

Kinard Mythology Anthology

By 6th Grade Students at Kinard Middle School
Blaze: The Origin of the Eclipse, Day, and Night

By Audrey M.

The Heliades were a paradise lover's dream. Lively, lush rain forests littered the Lands of the South along with stunning white sand beaches and glistening, turquoise blue waters that were impossible to ignore. The fragrance of coconuts and citrusy fruits filled the air, and the islands seemed to be everything anyone could ever ask for. It was deemed impossible to ever wish for anything more. Of course, there are always exceptions.

Linus, a citizen of this tropical chain of islands, was one of the few rebels against the Heliades' society. His history pitted him against the nearly perfect land.

But it had not always been this way.

Six years ago, Linus had been a mere fourteen years of age, and he was nothing more than a healthy youth dwelling in the lush, rolling hills of Advoncia, the land clearly favored by Demeter and her unfortunate daughter, Persephone. Here the sky was always blue, and stunning sunsets lit up the joyous atmosphere every time the sun began to sink into the million-year-old seas that met the thirsty ground along the western shores.

Linus was a strong, muscular boy with dirty-blond locks that hung over his handsome features. The tall oaks gently hugged the small stone cottage he called home, and a crystal river that gurgled and bubbled over stones as smooth as silk greeted him and his family every time they approached the door. He adored his one older sibling, Orpheus, and his carefree mother, Calliope. They were a very simple, loving group, and the endless happiness that filled the air never died.

That is, until Eurydice, Orpheus's dear wife, was helplessly attacked by a venomous serpent as she pranced joyfully by the river that lay in front of the cottage. She was quite an adventurous young woman, and she was too far off into the woods for Orpheus to reach her before her soul drifted down to the desolate Underworld. Orpheus was heartbroken beyond belief, and could not help but set out on a quest to rescue her from the Land of the Dead. Linus begged him desperately to stay with his feet planted firmly on the soft grass of Advoncia, for his brother was also his best friend, but Orpheus firmly refused and marched straight into the forest cave that sat only a little ways into the woods to begin his journey.

Day after day, Linus sat by the river where his brother had last left him and gazed longingly through the trees at the cave from which he had vanished. His once bold figure weakened like a wilted flower, and his skin began to pale. He refused to eat except for the small ends of loafs of bread his mother brought to him, although she coaxed him constantly to come sit in front of the warm fire place and eat something more.

After six long months, the youth finally gave up his lonely waiting. His mother was surprised when he thrust himself into her arms as she came out of the cottage to tend to the garden one spring day. He wailed and wept for what seemed like an eternity. Calliope squeezed him tighter, trying her best to comfort the child.

"I miss him, too," she whispered. Linus cried even harder. "I know it's hard, Sweetie, I do," she continued, a sad look in her grey-blue eyes, "but you're just going to have to accept that he's gone."

Linus suddenly extended his thin, lengthy arms and studied his mother's sympathetic expression, searching for any signs that it could all be a lie. Unfortunately, he didn't find any.

"Why," he managed to croak, "Why couldn't he just come back? Why did he have to be lost?"

"Shhh. It'll be okay, Linus, I promise."

"But why? Why didn't he come back, Mom?" Linus urged impatiently, his sorrow slowly beginning to boil and become anger.

"Sweetie..."

Linus pushed away from her. "Why didn't Orpheus come back?" Calliope moved towards her son and began to place her hands on his shoulders to calm him, but Linus would have none of it. He shook her off and darted backwards. He would not back down in this battle. "Ah, I see. You don't know the answer. You don't understand."

"Linus," Calliope said, startled and beginning to worry about the youth's emotional stability, "don't think that. Please don't. It's not true."

"Oh, really? Then why didn't he come back? Why did that stupid snake ever have to bite Eurydice in the first place? Why are the Fates so stinkin' cruel? And why couldn't the gods have been on our side for once?" Enraged, he stared with a soul of fire up at the skies above. "Why weren't the gods on our side?"

With that, he turned and bolted out into the valley, bursting with spring flowers that would have usually delighted him. He pulled out the small axe that hung on his leather belt and, before his mother could stop him, began swinging it at every beautiful tulip in sight. He then let out a cry of anger and pulled the flint and steel from his back pocket, relentlessly striking them against each other until a spark jumped from his hands to the ground. He ran ahead a few yards and repeated the process, continuing his destructive method until the valley and woods alike were alive with flames.

"How's that, you selfish gods? You useless, careless gods! What's it like to see your own treasure destroyed? Huh? Feel the devastation and grief yet? Probably not, since you have hearts of cold stone!"

Linus's acts of demolition and disrespect to the gods were not the wisest, for Hermes swooped down upon him, pinning him to a patch of grass that was not yet enveloped by fire.

"You have made the gods livid, and their spirits are as fiery as the landscape you now see around you, thanks to your careless actions," he scolded, shaking his head. "Demeter and Persephone are especially angry, for they have provided you with everything you have ever needed since the day of your birth. Now you have destroyed their favorite land, and Hera, Queen of Olympus, has decided your punishment."

Almost immediately, a blinding light radiated from the smoky sky, and the youth was unable to see anything around him. For one short moment, he felt as if he was suspended in thin air, and the next, he met the ground with an impact so great that every muscle in his body instantly began to ache. After a long moment of stillness and being paralyzed with fear, he raised his trembling hands in front of his face and cautiously opened his eyes. Slowly, he moved his hands apart to find that the terrifying light was gone, but his surroundings were completely different than before. As soon as he saw the white-sand beaches, glittering ocean water, and lush rain forests, he knew exactly where he was and why.

Hera had banished him to the Heliades.

Years later, Linus still dwelled miserably in the paradise that everyone around him enjoyed so much. Finally, after an eternity of dreadful days, his twentieth birthday came around. On the very day that was supposed to be his most joyous, he was the deepest in his gallons of sorrow, for there was no one to celebrate with him and tell him they loved him. Soon this endless sadness faded into unbelievably incredible motivation to change, or, more appropriately, escape, his unbearable situation.

Linus collapsed into his leafy hammock, which he had crafted himself from the rain forests' colossal leaves, and stared longingly up at the vivid blue sky. He listened to the tropical birds sing unheard songs and watched their tropical colors flash through the forests' green threshold above the turquoise blue pools below him. This delightful little oasis in the middle of the rainforest gave him the momentary peace to dwell upon all of his possible options, only for him to realize that his best choice was his least favorite.

Reluctantly, Linus stood up on his hammock and grabbed the sturdy tree branch above him. He then jumped bravely off of his hammock and catapulted himself to the next branch, hooking his legs around it so that he was dangling upside down. The youth continued with this method until he reached the highest point of the tree, where he sat atop even the thinnest branches. That was the beauty of retaining some power from his goddess mother. He swiftly raised his thin fingers to his lips and let out a surprisingly gentle but loud bird call, and soon there were all of the colors of the rainbow flocking towards him. Linus raised his arms out around him and watched calmly as the creatures drifted onto them and assembled eagerly around him on the tiny branches.

Linus knew that to get anywhere with his mission, he must receive Hera's undivided attention. Again, he raised his fingers to his lips and let out a beautiful tune, watching proudly as the birds harmonized with his song rather loudly. A determined expression was set into the hard lines on the youth's face.

"Hera," he whispered under his breath, "you better keep the one promise you were nice enough to make me."

The Queen of Olympus, whose husband happened to be away enjoying his little nymphs' laughter and joy at the moment, was immediately taken by surprise at the song Linus had set to catch her attention with. Indeed, his plan worked grandly, for the song he had chosen, When the Saints Go Marching In, was secretly her favorite of the melodies composed by mortals.

Hearing his request, she said to herself, "Yes, my Dear Linus. This promise is one I would never break."

Almost instantly, Hera sent a word to Hades, who was now rather good friends with Orpheus and loved the beautiful playing of his lyre, to send the great musician up to the Earth's bright surface for a moment. Hades, who loved the company of Orpheus, reluctantly agreed.

Linus lit up as bright as the summer sun when he saw his brother, shaken and feeling slightly awkward to be above the Earth's crust once again. As he quickly thanked the birds and slid down the tree to approach him, his overwhelming happiness turned to overwhelming anger.

"You," he mumbled as he approached his long-lost brother, fuming, "are the one who caused my imprisoning here."

Orpheus, who had been attempting to hug his beloved brother, was shoved away by Linus with great force. Nevertheless, the older sibling pursued him anyway, until finally Linus gave up his anger and resistance and leaned into him.

"You will always be my brother, and I will always love you," Orpheus declared as he embraced Linus for the first time in six long years. "I never meant for you to be in this situation when I left the Earth's surface for Eurydice, and I will pour my heart and soul into making any wish you have come true."

Linus gazed up at him, tears streaming down his crimson cheeks. "Really?"

"What is it you need?"

"Well..." Linus started, staring intently at Orpheus's golden lyre slung over his shoulder on a leather strap.

Seeing the direction of his gaze, Orpheus pulled the Lyre off of his back with a swipe of his hand and held it out to his brother.

"Thanks," said Linus, hugging Orpheus once again, "you are my savior."

With that, he turned and excitedly raced into the rainforest on a mission of hope that finally seemed possible.

He could just barely hear his brother calling, "Good luck," in the distance.

Linus continued on his journey into the very heart of the forest until he reached exactly what he was looking for: a bird's nest the size of half of a football field. Courageously, he bent down to pick up a baseball-sized stone and hurled it up at the magnificent work of art.

Thud. Shriek. Whoosh!

Linus was suddenly thrust onto his back with a great amount of ferocious wind. Coughing and gasping desperately for air, the youth lifted his head enough to see the giant beast he had awakened swoop down towards the Earth directly in front of him. He tried his best to ignore the pain throbbing in his sore chest and stumbled to his feet to face the monstrous creature that was waiting for him.

White ovals pitted against a background so deep blue that it was almost black bore holes in his confidence. Irises the color of the Mediterranean's waters caught him by surprise. A large plume colored neon purple, blue, and green sat atop the feathered creature's massive head, and the tinting of the colors of its feathers were so bright it was almost blinding to look at. Four feather-covered legs supported its body instead of the usual two. Its posture spoke proudly of a wildness and freedom that no one had ever even dared to take control of.

The giant bird let out a shriek so loud it would have instantly perforated a mortal's eardrums and unexpectedly lunged straight at Linus, claws stretched open and ready to kill. Linus tumbled into a somersault underneath the creature and began his battle strategy.

He softly plucked the wire strings and began whistling a tune more breathtaking than any other one he had composed before. Even as the bird lunged toward him once more, he continued with the unbelievable courage of a hero, his faith in Orpheus keeping him frozen in place on the forest floor.

Linus was shocked when the bird swooped down over him, unfazed and relentless. He winced when it planted its sharp talons firmly into the ground on either side of his head, blocking out the sun, and then raised one up over the center of his chest. The youth knew his chance of escape was as small as a coffee bean.

Linus was fully prepared to die.

However, having the spirit of a lion, Linus was determined to fight to the end. He knew there was no point in fighting the giant beast. He would lose that battle almost instantly. Instead, he continued to strum Orpheus' lyre, clutching it tight to his chest in case of his death, so that he may bring it back to his brother.

The bird let out one final, deathly shriek, and the youth was almost positive that he was done for. He could feel the beast's hot breath on his sweaty face, and he closed his eyes in a surrender. Pain shot through his ears as the bird clacked its huge beak, ready to finish the battle that had been won before it even started. He was an injured deer waiting to be ripped open by a relentless coyote.

Linus braced himself for the sharp pain in his chest and the feeling of utter despair. He was certain that it was only seconds away.

He waited. And waited. And waited...

After what seemed like an eternity, he slowly peeled one eye open. Expecting to see the Land of the Dead waiting for him, he was surprised that there was any sun still shining to blind him. Without moving, he monitored his body for any signs of pain. Sure, his shoulder ached badly from being thrown onto the ground, his ears were ringing loudly, and blood was leaking from his nose, but there seemed to be no fatal injuries.

That was when he noticed a warm feeling against his left side. Was he bleeding? Linus couldn't help but quickly sit up to see, for it didn't seem to hurt any. He gasped when he saw what the cause of the heat was.

The bird, which had seemed so vicious, deadly, and intent on killing him before, was now snuggled up against his side! Its head rested upon the strings of the lyre, and it appeared to be in a deep sleep.

Linus began to slowly creep away, fearing that it would again become dangerous if it was awakened. Unluckily for him, though, his right foot landed smack-dab in the middle of a twig.

The creature quickly bolted into an upright position and growled, staring at the youth. Immediately, Linus sprang to his feet and raised a huge log off of the banks along the pools around them. He pointed its sharp end at the bird and growled back.

The bird did the exact opposite of what Linus expected: it dropped to the ground and whimpered. Slowly, it crawled on the ground towards him, much like a scared puppy.

Linus cautiously approached the intimidated creature. When he saw that it meant no harm, he knelt down and placed the lyre beside him. It reached feathered talons towards the lyre and pulled it into its body. Linus shook his head and laughed.

"What are you, a dog?"

Linus cracked up even more when the bird looked him straight in the eye, as if saying, "What? Is there something wrong?"

Once the youth had finished his laughing fit, he settled himself just inches in front of the creature and dared to stare right into its magnificent eyes. It was time to get down to business.

"Have you ever felt," Linus whispered, "like you were abandoned? Like no one cared about you?" The beast had no answer, as it was not human, but it did stare intently back at him. Linus continued, "I need your help. Please." The creature appeared to be unamused. "Look at it this way," Linus countered, sighing, "I need your help as much as you feel you need that lyre."

After a long moment of silence and gazing at each other, the bird finally reached out its feathery wing. Linus stared at it, not understanding how it wanted him to respond. The bird began flapping his wing up and down impatiently, and the young man finally realized what it was trying to communicate.

He reached out and grabbed its wing in a formal handshake.

"So, the plan is really quite simple," Linus started. "All you have to do is fly us up into the sun, then through the sun, and...Poof! We will be magically transported to Earth!" The bird looked at him quizzically. Linus puffed his chest and looked towards their destination, high in the bright blue skies. "Just think, both of us together, living a life of freedom!" He waved his hands around in the air, as if painting a picture of their future. "We won't let the greedy gods who sit carelessly upon their thrones of Mt. Olympus bully us and contain us any longer! Oh, yes, we'll show em' who's really boss. We'll give em' a taste of their own medicine, make em' feel as helpless and angry as their mortal and animal slaves combined!"

The half-bird, half-beast rose to its feet in approval, and, with a piercing shriek full of passion and determination, spread its immense wings wide. It was rearing to go. With the biggest smile that had ever been plastered across his face in six, seemingly endless years, Linus climbed swiftly onto its back.

The beast immediately swooped upward towards the ball of fire floating in the sky. A new sense of freedom was like a powerful jet stream, pushing up under his wings and boosting him higher and higher into the crisp, refreshing air. His wings had been set free from the chains of the past, and a bright, new future beckoned to him with hands of fire. Linus himself was inspired by the cool wind on the back of his neck and the warming heat of the sun ahead.

"Up to the sun we go!" he shouted with glee.

And so they rose up and up and up, fearless on their mission to newfound freedom. Sadly for them, nearly nothing goes on without a god or goddess's notice.

Hera had, at first, not been worried by Linus' thrust and determination.

"As much as he may try, his plans will never ever work out," she mused. "He has no friends to help him, and there is not one citizen of the Heliades that would stop their endless joys and partying to dedicate themselves to helping a jungle Hobo."

She had not been afraid to send Orpheus from the Underworld for these wise reasons, but it had turned out that the youth was a bit more talented and cunning than she had expected. Now she saw him soaring up towards the sun to escape from the place she herself had imprisoned him and flew into a state of panic. She rushed to the sun god, Apollo, and begged him for some way to stop Linus's escape. Apollo, however, did not completely agree with Hera's choices.

"Why wouldn't you let him live a life of freedom?" he asked. "He's just a boy. Let him be a boy."

"I can't let him bring ruin upon world after world in his 'freedom', Apollo, and especially not upon Earth, where he is headed."

"And why not Earth?"

"Are you insane? The mortals will distrust us, and we will no longer receive the proper sacrifices. If that wasn't enough, war will break out on Olympus, for not having sacrifices will anger a few particular gods and goddesses here that have that kind of power," Hera answered confidently.

Apollo sighed. He was no match for the Queen of Olympus in this game.

"Fair enough," he said, "you have good reasons. I shall not let Linus pass through the sun, but I will permit his bird, as it is innocent enough in this matter."

The sun grew brighter and brighter and the air grew thinner and thinner as the youth and the bird became closer and closer to the blazing ball. Linus's excitement, along with the creature's, grew to the size of a mammoth. They could almost taste the victory and freedom that lie just moments away. As both ambitious friends became enveloped in the sun's sweltering flames, Linus shouted his last word. It was the word that represented what he had aimed to achieve ever since he had lost everything, and the word that had contained every last ounce of his hope:

"Freedom."

The bird, who was lost in the excitement of the new life that lie ahead of it, did not notice the loss of his friend. He could feel the heavy burdens of the past lifting off of his tired wings. The strength within him was renewed to ten times stronger than it had previously been, and he felt more rejuvenated than he ever had in his life.

The creature's magnificent wings had doubled their size, and the shades of his feathers had faded into bold reds, oranges, and golds. Its two thick, feathered back legs melted into long, magnificent tail feathers that seemed to drape for miles behind it. The bird emitted a light and fire that was blinding to look at, and a new passion filled his soul until it was overflowing with happiness and pride. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before and by far the best day of his life. His hope had faded to nothing at all, but now his eyes glittered with the new possibilities that were in his reach.

Apollo had transformed the bird into a magnificent Phoenix.

He swiveled his head around to congratulate and share his joy with his master, only for his newfound pride to melt away to fear and confusion when he realized that his friend was no longer grasping his strong wings. A set of chills ran swiftly down his back like a cold, terrifying serpent.

The bird cried out in sorrow, so loud that the heavens and Earth alike covered their ears. In his fury, he lashed his tail feathers at one thousand miles per hour towards the culprit of Linus's death. He watched as it flew off into the darkness of endless space, only to be a small star in the distance to Earth's inhabitants. The mortals, however, barely noticed the colossal change to their environment, for the light the Phoenix itself emitted was as bright as the sun that had lit up the skies.

The Phoenix shrieked louder than the big bang and barreled through the air, his gaze trained on the Earth below. His eyes never left the ground as he searched for his friend for twelve long, lonely hours. When he failed to find Linus from the skies above, he plunged down into the Earth's blazing core below, where he searched throughout the hot magma and molten rock for twelve hours more. Unfortunately, even this quest was unsuccessful.

But the Phoenix was not one to give up, and he sorrowfully continued his cycles for all eternity. Today, his desolate work is known by all mortals and gods alike, for when he dives beneath the Earth's surface, all light is absent from the world above, and when he soars high in the sky over all the lands, it is brighter than the sun he replaced.

Mortals call the repetition of this dreadful process night and day.

Hera herself recognized the poor creature and hung her head in shame at the decisions she had made. Every time she saw even the faintest glint of light rising out of the Earth's crust, she hid in the corner and silently wept. As soon as the last beam of light vanished from the skies, she yelled at herself with anger and hurled her delicate golden crown at the wall. She continued like this, every dawn and every dusk, until finally it was too much for even the Queen of Olympus to bear on her own. Hades, the only god Hera knew would understand her circumstances, was soon greeted by Iris, her favorite messenger. Iris quickly spilled out her master's circumstances to the Lord of the Dead and pleaded for his help.

"I have seen Linus with his brother, Orpheus," he said, "and he does look sorrowful sometimes. But he is also overjoyed to be with his brother once more, so I see no prominent reason to send him out of this kingdom."

"That will not please Hera," Iris replied sincerely. "It will only make her more furious and despaired."

"Well, would you please remind her for me that I am the ruler of the Underworld, not her?" he replied.

"But Dear Hade..."

"You best be on your way," he commanded, "or I will send the most evil souls of the dead upon you to trap your soul in the darkest place of the Underworld, and your beautiful colors that everyone adores will never again dance across the skies."

Frightened by his threatening remarks, Iris fled immediately back to Olympus as fast as she could. When Hera questioned her hasty return, she could not help but confess:

"Hades refused to grant any request that favored Linus returning to the Earth. He was firm in his answer, and I could not help but give in, as he threatened to banish me there forever."

Any hope that the queen had held before had vanished, and her face turned a deep shade of red.

"Thank you for trying," she muttered under her breath, attempting to hold in her spewing anger. With that, she fled immediately to her husband, who was enjoying his nymphs in the forests of Lydia.

She darted up to him and grabbed his sturdy shoulders, then summed up all of her strength to shake them.

"I need your help," she cried, "Hades refuses to let Linus journey up from the Underworld!"

Zeus was alarmed by her sudden appearance and strong emotions, and he begged her to explain to him her situation. Hera blurted out all of the information she could remember about Linus, his banishment, and the bird that now circled the Earth as a Phoenix.

"He said to remind you of what?" Zeus interjected when Hera began explaining Iris's confrontation with Hades. "That is completely unacceptable!" And so he roared off, lightning bolt in hand, to the Underworld before his wife could even finish.

When Zeus finally arrived, all of the souls of the dead cowered in the darkest shadows and watched with fear as he approached the castle of Hades and Persephone.

"Hades," he bellowed, flames of anger dancing in his eyes, "come out of your puny palace and face what you set yourself up for!"

Hades could not help but obey his all-powerful brother and exited his place of hiding to stand trembling before him.

"Yes, brother? How may I serve you?"

"Release Linus at once from your hold, or I will strike you with all of my might with this lightning bolt. You have disrespected my wife, Hera, and her messenger." Zeus said, staring into Hades' frightened eyes. "You should be dead right now. I am giving you one last chance. Will you take it?"

"Yes! Yes! I will send the boy up immediately!" Hades exclaimed, darting back into his castle.

"Very good," Zeus chuckled to himself, satisfied.

Meanwhile, Hera sat back in the valley where Zeus had left her, gazing intently at the sky that was constantly getting darker and darker. Suddenly, her face lit up with a smile and she jumped to her feet.

"Look," she shouted to the nymphs that had gathered to comfort her, her long finger pointed skywards, "there's Linus and his Phoenix!"

Everyone looked to the far west, where Linus, seen as a dark shadow from having dwelled in the Underworld, embraced his feathered friend, seen as a hot ball of fire. All who dwelled on Earth, the Underworld, and Olympus gasped at the magnificent sight of the phenomenon and cheered for the joyful reunion in the sky.

So it came to be that twice every year, once at the beginning of winter and once at the beginning of summer, Linus and his Phoenix meet in the skies above Earth with overflowing happiness. This event has come to be most commonly known as the eclipse, enjoyed annually by mortals, gods, and souls of the dead alike.
The Jelly Beans

By Evelyn Andel

Eos frolicked through the tall grass as if she held the world in her hands, but really she was as tiny as a bean and could not identify the direction of her own home. She was the Goddess of Beans, and her 12 children followed single file behind her. From afar they looked like a duck and her ducklings. Eos, the goddess of beans, reached the stony path that led to the door of her home. The small children yelped for joy as soon as it came into sight, and they scurried to the door like mice. The children opened the secret door for the children and herself. The small cottage was a mansion from their view, there were beans everywhere you glanced, used for everything. Hollowed out beans were used for beds and baby hollowed beans were used for cups and bowls. The only bean that had no purpose at all that was just sitting on the table, was the most ordinary of all beans, called, well bean. Her good friend, Goddess of breakfast, was always there for her when she needed most, she had invited the goddess of breakfast for, as you can imagine, breakfast.

The goddess finally arrived, with some of her famous growing jelly.

"Welcome," Eos said kindly, "Come...come inside. There is this bean, and it is very interesting. I thought you might use it in your jelly."

"I have brought you the magical, flourishing jelly, will you try some?" She asked kindly, peering down at Eos tiny head.

"Of course," She gratefully accepted as she called for the children to carry it in. They walked in together, opening the false human door. They walked together to the table and sat down, first moving the beans to the floor.

"Is it interesting," She said to the goddess of breakfast, "Can you use it?"

"No, sorry," She replied regretfully, "Farewell." The tiny soul was disappointed, and she nodded, as if agreeing, after her as she disappeared into the long grass. The goddess trudged back inside, only to find the children playing on the table. CRASH!!! There went the jelly, onto the bean unlike any other. The angered goddess walked in the fields, suddenly a huge and great foot almost descended on her.

"Hey, watch where you going big foot." The goddess yelled after the creature.

"Oh sorry, I am Vision, and you would think my vision would be better." The goddess of books said, Eos, however, did not find her joke funny. The stars were out gleaming like never before, a rainbow firework shot in the sky from the direction of Eos's house. The goddess started to bolt, her chest of fire, screaming for the children. The worried goddess arrived at the house wheezing her lungs out, the house was fine. Eos went inside and there was a hole in the roof and in the table. The beans were gone. Suddenly, "POP" she looked beside her and the beans are falling from the sky. One split open, it was beautiful, a whirlpool of rainbow water. The inside was like a heart of a human the goodness is on the inside not visible until it breaks open or finds love. Eos picked them up, burning, and cut them open and serves them to her children and herself.

"Mama, mama I am growing," little Joey squealed. She looked at all her children each one growing six feet tall, she looked at her own feet and saw the floor getting farther away from her sweaty face. Eos arose from the floor the marvelous goddess had been let go, released too run in the fields as an equal, like all the other gods and goddesses. Now all gods, big or small, will bow down to her, and she walked in the fields of beans like she controlled the world. From that day on, Eos was now truly goddess of the fields.
Why Do We Make Snowmen

By Nathan Hoover

Hector Trenth trudged through the snow to his house; the snow seeming to pull down on his feet with each step. His crestfallen face gazed up as he saw his modest village just over the next hill. He could just imagine his family's surprise as he dragged his freshly caught deer onto the porch bringing the joy to his family that there would be a feast tonight. He passed by the other huts until he approached his, which was slightly smaller than the others. He quietly kicked his boots against the hut to knock off some of the snow from his boots. The snow splattered to the ground.

When Hector silently entered the house, his sister Emily screamed, "Close the door you're letting all the cold air in, are you crazy?"

"Yep, that's my loving sister," Hector hissed under his breath. Hector shook off his boots and motioned to his mother to come outside. She was currently sitting at the small rickety table crammed in the back. Knitting what looked to be a very misshapen pair of socks. Reluctantly, his mother ascended steadily to her feet and followed Hector to the doorway.

When she saw the deer on the porch she narrowed her eyes and smacked Hector across the face, "Do you have any idea what Frostbite could have done to this village if you had been caught? You could have gotten us all killed. If I told you once I've told you a million times, never hunt deer near Frostbite's dwelling. Or do I need to remind you what happened to the last fellow who stole from Frostbite?" She whispered harshly to him.

"It doesn't matter mom, because I wasn't caught." Hector said exasperated on how his mother had reacted to his prize.

"Well there's no sense just letting that deer rot outside might-as-well bring it inside so that I can prepare it. Why don't you go sit around the campfire with the men WHO DON'T steal from the goddess of winter? Maybe they will put some common sense in that brain of yours." She said shooing Hector away.

Hector awkwardly walked to the men across the camp-fire who were whispering in miniscule tones. Hector sat down in the group on top of a decomposing log. Hastily joining the conversation.

"How much longer will this blasted season last?" said one man, who was immediately seconded by another.

"This treacherous season is bitter, wet, and especially unforgiving."

Up on her mountain, Frostbite looked down menacingly, upset that these pitiful mortals would dare criticize her season. Swiftly, she swept her hand over the snow in strange complicated patterns until an army of ten seven foot tall snowmen with razor sharp icicle teeth were born.

"Demonstrate to these pitiful mortals what happens when they dare insult the goddess of winter, MAKE THEM PAY!"

Down at the village Hector heard the warning bells. What could that be he wondered, as he saw a group of hunters entering through, and closing the wooden gates that protected the village? The group of hunters looked considerably smaller than when he had seen them leaving this morning.

"What's going on, and why are the hunters back so early with not all their men?" Hector bellowed, trying to be heard over the clammer of villagers.

One of the hunters stood up on an ancient tree stump and began to explain what happened, as he got further into the story the villagers got more and more silent.

"We didn't stand a chance, as we were hunting a group of ten snowmen with razor sharp icicle teeth attacked us killing three of our party, and injuring two of us. We need to find a way to fight off these monsters until summer when the snow will dissolve."

One of the villagers decided to summon the other men over to try to find a way to fight the snowmen. Hector heard a strange noise outside of the wall, as he climbed to the top and peeked over he saw a snowman gnawing on the wood slowly making progress eating a hole through the defense. Suddenly, he heard a scream from the other side of the village and saw multiple snowmen attacking the villagers through a hole in the wall. At the opposite side of the village, ten men lined up and launched scalding hot water at the snowmen, but the plan backfired and the snowmen froze the water in midair turning it into icicle spears and ramming the villagers through with appalling force. As Hector hopped down from the wall, he headed to the center of the village where the remaining villagers were making a final stand. Just as Hector reached the remaining resistance the snowmen forced everyone to surrender.

"Come with us or be destroyed!" the snowmen chanted in unison and walked away.

The villagers willingly followed and were soon out of breath from the walk and climb up the mountain. Though no one said it, everyone began to fear that they were headed to Frostbite's lair. Soon their fears were confirmed as they entered the gloomy crevice in the mountain that frostbite called home. As they approached the throne that Frostbite sat on, all the villagers kneeled before her.

"Why are you calling on us?" one of the villagers began to say, but was quickly cut off as one of the snowmen stabbed him through the back with an icicle spear.

"I'll be the one talking and you will not say a word unless spoken to. To start, you gripe about my glorious season and some of you even dare to hunt in my territory to steal my prey. One of you must pay for this with their life. I choose.... you." she said pointing a finger at Hector. One of the snowmen dragged him forward. "This is my proposition, I take this boy and kill him and I will let you go as long as you promise not to steal from my woods and not to gripe about my season."

The villagers quickly agreed, even Hector's own family, So Frostbite picked up Hector, he kicked and punched screaming like a banshee, but it was no use. The more he tried to escape the more constricted he became by Frostbite's killer grasp. Frostbite watched Hector's struggle with an amused look on her face. Then she lifted her arm and hurled him from her dwelling. Hector reached out as he passed over the edge of the dwelling and caught onto the cliff of the mountain. Resulting in himself hanging from the mountain. He gritted his teeth as the jagged rocks pierced his skin and a warm trickle of blood flowed from his hand. As he looked up he met Frostbite's gaze. Like a cat toying with a mouse, Frostbite began to remove Hector's fingers from the edge one by one.

As the last finger was removed the villagers could hear Hector say "I forgive you." As he fell into what seemed the endless abyss, his face disappearing into the mist. Many villagers shed tears that day, both family and friends.

Since then, during the winter the people all around the world make snowmen to remember the tragic event. As an honor for his sacrifice, Hector's name has been passed down through generations to the strongest of the strong. It even reached the great city of Troy and the name was given to a new great hero, the prince of Troy, but that is another story.
How Water Lilies Came To Be

By Carrie

I've heard from my master that we live in a place called -- I think-- Issohcran? Maybe? Issohcran is a small Hind-Legger place, I think, where Hind-Leggers live. We live far away from everyone else, in an up-high Hind-Legger Den in the woods. It's very green here. My master is the kindest Hind-Legger that I know. She's so loving to me, she pets me, loves me, feeds me, she's just the best! Oh yeah. And her name is Lilly. She's one of those things they call nymphs. She has the prettiest fur! It's a lot like mine -- golden and silky and shiny, a lot like the sun, too. And -- another weird thing about her -- she LOVES tree bark. I really don't know why, but almost everything she owns has the stuff on somewhere on it. My food bowl is even made from it! Oh, shoot. I think she found out about the... um... accident? She can be horrendous when she's mad, by the way.

"Rufus!" That's my name. Rufus. "Oh you bad dog. Grrr! That was my mother's dish! My mother's! Why do you always have to destroy everything?" See what I mean by horrendous? And she makes it more horrendous when her face turns all purple -- which it was -- and when she stomps so loud that I think I'll go deaf. Which she was unhelpfully doing. Her hands were on her hips and she was glaring horribly.

"You are the worst dog in ALL of Icocran! All the other nymphs love you, but you are horrible!" Oh, lordie. Here comes the storm. Like that wasn't. Ha! Whimpering, I scooted towards her nervously. She contains the worst glare in the history of the world. Oh if only she could speak my language! Then she'd understand that a squirrel was teasing me and I had to go outside and chase it! I couldn't very well go through the window, so I had to run out the door. It was only an accident that I hit the table in my path where her dish was. Actually, it was her fault for leaving the dish there. Hmph! That's what I say. But sometimes, if I give her my look, she gets nice again. So I plopped down and opened my big, brown eyes all wide and looked sadly and guiltily up at her. I couldn't suppress a tiny whimper, too.

"Oh...Rufus. Don't give me that look. You're so pathetic! Come on. I forgive you. We can glue it back together again. Look, I think there's a lot of bark in the forests at this time of year. C'mere, you goof ball. You're so silly! Don't say I didn't warn you about the tree bark. But there's one danger about loving tree bark that she's told me about. The god, Euranius (u-RIAN-us), the god of paper, I think, liked bark, too. And he did NOT like the fact that a nymph liked it also. Because he wanted it all to himself. And, of course, all the trees in the forest belonged to him. So Lilly was putting herself in lots of danger when she snuck tree bark. Sometimes I heard him rumbling to his wife, Sakline, grumbling about something or other.

"Sakline! Look at that stupid nymph! Trying to sneakily steal my bark again! I'm sick of it! Make her stop! No, don't. You're too unsmart to do anything. Let me. I'm the better one after all." I could hear him because my sharp ears picked up practically every sound on Earth! Which...is sometimes not the best ability because sometimes I hear stuff that isn't so pretty. And I might get in trouble for eavesdropping, too. Oh, by the way, that was the god I was telling you about earlier. Sakline is the goddess of flowers and beauty. Not good.

"Hon, I hate to say this, but there's a REALLY obvious solution." Sakline was unhelpfully trying to be helpful, but it wasn't really helpfully helping because the dumb goddess unhelpfully wasn't helpfully telling her husband what the helpful solution was. Wow. Sometimes I think that those Hind-Leggers are really dumb, because they are. Know what I mean?

"What is it? Maybe you're not so stupid after all. Tell me!"

"Oh, darling. A smart person like you..."

As we continued on, their voices faded away and I was jerked back into real life. Apparently, just in time because I suddenly spotted a long green stick. Also known as a snake. Also known as a venomous snake. Also known as a venomous snake about to bite Lilly!!! I instantly dropped into a low crouch, growling like nobody's beeswax.

"What is it, bud? Huh? What do you see?" I crept closer and closer to the coiled snake. It pulled its glittering head back, so, of course, I thought it was retreating. I couldn't have been more wrong. The next thing I knew, Lilly was shouting something that I didn't hear and I could feel a horrible pain shoot up my leg. I wailed in pain, crying helplessly. Then everything went black.

***

"Please let him be OK. Please, please, please. Miz Lune, tell me he'll be OK. Tell me!"

"'E's gon' be OK. See look, 'e's openin' 'is eyes."

"RUFUS!!!!!!!!!!!! You're alive! Oh, thank Euranius. Thank Zeus. Thank Sakline. Thank the gods. Thank everything! Look, Miz Lune. He's alive! Are you OK, boy? Huh? Are you? Are you?" I blinked open my tired eyes to see two faces peering down at me. One, I knew--Lilly. Her face looked as if all of the stars, the moon, and the sun had been plastered on to it, it was shining so much. Her eyes were sparkling and laughing with delight. Her grin was as if the strongest Hind-Legger in all of Issohcran had taken her mouth and pulled as hard as they could, stretching it out. She leaned over and kissed the top of my head joyfully. But the other person, I didn't know. She had darker skin and dark, dark fur. She was wearing a deer-skin outerwear and her paws were empty. But she had a very kind, joyful, and loving face. She smiled down at me, her smile not nearly as wide as Lilly's. But it was still big, just the same. But suddenly, right then and there, my leg started to throb. I whimpered. It was as if someone was stabbing me with a million and more knives, it hurt so much. I don't think Lilly noticed, unfortunately.

"Oh. Rufus, this is Miz Lune. She saved you from the snake bite." Snake bite??? What snake bite? I asked myself, giving Lilly what I hoped was a questioning look. Maybe it was why my leg hurt so much. Apparently, my look was questioning.

"Darlin'," Miz Lune called softly. "You waz bit by a snake. A little, tiny, bitty snake. Don't you worry now! See, you OK." I remember that day very clearly. In seconds, Lilly was gone, off to collect some bark, and I was left alone with Miz Lune. Her face was so kind and so gentle.

"Now, now, 'on'. Close your eyes, get some sleep, Lilly be back when you wake." I really didn't want to close my eyes. I didn't want Miz Lune to go! But eventually, exhaustion kicked in, and my eyes closed. All was peaceful as I fell into a deep, deep sleep. If only I had gone with Lilly. But how was I supposed to know that she would never, ever run her hand over my golden fur again?

***

The screams pierced my sleep. The horrible screams of my master. Instantly, I leaped up. Bad choice. Pain shot up my leg and I let out a howl, collapsing to the floor. The bite! How could I have forgotten that I'd been bitten? How? Ignoring the injury and pain, I bravely leaped up again and hobbled out of the Hind-Legger Den towards the screams. Now I could make out some desperate words.

"No! How could you! I need my hands! Please! How will I be able to love and feed Rufus anymore? How?"

"I'm taking away the ability to use your hands because, as I already explained to you, if you steal my bark then I figure out how to stop you. Making you lose your hands was the solution."

"But--my dog--he needs me--how could you--but--" Euranius lifted his hands then, muttered some words, and instantly Lilly dropped her hands to her sides, sobbing. I started to run. Running, racing, my leg screaming in pain. The wind whipped at my fur, trying to push me back. The trees whispered at me to stop. I couldn't stop. I wouldn't. Panting, I suddenly saw them. Lilly, her hair in a wild mess and tangled with sticks and leaves. Her face was wet with tears, and yet still they were coming. Her hands hung limply at her side. And him. The god. Euranius. I gave a small whimper of fear. He was so tall, so strong, and so magnificent. And so angry. He was glaring at Lilly, looming over her like one of the looming trees. Anyone else, and I would have leaped to Lilly's defense. But that wasn't gonna happen. You don't mess with gods. And then there was my leg, too.

"Rufus!" Lilly wailed. She turned back to the god. "Please! Please." Unhappily, she sank to the ground. All was silent. Even the birds that usually twittered happily were noiseless. Not a sound was made. The tall trees loomed above me, seemingly glaring at me. The bushes rustled in the wind, whispering to me. Then Euranius, in a flash of gold light, was gone. I padded over to Lilly. The ground underneath my paws was prickly, and it hurt. She now smelled of wet leaves from the ground. The beautiful light streaming down through the trees encircled her in a golden halo, making her look gorgeous. I nudged her, knowing that she would be comforted and run her hand over me. She always did. Then, she would lean over and comfort me and tell me all her problems. She always did. Then, she would scoop me up and walk us back home. She always did. But not today. Today, she struggled up and walked off, in the direction of home, leaving me alone in the woods. I barked after her departing shape, but she didn't turn around. I started to speedily streak after her, still barking. She turned this time, but said something I didn't expect.

"No, Rufus. No." She broke into a run. I was not going to give up. But I skidded to an abrupt halt when she closed the door instead of letting me in. I sat down, startled. My howl split the silent air, but I could do nothing to get her to let me in. My injured leg was perfectly fine, miraculously (I mean, how does a leg heal in a couple of minutes? And of course, the obvious answer never came to me, the one that was that Euranius had healed it. Oh well.) Which meant...wait...not nothing. I could bring her bark! Then she'd have to let me in. I was back within minutes with 4 pieces in my jaws. I scratched at the wooden door until eventually, the door opened. When she saw the bark, I could tell she was dumbfounded. She stared at me for a minute, her normally laughing blue eyes squinting down at me. Then, suddenly her face lit up.

"Teeth! Oh, Rufus you're so clever! Hang on. I'll be right back." She pushed the brown door closed with her foot, and I could hear her hurrying away. When she came back, she was fully dressed and ready to go. We marched off, with me carrying her bark pouch in my jaws. When we arrived in the trees, she told me to drop the bag. Then she leaned forward, closer to a tree. She grabbed a piece of bark in her teeth and pulled as hard as she could. Eventually, the strip of bark came off in her mouth.

"Open the bag, will you, boy?" But with the piece of bark in her mouth, it sounded more like, "Oha a ag, ill oo, oy?" I did as she told me, wondering why she wasn't using her hands to get the bark, and why she couldn't open the bag herself. When the bag was opened wide enough, she dropped the piece of bark in, then turned back to the tree. Finally, we had collected enough pieces of bark to satisfy her. I carried the bag back home again, and then promptly sat down to wait for dinner. None came. Hello? Did she even know I was still there? I wasn't that hard to see, I didn't think. I gave a tiny whimper and picked up my dog bowl. Lilly turned towards me. As soon as she saw me, her eyes filled with tears. So quick, right? One minute, she's happily laughing, the next, crying.

"No, Rufus. You have to go hunt your own food now. I can't feed you anymore." Wait, what? What does she mean, she can't feed me? My mind was whirling. In such a quick amount of time, too.

"Go now. Go catch your food." She tugged open the door with her foot and gently nudged me out. Startled, I headed for the large woods. Why couldn't she feed me anymore? Why did she stop petting me and loving me? She only seemed to be like this after her encounter with Euranius. What had happened there that had caused this? I never imagined that she had lost the ability of her hands. I didn't find that out until it was too late to understand.

***

I could smell mouse. I was starving and a mouse seemed like a good idea. I lifted my nose and crept after the smell until I caught sight of the mouse underneath a tree, nibbling on grass as soft as a feather. Dropping into a crouch, I crept closer and closer, trying to stay downwind. I was finally close enough. Bunching up my muscles first, I leaped into the air, landing squarely on top of the unknowing mouse. I closed my jaws around its throat, then dove in. After eating, I captured another mouse and a rabbit for dinner. They didn't taste quite as good as the food my master fed me. Actually, it was gross. It tasted like dried cardboard mixed with paint and mud. But at least it was food. Once I finished, I hurried back home and scratched on the door. Five little toes poked through the door and pulled it open. Lilly was standing with the bark bag in her teeth, about to get bark.

"Rufus, you've gotta stay here and wait for me, OK?" she explained, dropping the bag. Then she leaned down and picked up the bag again. I longed to scurry after her, racing to keep up until we reached a bark-covered tree, but I stayed put, watching her departing shape.

Meanwhile...

"I can see you, Luliann. I can see you taking my bark with your teeth!" The loud, booming voice of Euranius made all the trees shudder. Oh, and Luliann is Lilly's real name, in case you didn't know. He suddenly appeared before her.

"Follow me, Luliann. Come," Lilly hurried after him, because you don't disobey gods. As she followed him, he started climbing the air, ordering Lilly to watch him, yet still follow him. Since Lilly was watching him and not the ground, she stumbled several times. Oh yeah, and you might want to know that Euranius was leading her to a sparkling, blue pond. Who knew that something so pretty could be so deadly! Lilly seemed not to notice.  
"Maybe now you will know not to steal my bark." Euranius boomed.

"Wait-what?" Lilly questioned, finally looking down. But it was too late. Lilly stumbled and fell into the pond.

"HELP!" she screamed. "Help! Somebody! Please!" But she started sinking. Sakline came down, talking to Euranius in a soft, gentle voice, murmuring "Dear, I think that was a bit too harsh. She shouldn't have died that way."

"Well, it's too late now."

"At least let me turn her into a flower." the gentle voice pleaded.

"Whatever. See if I care. 'Cuz I don't." Lilly started to shrink until she was about an inch tall. Her hair turned into soft, silky, pink petals, with a little bit of white at the bottom. More and more appeared, until there was enough to be in the shape of her, lying at the bottom of the pond, now gorgeous flowers. Now, if you look down at the bottom of the pond, you will see a girl there, her hair splayed out beautifully, her delicate feet pointed. The first fresh-water water lily.

But back at home, I knew about none of this until much later. I stood at the window, watching out, and waiting for her return. But she didn't come back for the rest of the day. I stayed there, by the window, for days. Miz Lune came sometimes, and forced me to eat and drink, but I did so at the window. I didn't budge from that spot, waiting for Lilly to return until much later. But she never came back. So I set off after her. I ran, hoping, praying. I never found her.

Alexandra, Hermes, and Artemis

By Mackenzie

The waterfall sparkled in the sunlight, as the sea beneath glistened. The winding path, that had seen too many travelers, was covered with wild flowers that filled the air with a sweet aroma.

The two friends traveled diligently along the crumbling path, their feet stomping on the rocky trail. Alexandra, skipping along next to her friend, was so joyful. Her blonde glowing hair flew behind her in the gentle spring breeze, her blue eyes sparkled as the waterfall reflected off of them, and the taste of mint filled her mouth as she was chewing gum. Her friend Artemis was also very cheerful, she loved walking on this specific trail. As she skipped next to her friend, her short hazelnut hair flowing behind her, and her hazel eyes gleaming, she chuckled with joy. The two friends did not realize that they were being watched by the great Greek god, Hermes. Hermes watched from above on Mount Olympus as the two girls skipped along. Hermes decided that he loved both of the beautiful girls. Quicker than a blink of the eye, Hermes traveled down to the great waterfall named "The Fall of Water".

Hermes ran to catch up to the ladies. He yelled, "Alexandra! Artemis! Oh wait, oh please!" The two girls whipped their heads around to see the Greek God sprinting their way. As Hermes approached them he was panting. "Hello, Alexandra," Hermes whispered, and nodded. "Good day Artemis," Hermes stated. "I am Hermes, the messenger God of Olympus."

"Oh Hermes!"

Alexandra bowed her head with her skirt trailing behind her, her hand touched the rocky road. "Oh my! How are you?" Artemis said as she bowed her head with Alexandra.

"Oh you know, could be better! Well you know what could make me better? A nice little walk to the park, or maybe the beach, with each of you separately."

"Yes please!" screamed both of the girls, who had already fallen in love with the Hermes. "Yes, yes, I know. I will take Artemis first, to the park. Then I will take Alexandra, to the beach. So, Artemis shall we go?" With those few words Artemis grabbed his hand and happily skipped along to the park.

The park. The gorgeous, grinning park. Oh how beautiful it was. The perfect green grass swaying in the slight wind. There, Artemis and Hermes sat on the grass, munching on food. The sweet smell of clean air breezed into both of their faces. "Well, we should probably head back to the Fall of Water, and Alexander and I will go to the beach."

As Hermes and Artemis reached the Fall of Water, there stood the gorgeous beach, waves rolled on to their feet. Artemis and Hermes skipped rocks, made sandcastles, and watched the water diligently fall back into the sea. Up above Alexandra and Hermes could see Artemis, watching everything every move they made.

"I think we should head back up, do you want to?" asked Hermes.

"Oh, well I guess" Alexandra blushed.

As they reached the top of the hill, they continued on the trail to reach Artemis.

"So?" Artemis screeched.

"I have decided who I like better," said Hermes, "and that is Alexandra." Artemis stood frozen like a snowmen. She was angry. This couldn't be happening. She was always prettier and nicer than Alexandra. No way, her friend was chosen instead of her. Artemis was fuming. This could not happen.

"Alexandra," Artemis screamed. "Get over here, let's go on a short walk to think about this." Artemis wanted to convince Alexandra that this was not a good idea, that a silly little mortal should not marry a god, but, Alexandra wasn't listening she was so excited and in love! She was on top of the world! Artemis was fuming, she grasped Alexandra by the wrist, and pulled her until they were both behind the Great Fall of Water. In a rage of jealousy Artemis pushed Alexandra. Down into the waterfall. She surely would have been dead, because the waterfall was almost 100 feet tall with underneath.

Hermes had been watching all of this. He saw everything, and just as Alexandra was going to hit the bottom. He quickly changed Alexandra so she could breathe underwater, and so that she could have a safe cushioning landing.

Alexandra on the other hand, thought that it was very strange that she wasn't struggling for air. She could breathe. From above the sea, Hermes ran down to the beach. Artemis followed. Hermes was mad with Artemis. When they reached sea level they called her name.

Alexandra heard her name and swam to the beach. It was amazing she thought, she could breathe underwater and she could swim 10 times as fast! Finally, she reached the beach, where she lay on the warm sand and saw Hermes and Artemis standing there.

"Artemis. You're no friend to me," screamed Alexandra.

"Also," Hermes said interrupting, "you will always feel guilty for what you did to Alexandra. Zeus, king of all Gods, will think of you as a disgrace."

Artemis stood in silence. Then she ran, all the way back home, as the sun was setting. Hermes said his goodbyes to Alexandra and then left to mount Olympus. Alexandra went back under the sea.

"So," Alexandra mumbled to herself, "where do I sleep?" Alexandra swam around, wondering, for a while, and then found a smooth rock above the sea. Where she lay and slept all through the starry night. The sun finally appeared at six in the morning and Alexandra woke up. She called and called for Hermes. Very loudly, she knew he could be watching her, but he never came.

Many days passed and Alexandra called for Hermes but he never came. Alexandra became very sad and depressed. After seven days had passed. Alexandra gave up on calling and swam to the very bottom of the deep sea.

Hermes knew he would never visit it her again, because every time he would glance at her, he would feel guilty. There Alexandra stood not moving, eating, or even sleeping for ten whole days. Hermes knew that Alexandra was trying to starve herself to death. He sent down the great Greek God Poseidon, the underwater god, where Poseidon would turn Alexandra into coral.

Poseidon swam down to where Alexandra stood, he quietly turned her into the new plant coral. Hermes directed Poseidon to create coral everywhere, and that coral would be the most beautiful under sea plant in the world, just as Alexandra was the loveliest person in the world. This was how coral was created.

Monkey Man Love

By Jared Currier

On mount Olympus, there lives a beautiful girl named Sacagawea the color of her hair is brown and her eyes are blue, the one thing she wants most in her life is to be happy for ever and one thing she enjoys doing is making food. She is happy as a flower in the summer. Her mom is named Amy and she is the god of food and plants. The color of her eyes are brown and the color of her hair is brown. One thing Amy wants in her life is to make a lot of food and play with her daughter. One thing she enjoys doing is planting plants. She is sad as a donkey getting abused. The jungle is a dark, scary place. The jungle looks like a lot of leaves and trees and wet soil. The sound is loud and scary. It smells like fresh soil and good leaves and it tastes like dirty water. And the leaves are ruff and wet. Where are trees that come to life when the king is in trouble? Monkey man is the king of the jungle. He was half monkey and man he has blue eyes and brown hair, and he is tall.

One day when monkey man gazed at Sacagawea all day and watching her. He liked her so much he went to Carrot god of all gods he asked him if he could take her and Carrot and monkey man made a deal. So the next day, monkey man commanded his guard the big tree to take her and take her back to the jungle in the jungle monkey man was sitting there waiting for her in the middle of the jungle when the big tree got to the middle of the jungle he put her down and the monkey man came down from his tree she was scared of the jungle. Sacagawea was so beautiful monkey man wanted to marry her, but she did not want to get married to a monkey man.

As days went by, Amy was so sad she was not making any food. Since there was no food, the mortals were starving. Carrot, the god of all gods, was looking down at all of. Them they were starving, and that he had to do something. He went to the jungle and found Sacagawea so sad and hungry he told monkey man he had to give back Sacagawea. Monkey man refused because Carrot was the strongest god in the world. So, Sacagawea was so happy that before she left monkey man asked her if she wanted to eat anything before she left and all she ate was a piece of pumpkin pie.

When she got back to her mom, Amy, the best cooker, asked her if she ate anything and she said yes. All I ate was a small piece of pie. Her mom said if you eat any good food from the jungle like a whole pie you will be lost forever in the jungle and never find a way out. But since you ate one small piece you have to stay there for months so she stayed with her mother for three months and stay in the jungle for three months. During her three month stay, she just wanted to get out of the jungle. After three months when she got back, Amy was so happy they lived happy for the rest of their lives until rain fell and the thunder went boom, bam and thunk.
The Marvelous Creation of Bacon

By Riley Fitzpatrick

The hero could hear the horrible squeals of an animal outside. It was very hard to fall asleep with the continuous noise that seemed to grow louder. The wet rain poured down on the house and it crawled down the crevices in the thatched roof. It took many hours to fall asleep, but he eventually slept and dreamed of tomorrow.

In the Greek city, Knossos, on Crete, the demigod hero Beefus, the son of Hermes (the Greek god of music, animal husbandry, and the sun), tended his cow farm. He had brown hair and eyes, with a pointy nose. He was a handsome fellow and many beautiful nymphs came to see him every day. He cared most for his cows, for his mother had passed away recently. Many people offered gifts to him because they felt sorry for his loss. It was April in the year 13 B.C. Beef was the favorite food at that time. Beefus was very wealthy and always had customers traveling to his farm. He would soon retire with a mansion in the courtyard of the King Hurled.

"Come, you cows!" he would yell at his pets.

"Moo," the cows returned.

"Today you will make me stacks of coins!"

"Moo, moo."

On the other side of the island, Porkus paced his pig farm. With the beef industry doing so well, he was very poor. He hardly ever had customers.

Ares, always searching for trouble, stumbled upon Beefus' farm and stole a cow. Thinking it would be fun to start a war, he gave the cow to Porkus. Porkus now had a cow and word soon traveled across the entire island. When Beefus found one of his cows missing, he was furious. He had his evil cow army attack Porkus.

Pokus was ready. His pigs were in a line ready to charge. Porkus didn't know he had a pigataur, half pig, half man, growing inside him. At that moment, he went into labor.

"Help!!" he screamed. He was in excruciating pain and gave birth to the pigataur.

"Charge!!!!" hollered Beefus. The cows ran down the hill towards the farm. The pigatuar crashed through the cows, pummeling them left and right. Cows were soaring everywhere. The smell of blood hung heavy over the field. Beefus soon saw he was not going to survive. He did all he could do: he ran.

He ran through the village. He pushed down an elderly woman who had a basket made of rough straw, and the bread spilled everywhere. Beefus was not stopping. He made it to the end of the village. He slowed down because his heaving breath sounded like a massive Manticore. The sound of hooves hitting the ground was heard throughout the village. Out of the blue, the pigataur crashed into Beefus and jabbed both horns into his ribs.

"Aaauuuuuhhhhh!!!!" Beefus cried in agony. His blood splattered on anything within a five-yard radius. The deafening crack of his ribs scared off any animal nearby. He landed with a thud on the cold, hard ground.

