Steering Clear

Julius and Tobias found themselves in a dire 4-against-2 situation. They wonder if they can hold out any longer against their enemies, who looked poised to attack, but still awaiting for orders from their leader. The non-verbal communication between the four was pretty obvious, and it appears that the blondie calls the shots in the group.

Julius wanted to flee, but something else is preventing him from doing such thing – it's his thirst for that knowledge about the prophecy that the blondie speaks of. Earlier, he thought that knowing about the prophecy can wait for another time, but who knows how long that time will be? It's not as if he'd willingly go to his enemies in the future just to ask about it. 'I must seize this opportunity, right here, right now.'

"Julius, we have to get out, now." Tobias said from behind him. They were standing back-to-back, on high alert against potential attacks from any direction. 

He knows this is what he should be doing. Considering that their enemies can't seem to make up their minds yet, now is the perfect time to just teleport the heck out of this place and go somewhere else where they think Sayo and Rexis are. But his desire is wearing him down. He wants to know.

"Just…a little longer." He replied to Tobias in a barely audible whisper. He conjured his gladius and placed it in a defensive position in front of him, and caught Adam's eye.

"One last chance before I go, blondie." The intensity of his stare can almost drill a hole in Adam's head. "Are you sure you don't wanna tell me what's the significance of the Baetylus to the prophecy, and how do I fit in to that order?"

Adam is weighing his options. He contemplated before about the risks of telling him what they want from him, without him getting anything in return. But that was initially their purpose – for him to know about it. Knowing about the other prophecy may appear to be necessary, but it's only a bonus if they do find out what it exactly says. At least, now they know about its existence. He matched the intensity of Julius's gaze, as he finally made up his mind.

"Fine, I'll tell you about it." He relaxed a little to make himself more convincing, but Julius didn't let his guard down. Adam then continued. "As I said before, your father is the Mythos of Cronus. He therefore manifested some powers of the God of Time, and made it possible for him to use it to travel across different ages of Ancient Greece."

In the background, Isaac and Carl had a mild look of annoyance in their face, as if saying, 'Is he sure about this?'

Adam: "My father told me that when Alexandros discovered that he can somehow control the titan inside him, he did his best to stop whatever Cronus wanted to do to regain his former glory in the modern era. In other words, your father wanted to thwart Cronus' attempt at rebirth, which can only be made possible by you, the perfect vessel for him – because you are the son of his reincarnated form, you are the Son of Time."

"But since your father doesn't want that to happen to you, his son, he devised a systematic way to counter whatever Cronus planned since before the dawn of mankind. That's when he decided to return to Ancient Greece and find the relic that can facilitate his rebirth – the Baetylus of Zeus. He found out about this because of the prophecy that Dodona told him."

"Before I return to that, let me tell you that naturally, when Dodona appeared in our dreams, she was talking to us, like in a real conversation, so the wordings aren't the same for everyone. But her gist was common to all. If we revive Cronus, we will be gods, who will rule with him whenever that time comes. We can accomplish this by returning to him the relic that he once threw up before the Titanomachy. The rock that Rhea substituted for the infant Zeus, that's the Baetylus. He has to reconsume it, because it has some parts of him too. His body in Tartarus has to be complete before it reconstructs itself. Don't ask me why, the gods of the Greek Pantheon are crazy."

"The Dodona mentioned about Alexandros in her appearance in our dreams. When your father time-hopped, he managed to get the Rock in order to destroy it, and wipe it out from existence. But he failed to completely erase it wholly. The most he can do it break it into twelve pieces. When my father found out about his scheme, he confronted Alexandros about it, but the latter won't give him any more details. Dad wanted to know where to find the parts so he can fix it and have it ready for the God of Time's return. But again, your father doesn't approve of it. Perhaps he felt like many are against him, so he devised a way to pass the responsibility to you to continue what he did. We don't know what exactly is it, but we have a theory that it has to do with Ancient Greece, and so we believe that Alexandros time-hopped again to leave the parts in various different ages of time, hoping that you'll find it and finish what he started."

"But you are more than that, Julius. You shouldn't be doing what your foolish father tried to do. You should be joining us in our quest to retrieve those pieces and offer it up to Cronus in Tartarus. You will be the final piece needed to complete his rebirth. You will be a God too once that happens. CAN'T YOU SEE THAT! A GOD! IF YOU'LL JOIN US, YOU'RE GONNA LEARN HOW TO USE THOSE POWERS, AND YOU'LL HAVE ABSOLUTE CONTROL OVER EVERYTHING! WE'LL DESTROY THE WHOLE WORLD WHO WRONGED PLENTY, AND CREATE A NEW ONE THAT BENEFITS US ALL!"

