(PS: Please support me on patreon there 135+ chapters there and there also my new GoT: The True Dragon Fanfiction of Game of Thrones
https://patreon.com/BX_XDS)
As the four walked up the winding path towards the mountaintop, they were frequently greeted by Spartan soldiers walking down. Many were focused on their tasks, offering only curt warnings: "The Wolf awaits the mercenaries. Don't keep him waiting." Others, however, paused to complement them. "You won today's battle, mercenaries. You fought like legends."
The four continued their climb. Near the top, Kassandra and Alexios became visibly nervous, taking deep, steadying breaths to calm themselves.
Lukas saw their shift in demeanor and, to lighten the mood, tried to tease them. "Look, Atlas! The siblings are nervous! Haha, want me to hold your hands, little Spartans?"
With that distraction, Kassandra and Alexios relaxed slightly, the familiar sibling dynamic overriding the fear. Alexios, annoyed but grounded, instantly retorted, "Fuck off, Lukas! And who's nervous? Maybe Kassandra, but not me."
Kassandra, equally annoyed, lightly punched Alexios's shoulder. She then became serious again. "This is it. What do we even say?" She took a final, deep breath.
Alexios also sobered up.
Atlas looked speechlessly at the siblings, shaking his head. "You're nervous facing your old man, but you're not nervous facing hundreds of Athenian soldiers trying to kill you?"
As the four talked, they arrived at the summit. They saw Nikolaos standing with his back to them, facing the horizon, looking out over the conquered field where the blood still soaked the earth.
When the four walked toward him, they heard Nikolaos address them without turning around. "So you are the champions who won us the day. Tell me all of your names, heroes, so that I may greet you as a true warrior."
As he said that, Nikolaos turned around and removed the crested Spartan helmet from his head, revealing an old man with close-cropped grey hair and a full beard. His eyes, though still sharp, were deeply lined, filled with the guilt and weariness of the past.
Atlas looked at Kassandra, giving her a small, silent gesture to respond.
Kassandra saw this, took a deliberate breath, and spoke, her voice thick with years of resentment and pain. "Chaire, pater," she began.
Before she could even finish the word, Alexios exploded. He dashed forward, his pent-up rage overriding all training, and delivered a devastating punch directly to Nikolaos's jaw, knocking the much older man instantly to the ground.
Atlas and Lukas tried to intercept him but failed, only able to watch helplessly as Alexios stood over the downed man.
On the ground, Nikolaos was confused, looking up at the young man who had assaulted him. Before Nikolaos could utter a word, Alexios spoke, his voice vibrating with anger, mocking the traditional Greek greeting.
"Chaire, pater. I never would have thought that I would meet you first before mater."
Nikolaos froze, staring up at Alexios, then slowly scanning Kassandra standing behind him. Disbelief was written clearly across his face. "Impossible. I saw the two of you fall on that mountain."
Alexios angrily grabbed Nikolaos's chest armor, hauling him up until their eyes were level. "We didn't fall, you all fucking threw us to our deaths!"
Nikolaos met Alexios's eyes calmly, his voice firm and steady despite the iron grip on his armor. "I did what was required of me as a Spartan. I've made my peace with that. You need to as well."
Hearing this, Alexios angrily pushed Nikolaos away. "Malaka! You—"
"Alexios!" Kassandra's sharp cry cut him off. "You need to calm down."
Alexios irritably looked at her, but the plea in her eyes stopped him. He gave up, releasing his father, and walked toward a corner of the ridge with his arms crossed, staring menacingly at Nikolaos.
When Nikolaos heard the name Alexios, he was also shocked that the baby Alexios had survived the fall. Kassandra interrupted his internal turmoil.
"You were our father. You were supposed to protect me. Both of us."
Nikolaos stood up, dusting himself off, his movements slow and tired. "You were reckless. You forced my hand."
Kassandra, getting further irritated by his lack of immediate remorse, stepped closer to Nikolaos. "I was protecting my brother, because you wouldn't."
Nikolaos explained, his voice taking on the tone of a man reciting a painful, necessary truth. "The oracle decreed that Alexios had to die. The Oracle's words are absolute. You know that; all of the people in Greece know that."
Kassandra replied sharply, pushing back against his Spartan logic. "You can't cower behind your sense of duties anymore, pater!"
Before Kassandra could continue, Nikolaos shouted, his voice echoing across the quiet battlefield below. "ENOUGH!!!"
All of them calmed down instantly. After a long moment of silence, Nikolaos said with deep regret in his tone, "I can't change the past, Kassandra… I will live and die a Spartan."
