HERRON

PRINCE OF OLYMPUS, THE UNREADY KING

SILVER SPOON

Herron Ascleon was born into quiet privilege. His family owned the largest paper mill in Herspia and ran several of the most influential newspapers in Linguardia. The name Ascleon opened doors in every capital and even many smaller cities and townships. He was well-educated, well-liked, well-spoken for. He was safe, in every way that mattered.

Herron knew from a young age that something about him was different. When his father, the patriarch Ascleon house and bussiness, took him out to hunt wild hare for the first time Herron could feel animals’ fear as his father landed a slug in its leg as if it were his own. Herron had the ability to hear things in their stillness, understand them in ways language could never explain he shared an empathic link with all living creatures. It was a in many ways a beautiful thing.

But in a world where Witchbreed could bend mountains or tear through steel with their voices, Herron's gift seemed like little more than a whimper. An inconvenient addition to the perfect citizen. and more importantly, not something that changed the world. But Herron wanted to change the world.

RUN AWAY

Whether he fled his home to escape the pressures of expectation, to save his skin from potential outing as a Witchbreed, or simply out of languor for the life laid before him, even he isn’t sure anymore though he would tell people different stories depending on the day. One thing is for certain, Herron remembered what it felt like to walk away from his gilded home, how no one followed, how no one stopped him and how little he thought to look back. He joined the rebellion not as a warrior, not even as a revolutionary, but as young man who wanted to matter, even if it meant becoming someone else.

He never expected to fall in love. He never expected to marry a god. He never expected to be a king.

WEAKEST LINK

Among the Olympians, Herron is the weakest Witchbreed by almost every measurable standard. His connection to animals offers utility; early warnings, tracking, emotional sensing but not strength. Not in battle. Not in intimidation. He was given a gladius, and learned to use it well enough though later, he was gifted a weapon that could put him on par with some of the other rebellion leaders. Stormbringer.

HEAVY IS THE HEAD

Zeus’s death was not just a personal loss. It shattered the rebellion’s foundation. He was its spine, its storm, its spearhead. Herron has never intended to take his place only stand beside him. Love him. Temper him. Humanize him. However when Zeus left his study for the last time to venture toward the Linguardian capital, he left a note declaring that in the event of his own demise the throne and all its power would be left to his husband.

Not everyone was happy with this decision, leaving the boy who could speak to birds, the widower of Olympus to wear the rebellion’s reluctant crown and the ocean is calling.

Excerpt from Herron's speech at the funeral of Zeus

"I… I don’t have the right words for this. Zeus he was more than a king, more than a warrior. He was… everything. And now, we stand here, without him. I know I’m not him. I can’t be. But I’ll try, for all of you. For Olympus.

They’re saying it’s over now. That with Zeus gone, the rebellion is finished. That Olympus is in ruin now. Maybe they’re right. Maybe the world moves on. Maybe the thunder has faded from the skies. But something in me refuses to believe that.

Because I remember how he looked at us, each and every one of us were not just warriors, not weapons, but hope. And maybe I’m not the one he would’ve chosen to carry that vision. Maybe I don’t have the storm in my blood like he did. But I am still standing. And so are you. That has to mean something.

Let them say it’s over. Let them whisper their doubts and count the cracks in Olympus’s walls. But let us say something else. Let us choose what comes next. We’ve been beaten. We’ve been bruised. We’ve lost what mattered most. But we are not broken. And I swear to you, by the storm that made him, by the fire that remains in us Olympus will not be remembered as a ruin.

For him. For us. And for what comes next.
To Zeus!"

OPEN INVITATION

While he was alive, Zeus never trusted Poseidon’s ideology, and Herron inherited that caution. But Poseidon's messages of condolences sent shortly after Zeus’s execution to the widow left behind, planted something dark in Herron’s heart. A truth too tempting to out right ignore.

...Zeus was a lion who thought he could lay with lambs and not grow hungry. I may have disagreed with him on that, but he was a great fighter nonetheless. And now, the rebellion is yours.

You are not Zeus. You were never so naïve. You have felt the hatred behind human eyes the kind that doesn’t fear our power, but envies it...

Read Full Letter Here:

Poseidon offered more than simple sympathies, he offered power. A place at his side in New Atlantis, the rising stronghold of militant Witchbreed. An end to compromise. An end to asking for space to live. And Herron was tempted after seeing what the world had prepared for them, after seeing what they did to his lover. But he did not accept that invitation outright and not because of loyalty to Zeus, or because he believes peace is still possible. Not really. The truth is simpler. And uglier. The New King of Olympus is afraid.

In New Atlantis, power is everything. Strength is sacred. Herron, with his fragile gift and his borrowed sword, would be no king beneath the sea. Poseidon’s army is filled with zealots, titans, war-born Witchbreed who believe their bloodline is divine. Herron knows what they would see when they looked at him not a leader, but a liability. A crown made of paper.

So he waits. Balancing between memory and ambition, grief and rage. Trying to lead a rebellion that grows more fractured each day. Trying to live up to a god whose love once made him feel invincible. But the storm is coming. And if Olympus falls, Herron knows Poseidon won’t wait long before offering his hand again. The question is no longer if he’ll take it. It’s what kind of man he’ll be when he does.

Page updated

Report abuse