Project97: Chapter 81:: Circean Poison

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Chapter 81:: Circean Poison

The enchantress walks in and closed the blinds, momentarily transforming the mundane room in the White Mansion into the Island of Aeaea. Circe always got what she wanted. Be it Odysseus or the army she was now creating for Zephyrus.

Circe reaches down under a rock in her now-transformed room... and pulls out a loom. As she sets it up and starts spinning, a great number of animals start pouring in from an opening somewhere far off. After a few turns of the wheel, the small cave room is crowded with hundreds of carnivores who all seemed to fawn at Circe's feet.

'Men of Old who have been transformed into beasts,' her ethereal address echoes out through the collective commotion of the beasts, 'now comes the time to seek your freedom. A great war is at our doorstep, and the very existence of human beings is under threat. I have called you from your sleep to serve your mistress. On success, which is sure to be ours, you shall be rewarded with freedom from this bestial existence.'

The larger, fiercer of the lions and the tigers roar out in unison as more and more animals start crowding in with the spinning of the . Her fingers did not need to touch it any more. It was spinning on its own.

'I call upon my nephew, the beast that has shaken this earth for centuries,' and as she utters the words, the collective din falls silent. From the midst of the stunned animals, walks in a gigantic figure, half-man, half-bull, with a club resting on his shoulders. He comes up to her and bows his head. With a satisfied smile, Circe pronounces, 'The son of Pasiphae, the Cretan Bull... the Minotaur.'

Stooping down her face to the newcomer's ear, she issues her instructions, only for him to hear, he who would lead this horde. Once she is done, he steps back, bows to her again. With a final smile, she waves her hand, dissolving the cave and its occupants till she is back inside the normal bedroom at the White Mansion.

---

'The job has been done, Zeph.'

'Great Circe, I always knew you could do this. However,' light catches his blue eye as he turns to her, reflecting off it as it would reflect off a cold jewel, 'there is one very important person who we still require. The Olympians seem to have forgotten him, but this mighty god still holds his towering presence all over this world. And only you can win him over to our side.'

'Me! How?' It was Circe's turn to be caught by surprise. 'Who is this?'

Zephyrus walked up to her with with a mysterious smile and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Mesmerized, she walked with him as he led her towards his own room, next door. Through the opened blinds, the sun was setting over the little academic town.

'Your father, Helios,' spoke Zephyrus before he shut the door.

7 comments:

Rhea Silvia said...: The Minotaur is Circe's nephew? And Helios is her father? reeely? Also, be respectful towards your gods, or they shall be stolen away.; December 25, 2008 at 10:08 AM
Astraeus said...: yes, historically; December 25, 2008 at 7:06 PM
Bone said...: okay, WAIT! important discontinuity coming up!

are helios and apollo meant to be different beings? because apollo has arrived with the olympians, and zephyrus himself acknowledges him as the sun in this chapter i wrote.

and if apollo and helios are not supposed to be the same person, rohit, you gotta really really explain things. readers of a novel cannot be expected to look up wikipedia.; December 28, 2008 at 4:11 AM
Astraeus said...: see helios and apollo are diff people

Helios and Apollo

Helios is sometimes identified with Apollo; "Different names may refer to the same being," Walter Burkert observes, "or else they may be consciously equated, as in the case of Apollo and Helios."[3]

In Homer, Apollo is clearly identified as a different god, a plague-dealer with a silver (not golden) bow and no solar features.

The earliest certain reference to Apollo identified with Helios appears in the surviving fragments of Euripides' play Phaethon in a speech near the end (fr 781 N²), Clymene, Phaethon's mother, laments that Helios has destroyed her child, that Helios whom men rightly call Apollo (the name Apollo is here understood to mean Apollon "Destroyer").

By Hellenistic times Apollo had become closely connected with the sun in cult. His epithet Phoebus, Phoibos "shining", drawn from Helios, was later also applied by Latin poets to the sun-god Sol.
Coin of Roman Emperor Constantine I depicting Sol Invictus/Apollo with the legend SOLI INVICTO COMITI, c. 315.

