Apex Book Company

Oceans of tall grass yielded to the desperate strides of the ruler of Olympus and king of the Gods, Zeus. His skin glistened and heaved as he lunged down the base of the mountain into a grouping of elm trees. His tightly cropped beard and thinning silver hair were soaked with sweat and his eyes darted around the forest for predators. His lungs burned; his chiseled face was flushed purple, and bore a small, fresh scab running just below his left eye. He had been running without rest for over a week, and he still felt himself no further from the relentless assassin.

Rumbling shook the trees and lifted the ground under Zeus’s feet. He grasped a tree and steadied himself, then pulled himself forward off the bulging hill. As Zeus sprinted through the trees, the Earth settled as if nothing happened.

The dry forest morphed to a hot, wet jungle. Vines snaked down and grasped at Zeus. He attempted to push through, but they tightened around his body. He scanned the trees, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. With a jerk, he snapped free and was flung skyward into the forest canopy. The ground swelled again, opening enough to reveal a scaly, slithering beast winding through the dirt.

A thin, black figure darted through the jungle. It moved with inhuman grace, and then disappeared into the walls of vegetation. Zeus lowered himself to the ground. Once he found his footing, the jungle opened a path and he quickly escaped back onto the open plains.

Hawks circled above, a warning that the predator was approaching again. Zeus sprinted towards a small pond populated with hundreds of fish grouped near the surface. Zeus ran to the pond, and skidded across the surface without breaking stride. He turned and glanced over his right shoulder as the scaled beast surfaced through the bottom of the pond. The enormous serpentine monster raced along the silt floor before plunging beneath the earth again. The tainted water flooded with dark mud and the fish surfaced belly-up, smothered by the beast’s poison.

A violent tremor knocked Zeus to the ground. He raised his hands and electricity danced from his fingertips. He pounded his hands against the ground, sending Olympic sized electrical surges through the dirt and the grass. The Earth hemorrhaged the serpent beast, spitting it high into the sky. Zeus watched it reach an apex, then come tumbling down beside him. Unperturbed, the serpent beast slithered toward Zeus and raised its head. Zeus backed away. The serpent’s hood flared and it released a shrill, deafening scream.

The force shoved Zeus down to the ground. He covered his ears as blood trickled from his eardrums. The serpent beast hissed and dove back into the ground. Zeus’s vision blurred and his ears rang. He was momentarily incapacitated.
The black-veiled figure watched Zeus push himself up and stagger forward. A second serpent beast loomed above him, and a third appeared behind him. Together they screamed, sending Zeus to his knees, prone forward holding his bloodied ears. The dirt gave away underneath him and engulfed him like water. Zeus disappeared into the ground. One of the serpent beasts licked the ground where Zeus’s body disappeared. A blue spark shot upwards and outwards, causing the beast to flail backwards and coiled.

The figure approached, put her hands up to warn the serpents. She pulled her veil away, revealing a thin, sculpted body with tone as exquisite as Zeus’s. She had black, curled hair that fell far down her back. Her eyes glowed green with long, black, oval pupils. Her curled fingernails stretched three inches from her fingers. Most notably, her silhouette did not cast a shadow in the warm evening sun. She let the veil drop, exposing her bare body. She knelt down to feel the ground, tracing her long fingernail in the dirt where Zeus’s body was buried.

“This is ridiculous, my Lord,” she called. Under the lush voice was a slight hiss trailing each sound. “It is time to end this; I am trying to help you.”

She sighed, tapping her fingernails impatiently against the dirt.

“Just let me talk to you for a moment,” the woman said. She turned her fingernail and stuck it into the ground. A small spark sent her hand darting back. She chuckled. “Come out, come out wherever you are.”

“Back away,” a muffled voice replied.

The woman’s long, thin tongue slid across her lips and she rose to her feet. She lifted the veil and wrapped it around her waist.

The ground slid away and raised Zeus’s body to the surface. He quickly jumped to his feet and crouched defensively, watching the serpents. The woman motioned, and they both disappeared into the ground.

The woman turned back to Zeus, and they stared at each other for several moments. Zeus’s eyes slid down her body, and she smiled.

“What are you?” Zeus asked, raising his eyes back to hers.

“I’m a woman.”

“No you’re not.”

“Don’t I look like a woman?” she asked, trailing the curve of her breast and abdomen with her long fingernails. Zeus surveyed her body, watched as she whipped her hair back and allowed her tongue to surface along her upper lip.

“I am a woman who is trying to save you from this fantasy.”

