"YOU SHALL, I QUESTION NOT, FIND A WAY TO THE TOP IF YOU DILIGENTLY SEEK FOR IT; FOR NATURE HATH PLACED NOTHING SO HIGH THAT IS OUT OF THE REACH OF INDUSTRY AND VALOR."- ALEXANDER THE GREAT, CA ~ CCCXXVIII BC

THIS STORY & OC ARE BOTH FICTION WHICH TAKE INSPIRATION OF ANCIENT GREEK HISTORIA AND MYTHOS.
ANY ART USED WILL BE CREDITED ACCORDINGLY WHERE NEEDED.
THANK YOU FOR READING AND VISITING - ARCHON

• Venture Forth

ART

THE CAPTAIN OF HEPHAESTUS' FLAME:CYRILUS I
Book of Fire

I would like to remind you, the reader, that this is a story of fiction. based in & around the reign of Alexander the Great. Any names used are purely pulled from historic world knowledge or created to deepen said story and character. This story will also develop depending on interactions, solos & SL's with other characters as I would like to try and make this journey for Cyrilus one of that close to a "Butterfly Effect" as I have several outcomes for his story, in which the people he meets and interacts with play a big factor as to whether Cyrilus will: fly, fall, float or flee.Please, enjoy. - Archon.

This story, just like any other human's story, starts with the birth of a child dating back to 352BC in Xanthi which at the time was ruled over by Philippus ii. Hereby a young boy named "cyrilus" was born, first of his bloodline to carry the name, its hidden meaning being "lord" or even "god / jesus" often used within the Septuagint, also known as the greek bible in current day. however, his name did not have the meaning of neither god let alone jesus, his parents hoped for him to become a lord to save xanthi and greece from their ruler and the many wars they had suffered from underneath his reign.this meant that cyrilus had his destiny written out by his own parents, rather than the Olympian gods. yet, upon birth of Anthesterion CCCLII; something was gravely off regarding his appearance. when cyrilus opened his eyes for the first time, it was noted that his eyes had looked "As if they were aflame" causing his eye color to be vastly different than that of his family; flame red. Alongside the difference in color there weren't any tears to be shed upon the awakening by Cyrilus himself. a silent babe. the doctors proclaimed that this was perhaps the doing of the mighty god "hephaestus", as he is known to be the god of fire. This meant that Cyrilus was marked, or in an oracle's terms "chosen" to ascend to far greater heights than a normal spartan could; granting his family an honor far above that of directly serving an emperor.however, the decision to keep this hidden rather than spread it about was made instead. to ensure the safety of cyrilus and xanthi's future. the family that he was born in, wasn't anything significant, they didn't have any spartan warriors, they didn't have philosophers, they didn't have astronomers, they were simple farmers; nothing more nor less and so was the very life of cyrilus.. normal.alas, "normal" wasn't meant to be and lasted but quite shortly. as xanthi for the upcoming five years, would fall to more than just continuous battles, there were power struggles, there were bandits. and even though xanthi was home to greece's largest palace and home to the current ruler philippus ii, it was highly unsafe. but his family refused to move, as they believed that not only would the chance of cyrilus being taken away from them rise significantly, they could even be killed by bandits when traveling towards a safer city.. nor did they have the funds to afford moving.as time went by, his parents did everything within their power to ensure that when cyrilus' potential powers finally revealed themselves, he'd know exactly what to do and to use them for good. unfortunately.. his supposed powers "granted" by the mark of hephaestus never revealed themselves. instead, it had begun to look as if cyrilus' eyes were simply just a birth defect. although this meant that he would be safe from oracles and the emperor it also meant that cyrilus' future would've been nothing more than a simple farm man. alongside this, upon wishing to pray towards the gods of olympus, family members' wishes fell right back to earth; flat. as if they had been forsaken if not cursed.with prayers unanswered plaguing the family, they proceeded to raise cyrilus as best they could within the tense and dangerous streets of xanthi.after five years had passed by, on Maimakterion CCCXLVII - XI, tragedy fell upon xanthi.a rival political group against philippus ii invaded the city with the intent to overthrow the emperor and execute him. in the process of this invasion, many civilians lost their lives in an attempt of escaping or even defending their home in the name of their lord; cyrilus' family following the latter. being at the mere age of five, he had been told by his father to hide in the barn behind the cattle, to which he would aptly follow. hidden amongst the sheep and cows owned by his family, the rival spartan group raided and pillaged anything in sight whilst also battling the forces of philippus ii in the streets. of course, this didn't fall short of the many screams and cries of nearby civilians, most likely his own family as well, being killed in their defense. Just like any other child, this would leave nothing but fear building within the boy as he couldn't do anything but sit still until the invasion was either prevented or xanthi fell to the hands of philippus' political rivals.fortunately, after three horrifying days passed, the invasion was repelled. philippus' forces drove away the rival party and mad sure to have any stragglers killed if they were found.in the wake of their victory, philippus' son Alexander, accompanied by his closest friend in arms Hephaestion, were ordered to search for survivors and aid