Vampire Greek: The Burning King

Roman exited the tunnel, limping in pain. The bearded face of Janus showed no emotion, but approached him slowly.

“Did you succeed?” He asked, avoiding eye contact and staring at Roman’s smoldering clothes.

“I guess.” said Roman mutely, reaching out to touch his back. He winced and pulled his hand back, revealing his palm stained with blood. The blood blackened and hardened, and when he closed his hand it became brittle and cracked, like dried clay.

“If I'm dead, why do I bleed?” Roman asked him, wiping the crusted blood off his hand.

“It could be part of your eternal punishment. Zeus condemns many prisoners of Tartarus to be tortured for eternity, and they heal just to bleed again.”

“I'm starting to question the point of allying with powerless mortals. Why not monsters, demons, or Titans?”

“Your greatest power will reside in the collective fury of all of the eternally punished in Tartarus. You're seething rage will be a thousandfold of what you exhibited when you killed the wind god, Eurus.”

“That was accidental, it was an impulse because-”

“Because you were a vampire. Perhaps the first of your kind to kill a god. With that power already, who knows what you could achieve with the anguish of Tartarus.”

Roman turned around and stared at the tunnel. He could still hear the rain and the sound of the rocks clashing against each other in the sky, falling down on Salmoneus as he burned his hands in the fire.

“Take me to Sisyphus next.” Roman told Janus.

“You do know he just a king? Not a titan, monster or demon?”

“Yeah. I do. Salmoneus said I should speak to him.”

“That's fortunate. That's where I was sending you anyway.”

The tunnel rumbled and caved in on itself, slowly reforming back into the cliff wall without any impression that it was ever there. Over to the right of Roman, a taller cave began to open up and bright sunlight shone from it, making it appear as if it were glowing.

“Go ahead. If I were you, I'd move out the way.” the younger Janus spoke as he sat down on a boulder.

Roman walked through the cave and instantly could feel the heat of the sun. It emptied out into a huge green valley, filled with hills and mountains. Roman heard a rumbling sound behind him and thought the cave was closing, but when he turned to look a huge boulder came rushing down the hill, barreling towards him.

“Holy Sh-!” Roman was pushed out of the way and the boulder continued to roll until it stopped a few feet away. Rubbing dirt out of his eyes, he got up and tried to see his rescuer. A tall olive skinned women in a purple and black dress was eyeing him suspiciously. She had on golden jewelry from her hand to her ankles, and had a small black cloak on top.

“How did you get here?” She asked him, “And why would you come?”

“My name is…” Roman struggled to find the words. “Um, wow... your so pretty.”

“I wouldn't be flirting with the wife of Hades if I were you.” a tired voice panted.

Roman watched as a sweaty muscular man in a dark loincloth walked down the hill to greet them.

“No god takes kindly to men advancing on their wives. Especially mortal men. Why are you here?”

“I came to speak to you. My name is Roman.”

“The Slayer of Eurus.” The woman's eyes narrowed.

Roman nodded. It seemed common knowledge to everyone at this point, and he was done explaining or talking about it further.

“Yeah, I did. And you being the wife of Hades means your name must be Persephone.”

“Indeed.” Roman extended his hand to her but she stared at it in disgust.

“What have you come to speak to me for? I have nothing to offer.”

He marched past without waiting for an answer. Wiping the sweat off his brow, he got behind the boulder and began to push.

“I wanted to ask you to help me in my battle against Zeus.”

“Zeus?!” said Persephone, appalled. Sisyphus stopped the pushing the boulder and gawked at him.

“What do you mean battle against Zeus?” Persephone asked.

“Zeus struck me down, twice and I seek revenge.”

“He must have fried your mind little man,” Sisyphus laughed. “Because you clearly aren't thinking.”

“Oh but I am. You're here because of him aren't you. Don't you want revenge?”

“I am here because of me. It took me a long time to learn that.”

“Do you really think you deserved to be killed by Zeus?” Roman asked him.

“I know I did.” Sisyphus snapped. The things I've done are unforgivable. The punishment surely fits the crime.” Sisyphus went back to the boulder and began pushing it once more while Roman looked on in silence.

“Are you always here, watching him?” Roman asked Persephone.

“Of course not.” She replied. “I come from time to time to observe him. I haven't been here last since.”

“Three centuries, give or take.” said Sisyphus as he rolled the boulder past them. Persephone walked up to Roman and whispered, “How do you hope to defeat Zeus?”

“I plan on allying myself with the punished in Tartarus.” said Roman. “With their strength, or whatever, I'll be strong enough to fight Zeus. It's not really my plan, some guy told me all of this.”

“Some guy?” She asked him. “This guy have a name?”

“Yeah, Janus. He says he's not a Greek god though, so I doubt you know him.”

