'I want to break free.'
Eros is 100% sure that he's trapped inside the illusion of his mother right now. How? Because where he is is too good to be true – inside his house, with Psyche who is pregnant with their first child. He would be the happiest deity if ever this is real, but he can vaguely recall being put under a spell by his mother prior to having this beautiful nightmare. No matter how good this dream is, he wants to be free from it. His Psyche is somewhere else, probably suffering from the different kind of torture only his mother can manipulate.
"Hun, what would you like to name our baby when I give birth? If it's a boy? Or if it's a girl?" Psyche asked.
Oh, if this is true, he will reply enthusiastically, but he knows better. "Please, let me go."
"Go?" She looked hurt. "Go where?"
"Back to you." He replied lovingly. The Psyche inside his dream clutched her chest, her heart.
"You've been here for a while now, but it seems that I really can't fool you." Her smile looked pained, and finally she said, "I hope you'll be happy."
"I'm only happy when I'm with her." His vision began to blur, before it slowly disappeared. "Thank you."
--
Olympus
*
The Goddess of Love and Beauty coughed out the nectar that she previously sipped because of a loud voice from Olympus that called her name.
"APHRODITE!" She is being summoned by the chief Olympian. Before she can straighten her gown and wipe her mouth, she felt being pulled out from her chamber straight into the throne room of Olympus, where Zeus and Hera met her confused eyes.
"Why did you –"
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Zeus' voice rang inside her ear.
"What is the meaning of what?" She replied, equally perplexed.
"Your son is here. Eros, confront your mother." Hera's stern gaze met hers, and Aphrodite knows that her plans probably fired backwards. Eros is here – he freed himself after days of confinement from her curse.
"Mother, please, tell me, where is she?" Eros pleaded, but she won't easily give in.
Aphrodite tried to feign ignorance on the matter, she's about to say 'No', but Hera gave her the worst glare, and Zeus looked like he's about to fry anyone who wants to make the matters around the throne room worse.
Hera: "I know what you've been doing to that mortal, and enough is enough, Aphrodite. I thought you were just randomly picking on someone, but now I know better. Stop now. You have been warned."
Aphrodite weighed her options. Is it okay to earn the ire of the other Olympians and continue the girl's suffering? Is she really worth it? Her mind's response was instantaneous – NO. She doesn't want to end this, but it seems that there's no other way around. Eros will hate her if she continues to be hard on Psyche. And the Gods will abhor her for her meaningless pride. If she chooses to continue making Psyche's life hard, it will only bore her and bring her into more ruin. The wiser choice is obvious.
She raised her hands half-heartedly. "Fine, fine. If she comes back from where she is, I'll stop, and let you live in peace. Happy?"
But Eros pressed on, "Then where is she?"
"She's in the Underworld, off to get my beauty cream from Persephone. She ought to be back about now."
Eros moved faster than the wind and flew out from the throne room of Olympus. He's off to the Realm of Hades, and he swore to never forgive his mother if ever Psyche is seriously harmed.
--
Charon Port, Underworld
*
"That's her right? That's – Rexis, HURRY!!" Sayo sprinted from her current position upon realizing that whom she saw is indeed Psyche, and the poor girl is in a deep, unmoving torpor.
When she arrived by Psyche's side, she hurriedly checked her pulse, which is so weak it's almost not there. Psyche was holding the opened box, with not much of Stygian Essence left inside.
'Curse this damned thing!' She quickly closed the lid of the box, and turned to Rexis, who looked lost as to what he should be doing.
"Uhm – CPR?" He suggested.
'Idiot.' Though he was actually making sense. Sayo was about to do just that, when she heard flapping of wings not far from where she is. 'Huh?'
She looked up, and Eros was there, looking worried sick over Psyche's limp and unmoving form. "Psyche!"
He landed shakily on the ground and wrapped the woman in an embrace, "Oh love, what happened to you?"
"I think she inhaled whatever phony thing it is that Persephone put inside this box – whatever it is." Sayo informed the god, who looked almost crying from pain upon realizing that Psyche can die any minute now.
Sensing that his idea might work, Eros grabbed the box from Sayo and kissed Psyche. Well, he isn't actually kissing Psyche, more like, he was drawing out the Stygian Essence from her Sleep, and put it back inside the box. He repeated this several times, and during the last attempt, Eros no longer felt that he was absorbing anything from Psyche. She's still not waking up!
'But I already took everything out!' Now he's panicking, not sure of what else to do to make her wake up.
"Hey, hey girl, wake up, you're supposed to wake up by now, hey, hey." Sayo began shaking Psyche, lightly slapping her arms.
"What are you doing, you're hurting her!" Rexis tried to stop her from what she's doing, but she continued.
"I'm triggering her pain receptors, maybe if she'll feel anything she'll be up!" She hissed at him.
'That's it!' Then Eros got one of his arrows from his sheath, and pricked it in Psyche's fingertips. A small trail of blood came out from it, and that was when Psyche began to stir.
Slowly, slowly, her eyes began to open, much to their relief.
"My…. my king?" She groggily said, and the next thing she knew, Eros was hugging her like there's no tomorrow. She began to sob from the warmth she's feeling. "It's you. You found me."
"Yes, my love. I found you."
"Congratulations and all, but we really gotta –"
Rexis cut off Sayo's insensitive timing then whispered to her, "Give them time….just a little."