The identification became a commonplace in philosophic texts and appears in the writing of Parmenides, Empedocles, Plutarch and Crates of Thebes among others, as well as appearing in some Orphic texts. Pseudo-Eratosthenes writes about Orpheus in Catasterismi, section 24:

"But having gone down into Hades because of his wife and seeing what sort of things were there, he did not continue to worship Dionysus, because of whom he was famous, but he thought Helios to be the greatest of the gods, Helios whom he also addressed as Apollo. Rousing himself each night toward dawn and climbing the mountain called Pangaion, he would await the sun's rising, so that he might see it first. Therefore Dionysus, being angry with him, sent the Bassarides, as Aeschylus the tragedian says; they tore him apart and scattered the limbs."[citation needed]

Dionysus and Asclepius are sometimes also identified with this Apollo Helios.[citation needed]

Classical Latin poets also used Phoebus as a byname for the sun-god, whence come common references in later European poetry to Phoebus and his car ("chariot") as a metaphor for the sun. But in particular instances in myth, Apollo and Helios are distinct. The sun-god, the son of Hyperion, with his sun chariot, though often called Phoebus ("shining") is not called Apollo except in purposeful non-traditional identifications. Roman poets often referred to the sun god as Titan.[citation needed]

Despite these identifications, Apollo was never actually described by the Greek poets driving the chariot of the sun, although it was common practice among Latin poets.. Therefore, Helios is still known as the 'sun god' - the one who drives the sun chariot across the sky each day.

(sourced from wiki); December 28, 2008 at 7:49 AM
Bone said...: yes, i've read the wiki article. but it is very difficult and complex to explain two sun gods under the same pantheon, and the way they must be related. are you ready to do that?; December 28, 2008 at 7:27 PM
Astraeus said...: helios was a titan sun god so mebbe we cud make him the older sun god, that way we can have a titan who is still around; December 28, 2008 at 10:08 PM
Rhea Silvia said...: but you still need to make that clear, right? cause it ain't clear. we know this, others might well not.

Also, i forgot to ask, the heroes circe is weaving, are they nmed heroes? and the people you've introduced, have they specific conquests, deeds, etc?; December 29, 2008 at 9:51 AM

Abeo Roux

Name: Abeo Roux
Sex: Female
Species: Human
Age: 24
Physical Description: Has blossomed into a lean, confident and supremely stylish young woman, with wavy red hair and sharp brown eyes.
Strengths/Weaknesses: Everything about Abeo is double-edged. Her strengths become her weaknesses and vice versa. There's something deeper about her, more sinister, more intense, than what is seen at first glance. Her Twin is inside her own self, and is rarely ever visible to someone who hasn't known/observed her for a long time, unless of course, the situation demands it.

Adan Garcia

Sex: Male
Species: Unknown
Age: Looks about 38. But his real age is lost, even to himself.
Physical Description: Not too tall, not too short, but capable of appearing either. Brown hair highlighted by gold because of unending hours in the sun (which is weird, because, he wears a cowboy hat). He is stocky to look at, but is actually constructed out of pure muscle. Always dressed like an outlaw: trench coat, dusty boots, weird belt etc. But he also carries a black felt bag, very ancient and dusty and looks almost empty, slung to his sides.
Has a very easygoing smile above a square thread-barely goateed chin - capable of being both charming and sinister, but mostly the former. That’s until you look into his eyes, generally in the shadows of his hat, which cannot be mistaken for anything other than evil and dangerous. Gives off strange energy waves.
Weaknesses/ Strengths: Capable of fighting both with his brawns and brains, but prefers to fight with brawn, because brain's the last resort (he thinks of it as an act of charity to his adversaries). Has high manoeuvering skills and can appear to be at particular places and disappear from it at a random instance. Oh, he is also a time traveller (and doesn’t need flashy gadgets to do it, he just flicks a button in a dark little corner of his brains). Doesn’t talk much. Mostly observes from the shadows of street corners and backrooms.
Only weakness that he himself knows about is body odour. Carries a deodorant everywhere, which he never uses. The rest he prefers to keep secret at present because, he feels, it’ll ruin his style.

