Labyrinth - A Short Story

Discussion in 'Other KaW Discussion' started by AshesOfEden, Dec 21, 2016.

  1. The soldier was oblivious to the shrilling sounds of artillery shells streaking over the trench line and the dirt and debris being rained down upon him as they explode nearby.

    His platoon was gone, his weapon was gone.. and his mind was gone.

    Only sheer terror gripped his fractured mind as he let out screams and yelps while running full stride down the corridors of a deep trench bordering the Bulgar fortifications.

    He turned left and stumbled across the bodies of his squad... a whimper of despair left his mouth as the realization came that he had been running in circles around this earthen tomb.

    Then he heard the beast.

    With the last ounce of flight, the soldier frenetically clawed and crawled up the mud face of the steeper than usual walls of the trench system.

    A hand rose up on the top of the trenches of the battlefield. A grotesque face twisted in absolute terror followed it. It's mouth gasping at a faint hope of salvation.

    A guttural wailing bellowed from under him. It's sound was filled with rage and bloodlust. Human but unhuman.

    The soldier was dragged back into the trenches and his screams were swallowed up by the thunder of the artillery blasts.


    ------------------------------------------


    The allied General paced uncomfortably in the command bunker.

    He had been sent to make gains in the Macedonian front of this great war and so far it had been a stalemate.

    The German, Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian forces amassed against him are starting to turn this land where Alexander the Great once lived into the trench warfare style mirroring the battlefields of Verdun and Somme of the western front.

    And to the east of him, the allied Anzec divisions trying to capture the only waterway to Russia from the Mediterranean along the Dardanelles were being slaughtered by the Turks at Gallipoli.

    He had been urged to strike and they had converged on Skra, a heavily fortified Bulgarian garrison.

    They had used their superior numbers to overwhelm the parameter defences and clearing the trenches before the enemy could fully dig in, but some gaps on their flanks were causing the General concern.

    His hands pointed down at a sector on the large map sprawled out in front of him.

    "Who do we have around this area Major?"

    "A Greek division sir" the Major replied

    "We cannot have the enemy settle in on our right flank Major.. Have the Greeks clear out the trenches down there.."

    "Yes sir"

    The General stared at the Major with a steely gaze

    "Tonight Major"

    "Yes sir"


    ------------------------------------------


    The German Colonel buttoned his leather coat as he stood at the edge of his creation at dusk and surveyed with delight.

    Those who do not care for history are doomed to repeat it. He whispered.

    For he, had studied the works of the ancient Greeks, not just with wonder and awe, but with practical learning and tactical applications.

    And in this Great War, where vast armies are scurrying in the dug out trenches trying to annihilate each other, he had harvested the mechanical and optical secrets of Daedalus himself.

    He looked down and clutched a canister with a death head symbol. In patronage to the wrath of Poseidon, he had created a small offering of vengeance and malice himself.

    "Bring me the Bulgar Brigand" The Colonel ordered

    A hulking figure approached him. The figure was over seven feet tall but moved with amazing swiftness while wearing a suit of armour from the Byzantine era.

    He wielded a multi spiked Mace which he passed from one hand to another with anxious bloodlust as he approached the Colonel.

    There was a paced wheezing sound as the figure breathed in deep voluminous breaths behind the gas mask he was wearing. His eyes glowed behind the monstrous glass goggles.

    The Colonel lifted the canister to the figure towering above him. The beast took the canister and plugged it onto one of the valves of the gas mask and wailed.

    The unhuman wail echoed across the battlefield and the approaching night and the Colonel savoured its ferocious sound.

    "Afterall, one cannot have a Labyrinth without a Minotaur"

    The German Colonel watched with a cold smile as the beast figure entered the trenches through a gate.


    ------------------------------------------


    Captain Styros scanned the faces of what's left of his squad faintly lit against the dim light of the lanterns.

    It was a clear night and the 4 young men who were barely adults, sourced from the islands of the Aegean Sea, showed toughness and stubbornness as the goats they would normally be tending to in peacetime on their idyllic islands.

    But there was also a creeping despair and fear since the first attack in these deep trenches they were sent to clear.

    The attack was swift and disorienting. A large shadow figure had appeared around a corner at full speed and engaged in a ferocious melee combat.

    The attacker gleamed in steel armour and its multi spiked Mace from an ancient time struck with reciprocating blows.

    Captain Styros was able to get a shot off his pistol while his men were being hacked but the shot bounced off the armour.

    The wheezing figure in the hideous gas mask disappeared as swiftly as he came and the squad was left shaken amid its fallen bodies.

    That.. was the fear part..

    The despair part is that they have been walking in the trenches for half an hour and am now standing where their squad members were slain.

    "We have angered Poseidon.. can't you see?" A cracking voice rose from one of the teens.

    "What are you babbling about?" The Captain asked

    "It's the monster of Minos.. we are in its Labyrinth.. the paths are not real, but the monster is, and we will never make it home" the teen cried

    "That is an ancient myth.. we are fighting a real enemy, you all saw the gas mask.." the Captain was responding when the teen interrupted him

    "Ask him!.. ask Private Collias.. He's from Knossos.. ask him!"

    Styros glanced at another teen. Private Collias seemed less shaken and shocked than puzzled.

    "Don't tell me I should have taken a ball of twine from a maiden" Captain quipped

    Private Collias replied in measured tones.

    "There was no ball of twine.. and we may have hope to get out of this maze yet"

    The second attack descended upon them


    ------------------------------------------


    Captain Styros sat staring at the stars in the night sky.

    Tears strained from his face. Not of fear or fright but of the failure to keep his squad alive in this Labyrinth from hell.

