The 13th Labour Contest Winner
The 13th labour of Heracles by -astralis

Heracles had never stepped down from a challenge. In fact, he loved to accomplish things others thought were impossible to achieve.

He believed in the saying 'aut viam inveniam aut viam faciam' which meant as much as 'I will either find a way or make one'.

So when he strutted into the throne room, the great beast of the underworld at his heels, he was ready to embrace the last labour of his. The low growl of the three headed hound of hades caught the attention of the crowned head.

A stunned expression crossed his face and he lifted himself off his throne in bliss.

"You have returned victorious." Eurystheus marveled and prowled towards him, as if he were prey.

Heracles felt a smirk stretch over his face. He was Heracles after all, so what else did he expect?

The kings servants took a step back and looked at the hound utterly terrified.

"Take the hound of Hades and add him to my collection!" He ordered with a thunderous voice.

Heracles sighed and dreaded the moments to come, because he couldn't let the kings wish be fulfilled.

"Cerberus has to be freed, unless you want the wrath of Hades to be bestowed upon you and your kingdom."

"What a pity." the king responded gloomily.

Then a perilous glint entered the crowned head's eyes. "Alas we have come to the last of your labours. The last of thirteen labours believed to be impossible to accomplish."

Heracles smiled jubilantly at the kings praise but the king was far from being finished. "Have you ever wondered about how our earth would look like in over two thousand years?"

Heracles stared at the king perplexed. What had the future to do with his tasks?

But letting the king wait would be impolite, so he spoke what first came to his mind. "I have wondered wether our temples still stand tall and if the world is still dived between different cultures and beliefs."

The king of Mycenae's face twisted into a sinister smile. "Heracles," he began and Heracles wasn't sure if he wanted to hear what was to come "your last labours have all followed the same pattern. Slaughtering or catching a monster. Stealing something for my collection. Never have you done something to restore or bring back glory to something forgotten and destroyed."

Heracles stared at the king and a light frown tugged at his lips.

"Your final labour will be to restore the glory in the demolished temple of the Akropolis two thousand years in the future." It was safe to say, that Heracles thought the king had one too many cups of whine the prior night.

Even the soldiers, standing straight and ready to fend off any kind of attack, shot a concerned look at their king.

"Have you" he began, ignoring the looks of his peasants around him "understood your task?"
Heracles didn't know what to do except to nod. At that, the perilous glint reappeared in the crowned head's eyes and he clapped his hands with an eerie smile.

The next thing Heracles saw was pitch black darkness. For a second he wondered if he had unknowingly angered Nyx, the goddess and personification of the night.

Then, as fast as the darkness had appeared, it vanished and Heracles found himself standing in front of ruins.

A breath caught in his throat as he spotted the large crowd, of what he believed to be simple mortals, rush towards him with hurried steps.

Heracles made a grab for his sword, which he had always strapped around his waist wherever he was, but his fingers made contact with thin air.

A shocked sound escaped his lips and he glanced down. He did not expect to be dressed in the same peculiar clothes as the mob of mortals.

How were they supposed to identify him as the legendary son of Zeus, if he didn't have his sword or the skin of the Nemean Lion with him?

Before he could announce who he was and ask for asylum in this foreign place, the horde of mortals pushed past him.

"Dude!" One exclaimed, having to step around Heracles because all he did was stand still in shock "Make space and don't stand still like on of those goddamn statues!"

Perplexed Heracles stared at the human being already walking away from him and towards another mortal standing on some sort of podium.

Bewildered and disoriented he followed him. "Welcome friends from all over the world to the Akropolis!" The mortal on the podium declared. An answering cheer came from the crowd.

Heracles froze mid step as he suddenly realized where he was. The king of Mycenae hadn't been joking after all.

Twisting around to observe his surroundings, he realized that it was the Akropolis, which lay in front of him in ruins.

A cold hand placed itself on the spot, where once the fur of the Nemean lion rested. Acting on instinct, Heracles grabbed the hand and twisted it around, making the owner groan and fall onto their knees.

"Heracles!" The man with his face on the ground exclaimed "It is me, Alexander! Son of Eurystheus, king of Mycenae!"

Heracles released his hold on the young prince and allowed him to raise himself off of the ground. What he did not expect, was to be met with a serious gaze.

Alexander had always struck the son of Zeus as a carefree, spoiled and arrogant princeling. So when the prince stood before him, dressed from hair to sandal in black, Heracles caught himself being surprised. And that was quite hard to achieve.

"You know your task," he began again, staring at Heracles as if he was awaiting another attack "I was sent along to monitor your actions and report back if you have been successful or not."

Heracles narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. So his fate was in the hands of a small little boy? A boy he did not know or trust? What had he done to anger the Fates to this extent?

"From this moment forth, your name is not only Heracles." Alexander proclaimed with a mishevious grin "It is Heracles Keraunos. Welcome to your new life as the chief executive officer of Keraunos architects. Now we must hurry, Miss Pallas is waiting for you in the car."

The son of Zeus wasn't given much time to react, as a monster like Metall bull pulled up beside them. The young prince ripped open its side and entered without hesitation. Heracles had done many strange things in his life, but never had he thought about entering something living.

In this moment, he wished for his sword like never before. Whatever lay inside could be friend or foe, and he did not like not knowing an answer to that. But he was no coward, so he entered not giving it another thought.

The interior was not how he had expected it to be. It was not cramped and it was not filled to the brink with blood.

A woman with silky blond hair was seated opposite of him. She was dressed in similar clothes as the prince beside him and that was quite odd. Men and women never wore homogeneous clothes.

The moment his eyes connected with hers he straightened his spine, intelligent grey eyes seemed to be calculating his every move. "Lady Athena" he heard himself whisper in disbelief.

A cunning smile stretched over her face and for a second, he regretted entering the so called car. The goddess of wisdom and battle strategy was known for being the most quick-witted of all the gods and she was inspecting him, like she had already ten different methods to effortlessly crush him under her shoe.

The son of Zeus must have made an expression of mistrust, because she spoke her next words with a laugh. "Oh no, I am not your foe. The wife of your father is, and she wants to watch you fall."

Heracles did not understand her words at first but then it came to him like a slap. "Hera"

The goddess smiled like a mother would, whilst her son took his first steps "Your Labour is to rebuild the Akropolis, my Akropolis. Hera wants you to fail, but I will not let her mess with what is mine. So accept my advice and help, because only the wise will profit from it."

"How does she want to hinder me?" Heracles asked perplexed, he did not know enough about this new world to comprehend the goddess's words.

"In the modern world you need permission to build or even reconstruct a building. Hera is the one who has to give you the building permit and she'd rather let hell loos than give you that." Heracles smiled at her words, it wouldn't be the first or last time Hera had done something like this. One way or another, he'd eventually find a way.

And he would not dare to return home, if not victorious.