Left alone Raymond sat down on the floor crossing his legs and closed his eyes. He focused again trying to make a connection between yesterday with today's triggers. Yesterday he zapped that Minotaur by reaching within himself.
He easily got the feeling back, it was much easier and quicker than yesterday, but what he didn't expect is to feel empty. Ray guessed Charles was right, he couldn't generate lightning, but he also said there was another way of using lightning. If only he knew how to control the weather. Ray tried again, this time on something else, glancing at the space in front of him, he reached out with his senses and was surprised when he felt his conscious extend away from his body. Pulling back, his conscious returned to his body. The feeling was…strange.
He took a deep breath to calm his nerves and tried again, something different this time. The air began to rush past his face gently. Opening his eyes, Ray smiled and added more will into it. The wind picked up more speed, and soon he began having trouble seeing ahead properly. His face muscles started twisting and felt strained by the rushing air until he cut the connection and everything quickly settled down.
Well, at least he had the wind at his command, concentrating on his minor bruises he quickly healed them and got on his feet. He needed someone to teach him about magic. He just had to know who to ask. Fortunately, he had a few people he needed to have a chat with.
Exiting the docks, he got into cab and went straight to his apartment. Charles was already there with Jane (his girlfriend), and for some reason he couldn't resist but asked.
"Is she?"
"A Nymph, yeah and she also knows about you. But don't worry she's sworn to secrecy."
"It's good for you to join as one of us now Raymond. It's been hard behaving like normal humans." She smiled at him.
"This all feels so weird" Raymond unconsciously scratched his head.
"Nah! You'll get used to it." Charles grinned.
"Anyway, I'm heading for the showers. I'll be going back home and will probably be back later tonight."
"Mind telling me what's up?"
"Nothing serious, just going to recite a few Hail Mary's."
"Sorry to break it to you but…"
"No! No! Stop. I don't want to know." Raymond quickly interrupted with fingers securely plucked into his ears.
"Suit yourself." Raymond just shrugged. Fifteen minutes later he was out of the door and in a cab heading for the subway.
***
Standing at the entrance brought back nostalgia. The establishment was under the Catholic Banner. It was by all means your standard Christian Parish. Walking in through the large gates, he entered the familiar front yard, where there was a large circular waterfront with a fountain made of a statue depicting a young Mary holding baby Jesus.
The main building was centrally placed and other four buildings patterned in a cross model. The primary structure being the longest, housed the church and other administrative buildings. Two sisters exited the church and headed for the next building that he just went past. It was one of the three homes.
This one was for boys like him. Then you went to the ones belonging to the nuns before reaching the girl's building. The fourth building was the school, and it was the biggest of the five structures, consisting of elementary, junior and high school. All the buildings were connected by spacious tiled footpaths that could fit two saloon cars stationed side by side while the rest of the area was covered in grass and a few trees.
Raymond followed one of the paths leading to the school buildings. Inside, he went straight to his favorite teacher. She was like his mother to him, and until recently, he never had any interest in knowing his family roots. But he wasn't sure if he was ready for that yet. He had this terrible feeling that something really bad happened and he was really lucky to be alive.
Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure why he was back here. Maybe it was a feeling of being lost and no sense of purpose. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that all his human ambitions were now moot. The idea of family and a well-paying job sounded far-fetched.
Education for him will at best only be for knowledge, and as it happens now, he had an eternity to learn. Sighing, he knocked before pausing for a few seconds and entered.
"Raymond!" Her face lit up.
Now that he knew about the supernatural, it clicked in at how much his mother hasn't aged. "Come in. Have a seat." She rose and fetched him a glass of orange juice from her fridge before she seated on the seat facing him.
"You look troubled, Remy."
"I know, mom. I know what I am." He paused and let it sink in. "What I don't know, however, is who I am. Am I Raymond or Zeus? Who are my parents, what happened to them?"
"Well, it lasted while it lasted," She smiled. "Where do I start?"