Persephone's eyes widened at the sound of his name.

“I know him. We all do.” She turned away from him and disappeared into a black smoke.

Sisyphus was halfway up the hill when he noticed she was gone. He swore in ancient Greek.

“She was much better company than you.” he continued his painstaking task, grunting and heaving with effort while Roman watching quietly until he neared the top, when the boulder rolled out of his grasp and back down the hill. Sisyphus wiped the sweat from his brow as he walked down the hill again to continue. His body was dripping with sweat under the scorching rays of the sun, Roman wasn't sure if there were tears coming from his eyes or if it was more sweat.

“Allow me.” He told him raising his hand to stop him before jogging towards the boulder.

“What do you think you're doing?” Sisyphus asked him, squinting because of the sun.

“This is not your pain to bear.”

“Neither was your brother’s, but I've shared his pain as well.

Roman got behind the boulder, stretched for a second, and tried to push.

“Jesus Christ! How did you do this?!” He cried, barely budging the boulder.

“You've met my brother here?” Sisyphus asked him. Once Roman finally got it to move, he replied in short breaths.

“Yes… He asked me…. to see you… next… oh god.” Roman had only reached the foot of the hill. Sisyphus put one hand on the boulder and shoved Roman out of the way. He flew like a leaf in the wind and collapsed on the ground.

“Why you would you seek out either of us? We're mortals, we have no power to defeat a god like Zeus.”

“But you did something to garner his attention. Enlighten me.” said Roman, getting up to stand by his side.

Sisyphus, admiring his effort and amused by his weakness, gave in.

“If you must I know, I did many things that incurred the wrath of the gods. Firstly, I wasn't as hospitable as I should've been. To show my own ruthlessness I killed my guests many times, violating xenia, a code all hosts must follow. Second, after revealing to the god Asopus that Zeus had abducted his daughter, I managed to trick Thanatos after Zeus sent him after me. I chained him up, thus stopping death for everyone.”

“That sounds awesome. How were you able to speak to the gods?” Roman replied, putting his hands back on the boulder to help Sisyphus push.

“It may seem like that to you. The gods however, disagreed. Time was different, long ago. Mortals convened with the gods all the time. Now they're hidden, secluded. Soon to be forgotten, like me.”

“You won't be forgotten. In fact, now nothing ever is. I may not know much of Greek myth, but that's my own ignorance. There are many people in the modern world that know about you now. They even have created a word from your name.”

“Yes, I've heard. A Sisyphean task. They wouldn't do much lessen my hubris, would it?”

“I, I guess not.”

Together, they reached the top of the hill only to have the boulder roll down again. Now, Roman was almost as drenched in sweat as Sisyphus, and he had even less breath.

“I was smart back then. I was crafty. At times I thought I was more clever than Zeus himself. I avoided death a second time by telling my wife to leave my corpse unburied without giving me proper funeral rites. I pleaded with Persephone to let me return and once I did, I refuse to leave. I lived a while longer before being dragged back by Hermes and forced to endure this hard labor for eternity.”

“So that's it huh? You can't stop?” Roman asked him.

“You do know what eternity means, don't you?”

“Yes, but you were a smart man, you said so yourself. Surely you could've found a way to trick them again, something?”

“The only one that visits is Persephone. And she only watches with pity.”

They reached the boulder in silence and prepared to push again.

“Your story kind of reminds me of a poem,” Roman commented. “By Emily Dickinson. It goes like this; Fate slew him, but he did not drop, She felled, he did not fall, impaled him on her fiercest stakes, he neutralized them all. She stung him, sapped his firm advance, but when her worst was done. And he unmoved regarded her, acknowledged him a man.”

Sisyphus stopped moving the boulder and stared at Roman.

“That's beautiful. You mortals have gotten wiser in the time since I reigned. Not you specifically, but the others.”

Roman laughed. “I agree. And no offense taken. Do you see that opening over there? That's where I came from. Break this cycle. Leave this place.”

“There's no way. This is what I'll be doing for the rest of time. You could perhaps replace me, but then you wouldn't be able to battle Zeus, as you say. This is inevitable. It's never ending. And if you confront Zeus, you'll likely just like me. If you have the chance to escape Tartarus and live again, do that. Do not waste your second chance on revenge. Enjoy life while you still have time.”

“One of the most important things to me right now is directly related to Zeus. I have no choice.”

Sisyphus looked at him with pain in his eyes.

“Very well. You have my support in your fruitless endeavor. I'm sure Persephone will tell me how it ends, in a thousand years or so.”

“If I win, you'll know, believe it.” Roman held out his hand and Sisyphus shook it, smiling at him while crushing his bones.

“Good luck child. You'll need it.”