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The cave is cold, dark, and damp. The only sounds are the occasional scuttling of some unknown creature, mixed in with the whisper of the wind and the footsteps of people outside. Their voices become increasingly frustrated, and after some time, their footsteps grow more and more faint.
"I think I lost them."
Slowly, King Leonidas begins crawling out of the cave. He strains his eyes in the sunlight for the first time in a few days. He hadn't planned to hide inside the cave, but he was terrified of what they'd do if they found him. They would surely try and kill him for his actions. After a few moments, he begins a slow walk, attempting to avoid his own troops, but it was for naught.
"There he is!" Knowing he was caught, Leonidas surrenders to his remaining soldiers, praying to be spared. "We all thought you were at Thermopylae, not hiding in a cave. How is it that you're the only one left? Those soldiers only volunteered to stay behind because you said you'd fight with them!"
Leonidas has no answers for them, as even he could not explain his actions.
"Well?"
"I was scared. There were so few of us, and so many of them. I panicked the moment I saw the first man die against an unstoppable force. Would you not have done the same?" They all share the same emotion: anger, a rage none of them had shown before. "Please don't kill me! I swear I will redeem myself." The soldiers look at each other, then nod their heads in agreement. Leonidas cowers underneath all of them.
"Get out of here. We won't kill you, but we don't ever want to see your face again. You're responsible for abandoning everyone, and risking this entire war! We should be preparing to defend Salamis, but we were forced to come search for you instead, all because you're a coward. Consider yourself fortunate. If we see you again, however..." Before they can finish, Leonidas panics and jumps up, sprinting as far away from his former army as he possibly can.
Exhausted, he finally stops and reflects on what he's done. His face shows the pain of the battle, the screams of the men who thought they could trust him. Still in shock, Leonidas breaks down, angry at himself, and screams at Ares and Athena, "Why didn't you help me? Why didn't you help save Greece?" With his outburst over, he curls up on the ground and goes to sleep.
"Leonidas?! Where are you going?!" He's back at Thermopylae, running from battle. The soldiers who volunteered are panicking as their leader abandons them under the threat of annihilation. He looks up, and sees something shimmering as it flies across the sky, the only difference between dream and reality. As he stops to stare, he feels a stabbing pain in his back, waking him from his dream. He rolls over to find Ares standing over him.
"So here's the coward that ran from Thermopylae," Ares chuckles, "the coward that blames me for his weakness." Leonidas' eyes triple in size, horrified that Ares had actually heard his cry. "Come on, stand up. How about you fix yourself before you try and blame the Gods?" With those words, Ares leaves to return to Mount Olympus, satisfied that he had terrorized Leonidas enough. Shaking, Leonidas lies back down, eventually falling back asleep.
"Leonidas?! Where are you going?!" It's the same dream, and once again, Leonidas is running. This time, he looks back and sees his men swallowed up by the Persian advance. Scared they'll reach him too, he continues running, and sees the same shimmering object in the sky. He still can't make out its shape, but he knows it can't be the sun. It's moving too quickly to be that. Just as the Persians reach him, he wakes up, drenched in sweat. Now he's determined to identify the object soaring across the sky.
After a few more nights of the same dream, Leonidas seeing the object more and more clearly, he realizes it's a phoenix. The next night, it lands in front of him, bursting into flames before him. After seeing this spectacle, he realizes what he must do: rebirth himself in front of his former army.
Leonidas heads towards Athens, narrowly avoiding the Persian Army as it heads towards Salamis. He is shocked to find the city empty, already evacuated by the citizens due to the impending Persian arrival. Looking towards the sea, Leonidas finds his former navy preparing a blockade between the mainland and Salamis, as well as the Persian navy, which greatly outnumbers that of the Greeks, heading straight towards them. He must act quickly if he wishes to save the Greeks.
Sprinting towards the sea, Leonidas finds a small boat tied up along the shoreline. He grabs his knife and cuts it free, releasing it and himself into the water. He starts paddling towards the Persians, stunning both navies. "Is that... no, it can't be. What would he be doing here?" Themistocles is amazed that Leonidas traveled all the way to Salamis. "That man is insane to be doing this."
He takes his little boat between the many Persian ships, causing confusion for the soldiers. Half of them are focused on trying to take this small boat out, while the other half try and focus on the Greek navy. Realizing Leonidas' plan, Themistocles begins Greece's attack, taking advantage of the distraction the disgraced king is causing. Fed up, three of the Persian ships block Leonidas between them, ending his reign of terror. Laughing, they kill Leonidas, but not before the Greek navy successfully defends their home from the Persian attack. "He may be crazy, but he's the reason we won today." Themistocles is amazed at their victory, and moves to have Leonidas' previous actions stricken, as he managed to save Greece from the Persians that day.
Author's Note: The Battle of Thermopylae was immortalized by the movie 300 when it came out in 2006. After not having success the first two days, the Persian Army, led by Xerxes, outflanked the Greek city-state armies via a small, previously undiscovered path. King Leonidas ordered the majority of the Greek army to retreat, and stayed behind with 300 Spartans, as well as numerous troops from other city-states, such as Thespians. In the actual battle, Leonidas perished as well as the vast majority of these defending troops. Upon finding his body on the battlefield, Xerxes beheaded the King of Sparta. The Greeks were then successful at defeating the Persians in the Battle of Salamis, aided by confusion due to the size of the Persian navy, stopping the advance and eventually stopping the Persian invasion of Greece.
In this story, however, we see Leonidas terrified at the mounting challenge faced by these troops at Thermopylae, and escaping due to fear of dying. Once he escapes and realizes what a terrible mistake he made, preceded by his being discovered by the Greek army and his flashback dreams, he redeems himself by realizing the symbolism of the phoenix in his dreams (sent by none other than Zeus himself), causing enough chaos within the Persian Navy at Salamis, giving the Greeks enough of an advantage to repel the attack. Despite his previous actions, Leonidas' heroic sacrifice caused him to receive the same level of recognition as he did in actuality, making amends for his display at Thermopylae.
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