Chronicles of Phthia & Beyond: 50+1 Stories and Myths from the Past

The air around them seemed to tighten when Nikolas touched the old engraving, as if charged with an invisible energy. Below their feet, the stone floor started vibrating like it was ready to split apart. Only a few seconds had passed, but they felt like everything stood still, just like the calmness before the storm.

Then light exploded in all directions. Their ears were filled with a deafening crash, similar to the roar of wind in a canyon. But instead of wind, they felt as though they were falling, spiraling, and shifting. In that moment, the chamber in Delphi's ruins twisted and blurred, vanishing into a flurry of colourful shadows and flickering light.

Before they could react, the void consumed them. One moment they were in the Adyton chamber, and the next they were everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

It wasn't an instant fall. It stretched and warped. They were overcome by a strange sensation of a rewind effect. They witnessed significant historical changes, like people moving backward, buildings disappearing, and landscapes changing.

It was a sight to behold and a truly terrifying experience. Random moments from the past seemed to be tossed in all directions, as if the bottomless pit of history had burst open.

They saw burning cities, towering temples, warriors clashing, and gods looming above, toying with mortals. They were slipping through time, past, present, and future colliding in an incredible storm.

Of course each of them experienced it differently.

Nikolas saw scrolls unrolling midair, their ink shifting and rewriting itself, as if history were rearranging before his eyes. His heart pounded—this was real. This was history alive.

Dimitris felt untethered, weightless, like he had no gravity. His mind screamed for logic, for order, but nothing about this made sense. He reached out instinctively, trying to grasp something solid, but his hand passed through the images like mist. This wasn't possible.

Alexandra saw structures rebuilding and collapsing, gears turning, blueprints reforming—the mechanics of time itself. Her fingers twitched, mentally calculating patterns in the chaos, searching for a way to make sense of it all.

Ismini heard faint voices. Echoes of voices calling her name—not from the present, but from something deeper, older. Though she couldn't fully understand what the voices wanted, she felt like she was meant to hear this.

Panos felt like he was on a rollercoaster straight through the underworld, his stomach flipping with every shift. He swore he saw a shadow moving alongside them—a massive, slithering form—but before he could react, everything snapped.

The landing was brutal.

They crashed down onto solid ground, the impact knocking the breath from their lungs. Dust exploded around them as they tumbled over dirt and stone, groaning as they scrambled to get their bearings.

Coughing, Nikolas raised himself on unsteady arms. His mind raced, even though his glasses were crooked. "Where were we? No... when were we? "

The world around them was not the ruins of Delphi. It was raw, untouched, wild. No towering temples, no broken columns—just ancient trees, jagged cliffs, and a sky so clear it felt untouched by time. The air smelled of earth and something else… something old.

Dimitris groaned rubbing his temples. "Okay, I need at least one law of physics to start making sense right now."

"Did… did we just get hit by a truck?", Pannos muttered

Nikolas, breathless, pushed up on his elbows. "No." He swallowed hard, barely believing his own words. "We got hit by history."

Alexandra sat up, brushing dirt from her sleeves. Her eyes swept the unfamiliar landscape. "This… this isn't right. Where the hell are we?"

Ismini hugged herself, her breath shaky. "I don't understand. We were in the chamber, and then… everything just—"

Panos, still pale, hesitated. "Are we… dead?"

Nikolas shook his head, adjusting his crooked glasses. "No. But… I don't think we're where we're supposed to be."

Dimitris let out a sharp, humorless laugh. "Right. Because falling through time is a totally normal Tuesday."

Alexandra exhaled sharply. "Alright. Does anyone actually have a plan, or are we just accepting our new life as ancient wanderers?"

Panos, arms wrapped around his knees, rocked slightly. "I vote for freaking out. Just for a minute."

No one disagreed.

He glanced at the others, half-expecting someone to snap him out of it, but when no one did, he groaned. "Seriously, how are you all not losing it right now?"

The group was still startled from the shock of what had just happened. Dirt clung to their clothes, and their breathing was still rapid from the crash.

Nikolas pushed his glasses up his nose, his fingers trembling slightly. His mind raced, scrambling for something—anything—that made sense. "No temples, no ruins... this isn't Delphi as we know it. This is... before. But how far back?"

Dimitris started pacing, hands gripping his hair. "No, no, no. This isn't happening. We can't just have… fallen into the past! That's not how time works!"

Panos, still not moving, let out a weak chuckle. "Yeah? Then how do you explain the ancient escape room vibes? Because I don't see an exit sign anywhere."

