Speeding across the Mediterranean, Demetrius was continuously amazed at the ship he had received from the Goddess Amphrite. Every day it seemed a new feature was discovered to his unexpected and continuous delight and today was no exception. Sitting in his luxurious captain's quarters, he spied a large roll of gold parchment on the top shelf. Grasping it in his hands, he noticed the seal was not yet broken, and the title was most intriguing, "The Sacred Scroll of all Knowledge". Scrawled on the outside of the parchment was a set of instructions, which Demetrius began to read.
The book was from Amphrite herself, and the note written in her own divine hand. "Dearest lover Demetrius, In your hands is the sacred scroll of all knowledge. Before using, offer a prayer to the all-knowing Zeus and ask whatever it is you wish to know. Once the prayer is offered your answer will be revealed in the scroll."
Reading these words, Demetrius was astonished. This would be obviously enormously helpful on not only this quest, but for the final completion of his mission to reverse the curse of Aphrodite. Sitting at a large oaken table, he held his palms upturned and closed his eyes. "Oh Glorious and Powerful Zeus, Father of all of the Gods, All Knowing, All Powerful, All Wise, please grant your unworthy servant this humble request. Allow your holy wisdom to flow and instruct me on how I can find the Titan Keto and obtain her enchanted horns. This I do beg, your magnificent divinity."
Unrolling the paper, Demetrius smiled as the answer to his question was revealed on the scroll. Reading carefully, important background information about Keto flowed off of the page, appearing to form on the golden parchment right before his eyes.
Keto the Titan was to be found in the kingdom of Olissio, the site of her main temple and cult, and located well past the pillars of Hercules up the rocky coast of the remote lands of Portugal. She is one of the more dangerous Titans, and her hunger for human flesh and thirst for virgin blood is legendary and insatiable. Once a month, on the night of the full moon, a sacrifice is selected from amongst the population. A young woman, unknown by man, is selected and chained to a large stone altar jutting out into the sea. At midnight, Keto emerges from the ocean in all of her horrific glory and accepts the sacrifice thus refreshed by the fresh Virgin blood for another month. If the sacrifice is beautiful and unflawed, Keto's blessings are bestowed on the kingdom. If the sacrifice is ugly or in some other way not desirable, they are withheld. If the sacrifice is not made at all, total destruction and death reigns supreme. Obviously this threat ensured that the people of Olissio made sure this never happens, and despite the hardship, the beautiful virgin maidens of that kingdom were a heavily hunted lot.
Reading on, Demetrius was fascinated by the level of the details. A map of Olissio burned itself in the parchment, and he was able to copy the form down on another sheet of paper for reference later. Closing both the scroll and his eyes, Demetrius prayed again for guidance on dealing with the fearsome Keto herself.
Again opening the scroll, the words formed as he unrolled the paper. Keto could not be killed as she was both immortal and divine. To add to his difficulties, the sight of her was so terrifying that even her most ardent supporters stayed clear of her monthly ephinany. Even the victim was blindfolded in advance to prevent her from dying of fright too quickly from the sight of her awesome horror. Demetrius shuddered as he realized that perhaps this was not going to be as easy a task as he had originally thought.
"Oh mighty and all-knowing Zeus, father of us all, how can a mere human withstand the sight of such a malicious creature?" Demetrius prayed again, knowing that he needed now to formulate a much better plan than he had originally conceived. The scroll dutifully answered.
Immortals such as himself would not be killed by the sight of Keto but would be stunned into temporary paralysis, so it was best not to look directly at the Titan if not completely necessary. This seemed to answer one question, but Demetrius was not completely satisfied. He was, as he had been told, immortal, never aging or dying, but he was not divine. It was difficult to take on faith that he would survive this quest, but he had no choice but to take that leap. Closing the scroll, he again consulted his maps and sextant, calculating when the next full moon would occur and how close he would be to Olissio when it came. As night fell, his mind was still racing with thoughts of his upcoming battle with Keto, and he was quite unsettled. Laying out on the foredeck and gazing up at the crescent moon, he watched the silvery clouds fly by as his ship, sails still full with a constant wind, continued to cut a wake through the dark sea all night. Whatever fate had in store for him in Olissio, he would be there soon enough.
