The Greek myth of the Fates’ prophecy - Iseult Gillespie

Prince Meliega and his band of warriors crept towards the den of the terrifying beasts they sought to slay. But unbeknownst to the prince and his followers, a dark secret loomed over his life. The night of Meliega's birth, his mother, Althea, the Queen of Caledon, was visited by three shadowy goddesses known as the Fates. Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos rarely appeared to mortals, but wielded untold power over their lives. Clotho spun a thread at the birth of new life. Lachesis determined its length, and Atropos cut it with her shears, marking the moment of death. When the Fates visited Althea that night, they gestured towards the blazing hearth and decreed that Meliega would live only until the burning log was reduced to embers. Althea rushed to quench the fire, but before she could beg for more information, the Fates had vanished. She locked the log in a chest and took comfort in guarding the key to her son's safety as he grew into a talented young man and a daring, hot-tempered warrior. Meliega traveled far and accomplished impressive feats until soon a formidable opponent arrived at his doorstep. During that year's annual sacrifices, Meliega's father neglected to leave an offering to Artemis, goddess of the hunt. So the gods sent their punishment in the form of a boar that tore through Caledon. Hide bristling with razor-sharp hairs, spear-like tusks gleaming, and lightning leaping from its mouth, it had decimated the area's fields, herds, and people. Since there was no hope of defeating the boar alone, Althea's beloved brothers agreed to accompany their nephew on the hunt. Meliega hastily recruited Greece's best warriors to join them, including Castor, revered for his horsemanship, as well as his brother, Pollux, a fearsome fistfighter. Meliega also called on Ocastus, who hurtled javelins with incomparable strength, Cineas, a hero with impenetrable skill, and Amphiarius, a revered diviner. But perhaps most skilled of them all was Atalanta, the famed warrior of the Arcadian woods. Because her father wanted a male heir, he abandoned her in the wilderness. Suckled by a bear and raised by roaming hunters, Atalanta became a fierce wrestler, swift runner, and lethal hunter. Though some of Meliega's men objected to fighting alongside a woman, he assured them of Atalanta's strength and led his small army into the ravaged countryside in search of the beastly boar. Althea waved farewell anxiously, but reassured herself that her son could come to no grievous harm so long as she guarded the log the fates had linked to his life. Hunting hounds led the party towards the boar's forest lair, where they cast large nets and lobbed weapons into the dark of the monster's den. Suddenly charging from its cave, the boar flattened trees and hunters in its path, then sharpened its tusks on the fallen oak to gore more of its enemies. Atalanta pinpointed a vulnerable spot behind the beast's ears and let fly one perfectly aimed arrow. With the beast weakened, Amphiarius lodged another arrow in its eye, leaving Meliega to deal the final blow. Meliega praised Atalanta's first decisive hit and awarded her the boar's hide and head, but his uncles were outraged that he should bestow all the glory upon a woman, so they snatched her prize. Meliega's temper flared back, and before his mind cleared, the consequence of a bitter battle lay before him. He had killed his uncles in his fit of rage. Keeping watch at the palace, Althea rejoiced at the hunter's return, but the news of her brother's death at the hands of her son quickly transformed her relief into grief and then unabated rage. Althea tore from the crowd to her quarters, ears ringing and hands shaking, her mind a frenzied blur of betrayal and resentment. Althea fumbled for the hidden chest, shook its lock free, and pitched the log into the flames. All at once, Meliega was engulfed by a strange agony that would haunt his last fated moments. A destiny grounded into his and his mother's lives, though neither could have foreseen the wicked turn it would take.