Hockenberry, the Scholic of Illium

based on Dan Simmons's "Olympos"

 

Hockenberry, the Scholic of Ilium

 

based on Dan Simmons' Olympos

It was a time of triumph, so he had been told.

However, the victory was not as originally intended;

the Argives and Trojans allied, the gods (whom

Hockenberry had objurgated) dethroned, exiled.

The rift between Homer's true tale and this new,

divergent world was Hockenberry's doing.

How many people had died for his interference?

He had known victory before this shallow closure;

Helen's soft, dark hair in his face, her warm body

pressed so close. Helen, Paris' former lover,

the sole reason of war between Greeks and Trojans.

Her beauty and blade had both pierced his heart.

Even as he coughed blood onto the sodden

floor, dying and in pain, it was all worth it.