Alcides the Berserker 3 (Patreon)

Alcides the Berserker 3 - or ‘My Twin Sister and I go through a wild journey in Ancient Greece’ (Fateverse, Herakles!SI)

Athens is in a bit of a cesspool-tier situation.

I am not trying to diss a bad administration, but rather stating a matter of fact as the reasons driving pestilence and sickness in town was divine retribution.

Iphi and I didn’t enter the city just for that very reason, but we were granted some ‘insight’ on the situation by a goat-herder passing by. He recalled the beautiful times of Athens before the cruel King Minos struck in response to the death of his son.

In truth, Athens itself had no reason to bear guilt as the culprits were athletes from other cities, but Minos was utterly convinced and managed to get Zeus’ help in demanding compensation. Hostages as tribute, children as slaves.

Quite unpleasant, but none at Athens knew the whole truth of this situation. If they did- and if Zeus knew… Well, I doubt anyone would condone this. Let’s be honest- nowhere in the myth was it explained that Zeus helped to feed the Minotaur. Rather, he wanted for an exchange to happen that was equal to the ‘suffering pushed upon a grieving father’.

With that in mind, Iphi and I moved to find the nearest small port-town near Athens and paid for a small ship that could lead us to Knossos. Ah yes, the ‘origin’ of the first Greek Civilization known to have really existed.

I was half-expecting for us to get a slow boat which would have put us through several days of travel, but I was taught one thing by the merchant that sold us the ship. The boats in the region were ‘created’ to allow sailors to make lengthy journeys at a fast pace. The issue was when one dared to go beyond the ‘known seas’.

Something akin to runes were carved in the wood, allowing for the material to be light and yet sturdy, while also making the sails able to easily ‘catch’ the wind in a proper fashion. It was a big expense, but one that came with a boat, a month-long supply of food within the ship and enough space to train when needed.

To Iphi, this was ideal to spar while we took breaks from checking how far we were from our destination. We had set sail right away and we would get to Knossos around nighttime.

The trip was pleasant. The sea was lovely. And my sister was constantly hitting on me while hitting me within spars.

“Come on, brother! No one would know.”

CLANG!

“Except the sea, the sky, and pretty much any deity keeping track of this.”

THUD! CLING!

“Aw, it can’t be that bad…”

CLANG! CLING! CLING!

“Right?”

“I am afraid that’s not an option, Iphi.”

CLANG! CLANG!

Much to my relief, sparring kept her obsession under check and we got to Knossos without any major concern. The city was massive and it was located in a central spot within the northern coast of Crete- which was quite good due to the trade potential held by such a favorable position. Yet, while Knossos looked to be well from an outsider’s perspective, I was starting to get a different vibe as we wandered around the streets.

People looked distrustful, the streets were divided by small crowds of people that didn’t dare to approach one another, and I had this strange feeling that oppression was unfolding all around. I didn’t say much as I had a feeling that we were being looked at.

“Is someone following us?” Iphi had felt that one too, which was worrying as we both paced faster to find a place where to rest the night. Eventually we found it and we quickly snuck inside. We paid for a room and we went to sleep in… a single bed.

“Brother, this is a sign-”

“We could have bought two rooms, we just need to be careful with our money,” I remarked, causing her to pout… while snuggling against my muscular chest.

For being a little pervert, she sure loves to take the little things I give her in these confrontations. The night went by smoothly but… it would be a lie to say that I woke up smoothly. Not when Iphi’s worst habit came knocking.

“Mwah! Wake up~ or I will keep on kissing you~!”

Despite how many times I told her not to, she would wake up early, come to me, and drop small kisses on my lips until I woke up. Considering how soft her own lips were, it kind of was difficult to get up with just that.

I ruffled her hair, which was enough to get her out of her funk and a tiny bit upset, but so much that it got her off of me so I could properly wake up. It was morning, the door was closed and no one had gone through it and… yeah, we were fine.

The ones chasing us hadn’t caught up to where we were and, hopefully, had lost hope of tracking us now that hours had gone by and they hadn’t found us.

With that mess out of the way, it was time to handle the main issue: the labyrinth. A large building, it could easily be confused by the palace- then again, it was bound to it, thus appearing like part of the palace itself. The defense was, however, surprisingly lacking.

Not many guards, and not in all the right places to keep intruders out. Maybe it was due to the fact no one in town seemed interested in even coming close to this place but… it was convenient for us.

After finding a way inside the roofed labyrinth, I heard Iphi ask a valid question.

“How exactly are we meant to find a monster there?” The girl asked reasonably. “I mean, you said this place is meant to confuse anyone entering it, so-”

I gave her a very interesting answer… by using my shoulder to rush at one of the walls and smash through. While the labyrinth may look mighty, it was still done through the same rules of building a normal building. And we were both strong enough to smash through.

“Oh, that’s… I guess that works.”

“We still need to keep around each other. This place may have some sort of magical effects and that would be dreadful.”

