He was circumcised when he was eight days old, in accordance with the requirements of their religious laws, as a people of the god Dyauspiterx.
One day he looked at his image in the mirror and he saw that he looked beautiful, just like a flower that blooms and dies, and he resented this nature. "I want to be immortal, not just cute," he said, which just came out as a child's incoherent babbling.
Gorrgon's people lived in houses constructed from wood, rocks and fabric, they were dome shaped, like manyattas or igloos. These people were hunters and gatherers, traders, crop cultivators and domesticaters of livestock.
Gorrgon's birth on Tiamat was followed shortly by a meteor shower which claimed thousands of casualties, but whose to say it was Gorrgon's fault.
Even though he was happy in his new home, Gorrgon knew that life was soon to take a toll on him for the worst, only that Cathu would lift him up from every calamity, unscathed. This absolute faith in his deity made him a little bit too courageous and slightly mischievous.
While growing up, he often got in trouble owing to his mischief. He used to beat up some kids older than him in his village, however in most cases he blamed the roughed up kids for either picking on his friends or bullying him first. He always took care not to hit them too hard though, lest he be found guilty of physical assault instead of that which it was, defense. He was good at getting out of trouble as though he had some sort of lucky charm in him though. From an early age, he loved sporting games and he had several friends to play with too. His parents looked at him and they saw that he would make a strong warrior when he grew up, and they were happy, the whole village was happy. His village produced some of the mightiest warriors among their seven tribes, Gorrgon would become just like them or mightier. They had good plans for the young man.
GORRGON'S DANCE WITH DEATH
When Gorrgon was seven years old he went to graze cattle in communal pasture lands close to the hills a couple of kilometres away from home. The Tiamatians grew big quickly and it was common for seven year olds to help graze cattle, usually accompanied by older Tiamatians, but they were only allowed to join hunting expeditions when they reached nine years. Gorrgon's grazing friend was a fifteen year old by the name Zairr. Zairr was a drowsy eyed boy with a 'don't care' attitude, he used to talk to himself in low tones.
They had been herding for almost a year by that time, they worked quite well together with their families' herd of five hundred and two cattle.
Before they went out grazing though, something had not seemed quite right about that day. Gorrgon had woken up to a dead black high-soaring bird on the doorstep of their house, he didn't think it strange at first but when while journeying to the pasture lands a scavenger bird descended and unleashed an incessant attack on him, it made him cry. Zairr helped him chase it away. Gorrgon wondered what he had done to offend nature, was it because he was an alien deep down under his green skin. Only two days before had he dreamt of skinless people(enlivened skeletons) tagging at his body trying to pull him apart. He told his mother about the dream and she told him it was just a nightmare, nothing to be worried about.
The weather was hot as usual, but it felt even hotter on that fateful day. Tiamat was a very watery planet, with a rocky and sandy ground surface that was vennated with meandering rivers and rivulets. There were expansive oceans and seas as well. This given, Gorrgon was not very much worried about thirst, but the searing heat was becoming an obstacle. He tried covering his head with umbrella-shaped foliage but it didn't help much, he was scalded by the moisture evaporating from the marshes. And so by the time midday came, he had taken cover in the caves of the hills.
The caves that Gorrgon was taking cover in were positioned quite remotely in proximity to his home, and they looked like they belonged to someone houseless, given that they had paintings on their inside walls. Gorrgon hoped that the dwellers there in would not mind his temporary intrusion, it was after all too sunny outside.
As for Zairr's whereabouts, he had agreed to watch over the cattle as he could stand the heat.
Gorrgon had not stayed in the caves for too long when suddenly something hit him behind his head, knocking him out. When he came-to, he was hanging upside down very deep within the cave in some kind of spider cocoon nest.
It was not very long before his abductor showed up, a centaur shaped six legged beast with two forearms. It had massive thorns sticking out of its feet, sharp claws and it was hairy like a spider. It had saw-like teeth with four sabre teeth and red tipped mandibles with needle-like thistles on them. It had one eye. It also had two antennas that were white, tappering and encircled by black stripes. Gorrgon could see all these details because Tiamatians had good night vision.
The monster approached him hanging there and licked his face with its rough tongue, then it made screetching noises as it crawled behind him to where its spawn was nesting.
Gorrgon knew that he was going to be the monster's dinner, there is no way Zairr even with a search party would think of getting this far in the caverns. The beast's webs were rope-like, very tough and sticky. The smell of rotting flesh and beast excrement overwhelmed his nasal cavity and his head felt heavy as blood welled up inside his upper torso. This moment was the cup that could not be taken away from him, he would die as Cathu the greatest had told him, but how could chewed up meat be rendered a whole and complete living organism afterwards?
