Prologue

Time waits for no man.

This is a rule that all mortals have to live with. Each person has a set amount of time that he or she could spend. While the time each individual has differs, eventually the clock will run out for everyone.

There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

For this reason, men and women have tried desperately to gain more time. Every person does it.

Most people attempt to extend their lives by trying to remain healthy. They eat right and exercise properly to keep their weak physical bodies from deteriorating.

This method is actually valid. Taking better care of themselves will extend their pitiful existence.

Others try to make an impact on the world so they will be remembered. Reproduction is the usual method of making a legacy.

Children are the future of mankind, and by making them, you are elongating your influence past your own lifetime.

In fact, this method seems far too easy at times. Harder methods of remembrance can include creating a work of art, inventing a useful machine, or doing something that will go down in the history books.

The purpose of being remembered? I do not know either.

Some humans, however, try and find a more... Permanent solution. They try to become immortal.

Yes, it sounds ridiculous.

These humans dream of eternal youth. They desire an invulnerable body. These mortals lust after the idea of never dying.

Such people obsess over this thought, of never facing the consequences of taking risks during their lives. To make this dream a reality, they are even willing to give up their very souls.

Fools. The lot of them.

The very idea of a mortal body never dying is absurd. Every living vessel will grow old. All physical bodies are vulnerable to injury.

Each and every human will die no matter what. As long as a human is still a human, they will run out of time.

Nevertheless, people still try. They will spend all of their precious time in trying to find a method on gaining more time. The only thing these idiots accomplish is wasting their lives on a fairy-tale dream.

Despite their efforts, they perish without making any real accomplishments. It is the ultimate irony.

And yet...

The very idea is so pleasurable to think about. How nice would it be to never feel yourself grow old or weak? Never experiencing the agony of injury? To never die?

Even if such things can never exist, they are still a fantastic dream. To have infinite time and gain what you want the most out of life, and to never leave it.

But it should be left at that, a mere dream.

Seeking immortality will only waste your life. In addition, consider what would happen if you actually attained eternal youth.

Time would continue to flow. People would continue to die. Life would go on without you. Yet you would never change.

Scary thought, is it not?

Everything you know and love would disappear around you. Nothing you do will change that. You would forever be alone.

No friends or family can comfort you through your hard times. No rivals would exist to give meaning to your hard work. No enemies would come to bring excitement to your life.

But you would be alive, right? That is all that matters?

Wrong.

Those who fear death want to live. However, a person who cannot fear death, what does he want?

What does a person who does not need to eat or drink desire? What does a person who no longer needs money to provide for themselves want? What does a man who is immortal yearn for?

The answer is simple. He wants to die.

What? Isn't that ridiculous? Who in their right mind would want to die if they have what every mortal dreams of? It must be a lie right?

No, it's not.

This concept of desiring death seems insane yet sane. Just like the concept of eternal youth, immortality, and invincibility.

No person can truly understand it because it is forever out of his reach, and this is where it should stay.

To actually gain immortality would be a curse. Not that the gods would ever admit it. They always act like living forever guarantees happiness.

Liars. All of them.

They grow tired and bored all the time. That is why they use humans for their own amusement. They promise great gifts to humans if they complete impossible tasks.

Promises of wealth, power, and pleasure are offered just to give themselves a bit of entertainment.

Most people curse the gods for their actions. Men think that they would be righteous and just if they were gods. Women think that they would be merciful and kind if they were goddesses.

Hypocrites.

If they were in the gods' place they would be just as worse as any of the Olympians.

As such, no one can blame the gods if they gave a hopeless chance stay young forever. The whole idea was funny.

Humans tried desperately to pass these trials of the gods, only to lose all the time they have left. They knew that success on such a quest would be impossible.

This is why all were shocked to see mere teenagers overcome tasks that had broken the strongest men in the world.

It was a joke of a quest. The gods knew it. The humans knew it. Hell, everyone knew it, even the monsters.

The only ones who didn't know the truth were the two brothers.

They were meant to die, and that was the point. In order to avoid unnecessary risks they could cause in the future, the young heroes had to die for being too powerful.

In the end, however, they were only cursed. Instead of peace in the afterlife, they were instead granted eternal earthly suffering.

At this, the gods actually pitied them. They would not have wished this fate unto their worst enemies, as they were cursed to walk the face of the Earth until the end of time.

Except, unbeknownst to the Olympians who thought themselves untouchable. Fate had already set the stage in motion for their most extravagant plan to come.

A plan that would even destroy the very fabric of reality.