After our night of rest, the others decided to stay in the forest as I went to the goddess alone. With so little time until my armor disappeared, I knew it was the best option. I still don't know why I had to give this goddess an enchanted bikini, and how Bill knew it would work. Either way, the hike to the crest was uneventful. No attacks, which either meant Loretta had actually taken out every monster on the mountain or the goddess of Mt. Korab was keeping them at bay.
I reached the crest at around midday, and was greeted by the sight of the goddess tanning herself on the top of her own mountain. Minus clothing, of course. The goddess simply laughed. "For a warrior, your face is quite red. Did you not know the fact mountain deities take after their mountains in appearance? As a mountain bare to the sun except for the base, I tend to be like this a lot."
The goddess stood up, and I quickly averted my eyes. I didn't need to deal with a streaking goddess after climbing up an mountain. "I can see you have a similar situation to Sternoculus. A matter of existence, you are a living paradox. I wish I could see him again, our times were joyful. Do you wish to take his sanctuary? Or do you.... What is that?"
Finally, she stopped talking because she noticed the gift. Bill either was the death of me, or may have saved my life. I gave her the gift. And she started laughing, her face resembled a marble bust's joyful expression. "Sternoculus, that lovable scoundrel is back. I will take your gift. And Sternoculus can take your group to his sanctuary, just tell him to come talk with me every now and then. I missed him."
With that, I returned to the Regiment. Bill already had everything packed, and the rest were drawing random graffiti on different monsters. At least, I assumed it was random. Then I got close and saw it was Latin inscriptions. I turned to Bill, knowing he had to be a part of it. Instead, Lucy piped up. "They're protective wards. Now monsters can't get in past a certain point. So, can we go up? Because I'm almost out of supplies, and you have less than two hours before the armor disappears." Turning to Bill, "And Bill, how far is this sanctuary? I hope it's easy to get to."
Bill pulled out a map from the bag. It should be around a kilometer up from our location, and maybe half that much forward. Only thing is, the entrance was sealed, currently, there's no way to open it. That's the word, though. Currently."
Omoro and the others finished their inscriptions and came over. With every eye on me, I knew I had to do something, but a rewind that far back could be fatal. "Bill, I'll do it, but have ambrosia, nector, and unicorn draught ready. This could end badly for me. Plus, the goddess wants to see you every now and then. We don't want to disappoint her, do we?"
Bill laughed. With that, we began the climb to the Sanctuary of Sternoculus in 105 degree heat. After reaching the bottom of a 19 yard cliff, Bill pointed at the sheer wall of rock. "Just like I said, impossible to get in at this time. Even with the goddess help, this wouldn't be easy. Lucius, you're the only one who can give us a chance." Loretta was smiling. This may have been my first time doing a rewind in front of the full Regiment. "Another reason to not mess up goes on the list," I thought. I summoned Interitus, and told everyone to stand back. This time I would have to rewind farther than ever before, and my armor could disappear at any moment.
Raising my blade, I yelled, "Rewind!" Slowly, the entrance went through the last century, from rockslides to storms, and slowly we saw people heading in and out. Each one commanding the earth itself and creating a tunnel. That's when I stopped. I didn't collapse, but I finally saw our way in. "Beverly, come over here. I just saw the way in. Bill, did you see it?" I couldn't tell if he really saw or not thanks to the distance, but calling Beverly could only mean one thing. I turned to Beverly as she walked forward, "I need you to open a path using your Underworld abilities, enough for a single person to walk through at a time."
Beverly was shaking as she walked up, but her eyes lit up when given the chance to prove herself. "Of course, and you might want to head back, just in case something goes wrong. We can't have our leader out of commission, can we?" she said with a wink. As I returned to the rest of our group, Lucy pulled Omoro and I aside.
"You guys have less than 10 minutes left to remove the armor, if this doesn't work I don't have any options." Omoro walked back to the Regiment with no response, but I decided Lucy needed to know the next in line of command in case something happened to Omoro and I.
"Lucy, if we don't make it. The command goes to you and Bill. If we do, don't mention this conversation." I walked back to the rest of the Regiment, and was surprised to see Omoro was already inside. That was until I heard her scream. Everyone got ready for combat, at least they did until one looked back at me. Then everyone started laughing. I didn't know what was up, but at that moment Omoro walked out. Apparently, our armor was out of time. And we were currently as nude as the goddess of the mountain. Among the ones laughing, Loretta and Jerry were having the best time.
"Okay, guys," I turned to Lucy with a smirk, "Lucy, did you know this would happen?" Maybe her and Bill planned this, but I had to be sure.
