Chapter 19

"Psyche!" Tom shouted the moment the face of the girl registered on his mind.

Tom threw Thunder's arm off his shoulder and ran.

"Hey. Tom!" Thunder called loud, grabbing Tom's shirt but failed.

All of Crowfire team turned their heads and nailed their eyes at him. They were all surprised, even Coach Emberbright and Ios Android. All their mouths circled and their eyes bulged out while he ran through the team of Tuberculosis.

"What's with Tom?" Thor asked out of no where. Still all of them had their steady look as he disappeared from the crowd of people.

Tom's eyes followed were Psyche was going.

The team members of Tuberculosis are huddling together for a walk on the gym door to the path walk. They are wearing their white jerseys, some are giving high fives and laughing. Their huge bodies huddling covered Psyche as she walked before the team without all of them noticing. As Tom reached almost a foot close to the team, he had seen Psyche closer, walking all by herself, like no other person sees her. She is holding a cellphone then turned her body behind. From Tom's point, he saw in the space between two boys before him, Psyche smirked at him.

Tom never knew what he felt that time and that he just knew he was already running towards her. He broke the huddle of the Tuberculosis team with his arms and made his way against them. He almost tripped and ran towards Psyche.

"Hey! What's your problem?" the boys shouted at him but Tom never cared to look behind.

He ran with his full speed until he finally trapped her with his eyes. As he reached her, he grabbed her shoulders and pressed her muscles with his fingers. He stood with all his fierce anger firing on his eyes.

Their faces were almost few inches close. Tom's teeth gnash loudly and his eyebrows are both narrowed. Psyche just smiled. She even chuckled as her eyes meet his.

"Why are you messing up with me? What did I ever do wrong to you? This isn't our deal!" Tom said, almost like a whisper but his voice was full. Drops of sweat slowly run from his forehead. The more he speaks, the more his face is getting closer on hers.

"Oh, it is, my dear. If only you stick to the rules." She said. She gripped her phone on her hand hanging on her side. She felt Tom's grip getting tighter and painful. His fingernails bury on her blouse. She saw Tom's eyes meeting hers and his firm shoulder muscles and chest almost pressing against her.

She felt it weird that Tom was quite the hunk despite his average stature especially when he is scary mad. She just smiled.

"Bring me back. It does not matter to me what you want to do. I just don't care about you. And when I get back, I will burn books of your story to ashes." Tom said furiously. His fingers shook while gripping Psyche's shoulder. "Revert this insanity now."

Psyche replied, "But the flaming soar of the crow rise from the ashes, as he said."

When Tom realized he was almost hoisting Psyche with his grip, he noticed her right hand holding the phone tighter. Then a thought struck his mind.

"Or maybe I could destroy you right now." his furious face altered to a smirk. Then his eyes darted downward.

Psyche's look sharpened on him and followed his gaze. She started to feel strange about Tom's next coming actions.

"Really? How would you do that? I am a mythical being on that shadow world." she said straight.

He pulled her neck and kissed her. He caged her body in his arms and braced her very tight.

Psyche shoved Tom's chest. He was pushed hard and his hands flung. He darted a look on her while smirking, his head tilted.

Psyche's face was so red, and she was stunned for few seconds.

"You were branded to be the most beautiful girl in the ancient Greece. I thought I should have a taste of that beauty. I bet a kiss won't let you swayed." Tom said, still head tilted and smirking. He wiped his mouth with his arm and looked at her in the eyes. "Or it isn't?"

He walked around her until he's behind her. He held her shoulders and whispered on her ears, "I know you find me irresistible. Tell me, how do my lips taste? By far the best, right?"

"S-stop-p! Stop!" she stuttered.

"Listen mi'lady." Tom said then braced her neck with his arms. He rested her chin on her shoulder. "I know what you are trying to do. Chronos and everyone in that mythical shadow world know nothing but me."

"I'll kill you Tom Dylan. You will pay for this." She whispered.

Tom didn't care if everyone from the gymnasium is not circling the two of them and murmuring on them in middle of the midday sun.

"I am not easy to fool, Psyche." Tom answered. He chanted after wards, "I am not an idiot. I am not. You just messed up with the wrong handsome guy. I am not stupid like you, like Ero-"

Psyche freed then flung her right hand on Tom's face. Her palm slammed on his cheek. Her hand clenching the phone broke her joints and the screen of her phone cracked.

