by J N Moon
“Bull...” Apollo corrected him.
His face screwed up, Triton snapped back, “It isn’t bull, he always does this!”
Smirking Apollo answered, “No, the saying is he charged ahead like a bull in a china shop. A bull and a minotaur are not the same creatures. One has four legs...”
“Well, thank you Uncle Apollo, for correcting my mistake, father where the hell were you?”
“Ah, I took them along with Ava and Elijah, whom I had ordered my daughter, Scylla to fetch to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, deep within the ocean. Many are only just coming back now. I knew what you did with Teran- he’s loose again by the way. Trying to make his way on land. Anyway, I had a feeling in my gut that something terrible was to befall our people, then your mother here said she’d had a vision of Atlantis being destroyed, so for once,” he nudged his wife winking, “I listened to her and we took as many who were willing. It breaks my heart not all were saved, but I’ll feel better when we’ve started to rebuild and slain the monsters out there.”
I had to ask sternly, “Why didn’t you tell us about Ava and Elijah?”
With a mouthful of food, he looked into my soul, “I was curious,” and he stopped to swallow, took a glug of wine before continuing. “We have heard the tales, the stories of dragons, all of us. I’d already heard of you and your friends and so Scylla, who spends much her days surveying the ocean, I’d asked her should she see anything out of the ordinary, especially dragons to let me know at once. I am sorry to have alarmed you, she’s rather forthcoming, I hadn’t asked her to just grab them.”
“But I was at Atlantis, you could’ve told us?”
He glanced to his side, to his wife whose face was full of worry.
“Scylla didn’t bring them straight to me, she...um, hid them for a time.”
“What?”
Triton interrupted, “My sister, she doesn’t mean harm, sometimes she does seem to take father’s words literally and...” he lowered his voice, “Has been known to collect shifters. A dragon, two dragons, for her must have been overwhelming!”
“But still,” I chided, “You could have let us know!”
“I could’ve Emma Blakesley but I did not. So rare are they I thought, and I see that I was right that they would be safer in the deepest, most hidden parts of my kingdom, as you’ve seen for yourself. Had they stayed there, as I requested, both would be alive today. To my knowledge now only Luke and Ava survive, the only two shifters of the Dragon Born. A huge responsibility now rests with them.”
Luke slammed down his fork, it clanked on the gold plate, everyone stared at him.
I knew what Poseidon was implying, my stomach lurched, a lump in the back of my throat, but he continued, “Another thing, Kai! Your bond with Emma- consider it broken. As God of the oceans, I release you both, she’s not human and that bond rests purely for your kin and mortals, so...If your people have quarrel, I am ready to listen. She only did it, as I see for love, a shame though perhaps, we shall see...”
As the conversation petered out and my body rigid, cold with Poseidon’s words, Conor had come back, “I’m going to take some food to Eva, understandably she’s not up to company right now. I’m going to try and convince her to go to Wychwood with me tomorrow, but I’ll need someone, any of you to get us there, well I’ll need to get back to Orkney first, my kit is there.”
Before anyone could speak, with his mouth half full, Lucius piped up, “I can do that, no problem.”
Conor nodded, stopping and staring at Lucius, Lucius in turn narrowed his eyes, shrugging, his mouth full with the next fork full of food.
“Demons eat? I thought...” Conor asked.
As Lucius was chewing, Athena added, “He can be physical. Or not, I imagine he eats because he enjoys it, the flavours, the sensations. Tell me Lucius, before your soul became demon, it was surely mortal?”
He averted his eyes, but everyone else’s was on him. Looking at the table in front of him, he finished his mouthful, took a large glug of wine, scanned everyone, and simply answered, “Yes, I believe so, though it was centuries ago and I never discuss it. It’s... not pleasant.”
Zeus wouldn’t let it go though, trying his best to sound comforting, his voice naturally gruff he spoke softer now, trying to coax the elusive information out of Lucius, “Well, now you’re among friends, why you know all of our pasts, and you might feel better to share it.”
