By now it was safe to say Droy's mind was turned to mush, frozen and melted over and over again as he tried to process all the information.First he finds out his father who had been MIA his whole life is a god ,on top of this he is supposed to be a...a demigod,someone supposed to be strong than a regular human and have some godly power.
On top of this ,Ares had chosen this moment to give Droy a spoiler of his life,as if he was eager to tell a movie they had been watching up there on Olympus with his buddies.
All of this information made his mind go airplane mode.Droy didn't want to believe any of it, honestly.But what reason did his mother have to play such a cruel joke on him.He knew her and she could never keep a straight face when attempting a prank,she was terrible at those kind of things.This was the final nail in the coffin as he looked at her defeated visage and posture.
He couldn't deny that he could see some resemblance to Ares too.The chiseled face with defined cheekbones and chiselled jawline,the square chin,the straight black eyebrows above the deepset black eyes with a constant glare that at a glance made them look like twin gaping abyss.Except Droy's had no flames in them.
Finally plucking up the courage to look into those merciless flaming twin spheres he could only utter one word afraid that his brave appearance and calm would crumble like a sand castle if he attempted to form a full sentence.
"What..?"
"Well...",Ares started "...when you die your soul will find its way to the plane of gods, then to Hades ,and finally by the banks of river Styx.There you will meet old man Charon, really nice guy,looks and dresses like this guy..."he put his hand on his chin ,thoughtfully, then snapped his fingers as if he remembered something,"...the grim reaper"he said proudly,he wasn't exactly known for his memory on Olympus.
Anna had had enough of this .She knew Ares wasn't the best at sensitive matters such as death,after all, he was immortal and he didn't have to worry about his life abruptly coming to an end.Gods never understood why mortals struggled so much to live one day just to die another day.She had tried to show him how humans saw it but he was never convinced.The gods saw death as a chance to free the soul from the body and get a chance to live eternally in the realm of gods WITH the gods.
"Sera...enough "Anna said.It didn't go past Droy that this was the second time she called Ares that,like some kind of monicker.It seemed like they really knew each other well and she did not seem affected by the energy exuding off Ares the tiniest bit.
"You can leave the explaining to me ... I'll try explaining to the best of my knowledge but right now you are not helping but making things worse ..you can fill in what I can't later on."she said with a clearly fake smile on her face.
Although Ares was somewhat thick in the head he had gotten to know how to read Anna's expressions more than anyone.Right now he was being politely kicked out.And it goes without saying he would leave before her patience wears out because not even he can deal with that.
Before Droy came in they had been talking about Droy's situation.It was not normal for a god to tell a mortal of the future.This privilege often came to those favoured by the gods and their children (demigods).But more than this there was another privilege set for these people.Those mortals favoured by the gods upon their death or near death they would be brought to the Realm of the gods.This was true for demigods although for some death and near death wasn't the only way.Just for most of them.
The Realm of gods was the home of immortals and monsters and was occasionally visited by adventurers.This world corresponds to the known world and is very much like our own planet Earth as it was in the middle ages.
As a general rule this world is populated by mythical creatures ,immortals and themes which strongly resemble the mythologies of our Earth.Ares knowing she knew this was relieved that she knew she still had a chance to stay with her son.
He wasn't good on empathy and wouldn't know how to comfort or console her upon loosing her son.Long ago ,before Droy was born he had offered to take her to the realm of gods but she couldn't accept as her parents were alive and she had her whole life ahead of her,she had something to live for.
Then her parents had died in a car accident and he had offered again,she would have accepted, but Droy had been born and was just a couple months old and now she had something new to live for.She couldn't just leave him at a monastery and leave for the unknown with her true love like those Mexican soap operas, could she?
But now he knew she would accept.She had no one left .The only one she had was her son, Droy, and the only one he had was her.They only had each other that's why their bond was so strong and he knew where one went the other would follow.He had made the offer again and she had accepted.
"Three times the charm huh?",he thought
He could always wait for her to die then claim her from Hades and bring her to the Realm of gods through death which was one way,but there was always a chance he would find his uncle Hades in a sour mood...he was rarely happy or cheery so that was most likely the mood he would be in.Moody and gloomy.
This was the reason why he didn't want to gamble on death.It would most likely make her stay there for good.When Hades remembers or sees on the records the same person has been requested for twice he would think the reason he didn't grant it was you made him angry or something.Even more so Ares had not been on good terms with his uncle for some time after the last council meeting at Olympus.Thats a story for another day.
Knowing this Ares went ahead over to Droy who had been quiet the whole time his eyes staring dead ahead,and pressed his left shoulder gently.
Droy could feel a warm energy caressing his shoulder but he couldn't respond to it as the cogwheels in his mind turned, furiously processing the information and fit the pieces of the puzzle together of all the freak incidents of his life.Like when he was sure he had seen a Gorgon statue follow him with its eyes even turning its head when on his way from school.Then after telling his mom, the next day they moved.This and many more.Now it was all starting to make sense.
After releasing Droy and without a word, he moved back two steps and a white light was seen ,and after it was gone Ares was gone with it.
This was enough to bring Droy back to his senses.Looking around the room, Ares was gone and he thought this was just a dream but one look at his mother's face he knew it was all real.
She explained to him what she and Ares had talked about and how Ares planned to save him.How the gods could claim someone as their own upon death or near death to live with them in the Realm of gods.He didn't like it but right now anything sounded better than death.
He was too tired and just wanted to get some rest.Suprisingly enough it was 10pm.Five hours since he came home and five hours since his life changed completely.
Just after he entered his room an immense seering pain ,as if a hot knife had been thrust and was being dragged against his flesh was felt on his shoulder