Tom's head rang as his vision slowly blurs. Psyche's fingernails and the edges of the phone buried and scratched the skin of his head, leaving long slits. Blood oozes out from it and immediately sprinkled in the air.

He nailed his looks on her, still smirking. When their eyes met, he winked at her.

"You can't resist me. I'll be in your dreams during your sleep, wishing I was there next to you." he said. Then he laughed hysterically.

"Ahhhhhh..." Psyche screamed. She turned around, that she saw the people are stepping backwards while having their startled gaze of terror on them.

Psyche ran away.

Tom smirked for the last time as his eyes followed her disappearing in the crowd of people. He is now certain, that it was Psyche's life line, her own future oracle, the cellphone. And he knew, she is playing her game on this world. He knew that the immediate destruction of the future oracle will definitely cause a dead end to its owner. They will fade to existence and may mean to their death. And if Psyche faded, he thought, everything will turn back to normal.

Only that now he realized it, he may still have the chance to get back.

At that moment, he no longer wished to go back to his life, but to watch her torment for longing of him being with her. He just knew she cannot resist his kiss. It is that moment he finally understand his role for this game, and who really he was. His past life being Tom Dylan, was just a sidetrack of this rewriting mess of histories.

"I am not an idiot. I am not an idiot. I am not like you, like..." Tom muttered while his voice crackled. He whispered to himself, "like... everybody else."

He pulled up a crumpled paper from his pocket. It was old, brown with writing "Eros and Psyche". Tom smiled and kept it back from his pocket. "This is going to be fun."

"Hey! Have you lost your mind, Tom Dylan?" a statement caught by his ear. It was someone from Tuberculosis High.

Tom was still lost in thought when a loud blow of air passed him. He just felt himself taken by the gravity down. And a huge heavy shadow covered his eyes.

"Awww." a soft moan left his mouth. He just realized after few seconds, there was the white-haired man wearing white jersey, sitting on his torso, Lungs. He was so heavy.

Lungs quickly stood up, and clenched his fists. Tom can't speak, nor move his jaws. He felt it dislocated that his mouth was open.

Lungs fell on his knees. He landed on the floor and he can't move. His head slowly jolts and his mouth left out few grunts. Tom's eye caught the hand he punched on him. There was a huge violet mark that spreads on his entire hand every second.

Tom stood and touched his head. He saw blood on his hands. In few more seconds, Lungs was still on his knees.

"Your payback had bested you big head. I promise you. And you won't last long." Tom whispered while the blood oozes out of his nose. Tom chuckled.

Tom knew that Lungs was blighted. Sooner, he'll become a monster.

Tom turned his head on the gym and he saw the banner hanging up above the facade, "PUBLIC ARENA: ANNUAL TOURNAMENT DAY 1"

"Oh, I am here again." He said as he realized he shifted worlds once again.

"You will pay for this humiliation, Tom Dylan. Your existence here is powerful, far beyond than expected. Then you, you got me!" Psyche mumbled within herself while reddening her cheeks. She is riding her giant sphere. Ever since then, his handsome face cannot fade in her mind, and her insides seemed so tickled, like she wanted him touching her, and kiss her again. She can't deny she was seducted through her bones. She screamed when the thoughts bested her mind, "Ahhhhh."

Psyche then felt something sharp pricking on her back. She pulled it, and it was an arrow. Surprising enough, there was no pain at all. She didn't even notice when she had been struck. She studied the arrow. It was Tom's arrow, during his regalia form.

She looked at it then she kissed the body of it and pressed it against her cheek.

Then she realized what she was doing. She had been bitten by a love bug, she thought. She knew she should stop, and focus to her plan. After all, she orchestrated this mess.

....

"Tom. Tom. Tom. Tom. Tom." a voice Tom's ears caught chanting.

He was taken to the clinic for some treatment. Ridiculous enough, Lungs was not dismissed for the game because no one, other than his team saw what he did. Tom didn't want him to be lost in the game either so he didn't report it to anyone. After all, he wished to see his demise in the court. He imagined the rampage the big guy will do. He felt curious as to what will be a person be in this world when it turns to phantom in another world.

He just felt an arm has locked on his neck. He turned and saw Thor, standing behind him in the hospital clinic.

"Come on, now. We need to rest. Our fight against Tuberculosis High will start soon." Thor's gentle voice spoke out. Then he pulled Tom back inside the gym.