Huffing, Lucius’s face became mean, clenching his jaw, then, “No, I will not. It was awful. Conor, I eat because I can, I don’t need to. Actually, it’s hard work, but old habits die hard.”
Conor nodded, Zeus grumbled under his breath and silence was heavy except for the clamber of forks and knives. Poor Lucius, now everyone was wondering what could be so terrible that he wouldn’t discuss it.
Made worse by the Nephilim, who touched Lucius’s arm, a sympathetic look in his eyes, but red faced, Lucius slammed his fork down, grabbed the wine jug, standing abruptly he pushed the chair back so fast it scraped the floor, causing everyone to jump, and stare as he strode off, anger seething from him.
“Well, what was that about? These modern immortals, I...”
“Just shut it,” Triton spat at his dad.
“Wow, this is a proper family meal isn’t it,” I muttered much to my horror. That thought should’ve stayed in my head... Gods alive why I said that, I couldn’t help it, Athena shot me a look.
“Ok, families, so many different personalities brought together, rarely get on, especially when those personalities are strong. Like this, Marcus there reads minds, by touching Lucius’s arm, and I’m sure Marcus didn’t mean it, Lucius now knows that Marcus knows Lucius’s past. A past Lucius doesn’t want us to know,” I sighed and took a mouthful of fruity dessert.
“Well, what did you see?” Zeus asked him.
Squeaking in shock, Marcus replied, “I’m not about to say...”
Time passed slowly as we ate in silence, Conor had gone off to help Eva, Lucius came in, “Marcus, your phone rang and I answered it. It was Acacius, apparently the humans have caught a Cyclops in Dorset?”
Grumbling, Zeus muttered, “No time to rest,” and suddenly yelling making us all jump, “Pegasus, we have to go to England. Ah, bloody hell, I suppose it’ll be raining there, too!”
Wrath of the Gods.
Emma
Dorset was wet. And windy. Lucius used his magic to get Conor and Eva back to Orkney, along with Sabian, Luke and I, then Eva and Conor went to Wychwood, Sabian went back to Wells to his pack, whilst some of us went to kill the cyclops.
Triton, Poseidon and Amphitrite returned to Atlantis to gather their people and start rebuilding their kingdom, Kai returned to his people, so Zeus, Luke, Marcus and I, with Lucius and his magic, went to the English coast.
I was relieved at least I had gotten my gear from Orkney, glad to have my waterproof coat on as the rain splattered down in great drops, swept up by the wind and I hoped we wouldn’t be roaming the countryside for hours looking for a one-eyed monster.
Acacius hadn’t given any other information, apparently a witch had foreseen this, so we were going in blind. Zeus turned up on Pegasus, the rest of us on foot after Lucius gathered more pouches to zip us around. No way Luke was going to transform with humans about but how the hell we’d get out of this situation if the authorities had arrived, unless of course they were supes, which they might be.
It wasn’t long, however, until we heard a groaning, a twisted roar echoing throughout the countryside. Sprinting, we followed the sound, Marcus on foot, Pegasus dropped off Zeus, then disappeared fast above the cloud line.
Blue flashing lights caught our attention. Luke, Marcus and I stopped dead, Lucius smirked at us and charged ahead with Zeus, his right hand raised catching a lightning bolt which thundered down, flashing brilliantly.
I looked at Luke, “I have a feeling this is going to go differently than you expect Emma, you should brace yourself, hold your emotions,” and stealthily we ran l
ightly keeping to the hedgerows, spying around them. Before us, Zeus, his face red with anger, threw his weapon at the... humans.
The cyclops turned to face him, his eye brimming with tears as he bled, the police had shot at him, they rarely carried guns but some unit had been called. The creature, holding his bloody wounds on his chest, near his heart, his legs, fell to his knees, a haunting growl of pain, confusion.
There were six police and by the time we reached them, two lay dead, but stomping through the field, each step rumbling on the ground, one then another and through the sparse tree line, a huge beast almost as tall as the cyclops was, powerful muscular body of a man, like a parody as he was so massive but his head, that of a bull... a minotaur.