“What fantasy?” Zeus asked.

“The fantasy that you are a god.”

Zeus’s eyes narrowed and he took a step toward her, challenging her, but she didn’t flinch. He began to take another step, but stopped.

“For years you have lived under this delusion,” she continued. “But you are just a man.”

“That’s absurd,” he snapped.

“Is it?” she asked, walking up to him. She lifted her long fingernail to his left eye, and traced the fresh scab. “I have hurt you these past few days, haven’t I? Could that happen to a god?”

Zeus pushed her hand and backed away from her. He raised his hand, palm upward, and a ball of white and blue energy formed. He let it grow, and then threw it at the woman. She raised both hands upwards and let it pass into her body. The electricity danced along her body while she writhed and tensed. Finally, she relaxed and let out a long, rapturous grin.

“Mmm,” she moaned, staring at Zeus. Zeus backed from her, stunned.

“No, please continue,” she purred, as she approached.

“What do you want from me?”

“To admit what you are. It is time for you to finally come to terms with your destiny.”

“I am a god! I am the king of gods!”

“You are a man,” she replied. “An ordinary, unexceptional man.”

“Leave me!” he shouted, sending a long bolt of lightening into her body. She didn’t even flinch, continuing to walk toward him as electricity traveled through her body.

“Where is your family, Zeus? If this is your realm, then why don’t they defend their king?”

Zeus turned away from her to run, but instead of endless hills of fertile grasslands, he faced a vast, dark pit. The grass cut off into cliff and the desolate view stretched out to a distant horizon of tall, vicious mountains. Storm clouds swirled over the wasteland. Below, the ground seemed to move and Zeus realized that the canyon floor was a quilt of millions of serpent beasts writhing and coiling around each other. Deep below, caverns cut into the cliffs pour more of the giant serpents into the pit.

Zeus sighed and turned around.

“I know where you want to go,” the woman said, walking up behind him. She dropped the veil and pressed her naked body against his, wrapping her arms around him. She opened her mouth, revealing rows of small, sharp teeth. She reached up to his ear and pressed her fangs gently against the earlobe. He shoved her away. She straightened and grinned.

“Come with me,” she whispered, the hiss growing in her voice. “It will be easier just to return to reality with me.”

Zeus turned away from her, his eyes on the distant mountains. He scanned the acres and acres of serpents, before spotting a light brown speck. He walked along the cliff, watching the small object gradually move close. It was a boat! The boat rocked as it floated over the serpents; but it remained upright no matter how hard the beasts pushed against it.

“Who is that?” Zeus asked.

“A mirage, just something you invented with your mind.”

“Who is in that boat?”

“It doesn’t matter who is in that boat, it’s just a hallucination,” the woman replied, sounding irritated and nervous. “You can’t go to them, you would not survive. The serpents would devour you.”

“My wife, Athena!” Zeus shouted, waving at the boat. “It’s my wife and children!”

“They aren’t real,” the woman continued, rushing to catch up to Zeus. “You can’t reach them, they aren’t real. They could not take you across even if they were real!”

Zeus turned to the woman and studied her.

“You’re afraid,” he shouted. “Why?”

“Because I came here to bring you back to reality, I am trying to help you. Down there is pain. If you continue on with this ridiculous fantasy, it will destroy you. If you don’t return with me, you will suffer and die, and you will take your family down with you.”

“You’re lying.”

“I am trying to help you!”

Zeus searched the cliffs for a way to climb down, but the rock face was treacherously steep. Zeus knelt to watch the boat approach the cliff. His wife, barely discernable, cast anchor into the sea of beasts. She looked skyward and beckoned to Zeus.

“Don’t do this,” the woman called, grabbing Zeus’s arm and pulling him away from the edge. “You will kill yourself. Come back with me and save yourself!”

Zeus ripped his arm from her grip, grabbing the woman by the wrist. He held her steady. His eyes were narrow and his body glowed, godlike. A violent shock burst from him to the woman, jolting her backwards 20 feet. Zeus watched her crawl to her feet and stagger toward him. He turned, took a deep breath and leaped into the sea of beasts.

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Charles Martin lives in Edmond, Oklahoma with his wife and kids, working as a reporter for the Edmond Sun. He graduated in 1998 Oklahoma Baptist University with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Creative Writing, and has diligently developed his writing style. Martin has published creatively with short stories and poems and has won awards for his novel, “Initial Contact.” Martin continues to focus on shorter fiction to sharpen his style until he feels capable of taking on a career as a novelist.