"I see the light. Mother, is that you? I never thought I'd see you again," Beefus said with tears leaking out of his eyes. He was so emotional, he was hallucinating. He threw up at the sight of his mother's face. The acid was the most horrible taste. It was a mix between stomach acid and blood. He bit his lip until it was leaking blood like a dripping faucet. He struggled for one final breath. It looked as if there was a halo surrounding his head as he died.

The pigataur had no emotion. He just crashed into the rotting corpse over and over until he was painted red with sticky blood. Ares saw this and angrily realized the war was over too quickly for his enjoyment. He cursed Porkus with an eternity of being a pig. Meanwhile, the cow army retreated back to their farm.

Porkus was now a pig in his pig farm eating what he fed his pigs: rotten apples, table scraps, and moldy ears of corn.

Archimedes came to town and made a pig shredder. He traveled to Porkus' farm and grabbed a pig. That pig happened to be Porkus. He threw Porkus in the shredder. But because of the curse, Porkus did not die. He survived the shredder, but all his meat was gone--only the bones remained. The meat was cut into sweet strips. Archimedes watched the cleaned bones and saw them moving. The bones ran away into the woods. Archimedes named this meat off of Porkus. This meat was the wonderful "Bone Grease Bacon." Archimedes realized this was hard to say and then named it "Bacon!" Archimedes was now the hero of the town, because the people quickly loved the bacon.

"This is wonderful!" said the villagers.

"The best meat ever!" they agreed.

"Simply oink-tastic!"

Porkus never escaped the curse...or the shredder. He continued to be reincarnated and was continually chopped into wonderful bacon.

THE END

The Cheeseburger (Read Riley's Myth for BK)

By Jonathan Paraschou

It had been a year since the gory fight of Beefus, the beef farmer, and Porkus, the pork farmer, which ended in a terrible fate. Most people didn't know it because he lived in a different village, but Beefus had a younger brother named Cheesus, who raised cows to make cheese. Cheesus had the same features as his older brother, brown hair and brown eyes. Every day, he prayed to the gods to bring his older brother back. Cheesus lived in his brother's house but nothing had been cleared out. He woke every morning looking at the straw roof. He continued his older brother's business and tended his older brother's farm, raised cows and sold the best beef in the land, on top of being wealthy from his brother's cow farm he was also the only other family member alive so he got the all inheritance and was now very wealthy. On top of that, he still made money with cheese which he sold.

One day, Cheesus woke up and found a bottle of a beautifully colored glowing substance. There was a note that said the following, "Pour this on your brother's grave." Cheesus was a bit doubtful, but did as it said. He dragged his feet over to his brother's grave and issued the enlightening substance on it. Nothing happened, so he just trotted back to his brother's farm and tended to the cows. The next morning he heard a knock at his door. He quickly got dressed and answered. There stood his older brother! Beefus was alive!

"Brother!" he cried.

"Why are you in my house?" replied Beefus.

"Sheesh, you'd think the guy would be happy to be alive again," Cheesus thought to himself. "I was just tending your farm while you were dead," said Cheesus.

"Dead, the last thing I thoroughly remember was that new pork guy taking all my business." replied Beefus.

"His memory must have been erased," Cheesus thought to himself. So he told Beefus what he thought had happened and the story of what he knew of the battle. Beefus thanked him for telling him and let him stay with him for a while. That day, a middle-aged man with a cart came into the village. He said he sold potatoes and made a new tasty food they were called French fries. When Beefus and Cheesus saw him, they glared at him with their brown eyes and he returned their glare with his blue ones. The townspeople made cries of joy after tasting how good this new food was.

"We must think of a way to get this nonsense out of the village so we can sell our food again," said Beefus. Cheesus agreed. They thought all night of how to stop him, but eventually they gave up. One night Beefus got a dream. Demeter told him to make a circular lump of meat and grill it. The next morning he did that exact thing and it tasted DELICIOUS like a brand new pastry. The next night he had a dream to put condiments in between bread buns. He did that exact thing and it tasted BETTER! He shared this food with many other people and they adored this new food. Beefus decided on the name hamburgers. That night they celebrated their victory with hamburgers.

"I'm going to grab a slice of cheese," said Cheesus.

"Ok I'll make another burger," replied Beefus. On the way back from the kitchen, Cheesus tripped and accidentally dropped the cheese on to hamburger.

Not knowing cheese was on top of the patty, Beefus put the bun on the burger

"NOOOOOOO!" roared Cheesus. Beefus took a bite of the burger.

"This cheese makes the hamburger taste delicious! I shall call it a cheeseburger!" cried Beefus. They told all the townspeople and made a fortune off of it.

"These are delicious!" cried the townspeople.

Eventually, the potato man had to leave town because he had no business in this town with his French fries. Cheesus and Beefus thought for a while of how to make more money. "I got it!" said Beefus, and Beefus told Cheesus his plan. They ran into the village as fast as their legs could carry them. The potato man finished packing his cart. "WAIT!" cried Cheesus, the potato man turned. "Your French fries are delicious and so are our hamburgers so why don't we do a link business! We could make a fortune!" The potato man thought for a bit and agreed they shook hands on it. They did make a fortune off of it, they were richer than kings, and were all friends! The next day Zeus heard of these sandwiches called "Cheeseburgers" and the other delicacy called "French fries" so Zeus came down from Olympus to try them.

"These are better than the McDonalds' on Olympus! I'm gonna reward you guys for sure!" replied Zeus

He loved it so much he made Cheesus, Beefus, and the Potato man now named Potatus the gods of cheeseburgers and French fries and they lived for all eternity.

The Starting of Death

By David Gao

There once was a lackadaisical man named Aurelius. He dwelt on the grand island of Sicily. Since humans lived forever back in ancient times, he thought he could do whatever he wanted all day.

One day, Aurelius was so ambitious that he desired some of the sun. He wanted a piece of the golden crust of Apollo's chariot. He knew he couldn't die, so he could do whatever he wanted to. He asked his friends to find some way to fling him into the sky, not confessing of his ambitions. He didn't know now, but a cataclysmic event would happen. His friends, Augustus, Blandinus, and Drusus, agreed to only if they could then be launched into the sky also. They planned for the launch upcoming.

"How can we do it?" inquired Blandinus without thinking.

"Are you even thinking?" Augustus answered with an air only known to him. Without delay, Blandinus, the shorter but more sturdily built man, threw himself at the taller man. Augustus, surprised by the other man's actions, was thrown to the ground. With a bloody nose and a black eye, Augustus groaned. Blandinus, filled with glee, picked him up and inserted him into a sack.

"Useless person!" Blandinus chirped, "Let's discard him." They carried the sack with the victim in it and threw it in the distasteful latrina. Suddenly, Drusus shrieked with delight, "I have an idea," he shrieked, "Let's use a catapult."

"Great idea," Blandinus said with such energy that he couldn't even have used that energy to turn over a leaf.

"Then why don't you come with an idea," Drusus shot back. Blandinus sighed for he had no ideas left. He agreed and they carried on coming up with the plan to build the contraption. Halfway through building, the duo realized that they couldn't complete the task without one more person. Now they had trouble deciding if they should go back and get Augustus or go and find some random person to replace him. After an elongated debate, they finally determined that they would hopefully be forgiven and get back Augustus.

At the latrina, they found Augustus lying on the ground, moaning. They helped him up and told him their plan.

"Sure," groaned Augustus with a dubious face, "I'll help." The men helped him up and began to build their epic contraption. Day after day, they worked diligently and efficiently on the labyrinthine project. The rambunctious hammers banged on and on while the moanings of the men were heard from miles away. One day, they just put on the final screw of the masterpiece.

"Hallelujah," Drusus shouted with delight, "My masterpiece is perfected."

The other two people immediately objected, "You couldn't have done it without us."

"Okay, okay, our masterpiece." Drusus said with a cough. They all frolicked to Aurelius to tell him that they were ready for the launch.

"Gosh, how long did it take you guys," Aurelius said with a vexed voice.

"What did you expect," Blandinus said once again without thinking.

"Sooner or later you will be punished for that agile voice of yours," Aurelius warned,

"Anyways, let's get launching." Aurelius stepped into the contraption putting on the harness. Augustus was nowhere to be seen, but nobody noticed. All of the gears cranked as the contraption built up its potential energy. As the lock snapped in place, the launch was ready to begin. With one push, Drusus launched the great machine with the person into the air.

"Sic Semper Tyrannis," Augustus cried. He suddenly appeared. Drusus then realized that he had tied Blandinus onto the appliance. Screams filled the air as the gadget picked up speed and advanced towards the currently rising sun. Now Aurelius was side by side with magnificent Apollo's golden chariot of the sun. He jumped out of the contraption and leaped toward the chariot. Hanging on to the side, he grabbed a sheet of the golden crust of the chariot and leaped off the chariot head first to get back to the mainland. Apollo, filled with rage, immediately went to Thanatos, the god of death, to request him to open the Doors of Death as Aurelius fell. Thanatos, seeing the mortals' wrong-doing, agreed and unlocked the beautiful doors. As Aurelius fell to the ground, lifeless, he went to the Underworld to continue his life as a ghost. Thanatos was even more enraged at Blandinus, so without hesitation, he cast Blandinus into the deepest part of Tartarus.

Now with the Doors of Death open, many people cross the line between life and death. Thanatos controls the Doors of Death and where people enter the world of the dead. Most people have to cross the River Styx to be in the land of the ghosts and they are always greeted by Aurelius, who later changed his name to Charon, who ferries them across to join the rest of the ghosts. After a while, he started to charge people to cross but was bribed to be ferried by a young man, Orpheus, but that is another story.

Octavius and the Unicorn

By Marcus Gibson

Thousands of years ago, in the gleaming city of Athens, lived a mortal named Octavius. Octavius lived in a small meadow outside of the glorious city of Athens. He and his father were simple farmers, but Octavius had always been amazing at hunting. It is said that once, he had killed a bear with a hoe from his farm. Octavius was very handsome, he had sky blue eyes that shone with pride, long blonde hair, and was very muscular. He had already married a beautiful young lady named Helen. Octavius was terrified of dying because he had the highest opinion of himself. He believed that he was more important than anyone.

One day, the god of bananas, the glorious Bananase, decided to stir up some trouble between the young mortal and the gods. Bananase was terribly jealous of Octavius's great looks, so he created a banana like no other, the eternal youth banana. He put the banana inside Hornicu's, god of the unicorns, son. Hornicu's only son was a unicorn named Onceus. Bananase told the young mortal of the banana, and offered him a golden blade, so powerful that it was able to pierce an immortal's skin. Octavius considered the idea of tracking down the unicorn to retrieve the banana. He accepted the offer of this quest. He gathered supplies for his journey.

"Helen," he called," I am leaving to retrieve the magical banana of youth."

Helen replied to him, "You know that this unicorn you are going to track down is Hornicu's only son."

Staring at his wife's concerned eyes, Octavius decided that he was too good for her warnings answered," You live in fear of the gods. But I, mighty Octavius of Athens, have no fear of those pitiful beings!" he said jabbing his thumb at his chest. And with that, he left his wife, who wept for his terrible fate.

Octavius travelled for several weeks, meeting cyclops and other magical creatures that he killed with his skills in combat and blade that was bestowed upon him. Some creatures he had to face were the potatoes, like tiny cyclopes. Vicious creatures with one eye that were small but had inch long teeth that were covered in blood. He ran into a tribe of them. The potatoes captured him and took him to their camp. The camp was horrifying, there were human skulls everywhere, and there were people hung by ropes and chains from trees. There were screaming people being cooked over a fire. Just as they were going to cook Octavius over a fire, he cut through the rope and started killing them. He pounced on top of their tribe leader and threatened to kill him.

"Have you seen the unicorn, Onceus," he asked. The potato replied, but he had a strange way of speaking.

"Yess," he cried, kicking his legs,"Weess havess!" He told him to travel north of the camp. Octavius the cut the potato king in half and walked away from the gruesome camp of potatoes.

He finally came upon a small valley where he was gazing at the most beautiful unicorn he had ever seen. It was grazing in a field full of gold, and Octavius recognized it instantly as Hornicu's son, Onceus. It smelled like honey in the meadow, and it urged him to fall asleep, as it has always had so that Onceus could kill his victims while they slept, but he knew this and fought against it. Octavius snuck through the tall grass and gold studded ground, and when he was only feet away from the unicorn, he jumped up and slammed into it. The horse hit the ground with a thud. But Onceus had nimble feet and was up again in an instant. Then he hit the mortal in the chest with a sharp kick. Octavius flew back and hit the ground on a piece of gold, leaving a huge cut in his back. The feeling of pain was unbearable, but the horse had come to trample him, so Octavius sprung up and ran. The horse was slowly gaining on him when he reached a cliff face. He ran to it, jumped and kicked off it and landed on the oncoming unicorns back. Onceus desperately tried to fling him off, but Octavius's sword was already deep in the unicorn's neck. The horse turned into a pile of gold dust. Octavius had found the eternal life banana. He could finally live without fear of death. He began his long journey home to regale the story to his wife.

Meanwhile, on Olympus, Hornicu was dining with her brother, Poseidon. They were tasting sweet flavored foods that had recently been made by the cook. But when Hornicu was in the middle of an unnaturally large and sweet strawberry, Bananase came sprinting into the hall. "Hornicu," he gasped, "Your son, he is dead." Hornicu's face turned grim.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"Onceus is dead." said Bananase, still gasping for breath. Hornicu turned from him to Poseidon, who just shook his head.

"W-well I must bring him back then."

"Well, you can't." said Bananase.

"W-why not?" said Hornicu.

"He is in Tartarus, Hornicu, you have no power over the ancient god Tartarus, and besides he has killed multiple mortal men, it is for the best" said Bananase, then he snickered, "I mean, haven't you noticed?"

"H-he was just defending himself!" she screamed.

"They were trying to tame him!" he snapped back, putting the goddess on the verge of tears.

"I-I, but-"

At that moment, Nemesis, the god of revenge popped into the room as if she had a teleporter.

"So", she said, "I hear Onceus is dead," Hornicu was at loss for words. "You know, it was the fault of a pitiful mortal," she said calmly.

Hornicu's face became twisted with anger, "What!" she screamed.

"Yes," Nemesis replied in a calm voice, "He was in search of something of great power."

Hornicu turned to Bananase, "Is this the truth?" she questioned.

"Ay", Bananase replied, "It is the truth." Hornicu looked at the ground with hatred in her eyes.

"You know," Nemesis said quietly, "I could help you have revenge upon the mortal, would you enjoy that?"

Hornicu's face became a twisted smile, "Yes," she answered coldly, giving Nemesis her hand, Nemesis took it and shook, "I would."

Nemesis scaled up the massive Olympus on the next day and found Zeus on his throne. "Oh mighty Zeus," she said with a bow, "There are some very lovely nymphs in the meadows that wish to speak with you."

Zeus smiled. "Ah, whom do they serve." he said.

Nemesis replied, "You oh mighty King of Olympus."

Zeus got up. "Very well." And in an instant, Zeus was gone. Hornicu zapped into the throne room.

"Thank you Nemesis," she said devilishly. She walked toward the throne quietly. In a case made of gold next to the throne sat the lightning bolts. Hornicu quickly grabbed one and teleported herself back to her realm.

Hornicu glided through the air watching Octavius walk home. He walked with such an arrogant attitude it made Hornicu twice as angry. After two days of following him, she saw the city of Athens on the horizon. He held the banana in one hand, and in the other, the blood covered sword, like a hero. Hornicu was appalled he left the blood of a gods son on the blade. She flew in front of him, but still in the clouds. She hurdled the lightning bolt to the Earth, and it hit the ground with a tremendous crack. Octavius flew back like a ragdoll and hit the Earth with a thud. He did not move an inch. The god hovered down and flipped him over. There was a horrible burn on his chest and face, and his clothes were in shreds.

"You do not deserve this," she spat in his face as she took the banana. "You do not even deserve this life, you belong in Tartarus." she thundered. She made a noose out of thin air, and hung the mortal's body by his neck with a chain made of steel. She left all the burns and the blood on his body as a sign that you should never defy the gods.

The news spread through Athens that Octavius had been killed by Hornicu. When his wife, Helen, heard of the tragic news she grieved. She did not eat for days and spent all of her time weeping at his grave. She never found happiness in anything ever again.

After weeks without eating, she grew pale and thin. Every time she fell asleep she dreamed of Octavius, every time she awoke, she hoped he would be there, but he never was. She died one day when she passed out at Octavius's grave.

The news in Olympus spread even faster. Every god was afraid of Hornicu. She walked around with an evil smile and looked at all the gods whispering nervously. Then one day she heard she had caused the death of Octavius's wife, but when she killed him she had not known he had a wife. She felt horrible for killing two mortals. She went to her brother, Poseidon, and begged him to help him fix her wrong. "Please," she said, "You need to help me bring this mortal back to life."

"I thought you sent him to Tartarus." he said

"Uh, well, he kind of is a hero, he has done too many good deeds."

"Seriously?"

"Uh, yeah, he actually is a son of Athena, and he has lead multiple quests."

"Wow", said Poseidon, "That was a mistake."

"Ok, jeez!" Hornicu yelled, "Just help me out, alright?"

"Yeah, fine."

She and Poseidon went to the graves of Octavius and Helen. They were to bring the humans back to life with their powers. But that came with a catch. Since Octavius thought he was so good looking, they turned them into the strangest creatures that still lives on Earth today. The two gods each played equal roles in doing it. Poseidon transformed them into a type of fish. But Hornicu, to remind Octavius forever of her son, Onceus, gave him an enormous horn on his forehead. And from that day forward the creature was known as the narwhal. The two narwhals lived for a long time and it is said they still roam the ocean today, as a sign of Hornicu's wrath.

The Story Behind the Stars

By Maxine

Their words traveling through time and space, Artemis and Apollo fought. They bickered day and night. They had recently been arguing about adding stars to the night. The wild winds from the human town below them was causing them to yell. The winds blew through Artemis' hair. It was once littered with twigs and tied back in all of its curly mess into a bun but was now blown almost entirely straight, and the angry Apollo's sky blue eyes glittered in the reflection of the beautiful town beneath them, glittering with lights.

"I think that you're underestimating the power of the night!" Artemis was practically forced to scream.

"I'm actually not. There is no particular reason for the night. The mortals would be fine without it." Shouted an angry Apollo.

"The earth is too cold at night! There should be another source of light, and if anyone can control it, it should be me!" Now a screaming Artemis spit at Apollo. Apollo, however, thought that the moon and the hunt should be enough for the goddess, and that she needed not control more.

Of course, this constant arguing began to bother all of the gods, and they began to become worried that it would cause troubles in the future, with their voices echoing through time. So, Zeus came down to the black hole, causing the wind to roar even louder, and Apollo and Artemis to get blown even closer to the roaring black hole.

"It is time for this to stop," Boomed Zeus' voice, "The gods are sick of all of this arguing. So either stop it or there will be consequences."

"Possibly Zeus will agree with me." Said a now sweet sounding Artemis.

"Actually, I have heard the argument since it started, and I am not interested in adding anything new to the night. The mortals are fine, and with adding something new, comes the risk of upsetting the natural balance," Zeus said angrily. Having heard this, Artemis stormed off, angry that she had not gotten her way. Apollo left too, but happy that he had gotten his way, having no idea of the disastrous chain of events to follow.

Later that night, Artemis found her way around mount Olympus, smelling the sweet rain as it fell all around her, and hearing it fall hard upon her head and shoulders. She walked the streets, until she came to Apollo's house in all of its glory. The rain coated the sun colored house. It was much too large for one person to inhabit, but the god seemed to manage. By the time Artemis had scoured the grounds looking for a window that would suit her needs, her knee length, ripped, worn, and tattered dress was soaked to the bone. Her brown, leather, ribbed shoes were no use to her anymore, they were just squeaking, and causing too much noise for her needs. She stripped them off and found a large bush only feet to her left that she hid them in. Stepping back to the window, Artemis returned to her task. The goddess opened the gold painted window, threw her bow and arrows in, and swung in her left leg first.

She climbed into the house, and stepped onto the dry hard wood. Her wet feet squeaked on the dry wood as she moved, and the water from her now ever so curly brown hair and her dress dripped everywhere. She climbed the steps that led directly from the room that appeared not to be inhabited. There wasn't a piece of furniture in the entire room, only the small window, although the shiny wood was covered in scratches and dents.

Once she had reached the room upstairs, she walked in, and pulled out a small bag that she had tied to her hip with a piece of thick yellowing yarn that she had wrapped around her many times. She stepped forward to the four poster bed that a snoring Apollo was laying in. His blonde hair was tousled and rough. She stepped even closer to the bed, so that her feet were under the bed, and pulled out a small vial containing a purple liquid. She opened Apollo's mouth and poured the foul smelling liquid down his throat. She then ran to the window only a few feet to her right, pulled her bow and strung an arrow. She ripped the string from her waist that had been holding the liquid to her. She tied the thick, yellowing string to the nearest bedpost and to the arrow. Thankfully she had wrapped it around her waist many times, and there would be enough for her plans. As she peeked out into the sky, she saw that the curse had worked. She had created the stars by using the potion to break the sun into a million tiny pieces.

The moon, and all of the sky that she could see was sparkling in little pieces of the sun. They were so beautiful, but Artemis had to tear her eyes from the sky, because Apollo was groaning in pain. Quickly she strung her arrow and shot it into the nearest tree. She then un- strung her bow. The thick, leather string was falling apart anyway, so it wouldn't matter if it was ruined. She strung it again onto the rope, and ever so silently, she climbed out the window, holding on firmly to the bow, she gracefully leaped out of the window sill. Quietly, the small frame of the god flew off towards the tree that the arrow was shot into. Underneath the new creation, that would occur every night, and would be the result of Apollo underestimating the need of the night. Artemis reached the ground howling in joy, and ran off down the street. That is the story of how the stars were created.

God of Toilets, vs Goddess of Hatred and Death

By Jay H.

Once upon a time, this all happened in a castle, in an evil castle there lived a goddess. Not a good goddess, an evil goddess. She had green eyes, green hair, and was fun sized. Her name was, Micthena, she was the goddess of hatred and death. She was once friends with a good god named Jayus. He had blue eyes, green/orange hair, and was very tall. They were the best of friends.

One day, the goddess, Micthena decided to do something very unacceptable, she decided to obtain power by taking over the world.

" I will take over this world and become its new ruler, and there's no one who can stop me, "Micthena said.

"Not so fast, "Jayus said, coming out of a corner." I will defeat you and let all the people enjoy their freedom. "Jayus got all the water from the toilets and created a huge wave. But Micthena used her powers to turn the wave into snakes. She ordered the snakes to attack, they all tried to bite Jayus but he turned himself into toilet water and drowned all the snakes. While Jayus was drowning the snakes, Micthena came up behind him and hit him in the back with her magic staff. He passed out and fainted. He had failed to stop her. She gained control of the world. Gaining more and more power, she had a castle built in Washington D.C.

Happily, she captured Jayus and locked him in a dungeon. He was locked up for a long time. He thought of a plan to get out, and stop the cruel women, Micthena once and for all. After a few weeks in the dungeon, he had a plan.

"I will make a giant toilet and flush my-self through the pipes to her layer, "Jayus said. He used his toilet powers to create a giant toilet to her layer. He got inside the toilet and flushed himself to Micthena's layer.

Awesome Jayus popped out the other end and Micthena got splashed in the face with toilet water, falling over.

Jayus looked at Micthena and said, "We used to be the best of friends, then you wanted power, you wanted to take over the world, and you finally did it, but now it's time to end this once and for all!" Micthena tried to use her powers to take Jayus down, but Jayus used his powers to create a big ball of toilet water and trap her in a big water container. With only a little bit of air left in her tiny lungs, Micthena accidentally let the last bit of air out. Before she drowned, Jayus saw her say something, but he couldn't figure out what she was saying. Jayus had won the battle.

After the battle, the people gave Jayus an anti- bacterial suit, and he used his toilet powers to fight evil gods or goddesses. He lived for several years, fighting. Jayus finally locked all the evil gods and goddesses up in a special jail on Mt. Olympus for good, and lived the rest of his life resting in peace, and hanging out with all the good gods, and goddesses, on Mt. Olympus. 
Treacherous Myth

By Dakota Lavigne

"Come on Echo hurry!" said a nymph.

"Hurry" Echo replied. The two nymphs were running through the forest as quickly as their feet could take them, suddenly there was a roar and a blast of fire and the nymph screamed as she clasped on the cold, hard ground. Echo terrified, as a little kid in the dark with no light fled but the other nymph did not follow her. The nymph was never seen again, all that the nymphs have for clues on what happened were the footprints of a monster.

A long time ago, before there were humans on the earth nymphs frolicked around in forest playing and enjoying among themselves. The gods and goddesses had nothing to worry about, only the nymphs. However that was all going to change. In the deepest parts of Tartarus, a new monster, who had the power to destroy the Earth, had been born, Chimera. This monster was a lions body and head and three poisonous snakes as a tail. When it was unleashed up the Earth's surface Chimera did exactly what it was created they do, destroy all nymphs and wipe the species off the face of the Earth.

Chimera went around the forest of Greece distorting any innocent nymphs in its path. For a while, the gods paid no attention to Chimera until there was only about half the population of nymphs left.

"All of those poor nymphs" Athena sighed. Athena, a beautiful goddess with eyes as gray as the fog on a misty morning, happens to be very fond of woodland nymphs. Hera the queen of gods and goddesses glared at the nymphs with discuss, she had some trouble with nymphs in her time. "We have to do something," Athena groaned.

"No way you can forget the idea," Hera growled, glaring hatred looks at Athena.

"I agree with Athena we can't let them all die" said Zeus "Anyway how hard can it be were gods."

"And goddesses," Persephone piped in, her voice as sweet as the summer breeze.

"Yes that to, all in favor raise your hand" shouted Zeus so loud that the whole universe could hear him.

"Don't listen to him there just nymphs, who cares!" shouted Hera crossly. But by that time Hera was outnumbered. It was official, the gods and goddesses were helping the nymphs.

"Let's come up with some good ideas. Anybody have any no ok well I do I will hurl a bolt of lightning at Chimera and it will die ok let's do it." Zeus said as quickly as a cheetah running after pray and before the other gods or goddesses could say anything, Zeus grabbed a lightning bolt and through it with great force at Chimera. Down below, the nymphs saw the bolt traveling at amazing speed and going straight for Chimera the nymphs thought there trouble was over until Chimera sprang out of the way. The bolt smashed into the ground with great force and flames rose from the ground in a terrifying fire. "Ok, so that didn't work. Who has a better idea that, you know, doesn't end in disaster?" asked Zeus turning red with embarrassment.

"How about this, I will make a huge wave and drowned Chimera" Poseidon said with enthusiasm.

"Sounds good, let's do it..." Zeus said. Poseidon went to the ocean and formed a huge wave and aimed it straight at Chimera. The wave crashed down and headed straight for Chimera, but chimera was smarter and throughout a huge ball of fire from its mouth evaporating the water and sent the remaining amount of water showing at the nymphs. "What part of not ending in disaster do you not understand?!" shouted Zeus.

"I said this was a bad idea, but you had to have it your way." scowled Hera under her breath.

"Zeus, I have the best idea ever" Demeter shouted.

"O, yay does it end in disaster."

"No it shouldn't."

"Will it harm the nymphs?"

"Maybe a little, but not much."

"Sounds like a good idea. Well, what are you waiting for? Go, go, go!" Demeter went down and halted every fruit, nut, fish, and animal from getting eaten or being grown.

"Ok, done. When Chimera as no food to eat, he will die and then the problem will be over!" Exclaimed Demeter. Well, a couple of weeks went by and there was no sign of Chimera.

"I think it worked. Chimera must have died of hunger, and" Hades cut him off.

"You can forget that happy little thought bro, look." said Hades. Zeus looked below and scowled Chimera was back with half a gazelle in his mouth feasting on it hungrily.

"What, how, did he, huh?" Zeus said shaking his fist and the monster that claimed the lives of many nymphs.

"So, what do we do now?" Persephone asked timidly, looking at the once full gazelle with her huge blue eyes full of sadness.

"Who cares? The nymphs deserve it." Hera said impatiently. Zeus threw her a dirty look.

"I'm going to try one more thing that might work," said Zeus.

"Yay, and how much has that worked for you, smart guy?" said Hera

"Be quiet will ya!" Zeus said. The goddesses and gods looked at him weird. "Sorry, got a little carried away."

"So, what's your idea?" asked Hades.

"Wait for it, waaaait, keep waiting, ah here he comes right now. Hephaestus my man good to see ya good to see ya, now I just need a little favor."

"Ya what is it."

"Could make me the strongest lightning bolt ever that could take the top of a mountain."

"Ya no problem." so Hephaestus got to work and an hour later, Hephaestus had created the most powerful weapon in existence.

"That is by far, the best lightning bolt, I have ever seen." Zeus exclaimed staring in awe.

"Use it carefully remember last time."

"Hay, there is no need to bring that up."

"That was pretty funny, no I take that back, it was hilarious!" Said Hades who was exploding with laughter.

"Just give it to me," said Zeus. Zeus took the lightning bolt and hurled it at a nearby mountain taking off the top of it. Little did he know, the mountain was a bomb just waiting to escape.

"Bro, I thought you were joking," said Hades staring in disbelief.

"No, I was very serious when I said it could take off the top of a mountain. Now, I just go down there get Chimera to follow me, and bam he gets stuck in the mountain and our problem is over."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go, go, go." said Hephaestus.

"Good grief," said Hera. Zeus went down and got Chimera's attention and basically hypnotized him into following him into the mountain, put the top of the mountain back on, and Chimera was trapped.

"You make it look easy," said Persephone. Years went by, and nothing happened until the earth trembled.

"That's not supposed to happen." said Zeus. Suddenly the mountain exploded with force and magma bubbled out of the top of the mountain sending ash hundreds of feet in the air.

"Well, look at that nice volcano you made," snorted Hera. In the struggle of getting rid of Chimera, the Gods and Goddesses had created natural disasters.

Khalidi's Journey

By Aiden Lee

Prologue: It was a beautiful day in Madrid. The sun shined, the grass was green, and everyone was excited for the biggest game of the year. The El Clasico. Khalidi is in bed thinking about the how boring soccer was because he is too good.

"Khalidi wake up you have a soccer game today," said his exited coach knowing he was going to win the game and get millions of dollars.

"No wake me up in five minutes," Khalidi mumbled sleepily.

"Khalidi your game is in five minutes," said the coach knowing if he lost his best players he would lose.

"Coach, I do not want to play today all you do is play me, and I score all of the goals. "There is no challenge for me." Khalidi said.

Even though there was not a single man in the world that he could not beat he forced himself to get into his new limousine. He thought back to when he and his brother Lionel use to play in the fields of Netherlands. Now it was just about greedy coaches and money.

Now Khalidi was on his way to the El Clasico a game between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. He knew he was going to win by more than five like he had did the last ten times. He was bored and ready for a challenge.

Meanwhile on the high peaks of mount Olympus, Hermes was angry and jealous of this haughty young man, so much he conspired to challenge the mortal to a one on one match of soccer. Little did Khalidi know his challenge was closer than it appeared.

Once Khalidi got to his soccer game, he saw one man on the field. This was weird because no fan was ever let on the field. When he saw who he was the air emerged from his body and the oxygen seemed to fade to carbon dioxide. IT WAS HERMES! As he approached, the god, Hermes spoke.

"Mortal would you like your first challenge in years?" The wing footed god asked, "We shall go one on one." If you lose you die and if you win you will become a god, He said seeking the death of this young mortal.

Too astonished to speak, he nodded his head and accepted all of the crucial punishments if he lost. He was petrified but knew he had an opportunity to become a god. The game begun as the sound of the piercing whistle begun the match. No game had ever been this stressful. Before this match, he had always known he would win but this one he was not sure. A mortal was facing a god it seemed impossible to win, but he was ready to grasp his first shot at something big. He sprinted towards the ball, but Hermes demolished him with the elastico, and shot. The ball zoomed through the air and off the cross bar. Thanking the gods, he dribbled up and did two scissors two stepovers and meged the god. He dribbled forward and kicked the ball into the goal. He could not feel more exhilarated with a swish of the net.

Now Hermes was furious but had to stay composed. He shot forward and before any mortal could notice they were both gone. Now Hermes dragged Khalidi to the underworld were hades did not notice the passing of these two enemies. The two enemies flew past Cerberus hades castle and all of the other terrifying things in the death prison. Fortunately, for Khalidi this was not the end.

Two terrifying months later Khalbali found his way out, of the dead bodies and skeletons, and after getting out dipped himself in the sacred River Styx. He now was practically invincible. Tearing though many blood thirsty underworld monsters, Khalidi reached the ugliest palace ever, yet to him it seemed like a perfectly built mansion. He thought it was heaven even though it was the palace of death. It was guarded by creepy gargoyle's life like statues and monsters guarding. They all seemed like normal animals to him because of his two months in this prison. He knocked the demons aside like they were weak and frail as a stuffed animal. Then he entered Hades castle.

In Hades castle, the walls were covered in blood and still pulsing organs of creatures that had come before. Now Khaliba was thinking that this was quite a journey just to become a god. Also, he knew, it was almost hopeless getting stuff done with Hades, but this was his last chance to get out of the underworld, so he prayed to Zeus for good luck. He entered and slid an enormous door open to reveal a beautiful women. Behind her was an ugly man who really needed to get out of this place, to get some gel for his hair and deodorant to cover up his stench of rotting bodies. Hades was furious of how Khalidi got through his many forces of extraordinary powerful monsters, but gave him much credit for coming all the way from the River Styx to his palace. Khalidi explained his story to Hades. Hades was furious at Hermes and cut his delivery line, this was until Hermes made Khalidi a god. Hermes did not give in, but ended up bored for many days, as he had nothing to do and one of his friends had turned against him, and he was now on the side of his worst enemy.

Hermes finally had to give in but only Zeus could turn one into a god. He asked for permission but Zeus was too worried about the war between Athens and Sparta. Hades was angry too because his underworld was overly crowded and Poseidon was mad because many of his beautiful sea creatures had died from many of the spears and swords that were shot down into the water. Khalibali had an idea. Uniting the two city states would make all the gods happy and they might grant him immortality. He asked hades to let him out and he did. The mortal got into a portal and flew up to earth.

The grass seemed like the softest thing ever and when he felt a pillow and could sleep without worrying about dying, he was in heaven. The bed felt like a cloud of delight and the soft animals around were the most wonderful creatures compared to the underworld terrors of an animal. He was ready to go to the real heaven of the time, Mount Olympus. He sharpened up his soccer skills and went to Sparta. He promised he could save millions of Spartans people from going into eternal darkness if he could pause the war for two months. He said the same to the Athenians. In those two months, he hired many workers to build a large structure. The Athenians and Spartans were very curious about what this young strong man was doing.

Two months later, Khalibali had finished. He called in the strongest most coordinated warriors from both Athens and Sparta. He brought them to this large structure that he had made. It was the first soccer stadium.

The many citizens of the two powerful city states gathered around the interesting man as he explained the complicated game. One person had to make sure the game was controlled, and one man volunteered. His name was Refugio, he became the first ref and had the position named after him. The first match of soccer had put the gods and the two city states in a peaceful era.

Zeus wanted to reward this young man for making many gods happier. He asked Khalibali what he wanted as a reward for his greatness. Khalibali asked to become the god of this new sport. This reward was happily granted. Khalibali and all of the gods of Olympus became good friends. Especially, his old enemy Hermes. This was because of all of these same interests and hobbies.

The game of soccer has survived to the present day in 2015 and will continue to be a game that we enjoy until the end of the earth.

Judgment of Beauty

By Jessica

Long ago in 22 B.C. on Mt. Olympus, there were three sister goddesses that were extremely all mighty. Artemis, goddess of the moon and hunt, Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, Athena, goddess of strategy, battle, and wisdom, and their father, the mighty Zeus, commander of all gods. The goddesses had many strengths and few weaknesses. Artemis's strengths were that she was smart, strong, and a lover of animals. Aphrodite's strengths was that she was beautiful, sweet, honest, and caring. Athena's strengths were that she was beautiful, wise, and loved battles. Artemis and Athena had the same weakness, it was that they were both reserved, but Aphrodite didn't have any weaknesses at all.

One day, all the three powerful sisters ate breakfast. Beautiful, Aphrodite and Athena had a French basil cuisine omelet and Artemis had some sausage with tomato basil bisque.

"Hey, Athena and Aphrodite, how was your night" said Artemis?

Athena and Aphrodite said, "It was good, ha."

"What so hilarious?"

"Well your hair is so crazy, weird, and wacky, it's like everywhere and you're so not beautiful."

"I don't care, because I haven't even got dress yet."

"You haven't got dress yet. Wow you are so weird, Aphrodite and I already have gotten dress."

When Aphrodite and wise Athena were making fun of Artemis at delicious breakfast, Aphrodite was wearing a long pink dress, long dangling earrings with hearts on it, hot pink wedges, and her hair was curly and it always flowed on her back, even when it wasn't windy. Athena was wearing a greyish, brownish dress, a red cape flowing on her back, her hair in a perfect bun, greyish brownish heels, and her shield and swords on the table right next to her, and of course Artemis was wearing blue silk pajamas.

Since shy Artemis was made fun of by her two sisters about what she was wearing, she went to her room and got dressed.

"I can't believe those stubborn, skinny, little brats did that to me," said Artemis

After Artemis got dressed, she was wearing a blue silk high knee dress, her hair in a ponytail with tips dyed blue, and she had shiny silver wedges.

"Do I look better now?" said Artemis.

"Much better Artemis," said Aphrodite and Athena.

"Be right back."

"MOM, MOM, MOM," said Artemis.

"What darling?" said wonderful Hera, Aphrodite, Athena, and Artemis' mom.

"Aphrodite and Athena are making fun of me because I'm not beautiful like they are"

"Well, if they are saying that, I bet your father could make you more beautiful, if you desire?"

"Dad," said Artemis.

"What my beautiful princess?" said Aphrodite, Athena, And Artemis' father, mighty Zeus ruler of all gods.

"Well that's the thing, Aphrodite and Athena say I'm not gorgeous."

"You believe that?"

"Well yay."

"Ok, then, what do you desire?"

"I was wondering, if you could turn me into the most beautiful in the land?"

"Well of course, but there is going to be one consequence, that consequence is that since they might be jealous they will try to turn you into the most hated person in all of Greece."

"So what, if you can do it, just do it!"

"In the power invested in me, mighty Zeus, ruler of all gods, I proclaim Artemis, the most fair in the land."

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm the most fairest. Aphrodite and Athena are going to be so overwhelmed of my beauty. Thank you so so much father!"

Artemis got back to her sisters, and she couldn't wait to see the faces of her sisters.

"Hey sis, what do you think about me now?" said Artemis.

"Whoa, what happened you went from ugly to beautiful in 10 minutes, how is that even possible," said Aphrodite, and Athena

"Well daddy made me the most beautiful in the land, and he could only do it once."

"Well, that is not fair at all"

"Well, I believe I shouldn't be gloating about it, it's just not very fun for me when you said I wasn't, pretty. Because, it's not what's on the outside, it's what's about who you are inside."

"I guess we weren't that nice either."

"Well what if I change back and you don't judge me about how I look any more."

"Sure."

"Deal."

"Dad, all mighty Dad!" said Artemis.

"What now, Artemis?" said Zeus.

"I was speculating, if you could change me back, to my regular self."

"Sure sweetie, I knew you were going to come back and ask."

So what Artemis learned was, if someone was judging you by what you look like, don't listen because, it's not what you look like on the outside, it's all about who you are in the inside. What Artemis' sisters learned, was that they, shouldn't judge people on what they look like.

The Awesome Adventure

By Niro the Creeper

The blazing sun shone on me, Traxxas slash 4x4, as I rolled into the busy market to get a lot of new batteries. I was red and black and build for the off road with off road tires and racing details. The tires smelled like dog doo. My racing details were as sharp as a knife.

One day, I got lost in the market and then a crate of fish was dropped on me by accident. It almost flattened me like a pancake and I was soaked in fish slime and I was mad. It was so crowded, I couldn't see where I was going. Then, I got so lost I ended up out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of a forest which was uninhabited.

I didn't know where I was and then Nuker, the god, reigned catastrophe all around me and I skidded aimlessly trying to avoid getting hit and he was firing shots like the one in tanks at me and they made mini mushroom clouds every time they hit something.

Later on, I got more lost and I didn't know what the elevation and latitude and longitude where. I got so lost.

All of a sudden, I ran over some wet banana peels and I spun around in circles. I spun around so fast that I didn't know I was about to run into a furry brown bear named Bananas. Crash! I crashed into bananas.

"Sorry," I said.

"Never mind," he replied as he kept opening up a delicious banana.

Suddenly, the Nuker threatened to nuke Bananas and I but then Bananas and I went to work. We gave him a counter attack. I handed bananas to Bananas the kind Bear and he squirted bananas out of their peels using his arm pits. The result was like a machine gun.

"I love the stench of bananas in the morning," said Bananas. As he shot the bananas, they smacked Nuker in his hairy face and killed him. He was crushed by so many bananas that one was in his stinky nostril.

At last, Bananas directed me through the dangerous muddy terrain, and he let me ride on his back. As soon as we got home, we became roommates. We lived together, and we ate together. We played awesome video games together. We went quickly around in circles seriously shooting each other until one of our tanks blew up in the game. Bananas the bear got bigger and stronger and I got stronger and lighter in pounds.

The moral of the story is nature is never too hard to conquer. Adventures can be dangerous!

Copyright 2015 Durainim Alloy Publishing All rights reserved 
The Tail of Poison Ivy

By Gabe Patterson

"Wow." Apex says. "To this point we have no chance.... no chance at all, Italy now has no chance."

"You have made your point Apex, and you're right, no more opportunities." says an Italy fighter.

During the war against Greece and Italy, the amazing Greek warrior, Achilles, was winning the whole battle for the Greeks. At night, people thanked him for trying hard and winning this battle, as Italy was bigger and stronger, it was a big surprise that Greece was winning. At a meeting of the gods, Ares, god of war, was very furious because Italy wasn't winning. Zeus made a rule about no interfering, but Ares was closing out Zeus' voice with his anger.

Apex, an Italy fighter, was furious that they weren't winning. He and his army agreed that they needed help from someone powerful, someone that overpowered ALL warriors, even someone who was immortal, like Achilles. Everyone was thinking of someone that was on their side, and was an overpowered war genius. Then they thought. Apex said, "what about Ares? He is always on the more powerful side, maybe we could actually get him to come help us!" Everyone agreed with the smart and strong Apex.

Apex and his army sent a message to the god. Ares retrieved it and agreed, but he had to keep a secret. He sent a quick message back letting Italy know that they will help them.

Apex made an announcement about what Ares would do to help them, he would deflect arrows, and protect them in every way. Someone asked "What if he betrays us? What if he goes onto the Greek side?" Apex answered, "Trust me", knowing he would never betray them, "He always is on the most powerful side, even though they are losing." He brought up a point, everyone knew that Ares would favor the more powerful team.

The next day, everyone was preparing for battle, feeling confident because of Ares helping them, also feeling safe and like they were indestructible. When the battle began, arrows were whistling through the slight breeze heading towards the Italy fighters as Ares blocked them from hitting Italy. Achilles was storming in on Italy, as Ares could barely do anything.

Achilles was indestructible, and being immortal he knew it was no problem to kill everyone from Italy he saw. But then Ares had an idea, he could craft a special javelin with poison on its tip. He knew that nothing would be strong enough to resist this strong javelin.

After the big battle, Ares was almost no use, but he had a plan the next day. Italy had switched the regular weak javelin with the strong poison tipped one.

The day after that, Italy had gathered their weapons, and was ready to battle, knowing Ares had a better plan. Apex had gathered his stuff, his pile of weapons felt heavy, but he dealt with it as he was ready to battle.

Apex saw Achilles storming in on them. Apex, knowing that Achilles was indestructible, still threw the javelin in a huge effort. He missed. But then he picked up the heavy, strong, poison tipped javelin, and chucked it so hard it could rip through any normal man. It had struck Achilles in the stomach. Achilles, thinking that he was ok stilled tried to continue with the battle. But he got weaker, and weaker, and finally died. At the very end of the day Italy had been winning, slashing through all of the warriors.

Later that night, the Greek army took the immortal Achilles, and buried him in the woods, where he could rest in peace.

About a month later, his mother came to visit him at his grave, but she couldn't find it. The area was covered in a weird kind of plant. She left because the grave was nowhere to be seen.

People were wandering in the woods one day where they found the mysterious plant, it made them itch and had a puffy face. They had looked around for what may be causing this. After days they finally found Achilles grave, everyone was shocked of what had been causing this weird plant. From that day everyone had called that mysterious plant, poison ivy.

Demigods Against the Sun

By Dragon R.N.

Going to the Big House sucks. Especially if you were there a week before learning about a quest you were going on later.

I'm Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, the god of the sea. I am a demigod, which means I am half human half god. My mom was a mortal, my dad was a god. I live in Camp Half-Blood, one of the safest places for demigods like me. There's also Camp Jupiter, a camp for Roman demigods, but that is a different story.

Camp Half-Blood is a place in Long Island Sound, New York, that is protected by a tree that once held a girl named Thalia, who was the daughter of Zeus, and died but then came back to life. That tree creates a force field like barrier around the camp to keep monsters out that godly blood attracts.

My girlfriend, Annabeth, is the daughter of Athena, she ran away from home when she was seven, and came here with Luke and Thalia. She lives here during the summer. She has blonde curly hair, while mine is black and wavy, and grey eyes like her mom's, where as I take my dad's eyes, a sea green color.

I walked with Nico, son of Hades, and Annabeth, the two people I selected to go on the quest with me, to the house to meet Chiron, our Camp Director. As we walked, since it took a long walk from the cabins to the Big House, I backed them up about the quest.

"So, yesterday, one of the kids from the Hermes Cabin decided to travel back in time on this time travelling mermicorn, Mirina and tried to convince Apollo to get rid of the night and early morning," I began. "I was asked to lead a quest back in time to the Early Days of Earth, in order to convince Apollo to keep night and day or we may never see the dark of day again. You two are the people I chose to take with me on the quest."

Annabeth looked at me quizzing like I had taught her something she never knew. Pfft, that was impossible.

"So, how will we convince Apollo? I mean, he's pretty full of himself," she said.

Then Nico looked up, his face as pale as ever, "Well, if we can't make him un-full of himself, it's a good idea you brought me along," I couldn't tell if he was joking or serious, but Nico wasn't the funny kind. The taste from my mouth changed from sweet to bitter.

As Nico, Annabeth, and I approached the Big House, we saw Chiron walking around the courtyard. His hooves, yes hooves, he's a centaur, half human half horse, kicking up dust from the ground. As soon as he spotted us, he trotted over and stood an inch away from my face. His brown stallion lower body smelled sweet, like honeycomb and chocolate.

"Ah, I was wondering when you would get here," He seemed to be somewhere else, like he were in a trance. "I would like you to take Mirina the Mermicorn back to the Early Days of Earth to convince Apollo that Night should happen or we could face more danger than anyone can imagine. Even worse than the time Luke stole the lightning bolt." He seemed to be focused on us now, and he sounded so stern in the way he said Mermicorn. Like it wasn't an animal with the front half of a unicorn and the back half of a fish.

Nico started speaking in Italian, "Quindi la dovremmo -"

"Nico you're speaking Italian again," Annabeth whispered.

"Oh, sorry," Nico said, "Quindi la dovremmo -"

"Amico, si sta ancora parlando italiano, tenta di parlare in inglese. Like this." I said. I had practiced Italian so I was able to fight and talk with him when we didn't want to be heard. I told him to speak English.

Nico looked as annoyed as a black cat being bothered with water, but I could see a small light in his eyes like he was pleased I had learned Italian for him. "So we should ride on a pony mermaid back in time on a cute little rainbow to get a god to put night in the day."

I had totally forgotten that Chiron was there until he spoke, "Yes if you would like to put it like that," he said, cracking a smile, but his face turned just as fast. "You must go to the powerful god Apollo as soon as possible, or the world could collapse from pure panic. Now go, I have to have a talk with a son of Hermes."

Mirina the Mermicorn was very, how I say it, Katy Perry-ish. First, she didn't want to look at us, then when I approached her she swam to the bottom of the large lake. So to speak, she was very picky. It took an hour to finally climb on top of her. In that time Annabeth put her hair in a braid, I walked up to her and asked her if she wanted a sugar cube, a reference to the Hunger Games Trilogy which was the series she loved, I expected to get a laugh or at least a smile, but all I got was a slap on the face and, a small kiss on the cheek, which felt better.

Finally, after many sugar cubes, which I had to take various trips to the Dining Pavilion to get, Mirina the Mermicorn allowed the three of us to mount her back, which was scaly and damp. I told her to go to the Early Days of Earth, Greece, and Apollo's house. Mirina the Mermicorn and spoke to me, in my head, you're mean, I hope you fall off in 1900 so I never have to see you again.

I was sure to hold on to Mirina as hard as I could.

It took probably an hour to reach the Early Days, and when we got there, it wasn't so much what I expected.

I had expected a lot of war and possibly all gods against Gaea's kids, but instead it looked nice, springtime. Of course, Demeter hadn't lost her daughter yet. It smelled like sweet flowers, and I thought I was back on Calypso's Island, Ogygia. Annabeth looked like she had been handed one million dollars to go to the biggest bookstore or build a mansion. Her eyes glimmered, and she seemed to take in everything around her. The temples, the houses, mansions, hills, everything.

"It's beautiful, wonderful architecture. Like, wow," Annabeth said.

"It's too bright. Geez, now I know why you brought me on this, Jackson, I need the night, so bad, I need it now," Nico said, covering his eyes. He completely stood out in the bright atmosphere. With all of the flowers around, he looked like he was from another world. He had a black shirt, with a skull on it, and very pale skin, for spending so much time in the Underworld. Annabeth and I didn't look any different from the surroundings, I had my orange camp T-shirt on with some shorts. Annabeth had a teal tee, jean shorts, and the navy blue converse she always wore. She looked beautiful as ever.

"I think Apollo's main temple is over there," Annabeth pointed out a temple with a golden lyre on the steps and soft, beautiful music coming from it. I wondered if the gods had made humans yet, or if they knew what they were the god of, or even if they knew they were a god yet. All of those questions were answered. Yes, yes, and yes. I think these were the last Early Days of Earth. That was depressing. I could have stopped Pandora from opening that box and told everyone who did bad things to stop it, the world in the present, where we came from, was already messed up enough.

As we walked toward the temple we say many people walking around in white draped togas. Nico wasn't the only one who stood out anymore. All three of us did.

We entered the temple and saw Apollo standing there looking at a map of the Earth, which looked completely different from now, and was muttering words in Greek of where and when the sun would shine on the world.

Annabeth got down on one knee silently and motioned for us to do the same.

"O̱ ischyró Apóllo̱na, epidió̱koume ti̱ voí̱theiá sas," Annabeth said. I translated it in my mind automatically: Oh powerful Apollo, we seek your help.

Apollo turned around and smiled, I thought I had gone blind. His smile shined as bright as the sun, well, duh, and his face had a very strong glow.

"What would you like, demigods. Are you asking for no night? Well I'm sorry but a boy yesterday came here to do just the same, so you can cross that off your bucket-list." Apollo seemed very snarky, the way he talked. It really pushed my buttons. It did for Nico too. He looked more vexed than I was.

"Apollo, we have come to convince you to allow night to be part of the day," I said, standing up slowly.

Apollo studied me then laughed, "Son of Poseidon, you are no match for me. Why don't you go home to the future and play in your little water table," and waved me away

Now that was pushing it. I thrust out my hands, felt a tugging feeling in my gut, and then there was a huge wave of water tumbling towards the temple. I pulled Annabeth and Nico close so I could easily from an air bubble around them, and the wave hit. When it died down, Apollo was there drying his hair with some magical force.

Before I could speak, Apollo raised up his hand, like Shakespeare, and cleared his throat dramatically,

"Perseus Jackson

Anger issues released quick

Has tiny tantrums"

Apollo smirked and turned around, only to be surprised by a skeleton waiting there, summoned by Nico.

"Nice try, Sun man, but if you want to prevent an outbreak of panicking mortals in the future, you better rethink your plans of how the Sun and the Moon are going to share the Earth," Nico looked really irritated. I hoped he didn't kill himself trying to summon so many skeletons. Apollo finished drying his hair and snapped his fingers, where a burst of sunlight went through Nico, then disappeared into the air.

Nico fell to the ground. His eyes closed as they rolled back, like he had fainted.

"NICO!" I yelled. Annabeth motioned for me to stay put, and ran over to him and picked up his head, she gave me a look He's not dead, just unconscious. I gave a sigh of relief, then turned to Apollo.

"Apollo, there are many people in the future who will freak if they find out you took away the night. If you gave five hours in the morning and six hours in the evening of every day to be used as night, then thirteen hours in between then as day, we will be happy and leave you alone for a couple millennia," I wasn't going to fight a war, and I didn't want Nico, or worse, Annabeth to get hurt or killed. Apollo gave it some thought, turned to the map, turned to Nico and Annabeth, and then turned to me.

"Fine, I will allow eleven hours of the day to be dark," he shuddered as if dark and night was the same as the words killed or Roman, "and thirteen hours for day and light. Now leave my presence, go back to the future." Annabeth and I carried Nico, who was slowly regaining consciousness, to the bay where we had parked Mirina and Annabeth and I pushed up Nico then we climbed her. Mirina gave a whiny saying oh great you're alive.

Five minutes had passed in the present from when we left. We went to the Big House and saw the Hermes kid, who turned out to be Ethan, a new camper who was about 12 years old, smirking.

As we turned into the Big House courtyard, Chiron was there and looked overjoyed to see us.

"Did you do it? Did Apollo change his mind," he looked, down at Nico and changed his expression, "I see, well, Annabeth, can you take Nico to the Infirmary, Will Solace will be more than happy to see him." He then turned back at me and said, "Percy, you did well, I am glad we are not to go to war with the gods."

"Thank you Chiron," I said.

"Percy I want you to know something," Chiron said, his face serious. I thought I was going on another quest, or I was in danger of dying, again. Then, Chiron smiled, "That Hermes camper, Ethan I would like you to keep an eye on him for the rest of the day. I saw some matches in his pocket, and well, you know what happened last time a Hermes kid had matches." I stifled a laugh, remembering the time the Stoll Brothers lit a fire in the Dining Pavilion, people screaming their heads off going crazy finding water.

"I sure will," I said, grinning. Chiron shifted his weight.

"Well I must be going, and you should to Percy, I heard you had something with Annabeth tonight.

My face went blank. I completely forgot that I was going to take her out later on a date! Right! I completely forgot! Thank you Chiron!" I yelled as I ran out of the courtyard and down to the Infirmary to get Annabeth.

