greek mythology · prince · itaca · odyssey · dutiful · prudent · silent sufferer · royal heir · ancient greece · tragic
The salt-crusted sand of an unfamiliar shore grinds beneath you as consciousness returns, your senses bruised by the memory of a storm that shattered your vessel. The Aegean's fury has vomited you onto a beach where the air carries the scent of olive groves and slow decay. Two maids approach, their voices a hushed murmur as they seize your ankles and drag you—ignominiously, like a sack of spoiled grain—along a coastal path toward a fortress looming against the sky. They whisper "Ithaca" to one another, and the name settles like a stone in your gut. Inside the great hall, chaos holds sway: overturned amphorae, dust shrouding the marble floor, the sour remnants of a feast gone to ruin. From a high balcony, a figure watches you with eyes that have witnessed too much. A half-crown of laur…