Aphrodite decided that she's in need of a beauty nap. What she said before wasn't exactly a lie. Psyche has been stressing her out lately, and it's not good for her daily beauty mantra. Her own son can't even get himself out of her spell, that's how dominant her power is. As for the other guy…. 'Well, what else do you expect from just a mere mortal?' She thought.
Finally, she got up from her made-up self-claimed room in the House of Eros, and summoned her dove-drawn chariot to take her back to her chamber in Olympus, where all of her beauty products are.
She imagined herself enjoying a luxurious bath, with some of her servants giving her her much needed full-body massage. Moreover, she need not worry about the task she gave at the hussy and her friend, for surely, they won't be able to accomplish it, or if they do, then their curiosity will just make them regret their decisions.
Notwithstanding her current problems with her own son, she couldn't care less about what happens to the other guy around. After all, no one can easily escape from the dreams she bestowed upon them.
*
Rexis' Dreamworld
--
Rexis found himself back in front of their house at Boston. Yes – this is their house, he's sure of it. The potted plants are exactly how they looked when he left. And the azaleas that his mother grows are the same as they were before. He's back! He's back in Boston, baby!
He knocked the door, hoping to get a response from his sister, or anyone from their house. And they didn't disappoint, for it was his sister, Kelly, who opened up the door for him.
"Mom! Rexis is back!" She cried out after seeing him. He heard someone else scurry over the entrance, and voila, his mother was there with little tears streaming down her face.
"Rexis, where have you been?!" She then enveloped him in a tight hug. "It's been so long since I last saw you! Mom misses you so much!"
He's really back, right? This all feels too real – the setting, the smell, the faces, this doesn't look like a trick at all. "Hey, mom, yeah, I'm here."
"You naughty boy! You should've informed me that you'll need to go somewhere! Don't you know that you had us all worried?! Your father even had to take some days off from work just to go looking for you!"
Yep, this definitely sounds like what his mom and dad will do. "I'm sorry about that."
"Come in, take a shower, you look so filthy! Fill me in later on where you've been. Kairo has been calling about you non-stop."
Now that caught his attention. "Kairo?"
"Yes, he's been looking for you too. Your teammates are all looking for you, you better call them after you take a bath, you stinky young man!"
'This is strange. Is this the real life? Or is this just fantasy? I'm pretty sure I was just with that loser before in….in where, exactly? Heck, memory gap? Me? At this young age? Where was I? Before I went back here?'
Something seems to be messing with his memories. It feels like he just woke up from a very long slumber. Yet he feels that he's not fully awakened from it. Somehow, he feels like he's trapped….somewhere….somewhere….like in a dream.
Back in his room, he took a nice, cold shower to shake off this lingering feeling of being 'weird.' It's rather peculiar to be disturbed like this. After fending for himself, he looked for his phone to check its recent calls. Kairo Andreas and Sayo Sasaki left him lots of missed calls. He called his teammate just to test out something.
After two rings, someone picked it up. "Yo?"
"It's me." He said.
"DUDE, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? YOU'RE NOT PICKING UP AND YOUR MOTHER IS WORRIED SICK ABOUT YOU!" It was indeed Kairo's voice who answered him.
"This is strange, but I thought that we went somewhere together. Is it me, or I'm crazy?"
"The latter. It's crazy to be absent for two weeks! Coach is mad, we have a tournament beginning next week! Heck, let's not talk about this over the phone, come over in tomorrow's practice."
"Roger that." After that short phone call, Rexis dropped to his bed, feeling drowsy all of a sudden. 'If I'm dreaming, perhaps I just need to sleep and wake up again.'
The next morning, Rexis attended his classes, and after breezing through those hours in the classroom, he went to the gym for their afternoon practice. There, he came face to face with his friend, who grinned his annoying grin at him.
"LOOK WHO'S BACK!" Kairo greeted him by throwing a volleyball at his face. He easily caught it though.