them where needed. at least, up until they stumbled along a farmhouse that was seemingly left untouched; Cyrilus' family farmhouse coincidentally so. Alexander wasn't just accompanied by Hephaestion alone, considering he is the son of Philippus II, he wasn't seen without a group of guards existing of at least up to twenty Spartan soldiers; men & women alike. the young prodigy ordering them to search for survivors, one of the soldiers had entered the barn to be greeted by the cattle that just like the home and current building itself were completely untouched. to her surprise however, she had noticed that sheep were gathered in the very back as if something had been left hidden. Calling out to her fellow Spartans and prince Alexander, the rescue group proceeded to move the cattle and found themselves an unconscious young boy. To their luck, he was still alive, yet starving heavily and his parents were unable to be found. One of the soldiers did however note that there was a group of corpses nearby that looked like they may have been the owners of this farm, meaning he had been turned into an orphan thanks to the invasion held three days prior.if only they were able to save their civilians faster, maybe they could've prevented the upcoming rise of orphans and slaves that were now looming on the horizon, cyrilus being one of them.fortunately enough, he was graced with alexander's kindness, stating that "he wants the boy to be taken in as a spartan soldier" usually a child would be fit and ready at the age of seven, but they could not let him sit here to die, let alone wait until they could recruit him two years later. by this act of kindness, cyrilus now also thinks that ares, the god of war, may have been the only one to answer to the prayers of his family. even though that may have been the only supposed prayer to have ever been answered to this day.now being taken in by philippus' army, cyrilus was the youngest spartan to join. being put under hephaestion's direct command. Having been put into an agoge at the age of five, however, meant that cyrilus had to undertake heavy tasks that were not fit for a child of his age, let alone build. thanks to the fact that he had been starving for three days and proceeding to refuse to eat anything and if he did, there would only be small bits; cyrilus did not gain the build that most spartan soldiers had. growing up to be rather slim, yet tall in height.what did come as a surprise to the soldiers and even caused philippus to take note of him however, was the rather odd eye color that he held. since they were unable to identify who his family was, they couldn't tell whether this was the doing of genes, a birth defect or the chosen mark of a god. what it did hold, however, was that a lot was expected of him.. And just like his parents did, some believed that cyrilus would be another coming of a demi-god, eventually having his powers be awakened; alas it never happened. instead, through his rigorous training, trials and battles, philippus would acknowledge and claim that cyrilus "had the strength of seven lions." which was a great feat to accomplish regardless of the mark he held within his eyes. two years would come to pass and many battles would be fought as not only a trainee but as a true spartan. at the age of seven, he would claim his first kill that wasn't just a mere deer for hunting. having joined alongside alexander, hephaestion and his men during a battle in Abila which was occupied by a rival political group; Cyrilus took the life of a soldier three times his size with cunning strategy rather than brute force. although by this point he should've been prepared enough, the young boy still lost his relatively stable mind and broke apart. fellow spartans would eventually find him backed in a corner of the room in which he killed his opponent.this act would leave him sleepless for several days and interfered with his training to a small degree up until hephaestion took it within his own hands to confront him and steel his mind.after hephaestion stepped up to help the boy whom was only around five years younger, their training would resume with cyrilus amongst their ranks. from here on, the kill count would only rise, eventually leading up into the many hundreds. battle after battle, cyrilus slowly but surely rose within the spartan rankings reaching the rank of Enomotarch(Captain) at the age of sixteen and being allowed to lead a squadron of around fourty men under the direct command of demiphylarch(commander) hephaestion whom eventually took Alexander's ranking when he rose to the throne after his father Philippus II was assassinated by a rival political group.thanks to cyrilus' fierce leadership, determination and commitment to ensure his men would find victory within the many battles ahead, he gained the nickname: "captain of hephaestus' flame" in accordance to his flame-red eye color that some still assume is the chosen mark of the god himself.alas, throughout every battle and hardship that cyrilus came across. he, just like his family before him, would pray to the olympian gods in an effort to ask for support and answers as to why his family had to fall during the invasion of xanthi. more specifically so, he even prayed to hephaestus to ask about whether he was truly marked, approaching many oracles to research whether such a thing had happened before. but even the oracles never gained an answer when it came to cyrilus, prayers having fallen silent."forsaken."is what he would begin to believe himself to be, as none would answer. even ares, the god of war, who he thought maybe would answer since he fought in his name through war. but none of it ever gained a light.a year after alexander's rise to the throne, hephaestion had ordered