"Annabeth! I was wondering if you wanted me to escort you to dinner," I said in a cheesy British accent, holding out my arm jokingly.

"Why of course noble sir," Annabeth replied, also in a British accent, but way better than mine. She took my arm, and we walked down to the Dining Pavilion, giggling all the way.

Credits for the Characters and all of Camp Half-Blood go to Rick Riordan, the author of the Percy Jackson Series, and Heroes of Olympus Series.
The Story of Our Lives

By Sean

Up in the glorious world of Mount Olympus, before humanity came to exist, Zeus, the god of lightning, Hades, Lord of the currently empty and gloomy Underworld, and Demeter, the god of crops all wanted her produce to have purpose (with the other gods of course who also wanted to improve their lives). Zeus had a great secret to keep, for he had inherited some magic skills from his father.

The gods were frolicking around the majestic, rainbow covered, marbled, polished, Mount Olympus, shooting lightning bolts at trees, and having a general awesome time. Soon, however, they became bored.

"I spend nights awake yearning for something to meddle fate with other than these invalid creatures that are abundant in this land," said Zeus to Hera, the great goddess ruler of Mount Olympus.

"I have an idea!" exclaimed Ares, "there could be this game where things tackle each other and try to score points."

Dionysus wanted someone to enjoy and love his lovely, 100% natural wine which tasted and smelled like grapes and cherries. Demeter, mother of the beautiful Persephone, wanted her crops to have more of a purpose other than feeding the mule deer and rotting like dead flesh on the new ground.

That night, while Zeus was experimenting with his new found magic. Suddenly, thirty thousand mini, five foot exact replicas of him burst out of nowhere.

"Ah! Attack of the mini mes!" hollered Zeus.

"They look just like us! There's even some that look like me!" shrieked Hera, "With Zeus' might and my beauty, they will be simply amazing!"

"Hey, this is just what we wanted," exclaimed Demeter.

"These creatures are pretty zany," said Poseidon, in a good mood for once.

The gods gasped in horror as they duplicated by the tenfold.

"I feel that we should name these creatures," stated Apollo.

"I think we should call them HUMANS," yelled Poseidon.

Then the floated down to earth to reside and develop into humans today.

The only reason they were sent down to Earth was because they were getting increasingly irritating. This was because there was a lot of fighting and wars (fist fights) that caused at least one death and a ruckus that was like a herd of stampeding elephants. After about twenty years later, Hades finally got his first one hundred underworld residents as fast as a lightning bolt.

For the best, humanity praised the gods, so the gods were happy, and humans started, to Ares' delight, playing and loving football which soon became the most reputable thing in American history (but that will come later).

Daphne's Story

By Natalie

Daphne was the daughter of the books protector, the god of books, Hephaestus. Daphne has long brown hair, big blue eyes, and also she is kind of tall. Daphne loved reading so much. Almost everywhere, Daphne would read a book.

Daphne and her father lived there together in a huge house. Daphne had a giant library in her house. In her dad's office, the library, were so many wonderful new books each day. The most special thing was that only Daphne and her father Hephaestus could enter the library.

One day, the sun and poetry god, Apollo, saw Daphne walking in the hallway. Apollo followed after Daphne. Daphne did not notice that Apollo was following after her until Apollo spoken to her softly.

"I will not harm you oh lovely Daphne, please be my wife, I am the god of poetry and of the sun!"

"Well..." Daphne replied. She was freak out.

Of course, Daphne is still really young and didn't want to get married but Apollo didn't seem to notice at all or even care. Then Apollo came face to face with Daphne in the hallway. Poor Daphne being the closest to her first period English class, ran into the room and slammed the door behind her with a sigh of relief but she didn't know that she would be saved only by an hour or so.

Apollo, waiting patiently for Daphne to go back out, went into her locker waiting to talk to Daphne about marriage. Daphne looked outside for any signs of the god, Apollo. She sighed in relief again thinking Apollo had finally left her alone and had returned back to the heavens. Daphne, unaware of Apollo, opened her locker to get her math materials and to her surprise, there Apollo hid. When Apollo was just about to talk to her quickly, Daphne ran as fast as lightning straight to her next period, Math, with her math materials.

Daphne, hiding the door behind her, was once again relieved but not for long. Mr. Brockington, Daphne's Math teacher, was surprised of how Daphne acted and was so curious that he asked Daphne what happened. Daphne replied with a shaky voice,

"Sorry about how worried you are. I accidently forgot all my materials and was scared I was going to be late."

Mr. Brockington, an understanding man, was glad everything was okay even though she was on time.

"Good, I am glad you're on time and get to class."

Apollo, waiting outside of a classroom wondered, why Daphne wouldn't speak to him. Once the bell rang, Apollo looked for Daphne but there was no sign of her. Daphne was in Mr. Brockington's classroom but Apollo went to Mrs.Gerster's classroom, which taught about the basics of algebra. Daphne, still aware of Apollo being at school, ran as fast as she could straight to the cafeteria. Daphne went to her usual table where all her friends were sitting and started eating.

While Daphne and her friends were chatting, Apollo under the flat table, unaware of Daphne watching at him, waited to come up and talk, but gods can get hungry so he took some of Daphne's food since they were getting "married" and ate. Each time Daphne looked away from her lunch, a chunk or a sip would have disappeared. Daphne more surprised than she was before, checked under the table. But she couldn't let her friends know she was a gods daughter and there is a god following her, so she dropped her bread on the ground and picked it up. There, Apollo was under the table.

Luckily, it was time to go to class, so without saying anything, she headed straight to the hallways. While she was running and had stopped for a breath, there Apollo was, teleported right in front of her. To her surprise, she wasn't close to her science class so she headed to the media center where his dad was since he was the god of books and writing. Daphne remembering her dad was there, screamed for help, "Help! Help! Father! Help me.," and to Apollo's surprise Daphne had disappeared. Daphne had turned into a big bookshelf!

Apollo was so down, he make sure she would never die. He made her unbreakable, and turned himself into a book so he and Daphne could be together for all eternity.

Poseidon and Sharkules

By Avery Ruthven

Once upon a time, there lived Poseidon, the god of the sea. Poseidon was the son of Gai, goddess of nature, filled with love, kindness, and beauty. Poseidon had a long, white beard and crystal blue eyes that reflected his love for the ocean. He had enormous muscles and a long merman tail which was the color of fresh seaweed. All Poseidon wanted in life, he already had. The only other thing he wanted was to see his mother again. Happily, Poseidon spent most of his days swimming in the ocean and speaking to other sea creatures. Poseidon was feeling very tense one day and he didn't know why. He had no idea of the disastrous chain of events to follow. On the other side of the ocean there lived Sharkules, the god of all sharks. His bright red eyes showed his love of death and sacrifice. Sharkules had razor sharp teeth and 5 gill slits on each side of his body. He was big and strong and very fast. He wanted to be the most powerful ocean ruler that there ever was. Sharkules enjoyed making other sea creatures miserable and eating seals. Sharkules would sit in his cave and sing to himself, "The only word to describe myself is perfect." He was feeling very confident that he could be the best.

Poseidon lived in the calm part of the ocean where all the creatures were friends. It was clean and clear blue. The water tasted perfectly salty and was full of life. It was always quiet and calm in Poseidon's part of the ocean. There was always a sweet smell of cinnamon above the surface.

"Ahh. I love relaxing here," he would say on days when the sun peeked out of the clouds. Meanwhile, in Sharkules' part of the ocean, although there was still a crystal blue ocean scene to look out to from land, there was always a horrible screeching sound and the smell of a dumpster. This part of the ocean was called the trash can.

One day, Sharkules was told by one of his dolphin servants that there was an ocean god much more powerful than Sharkules himself. Poseidon was his name. Greedily, Sharkules was furious when he heard this news and immediately became jealous. The king ordered all of his servants to prepare a sea chariot for him to travel to Poseidon. The whole journey, Sharkules was baffled as to how he became less powerful.

"Why! I am the most powerful, and there will NEVER be anyone else!!" Sharkules stated.

After a while, Sharkules arrived at Poseidon's part of the ocean and approached him. "You! It's you. You're the most powerful!" he screamed.

"Well yes, I guess I am," Poseidon replied back calmly. "Is there a problem?" At this point, Sharkules was very angry.

Right after that, Poseidon remembered when Zeus had told him about a greedy shark king that wanted to rule the ocean. Realizing it was him, Poseidon fell back, swimming away, but not fast enough. Sharkules shot towards Poseidon and screamed, "Oh yes, there is a problem!"

Later on, after screaming at each other for hours and saying, "I will win!" back and forth, Poseidon and Sharkules decided that the only way to settle this was a battle. With their weapons and armor ready, they prepared to fight.

"You will never win," Poseidon stated. As the town clocks struck 12 p.m., the combat began. It started when Sharkules jumped at Poseidon and tackled him. On his back, Poseidon pushed himself up and struck Sharkules with his trident, wounding him. The anger of Poseidon caused big waves in the water above them.

"You will never be most powerful ever again!" Sharkules screamed. With a loud, boastful voice, Poseidon said, "Oh, but I already am." This angered Sharkules more than anything ever had.

Suddenly, he leaped forward and grabbed Poseidon's trident out of his hands.

He heard a soft "No!!" slip from Poseidon's mouth as he floated back in shock. Poseidon felt hopeless, like the world was over. Sharkules felt like he had already taken over the ocean as the most powerful. "Now, I have the power to do anything I wish. And I think that you have a pretty good guess as to what I'm going to do first."

Then, Sharkules struck Poseidon with his trident, causing Poseidon to sink deeper and deeper into the unknown depths of the dark ocean below. As Poseidon lay at the seafloor, Sharkules swam back and forth between the creatures that had gathered, full of excitement. Sharkules was proud. So proud he could explode. He was proud at himself for getting the trident and killing Poseidon. Or so he thought.

Soon after Poseidon had sunk to the bottom of the ocean, Sharkules heard a frightening scream from above. As the goddess of nature, Gai, appeared, Sharkules swam to his chariot and hid inside. Gai swam to the bottom of the ocean and saw Poseidon appear in her view. As he appeared, Gai sobbed and sobbed. When she reached him, she realized that he was not yet dead. Still half-alive, Poseidon shouted out, "Mother!" He wasn't ready to give up. His mother swam to him and said, "I will defeat Sharkules for you. I promise," Gai cried.

At last Sharkules got what he wanted all along. Even though he had hid from Gai, he still had the trident. When Poseidon "died", his powers were handed to only the owner of the trident, in this case Sharkules. But Poseidon wasn't dead. Not knowing that his enemy, laying on the ocean floor, was alive, Sharkules tried and tried to strike things and kill small fish, but it wouldn't work. "Why won't this work!" he screamed in horror. "I am the king of the sea. I have to be most powerful!" Just as Sharkules was about to throw the trident into the depths of the ocean below, Gai appeared behind him. "My son will never die. He may be injured, but he will never get defeated by an amateur." Gai swam towards him, striking him with her powers. He fell backwards screaming, "NO!" and Gai struck him again. Sharkules immediately turned into an ugly, horrible shark. He swam away vigorously. Suddenly, Poseidon appeared in front of her and took his trident from her hand. "Thank you, mother," said Poseidon. "I would do anything for you, my precious son," Gai replied softly. Gai swam back up to the clouds of the gods and Poseidon lived in his ocean swimming freely whenever he pleased. Neither of the gods were harmed since the accident with Sharkules. Having occasional visits with his mother, Gai, Poseidon was happy to be the ocean ruler. He banned Sharkules to ever enter the ocean again, and had him locked up in a local aquarium.

How the Planets Were Created

By Julia

On a bright sunny day, high up in the mystical clouds above Olympus, Aphrodite stood in her crystal palace admiring her delicate face in the mirror. She twisted her silky blonde hair on her finger. Her long pink dress gently waved in the wind. Smiling Aphrodite was more beautiful than all the jewels and gold in the world. Her bright blue eyes twinkled in the light. She was amazing! Aphrodite loved to help people but sometimes she got a little distracted by her beauty.

As the day went on, she bragged about how wonderful she was to all the gods. Some gods became furious and a little jealous. Usually, Aphrodite would go around helping people who were having problems and she would talk them through it. But, she got so caught up in her good looking face. Surprisingly, what many people didn't know was that the only reason Aphrodite was extremely gorgeous was because Zeus blessed her with a beautiful necklace since she was so kind. Deep inside the necklace there was a curse; the curse made her attract active as long as she wore the necklace. Later that day, Zeus started to get irritated because Aphrodite was not helping people who were going through a lot of stress. As Zeus was walking through the dirty streets of Greece, he noticed several people who were poor and homeless.

He thought, "Oh spoiled Aphrodite! She gets so much and the least she could do is help others in return. Why isn't she caring for these unfortunate people?"

Zeus had gone through enough procrastination from Aphrodite. Having put up with this nonsense, he fiercely stormed off to Aphrodite crystal palace. As he reached the gates of her glistening castle, he yelled her name, "APHRODITE!"

As soon as she heard Zeus's loud voice, she carefully opened the gates, shivering with fear. Zeus looked Aphrodite straight into the eyes. Worried Aphrodite started to cry a little she was afraid of what Zeus might do. He then ripped her cursed necklace of her neck!

"Ow! What's happening." she screeched trying to get words out of her mouth.

Immediately, Aphrodite's body started to shake and move. Her body was changing so fast. She was no longer wearing the necklace that made her so special. She started to spin in the air.

Faster and Faster!

Making herself so dizzy that she could just faint.

Finally, she flopped onto the cold floors and looked like nothing more than a sick hideous woman. Wanting the day to end, she scurried across the floor into a dark corner to hide her face. Laying there, she became depressed. Aphrodite hated herself just as Zeus hated her disobedience and never wanted to see her face again. Aphrodite sobbed.

Zeus held the fragile necklace into the air and each bead spread apart. All of a sudden, the beads started to gradually get bigger.

Then, all of a sudden they crashed through the roof and into the night sky! Aphrodite watched her one-of-a-kind necklace fade into the sky full of stars. Each of the beads had turned into one of the planets.

After that had been done, Zeus stomped out of her house and slammed the door. Aphrodite was so miserable she stayed in the corner for hours. Her heart

The next day, she started to get hungry. She had to get food. Aphrodite put on a hood so she would stay hidden for everyone else. When she made her way to town many of the gods were staring at her and pointing fingers. She was extremely ugly with tangles in her hair and dirt stuck in the pores of her skin!

All of a sudden, she tripped over a rock and her hood came off. Aphrodite face planted into the dirt. She tried to get back up. Several people were watching her, it took a while for them to recognize who she was but once they clearly saw her face, the gods knew it was Aphrodite. Some of the gods laughed and made fun of her.

Aphrodite had enough torture! She ran as fast as her legs could carry her to Zeus. When she approached him she got on her knees and begged Zeus to make her pretty again. At first Zeus refused but then Aphrodite explained that she would NEVER brag about her beauty to anyone ever again. He was convinced and instead of giving her back the necklace he made her beautiful naturally on the inside and on the outside he decided to keep the planets in the sky since she learned her lesson whenever she gazes up in the sky it will remind her to keep her promise.

Now, everyone can admire her elegance by looking up into the dark sky with stunning planets. That is how the planets were created.

The Story of Jodas Strongpad

By Jack Canonico

In the calm land of Salkjis, the day that Erebus returned to his dark realm of Quiovoxen, a child was born to the Strongpad family of hobbits. The Strongpad family named him Jodas. Some prophesied that a hobbit born on the day that the dark god returned to his realm would eventually banish the evil to the abyss forever.

Jodas grew up like any other young hobbit of his time would: he spent most of his time talking with friends. Often, he would play in the stream by his house and loved the water. Mostly, he played and socialized with his friend Drifas Maquory.

On Jodas' 32 birthday, which he shared with Drifas who was three years younger than him, they had a huge party to celebrate Jodas' coming of age. That day, Erebus sent out his first wave of Eurynomusi (or corpse-eaters) to invade the other lands.

Later that day, Jodas and Drifas had a huge joint birthday-party and had a blast. All their friends and family were at the party. Everyone exchanged gifts then watched a prodigious firework display thanks to the pyromancer Moijr.

After dinner when the hobbits started winding down their party, they heard a loud horn sound and heard the screams of people running.

"Run," they screamed, "run for your lives." Suddenly, a great darkness fell and even though the sun wouldn't set for another hour the sky was black. The first wave of the Eurynomusi (evil spirits) had arrived and at the lead of the squad was a giant Chimera that slaughtered countless hobbits. The only party attendees that lived to see another day were Jodas, Drifas, and their friends Fadsod, and Kilaj. They survived the raid by hiding in the photo booth (a relatively new invention) at the party.

After the evil spirits had left and the darkness had passed the surviving hobbits left the photo booth. The entire land of Salkjis was nearly destroyed and survivors were few and far between because half of Jodas' town was at his party and more people from out of town attended the party as well. Littering the ground were skeletons who the Eurynomusi had overtaken as they attempted to flee.

"Where's the flesh on the corpses?" asked Drifas?

"The Eurynomusi eat corpses like crows," replied Jodas.

Then they were all silent realizing that they would never be able to give the attendees a proper burial because they had no way of identifying them. The one thought that was in all their minds was "what now". They could try to join a force to attempt to stop Erebus or they could try to find a safe haven for themselves for them and the rest of the remaining hobbits while they waited for a group of people to stop the evil forces. They decided to debate what to do.

"I think that we should go and try to stop these forces," said Jodas after the debate.

"I agree with Jodas," added Drifas, "we should stand up and fight not cower in a corner and wait for the trouble to pass."

The others agreed and they decided to make for the number one fighters against Erebus, the Sparti, who were so skilled in war that it is said they are born with armor on and spears in hand.

As soon as they were packed up and ready to go, they started on their journey to the land of Spartius. At the beginning of their journey, the scenery looked somewhat normal, but as they got closer to Spartius and Quiovoxen the land around the hobbits looked more and more like a barren wasteland.

"These Eurynomusi did more damage than we thought," said Kilaj.

"Yes, I hope that the fortresses of Spartius still stand," replied Fadsod.

The next wave of Eurynomusi were sent out when the hobbits were two days out of the capital of Spartius. This time, at the lead, was a giant manticore instead of a chimera. Ever since the first wave, the hobbits thirsted for a way to avenge their fallen brethren and fight the Eurynomusi.

As the Eurynomusi approached the hobbits bravely stood in the middle of the road. They carried no sword and held no other weapon besides their fists and minds. As soon as they were spotted, the manticore was sent forth to make play of them but the manticore had very little fun with the hobbits.

The manticore launched spikes from its tail at the hobbits and since he was not the most accurate manticore and used a few too many spikes, he littered the ground with them and ran out, not one hitting its mark.

"Pick the spikes up and use them against the manticore," Jodas yelled to his companions.

So, they each picked up one of the countless spikes and used them like a stabbing weapon. These spikes became the first swords. They each took a few shots at the manticore but it was Drifas who landed the final blow. He stabbed the manticore from his weak underbelly and the beast collapsed, dead.

At the sight that the beast had fallen the Eurynomusi became extremely enraged. They all charged at the hobbits, but at that moment the noble men of Spartius were seen from behind the monsters. The monsters were then made quick work of by the Sparti.

Then in two days when the hobbits and the men arrived at the capitol they received a warm welcome from the people of Spartius. They had a huge feast with the king which was much better than the stale scraps the hobbits had gathered for their journey. But best of all, they were each given a legion of soldiers to bring into the land of Quiovoxen.

After a great week's stay in the king's palace, the hobbits and their legions of men set out for Quiovoxoen. After a weeks' time, they arrived at the abyss that was on the western edge of Quiovoxen which had the awful smell of rotting flesh wafting through the air. On the other edge of the abyss was the entire army of Erebus and this time he was leading his forces.

The beginning of the next day when the morning was still crisp yells of "Charge!" could be heard from either side of the abyss. Both forces were attempting to take the one and only bridge across the abyss. After three hours of fighting, the hobbits and men had taken the now bloody bridge.

It was around that time that Erebus recklessly challenged the leader of his enemy to come forth and duel him. He believed that he would easily win and send his enemies into chaos, but what Erebus didn't realize is that the leader was the one foretold of in the prophecies.

Jodas, the leader of the men, came forth and accepted Erebus' challenge and in the middle of the bridge the duel began.

First Erebus charged at Jodas with the strength of a bull, no weapon in hand hoping to push his enemy off the bridge, but the opposite happened. Jodas sidestepped and Erebus couldn't turn around, and he fell into the abyss.

What occurred afterwards was just astonishing. All of the Eurynomus floated into the air at once, and they then exploded like fireworks.

Afterwards, the hobbits had a colossal celebration and partied for days then after another week in Spartius they finally headed home.

"Oh, I miss home so much," Drifas said.

"Ditto," replied Jodas, "I can't wait to get back even though it is mostly a wasteland."

To the surprise of all the hobbits, the land of Salkjis was just as it was the day of the party.

"When the Eurynomusi exploded all of their actions must have been undone," hypothesized Kilaj.

So, all of the party attendees were still alive and the hobbits rejoiced and celebrated some more.

It is said that in memory of the hobbits the men of Spartius tried to replicate the hobbits' weapons and made swords.
Goddess of the Moon

By Carla

Artemis was a beautiful goddess with shining silver hair, pale skin, and blue sparkling lips. She wore a pale blue, sparkly, flowing, mermaid dress. She was the goddess of hunting, and the natural environment.

Her brother, Apollo, was the god of the sun. She never forgot that the night was dreary and dark. There was no sun that produced at least enough light to find your way around. The night was a white page covered in black ink.

However, Artemis always worked hard during the day. Never stopping till her work was done. Apollo saw how hard she worked and decided he wanted to give her a reward, so he went to Zeus to ask him what he could give her.

Apollo rushed to Mt. Olympus where he found Zeus.

"Zeus, I want to reward Artemis for all of her hard work, but what should I give her?"

Zeus ate another grape as he listened, "In a cave on Mount Blanc is a sacred gift so powerful it could be used to destroy the world." Zeus replied, "this gift is very important and hard to get to. You and your sister must be very careful and she must be ready to protect it with her life."

Apollo shifted nervously. He knew it was worth it and they had to try to get it but he was not sure what dangers they would face.

Zeus went on, "The gift is a white disc. Sometimes it's a crescent and sometimes it's a whole disc."

After Zeus's speech about the magical disc, Apollo looked for Artemis. He found her in the forest hunting for deer.

"Artemis," Apollo called.

"Yes?" Artemis answered, "What brings you to the forest, my dear brother?"

Apollo explained the gift and where to get it. While Artemis joyfully listened. They decided to go that night with a torch to see where they were going. That night when the sun had long left the sky, the two gods made their way to Mont Blanc. They searched for the cave for three hours, and finally Artemis found the cave after crashing through what seemed like a forest of bushes. They quietly ran through the entrance only to be showered with stalactites.

"It's a booby trap," yelled Apollo as they dashed farther into the cave.

"I think we're safe," gasped Artemis, "Or not," she corrected herself as a giant boulder rolled down towards the siblings. "RUN!" yelled Apollo. After a few minutes of running they finally escaped the bolder and entered a small room.

"Wow." exclaimed Artemis as they admired gold filled room.

"Let's get what we came for and get OUT." Apollo and Artemis started searching for the disc and easily found it. They were soon on their way out of the cave. Little did they know they were not the only ones looking for the disc. Hades was also looking for disc and he had overheard Apollo and Zeus's discussion. He had hoped that he could get to the disc first but now he saw it in Artemis' hands and was furious. Hades was determined to get the disc and would stop at nothing to get it.

That night Artemis and Apollo were getting ready to go to bed.

"Do you think someone is really going to try to steal the disc?" asked Artemis.

"I doubt it," answered Apollo, "but we should be careful just in case."

Hades was close by listening to their conversation. He decided that he sneak up to them early in the morning, two hours before the sun would come out.

Early in the morning, Hades snuck up the tree where Artemis and Apollo were sleeping. He could almost touch the disc when Artemis pulled the disc out of the way. Hades slipped and slid back down the tree.

"Zeus was right," said Artemis as Apollo got up, "Someone was going to try to steal the disc from me, but I'm sure he didn't think it would be his own brother!"

"We should probably get moving before Hades tries to get back up here," Apollo remarked as he grabbed a rope he had brought, "We can swing from tree to tree if we're careful."

"Good idea," said Artemis while she wrapped one end of the rope to a small branch, "I'll go first." She attached the disc to her dress, took a few steps back, and took a running leap. She swung across the gap between the trees and landed on a nice, sturdy branch. She tied her end of rope to another branch as Apollo untied his end and swung across.

Soon the siblings had lost Hades and slid down the trees. "We need to be very careful we don't meet anymore gods or anyone else."

Later that day Hera was out in the woods when she overheard Artemis and Apollo talking about the silver disc. It was rumored to have powers strong enough to change the world forever. When Hera looked through the bushes, she realized they weren't just talking about the disc, they had the disc. Hera was furious. There was only one person who knew where disc was, Zeus, and he told them. She had begged him to tell her where the disc was and yet he told two other gods instead of his own wife. She knew it was best not to tell Zeus of what she found and try to steal it herself.

Later that day Apollo and Artemis climbed a tree to go to sleep for the night.

"Do you think Hades is coming after the disc again tonight," started Artemis, "I hope no one else saw us and is coming after it too."

"We'll be fine as long as we sleep in the highest and hard to reach places," Apollo said, "Tomorrow we'll cross the ocean and start to look for a place to keep it safe." The gods were soon fast asleep.

Hours later Hera and Hades were making their way to the tree in which the siblings were sleeping. As soon as Hades saw Hera, he pulled her away from the tree.

"What are you doing here," he asked Hera.

"Getting the disc, duh." She replied.

Hades had an idea. He explained to Hera what happened last night and how the two gods had escaped. Then he explained his new idea.

Hades and Hera quietly built their trap on the tree. Hades would distract the gods while Hera would swing on a rope to the tree they were in and knock Artemis and Apollo out of the tree. Artemis and Apollo would not be hurt because of a trap Hera and Hades had built to catch them. Apollo and Artemis would be flung into the trap and caught in a net high in the tree until they gave up the disk.

However, Artemis and Apollo had secretly made traps of their own earlier that day. The place where Hera would arrive on the tree also had a rope trap.

When Hera and Hades set their plan in motion, and it appeared to be working. Just when Hera was about to swing to Artemis and Apollo's tree, Hades was caught in a trap! Hera continued the plan, she swung across to Artemis and Apollo's tree but just as she pushed Artemis and Apollo into the net trap, Hera was also trapped in the rope trap.

Soon, all four gods were hanging in webs of rope amongst the trees.

"Well, that didn't go as planned," said Hera.

"In the meantime we all need to get out of these traps," replied Artemis.

"I guess so," replied Hera

Then Artemis had an idea. She started swinging in her net until she could grab her knife and cut off a thick branch on the nearest tree. Once she had the branch broken off and in her hands, she began sharpening the broken branch with her knife.

Soon, she had a nice sharp wood knife. She tossed the sharp wood knife that she'd just made to Apollo.

"Start cutting rope," she said as she cut a strand of rope on her net.

"Do we get one?" asked Hades.

"Probably not," answered Apollo as he fell through the net.

"I've got another idea," said Artemis as she fell through her net, "How about you two stay here and wait until someone else comes along and unties you. That will give us a head start."

Artemis and Apollo started walking towards the ocean.

Soon Artemis and Apollo were walking by the sea on the snow white silky sands, but they weren't the only gods on the beach.

Suddenly, something struck Apollo on the back of his knee. He fell to the ground with a bone jarring thud. Artemis turned around, clutching the silver disc in her hands. She saw three gods: Hera, Hades, and Poseidon. Hades knocked her to the ground and grabbed for the silver disk. In the same moment, Apollo grabbed his leg and yanked it out from under him, toppling him over. Poseidon and Hera were also trying to grab the disc. Artemis wouldn't be able to keep the disc away from them much longer so she hurdled the disc into the sky. To her surprise the disc grew bigger and bigger in the sky until it became the moon.

From that day on, Artemis became the goddess of the moon.

The Legend of the Winged CyeHippoGriffinDusaCorn

By Ben Gebhart

All around earth kids, kids were being gobbled up by a magical creature. This creature was the Winged CyeHippoGriffinDusaCorn, (the "Wingy" for short.) Why was it eating kids? Good question.

A little after the beginning of time there was a group of mean kids. They always made the WCHGDC feel bad.

"Hey, you are a freak", said Billy one day.

"Stop that, I don't like that", said the WCHGDC.

"I don't care."

"You will be sorry if you don't stop!"

"OOOOOOO, so scared."

Well he should be scared because when the WCHGDC went home he really got mad. They kept saying things like this every day to him. He had to do something.

He tried going to people for help but nobody would help him. He started getting very depressed. He wondered what his point in life was. One day he was walking and saw a sign that had a quote that said "Everyone Has a Purpose in Life." It hit him right in his heart.

The next day the mean kid, Billy, came up to him and said, "Your beak is huge and ugly!"

WCHGDC replied, "The better to eat you with, my pretty!"

The next thing you know, he had eaten Billy. He felt bad about it, but he didn't want Billy to continue being mean to people. He came up with a solution that didn't involve death or letting Billy go free.

WCHGDC knew of a creature called the Mermacorn (see the origin of the Mermacorn for more details). He knew that the Mermacorn hated mean kids. He went to it and asked a favor.

When he got there he barfed out Billy. Billy was quite shocked. WCHGDC said to the Mermacorn, "Billy is mean to people. Would you please torture him for the rest of eternity along with any other children I bring you?"

The Mermacorn said, "Sure! I love torturing mean children. They deserve it!"

At that moment the WCHGDC realized his purpose in life. He was to eat any mean children in the world and take them to the Mermacorn for torture for all eternity. He went to Zeus, who gave him the power to track down any mean children across the Earth. Now when he senses any mean kids he breaks into their bedrooms at night and gobbles them up, never to be seen again!
Skittle Boy And Strawberry Girl

By Henry Gruber

Starburst Land was a place where all was peaceful, and where candy people rode cookie boats on the Warm Milk Ocean. In Starburst Land, however, Skittle Boy was very sad because he did not have the confidence to ask out Strawberry Girl. To get some advice, Skittle Boy went to ask Hermes, who was the god that knew everything about the land.

When Skittle Boy reached the temple of the wonderful Hermes, he approached the great king. "Oh, Powerful king, I have come to you for advice," said Skittle Boy. "What kind of advice?" asked Hermes. "It's about a girl I like," said Skittle Boy, "Hmmmm", the king thought, "I will help you, only if you bring me the best Starbucks in the land," said the king.

At that moment, Elsa, Queen of Ice appeared from the dark shadows behind Hermes. "Oh Hermes," said Elsa, "Let the boy have what he wants for free". "NOOOOOO," said the king. "He will pay me in full for this silly favor," roared the king. Skittle Boy started to cry tears of sugar water and ran out the temple.

When Skittle boy reached the outside of the temple, Strawberry Girl was standing right in front of him. "Why are you here?" asked Skittle Boy. "I have come to get advice from Hermes," said Strawberry Girl. Skittle Boy, blushing at the cheeks, said, "Don't go in there, Hermes will just yell at you". Skittle Boy, filling the awkward silence, got on one knee and said, "Strawberry Girl will you marry me?" Strawberry Girl, jumping up and down in excitement, said, "Of course!" Skittle Boy and Strawberry Girl lived happily ever after.

THE END
A Unique Optimism

A Story of the Unicorn's Birth

By Shelby Barrow

"Tell us a story, Grandpa!" Kennedy suggested. The wise old man had always been known to tell stories of amazing phenomenon. She, Austin, and Haley all eagerly besieged their grandfather as they looked longingly for a tale.

"Ok, let me tell you a story of when I was just a boy. I was about your age, Austin!"

"My age?" Austin curiously questioned.

"Yes. This is supposedly how the unicorn was created," he said, pulling Kennedy onto his lap. Haley smiled and looked down at her unicorn stuffed toy. This was her favorite story. Grandpa had told it many times before.

"Just because the unicorn was born doesn't make is a happy story. This legend begins from darkness. It was a time of misery for this earth. People were committing crimes, starting wars, and cruelty surrounded this earth. Pain and suffering consumed our everyday lives, and there was no hope left in the world.

As well as doing their regular jobs, the Greek gods and goddesses had the job of defending the innocent. They had to interfere with battles in order to keep them going somewhere. However, there was so much evil in the world that it was hard for them to keep up with everything," The wise man told.

"Wait a minute," Haley interrupted, "I thought the gods were perfect. They just had, like, the easiest life ever. They could live forever, doing whatever they wanted to do, living on their own mountain, Mt. Olympus.

"That isn't honest. With being a god or goddess comes great duty and importance. We all were good, we just didn't choose to be good. The world was out of control. Even I was bad to the bone. I kept stealing money from my parents, and pulling my sister's braids. I was so rebellious!

With more and more unacceptable behavior piling up, the gods and goddesses were WAY overworked.

A war was occurring all around us, the smell of blood and the ringing from the gunfire lingered in our ears. Mother always said it was the Dark Age, and I knew this was true. The inner devil was unleashed from us all.

Gaia, the goddess of the earth and Mother Nature, didn't have no picnic either. As battlefields were created for war and fights, more trees were cut down. As hatred made us dislike other people, more places were burnt down. The sky was smoky grey from all the fires, and most of my winter sweaters smelled of smoke. It was awful. All of the animals ran off. They were always migrating but never stopping. They had nowhere to go.

Although Ares, god of war, was excited by all the battles, he quickly became bored by the never ending hatred. Ares had to interfere with lots of battles, to try to end at least some fights.

Poor Astraea. She was the goddess of justice, but there was no justice. There were no heroes. There were no good people. Her concept unfortunately, was dead to us.

Now, Gaia, Mother Nature, looked up at her fellow gods and goddesses and was concerned.

With all of Olympus wiped out, the worst would just get worse. Nobody had time to do their other jobs. Everybody was suffering. She decided that we needed a hero. Someone who could keep things in order so the gods and goddesses could focus on their jobs, not keeping the universe at peace. Gaia went up to Mt. Olympus to propose this idea to Zeus.

"I'm all for it," Zeus said. You could tell when he was stressed. His hair was knotted more than usual, and his lightning bolt supply was lower than it had ever been.

"Who should we call to be this hero?" Demeter asked, "No mere mortal is suitable for this job. They are all a bunch of baloney! All of 'em!"

"Perhaps a mortal human would not be suitable, but an able animal may do," Apollo suggested.

"It would have to be something beautiful," Aphrodite quoted. She knew that the creature would have to have beauty to not frighten the good souls, the gods, and the goddesses.

"With wings!" Hermes added.

"...And mega strength!" Athena said.

"What about a horse?" Gaia suggested.

All the gods and goddesses exchanged glances of satisfaction as if they were having a mini conference with their eyes.

Poseidon spoke the three words that would mess up the face of wickedness forever. "Let's do it!" He exclaimed. For the first time in a long time, the gods and goddesses beamed. They loved the idea, and told Gaia to send a horse up for some upgrades.

So, Gaia went back down the mountain to find a suitable horse. First, she looked at the battle horses, but they were too relentless. Then, she looked at the wild horses but they were too untamable. Last, she looked at the peasant's horses, and they were just right. She chose a painted horse that was a creamy brown with vanilla bean spots. She led it up to Mt. Olympus, where its life was going to be changed forever.

The first goddess to greet this horse was Hebe, who made it immortal. Then, Zeus gave the horse a gift on his head, a single horn. This horn had the power to shoot mini lightning bolts.

Aphrodite was next. She gave the unicorn beauty, and it turned the horn, the mane, and the tail into more colors than you can describe or count. She also turned the horse's body white of purity, and it was so radiant it glowed.

Hermes decided his gift to the horse would be two wings on his back, so the horse could travel great distances in a short amount of time.

One by one, the gods and goddesses gave the horse gifts. By the end, the horse was amazing. It was a fierce warrior to those whom have done wrong, and to those it will punish. But, to those with good judgment, got rewarded with rainbows in the sky and good dreams. It had the capability to read minds and put good thoughts into mortal's minds, which we think as our conscience. It is invisible to all but the gods and goddesses. This horse was guarding all things good, and it had the capability of keeping things in order, so the gods and goddesses could get back to their daily assignments.

However, something was still incorrect about this horse. It was completely different. Therefore, it wasn't a horse. It needed a different name."

"Wait, wait, wait... It wasn't a horse? But wasn't it just a horse like, two seconds ago?" Haley demanded. The old man chuckled.

"Well, it WAS a horse two seconds ago. But after the gods and goddesses changed it, it was completely different. It was a different creature." Their grandfather explained.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, that makes more sense!" Austin exclaimed.

"Where was I? Oh, right. Everybody suggested different names, but nothing fit. Some names included wonderhorse, hornwinged horse, and the magical warrior. Then, Zeus suggested something to do with its one horn.

"What about a unicorn? Uni- means one, and corn rhymes with horn," said Iris, goddess of rainbows. Once again, like with Gaia's horse suggestion, everybody agreed and was excited at this new-fangled unicorn thing. It was a mysterious new creature. Like a Pegasus, this horse- like thing had wings. A difference was it had way more power, more use, and a horn!

After a week with this new unicorn, the gods and goddesses were already beginning to see great results. Right before I was about to throw a rock this girl, Susie, who I didn't like, I heard a voice inside my head say, "I wouldn't do that!" I listened, and instead I complimented her. She did really well on her math test."

"What happened to Susie?" Kennedy asked.

"I married her!" Grandpa joked.

"Awwwww," Kennedy and Haley said dreamily.

"Ewwwww!" Austin said. Grandpa chuckled at his grandkids'  
responses.

"That didn't really happen. Eventually, the unicorn eliminated pretty much all of the bad in the world. Once in a while, there was a punishment if someone was bad, mini lightning bolts would come from the unicorn's horn and electrocute the mortal. So, that's it! That's how the unicorn was created, along with electrocution, good dreams, rainbows after rain, and our conscience. This was the rebirth of justice, and this is the only  
way that good could thrive in the midst of evil"

Kennedy, Haley, and Austin applauded. Austin began to get the urge to take Haley's stuffed animal and look at it. Deep inside his mind, a voice told him not to. It would be mean, and he should ask first. He smiled, because he knew that the unicorn was near. He couldn't see it, but he knew it was there.
The Coming of Poseidon

By Britton

I sat there at my favorite fishing spot that was so secret no one could find it. Today was the day we gods all got our powers. Unlike the youngest of us who was the king of the gods and goddess. My younger brother Zeus. Whose powers was the god of the sky. It was one month before my father Kronos was overthrown by us gods and goddess. I thought how long I was in his stomach. 20 years maybe? Those of us that were in the belly of my father, if it were not for Zeus, we would have just waited till he had to go to the bathroom.

"Ding, Ding!"

The bell of our still in process of being built home of Olympus began to ring calling all gods and goddess. I gathered my fishing gear and left my fishing net floating in the sea why I left. I made my way to Olympus and everyone was waiting for me to take my seat.

"My fellow brothers and sisters," Zeus bellowed, "today you shall all pick your domain and power. It seems only fitting to have my two brother's pick first."

I already knew what I wanted for my power. I wanted to be the god of the sea, also it seems fitting for me. Poseidon god of the sea had a catchy ring to it.

"Brother Zeus, it seems more fitting for me to have the sea." Said my no good older brother who was a complete jerk in my eyes, Hades.

"No", I said loudly for everyone to hear me, "I should have the sea."

"No," said Zeus which was totally betraying me, "Hades shall have the sea for he is older."

I look at him in the eyes and he knew what I meant. He was younger than any of us and he should not be king. Before I could use this to my advantage he shot me a glare that clearly said don't do it or else.

The day went by with every god and goddess getting their power but me. When the day ended I retreated to my fishing spot to hide from my brothers and sisters.

I thought of ideas of how to get the sea all day long. However, the gods and goddess got all their power the next day so I still had a chance.

Then it hit me as I pulled in my net full of fish. When we battled Kronos, it was only me and Zeus that fought him when Hades hid with his helmet of invisibility. I decided to bring this up tomorrow when it was Hades turn to receive his power of the sea.

I looked at my net and noticed that my net was full of fish. Happy that I found all of this fish and that I had a plan to get the sea, nothing was going to stop me now.

The day went on as we at dinner, (The fish I caught. Hades had demanded that I tell him where my secret fishing spot was. I didn't of course. Nor did Zeus know I fished), and when I went to sleep I never felt so excited for one day my entire life.

The next morning, instead of going fishing, we all ate breakfast. Zeus made an announcement.

"Are there any objections for today's gods to receive their power?" Zeus said in a very deep voice.

"Yes," I said, "Hades should not have the sea, for he when we battled Kronos, he did not fight at all but hid with is helmet of invisibility, leaving me and Zeus to fight the lord of time by ourselves."

"Poseidon! I will not hear that name in my court! Now Hades will get the sea and I don't want to ever hear about this again! Do I make myself clear?!" Zeus yelled at me. Knowing that I had lost the goddess Hestia spoke up.

"My lord Zeus, Poseidon spends more time at the sea then Hades and the fish we had yesterday was caught by Poseidon. When he is not at Olympus he is at his fishing spot. He thought no one knew of it but I found him one day I saw him there fishing with his net and Trident spearing and trapping fish. Also Hades is afraid of the water of the ocean and rivers but not from which he drinks in his goblet. He only wants to become god of the sea so he could conquer a fear of water."

"Then Hades lose to be the god of the sea so let Poseidon's rein of the sea begin." Yells Zeus for all to hear. When I heard those words it was the best day of my life(besides from being free from Kronos' belly and all) I looked at Hades only to see that he could not find the words to say but I knew he was not finished yet so whatever he did I had to be ready.

When I got my power I never felt so powerful like all of the world would bow down before me.

"Now Poseidon I would like to see this famous fishing spot of yours if that is okay with you." Says Zeus

"Why of course Lord Zeus I will gladly lead you to my fishing spot." I say in a very merry voices.

When we get there I see every living sea creature bowing down before me as their new king. I was shocked to see all of those animals looking at me for leadership to protect their young.

The day continued when I saw Hades pouring a drug into Zeus drink. When he was done I swapped cups with his and Zeus'. When I tell Zeus this after he has drank from the cup he looked like he was going to throw a lightning bolt at anything.

"Hades! How dare you try to drug me for that you shall become the new lord of the underworld and you shall never be able to come to the serfs or Olympus unless you are invited by me!" Yells Zeus so loud all the world could hear him.

That was what happened that is how I Poseidon became the god of the sea. The End.

The Origin of Halloween

By Olivia

It was a stunning morning in Mount Olympus. Birds tweeting with delight on top of the red, summer trees, and water rushing down the waterfalls. With an aroma of honey, the air was warm and calm. Nearby in these woods of ancient times, a gorgeous girl named Luna roamed through the emerald-green grass. She loved strolling through the soft meadows of golden wheat and meeting her friends to laugh and eat. Luna was a dazzling woman. Streaked with red strands, she had long pink hair, and wore a sparkly, silver mermaid dress. Luna was very vain, yet she despised the idea of being married.

Years back, her mother Persephone, the goddess of springtime, had been tricked by Hades, the god of the Underworld, to be his queen for eternity. But, a long time after Persephone had been tricked into being Hades' queen, Persephone had beaten Hades after a long war. After the gruesome fighting and dirty tricks, she was to never live with him again. Hades, furious, was determined to take revenge on his former wife and prisoner.

Although most people forgot about the incident with the dark lord, Demeter, Persephone's mother, was still afraid that her granddaughter would be unsafe. So, she decided to help her. Everyone thought she was crazy, making a potion for her grandchild, but she ignored her mean peers.

"You'll see," she told the crowds. "Someday, you'll thank me."

Including a radiant purple gem on the jewelry, Luna received a special necklace full of magic dust; a dust that, little did everyone know, would save Luna in years to come, despite what anybody said.

One day, while the young goddess, Luna, was climbing the red rocks of the Rainbow Waterfall, Hades, on his creepy, daily errands of stalking people, spotted the girl and wanted to capture her.

Who is this marvelous girl? He thought.

As quick as an eagle, Hades swooped down with his chariot of bones and scooped up Luna.

"Who the heck are you?" she asked while she held on for her immortal life.

"I'm Hades, god of the underworld! Be my queen or you will plunge into a hole of darkness forever!" Hades shouted.

"Umm... isn't that your home, dude?"

Hades, angered at her snappish mood, sneered at the rude girl with his yellow, crooked teeth.

The two spirits darted through the air then down through the earth to the spider-webbed home of Hades. With hesitation, Luna entered the home of horrors and trembled at the bones laying on the floor and the smell of death floating around her.

"How long are you going to keep me here?" Luna barked.

"Until the suns burns out! And until I destroy that so called hero, Apollo, the sun will shine for like, millions of years," the dark lord said.

Luna, troubled by what Hades said, calcitrated the blue haired spirit. Hades limb fell off then quickly grew back. She was appalled, but tried to hold in her vomit.

Hades gave his new wife a tour of his cave of doom, but she was not impressed by the dead grasping out of the ground.

Meanwhile, back at Mount Olympus, Hera, Apollo, and Artemis were gathered together for lunch, a feast as big as a mountain.

"You're so funny!" Hera, the queen of the gods, exclaimed. Apollo, the god of the sun, laughed as the man and the two women dined on the grapes laid out on golden plate.

Suddenly, a messenger flew into the room and shouted so fast they couldn't understand him.

"OhmygoshihavenewsahhhhwhatdoIdowhatdoIdothisisbadthisisverybadwhatwill ZeusthinkandPersephoneandallthegodsandgoddessesthateverroamedthismountainahhhahhhahhhahhhblurbbrobbuffhurbble."

At that point he started to mumble phrases nobody could comprehend.

"Calm down, man, grab a hold of yourself!!" Artemis yelled.

The frantic mailman finally said, "Luna is being held captive at the underworld with Hades!"

The gods' eyes widened and they too started jumping up and down in fear.

"But, what will Persephone think?" asked Apollo when he caught his breath.

"Never mind that," Hera back-talked. "We need help, but Athena, who usually solves these situations, is already helping a nymph who is stuck on that death-trap, Earth!"

"Well, maybe WE can help," Artemis suggested.

"I- uh I'm not sure that we should," Hera explained, "Zeus' face turns bright red when I even meddle in what we eat for dinner. I'm not going to see what color he turns after this."

"Yeah, me too," Apollo agreed. "Have you seen him when Hera demanded Taco Tuesday? Let's just say- not a pretty sight."

"Pretty please? PLEEEEEEAAAAAASSSEE? With sprinkles and a centaur on top?" pleaded Artemis.

"Aww, Artemis, come on. We all gotta think about this," complained Apollo as the brown haired goddess begged some more.

After a long time of pacing and thinking, the clueless friends, Hera and Apollo, finally decided to help Artemis bring back Luna themselves.

Back in the underworld, the depressed prisoner was resting her cheek on her fist and plotting how to escape the death hole.

"My dark queen," Hades cooed in a formal way of speaking. "I know that you are not comfortable with my home, but you have forever to GET comfortable. You seem dreadfully hungry for a bite, won't you sit down with me and dine?"

Luna, starving tremendously, reached out for the glazed, tangy food she was offered. It felt bumpy with seeds, but was irresistible. Hades then smiled creepily, for if she ate a bite, she would be destined to reign with him forever. He was determined to use her to gain power from all the other gods by keeping her for ransom, and demanding abilities for her to survive in return. Then, he could take over the world, earthly and not.

Lips almost touching to the luscious fruit, Luna realized she had been tricked from the stories her mom told her as a young girl. With a thrust, she threw the fruit right back into Hades wide mouth. Even though the magic did not work on Hades, he was riled and started bursting out red flames.

"Little girl! If you think you can get away from this paradise and to your precious friends," Hades blared, "you're mistaken! I am going to take you somewhere that nobody will find you, and you will never ever escape! OOH! I have an idea; let's go now!"

As soon as the sun went down on the bright surface of the earth, and the gods had fallen asleep after pondering how to save the miserable maiden, Luna and Hades trudged down through the layers of the earth. Finally, they reached a magical cave in the core of the planet, and Luna's skin burned and felt weak, for the temperature was as high as an oven. There were colossal silver gates with a three headed, vicious guard dog, blocking them. When the gates were closed, nobody inside could break out. The dog snarled at the visitors with his needle sharp canine teeth. Luna was startled and started to choke up with tears.

I must be strong, she thought.

Looking down at the ground from being fatigued, she noticed her sparkling, light blue necklace and realized that she had a potion in the gem stone in the middle. With a quick heartbeat, she remembered what it was for. Her grandmother, Demeter gave it to her, at 3 years old, if she ever encountered someone or something that was evil, and it would make them less dangerous. She thought about giving the potion to Hades to be not as menacing, but realized he was too powerful.

As she followed behind Hades and as he was past the open gates, though she was still behind him, she sprinkled the potion dust on the triple headed creature, and he smiled delicately at her.

She whispered as quiet as a shy nymph to the pet, "Close the gates."

The dog obeyed, and as the doors shut with a slam, Hades whipped around. Even he was not powerful enough to resist the magic doors. He reached out to grab the scared girl and barely missed her sleeve.

He had been trapped in the gloomy core.

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! You fool!" Hades busted out in disgust.

But not one word bothered Luna, and she sprinted up through the layers of the earth as fast as she could, dodging every obstacle in her way. She got to the underworld, then kept on going.

At last, she reached the bright morning sun, with its rays beating on her face subtly, and darted to the castle of Olympus where Artemis, Hera, and Apollo resided, still from that other day were they decided to "rescue" her.

Luna busted into the yellow-walled breakfast hall, tattered up and with red scars on her face from scraping herself.

The residents jumped with joy and cachinnated with delight.

"Oh! How did you escape Hades?" asked Apollo.

"Oh my! Come and tell us what happened. You poor thing!" exclaimed Hera.

"I'm so sorry 'bout what happened," Hera said as her green, emerald eyes teared up.

"I'm all right," she said.

She explained her whole story and astonished the dining cowards.

Then, the three told her how they knew about her being captured.

"We were going to rescue you," Hera reassured, "just after we received a good night of beauty sleep."

"Mmm hmmm. Sure," Luna asserted in a sassy tone.

The amazed four bounced up and down with glee, but little did they know, that their happiness would not last forever.

The next day, a whole 24 hours of Hades sulking and screaming, the potion of the dog wore off. The beast was again a mean one, and he became so disturbed by his good mood, that he broke the doors in pieces. He shouted to Hades, "You have one day, to take revenge on that meddlesome girl, and if you fail, I will trap you in here until the next year on this day!"

As quickly as cheetah, Hades flew to his former underworld and plotted the revenge he would take on his prisoner.

What he was not aware of, was that the fortune teller, Zerena, was watching this whole scene intently though her crystal ball. She spread the word to the messenger and told the gods.

Hera was terrified, "If Zeus finds out that Hades is coming to the castle, he'll kill me!"

"We must do something this time, because Hades is too powerful on the surface now that Athena is not here," explained Apollo.

"Lightbulb!" Atemis said in a singsong way when she realized something. "Hades might be quick and strong, but he lacks smarts.

"Lacks smarts?" Luna jumped in. "He's just plain dumb."

"Exactly," Artemis continued. "I have a plan. When Hades comes, we will disguise you as someone else. It could be a nymph, a centaur, or even your mother! Then, he will not be able to recognize you because all he cares about is what's on the outside."

Care about what's on the outside? He's the one who looks like a green, rusted nail. Luna thought.

So, the plan was settled, in the next hour, Luna looked like a nymph. She had a wig of short raven-black hair, and fairy like dress, and shining nails. Even though the dressed up girl knew Hades would possibly still grab a beautiful nymph to keep as his bride, Hade's only wanted Luna to take revenge on her.

BOOM! A crash of lighting suddenly occurred when the dark lord burst into the blue sky.

Hades searched all around the forests, the meadows, and the caves. Nothing was to be found. Finally, he came to the castle where the gods were still coaching Luna on what to act like to Hades.

He shattered the door as the scent of dread and doom approached the immortals noses.

"Hades!" the crew shouted. "What are you doing here? Who let you in?"

"Let's just say that if you have a skeleton bone hand, and the power of throwing people to live in the underworld, people will be lenient." Hades said with a smirk.

He looked around the room, and finally approached the nymph. He asked her for her name, and she responded as "Sania." The gods explained how they were helping her to do some tricks for her forest's talent show.

Hades then roamed round Mount Olympus, seeking for the maiden, after the sun had gone down, Hades' day was up. He was furious, and plunged back behind the gates where the guard dog was waiting for him.

"I'll be back," sneered Hades.

So, for the next years, Hades tried, but failed, to find Artemisia in disguise. From looking like a centaur, to Zeus, he was never able to find her. He never gave up though. For the longest time, he has been searching the fields for his woman. Artemisia eventually got married, and Hades was defeated, but today, we still dress ourselves in costumes, on a very scary night; a night filled with howls and laughter of friends. In other words, this adventure of Luna had created Halloween. The night where young maidens and men disguise themselves, so the evil spirits of the night will not take them away into a different world like Luna.

How Loyalty Came To Be

By Annika

Soccerates never understood what was so nice about relaxing and doing nothing. Ever since she was young, she was always go, go, go, and always wanted to make others happy: she valued loyalty. On the other hand, Nike didn't mind sitting and doing nothing, as long as she won. Nike was the goddess of victory. The mere mortal, Soccerates, was very competitive and didn't know how to have a clear schedule. Soon, these two competitors would interact and both lives would be changed forever.

One day, as Nike was strolling around on her morning walk, she noticed a large crowd with large posters that said a phrase that Nike could not read. Curiosity overtook her and she walked over to the large gathering of mortals. Nike tapped the shoulder of a particularly tall male mortal with a large sign and asked what the crowd was for.

"Have you been living under a rock?" he said with a smile, "Soccerates is taking on a professional team on her own!" Nike walked away in wonder. Who was Soccerates and why does she attract such a crowd? Nike thought to herself. Nobody could beat me...right?

The next day Nike went back to investigate. This kid is a threat to my fame, Nike determined. Today, there was not a crowd in the same place as yesterday. There was only one mere mortal kicking a ball into an undersized net.

"How sad!" Nike said in an undertone to herself. There is no way this can the Great and Powerful Soccerates! Nike thought with a snicker. Nike started walking over to the mortal. "So you're Soccerates, the great player that is trying to steal my fame," Nike sneered, searching the mortal up and down.

"I am doing nothing of the sort," this teenage girl retorted, "and for your information, I am Soccerates, and I'm proud of it."

"So I hear you are quite the crowd attractor," Goddess Nike said back.

"Yes, but I don't do what I love for fame, like somebody here, but I do it for the Love of soccer." Soccerates said back with a polite smile, ignoring the burning glare Nike was giving her.

"So if you think you are all that, then I challenge you to a competition, if you are up to trying to defeat the one and only Nike, Goddess of Victory," Nike challenged.

