The eclipse

After a few one-sided victories, Alex gave up even trying to get on the offensive while training with Athena.

She was too strong, and that shield was too overpowered.

Alex rubbed his head in embarrassment and said, "Well, huh, Athena, I've got to go."

As he sneakily escaped, he heard her cold voice praising him, "You fought well, let's continue this after the eclipse.

'Fought well??' Alex thought it was a joke.

To cast aside his frustration at his losses, he reasoned mentally, 'Well...Athena is hundreds of years old, she had substantially more time to train her strength than I did...'

It worked, and he was soon back to his cheerful self.

By now, the sun was barely above the mountain peaks and dusk would soon emerge.

He got back to his place(Hermes' place) and found his friend sipping on tea. He greeted Hermes and sat down next to him.

"I think I found myself a partner"

As Alex just started drinking his tea, this proclamation almost made him spill out his tea. He recovered his composure, then fervently questioned his no-longer-single god friend.

"When? Why? Who? Where?" Alex glared excitedly.

"On my trip back from the islands of Brittania, I passed through Italia, and I met her in the Commerce Guild. Her name is Marzia, and we have the same personality. I followed your advice, and instead of saying my farewells, I'm going to meet her again." Hermes looked proud of himself.

'The god of merchants romantically acquainted with someone from the Commerce Guild, that's a pleasant twist, they go well together.' Alex was happy for him and pleasantly surprised that he actually took his advice on dating mortals.

The two laughed off for a bit in celebration and the sky turned dark, only the various constellations were decorating the endless void of space.

The two ended their discussion on a bright note and each went to their respective rooms.

Originally, Alex was occupying Hermes' room but it turned out, the mysterious room that was always locked was Hermes' real room and as expected, the room was incredibly maximalist, befitting of the latter.

In his own room, there was a chest by the side of his bed.

The chest contained all of the materials he requested from Hermes to make the pinhole camera, and he was thankful to his friend for bringing them over.

Unfortunately, even if he were to design the entire tool now, which was nigh impossible with his forging skills, he wouldn't be able to use it to capture him and his friends sightseeing the eclipse tomorrow.

Due to the very long exposure of this rustic kind of camera, it was more useful for capturing landscapes that didn't move much, like mountains and deserts, and perhaps portraits of a very small number of people.

He would leave it for later when he has the capability to make something decent out of the valuable materials in that chest.

As he laid down on his bed and closed his eyes, he started thinking of tomorrow.

He was a little nervous, but nothing bad would come out of that day. His heartbeat then slowed down, his muscles relaxed and he started breathing in regular patterns.

He was asleep.

___________________________________________________________________________

The sun rose from the eastern horizon and was accompanied by the increasing cacophony of birds and the humidity of early mornings.

Meanwhile, Alex was performing his daily hygienic rituals and took special care today to look his very best. Hermes even lent him one of his formal togas that were only worn on special occasions.

After putting it on, he looked at himself in the mirror.

'I look...nice.' Alex felt good at his own appearance.

The toga was a little tight and the gold and white fabric were also a bit over-the-top but it was otherwise soft and didn't feel extremely uncomfortable.

He also put on a perfume that had woody and floral notes and permeated a pleasant smell that spread throughout his room.

Just as he finished his preparations, he heard three unfamiliar voices.

"I'm excited!"

"When will we be over with this?"

"Don't be so uptight."

He then heard a knock on his door and ran to open the gates. Unsurprisingly, there were 3 people, of which he only expected one to come.

There she was standing, wearing a casual white dress that reached down to her knees, and her long hair was tied into a cute bun with a golden hair ornament.

She was smiling at him, and he couldn't help but return the smile back.

"Crista."

"Alex."

The two then shared a long hug, only separating when the words of another guest interrupted them.

"Stop the public displays of affection, will you?" A deep voice stated.

Alex turned to the man speaking. He was someone he was quite familiar with, and his extremely tall stature and voluminous black hair stood out.

His piercing black eyes were currently looking away.

It was Hades, the king of the Underworld. He was dressed in his usual regal robe.

"Don't mind him, continue what you were doing!" A comforting and cheerful voice objected to Hades' words.

It was Persephone, Queen of the Underworld. Her verdant green eyes and curly hair were a symbol of hers.

She was also dressed in a drapey regal robe.

She then exclaimed, "You know, we heard there was an eclipse in here and thought to join, as Hades right here hasn't seen the sun for over a century."

"My Queen, you know I do dislike the omnipresent brightness of the mortal realm's sun."

These two were always so hilarious, and Alex, along with Crista, chuckled at the couple at the same time.

"Well, you're welcome anytime." Stated Alex.

Of course, Hades needed to object, "That won't be necessary, as I am never coming here again."

Alex shrugged and invited them in.

