I'm sort of min-maxing here.  1000 words is the legal maximum for a flash fiction, and it's also the exact minimum word count for the writer's guild contest.  Heh. 

Submitting this for 's promt #5--wheel of fortune

I was excited to get the genre "epic" in my flash prompt generator, since I'm a classics major and they don't let you do that without reading at least the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid, and I've also gotten Catullus poem 64 under my belt--which modern scholars call an "epillion" but that term doesn't originate until the 19th century, so I'm including the qualities of epillion under the definition of "Epic" and viewing it as a sub-genre.

I did not write it in verse, since a flash fiction is a different form from a narrative poem, but I did include the most salient elements from my readings except for prophesy/destiny.  Which you could potentially argue is a cultural trope rather than a generic one anyway.  

I'm also submitting this to 's contest under the Beauty cover.  If challenged, I think I could argue that it fits...can't promise that I'd win the argument, but oh well.  Worst they can do to me is reject my story.

Edit: Jan 5.  In response to some criticism, I've made a few edits.  The version I entered in the writers' guild contest is available here: sta.sh/0uz4b10dklo