*Hi, all. I was looking through my old school stuff and found the myth I wrote in Year 5 (yikes, a long time ago!). It was before I read Percy Jackson (a crime, I know) and it may be shit. I don't know. I may be biased, but hey! Hope it isn't too shit! Oh yeah, I called it Chasing Love. Fucking cheesy, I know, but hey!*

Chasing Love

Once, a long, long time ago in Ancient Greece, a thriving city called Olympia was getting ready for the Olympics. The whole city was pulsating, like a beating heart. Once again, Prince Priam was getting his beggar disguise ready. Ever since his older sister, Hadassah, was killed by a stray javelin, his father had forbidden young Priam -14 at the time - from ever going to the Olympics again.  But Priam loved the Olympics, so, every time they were on, he would put on his guise of a beggar and head down to the chariot races. Now, 8 years after his sister's death, Priam (now 22) was sneaking off again. 

Priam was so eager to get to the stadium, he wasn't looking where he was going, and collided with a beautiful young maiden.

"Oh my gods, I'm so sorry, I-I. Wow," Priam garbled, getting to his feet. Upon seeing her face, he instantly fell in love with her. And she fell hopelessly in love with him. "Are you, I mean, oh... wouldyouliketogotothechariotraceswithme?" Priam burst out in a rush. 

"Oh, erm, sure, if you want to," the pretty girl replied. "My name is Penelope by the way"

"A beautiful name for a beautiful girl," he said, linking their arms. "Mine's Priam," She smiled, and, arm in arm, they headed down to the stadium. 

Meanwhile, on Mount Olympus, Hermes was watching. Being a god of mischief, he always liked to cause a bit of trouble, love being the best way to do so. 

"Thank you, Eros..." muttered Hermes. Disguising himself as a mortal chariot racer, he headed down to earth to kidnap Penelope.

Priam and Penelope were enjoying the races, cheering on a particularly spirited rider and his horses, when suddenly, Hermes burst into his godly form and grabbed a now screaming Penelope. They vanished in a puff of hay smelling smoke. Priam was distraught and immediately set about travelling to the home of the gods. As there was a large ocean and a vast land mass between him and his love, he ordered a crew to help him on his voyage. The very next day they set off on their long quest to get to Mount Olympus.

*Yes, I realize that Olympia is REALLY close to Olympus, but I had to change the Earth's geography for this story to work*

As the days journeyed on, Priam became good friends with the young cook's girl, Hubeca. She was a spirited and helpful young girl who never made a fuss or complained. One day, about four days after their journey began, at sea, the crew heard a mysteriously magnificent voice singing an enchanting song. The captain of their small ship began steering towards the beautiful sound, entranced like all the other men. Hubeca had come up for some fresh air as the hold was awfully stuffy when she discovered that they were heading for a whirlpool! Grabbing the wheel, she desperately tried turning away, grunting at the effort. Hubeca would have failed if the great god Poseidon hadn't been smiling upon them. He changed the currents and gave the ship a push in the right direction. They were saved! As they got further away from the mysterious voice, one by one, the crew came to once more. 

"Wha-what in the Hades happened to us?" asked Priam. 

"A very strange voice was kinda, I don't know, luring you in, but I wasn't affected," Hubeca pointed at the captain. "Meanwhile, you were steering straight for a whirlpool, so I steered us to safety, with a bit of help from Poseidon" Priam thanked her, then promised to sacrifice a bull to Poseidon when they returned.

A week later they arrived in the port of Delphi, sea-worn and tired, eager to rest. But Priam was intent on getting Penelope back. So they continued on their odyssey. After trecking on for many days they reached the woods of Artemis and Apollo. 

"We'll make camp here for the night crew" Priam announced, "Hector, go find us some food" Hector, not the brightest of the crew members, was a hunter, so, spotting a deer he did the only thing he was good at: he shot it. It gave a squeal and dropped down, lifeless. *Ok, now its gonna get cringy, as I didn't realize how Artemis would regularly act. She'd probably just get really pissed and kill him, but hey. I was 9*  At the moment of its death, a glow surrounded the corpse, that was so bright, Hector had to look away. Looking back at what he thought would be his dinner, he saw two immortal figures, one bent over the lifeless doe, sobbing, the other trying to comfort the weeping woman. The man looked up, his eyes blazing with anger. 

"You have killed a sacred animal, you will pay!" In shock, Hector realized that the two people in front of him were Artemis and Apollo themselves. Artemis stopped sobbing just long enough to rage at Hector.  

"This sacred creature suffered, so you will too! When you die, you will suffer by ploughing the fields of Asphodel for all eternity!" No sooner had she shouted those words that she began weeping once more. 

Dazed and shocked, Hector, empty-handed,  returned to camp. He didn't want to worry anyone, so didn't disclose any information about the unfortunate event. 

The next day, at the crack of dawn, the group set out again. Soon after the team had their mid-day meal, Theo, the scout, suddenly cried:

"Look! Is that Olympus?" Priam looked for a while, processing the fact that his love was only a mere few miles away. 

"Yes. Yes, it is..." He murmured.

Packing up quickly, Priam and his helpers raced on, finally arriving. Priam told them to stay at the temple at the bottom of the mountain while he journeyed on alone. "From now on, this is my battle" He carefully climbed into the gods' throne room and dropped down onto his knees before the mighty Zeus. "Almighty lord Zeus, please, Hermes has stolen my love and I beg for your help in getting her back", Zeus studied him for a moment, before replying.

"My son has caused a lot of trouble and mischief, often using love to do so. *Cough, so do you, cough* I will help" Priam let out a sigh of relief at that. "You will need these". Out of no were there appeared some winged sandals, a spear, an orb that turned a shield and a helmet with an electric pume. "I believe you know what to do"...

*I'm shit at writing fight scenes anywhere btw*

So, as dusk fell on the great mountain, Priam found himself in an arena with Hermes, Penelope up in a box looking over the duel, begging to be freed. 

"Just saying, you brought this on yourself, kiddo," said Hermes. Suddenly the battle was underway and Hermes was soaring above him, loosening arrow after arrow after arrow. Priam held up his shield to protect himself when he remembered his winged sandals and vaulted into the air, throwing his spear at Hermes, praying it hit its mark. It caught Hermes' thigh and he yelped in pain, golden blood oozing out. Zeus announced that Priam had won, but he was already running up to the box Penelope was in. It sprung open and she rushed into Priam's arms, weeping with joy. 

Nine months later, Penelope gave birth to a healthy baby boy. They named him Boaz, meaning swift or fast. As he grew up, he was the fastest boy in Olympia. Priam bagan to suspect that Penelope had given birth to Hermes' child.....

*So there you go! It was probably shit, but hey! Thank you for reading it, and feel free to add some constructive criticism down in the comments Lmao, I sound like a YouTuber!*