Still laughing, Lucy replied, "Of course, after all we've been through I thought a good laugh was needed. And I think this was called for after last night, Commander." The last word was said sarcastically, but I thought it was also a little flirty for the daughter of Vulcan. Bill finally calmed himself enough to tell us some comforting news. "The good news for you two is this sanctuary has some clothes stocked away. I just hope their not torn. And Lucius, how did you know to use an child of Pluto?" I realized no one else saw the effects of my rewind. And even worse, I realized we might be in bad shape after all.
"Bill, this place was ransacked by Underworld kids five times in the last century alone. Could anything be left?" I was shocked Korab's goddess hadn't protected this place for Bill. And when we walked in, the place was in pretty good shape for it's age, but not at all what we needed. There was only one plan to get everything back. "Everyone, go outside. Omoro, stay in the corner. I'm going to rewind again. If I knock out, Omoro will tell you. And Larry, stop with the looks at Omoro. It's not right or safe." Larry was sly, but after allowing him in that first day I could tell what he was doing.
Omoro covered herself, and everyone walked out. I raised Interitus, and looked at Omoro. "Why do you keep looking down? Is it that distracting?" I was joking around, and Omoro started blushing.
"No! I'm just... Agh, never mind." Clearly Omoro had some feelings, and this conversation wasn't going to end well if she did.
I changed the topic quickly, "Well, tell me when it looks like there's clothes. I'm not going back out there like this. And I hope you don't either." Not an order, but the closest I had come to one in a few weeks.
"Yes, Commander." With that, it took an hour of rewind before any clothes appeared, and another half hour before they were in good condition to wear. I knew the Regiment would say something about us alone and naked for an hour and a half, but, by the time I was putting on the robes, I didn't care. I simply finished dressing and called out, "Regiment! Roll Call!" and they filed in one by one.
"Welcome to the Sanctuary of Sternoculus, otherwise known as our fellow comrade, Bill Stern. Our home for the foreseeable future, so choose a room. I will take my rest, because the rewind drained me." Despite my voice being strong, I looked like I was ready to collapse.
Sadly, Larry wasn't done with me. "Oh, you sure it was just the rewind? Omoro seems the same way." He made a bad choice. Loretta, Lucy, and Beverly were running at him with daggers in no time. The only thing that saved him was a quick flash from Billy and Bill blocking the girls.
"You're a jerk," Loretta finally said. Knowing Larry, this had been some time in the making.
"Her powers drain her more than any of us, if you think our officers would degrade themselves and lie to us fight me!" Lucy was ready to defend Omoro at all times, but this was new. Almost like a bond was formed between all the girls.
"When you die, I'll make sure you go to The Fields of Punishment, especially since you have no boundaries or morals. In fact, Lucius, just kick him out." With that, all three girls looked at me. I knew this was a long time coming, but Larry was likely to get in more trouble leaving than staying.
I could only imagine one compromise. "Ok, Lucy, I'll take your idea. Instead of letting him go, I'll fight him. If I win, he leaves. If he wins, he stays. His resolve will be shown, and if he doesn't fight he leaves immediately." Bill didn't look happy, but pointed out the armory.
"If you need armor Lucius, it's in there. Larry is already ready from what it looks like." Then I remembered Larry had an ability we didn't see yet. Just like opening safes with his dagger, he could find armor chinks.
"How about I do it Greco-Roman style," I said taking off the robe, "since I challenged him. It only seems fair."
With that, Larry charged me. Interitus was in my hand already, and as our blades clashed he tried to kick me. I knew he fought dirty, and the kick connected at my shin. Despite the pain, I was able to continue fighting. With each clash, he would try another underhanded tactic. After the fourth clash, I realized I couldn't feel pain. In fact, I was glowing with a faint golden light. And as he came for a fifth clash, I released a shockwave that launched him to the nearby wall of rock. The rest of the Regiment looked fearful, and Loretta was terrified. Though, Harry went to check on Larry and confirmed he was ok. I told Bill to take Larry to the nearest safe location and leave him there. We didn't need insurgent members, and Larry was a wild card since day one. As I turned around to put on my robe, Loretta, Lucy, and Beverly were huddled in a corner trying to console Omoro.
"You okay, Omoro? Don't worry, he won't do it again. Get some rest," I tried to sound sympathetic, but Omoro wasn't feeling right. Instead, Lucy answered.
"You do know you just used a Titan battle ability, right? Mortals can't do that without repercussions. And leave her alone, because you just reminded her of her father. He did that to a soldier when she got the armor."
I went to my chosen room, looked at the ceiling and could only say one thing. "Olympus, why me? I did it for them, so why me?"