"Was that really Apollo, the god of many things?" Rexis asked Julius, who only nodded in reply. "And Boboston? Seriously, that's a sorry-ass title you have here, bro." He softly said to his friend as they made their way towards the outskirts of Olympia in search of a more quiet place.
"Long story. But yeah, tell Sayo that 'Julius' is my pseudonym here. Don't call me 'Kairo.' Again, it's a long and complicated story so let's just deal with it." Julius looked at his friend and he caught sight of the sportsbag he was carrying. "Hey, is that mine?"
"Well, whatever you say. And yes, this is yours. You might wanna change out of that pitiful outfit."
Julius grabbed the bag from him and looked at what's inside. He grinned upon finding his more comfortable gear and made a mental note to change once they find somewhere more suitable to do it. Soon enough, they found a comfortable place under the shade of an oak, hidden behind a huge rock, which gives them a little bit of privacy from other people who are roaming around their current location. He changed to his practice clothes and shoes. He also put on his track pants and left his jacket in the bag since it's too hot to wear it.
"This is better." He muttered to himself.
"Alright, let's talk here. Now we begin." Sayo said as she turned her head to the young boy who was standing beside her. Tobias nodded and propped himself in the grass. The rest settled themselves too around him.
After their brief introductions, Tobias cleared his throat and started. "The prophecy goes like this –
*
/Ye, young man, traveller from afar, who seeks the way of truth, must know
To conquer the quest of ages and alter their stories, you shall go
The way back your home is by leaps throughout time and spaces of old
Only then, will you end your conquest to revive a mad God from the past
Yes, ye, Son of Time, will be God who'll bring chaos to end the world at last/
/By graces, you will not be alone and many friends will come your way
One by one, slowly so, you will shape the world of 'this past' and 'your today'
Divine help too, will find thee, and change the course of your difficult display
But beware, for they will come follow – travellers from your age, you'll find
Listen, to them and weigh thy thoughts, at the end, one won't be your fiend/
/Soon enough, your powers shall awake – time and space, use wisely, once obtained
Destiny, you can not alter it, but a rare choice of thee will aid
By making that hardest and biggest sacrifice, this bad fate, you might break
Though I do, see, that these options will cause you much terrible, sad, ache
What will thee, Son of Time, do when it comes – that's something only ye can make/
*
He continued, "….for me, it's kinda straightforward. It's pretty obvious that Julius is the Son of Time who's being referred to here. And that isn't really a good thing, if my theory is correct – that he is somehow related to the God of Time, Cronus, and that this entire prophecy means that Julius will revive Him someday. At this point, I'd really appreciate it if you people can shed me some light. Who are you? Where did you come from? And why are you here?"
The three looked at each other, confused as well, and finally it was Julius who spoke on their behalf.
"I'll give you the overview. Tobias, don't freak out, but I want you to understand that Rexis, Sayo and I are from the very, very, very, extremely far future. Waaay before this era. Somehow, I time-travelled back here the moment I woke up after my father was buried. He died, but his death was mysterious –"
Sayo and Rexis, who never heard of the reason behind Alexandros Andreas' death, held their breaths in anticipation.
"He was robbed of his Greek Mythology book, which is a lot like this one." He brought out his custom-made copy of the book. "And the key to his basement was stolen too. I'm sure its connected. Now, I don't know what happened to my book but before I got here, this wasn't empty like this. It has actual text." He eyed everyone seriously now.
"Furthermore, I discovered a hidden message from my father. It says, 'Do not revive Father.' Is that related to Cronus? I don't know what the heck that means. The next thing I knew, I'm here. And I raced to Olympus and somehow met three of its Guardians. Then I got this freaky prophecy from Delphi. Let's start interpreting it now coz it's driving me crazy already." He said this with a deep frown on his face and with his hands massaging his aching head.
His two friends from the same era tried to take in his words and they had no trouble in their minds to accept them as facts. Tobias, on the other hand, handled the situation quite well too and thought deeply about it. Then he said:
"That's why the prophecy says you are a 'traveller from afar.' That makes sense. So when it also said 'your way back home is by leaps throughout time and spaces of old', it means you can go back to your time by travelling multiple times from this era forwards until it reaches yours. Right? This is a plausible theory, don't you agree?" Tobias looked at them, and then added, "How about you two? How did you get here?"
