Leonidas couldn't hold his weight a moment longer and collapsed to the ground. Beneath his once-pristine bronze armor, his body was covered in deep wounds. His mythical spear was lost, and he was nearing death. Leonidas' whole body trembled as he forced himself to raise his head.
His warriors of Athens who he had led into battle lay fallen across the battlefield. Leonidas felt a tear slide down his pale face; their death would be known by none once he soon passed.
Leonidas could feel his consciousness fading. His head fell back onto the hard stone, but Leonidas hardly even noticed. He could feel his heart slowing and his thoughts become sluggish. In front of him, he could see a man radiating golden light wandering the battlefield, looking at him. Leonidas didn't even process the strangeness of a golden man roaming a battlefield, and was only glad that someone would remember their sacrifice.
Leonidas closed his eyes as his heart slowed to a halt. The man brushed his hands against his forehead, but Leonidas could not open his eyes. Leonidas was not sure how much time passed before he awoke on the battlefield. The golden man stood over him, and Leonidas quickly pushed himself into a kneeling position.
Leonidas recognized the man immediately.
"Zeus?" Leonidas asked hesitantly. "Why… why are you here?"
"The council agrees. You will have one gift from the gods," Zeus said solemnly, ignoring his question. "I know what you will ask; do you want to be a god, Hero?"
"Is anybody else alive?" Leonidas asked. He could become a God later.
"They are dead, Hero, and I cannot bring them back." Zeus said.
Leonidas hesitated briefly. Accepting Zeus' offer felt wrong. His comrades would go without a proper burial, or without tales of their final battle.
Leonidas thought for a long moment. He could always return after his ascension and bury them, and the Titans were going to destroy Greece without godly intervention. The Olympians wouldn't help, so he would join the minor gods in their attempt to save Greece.
"I do."
Zeus reached down and pulled Leonidas' spear out of the mud. Zeus swung the spear casually, with more might than even a Cyclops could muster. The mud and dirt flew off of the spear at high speeds, splattering against the ground. "Kneel, hero of Athens."
Leonidas dropped to one knee and bowed his head. His arms trembled; not from pain or fear or sadness this time, but out of anticipation. His comrades would get the honor they deserve, and he would become a God. It was the perfect conclusion. Zeus touched the blade of his spear on his shoulder. Zeus said something in a language he couldn't understand, and Leonidas felt warmth flow through his body.
'Is this how it feels to be a God?' Leonidas wondered. He hardly felt different- perhaps it was his insignificant amount of Godblood. Suddenly, Leonidas fell to the ground like a brick. Leonidas waited in the dark silence for a while before he managed to wonder if something had gone wrong.
***
Leonidas was in a sleep-like state for what could've been seconds or years. His mind still worked, albeit sluggishly. Years- or maybe minutes- passed before Leonidas came to the conclusion that perhaps something had gone wrong.
Time passed in a strange way; it felt like he had been in this state for thousands of years and only a few seconds simultaneously. Leonidas couldn't feel his body; if he even had one.
Leonidas became scared when he began forgetting the names of his comrades. No; he had forgotten them long ago- or was it just now? Leonidas tried desperately to remember even one of their names, but he couldn't. The names were on the tip of his tongue- if he even had a tongue- but he could not remember them no matter how hard he tried.
Leonidas realized that he had forgotten many things. What had his forgotten soldiers died fighting? He didn't know. All he knew was that it was strong; he had only barely killed it. He couldn't remember the city they had died protecting. Leonidas couldn't remember the name of his wife or family. He only remembered that he had them- or perhaps not. He wasn't sure how much time had passed; perhaps hundreds of years had passed, and all of the people he loved were dead, or perhaps only a few minutes had passed, and his loved ones were awaiting his return.
'Return… from what?' Leonidas wondered. Suddenly, Leonidas jerked awake. Chains hung from his wrists, and he quickly checked his surroundings. He was chained to a wall in a dark room, with only three candles to light it. Two people he had never met were chained to the same wall to his right.
"Are you okay?" One of them- a staggeringly large man that looked closer in size to a bear- asked. Beneath an unscathed cloak he wore very little besides a kilt- not because he was a savage, but because his armor had broken. Leonidas could see the bronze remains on the ground next to him.
The man's voice echoed, making Leonidas wonder if the room was larger than he had assumed. With such little lighting, it was impossible to see the size- the walls and ceiling were masked by a wall of darkness.
"No," Leonidas croaked. The word caused pain to stab through his head- Leonidas couldn't help but let out a pained groan. Leonidas waited for the pain to go away before pushing himself into a sitting position, which only reignited the searing pain trying to fry his brain.
Leonidas shakily stood up, before quickly collapsing back to the ground. It felt as if Atlas had passed the weight of the sky unto his body. Leonidas roughly fell to the cold stone floor, panting. It was only now that Leonidas looked at himself.
Through holes in his bronze breastplate, Leonidas could see that he was starved. His ribs were clearly visible, and he lacked any muscles. Judging by his supreme lack of muscles, Leonidas thought he was in the third stage of starvation and wondered how he felt no pain. "What's wrong?" The man asked. Leonidas looked up at the man, surprised. Was it not obvious? He was dehydrated and starving. He must look like he was on deaths door. Perhaps the man was dropped on his head as a baby.
"I… Need food." Leonidas said. Each word took several seconds to force out, and they all physically hurt. His throat, which had already been in agonizing pain, only got worse. It lacked any sort of saliva- it was drier than a desert in there. It was a miracle he had not died yet.
"I don't know when someone will come with food. It's at regular intervals, but I can't count the days… for obvious reasons." The man said, glancing up. Leonidas followed his gaze. The sun was blocked out by a roof to high to see, making it impossible to count the days. Leonidas shivered and gazed into the darkness that enclosed them from all sides. He could hear little more than his heavy breathing- simply holding his head up for a few seconds was taxing, not to mention the fact that he was more than a bit afraid. He was chained to a wall in a dark, ominously quiet room, with no idea of what was happening.
"They'll come in six hours." The woman said. Leonidas glanced in her direction; he had almost forgotten that she was there. She hadn't made a noise since he had woken up, although he was sure that he wouldn't have made such an error if he wasn't on death's door.
"How do you know?" The bear-built man asked.
She snorted in response and refused to elaborate further. Leonidas was curious about the woman, but he could hardly focus. Leonidas felt his head dip, and his chin slam into his bronze breastplate. It hurt, but he was exhausted. Leonidas closed his eyes and drifted off moments later.