About two hours later, he heard the distorted sound of marching feet as the monster followed by its spawn came up to him. It had four spawns, and all four of them climbed up to the cocoon using webs for staircases and ate him. Some on his head and others on his belly, he died in gut-wrenching pain.
As an old saying goes, "Fear not those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul, but fear only Him who can destroy both body and soul in the eternal fires of Hell." Gorrgon went into the underworld holding on to his faith and, there at the gates guarded by numerous jackals, before entering there in he heard a voice telling him to wake up. It was the voice of Cathu at first, but moments later it turned out to be a girl's voice, Zairr's older sister Lily.
GORRGON RESURRECTS JUST TO DIE AGAIN
"Gorrgon wake up! Gorrgon, please don't leave us! Gorrgon!" Said Lily who was kneeling next to Gorrgon as he lay passed out outside the caves. Gorrgon woke up with a fright, his body parts were intact.
Zairr was standing next to him with a shepherd's rod held across his shoulders, looking at him inquisitively. As for the cattle, they were safe and grazing in some fields close by. When he saw Gorrgon look in his direction, Zairr frowned with a smile and then the smile faded and he said something inaudible, probably talking to himself again. "What happened to you? We heard screams coming from this direction. Did someone attack you or something?" Asked Lily in a very concerned tone.
"Hmmm?" Replied Gorrgon who was dazed and confused by the events that had transpired. "Uhm, I thought I saw something scary in the caves," then he licked his lips and wiped his brow with his left wrist.
Gorrgon knew what he knew to be true and unexplainable as it was something other worldy and unheard of in that community. He felt different, like he was not fully grounded in his body and sometimes he experienced trouble autonomously controlling some of his body parts. He tried getting up to stand up, but for a moment he could not, he felt paralyzed, but then he got up. He tried bending his leg, but for a moment he could not, but then he bent it. He thought, maybe my god is controlling my movement.
After a while, like twenty minutes or so, the three of them got up to leave.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine," Zairr told Gorrgon as they strolled on towards home, but while on the way, a devilish wind came and carried Gorrgon away. This was as strange to his friends as it was to him, whoever heard of a powerful but miniature sized and selective tornado? The tornado wafted him upwards like a dandelion flower and took him for a long distance to some forested mountain ranges he had never set foot upon before and it left him, way up in the mountains.
Gorrgon landed in the mountain peaks. "Who are you?!" He shouted a question at the wind and the echo resounded all over the place. No response came from the tornado, and it was quite windy in the mountain peaks, and cold, Gorrgon shivered, he thought he was losing his mind, but this was just too real. His mind was enshrouded with questions like, what if another monster shows up and kills me all over again, will I die if I get killed again, am I a zombie boy now, and, where am I and how will I possibly get home from this place? Cathu the greatest in his second heart was quiet all the while. Night time came and Gorrgon took cover on the sides of the mountains underneath a tree, he was too afraid to shelter in its caverns. After several hours of disturbed rest, he slept soundly like a babe.
When sunrise came, Gorrgon got up and started to head back towards the direction he'd been flown from. His teeth clenched and his stomach rumbling from the hunger he felt having eaten only the previous day morning.
How is a seven year old supposed to deal with all this, he wondered, anyway, at least I have Cathu, Cathu's going to be there for me. He found a pear tree, or at least the fruits looked like pears, hard to tell for this was Tiamat where pears could perhaps be some other kind of fruit. He plucked three fruits and ate them, he put two others in his pocket and continued with his journey home-bound using the sun's position as a day time compass. The sun gave him a rough idea of the direction he should be headed, but it was not very precise.
He wandered on for three hours before arriving at a wide river. He had grown weary of using the sun as a compass so he followed the river's course. He had to find a way to cross it though, for he was certain he was supposed to be on the other side of it. He had no way of splitting the river into two, he also didn't know how to swim, but he had wisdom and courage.
He knew that wood floats on water and that if its weight balances well with a Tiamatian, then the Tiamatian could float with it. Thus he searched around for a fallen tree, and he found a fallen log slightly larger than his size. He carried it to the river and placed it in the water. He wrapped his arms around it and then puddled the current with his feet. To his happy relief, he found that he could float.
Gorrgoth sailed across the wide river using the log as a floater and once he got across it, he was thankful to Cathu.
There were animals in the mountains, but none of the animals there were threatened by his presence. He continued with his journey for an hour before getting to a sharp long cliff with jagged steps on its sides, a sign of denudation. He had to scale its, almost three kilometre depth.