Alexandra exhaled sharply, glancing around for something—anything—that could ground her in reality. "Okay, we need to focus. We have no idea where—or when—we are, and we don't even know if we're alone."

Ismini, still quiet, took a slow step forward. Her voice, though soft, cut through their anxious murmuring. "Hey, guys... Look."

They followed her gaze, eyes widening as they took in the sight ahead.

A big, smooth white stone was nestled between two huge stones not far from where they had landed. There was a weird energy that seemed to flow from it.

Nikolas' breath caught. His mind raced, flipping through everything he knew about this place. This had to be it. "The Omphalos," he whispered, almost in a trance. "The Navel of the World. This is where Zeus' eagles met, marking the center of the Earth…"

A sudden gust of wind swept over them.

A shadow moved across the ground. Then another.

Alexandra tensed. Dimitris' eyes darted upward. Panos took an instinctive step back.

Two massive shapes sliced through the sky above, their wings stretching wide—one as bright as polished marble, the other dark as the void. They weren't just birds. Their movements were too precise, too measured, their sheer size sending a tremor through the air as they soared overhead.

For a moment, no one spoke. The silence pressed down, thick with something ancient.

Ismini barely breathed. Her eyes, full of wonder, never left them. "They're…" she exhaled softly, "…beautiful."

Panos let out a strained chuckle, shifting nervously. "Yeah. Sure. Beautiful. Love that for us. Totally not ominous."

Nikolas, frozen in place, suddenly gasped. "No. That's the sign."

Nikolas' voice quickened, but he hesitated for a tad of a second. His initial shock was still there, lingering just beneath the surface, but the need to explain overpowered it.

"Zeus wanted to find the exact center of the world, so he released two eagles—one from the east, one from the west. When they met, right here, he marked this place as the center of the Earth! That's why it's sacred! That's why—"

"Nikolas!" Alexandra cut in, her eyes locked on the sky. "Not to kill your nerd moment, but are we going to talk about the GIANT birds or—?"

Dimitris groaned. "Oh great. Another completely normal, scientifically explainable event. Fantastic."

Panos squinted. "I mean, what are the chances those eagles are here to, you know…eat us?"

Dimitris shot him a look. "Really? That's what you're worried about right now?"

Alexandra groaned. "Panos, if we survive this, I swear I'm making you read an actual book on mythology."

Ismini, still staring at the eagles in awe, whispered, "They're beautiful... but I don't think they're just birds."

Nikolas, oblivious to their panic, kept rambling. But before he could finish, the earth beneath them shook violently.

The tremor was so sudden and forceful that they struggled to keep their balance—Dimitris stumbled back, nearly falling, while Alexandra braced herself against a nearby rock.

Panos yelped, arms flailing as he instinctively grabbed onto Nikolas, who barely managed to stay upright. Ismini let out a startled cry, instinctively gripping Alexandra's arm, her breath coming in short gasps.

"This... this isn't normal," she whispered, eyes darting across the shifting ground.

Nikolas, still trying to catch his breath, pushed his glasses up, his mind scrambling for an explanation. "Wait... Zeus' eagles weren't the only thing here. Before Apollo, this place—it didn't belong to him. It was... it was Gaia's 1temple. And her son... the guardian of this place—Python. "

A deafening crack split through the air, shaking the ground beneath them. The noise was followed by a deep, guttural hiss that seemed to rise from the earth itself. The air thickened, pulsing with something ancient—something hungry.

From the cliffs, a monstrous shape uncoiled. The earth trembled, small rocks tumbling down as a scaled body, impossibly vast, slithered into view. Each movement was slow, deliberate, as if the creature knew it had no reason to rush.

The kids couldn't move.

They weren't screaming, they weren't running. They just stood there, hearts hammering, lungs tight, their instincts slamming into a wall of sheer, primal terror.

When the dust settled, Dimitris with his eyes wide open, took a shaky step back, his voice barely audible. "Tell me that's just an oversized lizard..."

Nikolas swallowed hard. "No. That's Python1."

Python's massive head rose from the darkness, forked tongue flickering, tasting the air. Then—

It looked at them.

Not past them. At them.

A deep, guttural hiss rippled through the air, the sheer force of it like a physical blow. The sound vibrated in their chests, coiling around their ribs like invisible shackles.

Then— Nikolas exhaled sharply, snapping them out of it.

"Move."

The word barely left his lips before Python lunged.

One second, they were frozen, their minds locking up in sheer terror. The next—Python's hiss shattered the paralysis.

Alexandra grabbed Ismini's wrist and yanked her backward just as Python's massive coils whipped through the dust, shaking the ground. Dimitris stumbled, his breath sharp, finally breaking into a sprint.