Al'skandar Phillips

Name: Al’skandar Phillips.
Sex: Male.
Species: He’s not very sure. Looks mostly human.
Age: Late teens.
Physical Description: Average height. Pale. Square jaw, aquiline nose, thin mouth. Longish hair, brown at the moment, used to have silver threading through it. One wouldn’t notice Al’skandar in a room with ten people in it, till he looks up. His eyes are silver… completely. Which explains his clothing choice of caps and hooded jackets. Shades help, but not indoors. The jeans and shirts he wears are ordinary, if rather faded. Also wears a leather wristband, which is broad enough to hide an intricate silver tattoo.
Strengths: The kid at the back of the class who seems to be sleeping but can quote his/her words back at the teacher, complete with mistakes. Well, figuratively, because Al’skandar was home-schooled. He’s easily ignored. And he can finish off people’s sentences… literally. Of course, he usually does it in the relative privacy of his mind. Wouldn’t want anyone to think him a freak or anything.
Weaknesses: Physical Strength. Well, the lack thereof. Al’skandar can throw a punch, but he’d much prefer not to. His usual MO is to run away when the other person/people think(s) about hitting him. Or just ducking, which course of action does not end well for his assailant(s). He also tends to arrogance. However, he’s a bit tensed right now about the prospect of starting college.

Ascronos Hell

Sex: Male
Species: Apparently human
Age: Undisclosed, but at least middle-aged
Physical Description: Very tall and sinewy. Long silver hair and haggard careworn face of a sorcerer obsessed with secret studies. Large eyes with great dark pupils, described as frightening and haunting by those who meet him. Long thin nose, slightly bent and crooked. Long scar on face, running in a vertical line above and below eyes, caused by experiment gone wrong. Fingers long and artistic, capable of great strength. Star-shaped mark upon a broad forehead, and strange runic symbols of unknown origin and meaning carved upon torso. Prefers simple clothing, black cloaks and fitting garments. Sometimes hooded, face in shadows. When in armour, menacing and imposing. Iron body armour with some ornamentation, also carries a massive rune-etched sword.
Strengths: Great intellect, scientific and necromantic curiousity, patience and belief in own abilities. Determination. A fair amount of physical strength. More to be found out.
Weaknesses: Overt self-reliance, hatred for the ordinary, cruelty.

Cybele

Sex: Female.
Species: One of the Other Worldlies. Shall be talked about later.
Age: Does not really matter, does it, as long as she looks 24.
Physical Description: Black-haired, brown-eyed, she is visible in your average penthouse dreams. She possesses a vivid smile and a body to die for. Literally.
Strengths: Blood Sugar Sex Magic.
Weaknesses: Men.
Marital Status: Single (How, one may ask. Its just that no one's been able to keep up with her. Yet.)
Likes: Chocolates and Tarot Cards.
Dislikes: Bad breath.
Occupation: Currently engaged in seducing a high priest of the RHEUMATIC ORDER.

Exitium Morsque

Sex: Apparently male
Species: Apparently human
Age: Late 40s-early 50s.
Physical Features: About 6 feet tall and very thin. Has bluish grey eyes and long, greying hair. Slight hunchback. Slight limp in the left leg. Wears an old army greatcoat and baggy trousers. Sports a small tattoo of a snake, on the back of his right hand.
Strengths: Can move very fast in spite of limp. Very good with the kobudō set of weapons. Carries a walking stick with him. Very piercing stare. Persuasive. Has an extensive knowledge of technology. Has a sense of humour. Seems to be able to take higher amount of damage than normal.
Weakness: Frequently disappears. Cannot be relied upon much. Has a tendency to believe the best of people. Still believes in values like honesty and patriotism (this could also be a strength). Has a tendency to play the devil's advocate.

Gordon

Sex: Male
Species: Apparently human
Age: Unknown
Physical Description: Dirty ragged clothes, bony limbs, dirty claw-like nails. Head is hooded most of the time so face cannot be distinguished clearly. Long dirty brown hair, bearded, piercing and disturbing gaze. Has a box all the time - a blackish brown wooden box with a heavy lid and metal knobs, and strange engravings on the surface, dirty and dented. He stays in this box at some street-corner nearby a railway station, apparently a street sleeper.

