Master of All Sorrows: Book Two of the Ellix Saga

[ChrisGibson]

CHAPTER TWENTY

BOYS

Αγόρια​

​

FROM THE PARAPET of Castle Black, the two sisters looked into the vale of Arcady. If they walked across the heights to the other side of the castle with its black stones the height and width of me, they would see the mighty city of Pylos with its ancient Techtone foundations spread beneath them, and then the plains going to the sea.
“What are you thinking?” they heard a voice behind them.
Maia and Melissa turned, and it was Melissa who said to their mother, “I am thinking very little.”
“I am too tired to think,” Maia said.
“You are afraid,” Mother said.
“A little,” Maia confessed, though Melissa said little.
“Our years are not like the years of others. Our children cannot know that yet,” Maia said, “but we have seen much. You went to the Place of Bees in your first youth, sister. You and Calyx were so young then. But that was long ago.”
“And I remember even longer,” Mother said.
“You have seen a great deal,” Maia said to their mother. “What do you see now?”
“Ellix scattered. Cyra wishing to swoop in upon it.”
“And have you ever seen such a thing before?”
“No,” Mother said. “There are times, made into songs, when the Ellixians believed that happened. The Achaens came, but in those days the Pelasgo, though they fled, were not so numerous there was not room for more people in the land. They ruled and when they would oppress it was small chiefs over small tribes. The Heraklid took over some cities, married the rulers. Even their coming could be absorbed.”
As they looked over the green vale, and in the southern horizon the clouds were deep grey blue, their Mother said, “Only in the time when the Medes came from the east, and they would have swallowed the whole world have I seen a thing like this, and it was in those days that not even the Pythoness could do what needed to be done. It was the Melissa who called up all the scattered nations and appointed generals to defeat the enemy. The Melissa to whom kings and archons turned and the Melissa who called up the People of the Wood and Sea, the People of Mountain, Valley and Forest.”
This was all Mother had to say. Melissa turned to her sister, and Maia nodded.
“Eco and Xian are with the Thebans. Aramache travels with their young Queen. Ao could easily travel into the little lands of west and rally them.”
Melissa did not need to speak. They all knew it was time for the Priestess of the Bees to rise again.



Months after Eco had left, plunging Aeon into a misery as he was left in the palace At Acrys, feeling alone again, Eco sent a message saying please could Aeon come to Pylos and visit. Neither one of them talked about what would happen. They could not. It hung in the air like a burning star that could not be touched. Xanthe said it was a good idea, and Xian said she wished she could go too. The other Grandmother, Queen Camiro, said yes, and give her regards to her Melissa and Aramache. Three weeks after the Eve of May and three weeks before Galowan, they set out for the shore of Naegan and placed Aeon on the ship for the Pylos where Maia and Grandmother and Aramache would meet him, and as they sailed through the Isles, though Aeon understand he would have to bring greets to the others of his family, and was genuinely glad to see his aunt and cousin and grandmother again, it was Eco he wanted to see.

He had forgotten what Eco looked like. He had forgotten what it was like to be in his presence. As soon as they saw each other they crashed together, clasping, back clapping like any other two boys, but Eco felt so good. He was in faded grey trousers and an old shirt under jacket, and now he had a little growth of coral colored beard. Aeon wanted to put his arms around his warm friend and hold on and not let go. Grandmother ordered a sedan and they drove all around Pylos, and Aeon thought how great and loud the city of high towers, long palaces and crowded streets was.They stayed at an old palace in the downtown area. It was surrounded by a great black iron gate and veiled y trees so that only the squared green tops of it could be seen and from inside the house it was as if they were not in the city at all.
“You are in time for the Galowan Festival,” Grandmother said. “And we will remain until it is done.”
“There is nothing like it,” the often austere Aramache said. “It is the only time we come into the city for it.”
“Oh, this is wonderful!” Eco took Aeon by the hand. “We’ve got a steam bath. Let’s go. Oh, you want to shower off first.”
Aeon did and Eco came naked to get him, handsome, compact and brown, smooth skinned. He grabbed Aeon’s arm and, laughing, dragged him back through the house to the tub.
“Ouch!”
“It’s not that hot,” Eco said.
“No, but it’s hotter than I thought it would be. Don’t you use this in the day?”
“Just the night. We’re close to the mountains and so it’s cold enough.
“How are the Falls?”
“Nothing happens there, not really.”
“That’s what it is to be your age, but that will change soon enough.”
“How do you know?” Aeon asked him.
“Because our family isn’t meant to be bored,” Eco said. He had dunked his head so that his hair was Dark pink and plastered to his head. “We all have… things to do.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“But you know it’s true.”
Yes, Aeon knew his sisters, even Xian, did important work in the world. There was a loneliness in this family though, as if they were doing things no one else was doing, living lives they could not share with anyone else.
“Eco?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you have friends?”
Eco was quiet and contemplative before confessing:
“Not deep ones. Not like I’d like. That I am close to. Well… one I suppose. Yes. One. Or two.”
Eco’s foot kept touching Aeon’s, and suddenly Eco grinned.
“Why are we talking about all this?” Eco said, his hands on Aeon’s hips.
Aeon instantly felt his penis lifting, curving up, aching with stiffness.
“I dunno,” he said, trying to sound casual.
“Can we kiss?”
Not waiting for an answer, Eco wrapped his arms around Aeon, and pressed his mouth to his. It felt so good to be in Eco’s arms, kissing him, pressing his hands into his hair, taking his mouth with his own mouth, kissing up and down each other’s chest, pressing their bodies together. It felt so good to wrap his thighs around Eco’s waist, and his legs were linking with Eco’s naked hips.
Eco smiled at him, and then kissed him again. Aeon closed his eyes and shuddered, rejoicing in being in Eco’s arms. He let Eco take the thickness of his penis into his mouth, and he closed his eyes and gripped the sides of the tub while Eco sucked on him, licked up one side of his shaft and then the other, took him in.
“Do it to me,” Eco said tenderly, and Aeon did. He was amazed at how wonderful it was to have his friend in his mouth, to try to take him as far as possible, to listen to his moans, to Eco’s fingers loose in this hair, tightening on his scalp, murmuring, “Oooh, ohh, Aeon, Oh, Ae. Oh, my love.”
And then when they faced each other, arms locked, bodies pressed together, still kissing, Eco’s whispered.
“Be in me.”
Aeon kissed him and pressing his face into Eco’s chest, feeling the strength and the heat of his arms he murmured, as he began thicker, harder and rose higher, he turned Eco around, kissing the place above the crack of his buttocks.
“I have to fuck you,” Aeon said, his voice rushed. He placed his hands on Eco’s lips, his mouth on Eco’s ear and Eco’s hands opened when Aeon entered him. More than the feeling of fucking, the knowledge of being entered, being the same thing, pleasured and pleasuring, undid Eco. Aeon’s hands went against his, his arms pressed against his, his body pressed into his. There were times when it was almost as if he could not only feel Aeon, but become Aeon, almost feel Aeon’s pleasure in fucking him, when they weren’t two different people at all.
“Eco, I love you,” Aeon whispered as he fucked him quicker and quicker.
“I’m going to come out of you.”
Eco felt Aeon’s penis shoved between his thighs and, suddenly, Aeon sighed and hardly moved as Eco felt hot liquid pump between his thighs, making him harder than he’d been this whole hard morning since Aeon had returned.

