Darkness. My eyes were filled with nothing but darkness. Something welled up in my eyes. Tears? Maybe. Wandering around has left me feeling weird. This void after the end of life sure is serene, I thought to myself.
What the hell? I'm starting to become so crazy that I narrate things to myself. Light; I see light. I start to move towards the light but something pulls me back whenever I try to move back. This blessing has turned into a curse. Pseudo-immortality sure is painful. I can't even end my own life and try to live another life because of this. Those Gods made sure of making me suffer, eh. Well I can't do anything other than just waiting for them to uplift this curse. But who'd care about a dead man. I reckon I'd sound like a really old guy if someone were here to listen to me.
My soul body has no form, it already lost its ethereal form a while ago. I don't know how much time has passed. It sure is peaceful here. A life of battles every second has been tiring, I thought. I wonder what they're doing. Are they even alive? Another bead of tear fell down. I'm sorry for not being able to do anything about those Gods' tyranny everyone.
"Do you want a second chance?" I heard someone whisper. I tilted and turned my head multiple times to find the source of the voice, but no one was there obviously. I'm seriously crazy now, I thought to myself. Suddenly that same voice was heard again. "Do you?" I paid no heed to it and thought of it as my loneliness turning into madness, but had this uncanny feeling. I subconsciously placed my hand on my forehead. Hold on a second, my hand!? I soon saw my old body appearing in an ethereal form, replacing the nothingness that showed my soul's form.
I started to look around with my own eyes for the source of the sound, when some sphere came out from my chest. I truly have become crazy, because this isn't something normal people would see. I heard that voice again, asking the same question again.
It was intriguing, so I tried to mouth the word 'yes' from my ethereal mouth.
"Well, sure," that voice said to me while I contemplated this choice of mine.
"What kind of bullshit am I seeing? Is this my mind playing tricks on me? I've finally become sick of this pl-", before I could even finish my words I was covered in blinding magnificent lights, emanating from that very sphere which was inside of me up until a few moments ago, as if the Mount Olympus stopped covering the sun and finally let the people see the magnificent sky.
What the hell is happening to me? Am I finally allowed to rest with my people? The lights are so bright. There are branches in the light. There are sounds coming from branches in the light. I want to reach them. Grasp them. As soon as I try to reach them, the lights surrounding my body pull my body away.
The lights faded away soon. I feel sleepy. My throat was dry and felt like it had been punctured. I put my hand around my neck. It was fine. And real. I have been reborn.
Or so I thought. I don't know if the body I possess is mine or not. I've not got any idea where I am. I can see a stream here so I guess I'm near some fertile land. I go towards the stream to wash away the drowsiness, but see something weird being reflected in the water. My face. My whole body is the way it was before I died. But something feels wrong. I look… weaker. And younger. I inspect my whole body after having made this discovery. What the hell is this? Why did I get a weaker body than what was mine?
And why the hell am I covered by such weird piece of cloth? It's all over this frail body of mine.
I start ambulating around myself thinking what happened and whether this is a dream or not. But I haven't had dreams for so long, so that has a really small probability of happening.
"Well doing nothing here isn't going to get me answers. I also need to find the source of the voice. And why the hell my body is so weak. This stupid curse has either made me lose every bit of intelligence that I had, or I actually have come back from the dead.
I can faintly feel my powers, as if they're in a deep slumber. I can feel the runes etched on my body as well, the runes they gave me and 'that' as well. Why do I still have those spellforms on my body if I've been reborn? Well I'm not going to use any of them anyway so it doesn't matter to me.
Suddenly, I came in front of a waterfall. More specifically a mountain housing a waterfall. I try to carefully take my clothes off so as to not rip them off, and take a nosedive into the water. The cold water caressed my skin, a feeling I had been longing for who knows for how long. I missed you, my dear water. I started splashing the water around my body and rubbed every single corner of my body, even if it was a brand new body. Every visible speck of dust must've been wiped away by now, I thought. I rise up from the water, wait for the water to dry down and then put that weird clothing on again.
Suddenly, I observe the mountain whose grace allowed me to tidy up. My eyes tracking every nook and cranny of the mountain, scanning every single turn and fold of the mountain, and land on a certain spot. I squint my eyes and examine the spot more carefully, contrary to my previously callous outlook towards it. Even if my body is weaker, my mind is stronger than it ever was.
