Hey, first story so R&R.

Disclaimer: yeah, I don't own anything.

Prologue: The Flames

A young boy narrowly avoided a collapsing building as he dashed through the burning city. Feet scorched by the burning road and the fires that coated it, the boy still ran on, his sea-green eyes warily searching for more of the invading soldiers. When no soldiers came into view, he doubled his speed to his destination, praying to every god and goddess he could think of in hopes of finding what was left in his crumbling life unscathed. As he turned one last corner, his eyes widened and tears threatened to spill out, his worst fears realized.

His home burned furiously, as if Hephaestus had breathed out the inferno himself. The flames reached to the blood red sky, as if to burn it along with all of Sparta. Desperate, the boy ran through the flames surrounding the front door, ignoring the burns he received as he entered the kitchen. "Mother!" he cried, "Mother, where are you!" Burning debris fell from the ceiling, signaling the buildings state of near collapse. The boy pressed on, unwilling to give up on the small hope that he could still find her. "Mother, please answer me!"

"Perseus? Perseus, is that you?" Perseus turned to the sound of his mother's voice and ran to the sleeping quarters. Just as he reached the doorway, the ceiling groaned and cracked, sending more flames and debris to block his way. He could just make out the form of his mother a few feet away from him, pinned by pieces of the ceiling that had fallen. "Mom, just hold on! I can save you!" He ran into the rubble, slamming his small shoulder into the only thing keeping him from the only person he had left in life. The rubble stood strong, not giving an inch but badly burning his shoulder.

"Perseus, run. There isn't much time left. You have to leave me." His mother's face betrayed the pain she hid in her voice as the debris pinning her legs burned and seared her flesh.

"No! I won't leave you!" Perseus persisted, "it's not our way!" he tried once more, slamming his shoulder once again into the debris, but only succeeding in giving himself more burns.

"Perseus," she whispered as she reached for his tear streaked face, "I love you."

Onyx melded with the ocean as their eyes met one last time before the room was engulfed with flames, blocking the boy's view of his mother. "Mother!" He slammed against the flaming debris yet again, only to be scorched by the roaring flames. He roared in pain and despair, filled with rage as hot and scorching as the flames surrounding him. Glowing with an ethereal light, he smashed through the debris and made his way to his mother's once life filled body. Searching his mother's eyes, once a warm metallic onyx, now a bland black the color of cold embers, he found nothing that was once his mother. She was was gone. The boy howled, pouring all his grief and despair into his voice as the sea-green light surrounding him glowed brighter and brighter, until a massive explosion tore the house asunder.

The force of the blast sent Perseus crashing into almost ice-cold cold stone steps. The boy raised his head weakly, recognizing the temple of Ares, where he and his mother had commuted to every week. Staggering to his feet, it was all the boy could do not to pass out. His lungs burned from the smoke he'd inhaled, and the edges of his vision darkened from the pain of his burns and exhaustion the power he'd unleashed. He pressed on, fighting through the pain as he made an agonizingly slow pace up the stairs to the main hall, where he was greeted by the god of war .Or at least his likeness.

With the last of his energy, Perseus staggered towards the shrine, falling to his knees as his vision blackened. Feebly crawling the last few feet, he laid his small, scorched hands onto the base of the shrine, sending a message, hoping, praying for a response. In his mind and mouth, he whispered his message.

"Help me, please."

Curling up at the statue's base, he took one last look at what was once Sparta, the fires still raging all through the city, burning it to ash. He looked up and almost smiled.

'I can see the stars.' He whispered, before darkness overtook him.