Almost as soon as the memory had come, as soon as he was in that time again, he was in this place, outside the body. But the land all around was grey with grayish light, like light before sunrise, or even light before the sun. This looked like the grey world in the songs of the time before creation, but now, where he could only feel it before, he saw, at his feet, a golden line, like a road, leading into the horizon, leading he knew, to Eco.
The memory of making love to him so strong, so present it almost made him weep, Aeon followed the path.

 

[ChrisGibson]

After Eco had delivered Postumus’s letter, he returned to Mykon, who was standing on the shore and watched the boar depart.

“What do you think? Mykon asked as he folded his arms across his chest.

“I think Postumus should never have contacted his grandfather again, but he ha. the desire to meet him again, and as you know desire, once conceived, gives birth. This letter cannot be a good thing.”

“Eco?”

“Yes?”

“Did you have the vision again?”

“He’s trying to talk to me? Aeon is. We always had that power, but we were physically closer. You need to use the power you have.”

“To fight?” Mykon laughed.

“Be serious,” the rose haired man said. “You were made an initiate of your gods, initiated by your father as he was initiated, and that devotion brought the changes in Thebes that made you Autarch.”

“It seems I won’t be Autarch much longer.”

“Is that what you think devotion is?” Eco said.

He stood right before Mykon.

“Right now Postumus has given himself to his grandfather, because he loves him. All manner of things might come from it, his death included. How long has it been since you went through the Rites with Manaen, lit the altar, sang the morning songs? Given your heart? That is the path of devotion. That is where the magic lies.”

“I did it when I was with my father, and when we were parted I was just a soldier again. I’ve been just a soldier all this time,” Mykon said as they walked from the pier, the birds crying behind them. “I never really believed that I was close to the gods. I was just a lieutenant, an under priest to my father. And now I am ashamed to go before them, say, now that I need you, here I am, like any other faithless child. The truth is, I am unsure of myself in this where I am unsure of myself in nothing else.”

“Your rites cannot be exactly the same as what I have seen,” Eco said, “But devotion is devotion. Inact the Rites with Manaen. Let me join you. What do you say?”

Mykon cleared his throat.

“I think I say yes.”

MORE TOMORROW

 

[CharmedFan28]

That was a well done portion! I am glad Eco and Aeon are able to visit each other. A different relationship but I think they need it. The ending was a surprise! Great writing and I look forward to more tomorrow!

 

[ChrisGibson]

Sleep caught up with me, so there was not much conversation between us here or enaywhere else.

 

[ChrisGibson]

WE'RE NEARLY TO THE CLOSE OF THIS STORY.... WHICH WE MAY JUST WRAP UP THIS WEEK....


