A Finale Written in the Stars
Kal has another vision, his mother first, then stood to the side of his adoptive father.
“Kal, you were always a stubborn boy, and made a better warrior because of it” Marcus says, he continued, “I made you my boy, no matter what the False King has said, and never forget you were chosen by fate to be great, one of the best, Este is the embodiment of this truth”. Kal’s vision goes away, and is back in the palace. He turns and catches the trident with his bare hands. He is able to escape the trident, rolls away and picks up the shield, and knocks away the False King. The False King lunges, Kal dodges, and goes for the sword. The two exchange more blows, Kal still tired, powered through the pain, blood running from his teeth. He uses his shield, throws it with the strength of Athena herself, and separates the trident from the False King; the trident falls to the side, it’s clangs echo through the palace. He slices the King’s legs, he drops to his knees and has the King by the throat.
“Kal…I know now the truth, I doubted you all your life…” The False King choked out.
“But know I am your father, the one you never had…” The False King feels fear, true fear, and has broken down in front of Kal.
Kal pauses, the anger in his eyes turning to sympathy, for a broken man. The sea grass and muscles rotting on his face as the magic of Poseidon faded from the False King, all the King had was fear, and Poseidon’s disappointment and anger.
“I had a father” a brief pause, Kal choked up, remembering the grave of his father, “He was Marcus, Son of Orepetpes… you are no father to me…you are nothing more than a broken man”. The False King sheds a tear, mixed with blood.
The King almost falls over, regains himself, and then sees the last man he will ever lay eyes on.
Kal said, “The Gods may have protected me, but they did not protect you from me.” Kal sliced his throat in that moment. Kal took a moment to breathe, as the False King’s lifeless body collapsed on the floor, the sound echoing in the quiet halls.
“Hades has a special place for you….Father.”
The sun rose in the east, the battle ended, and a tired but victorious Kal stood before the carnage. Kal looked out on the city, warriors from both sides litter the landscape. The fires that burned for days, were now just plumes of smoke. He gazed beyond the city, into the harbor and the glittering waters of the Sea. A gust of wind, that bore nothing but the scent of the sea graced Kal’s nose and he embraced the comforting scent. The citizens of Syracuse emerge from the desolation of the city. King Aegeus and Kalos had made their way to the palace, assuming they would have to fight the False King.
Este had been in the palace, weeping as the battle ensued. Athena appeared to her, at the end of the fight.
“Child, it is time you embrace your Fate.” Athena said, assured and powerful.
“I do not know if I am ready. Would I be a good wife? Am I worth all this death and desolation that these men have wrought on my behalf?”
Athena took a smaller form, and with a comforting smile, assured the distraught woman.
“Fate is more than blind acceptance, for it is something you can put all your sorrows and anxieties in. If you trust Fate, as you must, then you will proudly embrace your husband, who stands victorious in your name.”
Este, wiped tears from her face, and looked beyond Athena at Kal, standing before the sunrise. Covered in sweat and blood.
“I wish to do something I want to do for once Lady Athena.”
“And what is that?”
“I wish to marry that man, because for once in my life I am granted a choice by Fate. Not simply a man for which I was created, but a man I can happily choose unlike my many mothers before me.” Este said with a smile, as she ran off past Athena to embrace Kal.
As Este approached the battle-ridden Kal, he collapsed on the steps of the palace; exhausted.
King Aegeus and Kalos, along with their men, would scale the steps to make sure their hero survived the ordeal. Kal is assisted up by Este, and as he does the army before him all kneel. Kal would stumble, being held by Este stand before his men.
“The False King has been deposed, and a quest fulfilled!”
The men would cheer, with a loud applause. Kal and Este would embrace, finally, without hindrance or in the shadows fully embrace their love. A hard-fought love, one that has faced many challenges. Kal’s face is of pure, unadulterated happiness. The woman who he had traveled the world over, gazed into his eyes with a purity that takes more than words to express. Her eyes had the light of the shimmering sea, with all the warmth of the summer sun. After a night of only facing hate, and months of planning, seeing her euphoric face after she can safely say she is free, was a comforting and welcomed one.
The Army of Athena celebrates at camp, welcomed by the liberated populace. Those who made it through the crucible would drink and eat to full bellies. On the cliff-side Kal put to rest his former self, marked by the Wooden Shield that made him famous, Kal looked out onto the sea, now at dusk. He calmly sips at a glass, as the cool summer breeze and spray of the sea would hit his face.
“I know now what you wanted of me, O’ Gods. I wish my father could have been here to witness it.”
Dionysos appeared next to him, in a human form, partially drunk.
“He knows, Hermes can pass the message down to Elysium.”
“Did he go there?”
“He deserved it, for his unfortunate part he played in this tale of the ages.” Dionysos offered a toast. “To those fallen men, who deserved better Fates.”
The two friends toast and drink.
“I Thank you for picking me up from that beach, Wine God.”
Dionysos gave a soft smile.
“I am a God Kal, we do what we want, pushing humanity to be better.”
“Pushing or punishing?”
“Perhaps both, I fear if I answer Zeus may revoke my invitation to Olympos, and I just got it.”
The pair laughed. Dionysos looked behind him, and stood up. “When Fate walks up to you, do you tell it to go away? Or Embrace it?” Dionysos would walk off, vanishing with a drunken smile on his face.
Este took a seat next to Kal, and got close to him. Sharing a kiss.
“A fate I can happily die fighting for.”
“How do you come up with these?” Este asked with a soft chuckle.
“I don’t. I speak from the heart, its pure unfiltered thoughts.”
Este and Kal look out towards the calm sea, the moon shone bright in the sky. A field of stars covered the night sky.
“One day our story will be painted onto the night sky, Este.”
“To prove to the world that Kal, the Man behind the Wooden Shield is worthy of the fame he was robbed?” Este would remark, with a laugh.
“No, so it is remembered by all who come after us, to not be forgotten beneath the waves.” Kal looked up at the stars. Mesmerized by its glory, and all the many tales that the Gods put there for the Earth to remember.
Kal finally looked back to Este, and put a hand to her cheek. “If I am not forgotten by a select few, then our lessons and our love is remembered, and many more can embrace the love that this world needs. Our love, my Este.”
Este shed a tear, then said, “Our eternal, Fated Love.” The two kiss, forever enshrined among the world’s many heroes. A love that would deft Gods and the Fates, and forever inspire that sacred, inspiring feeling.
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