    He was not badly hurt and may be in his primitive sense of self preservation, he had shielded Private Collias from the repeated blows of the mace with the stalk of his rifle until it broke.

    But the beast retreated. Savouring the kill and having slain 3 men.. to gain the euphoric rush again and finish them off.

    "What do you mean by there is hope Private?"

    Private Collias' eyes were also gazing up at the stars

    "My mother told me the story of Theseus and the Minotaur and the Labyrinth that Daedalus made many times when I was young"

    "She said she and I are the descendants of Theseus and she told me the story at nighttime because you see Captain Styros....."


    "...Theseus went into the Labyrinth at night to kill the Minotaur" Collias trailed off


    "Why would he go into it at night?" Styros wondered loud


    "No no Captain.. my mother told me he went at night so that he could come back OUT of it..."


    "That is why there is hope! We are in the middle of the night... Now did she tell you how Private Collias?"

    "She only told me that we forget how well our bodies remember our ancestors"

    "And she sang me a lullaby to put me to sleep" Private Collias finished his response

    "You know, my mother told me that about my ancestors too. Sing me that lullaby Private.. may be it is one that I may have heard of too.. I shall seek to connect with my ancestors as well"

    The Private softly sang the lullaby.. it was not any that the Captain was familiar with..

    He could hear it mention Pleiades and Lyra and had a melodic bittersweet tone.

    The Captain closed his eyes and summoned his body and mind to seek the the resonance experiences of his ancestors.

    "I can feel it now Captain" a calm voice came from the Private

    Styros opened his eyes and saw Collias standing against the background of the starfield above them.

    "It's in the stars isn't it!" The Captain proclaimed...

    "Yes.. all the secrets are in the stars.. and the lullaby had helped me get in touch with what Theseus knew and felt to navigate this illusion"

    Styros stood to his feet.. clutching the bayonet from the broken rifle in one hand and the pistol in another.

    He handed the pistol to Collias.

    "Here, take this.. you must go exterminate the creator of this labyrinth.. we cannot let him deploy this machination large scale in the battle fronts of Verdun and Somme"

    "But you... I need you Captain.." the Private replied

    "No.. I will lure away the beast and kill it.. "

    He paused "Goodbye kid.. may the gods be in your favour.."

    Captain Styros shook Private Collias' hand, embraced him and headed towards the direction that the beast had fled.

    A deep bellowing wail echoed across the trenches from where the Captain was heading.

    Collias admired the Captain's courage and asked his final question..

    "Captain Styros.. where abouts do you come from?"

    The Captain smiled and replied

    "Sparta"

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  2. As some people in my clan may attest, a nightmare woke me up this morning.

    In what I can remember of this nightmare, I was running through the trenches of World War One.. at night, with a bright Milky Way and the deep starfield overhead.. and there was an unseen dread following me.

    I decided to incorporate it into a short story that you may find enjoyable.

    The bold paraphrase in the story about our bodies remembering came from Octavia Butler, a well known African American Woman writer of Science Fiction.

    The battle of Skra-di-Legen did take place in Macedonia during the World War I. 3 Divisions from Greece took part in it, including regiments from Crete and Sparta.

    Here's a song that I listened while assembling my story..

    M83 - Oblivion feat. Susanne Sundfor

    Enjoy
     
  3. Great story, ashes
    And i loved the song
     
  4. An untold tale imagine -
    Beast among the slain,
    In a labyrinth of passion
    I am lost again.
    Twisting heart with rage and twisting
    Fingers into fists..
    Blood is pounding, resisting,
    In my tender wrists.
    And against all rules and codes,
    And against all odds
    Crescent horns will mock the roads
    Of the cruel gods.
    Cutting threads and feeling tension,
    Waiting for a thrill -
    In a labyrinth of passion
    Minotaur to kill.

     
  5. Wow Lili..

    Killer poetry and Minotaur boobies..

    I just got pwned 
     
  6. Lol very entertaining
     
  7. Your mind never ceases to amaze me Ashe.
    I had been watching my son play his xbox game Battlefield following this story line in a way. (minus the creatures)
    Eerie to read your story. Maybe my mind did send it to you by way of a nightmare.
     
  8. Your having the wrong sort of dreams
     
  9. Amazing as always ashes! 
     
  10. Another great thread :)
     
  11. Keep em coming ash. Beers on me 
     
  12. Thank you all for your encouragements!

    I was talking to Lili about her excellent poem and since is also a fan of Sappho, we chatted about stars in the sky and inspiration in the ancient times.

    Here is a beautiful article on modern astronomy and an ancient poem

    A great part of the article (as the author also mentioned), is what I also think, the best translation of Sappho's poem (The first image in the article)..

    Enjoy 


    *Note to DRDEATH, I know what you're thinking.. how can Sappho sleep alone on THAT island.. 
     
  13. I know some links won't show up when you tap on them on iPhone.. I don't really know my way around that.. if that is the case, please just quote what I wrote and copy the link and paste into a browser.. ️
     
  14. The research of dating the poem is quite interesting. On the other hand who is to say that Sappho describes a real night? Maybe the Pleiades going down is just a metaphor for midlife crisis lol. The season of navigating the Mediterranean sea began with the heliacal rising of the Pleiades. Maybe she feels like her life is coming to its end. The navigating light is gone as she lays there alone. Waiting for death.
     
  15. May be it's a metaphor for something else

    Ok I'm gonna stop before I get banned.. again
     
  16. Putting the jokes aside.. that's a very intriguing point Lili.. I nave not look at the Pleiades references in the poem from that perspective (beacon) before.. Sappho uses her words carefully as her poems are short and she is a genius at putting key things in short stanzas..

    Here's the picture of the poem and imo the best translation..