Waking the next morning still on deck, Demetrius yawned and scoured the horizon. His dreams had been filled with terrifying visions of the Titan monster, and he had not slept well. Spotting land off in the distance, he could not believe it, as he expected to be out in open water for at least another week. There, only a half days journey away at best, were the Pillars of Hercules, the gates beyond which few Greeks ever had ventured and even fewer had returned. Separating the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, this was truly the boundary of the known world. Rubbing his eyes again in disbelief, he went back inside the cabin and consulted his charts. He knew he was making good time on this journey, but this was unheard of. He was at least a week ahead of schedule and would arrive in Olissio right at the full moon at this rate. Scratching his head, he assumed he had made an error in his calculations, and had just caught extremely favorable winds.
Thinking to himself he thought about his journey so far and how fortunate the sailing conditions had been. Over the last several weeks he had never seen more perfect weather. Not once had his mainsail gone limp, remaining filled with a constant warm easterly breeze. It was as if the Gods themselves had blessed this late summer as the temperature never rose above 80 degrees and never fell below 70, sunny every day, only raining briefly every third night.
Philosophers and priests for years afterwards debated this phenomenon and most concluded it must have been a special blessing from the God Apollo. The irony was, the perfect weather was caused by Apollo, but not as a blessing, but more as an accident. Having placed his Sun Chariot on automatic pilot when he originally met with Zeus for the war council, it was still on automatic pilot now almost a month later as he was still bound naked in Euphrosyne's garden. While the rest of the world enjoyed the beautiful sunny weather his chariot provided, he was assaulted daily by Euphrosyne's feathers of the Phoenix and spent all of his time moaning uncontrollably for an orgasm that was not coming soon. Until he was released from the shackles of Hercules, the weather would always be beautiful and the winds continuously favorable.
Passing through the Pillars of Hercules, Demetrius shuddered as the wide black vast ocean stretched out before him. This truly was the land of the unknown and he made sure to steer his ship close enough to the coast to track his journey, but far enough out to sea to avoid the hazardous rocks on the coastline.
Heading north, days past without Demetrius ever seeing another soul. The coast was rocky and jagged, devoid of any signs of civilization. Finally, on the third day past the Pillars, he spotted smoke rising on the horizon and his hopes rose as his anxiety increased. Demetrius knew that where there was smoke there was fire, and where there was fire, usually there were people. Pointing his ship towards this signal, he began to sail closer to the shore. The settlement where the smoke arose finally began to come into view, and despite its incredible isolation, it was beautiful in its starkness against the harsh stony landscape.
In the curve of a natural harbor, Olissio loomed high on the cliffs overlooking the bay. Green Marble buildings dotted the heights as it was obvious that the kingdom was quite prosperous, but the beach itself was completely deserted. Only a single staircase descended from the cliffs to connect the city to the ocean and only after going through a rather ominous looking set of gates. The walls around the city mainly appeared designed to protect its inhabitants from threats from sea while still maintaining a limited access to it. Given what he read about Keto, he certainly understood their concerns. Throwing out his anchor offshore, Demetrius swam through the rough surf towards the beach, leaving his ship in deep water. Feeing even more naked than usual, being armed only with his enchanted dagger, he spotted the altar platform right in the center of the cove at the end of the path from the city.
Solid black and carved from sharp volcanic rock it rose twenty fee in the air from the beach at a steep angle and was perched on the edge of the tide like a great hand reaching from the land towards the ocean in offering. The smooth black stone glinted in the sunlight as the surface was completely smooth and mirrorlike. On the top of the platform, Demetrius spied the iron spikes and large O rings used to bind the victim to the thick green stone altar in the center. Finding a hiding spot behind a natural rock formation, he lay down on the warm sand and fell asleep. The full moon was tonight, and being only early afternoon, he knew he needed rest for what he knew would be his most challenging battle yet.