Himalaya alias Him

Sex: Female
Species: Apparently human
Age: Apparently 10-and-a-half
Physical Description: Smallish, coffee coloured, snub-nosed, brown-eyed. Unnoticeable and nondescript for most of the time. Crooked teeth giving way to a crooked smile that is both very rare and startlingly lovely. Sleek black hair, usually pulled into a ponytail. Grubby knees, faded clothes. Prefers being shoeless. Has had a tiny nosepin since birth, muted gold. It won’t come off. No dramatic scars, to her disappointment, just scabs.
Strengths: Non-prejudiced. Is a kid. Can keep quiet when required, can blend into the background if necessary. Self-reliant to an extent, therefore resourceful. Has an imagination that leans towards depravity.
Weaknesses: Same as above. Also a little nosy. If it had been a strength it would have been called inquisitiveness, but the plain truth is that she's nosy. In a covert way, of course.

Mala Das

Sex: Female
Species: Apparently human
Age: Around 27-29 years (she gets all flustered when asked)
Physical Description: Everbody knows a Mala Das (pronounced Daash), with different names perhaps. She is around 5’2”, neither fat nor thin, neither tall nor short, neither dark nor fair. Has medium-length black hair, usually well-oiled and braided. Oval nondescript face with a small pretty nose, calm peaceful rather large black eyes and a soft, slightly petulant mouth. All her features are rather ‘beautiful’ when considered separately, but when they come together in her face, no striking beauty is created. Her face is perhaps not plain, but neither beautiful - rather ordinary.
Strengths: Soft-spoken, reserved and shy. Has great persuasive power. Generally described with the vague “She’s nice.”
Weakness: The tendency to be inconspicuous, almost invisible. And not even remotely exciting.
Marital status: Unmarried. Reason 1. Does not want to leave old mother. 2. Never really liked somebody in that way (unless you consider Shah Rukh Khan, of course). Nevertheless, her mother is still on the lookout for respectable marriage ads.
Occupation: Receptionist at an average office (not a very well-known one perhaps, but "very respectable").
Quirks: The only thing not ordinary in her is her almost compulsive obsession with horror novels. They tend to make her laugh.

Marco Zabrinski

Sex: Male
Species: Human
Age: 23
Physical Description: Average height, slight tan, medium-length hair, slightly bony cheeks with a stubble which he never gets rid of. Clothing differs from time to time but normally a pair of jeans and a T-Shirt with a leather jacket over it. Has a tattoo of a dagger on his left arm and it peeks out of his sleeve.
Strengths: Mental toughness unmatched
Weaknesses: His past
Occupation: Climbing the stairs of success in the drug trafficking industry
Born in: Masovia, Poland
Stays at: Rome

Mark Middleton

Sex: Male
Species: Apparently human
Age: Apparently, late 30s.
Physical Features: Light built, medium height, casually dressed, does not stand out from a distance. Walks slowly, talks in a low voice, but the discerning eye will notice a casual grace to his movement of the kind imparted by restraint of a greater agility. Angular face, framed by flowing black hair streaked with a few grey strands. Prominent eyebrows, deep, calm, almost weary eyes. Nose would've been small and sharp if it didn't look like its left side had been smashed by a heavy blow. Overlooking that flaw, there is a mildly melancholy, worn-out charmingness about him. Only when he grins - which he does not do often - the person being grinned at realizes that the man looking at them is different, quite different from what they had taken him to be.
Strengths: Presence of mind. Learns/understands/reacts appropriately before others around him even realize he's working things out.
Weaknesses: Does not know who he is or why he is here. No friends, weapons or any other visible advantage. No apparent goal/ambition/purpose. Curious and easily tempted, but he's struggling to control that. Is likely to discover more of his strengths and weaknesses as he goes by.

Mer-Unta

Sex: Female
Species: Mermaid
Age: 7 in Mer-years (21 in Human years)
Physical Description: Black wavy hair with brown highlights, waist length. Clear skin, slim figure, height 5 ft. Lower body is that of a fish, each scale a shiny bluish-green colour. Has startlingly green eyes, that seem to probe into the depths of your mind when she's looking at you. Wears a long chain of sea-shells strung together. Speaks a rare dialect of the Mer-people, called Mer-drinab, though she can also speak English. Walks on her hands when she is on the ground.
Weaknesses: Loses strength if she is not wearing her sea-shell necklace.
Strengths: Has fantastic strength in the lower 'fish' part of her body, one lash from it can make a dent in cement. Strong swimmer, can cover great distances in a few minutes or so. Mer-Unta can also change the colour of her eyes according to her mood.

