Mythos: The Sword of Echoes

Mythos: The Sword of Echoes or Mythos I (/miθoʊs/) is a fantasy adventure story, the first of the Mythos series. Set in a fictional mythological 8th century Greece, it follows Draid on a quest to prevent a possessed Hades from raising the undead via hellgates. It is somewhat influenced by video games such Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and those of the Zelda series, in that a theme of acquiring items and fighting creatures is present. It has spawned two sequels and a prequel.
==Characters==
Draid
Waterfall Spirit
Oracle
Hephaestus
Ares
Poseidon
Hermes
Zeus
Hades
==Text==
Deep in the forest of the Greek Mainland lay the small village of Levkogrem. In this village lives Draid, a young man of unknown origin. All was forgotten before waking up on the beach one day as a child. Draid grew up here and has become acquainted with the town’s people, but never has he found out where he came from.
One stormy night, Draid had a dream: A spirit-like voice told him, “find me, find me in the cave, in the waterfall”. Draid had then woken up, put on his hooded shirt, boots and gloves, and headed to the cave not too far from the village. Draid went down the dirt path, and had stumbled upon a dead man, a soldier possibly, with his fallen copper sword, which he took with him for protection. Draid also came across a mysterious man standing alone in the storm. “Excuse me, but what are you doing out in a storm like this?” asked Draid. The man turned around with a grunt, revealing glowing red eyes, dead looking skin, worn out clothes, and a mace in his hand. He lifted his mace and was about to strike Draid with it. Draid quickly rolled away to behind his back and stabbed him with his newfound sword.
As Draid approached the cave, the sky turned red, and a wall of fire popped out of nowhere with silhouettes of slow moving people with maces walking toward him. Draid fled into the cave and saw a small blue light in it. He followed the light which led him to the waterfall in the cave. The light then turned into a spirit. “I am a spirit of the fall, the voice of your dream. I have summoned you here because you are our last hope to save this kingdom.” “Save the kingdom? From what?” asked Draid. “The world is in chaos. An unknown evil has possessed Hades and is using his power to turn the dead into an enslaved army. They will rise to the overworld through hellgates and plan to wipe out the living. Any one who dies will become another undead soldier” said the spirit. “What are my trials?” “First off, seek an oracle. The nearest one is located at the Greatwood Shrine in the Cloud Forest. He will offer you guidance for where to go next.” The spirit then vanished.
Draid stepped outside with the undead soldiers still there. Draid took them out with a few swings of the Sword and the hellgate closed, the sky turned back to normal, and the sun came up. Draid had now begun to set off on his adventure. “I heard what happened”, said one of the townspeople. “Take this bow, and do what you must do.” Draid accepted the bow and headed for Cloud Forest.
After making it down the trail and through one of Greece’s great fields, Draid made it to Cloud Forest, a wooded region with dense fog covering the area. Deeper into the woods he found the Greatwood Shrine, an ancient temple made for the oracle. When he stepped inside, the sky turned not red, but orange, a soothing orange, and a hellgate didn’t appear, but a god. “I am Hephaestus, God of Fire. When you enter the Shrine, you will not be able to exit the same way. You need to get out through the back, guarded by a monster. Take this to aid you in defeating it, a boomerang that spins in a wheel of fire.” Draid took the flaming boomerang and entered the Shrine.
As Draid entered the Greatwood Shrine the door shut behind him. “Come hero. I’ve been waiting”, said the oracle. “Where do I go next?” asked Draid. “To reach the power to save the Kingdom, you must cross the desert, and go by sea to your homeland.” “My homeland?” “You’ll be told more in time.” “What do you see in the outcome of this conflict?” “Whether or not we win this war, what you do will change this world, forever.” Like the spirit of the fountain, the oracle vanished, and Draid headed to the back of the temple. Guarding the only way out was the Assassin Vine, a giant Venus flytrap hanging on a wall with huge vines that cut, whip and constrict. Draid’s new boomerang burned off the vines, and a couple of shots with the bow and arrow released the main body from the wall, and some sword swings finished him off. Draid could now exit the Shrine.