for cyrilus to travel to an old temple of the titan kronos, where supposedly a rival political group was hidden and according to scouts, were holding rituals to call forth beasts one of which being a chimera.and surely, the scouts' intelligence was not incorrect, more so far too accurate. as by the time cyrilus' squadron arrived, the chimera had already been summoned and in its awakening, slaughtered everything in its sight. which.. meant the job was practically done for them. the only problem now being that they had to deal with a chimera of which they were vastly underprepared for. as last a chimera was ever defeated, it took the power of near two-hundred men to bring it down. cyrilus' squadron existed of only near thirty. as the rest was left behind in xanthi to recover from a battle fought three weeks prior. being forced to battle the chimera there and then, it meant they would have no reinforcements and that death is glaring atop the hills.cyrilus, in this moment, did not let himself be turned to stone by fear as if medusa had locked eyes with him. instead steeling himself before the mighty beast, whilst in the same moment telling his men:"I won't stand here to try and play a hero for you, for I am not like the demigods capable of felling a chimera lonesome- but i will not allow you to fall here in a fight we have only the smallest chance of winning. therefore i beseech you lot to retreat while it is still possible, i in turn will buy as much time as i can for you. may zeus guide you and may aphrodite and hera grant you a love and family in the future."However, his men refused to listen and steeled themselves alongside him. though they agreed, there was only a small chance of victory within an insufferable amount of outcomes that had nothing but defeat. although cyrilus wished they had ran, he was thankful for the fact that he wouldn't die that die on his own.fortunately for them, this fight did not end within a singular minute as they expected to. thanks to cyrilus' tremendous capability of building a strategy on the fly, they managed to minimize injuries and casualties as much as possible within the first day of their battle losing only two men and having three injured. however, they were stuck within the temple with the chimera, as during the first day, their plan to entomb it by having it charge into a pillar, caused the entrance to fall apart and close itself before their eyes. this downed their morale severely at first, but cyrilus took the chance to tell his men that they were not stuck in this temple with the chimera; but that the chimera was stuck in there with them.it was to their luck that the temple of kronos was big enough to play cat and mouse and that the rival group that summoned the beast, left food that would last them at least two weeks.in the second day of their battle, they had lost five men, causing them to dwindle in manpower from their previous twenty-eight, to twenty-three, thanks to the chimera charging through a wall of a room they had previously tried to take rest in. they were slowly running out of time to defeat the chimera, as it had begun to realize that it could break down walls and was capable of following their scent no matter where they went and the fact it could breathe fire was not really helping them either. this meant that some objects and constructs would fall aflame to the beasts' fire.the third day was their heaviest.
as in desperation, cyrilus made the plan to ambush the chimera, entirely forgetting that the lion-headed beast not only had a goat's head on its back, but a snake for tail too. their ambush fell into shambles, as the snake caught movement from the rear. in a moment of which the chimera seemed to be tired and getting ready to take a form of rest the men would approach from behind as a sneak attack is best done from the rear. as stated before, the snake tail would notice their movement and in turn reawakened the lion. because of cyrilus' lack of awareness during the moment of planning, thirteen of his men would meet their demise by either being flung across the rooms they were being chased into, torn apart or even crushed underneath the lion's claws. this failure left him with only ten men left and a morale lower than oblivion.from here, they would do nothing else but run for the upcoming five days, getting little amounts of sleep and losing their focus at certain points because of this. But this also caused the Chimera to lose focus and grow excessively tired as without a care to rest; it kept chasing and searching for them whenever they lost it for but even a moment. As the remaining group arrived within the center of the temple, where a large statue of kronos resided and the ritual seemed to have taken place; the chimera had finally cornered them and blocked their only escape route and that happened to be the same way they entered through. cyrilus came to the realization that it was either now, or never at all and meet their fate. and although morale was non-existent, he told his men what any spartan would want to hear:"it seems this is our final stand my brothers-in-arms. but we will not let our final stand be met with open arms for death, we will stand here and fight, we will not stop until it is over; death will take our life from our fighting, bleeding hands!"and so, upon the roar of the lion, they charged. blade meeting the thick skin of the lion, fangs of a snake penetrating flesh, horns of the goat ramming against shields.But within the heat of their battle, cyrilus' own spear shattered when he tried to fend the lion's claws off in an attempt to let his men attack from the sides; which they found out were its blind spot. with no weapon in hand, cyrilus decided to face the lion's claws with his own hands.