“Make yourself fine as you can,” Eco said that night. “We are going into the city.”
They took a sedan into the great city that night, and as they entered it, the old palaces and buildings were hung with fairy lights and lanterns, banners blowing all about. Dazzling dragons of paper and gold floated through the city, their hollow selves kept from flying into the ether by the men holding the roads as, as exquisite creation the ancient stories. Zeon giving Kronos the Drink of Noxiousness so that he vomited up his children, the Gods. Apollyon chasing the nymph Daphne, the Goddess Here riding the great red bull. Feeling small, and rejoicing in their smallness, Eco and Aeon stayed for a while to see the great parade and mill about the excited crowd, to receive the raisin cakes and beads tossed down from the floats. But at last, Eco said, “It is time to move on. Time for why I brought you here.”
They took ponies and rode through the city and down into the suburbs. Now the ponies were skipping over rocks and jumping over the sand as they arrived at a great house filled with lights, its music heard from where they stood.
“Stay with me,” Eco said.
Eco took his hand and moved him through the waiting sedans and the valets taking the horses to stable, and they approached the house, long spread out, torches all about the façade. Inside the bright lights shown on richly appareled people, men in what was more clothing than costume, women who wore great tiaras of pasteboard in the form of birds’ crests with great sweeping blooms of feathers.
“How strange it is,” Aeon murmured, shrinking back,” but Eco said, “All of life is strange. Would you shrink from that too?”
Nevertheless, Aeon wanted to cling to him and knew he could not, not here. Eco’s hand was on his back, steering about, and suddenly a dark haired fellow and a red haired youth who Eco said looked like him.
“Tall, fey,” Eco explained and Aeon thought, looking at the thin men, “Perhaps.”
“This is my cousin,” Eco introduced him. “Aeon.”
“Where’s Lena?” Eco asked.
Basil shrugged.
“Somewhere around here. This house is crowded as the Fourth Hell.
“I’ll fetch us refreshment,” Nikanor told them.

“Do you feel it yet?” Nikanor smiled at Aeon.
“Yes,” Aeon said, inhaling, and stopping himself from coughing on the smoke from the long pipe. “A little.”
Eco shook his head. “No, you’re not.”
“A little,” Aeon protested.
“It takes a few times,” Basil said. From the look of Basil, Aeon thought he had done it a few times.
“I am still hoping to try things stronger,” Eco explained.
“Come here,” Nikanor said to Eco.
“What?”
“Come here,” Nikanor said. But it was Nikanor who came to Eco.
“Open your mouth.”
Eco did and Nikanor leaned forward and exhaled white smoke into his mouth. His mouth closed on Eco and kissed him longingly before Eco drew back and said, “I’m not greedy. Something for everyone.”
Even as the smoke was dissipating, Nikanor laughed and then crawled onto Basil and began kissing him. Aeon frowned and looked at Eco.
Eco said nothing, but as Nikanor’s mouth moved away, Basil shrugged and the two of them were entangled on the sofa, Nikanor’s leather trousered thighs wrapped around Basil.
Aeon’s face prickled. He didn’t look at Eco.
“Nikanor turned away from Basil whose face was red and intoxicated looking.
“Are you joining us?” he said.
“My cousin is young,” Eco said.
Aeon opened his mouth to protest and Eco said,” But he s old enough to make choices.”
“I don’t know that I want to do anything,” Aeon said. “But…”
Eco placed his hand at the small of Aeon’s back.
“Cousin,” he said, “this is the reason I brought you.”
“I need air.”
“Take it.” Eco said.
Aeon rose, shakily, and left the room.
Outside the swell of music, seemed to frantic, the beating of drums, the quick threading of the fiddles. He light was too dazzling. He was, in truth, too curious. He turned, coming back into the room and closed the door. Evenly as ever, face like a mask, from where he sat on the floor, Eco looked up at him.
Time to think. His eyes were full on Eco, but the sounds of love made Aeon turn from his cousin, and now all thoughts left him as he saw Nikanor and Basil, naked and damp with sweat, making love, lips locking, mouths kissing each other’s bodies, pressing themselves together.
“You are back,” Nikanor looked drunk and he went on his hands and knees and Basil was coming behind him.
“Make it good, Basil.”
Aeon was hard. He told Eco, “Blow out that last lantern.”
Eco nodded and almost as soon as he did, Aeon put his hands to Eco’s waist and he started kissing him. He started unbuckling his belt.





Aeon woke up in the grey darkness, not wanting to move. The house was silent. His hip hurt a little from the weight of the thigh draped across it, but he wanted that warmth. His mouth was half open to someone’s hair, and he closed it a little, his arms wrapped around a back. Another body pressed toward his, an arm pulling him a little closer.

While he and Eco had been making love, Aeon became vaguely aware that Nikanor and Basil had stopped and, in the midst of their pleasure, were now watching them. And then he wasn’t sure who it was at first began nuzzling the back of his neck. He found himself between Eco and another and Eco, at first, started with shock. Then he kept on. Soon, Aeon blinked and saw that behind him Nikanor was kissing Eco’s neck, opening his mouth and running it up and down Eco’s body. Now he knew he was with Basil and Basil was gently laying him on his back and laying his body across him. somewhere in the middle of this, when Basil had sat astride Aeon and, planting his hands on Aeon’s chest, took him deeper and deeper inside of his tightness, in the middle of the hot, shocking pleasure Aeon turned to see Eco, fucking Nikanor, his face hot and red.

He turned to Aeon, looking more with pleasure and adoration than anything else. He leaned from Nikanor, kissed Aeon savagely on the mouth and kept fucking Nikanor. Aeon closed his eyes and on his back, let Basil take him. In less than an hour he had planted his face deep in Nikanor’s ass, and still a little later, on hands and knees on the sofa he was letting Basil fuck him, feeling Basil’s hands pull his hair back. More of Basil’s fingers entering his mouth, where he sucked them. All that night, until they were worn out and exhausted, curiosity satisfied and lust fulfilled, there wasn’t anything they did not do.



By feel he understood it was Eco’s body he was hugging. It smelled of funk and heat. He did not know who was holding him, but that one got up and stretched. Aeon watched him, naked and beautiful, go to the wash house off the side of where they slept. The lamps still burnt there, casting a light that made a golden trail on the floor, and Aeon heard him piss. He pulled himself up. He had to follow him.

Casually stepping into the bathroom he peed too and it was Basil beside him, chuckling a little.

