Previously on Fate: Phantasmal Emperor
When Icarus was going to sleep, the burning Lust and passion hadn't subsided in his brain. His brain felt muggy with all the lust, he felt his rationality leaving him little by little. Icarus swore the day he decided to help her. admittedly Icarus is still Naive.
Outside It started to Rain
[Currently]
[And thus, He closes that chapter of his life]
[Chpt 20.]
Icarus woke up with a searing migraine in the morning. To be honest, it's kinda expected as he didn't sleep much last night. His frustration, anger and the lust burning kept him from sleeping comfortably.
He groaned as he sat up from his bed, yawning and rubbing his eyes.
' I swear, Im gonna kill that bitch.' Icarus swore in his mind.
Thinking back on the scene yesterday, Icarus Really can't explain why he panicked and ran away. Logically he knew that, that bitch was dangerous but he still intented to help her like a horny teenager.
Damn, Icarus never thought he'll be this gullible. It's a life lesson if he ever saw one.
Icarus slapped his cheeks and reminded himself that this is the 'Ancient Greek' where everything has a hidden motive. where people dance on strings designed by the Fates, where almost all gods has a cruel streak running a mile wide.
Icarus sighed, living is tough. But...
Icarus smirked ' usually I'm not like humans that go against the Fates mindlessly but...'
' I'm not going to die just because I flew close to the sun. Fuck the gods.'
—————————————————————————————————
"So, what are you going to do now?" Kyrillos question in the morning when they were breaking their fast. (Yhea GoT ruined me ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ )
Icarus mused a bit before responding " I think it's my time to leave." Icarus said that camly.
"You're leaving?!" Kyrillos eyes quivered and Milanion voice cracked.
Icarus isn't suprised to see the Father-daughter duo like this. You can't spend a week or so with someone and not to expect to have created a bond or something as such. But Icarus isn't like them, he isn't in the verge of crying like Milanion. He's just built different.
"Yhea." Icarus nodded calmly.
A thick silence enveloped them.
Icarus continued to eat even though he can see Kyrillos and Milanion fidgeting.
'An ass old man like Kyrillos fidgeting? man, I'm seeing something unholy.' This Thought slithered its way into his mind.
Icarus almost break down laughing and choking on his food, but he forced his emotions to settle down.
Kyrillos was the one to break the silence between them. "Any destination in mind?"
Images flashes in his mind. A Titant chaint to a huge rock, lives to suffer everyday in noon. A kind man with big compassion and empathy, a man who have lead Humanity in it's darkest times.
The 'God' of Humanity. The Champion of Humanity.
He isn't a God Though, and he's divine Domain isn't humanity but people always believe what they want. In some versions he's the Creator of Humanity.
Prometheus. The Titan of Forethought, crafty counsel, culture hero, and a trickster.
"Yes." Icarus responded, his eyes distant.
Kyrillos and Milanion waited for Icarus to Clarify but they were disappointment when Icarus didn't say anything after that.
"Anyway, where are the Lesser Dragon Bones Kyrillos?" Icarus asked outta nowhere.
Kyrillos looked up to Icarus surprised "You want them? I can show you them after you finished doing your morning rituals."
Icarus just nodded.
What Kyrillos meant when he said 'Morning rituals' is actually praying to the God's, Sacrificing for them and cleaning himself.
Icarus sighed. 'The person who came up with the saying 'Life is a bitch' was right.'
—————————————————————————————————
Icarus walked in the chamber that is full with the Lesser Dragon's bones.
"Is this all of them?" Icarus found himself asking.
"Yes" Kyrillos responded.
Icarus walked around the bones a bit and crouched down and picked up a small bone. He looked at it for a second before sighing.
" Alright, thanks Kyrillos. Do you know the best smith in the village?"
" Ah, yes? Is something wrong?" Kyrillos hesitated before replying.
" No, just going to invent something."
A little time later Icarus found himself in the forge with the smith.
"What can I do for you, young hero?" The smith said. putting down the metal he was working on.
Icarus found the smith words appalling 'Me? a hero? it's like saying Zeus doesn't cheat on his wife.' Icarus doesn't see himself as a hero and he doesn't want people to worship him and sing about his achievements.
In the 'Ancient Greek' majority, if not all Heroes dies a Tragic death. Icarus is many things but he sure as hell doesn't want that kind of life, but he didn't say anything or refute the smith 'Title' for him.
People will forget about him, the village will forget about him. it's not like he's their god or something, life doesn't revolve around him. Icarus know that.
"Can I use your forge for the day?"
The smith laughed jovially " Young hero may do as he pleases."