A mad look appeared in Adam's face as he blurted out the last few sentences, which made Julius really angry too about the atrociousness behind their selfish goals. It was too absurd, and too crazy! Why would he expect him to agree to such ridiculous plans?! His father's dying words even told him not to do it.

'Do-Not-Revive-Father.'

If that's his dying wish, then that's the thing he's gonna do. He won't allow himself to be converted by these lunatics.

"No, can do, blondie. I have better things to do than just –"

Before he can finish, he was grabbed by the shadows controlled by Isaac and was sent flying in the corner, his back hitting hard against the wall. "Julius!" Tobias called, but he too found himself flying in the same manner.

"Why you pesky –" Julius brought himself up, only to be facing against the Cetus that was obviously summoned by Carl. A blast of water sent him backwards again, further away from Tobias, who was shielding himself from attacks in all directions by Isaac.

"Stop resisting ~" Some voice sounded inside Tobias and Julius' heads. "Let me connect to your thoughts ~"

'Shit, it's the girl!' Julius realized. 'She wants to connect like a Bluetooth device? No way – za Bluetooth devize izz not sucezzfulley connected – sorry!'

Melissa's telepathy actually works that way – the communication can only be maintained upon consent. If not, she will just be like a temporary disturbance to their thoughts, and her connections won't work when they are away.

"ARRRRRGHHHH!" Julius charged head-on against the Cetus, and slashed through the incoming blast that was supposed to finish him off, to transport himself closer to Tobias.

"Julius, we need to steer clear from here, now!" Tobias yelled. And he did it – he pictured themselves sent back to Corinth, the first place that came to his mind. With a loud pop, they disappeared from the Mythos hideout.

"DAAAAAAAAAMMIT!!!" Adam cursed loudly in frustration.

--

The Underworld

*

In Persephone's random wanderings, she came face to face with a Fury, who disdainfully looked at her from head to toe. The Fury rolled her eyes at her as she asked, "Weeekekek – are you the one whom Her Highness was expecting to come? – wekek?"

Psyche wasn't sure if Aphrodite notified Persephone prior to her arrival, but since it sounds like it, she just nodded, to which the Fury only replied "Weeeekekek – come follow me – wekek."

She trailed after the creature and soon she found herself staring in front of four-meter high obsidian doors – the Chamber of Hades, or the Throne Room of the Underworld. When the Door opened, she didn't know what to expect. Will the Lord of the Dead be there? Or will Persephone alone face her?

Her questions were answered when she found two thrones inside – and one of them was empty. There, on the right seat by the dais, was a woman of cold, deathly beauty. She was sure that the woman was none other than Persephone.

"Come, mortal. Speak of your purpose for coming here." Persephone asked, although Aphrodite already connived with her about it. She knows what the Goddess wants, which gives her the perfect opportunity to NOT actually give it.

"The Goddess of Love and Beauty ordered me to fetch from Your Highness some beauty cream to relieve her stress." Psyche replied, with a rather nervous tone.

"Oh – is that so. Do you have the container?"

"I do."

"Give it here." Psyche then handed the box to Persephone, and the latter stood up to fill it up.

"You know, Aphrodite and I are really close friends ~" Persephone said, her back towards Psyche. "I'll be back in a while, please wait for a moment."

While the Queen was away, Psyche took in the grandeur of the throne room. Its wealth was even greater than her own House with Eros, and the darkness of it all added more of its charm. After a few more moments, Persephone came back, with the box containing the beauty cream. She gave it to Psyche with a smile.

"Here, take this to Aphrodite." She said in a lively tone, a clear contrast to her dead appearance.

"Thank you, Your Highness." Psyche was happy, for she never thought that this task could be done this easily.

She skipped while walking out of the Chamber of Hades, and proceeded to the place where Charon agreed to give them a return trip earlier. Now, she only had to wait for Sayo and the other guy.

She stared at the box she was holding. 'Surely, the goddess won't notice if I take some of these?'

After all, she was worn out from her labors. She too, needed to replenish her beauty. Her labors were taxing, and she wanted to look at her best when she sees her Eros once again.

'Just a little….'

Little did Psyche know, Persephone filled it with essence of Stygian Sleep just to spite Aphrodite. And Aphrodite was expecting it from Persephone. In turn, she was also expecting Psyche to steal some 'beauty cream' from her. 

The Goddess smiled evilly from her chamber in Olympus as she gorgeously sipped her nectar. She planned it all along.