Iphi nodded, but she happily smashed the wall in front of us and grinned at the easy task. Despite our size, our bodies were quite powerful. Hers less than mine, but she was still a mighty woman.

We spent roughly ten minutes smashing our way through before we ended up carving a path to what looked to be a larger room rather than a mere hallway as before. Looking around, I saw a few halberds set to rest by the wood, pieces of armor, and a mask with horns and-

“W-Who are you!?”

A voice called from a dark corner, and I felt perplexed. Has anyone survived here? I thought the children would have been dead at this point but-

“We are not bad people, we are here to… Uh…”

My attempt to communicate fell short as a figure emerged from the darkness and… it was around my size, but clearly younger than me.

White hair and fur, black sclera with red inhuman eyes, his athletic body was a bit scarred but still fine-looking. And… and I remember this guy from somewhere. That’s when I noticed the horns and it all clicked at once.

“You are… the ‘monster’?” I asked in surprise, causing the youth to pause and tense up, while Iphi approached and frowned.

“He has horns but… Is he?”

I recognized him. That’s Asterios, the Minotaur that got revealed first in Fate/Grand Order. And I knew this was not just a mere Greek Mythology situation anymore.

This was- I am in the Fateverse’s Ancient Greek Mythology! And that means I am so fucked in the long-run due to the kind of fucks up that will lead to the end of the Age of Gods.

Still… I had to speak up or this may end up poorly. It was still quite the tense situation so I couldn’t waste too much time thinking about this now. But later? Oh boy, I now have a reason to dread the next deeds for sure.

“Well… I see no bones,” I pointed out, bringing up a valid reason on why Asterios is no cannibal. “What happened to the children?”

“Freed,” The ‘Minotaur’ remarked, aiming at one of the halls. “Secret Exit. They were lost, so I helped.”

“They weren’t… lost,” I remarked quietly. “I am sorry, first I think we should introduce ourselves. My name is Alcides, this is my twin sister Iphicles.”

“Asterios.”

“That’s a nice name,” Iphi commented, then sobered up a bit. “Still, the kids you helped out were not lost, but had been forced in the labyrinth against their will.”

“Why?” Asterios inquired, sounding surprised and suspicious.

“A few months ago, Athens lost a war against King Minos. One thing that the King asked from Athens was a tribute of children to be sent to Knossos, here. Now, we learned that this is where the children are taken, to this labyrinth.”

“...Why?”

Iphi blinked and stared at me as I tried to get out of this awkward situation by words alone. It was one thing to see me smash my way out of trouble, but using my capacity to speak was quite rare.

“I don’t want to sound insulting towards you as I don’t think you are a bad person but… I think the King expects you to eat the children. As in, he thinks you eat humans.”

Asterios leaned back and frowned. “But I don’t. I told him that I don’t.”

“And yet he still sends children,” Iphi quipped, causing the young man to frown and… grow upset.

“What’s your relationship with the king?” I asked, drawing him out of his anger for a moment.

“The King…? He is my father.”

“...Alcides, I think this is a bit confusing.”

I turned to Iphi. “I think Asterios is supposedly King Minos’ son but… something happened to make him like this. Maybe a divine punishment against him. Gods have the tendency to target one’s family when they have done something to anger them.”

“They… do?” Asterios asked, and I felt bad I couldn’t give him the full truth. He truly believed Minos to be his father when in truth he was not.

What I could do was just give him a bit of brief hope by telling him a ‘half-truth’.

“Well… weren’t there news that Poseidon was angry at Knossos years ago?” I asked my sister, and the girl remembered that old tale.

“You mean the one tale about the… bull! Yeah, that would make sense,” Iphi remarked as she turned to Asterios. “There’s a tale about King Minos not respecting a deal he made with Poseidon, the God of the Seas, about making use of a holy bull, but he didn’t. The God then punished him somehow and maybe you are the target of that curse.”

“...Oh.”

There was a brief pause, just to leave Asterios to his thoughts and let this info sink inside his mind.

“Since he is not listening to words, it means that acts will be the only things that can make him understand,” I muttered, turning to Asterios. “How do you feel about leaving the Labyrinth?”

The Minotaur blinked. “L-Leaving? Can I?”

“You can. We have… broken a few walls to get there. There’s a straight path outside from there and, if he sees you leave but doesn’t catch you then… he would stop demanding children. If else, we can tell Zeus the truth since he is the one that ordered this exchange.”

“If he listens.”

I smiled. “I think he will.”

After all, he has good reasons to listen to the truth coming from his son.

—-------d-d-d-d—------

AN

Two things to say:

1) There are two ‘King Minos’ by what some historians have concluded, with the one that was the ‘father’ of the Minotaur being the ‘second king’, with the first one creating the civilization in Knossos while the second king, his supposed grandson named Minos too, was the tyrant mentioned to be the one that caused all this mess;

2) It has not been confirmed or denied that Asterios killed and ate children, regardless of that (this being canon or AU) I decided to go with the notion that Daedalus taught him how to talk and be human and taught him of secret ways out of the labyrinth to save the kids rather than eat them.