“You’re still stiff,” he said, touching Aeon’s cock.

“A little,” Aeon admitted.

“Insatiable,” Basil commented. “you understand the spirit of this night.”

When Aeon tilted his head with uncertainty, Basil said, “But… it is the Festival of Dionysus… who is called Iacchus. Some call it the festival of Hermes for, in truth, they are the same. The God of Limits. To become… but I am standing her naked and sermonizing.”

“No,” Aeon said. “Please?”

Basil cleared his throat.

“To become who we truly are… we must cross all the boundaries we have put up for ourselves. That have been put in our way. That is why Eco brought you here.”

While Aeon stood, thinking of this, this tongue between his lips, Basil touched him lightly on the shoulder.

“Get in the bath with me.”

Aeon took Basil’s hand as he led him from the urinal against the wall into the night where the pool reflected the moon. Stepping into the water, he discovered what he imagined Eco had brought him here for. Basil kissed him with a fierce tenderness, and then Aeon responded, wrapping his thighs about Basil’s waist while Basil’s mouth went up and down his throat, then up and down his body. Suddenly, Aeon was filled with lust, and he went down below the water, taking the girth of Basil’s cock in his mouth. Taking it to the back of his throat while he felt Basil’s hands in his hair.

He came up for water, but his mouth was met by Basil’s. On mutual agreement they turned around, and as Aeon planted his hands on the base of the pool, Basil fitted himself inside of him, slowly, filling him, thBasiling through him, moving without urgency, sending waves of pleasure so that Aeon felt, as his mouth opened in silent ecstasy, and Basil’s mouth closed on his shoulder, that he would never be a virgin again, that here, in this water, at the age of thirteen, he had been thoroughly opened, changed forever.

 

[ChrisGibson]

They returned home in tired, half asleep silence, under the summer sun. When they came to Castle Black, they went through the sccret entrance, skirting their way back to their family.

“What happened last night?” Aeon said.

“Last night you met others,” Eco said. “Last night you met Basil so that, when I am gone, when I do what I have to do, you will have someone else.

“Is Basil…. Special to you?”

“Yes, but Basil ought to be special to you too. He is like you. Like us.”

Aeon cocked his head.

“He is of the Blood.”

“What… does that even mean?”

“For now it means only what I said,” Eco said.

After he bathed, Aeon dreamed of a great green serpent, and it was rising up from the waters, wrapping itself about him. But he was not afraid, and it did not harm him. He dreamed with such an intensity it was like he was there, he couldn’t believe he wasn’t there upon waking, that he was in Basil’s house, in his room, just waking up with him, the sun on his long body, and nothing was complicated and Eco was looking at him, his almond cat eyes full on Aeon and a light smile on his face.

“I love you, Aeon,” he was saying.

And then Aeon woke up..



His dick was hard with yearning. His heart hurt right now. He went down the hall to Eco’s room and opened the door. He locked it behind him. Eco was deep in sleep. His snores came up, pronounced. Aeon, in only his thong, crawled into bed, pressing his back into Eco’s hot naked body.

In only a few moments, Eco’s snoring changed, and he shook, moaning, “Dill.”

“Now…. Just move over,” Aeon said, “and give me some space on this bed.”

And so Eco moved over, and while Aeon pulled off thong to relieve his burgeoning erection, Aeon pressed his body to him, embracing him.

TOMORROW WE BEGIN THE END OF MASTER OF ALL SORROWS....

 

[CharmedFan28]

That was a well done portion as always! Some very detailed sex scenes as these two and now others come to know each other even more. Great writing and I look forward to more tomorrow!

 

[ChrisGibson]

INTERLUDE
διάλειμμα
​

“WHAT WAS IT ALL FOR?” Clio prayed. However the city of Thebes reckoned clan membership, to the Anaxionade she was Anaxionade, and she needed to make the trip to Chio. She stopped on her way there to stay in her hut on Mount Cytheron, away from the children, away from Lysander. She needed to burn the lavender and sit half naked, legs folded under her. But first she had to walk about and pace. She had to ask the God what she had not dared to ask. After his coming to the city, after the flowing of wine, in a time where the Assembly had taken the city and shut its walls to the Autarch: “What had it all been for?”
The coming of Teiresias, the rivers flowing with wine, the love in the streets, that extraordinary night when she had made love to another woman and knew that Lysander, her devoted husband, was engaged in a ritual, loving other men. That night and day where the air smelled like wine and honey and lavender. Then He had come. Merope had been prepared to do them in, and He had come, to His own city. His lions, His tigers and bears, His bleeding vines had come, and the great cats with their hot breaths had knelt at her feet. And now no one remembered, and what was it all for? Now, the Assembly rose against them again and she was far from most of her family, and everyone who had seen everything pretended they did not.
She bathed in the river, but it was perfunctory. She was disappointed in the God. She had not felt his presence in so very long. She fasted from weariness more than devotion, hardly touching the berries, and she did not wish to touch the mushrooms. They brought hallucinations and the hallucinations seemed to do no good. None of it did any good.
That night Clio built a fire and refused to sleep, watching the flames until her eyelids grew heavy. She pulled a blanket over her and sat against a tree, giving herself up to weariness and smoring the fire. All about her were only the small animal sounds that never bothered her.
“Where are you?” she murmured. “What happened to all we saw?”
What did you think I was about? Who do you think I am? What were you working for? In all of your magics? What were you praying for every time you came to me? Yourselves? Your own power? This city which is a small city on the face of the great earth?
It was as if Clio was talking to herself, but as she slept, herself came to her with more power and more wisdom than she had known in some time.