That's something that Icarus is trying hard to ignore. Apparently people would do anything to accommodate a hero, some people even go as far as to let heroes marry their daughters. Not only that Icarus remembered he read something in the Modern earth that Hercules was said to rape women he fancy. Who would they cry to? Heroes are humans with Unimaginable Power, something that ordinary humans can't comprehend. So people try their hardest to please heroes. Really it's something that only greeks would do, This era is fucked up no kidding.
After the smith had finished saying that, he showed Icarus the necessary tools and where they're kept. After that the smith disappeared on him.
'what a weirdo'
Icarus didn't think much of that and immediately get to work.
The first thing he needs to do is clear the bone marrow out of the bones that he's going to use. And how does he do that?
Icarus scratched his chin, thinking. Icarus lifted his dagger and cut the ends of the bone, it was tough to a cut a magic beast's bone. But nothing runes can't fix, a little enhancement here and a little curse there to weaken the bone. Then he picked up a slim metal rod and put it above the bone. Icarus restructured it to have a tip at the beginning and he reinforced it with his magic and plucked it in the bone. He repeated this motion a few times until the bone have many little holes on it. After that, he poured water in the holes to clear the bone marrow in the bones.
.....
Icarus wipped his brow and sighed. 'Damn, if I knew making glasses will be this difficult I wouldn't have done this.'
And yes, he's making glasses. Although his glasses are going to be a mystic code.
Icarus take the perfectly cut glass and hold it in his hands before saying " καθαρίζω" he repeated this chant a few times before placing the glass down.
After that Icarus took a writing quill and dipped it in his own blood before writing chains of runes around the frame of his glasses and the piece of perfectly cut glass. As he is Writting, Icarus is religiously chanting " μεγεθύνω"
"συλλέγω μάνα"
"απόλυση"
"ευλογία από"
"άρχοντας του ήλιου"
Icarus put the Writting quill down trembling. Runes are strict sometimes they want you to be specific but sometimes a broad way of Writting runes is needed. And not only that runes need you to be careful, pick your own words with care unless they turn against you. People who mastered rune magic supposedly can predict the future, protect a person against misfortune, imbue objects with different qualities, or you could write down conjurations And curses. Although Icarus already can imbue objects with different qualities and he can — to a small extend— write curses too.
Icarus, still trembling fron the tremendous mental energy it took to write those runes, he clapped his hands and said " I beesech the Lord of the Sun for blessings"
Icarus didn't wait to see if the Gods really blessed him. Gods are... not entitled to bless anyone begging for blessings. Only those the Gods judge worthy will be blessed and Icarus is many things but he doesn't have vainglory. He doesn't think he is that important to receive blessings from a God.
Icarus hovered his right hands above the rune chain matrix and activated it with mana. The runes glowed, illuminating the dark shadows in the forge and seems to crawl, wiggle around the frame of glasses and the glasses themselves. Glyphs appeared above the Rune chain and circled anti-clock wise, while another one appeared above the other Glyph and spun clockwise.
The show continued going on for a second before the runes sunk on the frame of glasses and the Pieces of glass before dimming. "whew" Icarus exhaled, he's exhausted. He picked the pieces of purified glass and put them on the frame of glasses.
Although majority of the frame is made out of the dragon bones there's another material involved, Such as steel wire and such. The bone material is throughout polished and now it almost look like white plastic from afar.
Icarus stepped back to appreciate his work. He can't help but to whistle.
'now this, if i were to sell them in the modern Earth. Even Elon Musk would've wanted them.' Icarus can't help but to snicker at his thoughts. But he can't help it. they're —the glasses— beautiful enough.
Now all that's left is to borrow a bow that is fit for his size before departing tomorrow, his spear is broken. All he has on his person is a dagger that his father gave him growing up. Ah, he'll have to be taught basic steps to fire an arrow and how to hold a bow. No worry, he's sure that someone in the village will take pity on him and teach him how to.
( he ignored the fact that the village will do anything he wanted)
—————————————————————————————————
"My lord?" A young voice belonging to a teenager said.
Icarus turned, surprised. ' I'm a lord now? ' He snorted at that thought before saying "Uhm, yes?" Icarus isn't exactly sure the boy is talking to him but it's only him and the boy in the forge. Icarus despite foolishness and wasted words full of empty air, and it seems this village is full of people with foolishness but he can't be ungrateful. The village took care of him, he shall ignore their 'rewards' and moniker for him until he leave. He's already uncomfortable as it is, no need to add awkward tension to the equation.
"Uh, Lord Kyrillos is looking for you."