Panos didn't even think—he just ran, his brain screaming something about how his top priority was not getting eaten by a legendary serpent.

Nikolas, still half-stunned, forced himself to move, shoving his glasses up his nose. "Move, move, MOVE!"

Python's hiss reverberated through the cliffs as it twisted toward them, its massive body coiling, preparing to strike again.

They had seconds.

The kids barely had a moment to process before it let out a enormous hiss that sent chills down their spines.

"Okay, cool, giant snake," Panos muttered. "Not freaking out. Totally fine."

"We need to move," Alexandra said sharply, already scanning their surroundings. "Now."

Nikolas, still watching the creature in awe, muttered, "The myth... the myth says Apollo1—"

"Yeah? Do you see Apollo anywhere?" Dimitris cut in, his voice laced with tension.

Ismini, gripping Alexandra's sleeve, whispered, "Maybe we're not supposed to interfere."

"Or maybe we're supposed to not get eaten!" Panos shot back, already stepping behind a rock.

Alexandra's eyes darted to the cliffs. "We need higher ground. If we can get up there, we might have a chance."

Nikolas nodded quickly. "And if the myth is right... Apollo should be coming. We just have to stay out of the way until he does."

The group exchanged looks before sprinting toward the rocks, Python's shadow looming behind them as history played out before their eyes.

Dimitris and Alexandra, the two most logical of the group, were the first to act beyond panic. "We can't just sit here waiting for Apollo like it's some scripted event! We need a plan!" Alexandra hissed, pulling Ismini behind her.

Dimitris scanned their surroundings, his mind working overtime. "That thing is too big, too fast. We need a distraction!"

"And who's going to volunteer to distract a giant serpent?" Panos shot back, barely peeking over the rock he was hiding behind.

Nikolas, though still shaken, forced himself to think. "Python is a guardian. It's not attacking just to kill—it's defending its territory. If we can make it think we're not a threat, we might have a chance to—"

Before he could finish, Python lunged forward, its massive coils shaking the earth beneath them.

"Yeah, great speech, Nikos! But I think it already made up its mind!" Panos yelled as he stumbled backward.

"We need something to block it!" Alexandra called out. "A barrier, a wall—anything!"

Nikolas' mind whirred through everything he knew about ancient defenses, while Alexandra's practical thinking kicked in. Something had to hold Python back until Apollo arrives.

Dimitris, still skeptical about the entire situation, exhaled sharply. "Fine. If we're do this, we need to act fast. Alexandra, can we use these boulders to trap it? Maybe force it to turn away?"

Alexandra's eyes darted to the scattered rocks on the hillside. "We might be able to collapse part of that ledge! If we can get Python to move under it..."

"Then we make it mad enough to charge where we want it to go," Dimitris finished, nodding. "That's risky."

"Everything about this is risky!" Ismini said, her voice firmer now. "But if we don't do something, we'll the ones who won't make it into history!"

Panos sighed dramatically. "Fine, fine. But if I get eaten, I'll be haunting you all."

As Python's glowing eyes locked onto them again, the group moved into action—each of them knowing their part, even if history itself was at stake.

And just as the serpent coiled to strike—

The ground shook beneath their feet as a golden light sliced through the sky. The heat rolled over the children like a wave, and they covered their eyes from the overwhelming brightness. Then the distant sound of hoofbeats, faint at first, then booming, like an approaching storm, pierced through the silence with dazzling brilliance.

Nikolas' breath caught. He adjusted his crooked glasses with a shaky hand, his heart pounding. "He's here..." he whispered, barely able to believe it.

The others turned toward the sky, their faces frozen in shock, their skin bathed in the golden glow. Alexandra instinctively reached for Ismini's hand, gripping it tightly. With wide eyes and a tight grip, Ismini looked up in mute surprise. On the other hand, Dimitris, for once, was speechless—his usual sarcasm swallowed by sheer disbelief.

Panos let out a strangled laugh, eyes darting between his friends and the spectacle above. "Oh, sure. A flaming chariot1. Totally normal." His voice was shaky, the humor a flimsy shield against the raw power radiating from above.

Above them, the sky ripped open. Divine stallions galloped across the clouds as a chariot of fire surged through, with its wheels blazing. The air shimmered as the heat from it swept across them.

Python let out a deep, rumbling hiss with its massive coils tensing. Across from the monstrous serpent, Apollo stood, stepping from his chariot, his gaze locked onto his enemy.

And then—

Everything stopped.

The battle hadn't begun, but the moment before it felt like a frozen breath, stretched and waiting to snap.

Then Python struck....