“Of course it is yourself. I am the very heart of yourself. When the lightning struck Semele, that was the human soul offering itself totally to God, and that is how God comes into this world. God is in the heart of every human soul.
Child, who did you think I was, the Spirit of War? Did you think I was Ares to bring you victory? I am the God of Growing things, I am the bringer of ecstasy. I am the seed that died to be reborn. My work, once done, must be done again. It is in my nature to be ignored by the powerful and denied by the haughty. Over and over I and those who are mine are struck down, and over and over, like the vine, we rise. My sign is the vine, my sign is the vine, and like the vine I rise.”

“Lord, I want to see your power again. And Lord, if you cannot save us, what good are you? If we are always to be in danger then we might as well turn to the God of War, the God of Battles.”

War is an unending wheel, and all it cuts down grows up again. This, Cadmos learned when he killed the Serpent of Ares, and sewing its teeth the Spari rose up. They fought each other until most died, and those who lived gave way to Cadmos. Soldiers will do what they must, but in the end I will triumph. In the end I will save you again and your enemies will be silenced.

“How Lord?”

I will be born in their midst, and they who have denied me will see me. They could not see me through the joy I gave so now they will know me by other means.

“How Lord?”

Through their own sorrow.

 

[ChrisGibson]

APPENDIX​

IN THEBES
​

Alexandra Αλεχανδρα (Anaxionade Οικοσ Αναχιον)- the younger daughter of Manaen Anaxionade and sole issue of his marriage to Ianthe Dione.

*Ajax Anaxion, Aiax (Αιοχ Αναχιον)- the firstborn son of Titus Anaxion and Phocis Heklade and original heir to the Anaxionade. He died in the Battle of Seven Gates and was feted as a hero though Manaen noted that, had he lived, he would have probably been executed or exiled. While Phocis Heklade mourned the death of her son, she had often admitted that Manaen was the preferred and more clever of her children.

Antha Αντα (Anaxionade Οικοσ Αναχιον)- daughter of Titus Anaxion and Phocis Heklade, sister to Manaen and the deceased Ajax. Her husband is Memnon Aristikion and her oldest child is Clio Aristikion. Her son by marriage is the Commander Lysander Eutrache.

Arcis Cleomanes -(Αρξισ Οικοσ Ξλεομανεσ)- third born child of Megacles the Elder and Polyxena, younger brother of Marophon and Xenia. He sits on the Great Assembly.

Charis (pronounced like the word Care+iss) Ξαρισ (Cleomanes Οικοσ Ξλεομανεσ)- the next to youngest child of Megacles Cleomanes and Polyxena Marophonides. She is the wife of Pyramus Aktade and the mother of Thalia, Hemnos and Eurealos.

Clio (pronounced Cly-O) Ξλιο (Aristikion Αραβατιτυσ) the daughter of Memnon Aristikion and Antha Anaxion. Under Axum law, she is counted as a member of the Anaxionade through the female line, though this does not apply in Thebes. She is a devotee of Iacchus, a close companion of her cousin Jocasta and her sister by marriage, Procris. Famed for her wisdom, she is high in the council of her uncle Manaen, which is counted as unseemly by the men of Thebes. Her husband is Lysander Eutrache.

Creon-(Ξρεον Οικοσ Ξλεομανεσ)- the first born of Arcis Cleomanes from his first wife, Philomena. He is betrothed to Alexandra Anaxion.

Harmonia Labdokos (pronounced Har-MON-ia) Harmony (Ἁρμονία Λαβδοξοσ)- the daughter of Prince Polynieces and Princess of Thebes. She was raised by her aunt after her father died at the Battle of Seven Gates and her mother leapt to her death from the walls of Athene.

Jocasta Iocaste Ιοξαστε- (Anaxionade Οικοσ Αναχιον)- second child of Manaen Anaxionade by Phoebe Eumenaes, named for Iocaste, the former Queen of Thebes. Noted for unusual prowess in fighting, she holds unusual influence in her family for a woman of Theban society. Along with her grandmother, Phocis, she undertook a mission to bring back Harmonia, the heir to the Theban throne from her exile in Attika.

Kybernets Κψβερνετοσ- A traveling Axumi witch priest of the Old Rites, teacher and sometime lover of Manaen.

Manaen Manahen Μαναεν- (Anaxionade Οικοσ Αναχιον)- the youngest issue and second born son of Titus Anaxion (Titus the Traitor) and his widow Phocis Heklade. After the death of his father and brother (Ajax) at the Battle of Seven Gates, he becomes the head of the Anaxionade at the age of eighteen, inheriting the shame and poverty visited upon the family after the civil war. In his youth he was approached by Cyron Axatides, but chose Marophon Cleomanes as lover. By his first wife, Phoebe Eumenaes his children are Mykon and Jocasta, and with Phoebe and her family, he strengthened his wealth and influence as a merchant through out Ellix and the Isles. By his second wife, Ianthe Dione, his issue is Alexandra. After the defeat of the Theban army at Cyra, he rebuilt the Sacred Band and reconstituted a private army from the rejected army of Thebes, rebuilding his power base and bringing the Anaxionade back into influence throughout Phocia. He primary lovers are Marophon Cleomanes and Pyramus Aktade. His sister is Antha Anaxion.


