The fate of the remaining Inovians was not to be envied. Taken into slavery by the godling of the south, they tilled the fields harvested the grapes and olives, that they planted and owned for the increase of another. The taste was as bitter as wormwood. Upon the islands Helenes worshipped their gods, lamenting the sacred sites lost to the Tez Hamunoi and the free men now in chains.
An uneasy peace reigned between the Southerners and the Helenes for about 10 years, because of the treacherous seas around the Helenic Islands with their treacherous currents and monsterous king tides, which destroyed the unwary.
Hotepishen consoled himself with further conquests upon the mainland while his engineers and sailors built a fleet for the Sea of Fallen Gods.
Finally, when
Hotepishen had built an enormous fleet of ten thousand ships with 150,000 soldiers aboard*, he consulted his prophets and wizards. After a week of ceremony and sacrifice to Tez Hamunoi gods, the wizards were divided as to the meaning of the omen.
Ra Ohipsha the chief of the wise told the king that the signs were clouded and dangerous,
Hotepishen angry and frustrated had
Ra Ohipsha cast into the viper's den. His replacement was more careful and asserted that
Ra Ohipsha , because he had not contacted the oracle at Pythia, had failed to discern the message. The fame of the oracle at Pythia was so great that wise men from all over the world often sent messages there. Messengers with offerings were sent at once.
The oracle replied to the godling of the South.
The Oracle of Pythia wrote:
The Oracle has measured your worth
Your seed will be cast all over the earth
You will reap the crop, that you have sown
The glory of your fate will always be known
Your ships will sail upon the sea
Laden with men, sounding of glee
The waves will bow before your face
The seas will part in front of your grace
The battle will be a great victory
The army of virtue will rule the sea
Your name forever will be covered with fame
Bards forever will recite your name
Little did
Hotepishen know, the gods of Helena had decreed his fall. He had through the
hubris of elevating himself to be a god and the audacity to mock the gods of Helena, plotted his own downfall. The oracle at the bequest of her god decieved him and he went to his doom as an ox to the slaughter.
* Editor's note: Many scholars dispute the size of this fleet and army.