Tom smirked again. He knew he is back. Right now, he didn't know where he really was, on the shadow world or in the real world. Not that he cares for all his worries anymore. The rewriting of history, this is what this game is all about. Tom remembered what was documented in the books Grandpop Emberbright had given him. Chronos had kept a lot of secrets more than he could imagine. Maybe that is why he wanted to get it from Tom, but he didn't. Maybe Chronos is also planning something of use with Tom's actions. Tom thought these people could not be trusted, and that his problems aren't theirs to care and what's worse is they use people for their personal interest. He could use this information to play along with this mess.

Long time ago in Mount Olympus, the titans rule everyone. They are headed by Chronos. Chronos had children, and his heir is Zeus. One day, he planned to eat them, and a war between the Olympians happened. The army was led by Zeus, and the rest of his siblings. Zeus defeated the Titans by sealing them at the deepest part of their world to end their terror. Zeus discovered the secret of his father, Chronos, the core that holds the ultimate power of time. He planned to use it, but the core has a mind of its own, a mechanism to identify its master. And only Chronos could make the core work, unless someone bested him, and prove to hold the power. Zeus bargained to Chronos to prove himself when he knew he can't make his father disappear just like other the other titans. He showed himself at the top of Mount Olympus where every Olympian is watching.

"If you win, I'll present myself for you to feast on. On the contrary, you will surrender that core to me." Zeus said.

Chronos agreed to the terms. He said, "Very well, as you said be done."

Chronos stood and spread his arms in front of everyone. A bright ball of light appeared on his front. The ball floated and became a red crystal. The ball's surface cracked and the shards floated in the air.

"Every Olympian, heed to my word.You are holding a piece of my most powerful possession. It grants you the ability to perceive the action of others who also had this. You its power to win and deemed to be most powerful, worthy to possess the wholeness of this core."

Every Olympian gasped. Dread filled them. The pieces of shards floated through them, and it became rings.

"Use this power to best everyone. Fight every holder until you are the only one remaining, and build a new world of your own."

"What? What is the meaning of this? Do we need to kill?" People's voices yelled at the Mount Olympus.

"What is the meaning of this father?" Zeus baffled.

"It is your bidding, best me and you can make me disappear." Chronos chuckled in his serious tone.

Thus, the first future oracle game happened. But as expected, Zeus won. But it gashed his heart to its core. Everyone he bargained to be defeated by him did not reincarnate, and they ceased from existing. He never meant to hurt them. He pleaded them not to resist, and that he will grant them the rewards as their king, as soon as they reincarnated back. But they didn't. Hera, Zeus' wife even sacrificed herself for Zeus, only for him to win the core.

It was only the beginning of all the troubles. In that world, the only ones left were Zeus and his father Chronos.

Zeus later knew Chronos cannot stop existing as he himself is the clock, the foundation and boundary of the timelines in the void. So he kept him in the book, the relics of Chronos' existence. Whoever reads his name, there he shall appear. And he is bounded by the books, and destroying them sets him free again.

The Chronos core can alter the history by rewriting it and the actions of the people in that time changes the future. And during rewriting, the void creates another timeline, another world and puts all the characters there. The holder of the core can erase someone's existence or place them as another person. If the rewriting is successful, the timeline will remain, and the previous timeline will disappear as two similar worlds cannot exist. But one major thing resists rewriting, and those are the precious memories of the characters. Memories are the bond of the characters to their world, and if rewriting succeeds, the two worlds will collide and eventually collapse making everyone dies. In the world of mythical beings, the blight of the regalias when they remember is a defense mechanism of the world for the collision to world of their previous life not to happen. Because of the blighted regalia's damage as a phantom, they are naturally destroyed.

Because of his pain, Zeus used the power of the core, to rewrite the history, and another timeline was made for Mount Olympus. People were back, but they knew nothing about it. Zeus began telling to them that they were living before in the same world as him, but the tragedy occurred. Then, half of Mount Olympus got blighted because of it.

Zeus didn't know what to do and gathered his subjects, his children and the other remaining unblighted ones. He latter knew that it was his fault, that unbeknownst to him, people should never retain memories.

And that he came up with a plan, he do not want to believe. He set the second future oracle game. He wanted to reset the world, and correct this grievous mistake. And everyone had their piece of the core in them. And that gave an end Zeus did not want to expect.