[Haiku]

Grey eyes watch my hands

"Fight with your mind, not your heart"

I learned too well, she'd say

---

Before Polites. Before the Cyclops. Before Poseidon decided I was his personal punching bag... there was her.

Athena.

Goddess of wisdom. Goddess of war. My mentor. My friend.

She found me when I was young. Saw something in me. A sharp mind. Quick hands. A hunger to win.

She trained me to be a warrior of the mind — to fight with strategy, not just strength. To outthink my enemies before I ever drew my sword.

I remember our conversations like they were yesterday.

---

"You're a warrior of the mind, Odysseus," she told me once.

"What does that mean?"

"It means you don't need to be the strongest. You need to be the smartest. Analyze their attack. Find the opening. Strike when they least expect it."

"And if I fail?"

"You won't. I won't let you."

---

Troy fell because of her lessons.

I survived because of her.

But here's the thing about Athena — she doesn't do feelings. Mercy? Compassion? Sparing a life because it's the right thing to do? She didn't understand any of that.

"Show them no mercy," she'd say. "Strike first. Strike fast. That's how you win."

"But what if there's another way?" I asked her once.

"There isn't."

"How do you know?"

"Because I'm the goddess of wisdom. And I'm telling you — mercy gets you killed."

For a long time... I agreed with her.

Then I met Polites.

And everything changed.

---

[Haiku]

Grey eyes watch my hands

"Fight with your mind, not your heart"

I learned too well, she'd say

---

Polites believed in kindness. In open arms. In a world that didn't have to be soaked in blood.

Athena thought he was weak.

"You're changing, Odysseus," she said one night, her voice colder than I'd ever heard.

"Maybe that's not a bad thing."

"It is. Mercy is a weakness. And weakness gets people killed."

"Or maybe... it makes them worth following."

She didn't have an answer for that.

And soon after... she stopped answering at all.

That tension? That pull between mercy and ruthlessness? It followed me across the sea. Through storms and monsters and the faces of dying men.

Athena wanted a weapon.

Polites wanted a friend.

And I?

I just wanted to go home.

But the gods don't care what you want.

And the next island we found?

It had a Cyclops.

And everything fell apart.

Epic the musical: The end of the TROJAN SAGA