A static noise resounded through the train. "...Thessaloniki"
Jack did not need need to be told this time what the announcer said, 'Thessaloniki' was enough to understand that the next stop was theirs. The three in the compartment got up and got their bags and suitcases off the overhead luggage racks. They waited patiently without saying a word to each other by the doors, waiting for them to open.
"...Thessaloniki..." The doors opened and the three men hopped off.
"Let's go to the hotel first. I need to give you a long debrief before we part for Mt Olympus."
***
Thirty minutes later, Arthur and Jack sat on a sofa in a small living room where Niles was opposite them, with a pair of booklets in his hands.
"So, I've taught you how to fight against humans, but I did not have enough time to teach you how to fight against beasts. The best way to learn is to experience, and I, obviously, can't copy how a beast would try to kill you," He said as he handed them the booklets.
'So he was trying to kill me.' Arthur thought back to the weeks of torture he had to suffer, but instead decided to let it go, accepting the booklet from Niles.
"These booklets contain information on the beasts that are native to Mt Olympus. I don't know how they've changed over the past couple thousand years, but we need to assume that now, they're even more dangerous. Flip to the first page."
Jack and Arthur briefly glanced at the picture that was on the first page, and immediately turned to face each other, both with looks of disbelief.
"A chimera!?" Arthur shouted. He thought that these beasts would have been tigers or maybe lions. He wasn't far off, but the thought of a chimera existing did not even pass through his mind. The depiction of the chimera on the page looked a lot more horrendous than the depictions in modern books about Greek mythology. It fit the description that he was taught about the chimera, but this looked worse. Its head was that of a goat, looking like it was in pain. It was screaming, baring sharp fangs unlike that of a herbivore, but instead of air it seemed to breathe fire. The head was connected to the torso in a seemingly twisted way, abruptly turning from the white, soft hair of the goat head to a sickly yellow of the rough lion body. It looked malnourished, its ribs were visible and its underbelly was glowing, as if the fire it breathed from its mouth was produced there. Paying more attention to the drawing, Arthur saw that the bottom part of the creature looked scorched from the stomach to the throat. It seemed to scream in pain, but the screaming burned it, leading to more screaming out of pain. He could not even begin to imagine what a vicious cycle that was. Its paws had extremely long claws coloured black. Its tail was a dangerous-looking black snake, there was nothing noteworthy about it though.
"I gave you enough time to appreciate my drawings, but be careful with this bastard. The tail is separate from its main body. It will attack you in between the main body's attacks. And to make it worse, it's also venomous, storing one of the most painful and lethal poisons in its fangs. You have until tomorrow to finish the booklet. We'll be leaving around 10am, so be ready."
And without letting them know, he left the room to go run an errand outside, but they were too busy studying the booklets to realise he was gone.
"Are we really going to have to fight against these... things?" Jack asked Arthur with a worried look on his face.
"Don't worry, we got Niles to protect us." He said, trying to reassure Jack, when in reality he was trying to reassure himself.
***
Niles stood by the front door and clapped his hands; "Alright! Don't forget your water bottles, clothes and any other necessity that you need to put in your bags. You'll be cut off from society for a couple of months."
Neither Jack nor Arthur responded. They were still absorbing all that knowledge they got from the booklets that Niles gave them overnight. They put their bags on their back, showing Niles they were ready. He gave them a quick smile and left the room, signalling them to follow.
They were outside the hotel, and damn was it the worst possible day for a vacation. It was storming, with thunder constantly reverberating through the town streets and heavy rain drenching the three of them. The weather forecast did mention that it would be storming today, but Niles kept insisting that today was the only day they could make it to the home of the Olympians.
After 30 minutes of walking and hiking up a muddy mountain, they were at the top of Mount Olympus.
"So!?" Jack shouted through the thunder.
"We wait!" Niles responded, and right after he laid down on a boulder. "Don't worry abut getting wet! We'll get dried off when we get to higher Earth!"
Jack and Arthur looked at each other, trying to see of the other knew what Niles meant, but they both seemed just as confused as each other.
***
it has been an hour, and now the two recruits were speculating that Niles didn't know what he was talking about. In the meantime, the person in question stayed still for the duration of the whole hour, and without warning, got up quickly. "It's time! Get your stuff!"
Jack and Arthur put on their backpacks and followed him to a pond. They did not remember seeing a pond up here, so they leaned over to see what was up with it. The water did not seem like... water. It might've been because of the mud, but its viscosity and colour were completely different from that of water. Niles put his arms over their shoulders and said; "Don't worry, it's normal water. Or it used to be at least." And without notice, he pushed both of them in.
Their arms were flailing around, trying to regain balance, but they failed. They tried to swim back up, but they failed. It was as if the pond was pulling them deeper and deeper. The pressure was too much for them, they felt their lungs shrink to the size of a lemon. They didn't know how long they've been sinking or how deep the pond was, but it felt as if they were well past the foot of the mountain. Then, there was no more pressure.
They opened their eyes, and to their relief, they were not in 'water' anymore. Even worse though, they were in the air. They were quickly falling through the sky, accelerating at an unnatural rate. Arthur had sky-dived before, so he balanced himself mid air to scan his surroundings.
Below him were multiple islands, floating in the sky through a sea of clouds. Above and around him were also multiple islands, floating in the sky. Before Arthur could even try to make sense of what he was seeing, a deep voice shouted somewhere around him. That deep voice belonged to Niles.
"Welcome to the real Mount Olympus!"