“Asterian,” Luke mumbled.
Asterian, snorting from his nose, steam evaporated from it, his small eyes surveyed the humans, charging at him, head down. He was fast and one was impaled immediately.
Helplessness gripped me, too shocked to breathe, I held my breath, rigid with horror. “No!” I yelled finally and caught the eye of both cyclops and minotaur, Apollo meanwhile appeared, a gleaming golden bow in his hands and shot the other two humans, leaving one, who lifted her head, a stern look in her eyes, then nodding. She was an immortal.
Zeus ran to the cyclops, “Arges, what have they done?” Putting his head back, he roared like thunder itself, “They will pay, they will all die!”
I took a step forward, Luke grabbed me, “No, leave them, they are family. Humans cannot know Emma, not ever. It would spell the death for all of us, awful as this is, it was necessary.”
“Surely you don’t think so, couldn’t you just have wiped their minds or something?”
He looked me straight in the eyes, “No Emma, I couldn’t have but I do know some who could, but it’s too late now,” his voice sharp, almost cold.
Sweat dripped down the back of my neck, I squeezed Luke’s hand, he pulled me hard against him.
“I know, I know it’s a shock, but they have just lost dozens. Mortals, they’d kill us all in a heartbeat. Be strong, Em, you’re not one of them. They’d kill you so much as look at you if they knew you weren’t one of them, not human.”
I knew they were right, but I had been one of them, or maybe I hadn’t. Confused, scared, I pulled away, looking as Zeus tended to Agres, the cyclops and Asterian watched, his eyes glancing to us, then took a step forward, Zeus putting out his arm, stopping him.
Apollo called Asterian to help him, and Lucius who, pointed his fingers at the corpses, I saw his mouth move, they ignited into a dirty green flame, fast, bright then nothing except soot on the floor.
Asterian slowly bent over the soot, took a huge breath and blew it away. Lucius chatted eagerly to the towering minotaur, who kept glancing over, concern in his eyes now at his cyclops brother.
“We’ll leave now, Apollo has sent help to get us home, Lucius can get you back. I will be in touch shortly, no doubt these bloody humans told others, but my kin are safe and Agres can be saved, thank heavens. I thank you all for your help, and Emma, don’t weep over the mortals. Know this, in this century should they ever find out about you and your family, your friends, they’ll exterminate all of you, of course after they’ve subjected you to torture and experiments. A mean and vile species at times, wonderous and kind at others.”
Asterian walked over, his huge human mass but cloven feet stomping heavily, moving his head, he stared right at me, then Luke. Ignoring Marcus, perhaps he’d seen Nephilim before. Snorting at us, he turned and walked back.
Luke whispered to me, pulling me close, “Agres, what many don’t know is he is considered a monster but actually he is an evolution, living mostly in the dark, in caves he and his kin adapted, not needing much eyesight, so his one eye sees both as you and I, but more than that, it was developed into the third eye, the pineal gland, so his foresight, his knowledge is second to none. These cyclops are highly intuitive, intelligent and made the weapons, the Trident and the bolts on Zeus’s command.
His brother Asterian gets a bad rap, born a mutant, half human, half bull, Odysseus was said to have killed him. Actually, Poseidon took pity on him, took his dead body and restored him.”
“But Poseidon couldn’t restore Elijah’s life?” I asked.
Taking a deep breath Luke replied, “Not his own kind, I guess. Everyone or everything has limits. That family have been together for millennia. Come, let’s go home.”
Lucius wandered over, “I’m going home, let me give you a lift?”
“Where do you live Lucius, Bath?” I asked.
His mouth turned down, shocked he asked, “Yes, why are you going to visit me?”
“Yes please, I need that. Look, this might be a normal week for you but it isn’t for me, you’re like family now. We’ve been through all this, sometimes I’ll just need to chill with you, you know?”
“No, not really. But I’d like to, and Luke?”
“Family, definitely. Don’t let anyone put you down man,” Luke grabbed Lucius’s shoulder, patting him in a burly guy way.