Marophon, Marophonos, Μαροπηονοσ (Cleomanes Οικοσ Ξλεομανεσ)- first born son of the Sparti Megacles Cleomanes and his wife, the Agae born Polyxena Marophonides for which he is named, he is the one time Primary General Emeritus of the Sacred Band, famed for his victories in the Civil War and the Dakan Campaign, though with Pyramus Aktade, he met defeat in the Cyran War and was afterward disgraced. He is the head not only of his nuclear family, but of the entire clan of the Cleomanes and his primary lover is Manaen Anaxionade though he is known also as lover to the two Generals of the Sacred Band, Mykon Anaxionade and Pyramus Aktade.

Megacles Cleomane the Younger- (Μεγαξλεσ Οικοσ Ξλεομανεσ)- the youngest sibling of Marophon and his devoted brother, usually called “Chiton”.

Merope Dionead (Οικοσ Διονε)- leading woman of the city off Thebes both through birth and through her marriage to Telamon Telamachos. She is the high priestess of the God Iacchus and the older sister of Ianthe, Manaen’s second wife. For the first ten years of her life, Manaen’s daughter, Alexandra, was raised in her house.

Mykon, Mykonos Μύκονος (Anaxionade Οικοσ Αναχιον)- known as Mykonos the Fair and Mykonos Swordshield, is the oldest child, and only son of Manaen head of the House of Anaxion. At the age of fourteen he is given to Marophon Cleomanes as lover who sends him to battle college. Some time later, when the Sacred Band is resurrected as part of the private army of Manaen Anaxionade, Maro eventually joins, now united through formal ceremony to Pyramus Aktade the senior general.

Phocis Heklade (Πηοξισ Ηεκλαδε)- The younger daughter of Mykonos Heklade and Hermione Lykentis, widow of Titus Anaxionade and the mother of Ajax, Antha and Manaen. She is, effectively, the matriarch of the Heklade and responsible for both of her son’s Manaen’s marriages. Famed for her beauty and for her tongue. Grandmother to Clio, her siblings, Jocasta, Mykon and Alexandra.

Pyramus Aktade, Pyramos (Πψραμοσ Αξταδε)- first the Junior General and then the Senior General of the Sacred Band and Great General of the Army of Thebes. Known for his beauty and sexual prowess as well as his prowess in battle, Pyramus has been chief lover to both his brother by marriage, Marophon Cleomanes and Mykon Anaxionade. He is also known to be a companion to Mykon’s father, Manaen Anaxionade. His wife is the equally amorous Charis Cleomanes.

Terpsichore Labdokos (Τερψιχόρη Λαβδοξοσ) – last re-maining issue of the unfortune pairing between Queen Iocaste and King Oedipus. Though technically the closest heir to the Theban Throne, due to her age and childlessness,she agreed that her niece, Harmonia, she be declared heir and Princess to the City of Seven Gates.

Theon of Athene (Θέων Ατενι)- the Prince of Athens, abducted by Jocasta and her grandmother and brought to Thebes.

*Titus Anaxion, Titos (Τιτοσ Αναχιον) head of the Anaxionade until he was executed for treason after the Civil War in which he fought for Prince Polynieces. His father was the immigrant Axumi merchant, Epicharos Anaxion who moved with his nephews and nieces first to the town of Chio and then inside the city of Thebes where their household is established till this day. Epicharos wed his son to the half Axumi, Agae born Phocis Heklade, and their children are Ajax, Antha and Manaen.

Xenia Cleomanes, (Χενια Οικοσ Ξλεομανεσ)- the oldest sibling or Marophon. Her husband is a cousin of Lysander’s and her sons are Perses and Aktor.

 

[ChrisGibson]

THE HOUSE OF ACRYS​

Aeon Αεον - Xanthe’s youngest sibling and sole brother, famed for his pale green hair.

Xanthe Χαντηε - Queen of Akxa and Maesa, daughter of Prince Eumenaios and the Oread Maia. Her brother is Aeon, and her sisters are Xian and Ao.

Eco Αεξο - the son of Maia. He is most known for his almond eyes, shocking pink hair and his repudation for wisdom and magic. He was close in the councils of his grandmother, Queen Camiro.

Maia Μαια - an Oread who lives on Mount Kyllene named for the Goddess of that Mountain. She wed Prince Eumenaios, the only child of Queen Camiro of Akxa and bore him Xanthe, Ao, Xian and, posthumously, Aeon.

Melissa Μελψσσα- the Bee Priestess whose temple is west of Mykenae and on the northern entrance to Arcady. She, like her sister Maia, is half Oread, a trait which, having shown up in her children, does not show up in her.

Aramache Αραμαξηε - the daughter of Melissa, a general in Akxa and councilor to her cousin, Queen Xanthe. Her younger brother is Eco.

Xian- Χιαν a great warrior, Xanthe’s youngest sister.

THE CLAUDIANS
AND
THE HOUSE OF PHAEDRA​

Claudia Maecaenas CLAVDIA MAECAENAS – also called Claudia the Younger, fourth child and younger daughter of Claudia the Elder and her second husband, Aelius Maecaenas. Censured by her grandfather and later fled to Axum after the execution of her husband.

Marcus Claudius Maecaenas Postumus, MARCVS CLAVDIVS MAECAENAS, Called Postumus and later also called Thanatos)- the youngest child of Claudia the Elder, and the one time heir of Claudian Augustulus, Imperator. Disinherited and exiled to the isle of Ponza. He was rescued by Eco, Xian, Autolykus and his sister, Claudia.

