Orpheus: A Fearless Underwater Odyssey

The water was cold, deathly so. He could feel it's icy grip around his neck. It pulled him down, further into the darkness of the sea. The last thing he saw was his grandfather's face as he yelled out for help. Then there was only blackness.

It feels like I've been here forever, Orpheus thought to himself. He would have lost count of how many hours had passed since he first began to sink into the ocean floor. As he listened to the sound of bubbles escape from his mouth, he tried to concentrate on something other than his own life slowly slipping away from him. That is when he heard it; a humming sound in the distance, like that of a million tiny slithery things crawling across glass. His eyes opened wide in terror as the realization hit him; "it" is near.

Orpheus fought like hell to push against the ocean floor, but it was no use. The current had pulled him too far down and he was too weak from lack of oxygen to rebel against its pull anymore. His vision began to blur as he felt himself drift into unconsciousness. Just before blacking out completely, he saw it; a dark shadow approaching from all sides at once, surrounding him completely with its enormous size and terrible visage. The last thought that entered Orpheus' mind was one of despair -- for surely this thing would take his life, and then there would be nothing left for him to save his people.

When Orpheus awoke, he found himself standing on dry land beside a massive statue of a man with huge arms stretched outwards as if offering a hug to anyone that might need it. He looked around and realized that he stood at the base of Mount Olympus itself! Confused by how this could be possible, Orgues turned around to get his bearings and spotted an elderly man standing directly behind him with a warm grin across his face. "Hello," said the old man cheerfully," My name is Atlas."

As Orphues stared blankly at this strange man who seemed somehow familiar to him, Atlas explained," You are very lucky young man! I was passing through here when I noticed you being attacked by that terrible creature and saved your life." Orphues looked around again and realized that the creature seemed nowhere in sight now and wondered aloud how Atlas managed to do such a thing without getting hurt or risking his own life in any way.

Atlas chuckled deeply and replied," Of course I didn't get hurt doing such a thing!" He then opened up his shirt to reveal rippling muscles underneath what appeared to be pearly white skin like that of an infant's bellybutton." Not only am I strong enough not to be harmed by such creatures, I can also defeat them with my bare hands if I chose to do so."

This revelation shocked Orphues, but at the same time it made sense why this old man would be so confident in telling lies like these and making absurd claims about himself being more powerful than any creature alive in the world today: He truly believed every word he said!

"I'm glad that you didn't die though," Atlas continued," because now we have a chance to meet each other." At these words both men began laughing heartily as they walked along side each other towards Orphues' village where they would stay for many days until their adventure together was over.