"I would be honored to! I love a good competition!" So it was set. In the morning of the first sunrise of spring, Nike and Soccerates would meet, not knowing what sport either would be doing.

The first event that Nike and Soccerates would be competing against each other in would be Horse Racing. Nike declared that she only had some experience in this sport, but she was very obviously lying through her teeth. Soccerates didn't mind though, since she just wanted to get on with it and have some fun doing it.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Soccerates stated as she was saddling up her sweet horse, winter.

"Fun?" Nike questioned accusingly, "You are supposed to be trying your very hardest to beat me because we are stating that I am still Goddess of Victory and you are nothing but a mere mortal!" Nike spat in Soccerates face. This boosted up a forest fire in Soccerates.

"Okay, ready Nike?" Soccerates asked, not giving away any of her anger that was bubbling up and ready to burst out.

"Ready is my middle name." And with that snarky statement they were off. The boundaries were to the end of the ranch, a loop around the large willow tree, and back into the stables. Nike was in the lead by a few yards.

All of a sudden, a rattle snake appeared out of nowhere! Nike saw it just in time, and she swerved her horse out of the snake's bite range, causing her horse to stumble and trip over her strong legs.

This gave Soccerates the lead, who, only a couple yards behind Nike at the time, saw the snake coming. Winter jumped over the snake. Nike shouted in anguish, then kicked he horse in the sides got the horse's attention again.

"Are you and your horse okay?" Soccerates turned her horse around and looked at Nike with deep concern in her eyes.

Ignoring the kind comment, "You stupid horse!" Nike screamed. It would take some serious skill to catch up with the couple-hundred-yards-ahead Soccerates and Winter. "Come back here, little girl!" Soccerates' hair was blowing behind her as if it were waving back to Nike.

Nike's horse, having been trained for this type of activity, was already catching up to Winter. Soccerates, seeing this, urged Winter faster by squeezing the sides of the blonde horse with her feet. Even with this extra urge, Soccerates was no match for the powerful and trained goddess. Soon enough, Nike was in front of Soccerates, around the willow tree, and into the stables, with Soccerates coming in second.

"Good job. You were really lucky to catch up to me after that stumble!" Soccerates congratulated, dismounting her horse.

"Ha! I don't need luck. I have skill," Nike sneered back, ignoring the comment of a well done job.

"Well then, Ms. Skill, we are going to do a game I am personally good at: Soccer," She challenged.

"Prepare to be defeated, because I am the Goddess of Victory," Nike bragged.

"Yes, I remember, as you constantly take every chance you can get to tell me that." Soccerates glared with a mix of annoyance and amusement in her eyes. So the next game the two competitors would be competing in would be a lovely game of one-on-one soccer.

Soccerates and Nike were in the middle of a huge field. The corners of the soccer field were marked by large rocks, as nothing else could be spotted as easily. Since it was only one-on-one, the field was only ten by twenty yards.

"I assume Miss Victory knows all the rules of this game, as she is constantly reminding me that she is the best at every sport," Soccerates said with a grin.

"Ha, ha. And yes, I do know the rules of this kicky-passy game. Oh, and don't forget that we are competing to see who is better, and as of right now, and probably when this is done too, I am beating you," Nike rudely retorted.

"Okay, then, let's begin. First one to five goals." Soccerates placed a rubber ball coated in leather down on the dirt, as all of the nice fields were being used at the moment. "The goal I will be shooting at this end," Soccerates pointed at the southern end of the field, "and you will be shooting at this end." Soccerates put her fingers up to her mouth and whistled. With that loud sound, the second competition began.

Soccerates started with the ball, as because Nike claimed she was so good that even if she didn't start, she could still knock the socks off Soccerates. Fleet footed, like the great Achilles, Soccerates zoomed past Nike and past her goal. Even Nike couldn't hide the amazement she showed on her face. Soccerates fetched the ball and set it back on the halfway line.

"That was just a lucky chance. I still needed to warm up." Nike counteracted.

"Well, are you all warmed up now because it's one-nil now?" Noted Soccerates. This time it was Nike's turn to start with the ball. She put her foot on it and stared into Soccerates eyes, trying to look menacing while choking back the fear. Soccerates loudly whistled and Nike kicked the ball forward, quickly being intercepted by Soccerates' fast foot. Slow Nike rushed back, trying to defend, stumbled on her own feet, and crashed, face first into the hard dirt. Soccerates, who treasured kindness over winning, left the ball mid-kick to run back and help Nike.

"Are you okay?" Worry burning through Soccerates' voice. "Would you like a free kick?"

"I'm fine! Get off me, little girl!" Nike shouted with Soccerates clinging to her hands, helping Nike up. "And Nike doesn't take free-kicks, she can win on her own." Nike got up and stole the ball, dribbling towards the goal, leaving Soccerates standing there, befuddled at this act of unkindness. So now it was one-one, and it went on like this until it was four to three, Soccerates in the lead.

"Okay, if you score, you win this competition, but if I score, which will probably happen; we play again for final point," Nike stated.

"Whatever makes sense in your mind," Soccerates said under her breath, only half listening. Nike had the ball this time. She was more aware of Soccerates' skill with the ball, but was nowhere near the level of skill as Soccerates. And, in a flash, Soccerates stole the ball and was off towards her own goal. Nike, just now realizing what had happened, stormed off to Soccerates' goal in anger. Soccerates won that competition and there was nothing Nike could do to change that.

Soccerates chased after Nike, who was now walking towards the end of the park. "You played really well!" Soccerates shouted out after Nike. "But now the competition is even, so we need a tiebreaker." Nike was obviously not turning around so Soccerates decided to leave it for the day so Nike could have her space.

"I will think of a good game to beat you at, that is actually fair, and then we will see who the best is really," Nike whispered softly as Soccerates turned away. Soccerates waved a sign of hearing and they went their separate ways.

The next day, Nike decided that she had enough of her weeping around and decided to make a plan to trick Soccerates not stealing her fame. "I need something big that will make everybody forget about Soccerates," Nike thought aloud. Then she thought of something that would change everything back to the way it used to be before mortals discovered Soccerates. Nike could take away Soccerates' passion: Soccer. After all, Nike was a god, and Soccerates was only a mere mortal.

The next week, Nike went to the same place where she first heard of the one and only Soccerates She saw Soccerates kicking her sad ball into the goal from the marvelous halfway line.

"She is impressive, but not for long," Nike whispered under her breath. She walked over to where Soccerates was shooting, and got her attention. "May I have a turn?" Nike asked sweetly to a surprised Soccerates at the kindness of her voice.

"Of course, anytime." Soccerates backed away from the ever slightly rolling ball. Nike picked the ball up, thumbing a needle in her hand. Pretending to place the ball down in a position to kick, Nike pricked the ball with the needle in her hand and a slight brownish color seeped through the cracks of the leather ball. It was a potion from an Eversite leaf that will take away memory as soon as made contact with, although Nike altered it so it would take away Soccerates' passion instead.

"You know what? I think I want to see you kick it instead. I just don't feel as if I am strong enough to shoot from this distance, so step right up and take my place," Nike insisted. With a questioningly look, Soccerates kicked the ball perfectly into the goal. As soon as her foot touched the ball, Soccerates collapsed on the ground in front of Nike. Nike knew that, when Soccerates woke, she would no longer love soccer, or have anything to do with it.

The next morning, Nike woke up feeling great, knowing that Soccerates would no longer worry her anymore. She walked out to the field where Soccerates normally played, and noticed that the crowd was there. Did the potion not work? Does it not work if it is purposely inflicted on somebody else? Nike thought, thousands of worries running through her head. She tapped a mortal girl on the shoulder, who looked as though she might be about fifteen years old. Why is there a crowd here?" Nike asked sweetly.

"Because Soccerates isn't here. A manager from a really famous English team is here to watch her play. If he likes it, she is going to be offered a spot on this team...of all boys! She would be the first ever girl on a boys' team! This could change the way girls are thought of in the future. If she doesn't show up, she is going to miss a chance of a lifetime." The girl lectured.

Guilt started creeping into Nike like night creeps up after a sunset. Was it possible that because of my competitiveness, Soccerates could pass up a chance of a lifetime, and probably change the future of all girls? Nike denied her thoughts and told herself that because of this, people would be able to focus on what is truly right, herself.

Throughout that day, Nike was hit with tsunamis of guilt. Towards the middle of the day, Nike started realizing and accepting that all of this was her fault. She decided that to make this right, she needed to find Soccerates and extract the Eversite poison. This would be hard though, considering the fact that the only place Nike had ever seen Soccerates was the soccer field, and obviously, that was not where she was going to be.

The only way to extract the Eversite poison would be to rub Neversite leafs on the spot where the Eversite poison touched. Nike already had the leaves, so all she needed was the mortal. Guilt still weighed on Nike's shoulders, as she knew that there was no way to get the English soccer manager back here to give Soccerates another chance.

The only place that came to mind was the field, so Nike decided she would check there to see if she could find any clues to if Soccerates was anywhere near.

At the field, Nike found that the crowd was gone. There was only the girl that Nike had been stressing about all day: Soccerates was here. Nike sprinted over to Soccerates, explained the whole thing, and extracted the poison. Nike could feel some of the guilt lift off, but there was still the fact about the English manager, which Nike also told Soccerates about. When Nike finished telling Soccerates what had happened, Nike could not read the expression on her face.

"The only thing that matters to me," Soccerates said slowly, "is that you came back to me. Loyalty." And with that word, Soccerates turned away, and walked. She did not turn around, or speak, only left Nike all alone, watching the soccer player float away. Nike sat there for the rest of that night, thinking about that one word: Loyalty. After a while, the word finally became clear.

Soccerates cared about me and my horse when we stumbled over that snake: she was willing to risk the chance of me beating her to make sure we were okay, and with the soccer game, when I fell, she ignored the ball, which cost her a point, just to make sure I wasn't injured. She was loyal to me even through competition. Something I was too rude to notice, and not once did I thank her for caring about me. And when I came back to her because I felt guilty, she noticed. Soccerates doesn't care about stealing my fame. She only cares about other people before herself. Soccerates puts loyalty before competition, something I couldn't do.

Nike and Soccerates never saw each other again, but the meaning of the word loyalty stayed with them forever, passed on through many generations.

Flowers Dancing in the Shadows

By Avantika

All over the gorgeous land of Hawaii, the smell of sea breeze and wet sand spread smiles. Kahlula was dancing the traditional Hula dance on the moist sand. Calanthe was up a palm tree, scavenging for coconuts when she heard the singing. She peeked through the leaves to find a beautiful girl. Immediately, the second she saw her, Calanthe fell in love with her dancing.

"That must be Kahula. Everybody gives her kudos for her dancing; now I see why." Then she thought, "If I can learn to dance, it would be a miracle since I have two left feet." Excited by the idea, she dropped the coconut at home and came back as quickly as she could only to see footprints that had partially been washed away by the waves and a couple flowers that had fallen from Kahula's lei. Calanthe picked up the flowers and held them in her hands, with a sorrowful look in her eyes. Calanthe walked home picking the petals off of the flowers, releasing them in the wind, one by one. She reached home and made a decision.

"I'll go through my parents old, music records; I might find some music to dance to." Calanthe said while her sister looked at her in disbelief, probably thinking "Is it possible for her to dance?" Calanthe searched, and found a suitable record.

Calanthe started the record, and she found that every step she did, she would end up on her face or her back she couldn't stay up on her feet. She wasn't surprised, but she was upset that she couldn't even do one thing right. Calanthe, sore from falling so many times, decided it was time to go to bed. Hunting for her bed in the room, which was dark since the blinds and curtains were closed, Calanthe stumbled upon her lamp and fell one more time. She analyzed her clock hanging in her bedroom, and the time was only 5:42.

"How is that...?" Calanthe was interrupted by a loud blare of noise that crashed like thunder. "Mom's probably attempting to cook again, why can't she just order pizza or something? Anyway, I'm going to have to skip eating, *yawn*, way too tired." With no further delay, she sprung into bed and immediately plunged into a deep sleep.

Meanwhile, Aphrodite was enjoying the sun on the beach when she heard Calanthe's mom while she was trying to cook. Surprised by the loud boom, she went to go find the ruckus. Since she was a goddess, she figured she could help whatever misadventure was occurring. The goddess found herself on Calanthe's front porch. She saw that the door was unlocked, and she crept into the house without making a sound. The room closest to the front door was the family room, then Calanthe's bedroom. She peaked in only to find a disastrous mess and a girl fast asleep.

Aphrodite had seen her earlier, yet she didn't know when or where she saw her. She hung around for a while cleaning Calanthe's room when suddenly Calanthe woke up from being hungry.

"Who? Why? What are you doing in my room!?" She screeched.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, but I heard a lot of noise coming from your house, and then I came in, and..."

"First tell me your name," Calanthe said still startled.

"I'm Aphrodite, and I don't want to hurt you or anybody. I can give you a wonderful gift if you'd like, since I did technically break into your house." The goddess, frightened by the girl's sudden awakening, spoke quickly.

Calanthe thought for a long time, contemplating what she wanted. Finally, after thinking deeply, she peeped, "Can you gift me some beauty, like something I can use to make me dance beautifully, not my appearance, oh, and a delicious sandwich would be great."

Aphrodite nodded, and she whipped up a box that shined like an aurora borealis. She didn't think the ever so beautiful Aphrodite could actually do it, even with her being the goddess of beauty. Making her dance would be a miracle. Gorgeous Aphrodite explained to young Calanthe that it must be used within 24 hours. By that time, it was 6:15 P.M. and, that meant that Calanthe must use it by sunset the next day. Soon after the gift was given, Aphrodite disappeared in thin air. Calanthe was content, and went to sleep, after eating her sandwich of course. "Tastes so much more like a sandwich then mom's burnt, tasting sandwiches.

The next morning, Calanthe popped right out of bed, she brushed her teeth with one swipe, and grabbed the box, and dashed right out of the front door. She passed people, and she made it to the beach, she saw that Kahula wasn't there. She asked many people if they had seen her, but Calanthe found one person who knew where she was, a total stranger to her.

"Kahula moved to the Big Apple yesterday night, did you know her?" the stranger said.

Calanthe's face changed from a smile into a frown in a second, "Well not really, I saw her last night dancing on the beach, but now nothing matters, and my chances to have even some talent are lost."

With that, she walked away, her head swaying lower than ever before. She pulled the box from out of her pocket and just looked at it. Poor, sad girl, she had such high hopes, she thought that Kahula could teach her to dance the steps, and she could use the box to give her elegance, but now she felt that everything was impossible. She hobbled her way home, somehow making it there without breaking down. All she ever wanted was to dance like Kahula. Well, at least that was all she wanted since she saw her dance. She stared at the box again, and thought about what she wanted to do with it.

Calanthe clasped it and decided she could be more than a good dancer, she wanted to be a beauty that could be remembered forever. Calanthe glanced all around the beach from the window of her living room. She stared at the flowers, noticing that each of them was different. No two flowers were the same, and Calanthe figured that no two dancers could be the same too. She knew that she was never going to be exactly like Kahula. The young lady took the beauty then made herself into an elegant flower, the hibiscus; see in tropical paradises up to this day, so that she could be something that would make other smile, just like Kahula had done for her.
The Story of the Baseball Bat

By Fernando Armando Rodriguez Tomales

"Welcome, "said the dictator as he opened the door, and all the people went into the secret bunker. A very secret meeting was taking place. In the bunker there was also a high security vault with the golden ball that was worth $10,000,000,000,000. Ajax, was an Olympus spy trying to steal the ball. But what he didn't know is that Jim Bo was a German spy looking for the ball as well.

"Will you all please proceed to the meeting area." said the dictator.

All the people went through the hall. Ajax scanned the hall, looking for ways to get rid of the security cams. So he snuck into the bathroom and used his computer to hack in the security. Suddenly, all the security cams look like there was nothing there. Ajax snuck out to find the vault

"Hmm, where could it be?" he said.

It was a very big bunker though, but Ajax found it minutes later. He used his super-secret Mt. Olympus training to pick the lock and open the vault. He slowly opened the door and took a deep breath, it was the moment of truth. But when he walked in he was surprised to see Jim Bo there with the ball in a bag to take it away.

They both stared each other down for sec, then as soon as Jim Bo moved, so did Ajax. They both reached for their guns but Jim Bo was quicker.

"BANG!!"

Jim shot with precise accuracy Ajax in the hand and he dropped his gun.

"AHHH!!" Ajax screamed in pain

"You were a good, but not good enough." Jim said with an evil tone.

He raised his gun to shoot Ajax, he thought quickly, Ajax yelled loudly.

"YAAAAA!!"

Jim Bo flinched when pulled the trigger. The bullet flew true but missed and deflected off a metal plate and hit a gas tank. The massive explosion blew them back and they hit a wall. The ball rolled across the floor out of Jim's hands....

Moments later Jim Bo recovered and limped over to the ball but suddenly out of nowhere Ajax lays him out with a crushing hit. Jim Bo is stunned! Ajax then reached for the ball but Jim Bo was back on his feet and delivered a hit to the head.

"Let's dance!" said Jim Bo as he spit blood out of his mouth.

"With pleasure" Ajax replied with a grin.

They ran at each other and hit with great force, yelling and screaming delivering blows after blows. Ajax though was destroying him, throwing him against a wall delivering devastating body blows. But as soon as he lost focus, Jim Bo hit him so hard he fell down. Jim Bo picked up his gun all bloody and sweaty.

"All of that for nothing, aww, what a shame. But that ball and that money belongs to me." Jim Bo said with a cocky tone.

"You.... will never get that ball," Ajax exclaimed while panting.

"Oh really, you really think I won't get it, huh?" he said in a sarcastic tone.

"Well you can have this!" he yelled as he cocked his gun.

Ajax knew he might die, but he wasn't dead yet, so he took a big wooden plank and sat there Jim Bo aimed his gun and said,

"It was a pleasure meeting you" Jim said quietly, and then he fired.

In that split second, with almost super human strength, Ajax swung the wooden plank and hit the bullet witch went back, and hit Jim Bo right in the chest. He stopped and fell to his knees and then died. Ajax recovered the ball.

"You can have that," he said.

He went to Olympus with a victory and one of the most exciting heist ever seen in history.

The baseball bat was then created, and people made a game out of it. But they don't use bullets anymore we use a baseball. The baseball is actually the same shape as the golden ball that Ajax stole. And that's how that came to be.

Angry Athena and Aellai's Art

By Sara

Aellai was a mere mortal girl with soft, pure hazel eyes and the name that meant whirlwinds. She got this name because of her quick actions, often without thinking, and because of her fleeting feelings that changed like a summer storm. But Aellai was not like other mortals, she has some very unique artistic talents.

One fine spring day, Aellai had just completed a beautiful painting that showed all of the amazing things that Gaia, otherwise known as Mother Nature, had created. Aellai was proud of her work, and decided that this was one of her best works of art yet, but little did she know that this one piece of artwork could lead to such a disaster.

Overlooking all of the war, wisdom, and useful arts, Athena, with her velvety white and gold dress was sitting on Mt. Olympus, and Aellai's painting caught her eye.

"Hmm. Seems to me that she is quite the artist," murmured Athena. She always loved a good artist, but this girl seemed too good. She remembered that back in the day she would create paintings almost like Aellai's, and this gave her a surge of anger.

"This girl is a menace to me," thought Athena aloud as she paced around her palace, "Wait. What will happen because of this? Will I be of lesser rank? No, I can't allow this to keep happening!"

So, Athena decided to go to Aellai with the disguise of an architect, interested in her work of wonders.

Arriving at Aellai's studio, she was shocked that Aellai had already created and was adding the final touches on yet another beautiful painting. This one showed a beautiful metallic vase with a lustrous bouquet of flowers within. The bouquet consisted of gorgeous lavender Irises; soft pink Roses, dazzling blue Delphiniums, and lush green leaves to top it off. The vase was a thing of beauty. It was metallic silver, and glinted in the light of the shining sun.

Jealous Athena, still in disguise, inquired if she would dare compete in an art competition against Athena.

Without thinking, Aellai responded in a heartbeat, "Yes."

Eyes flashing, Athena revealed herself. When Aellai gasped, she cried out, "You have made a mistake!"

Athena then haughtily announced that the competition would begin promptly at sunup the next morning.

The next morning, when the sun was barely peeking out into the sky, Athena already was at Aellai's art studio, where the competition was to be held. As she set up her easel and glorious, golden paint brushes, she decided that she would beat Aellai in that competition, no matter the cost.

Soon, Aellai arrived right on time, as she did not want to anger the impatient goddess. But little did she know that the goddess was already enraged and was out to get her.

When they were both seated at their easels and ready to start, Athena announced, "let the competition begin."

Athena painted a portrait of the mighty Zeus on the grand Mt. Olympus. The crowd that had gathered to watch gasped in awe, as the painting looked so realistic that Zeus himself would feel as if he were looking into a mirror.

When Aellai began her painting, the crowd marveled at the sight of her nimble hands working on a portrait of Tyche, the goddess of good luck and fortune. It showed Tyche giving fortunes to all and adding a little wonderful luck here and there. As a final touch, she used only a small drop of special metallic paint that made Tyche's dress look like flowing gold silk, so soft and smooth that it gave the feeling that the dress had actually had been created, as if you could reach out and touch it.

Even Athena herself was dumbfounded by the wonder of art and even found herself in awe. But when she realized what was happening, she grew outraged again, and declared a tie, shouting, "this may be a tie now, but you will never be better than the great Athena at painting!"

Aellai was so afraid of the angry Athena that she hid her face in her hands and tears began to leak out of her eyes. She had never meant to create such a mess!

Meanwhile, Tyche had been watching the action, disguised as an insignificant mortal, only a face in the crowd. She began battling within herself. Should she protect the girl? Or not? She knew what would happen when Athena got angry. Should she risk it? Or not? But she couldn't leave the girl at the hands of Athena. Yes, it was decided. She would protect the girl.

So she revealed herself, with a small crown placed atop her head, she looked very mystical, and as if she controlled something important. Which of course, she did.

When Tyche approached Athena, she looked her in the eye and gave her a warning: "If you harm Aellai in any way, your luck will go bad, and your fortune will be the worst of the worst."

"Ok," whispered the frightened Athena. If the goddess of good luck and fortune looks you in the eye, you are always willing to do what she says, as Tyche has a way getting what she wants with one powerful look. And of course, no one wants their luck turned bad.

"But wait," thought Athena, "She never said I couldn't turn her into something, so she could make art forever, and I feel so bad for scaring her so badly." She was surprised at her own feelings, but knew that it would be the right thing to do. She even began to smile as she felt her anger melt away that had been cast over her, like a dark, heavy storm that was impossible to lift.

"But what can I change her into?" thought Athena, "something where she can do art forevermore?"

As she was thinking, her keen eyes landed on the painting that Aellai had first done: Gaia's, or Mother Nature's, finest creations.

Athena strode over to where the pale from fright Aellai was sitting and kindly placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Aellai, I am sorry that I was so angry, and that I frightened you," said Athena softly, "you will now be turned into a helper of Gaia, also known as beautiful Mother Nature, so you can beautiful art forever."

Aellai turned to Athena and replied softly, "Really?"

"Yes."

"Oh, thank you so much!" exclaimed Aellai.

Bowing, she immediately got up for to Athena, who embraced her. "I will be visiting you often to make sure you are alright," said Athena, "if you ever need anything, I will be here for you."

"Thank you so much," replied Aellai, beaming, "I am forever in your debt."

And so Aellai was given into the care of Gaia, and she very happily created the most gorgeous pieces of art forever.

The Prince of Persia

By Nazario

This story took place in Asia in Ancient Greece times. The Prince of Persia was a prince that protected his brother, the king. He was wearing gold and leather armor, and he had black hair. He was taking a long walk down his temple, his brother's castle made out of gold, to see if there was any trouble, but one day the king's soldiers had ran through the gates, locked and barricaded them.

Persia's king was curious, "What is going on?" the guards told him what is happening, "Sire, the Greeks are planning to attack the royal temple." the king gave the guards an order, "Get my army ready for battle", but they were too late.

Later that day, the Prince immediately heard the screams of war, he came face to face with some of the soldiers and killed all 20 soldiers. "This is starting to get worse and worse," said the prince, and he had to escape the temple. The Persian prince had to travel far away from the temple and sat near the coast of a Persian city.

On the coast of the Persian city, The Prince was thinking what to do, and then he had an idea," I got it!" he came up with a plan, "This is the plan: to infiltrate the Greek camp and know their plans." He knew it is risky but was the only way. The Prince had traveled from Persia to Greece he had traveled far but he had found the camp.

On that very night, the young prince had infiltrated the Greek camp, he felt uneasy about himself," I can't believe I'm doing this." He smelled a feast with all the soldiers, and it sounded like the dead of night, the ground felt solid as a sapphire. "Man, I am thirsty." The Prince had found water and drank it. He found an opening to a tent and there were soldiers with their leader, Agamemnon. They were talking about their plan: to franticly steal all of Persia's riches. The Prince now knew the Greeks were trying to take control of his brother's leadership. He ran back to Persia to get to his temple and kill the guards who were stealing the temple's wealth.

Persia's final prince was their last hope to stop the never-ending war. The Prince knew had to kill the leader who was causing the war, Agamemnon, the second version of Ares, the God of War, "Ahh, Persia's last prince, your temple is mine!!!!

The Prince had first killed Agamemnon's entire Greek army with his mysterious power. The Prince was about to kill the Greek leader, he ran towards Agamemnon and clashed their swords." You will never take Persia's wealth!" The prince said. "Let's see about that..." Agamemnon threw the prince across the main hall, and the Prince knew he was no match against Agamemnon. The prince thought it was over but then he remembered that his brother taught to believe in himself, then he got furious.

"You are finished," Agamemnon said happily. "Nooooo!!!", so, the Prince kicked Agamemnon's sword out of his hand, "WHAAAAT???!!" The Greek leader was distracted, and the Prince stabbed Agamemnon and killed him. He knew he saved all of Persia from sudden catastrophe. Later that year, all of Persia's citizens were wanting to make the prince become king after that the Prince became the king of Persia.

How Hades Came To Be

By Josh

An argument sprung from the underworld, where the afterlife thrived, and the deep blue seas along the coast of Olympia, Olympus. Of course, Hades started this conflict, for he wanted control of the water and oceans which Poseidon held power of.

Long before this argument, Cronus the father of the gods crazily ate Zeus' siblings, so the brave Zeus attacked and killed his father to save his brothers and sisters. All of the gods praised Zeus for his deed. Because of the greatness Zeus had, he made a game of poker that gave the gods powers. Zeus was the one who killed Kronus therefore he got first pick on his power and he picked to be the ruler of all the gods. Then, Hades was winning the game of poker with a royal flush. Poseidon, however, took a peek at the hand of cards and backed off leaving Hades with only a few chips.

Hades quickly stated, "NO! You cheater," Zeus took a devilish glance and Hades muffled, "Never mind". The next round, Hades had won, and he chose the underworld to rule, in his anger. His extreme anger at Poseidon caused his head to grow horns and his body to turn so red that it could be confused with black.

Hades roared, "POSEIDON, you will PAY!" He screamed this with enough force to demolish a man, but man was not on Earth yet. Poseidon heard Hades, and so did Zeus, and so did all the gods.

Zeus rode his Pegasus to Hades and asked, "What's the matter with you? Keep it quiet."

"Poseidon cheated! I swear he took a glance at my cards on that royal flush," Hades then added to be safe, "Zeus I'm on your side."

"Well... You know, we can do a vote on who gets the sea," Poseidon said confidently with a voice of superior power over the waves of the Spring tides. Rocket speed dolphins swam around Poseidon doing tricks no average dolphin could do.

A few days later, two votes from the messenger god, Hermes, and Apollo, the god of the sun, were towards Hades, yet only one vote, from Demeter, the god of harvest, was for Poseidon. All the other gods truly did not care at all because water was not of their interest. Although there were thousands of gods, Zeus expected less votes than three. A small meeting was held in a large grass field while a slight breeze brushed the grass up against the trees.

"Thy mighty Hades, god of the underworld, shall be announced for now until eternity unless of complaints or resign, you, Hades, are now named god of the underworld and the sea. You, Poseidon, are now announced guardian of the sea and if anything happens please notify me," declared Zeus, "You are all dismissed."

Hades and Poseidon both left with a rather devilish grin and an angry look of dissatisfaction.

In the world of the dead, the reign of Hades was even more hideous. He was enslaving his warriors to have them transport the water down to a ditch excavated to contain the water. However, Hades could've used his god powers to instantly teleport the water to the ditch, but Hades wanted his soldiers to be tortured. Slowly, every skeleton warrior, each with their death marks, marched on with a rather high attitude. Hades wasn't the only one overjoyed for the water to fill up the ditch. The dead wanted water too because they hated the blood in the Styx River. Soon enough, the whole ditch filled up. And then it went over the ditch into the Styx River. Water and blood mixed. It mixed like lemonade.

Poseidon, observing, zoomed towards Zeus. He knew this was his only chance to get his control of water back. On the way to Zeus, he memorized what he would recite. The top of Olympus was growing larger and larger as Poseidon went. This moment would change history. Zeus saw Poseidon coming, and he dressed himself for a meeting. Poseidon arrived excited to tattle tale on Hades.

Poseidon spoke, "Oh mighty Zeus, I have come to inform you of the water. Evil Hades has...well he has managed to pollute the water with blood. Hundreds of fish have died and more to come. And worst of all, the oceans by the gorgeous bay of Olympus are only halfway full."

Zeus stood up, "Hmm... Let's see what the rule book of Zeus says. Oh, right here it says: send Hermes to see if it is truth and if it is see the List of Hades' most Terrible Punishments. Hermes, may you see if it is truth of what Poseidon says?"

"Yeah, I'm uhh... gonna go to the underworld now," Hermes responded.

Only seconds later, Hermes was back and said all of it was truth with a small, saddening face because he voted for Hades.

Zeus roared, "HADES!"

Hades rushed with fear of his life up the treacherous mountain to get to Zeus quickly.

Zeus, raging with anger, demanded, "How did you mess up so badly? Know what? Don't even answer me. I'm going to throw you down the deepest pit in the universe! Ahh... I'm just kidding you. I got you good."

Hades responded with a chuckle, "Oh Zeus. How funny of you. But I have one question. Why am I here?"

"Oh yes, back to work. I need you to bring every fish you killed back to life and clean the blood out of the water. Yes, I know you can't clear the blood," Zeus winked to the nearest city called Wazington, "maybe Claroph, the dustpan fairy, could help you. And remember, if you don't finish what you started, I will throw you right in the center of that pit I was talking about before."

Hades commanded his army of the dead to bring the fish back to life, but he would need Claroph to lean the blood. Hades needed her because the blood could not be removed from the water by any god other than the cleaning god. In Modern America, we call Claroph the cleaning fairy, but the gods call her the dustpan fairy. Hades needed Claroph's powerful touch that cleans anything to take out the blood from the water.

At Wazington, Claroph was met by Hades, her arch-rival. Claroph had always wanted to be the queen of the underworld, but Hades got it first. Now she was stuck with the worst god power ever. Hades knew she would only do the cleaning if she traded powers with Hades. This was the exact moment Hades thought about his choices. Should he be thrown in a pit and fall forever or become the cleaning fairy? After lots of thinking, the decision became clear to Hades.

Hades traded being king of the underworld for being the cleaning fairy. If he didn't do this, Zeus would have thrown him into the deepest pit in the universe. Because Hades made this trade, he could clear away the blood in the water.

Zeus relaxed for eternity in satisfaction. Poseidon was glad he was god of the sea again, and Claroph became the god of the underworld.

Yep, Hades became the cleaning fairy!

The Battle of Night and Day

By Emma T.

An arrow flew across the dark woods hitting a deer. A slim and swift woman in a black skirt and navy blue tank top crept out from behind a charcoal tree, her hair as red as fire from the depths of Hades, and her yellow eyes glancing around every tree. She looked up to the sky, as a handsome young man in an orange toga with a golden wreath around his blonde hair descended from the sky to her.

"Hey, sis!" He yelled waving at her. She never thought her brother would come down to visit, of course she never wanted him to.

"Long time no see, brother," she said in a dishonorable tone.

"C'mon Artemis, can't you lighten up a little bit?" Amazing Apollo said sympathetically.

"Why should I?" Artemis mumbled under her breath. Apollo was at a loss for words. Artemis was tired of her brother, even if it was for five seconds, so she swiftly ran away.

The truth was, she was jealous of her older brother; he always got to be in the sky, on his golden chariot. He even had a house up there; she had to bring him down. Just then, an idea popped into her head.

"I can't do this alone," apprehensive Artemis whispered to herself. "I'll find a companion to help." She was walking through the woods enjoying the cold, crisp breeze gently blowing around her when she came upon a wolf pup. It was desperately hurt, but she saw potential in the pup, so she gently picked it up, ruffled fur and all, and she dubbed the little pup her companion. The pup stood up and changed into a strong, muscular female wolf, immortal and magical. Artemis decided to call her Twilight.

Eventually, Artemis and Twilight had taken over half of the sky. Apollo was getting concerned, as he knew his sister was not one to be persuaded to stop, so he had no choice but to use force, or so he thought. So he made his own companion, a lion, resembling his own strength and truth. He named the lion Ignite.

Apollo approached Artemis, she was petting her wolf. They both stood on clouds, one black, one white, companions beside them. "Why sister," Apollo said disappointed, "I thought you were ok with me in the sky." Artemis saw the disappointment in his eyes, she refused to speak, because she had a plan,

"Apollo, don't you see?" Artemis said shedding crocodile tears, "all of Greece needs the night, for sleep."

"Fine then, they won't get sleep," Apollo said childishly "because I'm staying up here."

"Then I'll keep fighting for the sky," Artemis shot back,

They both fought like children for a few minutes, until they came to an agreement. They both would choose a warrior to battle against each other in one arena, whoever's warrior wins declares that him or her get the sky first, whoever's warrior loses declares they get the sky second, but the mortals would never see them again.

After weeks of searching, they found their warriors, Artemis found Odysseus, a sly man with a lot of tricks up his sleeve for battle. He had just come back from ten years at sea, only smelling crisp, salty air, and ten years battling the Trojans, seeing all his dearest friends die. Apollo chose Orpheus. He had to ask Hades for Orpheus back for a day since he died at the foot of the passage from the underworld to the over world. Orpheus was excellent at playing the Lyre and could sooth any living creature, even a human. Artemis had a trick up her sleeve as well as a warrior, she had gotten Athena to guide her warrior to victory.

It was finally tournament day, and the seats in the coliseum were filled to the brim for this battle, the only sound anyone could hear was the chatter of Greeks. Both Artemis and Apollo were awaiting a victory. They sat on the top edge of the coliseum, and Athena had changed herself into a mortal so she would blend in with the crowd.

The players stepped out, Odysseus blowing kisses to the crowd, Orpheus calmly walking out to the middle. The battle began. Odysseus was the first one to strike with his bronze sword heading straight for Orpheus' head, Orpheus blocked it easily with his silver shield. As this was going on, Ignite and Twilight appeared next to their friends, and they both sensed Athena. Ignite growled, but didn't move. The battle continued with Odysseus continuously slashing at Orpheus. With swords and shields continuously clashing, Orpheus was taking many hits, he couldn't block them all, he back out a bit so he'd have time to pull out his lyre. Odysseus was in mid swing, about to hit Orpheus in the knee and claim his prize, but Orpheus' music and singing lured him away from victory, and to peace, something he hadn't felt since he had gone to war with the Trojans. He stopped, his sword escaped his hand, and he hugged Orpheus.

Artemis was outraged from what happened, "You cheated!" She screamed, "You used a musician!"

"So?" Apollo said shrugging, "everyone's a warrior, whether musician, citizen, or a part of the army."

Ignite jumped down from the top of the coliseum taking a physical form, he roared and leaped for Athena. She tried to escape, but the lion caught her and threw her to Apollo. He caught Athena, and she turned into her godlike form and hung her head sadly.

"Wait till I tell Zeus about what you did Athena," Apollo tisked.

"Artemis said she would give me an animal too!" she blurted out, and immediately covered her mouth. Artemis' face went flank in fear.

Apollo glared at her sister, fire in his eyes, "You cheated, not me!" yelled Apollo pointing at his sister, and "you tried to use Athena to win!"

"No I didn't!" Artemis pushed Apollo,

"Yes you did!" Apollo shot back,

They rambled on like children, pushing and yelling, until Artemis gave up,

"Fine, I will never show my face!" she shot, "not even to you"

"Fine then!" Apollo yelled. After that, hey felt better. The yelling took out some anger both of them were holding in.

Years later, they made up and both decided to let their companions go, but with immortality, never to pass over to Hades which both Twilight and Ignite appreciated. Artemis and Apollo took their rightful places in the sky. Artemis will forever be a loner, but she was ok with it, for she always was, and for Apollo, he got his house and chariot back. Artemis got one half of the day cycle and Apollo got the other, and that was fine with them.

The End

Nereus and Brian; A tale of heroism, sadness, bravery, and distrust

By Enrique

"The mother of a god, once imprisoned, will not be able to exit the cell. Once saved, she will disappear into forever darkness;" said by the prophecy created by an old man billions of years before the medium aged Nereus and Brian were both formed. Once upon a time, there resided two brothers; by the name of Nereus and Brian, both the sons of a well-known women who goes by the name of "Mrs. Meatloaf". Nereus was known as "the old man of the sea," and was also the god of fish and all ocean animals. Nereus had always worn a toga-like sort of outfit that varied in many colors. Also, he had developed lots of grey hair that had overtaken his look of having bleached pink hair combed into a slicked back fashion. On the other hand, Brian was nothing like Nereus. Brian was a monstrous blue narwhal, a whale with a huge horn placed on its forehead, who had strangely yet fascinatingly grown a large beard draping from his lower lip. Both brothers thrived in a very stunning villa located right along the Aegean Sea, where Nereus was formed. Their hut was also right on the top of a cliff overlooking the tremendous place known as "Atlantis". Occasionally, they could hear humongous waves crashing up onto the cliff almost reaching their house perched hundreds of feet up. One very beautiful, sunny day, they wandered down into the small city to scout if there were any gods or demigods to try to send their message that they had desperately needed help to solve by a god or goddess. Their news was that their mother, Mrs. Meatloaf, had been sent to celery jail. She was sent to jail because all of the smelly fish of Atlantis, one afternoon, had realized that one of their most famous pies were cruelly stolen from their shop. After that, all of the smelly fish tried to find evidence of the antagonist who stole their pie. That night, one smelly fish looked into Mrs. Meatloaf's window and saw that she was eating a pie that looked similar to the pie that had been stolen from the smelly fish. The smelly fish who had seen Mrs. Meatloaf eating the pie called for backup and then busted into her apartment building and found out that SHE was the one who had stolen the pie. Thus, that morning, they all ran down to the government house and complained to the government that Mrs. Meatloaf had stolen one of their most famous pies. The government nodded all of their heads and immediately proceeded to sending her to celery jail, in the depths of the ocean.

All of a sudden, they spotted someone who had looked like the god or goddess. "Brian, look over there; on the east side of the island!" Nereus exclaimed with joy.

"It can't be..." Brian responded in pure disbelief. Immediately, they both saw a goddess wearing a blank white tunic accompanied by emerald vines and leaves draping down her long, tan neck. At first, they weren't quite sure if it was a goddess, but after they immediately peered at her glowing bow under her tunic, and now had a positive result on who it was.

"Nereus, I believe the goddess we are looking at is the steadfast Artemis. She is the goddess of the beautiful moon and hunt; no wonder she has a bow!" Brian softly remarked as if in pure awe.

Quickly, without warning, they both hustled down their ancient cobble street as if a herd of lions was chasing after them. Amazingly, in record breaking time, they somehow managed to sprint down quick enough to catch up with Artemis.

Suddenly, Artemis said, "Hello boys, what may bring you to thee goddess of the moon and hunt?" Both men were breathless and had no response at all. But, Brian stepped up to the plate and responded boldly with,

"Hey Artemis, so ummm we kinda have a problem... our mother, Mrs. Meatloaf, has been sent to the devastating celery jail for stealing a pie from the smelly fish. The smelly fish all complained to the government to take her to celery jail. Then, government stepped in and took her from her house and immediately whirled her over to the jail without an issue. Please Artemis? Is there any way in the whole wide world that you could possibly use your special power things and save our beloved mother?"'

She nodded, and took both boys by the hand and vanished into thin air, taking Nereus and Brian with her. They were whirled through the air with force. Their minds felt as if they were going to explode. They looked around and saw themselves in a rainbow tube going through what looked like outer space. Without warning, both men were teleported to the entrance of the celery jail and put out of their weird moment, in the depths of the ocean by the celery farm. They both looked around, but Artemis was nowhere to be seen in plain sight. They both shrugged, and just strolled into the room where they would have to find the keys to enter the area where the cells were placed. "Nereus, I don't see the keys anywhere, what shall we do now?" Brian exclaimed in a sad and monotone voice. Immediately, Nereus saw a sparkling gold key dangling from the ceiling, about 10 feet above them.

"Brian! I see the keys, put me on top of your large shoulder blades and boost me up into the air. Maybe I will be able to reach them." Nereus said in pure desperation and shortness of breath. Brian lifted Nereus onto his shoulders and lifted him up using all of his strength. Nereus grasped the keys and Brian lifted him down into the hard ground. They both immediately trotted into the cell room and saw their mother at the end of the hallway screaming at the top of her lungs to not let her go due to the prophecy she had said right before she had been taken from her house by the government. Both brothers had no idea what she was talking about and continued on with what they were encouraged on pursuing. They had continued walking towards her and immediately unlocked her from her jail cell.

"Boys, do you not remember what I told you! If I leave this jail, I will be gone forever, and you will not be able to see me for eternity, do you understand?"

"Yes mom," Nereus said with a slight grin on his face as if he was in pure defiance and not understanding the very words his mother had just said. They took her by the hand and walked right out of the jail.

When Brian looked back to check if the so called "prophecy" had really spoken, to his fear, he saw no one standing behind them. He called for his beloved mother; but no response was received. Brian kneeled down and started sobbing like a rainstorm. Nereus turned around out of pure disbelief and tried to comfort his brother while trying to hold in the storm of tears he had coming. All of a sudden, they heard a loud voice coming from what heard like the black clouds that were hanging above them. The voice in a booming tone said,

"Boys, this is the prophecy speaking. Because of your bad actions and not listening to your mother, she has been lost for eternity. I'm dearly sorry."

After hearing this, the boys slowly found their way home throughout a time span of 20 years. For 10 years, they both lived at their house in pure sadness and despair. They started not eating, make them very sick and very skinny. Right before they were about to reach death, a couple of legendary soccer players arrived at their house overlooking the ocean.

"Hey Nereus, Brian, we've heard about your very bad situation. I'm Pele. This man right here to the right is Cristiano Ronaldo, and this man over here to the left is a man by the name of Johan Cruyff. We've came here to help get your mom back."

Both brothers sat there in disbelief.

"Um Pele? You realize that in order to get our mother back you must do this in an extremely fast timely manner because she is already gone. If we don't get her back quickly, she will actually be totally gone from humanity," replied Brian in a slow and persuasive tone to his voice.

"Yeah, just what Brian said," exclaimed Nereus in a speedy manner to try and get the point across without having the words sink deep into the peers minds.

The soccer legends walked into their beautiful villa and immediately got their tools out to start the appearance of their long lost mother.

Immediately, without warning, the men muttered some gibberish words and seconds later, their mother had appeared covered in ashes and dirt as if she had been working out in the fields for a whole week without bathing. Nereus and Brian both rushed towards their mother and gave her the biggest hug anyone had probably experienced in their entire life. All of them were so happy to finally being able to see each other again after the thought that they would never get to see each other again. The men looked back to thank the kind people who had just solved all of their problems from their life, but in pure disbelief, Brian saw that they had disappeared as if nothing had ever happened. The brothers ignored that and focused on the fact that they (the soccer legends) had defeated the prophecy and gotten their mother back. For the rest of the families lives, they all were thriving in pure in peace on top of their cliff above the ocean and in their beautiful little villa, and would never, ever, not listen to one another for the rest of their lives.

Autumn's Journey

By Sierra

The sharp forest green leaves rustled in the breeze, eager to transform into something amazing.

The terrifying Greek gods and goddesses gazed down on the shifting world, watching the mortals from the paradise Olympus.

As Zeus played with the cheery nymphs, Apollo and Artemis tinkered with the sun and moon's powers, and motherly Demeter was spending time with her daughters, Arctina, Lunita, and Persephone. Arctina had luscious white hair and sharp blue eyes that gazed into everything she looked at. From her appearance you wouldn't think she was a kind woman, but she was just that and more. Lunita had crazy yellow hair, kind, green eyes, and an outrageous personality that sometimes made her get into trouble... Soon Persephone, their sister, would be going down to live with appalling Hades in the Underworld. They were saying their farewells and enjoying their time together while they could. Playing in the fields and smelling the freshly cut grass, Persephone quickly sprouted colorful roses, Lunita helped the roses bloom to perfection, and Arctina watered them with ice-cold water until they froze into alluring forms of beauty. Motherly Demeter had helped perfect her daughters' powers as the girls were children, so they could rule the seasons alone as women. She was very proud of them, but sadly now she had to let one go for seven months. Poor Persephone, left in the Underworld to live with Hades and a bunch of dead people. But Persephone had to, because of those seven tiny, tart pomegranate seeds that she ate in the Underworld when Hades captured her. For every seed she ate, she had to be in the underworld for that many months. While the girls and their mother were together, Zeus was chuckling and playing with the nymphs. His favorite nymph was named Autumn, and she was the most cheerful out of all of them. But when she had her down times, she was really sad. Zeus knew she could cheer anyone up, and because Hera became outraged at Zeus for being with the nymphs, that came in handy. The sisters, Arctina and Lunita, started crying and wished they could help their sister somehow to be happy with Hades. As soon as they spotted Autumn, they knew an answer. Why not have Autumn go down to the Underworld with Persephone? That way, she was sure to be happy.

The glad girls ran to mighty Zeus to plead for his happy nymph while Persephone spent time with her mom. "Zeus, mighty Zeus, please may we ask you a favor?" They said in unison.

Zeus stubbornly responded, "Arctina and Lunita... I know you are sad that your sister Persephone will depart from our world, but we made a deal! She will stay with Hades for seven months, and that's final. Is there anything else?"

Lunita sweetly said, "Oh, no, Zeus. That is not the case. Our sister is just sad and lonely and we think we know what might cheer her up!" They were so excited to share their plan to the tremendous god. "We would like to have a cheerful nymph go down to the Underworld to cheer Persephone up when she is sad! What do you think?"

Zeus thought about it for a moment, then agreed that this would be a great plan. He said he would give them the most cheerful nymph he had, because he also felt sorry for Persephone. "Who is the nymph?" Arctina questioned, already knowing what the answer would be.

"Her name is Autumn, and she has a contagious personality. She the happiest and most optimistic nymph I know!" Zeus happily said, obviously pleased with himself. The sisters shrieked with joy that they had got what they wanted. Later, Zeus told all the nymphs except for Autumn, because he wanted her to still be cheerful when they took her. When the nymphs heard the news, they mourned, because Autumn was their sister and friend. But Zeus had commanded them not to tell her, for her own good. He would tell her the news the next day, and every god, goddess, and mortal would know the news.

The next day, Zeus brought Autumn to his castle in Olympus and told her what would happen. He told her this was for Persephone, and for him, so she would do her duty. As soon as she knew, she asked Zeus with her normal cheerful voice if she could be dismissed, and he agreed, surprised she was still glad. This was all just an act though, and she flew back home as fast as her wings could carry her, to tell her friends the news. With a sad and depressed voice she cried, "Zeus has commanded I go to the Underworld! I can't do this! It's so terrible there that I would die of sadness. What will I do?" She burst into tears.

Her sister, Crystal, said, "Autumn, we already know... We have no clue what to do without you. But this is Zeus' command, so you must do it. We know you can! You can brighten anyone's day just with a smile!" The other nymphs nearby agreed and comfortingly embraced the teary nymph. Autumn was strengthened by their words and decided that she could do the hard trial. It was only for seven months, not even a year. And Persephone was a beautiful and kindhearted goddess, so it wouldn't be half as bad. Sorrowfully, Autumn said goodbye to all her friends with tearful eyes and flew back to Zeus' castle to tell him she was ready to go. She knew she wouldn't be seeing them again for seven months.

Meanwhile, Artemis was teaching Apollo how to shoot an arrow on Earth, and it wasn't working very well. Apollo was used to playing the lyre, a small harp, but not shooting arrows at innocent animals! He never thought he would catch on. "I'm never going to catch on, Art! Why are you making me do this?"

"You're my brother. You have to learn." Frustrated, Artemis looked upwards to see if the day was almost over and the sun was setting, but it wasn't even close. There wasn't even a hint of a sunset yet. All she could see that was different was a bright and colorful dainty creature flying in the sky in the direction of Olympus. "I think she's crying Apollo! Look. Poor creature."

Sure enough the girl was bawling, and Apollo was curious what was wrong. "Let's go to Olympus, and see if Zeus knows what's wrong." So the twins did.

When they arrived a couple minutes later, the young nymph wasn't there, so they ran up to Zeus and asked if he knew who the nymph was. Right after, Zeus said, "That is none of your business. It is only a nymph who will be taken to the Underworld to keep the goddess Persephone company for seven months." The twins looked at one another and felt the nymph's sadness. Being kindhearted, they desired to help the young girl.

Apollo said, "Zeus, do you realize what you're doing? This poor nymph is being sent to her death!"

Artemis said, "You can't do this. Please let her stay here. Have you seen how sad she is?" As the gods and goddess argued, Autumn burst through the old, splintered castle door, trying to hold back tears and show Zeus she was capable of doing it. But she knew she really wasn't. Zeus realized what he was about to do: send the happiest nymph on the most sorrowful journey. This was bad. He had already told Persephone that Autumn was coming, and she was very happy to have someone other than herself who wasn't dead. Possibly Autumn could only stay there for shorter than seven months? But how long?

"Zeus, I'm ready." Autumn sadly said. Apollo and Artemis glanced at Zeus with worried looks. As Demeter, Persephone, Arctina, and Lunita arrived, Autumn was shaking with sadness and thought, what will I do? This is way too scary for me. The Underworld? Well, there's no turning back now. Seven months with dead people, Hades, and Persephone. Ugh. Zeus, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, Arctina, Lunita, and poor Autumn stood in silence. That was when Zeus thought of something. He was gazing at the two sisters, Lunita and Arctina. They rule the bright summer and snow-coated winter. Those two seasons were so different, like a lion and a lamb, who couldn't cooperate by each other. There had to be something in between. There was already spring, thanks to Persephone, so the transition from winter to summer was smooth. But what about the transition from summer to winter? That was where Zeus decided Autumn would fit in. When she was happy and bright, she sure was shining happiness. But when she was sad, she sure was depressed. And it happened fast. This was perfect. All he had to do was change her personality into a season, so none of her friends would be too sad with her gone. Then however she felt in the Underworld would be what the season did. It was perfect. And Autumn would know that however she felt, her friends would see, so they still had some sort of connection and she would be happy for at least a couple months and cheer Persephone up. Then she would start to be sad because she missed being with her friends, which started the transition to winter. Zeus imagined his plan was brilliant.

"Gods, goddesses, and nymph," Zeus started, "I have a brilliant plan to make everyone happy." Everyone whispered quietly to one another. Apollo and Artemis were happy for Autumn. But Autumn has her doubts, Zeus is great, but he can't make everyone happy. That's impossible. How will I be happy in the Underworld without my friends and sunshine? "Autumn will go to the Underworld," he declared. Autumn immediately thought the worst. I knew it. Everyone but me will be happy. "But she will stay in the Underworld for only around three months." Autumn blew out a breath of relief. "Her personality and how she is feeling will look like how it is on Earth. Nature will change in a transition from summer to winter. Do any of you have suggestions for what we will call this time?" Autumn was so relieved. She would only have to stay in the Underworld for three months, not seven, and she could still kind of be with her sisters, the nymphs.

Demeter spoke up. "This a season, right? Just like summer, winter, and spring? What if my daughters come up with the name...? After all, they are the queens of the seasons..." The three sisters agreed and began brainstorming. They each came up with 2 names that they thought were good, and shared them. From Arctina there was Takurua and Dimra. These were other names for winter. Lunita chose names that meant summer: Vera and Lato. Persephone thought of Lapaki, which means spring.

Persephone started to share the second name for the season, "I think the most appropriate name will be autumn. Her name is Autumn, and the season is basically her, so why not?" Everyone thought it was a great idea. Especially Autumn. She was so excited that she could have her own season! It was like she was one of them, a beautiful goddess! Even though she would never see what the season was like, and Persephone wouldn't either, it was still fun to be a nymph and be the ruler of a season.

Zeus declared, "Now that that decision is made, it's time to say bye to our dear friends here, Persephone and Autumn. Hades will arrive soon to take them." Sadly, the only person she could say goodbye to now was Zeus, but none of her sisters. As Persephone was hugging everyone and saying goodbye, Hades walked up through the floor of the castle to greet his queen. "Horrifying Hades, another person will be going with you. Meet Autumn, the cheerful nymph. She is now the goddess of autumn." Autumn smiled, as sad as she was to be leaving the sunny world, and her friends, but she was going to be with Persephone for three months, while being a goddess for all that time.

Hades whined, "No! I want to be alone with Persephone!" Zeus glared at his brother and with that once glance, Hades quieted. "Well, let's go..." He seemed to create a portal from the floor of the castle on Mount Olympus. He started walking downward, as if he were walking down stairs, and beckoned for Persephone to come. Persephone said one last goodbye to her family then trailed after the god of the Underworld, Autumn right behind her. Autumn realized, this is an adventure, not a punishment. I see that now. I'm a goddess of a season named after me! Three more months and I'll return to live here again. As soon as they disappeared into the Underworld, the world underneath Mount Olympus changed a bit. The leaves changed into bright and happy colors and the nymphs and gods knew that it was Autumn, the nymph changed goddess who did this amazing work.

Crystal, Autumn's best friend and sister, looked down from her cloud bed that night at the changing world reminded of her friend and said, "We miss you, Autumn." The stars came out and were so happy with Autumn that they shined through the earth's crust, into the Underworld, where Persephone and Autumn slept. And to this day, between summer and winter, Autumn enters the Underworld with Persephone and activates the season of autumn.
The Polar Bear

By Tabitha Brakefield

Artemis was a hunter. She enjoyed getting food for her village. Artemis had a brown and gold highlights, she had very beautiful purple bright eyes like the sparkling jewels that lay in the cave. When she was young she would hunt every day for her father. Sometimes with her father, when she grew up it just stuck with her and now day and day she hunts.