"Where is he now? " Icarus stood up from the bench and wipped his hands with a cloth on the cold anvil. His oversize chiton flapping around while he do so. After he finished Icarus gestured the teenage to show him the way.
.....
It didn't take long to get there. Icarus entered the main hall of this 'Castle' — it is not, just a smaller version of it— he passed maids hurried about.
After getting in the main hall Icarus saw Kyrillos with other three men he doesn't know sitting around the long table. Without any further ado, Icarus walked to them and stood there. "Heard you were looking for me." Icarus stated.
" Ah, yes. Take a seat, this is going to take a while." Kyrillos said.
Icarus nodded and took the seat at the end of the table. he's cautious, something doesn't sit right with him. The two men and the women set his senses barring, something is wrong.
'What's happening? ' Icarus can't help but frown. The men and women looked at him, no, he realized, they've always looking at him. It's now that he found out, that since he have stepped in here they've stared at him. Even now they didn't look away from him. 'No seriously, this is scaring me right now' Icarus can feel dread pooling in his stomach, his throat stuck together. He try to breathe but only to find out the air is thick, it almost chokes him out.
'The air is thick? no, that only happens if someone or something charges the air with mana/magic' And to Icarus knowledge, he's the only one in the village that can use Magic.
With great difficulty he took a deep breath, only to taste something weird. ' the air almost taste like Father's magic, only father's magic is faintly. This one is overwhelming.'
Father's magic taste like old books and dry ink, sometimes it taste like the sun ray's or something like that.
But Father's magic Is that way because he was blessed by Athena, underneath all that Taste of old books and dry ink. Icarus can taste Father's original magic, it taste like a rusting metal. Father's magic is they it is because he was blessed by Athena.
Then...
Icarus looked at Milanion, the innocent girl that always follows Him whenever he goes but now, Her gaze is calculative and cold. And the taste of Old books and dry ink is coming from her.
Then ' You're actually—'
"I'm happy you can join us, Icarus." Kyrillos choose this moment to break the ice between them. "Anyway I'll like to thank you for helping us in the time of need."
Icarus just nodded his gaze on Milanion and the men surroundings her.
"I've seen you do magic, so I want you to have this tome." Kyrillos passed the tome to the servant next to him to give Icarus. " It's from my late wife, she was something of a magician herself you see."
Icarus looked at Kyrillos hearing him say that. This is the first time he heard Speak of his wife. Icarus was broken out of his reverie by the servant when she placed the thick tome infront of him. When Icarus looked at it, it doesn't have any title on it's cover. Which is strange by itself.
Icarus grabbed the tome and was about to open it when the Lady with black hair and black devouring eyes next to Kyrillos exclaimed "Don't open it now. You may open it after you depart."
Icarus hand stilled. his Suspicious grew, along with caution. But he didn't show his suspicious to his face, it seems he's in an uncharted territory. He took his hand back while nodding, indicating that he heard the women.
"Anyway, where are you going after leaving?" Kyrillos asked.
Icarus whole body froze. ' didn't I just literally tell you this morning?' Icarus can feel his suspicious blowing through the roof. When Icarus look at Kyrillos, for a second he thought he saw a sheen of purple light passed over Kyrillos eyes. But that can't be right? he's seeing thing's.
"uh, you know. Travelling here and there. Originally I wanted to go Mount Caucasus"
"What changed? You can even go to Prometheus and seek knowledge or advice on heroes." The man sitting next to Milanion said. He has white hair and a huge white beard with sea green eyes.
Icarus nodded, showing he agrees with what the man said. But something is nagging him, all the people next to Kyrillos —even Kyrillos himself— speech patterns are weird. A normal person speech patterns can be seen through. A normal person isn't this confident, no, that's arrogance. Their body language and speech patterns indicate that they're used to dominate a conversation, they start a conversation with an Intent to dominate you. That's something humans don't do—sometimes—unless if all greek humans do that.
And what's even weird is that the man with White hair? yhea, Icarus saw him not breathing for 20 second's now. There was no rise and fall from his chest. It's only when Icarus looked at frowning that the man start breathing.
Icarus is many things—a fool for one— but an idiot he's not.
"Kyrillos here tell us that the magic you casted when defeating the dragon casted a huge shadow over the forest. What's kind of spell is that? I didn't know that you know that kind of spells." The lady with black eyes next to Kyrillos said.
A mistake if Icarus ever saw one. All people in the village know that the spell he had used almost crushed everything and anything under its intense Magical pressure. How can they not know when they're at the verge of dying by suffocation? But.. this lady says she didn't feel the pressure a bit. And if she came outside the village, people would've informed him on his way here.
