4. Gate of fire

Oliver's view wasn't wrong per se, but when it came to his view on Aiden, it would best be described as some sort of cognitive dissonance.

For Oliver, he had known about the gods and their power, so naturally, he would have a stronger yearning for power. From his point of view, that could only be the normal reaction to such a devastating realization. For Aiden, he was a complete and ignorant mortal up until only a few days ago. Now he was told he could be a super-powered being. After all, no matter how weak they were, a slap from a divine descendant against a mortal was enough to set them up with an appointment with Lord Hades himself! What Aiden was feeling was not depression; no, he was on cloud nine!

Oliver obviously couldn't read minds and cautiously avoided the topic of bloodline lineage while continuing to talk to him about some basic knowledge about the life of a Divine descendant and life in Olympus as they walked around the ship.

As they journeyed around the ship, Aiden looked up to the bow of the ship and saw a strange sight.

It was a woman.

Aiden took a closer look, but the more he looked, the stranger she seemed. Her figure seemed to be shrouded in mystery, standing poised, enveloped in a flowing robe of greyish-white, highlighted with crimson red accents. The fabric shifted and shimmered as if the red patterns were burning flames begging to burst into life. Her face was hidden behind a pure white veil of the same ethereal material as her robe, but this time it only bore a burning red flame pattern on it.

Besides her obscured face, in her hands was a chalice. A large golden ornate vessel that seemed almost too heavy for her slender fingers to hold, yet she managed to do it with ease. And this wasn't the most impressive thing. No, what drew Aiden's attention were the raging flames held within the chalice, dancing and flickering like a strange ethereal spirit.

Just by looking at it, Aiden's eyes seemed to be drawn in, yet at the same time, his own eyes started to heat up, almost as if he was standing right beside a wild bonfire.

"Who is that?" asked Aiden, amazement evident in his voice.

But this time, Oliver didn't explain much. A small smile appeared on his face as he spoke.

"You'll see soon enough, just watch."

Oliver's words weren't wrong either. After a few short minutes, a deep and commanding voice rang out from the quarterdeck of the ship.

"Everything is in order. Fire up the enchantments and ready the ship, we set sail immediately."

Aiden looked up to see the origin of this voice, and in a high position looking over the deck, he saw a gruff-looking middle-aged man. His hair was starting to gray, but his face didn't seem too old, like that of a man in his forties or possibly even late thirties. His face could even be described as rather handsome, but because of the permanent frown it was placed in, it was extremely hard to see it.

Maybe it was fate, curiosity, or maybe even Aiden's bad luck, but the man above seemed to notice him looking over towards him.

For him, it must have been a mere scan. He probably wasn't even directly looking, just a quick scan of the area, but for Aiden, his heart skipped a beat. Just one look at the deep blue eyes made it feel like his entire body had been struck by a whip of terrifying lightning.

Aiden gasped to gather his breath and looked over to see that even Oliver was looking a little pale. At least it wasn't just Aiden that was embarrassed by a brief glance of this powerful captain.

As Aiden was recovering, the ship began to writhe and shake. Aiden quickly turned around and looked towards the origin of this strange phenomenon—the bow of the giant voidship. At that place, he saw the strange woman from earlier raise her burning chalice into the sky. The chalice shook violently as the flames began to rage, but the woman's slender hands were as stable as a mountain as a deafening incantation left her mouth.

"Via Pyrignis, anoigō emprosthen me!"

With those words, the fire burst forth from the chalice, tearing across the sky, forming a giant gate of fire that dwarfed even the giant voidship.

Above the clouds, a giant gate of fire was formed—a truly enormous whirlpool of crimson fire covered, radiating a deep divine golden mist. If Aiden looked carefully, he could be sure what he saw was an endless sea of glowing gold.

"This is..."

"The gate of fire..." said Oliver, placing his hand on Aiden's shoulder.

Although Oliver was educating Aiden right now, his voice was still filled with awe.

"I had heard about it before but never imagined that it would be so magnificent. It really does live up to its title of 'Gate to the gods.'"

As Oliver spoke, the voidship shook as a faint white translucent barrier appeared, covering the entire deck as the ship moved forward, heading straight for the gate of fire!