Moses Putatunda

Sex: Male
Species: Human
Age: 22
Physical description: Average Joe looks. But looks kind of cute with ruffled hair. Piercing eyes. Worn out mountain shoes, likes to wear t-shirts with logos of his favorite bands. Unwashed jeans, worn out by heavy use, not by the brand manufacturer. The usual unkempt backpacker look.
Strengths: Above average intelligence, excellent intuition and perceptiveness, superior observation skills (sometimes over-rated) , very persuasive when needed. Can also cause bizarre and disastrous random events and affect random people randomly anywhere in the world with electromagnetic brain impulses. But he doesn't know it.
Weaknesses: Indecisive, sometimes impatient and given to fits of rage, weighs 48 kgs. Others will be unveiled progressively.

Psyche Wilson

Sex: Female
Species: Homo sapien
Age: 23
Physical Description: Tall. Dark, slightly curly hair (below shoulder length). Coffee-coloured eyes. Broad frame. Slight tan. Wears black-rimmed, rectangular spectacles. Wears a mood ring on the middle finger of the left hand. Smart sense of dressing, although not too adventurous. Not unattractive.
Strengths: Sharp, courageous, calm, stoical, generous, loves children. More to be disclosed as story progresses.
Weaknesses: Short attention span, proud, unforgiving, slightly conservative or old-fashioned (however you may want to put it). More to be revealed. Also, has vertigo.
Marital Status: Unmarried
Likes: All the books her grandmother left her, children, dogs, pink carnations, alcohol.
Dislikes: Her father, her current job, cats.
Occupation: Does free-lance work for local newsapapers. Looking for another job.
Born in (place): Athens, Greece.
Stays at: Istanbul, Turkey.

Rufeus

Sex: Male
Species: Vampire
Age: 17-and-a-half
Physical Description: Medium height, thin, slightly hunched. Pale skinned, an almost triangular face, deep black hair. Bloodshot, intense eyes; a short, crooked nose, bat-like ears, a tapering chin and sharp, pointed teeth. Tiny, thin scratch below the right eye which always seems fresh. Long, slender fingers, like a pianist, with fingernails which look weathered, slightly yellowed. Speaks slowly and with an undertone of hostility, due to his embittered views about his existence, identity and spite for things in general. Dressed in a shabby, medieval black overcoat with specks of dry blood in the middle, a black, torn trouser.
Strengths: Extremely determined, has strong views about things,v alues his judgment which is more humanely relevant than riddled with savage desires. Possesses considerable strength and can turn extremely ruthless when he faces his enemies, especially if he's emotionally provoked. Has exceptionally controlled thirst for blood, which arises from immeasurable spite for his family and his identity.
Weaknesses: His disregard, contempt for his identity, his unwillingness to appreciate himself for who he really is which results in a rising discontent, an emotional imbalance within.

Zephyrus alias Henry White

Sex: Male
Species: Half-god
Age: Ageless
Physical Description: Long shiny raven black hair. A slim built. He is characterised by his flowing black robe and scars on his forearms. Looks like he is in his 20's (a major advantage when it comes to flirting). Mismatched blue and hazel eyes.
Strengths: Ageless good looks. Ruthless and cold. His heart has stopped beating long ago. Does not possess physical strengths as such but his "almost-immortality" protects him from being killed in the hands of any human.
Weaknesses: Overconfidence.

Quicknotice 3

It's already been way longer than the deadline, so here's the second wave of dropping authors. (The first wave included authors who had registered but never posted.)

This wave, will drop authors who had posted characters but never wrote a chapter. The characters remain, and will be free to be picked up by any active author who wants them.

(The third wave of dropping will be for authors who have written one chapter and haven't returned to carry ahead the story. Therefore, be warned and prepared.)

[Late September, 2008]

Quicknotice 2

The characters gone pouf from the posts, yes. And no, nothing's been deleted. All the details have been sent to the sidebar, where they will stay for now on... since as the story progresses our characters' reactions to each other should not, ideally, be designed by our personal equations in life. All we need to know is who is who.

I haven't deleted any of your character posts either. They've been sent to the drafts and can be retrieved, if you want to.

And there are more than five characters now, so we jump into the story. Newcomers, however, please feel free to introduce yours characters. Make them a post (see the first post for further instructions). They'll arrive at the sidebar (and the drafts) in due course of time.

Project97

Quicknotice 4