The Construction of Elis

Fifth Story of History of the Twelve, previous Story The Destruction of Erymanthos.

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Though the echoes had died away and Hind could no longer be heard, Thoth could still hear her quietly sobbing at the news that half of her comrades had died in the North. He was so distracted by his guilt that he almost limped past Stymphalos.

"Hello, Mage of Life." the purple haired mage said. Thoth jumped a little, his mind still back at the last cell.

"Hello, Stymphalos." Thoth replied, fixing his glasses. Looking at the other man Thoth saw him figiting and pacing. "Restless, are we?"

"Hm? Restless? Wouldn't you be restless? Stuck inside a cage." Stymphalos replied, speaking quickly his voice showing his stress at being locked up. "I like high places. Places with a view. Open places. I don't like this dark and dingy cell. I could barely tolerate Augeas' Labyrinth."

"Claustrophobic?" Thoth asked.

"Maybe a little." Stymphalos replied. "Why are you here anyways?"

"To get the stories of you and your comrades." Thoth answered. "I've already spoken to Hydra and Hind, they told me about their pasts and the pasts of Lion and Boar. I'm here to ask you about Augeas' and your pasts."

"You wanna know about the pasts of The Dodekathlon?" Stymphalos asked. "It's all painted with blood. What more do you really want?"

"The before. Before you all began painting Earth Land in blood."

"Alright, I'll tell you what I know about Augeas." Stymphalos said. "But, I want you to get me a place with a view. I don't care if it's still a cell, at least convince them to put me in one with a window."

"I'll do what I can." Thoth said.

"That's the best I'll get I suppose." Stymphalos sighed, then sat down on the bench, though he continued figiting. "Anyways, on to Augeas. He was an orphan in some no nothing orphanage in the middle of nowhere. It was the kind of place that takes in runaways and abandoned kids. Augeas also had the feeling some of the kids were abducted as well. He lived there until he turned ten, passing his time using his Earth-Make to entertain himself and the other kids."

"Where was this orphanage?" Thoth asked.

"I told you, in the middle of nowhere." Stymphalos replied.

"In what country?" Thoth asked.

"Sin." Stymphalos said. "Where was I...right, when he turned ten, and he had become proficient at he Earth-Make, some men showed up at the orphanage and asked for him. They basically adopted him, and they took him further into the middle of nowhere. They walked for miles on end until they came across a larger group of men. That's when they told Augeas why they adopted him. He was to help them build their utopia city they were calling Elis."

"Why go to an orphanage, take one kid, and then tell them they're going to help build a city?" Thoth pondered aloud.

"Because of Augeas' Earth-Make. Though by 'help' those men really ment that Augeas was going to build the entire city by himself." Stymphalos said, he had gone back to his pacing. "Every day they had him out creating buildings for them. Most of the time they screamed at him, saying that the building was wrong, then they'd beat him, have him destroy the building and then try again. They fed him very little, just enough to keep him alive, and treated him worse than the slaves of Bosco. Months went by and Augeas was finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. He overheard some of the men say that construction was almost complete. Then Augeas heard one man ask what would be 'done with the child', and the answer almost crippled him with fear. 'We'll kill him, once Elis is complete we'll have no use left for him.'"

"That's awful." Thoth said, disgusted at the callous behavior of mankind.

"Yeah, anyways, the next day as the men were going around and inspecting the latest building they made Augeas erect, he collapsed the building and the rest of the city on their heads and he began running." Stymphalos said. "Augeas ran as fast and as hard as he could. After countless miles Augeas collapsed from exhaustion and rolled into the roadside ditch. That's when Cerberus, Lion, Hydra, Hind and Boar found him. They decided, on a whim mind you, to feed him and help him recover. When they heard his story and how he killed that group of men, that's when Cerberus decided to take Augeas with them and make him part of the group."

"So if Cerberus hadn't decided to help Augeas on that whim, they would've just left him there to die?" Thoth asked. Stymphalos nodded and shrugged.

"They had already killed off entire towns and cities, what would it matter to them if some kid in a ditch died?" Stymphalos said. "But yeah, that's how Augeas joined up."

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Continued in Arcadia's Iron Feathers