"From the beginning. I want to know everything that you know."
"As you may know this isn't really a Christian establishment. It's religious yes, but we assumed Christianity as a front because it's the most popular religion that most humans believe and relate to." She paused and leaned back into her seat, her expression was one in deep thought.
"In truth, this place is a shrine for Athena. And the majority of the nuns you see are nymphs, while some are humans, most of them are aware of what is going on and only a selected few who are new that are yet to be indoctrinated."
"Then why was I kept in the dark all my life?"
"I'm sorry I did that to you, but it was Athena's orders." She paused before leaning forward to palm Ray's cheek. "No one knows much about your parents except for Athena. You were brought to us as a toddler, and I took primary charge of your care."
Raymond was starting to get annoyed from the lack of answers. He'd hoped to get all the answers but only ended up with more questions.
"As for who you are, you're Raymond. Zeus no longer exists. I may not have all the answers you seek but this I know. I hope you spend the rest of the day. I want to hear how you've been for the past two weeks.
"Right now, I have a rehearsal to teach. Tomorrow is Sunday after all." Sister Martha rose from her seat and picked a few books before she left Raymond in her office. Raymond spent the next five minutes staring at a picture of a younger version of himself and Sister Martha before leaving for the church.
The church wasn't completely empty and had five occupants, three of them appeared to be in prayers while the remaining two just stared off into space. He slowly walked to the front row before kneeling down and glanced up at Yahweh's son. He too was still the same. A four feet tall gold statue hanged on the cross with a crown of thorns wrapped around its head.
"I'm not sure what I'm doing here, but I thought it was the time we had a heart to heart."
"I'm sure he'd love to hear what you have to say." A familiar voice joined him. It was Father Newman, the parish's priest.
"Hi, son."
"Hi, Father."
"I see you broke the record. The last guy took about a month before he came back here."
"Yeah! I bet the other guy didn't have the same problems that I do."
"What's troubling you son?" The middle-aged priest sat next to Raymond's kneeling form. "What can I say, I'm having a crisis of faith."
"What happened?"
"Just about a couple days ago I was a normal high school graduate, with dreams like everybody else. Then my world was turned upside down."
"I guessing it has to do with you finding out about your destiny?"
Raymond nodded; at this point he wasn't surprised by anyone knowing more about him than he did.
"And now I feel like I've been made a fool of, my entire life."
"Want my advice son. Life is complicated. You might not see it that way right now, but as you grow older and gain more experience, you'll realize how narrow-minded you tend to be when you are young. I know I did."
"So, what, I should just stop asking why?"
"No. But you could start by appreciating the fact that you exist uniquely among a world of several billion souls." Ray nodded before sighing.
"I also wanted to learn a little magic. I know it sounds silly, but I have no one to teach me. I was hoping I could get help here."
"Have you tried having friends?"
"Yeah, I'm working on it."
"I can give you some recommendations though. If you want to learn about magic, then you should get a nymph to teach you. They are less proud of sharing their skills than the gods, and it will help you maintain a low profile.
"Regarding combat, you could get a Centaur or a Satyr, although if you want to improve into the major leagues, you'll have to train with the gods. You'll find the power gap to quite big, and it gets even bigger when you get to the greater gods." Father Newman explained.
"Thanks father."
"You hang in there. Now let me find another lost soul that needs my help," Newman said before he headed straight for the next person seated five rows away from Ray.
It was a full hour before Raymond left the church and went over to the field, where there was soccer practice and other sports. He caught the attention and greetings from a few schoolers who recognized him as he found a position on the bleachers and sat there to watch.
Evenings at the Nunnery were always filled with activities, and his favorite was soccer. He was one of the school's first eleven fullback, and he loved it. They were the dominant champions in the region and during their last tournament, they went all the way to the State finals and only lost in the penalties.
While musing over his glory days, an idea came to mind. He wanted to experiment with his abilities more.