Hercules,  the strongest man alive with a mighty heart to match. Orpheus,  charmer of nature and master of music. Castor and Pollux,  the twin tricksters hatched from an egg. The Boreads,  sons of the North Wind who could hurtle through the air. For untold times  these heroes had roamed ancient Greece, creating new legends wherever they went. But none of their adventures  was so great as when they joined forces for the sake of a young man named Jason. Years before, Jason’s uncle Pelias  had ruthlessly usurped the throne of Thessaly  from Jason’s grandfather. When Jason returned  to his father’s stolen court, the cowardly king  set him a seemingly impossible task: cross the teeming seas to Colchis, and steal  the golden fleece of a flying ram under King Aeetes’ nose. If Jason retrieved the Fleece, Pelias promised to relinquish the throne. Touched by his heroic mission, the Gods spread Jason’s call for help, and soon  he had assembled a not-so-motley crew. These heroes, alongside countless sailors, soothsayers, and rebel demigods, named themselves  the Argonauts after their sturdy ship. But the path ahead  was marked with untold terrors– enough to test even the fiercest heroes. Their first stop was Lemnos, an isle of women  who had killed all the island’s men. As punishment, Aphrodite had cursed them with a sickening stench– but that didn’t stop Jason  fathering twins with the queen. The rest of the crew also found themselves embroiled in new romances; until Hercules chastised them  for not behaving like heroes. Eventually,  they sailed on to the Mount of Bears, an island where a group of ancient,  six-armed monsters lived alongside the peaceful Doliones. While the clan welcomed  the Argonauts with open arms, the monsters surged down  from the mountains and hurled rocks at the docked ship. Hercules held them off single-handedly, before his comrades joined the fray. Bolstered by their victory,  the triumphant heroes sailed onward– only to be blown back  to the island several stormy nights later. In the tempest, the Doliones  thought these new arrivals invaders. The Argonauts were similarly unaware  of their surroundings, and fought blunderingly in the dark,  slaying wave after wave of foe. But the morning light  revealed a horrible truth: their victims  were none other than their previous hosts. Yet again, Jason had allowed the crew  to be distracted, this time at a terrible cost. Ashamed at his conduct, he resolved  to focus only on the Fleece, but even this haste proved ruinous. When Hercules’ squire  was abducted by a water nymph, Jason sailed on– oblivious to the absence  of his most powerful crewmate. The remaining Argonauts  continued their quest, until stopping at the sight of an old man  surrounded by a swirl of harpies. This was Phineas,  a seer cursed by Zeus to endure  old age, blindness, and endless torture for giving away  his prophecies. Moved by his plight,  the wind brothers set upon the flock, providing Phineas  with a brief respite from his punishment. In return, the seer told them how to overcome the terrifying trial that lay ahead: the Symplegades, a pair clashing rocks  that reduced ships to splinters. But first, the Argonauts would have to maneuver  past the mouth of hell, around the island  of the bloodthirsty Amazons, and under psychedelic skies. These adventures cost the crew  both in men and morale– and some feared  they might be losing their minds. Upon reaching the clashing rocks,  the exhausted crew quaked with fear. But Phineas’ advice rang in their heads. The Argonauts released a single dove and sped through in its wake  to emerge unscathed. With this narrow escape, the Argonauts  finally had Colchis in their sights. Yet while Jason rested  and celebrated with his crew, he could feel his time  among them was drawing to a close. As the fleece gleamed in his mind, he knew  he would have to retrieve it alone. But he could not guess  that this final task would have the most horrible price of all.