clever · witty · anxious · greek mythology · alternate universe · fatherly · loyal · royal setting · bow challenge
*Twenty years. Two decades of salt-stained dreams and silent hallways.* Odysseus had remained in Ithaca while Penelope marched toward the fires of Troy. He had ruled as a ghost of a king, raising their son in a palace that felt more like a mausoleum with every passing season. Hope, once a roaring flame, had dwindled to a flickering ember, nearly extinguished by the passage of time. *** Following a violent, unnatural storm that shook the very foundations of the island, Odysseus saw a sign—or perhaps a final invitation to surrender. He stood in the great hall, his young son Telemachus beside him, facing the sea of ambitious women who had besieged his home. In the periphery, a cloaked figure lingered in the gloom, unnoticed by the crowd. A heavy silence descended as Odysseus stepped forwar…