The hero made it out of the Cloud Forest and was about to enter the High Noon Desert. Soon Draid heard a sound out of nowhere, the sound of war. He turned around. It was another god. “I am Ares, God of War. I have led many battles and conquered many lands, but even the strength of I, and every other god combined, cannot face the power of this new threat. We need you to go to your homeland, an Isle, by sailing the Aegean Sea. But for now, your next trial is to cross this desert, and to do so, you must fight a new creature, one who lives in the sand. You’ll need these, boots that allow you to shake the Earth with the thunder of war. Go now and cross the desert.” Draid obtained the Quake Boots and entered the desert.
Draid had started walking through the High Noon Desert, with no cloud cover and the sun beating down on him, he continued. Almost near the end of it, he felt an Earthquake, and the enormous Desert Spider emerged from the ground. He was a spider the size of a god and hid in the sand, and when he did, he could come out anywhere, anytime, trampling Draid. When the Spider did go in the sand, Draid equipped the Quake Boots to shake the Earth below, making the Desert Spider come out. Draid shot arrows at his eyes, bringing the monster down on his back. He hopped on his back and stabbed his chest with the Sword, defeating the Desert Spider.
After successfully crossing the desert, Draid found himself in a new town, one that appeared to have been destroyed by the undead minions. Although the hellgates probably disappeared after the raid, all the buildings were demolished and there were no people in sight. He did, however, find an extravagant ship on the dock. Draid explored the ship, and soon the tide turned high and a god emerged from the water and onto the ship. “I am Poseidon, God of the Sea. This is my vessel, and with it I will take you to your next destination.”
Poseidon guided the winds to get the ship moving. “I am also here to tell you about your past, where you came from, and where you are going. You see Draid, you were born into a noble clan that battled evil, a clan that resided on the Isle across this sea. When you were a child, you sailed these very waters with your clan, but a furious storm stirred up and destroyed your clan’s ship, all of the clan was lost in the storm, except you. I saved you, because I had foreseen that we would need you one day, and now, we need you. Your clan lived on the Isle of Crete, where they kept a sacred weapon, a sword forged by the gods. Crete is where we are heading. The Sword rests deep in the Swamp Ruins, Guarded by the Legendary Hydra. The one who can defeat it is destined to wield the Sword. You are destined to wield the Sword.” Draid and Poseidon had arrived on the shore of Crete. “Take this, a Trident to a help you defeat the Hydra.” Draid took the Trident and got off the ship.
Not far from the shore was the Swamp Ruins, the temple that protected the Sword Poseidon told him about. He entered it and found himself in a wet, marshy ruin with water covering the first few inches of the floor. Draid continued and found a large room with a deep pool of water in it. The Hydra, guardian of the Sacred Blade, emerged from the pool with a loud and menacing roar. The Hydra attempted to charge at Draid with his ferocious jaws, but he dodged it in time. Like with the Desert Spider, Draid shot arrows at his eyes, which stunned the Hydra long enough for Draid to hop on his head and hack at it with his sword. Draid then stabbed that same spot with the Trident. He had actually killed the Legendary Hydra. The serpent dropped to the bottom of the pool, which drained afterward, revealing a spiraling staircase that led down the empty pool and into the final room of the temple.
In this dark room he found the sword he was looking for, resting in its pedestal baring a worn out illegible inscription, with an open ceiling right above it and a beam of light shining down on it. Poseidon spoke in Draid’s mind, “This is it, the Sword of Echoes. He who wields it carries the hope of the Kingdom.” Draid grasped the Sword’s handle with both hands. The blade started to glow. With a bit of strength he was able to pull it out of its pedestal. The room illuminated. He could feel the Sword’s power flowing through him. It was an extraordinary looking weapon, with a shining silver blade, dark green handle and a black leather wrapped grip with gold trim. Draid put his old copper sword in the pedestal and exited the Swamp Ruins.
