Ten Minutes And Back

"Here? Now?"

Jack picked up the master bolt from the table and held it in front of him with both hands.

"You will have to leave the Labyrinth first, you imbecile. Wielding the bolt carelessly here will destroy Daldeus' artwork."

Rolling his eyes for about the hundredth time, Jack clenched his teeth. "Are you going to tell me how to get out or not?"

"Call in Steropes first. Can't leave him out there, waiting forever," Zeus said.

Jack turned to the massive doors. "Steropes!" he yelled, his eyes looking for the giants' massive figure.

"Doesn't he have a sense of time?" Jack asked, watching as the cyclops bound happily towards his forge.

"He's been waiting for me to return for centuries now."

"Ah," was Jack's only response.

As Steropes resumed his hammering, Jack flinched from the noise, nearly dropping the master bolt.

"Careful mortal. Mistakenly discharge it and you can incinerate everything here," Zeus warned.

Jack grunted. "Well teach me how to use it then, mighty one."

"I am trying to reason how to explain the usage of such a powerful weapon to a weak mind like yours." Zeus paused. "Alright, let's start with transporting yourself back to the mortal world."

"Ready when you are," Jack muttered.

"Close your eyes and imagine where you would like to go, and then imagine yourself actually there," Zeus instructed. "Personally I would prefer you go to Olympus, but I guess we have to settle on your useless world."

Jack tried to tune out Zeus' rambling and focused on the bolt in his hand along with the image in his head. Trying as much as possible to recall how it looked like, he drew a picture in his head.

"That should do," Zeus said.

"Wait you can read my mind?" Jack's eyes snapped open in surprise.

"I am your mind chattering animal," Zeus snapped. "Now concentrate and make yourself useful."

Drawing up the picture in his blank mind, Jack visualized himself there. Squeezing the rod tightly, he felt it heat up. Not daring to open his eyes, Jack heard sparks rapidly jumping off the bolt. Each spark made a large popping sound that irritated him and made him almost yearn for the voice of the annoying god in his head. Once he had called up the picture, Zeus had gone extremely quiet, leaving Jack to wonder if the floating sensation he was feeling was him finally waking up from this terrible dream.

Guess I'm about to find out, Jack thought, feeling his body become completely weightless.

For what felt like an eternity, Jack was nothing. He definitely felt like nothing and if he opened his eyes he would have seen nothing. Then as quickly as he felt his body disappear, he solidified on hard ground, bolt still groped between his two hands.

"You're here," Zeus returned, killing Jack's spirit once more.

Sighing, he slowly opened his eyes. He was exactly at the edge of the cliff he had fallen off. Staring down, Jack glared at the rocks he could've been laying on. Lifting the bolt in one hand, he pointed it at the rocks below and felt power surge through him. In an instant, they were destroyed and he was flung backward like a rag doll, crashing into something soft.

"You foolish mortal!" Zeus yelped, clearly not expecting Jack to use the bolt.

"Yikes," a familiar voice yelled at the same time, as he crashed into the person.

Springing to his feet, Jack swung the rod immediately at the person, but quickly realized he looked beyond stupid. Hands closed around empty air, Jack clutched his imaginary weapon and pointed it at the man that still lay on the ground before him, mouth open in shock.

"I saw you fall," the man said in disbelief, eyes wide.

"Ummmm," Jack stuttered, backing away. He could swear he was stuck in the Labyrinth for hours. But appearing here, it was barely minutes. Unless the bolt could send people back in time, Jack was beginning to realize how complicated his life was about to get.

"Tell him he's delusional," Zeus said. Then he added, "All you mortals are anyway."

"It was a film effect," Jack dragged out. "We're actually shooting a movie here."

The man looked around then got to his feet, frowning. "Yeah right, no cameramen?"

Jack bit his tongue in frustration. "We're using stealth drones."

The man rolled his eyes and looked up. Then he looked back at Jack with a sarcastic look on his face.

Jack threw his hands up. "Yeah alright, I did fall off but I woke up in the mythical Labyrinth, almost got crushed by a cyclops, found a staff that makes nuclear missiles look like children toys, wore an amulet that invited a god with a sailors brain into my head and used the weapon to teleport myself here." Spreading his arms out, he looked the man in the eye. "Happy?"

"Are you bent on being retarded?" Zeus grumbled, but Jack ignored him.

The man crossed his arms across his chest. "Movie, I got it."

Jack shook his head. "Yeah."

"I'm Newton by the way," the man said, stretching an arm out. "You can call me Newt."

"Jack," Jack responded.

"Enough pleasantries, mortal vessel," Zeus spoke, his voice thundering. "Let's get on with our training."

"I have to go now," Jack informed Newt, who was staring at the pendant around his neck.

Newt raised his arm and waved. "Stay safe man."

Giving him a thumbs up Jack broke off into a sprint, across the barren land, headed straight into the city.

"Wherever we are going, make sure its safe and quiet child," Zeus ordered. "Blow up a mortal and I'll incinerate you."

Jack's mind wandered back to when he crashed into Newt. "Where is the bolt?"

"You'll learn how to summon it and make it vanish into thin air at will soon enough," the god assured. "But for now, I'll handle it."

"Alright," Jack said, slowing his pace down as he reached a cluster of people.

Jack looked forward with one destination in mind. He was heading home, with an annoying god and a bad feeling in his chest.

"Move your legs lazy pebble, Kronus could be hacking down countries as we speak," Zeus said.

Jack only rolled his eyes. His life was about to take a massive turn. Only he couldn't tell if it was for better, or worse.