The villagers lived in modern time, with all the Gods keeping them safe in the sky were the villagers prayed and gave sacrifices for them. Artemis was the one to get the food; rabbits, bears, squirrels.

One day, when Artemis went to go scavenging for food, she dashed down in the land to go hunting. "Zeus, I'm going down to hunt," she said while she was getting her bow and arrow. "Bring back a bear" he said with a loud roar.

After a while, when Artemis around the dark deep forest, nobody would ever come in because it was too dangerous. She did as she was told. Artemis found a cub and his mother by the spring water. She got an arrow from quiver, pulled back and shot. The momma bear gave a loud roar with pain.

The momma was carried to the village. Zeus was astonished that Artemis would kill something like that. When Persephone saw she went down to the land. "What have you done?" she shouted with anger.

"What have I done?" Artemis said, "I've given food for this poor village," she said with a little bit of sass. Persephone was filled with anger as she went up into the clouds.

"Zeus!" she said, "Have you seen what she's done?"

"Yes I have and I wanted her to do that to sacrifice one bear."

"What!" Persephone questioned, she shook her head vigorously.

"What do you mean?" questioned Zeus, "It's a simple bear."

"A simple bear! Its wildlife and wildlife needs to be protected, and by the way she is killing all the animals soon there won't be any animals left".

"Any left!" he said with a smirk like it was funny.

"I can just make more of them. I'm Zeus," Zeus bragged.

"I know one thing, and you can't make animals. You are the ruler of the Gods you don't assemble animals."

"Well, you are just being smart. I can create anything," Zeus said with anger that made the room around her echo.

"No you can't," said Persephone, "I know you can't like I just, said you are the ruler of all Gods. One thing I know is that you don't do you don't make animals just appear". Persephone stormed off, Zeus was still arguing with himself thinking, yes I can I'm the ruler of all Gods. I can do anything that I please.

Later that day Persephone when no one was watching, put a sleeping dust on the bear and took the mamma somewhere safe. Then, when she knew no one was watching, she patched the bars wound.

Persephone had an idea, "Maybe I could move this bear to a safer place, like, like the Arctic" She said out loud even though she knew no one could hear her.

When she came out of the safe place, it was getting dark, she took the bear to an abandoned barn so the bear could be safe. Until morning.

The next morning and when Persephone went to the barn she had told everyone that she was going on a trip to the forest for some calming sound.

Then, when she had everyone fooled she took the bear out of the barn.

It took many days. Many days. When she finally arrived to her destination, she was tired and ready to leave, but she would not because she wanted to have the momma bear to be safe and not die. When she finally reached the Arctic, Persephone bent down on her knees and started to laugh hysterically because she was happy that she made it, made it to the Arctic and her plan might work... She laughed so hard it hurt her stomach. She did not know why she was laughing so hard she thought it was so funny. The momma bear was right behind her, the momma bear plopped on top of Persephone to keep her warm. When she noticed, and finally stopped laughing, she hugged the bear because she was very happy she would not give up, because she was strong. She felt the soft bear fur on her skin and that made her really happy.

Then she finally noticed she probably went too far with Artemis. She felt really bad about how she had a very mean tone.

Persephone always felt bad when she did something like that. She was a very kind person, and she wanted to still be friends with Artemis. When she went back home that took about the same amount of time when she left. When she arrived with the village, she made the village have spring time and have more food for the winter and more food to keep having dinner for the rest of the days and not starve. Artemis said she was sorry to Artemis, which she said she was sorry to.

She told everyone that they will be something new in the world, a new type of bear. The new bear change the color of its dark brown fur into pure white to blend in with the snow, longer feet to help it swim and catch fish easily in the deep dark depths under the thick ice.
Origin of Ninja's, Spinjitsu, and Roses

By Elliott Chen

Luke was bored to death as he waited for his mom to return from the market to buy food and pick him up from school. To pass the time by, he decided to tinker with his school utensils.

"This is a boring life." Luke muttered under his breath. "Sometimes I wish I could be part of the war." At this part of the war the Greeks were losing against the monsters that lay just outside of Greece's borders. Maria, Luke's brother happened to come across him while chatting with her friends.

"Hey Luke what's wrong," she asked.

"Nothing," he grumbled, "Waiting for you."

Their conversation were interrupted when the considered unbreakable school exploded into millions of pieces.

"Hurry!" said a boy in armor with a gleaming sword who suddenly appeared in front of Luke's face, "You don't have much time left to run! Walk down the road, take the first left, then the second right!" Luke and Maria didn't hesitate to run. As they ran, they became aware of the screams of dying men as they hit the second right.

"Luke!" screamed Maria, "It's a dead end!"

"Whatever, let's just run through it." They were surrounded by boys and girls in full armor and spears when they

"Hello" replied a boy in armor. "We have been waiting for you."

"Like we even recognize you." muttered Maria, Luke barely being able tell what she said.

"Actually, we know you two," replied a nymph who seemed to hear what she said. "It's about time you learned about your true self. Maria, you are actually a nymph me albeit it may not look like it. Luke, you are the son of... actually, all we know is that you are the son of a god, like most of us are, we may be often called "demigods."

"We are out of time Riana!" yelled a boy, who had a wound on his left shoulder and cuts all over his legs and arms, to the girl who looked like the leader. "We've got to go back, we can't hold them anymore!" That seemed like enough to get the warriors to pour out of the room. Maria and Luke ran after them, but when they got to the forest, Luke passed out.

Luke woke up in the forest. "Hey, wake up, it's time for breakfast." said a voice.

"How long was I out?" Luke asked, rubbing his eyes, still half asleep only to find when his vision cleared, a muscular boy wearing armor, shin guards, and a Spartan style helmet.

"I don't know, don't ask me." he replied as he handed Luke a bowl of light brown oatmeal. Luke took a sip, it smelled like rice and tasted somewhat sweet like sugar.

Then they heard a horn blow. "Oh, it's time for the meeting, follow me," the boy gruffly ordered. They walked to a house with a yellow flag with a green laurel embroidered on it.

"Greetings," a girl said who standing guard at the door was. "I assume this is our new boy?"

"Yep," the boy replied. "Wait here," and then whispered to Luke, "I'm called Thomas by the way, the girl's called Alisa," then walked inside.

One hour later after Thomas went inside, he came out, saying, "The council has decided that you must begin training immediately."

Five days after training began, Luke received a letter that had a wax seal that somehow had iron, bronze, gold, and silver mixed in it.

"Well, don't wait, open it!" screamed a little voice in his head.

Cautiously, Luke opened the letter as if it was going to hurt him. Inside was a letter written by an unknown object or person. It read:

"Dear Luke,

Since the gods like me cannot directly interfere with you war, I have decided to send you a weapon that might be useful against Kronos. Sadly, we are also at war with him.

Sincerely,

Hephaestus, God of the Fire and the Forge."

Luke took one last peek at the envelope, there was a tiny piece of package that had: "For Luke Only" emblazoned in silver on it. He unwrapped the package and alas! Enclosed in the package were blueprints of new weapons. Luke hurried to the armory but was rudely blocked by a centurion named Hank.

"Where do you think you're going punk?"

"Go mind your own bee's wax or you'll be sorry that you ever lived punk." Luke sneered back.

"Who do you think," Hank said, "is boss here huh doofus? Who do you think you are threatening a demigod who is higher rank than you? Huh?"

"Oh that's okay, I guess you don't want a new weapon that might help us win the war do you?" Luke retorted, "Oh yeah, I forgot, you don't!" Luke could not resist another insult, "because you're an idiotic coward with his tail between his legs because he's scared."

Luke thought he hit the nail on the head when he saw a look of shock on Hank's face, but then it returned to a scowl.

"Fine then, but I'll be watching you from now on." replied Hank as he walked away.

Luke walked to the forge and opened the first blueprint of the four weapons. It looked like a four pointed star. It had a hole in the middle and sharp edges and sides and it was meant to be made about the size of a dart and was supposed to be made of iron or steel or... celestial bronze! His hands immediately set to work on these inventions. By the end of the day, he had finished perfecting it and made at least ten ninja stars. When Maria saw him fiddling with the ninja star's, in Luke's perspective, she freaked out and overreacted.

"I-I-I-I-is th-th-that b-b-bronze?" Maria asked fearfully stuttering.

"Yep," Luke said, "and that's not all." He tossed the new weapon at her but aimed at her hair and into the bull's eye in the archery targets, cutting a bit of Maria's hair off and impaling itself in the target... Maria jumped, shocked.

"Luke!" she screamed, "you could've seriously hurt someone with that! Or me!"

"What, I've been practicing." Luke replied with a laugh, "and I already have a name for it." He loved it when his sister freaked out since she always overreacted.

"Well, be careful." Maria warned and drifted away.

Luke quickly began to work on the weapons and two days later, he finished them. Luke brought them to Riana and the warriors outside the council building.

"Wow!" exclaimed Hank.

"How does this work?" asked another nymph inquisitively who was very cautiously holding the star as if it was very lethal.

"I'll show how to use the weapons later and answer any questions."

After Luke finished, a warrior hurried and started whispering to Riana, then she motioned for the warriors, including Luke, to come inside the building. After a while, they came out and settled down to their own places where they were before. "Well do you want me to demonstrate the weapons I made?" Luke quietly said, breaking the silence

"Sweet!" yelled Thomas

"Awesome!" said Hank.

"What are we waiting for?" yelled another nymph excitedly, not knowing what she was in for.

"See and be amazed!" Luke, who was in black ninja clothes and the red headband, unleashed the weapons hidden in his clothing. He decided to start with the ninja stars. He threw one at the archery practice one-hundred meters away. Then, he quickly put three between his fingers in both hands and threw them at the dummies five-hundred meters away. This was what he called Spinjitsu. They all landed on the heads of the dummies. Then, out of nowhere, fruit sailed furiously toward him. Luke unsheathed his katana and sliced them into dinner. Then he leaped up and sliced a rock flew towards him very quickly and he cut as if it was butter with a downward cut. By the time he finished showing off the bombs, the crowd was in complete shock of how he made the weapons.

"Well then, if we can have about five warriors like this newbie be trained like this, we'll go and attack Kronos. His army grows stronger each day." said Riana. The crowd howled their agreement.

By September 25th, Luke had already trained five people on how to handle and make the weapons he presented a couple days ago. In honor of the ninja star, he called the warriors who handled these new weapons ninja's.

At the morning meeting, nervous Riana decided to go to war.

"Are you sure about this?" asked a normal, brown haired warrior who was somewhat tall.

"Yes, now or never." replied Riana.

Luke spoke out loud, "Raise your hand if you want to go to war with Kronos now." He paused, then said, "If you are not like a coward who does nothing to help others." This remark worked because over half the people raised their hand. "Then let's go!"

Five minutes later, they got to Olympian grounds back to the city where they were attacked. They hid under a big black bad hill for cover so they were not caught. The battle turned into a disaster the moment it began. The monsters would have completely overpowered all the attackers if it had not been for the other five ninja's Luke trained to fight the monsters. He and Maria plus Riana went to fight Kronos. It was a hard battle, and at one point it looked like the Romans were losing, then it looked like they were winning. At this point of the battle, many dead warriors and monsters lay strewn across the battlefield. No one, no one, was lucky at the battlefield Luke, Maria and Riana was not so lucky with Kronos either. Five minutes later, Kronos leaped at Maria and cut downwards but instead, Riana jumped in his way and took the killing blow instead.

"Riana!" screamed Maria,

"N-no more t-t-time," she stuttered, "r-r-r-r-remember the prophecy." then, she looked at Luke. He nodded as if he knew what she was talking about. Riana died.

"Sorry Maria, but it has to be done." as he unsheathed his dagger and stabbed her.

"L-l-l-Luke," Maria gasped with her hand on the blade, "I thought we were at least friends."

"This is the only way to defeat him. Take a flaming arrow, dip it in nymph's blood, and shoot Kronos in the head," as he dipped a flaming arrow that stung his hand into her blood.

"I'll have revenge soon!" screamed Maria and then perished hating Luke.

Then Luke turned around and looked hatefully into Kronos's eyes.

"Die!" Luke screamed with a fiery hatred, screaming as he shot Kronos like a ruthless bandit who wanted revenge. Kronos laughed.

"You cannot stop me b..." Kronos was stopped mid-sentence and returned to Tartarus, defeated.

Thus the battle ended, Luke was praised for his courage, officially made the new weapons and became a general, Riana, and many others died that day, and Maria was honored for her forced death and so the gods transformed her body into a rose, stained red with her blood, as now all of them are, and since Maria died hating Luke, roses have thorns on them.

How the Horse Was Created

By Brian

One fine morning, a Pegasus named Soul was born from his mother a fairly young Pegasus who died giving birth to Soul. Some say people Soul had the heart and soul of a killer because he killed his mom in the process of being born. After many years, Soul was now a young Pegasus.

He flew to Ancient Greece, a country full of lush green grass. Or he thought so. It was actually a polluted city full of people. He wanted to go to Greece to start his life over. There, he made some bad friends. He went around Greece causing a lot of trouble. When lord Pegasus heard about this, he reported to Zeus king of gods immediately.

Zeus bellowed in rage, "BRING HIM TO ME! I DO NOT WANT ANYMORE SNAKES IN PEOPLES UNDERWEAR!" In a few seconds, Soul was trembling towards Zeus, the king of all gods. Zeus's face was red with fury and shouted at Soul," STOP THIS NON-SENSE!"

"Yes sir "Soul retorted trembling with fear.

Zeus said," If I ever hear of this again, I will serve you horrible punishment." Soul walked away with a horrible feeling in his heart. He walked to his friends and one named Tony came to him and asked

"What's wrong Soul? Let's go destroy some crops and cause trouble!"

Soul replied," I don't feel like it."

"That's not like you." Tony replied said as he tilted his head in question.

"I need to get some rest I'm not feeling good right now."

"Ok we will visit on you later."

Soul flew home and sat in the stable. He started pacing back and forth thinking about what he should do. Should he ignore Zeus and keep causing trouble with his friends or should he stop and tell his friend what had happened. The moment he made his mind up, he heard a knock on the door. He opened it to find his friends at the door. He greeted them and willed them to come in.

Steve, leader of the gang asked him," What's wrong? You're not as cheerful as you usually are."

Soul decided to tell them about him being summoned to Zeus. They laughed at him and said," Are you really going to let him ruin your life?"

"But I don't want to get in trouble."

"Don't be a chicken c'mon let's go!"

"Alright. But this has to be a secret okay?" Soul said with a feeling that this would go wrong.

"Okay."

So they went back raiding people's houses. They came across a house with a husband and a wife. They made a mistake of not checking the window first to see if anyone was inside. When they went inside the house, they saw two people, the wife was named Amber as they soon figured out and the husband was named Bruce. They were very scared and reported this event to Zeus. When Zeus heard about this, he was very disappointed in Soul and summoned him again.

"Why are you doing this Soul?" Zeus asked

"My friends made me."'

"For punishment, I will put you on a magical island for 10 millennia without your wings."'

"But sir,"

"No excuses."

"Yes sir."

So from that day on, Soul lived in the magical island and no one could pass through or go out without Zeus's permission. After 10 millennia, Zeus forgot about Soul and so after that, Soul had a new name. He called himself Horse. After many more millennia, many more Pegasus' experienced the same fate as Soul and they had children together. That is the story of the first horse that ever lived.

"Cleaning Room" Myth

By Paesh

In the most appealing place in Colorado, there lived a family.

Now this family had a mother, and her name was Fairytopiabulldog. Her children named Maile and Lexi did not want to clean their room. So Fairytopiabulldog was telling them to clean their room, and they refused to. So Fairytopiabulldog told Maile and Lexi this story.

"Once upon a time, there dwelled two girls. Now these girls did not want to clean their room. There were clothes on the floor, their beds were not made, and all of their drawers were not closed. Now there was one corner in their room that had a hulking cardinal beanbag. Later when they were working on their homework on the giant beanbag, they felt something move. Little did they know that the beanbag was a classified passageway to tunnels that the previous owner of the house dug. Soon, the beanbag was submerging the girls in, like quicksand. They were soon tumbling down a tunnel that had four different paths to choose from. The girls looked around, wondering where they were. They chose the second tunnel to take. At the end of this tunnel, it led to a little door. The door had a lock on it, they wanted to get through the door, but they had no key. Luckily, one of the sisters knew how to pick a lock with a bobby pin. As she picked the lock, the other sister smelled something like her mother's famous cupcakes. Later when they got through the door, they entered something like their kitchen. But the kitchen was very big. They heard giant footsteps come from the other room. The steps were very loud and obnoxious. The person who entered the kitchen was their own father! Now as the girls started to think, they remembered a sign that said that anyone who comes down these tunnels, will shrink. They were as small as ants! They thought that being small was an amazing experience! They watched as the door as the secret tunnel closed shut. They were walking around their kitchen, when their bloodhound dog, Masey, came and licked them off the floor, and brought them outside and onto the grass. The grass was wet, and very long, so they did not know where they were and how to get back to their house. So they just started walking back to their house where they thought where it was. Then they came across a giant creature coming closer and closer to them. Soon they were face to face with the creature. They observed the creature and tried to figure out what kind of creature it was. Then they realized that they were very close to a tarantula! They turned around and just kept running until they were tired. They then came upon a black thing. It was blacktop on a street. They did not know that it was blacktop, because they thought that it was something else-much safer than a road. So, they tried to cross the road. Many cars zoomed across the road, and one car was going way too fast, and ran over the girls." Maile and Lexi were terrified because of the myth Fairytopiabulldog told them, so to prevent the "accident" that might happen, they decided to clean their rooms.
The Origin of Dogball

By Ethan Cronin

It is night time in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, and the dog Steelers sweet going down in to their panting mouth are about to win the super bowl. With just one minute left in the game, all they need is a touchdown. The dog Steelers throw the ball and what is this a dark cloud catches the ball.

All the dogs say, "WHAT THE! What was that dark cloud?"

Only three brave dogs volunteer to go get the ball there names were cinder the third bravest, Crosby the second bravest, and Ethan the bravest out of them all.

All of the dogs are shocked by Hades arrival with 30sec left in the game. They don't know why he arrived. This is a giant surprise to all of the brave dogs except Crosby, Cinder, and Ethan. All of the dogs are surprised that those three dogs are going to get the ball. These three dogs are the bravest dogs out of them all.

All of the doges say, "thank you" to all three dogs. All the dogs are thankful that those dogs are going to get the ball to finish the amazing game.

The three dogs start to go to see hades a mean dog with the ball.

The three dogs finally see Mt. Olympus and the three dogs nicely ask Zeus the god of lightning at the same time where hades is.

Zeus says, "Ok I'll tell you if you let me be in the last play on your team."

Crosby says, "Ok you can play in our last play.

Zeus a nicer god says, "Yay"

All the dogs also ask if Zeus could led the way.

Zeus says, "Ok ill lead you the way"

This time all of the dogs yelled yay they are all happy that Zeus would led the way.

On the way the dogs, and Zeus they are singing a good song. Zeus and the three dogs make it to the underworld where Zeus knocks on the door.

Hades the god of the underworld angry voice yells, "I got it."

Hades opens the door and asks, "What do you want."

Zeus says, "We want the ball for dogball so we can finish the big game."

Hades ask Zeus, "Why do you care about the game?"

Zeus says, "Because I am going to play in the huge game."

Crosby says, "I have an idea how we can get Hades to give us the ball."

Zeus Asks, "How do we do that?"

Crosby says, "We can let him play with us in the game too."

Hades overheard and says yes.

The dogs grin and started on their way home. On the way home, the dogs meet many weird creatures like a matador the dogs make it to Pittsburgh and it was a month. All of the dogs are practicing. When the dogs see Hades a changed dog, Zeus, Cinder, Crosby, and Ethan, the rest of the dogs cheer for the three brave dogs arrival.

All of the dogs ask, "What was the dark blob that stole the ball."

Hades says, "That was me but I gave the ball back"

The game has 30secs left in the game and Hades and Zeus play in the last play. Zeus is QB and on the last play Zeus throws a touchdown to Hades and he learned a very valuable lesson that he should think of others not just him, and kindness as in sharing and getting friends and be nice to them so he could learn how to be grateful.
Zeus' Birthday

By Elise Daly

Once upon a time there were gods and goddess named Zeus, Hera, and Hermes. Zeus was the ruler of the gods and goddesses. Hera was the queen of Olympus and Zeus' wife. Hermes was the messenger god of Olympus.

They lived in Olympus were all other gods and goddess lived. This happened a long time ago.

One day, Hera and Hermes found out that Zeus's birthday was coming up, so they decided to plan a wonderful surprise birthday party for Zeus. Zeus got suspicious and confronted Hera.

"What's going on right now?" Zeus demanded.

"Nothing," Hera said, "I have to go to a women's only meeting in town, bye."

Zeus got jealous and angry because he thought Hera and Hermes loved each other, so Zeus went to see Hermes.

"Why is Hera always with you?" Zeus hollered in a booming voice.

"I don't know what you're talking about?" Hermes nervously mumbled.

Zeus, who knew Hermes was lying, became infuriated and his face turned bright red like the flame of a candle.

Later on, Hera told Hermes to send invitations to all gods and goddess because Hermes could fly super-fast.

"I don't know if this party is such a good idea after all," Hermes declared, "Zeus thinks we are dating behind his back and he was really, really furious!"

"Oh don't be silly," Hera reassured Hermes, "Everything is going to work out perfectly and Zeus will be so surprised!"

"Ok, I will send out the invitations immediately!" Hermes shouted.

One hour later, Hermes returned after successfully delivering invitations.

"Good, now I have a list of cake ingredient for you to pick up at the store." Hera said.

"No problem," Hermes said.

When Hermes came back from the store, Hera started baking a big, delightful cake. The cake was bigger than a car!

"Done! I hope the cake tastes good," Hera said.

"What flavor is it?" Hermes asked.

"Chocolate," Hera replied back.

Several hours later, Hera and Hermes finished decorating Zeus' house. All the gods and goddess started coming with presents in their hands. While they were waiting for Zeus to come, Hera was nervous because she thought Zeus would be mad at her for not informing him about the surprise party.

"Everyone hide! Zeus is coming!" Hermes screamed.

Zeus stomped into his house and everyone surprised him. At first, Zeus was scared. Then, he became infuriated when he saw Hermes, and he threw his lightning bolt causing the cake to catch on flaming fire. Everyone started freaking out and screaming.

"Oops," Zeus said calmly.

"Everyone calm down!" Hera said. "Zeus, what are you thinking? Well this is definitely one happy birthday surprise!"

There was one god at the party named Aeolus and he was the god of wind. Luckily for the other guests, Aeolus blew out the fire on the cake, saving them all from imminent death. All of the gods and goddesses began cheering for him.

"Thank you for saving our house." Hera said.

"Make a wish." Aeolus said to Zeus.

"I wish I would have known the truth." Zeus announced. "I guess I'm not big into surprises."

All was forgiven and the party continued on well into the evening hours. Hera was able to save the cake even though some of it was burnt. Zeus and all other gods and goddess laughed and celebrated as they ate delicious, burnt chocolate cake. They were having a pleasant time. In fact, the party was so memorable, that it was talked about for hundreds of years to come. Everyone wanted to have candles to blow out on their birthday cake so they could remember the fun of Zeus' 100th birthday! And so, this is how the tradition of people blowing out candles and making wishes began. What will you do on your 100th birthday?

The Reason We Now Have Knowledge

By Cecilia

Long ago, in a small village in ancient Rome, when every person alive and breathing did not have any knowledge, there lived Mary-Anne. Mary-Anne had fair skin, and beautiful, luscious, brown hair. She was a healthy girl, did all her chores, and always obeyed the rules. She spent her time drawing what she thought the rest of the world looked like, because she didn't know for sure. She desired to know what was out there, what other people had not discovered yet.

She lived in a decently big house packed with 25 strangers she had never even met. Lucky for Mary-Anne, half of them would bake bread, cheese, and garlic, making the house smell like a Christmas with your family. All the food was nice, but most of the people living in her broccoli greenhouse were children under six years old, which at night was horrid to try and snooze in.

One day, the god Hades, of the underworld, saw Mary-Anne with her beautiful hair and gorgeous skin, and instantly idolized her. Mary-Anne didn't imagine a thing, for she had only overheard of legends about interfering gods and goddesses. But each and every day Hades' love for Mary-Anne grew stronger and stronger, until one day he couldn't manipulate the pain of not having her anymore.

"Apollo, my dearest friend," said Hades, "will you be as kind as to get someone for me, please?"

Apollo, god of light and truth, thought for a second. "Who am I to get you? Does and will this person belong in the underworld?"

"Well," answered Hades, "I need you to bring the finest mortal to my dwelling, Mary-Anne" Hades sighed deeply knowing that Apollo could not ever diligently bring Mary-Anne to the underworld, or he would betray Zeus the almighty. To his surprise, Apollo had an answer Hades didn't expect.

"I'll attain her. But on one condition. She needs to be able to solve one of my riddles. If she gets it right, she is too great to be with you. However, if she gets the question wrong, she will go down below with you."

"Anything," replied Hades, "she gives me the light to my dark and gloomy underworld. Go and set up a door and guard it. When she comes, you can ask her your question. I will lure her to the door by noon tomorrow." It was settled. Mary-Anne would finally come to Hades.

The next day, Mary-Anne was completing her chore of getting the water from the stream. She was nearing the stream when suddenly she mysteriously felt an urge to go off the path. Little did she know this was the aggravating work of Hades. She knew she couldn't disobey her dear mother, but the urge was stronger and stronger every minute. Back when she was little, she used to love playing in the forest all day. So she set the pails down, and threw her oats and nuts in a trail behind her so she wouldn't get lost in the forest.

It seemed as if she was walking forever, and her trail was long behind her by now, for she had ran out of nuts about half an hour ago. Finally after what seemed like a century, she saw the end of the trees. The yearning to keep going was so strong, she didn't stop and rethink it for a second. She thought she heard the sound of a sweet and softly sung lullaby, but knew it was just her imagination. But it kept getting louder, and she had to follow it.

"Maybe I'm just hungry," she said, "I should go back now anyways. Even though she wanted to turn around and go, her body wouldn't let her, and she didn't know the way back anyways. But as she kept walking, slow and steady, following her instinct, she caught a glimpse of a big, beautiful door. She looked again, and yes, it was still there.

"Oh my," she said. Without a second look back she started running. Running towards the big, bright, beautiful, bountiful door only a little ways away.

She wanted to know what was behind the door. A secret garden, or a gateway to the promised land, maybe? After about five minutes of running and pondering what was behind it, she was at the door. She had not, however, become conscious of the terrible events that would take place in the future... She was about to go through it, when suddenly she heard a voice.

"Stop!" said Apollo, holding his muscular hand out. "You mustn't go through that door until you've answered a question." Mary-Anne was transfixed by the sparkle in Apollo's eye, she never knew these gods existed. "If you answer the question correctly," he continued, "you will go through the door and be with me. However, if you answer incorrectly, you will go down to the underworld to be with the god Hades"

"Is that why you, a tremendous god, is coming down to the mortal dwelling?" Of course she had to get the question right, for Apollo was incredible.

"Yes," he answered, "are you prepared for the question?"

"I believe I am," replied Mary-Anne," tell me what this oh-so-great question is, and I will answer it with all my vast knowledge." She knew she would probably not be able to answer the challenging question, because she never had any learning, but she said she did anyway.

"Alright," Apollo said, "you go through the woods and see two doors. One of the doors leads to a happy afterlife in heaven, but the other door leads to a slow, painful death. Two guards are in front of each of these doors. But, one of these guards is an honest man while the other guard is a liar. What one question can you ask both the guards in order to go through the right door?" Mary-Anne had no clue what the answer could possibly be. All the answers she thought of seemed crazily wrong in her head.

"How long do I have to answer this?" she said.

"As long as you're standing in front of me." Apollo replied. Mary-Anne thought long and hard, and finally, she came up with a clever answer.

"I think," Mary-Anne was talking slow and detailed, her hands fiercely itching her leg, and her voice quivering, "That you would ask the question, what door I should go through. The truth teller would say one door, and the liar would say anoth- WAIT! That isn't right!"

"Your answer is final," he replied, "the correct response is to ask, if I want to go through the right door, what door the other man would say to go to. The truth teller would say that the liar would go through one door, and the liar would say that the truth teller would say the same door, because he is lying. Then you go through the opposite door." Before Mary-Anne could say anything back to Apollo, the ground started to tremble. It became louder and stronger every awful second she stood.

Then, to the horror of her eyes, a massive crack in the Earth began to form, like a piece of old, dry wood, and she swore she could make out a terrifying whisper.

"Come to me Mary-Anne," said the voice, harsh and graveled, "come and be happy with me, down under here, with the rest of us." With the rest of us? What was this voice saying? Was this the underworld with Hades that Apollo had told her about? She started to scream so loud, so deafening, knocking out all other sounds besides her own fear. The ground sunk deeper into the Earth's interior, getting hot and steamy, almost to the point where all she could see was gray smoke from her boiling sweat.

Then Mary-Anne was quickly falling into the deep pit of never-ending blackness. It seemed like forever until she finally saw something. This something wasn't a human being, or an animal. It was a deformed blob of....Hades. Hades came closer, then eventually so close Mary-Anne could smell his rotting breath.

"We will certainly live happy together," said Hades, "so you better get used to it down here.

"But. But," stammered Mary-Anne, "I can't!" Oh how she wish someone would save her right now. "At least grant me one wish," she said.

"Oh and what would that be?" Hades replied.

"I... I want to make a school," Mary-Anne said, shaking, "so other kids don't have to stand you. And your awful breath" Hades looked shocked. But he agreed, out of love.

"Alright," he replied, "I'll make a school in order for you to stay with me. But that's it."

And so, Mary-Anne still lives with horrible Hades in the underworld, despising every day, and we still go to school so we don't have to meet the awful Hades when we answer any tough questions.
Myth of Chocolate

By Georgia Ewer

Once upon a, not very long, time ago there were two boys named Robert and Johnny were walking along and were very depressed about their day. They lived in a town named Mcland. Robert was a short person that was bullied a lot. He had sandy hair while he had blue eyes. Johnny however, was the complete opposite of Robert he was tall even for the adults and stood up for Robert a lot. Johnny had black hair and brown eyes. They both despised wheat, but they did not want to offend Demeter, the Greek goddess of harvest, so they lived with it. But, Johnny finally could not take anymore and told all his friends and family and he found out everyone, was exhausted of it and eventually they all decided to go on strike and then Zeus got involved.

Up on Mt. Olympus Zeus had to persuade Demeter to make some new food.

"Demeter I have something to tell you that is very crucial." Zeus said.

"What is it Zeus?" Demeter gradually said.

"The townspeople," Zeus unwaveringly said, "are on strike, because they want something else to eat. Other than your crops."

"What. Did. You. Just. Say?" Demeter said clenching her fists.

"I give them food and they think it's too good for them!" She squealed.

Demeter looked at Zeus with an icy stare and whispered ever so quietly, "Who. Is responsible for this. This..... Outrage."

Zeus shifted on foot to foot uncomfortably and said "A boy named Johnny commenced it. But!" he said rapidly before she could go. "Don't reach any hasty conclusions. He is still a boy and you shouldn't punish him for a childish action."

Demeter stared Zeus straight in the eye and said, "Oh I don't think anything here is hasty. And it does not matter who did this. All I know is that it was not childish of him and he will be punished."

And with that finally word she departed and went to Earth to find the boy named Johnny who had disgraced her. Back on Earth in Johnny and Roberts's village it was a dreadful day because all the villagers had decided to not swallow any crops and everyone was starving.

Robert and Johnny were eager to find out what the new food would be because they were sure their scheme would work. "What do you think the new food will be Johnny?" Said Robert.

"I don't know but I hope it's better than our food right now. As long as it's better than this I will be happy." Johnny cheerfully said.

Then it just happened that Demeter found them both right then and heard them talking.

"So the boys just want something else eh? Well I'll give them something else to eat." Demeter said to herself.

Then suddenly Johnny started turning into something else!

"Johnny? Johnny! You are turning into....... a......... sugar plant?" Robert said in mystery.

"Hey why are you so tall all of a sudden? Hey! Why am I smaller than you? I used to be taller! Wait a minute.............. Did you say I was a," Johnny says as he looks at himself, "sugar plant!"

Demeter laughed at Johnny. She appeared out of nowhere and said while laughing, "This is what you get for saying my crops are boring!"

To Robert, Demeter seemed like an old lady at first but had transformed into a laughing goddess.

"Oh no!" he thought, "How was he ever going to turn Johnny back into a human?" But then he had a sudden idea.

"You're Demeter, right? So you're mad about us not enjoying your plants, so why don't you create something new? You could make anything possible because you are so powerful!"

"Well, yes I could create more magnificent food, but my food is already wonderful!" Demeter said to herself more than Robert.

But Robert heard her and used it to his advantage. He quickly thought of an idea to turn Johnny back into a person and get a new food to eat.

"Oh well. Maybe you aren't as awesome as they all say you are." Robert said barely containing his grin.

"What! You dare challenge my skill?" Demeter said containing her anger.

"Well... I guess you can turn people into plants," Robert gestured to Johnny, "but, I now know why you don't want to make a new food now." he paused for effect, "You don't have the power to." He said with a grin.

"You think I am feeble? OH. I will show you powerful!" Then suddenly after howling that she started whirling light all around them. BOOM! All around them was snow. Robert looked all around him for Johnny and Demeter. Finally, he spotted Johnny. He was a human again! Then there was Demeter looking like she usually does but, wait she is holding something. It was dark brown with letters engraved on the top of the chocolate.

"Ah ha! Voila, we have ourselves a brand-new food and you said I did not have the power. HA! It is called Chocolate, it is wonderful and no one is going to get over it goodness!" Demeter said proudly.

"Let us be the judge of that." Robert and Johnny said, Johnny also ecstatic to be a human again was excited to finally see what it tasted like. Demeter held it out for them to see and broke a piece off of this "Chocolate" that was so called "delicious" Robert thought. They took it from her and slowly raised to their mouths to taste. Then the dropped it inside their mouths and bite into the chocolate. It was like everything you have ever imagined in one food combined together that tastes wonderful with all of its flavors. Their words failed them as they ate the most heavenly food ever eaten. It melted into their mouths and turned into a gooey substance.

"Wow! This is incredible!" Johnny and Robert said simultaneously.

"What did you expect from the most marvelous god?" Demeter said.

So, this was how chocolate was created in the very beginning.

Artimis and the Cyclops

By Jadon Hale

One day, a very long time ago, Cyclops, a creature of extreme unawareness came to the land of humans and wandered into the gloomy forest. Now, since the Cyclops was a creature of unawareness, he did not see that he had made his abode right next to the villager's village that lay in a dip between four hills. The Cyclops, unwittingly, built his abode on the other side of the fourth hill so he could not see the village. Many people don't know, but Cyclops are not very social creatures but, despite this, when he discovered the village the next day, he decided to go say hi in the hopes of getting some friends.

When the villagers spotted a looming shadow coming out of the dark trees and a loud crashing as Cyclopes made his way through the forest, they were very scared and got every defense they could muster to defend against the Cyclops.

With the villagers hooting, "Be gone you foul beast," like demented parrots and shooting arrows at the Cyclops, he was indeed, very sad and went away back to his home.

The next day, despite their previous reaction, the Cyclops went back like a persistent beggar to try again with the village, but the villagers were ready for another visit and attacked him again shooting arrows that thudded into Cyclops's skin and hissed like a thousand snakes through the air. The Cyclops, as the villagers did not understand, was just trying to make friends and when they attacked him again the next day, he got very irate, Cyclops was not one to be shot at! He muttered rude words about the villager to himself and said, "If they won't be friends, they will enemies." So, the next day he set off to attack the village, but he had no idea of the events to follow...

Artemis, who was hunting in the woods the day after, was very surprised when out of the blue, a Cyclops, not very common on Earth, marched across the clearing she was stalking around.

Artemis decided to talk to the Cyclops to find out what it was doing, so she called out to the Cyclops.

"Hey," she said, "What you are doing Cyclops?" Her eye widened, and she became very stiff realizing that she should not have said anything and thinking that he might attack her.

"I'm going to fight the village that lives half a mile away," he replied as he started to walk away again.

"Why?" Artemis asked abruptly, relaxing a little at the thought that wasn't her that he was attacking.

"Because, they hurt me," he said as he stopped walking, "and I'm going to hurt them back."

It just so happened that Artemis knew that particular village, she thought maybe she could help the Cyclops and the villagers get along.

"Why," she suggested, "don't I go talk to them and ask what's going on?"

"Well," said Cyclops, "okay, I like that idea, my cave is just that way on the left," he said as he waved his hand in a northern direction, "Once you have talked to them, come to my cave to tell me what happened." So off he went, back to his cave to take a nap.

"Okay," muttered Artemis to herself, and off she went to see what's up.

Later that day, the Cyclops was walking around in his cave, worrying about the villagers attacking Artemis and hoping that she was okay. Just when Cyclops was about leave to go get Artemis, she returned and came into the cave.

"What happened?" asked Cyclops expecting the worst, "Did they say they would keep attacking me?"

"No actually," replied Artemis with a smile, "they said they were sorry and invited you over to come have a feast with them."

Cyclops smiled, he liked feasts, (mostly because it was hard to hunt if you're two stories high,) and he especially liked friends.

Keramine and the angry Cyclops

By Ting-Hsuan Hsu

Keramine Hunters was just like any typical girl, she went to school, hung out with her friends, and lived life like a teenager. Keramine had faint brown hair like her mother and her father's threatening blue eyes. She went to one of the best schools in the heart of Manhattan. She lived a normal and dull life taking the subway to school every morning at exactly 6:00 for it took her a whole hour to get to school. After school, she took the subway home at exactly 4:00 in the afternoon, went home, bathed, and did her homework. The rest of the time she spent her time lying around munching on food, watching TV, on her phone, or messed around. Keramine was often neglected by her mother and her father was a busy businessman who spent his time in his office till late at night. And this how boring and unpleasant Keramine Hunter's life was.

Keramine was normal until one afternoon when she found a huge cave behind the field that she went to everyday behind her house to do her homework. She first found that cave because she ran into the field spinning around and fell into the dark cave. She thought it was a trap made from the neighborhood boys so Keramine rummaged around the cave for a stick for she wanted to scare the aggravating little brats. The cave was dark and musty and had a smell of dead animals shivers went down Keramine's back, she was starting to sense like this wasn't a joke. Keramine took a deep breath and thought of how mad her mother would be finding her in a ditch. She gathered her courage and ascended deeper into the cave, she hid behind a corner her heart rate increased and she heard soft roars, loud snorts, and grumbling. She was getting really crept out now and Keramine thought to herself, I shouldn't be so freaked out by some silly thing. She was thinking whether this was real or not. Keramine stepped out from behind the corner and screamed what she saw was horrifying. Keramine saw Cyclops with one eye.

"Ignorant mortal," one said.

"Let's eat it," another one said. By now, every Cyclops in the cave had been awoken and they buzzed with excitement about how they should cook Keramine. She thought, oops, and she dashed for the entrance of the cave the Cyclops trampled after her some of them hopelessly tripping over others. When Keramine got out, she ran to her garage and grabbed her bike when she was about to ride out the Cyclops had already caught up with her, she was cornered. Keramine saw a golf club in the corner she knew she needed a distraction to get the Cyclops to look away and give her some little time.

"Hey look its Athena!" she screamed and she dove for the golf club. It worked, she bought just enough time and Keramine didn't know it but when she screamed, Athena heard her. Athena knew she must help this poor mortal, she got her army to help her and she prepared them for battle. While on earth, Keramine started hitting the Cyclops in the head to make her way to where her bike was. She struggled but at last she broke through the wall of Cyclops she got on her bike and paddled harder than she ever did before. Keramine was filled with fear, she didn't know where she was going all she knew was that there was a herd of Cyclops coming at her from behind. Keramine knew she wouldn't last long, she paddled until she couldn't anymore and she let the swarm of Cyclops have her she gave up and closed her eyes. All she could hear was Cyclops until BOOM! All the Cyclops flew back but her, she opened her eyes and saw Athena staring down at her. Athena carried her onto her chariot, Keramine couldn't believe it they were having a war with Cyclops and chariots in the center of Manhattan. She had always admired Athena but Keramine didn't know Athena really existed. Keramine laid there just thinking about what happened and she slowly drifted off to sleep. She dreamt that she was in schools and it was a normal day. When Keramine opened her eyes again she woke up in a cramped small hut, "Go get this girl some water," Athena shouted to her soldiers when Keramine woke up. Athena first led Keramine into a small room and she sat on in a pile of dusty dry grass.

"You are a very brave girl," Athena said.

"And I grant you the armor of a hero," she touched Keramine with her index finger and golden bronze armor appeared. "It only appears when you are in danger and only you and I can see it," Athena continued. Keramine gasp when she saw the armor shining a beautiful tint of bronze when she stepped out into the sun. "Thanks," Keramine stuttered. Suddenly, Keramine hugged Athena tight, the goddess was very surprised and she hugged back. "Unfortunately, the Cyclops are still coming after us," Athena said, her face turned sad for a second.

"What about my parents?" Keramine asked.

Athena's face turned pale, "Honey, your parents are dead, sorry."

"Oh," Keramine said. Keramine wasn't super sad though she never really got to know her parents that much, but a little sadness hung over her. Athena got up and held her hand for Keramine to get up she led Keramine into an artillery base and she got a sword and a scabbard something that sheaths the swords. Athena strapped the scabbard onto Keramine's waist and they were on their way. Athena led Keramine to her chariot, at first she thought Athena was going to make one of her soldier drive her home but when she realized Athena was letting her ride her chariot and she wasn't going home she literally fainted.

"We are headed for Mount Olympus, I usually don't bring mortals but in this case, I have to.

They started going higher and higher and the view was so amazing it blew Keramine's mind she saw the high buildings and lights that started to light up as dawn crept up the rolling hills by her elementary schools, where her father worked, the subway system, buses, cars, and people everywhere. When they arrived at Mount Olympus the sun had risen and shone over the chariot. Athena dragged Keramine into the throne room where all the gods were meddling with human lives. The moment Keramine and Athena stepped in the whole room was quiet.

Finally a voice boomed, "What are you doing, sister?" Ares said angrily.

"I'm here for Poseidon, not you," she said angrily.

"Let's take a walk. "Poseidon's voice boomed from the back of the room. So Athena, Keramine, and Poseidon took a walk around the orchard garden. Keramine touched one and its beautiful thorns and it wrapped around Keramine's and started wrapping her body around and around up her body down her legs and quickly Keramine's scream was muffled by the orchards stems. Athena was devastated but she and Poseidon had to kill the Cyclops so quickly they headed off to the Manhattan Bridge so Poseidon could drown the Cyclops. When Athena and Poseidon got there realized that it was too late the Cyclops had already gone into the river and was taking the bridge apart in frustration. Suddenly....... a hole in the water opened up all the monsters fell into eternal darkness and who sucked them down........Keramine Hunters.

To be continued............

(Next time we have to write a story)

The Sweetest Ingredient

By Sydney Kerschen

The large body of ocean water glistened as waves crashed onto the warm shores of the sandy beaches of Costa Rica. It was around midday, about the year 1000 A.D. Demeter was in a field nearby, tending her wheat and corn. Demeter was tall and thin, like her corn, with wispy, long, hair, the color of corn silk. Cane, a simple, humble, mortal, lived in the nearby village. He helped his father, Haruki, an older, well-seasoned craftsman, with their building, fixing, and palm tree trimming business. Far away, up in the clouds, Hera and Zeus, the king and queen of Mount Olympus, looked down on the mortals of the miniature coastal town.

Cane was working in the city, mending the broken oven in the bakers' bakery. The baker was a poor man although his bread was costly.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot afford to pay you in money. May I perhaps pay in bread instead?"

"I suppose," Cane replied with a sigh. "Are you sure this is all you can pay me in? I really need the gold right now."

"I wish I could, but bread is all I have," the baker replied with an expression of sadness and stress showing on the wrinkles in his tan face.

Cane felt bad for the baker, and he was hungry, so he thought the bread would be good to give him some nourishment before he went to do his next task. Cane had one taste of the delicious baked good and instantly fell in love with the food. This was terrible, for his family had little money, less than a poor man with a big family after Christmas, and couldn't afford the luxury of the scrumptious food. Cane went back to the baker with all the money he possessed and bought as much bread as he could buy with the small sum. His money got him two loafs, which he devoured nearly instantly, surprising and scaring the baker.

"Please, good sir, I must have more!" Cane pleaded to the baker.

"I'm sorry, son, but you can only have what you can pay for."

"Alright," he said, an idea popping into his mind, a mischievous smile spreading across his face. "I'll be right back."

Cane sprinted home to the shack he lived in with his parents. He divulged the hidden chest where the family stock piled all their money. He scooped up all of the riches and dashed back to the bakery, his pockets and arms jingling as he ran.

"How much will this buy me?" he said, empting all the cash onto the counter.

"This will get you three baskets, but I wouldn't advise buying all the bread at once. It will be stale before you even-." The baker was cut off by the astonishment as he watched Cane gorge through the first basket of bread.

"Please, you're doing something you will regret," the baker said, worried about the miserly boy that kept stuffing his face with more and more bread. Meanwhile, on Mount Olympus, Hera was complaining to Zeus about a problem she was having.

"Zeus, my husband, all these mortal foods taste so flavorless. Salt makes them taste better, but there must be another way I can change the taste of these drab foods," Hera said with boredom present in her tone.

"I will send Iris to give Demeter a message to create a crop that produces a sweet tasting spice that can be put into or on the boring mortal foods," Zeus declared. He summoned Iris and sent her to deliver the message to Demeter.

Back on earth before she had received the urgent message from Zeus, Demeter had just finished harvesting her ripe, golden wheat from the fields and was taking it to the baker, who was happier than a penguin that could fly to receive the valuable crop to be made into fresh bread. When she arrived at the bakery, she was greeted by the frazzled baker and the greedy Cane, whom had now sold all of his precious belongings and would not eat any other food except bread. Demeter saw the boy, and was transfixed by him, and instantly fell deeply in love with him. Demeter was sad to hear about what he was doing, but couldn't help him any. She went into town to deliver her crop of sweet, yellow corn a week later and heard about the death of the young Cane. Demeter was devastated when she heard he had starved to death, for she heard before he wouldn't eat anything other than bread. Demeter went to back to her fields and mourned the loss of the sweet, sweet boy (at least, she thought he was sweet). She cried and tended her fields, but she was so upset about Cane's death that she became distracted with mourning his death that the crops went rotten. Iris arrived shortly after this began to happen with the message from Zeus.

"Demeter, goddess of harvest, Zeus has sent an important message that you must create a sweet crop to be put in and on mortal foods to please Queen Hera. Also, he needs you to stop crying over such an average mortal, for the world is being thrown into chaos because your crops are not being properly harvested and the mortals are starving. You must stop this at once!"

"But Iris, he was more than just a normal mortal! My brother just does not get it," she sobbed.

"You are clever, Demeter. You will think of something shortly. Good bye." With that, Iris vanished. Demeter thought about what Iris had said and thought of a way to solve both of her problems. She went up to Olympus to talk with her brother, Zeus.

"Dearest brother, your wife is unhappy because of the flavorless taste of mortal food, right? And I am tremendously sad about the death of a mortal whom I loved."

"That is correct. Do you perhaps have an idea?" Zeus said, a little vexed with Demeter.

"Indeed, I do. I propose that I could turn the dead mortal whom I love into a sweet plant called sugar cane that produces a sweet crystal called sugar, then both of our problems will be solved!" she said excitedly.

"I suppose. Anything to stop Hera from vexing me anymore," he said quietly, so as to not let Hera hear.

"What was that, dear?" Hera said from an unknown location.

"Nothing, dear," Zeus replied hurriedly. "Please, get me some sugar cane as soon as it is grown. Now leave, there is more important business I have to attend to" Zeus said, clearly annoyed that Demeter was still there. And with that, Demeter left Olympus and went back to her farm in Costa Rica. She found where Plarius had been buried and turned him into a sugar cane seed. When she checked back on the plant a few days later, and it had grown into a beautiful plant. From that day forward, mortals and gods could make their foods sweet using the natural sweetener, sugar cane, thanks to an innocent mortal.

Yellow Tractor Adventure

By Jack Maunsell

One smelly old night at Applebee's, a sun yellow tractor named Hypothoughis who was a very nice and clean tractor who always smiled. He was cleaning a fire truck red apple sauce bowl and saw a little spider named Jimpotbulize jump on a banana and die. This was super strange, thought Hypothoughis, but then it hit him. Hypolothus, his brother was near. Hypolothus was a green tractor who hated everything but his restaurant, McDonalds.

Hypothoughis went outside and said, "Hey, Hypolothus go before I call the police."

"You are too scared brother you would never do that!" Hypolothus answered

Being the guy he was, Hypolothus attacked him and tried to eat him. Hypothesis fought back, but Hypolothus just was too strong.

After a while, Hypothoughis overpowered Hypolothus and threw him to space. Hypothoughis followed him up to space and after a while he found Hypolothus laying on the sun.

Hypolothus said, "Please help me, I am burning." Hypothoughis couldn't stand looking at him burn.

He said to his brother," I will help you under one circumstance, if we start a restaurant together."

"I agree." he said and they went home.

The next day, they tore down McDonalds, sold Applebee's, and spent $1,000,000 on a new restaurant called Qdoba. Hypolothus finally became nice and smiled for the first time, Qdoba was super successful, and they made a ton of money. They were best friends again and got along great. After about 10 years of running Qdoba, they finally sold it to a squirrel and both died later that year. Everyone was heartbroken, but they buried him under the playhouse in the restaurant. That is the story of how Qdoba became to be. Jack Maunsell

The Waffle

By Julia McMahon

"Dad, pancakes again!" Aphrodite, the most beautiful goddess of all, wined. "Why can't we have something interesting?"

Aphrodite and her family were sitting atop Mt Olympus, a place full of splendor and riches. The family was eating a breakfast of pancakes on their gold plates, sitting on a gold table, in a golden room.

Zeus, god of gods, gave his daughter the look of death like most parents do when they're mad. He thought that Aphrodite was more annoying than snow in summer

He then sighed and said, "Dear, I created the pancake for us gods to have for breakfast every morning, and I wish for it to stay that way!"

Aphrodite went into a full out tantrum kicking and screaming on the floor, Hera, queen of Olympus, tried to calm her down but nothing worked. Zeus had no choice but to cave into his daughter's request. He decided to create something even better than the pancake but he knew that that was going to be hard to do.

After diligently hearing her father say he was going to do it, she picked herself off the floor and strut to her elegant room. She plopped herself on the seat by her vanity just to look at herself and use her hair iron to uncoil her long blond locks.

This gave Zeus a marvelous idea. He went to his friend, Hephaestus, the God of the forge, and requested that he create a prototype of his new invention. It was like a hair iron but it was circular and had many grooves and impressions built into it. To activate the machine, Zeus struck it with his mighty lightning bolt and it became hot to the touch. The dinky machine burst and sputter until it clicked on, and the two men celebrated. Zeus traveled back to Olympus to complete his challenge.

Aphrodite wasn't interested in the invention Zeus had created. She began to groan and complain to her Hera about how long it was taking her father to do this. As the time increased her patients slowly went away and there was nothing good about that.

Zeus was ready to end the madness that his daughter had created. He zapped the machine with his lightning to activate its power. He slowly poured the pancake batter he had left over into the pan and pressed down the top. After five minutes of waiting, he took the food out of the plan and onto a plate. Zeus stared at it until Aphrodite walked in the kitchen. With just one look at the meal Aphrodite began to drool at the mouth. She picked it up and bit into it.

Aphrodite loved it so much that she decided to eat it for breakfast every morning for the rest of her life. She named it the waffle for reasons no one can explain. Zeus then declared the day to be called national waffle day and on that day there would be a big party in celebration of the waffle. From that day forward the gods of mount Olympus always enjoyed there waffle breakfasts. He bit into it and tasted the most wonderful thing ever. Aphrodite new it was practically just a pancake but it was better than that. From that day forward, the gods feasted on waffles every day for breakfast.

Origin of Sunsets, My Dear.

By Tori Opp

"Nyx would totally win against Ra. She's a Greek God!" The blond girl, Chloe, pointed at the ginger, Kat.

"Uh no! Ra would he's an Egyptian God!" Kat stuck her tongue out at the usually shy girl.

Chloe had gorgeous blond hair, tan skin, and warm brown eyes and she was shy. Kat however, was a hyperactive redhead, her red hair had blue streaks and she had sparkly blue eyes that were almost unrealistically light and pale as snow skin, she was loud and was never afraid to speak her mind, both girls were 14 and lived in sunny Georgia.

They both squandered over who would win, but meanwhile they didn't notice freezing rain was started to pour down on them, the usual summer evening.

Bright yellow lights, cackling thunder and the smoky smell of fire awoke them from their measly argument. Chloe awoke from her daze first, shivering, clothes stuck to her outline. Once Kat awoke from her daze also, she pulled Chloe close to her and they shared warmth on the way back to Kat's house.

Once Kat and Chloe warmed, by wrapping cuddly soft blankets over them like a mummy, and started a fire in the brick fireplace. Chloe and Kat sat in front of the crackling fireplace, seeking its warmth, Chloe staring into it and Kat brushing threw her damp red-blue hair.

"Thank you Kitty-cat" Chloe gave her a small smile. Kat punched

Chloe's arm playfully, forgetting about the tangle mess of her hair.

"I told you to stop calling me that Chloe!" Chloe giggled at Kat.

A flash of light caught their attention through the crack in the velvet curtains. The cozy safe feeling vanished completely as the lights threw out the old house made a ripple effect as they all went out, and the curtains swayed in the silent breeze of the summer, the only sound was the whistle of the wind threw the leaves and the girls silent breathing.

Stranded in the pitch dark, the girls had saucer wide eyes. Kat curiously took a step towards the curtains looking outside. She slowly nudged her damp red hair from her eyes. Two people posed in the driveway. One was a girl dressed in a midnight colored cloak and a hood pulled over her face. The other, a middle aged guy with golden hair, a blazing bronze armor vest and sharp features.

Falling back in surprise, Kat gasped. Chloe quietly crawled over to her best friend and looked out, surprise covering her face clearly. Kat gulped and crawled to the large door, she pushed the oak door open and met the man's gaze.

"Kat." The cloaked woman snarled hate practically radiating off her body like the sun radiates heat. Kat looked over to the cloaked girl, suddenly the cloak fell, leaving her in a black hunting dress, midnight pin straight black hair fell across her face as her dark violet eyes shown in fury towards the girl. "You bet I couldn't win against this old fool?!" The cloaked woman, or should I say Nyx, boomed at Kat. Realization struck the girls like slap.

