Part 1

The Set-up: Antares was a Spartan warrior who was recruited and fought in a war for his country. The dispute was something between Hellas and a neighbouring country, but he didn’t really know nor cared why. Antares was a young man who enjoyed fighting, so he was very pleased with the idea that he would get to participate in a war.

Call to Action: One day as he was fighting on the front lines, Antares accidentally stepped on a scorpion. The scorpion fought back by climbing up his foot, attaching itself onto his lower leg and jabbed in it’s stinger. The pain from the sting distracted Antares from the fight and was promptly stabbed in the chest. His death was slow and painful, both from the wound and from the sting, eventually he died on the field.

Call Refusal: As all souls go to the underworld after death, that was where Antares found himself after he finally died. The scorpion that strung him had also followed him along, still attached to his leg in his ghost form and refused to be moved. When it was his time for judgement in front of the God of the Underworld, Hades, the God noticed the oddity as well. Amused, the God decided that if the two souls could not be parted then he would merge the two together. So he did and Antares was transformed into a man who had a poisonous stinger for hair and the speed and fighter instincts of the scorpion.

No Return: Then Hades told Antares that he must now work for him in his underworld palace. Antares was confused why he couldn’t just move on into the afterlife, but was told that he was bound by Hades’ magic. So he had no choice but to now follow the command of his new ‘king’. That meant doing whatever the underworld God told him to do; thus he was given the job of guiding souls in the underworld to their allocated destination.

1st Struggle: In his time spent working in the underworld palace, he learnt a lot about the place and how it runs and functions. He realised that Hades kept his domain organised and everything served a purpose. He guided many souls and saw many different people from all walks of life. He sometimes saw a God come and go as well. At first he wasn’t sure how he felt about the place but since he was pretty much stuck here, he could only accept it. While he tolerated his job, he didn’t particularly like it, he still had his old warrior soul that cried for battle, his current job just didn’t satisfy him.

Commitment: Eventually, he confronted Hades and demanded that he be given a different task, preferably something that allowed him to fight on occasion because he was dying for a good fight. Hades thought about it and relented, apparently the Hunting Goddess, Artemis, had came to him asking for something or someone to help her kill the giant huntsman Orion, who had greatly offended her. Hades asked Antares if he would be satisfied taking the task of assassinating the huntsman, and he agreed with much enthusiasm.

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Part 2

2nd Struggle: With Hades’ permission, Antares was finally allowed out of the Underworld and was sent to the Goddess Artemis. The Goddess was pleased with him and could tell that he was the warrior she needed to take down Orion. Currently, the giant huntsman was hunting in Crete and was talking about exterminating every creature on earth. Angered, the Goddess immediately sent Antares to Orion to do his assigned task, and he couldn’t be happier.

Crisis: As soon as Antares saw his target, he attacked with all the ferocity of his pent up lust for battle. Using all his assets, from fighter reflexes to his stinger. The giant huntsman was startled by him and fought back hard as well, but when Orion saw how deadly his attacker was he also tried his best to run and get away. But it was useless, Antares was driven, dead set on his task and would not let the giant get away, chasing him down wherever he fled to.

Climax: After much back and forth and chasing around, eventually Antares managed to land his stinger on Orion and poisoned the giant. When he finally succeed in killing the huntsman, Antares felt the greatest relief he had ever felt since his death. He finally got to experience battle again and the rush and thrill of it eventually settled and Antares could finally become calm.

Aftermath: The battle between Orion and Antares was so intense that it got even the King of Gods, Zeus excited. Appearing in front of Antares, the great God awarded him for his performance by giving him a place among the stars. From then on, he became known and honoured as the personification of Scorpio. But he wasn’t the only one, Zeus after being persuaded by Artemis, also put Orion up amongst the stars as well. The huntsman got lucky that Zeus felt pity for him and placed him far away where the scorpion could not reach him.