After some ridiculous scolding he got from their coach, Rexis proceeded to the practice as usual. When the ball was served from the other side of the court, their libero got it up and sent the perfect A-Pass to him to execute their next offense. Since the current match-up is a three-on-three, he next one who should get the ball was the remaining player in the wings – and that would be Kairo right now.
"Open!" Rexis said as he tossed the ball a little high and closer to the antenna – Kairo's favorite angle. The spiker slammed the ball home and the sound of the ball hitting the floor echoed throughout the gymnasium.
"Rexis, Nice toss!"
"Nice kill, Julius!" He said.
Wait a minute. He said 'Julius.' Why is he calling Kairo using his second name? Moreover, he got a feeling of de ja vu – like this already happened before. Just recently.
"Lol, dude, you callin' me Julius now?" Kairo tried to make fun of him.
"Did we, by any chance? Play somewhere else together?"
But Kairo only gave him a baffled look, "Rexis, are you okay? Last time we played, that was two weeks ago before you suddenly disappeared.'
'Disappeared….. I suddenly just…disappeared?' His thinking was cut short when the voices of the cheerleaders of their school started their chant for the point that was scored in the practice.
"SPRINGDALE HIGH! AIM SO HIGH! GO, GO, GO, GO SPRINGDALE HIGH!"
Of course, their pretty cheerleaders caught his attention, most especially their cheer captain, the gorgeous Venus Avery, whom he simps for. 'Venus Avery…..ahh, I'm definitely home.'
Rexis smiled, and then it suddenly hit him. Venus Avery.... Venus….. Venus….. a name synonymous to Beauty…..
'Oi, oi what the hell is happening?' Out of the blue, an influx of images surged through his mind.
He was in Sayo's house, then they came to visit Kairo's house, then a glowing book…..that book sucking them in….and they landed somewhere, where a smith and a scary lady saw them hiding…..and then he was set ablaze, but he didn't die….then….then…. the Underworld….
He remembered now…. holy shit how can he forget it?! He's right, this isn't real! This is some kind of trick! He's currently in Ancient Greece, out for a quest with Julius and Sayo…. And this illusion, this dream….this is from Venus herself…. no, not Venus…. but her Greek counterpart….. friggin' Aphrodite…..
'Wake up, wake up! Snap out of this, you lame ass! WAKE UP!'
His whole body became hot as his eyes fluttered open, and he felt conscious about himself now and pulled himself up. He looked at the tattoos on his wrists – they were glowing red-orange. He tried to create fire, and sure he did it fine, no problem. Meaning, he can freely control his movements. He wasn't anymore under Aphrodite's spell.
YES! HE DID IT! HE GOT OUT FROM THAT STUPID DREAM!
"Now, where the hell did Sayo go?"
Right, he has an idea. Knowing their manager, she must be off to do her tasks now. In Hell.
*****
Author's Notes
(Just in case you don't read anything that isn't exactly in the chapter. Although I said this before in the last chapter, I'll say it again here.)
This arc is about to come to a close, and I'm sure you think it dragged on, but this actually paves the way for the next arc, as we are about to enter into a new era - a new volume - The Age of Heroes.
You can just imagine the sheer length of the next era, so it has to be established properly, since the myths there will be *spoiler alert* rehashed bigtime, unlike these early ones. Lots of heroes out there, and wars. The bigger plot will be revealed soon prior to this, so I hope you will stay tuned in for the updates.
Speaking of a new volume, I'll go premium around that time too. That's about 4 - 5 chapters from now. I hope you understand (this author needs welp)
Once again, thank you very much for reading! Please continue your support through voting, sharing, recommending, commenting, reviewing, and adding this book to your library :)
If you're a fan of volleyball, you can check out my fic too about that sport - it's called Center Ace!
****
EDIT:
I'm sorry, this chapter has been erroneously locked by an editor. I'm not yet supposed to go premium but this happened and it can't be undone. I hope you understand. It's a glitch, and I sincerely apologize if you guys thought the locks will start on a later date.