Wide eyed, Lucius asked, “Where are you two going?”
“Emma, if you don’t mind, I need to go home to mine first, my jeans- what’s left of them are shredded. I need to rest, eat, do nothing at all with you Em.”
I smiled, that sounded perfect, and away from the shifters, too. I just hoped Luke didn’t actually live in a cave, I needed modern comforts, and my family.
Luke followed that with, “I don’t think we’ll have to worry now about the other wolves and their dispute over us dating. Now we’ve got Zeus, Poseidon et al in our family,” he winked.
“And Lucius, and the sea supes, that’s all we need,” I replied as I hugged him.
For now, we were safe, we had a new family. Neither born of blood of relatives but from friendship, those who chose to help us when they could’ve easily turned their backs. Family, those who accept you as you are, stick by you in adversity and celebrate with you in happiness. And they ask nothing in return, except the unconditional love that they give you, mirrored back.
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Mythology: Scottish & Greek & Character Synopsis.
Scottish/ Orcadian.
Selkie.
Their origins are unique to only a handful of places around the world, Orkney and the Shetland Islands being two of these.
There are a host of legends around the Selkie, where Kai is bound to Emma for seven years- that’s straight from the folklore.
It is said that if a human steal a Selkies animal skin, then the human form of Selkie is bound to that human for seven years.
Interestingly, for the ladies here it is also said that male Selkies would often come ashore, shift into human form and look for human females that were unsatisfied sexually- as the males were particularly virile and ardent!
There are many, many stories of Selkies, their enchanting music, how they were often captured by humans. It would be impossible to list them all here, however their physical descriptions in my books match legends, with just a few imaginative twists.
Teran.
Teran is a winter spirit of the sea found in the ocean around Orkney, Scotland. The Mither O’ Sea, or Sea Mother would guard the land from Spring Equinox until Autumn equinox, then Teran would return.
The fight: The Mither O’ Sea would battle it out every Spring Equinox with Teran to preside over the Orcadian Oceans, protect the people and their animals.
Teran having ruled the Autumn and Winter months would lose, and become bound to the ocean floor.
Conversely, by Autumn, she would be exhausted and so he would reign after winning the battle.
/> In book one; Wolf Born we meet the Nuckelavee, an Orcadian demon controlled by both Teran.
There is actually very little written about Teran that I could find, but a chance to create an interesting character from ancient legends from the mystical islands of Orkney.
Other information in the book, like the flora and fauna, the Broch of Borich and an Iron Age settlement are all taken from research. There is an abundance of Viking history there too.
Yesnaby is a spectacular sea stack, often referred to as Yesnaby Castle and definitely worth looking up!
Greek.
Triton: Poseidon’s Son.
Ah, mostly overshadowed by his dad, Triton has a rich mythology behind him! A mighty merman Triton controlled his army of Tritons- I know, right! Often called the messenger of the sea he used a conch shell as a horn, the sound of which bellowed fiercely, frightening monsters and foes away.
His army were more akin to mermaids/ mermen and escorted the sea Gods.
Triton himself was said to be the colour of the sea, upper body of a man, tale like a dolphin (obviously shifting into human form in my tales!) he also carried a Trident.
He can be found in Greek legends, most notably the Golden fleece.
Poseidon.
I did a ton of research for him- I was doing live facebook videos for many months on these God/ Goddesses.
Poseidon, Zeus and Hades all brothers and the first Olympians, raised on Mount Olympus the home of the Gods.
God of the sea, earthquakes, storms and horses he is the Son of Cronus and Rhea. After the Gods defeated the Titans the world was divided into three, Sea, Sky and the Underworld.
Poseidon was one of the twelve deities of the Greek pantheon, his nature volatile and moody he would often pursue female deities, never taking no for an answer, the more they resisted the more he persisted!
His Trident when banged onto the ground produced earthquakes and storms.
He persuaded and seduced Medusa before she was a monster (that was his doing btw!) and she then gave birth to Pegasus!