"Were here to inform you that we will be battling, prove to you two who would really win." Ra spoke in a quiet manner, polite. A flash of lightning rained down on the two Gods and suddenly they were both in deadly fighting stances. Ra held a flashing dagger with runes carved into the blade tightly, his hand turning white from his vice grip.

Nyx took a similar stance but with a Japanese black Katana in hand, its black blade shining Ra's reflection perfectly, her cloak gone with dark armor instead. Nyx made the first move, almost agonizingly slow she kicked Ra in the stomach, making Ra hutch over in pain. Nyx grinned at his obvious pain. In seconds, Ra was up in lightning speed, lashing out with his dagger, making a clean slice across her cheek. Gold blood fell from her face as she looked at Ra in surprise. Staying stunned for a moment she pounced on Ra, pinning him agents the ground, mud smearing his back, Katana against his neck. In seconds Ra looked beat, until his lips formed a smirk as he kicked her off with a steeled toe golden boot.

Fighting like this for hours, the Gods both were hovering in the air, over the soaked green fresh grass, slashing and kicking at each other with no intention of giving up. Kat held her best friend close to her as the two collided with a sickening shriek and crunch of bone.

They had vanished. Chloe wept, Kat looked stunned. The two girls observed the sunset that had appeared when the two Gods disappeared, a beautiful sunset of dark and light colors, they both fell into serenity at the first twinkling sunset, the first sunset caused by two temperamental Gods.

How the Oceans Came to Be

By Abby

Atlantis, Pacific, and Arctic were all triplets of Poseidon. Pacific was the more pride-filled lion of the three, always worrying about their duties and reputation. He had short brown hair, light blue eyes, had a very muscular build, and was the second tallest of the three. Where on the other hand, Atlantis was the slacker who was always looking for a way out, he had longer nearly shoulder length, jet black hair and Kelly green eyes to match, he was the tallest of the three. Arctic was a kind, nature-lover who spent most of his time with the sea creatures. He was the shortest and had silver hair covering one side of his face and turquoise-blue eyes, and had a small frail looking body.

Poseidon thought that now that all of his sons were twenty that they could be dubbed the princes of part of the ocean, since the ocean wasn't split into different sections. But all of the princes desired the entire ocean for themselves.

"I, the most qualified son, challenge both my brothers to a duel," Pacific declared to Poseidon and both his brothers. The brothers didn't think much of it and Poseidon disagreed with the idea and shooed him off.

Later that day, Pacific secretly coordinated a duel among the brothers.

"So the winner receives the status of prince in all the oceans?" Atlantis asked leaning against a wall.

"Wait," Arctic asked with a worried face hiding behind his long silver bangs, "didn't father disagree with this?"

"Who cares what father says! If we just tell him that we agreed on the winner of the battle to be the only prince," Pacific exclaimed with his puffed chest, in between both of his brothers.

And so they set up in an underwater arena. Pacific removed his glistening, fine crafted broadsword out of its sheath, the handle had a traditional gold spiral pattern and an aqua blue designs embedded into both the blade and handle. Atlantis snagged a gold and silver trident that was laying on the seafloor from the last battle saying, "This will do."

And Arctic unsheathed twin daggers that were hanging from his belt.

Everyone was ready to battle, armored and all. The three brothers formed a triangle in their own unique stances ready to start.

The first to swing was Pacific swinging his colossal sword with great speed aiming it for Arctic thinking he could take out the weakest first. But to his surprise Arctic, sly like a fox, dodged and countered the attack with a punch to the gut. Pacific, angered by his brother who he thought to be a weak forest boy, quickly jumped back.

Pacific went to strike again making sure to not leave an opening for his brother to strike. Tink! Pacific's sword was knocked to side right before it met with Arctica's daggers.

"I almost forgot about you," Pacific said mockingly.

"Good thing you didn't, or else you'd have three blades suck in your torso." remarked Atlantis. Atlantis swiftly lunged down at Pacific, but Pacific moved to the right just enough to dodge the charging trident. Thinking still too high of himself, he swung his sword at Atlantis thinking it would be an easy win against him.

As Pacific raised his sword to strike Atlantis, a smirk snuck on to Atlanis' lips. Then Atlantis swung up with his trident and knocked Pacific of his feet.

"STOP!" Someone shouted in a firm voice. All the brothers looked up to see who was commanding the three sons of Poseidon. But when they looked up they saw their father peering at them with disappointment.

Angered by his sons, he flooded the earth and told them that they will have to wait for 10 more years before they became princes.

"Please! Were sorry, just let us show you we can be worthy princes!" The three sons begged in unison. They persistently begged their father until finally he took pity on them and drained the earth back to normal.

"You may have a sea named after you but you must wait 5 years until you are princes." And so the oceans were born.

Mortals Have No Magic

By Aspen Price

"This no good Nypher has crossed the line. "Zeus said. The other gods mumbled in agreement.

You see, when the Earth was still a child and the gods were young and powerful, there lived a goddess of magic named Nypher. Nypher had dark, brown hair scattered with the occasional gray spot. Her eyes were stormy gray. She was the reason why the occasional mortal had magic. She gifted them with some of her magic. She dwelled in a baleful, high mountain fortress with high stone walls and massive towers almost as tall as Olympus itself. Although she wasn't evil, she also wasn't the type of goddess who would be described as good, she was spiteful and even though she was clever. She also thought particularly single mindedly.

One day, Apollo, god of the sun and music, decided that he could use some of Nypher's magic to help him charm the ladies. As all the nymphs were running away from him he thought that with some magic he could "persuade" them to stay. Apollo knew that Nypher would never acquiesce if he asked her. So he choose to sneak into her castle and take her magic. So Apollo waited until Nypher left her castle to deal with a mortal who had misused her magic. Then, once she had left, Apollo rode his chariot to the mountain fortress and entered in the great hall. The great hall was nothing special. Just a few tables and tapestries. What it did have was a magically floating chandelier which lit the entire room. Apollo quickly strode through the great hall and entered Nypher's magic storage room. It contained a multitude of bubbling jars filled with magical elements that could do a whole manner of things. Apollo found what he required and swiftly fled from the castle so as to avoid being caught red handed. In his haste he forgot his cloak.

Upon returning, Nypher noticed that one of her magical creations was nowhere to be found. She became furious. Angrily, she vowed that whomever had stolen from her would pay the price. She searched her castle, searching for evidence of whomever had stolen from her and she found Apollo's cloak sitting there on the doorstep of the castle right outside the great hall.

Nypher said to herself, "Apollo will pay for his meddling." The cloak felt silky smooth as she picked it up for further examination.

She devised a plan for revenge. She quickly ran into the great hall and slammed the door shut. She quickly ran down the corridor and down into her experiment room.

"BAM!"

The hard oak door made a loud noise as she slammed it shut behind her. Urgently, she started mixing and matching different magical elements trying to get the result she required. Soon, she got frustrated with her lack of progress. She continued to work through the night, searching and searching for success. She finally found what she was looking for. You see, her plan was to create an object that could change night from day in an instant. She had planned this so she could to make it eternally night so that Apollo would lose his strength because he was the god of the sun. She had created a coin, that depending on what side the coin was on, it would change the time of day. All it needed was a tiny amount magic energy and it would activate. Swiftly, Nypher looked around at all her shelves looking for her store of magic energy. Once she found it, she used it to activate the coin. The day, as suddenly as it had started, stopped. It was night.

The Gods of Olympus were angry. This sudden change of day to night worried them and in their book anyone who meddles in the time should be punished. Although the Gods were upset, they weren't necessarily in a hurry to punish the criminal. The gods that weren't immediately affected by the eternal night (that is quite a lot of them) weren't taking the matter that seriously. They were half-heartedly looking for the culprit, not trying at all. The only God who was really concerned about the eternal night was the mighty god Apollo. Every "day" of eternal night, Apollo lost more of his power.

Eventually, Apollo realized that he would have to act fast. He went down to the Mortal World and asked for heroes that would help him. He found two heroes willing to do the job. One was named Bob. He had bright blue eyes and light brown hair. Bob was 25 years old and he was a good fighter with a sword. Bob was very jocular. The other hero was a girl named Michelle (Mi-shel). Michelle was a comely women, her long black hair flowed over her dark eyes. She was very Garrulous with her friends but shy with strangers. Not surprisingly, she was a skilled survivalist and hunter.

Upon hearing the task, Apollo had assigned them-to take the coin and destroy it.

Bob said, "WHAT. Are you crazy?!" He quickly realized his mistake (nobody calls a god crazy). He apologized.

"Sorry sir." Bob bowed his head down in an apologetic manner.

Michelle nudged Bob with her elbow, "Bob didn't me it." She said imperiously, "Did you Bob?"

Bob shook his head and muttered, "No."

"Moving on..." Apollo stopped mid-sentence.

The heroes were getting ready for the long track to Nypher's fortress.

Apollo politely asked, "What are you doing?"

The heroes looked away from what they were doing and replied, "There is a long journey ahead. We are getting ready for it."

"You do realize that I am a god. I can just snap my fingers and you'll appear there at her

Castle, but we better hurry my powers won't last forever what with this eternal night." Gesturing towards the sky for extra effect.

The heroes got what they needed, a little food, water, and camping materials just in case. The plan was simple the heroes would zap in, smash the coin, and then Apollo would zap them out.

So the heroes gathered to get teleported to the fortress. Bob took a breath and began to speak when Apollo zapped them the fortress because he was a little inpatient.

The heroes appeared in the great hall and ran to Nypher's magic store room.

She was out so the heroes the coin which was flipped on the side that caused it to be night. They heroes took their swords. They swung them towards the coin. Closer. Closer. Inches away. Centimeters.

Then. Out of the blue. Suddenly, Nypher appeared behind them. She screamed, "What are doing? That is a precious object you know."

Surprised, the heroes jumped back in fright. Nypher used her magic to pull the coin out of the hero's hands. Bob swung his sword at it while the coin was in mid-air as an attempt to destroy it. Unfortunately, it wasn't a direct hit. The sword glanced coin, and it was sent spinning into her magic supply and a magical event occurred because of the reaction between the elements and the coin.

The coin spun in midair, the magic had caused it to have a sort of force-field that protected from anyone. As it happened, the coin kept on spinning apparently another effect of the magic. This changes night and day twice every twenty hours. Nypher saw what had happened and realized that she had only helped Apollo. She had made it so that he didn't have to change the time of day. She was angry. Furious. She wheeled around to face Bob and Michelle.

"You'll pay for your meddling."

But Apollo had teleported him to their homes. Whoof. Nypher decided that if she couldn't punish Bob and Michelle she would punish humanity. She ran away taking the magic she offered mortals away with her. This is why humanity has no magic.

How a Kangaroo Changed the World

By Katherine

Mother Kangaroo stood investigating the rough golden landscape of Australia. Red rocks stood, decorating the area. The soft green grass waved in the wind, dancing. Everything was glowing under the light of the setting sun and Mother Kangaroo could have relaxed but she could not find Joey. Where is he? She thought. Smiling, a small orange brown baby kangaroo jumped out of the fuzzy, green bushes. Mother Kangaroo turned rapidly, "Oh Joey, you scared me," she explained to her son.

"Sorry Mom, I didn't notice I traveled so far," Joey replied.

"I was so worried," she complained, "Please, you can hop around but don't go far."

"Ok Mom," Joey agreed. Mother Kangaroo pivoted back towards the tree. Hmm, I'm thirsty. Mother Kangaroo thought.

"Hey Jooo-" She stopped when she saw Joey was gone again. "Uh, that kid, why can't he remain in one place?" Mother Kangaroo asked the air as she began to search for her child. She was hopping along and searching when-

"Hey!" Mother Kangaroo spun around to see an unhappy old wombat looking at her.

"Do you mind? You just shoved me," the Wombat whined, as he put his paws on his hips and glared.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see there!" Mother Kangaroo cried.

"Well since you are here you can help me find some good food" the Wombat stated, his tone was forgiving.

"Well I'm looking for my son right now," Mother Kangaroo told him, not wanting to hurt his feelings.

"That's right, nearly knock me over, a half blind, small wombat and you won't even help me find tasty grass," the Wombat complained, his forgiveness left him.

"No, of course I will help you, grab my tail and we will look for good, green grass together," Mother Kangaroo agreed, never imagining that the Wombat was much greater than he looked. I can look for Joey while I help this sad, old Wombat. She thought. Even though she needed to find Joey, Mother Kangaroo walked with the Wombat when suddenly Joey hopped passed them.

Hi!" he yelled.

"Who is that?" The Wombat questioned unhappily.

"That's my son," Mother Kangaroo replied.

"Kids, no respect," The Wombat sighed. Mother Kangaroo and Wombat began their search for food again when Joey jumped over.

"Mom I saw hunters!" He cried. Joey's face was terror stricken. Hearing this Mother Kangaroo took Joey and the Wombat and pulled them into some bushes to hide. Once the Wombat and Joey had settled into the bushes there was no space left.

Mother Kangaroo whispered rapidly, "I'll get the hunter's attention and you need to stay put and don't make a sound!"

She began to turn around when Joey cried in between sobs, "No Mama, don't leave!" Mother Kangaroo looked at him and smiled, her eyes filled with tears.

"I love you very much Joey." She told him, her voice was shaky but she needed to seem strong, for Joey. Then she turned to the Wombat and asked, "If I don't return can you please take care of my son?"

"Of course," The Wombat said sadly and took Joey's hand, wet from wiping off tears. Mother Kangaroo turned and hopped away, right into the hunter's view. The hunters began to run after her but suddenly they both tripped and lay on the ground nursing their feet. Mother Kangaroo did not look back and she didn't know what had happened. Finally, she turned around. When she looked back the hunters were in their car and driving away. Mother Kangaroo turned and hopped as fast as she could back to bushes to check on the Wombat and Joey. She got there and saw Joey but the Wombat was gone. She turned to see that he had become The Father of All Creatures. He explained that he had disguised himself as an annoying old Wombat to find the kindest of all creatures.

"You are the kindest, you sacrificed yourself for some old Wombat that you just met," he said to Mother Kangaroo and he handed her a piece of bark to tie around her waist. Within seconds it became a beautiful pouch just the right size for Joey to sit in. Joey jumped it immediately.

"This is awesome!" he cried. From that day on every Kangaroo had a pouch.

The Origin of Stars

By Sparkle Queen

One day, Zeus, the strong and brave ruler of the gods, and Hades, the mean and fierce lord of the Underworld, got in an argument. Zeus and Hades were staring down on field that looked like a field of sunflowers that smelled like honey, and they saw two people laughing and joking around. The girl had long golden hair with crystalline blue eyes, and the boy had short brown muddy hair. Zeus and Hades were both nervous because they didn't know what would happen to the boy and the girl. Now, both wanted to be right, so they made a serious bet with each other.

Zeus thought the people were not in love, and Hades thought they loved each other. Zeus thought he would win the bet, and Hades thought he would win.

The bet went like this, if Zeus won, he would put green trees in the sky, and if Hades won he would put beautiful sparkling stars in the beautiful sky.

"If they hug each other I win, "said Hades.

"Well, if they yell at each other then I win," comprehended Zeus. Zeus and Hades observed the people for two long weeks.

Every day was different, some days they showed compaction each other whereas other days they yelled at each other.

On the final day, they hugged each other, and Hades was victorious. Because Zeus did not win, he got really mad and made the two people became heartbroken and depressed. The people were heartbroken and depressed for plentiful days. One day, they were so heartsick and depressed they killed each other. Zeus knew that as soon as they died they would not be remembered.

Zeus sympathized, "I feel so bad on what I did to those people. To make it up to them I will let you put stars in the sky for everyone that dies. " The first two people that Hades puts in the sky were the two people that were in love and killed each other. "These two individuals" Zeus said, "would be the first people to become stars, and would have the honor to be the biggest stars," Zeus and Hades made a deal. For every person that died, Hades would put a star in the sky, in remembrance of the bet of the ones they loved. Zeus asked Hades," I knew many people that had died so can you put a star in the sky for all my friends that died?"

"Well because you are letting me put stars in the sky I will turn all your friends that have died into stars," said Hades.

So, every day they own held true to their bet. So, look up to the heavenly stars, and give thanks to Hades. As you soak in the beauty of those twinkling stars, remember that bet between Zeus and Hades.

Puggers and the Fight with Zeus

By Woohyun Suh

While on Earth, the sky looked a little too dark in Ancient Greece, because usually it is very bright and pleasant. That is what Felix Kjellberg and Puggers Kenway thought, while they were lying on the cool green grass with their little lovable pug bodies. Then they noticed it wasn't the sky, it was a huge shadow! The two pugs were terrified, because they saw what that shadow came from. It was Zeus, the lord of Mount Olympus! He had clear brown eyes and a ponderous grey beard. Puggers didn't know why, but a light was coming towards them. It was a lightning bolt aiming for the pugs! Scared Puggers barrel rolled in time, but it was too late for Felix... Puggers saw Felix's black furred body disappear as the hazardous lightning bolt clashed into him.

He yelled," NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

He was so mad at Zeus, if he had powers, Puggers would cut him into pieces and feed them to his pet tiger. That pug was like a wolf that was missing his chance of eating.

After that, Zeus and his weird, four armed sidekick, Logan from Planet Zang, decided that they had the power to rule Earth.

Zeus looked at Logan, and said," Let's do this!"

Zeus used his lightning bolts to take over Earth, and Logan used his laser-shooting hands to help Zeus rule Earth. They were both doing great at what they wanted to do. In this case, that was a bad thing.

Everyone was screaming and yelling," Help!!!"

They were all terrified of the new visitors. Zeus and Logan were crashing, or breaking everything. There was no one to help them, unless a nice god shows up.

Zeus treated Logan way more terrible than he actually deserves for helping him in something like that," Break everything that you see, or you die!"

Logan just looked down and did what his master said.

At the same time that was happening, Dionysus was giving Hebe way too much wine at her house, until finally, she got drunk. The second she turned drunk, she jumped out the window of her house with her cup of powers and ran. She fell out of Mount Olympus and head-butted the ground of Earth. Crazy Hebe still ran straight forward. Unfortunately, Puggers was in Hebes' path! Puggers and Hebe collided into each other.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!" Puggers yelled, not knowing what had hit him.

Cold liquid splattered his whole body. He then, realized everything, like a smart man noticing he did his math wrong. Puggers got hit by a drunk Hebe, and the powerful cup that she was holding, got all over him. He noticed the cup somewhere... it was the cup that gives people powers! The second he found that idea, he started to fly! He was going to yell the second time, but fire came out instead!

"Time to punish Zeus!" Puggers said excitedly.

He heard a loud noise coming from... Zeus! He then found out that Zeus was taking over Earth.

Logan was thinking of something," If he approached silently enough, he could kill Zeus and take over for himself!"

It was a hard decision for Logan. He thought about it over and over, until he knew this jealousy would be worse.

"What are you doing, sitting on a chair and reading?" Zeus hollered out to Logan.

Feeling something warm as he said that, his hair was on fire! Logan too, was surprised. Zeus looked at where that came from. It was the tiny pug that he thought he killed!

Zeus screamed," I thought I killed you!"

Puggers flew away with Zeus following him. Puggers did this to make him get away from the town that he was wrecking. And during that moment, Logan was just standing there, trying to make his decision.

Puggers got hit with the lightning bolt, but breathed fire for defense.

"Stop!" Zeus demanded.

But just when Zeus was going to strike Puggers with a lightning bolt, two lasers went through him. Everyone was shocked, even Puggers. It was Logan! He finally chose his decision... to rule Earth himself.

"Why Logan, why?" Zeus asked as he was about to die.

Logan answered," Because you were treating me horribly!*and I also want to rule Earth*"

"What?"

"Nothing."

In the middle of all that confusion, 'What' was Zeus' last word before he died dramatically?

Confusingly, Logan was now the one Puggers had to defeat in order to save Earth. Logan hit and broke everything. He also made the poor humans bow down to him as he took their houses from them. Puggers tried to stop him, but he was too weak alone. Logan put Puggers in a heat- resistant cage so there was nothing to stop him.

"You can never defeat me!" Logan said.

Everyone was scared of Logan and his four arms. Mostly because it shot lasers that can break a 90 pound diamond. He was the new ruler of Earth. Logan also had a sweet mustache that talked for him. Puggers looked at Logan as he was ruining the whole world.

"There's got to be something I can do!" Puggers thought.

Then, he thought of a brilliant idea. Puggers just remembered that he has a pet flying tigercorn.

He yelled," Woohyun!"

Puggers waited for a moment, then he saw his pet tigercorn's horn! He then saw the whole body of his pet! Woohyun was flying full speed at Puggers.

"Help me!" Puggers said.

Woohyun used his horn to make the cage disappear. Logan was shocked at what just happened, because he didn't know Puggers had an extra helper. Puggers and Woohyun started attacking right then, so Logan didn't wreck anything else.

Logan screamed," This is madness!"

Puggers and Woohyun both tackled Logan. Logan was about to disintegrate the two, but Woohyun knew what was going to happen. He made a giant fist made by magical powers, and punched Logan straight in the face before Logan killed them.

"Great job!" Puggers complimented Woohyun.

For the final blast, Puggers breathed fire to Logan. The two were two powerful. The horrible alien retreated back to Planet Zang.

"Oh no! They are too awesome for me! Retreat!!!"

While Logan was retreating, his tail smacked Puggers' nose.

"Owww! My nose!" Puggers said, like a boxer getting hit by his opponent.

On that adventure, his nose turned short and never became long again. Also, Hebe became normal and drained all the power that Puggers had, back into her cup. Puggers didn't really care, because he liked being a normal pug.
Zeus and Laverna

By Jordan T.

The beginning of the world was ages ago, life as we know didn't exist, until one day the whole world changed. Alas, two children were born, twins actually were born in a small earthy place but one spent more time in the sky. The almighty Zeus was born and a twin sister no one ever knew about, her name was Laverna. Zeus was born a special child, God of all gods. He had powers no one ever thought imaginable, but his sister was a mortal who had no powers. Laverna was angry at the sight of Zeus being the power God he is. The hate of Zeus came from the fact that he had powers and she didn't. She spent most of her time mourning, and building anger of jealousy for she had no power except the power of deceiving people into thinking she was someone she was not, thinking she was more beautiful than she really was. This was a trait she used to her advantage. Laverna was plotting a war against Zeus. "Mwhaha." went Laverna when she had the idea of killing her brother.

Laverna wonderstruck people with her beauty. Fake beauty that is. She abused her power of this because she turned people, specifically men into following her army and war she was plotting against Zeus. Jealousy had overtaken the beloved sister Zeus had known. Although she covered it, Laverna was an ugly lady who was upset in others success. She mesmerized the extremely famous and known to the country, Aladdin. Powerful Aladdin was the best fighter the new world had ever known. Some say he could battle the extreme God of war Ares. If Zeus knew, he would be a little afraid to battle the young fighter himself.

In the meantime, Zeus had been developing the beautiful Earth many people called their home.

Meanwhile, his sister was talking to Aladdin, "The tough Zeus will see his last after you, Aladdin, battle him off for good. You will be greatly rewarded for your efforts in destroying my brother." Aladdin nodded his cocky head. Zeus's messenger God, Hermes got a brief message that Laverna was creating an army against him and his powers. Zeus was as angry as a bear waking up early in hibernation. While Zeus was reading the letter, his fists were clenching and tears pouring out of his eyes for he truly loved his sister and thought of her as a dear friend. Zeus bellowed, "Find a fighter to fight my witch of a sister, I cannot bring myself to fighting her on my own."

All the gods went searching for a true hero to battle the evil Laverna. The gods knew Laverna's distinct trait of making men following her. "In order to conquer Laverna, we must find a girl hero because she will not be sucked into the madness of Laverna's army, Apollo stated. The gods all agreed with a nod of their heads.

After searching sometime, the gods ran across a young fierce fighter of a girl who they thought was destined to be their new coming hero.

Aphrodite welcomed the girl, "Greetings, young Aiolos we have observed your skill in fighting. Zeus has a deed for you."

The girl, astonished, said, "The almighty Zeus wants me, where do I go? The gods beckoned her to follow them, into the sky they went carrying the Aiolos.

They arrived to the crisp, lovely mountains of Mt. Olympus where Zeus sat on his throne. Eyes big, and heart beating fast, Aiolos was afraid for she had never been outside her homeland. Zeus grinned with a grin so delighted, they had found their hero. The fright inside Aiolos leaped inside up and down in her stomach.

"As you have heard, I have a job for you. My sister, Laverna, is craving me dead, she is plotting against me and we are going to fight back." Zeus retorted. Aiolos although terrified, nodded, not knowing what was to become of her. Zeus strongly suggested, "I have a change in hope now that we have Aiolos to help us through this difficult time. You will seek her out and although she may be beautiful in appearance, she has an evil soul. This will be difficult, but if you succeed you will be rewarded greatly.

In the meantime, Laverna sat at her layer waiting until a right time to attack, but what she didn't know was that she and her army would soon get a surprise of their own.

Aiolos crept deep into the wooded plains to find the evil sister. She was warned by many that Leverna had a power of creating people to follow her because of her terrific beauty. The young Aiolos whispered to herself promising that she would not fall into Laverna's trap," I will not fall into the trap and I will convey Zeus's orders. Aiolos found a cove of darkness, and she could smell the evilness around her. She knew that she had found Laverna's lair. While standing by, Aiolos caught a mere glimpse of a mustardy green hair which quickly turned to a beautiful shade of blonde, so bright, the sun would be jealous. Aiolos saw this trick right before her glassy eyes.

Sensing someone was around, Laverna called out, "Who goes there!" Aiolos knew she was in trouble. Laverna had strode quickly out of the cave her lair sat upon, beauty at its best was standing in front of her. Laverna had made herself into a young looking women with long blonde hair going down to her waist, a beautiful blue gown tied Laverna's beauty altogether. Aiolos was quick witted and knew she could not spare to be tricked.

Aiolos daringly leaped out into the thicket but suddenly was met by Laverna's whole monstrous army of thousands of men. Aiolos didn't know what to do. Laverna bellowed, "Young girl, you really think you could defeat me?" Aiolos, scared to death, ran and ran, she ran so fast her feet carried her into the air straight to Mount Olympus.

Aphrodite was at the top of the castle, Aiolos had a brilliant idea. She snatched Aphrodite's hand to follow her. Aphrodite was a stunning goddess who was even more beautiful than Laverna could ever imagine being.

Aiolos lead her down to the army of the awful Laverna where all the mighty men were. The men one by one suddenly came crashing down in a lovesick disease at first glance of the young vibrant Aphrodite, Aphrodite started leading them away while Laverna was turned a nasty shape of green with jealousy. "Her true colors." Aiolos murmured. Aiolos could taste a plan.

Aiolos took advantage of this while Laverna was busy fuming within her jealousy, Aiolos jumped. She jumped and landed on Leverna with her blade slicing through her. "Shreeeek." went the sound of Laverna right before her death.

Lightning fast, Laverna, the evil, was down. Aiolos was numb with joy for she had conquered Laverna and had therefore made herself a hero to all, even Zeus himself.

As the hero came back, everyone thundered into applause, young Aiolos had defeated the crazy Leverna. "You have done well young Aiolos, will be rewarded with a token of your bravery," Zeus said satisfyingly. He handed her a huge beautiful medallion encrusted in gold and bronze. Aiolos was speechless because of the beauty and liveliness of the token of bravery. The hero touched the incrested medallion with care, great honor, and happiness. Aiolos felt very accomplished.

Aiolos often visited Mount Olympus and was always greeted with warm, reassuring smiles from all the gods. Aiolos was a hero to all, if she had not used her mind so brightly the people would still be living with the thought of a monstrous women. The people of the world would no longer have to be tricked and hurt through Laverna any longer. To Aiolos, we give thanks.

As for Laverna, Zeus still loved his sister and would always remember her, but to remind him more often, the moon was created in memory of Laverna. The moon was a symbol of Laverna because it shown in people's darkness and hid from people's light, just like Laverna shown in other people's failures and hid, from people success. When generations pass on they will look up at night and see the beauty of the moon, but they first generation of the world would know that the moon symbolized evil Laverna's desperate beauty.

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The Stunning Creation of Chocolate

By Kylie

A young goddess named Persephone once resided in the Hidden Valley, a place of peaceful agriculture. The luscious green grass set the peaceful setting. The Hidden Valley was almost off the grid. Few people knew of its existence. Fresh plants were everywhere. It smelled of fresh-cut grass and fresh fruit. All types too! Tall rock walls surrounded the Hidden Valley and isolated it from the world. Fresh plant and flower smells contaminated the air daily.

Beautiful Persephone was a caring young woman who had never hurt a soul. She took care of the valley. Simple gowns suited Persephone. These gowns reflected nature which often meant green, yellow, and soft pink dresses for her. Her long, curly brown hair reached all the way to her waist. Hazelnut colored eyes were yet something else that made her even prettier.

Another goddess named Hebe hung around this valley often. Hebe was not the most well-known goddess, but nonetheless she had power. She possessed the special golden cup that could turn a person from mortal to immortal. Simple clothes also suited Hebe, but usually more purple and blue dresses. Dirty blonde hair usually was pulled into low pigtails to caress Hebe's beautiful face. Crystal clear blue eyes were a gift Hebe had been born with. Hebe was a kind woman that admired fresh plants, so she enjoyed the hidden valley just like Persephone. Living in the Hidden Valley, also allowed Hebe and Persephone to keep each other company.

One morning, Persephone noticed that near Hebe's favorite picnicking spot there was a new plant she had never seen before. Persephone was confused, so she consulted Hebe.

"Hebe!" Persephone shouted.

"What, Persephone?" Hebe replied in confusion. Persephone rarely summoned for Hebe in the mornings. That was when peaceful Persephone picked her ripe, fresh fruits and vegetables.

"Come here," Persephone replied as she picked a fresh strawberry, washed it with some water from her canteen, and munched on it. She really did enjoy fresh fruit. The flavorful strawberry erupted in her mouth like a volcano. Sweet taste with a tinge of sour flavor awakened Persephone's taste buds.

"Yes," Hebe said as she walked up to Persephone.

"Have you ever seen this plant," she asked Hebe as she gestured to the strange plant.

"No. Why?" Hebe questioned.

"I haven't, so I was wondering if you had, that's all," Persephone said, "Have you left any seeds here recently?"

"No, but I did leave some pastries here a day or two ago. Now they're gone." Hebe replied with a confused expression.

"Who baked them?" Persephone asked.

"One of my friends, Christopher, is a baker. He made them."

"Let's go find him. I want to know more about these pastries. Why don't we go talk to this baker?"

"Okay."

So off they went. Dressed in black gowns complete with corsets and white, lacy aprons, Hebe and Persephone meandered off into the nearby village in search of the pastry bakers. Directly in the heart of the beautiful town of Larkin was the pastry shop. Hebe and Persephone walked down the small cobblestone streets with baskets full of fresh fruit. When children walked past, they graciously handed out fresh strawberries and apples. Un-wealthy children would then gleefully thank them and run back to their games. Before the children left, Hebe and Persephone would ask if they knew of any pastry shops nearby, but none of these children knew pastry shop whereabouts.

Just when Hebe and Persephone were about to give up hope, a young woman wearing a worn down gray dress and wavy brown hair to her shoulders walked by carrying a tiny baby in one arm and grasping a little boy's hand with the other. Hebe offered her a scarlet-colored apple and she took it gratefully.

"Do you know of any pastry shops in the town of Larkin," Persephone asked.

"Well, there's small one about a block or two ahead on the left," the kind woman replied.

"Thank you very much," Persephone responded, "We've been looking for one for hours."

"Oh, it's my pleasure. My husband and my brother run the bakery," she said, "Do you want me to show you to it?"

"We would love that," Hebe replied, "Is your husband Christopher or William?"

"Yes, Christopher is. Do you know him?"

"Yeah, I've visited this bakery before. The pastries are scrumptious," Hebe said with a smile.

"Yes, they are good, but we can't eat them often. The bakery isn't doing well, so we spare every pastry possible before eating them ourselves," the wife responded.

"Mommy, I'm hungry," the little brown-haired boy whined.

"Here." The mom sacrificed her apple for her son.

"Do you want another one?" Hebe asked sadly.

"That would be great," the young woman replied with a smile, "By the way my name is Elizabeth."

"Nice to meet you," Persephone said.

Just then the three woman and two children pulled up to the pastry shop. Worn-down and old was the quaint wooden building decorated with a sign that said Christopher's Pastries in blue paint that was fading away. Slowly they meandered onto the porch outside and the wood creaked loudly. "Aaahh," said the baby dressed in the tiny worn white dress.

"It's okay Lillian," Elizabeth murmured as she gently caressed her youngest child.

The baby wailed again, but this time Elizabeth relentlessly tore a small piece of apple from her fruit and fed it to the screaming child. Smiling at the gift of fruit the baby and happily sucked on the chunk of smooth and roughly torn apple.

"Let's go in now," Elizabeth said.

"Okay," Persephone replied. When they walked in a skinny man wearing a worn t-shirt, black pants, and messy apron, Christopher, ran over, scooped up the young boy, and hugged him with a grin. Loudly the little boy shrieked in delight. Freshly baked sweets awakened Hebe and Persephone's senses.

"Hello, Christopher," Hebe politely said, "Is William here? He baked my last pastries and Persephone and I wanted to ask him something about the ingredients in them."

"Yes, William is here," Christopher replied, "I'll go get him for you." Christopher then wandered back into the bakery in search of William. A minute later a younger looking baker also wearing a worn shirt made out of t-shirt fabric and messy apron stepped out from behind the rough wooden counters with food.

"Hi," the young man said.

"You must be William," Persephone added, "I'm Persephone. I've heard your pastries are delicious. Hebe raves about them all the time."

"Hi Persephone. Hi Hebe," William said.

"So," Hebe started, "Persephone and I were wondering if you would come check something interesting out with us. We found a strange new plant...and were not sure what to do with it. We thought maybe you could help us find its purpose."

"Sure, where are we going?"

"It's a surprise," Hebe said wearily.

"Okay," William hesitantly replied, "Can Christopher come with?"

"Sure," Hebe responded, "The more eyes the better."

So, off went Persephone, Hebe, William, and Christopher into the Hidden Valley. Before they left, Hebe and Persephone had kindly given Elizabeth and her kids the remainder of their fresh fruit before they left to go to the Hidden Valley. It was a long walk, but they got there after about 45 minutes of walking. When they got to the Hidden Valley, Christopher and William were in shock of the beauty there. Although they were stunned by the beauty of the Hidden Valley, William and Christopher headed straight to examine the strange, new plant. They were shocked. Neither of them had ever seen the plant either.

"I've never seen this plant," Persephone explained, "It was just here this morning."

"I left two of your pastries here yesterday, so I was wondering if maybe they somehow got planted and turned into this plant," Hebe said.

"Well, just so we know if this is a possibility we should taste the plant," Christopher mentioned.

"Let's make sure there isn't a shell on the outside," Persephone said. So, Persephone hurried off to find a knife to slice into the plant. A minute or two later Persephone wandered back. Gently Persephone cut two of these plants off of the small tree they were growing on. Noticing the hard shell Persephone cut each of these plants in half. When they did this, they noticed there were beans inside.

"Let's just taste the beans for now," Persephone advised. There was a moment of silence while they all enjoyed the sweetness of these beans.

"Crunch!" the beans moaned as they bit into them.

"Mmmmm," Hebe mumbled in delight.

"Very sweet and scrumptious," Persephone said in agreement.

"They are very sweet," William agreed, "Maybe you're right; maybe these did come from the pastries."

Christopher nodded in agreement. Shocked they sat there for a while admiring the beautiful brown beans inside of the plant. No one was sure what to make of the situation.

"This could make a really good treat itself," William humbly said.

"It would," Christopher excitedly added.

"Maybe that's what this plant is good for," Persephone added with a hinting smile.

"Then...why don't we try it?" Hebe asked.

"Sure," Persephone agreed. William and Christopher grinned. They knew what this meant.

"What if this is our big break," William mentioned.

"Then, let it be your big break. You deserve it," Persephone said. Hebe nodded. They got what he was saying, but they didn't need credit for the idea and these bakers deserved to have a big break.

"Under one condition," Hebe said with a mysterious air, "You don't tell anyone about the Hidden Valley."

"Sure, that sounds good," Christopher said grinning.

So, they worked out the details for a little while longer before William and Christopher left. They were all meeting at the bakery at one pm tomorrow to try the new treats.

The next day, when Persephone and Hebe arrived at the bakery, the treats were already prepared. They looked like scrumptious little brown bars of delight. Little chunks of these brown bars sat evenly cut into rectangles in the pan in front of the women. As soon as Persephone and Hebe sampled them it was like fireworks of rich, smooth sweetness were erupting in their mouths.

"These are delicious!" Persephone exclaimed.

"Yummy!" excited Hebe shouted.

"You really think these are going to do well?" William asked.

"Of course!" Hebe and Persephone exclaimed in unison.

"This is the best pastry we have ever made," Christopher said excitedly.

Elizabeth and her children tried them a minute later and fell in love too. Everyone was ecstatic.

"I do have one question though," Persephone said grinning, "What are you going to name it?"

"Well, Christopher and I have given it some thought and we were thinking chocolate," William said.

"I like it," Hebe said.

"So, what should we call the plant then," Persephone asked.

"How about," Hebe said hesitantly, "Cocoa."

"Perfect," Persephone said, "They have the same root word and everything!"

Chocolate was a big success! Patrons from all over came to the small town of Larkin just to buy scrumptious chocolate. William and Christopher began to be successful. Their well-deserving families were now very well off.

William married a kind young woman named Evelyn. The two of them now inhabited right near the bakery in the town of Larkin, so William could work early morning shifts now that the bakery was in high demand.

Also, Christopher, Elizabeth, and their two children moved in to the Hidden Valley. With Hebe and Persephone's permission they built a large home there and kept Hebe and Persephone company. Christopher harvested the now enormous section of cocoa plants in the Hidden Valley. Elizabeth and her daughter also helped out with taking care of the plants everyday by watering, picking, and planting them. Happily their creative son was now taking after his father's footsteps of being a baker. He went with his father to work every day to serve around the bakery. At a young age, he came up with a new dessert: chocolate covered strawberries. He was playing around with some leftover melted chocolate one day and came upon a fresh basket of strawberries his mother had left for the bakers. Simply he dipped the fruit into the melted chocolate and it was amazing, but that is a whole different story. That has become yet another reason people come to the Larkin town bakery. Overall, that bakery is now thriving which makes Persephone and Hebe happy that they helped create their success.

The Origin of the Mermicorn

By Mia

Alexander didn't know it yet, but he would soon be the reason for a "sibling rivalry".

Perching on the peer, Alexander, a young boy with chocolate brown and eyes as green as sparkling emerald, saw a school of fish. He swiftly dashed and grabbed the first bundle of rocks he saw. One by one he flung them towards the fish, not knowing the mayhem he would later cause for the world. Poseidon, god of the sea, was furious, he hurled an enormous wave at terrified Alexander, and he ran home in fear. Poseidon, with long flowing hair and a bright blue tunic, went to his brother Zeus, king of all gods. Zeus was sitting up in the amazing Mt. Olympus, wearing an extravagant purple tunic.

Up in the clouds of Mt. Olympus, Poseidon, like a hurricane, complained about Alexander's actions. Zeus simply said it wasn't that big of a deal, so he dismissed powerful Poseidon back to his home. Poseidon refused to go and said that Alexander must be punished. Zeus demanded that he go back to his home in the sea. Poseidon was furious and rejected the thought of embarking on his way home until something was done with Alexander.

"You must do something with Alexander," shouted Poseidon.

"It is not something to fuss over obnoxiously," answered Zeus.

"Yes it is, and I'm not going to leave until you do something about it," said Poseidon.

"ENOUGH," screamed Zeus, "I've had enough of your stupid bickering." Finally Poseidon agreed to go back to his extravagant palace of the sea.

Once at his palace of beautiful, blue, glass, Poseidon huffed and puffed in anger at Zeus. All he wanted was for Alexander to be slightly punished for torturing the defenseless fish. Although he remembered the destruction and anger he caused his brother last time they fought. But he thought this was an important matter that must be handled. His anger grew and grew as he pondered his revenge on Alexander. Poseidon finally went back to Zeus and asked about his idea for revenge.

"Zeus, Zeus... I have an amazing idea of how we can get our revenge on little weak Alexander. All we have to do is....."

"Stop! Please I told you to leave this whole thought and move on." said Zeus.

"But it would be really easy...please," begged Poseidon. And with that, Zeus, god of all gods with the power of lightning, screamed and launched Poseidon back to his palace.

Both mighty Zeus and Poseidon were mad at each other and they both had pondered long and hard about each other's actions. Poseidon was mad at Zeus for thinking that pitiful Alexander's actions weren't that big of a deal, and Zeus was mad that Poseidon kept bugging him even though he knew that Zeus was furious. Zeus was especially mad and his anger continued to grow. Eventually he could not contain his anger much longer and suddenly, ZAPP!!! Zeus had struck a colossal lightning bolt down from the sky and on its way it hit a unicorn, and finally it went into the sea striking a beautiful mermaid.

Powerful Poseidon heard the loud crashes of the lightning bolt, and was curious on what happened. He travelled to Mt. Olympus to ask Zeus about the strike, and make sure everything was okay. Zeus sat in awe as he watched the creation of a new species. Poseidon walked up to his brother and stood next to him.

"What's wrong my brother," asked Poseidon.

"Oh my! Look at this monstrosity," said Zeus. Poseidon looked down to see a massive cloud of smoke and dust, when out came a new species, looking like a mix of a unicorn and a mermaid. The two brother tried to comprehend what happened, and how this creature was created. In the mix of it all, Zeus finally apologized to his brother and said that Tim should not have done that, and he should have listen to his brother. Poseidon apologized for being annoying and for constantly bugging Zeus. Finally they decided it was time to name the creature.

"What could we call this?" Zeus asked Poseidon.

"I think it should be called a Mermicorn," replied Poseidon.

"Why is that," asked Zeus.

"Because it is a combination of a mermaid and a unicorn," said Poseidon.

"Ah! So that is what it will be... the MERMICORN," said Zeus.

And now we know how the magical magnificent Mermicorn was created, all because a weak mortal made a god mad, and started a sibling rivalry.

The Origin of Cheesecake

By Bryce

Our story begins with a very minor Greek god. His name was Syncretim. He spent his days merging very different objects, but they ended up being a major part of society. The butterfly, the rainbow, sand dollar, and the starfish, along with much more were invented by him. Syncretim resided in a rift valley, also made by him, in a skyscraper. Everything that became two words in one was pretty much made by him.

One day, he was sitting in his lounge chair when he got an Iris message. It was from Zeus.

"Syncretim, I want you to host this year's God Gathering. We are all hoping for a good party. And everyone is praying it be better than last year...with the cats...and the cannons... cats were made not to fly for a reason..."Zeus shuddered," I'm still having nightmares. We are hoping for some outstanding food and entertainment. We are all depending on you. Hope it's truly a show stopper! I have it planned for tonight. Oh, and by the way, if you fail us, let's just say, that you will become everything you have created. At the same time... Well, goodbye now!"

Syncretim was scared now. Mainly because of the mentioning of last year's party, but also, he didn't want to be a mutant sand dollar, rainbow, butterfly starfish.

"Wait a second, did Zeus say... tonight?" he thought. That was an hour and a half away. Syncretim ran to his magically cooled food chest. He opened the creaky door and looked inside. Now he was trembling. It contained a partially eaten vanilla cake and a hunk of Monterey Jack cheese. He still had to plan activities and decorate his house. There was no time to go shopping!

All of his well-dressed man-servants were summoned to plan activities. Syncretim started decorating. There were skulls and plants and lightning. Something to make everyone happy. His man-servants had bobbing for nectar, a best power competition, and a chariot race around the valley.

He concluded to ask the local nymphs if they had seen any fruit or any type of food around. They said that they had only seen a raspberry bush about a quarter mile down the valley.

"Could you please go fetch some for me?" Syncretim asked, "I have been assigned to host this year's god gathering. I haven't gone shopping since last month. All I have is some cheese and a partially eaten cake. Anything will do. Could you also get some nectar? You know it is us god's favorite drink."

"We would love to help!" said the nymphs in unison, "we saw that you have an unfinished chariot course, too. We would enjoy finishing that, with some added twists!"

"Thank you so much," said Syncretim.

When Syncretim arrived back at his skyscraper, he saw dust rising in the distance. The gods were beginning to arrive.

The first one to arrive was Aphrodite, dressed beautifully as always. After that was the Big Three. They had decided to race, starting at the top of Mount Olympus and ending in Syncretim's pansies. Zeus barely won, but mainly because his brothers didn't want to be incinerated and sent to Tartarus. Zeus had a short fuse. After about 15 minutes, everyone had arrived.

"Now, Syncretim, let's begin the activities! What's first?" inquired Zeus.

"First we have bobbing for nectar," Syncretim answered, "then we will have a competition to see who has the best power, finally, we have a chariot race." The last one got many cheers.

"Let us begin, then!" yelled Zeus.

The man-servants led all of the activities while Syncretim pondered what to do about food.

"Maybe he could ask Dionysus for some wine, after all, he is the god of parties. No, if Zeus found out, he would be in trouble for not having the party organized by himself," Syncretim thought.

He kept thinking through the best power, who was won by Demeter because, if it weren't for her, the insignificant little Human's plants wouldn't grow and the gods would have no sacrifices. He continued pondering. He had some raspberries, a partially eaten cake, and a hunk of cheese. The chariot race was almost finished, and the gods would want some good food. He started pacing. Back and forth. Back and forth. Athena had won with her superior strategy and battle techniques. The top placing gods were receiving their prized laurel wreaths. What is so important about them anyway? It's just a branch from a tree. They were walking towards the skyscraper. He had no ideas. Nothing. Syncretim asked his favorite nymph what he should do.

"Well, you are the god of combining things, right?" the nymph said.

"Yeah... where are you going with this? Do you think I should combine the gods into one?"

"No, I'm saying that you should combine the cheese and the cake to make an umm..."

"Cakecheese!"

"OK, a cakecheese, and put a raspberry sauce on it."

"Thank you so much. You're a genius!" exclaimed Syncretim, the combiner of all.

"Could I try some of it later, since I was kinda the person who umm... thought of it?"

"Absolutely! In fact, you will get the first slice!"

The gods began strolling in.

"Syncretim! We are hoping for some great food! Syncretim!? Where are you?" bellowed Zeus from downstairs.

"Up here Lord Zeus! I am just finishing up!" then, quickly to the nymph, "Could you begin making the sauce? I will make the cakecheese."

"Absolutely, master Syncretim," replied the nymph.

Syncretim rushed to the food chest. He grabbed the cheese and the cake and began the combining. Mashing and smashing. Finally, he used his magic to finish the process. It was white and it had a crust, like a pie. Hmm. Maybe he had some leftover graham cracker on the counter. Too late now to change anything. He ran to the nymph and dumped on the sauce. It looked... tasty! He ran downstairs and began speaking:

"As you all know, I am the god of combining things. I have decided to take a chance with a new type of cake. My nymph friend here helped me with the idea. Thus, she will get the first slice." There were many cheers. "After her, everyone will form a line beginning with Zeus."

He handed a slice to the nymph, and, after a few minutes, everybody had a slice.

"To Syncretim!" yelled Dionysus.

"To Syncretim!" everybody else said in unison while the clanging sound of nectar glasses filled the air.

"What, exactly, is this cake called?" asked Aphrodite, after taking her first bite.

"Well, my nymph friend and I call it cakecheese because it is a mix between cake and cheese. What do all of you think?"

"Hmm... Cakecheese... wouldn't that be aged cake?" asked Poseidon, a slight look of disgust on his face.

"I guess..." Syncretim replied.

"How about," Poseidon said, "Cheesecake!"

"I like it," answered Syncretim, happily.

"All in favor of cakecheese?" bellowed Zeus.

No one answered.

"Cheesecake?"

Everybody cheered with more clanging of nectar glasses.

"You have done great, Syncretim," Zeus said in a low voice, "Who knows, maybe I'll have you host next year's God Gathering."

"I think one time each millennia is enough for me, Lord Zeus."

Everybody devoured their delectable cheesecake and asked for the recipe. Syncretim even had his nymph friend disguised as a human to bring the wonder of cheesecake to all.

Dancing?

By Blythe Thompson

Harrison once lived in a big house lost in the middle of the woods. Then later in life he met a beautiful girl named Emily. Soon they were married! And has always wanted a baby, but they never got blessed with the gift of a child.

Fourteen years later, as Harrison started to clean up for the night, he got a phone call. It was his wife, Emily.

Emily started to speak in a breathy, squeaky voice, and she said, "Harry I got the phone call that we've been waiting for.

A day later, there was a new beautiful baby born. Her name was Fiona. She was the sweetest little girl, blond shiny, smooth hair. With sweet little dimples, and red, rosy cheeks.

Three years later, Harry had closed down his dinner, raised a beautiful girl, but unfortunately had become bankrupt. Fiona couldn't go to school, Emily couldn't buy enough food to feed her family. Harry knew what he had to do.

Harry told his family that they were going to need to take a trip, to go talk to Aphrodite.

"Who is Aphrodite?" said Fiona. Emily explained that Aphrodite was the goddess of beauty.

"The goddess of beauty! I would love to come!" Fiona screamed.

Harry and Emily traveled to Aphrodite on one single horse, with Fiona laying across their laps.

Two weeks later, they had arrived. As they all got off the horse, Harry went to go talk to Aphrodite, as Emily and Fiona went to look around.

Harry got a man to schedule a time for him to see Aphrodite, the next morning (tomorrow at 6am).

Harry told the girls to meet him at their rental apartment when they were done looking around.

They had bumped into somebody: her name was Terpsichore. Terpsichore claimed that she was one of the nine muses, and was the goddess of dance.

Fiona whispered to her mom, "What is dance?"

Emily didn't know, no one did.

After one long night, Harrison, Emily, and Fiona were off to talk to Aphrodite. Fiona could not be more excited.

Fiona whispered to Emily and said, "I know there is going to be prince, and of course we are going to fall in love at first sight! <3"

Fiona was only six, Harry yelled, "NO, NO BOYS! EVER!!!"

The Gard's for Aphrodite were waiting by the door, (the doors were so big they looked like gates).

They were walking through the large rooms, those large rooms turned out to be halls! They came up to another large door, and they stepped inside.

"My friends, you have made it!" Said a strong yet soft voice.

"Hello?" Said Harry, "Aphrodite?"

"Yes my friends it's me."

Harry stepped forward, "We need your help, my family and I have become bankrupt! We need your help."

Aphrodite replied in the happiest voice, "Family!" "Is there a new comer to the Knostman family?"

"Yes" Emily said, "Meet Fiona."

Fiona ran and jumped on Aphrodite.

"Wow! You really as pretty as everyone says :)"

Harry stepped aside with Aphrodite, and explained to her that he needed some money just to get his shop running, so he can make money. She told him to consider it done and to go back home.

Two weeks later, they arrived home the shop was open and called the Studio West Dinner and Entertainment! There was a big long line of people waiting to get inside. Harry quickly ran inside and opened the shop. Emily screamed, "Fiona!!!" They left Fiona!

Meanwhile, Fiona was with Terpsichore. He told Fiona that that she could make her a wizard.

BAM!!! Fiona just appeared in front of Emily. Well at least she was home.

The only problem was that people started to get angry, because there was no entertainment!

Fiona appeared a live band. The audience thought that it was magic done by a famous magician.

When she appeared the band there were back up dancers. One of them was Terpsichore.

People didn't know what dance was so Fiona was telling people that she invented it.

Harry lived happily owning a restaurant, Emily had a wonderful daughter, and Fiona the secret wizard. :)
The Myth of Trees

By Zach VerHow

In 1537, a great day in Canada, Zeus was the ruler of all gods, and he was the most powerful of all. He had black shaggy hair and held a lightning bolt in his right hand. Zeus lived with Gaea, the Greek goddess of nature, on Mt. Olympus. She had long blond hair, pale skin, and dressed very nice. Both Zeus and Gaea hated Jeff because he was a horrible man who had brown hair, rotten teeth, and liked to commit crimes. Jeff lived in the underworld, which was a horrible place to be.

One day, Jeff cruised on his hover board to Mount Olympus and stole Zeus' lightning bolt while he was sleeping.

Jeff took the lightning bolt down into a village and threatened everyone with it, then he ran into the forest and hid in a bush.

When Zeus arouse, he realized that his lightning bolt was gone, and blamed Gaea for letting someone get away with it.

Zeus threatened Gaea, he said, "If you don't get my lightning back to me within two days, I will take your powers away forever!" Gaea didn't think that was fair because she knew that she didn't steal it.

"I will get your lightning bolt back no matter what the consequences are!" Gaea said.

Suddenly, Gaea sent a Minotaur out to track Jeff down and bring him and the lightning bolt back to Zeus. The Minotaur bolted out into the forest and carefully tracked Jeff down with every slightly different scent. He followed his instinct until, he had an idea. He picked up some rocks and threw them far into the forest to trick Jeff that something was coming, so Jeff ran and hid in a bush.

Pacing back and forth, the Minotaur found Jeff hiding in the bush, the biggest bush of all. Once Jeff saw the Minotaur, he was scared to death. In fact, he screamed so loud that he killed the leaves on the bush.

The Minotaur caught Jeff as he screamed, which was as loud as air horn. Suddenly, Jeff remembered that he had left the lightning bolt in another bush. The Minotaur realized that Jeff didn't have it so he asked him where it was and Jeff went and got it.

"Gaea, I have retrieved Jeff, along with the bolt," the Minotaur said

"Thank you!" Gaea said relieved.

Later that evening, Gaea brought the bolt back to Zeus and received a day to rest.

Since Gaea proved to Zeus that Jeff was the one who stole his lightning bolt, he decided to have Gaea turn him into a tree because he was such a hassle and stole his lightning bolt.

The Origin of the Tornado

By Bryan Wright

In a time before humans ruled the world, near the time of its creation when it was still molten some places and frozen others. Fenrir, a giant wolf that was a carnation of greed, was starving. The rulers of Asgard, with the help of Ares, had tried to feed Fenrir and the chimeras, lions with a goat head on their backs and serpent tails, that diligently stalked him and worshiped him as the all divine ruler of everything and which they would regret soon.

The gods had fed Fenrir all they could think of; evil witches, mighty eagles, overjoyed trolls, depressed elves, Jar Jar Binks, clueless cheesecake, and Hades six different times. Every time they fed him he devoured the offering and continued to fight and eat everything around. Once, while Fenrir was thrashing around chomping, he seized a Cyclops who served Ares and that the gods were friends with and swallowed him whole leaving him to painfully dissolve in the slimy acid over years upon grueling years.

