Character: Casius

Greek Myth Allusions: Hephaestus’ birth,

In Athens, a woman named Mel gave birth to a son named Casius. Casius’ father was not long in his life, and left his mother Mel when he was born. Mel courted many different men, and all had one similar trait, they abused the little boy and Mel. Despite the abuse shown to her son, Mel did not intervene and sat idly by whilst one man or another locked her child in a dark room, or held his head down in a bucket of water. A few years pass, and Casius is now four years of age. Casius has wandered out of the house while Mel’s latest man was yelling at her. It was twilight as Casius wandered through the streets of Athens. Soon, a man and a woman found the way word boy, and thinking him lost, brought him to their home. The couple feed Casius, and watched as he attempted to get into everything his hands could possibly reach. The man’s name was Jemari, and his wife’s was Rayen, and both were temporarily staying in Athens. Jemari and Rayen where a moderately wealthy couple headed for the city Marathon. The couple wanted to have children, but Rayen’s inability to conceive had prevented them from having any. Rayen had seen doctor after doctor, but none could remedy her affliction. Rayen pulled her beloved husband off the side, and suggested that they take in the little boy as their own. Jemari then asked Casius if he had a family, too which he replied yes. Casius also told Jemari how his mother allowed the men she invited over to abuse him. Jemari then spoke to his wife, and told her that if the child’s mother loved him enough, she would come looking for him, and that if no one came looking for the boy within two sun rises, they would take him in. Casius stayed with the couple throughout the night, and slept peacefully as there was no drunk man which would come into his room to jeer, or otherwise rudely awaken him.

The next day, Rayen prayed to Hestia that she might allow herself and Jemari to take this children so as to free him from his abusive house hold. Hestia, hearing the prayer and taking pity on the boy, asked Dionysus to distract the child’s mother Mel for the next few days, which Dionysus agreed too. So it happened that the two days passed with no one looking for Casius, and Rayen and Jemari took him to Marathon. As Casius grew older, it quickly became apparent that he was not normal. At the age of four, he would constantly run off away from his adoptive parents, and could not seem to sit still for any length of time. If you told Casius not to do something, he would make it his goal to do it anyway. Some would say that if you told Casius to not jump off a cliff, he might well do so anyway. When it came time for him to be taught at the public school, Casius would cause so much problems, that Rayen was called upon to take him home for the day. Oddly, once home, Casius would act much more as a normal boy should, if with a little more energy and a slight inability to focus on any one thing for too long. This became such a problem, that Rayen began taking Casius to a doctor in the hopes that whatever ailment he had, could be cured. The doctor gave Rayen some sort of herbs that was to be given to Casius twice a day. The herb would be boiled as a tea, and the liquid would be swallowed. This medicine would have the effect of drastically calming Casius, but had the effect of decreasing his apatite to the point that he had to be forced to eat. Many people in Marathon held the belief that Casius would not amount to anything, and that he would be a burden too most people. Indeed, Casius hardly had any talent it seemed. As he grew older, he became less and less social, always preferring to watch people from afar.

As Casius reached the age of 14, he began to not take the medicine given to him. Without the medicine clouding his mind, Casius began doing quite well in his studies, particularly the subject of math. Within

months, Casius surpassed many of his follow students in every area. He found that he was able to understand things faster than most other people, and was able to pick up new skills quite fast, so long as he worked on them. Casius, at the age of 20, had so mastered the subject of math, that it was said that he could tell you the exact weight of Mount Olympus within a minute of seeing it. He also had mastered a number of other skills, such as sword fighting, archery, and, to a lesser degree, psychology. At the age of thirty, Casius was the most well-known man in Marathon, and was no longer the shy boy he used to be. Casius would also travel quite a bit, and frequently spent time in Eleusis, where he made good friends with the King Istvan. Istvan was such good friends with Casius that he tried to marry Casius off with one of his daughters. After several months, Casius agreed to marry one of King Istvan’s daughters, but only if his adoptive mother and father could live in the palace as well. The king agreed to the terms, and moved Casius’ family into the palace. Four years later, Istvan fell fatally ill and died in his sleep. Istvan had no sons that would inherit the throne, so this left Casius the sole heir.

Over time, Casius proved to be one of the best Kings Eleusis. He was fair and merciful, often to a fault. He also aided Athens in its fight against the Persians and proved to be a consummate strategist.

Analysis: This story is loosely based on my life. I, and my older birth sister, where taken from our abusive house hold when I was around 2, and my sister 4. We were stuck in foster care for a good 2 years, and moved from family to family. Until a good couple, like Rayen and Jamari, ended up adopting us. At first, I was placed in a public school, but I soon learned how to manipulate the system so that I could go home early. People really did not think I was going to do well in life. I was diagnosed with ADHD and put on medications that lowered my appetite. But eventually, I stopped taking them, and have not had any problems after wards. Now, I am going to graduate HCC with a GPA of 3.95 as a member of Phi Thetta Kappa (a national Honors Society), and am even the executive VP of the PTK chapter on the Plant City campus. I also am on this years All Star Academic Team. So yah, I would love to see the people who thought I would not do well now!

The only allusion to Greek myth I had in mind when writing this, was the story of Hephaestus, as both him and I where effectively abandoned by our respective birth mothers, and adopted by another. The message I am trying to get across, is that no matter how much people look down on you, you can still achieve great success in life. In addition, no matter how bleak life might get, always know that things will likely get better.