Kassandra then said, her voice low and dangerous. "There's a large reward for the mercenary that can collect the Wolf's head."
Nikolaos replied calmly, his eyes flicking toward Alexios in the corner. "Is that why both of you are here?"
Kassandra stepped forward, grabbed his chest armor in the same place Alexios had, and forcefully pushed Nikolaos toward the edge of the cliff. Seeing this, Lukas tried to rush forward and stop Kassandra, but Atlas held him back firmly.
"This is a family matter, Lukas," Atlas said, his hand heavy on Lukas's arm. "You don't want to get involved in this. And besides, I think Kassandra got this."
Lukas looked at Atlas helplessly, but relented.
On the very edge of the mountain, Kassandra looked directly into her pater's eyes, her face tight with rage. "You've avoided the past long enough. Now you will answer to me."
Just as Kassandra seemed poised to push Nikolaos off the cliff, she hesitated. The sight of his weary, regretful eyes broke her resolve. She pulled Nikolaos out of the edge forcefully, resulting in him stumbling and rolling on the ground away from the drop.
Breathing heavily, she looked down at the man lying in the dust. "Though you deserve death, there is no honor in vengeance." She spoke with finality. "You must face the ghosts of your past, pater. And that is a fate worse than death."
Nikolaos, still on the ground, failed to look at her, the shame unbearable. "I have failed in my duty. I failed to protect you… to protect both of you." He then pushed himself up, kneeling on one knee, and looked Kassandra directly in the eye. "I loved you—and your brother as if you were truly my own. But you were never mine, Kassandra."
Hearing this, Atlas knew this from the game but the three—Kassandra, Alexios and Lukas—were instantly taken aback by this shocking revelation.
Alexios immediately interrupted them. "What do you mean, that we aren't your own?"
Nikolaos stood up. "No, Alexios, I am indeed your pater and you are my own blood. But you, Kassandra… That is a question you should ask your mother."
Kassandra replied, still in shock. "Wait…"
Nikolaos looked at her one last time. "Find your mother. She knows far more than I do." He turned around and started walking away, disappearing down the opposite side of the ridge.
Alexios called after him, his anger reigniting. "Old man! Where will you go?"
Nikolaos turned to look back, his silhouette framed against the sky. "To find my honor."
Alexios replied sharply, marching toward him. "Your honor?" He scoffed. "You talk about honor like it's something you can just walk off and find! Did you forget something on your way out?"
"Are you going to abandon Stentor too?" Alexios snapped. "Just like you abandoned us?"
Nikolaos stiffened.
Alexios stepped closer to Nikolaos and pointed his finger firmly at Nikolaos's heart. "Let me tell you something, pater. I survived this world not because I was strong — but because I had family. People who chose to stand beside me when I was nothing. Because I had brothers and sisters that were willing to care for me".
"And Kassandra? She survived because she also found her own family when she was cast aside." His voice dropped, shaking with restrained anger.
Alexios's voice dropped to a fierce whisper. "And now you are telling me that you are going to find your honor elsewhere? For us, protecting our family is our true honor, and abandoning them is a disgrace itself. And now you're doing it to Stentor, all over again! You're just running away again!"
Nikolaos, who was being shouted at, seemed to finally realize the weight of his actions while looking at Alexios. A look of true understanding, not just duty, crossed his face. "You truly have grown up, Alexios. And also you, Kassandra."
He offered a small, sincere apology. "And I'm also sorry for the mistakes that I have done. But that won't change our past. And maybe you're right, that I am running away again. But seeing both of you now made me realize something."
Seeing Nikolaos finally break his stoic facade, Alexios also calmed down and turned, starting to walk away. The three—Kassandra, Atlas, and Lukas—followed. Kassandra looked back at Nikolaos for a moment, absorbing the final, devastating truth, before turning to follow her true family.
As the four walked down the mountain, Nikolaos shouted after them: "Beware of the snakes in the grass, Kassandra and Alexios!"
The four heard this but didn't stop. Atlas simply raised his hand in a gesture of acknowledgment, reassuring Nikolaos that the warning was heard.
Nikolaos stood alone on the ridge, looking at the distant horizon, the weight of the battle and his past finally settled. He decided that he wouldn't run away anymore, but would stay and find his honor by supporting Stentor.
(PS: Please support me on patreon there 135+ chapters there and there also my new GoT: The True Dragon Fanfiction of Game of Thrones
https://patreon.com/BX_XDS)