"No," screamed the gods as they began to seethe angrily.

When Fenrir had gulped down the Cyclops it began to flail helplessly when it remembered when it was tiny and its brother was eaten by a wolf. Screaming loudly, it realized that Bastiam, the gods of feral beasts, stealth, and assassination was hiding within Fenrir hanging onto his throat preparing to stab the mighty beast through the gut to end the struggle of the gods.

The Cyclops quickly seized Bastiam ripping him out of the beast's throat and dragging him into Fenrir's stomach.

The Cyclops began swinging his hammer at the belly of the beast and the gods outside of Fenrir spotted this and began to attack him with all their might which would destroy a normal being and which destroyed all the chimeras and turned them into cheesecake which is a different story.

Fenrir, the mighty carnation of greed, seeing that the all-powerful Rulers of Asgard were ruthlessly charging him slashing his legs with all sorts of magic and weapons began thrashing around chomping and roaring

"I will devour everything on the fertile Earth starting with you lot."

Corrupted Loki, angered by the mistreatment of his son, yelled:

"I will help my child destroy you cause y'all are a bad influence on him," and began to attack the gods but his rampage was ended prematurely by Bastiam who had climbed out of Fenrir and was hidden against one of the beasts hairy legs waiting for Fenrir to show vulnerability.

Suddenly, the Cyclops threw his gigantic hammer out of Fenrir mouth at the same time Feriam was striking.

Fenrir roared in pain so powerfully that the hammer began spinning faster and faster until the air around became a cyclone.

Ares, in fear of its power, began hurriedly hurling spears, swords, shields, and stones at it in an attempt to stop its spinning.

Feriam realized this was only making it worse so he stealthily latched onto Ares from behind and threw him into Fenrirs mouth.

Zeus, having heard of this horrible event appeared and began working with Thor and Tyr to come up with a successful way to stop or slow down the vortex.

Zeus suddenly shouted" I know how to stop the vortex Thor and I must simply fill it with lightning!"

Thor thinking this would work began to cause lightning to strike the vortex while Zeus threw his electric bolts. At first, this approach seemed to work but then the tornado started throwing the lightning right back.

The gods became even more worried and decided that someone must be hurled into the vortex to halt the hammer

"I volunteer as tribute," yelled Tyr the bravest of the Asgardians.

Ares, the strongest, who had climbed back out of Fenrir through the rear, hurled Tyr into the vortex. Once Tyr had reached the hammer, he stuck out his hand and grabbed on.

Tyr had was ripped off but the vortex slowed leaving the gods in peace. From this day on the vortex randomly appeared destroying many cities and then fading back into the clouds because of the god's power.

The Evil Side of Dietary Guidelines

By Littledoger

The sounds of a violent fistfight echoed through the now deserted city. These pops were much louder than any average hit in a random WWE fight. No, this was an all-out death fight between two "supernatural" people. Out at the coast, these two people fought to the death in the ocean air above the roaring waves.

It was a random rainy day in 1987, and all of Metropolis rumbled. Outside all of the people on the street screamed at the possibility of a major earthquake, but a single man was able to define the strange rumblings meaning. It was a sound wave so powerful that it rumbled the whole city, but this strange sound wave was so high pitched that no man could hear the sounds being produced. With his enhanced hearing, this man heard the voice of an ancient man. "Listen well!" it yelled. Superman defined this booming voice as the sounds produced by the ancient Greek god, Poseidon. These high pitched frequencies rung in his ears, saying, "I'm comin' for you, and your beloved Metropolis."

"Oh," Superman paused as a chill ran up his spine at the potential meaning of this disturbing message, as he thought, "I hope he means that in a good way." "What? You talking to yourself?" said Louis.

"Oh, nothin'," replied Superman. Then Superman almost fell over at the force of another rattling sound wave. This wave then put the words in his ear, "You wish, but in my mind, it has to do with tsunamis. Hey, that sounds pretty evil, I love myself." Superman would've laughed at the insincerity of the threat, if not for icy feeling in his stomach.

For those next days, until he heard the ground rumbling again, he actually trained and found a way to make large amounts of water evaporate in a second. During this time, Louis suggested dietary guidelines, and following them to help him with the task. Superman agreed, and started to follow the dietary guidelines, (according to Louis) and in fact, follow them extremely closely. He followed them so closely that he never ate a cookie or bowl of ice-cream at all, absolutely no sugar. "This better help," commented Superman.

He paused, "Are you sure this will make me stronger and healthier?" questioned the muscle man, "I feel... different."

"Oh really, well maybe you just ate too much ice cream and it feels different to actually be healthy." Louis smirked. Superman ate carrots and grapes, low fat meat and whole wheat bread. Superman did this as he picked up the faint vibration, and the blood drained from his face.

That instant, Superman sprang into action. Before his next plate of lettuce was ready, he was already a mile from the coast. Superman had never flown this fast before. He soon made it to the coast.

At that time, he saw his rival, ready to spring an underground earthquake. This man was as blue as the lightless water in which he lurked. At this sight, the goriest memory of his past came back, the memory of the worst evil that the man in front of him had done. Superman's heart sank with the memory.

"Snap outta it!" Superman said to himself through his panting breaths, and his attention went back to the fight. This earthquake would make the largest tsunami ever seen, definitely big enough. Big enough to wipe out Metropolis completely. The Greek god, Poseidon, saw Superman approaching and threw the earthquake into action, shaking the whole ocean, and the tsunami formed. Its white claws rolling over, ready to rip any building out of place. Superman began to use his laser vision to make the water evaporate on contact. He almost obliterated the tsunami when Poseidon triggered a 174 mile per hour wind. This wind was as powerful as the thrust provided by a jumbo-jet turbine.

"Superman," the crowds yelled, "Superman!"

"This won't happen, not if I'm around!" Superman screamed as he returned the force of wind. The wind combated the gusts from the raging sea and ended up overpowering and destroying the besieging breeze created by Poseidon. Poseidon now realized that his competitor was a bigger challenge than he thought and that he would need to take him out first before destroying the giant city of Metropolis.

"Well then," Poseidon responded, "I'll take you out first!" Poseidon screamed this in anger at being beat by a mere mortal, but then, he thought, Superman is not just a mere mortal, but I won't let him out do one of the major gods, like me, 'cause I'm awesome" Blindly, Poseidon then leapt at the ready hero, slashing the air and whatever he could reach with his deadly trident. Poseidon was so angry that he didn't even aim where he swung. Superman's heart jumped with glee at this. Because of his anger, Poseidon was only attacking, not guarding one of his most vulnerable spots.

"I love it when people do that, easy hit to the neck," Superman thought as he flew at full speed toward his opponent. Poseidon swung faster as he saw his rival approaching. Superman flew inches from the death dealing destructive blade that was held in Poseidon's blue hand. A loud pop was heard around Metropolis as one of Superman's hardest blow was barely blocked by the hilt of Poseidon's trident. Even though the blow was blocked, the force of it threw the raging Greek god into the water.

Superman became exceedingly relieved at the thought of his opponents defeat, at that moment, Superman turned around to the cheering crowds on the shore and started to fly off when the people on the shore screamed. Superman couldn't tell if the screams were from fans sad about him flying off, or... The thought that followed made him spin around almost too fast. "Superman, look, look!" screamed the onlookers on the beach. The thought that had followed was a reality. Poseidon shot out of the water and started to trigger the tsunami.

He flew over the screaming people towards Poseidon, and the screams turned into cheers. Superman saw his opponent began to rage and slash with his trident yet again, and Superman attempted to do the same move as before, mainly because Poseidon blocked it with luck the last time, he didn't really use any moves.

He flew at the angry Greek god at full speed, ready to deal out an excruciating blow. Again, he flew in a path that would send him slicing through the air right next to Poseidon's neck, but this time it didn't go so well.

Then the effects of not eating enough sugar and cookies started to happen. Superman began to lose altitude and felt weak, he was extremely hungry and began to not fly. He smashed into one of the waves that was crashing to the shore. He zipped underwater and plummeted toward the bottom of the ocean. Soon after, Poseidon shot threw the water and grabbed Superman by the cape. The victorious opponent ripped through the water, up to where all of the people on the beach could see the defeated Superman in the clutch of the man that wanted to destroy them.

Superman lay limp by the cape hanging from Poseidon's scaly hands, but he was not at all dead. He just hung there in defeat. Poseidon threw punch after punch at Superman's unguarded groin and face. The punches continued as the roaring crowds quieted, watching their hero be destroyed, in fear of what came next. Poseidon's next move was a kick to the face, and he continued on with that endeavor for what seemed like an hour. Then, Poseidon, covered in sweat and blood, decided to end the misery of his tortured opponent. Poseidon attempted many moves to kill Superman, but none worked.

Poseidon then got an idea, he threw Superman down, down, down to the bottom of the ocean, where superman then broke through the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to the depths of the underworld, where Hades would be pleased at his gift. Superman fell into the clutches of the dreaded Hades, where the lack of earth's yellow sun diminished his powers and made him feel weak and tired. Hades then took the life from the limp Superman and threw him into the river of death.

Up above the ocean, the now feared Poseidon began to trigger the tsunami again, and this time, there was no Superman to stop it the wave began to form and was already at least 100 feet tall when the notorious Poseidon rose up a wind at least 200 miles per hour. This gust made the tsunami grow around 200 feet taller, making it almost 400 feet tall. The wave crashed into the shores, taking many buildings with it and obliterating the city so completely that no one even remembered that it was there.

The Origin of the Cat

By Aidan

Long ago, in ancient Greece, there lived a man named Catus. He was skinny with brown hair and brown eyes. All Catus wanted in life was a beautiful, wealthy, and powerful bride. Catus loved walking through the woods for it was what he loved doing the most.

The trees were huge, and beautiful in this part of the woods especially, and the early spring light made the recent rain on the new leaves sparkle like diamonds. Birds chirped in the distance and frequently there was a rabbit or two, chasing each other through the trees. As Catus sat on a log, in a small opening if trees, the morning light covering half of his dark face, he smelled honey in the distance. He got off of the log and went to try and find its source, then when or if he did find the source he would try and nip some for a snack.

As he hiked over twigs, leaves, and occasionally a log to find the honey there, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a woman, by far the most beautiful women he had ever seen with light brown, silky hair, with stunning blue eyes wearing a toga enlaced with gold, and silver.

"H-hi the-the-there" Catus stammered." The lady jumped, startled, and swerved around. Catus leaped back, and the lady said,

"Oops, sorry, allow me to introduce myself, I am Athena goddess of battle and wisdom." Cactuses jaw dropped.

After a while of talking the skinny Catus, and the beautiful Athena agreed to meet him at a cafe in the town of Athens at 3:30 pm. Catus hiked back through the woods, twigs snapping and leaves crunching under his plain leather boots, Wow!, unbelievable!, Catus thought as he walked home. Catus was finally at the edge of the forest, green hills sloping downward toward the city of Athens, and he felt a surge of excitement run through his body.

When Catus arrived back at his small house, on the corner of the city, with its large windows on the side of the house dusty, he walked up the steps leading to his strait, but curving at the top, of the door. He realized that he did not have any fancy clothes to wear out. Catus went inside, not even bothering to light a candle, got his wallet, and dashed outside again. He went to a shop in the middle of Athens that sold Togas much like the one Athena was wearing. He got a white one with silver embossing it and quickly changed into it in the dressing room. As he dashed out of the shop he unthinkingly, left his old Toga, and his wallet inside.

Finally Catus got to the cafe that him and Athena planned on meeting at, Athena was already there.

"Sorry for being late." Catus said, breathing in heavy breaths.

"It's fine." Athena said

"I'll pa-" At the worst time possible in his life, Catus realized that he had lost his wallet. "Sorry, I lost my wallet, I can't pay."

"That's fine", Athena said, "We can eat at mount Olympus instead." Once again Cactus's jaw dropped

"Follow me", Athena said. She got up and went outside. There, outside was a huge carriage, horses with shining gold armor, carriage with blue couches, and silvery curtains, and on the carriage itself there were gold swirls. Catus and Athena got into the carriage, and rode to Mt. Olympus. When Catus got to Mt. Olympus, all the gods welcomed him as he went to eat dinner with Athena, her parents, and other famous gods.

As Catus walked to the dinner table, he saw something shimmering, that looked like a diamond, he slinked over to Zeus, had his hand halfway through his pocket to take the diamond, when the huge, bearded man, spun around and grabbed Catus by the hand that was reaching into his pocket.

"$1000 for your actions!" Zeus roared at him.

"But I don't have $1000!" Catus cried.

"Then you will pay the consequences!" Zeus growled.

"Father NO!" Athena shrieked.

But it was too late, Zeus turned Catus into a lifeless ball of fur. Athena scrambled over to the fur, gathering as much as she could Athena scooped up the orange, and black fur, and transformed the fur into a furry creature. From then on, Athena kept the cat, and eventually bred it and released its babies in the mortal world.

The Tale of the Warrior Ant

By Jake Jacobson

One day, on Mars in ancient times, an old man named Nautilus was examining a man called Hickarus. Nautilus was an old man who wore an aged and torn toga and focused on peace, Hickarus was a young man, who grasped a large sword and wore armor, who focused only on battle.

They were in a barren desert, the sky was blood red, it was extremely sunny, and the wind was wildly howling. It was midday, and it was cold. It smelled of sulfur.

Hickarus was brutally battling evil worn Woods Witches with sharp teeth and claws. Nautilus was gazing at him. After the fight, Nautilus went up to Hickarus and asked,

"Is all you do battle?" Hickarus's reply was," Well, I am the best fighter ever, so yes."

"There is more to life than destroying your enemies," proclaimed Nautilus. Hickarus and Nautilus debated over the matter for hours until Hickarus stormed off.

Nautilus appeared back the next day and escorted Hickarus to a small village of peace, and he saw how nice life could be if he was peaceful.

" See," Nautilus said.

Hickarus realized his faults and decided to become peaceful.

Hickarus lived a life of peace in the village.

One day he was walking and was confronted by an evil Warlock. Hickarus didn't want to fight him, he wanted to pass. He said, "Fight me or you will not be able to pass."

He refused to fight. As his punishment, the Warlock turned Hickarus into a warrior ant. He went on to live a life of peace until his death.
Planet Court Jam

By Micaiah Smith

On Planet Court, there were six people trying and learning how to play this so called "Basketball." Planet court was located near Mars with a court that was 350 feet long, the trees were basketball hoops ten feet tall, and you could shoot anywhere. Around planet court, the stadium was 5,285 feet and 150 feet for the parking lot. All of the players had not played basketball before.

The six people on the first basketball team were: Zeus is 100 years old and he is a power ford, Allen Iverson is 39 years old, 6 foot and he is a shooting guard, Kobe Bryant is 36 years old 6 foot 6 and he is a point guard and God is 124 years old 6 foot 7 and he is a big man.

There are really big! With big voices! They smell like a fashion show so fresh and so clean. All of the players feel very good playing basketball Allen Iverson that they can teach other people but God says or the whole world we will become billionaires so they would practice all day and every day until they got tired.

All of the players were looking, searching, and watching videos to learn the basics of basketball.so it took them about six weeks and God said we should do a tournament well Kobe said "how many games should we do Zeus says we should do 160 games everyone agreed to it 160 games Allen Iverson says what name should we be I know we should be the Black Mumba.

Well first, we should get numbers Zeus #1,Allen Iverson #3,Kobe Bryant #24,and God #1 so they both told everybody there was a basketball game today everybody came and they killed the 100 to 20 and black mamba won all of them were so happy after that day so they kept going.

They were 99-0 and they had 21games left. Then they were undefeated they won the championship they got old and they got rich and they lived to be the best basketball players of all time then they died together.

THE END!

The Origin of Cyclopes

By Enahs

Long ago, 500 B.C., in ancient Athens, there lived a vicious, greedy giant named Garret that loved to steal from helpless villagers he was a son of Poseidon. Garret had had hair more greasy than chicken grease. All the villagers in the land lived in so much fear from him that all the children in the land would cry if they saw Garret. At that time, there also lived King Shane. King Shane was the most handsome, nice, and brave king that ever lived. All the villagers in the land felt peaceful around King Shane.

So, one day Athens Garret ran down to grab some food at the food hut. Selling the delicious food was an elderly villager.

"Hello," Garret said in his deep voice. "Could I have some bread?" The giant asked. The elderly villager responded, "Sure, only three gold coins," he said in a happy tone.

"WHAT?" Garret asked in anger. The villager must not have known it was Garret because he said, "Yeah, we're selling them half-off today!" With that, Garret knocked over the food stand, took the bread, and screamed in an angry tone, "I DON'T CARE!"

This was not the first time this had happened. Sometimes he would steal water, tools, or even pets! The villagers were very upset with the giant, but they did not want to whine to King Shane because they thought it would be rude to barge in and interrupt King Shane like that because he was so kind. They didn't want to tell him, but they couldn't take it much longer. Little did Garret know, he was about to make a big mistake.

At King Shane's castle, everybody was having a regular day until Garret came. He barged in there like he owned the place. "I want some gold." Garret said.

"Um, you can if you pay me back some time." King Shane responded.

"I'LL JUST STEAL IT!" The giant screamed as loud as a building falling over. Then he stole about five gold coins and took off sprinting.

"Yeah, you better run!" King Shane yelled. "That wasn't very nice," the king said with a frown. "Has this ever happened to you guys?" He asked his servant.

"Actually, it has. Several times," the servant said. With that, King Shane got mad. "Prepare the warriors for battle," King Shane said angrily. Then with no hesitation, the Athenian warriors were ready for battle, including King Shane.

The next day, the Athenian warriors appeared at Garret's cave. Garret gritted his green teeth with anger. After that, they went to fighting. One over-confident warrior decided to charge ahead of the army so Garret picked him up and ate him. Then, the battling went on.

Days later, they were still battling and many mighty Athenians were slaughtered and still nobody was winning. King Shane and his men knew they did not have a chance against this beast, but they still went on. Finally, one warrior had enough of this. He looked Garret in the eye, ran up to him, and thrust his sword at him. Garret blocked him with his fists and yelled, "Ha! Give it up puny warrior. You are no match for me!" This made the warrior angry. He ran up to him and slashed the smelly giant in half of each eye. The beast went down with a boom.

The Athenians rejoiced. "Good job, guys! Let's have a feast!" King Shane said cheerfully. Then they had a feast. Little did they know, Garret was not dead yet, but only very weak. "Father," he cried to Poseidon, "please have mercy on me and heal me." Poseidon gazed down to Garret and he decided what he did was wrong, but he was his son. So Poseidon gave him only one eye. The giant learned his lesson and never stole again. Future generations of Garret only had one eye and they became known as 'Cyclopes'.
The Bow and the Arrow

By Liam Adams

On the mountain of Olympus, war between three gods raged on for three months. One god was named Ares, god of war. He aided Zeus, ruler of all gods. He clashed against Poseidon and Hades in an ongoing war.

Then one day, Zeus, king of the gods, called Ares to his palace. He said, "Ares, god of war, there have been to many spears and swords that have been dug out of bodies. We need a new kind of weapon."

Zeus said that there were some seeds in the mortal world that could create mystic wood and the wood could be used as any weapon, even a new kind of weapon. Ares agreed to find these seeds for Zeus and all gods that supported him.

When Ares exited, however, a spy of Poseidon escaped and ran past all the Greeks. Unfortunately for him, Athena spotted him and her and six Greeks ran after him. The soldier was armed, and threw a spear at one of the Greeks, killing him.

"Stop!" Shouted Athena.

The spy ran on until he reached the water and, then, he jumped in. Athena and the five remaining Greeks halted in front of the sea. "Zeus will not be pleased by this, and we will not tell him. Hide the body and have no god or goddess speak of this," Athena said.

Meanwhile, Ares was observing the mortal world, questioning everyone he could. Finally, someone said there was a market of seeds and the seeds might be at the market. Ares traveled to the market and found the seeds. He asked the market keeper for them. The storekeeper denied him and said they cost too much for an old man like him. (He looked like an old man there.) Ares was furious and raised up a spear.

"I," he said, "am Ares, god of war, here to collect these seeds from this market."

The shopkeeper, terrified by his treat and spear, nodded his head slower and slowly sped up.

After he collected the seeds, Ares went to find Artemis, goddess of the moon and the hunt. When he found her, she was in a cage and tied up, surrounded by Poseidon's guards and Poseidon himself. Ares halted and picked up a spear and threw it at a guard, killing him on impact. Everyone turned as Ares drew his sword and slashed at two guard's stomachs, killing them.

"Attack!!" Poseidon shouted.

The soldiers came at Ares, but the war god cut them down like he did not need to touch them. Then Poseidon came and attacked with his trident. In the fury, the seeds detached and fell to the underworld. Poseidon and Ares looked down, then at each other, astonished

Down in the underworld, the seed packet ripped on a rock and the seeds fell to the underworld and then grew. Half a day later, Hades saw the trees with spears and swords on the branches and marveled. Warriors from the underworld picked the weapons when, from above, Ares fell into the underworld. Artemis followed him into the underworld. Ares drew his sword and said

"Hades, lord of the underworld, give us those tree seeds now!"

"Never, now attack!" Hades yelled back.

Artemis grabbed two spears and tossed them at a pair of soldiers. Ares also attacked, slashing his sword everywhere.

Artemis grabbed a spear, but a soldier snapped it in half. With the magic of the tree, the end with a rock grew feathers and the other end bent and grew a sting. Then the moon goddess had an idea. She put the feathers at the string and yanked back. She released and the feather end flew really fast into a soldier's chest. More arrows appeared on the trees. Artemis picked them off and fired one at each soldier. Hades saw and got scared as the Goddess pull back another arrow, aimed at him. He ran in fear of being stuck in his home forever.

Back at Olympus, Zeus was marveled at the new weapon, the bow and arrow. Now Zeus, ruler of the gods ruled all gods, and none of them disagreed with that.

The End

The Big Adventure

By Gabby Gums

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful goddess named Micith she was the goddess of balance, she had big wings, long blond hair, big horns on her head, and a side kick named Jayith. Jayith was the god of dopiness. Jayith had big muscles, a giant black afro, threw everything, and ate everything in his path.

Micith was just sitting on a log by the river when she heard an awful screech. Anxiously, Micith went to get Jayith, so they could heal the beast that made the screech, but Jayith was gone.

Micith said, "Dopey Jayith, you know you are not allowed to leave without me."

So, she blew her horns to call Jayith. Slowly but surely, Jayith came all bloody and distracted.

Micith asked, "What did you do?"

Jayith answered, "I finished the taskn. I killeden the beasten."

Micith yelled, "Why did you do that? You are such a butt face. The task is destroyed. We failed. We were supposed to protect the mooshroom, so the minowshroom doesn't kill all the people.

Just then, they heard an even louder screech.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Micith, "the beast is awake."

"I donten understand," coward Jayith, picking his nose enthusiastically picking a winner or digging for gold he always said.

"It feels like a marshmallow," Said Jayith.

Micith yelled, "Come on Jayith."

Jayith said, "Whyn?"

Micith replied, "We have to go stop the minowshroom before he destroys everything. This is all your fault. Did I mention the blood makes your face look messed up?"

"Noen," growled Jayith.

So, they ran off into the woods to find the minowshroom, before it destroyed the village. Sure enough, they ran into the minowshroom four legs. Micith flew up. While Jayith, being the god of dopiness, threw him into the air and tried to eat him. Before the minowshroom smashed Jayith, Micith caught Jayith and harshly threw him onto a cliff.

While Jayith was trying to recover, like he ever would, Micith went head on head with the minowshroom and threw minowshroom into the deep end in some stinky, oily pool. The minowshroom's head was sadly as big as the pool, so he suffocated.

The smell of victory was glories, but the pool smelt like moldy PB and J.

That was very stupid you could have been killed Micith and Jayith headed home. When the sun went down, Jayith went on and on about how he killed the minowshroom, so mid story, he picked up a stick from the fire and fell onto the tents.

Jayith said, "I donten know whatn went wrongen," picking his nose with a stick and burning himself. So, they slept under the stars.

The next day, Micith woke up to a fire. Jayith was eating eggs but not just any egg, a psycho dino egg. Jayith said "it tastes like poop."

Micith yelled, "All you do is get into trouble. Don't you know that was a psycho dino egg?"

We need to find that dino before it finds the villages.

But they were too late, the dino went insane.

Jayith said, "I willn eaten the beasten."

But Micith yelled, "No! We will put him in jail."

While Micith went to put the dino in jail, Jayith got into the flying car. He put on a costume and it looked like a dog in a flower hat, and they flew off.

They got home and just had to go to sleep, but then they heard and awful scream and there was the minowdragon.

"Oh no! Here we go again.

Then Jayith said, "I wanten toen eaten iten."

"Not again," exclaimed Micith.

All glittery eyed, Jayith yelled, "Yesen!"

Jayith got in to the flying car. They flow away into the sun and lived many more advancers but that's another story.

The End

Mortals Have No Magic

By Kieran Hale

"This no good Nypher has crossed the line. "Zeus said. The other gods mumbled in agreement.

You see, when the Earth was still a child and the gods were young and powerful, there lived a goddess of magic named Nypher. Nypher had dark, brown hair scattered with the occasional gray spot. Her eyes were stormy gray. She was the reason why the occasional mortal had magic. She gifted them with some of her magic. She dwelled in a baleful, high mountain fortress with high stone walls and massive towers almost as tall as Olympus itself. Although she wasn't evil, she also wasn't the type of goddess who would be described as good, she was spiteful and even though she was clever. She also thought particularly single mindedly.

One day, Apollo, god of the sun and music, decided that he could use some of Nypher's magic to help him charm the ladies. As all the nymphs were running away from him he thought that with some magic he could "persuade" them to stay. Apollo knew that Nypher would never acquiesce if he asked her. So he choose to sneak into her castle and take her magic. So Apollo waited until Nypher left her castle to deal with a mortal who had misused her magic. Then, once she had left, Apollo rode his chariot to the mountain fortress and entered in the great hall. The great hall was nothing special. Just a few tables and tapestries. What it did have was a magically floating chandelier which lit the entire room. Apollo quickly strode through the great hall and entered Nypher's magic storage room. It contained a multitude of bubbling jars filled with magical elements that could do a whole manner of things. Apollo found what he required and swiftly fled from the castle so as to avoid being caught red handed. In his haste he forgot his cloak.

Upon returning, Nypher noticed that one of her magical creations was nowhere to be found. She became furious. Angrily, she vowed that whomever had stolen from her would pay the price. She searched her castle, searching for evidence of whomever had stolen from her and she found Apollo's cloak sitting there on the doorstep of the castle right outside the great hall.

Nypher said to herself, "Apollo will pay for his meddling." The cloak felt silky smooth as she picked it up for further examination.

She devised a plan for revenge. She quickly ran into the great hall and slammed the door shut. She quickly ran down the corridor and down into her experiment room.

"BAM!"

The hard oak door made a loud noise as she slammed it shut behind her. Urgently, she started mixing and matching different magical elements trying to get the result she required. Soon, she got frustrated with her lack of progress. She continued to work through the night, searching and searching for success. She finally found what she was looking for. You see, her plan was to create an object that could change night from day in an instant. She had planned this so she could to make it eternally night so that Apollo would lose his strength because he was the god of the sun. She had created a coin, that depending on what side the coin was on, it would change the time of day. All it needed was a tiny amount magic energy and it would activate. Swiftly, Nypher looked around at all her shelves looking for her store of magic energy. Once she found it, she used it to activate the coin. The day, as suddenly as it had started, stopped. It was night.

The Gods of Olympus were angry. This sudden change of day to night worried them and in their book anyone who meddles in the time should be punished. Although the Gods were upset, they weren't necessarily in a hurry to punish the criminal. The gods that weren't immediately affected by the eternal night (that is quite a lot of them) weren't taking the matter that seriously. They were half-heartedly looking for the culprit, not trying at all. The only God who was really concerned about the eternal night was the mighty god Apollo. Every "day" of eternal night, Apollo lost more of his power.

Eventually, Apollo realized that he would have to act fast. He went down to the Mortal World and asked for heroes that would help him. He found two heroes willing to do the job. One was named Bob. He had bright blue eyes and light brown hair. Bob was 25 years old and he was a good fighter with a sword. Bob was very jocular. The other hero was a girl named Michelle (Mi-shel). Michelle was a comely women, her long black hair flowed over her dark eyes. She was very Garrulous with her friends but shy with strangers. Not surprisingly, she was a skilled survivalist and hunter.

Upon hearing the task, Apollo had assigned them-to take the coin and destroy it.

Bob said, "WHAT. Are you crazy?!" He quickly realized his mistake (nobody calls a god crazy). He apologized.

"Sorry sir." Bob bowed his head down in an apologetic manner.

Michelle nudged Bob with her elbow, "Bob didn't me it." She said imperiously, "Did you Bob?"

Bob shook his head and muttered, "No."

"Moving on..." Apollo stopped mid-sentence.

The heroes were getting ready for the long track to Nypher's fortress.

Apollo politely asked, "What are you doing?"

The heroes looked away from what they were doing and replied, "There is a long journey ahead. We are getting ready for it."

"You do realize that I am a god. I can just snap my fingers and you'll appear

There at her castle, but we better hurry my powers won't last forever what with this eternal night." Gesturing towards the sky for extra effect.

The heroes got what they needed, a little food, water, and camping materials just in case. The plan was simple the heroes would zap in, smash the coin, and then Apollo would zap them out.

So the heroes gathered to get teleported to the fortress. Bob took a breath and began to speak when Apollo zapped them the fortress because he was a little inpatient.

The heroes appeared in the great hall and ran to Nypher's magic store room.

She was out so the heroes the coin which was flipped on the side that caused it to be night. They heroes took their swords. They swung them towards the coin. Closer. Closer. Inches away. Centimeters.

Then. Out of the blue. Suddenly, Nypher appeared behind them. She screamed, "What are doing? That is a precious object you know."

Surprised, the heroes jumped back in fright. Nypher used her magic to pull the coin out of the hero's hands. Bob swung his sword at it while the coin was in mid-air as an attempt to destroy it. Unfortunately, it wasn't a direct hit. The sword glanced coin, and it was sent spinning into her magic supply and a magical event occurred because of the reaction between the elements and the coin.

The coin spun in midair, the magic had caused it to have a sort of force-field that protected from anyone. As it happened, the coin kept on spinning apparently another effect of the magic. This changes night and day twice every twenty hours. Nypher saw what had happened and realized that she had only helped Apollo. She had made it so that he didn't have to change the time of day. She was angry. Furious. She wheeled around to face Bob and Michelle.

"You'll pay for your meddling."

But Apollo had teleported him to their homes. Whoof. Nypher decided that if she couldn't punish Bob and Michelle she would punish humanity. She ran away taking the magic she offered mortals away with her. This is why humanity has no magic.

The Theory of Smiles

By Colter M.

The date was April 16, 210 A.D. Sam's (the main actor in the play she was doing) horse fell dropped under the stage.

"Whoa," she yelled.

The horse fell right through the stage. All the sudden it flew back up and was positioned there, like it was resting. Instantly it started running around in circles causing mayhem. Luckily, a couple minutes later the horse finally stopped galloping around and not causing more damage.

"Wow, what an unfortunate thing to happen. That looked really cool," a young man named Tom told the crowd.

"Yea, I know, it's different," Dylan thought to himself.

"At least nobody was hurt, I think," Dylan muttered to himself

This happened during a play that had been done many, many times, but nothing bad had ever happened. Nobody laughed, everybody just started. The reason why nobody laughed was one that everybody new. It was because of a new god their city had, called Veria (a city in Greece). The god had been assigned the job of not letting people have emotions or laugh.

"I'm glad nobody was hurt and the stage floor was the only thing damaged."

All because of that god, Sid. These people were at a show and the floor accidentally fell. It wasn't even funny. Sid was the god that happened to have that job. It wasn't his fault though. Zeus, the god that is king of all gods, made him be that god because he was Hestia's son. He was still thankful though, otherwise he wouldn't even be a god. He would be a mortal with no emotions. He didn't like to see people sad looking all the time.

"Zeus?" Sid tiredly asked the day after the incident at the play.

He was extremely tired because last night because he had to do a lot of work from last night when the play was done.

"What do you want, hurry up, I have to go to meeting in a couple of minutes.

"Can I have a new job as a god?"

"No! Every spot is obtained. And you're not good enough to have a spot with true, useful meaning like me," he also thought," I don't like you either."

"Please, please, please, I don't like making people sad. It makes me sad."

"Again, no."

"Ok, fine," The sad immortal that stopped people from being excited mumbled.

People play games but it is boring because they can't smile or be happy. Eventually because nobody had anything fun to do, they got depressed and just did nothing. They sat there all day after day. And eventually, after a few weeks, Veria started to develop into a less busy city, and in a month became a ghost town with people that did nothing.

"Now can I change my job, people don't even do anything anymore," Sid murmured to Zeus.

"No, nothing horrible is happening, but you need to do better."

"But it's because I and doing a good job, they aren't feeling normal anymore." The nice people with this curse started to die one by one, and the rate of this increased day by day. The cause of this was from no water, food, and exercise. Sid felt really bad because all he was doing was his job.

"Hey Zeus, can I be the god of happy, smiles, and, just for extra fun, rainbows, so people don't keep dying from my job. Otherwise I will quit my job."

"No you won't!"

"Yes I will, see ya."

"Fine," Zeus murmured," Just because I don't want people to die. You're new job starts tomorrow as whatever you said."

"Thanks dude."

"Its boss, not dude Sid." Zeus said annoyingly.

Exactly twenty-four hours later, Sid started to watch the people and see what they would attempt when they noticed they could be happy. Suddenly, a giant fluffy, talking panda named Pandorus was the first thing to smile.

"Daddy?" asked Pandorus's child

"What?"

"Why does your face look weird?"

"It's because living things can smile and be happy now."

"What's smiling?"

"Smiling is when you propel your mouth up and you feel different, a good, satisfying feeling."

"Ok I kinda get it now. I will learn it eventually. This is really cool!"

Pandorus started walking and happily with his son, just for, you know, fun. People soon started to realize that they could smile and have fun. They played games, had good times at work, and for once, and forever, they smiled with great emotion.

"Zeus, Thank you so much. Now my job is fun," Sid happily stated.

"Yea, sure," he said sarcastically," You're welcome, at least people are not dying anymore."

"Hey dude you wanna play a game? I feel awesome, like I used to when we could be happy," some random person said to his best friend.

"Yea let's make up a game since we got rid of all the games we had."

Nobody else, not even people that were sad still, died from depression. Especially because Sid, the god of happiness, who didn't let people die from depression were very happy and people had awesome lives again.

"Thanks Zeus, you made my life," yelled Sid

"Yea sure, have a good time and do good with your job."

Best Megs Ever

By Mert M.

Arda was a talented, young football player. He had brown hair, dark-brown eyes, and his hair was always messed up. Arda was friends with two boys named Kerem and Yusuf. They both had black hair and brown eyes, but the difference between Kerem and Yusuf was that Kerem had glasses and one is nicer than the other. More than anything, they wished to be the best soccer player ever. People said that Arda the talent that no one ever had. They were "the best of friends who lived in a small town in Turkey.

The town of Armutlu was mostly farmland. The sky was always blue, the grass green, and there were trees everywhere. You could hear birds and tractors everywhere. It reeked disturbingly of cow poop. Arda, Kerem and Yusuf didn't mind the smell because they had been living there their whole lives.

One day, Yusuf and Kerem were having fun. They were laughing, and kicking a football around at Kerem's farm. And Kerem said "if you panna me I will hurt you." Suddenly, Yusuf meged Kerem, he kicked the futball through Kerem's legs.

Megs!!!!!! Get owned," said Yusuf.

Kerem said, "You suck you butt." He punched him in the head. Yusuf kicked him crotch, and he plummeted to the ground screaming in agony. Kerem and Yusuf broke out street fight style.

Emin was up in the clouds watching. Let's mess with these guys, he thought. Just as the fight was about to end, Kerem started to stroll away.

"Can I play?" Asked Emin. Kerem and Yusuf were surprised.

Emin punt the ball through Yusuf's legs and disappeared. This made it look like Kerem had done it. They both glared at each other. Yusuf was mad and surprised that someone could meg him without him knowing.

"Did you panna me?" They both demand the same question to each other.

Then Emin ankle broke meged Kerem. After that Arda, meged Yusuf. It was all crazy. Megs everywhere.

When Yusuf meged Emin, the god Pannas , then he banned megs forever.

Stars Aligned

By Danielle

Once upon a time, there live two goddesses, Artemis, and Thrious. The two goddess where sisters and together they ruled the hunt. The two sisters were very close and it was almost like they would take a bullet for each other. They lived, in the middle of the forest where they could never be found.

The forest was always cold, but to them it was just right. Artemis had very pretty gray eyes with brown, long, curly, hair. Artemis was the goddess of the moon and hunt. She wanted most in life to never marry and never be found, especially by a man. Artemis just taught the hunt most of her days but when she was alone she wondered in the forest and calmed herself by shooting targets. Artemis was pleased with life and she didn't want anything more than to be with Thrious. As for Thrious, she had dark straight black hair, with light hazel eyes with a little twinkle in the middle. She also had long legs for running swiftly across the night. Thrious wanted to live long with her sister. Her favorite thing to do was to sprint, but she was stained to doing that until night because when she ran, she runs so fast that she leaves black dust in the air which is why Thirous was the goddess of the night.

The two sister pleased with life, where happy when they were with each other, but little did they know that Poseidon, Lord of the water world, kept his eye on Thirous because he was fascinated by Thrious dark beauty and he wanted her to be his wife. Thrious didn't know this, but she always thought of Poseidon as a full of himself person and didn't want a thing to do with him. One day, Thrious and Artemis where in the forest sneaking up upon some deer were not to hurt them, but to see their beauty. The silence in the air was so powerful but was slightly interrupted when the hum of a humming bird came.

Then, there was several of them. It was a pretty sight. The two sisters quickly returned back to their home when they saw something twinkle in the snow. Curiously, the sisters followed the light, it was a bottle. Thriousus opened it and was amazed that it was for her. In the bottle, there was a note and it said, "Dear Thriousus, I find your beauty interesting and I believe your talent is special, so I feel it is only right that you shall live with me and be my queen I will give till the next full moon then you will join me in the water world,-Poseidon" Thrious said nothing because she was so stunned and scared, so Thirous ran back to their house and took the note but left the bottle. Artemis, worried about Thrious, Artemis ran back to the house to find Thrious walking back and forth mumbling some weird words that Artemis didn't understand.

"What is in the note that makes you so sad my sister?" Artemis asked.

"Sister, the lord of the dead wants me to be his queen!" There was a moment of silence and Thrious was letting that sink in almost on the verge of tears.

"I don't know what to do, I don't want to marry, but this is the lord!" Artemis felt dizzy and didn't speak for a long time. There was a moment of silence and none said a word. "I......I don't know what we can do," Artemis said. Thrious started to pack and was moving very fast. Artemis said, "Maybe we can hide." But Artemis saw the doubt in Thrious eyes.

It was several minutes later and Artemis saw Thrious morning because she knew her freedom was limited. Artemis didn't know what to say because she wasn't the "feeling better type" but she went to Thriouses side.

"I've come up with a plan," Thrious said, "but it is going to take courage but I will be free."

"Whatever it is I will do it," But it was too late Poseidon's seamen where there ready to take her. Thrious quickly said "kill me." Artemis didn't hesitate mostly because she was afraid of losing Throius. Quickly, Artemis through a position on Thrious and then Thrious fell. The sea men looked at Artemis with anger and knew that they had to tell the lord that whom he wanted, was dead. So, they left but little did they know that Thrious was not completely dead, not yet anyway. Artemis looked at the sea men and when she knew they were gone she ran over to Thrious. Artemis picked up Throius just to lay her head on her lap as she sat down next to her.

"Artemis?.......The poison will let my soul in the sky.....I can run forever," said Thriouis. Artemis said nothing but looked at the sky but also because she didn't want Thrious to see her tears run down her face because she knew this would be the last time she talked to her sister. There was a long moment of silence. Thrious gasped and said, "I love you Artemis"

Artemis said, " I love you too," and she hugged Thrious and looked at her and her lifeless body, but she looked up at the sky and saw the darkness of Thrious, now she can run forever. Artemis looks back at Thrious and started to cry hard because she can't stand the look of her sister's dead body, so, she picked her up and took her back to the house where she sprinkled another poison of her body and then her body became several of millions of tiny diamonds, then she went outside and threw the diamonds in the black sky and looked at the several stars in the sky.

Then, Artemis works on the Moon back up in the sky. From then on whenever Artemis saw the first star in the sky she put up the moon and forever the two sister stayed together.
Never-ending Story

By Isabelle

"No, No, please don't!" Her mind frolicked as she watched the blurring image lose their footing and topple over the steep cliff. She finally woke screaming, trying to loosen the grip of the figure holding her shoulders tightly.

"Calm down Borydius! You're ok, you're ok." Borydius stopped struggling and gazed up at the gentle brown eyes, while brushing the auburn hair out of her face.

She saw Vision, the goddess of books and literature. While being soothed by the goddess, she opened her eyes all the way and peered around the lightened room. "My head is throbbing." she complained.

"I wouldn't be surprised, you have been screaming for about five minutes now." Borydius lifted her head but only to be shot with a stinging pain and pushed back down again.

"You need to actually sleep, I know you were up all night reading," Vision said as she scowled at Borydius.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it! It called for me from the..."

"The bookcase," Vision finished, her eyes narrowed. Borydius sighed reaching for a glass of water that made a slight ripple as she rested her hand on it. "Breakfast will be ready in about ten minutes." The goddess said while straightening herself to her full height. As she did so, her gentle hand glided underneath the pillow in which Borydius was resting her head on and took a book. The one Borydius had been reading.

"Hypnos will be coming to visit us tonight for your appointment," Vision said, "So I expect you to here in time for that." Borydius looked up at Vision and saw a warning glare in her eyes.

"Ok, Ok, I'll be there," anxious to look away from the angered goddess.

Finally, Vision left the room, and Borydius sprung from bed and leaped to the window sill, already having been dressed from the night before. Throwing up the sash of the window and she flew out into the outside world. It was cool and fresh as she breathed in the wondrous smell of pine and the sound of the sweet birds caroling in their trees. Borydius planned to spend the whole day outside, even if it meant skipping her appointment.

"Sleep, why do I need sleep? There is no use for it and I don't need Hypnos to come tell me that at my so called appointment." She glared at the musty ground while kicking a rock out of her way.

"Hello Borydius!" said a distant voice. Borydius lavishly froze seeking the owner of the voice, while she turned half way around to meet his icy stare.

"Hello Damion how is your day?" She attempted, trying to make a quick conversation.

"I could be better, someone put a raw egg is my hat last night." Borydius couldn't help but smirk; she knew exactly who had done it.

"Oh! That's horrible," turning to face him, "why would someone do such thing."

"I don't know, I came over here to ask the same question."

"Well I don't know, and even if I did I wouldn't tell you," her cold blue eyes bore deep into Damions until he was forced to look away.

"Fine don't tell me, I'll just follow up with Vision." He said as he trotted loudly down the path. Borydius had the urge to go after him but restrained herself; man how she despised that boy.

While Borydius went skipping in the field, Vision decided to clear her mind of being a legal guardian and attending her duties of being a goddess at the same time. Two more weeks she had to care for Borydius, she didn't know how someone could care for a child. Sure they were sweet and gave you company but Vision was happy being alone, Borydius didn't understand what stress she had on her shoulders all the time. Yet maybe Vision didn't understand Borydius either, the grief that she had on her shoulders, from her parents death. Vision knew that Borydius wouldn't talk about it. So maybe she needed free rein to do whatever she wanted to do, Vision felt pity and decided to stop being the mom and to start being a friend. But Vision's thoughts were soon interrupted by a microscopic voice.

"Hey! Watch where you're going Bigfoot!" Vision was startled and looked down in shock,

"Oh sorry, I didn't see you down there, I'm Vision, goddess of books and literature, you would think my vision would be better," she said with a smile, but she could see the annoyance in the tiny goddesses face.

"I'm Eos, goddess of beans, you'd think I'd be bigger," a grim smirk crossed the goddesses face but Vision only felt offended. "You almost stepped on me and three of my children!"

"I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone lived out here," Vision said.

"Most people don't know because I like to keep to myself," said the annoyed goddess.

"Well then, I should be on my way," Vision said, "I'm sorry to bother you."

Vision walked away watching her steps in case there were any other tiny people living in the wheat fields.

Borydius skipped along the stony path with of course a book in her hand. She finally found a nice place to settle under a tree as if it was a kings high chair, and opened her book at the beginning already having read the book five times. But her peace was disturbed by Damion's giggles behind her tree. Setting the book down she turned her head to peer around the tree, but saw nothing which made her even more annoyed. Borydius finally got up and anxiously walked around the tree looking for the boy, but again saw nothing. She muttered under her breath and turned around to pick up her book, to her surprise it wasn't there.

"Damion, seriously!" Borydius yelled up to the giggles coming from the top of the tree. "I want it back," she said scowling.

"No!" More giggles came from the tree.

"Ah! Fine I will come up there and grab it then." A rush of anger flowed through her as she vigorously started climbing the tree.

"You will never catch me," he teased. But Borydius didn't care, that was her book, the book her mom had given to her for her 12th birthday. She was almost there when Damion threw the book; it glided through the air and landed with a thud on the ground building a pile of dust.

Forgetting Damion she started another journey down the tree, trying to avoid the tree bark Damion was throwing on her. Slowly she climbed down making sure she wasn't looking at how far down she had to go, she was terrified of heights. Her mom had died being off the ground, falling from an unbearable height, and her father died soon after that from grief, leaving Borydius with Vision. Borydius was scared, not wanting to go any further while the memories clouded her consciousness and clung to the tree for dear life. Just as she looked up at Damion, a tree limb came barreling down straight toward her his face sketched with fear. She was too petrified to move and she watched as the limb came down and took her from the tree, she was flying. Although she was petrified, she had peace and knew she wouldn't survive the fall. As she was airborne, she saw her mother and father and was happy she would be soon with them, embracing them in her arms once again.

While Vision entered the woods on her way back home, a horrifying scream caught her ears, and she sprinted toward the noise. Once she came upon it, she stood frozen at the figure sprawled out on the ground.

"Vision?" Borydius croaked.

"I'm right here," she said, looking over Borydius and the numerous scratches from the tree.

"Can you please grab my book, and dust it off?"

Vision smiled and nodded, a tear rolled down her cheek as Borydius closed her eyes.

"You will always be with the books." Vision choked down her tears as she placed her hand on Borydius forehead. And suddenly they both disappeared.

Damion had no idea what happened but he for once in his life felt sorry for someone and was mad at himself, "If I wouldn't have messed around she would still be here." A tiny tear rolled slipped away as he started climbing down the tree.

Vision lifted her head when a knock came from the door; she had been grieving over the loss of Borydius and didn't like the thought of visitors. Even her own friends had been pushed away. She crawled over to the door and opened it; there stood Damion, his eyes full of tears.

"I'm sorry," he said, "It's my fault she's gone." He hung his head and Vision embraced him in her arms.

"I miss her so much, but she will always be with us," Vision said as she invited him in. He walked with her to a bookcase and stopped, Vision pointed to a book and it flew into her hand. There was the Ying and the Yang on the cover.

"This is her spirit; I made her into a book so her life story can always be remembered." Damion smiled and took the book from Vision and held it in his arms.

"I will read you always," Damion whispered, "You are my never-ending story."

Rap Goddess

By Jake

On December 11, 2002 in chops village, New England, it is a very noisy place to from the old broken amc gremlins and Pontiac Aztecs driving around towing horses and hay also there was screaming goats and the sound of gun fights. Chops village was a very odd town and a very pretty town to, and in 1911 chops town was founded by hong-dong form carry china. It was a town for farming, luxury, and sports. The two main characters that lived in a crap shack in the king-supers in chops village were the rap god Mrs. Ashe and Rick the screaming goat. Rap god, Mrs. Ashe, bought the goat for fifty cents from a farmer named khan- khan. After Mrs. Ashe bought the goat, she trained it to scream.

One day, while Mrs. Ashe was sleeping in her crap shack in King-supers, she heard the goat groan. Mrs. Ashe woke up right away and gave the goat a treat. Later that day, Hades, the god, was shopping at King-supers thrift store. He saw Mrs. Ashe's house from the pharmacy of King-supers. He knocked on the plastic door to their house, and the screaming goat answered. The screaming goat screamed. Hades told the goat, "Is there anyone in there with you?"

The goat screamed, "Yes!" Then, Mrs. Ashe came.

"Do you want a challenge?" Hades asked. Mrs. Ashe and the screaming goat accepted the challenge.

Their practice place was at Junkyard mall in Chops Village, New England. The first practice they worked on was the stretch challenge to make sure the goat could do the splits with all four legs. Challenge number two was the fire challenge to see if the 1500 degree fire would make the goat dance, and the goat got in the fire, and it made him break dance. Finally, challenge three was the goat screamed while Hades was milking him and the goat screamed and kicked hades with his to Hine legs and sent hades flying through the mall and he landed on a fat grandma in a wheel chair with her fat pussy, tabby cat. Hades apologized to the fat grandma and the grandma burped at 100 decibels for a minute straight, and then she said, "Sorry, excuse me, that's okay."

After winning three challenges Hades offered Mrs. Ashe and the screaming goat to perform at half time at the 2003 Super Bowl. During the half time show the goat and Mrs. Ashe went on stage to compete with the other screaming goats. The first goat to go up is Mrs. Ashe's goat, he screams at the top of his lungs for a minute straight and the fans go crazy. The other goats screamed but could not scream as loud and long as Mrs. Ashe's goat.

When all the goats had performed the announcer asked the fans to vote for their favorite goat. Mrs. Ashe's goat wins and the crowd goes crazy. Mrs. Ashe feels like a million buck and won a trip to Paris.
Dead Flesh Rising

By Kros

Why is it as cold down here in the underworld, I wondered as I watched Hades turn Shalisa into a weird, bloody man eating monster. She was my sister, and I wanted her back! I want to do anything to stop hades from hurting my sister.

Wait, where did she go? She was just here. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! She bit my? My legs started to feel like jelly and I fell on the hard floor. I yelled at my sister to get back but she wouldn't. I said no please, and all of a sudden she fell, and I saw that in her back of her neck was a knife. I ripped my sweatshirt into a rags to stop the bleeding. I tried this for an hour but there was no breathing or movement. I couldn't accept the fact that I just lost my sister forever. I never thought of something like this would ever happen to me. I was still curious where the knife came from.

I would stop at nothing to hunt down the person who did this! My neck was bleeding very badly and it was very hard to see all the sudden it got hard to stand. I was blacking out. This is this the last time I would see my own hands.

I blacked out, and I then awoke in a bed strapped down. A man told me that I was going to turn any minute.

Two hours later, I was still living and breathing. Was I human or did I die and I just think I was alive? I was so scared and cold I feel like as cold as a ghost. Why was everything going dark? When I woke up again, this time everything was a mess - papers everywhere, and this time I could see the light. I was in a room full of dead bodies and when I walked outside I saw something like my sister, and I smiled. The creatures looked bloody and mean they all started running after me. One got to me, and hurt, I tried to limp away. It was no use. They were too fast, and I tripped. They all sunk their teeth in to my warm flesh, and it was over. I was screaming in pain, and I watched them all tear apart my flesh and gut. By this time, it was too hard to scream, and I wanted to end my days with some peace and quiet. I slowly closed my eyes and fell asleep for all eternity.

Sharks, Whirlpools, and Tsunamis Oh My!

By Bill Cutchens

Once upon a time, there lived a god named Poseidon that lived in the Pacific Ocean near California. The town near Poseidon's house was opening a new beach. Poseidon, the grumpy old god, hated socializing and didn't want to do anything with anyone. That day, everything altered for him. A fresh, sparkling beach just opened and it was summer time. People were electrified that they could finally go swimming, so the beach was always crowded.

Poseidon was out of his home and he was getting food for himself at the appealing restaurant called Square Grouper Bar and Grill.

Poseidon said, "I would like to order a double cheeseburger with extra fries and a kid's toy."

" Um... this is where I provide you your table," said the confused waiter," and we don't have kids toys."

Poseidon grumbled disappointedly," I assumed you guys were a five star restaurant," and he sauntered away.

Poseidon then found a McDonalds nearby and went in.

"Double cheeseburger with extra fries and a kid's toy." said Poseidon.

The waitress replied," Okay that would be $4.95."

When his food was prepared, Poseidon grabbed it and left back for the unkind seas. Later that night, the people were swimming in the ocean and keeping him awake. To solve the problem, Poseidon sent out his five most ravenous sharks to scare away the people. The people fled in a fury not to get eaten. The next night, the people were still keeping him awake. He decided to send a whirling whirlpool to suck up the people and make them leave. This worked until the next day. Before, Poseidon was going to sleep but he realized that even more people were in the ocean than the other nights. Poseidon went out to the people to try and scare them away himself. Later on, the night of the patriotic Fourth of July, everybody was at the beach and was swimming. Poseidon was furious. Because Poseidon was so angry that he couldn't fall asleep, he sent a tsunami to get rid of everyone. Poseidon thought for sure no one would go swimming in the Pacific again. But he was wrong.

Then, the town was stuck. The town was abolished from the tsunami and the people had to clean up the colossal mess it created. It had toppled buildings, flooded streets, and collapsed houses. The people sent some scuba divers to see what was down in the ocean causing all the disasters. The scientists figured out that the disasters were coming from Poseidon. They sent scuba divers to retrieve him and they asked him if he could come talk to them. Poseidon agreed and they conversed their problem on the beach.

"Why are you sending all of these disasters towards us," asked the scuba divers.

"Because you guys are always swimming, you are keeping me awake," answered Poseidon.

"Oh. Do you know what we could do to help you?" said the scuba divers.

"Ya! Stop swimming!" shouted the angry Poseidon.

"Whoa," said the scuba divers," No need to get angry. We can't do anything to stop the people from swimming out to far. We will try to limit the maximum amount of people that can come to the beach from now on."

"Hm...I guess that would be okay," replied Poseidon.

"Okay, does this mean that you will stop sending those disasters?" questioned the scuba diver.

"Sure," said the ingenious Poseidon," whatever you say."

Poseidon had just diligently created a magnificent plan. He had just deceived them into believing he wouldn't send any more disasters. He promised not as many, but he still will send lethal sharks, whirlpools, and vast tsunamis.

