Chapter Text
My first thought was ‘Why am I on the ground?’ I don’t remember being on the ground. I picked myself up and looked around. First I realized it was night. ‘Wasn’t it just morning? Wouldn’t Apollo have said something if I fell asleep or if he left. He never just left without saying anything. ‘Where is he? Did I do something?’
I wracked my brain for anything I could have possibly done to upset him. I was usually good about not upsetting him. If I recalled correctly the only time I had upset him at all was when I pushed him into the Eurotas (by accident!). ‘Why would he just disappear? Something to do with his father?’ I started down the path that led back to the city. ‘That must be it. He usually disappears suddenly when his father calls him.’
I followed the familiar path, taking a mental note that it looked a bit different than it had that morning. The path looked like it wasn’t actively used anymore. It was almost like it was abandoned; odd as it was the main road to Sparta. It ALWAYS had some sort of foot traffic. I must have been out of it from my unexpected nap.
The further I traveled the path the more unfamiliar it became and it didn’t sit right with me. I still hadn’t seen anyone; another oddity. Not even people in the fields; fields that also looked long abandoned and overgrown. I stopped and looked around. Where there had once been fields for crops was replaced by nothing but overgrown grass. Dread started to set in my gut. ‘First Apollo just disappears and now everything looks abandoned.’ My heart raced in my chest. Something felt wrong.
The dread turned to complete horror when I reached what would have been the main entrance to the city. There was nothing. No buildings. No people. Nothing but what looked like the barest remains someone had built here. A long time ago. I stood there not knowing how to react; nothing was as it was JUST that morning. My eyes scanned the area trying to find anything that was as it should be. Nothing.
I didn’t want to go further into what was my home, but I took a deep breath and forced my legs to move forward. I wouldn’t find out what was wrong by just standing there. Everything was nothing but fragments, if that. I glanced around at what had been the agora only hours ago. I knelt down by a small fragment of a building, running my hand along the stone. Whatever had happened, it wasn’t recent.
I rose to my feet, staring at the ruins in front of me. ‘There’s no way I slept that long…and lived..’ I shook my head and kept exploring. It looked like parts of market stalls were somewhat there, along with something that hadn’t been there before. ‘Is that a theater?’ Spartans weren’t the dramatic type, we were almost all military. When did we decide to have a theater?
There was barely anything left of my city; there wasn’t even a trace of my home. This wasn’t right. None of it. I sat on the ground and pulled my knees to my chest. What had happened? I rested one of my hands on the ground next to me; involuntary flashes hitting my vision. A Spartan soldier receiving a request to aid in defending the Greek world from the Persians. Less and Less people.. Soldiers in red capes and bronze. Soldiers in strange armor.. Buildings being destroyed and crumbling over time. I pulled my hand up. ‘Not doing that again..’
A humming sound in the distance caught my attention; it wasn’t like any sound I had heard before. I stood and walked toward the sound, seeing what looked like another city not too far off. ‘Now THAT definitely wasn’t there before.’ I still hadn’t accepted the obvious truth. Something happened and it wasn’t just a nap. I had missed YEARS. It’d be nice if Apollo would come back and explain it to me; or wake me up from this nightmare.
Should I go there? There seems to be people if noise is coming from the area. What if they were the soldiers from my visions? They could be hostile; and while I was a decent fighter, I highly doubted a single man could hold off an army. It wasn’t like I was Heracles. I wasn’t so powerful.
It was nearing sunset when I got close enough to see any of the city's inhabitants. They were dressed oddly. I looked down at my own chiton; no, I was the one dressed oddly. Their fashion wasn’t the only thing that was odd to me. There was strange metal wheeled objects; perhaps a new style of chariot?
A loud noise made my ears ring and I nearly jumped out of my skin. It had come from one of them. It had been moving too fast and almost collided with the other. I glanced around, a few people had turned their attention towards me. Panic rose in me, suddenly nervous to have so many eyes on me. Something I should have been used to.
“Why are you screaming? It’s not like the car almost hit you?” A man around my age stared at me with a raised eyebrow, his brown eyes practically staring into my soul. “I…” I couldn’t find the words to explain myself. What was I supposed to say? ‘I have no idea what that thing is but that sound came from the depths of Tartarus?’ Instead of giving any response I turned and fled.
A Spartan fleeing? Definitely not the best action. My father would have scolded me for running. A Spartan doesn’t run; doesn’t show fear. There was no glory in running. But, there was no glory in embarrassing myself either. I didn’t stop running until I was back to the remains of my city. I paused to catch my breath, looking back to make sure no one had followed me. It didn’t seem so.
I wandered around the ruins until I found a structure intact enough to shelter me for the night. I sat on the ground and pulled myself into a tight ball. If a Spartan wasn’t supposed to fear anything maybe I didn’t have what it took to carry the name of my people; prince or not. What was I even a prince of now? A bunch of rock piles? My eyes burned; everything had been fine when the sun rose and it set on a nightmare. I was scared and alone. I felt like a small child who had been separated from his mother.
If my thoughts were right, the only family I’d be able to find would be my mother. My father, step mother and siblings would be long dead. I hadn’t seen her in weeks and now I wanted nothing more than for her to hold me and tell me I was dreaming and I’d wake soon. I let the tears burning my eyes fall silently. A Spartan didn’t cry, yet here I was, crying like a child and wishing my mother was with me.
It felt like forever until the silent sobs wracking my body slowed and I was finally able to take a shaky breath and wipe my eyes. I blinked and my eyes started burning again; I forced the tears not to start again. I moved from my sitting position and lay down on my side, returning to my ball of mental defense and closed my eyes. Whatever was going on, I’d have to figure it out tomorrow; I had cried myself into exhaustion and my body felt like it hadn’t slept in a millenia. I once again let silent tears fall from my eyes until I fell into a restless sleep.