Gaius Richards is a teenage boy born of two worlds who just wants to go to high school and live a normal life as he connects with his mortal roots. As the hero “Titan,” an immortal from Mt. Olympus and the son of Gaia, he is also the strongest person to ever walk the face of the Earth. Christine is a smart, overly-serious girl who accidentally stumbles onto his secret, and through the wisdom of the gods finds that maybe it was not an accident that they were meant to find each other. As they fall in love, the two of them will together face the greatest adventure of their lives as Gaius, Earth’s sworn protector, will face the greatest battle of his life as he attempts to stop a human killing machine long thought dead from wrecking havoc on his adopted home. Can an Olympian die, or will he be able to find the strength to not only save himself, but everyone he holds dear?
From the author: I love super heroes. Comic books have been a large part of my life for three decades and I have fond memories of losing myself in those colorful pages for hours on end. When I set out to write this book I wanted to capture the essence of those wonderful books that I read when I was a kid and put it into novel form. Hopefully, I have succeeded.
Targeted Age Group:: 8-25
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I have always loved super heroes and comic books, especially considering the fact that own over 133,000 of them. It seemed only natural that I would eventually get around to thinking up my own hero and writing a book about him. Going into it I knew two things – I wanted him to be incredibly strong and I wanted him to be a teenager. To make the story as believable as possible I knew I had to tie the character into history, which is how the Greek Mythology angle came to mind.
How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
I love comic book and when I decided to sit down and write about Gaius, who is the hero of the story, I did a good amount of research on Greek Mythology. As I was doing so that I was when the story started to really flesh itself out.
Book Sample
“It seems an audience has gathered to watch you fall,” he said.
“I sincerely wish there were another way to end this,” Gaius said. “Because of the warrior that you are and the respect that I have for you, I will try to put you down as quickly and painlessly as possible. I have no wish to disgrace you.”
“Pretty words, godling, but just words. Now, have at you!”
Achilles quickly raised his sword and moved forward as fast as a viper as he brought it down with a furious clang on Gaius’s shield. The impact had been almost deafening and Gaius was momentarily taken aback by the savage attack before he responded in kind as the two of them begin to trade blow after blow, a flurry of movement as they used both their swords and shields as weapons to strike each other, turning and darting trying to find an opening.
Christine couldn’t believe what was happening. The both of them were moving so fast, it was almost hard to follow. The two figures were so graceful and fluid in their movements it was almost like watching a ballet, a ballet where both of the performers happened to be armed and trying to kill each other. They both appeared to be so evenly matched that it was impossible to see if anyone had any kind of advantage. Achilles seemed to be the more savage and experienced of the two, but Gaius was certainly matching him move for move. Although, it was obvious to her that he was also holding back from trying to seriously hurt him and looking for some kind of opening where he could just somehow injure him to a point where he could no longer continue. Unlike Achilles, Gaius was not a killer, and Achilles was using that knowledge to his advantage. Christine was worried that if this kept up he might find an opening in Gaius’s defense and strike a killing blow. She was not sure how strong the weapons they were using were, but she assumed that they were enchanted in some way to be able to take the endless punishment they were suffering. Surely regular weapons would have been shattered by now.
Achilles rained a heavy blow on Gaius’s shield and Gaius suddenly fell back from the impact and moved completely to his right. All in one motion, he swerved all the way around with his sword in the air until he had made a full three hundred and sixty degree turn, the flat of his sword impacting fiercely against Achilles’ helmet. Stunned, Achilles fell to his side and collapsed against the statue’s head. He looked up at Gaius in surprise knowing full well that if he had not turned his sword while in motion he would be dead right now, his head taken clean off. In his entire existence not one person had been able to get such an advantage over him, not even Hector during the Trojan War whom he eventually defeated, and he looked at Gaius with hatred in his eyes.
Gaius took his sword from his right hand with his left and then held it towards Achilles.
“Let’s put an end to this, brother. There is no reason why this travesty should continue,” he said with his hand still extended.
Achilles continued to stare up at him for a moment and then slowly took his hand. Then, as he was being lifted up, he suddenly brought his left fist up and slammed it into Gaius’s face before he could defend himself.
“Gaius!” Christine yelled in shock, and suddenly realized what she had called him. Fortunately, everyone was yelling and screaming in the confusion and so caught up in what they were watching that they hadn’t seemed to notice. Still, she looked on with horror at the hit that he had taken.
He staggered back in surprise and Achilles pressed his advantage as he began to rain blow after blow onto his head and mid-section under his breastplate with his large fists. The sickening thumps and smacks as the blows landed could be heard by everyone watching, and they stared in astonishment wondering at how any being could take that kind of punishment and still stand. Achilles abruptly lurched forward and slammed Gaius against a wall with a staggering impact, and then moved in and started to hammer away at him left and right. His blows were so fierce that Gaius was actually sinking further and further into the slowly shattering wall with the punishment he was taking. Achilles was everywhere, a flurry of fists, and it seemed impossible that a being could take so much abuse and live.
Then, an angry expression on his worn face, Gaius started to recover, covering himself and warding off the blows until he could find an opening. Then, finally finding one, started to punch Achilles in the face and chest and press him backwards. The gathered crowd was going crazy. Even the teachers and soldiers were cheering him on, and all the cameras were following every second of the massive conflict. Christine could tell that Gaius was furious and that he was trying to hit him as hard as possible so that he would finally go down and the fight would be over. Unlike Achilles, he was taking no pleasure in this, only doing what he had to do to stop him, and the sooner it was done the better. The fact that there were innocent people gathered around watching the conflict and risking getting hurt was certainly not helping matters any, but there was no way that anyone watching was going to miss this! Gaius was now pounding away at Achilles relentlessly until he had once again staggered against the statue’s head. He raised his fist once more and Achilles suddenly darted to his right, Gaius’s fist sinking into the metal statue with a clang and, for a brief moment, was stuck as he tried to pull his hand free. Achilles used the situation to his advantage by beginning to pound on the side of Gaius’s head as he still struggled to free his hand. He was finally able to yank it loose as he stumbled awkwardly back. Achilles rushed at him and pressed him to the ground, straddling him so he could reign down on him. With an incredible display of strength, Gaius forced his legs up and Achilles tumbled over him and onto the ground. Enraged, Gaius quickly got up and grabbed Achilles’ feet and then started spinning him round and round in the air as people began to laugh at the comical display. He was now twirling him so fast that the people who had gathered so closely around so that they could see the fight backed off, some of them even tumbling to the ground from the sheer force of the wind that Gaius was causing with Achilles’ body. Then, still twirling him at an incredible momentum, he let go of his feet and Achilles sailed through the air and slammed into a brick wall that instantly shattered from the crash. The impact was so fierce that he actually went through it and came to a rest against some now newly-ruined lockers across the hall, falling to the floor amidst the dust and rubble from the wall.
“Enough!” Gaius yelled at him through the massive hole as he regarded his opponent.
“Not even close, godling,” Achilles yelled as he quickly got up and rushed at him, Gaius catching him as he slammed into his midsection and, for a moment, they were both airborne as they came crashing against a military vehicle together.
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