athena, reincarnated Scopas, just as all other people. But this time, it was a special reincarnation… because Scopas, my father… was reincarnated… as a phoenix. Then, one day I was with my mother, Phoedocia, in her gardens, when the phoenix picked me up. I thought I was dead meat, until my mother came and rescued me from ‘its’ clutches. The phoenix, Scopas, had been killed by a very special sword. This sword, the Holy Blade, could slice through nearly anything. We (me, my mother, and the rest of her group) were picked up by the phoenix, which had been reborn from the ashes, and taken up to see Zeus. He told us all, including Scopas, whose name had been changed to Messeneas – ‘Messenger’, to warn Greece of a coming peril. We went back to Messeneas’ island to stock up on weapons and supplies, when the Holy Blade began to crack. We dashed out of the tower, that’s when it happened… the Holy Blade exploded. The light emitting from the explosion gathered in a single spot, and formed in to a GIAGANTIC mass of evil. This enormous creature of death was known solely as Ragnarok. He was what we were to warn Greece about. Although he was nearly un-killable, we managed to get the Holy Blade re-forged, and then, with the help of Zeus’ amazing throwing arm, I stabbed the evil smiting blade into the creatures puling eye… stopping it again. The Holy Blade re-absorbed the demonic soul of Ragnarok, sealing him away once-more. Zeus then, with one heck of a blast, destroyed the sword, and Ragnarok, forever. I then learned that the phoenix was Scopas all along. One year has passed since that climactic battle, and now I am king of Megara, my father, Messeneas, has moved back into the palace with me and my mother, and everything is great. My name is Phoenix, son of Messeneas and Phoedocia, and I rule Megara.”

-Chapter 1: At the Gates of Evil-








It was an average day in the Great Palace of Megara. The only really exiting thing was that Zeno, king of Athens, was due to arrive any minute.
“How do I look? Do I offend?” Phoedocia asked.
“Don’t worry, you look fine.” Messeneas replied sternly.
Then King Phoenix noticed something, a figure approaching in the distance.
“Look everybody! Zeno’s here!” Phoenix shouted through the courtyard.
But as Zeno entered the Palace Courtyard, Phoenix noticed something strange. Zeno wasn’t carrying the scroll he said he was bringing. He was wearing orange, a color he despised. He was also without his glasses… from what Phoenix knew, Zeno never went anywhere without wearing his glasses.
“That’s not Zeno,” Phoenix spoke.
“What are you talking about, of course that’s Zeno!” joked Isocrates, one of Phoenix’s best friends.
“Zeno’s” eye flickers in a very evil twitch.
“That’s not Zeno!!!” Phoenix yells as he darts to the side.
Then “Zeno” melts into a tar like mass of goop, proceeding to lurch across the ground, until he was about a foot away from Isocrates.
“Should’ve listened to your friend,” a strange, demonic voice speaks from the goop.
In the blink of an eye, the goop consumes Isocrates, and takes his form.
“I am Zeno. The Destroyer of Continents.” The beast whispers in an eerie tone.
The Zeno pawn-off merged with the shadow of the Palace Wall… and was gone.
“What just happened?!?!” Phoedocia yells.
“Isocrates! I’ll save you! Somehow…” Phoenix thought to himself.
As they questioned what happened. Messeneas caught up in flames. From the arose a monstrous figure. Messeneas had gone phoenix!
“Let’s go! We must find that evil beast!” Messeneas cried out as he, with Phoenix and Phoedocia on his back, flew off to Mount Olympus, to the Tower of the Gods, to Zeus himself.

-Chapter 2: The History of Darkness-

“Quick everyone!” Messeneas yells to the two people getting off his back, ushering them to get to Zeus.
Phoedocia, Phoenix, and Messeneas rushed into the Royal Throne Room, of Zeus and his fellow gods, in an attempt to as k Zeus about the mysterious dark creature that had eaten Phoenix’s best friend just minutes earlier.
“Zeus, are you here?!” Phoenix screams in question as they approach Zeus’ throne.
“Yes… um… who be here?” Zeus replies from a far off corner.
“It’s us, your highness. The Megarian Royal Family.” Messeneas answers Zeus, “We need your knowledge.”
As Zeus sits down, he knows what they wish to know.
“Why do you wish to know about that Sick, demented ‘thing’?” Zeus questions.
“Well for starters, it ate my friend… sorry… friends.” Phoenix says in response.
“Wait a minute. How did you know that was what we were to ask?” Asks Messeneas, “Oh, right… you’re Zeus…”
“So the ‘thing’ has been released?” Zeus ponders.
“What?! It was captive?! Where?!” Phoedocia yells in question.
“So you don’t know?” Zeus asks, “Fine then. I well tell you the story of darkness, destruction, and evil…”
“It was a long time ago, when the demon-like ‘things’ appeared. Three of them. Do you remember Ragnarok? Well, there’s number one. When he was sighted by Athens, he was incased in a meteorite… like a shell. This ‘shell’ was headed straight on a crash course for Greece. The second also had a meteorite shell, his name was Icaarus, he like Ragnarok, was on a crash course, this time for Gaul. The third, and evilest of all, followed Ragnarok here. The third great demon was named Megarain. Ragnarok was thwarted by Bellorophon, and a magical item, the Holy Blade. Ragnarok’s soul was successfully sealed inside the sword, stopping his terror. Soon after Megarain crashed down, Bellorophon was then silenced. Obviously Icaarus was able to catch word, and joined Megarain in destroying Greece. Ragnarok was the physical incarnation of destruction, Icaarus of darkness, and Megarain of evil. We, the gods, created the Holy Blade, the Holy Bow, and the mightiest of all, the Holy Shield. Coincidentally three against three. Sealing Ragnarok in the blade was relatively easy. The next two, different story. Although we did manage to seal Megarain in the shield, We could not manage Icaarus. Fusing with shadow and consuming our troops was bad enough, but then he tried to un-seal Megarian! We were forced to retreat. Yet, after years of war, we managed to take down the tag team of evil. This group called themselves the Plague, a primarily fitting name. And though sealing Ragnarok in the blade, Icaarus in the bow, and Megarian in the shield ended the war, we knew Greece would never be the same. Then, to ensure they weren’t released by mistake, we sealed the Holy Blade in the Temple of Light, a sanctuary, we buried the Holy Bow directly in between Athens and present-day Megara, and we sealed the Holy Shield in the Tower of the Gods. Apparently someone located the bow and mistakenly released Icaarus from his prison. And now, no doubt, he’s coming here to free Megarian. Also, that is where Megara got it’s name… the Plague stationed there main attacks from the exact spot Megara is built on. Go figure. But now that we know all this, we’d best prepare for an attack.”
“This is really, really, really, REALLY going to hurt.” Phoenix says as he wields his sword.