「Το τέλος σας είναι κοντά, εσείς μπάσταρδοι.」
Your end is near, you bastards.
My handwriting and most-definitely my words were etched on the foot of the mountain, being the only thing left immaculate by the fauna. I definitely remember authoring these words onto Mount Olympus.
"Even if I've gotten old, there's no way I wouldn't remember how this mountain covered the sky. It looks so… toy-like now. Did the Gods stop taking care of their abode?" I chuckled at the sight of this puny-but-oh-so-huge Mount Olympus, before everything came to a halt. A few thoughts ran through my head, but I focused on a single question.
Is this really my world? Why and how did I get here after having been subdued by the silence of death for who know how long? And what even is that voice?
If I truly have returned to my world, then it's better to become stronger, I suggested to myself. Damn it, I'm mad to even narrate these things to myself. I should think of some alias as well. Something to keep myself safe if I want to continue living while staying under the radar and becoming stronger.
"I need some good name for myself. Well I've never been good at naming. That one time I named Hades' dog 'spot' might've been my best shot at bestowing a good name to something. And he was still mad at me for calling that cute boy spot. I reckon anything good, but not too good and something bland but not too bland would work," is what I said, but naming someone who can kind off be called a newborn baby is weird. There can be a lot of situations where I'd curse at myself for giving myself a way too good or way too bad name. Giving someone a name is like winning a war. You never know how a name would affect a person's life and their character. So it's even weirder naming myself when I already have a name. If only there was someone I could rely on.
I thought of a few names- like Xander, Jason and Alexander- while standing there intently, waiting for the right name to click for me, but none did. Should I just use my real name if I can't think of anything? After all, it was name my father chose for me, a name which I'm proud of.
"No, if I want revenge then I must keep my identity hidden from them," I muttered as soon as the thought of naming myself with my old name came in my mind. Should I name myself after one of them? Those arrogant Gods love being praised a lot. That's one of the reasons why many people started naming their children after them so as to not face the fury of the Gods.
"That too isn't something I should do. Having the name of the people who made me suffer? I'm not a masochist."
Thinking in some confined space is getting on my nerves, I thought. I start ambulating near the banks of the stream and the waterfall, to think of about this stuff. I decided on a name, after definitely having pulled a bit of my hair from the frustration.
It's not that good or that bad. It's perfect for my mission.
Protogenis.
It got darker while I was captivated by these thoughts.
"Well now that I've decided on something there's a lot of other things to think about," I said while looking around, "it's gotten dark. Great. I can't stay here," I denounced before starting to walk around to look for a shelter for this weak body. I spot no houses near the stream, finding it peculiar to see no signs of life near a stream. Has Olympus' influence gotten so weak over these people that they don't even live near a stream?
I start walking in the opposite direction of the stream, thinking that this would be able to help me. It did. I saw lights coming from someplace, thinking that there must've a public gathering held here. I dash towards the source of light, expecting to find some sort of answers, but end up becoming captivated by the lights even from afar.
The lights were very bright. So bright, that I bet they could probably be seen from miles away. What type of lanterns do they use to produce such a bright light?
What if, the Gods are there? What if they're the reason the light? What if they're killing people, even after all this time?
I took a few deep breaths in. Calm down, Georgios. This thing has nothing to do with them. I'm being too cautious after having decided on taking shelter from them. I'm afraid of being found out without having done anything for anyone. I just need to calm down. While taking breaths in, I start walking towards where people were residing. It was a lively place, with people wearing the same set of clothing as me. My mind was blank. This was probably reflected on my face too. What is all of this?
Weird wagons being drawn without the help of any animals pulling it? Weird glowing tablets in everyone's hands? Weird lanterns lighting up the streets? People talking with themselves? Alright I do talk with myself but it's not like this. My steps tremble, not being to even comprehend a bit of these sights. I step back, still trembling, only to collide with someone.
His words sounded like gibberish, when suddenly, after focusing a bit, I started to make a bit of sense of his words.
Gritting his teeth, he shouted at me, "Dude what the hell is wrong with you. Go get an eye checkup if you can't even see the road and the people on it, geez." I saw him walk away after disciplining me.
What in all hells was that? Eye checkup? Road? What does that stuff even mean?
I stumble on the "road" after having listened to him. This can't be a dream because there's no way I can consciously, subconsciously create. I thought this was my world because of Mount Olympus and my markings but what is this. How can this even be called Hellas?
End of Chapter 1