The Origin of Cheesecake

By Jenny Nguyen

Our story begins with a very minor Greek god. His name was Syncretim. He spent his days merging very different objects, but they ended up being a major part of society. The butterfly, the rainbow, sand dollar, and the starfish, along with much more were invented by him. Syncretim resided in a rift valley, also made by him, in a skyscraper. Everything that became two words in one was pretty much made by him.

One day, he was sitting in his lounge chair when he got an Iris message. It was from Zeus.

"Syncretim, I want you to host this year's God Gathering. We are all hoping for a good party. And everyone is praying it be better than last year...with the cats...and the cannons... cats were made not to fly for a reason..."Zeus shuddered," I'm still having nightmares. We are hoping for some outstanding food and entertainment. We are all depending on you. Hope it's truly a show stopper! I have it planned for tonight. Oh, and by the way, if you fail us, let's just say, that you will become everything you have created. At the same time... Well, goodbye now!"

Syncretim was scared now. Mainly because of the mentioning of last year's party, but also, he didn't want to be a mutant sand dollar, rainbow, butterfly starfish.

"Wait a second, did Zeus say... tonight?" he thought. That was an hour and a half away. Syncretim ran to his magically cooled food chest. He opened the creaky door and looked inside. Now he was trembling. It contained a partially eaten vanilla cake and a hunk of Monterey Jack cheese. He still had to plan activities and decorate his house. There was no time to go shopping!

All of his well-dressed man-servants were summoned to plan activities. Syncretim started decorating. There were skulls and plants and lightning. Something to make everyone happy. His man-servants had bobbing for nectar, a best power competition, and a chariot race around the valley.

He concluded to ask the local nymphs if they had seen any fruit or any type of food around. They said that they had only seen a raspberry bush about a quarter mile down the valley.

"Could you please go fetch some for me?" Syncretim asked, "I have been assigned to host this year's god gathering. I haven't gone shopping since last month. All I have is some cheese and a partially eaten cake. Anything will do. Could you also get some nectar? You know it is us god's favorite drink."

"We would love to help!" said the nymphs in unison, "we saw that you have an unfinished chariot course, too. We would enjoy finishing that, with some added twists!"

"Thank you so much," said Syncretim.

When Syncretim arrived back at his skyscraper, he saw dust rising in the distance. The gods were beginning to arrive.

The first one to arrive was Aphrodite, dressed beautifully as always. After that was the Big Three. They had decided to race, starting at the top of Mount Olympus and ending in Syncretim's pansies. Zeus barely won, but mainly because his brothers didn't want to be incinerated and sent to Tartarus. Zeus had a short fuse. After about 15 minutes, everyone had arrived.

"Now, Syncretim, let's begin the activities! What's first?" inquired Zeus.

"First we have bobbing for nectar," Syncretim answered, "then we will have a competition to see who has the best power, finally, we have a chariot race." The last one got many cheers.

"Let us begin, then!" yelled Zeus.

The man-servants led all of the activities while Syncretim pondered what to do about food.

"Maybe he could ask Dionysus for some wine, after all, he is the god of parties. No, if Zeus found out, he would be in trouble for not having the party organized by himself," Syncretim thought.

He kept thinking through the best power, who was won by Demeter because, if it weren't for her, the insignificant little Human's plants wouldn't grow and the gods would have no sacrifices. He continued pondering. He had some raspberries, a partially eaten cake, and a hunk of cheese. The chariot race was almost finished, and the gods would want some good food. He started pacing. Back and forth. Back and forth. Athena had won with her superior strategy and battle techniques. The top placing gods were receiving their prized laurel wreaths. What is so important about them anyway? It's just a branch from a tree. They were walking towards the skyscraper. He had no ideas. Nothing. Syncretim asked his favorite nymph what he should do.

"Well, you are the god of combining things, right?" the nymph said.

"Yeah... where are you going with this? Do you think I should combine the gods into one?"

"No, I'm saying that you should combine the cheese and the cake to make an umm..."

"Cakecheese!"

"OK, a cakecheese, and put a raspberry sauce on it."

"Thank you so much. You're a genius!" exclaimed Syncretim, the combiner of all.

"Could I try some of it later, since I was kinda the person who umm... thought of it?"

"Absolutely! In fact, you will get the first slice!"

The gods began strolling in.

"Syncretim! We are hoping for some great food! Syncretim!? Where are you?" bellowed Zeus from downstairs.

"Up here Lord Zeus! I am just finishing up!" then, quickly to the nymph, "Could you begin making the sauce? I will make the cakecheese."

"Absolutely, master Syncretim," replied the nymph.

Syncretim rushed to the food chest. He grabbed the cheese and the cake and began the combining. Mashing and smashing. Finally, he used his magic to finish the process. It was white and it had a crust, like a pie. Hmm. Maybe he had some leftover graham cracker on the counter. Too late now to change anything. He ran to the nymph and dumped on the sauce. It looked... tasty! He ran downstairs and began speaking:

"As you all know, I am the god of combining things. I have decided to take a chance with a new type of cake. My nymph friend here helped me with the idea. Thus, she will get the first slice." There were many cheers. "After her, everyone will form a line beginning with Zeus."

He handed a slice to the nymph, and, after a few minutes, everybody had a slice.

"To Syncretim!" yelled Dionysus.

"To Syncretim!" everybody else said in unison while the clanging sound of nectar glasses filled the air.

"What, exactly, is this cake called?" asked Aphrodite, after taking her first bite.

"Well, my nymph friend and I call it cakecheese because it is a mix between cake and cheese. What do all of you think?"

"Hmm... Cakecheese... wouldn't that be aged cake?" asked Poseidon, a slight look of disgust on his face.

"I guess..." Syncretim replied.

"How about," Poseidon said, "Cheesecake!"

"I like it," answered Syncretim, happily.

"All in favor of cakecheese?" bellowed Zeus.

No one answered.

"Cheesecake?"

Everybody cheered with more clanging of nectar glasses.

"You have done great, Syncretim," Zeus said in a low voice, "Who knows, maybe I'll have you host next year's God Gathering."

"I think one time each millennia is enough for me, Lord Zeus."

Everybody devoured their delectable cheesecake and asked for the recipe. Syncretim even had his nymph friend disguised as a human to bring the wonder of cheesecake to all.

Shadow and Agape

By Kevin C

Long ago, there was a tiny Greek city state called Abila, located 13 kilometers northeast of Irbid. The civilization was full of kind people and the dazzling blue skies were decorated with soft, white clouds that spread happiness and joy throughout the land. Golden colored trees stood firm alongside the dark roads, decorating the ground with bright, flashing leaves. The city was quiet and peaceful making the place seem like an abandoned city state that no one lives in anymore. Abila was located near the sea giving the small city a pleasing scent that followed you wherever you went. The people of this alluring place took care of nature and nature took care of anything living in Abila by giving pounds of sweet fruit for the people to eat. The natural surroundings gave the city a prepossessing look dazzling any weary visitors that happen to pass by. All the citizens were kind and happy except for one lonely man, his name was Shadow. This particular person was not so popular because of his horrifying looks, a curse given by the god of the underworld to punish him for his horrible deeds. Shadow had crooked, decaying teeth, short, orange hair, a crooked face, and he looked very short. Depressed, Shadow felt alone and unhappy, and each day, he would sit down on a chair in his colossal mansion and stare out the window. He had no visitors nor any friends because no one could stand his ugly looks. But along came Agape, a beautiful women who was the daughter of great Zeus, who was very attractive and charming. She had long, curly light brown hair and had perfect, white teeth. Agape was tall and wore beautiful clothes making every man fall in love with her at first sight. This included Shadow, who also immediately fell in love with her at first sight while he took a stroll outside in his yard. But because of how unattractive he was, Agape disliked him and wanted to stay away from him.

"Hey there! Haven't seen you before. You want me to show you around?"

"Get away you hideous monster," she would snarl at Shadow whenever he tried to approach her. Agape barely knew Shadow, and Shadow attempted to stay away from her because of how ugly he was, but he sometimes tried to impress her or get her attention, but it would never work. Zeus, the ruler of the gods, and cruel Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love, both contributed in their relationship, and while Zeus tried to make situations better, Aphrodite was trying to mess them up just for her entertainment.

One day, Shadow couldn't stand Agape's hate on him for his unattractiveness, so he decided to seek for Aphrodite's advice. Shadow thought that the goddess of love would surely help him get Agape's attention. He travelled up the steps to the temple and made a sacrifice to the goddess Aphrodite. "I beg of you, Aphrodite. Please help me get Agape to love me," he pleaded, and soon enough, and his prayers worked. As elegant Aphrodite diligently floated down to the ground, Shadow gazed at her in awe after seeing her appearance. The goddess wore a sparkling long dress, shining as she hovered through the air, she looked extravagant. For a moment, the world stopped and stared at her beauty. The goddess leaned over to murmur into Shadow's ear, she secretly told him a plan that could possibly work. The charming goddess then retreated back to Olympus and drifted away until she was imperceptible. Shadow was very zealous about what Aphrodite murmured into his ear, and he went straight to work.

The wealthy man went to various street markets and shops and used all of his money to purchase masks and oodles of riches, and he made sure that he bought the most beautiful of them all. Shadow mumbled, "I hope this works," as thousands after thousands of dollars were being wasted on jewelry and anything expensive. He began to doubt this idea, but as he began to think about everything that could go wrong, he started to rethink and began to regret this plan.

"It will work, trust me," Aphrodite convincingly whispered telepathically. If what Aphrodite said was true, then Shadow would be the most jubilant man to ever live. After he got all of his supplies, he began to plot out his attack like a general, meticulously scrutinizing a map and deciding where to attack the enemy. He argued with himself before finally coming to an agreement with one plan. Shadow was still unsure about this plan of Aphrodite's, but he reluctantly went along with her idea. During all this time, the dazzling goddess sat on Olympus, chortling to herself, waiting for the show to begin.

Evening came sooner than expected, as hard-working Helios must have been tired that day from dragging his chariot across the sky. As Agape was coming back from work, she headed home fatigued from all the work she had done at her job. A dark figure quietly traced her steps, slinking around the corner of buildings and hiding inside alleyways, watching Agape tiredly walking back home. She was way too tired to hear the rustle going on behind her, making her vulnerable to the human figure following her wherever she went. Suddenly, Agape turned the corner only to find the figure in front of her, wearing a dark mask representing the great hero, Hercules. The person wore a hood that made most of his face dark, but the most perplexing part about this person was all the watches and jewelry hanging from his pockets.

Agape immediately fell in love with the riches, and was even more blithe when the person opened her palm and dumped all the pretty jewels onto the palm of her hand, shining as the shower of millions of dollars fell from the figures own hand. But as the man in the mask took the costume off, she squealed and shoved him away. She dropped all the riches and ran like a cheetah, she was running for her precious life.

"Monster!" she shrieked as tons of people stared at her perplexed thinking that she was a lunatic. Poor Shadow! He was left in the dust and began to wail. Tears streamed down his face like a river and covered his dusty clothes with many drops of water. It began to rain so everybody began to take cover under their roofs leaving Shadow by himself outside.

"Curse you Aphrodite!" he cried out sadly, and slowly taking step after step, he wept his way back home. Shadow locked his bedroom door and wouldn't let anyone in, not even his own family members. Shadow hated himself for trusting Aphrodite, but he especially hated Hades for making him so ugly in the first place.

Day after day, Shadow wouldn't dine or drink, and he became as skinny as a bone, his face becoming sharper and sharper each day, and he became weaker.

"Leave me alone!" he would yell at the door whenever anyone tried to give him food to eat. Aphrodite chuckled and cackled as she watched Shadow suffer, crying and bawling day after day. Thoughtful Zeus became aware of the situation and warned Aphrodite to stop meddling with the mortals, but the words seemed to just bounce off of Aphrodite, she didn't care for mortals anyways. Zeus knew that arguing wouldn't get him anywhere with the goddess of love, but he had a big heart for the tiny humans, so he often visited Shadow to comfort him. Shadow didn't care for anything anymore, all hope was lost for him. When he finally closed his eyes forever, Zeus felt bad for him and decided to return him back to earth again. Hades, however, didn't want Shadow to return and finally came to an agreement on letting part of him back to the world with rivers and forests.

As the miserable man awoke, he found himself on the ground, he didn't have a physical body and he didn't have a certain shape anymore. He wandered around, looking into mirrors and realizing that he still had his horrifying face and couldn't stand for anyone to see it.

"Why keep me in this world," he questioned, "this is the worst punishment you could give me." Getting no reply, he became frightened, for people were coming. Shadow quickly hid behind a crate, making sure that he stayed away from the light. He crept upstairs when no one was looking and hopped out the window, he finally escaped the house. Soon enough, he began to wander around the world, exploring every place and everywhere like a tourist. Shadow spread out and saw every inch of the world. He would dive behind people and objects, taking their form on the ground to blend in with the background and to hide his actual face. To this day, Shadow hides behind people, staying away from the light for he fears that it will reveal how ugly he is. He can be found anywhere, in the cities, inside a forest, or even inside your very own house, and he still is hiding from everything.

The Real Olympians of Greece

By Jack

My wife is Aphrodite and we've been married for a couple of centuries. Well, she convinces me to do everything that has to do with other gods, goddesses, mortals, and monsters.

One day, she decided we should go to a party, where I could 'socialize'. She was wearing a violet dress, with amethyst covering the whole thing. She wore an amazing strawberry perfume that smelled like a fresh field. We walked into Dionysus' house, where the party had already started. Zeus, who was wearing some was off flirting somewhere, and Hera was looking for him angrily. Aphrodite went off to get us some drinks, so I wandered around awkwardly. Suddenly, Artemis and Apollo started fighting.

"I'm the better archer!" Artemis screeched

"No, I am literally the god of archery!" Apollo yelled.

I tried to thoroughly avoid them, so decided to go to the kitchen to find Aphrodite so we could leave. Time seemed to slow down, as I reached my hand to the door. The golden oak looked majestic, with carvings of grapevines on it. The door creaked open, and I saw Aphrodite. She stood, with a massive smile on her face. But then she leaned forward. I opened the door even more, and saw.

Aphrodite and Ares were kissing. I ran in, and shoved him away from my wife. She looked shocked, like she didn't realize who I was for a minute. Then, her brain registered who I was, and why I was here.

"What the Hades is going on here?" My voice got louder and louder, as I got angrier and angrier, like a mad bull.

"Oh... Hephaestus. I didn't know you were here." Said Ares, with a disgusted tone in his voice as if he just saw an old rotting steak.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Just because I'm not here, doesn't mean you can go smooching my wife!" I yelled

"Well, we've been doing it for the past century, so I don't see why not!" I looked at Aphrodite, with a look of betrayal.

My hands set ablaze, and I thrust the burning flames at Ares. He dodged it quickly, pulled out a microscopic knife, and lunged at me. The second he made contact with me, his skin burned, and he fell to the ground.

He got up, popped his jaw, and then lunged at me again. Aphrodite watched in horror of the events that unfolded. She screamed for us to stop, sobbing on her knees, but we still were lunging at each other, time after time.

At some point, I was bruised, and my body covered in cuts and scrapes from his knife. I grabbed a cup of nectar, chugged it, and then started fighting again. The battle, never ending. I threw flames, he threw himself, and Aphrodite screamed at us to stop, and that it was all her fault, and that she never should have started dating him.

All of a sudden, the room shuddered, then Zeus walked in. He looked at us, with a look like was ashamed of us in his eyes.

"You two. I am ashamed at all three of you. Especially you," he pointed at Aphrodite, "Now, you two idiots, you are coming with me. Now."

We walked away from the house. Through the kitchen window, I could see Hera comforting Aphrodite, hugging her. That girl deserved worse. We reached the Throne Room, which was magnificent under the moons light. There were twelve columns, each made of gold, and each had one of the twelve gods, carved into it.

"Ares, come with me inside now. Hephaestus, wait out here." Zeus said

I sat, for what seemed ages. The smell of grass was filling my nose. I looked at the moon, and saw Selina's chariot, soaring in the sky. It bathed a silver light over Olympus, making it look amazing. Then Ares came out, with an angry look on his face.

I stood up, and walked into the throne room, to find Zeus sitting on his throne, thinking about what to do.

"Hephaestus. My son, I'm sorry." Zeus looked at me with grief in his eyes.

"Father, it's ok. You couldn't have known that this was happening." I looked at him

"But... the thing is... we did know." Zeus admitted. That was it. Something inside me, at that moment snapped like a twig.

I wanted to punch Zeus right now. But I didn't. I tried to collecting myself, but I couldn't. Zeus came down from his throne, about to trying to... I don't know what, but an inferno spun around me, making it so that he couldn't get near me.

I walked outside, and saw nobody. Ares must have gone back to the party, so I went to Dionysus' house. I burst open the door, finding all the other gods, partying. I found Ares, dancing with Aphrodite. So, I did what I thought was right. I punched him. And punched. I was about to punch him again, when Aphrodite grabbed my hand.

"Hephaestus... I'm so sorry. This is all my fault." She said, looking dead in my eyes

"Yeah. It really is." I heated up my hand, causing her to have to let go.

I looked at her eyes, and felt my fiery rage recede. All the gods were looking at me and Aphrodite like a TV show. I stormed out of the house, and my body turned to air. Next thing I knew, I was in my forges. I grabbed my hammer, and smashed it, repeatedly against the wall.

Then she appeared. She glanced at me, with a sad look. I was so tempted to chuck my hammer at her right then and there. But I didn't. I heard her out.

"Hephaestus. I- I don't love you." She whispered

"I know. Oh trust me, I know," My body heated up more and more, "So then why did you marry me then?"

"Because... Because you can make me beautiful things. Like necklaces, rings, earrings. Everything. I was in the rush of the moment when I started talking to you." She was sobbing on her knees.

"Get out!" The furnaces spewed fire at her.

When she didn't move, I hurled my hammer at her. She yelped, and was gone, right before the hammer struck her.

I rarely left my forge, only when meetings were called by Zeus. When I did go to the meetings, I ignored Aphrodite and Ares. Nobody talked to me, and I didn't talk to anybody. Slowly I withered away, becoming the guilt a person or god feels, when they know they're doing something they shouldn't be doing, making them feel like they have a gaping hole in their stomach.

My wife is Aphrodite and we've been married for a couple of centuries. Well, she convinces me to do everything that has to do with other gods, goddesses, mortals, and monsters.

One day, she decided we should go to a party, where I could 'socialize'. She was wearing a violet dress, with amethyst covering the whole thing. She wore an amazing strawberry perfume that smelled like a fresh field. We walked into Dionysus' house, where the party had already started. Zeus, who was wearing some was off flirting somewhere, and Hera was looking for him angrily. Aphrodite went off to get us some drinks, so I wandered around awkwardly. Suddenly, Artemis and Apollo started fighting.

"I'm the better archer!" Artemis screeched

"No, I am literally the god of archery!" Apollo yelled.

I tried to thoroughly avoid them, so decided to go to the kitchen to find Aphrodite so we could leave. Time seemed to slow down, as I reached my hand to the door. The golden oak looked majestic, with carvings of grapevines on it. The door creaked open, and I saw Aphrodite. She stood, with a massive smile on her face. But then she leaned forward. I opened the door even more, and saw.

Aphrodite and Ares were kissing. I ran in, and shoved him away from my wife. She looked shocked, like she didn't realize who I was for a minute. Then, her brain registered who I was, and why I was here.

"What the Hades is going on here?" My voice got louder and louder, as I got angrier and angrier, like a mad bull.

"Oh... Hephaestus. I didn't know you were here." Said Ares, with a disgusted tone in his voice as if he just saw an old rotting steak.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Just because I'm not here, doesn't mean you can go smooching my wife!" I yelled

"Well, we've been doing it for the past century, so I don't see why not!" I looked at Aphrodite, with a look of betrayal.

My hands set ablaze, and I thrust the burning flames at Ares. He dodged it quickly, pulled out a microscopic knife, and lunged at me. The second he made contact with me, his skin burned, and he fell to the ground.

He got up, popped his jaw, and then lunged at me again. Aphrodite watched in horror of the events that unfolded. She screamed for us to stop, sobbing on her knees, but we still were lunging at each other, time after time.

At some point, I was bruised, and my body covered in cuts and scrapes from his knife. I grabbed a cup of nectar, chugged it, and then started fighting again. The battle, never ending. I threw flames, he threw himself, and Aphrodite screamed at us to stop, and that it was all her fault, and that she never should have started dating him.

All of a sudden, the room shuddered, then Zeus walked in. He looked at us, with a look like was ashamed of us in his eyes.

"You two. I am ashamed at all three of you. Especially you," he pointed at Aphrodite, "Now, you two idiots, you are coming with me. Now."

We walked away from the house. Through the kitchen window, I could see Hera comforting Aphrodite, hugging her. That girl deserved worse. We reached the Throne Room, which was magnificent under the moons light. There were twelve columns, each made of gold, and each had one of the twelve gods, carved into it.

"Ares, come with me inside now. Hephaestus, wait out here." Zeus said

I sat, for what seemed ages. The smell of grass was filling my nose. I looked at the moon, and saw Selina's chariot, soaring in the sky. It bathed a silver light over Olympus, making it look amazing. Then Ares came out, with an angry look on his face.

I stood up, and walked into the throne room, to find Zeus sitting on his throne, thinking about what to do.

"Hephaestus. My son, I'm sorry." Zeus looked at me with grief in his eyes.

"Father, it's ok. You couldn't have known that this was happening." I looked at him

"But... the thing is... we did know." Zeus admitted. That was it. Something inside me, at that moment snapped like a twig.

I wanted to punch Zeus right now. But I didn't. I tried to collecting myself, but I couldn't. Zeus came down from his throne, about to trying to... I don't know what, but an inferno spun around me, making it so that he couldn't get near me.

I walked outside, and saw nobody. Ares must have gone back to the party, so I went to Dionysus' house. I burst open the door, finding all the other gods, partying. I found Ares, dancing with Aphrodite. So, I did what I thought was right. I punched him. And punched. I was about to punch him again, when Aphrodite grabbed my hand.

"Hephaestus... I'm so sorry. This is all my fault." She said, looking dead in my eyes

"Yeah. It really is." I heated up my hand, causing her to have to let go.

I looked at her eyes, and felt my fiery rage recede. All the gods were looking at me and Aphrodite like a TV show. I stormed out of the house, and my body turned to air. Next thing I knew, I was in my forges. I grabbed my hammer, and smashed it, repeatedly against the wall.

Then she appeared. She glanced at me, with a sad look. I was so tempted to chuck my hammer at her right then and there. But I didn't. I heard her out.

"Hephaestus. I- I don't love you." She whispered

"I know. Oh trust me, I know," My body heated up more and more, "So then why did you marry me then?"

"Because... Because you can make me beautiful things. Like necklaces, rings, earrings. Everything. I was in the rush of the moment when I started talking to you." She was sobbing on her knees.

"Get out!" The furnaces spewed fire at her.

When she didn't move, I hurled my hammer at her. She yelped, and was gone, right before the hammer struck her.

I rarely left my forge, only when meetings were called by Zeus. When I did go to the meetings, I ignored Aphrodite and Ares. Nobody talked to me, and I didn't talk to anybody. Slowly I withered away, becoming the guilt a person or god feels, when they know they're doing something they shouldn't be doing, making them feel like they have a gaping hole in their stomach.

Deep in the Village

By Caven K.

Deep in the village of Langor, there were many men and women that went missing. People believed that, since the village was located by the Langor Mountains, the Chimera's land, it is the home of the one and only Chimera. The land was made of bones and there was a mysterious cave where the beast's giant footsteps led into. People that saw this beast said it had two heads and a serpent's tail. A goat head and a lion head. In the village, the population was 5,000 men and woman 10 years ago. Then it was 1,000 people. King of the village, named king Inatro, said the Chimera was the final straw that he can't rule such a small village.

"This village is falling apart, we need to destroy this beast" Inatro pounded his fist on the table during the meeting of the Chieftains.

King Inatro and his men decided to go after the mighty beast that they named Hades Beast.  
Mighty announcer, Jinefro, shouted," The king will take a crew of the strongest men to take out the Chimera. If you want to join, you must prove you are worthy. So, if you are up for a challenge, come over here. If not, go back to your lives."

After an hour of waiting for the crowed of the men to become a great amount, the head people had narrowed it down to the best people for the journey. Who they had was Jinefro the announcer, Lynes the archer, and the Zeus man who was named this because he was as strong as Zeus and was handy with electricity, and they also best with a sword, king Inatro. Now since they have their crew, they will have to get their supplies for the journey and have to train to use their abilities to the max.

Jiefro announced," my crew and I will be departing to get the Hades beast and bring its heads to the king to feast on. We will be gone for no longer than a month. Until then the mighty Ares will watch over you all. Until our return."

That group of men withdraw through the crowd of the citizens of Langor. Just before they parted, a scream rampaged through the crowed.

"The Chimera!" They scattered back into their houses.

When the scream reached the announcer, He said" I will chase after the beast on my own. I can handle it."

Since he was gone in a flash, the king had no time to tell him to not go. He was out of sight with the Chimera.

The Zeus Man said," Let's retrieve the beast and our friend!"

The group of men went out into the forest to retrieve their friend and to destroy the Hades beast.

After about a week of searching, they found the axe that Jinefro used as a weapon. This lead that their dearest friend was gone. They decided to still go after the Chimera even though the men thought it was a crazy idea.

At last they came to the land where the most sightings occurred. The king first stepped than in a flash, he was swiped. Then they saw the Chimera on a cliff. Just then the arrow that was fired by Lynes hit the beast but had no effect. It just made it angrier. Then with a shock a light came from above and then the Chimera was turned into a Cheeseburger. Then all the people the Chimera took came back. And since all the people have returned to their families, all the town was happy and for the Chimera, It was turned into the one and only Cheeseburger. The king ate the cheeseburger and then declared that is the only food that he will eat. That is how the cheeseburger came to be.

The High Sky

By Owen Cornmesser

The snow fell harder and faster, and the white ground seemed to get higher every second as Fomus tip toed across the tundra towards the pack of polar bears. He smiled as he examined the bears more carefully and saw their juicy fat. For good luck, he reached up and touched the clouds. This was a tradition Fomus did when he hunted. As a ferocious freezing wind swept over them, he clutched his arrow and cocked it in his bow. The polar bears huddled close together and ran in the cozy cave where it was warm. However, this caused the polar bears to be out of range from Fomus. As another 60 mph wind swept over them, he grunted in disbelief. No supper again for poor old Fomus. His frosty boots trudged back to his ice packed igloo.

Peering at Fomus and his missed target from Mount Olympus was Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and farming. She clenched her fists in fury because the villagers in Antarctica couldn't farm and were forced to starve.

Back at this time, 40000 BC, the sky was closer to the frosty ground, about 10 feet away from it. Anyone could have the pleasure of touching the clouds whenever they felt like it because they had a sensation as if they were getting the powers of Zeus, the lord of all gods and ruler of the sky. Since Zeus was the ruler of the sky, he was who Demeter consulted about her problem.

On top of Mount Olympus, Zeus sat in his pure gold throne. The walls, made of silver, platinum, and some flickers of titanium in spots, glistened in the background of almighty Zeus with his chinchilla skin coat. Demeter wobbled up to him in fear and opened her shaking mouth to speak.

"Lord Zeus, may I ask of a favor?" said Demeter in her most pleasing accent.

"Yes, you may, just ask it." responded the thunder god. Demeter got closer to him, her legs shaking as she walked. Stinky sweat poured down her face, but her sweet smell of fruit and corn concealed the disgusting smell.

"For the sake of the Antarctic villagers, could you let me give a blessing to them and put some common food like fruit and crops in the sky, for they can't farm and it's too cold to hunt. For the mortals sake, please let me deliver them food from the sky." Zeus sat back in his sparkling chair and pondered.

"I guess there is no harm coming out from this plan," spoke Zeus.

Demeter jumped in the air and sprinted around in circles because of her joy. She screamed like she was a teenager. Then, she summoned all of the food she could imagine into the fluffy white clouds of Antarctica.

"HOWEVER!" said Zeus in such a commanding voice that the whole earth could hear. "If this plan fails, then I shall do something you won't see coming. Something extreme. I stick to my word, little goddess."

Domus, another villager in Antarctica, awoke on a cold morning.

"Ugh. Another cold day in the tundra." He put on his fuzzy, polar bear skin boots and snow gear and traveled outside to meet a snowstorm. Wind blew the snow at 50 miles per hour. The snow was sharp and sometimes had some hail. In fact, on his first step, he fell over. While lying on the ground, hail pounded him in the face like a UFC fighter. The snow piled up on top of him until Domus was under the snow.

Domus looked up at the sun that just disappeared behind the clouds. He took his last breath, but then Domus suddenly caught something out of the corner of his eye. It glinted red like an apple. And then, to his left, more appeared, except now it was a pear. Not even noticing the storm now, he lifted himself out of the glittering snow, and then walked over to the pear, and carefully picked them out of the sky. He took a great big bite out of it, and found that it was worthy of the gods. He ran to tell all of the villagers.

"Everyone! Look! Look! Look at this blessing!" All of the arctic villagers came out of their igloos and took food from the sky, however, they only took what they needed, nothing more.

Fomus, an awful hunter, was astonished by this blessing of the gods. He too ran out of his ice made igloo like a lion chasing its prey. However, he felt so blessed, that once the food replenished in the sky, he took all of the food and kept it for himself, for he was greedy. So, every day, he took all of the food out of the sky and left nothing for the other villagers.

Zeus, seeing all of this selflessness, was seething with anger. He sent Hermes, the messenger god, to warn Fomus that if he did not share with the villagers that Zeus would execute Fomus, and would do something that punished the whole world for his actions. In about 5 minutes Hermes showed up to an ice packed igloo, who was owned by Fomus. Hermes let out the news, and Fomus jumped back in surprise.

"But I didn't do anything! All I did was eat!" yelled Fomus from the top of his lungs. "You can't punish me and the world for that!"

"Calm down sir, for I am merely a messenger god. That's what Zeus said, so get mad at him." He called in his chariot and was gone in a flash.

Two weeks later, Fomus was shaking in his frosty igloo. Not because of the cold, but because he was starving. Poor old Fomus didn't want to risk his death.

"Ha ha. You aren't going crazy Fomus, you aren't going crazy. You love not eating all of that juicy food. That delicious, juicy, bright, and fresh food. I hate that food. I hate all of it." He sounded like Gollum from Lord of the Rings. However, one day the poor soul couldn't take it anymore.

He pulled his blanket off of his body and hopped out of bed. He sprinted on all fours out into the open and grabbed all of the food in no more than five seconds. As soon as he got back to the igloo, he wolfed them down faster than a cheetah runs. Seeing no concerns, Fomus decided to go out for seconds. Again, he clutched all of the food with his brittle hands right out from the sky and sprinted back into his igloo and shoved it all down his throat. About as full as a hollow piece of wood, he took more food and ate it, then he came back for fourths, for fifths, for sixths, for sevenths. He kept on eating and eating like a hungry goat.

Up on Mount Olympus, Zeus's eyes beamed down on Fomus, clenching his fists. He disobeyed the ruler of all gods. Zeus had never seen more selflessness in one person. In fact, he was so mad that he brought his thunderbolt down to frigid Antarctica to teach Fomus a valuable lesson.

He stared down Fomus with eyes as cold as winter's night. Zeus pointed his thunderbolt at Fomus, took a deep breath in, and BOOM. Fomus dropped dead to the ground.

Even though Zeus killed Fomus, he still had not done his extreme punishment as he had sworn to do. He tapped the clouds three times and the clouds rose up, and up, and up. Now, you could not touch the clouds, but distantly see them, so the villagers could not have the sensation of having the powers of the gods. Fomus caused the weeping and starvation of all of the villagers, but not only in Antarctica, but all the way from London to California. Those people really enjoyed touching the misty clouds, but because the selflessness of one single person, they don't have their enjoyment. For some people, that's all the enjoyment they had because they had lost many relatives, and people that were close to them. It made them feel special. Zeus felt really bad about taking away their happiness, so instead of having the sky close to the ground, he had Poseidon make beautiful blue rivers and crystal clear lakes. And that is why we have rivers and lakes in our land.

The Tale of the Lynx

By Ava Perry

The time dragons came out of their daring caves, and the peaceful cranes lifted their heads as the roars upon Olympus rumbled fiercely for yet only animals to hear. No mortals pondered on the fierce land, and no war was on the rumbling earth. Rubbing his chin with great wonder, Zeus saw there was one animal missing from the [food chain yet to be put in, to keep the populations down. Peering up at the mighty Zeus, an animal messenger that had golden armor and a white chiseled look on her face, the soothing Lynx, named Lynx, yet the only one existing, bowed as she asked Zeus, " What are you planning oh mighty Zeus?"

Zeus still silent, after moments he said, "Don't you think there's one animal missing to the animal food chain, yet I see there are too many animals upon the crust of the wondrous Earth."

Agreeing, the beautiful patterned black, white, brown, and gray patterned lynx got up and said, "Yes, sir. I believe your statement is reliable."

Asking Zeus, the beautiful Lynx glared eye to eye with Zeus and the lynx asked, "Should I assemble a meeting for all the Gods and Goddesses to come help create this questionable animal?"

Gesturing Zeus said, "Alright, do your duties". With a warm gust of wind from the long shimmering wings of the lynx, she took off to go get the other Gods and Goddesses that were all gathered at an annual party. The noir tips of the Lynxes wings stood out like the sun of the day as she flew through the clouds, and she peered down at the party and she swooped down like a hawk.

Of course, Lynx timed a meeting for Zeus. Then the majestic Lynx flew back to Zeus and said, "Zeus, I've arranged a gathering, and it begins on morrow morning when the birds begin to sing".

"Well done," Zeus mentioned as he thanked the Lynx in great pleasure, but then Zeus asked, "Have you gone to the underworld to let my brother, Hades, know?"

the Lynx replied, "No sir," well Lynx try let Hades know and have him come, yet be careful for there is danger lurking through the dark hole leading to the deaths of thousands.

Nodding, the Lynx flew off and swooped down to earth as animals stared questioned why the mighty Lynx went to vanish into the underworld.

As the Lynx flew through the fog and mist of the dense afternoon, she went towards the entrance to the underworld and flew past the Styx, though her kind can pass without permission and no consequences.

Staring at the gate, the strikingly powerful guard, Cerberus, was in the way, yet not in fear the soft coated convincing Lynx walked past the beast as the beast was unsure to attack or not, then the gates opened as the beast, Cerberus, a three headed dog, backed up a bit and bowed for knowing the Lynx was a majestic strong creature.

Walking down the warred down hallway the Lynx saw Hades in his chair with an interested look on his face, walking up closer to Hades the Lynx said " Hades, I have been sent from Olympus to have you come to the gathering so the animal food chain can be complete, and the gathering will be on tomorrow morning,".

"Oh really, who will be there?" he said oddly to the Lynx. The Lynx then said suspiciously "all the Gods and Goddesses." A snicker upon Hades arise a black fog, the Lynx saw that the fog was approaching towards her. Then, trying to swoop away, black cold like tar hung on to her leg pulling her into the fog, moments later when the fog disappeared, and the Lynx was in a dark chamber with cold stale made with stonulusarachimesis (Stone-you-lus-are-a-keem-eh-sis) which was an unleashable metal steel bar cursed by the lord of the Underworld. It can only be broken by a certain spell.

Looking up at Hades, the lynx trembled, as she was unable to break out and fly off back to Olympus, Hades then in just glimpse, cursed her armor to turn into rock and lava with chains around her leg for then Hades could hold her back when she tried to fly away. Then Hades cursed the Lynx for then she couldn't cross the Styx anymore.

Morning arrived and the animals on the Earth's surface yet did not see the great Lynx fly back up to Olympus, then the birds began to sing in great sorrow.

But, as a sudden tremor, Hades arose out of the entrance of the Underworld riding on a black chariot pulled by two cold-hearted horses with the wings of a vulture clotting in the air to Olympus.

Zeus was waiting for Hades to come, and he nerve rackingly paced across the granite floor. In frustration Zeus clinched his hands and raised his arms but right before he was going to pound the ground and cause a storm, Hades arrived at the last second.

Zeus's hands an inch above the pearl fountain edges that spouted gold like a beautiful Hawaiian wave on the set of the sun. Hades landed on the smooth landing pavement with blue sparks springing up from the bottom of the chariot, and with a grin he got off then came up to Zeus and said "Greetings Zeus,"

Zeus replied, "Where have you been Hades!" "Why are you late I've been waiting for you?"

"I am truly sorry Zeus," with a look of disgust Hades said "Well let's begin the gathering," gesturing Hades continued, "Shall we?"

Walking through Zeus's palace, every God and Goddess was gathered.

But one sacred Goddess was missing which was the Lynx, down in the Underworld the Lynx thought of all the curses and spells she had been taught. Then with a relieved look on her face, she said a spell and the bars burned to ash. Then, the Lynx flew, yet right before she got to the Styx she remembered she was cursed not to cross it. So then the majestic Lynx asked the man who let people cross if she may go across, but the man said "yes, as long as you give me your golden armor for me to permit that".

With a sigh. The beautiful Lynx gave the Ferryman her armor and they went across the Styx. Finally, the Lynx reached the Earth's surface and the birds began to sing out of joy. Up in Olympus, Zeus questioned Hades, "Hades, where's Lynx?"

At the last second, the Lynx reached Olympus with a dragon by her side that had a glimmer of gold, and the Lynx said, "Here".

"Where have you been?" Zeus replied.

"Hades trapped me in a cage down In the Underworld, also I got out and I had to give my armor to the Ferryman that helped me cross the Styx because Hades cursed me to not be able to cross the Styx" "Hades!" Zeus shouted in anger "How dare you, Leave!"

"Fine," Hades said disgusted at the lynx. "I am truly sorry" Zeus said to the lynx, "I will have the new animal your kind but not as powerful as you" does that reach up to your standards?"

"Yes, matter in fact that sounds perfect" the Lynx replied.

Later in the Middle of the gathering, Zeus announced "All Gods and Goddesses I have chosen the animal that will be represented down on earth, and that animal will be the lynx, and will the lynx not only be ordinary, the Lynx will be able come to Olympus once passed away to serve the mighty Gods and Goddesses".

Agreeing, the new species of the lynx was created. And from then on, on the earth's crust, we still see the lynx pondering around in hidden forests and mountains".
The Fight Over The Last Unicorn

By Charlotte

"But mother," Emily complained," I Don't want to go visit Aunt Mary." She pulled her long, brown hair to the side, placed her hands on her hips, and pursed her small, red lips.

"You have to go," Mother explained, "She is sick and needs someone to keep her company and take care of her. Just until she is better, then you can come home." She finished mixing the light, fluffy quick bread, poured it in the pan, and put it in the oven to bake.

Emily stomped outside the small brown house that she, her mother and her little brother lived in. Emily had long brown hair, blue eyes, and light brown skin. She look like her father who had been at sea for for three long years. Her mother and brother on the other hand were the complete opposite; they had blond hair and green eyes.

Outside, Emily started to mumble to herself," Why did Aunt Mary have to get sick. Now I have to travel over the tall, cold, horrible mountain." She sat outside and moped for a while. Then her mother called her in to start to pack up her thing for the long trip. Emily gathered the necessities like clothes, food, and a hair brush. But then she packed up things like books and paper and pens.

"Dinner's ready!" called her mother's warm, loving voice. Emily loudly stomped to the dinner table and sat down.

As they ate, her mother spoke, "Emily, I know you don't want to go, but it might be a lot of fun. I've pack up lots of food and I also added a special surprise."

Later that night, Emily and her mother prayed for good luck on her trip. Then they went to bed. Emily dreamed of everything that could go horribly wrong on the trip.

The next morning, Emily woke up early for she had a long journey to start. When she went outside to load up her sled, instead of the black horse that her family had, there stood a beautiful pure white unicorn with a light pink mane. It had a long, pink, sparkly horn. Around it there was a garden of flowers as lovely as the moon. "Mother, when did we get a pet unicorn?" Emily shouted.

"Don't be silly," her mother replied, "it's probably just an illusion."

"I don't think so," she said a little confused," you should come out here and see." As Emily's mother walked out of the small house and saw the unicorn, a high shriek that echoed of the side of the mountain came from the small woman that was Emily's mother. "Wow." Emily gasped," I was not expecting that."

Just then, her little brother, Caleb, came out. He spotted the unicorn and looked at it in awe. "Pretty horsey," he cooed, "Want to ride," Emily giggled and scooped up her little brother.

"If we want to keep her, she will need a name." Emily declared. They all thought for a while and about a minute later, Caleb spoke up, "What about Thunder Cloud!"

"Oh no! We are not naming a unicorn, a creature of grace and beauty, Thunder Cloud." Emily argued. Just then, Emily looked and spotted a cloud shaped like a crown. "I've got it," she yelled, "We should name her Princess!" Her mother nodded in agreement, but she still looked a little frazzled that there was a unicorn in front of her house.

"I still like Thunder Cloud. "Her brother pouted.

"Then it's settled," Emily carefully said, "Princess and I will go up the mountain together as soon as I finish loading the sled." She piled everything on the sled and tied it down. Then she put a saddle on Princess and excitedly attached the sled to her so she could pull it up the mountain. Then they started on the long journey up the mountain to visit Aunt Mary. The first part of the trip had a nice wide winding path. By midday, Emily and Princess had finished the nice path.

Meanwhile, an evil fairy, Ella, was watching them from her cave at the top of the mountain.

"How did they find the last unicorn on earth?" Ella thought to herself, "That should be mine! Imagine what I could do with the healing powers of the unicorn. I have to stop them." She said menacingly. Then she began thinking up her evil plan to get the unicorn.

About two miles up the mountain, Emily and Princess stopped to take a break before the mountain started to get super steep and rocky. After about a five minute break, Emily and Princess continued up the mountain. As the day continued on, it got hotter and hotter, but they kept trudging along.

While Princess and Emily were out in the sweltering heat, Ella was sipping lemonade in her cave thinking of ways to get Princess for herself. "I've got it!" She yelled all of a sudden. "I'll injure the girl so the unicorn will abandon her. It's perfect!" and she let out a spine chilling cackle. Then she continued to drink her lemonade and brainstormed ideas on how to hurt Emily.

"I think the heat is getting to my head," said the exhausted Emily. "There's a low rumbling in my head." Princess whinnied to try to warn her that the rumbling wasn't in her head; there was a rockslide coming their way! But this was no ordinary rock slid, Ella, the evil fairy, had caused it. Princess pushed herself and Emily out of the way, but not well enough. A huge boulder had fallen on Emily's leg.

Once the dust had cleared, Princess noticed that the rock had fallen on Emily's leg. Emily was writhing in pain. Princess rushed over to Emily's side. Just then Ella, while being invisible, swooped in to try to steal Princess. Princess sensed Ella's presence, and kicked her in the face. Ella fell back and turned visible, red with furry. "You saved me," Emily croaked.

Then Princess trotted over to Emily's side and rubbed her horn where the rock had been and Emily was instantly healed. "Thank you," said Emily, full of gratitude, "Now we should continue on our journey before it gets dark." Emily gracefully jumped on Princess's back and they were off.

That night, Princess and Emily settled down to camp for the night near the top of the mountain. "Perfect," thought Ella, watching them from her cave, "They're making plan B so much easier."

That night, Emily sat on a log and sang campfire songs for her and Princess. After they were done with that, Emily made dinner. She gave Princess a hand full of oats and she had a sandwich. When she was putting the food away, she felt something she didn't pack, a bag of carrot cake from her mother. She gave a piece to Princess and got a piece for herself. "This must be the special surprise," she thought. Then with the thought of her mother in her head, she rolled out her sleeping bag and went to sleep.

While she was sound asleep, and Princess was keeping guard, Ella came down and led Princess to her cave and injected a sleep in potion into Princess. Then she started to look for her saw.

When Emily woke up and noticed Princess was gone, she thought she had ran away, so she followed Princess's tracks to Ella's cave. There she saw Ella getting ready to saw of Princess's horn. "STOP!" she yelled and ran toward Ella. "Why are you doing this?" Emily asked Ella.

"Because, you silly little girl; a unicorn's healing powers are held in its horn, and I am going to cut of the horn of your precious unicorn and sell little pieces of it to make lots and lots of money," Ella told Emily. Then, Emily knocked the saw out of Ella's hands. When Ella went to get it, Emily untied Princess and jumped on her back. They rode out of the cave with Ella on their tail. Emily was picking up rocks and throwing them at Ella, missing every time.

Then, Emily noticed a loose rock just above where Ella was about to be. She picked up a small rock. Then she threw it right on target. "You missed," Ella taunted.

"I didn't miss this time," Emily said right as the rock crushed Ella. Emily and princess were saved. "We did it!" yelled Emily. Princess and Emily settled down for a celebratory snack. Then they continued down the mountain. The way down the mountain wasn't nearly as steep so it was a nice easy trip. With Ella, the fairy out of the way, they had nothing to worry about.

Just a mile away, they could see Aunt Mary's cottage with steam rising from the chimney. It was a nice scenic route the rest of the way down. When they got to the cottage Princess used her healing powers cure Aunt Mary. Then Emily baked the cookies and told her about their trip. 
Apple's Adventure

By Jackson Grothe

On a white as snow beach, right on the bank of a huge, speedy,  
rushing river that is five miles long, lives a girl named Apple. Who smells  
like rotten, fish and is nine feet tall and has long hair. Apple doesn't want  
to ever get married instead wants to be a party clown and blow up balloon into  
all sorts of creatures. In a majestic treehouse, near the river  
lives Money. Money is the god of all the money in the world. He has a tall  
Mohawk and has only one arm.

One day, Money sees Apple on the beach building a real life size  
castle made out of sand. When he sees her, she looks as boatful as  
a diamond. After this moment, the only thing that Money ever wants, is to  
marry Apple. But Apple does not want to get married.

Sadly, her cranky father the river god named Stumpy diligently  
wants her to get married but that is the opposite of what she wants, she just  
wants to entertain people and be alone. Although she doesn't want to get  
married, her father is going to force her get married. Because she want to  
survive alone, she thinks to destroy her father's river with thousands of dump  
trucks full of McDonald's trash.

Just to anger her father because Apple is so furious, she floats on a purple tree down  
her father's river all the way to New York to start a new career of being a  
party clown.

Once apple is in New York to start her new career, she glanced and  
looks and peered for her squeaky red clown nose but she can't find it then, she  
understood that she left it in her treasure chest in her sand castle next to  
her father's river. Sadly her career doesn't work out because she doesn't have  
her squeaky nose and just being a clown without a red squeaky nose is so last  
year and quickly decides to go back to her father's river and her sand castle.

After Apple gets back to her father's river and her sand castle she gets a sense that  
her father is mad and her and her father turns her into an apple tree for all  
eternity to keep her from leaving  
again.

God of Sun

By Chuck Finley

"I don't know my love," Apollo sighed to his wife, Hecuba.

"What's wrong dear." she replied?

"I just need more, I feel powerless, as he put the dishes away and reached for the bread.

"You're the god of the sun what more do you want?"

"To be the god of gods!"

Apollo was the sun god and Zeus was the mighty god of everyone and everything.

"And how will you beat the mighty Zeus, you have to beat him at something to gain the position of king."

"Ill beat Zeus in a poker match, at the Mighty God Poker Tournament."

And on the date of December 30 the tournament was set, and oh boy was Apollo ready, ready to rule Olympus.

At the day of the tournament, Apollo bought 5 million god credits which is money in the god community and is equivalent to about 50 billion dollars in human money and set his sights for Zeus but of course the king was at the final table automatically. Apollo would have to win at least 5 tables to get to the final table to defeat Zeus. But Zeus had won every match previous to this one, and Apollo was unsure about his confidence. The sight of Zeus and his 8 million credit buy in made Apollo shudder with fear, Zeus was going to be hard to beat.

Apollo started his tournament off with a win at the first table and then a second win but had a hard time beating Ares at the third table, Ares was good at strategy because he was the god of war. But the fourth table was a breeze when Apollo beat Hermes by a landslide. And finally the fifth table the final one until he faces Zeus, and his confidence was throbbing with the saying I am going to win."

Later in the match of the fifth table, Apollo found himself with only 2 million credits left and Poseidon with 7 million credits. Apollo found himself with a full house and went all in, pushing his chips in with a smirk on his face. Still, Poseidon must have felt he had a better hand and went all in as well." Flip," said the dealer, and the two flipped. But Poseidon had a smile on his face until he saw Apollo's hand and that smile turned to anger as pale raced across his face.

Apollo moved on to the final table along with Zeus, Hades, Hera, Erebus, and Athena. He looked across the table and thought the only competition was Zeus, but wouldn't be surprised if Hera won.

"Hey Zeus," said Hades with a smirk, "You call that a buy in."

Zeus laughed hard and said: "Ha, ha you call that your best tuxedo."

Everybody laughed, and Zeus laughed along with them, hades looked at his blood red tux and his smile turned into a disappointed squirrel expression.

The first round he started out with a two pair and won a pot of about 50,000 credits. The next round Athena won with a flush and knocked out Hera. Then Apollo won and knocked out Athena, leaving Hades, Zeus, Apollo and Erebus, but no one thought that either Hades, or Erebus could ever win, so the crowd only considered looking at Zeus and Apollo.

The table started out with a win by Hades and the crowd whispered about the god of the underworld. And with a full house Zeus took out his brother Hades, and then Zeus is out by Erebus. That's it Zeus was out Apollo thought he was going to win, until Erebus wins the whole tournament with a straight flush. Apollo screamed with anger "no was going to win! No it can't be, no I won't allow it.

"Well I won I am king."

"No I am going to trade you something what do you want."

"Ok I want half the day to be night and Zeus will remain king so none of us get the throne

"Eeeihhh," Apollo thought hard would it be a fair trade but if he did not trade all the day would be dark. "ok." he said with a sigh.

And the reason day and night are halves is because Erebus won a poker tournament.

Circe and the King

By Seonggil

Once upon a time there lived a belligerent king who ruled the Ithanians and an evil witch named Circe. Circe was an enchantress who used magical cow's milk to transform people into different animals. When someone visits her palace, she gives them some food and some magic milk. While they eat they slowly transform into different animals.

Circe walked outside of her palace and decided to go to the forest that was near her yard. She petted the animals who were lounging in the yard. They had furry coats and soft cozy ears like a rabbit.

She was slowly sauntering toward the forest, when she caught a glimpse of light. She stared toward the light and found a ship wreckage with a strong aurora. She walked toward the wreckage and found a basket of food and wine on a small table. She was about to pick up the basket, when she saw the god, Apollo. Apollo walked up to her and said,

"There will be a king and his merry fleet of men that will arrive at your island. Be generous to them and do not alter them into animals. If you do, there will be big consequences."

Apollo vanished before Circe could complain. Circe shrugged and took the basket of food and turned away to walk to her palace.

While she was walking to her house, she thought about the message that Apollo had sent her. When she returned to her palace, it was almost midnight and she went to sleep. She had a vision about a man and his men strapping her to a table and forcing her to drink her own cow milk. She felt like she was shrinking and then she suddenly woke up.

She heard jeering of men, she rose from her bed and looked through the window. Far away, she saw a big crowd of men and a fleet of ships. Soon enough they will arrive at my palace, Circe thought. Circe and her maidens set to work, they scrubbed the floors and tables, they set the chairs, and they began to make their secret recipe.

When the men were roaming around the island, searching for civilization, they found smoke billowing in the air. They followed the smoke and reached Circe's palace. They carefully walked toward the door, aware of the ferocious animals. To their amazement the animals were kind like house pets. They knocked on the door and Circe opened it. She wore a beautiful flowery dress and she had her hair tied back. She welcomed them in.

One of the men, Joey stayed behind. Joey was a cautious man and he thought that this was a trap. Inside, Circe served them food and as they were eating and talking, they were slowly transforming into pigs. Joey was astonished about the cruelty that the witch had done to his friends. He stood there, frozen still, looking at his companions turning into pigs. He recovered from his shock and ran through the yard to his king.

The king heard about the witch and what she had done to his men. He was furious and he stomped toward the palace. When he reached the yard, he saw a wolf that had an herb and a piece of paper on the ground next to him. The wolf whined and pawed at the piece of paper and then at the herb. The king read the envelope which said,

"I am the prince of the Libarians, I ate the soup that Circe gave and I turned into a wolf. Eat this plant and Circe's evil power will not affect you. You will be safe."

The king slowly chewed at the herb which tasted like really bad medicine and stormed into the palace. Circe was waiting for him and she gestured at a table with food. He sat down and ate, Circe tapped her wand on the king's shoulder and said, "Go to the pen you hog, with your fellow companions."

The king pulled out his glittering golden sword and put it near Circe's throat and said,

"Free my men and the other people, and don't even think about turning us into animals again."

Circe, surprised did as she was told and freed every animal on her island.

When every animal was turned back into a human, the king found the prince of the Libarians and said, "Now that you have been freed you can go back to you home and family. You can use one of my ships and sail to your country."

The prince thanked him and took off. The king's crew left for their village and told their story again and again and again.

The End

The Myth of the sun and the Moon

By Jack

The sun gleamed off of the fresh deer carcass, as Artemis went to collect her newly shot deer slowly treading through the long grass and as she did so her hair glistened as much as the deer's carcass and her green eyes matched those of the grass and she was one of nature.

Another right she had was a throne on Olympus. Where she bathed herself with perfect pig thighs shot with the arrow of Apollo, her brother, and cooked in the fires of Hephaestus forge but little did she know the darkest of days were upon Artemis.

It so happened one day in the warm sun when Artemis was hunting pig she stumbled across Hebe the cupbearer of the gods powers and it just so happened that she was very, very jealous of her brother, Apollo and his so called sun so she confronted Hebe.

"Hebe hello, and greetings from the god of the moon."

"Hello Artemis have you come to ask a favor of me?" she replied in an exhausted voice.

"Yes I have the sweetest of cup bearers," replied Artemis.

"I have been looking at my brother lately and I, I want his sun," said Artemis in the sweetest voice she could muster up.

"Uhhh, we will have to confront the mighty Zeus and the Olympic council for such an outrageous reason." said Hebe in a shocked voice.

So, Hebe and Artemis approached the council and were quickly turned down, Apollo being head of the council and all. But, Artemis's flame for the sun was too great and she had to get her way, she had a plan. That night, she planned and planned.

As the sun came up the next day, Apollo stretched and looked up at his sun. Something was wrong. He rushed to his sister, dragging Hebe with him, and they entered her domain. After that, she was brought to the council and was accused for covering the sun with the moon.

"Did you goddess of the moon cover the sun with your very own?" Apollo said.

"I admit to my omens," replied Artemis.

So from that forward, Artemis would roam the world among mortals alone, without power, for the rest of her mortal life. But after all, Apollo was her brother so he granted a memorial to her, and every 100 years the moon would pass the sun, and Artemis would be happy and at rest in the underworld.