He may have not had the strength of Hercules, or the wit and knowledge of artemis during a hunt of a beast. but with what he could offer, he wrestled with the chimera in his own way, the same as how he gained his first kill. taking advantage of his surroundings and creating openings for his men to attack the beast, it eventually charged into the statue of kronos who wielded a large spear made out of pure gold; far too large for a human to hold. but when the statue crashed down, so did the spear, what was once pure gold, was now nothing but mere pieces and dust. the dust created by the fallen statue and spear caused the entire room to be clouded with a mist so thick, not even the chimera could see in front of itself. which meant it began to blindly swing around itself, taking the life of two soldiers and injuring one. cyrilus seemed like he was down for the count, as he had to dive away into safety to not get hit by the debris. this, however, landed him right beside the shattered golden spear, which revealed to have held a more human-capable spear within. engraved with the marks of kronos, a black shaft, a blade made of pure chromium head being bigger than the heel, a tassel holding the feathers of a gryphon and a handle made of gorgon scales. There could not have been anything more convenient than the appearance of a spear like such, to this day, not a single book or oracle is able to explain the purpose of this spear let alone where it hailed from. But what everyone does know, is that cyrilus was fated to find it or so they believe.taking up arms once more, the man set out to bring an end to their horror week. for the dust began to settle, he alongside the new spear and his remaining eight men, battled the chimera until either neither of them or only one of them were standing.this new spear, however, by what it felt like; unbreakable. helped pave the way for many openings against the chimera. blocking against its attacks, the spear caused the beast to reel with the same force it tried to crush the man holding said spear. the fight went on for a staggering thirty minutes before the chimera finally began showing severe signs of exhaustion, cyrilus saw an opening herein; asking his men one last time to draw the attention from the beast and lure it towards the head of the fallen statue.. what was left of it at least. following his orders once more, cyrilus scaled the fallen statue with the idea to pierce the lion's head. if they could down the lion, the goat and snake are useless and would die to starvation if they left it here in the wake of their escape; depending on whether the idea worked or not..and surely.
it worked.after tireleslly playing cat & mouse for eight days, after losing over twenty men, after being stuck inside of a temple alongside a mighty chimera-
the beast would finally meet its maker.having scaled the fallen statue, cyrilus would charge alongside the broken right arm that he had been atop of, spear held to his side and blade aimed in front of him.cyrilus would reach the torn head and leap from its debris, releasing a warcry heard even past the gates of olympus:"HEAR ME GODS, FOR THIS IS MY CHALLENGE; HEAR ME, FOR THIS IS MY ASCENSION!"landing on the lion's head, using the momentum from the leap and fall; the spear would be thrusted into its skull but couldn't penetrate all the way through. Cyrilus was now stuck atop its head holding the spear, but the lion roared in agony in response to the pain it had currently received.however, cyrilus was far from done, as he released a scream fit with rage that matched the anger of the god lyssa.slowly, but surely, the spear had begun to sink into the skull of the mad beast; causing it to charge off and bump into the walls, cyrilus saw this as a chance to lead it towards the entrance and have it charge into the debris that blocked it off.and the beast could do nothing but follow the acts of its torturer.The entrance had been paved open and light shone right through, it was daylight.Outside were men and women, from hephaestion's own squadron and the remaining ten men that cyrilus left behind. they watched as the man led the chimera into the open and released a roar of his own that matched that of the beast itself. He yelled, pulling the spear out and causing the chimera to stop moving, in response of this new opening, cyrilus plunged the spear into its head once more, to finish the job once and for all. in response, the chimera's blood rained across the field covering those nearby, bushes, trees and even animals that hadn't ran out of fear yet."DIE!"was what the man said as the lion then fell silent, dropping on its side and leaving both the goat & snake helpless. the spear still within its head and cyrilus rolling across the ground, coming to a stop on his back and finally being able to see the clear blue sky and sun once more."See me."He stated, issuing the gods that had forsaken him:"or i will make you see me."since this moment, cyrilus decided that he wanted answers directly from the gods themselves. whether they wanted him at the gates or within olympus or not; he would get his answers for his suffering and for why he was forsaken.the gates of olympus await our captain,
for he brings his flame in pursuit of truth.