Hermes also came by and greeted them, "Look who's heeere, my long-time friends Hades and Persephone."

Persephone giggled and replied to him, "It's been a while, Hermes. You haven't visited our House in way more time than is appropriate."

Hades, on the other hand, gloomily whispered to himself, "Ahhh, meeting two hooligans in one day, what an unmemorable event. I want to go."

Hermes ignored Hades and told Persephone, "Well, you know, I'm here in front of you, flesh and bone....and divinity."

The group then went to the balcony of their house and sat all together on a big round table.

"You always had the best view of Olympus from your house, Hermes." Persephone commented on the breathtaking colossal mountains one could see from here.

"Yeeees...."

Over a few cups of sweet-tasting tea and some fruit, they shared small talk.

It was, however, interrupted by a sudden knock.

Alex went to open the door and found Athena. She was dressed in her navy blue scholarly robe but she was also wearing some silver jewelry and the Shield of Aegis was wrapped up around her back, fully displaying her status as a war goddess and looking as glorious as always.

"You look great." Athena praised his appearance and he reciprocated.

He then led her to the balcony.

"Atheeeeeeenaaaaaa! It's been so long since haven't spoken!" Hermes exclaimed when he saw her.

Athena, who already looked annoyed, said in an audible tone, "Good riddance."

Crista also greeted her, "Lady Athena."

Athena smiled and told her, "Let it just be Athena. You are Alex's acquaintance."

Crista nodded fervently.

Persephone then stood and asked, "You must be Athena? You look glorious and beautiful, I am pleased to meet you."

"Thank you, and you are?" Athena replied with a poker face.

"Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, I rule the harvests along with my mother."

Athena lightly bowed and said, "Nice to make an acquaintance of you, Persephone. Your domains are far from my specialty, so I will rely on you to counsel me."

Persephone flashed her a bright smile.

Meanwhile, Hades, who was silently staring at Athena, suddenly spoke up, "My niece, Athena? I believe we've met a few times in the past."

"Yes, Uncle Hades. It's nice to meet you again."

"You're clearly not like him, my stupid younger brother. That's a good thing."

Athena frowned for a millisecond then answered Hades, "....Thank you...."

Following that, Athena sat next to Persephone and the two seemed to be engaged in a passionate discussion.

Unexpectedly, Hermes and Crista were gossiping among each other.

Alex felt good.

Everyone was happy, and even Hades, who so loudly expressed his displeasure, had a faint smile on his bearded face.

They kept at this for some time before Athena informed them, "The eclipse is soon starting, I'd recommend we go to my tower's observation deck to watch it."

Everyone agreed and they all went to Athena's place.

At the top of the tower, there was a roof that would serve as their observation deck for the solar eclipse.

As the moment grew closer, they all looked to the sky.

And then, when the moon was just at the right angle, the sun's light was reduced to a blindingly bright ring around a dark circle.

It was....ephemeral.

They all focused on this extraordinary event.

In his past life, Alex would have to wear special glasses to even look at the eclipse, but he supposed that since he was now a god, that was why he didn't instantly get permanent eye damage from looking directly at it.

When the event was over, they went back down and even Hades, who said he hated the Sun, looked entranced by what he just witnessed.

"Are you going back to the Underworld?" Alex asked Persephone and Hades.

She shook her head and replied, "We're going to Mother's house for a few days before coming back and bringing Crista with us."

'That means...she'll go again.' Although Alex felt sad that Crista was once again departing, he knew of it beforehand and was ready to spend the next few days with her.

After that, the two monarchs of the Underworld were out of their sight.

Athena then suddenly asked him to go talk to her.

She had an unusual expression on her face, somewhat reminiscent of nostalgia and happiness.

"Even Father Zeus couldn't accomplish what you just did in all of these years." She spoke out an incomprehensible sentence.

Alex was puzzled.

"I've never met Persephone in my life, and I've only seen Uncle Hades a few times hundreds of years ago."

"But you hosted us and invited us." Alex was a bit confused.

She continued.

"But would Hades and Persephone have come if it were just me? Would Hermes have come? Would your girlfriend have come?" She spoke out confidently.

Alex shrugged, it wasn't that big of a deal, and everyone seemed to enjoy it, that was the most important part.

As they were speaking, they heard Hermes screaming, "Athena, wanna go skip stones on the Aegean!?"

Athena...chuckled and also screamed back, "Yes! I'm coming!"

She then turned to him and said, "Thank you, Alex."

Athena proceeded to take off her robe, leaving only her armor on.

They left the premises and she caught up to Hermes, who was already flying away at lightning speed.

Here he was, him and Crista only.

"Let's go home?" He asked her as he lent out his hand.

She seemed to hesitate for a second, then took his hand and loudly exclaimed in her usual manner, "YES! F**KING YES!!!"