Ethan had been waiting for this moment since yesterday. He was finally about to get some answers. Infact, he had written down a series of Questions the previous night just for this moment. Ethan opened his bag and fished out the jotter he had written his questions in. Hermes cocked a brow as he saw the jotter but said nothing. Ethan checked his first question and nodded. It was a good question to open the floor. "Tell me Hermes. Just what exactly are you?" Ethan asked his first question.
Hermes rubbed his palms together as he prepared his answer. "I am a protector. Or more accurately,one of the protectors.", Hermes answered simply. Ethan frowned. "Just what is a protector?, What do you protect?", Ethan countered. "A protector is what you humans call a god. And a protector's sole duty is to protect the human or mortal realm from enemies." Hermes said. "A god?...you mean like God almighty?, The father of Jesus?", Ethan asked with no small confusion. Just what was this guy talking about?, He was inclined to call him mad but he had seen his wings for himself the previous night. But a god?
Hermes sighed as he heard what Ethan had called him. "No..I am not the lord God in that book you mortals read. And Zeus has no son by the name of Jesus,even though I wonder from time to time if that particular religion didn't garner the concept of their God and his son from we protectors. But you can be certain that we are different." Hermes explained. "So what do you mean by you're a god.?", Ethan questioned again. "Correction. I didn't say I was a god. Whatever that is. I just said,you're kind calls us that.", Hermes corrected. "Okay...how many of these protector's are there?" Ethan continued. "There used to be many. Thousands. But the eldest and strongest who were 12 in number, including myself were the leaders. Currently though, I have reason to believe I'm the only one of the protector's left.", Hermes said lowly.
Ethan observed that Hermes seemed incredibly saddened as he answered this question. Those protectors must have meant a lot to him. Ethan reasoned. But something was nagging him. He just had to ask to free his brain. "Do you mean they are dead?...all of them?", Ethan asked incredulously. Hermes just nodded his head in confirmation. "How?, Aren't god's supposed to be immortal? Isn't that one characteristic of a god?", Ethan asked again. "And here I thought you knew about godhood", Hermes grinned at Ethan. Ethan just shrugged as he answered."I only know the basics like immortality. Unique powers etc but don't know any individual god's. I guess I'll have to research some more on gods after today." "You should do that.", Hermes adviced. "to answer your question; yes, we protectors are immortal. We can't die. Not even if we wanted to. The other's death occurred due to some special circumstances.", Hermes informed Ethan.
"Special circumstances like what?", Ethan asked. "Well, I guess you need to know everything if you're going to keep our powers and fight our brother." Hermes sighed as he said this. "Your brother? Ethan asked in even more confusion. "Yes...our brother. He is the reason why everyone is dead in our realm. His main target though is Earth. Ten thousand years ago, driven by greed and jealousy,he waged war on the mortal realm. His aim then was to conquer the mortal realm,create a demonic army from its inhabitants and then overthrow the gods. We caught on to his plan. A long and bloody war ensued for over a century which weakened both sides greatly. To put a long story short, we stopped our evil brother and locked him away in a hot and barren realm..", Ethan listened to Hermes's story with wide eyes.
Hermes told him about what punishment they had given Hades. What they had done to his top members. How the protectors had lost all their forces after the war. Hermes also told him about how humans had stopped worshipping the protector's as they grew and advanced. The protectors decision to no longer interfere with mortal affairs. How they had been weakened after the humans forgot about them. His decision to live among mortals when the god's moved permanently into their home realm. How they had learnt about their escaped brother,and finally his attack on the others and how he had managed to permanently kill them. When he finished, Hermes was almost on the verge of tears.
"So this brother of yours killed his own family?", Ethan asked. Hermes just nodded. "And now he's coming for Earth?", Ethan asked. Again, Hermes just nodded. "And who have you told apart from me?", Ethan continued his questioning. "No one. You are the only person who knows. Well,and my assistant. No one will believe me if I told them.", Hermes replied. "And from what you've just told me,this Brother of yours is crazy powerful. So the question is, just how am I supposed to fight someone like him. Someone with thousands of years in battle experience with unimaginable power, surrounded by an elite squad of supernaturals. Just how?" Ethan asked with slight anger. He was beginning to regret making that promise now. Why didn't Hermes tell him all of this beforehand?, He felt like he had promised someone he would hang himself or willingly offer himself as target practice for soldiers with rocket launchers.
"I know it sounds impossible now, Ethan. But that is why I intend to train you to the best of my capabilities. Don't forget that you will have the power of twelve elder gods at once. That is even more power than Hades has or could have in a billion years. All I ask is that you let me train you everyday after school. Starting from tomorrow." Hermes informed Ethan. "You mean during my detention time?", Ethan asked. "Yes..and no. Yes because I'll train you whiles you're doing detention. And no because your training will go beyond your detention time, deep into the night.", "What?..that won't be possible. I have to go to work on weekdays and sometimes even on weekends. I close at ten in the evening. We can only train on weekends at best." Ethan told the protector. "Maybe you didn't hear me the first time Ethan, this is important. The dark forces are already in this town. I don't know how much time we have until they act. This may be our only chance to train before the full scale war breaks out.", Hermes said hotly. "And me and my mother need to eat before we starve to death. I need that money to survive!", Ethan answered back hotly.
"Alright..how much are you paid for working?", Hermes decided to take the liberal approach. Ethan looked at him inquiringly. Was he going to pay him so that he didn't work anymore?, "750 UWC every month", Ethan answered. "Fine, I'll give you 1000 UWC if you stop your work and meet me at my house everyday after school for training.", Hermes offered. Ethan's eyes widened In surprise. That much just because he wanted Ethan to quit his job?, Things must be much serious than he's letting on. And by jove, of course I'll accept. I need the money. Ethan thought.
"Ok..okay. I'll quit my Job. But what about my daily tip?, It's what I use for school the next day after work.", Ethan asked. "I'll give you 100 UWC everyday after training. Hope that would be enough for you?" Hermes asked the now open mouthed boy who just nodded. "Don't look so surprised. This is very important to me and the money means nothing to me. It is getting late. I want you to go to your workplace today and resign after you close, okay?", Hermes asked. Ethan could only nodd as he was still calculating all the money he will make at the end of the month. "Good,I'll training starts tomorrow. Please remember,it's at my house and not here in school. You're free to leave Ethan.", Hermes dismissed him. Ethan stood up with his jotter in his hand and walked out of Mr.Andrews' classroom. He was still surprised but happy. He and his mother would never go hungry again. He beamed as he thought this. Too bad he will be leaving Ellie at the restaurant but thank God they attended the same school. Today had turned out better than he could have ever hoped for.