Thus began his descent, one step at a go, as he crawled like the tail-less lizard he was, along the sides of the cliff. The going was quite good at first, in fact, he felt like a pro up to the point when he clutched on-to a fragile piece of rock, about four hundred metres from the top and he slipped to his doom. He landed on several sharp rocks on the way down and when he got to the bottom, he crashed hard. And then a huge monolith fell on him burrying him instantly underneath its collosal weight.
Gorrgon was once again a goner. This time though, he did not see the underworld as he reconstituted shortly afterwards. This resurrection feat was like the godlike manner in which an ant falls off a high wall to the ground and then bounces back upon its feet immediately.
He died again shortly afterwards, after getting shot by villagers using poisoned darts when they thought him to be a spy. He resurrected and somehow found his way home. He was very much irritated by these events, he had still not found true immortality with three years of grace period left, after which as he'd been told, he'd die soon after, for good this time, if he hadn't found the elixir of immortality.
GORRGON MAKES A MYSTICAL TRADE
The people of Hillsville village nicknamed Gorrgon the Undead-boy. Some were afraid of him while others saw him as though he had been sent to them by the gods. While this was the case, he was not called the Undead-boy because he had recounted the stories of him dying and resurrecting, not really, they called him that name because Zairr and his sister Lily told them that he had been snatched by a high flying demon and slaughtered in the mountains, how he came back to them alive(though beaten by the weather and starvation), only Dyauspiterx they said knew. Thus Gorrgon grew up as a loner, socially withdrawn from his people, yet still among them for where else could he find to lay his head? Besides, even though they found him to be odd, it was not the Tiamatian way to exile little boys for committing no real crimes.
When Gorrgon became nine years of age, he went back to the caves inside which he had been eaten by the beasts with six legs and two forearms. He knew that even if he got mauled to death again at nine years of age, he would come back to life at which point if he was to have had died before finding the elixir of immortality he would have to die all over again as many times as it took to gain It.
He approached the caves bravely with a sharp obsidian flint in his right hand with which he intended to kill the beast. He thought, perhaps if he killed one of the beasts his heroic deed would grant him the elixir. How could a boy so young though, even hope to accomplish such a feat?
Well, he was well fed and strong for his age, but he was no master. Cathu the greatest witnessed his great faith and courage and decided to show him a way out of the situation right before he could venture into the caves. He spoke with the voice of a thousand thunderstorms unto Gorrgon who was the only one to hear his words telling him to gouge out his right eye as a sacrifice unto him, if he wanted to complete his quest.
Gorrgon understood the message clearly, and moving away from the caves he hid behind a bush and jabbed his right eye with great force, rendering himself one-eye-blinded. When he was done, Cathu the greatest appeared before him in a swirling cloud of smoke rising from the ground where there was no flammable material present. Cathu the greatest was shining brilliantly and it was difficult for Gorrgon to keep focused upon His form whose face he could not see because of the light that He embodied and emitted. He, Cathu, touched Gorrgon's gouged eye's socket that was bleeding profusely and healed him, numbing his pain instantly but leaving it still unable to see his physical surroundings.
With the pain long gone, Gorrgon suddenly realized that he could see his spiritual form, or something like his soul inside a post-human body. Gorrgon understood himself to have been trans-humanized, that is, he had discovered perceptible and irrefutable proof of his true eternal self. However, since he looked very odd without one eye, Cathu the greatest made him a decoy eye and fixed it inside his right eye socket. This decoy was only granted to give him the semblance of normality, so that Gorrgon would not be persecuted for apparent disability.
Gorrgon then saw it fit to carve a pictographic warning sign on the outside of the entrance to the beasts' cave. He did not think it would be wise however, to confront the monster that once killed him, for once eaten he was twice shy. He went back to his village and there he grew up to be a super-hero, just like Superman*, saving people, hunting things, he made this his business.
He gave the Tiamatians hope and reaffirmed their faith in their god, that there was an afterlife and that life was meant to be cherished via rightful living. The Tiamatians in return made him a folklore legend, and stories of his heroic exploits were passed down to generation after generation, about how Gorrgon could single-handedly defend a village against an army of attackers. He gained super-strength, super-speed and invulnerability to physical damage in addition to clairvoyance, hence his mode of ever growing in combat skills. He lived up to his parents' wishes, of seeing him become a mighty warrior, one of the mightiest Tiamat has ever known. His legend lived on for about ten thousand years, until Tiamat was shattered by a warrior god named Enki from planet Nibiru, while passing close to it en-route to planet Earth. By that time, Gorrgon had already evacuated his beloved worldlings to another yet undisclosed planet, and the planet Tiamat had had become a third density plane after their departure. Gorrgon had also been an astrophysicist to watch over the advancement of space technology for all those years. They lived happily ever after in their new colonized planet, and this is where the story ends.
Footnote:
*Superman: See DC Comics