Chapter 40 - 40 Amazons and Church of Areopagus (1/2)

The island of Themiscyra was located at the mouth of the Terme River close to the Black Sea. It was covered by a thick, perpetual mist which covered the island from all forms of long range telecommunications.

Radar, satellite, infra-red all came up negative when trying to pierce through his fog, which allowed the women who dwelled on the island to live peacefully for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

All Amazons could be killed, but thanks to the blessings they received from the Five Goddesses; Athena Goddess of Wisdom, Poetry, Art and War Strategy; Artemis vɨrġɨn Goddess of the Hunt and Moon; Demeter, Goddess of Agriculture, Fertility, Sacred Law and the Harvest; Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth, Home, Architecture, Domesticity, Family, and the State; and Aphrodite, patron Goddess of the Amazons and Goddess of Love and Beauty, they could no longer die.

They received plenty of blessings from the Five Goddesses but their gift of beauty and eternal youth were what made the island of Themiscyra so enticing to the members of the Church of Areopagus. With the blessing of the One True God of War, the members were promised any woman they wanted from the island, all of whom were beauties that could turn heads of both men and women from the outside world.

It was a veritable paradise for women. Plentiful crops and harvests every year and enough wild game to support all the women on the island to go hunting every once in a while.

All the girls on the island were trained in hand-to-hand combat from a very young age. Despite not being on the same level as Wonder Woman or their Queen Hippolyta, they were still a force to be reckoned with.

Diana Prince, the secret identity of Wonder Woman, and supposedly the most beautiful woman in the entire world passed through the thick fog that didn't even allow her to see the end of her boat, and the image of a sandy white beach with thick luscious jungle on its cliffs, several sharp arrows aimed at the hero, before a look of realization came upon their faces.

”Hold! Hold!”.

The beautiful mȧturė woman, whose long black hair was tied up into a high ponytail which reached halfway down her back. Her striking blue eyes were similar to Cassie's but the younger girl lacked a certain charm that her older aunt had, her more developed curves didn't do anything to hide Diana's gorgeousness.

A older, blonde haired woman came out onto the sandy beaches to meet her estranged daughter. The Queen of the Amazons narrowed her eyes at her blood, before letting out a deep sigh at her daughters return.

”Why have you come Diana? We weren't expecting you to come back after informing us of the cult that Ares had created. What is it you dėsɨrė?”.

The daughter of Zeus showed a pained expression at her mothers distance from her, muttering something under her breath. She sighed before handing her a picture of silver armored warrior, covered in a ancient Greek writing. The spear in the green haired man's hands looked familiar to the amazons around their Queen, but the latter's eyes widened before she looked back at her daughter in surprise.

”Who is this person Diana? How does he have the armor and spear of Achilles?”.

”You know of it mother?”.

Queen Hippolyta nodded and frowned at the image of Gray wielding [Diatrekhōn Astēr Lonkhē: Spear-tip of the Star Traversing Skies], a pained memory came up from deep within her fountain of memories.

”Achilles battled a close friend of mine. She left Themiscyra just like yourself and got embroiled in one of man's many wars. It was said that Achilles became distracted by Penthesilea's beauty that he did not put his full effort into the fight. Once he reassured himself, he killed Penthesilea but her death weighed heavily on him....”.

Despite being several thousand years ago, the memory of her sister being killed in battle against the Greek hero came bubbling up causing Hippolyta's eyes to water slightly. She had almost forgotten about her sisters death but the image of Gray caused a newfound anger to burn inside the Queen of the Amazons.

She looked at her daughter with a deep and profound look in her eyes.

”Is this man fighting on the side of Ares?”.

Diana shook her head and noticed that her mother let out a deep sigh.

”That might be for the best then. Achilles' near immortality was both a blessing and a curse. It would be hard to face an opponent with the same abilities and skills as the original. May I know how you came upon that picture?”.

Diana told her mother, not leaving any detail that the League did not know from her words.

”Some of the members of the Team, a division of the Justice League which focuses on cultivating future heroes, fought this man. He called himself ”Rider” and overwhelmed everyone on the Team, but revealed that he fought for the Achaean Army and possessed a prowess with the spear that was unrivaled. He used pankration to subdue the Team, which as you know-”.