Gaius Constantin Thurinus Claudius known as Claudian Augustulus CLAVDIAN AVGVSTVLVS- Imperator of Cyra who took over the state through a ten year process of wars after the murder of his uncle, the dictator Constantine. Head of the Claudian family. His wife is the Lady Drusilla Augustulus, though his only child was his daughter Claudia, born from his first wife, Scribonia.

Julia Caesaris Filia, Julia Augusti Filia, IVLIA CAESARIS FILIA or IVLIA AVGVSTI FILIA), usually called Julia the Elder, was the daughter and only biological child of Claudian Augustus, the first Imperator of Cyra. Her first husband was her cousin Marcellus but he died without issue. Next she was married to Lucius Maecaenas by whom she had Gaius, Agrippina, Lucius, Claudia and Postumus. After the death of Maecaenas she was unhappily wed to her step brother Tiburon. He was exiled for violence against her, but she was not allowed a divorce and later exiled to the isle of Pantateria for supposed infidelities. There she was joined by her mother, Scribonia.

Herse (Ηερσε) Alexandra Arkanidas- Princess of Makadakan. Her mother was Arsinoe the Phrygian.

Euystheos (Ευρψστηεοσ) Philoctetes Ergakygon VII- King of Makadakan. His father was Philoctetes IV and his mother was EuCyradousa of Helion.

 

[ChrisGibson]

THE GODS​

Ashtaroth- called, Cypris, Astarte- the Eastern Star, the Morning and the Evening Star, the Goddess of Love, Beauty and Battle. She is counted as one of the twelve under the name Venus. Ωενοσ

Ares Αρεσ- the God of War. His daughter with the Lady Ashtaroth is Harmonia.

Apollyon Απολλψον - The God of the Sun, one of the Twelve, reputed to have destroyed Python. His place of prophecy is Pythia, though others say Pythia once belonged to and still belongs to Phoebus, the Titan of the Sun.
Dis, Aides, Admetis- Αιδεσ as Aides he is the brother of Zeon and Eidon and one of the Twelve. He is conflated with Dis and Admetis, older forms of the Lord of the Underworld, wealth and Death. His home is alternatively Hades or Thessaly, and his Queen is Proserpina or even Demeter. By some tales he abducted her into the Underworld, and by others it was the other way around.

Auset- HC (- (Ēse), Ἰσις (Isis) The Great Goddess of Kemet, Mother of Life and Death, called the Mistress and Governess and Source of All. Jocasta is a devotee of hers.

Eidon Ειδον- called Pos- Eidon or Passa Weidon- the brother of Zeon, master of the Seas and of Earthquakes. Allied with Horses. One of the lovers of his sister, Demeter.

Gaea ΓΕ - The Earth Herself. She is the mother of the Titans, but also of the Monsters, as well as several strange people, such as the first kings of Athene, Python, and anything which springs to life out of the Earth. She is the Mother of All.

Harmon Ἁρμονία - daughter of Ares and Ashtaroth who wed Cadmos after he slew Ares’s serpent. She is the mother of the royal line of Thebes and she is revered as a face of the Serpent Goddess.

Herakles Ερακλεσ- the Hero God of Thebes, reputed to, by his many sexual conquest, fathered the Heraklids, the last race to invade and settle in Ellix.

Hermes Ερμεσ- called one of the Twelve and the Messenger God, he is personified by a boy with winged sandals, and yet most of what is said to him points to a far older deity. His mother is the Titaness Maia. Manaen and others refer to him as Mercurio and he seems to be close in mystery and power to Iacchus.

Iacchus Ιαξξηυσ - The God of the Vine, the one who dies and is reborn, the Turner and the Subject of the Wheel, called the God From Nyssa. The Rising and Dying One. According to conservative religion he is the son of Zeon by Semele, daughter of Cadmos, but his devotees say he is older, from the time of the Titans and has little to do with the Twelve. He is God of the City of Thebes. As one of the Twelve he is referred to as Dio Nyssus, the God from Nyssa.

Kronos Ξρονοσ - ruler of the Titans and of Heaven and Earth in the Golden Age. His wife is Rhea. He had the unfortunate habit of eating his children, convinced that they would supplant him. Other versions say he took them in his mouth, implying some form of incestuous sexual initiation. According to Hesiod, Zeon escaped being swallowed and was able to rescue his siblings, Eidon, Aides, Teleia, Demeter and Hestia, who rebelled and overthrew the Titans (The Titanomachy), taking over Mount Orthys and ushering in the present age. Kronos was then imprisoned in Tartaros, though other tell that he simply went to live in the west, and in the winter time he returns to remind men that once there was a golden world where Zeon and the present condition did not reign and one day things will be different again. According to those traditions, especially in the south and in Cyra, he is called the Old Grandfather, and the Giver of Good Things. The people of Carthage identify him with their god Melquart.

Maia Μαια - The Mighty One, revered in Arcady, she is the mother of Hermes, and by conservative religion the grandmother of Pan (though this seems unlikely). Her father was the Titan Atlas, who holds up the world and her uncle PCyratheos, the creator of Men who gave them the gift of Fire. She was the foster mother of Arcis, he father of the Arcadians and therefore the Pelasgo. Aside from being counted as a Titaness, she is also one of the Pleides and counted as the oldest of the Oreads. Called the Lady of the Mountain, she is a great Goddess.

