Half-Born

Zeus, standing by the big waterfall near the end of his piece of land, where his palace stands. 180 rooms, not enough bathrooms... yes, gods have to use the bathrooms too; we eat and drink, most of the time, too much.

He is the father of Hercules, a true hero to all and slayer of beasts and breaker of curses... but the story is not about Hercules. but his younger brother Theron, son of Zeus and a silent Viking huntress named Nyrime. Where Hercules has been strong since his baby days, little Theron is weirder; he is part god and part shadow, a bit stuck between 2 worlds. He, Zeus, is dead sure; Nyrime is unquestionably a human of flesh and blood; where does Theron get his shadow... it is truly amazing.

Zeus will never turn his back on a child. Theron, his son, and the other demigod children remain with their mothers. They’re free to go, but Pearl City, between heaven and earth, is their home.

Theron’s mother said to her son, “You were born at the time of an eclipse. The sun and the darkness both wanted you, and that is why you live in two worlds.”

The sun should have burned bright over Pearl City the morning Theron entered the world, but instead, the sky was darkened like spilled ink, shadowing Pearl City.

The birds stopped singing their songs of love, and dogs and wolves whimpered through the eclipse. The ordinary humans who were living with the demigods’ children in Pearl City had gotten so afraid, and they all whispered of the child born into darkness.

Inside the small stone house at the forest’s edge, where Nyrime claimed her land when Zeus brought her to Pearl City, she did not want the biggest house or to live like one of Zeus’s mistresses.

She was a huntress and stubborn as a mountain goat, but she loved Zeus in her bed, even if she knew that she was only good for one thing.

The birth was not easy... The midwife hovered nearby; she was as pale as the fading sunlight, and she was also praying to one of the gods who apparently was extremely busy elsewhere.

Was she praying for me, Nyrime, or for her? She ain’t no good midwife.

The midwife urged her, “Keep breathing.”

“I am breathing!” Nyrime snapped back.

“Where is Zeus... he put this child in me...!” Nyrime screams at the top of her lungs.

The midwife panics more, and Nyrime screams louder.

After a few more pushes, the child arrived with a cry that echoed strangely... half a voice and half of something deeper. Like wind through a cavern. It scared the midwife even more, and Nyrime was quiet and confused by the unnatural sound coming from a small baby.

The midwife wrapped a blanket around Theron and gave him to his mother. Nyrime looked down at the wrinkled, loud, and furious little boy in her arms and saw only her son.

"What an entrance you made, Theron," she whispered, brushing the sweat from her brow. "Born in darkness. and not even a breath old, and you're already trying to be dramatic, little one."

As if responding to her, the infant let out a tiny hiccup. The shadows on the walls flickered in time, like flames responding to invisible wind. The midwife promptly fainted.

Nyrime did not even notice the midwife; she had only eyes for her son.

From the doorway, a low rumble of thunder rolled across the sky. Zeus had a habit of announcing himself like someone who didn't believe in knocking.

"Don't you dare come in here," she said aloud.

Zeus trembled like the midwife who was still lying on the ground.

"Where were you, Zeus, when I needed you?"

The eclipse passed, and the light returned; the birds began to sing their love songs again.

"I was busy fighting a Cyclops, big and nasty. Sorry, my love, I'm here now."

Nyrime knew that was a lie, but she forgave everything with her son in her arms.

"Theron... It means 'hunter.'" Another hiccup, and the shadows wavered again.

"Yes... and trouble. I can already tell." Said Zeus after sitting on the bed with Nyrime and his newly born son, Theron.

Theron’s childhood was, in a word, unusual.

At the age of three, he learned to walk. At four, he learned to climb trees. At five, he learned that if he laughed too hard, shadows along the walls wiggled like startled minnows.

Nyrime would shake her head and say, “At your father’s side of the family, everything is possible. So what you are and what you will become is not impossible, as long as you will always stay pure of heart for your mother.” Then she’d hug him.

The villagers, however, whispered behind their backs.

“The eclipse child, Zeus’s second mistake. He’s not like Hercules.” And indeed, he wasn’t. Where Hercules was tall, loud, and built like a mountain, and capable of lifting an ox by age ten, Theron was softer in nature.

Quick on his feet, but not overwhelming.

Strong but not monstrous. He had a clever smile and a quiet laugh that earned him friends.

No child feared him; they simply... didn’t know what to make of him.

Except Lea... She was a shepherd girl... just a normal human. With sunburned cheeks and more confidence than sense. The first time she met Theron, she marched right up to him, poked his shoulder, and said, “If you’re a demigod, lift me that rock.”

Theron, at age eight, stared at the small boulder she wanted him to lift. “Why?”

“Because you’re supposed to be strong,” said in a tone that implied the gods themselves had written it in the sky.

Theron crouched, strained, and managed to lift the rock... barely before dropping it on his own foot. He screamed, the birds and wolves gone... hopping around in agony while Lea burst into laughter... she fell to her knees, and that was the day Lea and Theron became best friends.

Theron laughed with her, even through the pain. The shadows beneath the nearby trees twitched and shimmered.

Lea blinked and looked confused. "Did... did the shadows just wiggle?"

Theron froze. "No."

"Yes, they did!"

"No, they didn't!"

"Do it again!"

"I don't know how..."

Lea grinned. "I like you."

Years passed on. Theron grew into a young man with a kind face and the wiry strength of a hunter. He was handsome in a way that sneaked up on you... like the moment before dawn when everything is soft and quiet, waiting to decide whether it wants to be light or dark.

The shadows never stopped responding to him. When he laughed deeply, they rippled. When he was frightened, they thickened. When he was angry... they stretched.

He learned to keep his emotions carefully controlled. But still, every time he and Lea argued, teased, or joked... the shadows around him would twitch, and Lea would say:

"You're doing the thing again."

"What thing?"

"The shadow-wiggle thing!"

"I am not!"

"Yes, you are so doing it!"

And then they'd both end up laughing until the crows took flight from the trees.

But in the quiet corners of Pearl City, something ancient had woken that day of Theron's birth, and it was waiting for the eclipse child to grow.