After a few more moments of their little reunion, Sayo audibly cleared her throat and Eros and Psyche now turned their attention to them. Finally, the god spoke. "Right, time to get back to the surface. But er – I can only carry one. My chariot can't come over here. I trust you still have something to bribe for Charon?"
Sayo looked at Rexis, who flashed a fist-sized ruby at her face. "Ticket to home."
"Home, huh? We're far, far, away from home."
"I'll be waiting for you outside, please come see me. Thank you very much for your help, mortals. Meet us at the Citadel of Corinth." Eros said, before flying away from them.
Rexis: "The gods sure are an ungrateful bunch."
Sayo: "All of them are spineless cowards. Their stories teach us that. They always leave everything behind to their heroes. And we're damned that we're here in the time when they're reigning supreme."
Rexis: "So we'll be meeting them in the Citadel?"
Sayo: "Gods, I wish never to see them again! But that place sure do sounds like the place where good ol' Julius and Tobias will go. Now where the f is that boatman?"
Charon appeared not moments later, and the two ferried their way out of the Underworld, with the rock they retrieved from aiding Sisyphus, and the goal of finding their friends waiting for them at the Citadel of Corinth.
--
Corinth
*
It's been two weeks since Julius and Tobias escaped from the Mythos. During that time, the two of them agreed on how they interpreted the unclear version of the Prophecy of Dodona given to them by the blonde man who appeared to be the leader of that group.
As they pieced two and two together, everything from the death of his father became clearer.
Alexandros is the reincarnation of Cronus, who doesn't wish for the titan to take over his body, more so the world. By travelling in time, he got the crucial piece of rock that was supposed to facilitate the complete rebirth of the God of Time. But he failed to destroy it. To prevent the other Mythos from reviving Cronus, Alexandros travelled again in Time, to scatter the broken pieces of the Baetylus. Whoever completes the pieces can put them in check. Julius will play the biggest part on the rest of the prophecy. For some reason, according to the Dodona, he has to be there when Cronus will revive.
Therefor they are stuck in a quest against Time, for the sake of Time itself.
These past two weeks, they wandered around the city in search for their friends, hoping that they somehow synced into coming here whenever they had their fill of wherever they are. He worried about what happened with Psyche, but he worried more about his friends.
They have to band together again, or else, they might be stuck to live in the era where they currently are. They were unlucky in their search, however, these past couple of weeks had not been in vain because they stumbled upon an opportunity with a man.
His name was Ocytus – the commander of the Corinthian army. When they arrived in Crete, the king issued an order to train young men into battle for joining the army. There might be a war soon, against whoever it is who abducted their princess – be it a monster, another city, or a God.
Of course, the two, who were almost whipped by their enemies last time took some interest into doing some military training, to make themselves stronger, and to make themselves more useful in combat. Julius hates to admit it, but he still needs to improve. His believes his win before with Cadmus was just a fluke, and if it weren't for a lucky break again last time, the Mythos would've gotten him preserved for future use.
So they signed up for the army training, and in the last couple of weeks, they drove their bodies to their limits, training and all – for the sake of their goddamn quest. They learned tricks and combat moves from the commander, and Julius can feel it – this training is gonna bear fruit.
They were at the peak of their exhaustion, in the middle of a one on one against each other (Julius struggled to keep himself from using his powers throughout the match) when a lone soldier's voice announced to everyone in the training grounds: "THE PRINCESS HAS RETURNED!! TO THE CITADEL, NOW!!"
'Psyche is back!' Julius and Tobias looked at each other, and agreed to blend in to the crowd who went to the Citadel. And there, by the platform, were four figures, and Julius can easily name who they are. One of them seems to be making an announcement. Even the King of Corinth was there to listen.
Eros: "I am Eros, the God of Love. Your princess and I will marry at Olympus, and she, will be granted immortality by the gods. I owe my thanks to these two mortals, who showed bravery amidst the trials that they faced together. King of Corinth, I am humbly asking for your daughter's hand in marriage. Will you grant my request to make your daughter mine forever?"
King of Corinth: *nods tearfully*
Eros: "Then we shall ascend to Olympus. Farewell, everyone!"
With a flash of light, Eros and Psyche disappeared, and only two figures remained on the platform.
Julius and Tobias waved their hands frantically to get their attention, then yelled, "OI, WE'RE HERE!!"
It was Rexis who spotted them. He poked Sayo and pointed to their friends' figures among the mob gathered in the Citadel. "About time you two show up."
When the ruckus was over, Julius and Tobias ditched their military gears and ran to the back of the Citadel, where Rexis and Sayo were waiting. "Dude!"
Rexis: "Dude! What have you been through?!"
Julius: "I should ask the same, but before we make small talk, let's escape this era. The commander might see us."
Rexis: "Commander?"
Julius: "Long story."
Julius then got the book from his inventory, and confirmed the slight changes that were made in the love story of Eros and Psyche. The two got married in Olympus, and had a daughter named Hedone, who became the Goddess of Pleasure. Psyche was also elevated to the status of a god, and she was named the Goddess of the Human Soul, to represent her resilience from all the struggle she's been through. In the end, their love conquered all.
The book was glowing to another page, and the code inside was the easiest thing that Julius ever deciphered from his father's little game.
"Oh, dot-dot-dash." He instantly got the message.
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