Meter Μετερ, Δεμετερ,- is the Great Mother. When called Demeter “The Mother” she is appropriated into the Twelve as the sister and lover of Zeon, Eidon and sometimes Aides. In conservative religion she is the mother of Proserpina Queen of the Dead and High Lady of Summer. However, Meter simply means Mother and may apply to the Goddess Ops, the Earth, Hekate, Great Cybele or even the Universal Mother whose cult is in the Islands and in Cyra. Some mysteriarchs hold that Demeter and Proserpina are one, or they are sisters, or even lovers, and therefore aspects of Great Mother. The Goddess is a great mystery. Sometimes called Ceres.

Oludamare- God the Rainbow along with Janicot the Hare, and Dambatta and Ayeda, the Primordial Serpents of the Rainbow he is one of the Axumi gods worshiped by Manaen and Kybernets.

Ouranos Ορανοσ - Heaven. According to Hesiod, he was born from Gaea who then mated with him and begot the Titans. Her other children, he shut up inside of her with his penis until Gaea forged a sickle, gave it to her son Kronos and bid him castrate his father, thus becoming the new king of heaven.

PCyratheos Προμετηεουσ- a Titan. After Zeon appropriated fire to himself, PCyratheos stole it, hiding it in the stalk of a narthex and gave it to mankind for which the Twelve, bound him to a rock that his liver might be pecked out and consumed by an eagle every morning. He was, in time, rescued by Herakles.

Rhea Ρηεα- in conservative religion she is the Titaness who is the wife and sister of Kronos and the mother of the New Gods. By her cult, though, she is the Keeper at the Cave of Time, The Lady Serpent, the Mother of All, the Living Goddess of the Earth, the Mother of Growing Things. She is greatly revered in Phrygia and there considered to be one with Cybele. It is thought that, in the same way Demeter and Proserpina are one, She is One with Demeter, thus the three of them make the Three Faced Goddess. She is also a great mystery. Also called Ops, or “Hops”. Grain. Cereal, Ceres. See Demeter.

Teleia, Here Τελεια- one of the Twelve, Queen of Heaven, sister and wife of Zeon. Her first name means “Perfectly”, the second name, by which she is known in the south, means “Beloved.” She is represents Marriage, Childbirth and Revenge regarding wrong women. The Cow is sacred to her.

Semele Σεμελε- the mother of Iacchus. By tradition she is a princess of Thebes and daughter of Cadmos and Harmonia. As the only human to give birth to one of the great gods, she is the symbol of earth being joined to heaven. Some though, say that, as her mother was a Goddess married to a mortal, this was the symbol of heaven being joined to earth, and that Semele was, like her mother, divine. In their temples, which lie outside of the city, and which no man can enter, both are revered as Serpent Goddesses.

Vesta-εστα Hesta, Hestia. The Goddess of Fire, especially as it pertains the the home, hearth and community

Zeon Ζεον- The Chief of the Twelve, son of Kronos and Rhea, spouse of his sister Teleia Queen of Heaven. He is the All Father, Lord of Heaven, Master of Lightning and Storms. The root of his name has several meanings, Godhood, Life force, an electric force like lightning or fire, and these meanings give clues to his actual nature which mysteriarchs believe should be separated from the stories told of him in which is he is a rapacious God of right-makes-right justifying the status-quo.

 

[ChrisGibson]

Hesiod. (Hesiodos) of Evio, Ἡσίοδος- The poet of the long island of Evio who composed what became the two books, Works and Days and Theogany. His works, along with the words of Homer compose the chief shape for state religion in most of Ellix and such ideas as the Titanomachy, the Twelve Gods of Mount Orthys and the supremacy of Zeon come from his works. He died three hundred years before the beginning of this story.



Narmer- according to the Kemeti, the first king to united the Upper and Lower Lands. From him all Kings and Queens are descended. The Ellixians call him Menes (Μήνης), after his Northern (Lower) Kemet name Manet. Many rulers have a varian of his name including, obviously, Queen Manetho. He lived 3100 years before the beginning of our story.



Omeros. (Homer) Ὅμηρος- is the legendary Ellixian poet of the Dark Ages, reputed to have roamed Phrygia and composed not only the epic poems the Iliumad, and the Ullysian, but also the hymns of Demeter, Hermes and Iacchus which compose the primary body of Ellixian legendarium. He is reputed to have lived somewhere between five hundred or even six hundred years before our story begins.



Techtones, The Masons, τέκτονας- the according to some legends the Cyclopes built the great, ancient contructions which are at the foundations of many Ellixian cities, chief among them being Mykenae and Tiryns, some assign their creation to a race or type of people called the Techtones. Origins lost in mystery, some assign their home to Axum and to the Isles south of Phrygia. Manaen refers to them, simply, as the Masons, and claims they were descended from one Tubal Cain and more over that their sister, Naamah, was the most of all practitioners of magic including himself and his family.



Phrygia- properly the central part, though often regarding the entire great peninsula which juts out from the east toward Ellix. The Phrygians share a culture with the Ellixians and many Ellixian cities lie on the coast of Phrygia though if the Ellixians colonized them coming from Ellix or vice versa is a matter of uncertainty. Much of what is regarded Ellixian hails from Phrygia including the poet Homer, the worship of Rhead, Cybele and Hekate and, according to most stories, the God Iacchus himself.



THE END. THE LAST VOLUME WILL BE QUEEN OF EVERY ANCIENT THING

 

[CharmedFan28]

That was an excellent end to this volume of the story! The appendix is very useful in keeping track of all the characters! Great writing as always and I look forward to whatever you post next!

 

[ChrisGibson]

That was an excellent end to this volume of the story! The appendix is very useful in keeping track of all the characters! Great writing as always and I look forward to whatever you post next!

I'm glad you enjoyed it.