• BIOGRAPHY & POWERS
• COMPANIONSHIP & LOVE
• TALES

BIOGRAPHIA
AND
DUNAMIS

HEREBY THE BIOGRAPHY OF OUR CAPTAIN,
RANGING FROM HEIGHT, TO HAIR COLOR & MORE.

HIS POWERS ARE CURRENTLY STILL DORMANT, AS HE REQUIRES TO BE ASCENDED FIRST; CHECK BACK LATER!

• APPEARANCE

• Back

PHILIA
AND
EROS

HEREBY A LOOK AT CYRILUS' COMPANIONS SO FAR AND A DESCRIPTION OF THEIR BOND,
IF A LOVE INTEREST APPEARS THEY WILL BE HERE TOO.

"THE GRIM REAPER" - Cyrilus.A skeletal being claiming to be the bringer of "Death". Their first encounter was near Athens, which resulted in a battle as Cyrilus' dutiful nature to protect his country prevented them from having a proper conversation.
For now, he still stands shrouded in mystery and Cyrilus is left wondering whether they'll meet again.
On top of that, just before their battle took place, "Uncle Death" sounded like he had plans in Athens. Whatever they may have been, Cyrilus now knows that if he wants to encounter the being again, he'll have to stick around and patiently wait.
It is unsure what alignment he'll carry with him in regards to the ascension, for now though, he has brought a neutral stance.

"THE GODDESS OF HYRULE" - Cyrilus.Although they met during Cyrilus' travels, when Princess Zelda tried to introduce herself to the man; he quickly misunderstood that she's a Goddess, rather than a princess. According to ancient Greek standards, princess Zelda's story aligns with that of a deity.
He pledged to help her find justice for the lands of Hyrule, therefore accompanying her in the coming battles & hardships she might come across.
On top of this, the princess aligns Cyrilus' path to light, rather than dark.
Hopefully she can keep him on the right track for when he starts his ascension.

• BACK

PHANTASIAI

HEREBY A LOOK AT WHO CYRILUS REALLY IS.

PICTURES USED HERE AND FROM THE HOME SCREEN ARE FROM EITHER THE MANGA MAGI OR THE ANIME ITSELF, ART USED BUT NOT MADE BY THE CREATOR OR STUDIO BEHIND MAGI WILL BE CREDITED APTLY!

ASCENDANT FORM YET TO BE UNLOCKED; CHECK BACK LATER!

• BACK

ISTORIA

HEREBY THE TALES CYRILUS HAS TAKEN PART IN.

THE BATTLE OF MILETUS

• WAR - I

• BACK