"Even I myself don't know, my Lady. It's just a subconscious thing." Icarus said that with a weary smile. "Now if that's all i would like to be excuses." Icarus stood up and looked at Kyrillos. He ignored the lady's abhorrent expression with ease.
Kyrillos nodded. And it took all of Icarus Will not to bolt out of this Hall. Calmly he walked down the Hall with a noble grace out of place on a eight year old Child.
After exiting the Hallway Icarus stopped and placed his hand over his beating heart and sighed in relief.
Icarus doesn't have to be a Psychologist to know that those people are Gods. Even with his now mediocre Psychology— yhea he forgets. he isn't a computer to store data— Icarus can deduce that.
And he's sure that, that lean jawn that is posing as Milanion is Lady Athena. Those four Gods posing as human made the air in the hall stiff. Even if they restricted their power and hide it well, they can't hide the fact that they're forces of nature. If your Existence is of a High Order even your presence can be felt from far away. Now add four God's in a room, imagine the tension of their presence that it'll cause. Even if they came wearing faces not their own Icarus will always know there Gods. They can't Act like humans for one and two, Icarus is always sensetive to Mana and magic. Oversensitive some people may say, so he can sense magic from 2 miles away if he focus enough.
He doesn't know the identity of the rest of the god's but he know Athena is there. Why are they here by the way? to see him? yea, no, he's not a big shot that have attracted the eyes of the God's.
sigh* When did life get so difficult? Oh yea, it was always difficult. —————————————————————————————————
" Do you think he knows that it's us?"
" Icarus is a smart boy, Wise beyond his years may suggest. I know he knows that we're not what we portray ourselves as."
" Hm."
" He realized by you not breathing, Uncle."
"Hey! it's hard to adjust breathing air when you spend eternity breathing underwater."
" You always destroy our plans Fish head."
"Shut up owl eyes!"
" Do you think Icarus can shoulder the Prophecy?"
"No. Many Heroes tried and failed, Icarus will simply follow their footsteps. But it can't hurt to try."
"hm. So we're going to prepare him for the journey?"
"yes."
" Let's go back. I dislike leaving Olympus."
"Sigh* yes, yes."
—————————————————————————————————
"If you're holding the bow with your left hand then you must widen your legs and put your right leg forward." Icarus instructor said. Although instructor is a..huge term for the person who is teaching how to hold a bow, a more better term would be—
"When releasing or before releasing an arrow breath in first. Deep breaths, Son Of Man."
Icarus gash his Teeth at another title thrown down at him. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down. Looking from another perspective Icarus should be happy because he's gaining fame and glory, something that all Heroes want. But Icarus isn't a hero! he's just a normal human trying to help people, that's all.
Sigh. Icarus breathed in and released the arrow.
Archery is like shooting from a sniper now that he thinks about it. Sniper shooting needs a perfect posture and breathing in sync with the release of the bullet. In order to reduce the impact when the bullet is released, The sniper needs to do Breathing exercises. It hardens your muscles temporarily in order to resist the impact. Marksmanship, it seems military training will help him again.
It isn't long before the day ended and the next day begun when Icarus departed.
"Well, I'll be going old man." Icarus, standing next to Kyrillos said outside the huge gates of the village.
"Yeah. We'll miss you, young hero."
"Urgh, even you too?!"
"hahaha. It's pleasing seeing you frustrated."
Icarus shook his head in amusement before looking at Milanion. And softly he said " hey, I'll see you in the next few years okay?"
"Yhea, and come back to me alive. I don't want to see you wrapped in a shroud."
Icarus and Kyrillos didn't miss how she worded that sentence. 'Come back to me..'
"I promise." Icarus smiled softly.
When Kyrillos raised an eyebrow towards him, Icarus shook his head. ' I don't plan on marrying soon.'
"Anyway, I'll be off." Icarus waved them before climbing on the horse that, That man with sea green eyes gifted him.
"hya!"
Sounds of a horse galloping echoed in the forest.
A/N: sorry for not updating but school is hard on me, ey? I come back mentally tired everyday. I can only update on weekends, even that I'm not sure as I'll have work around the crib. it's been what? 4 weeks without a new chapter, Right? yha.
4K! 4K words. this chapter is made out of 4 thousand words. unlike my normal chapters that consist of 2k words.
damn. truthfully, I wanted to close this arc fast, I don't want to spend another 2 chapters on this arc. I'm sick and tired of it! Anyway let me know if you see a spelling error or something as such. I didn't have the time to proof read it.