Sayo answered that. "I think we can agree on your theory, Tobias. Rexis and I got here because we were sucked by this book. I think, that it's a portal to the past."
"But why is it empty?" Rexis asked.
"That's when the prophecy applies. If we travel with Kai – I mean, Julius throughout the different ages before we get back to our timeline, the line 'to conquer the quest of ages and alter their stories' makes sense. Then we add 'you will shape the world of this past and your today' – it could only mean one thing right? The book's pages are blank because the stories didn't happen yet. We're here to rehash the stories from the Greek myths and we can somehow change it along the way." Sayo said this without a shadow of doubt in her face.
There was silence. Everyone seemed to agree with her thoughts. And then Tobias asked another question. "Are you telling me that you already have an idea of what significant events will happen from this era and the next ones?"
"Yes, although we can't guarantee our accuracy. Some myths were written in the books from where we came." Rexis responded to his question.
Suddenly, Julius butted in. "So how did I get here? I didn't get sucked by the book – I mean, portal."
"Should you really be asking that?" Tobias said bluntly. "You're the Son of Time, probably related to Cronus. The prophecy says you'll awaken your powers soon. 'Time and Space'. It means you time-travelled here on your own. Maybe subconsciously. And seriously, have you ever asked yourself how you were able to climb Olympus in less than a day? Without any big breaks in between and killing yourself in the process?"
Julius looked like he was smacked by a truck. Then Rexis followed, "Dude, you probably didn't realize that you were using your powers all along. That's freaky, but also pretty cool."
'I have powers.' Julius thought. 'Holy crap, I can bend the time-space continuum like the sci-fi reference in MCU.' Then he remembered what happened during the climb when he slipped from the rock. He looked at his hand and clenched it, as if feeling the power that was unknown to him until now.
Tobias said another thing. "What worries me is the prophecy that you'll destroy the world soon. Whether you like it or not, Julius, the God of Time is somehow connected to your destiny. Maybe that's the mystery behind your father's last words – to not allow that to happen. You even have powers related to that divinity."
"That makes you a double-edged sword, Julius." Sayo commented. "I also believe we'll encounter lots of trouble along the way, like the prophecy says. We should keep an eye on you and do everything we can to prevent you from doing something as foolish as reviving Cronus – I read before that he's really nasty. And you, destroying the world? Don't make me laugh." She fanned herself. "Not on my watch, loser."
Tobias tried not to laugh but failed. Julius shot him a look and he straightened up. "Erm – so far, that's what's been clear to us. For now, let's all just agree to these things and we'll get back to the rest of the prophecy later. And more importantly, do you – er, have any ideas where we should start with this adventure?" Somehow, the rest found his tone quite excited.
"I mean, that's a little obvious. See here…." Everyone looked at Rexis, who scratched the back of his neck from their abrupt reactions. He fetched the book from Julius and showed IT to the rest – the only text present from the volume. Tobias scowled, apparently unable to read in English. But the other two understood.
"Pandora." Julius muttered. 'I gotta get back to her.'
"So our first quest is to prevent the spread of plagues all over the world? I got a feeling we won't have a very easy journey, after all." Sayo said, clicking her tongue in the process.
"You said it. We don't even have the slightest idea on where to find her." Rexis seconded.
"Who's this Pandora?" Tobias was confused.
"She's here in Olympia." The former's question was ignored as Julius said this. The three looked at him. "I met her when I got here. Her house is the biggest one you can see. Let's hurry before she releases those things." He stood up from his seat and beckoned for the rest to come after him.
They did, and Rexis said, "Uh, Julius. Can Sayo and I separate with you guys for a bit? Tobias and you can handle Pandora, I believe, yeah?"
Sayo glared at him. She was about to fire back, but he continued. "We'll just – uh, claim some rewards. Hehe." Sayo's glare toned down as she began to understood what Rexis meant.
'Of course, we need some godly rewards if we pursue on this mission. Whatever it is.' She thought.
Julius was baffled by his friend's odd request, but decided to just let it go since preventing Pandora's blunder is probably so easy, right? "Okay. Let's just, meet in the city-state's center. You know, the place from earlier."
"Roger that." His friend gave him a snappy salute.
"Right. As Sayo said, now we begin." For some reason, he grinned despite it all.
And the four of them separated in pairs. Tobias and Julius went after Pandora, while Rexis and Sayo went after their rewards.