A Tale of Heroes

PRIVATE COPY OF THE MINAS ARCHIVES. FOR THE EYES OF THE MINOTAUR'S DESCENDANTS ONLY.   24/11/1939 It is done. Come January 4th, I will be Eklektós of the Cretan Republic.  The road to get here wasn't an easy one. I suppose I did not have to compromise as much as others around the world have, but I still had plenty of late nights planning strategy, convincing the hard-headed, and amassing the small victories needed to bring the party under control.  But despite the fireworks and the guns going off in celebration, I am not with my wife and son, but sitting at an office, waiting for the third report of the evening, even as my heart hammers in my chest.  The British sent their congratulations second. The French third, and the Americans fourth.  The Germans were first. My father always said there's a test for everyone. It's not ever the same, and its stakes can be different, but a test there will always be. It's one that questions a person's character, and their stre...

Excerpts from the Private Journals of the First Treasurer. 03/08/961 The Romans are gone. I know I wrote on it before, but I cannot believe it yet. They held us hostage within our own city for the better part of a year, and in one morning, two... children, for they are absolutely children, shatter the whole of their army and see them thrown back into the sea? And their reasoning makes even less sense than their feat, if that could be believed. It is not because they seek to conquer our island for themselves, or because one of the Emir's allies has paid them to. No, they did it because "Phokas is a cunt", and they disagreed with how the man waged his war.  They have killed an army. An entire Roman army, and they have done it because they disliked its leader and his methods. Or, rather, the woman does. The man barely speaks, seemingly more content with following her every word. I could say I disapprove, but I don't dare to. The man may not speak, but his eyes say everyt...

April 26th, 2015 Susanne Dietrich-Wolff The Powered and their Effect on the Waging of Wars  It is, one would suppose, somewhat dumb to start this with the phrase "powered people exist". It is a fact of life that any human -- or rather, any living being -- on this Earth is more than capable of realizing on their own. Some of the people among us are different, and they are different in extraordinary ways. They are not lesser for it, nor are they superior. They eat the same food that we do, enjoy the same things we do, fall in love just like we do, and the million other small things humans do throughout their life.  But the truth remains that they are different. Despite being of significantly lower numbers than the non-powered, they have affected history in deep, undeniable ways. Were things just the slightest bit different, perhaps we would not have had blood be the sign of rule for centuries, but instead the fantastical powers they wield.  The effect they have had is varie...

  For When You Return Day 7,665 I met Basil today. He's done much since I last saw him, back when you were still with me. He broke the Bulgarians, subdued the Croatians, and even marched on the north, to the Tauric Peninsula.  But he knows. Even as he spoke of Sicily, he could tell. He is greyer now. Smaller, less muscular. The only part of him that remains the same are his eyes.  He seemed angry that the same had not happened to me. I suppose I would be angry too, perhaps.  You never were.  Regardless, he knew why I had come. He reassured me that he would not, even if I was gone. But I did not come for the reassurances of a man that I knew was too smart to give me reason to kill him. I came for the one that sat next to him, the wastrel that knew only to gorge himself on food and expensive women. Where Basil was too smart to try, this one was too foolish to succeed.  Still, he assured me he'd taught his generals otherwise, at least. Crete was to be an unspo...

Excerpts of Laura Coltello's Diary 01/07/15 Today was the day. I did it! I went out there, and I used my powers to help people!  It wasn't a big thing or anything, just three idiots trying to rob a bank, but no one else was around, so I just... I took care of it myself. They had a few hostages, but beyond some scrapes, I got them all out safely, too. My first victory! My mask was itchy, though. And I guess my energy's too hot for the wig, it started slipping off when I was done. I had to turn down a reporter because of it. Maybe I should buy some hair dye. Black would look good, I think. I'll decide later, anyway. Mother is calling, and it's a bit late. I plan to go out tomorrow, too. 03/17/15 Me and Forlorn worked together again today. I could have handled it on my own, obviously, but I gotta admit he makes fighting a lot easier. He always knows how to support what I'm doing.  He's still too harsh, though. We were fighting two powered today, they were kind ...

  May 18th, 2020 Professor Julia Elizabeth Adams A Siege of the Mind Most of the people in America have surely dealt with a Cretan at least once. They are a proud people, a rich people, and one of the few in the whole world that, when the United States speaks, offer only a thumb of their noses as response.  They recluse themselves from most of the international organizations, and yet, they still affect the talks regardless. Their armed forces have left their home only once in more than a thousand years, and yet it is not uncommon to hear them put on the same pedestal as those of our British or French allies.  Yes, most of us have met, or at least heard of, the Cretans.  And to those of us with just a little knowledge of geopolitics, or military matters, the Cretan view of the world is fit only to leave us perplexed.  The island of Crete has been turned into nothing short of an impregnable fortress, one that has abandoned the walls of stone of old in favor of the...