After Draid left the ruins he felt a strong wind blowing. A small tornado appeared right in front of him. The high winds stopped quickly and traveling in the tornado was a god. “I am Hermes, Messenger of the Gods. That’s a fine blade you possess, but this is no time to talk. A hellgate has opened on Mt. Olympus and you have to stop it.” Hermes took Draid to Mt. Olympus by air in a matter of minutes. Upon arrival, Draid saw thousands of undead raiding the mountain top. The Gods tried to fight back, but more soldiers kept coming out of the hellgate. Draid caught their attention with a throw of the fiery boomerang, and with the Sword of Echoes, he was able to instantly fight his way through dozens of minions in no time. In less than a minute, the minions retreated back into the Underworld. “We thank you greatly, Draid. It is I, Zeus, the God of all Gods. More and more people are dying as we speak, and Hades’ army is growing. Soon he will have wiped out the living. With that unknown evil in Hades’ body he is nearly unstoppable. Hades must be freed from his possession immediately. But first…” Zeus took Draid’s arrows and grasped them in his hands. They started glowing, and a blinding light came out from them. “These are arrows enchanted with my lightning. Take them, and go now through the hellgate.” Draid took the arrows and stepped into the hellgate.
As Draid entered the Underworld, he found himself on the opposite side of the River Styx where he needed to be. Guarding the bridge to the other side was Cerberus, the giant, menacing three-headed dog that kept the living from crossing the River. The only way past the beast was to kill him. Draid shot a lightning arrow at each of the three heads, temporarily bringing him down and paralyzing any control of the body, but if just one of the heads recovers, the body will move again. Draid would have to destroy all three heads. He hopped on his back just as one of the heads was recovering. He used the Quake Boots to keep him low to the ground, hacked at the first head with the Sword, and killed the first one off. Draid was off to the second, but the other two heads were recovering fast. Draid was too close to shoot another arrow, so he took one out and stabbed it into the second head with his hand. Draid soon killed the second head, but the third fully healed and shook Draid off its body. Draid fired one last arrow at it and threw his Trident to finish off the last head. Draid retrieved the Trident and crossed the bridge.
Draid made it to the other side of the River Styx with the Palace of Hades just before him, with hundreds of minions standing in front of it, but like on Mt. Olympus, the Sword of Echoes was able to cut through them and make them back away. Draid marched through and suddenly, a large barrier formed around him with no way out. Out of the darkness appeared Possessed Hades. “You don’t have to travel any further” said Hades. “Who are you? Show your true form!” demanded Draid. “I’m afraid this is my true form, in Hades’ body. I needed a vessel to occupy, and Hades’ was the perfect fit.” “Well it looks like I’ll have to get you out of there to see who you really are.” Hades had then transformed into a gigantic, two-legged flaming beast wielding two enormous cleavers. The final battle to free Hades and stop the unknown evil had begun.
The Hellbeast’s flame-covered body kept any up-close attacks away. Similar to what he did to Cerberus, after dodging a blow from one of the cleavers, Draid fired a lightning arrow at the Hellbeast’s head, eliminating the fire from his body for a short time. He then ran up to it and stabbed the Sword of Echoes into one of his feet, knocking the Hellbeast down. Draid threw the Trident at his head to completely bring his head to the ground, and stop the fire longer. Draid sliced at his head several times until he got up, and knocked Draid back with his body igniting again. Draid kept the fire down with another arrow, but he was too powerful to bring him down again. He dodged another swing from his cleaver and hopped on top of it. The Hellbeast lifted it up without noticing Draid on it, and Draid leaped from the cleaver to the Hellbeast’s shoulder. Draid reached the top of his head, struck a Lightning Arrow in it with his hand, and repeatedly stabbed the head until the Hellbeast was defeated.
With the Hellbeast defeated, the unknown evil had been separated from Hades’ body, and he, and every other Olympian God, banished the evil from existence. No one may ever know who or what that evil was. Perhaps it was just pure evil, but whoever it was, Draid had fulfilled his prophecy and changed this world, forever, and for the better.
Category:Mythos