It was late May, early on a Saturday morning the day before I had graduated Highschool and when it was done I ran home to pack my bags, I had kept my part of the deal and had graduated, now here I am at the airport with no idea where I am supposed to go.
I heard someone clear their throat and turned to see this beautiful red haired flight attendant. Though something told me that she wasn't human, maybe it was the fact that she had pointed ears and ram horns on her head, yeah who knows.
"Good afternoon, are you looking for the flight to Ogygia?" she said with a small bow "I see you have a ticket with you."
"Oh yeah how did you know?" I asked as I took the ticket out of my pocket.
"Ah you must not know, I am a beastman. We beastman can sense the mana in anything, and since the tickets are infused with mana to allow entrance into Ogygia we can see the golden mana leak out of it."
"Oh that's cool, but yeah I am looking for that flight, can you show me where it is?" I asked as the lady nodded.
"Yes, I can. I would love to show you the way." She motioned me to follow as we weaved through the busy airport until we arrived at this wall. I watched as she took out this blue stone from her skirt pocket and drew an arc on the wall. The stone acted like chalk as it left a white line after it. She then muttered something, sounded almost like.
"Rekom dora kai"
The white line glowed as the wall inside the line crumbled and vanished. Walking through I was amazed as I saw a whole different side of the airport.
"Welcome to the British Branch of the Ogygian Airport." The lady spoke as my eyes were wide with amazement seeing the fancy marble architecture and strange writing everywhere.
"What's that strange writing?" I asked, pointing to a sign. "That doesn't look like any language I know of?"
"That is Velian, the first language of existence. All languages descend from it, even Sanskrit and Tamil." She answers. "I am surprised you don't know of it as it is customary to learn Velian first at a young age before any other language. The language of the Gods must remain pure and never forgotten."
"So what was that thing you had said earlier?" I asked, following her past, some other people checking into the airport.
"Reva renom dorak-vai." She repeated a lot clearer as she led me to a lounge area "It means, open the gateway. It's all about enforcing your will through Velian and mana to command things to do your bidding. Though it is something we beastman are taught to do since birth."
She motioned me to the room and gave a small bow before leaving without another word. As I entered the area I spotted a guy maybe a few years older than me, he was dressed in a white and gold tracksuit, shorts and a sleeveless hoodie. Though instead of running shoes he had those gladiator sandals. His right bicep had a tattoo that looked like caduceus over a laurel wreath.
Leaning against the chair was a caduceus. The golden staff looked to be about my size, maybe a little larger, having two snakes intertwined around it with an upside down pyramid with wings and a spear head on top.
My only thought was how this guy got it through customs. No way the metal detectors wouldn't catch it. The man looked up and met my gaze with a knowing smile.
"Hey, what's up man?" the guy said, his voice smooth and charismatic. "You need something?"
"Are you, Hermes?" The question slipped out faster than I could stop myself, after everything I was not taking any chances.
The guy blinked in confusion then looked at his caduceus and laughed.
"Ah no, my name is Jacob. I am Falor Hermes"
"I am sorry, what's a Car Lord Hermes?" I asked slowly, imagining the mail god owning a car dealership kingdom
"Oh I see, you must be an outsider. It's pronounced FAH-lore. It means Successor of Hermes, basically I do his job of delivering mail all over the five realms, six if you count the Void, but not alot of letters or packages go there."
"Ah right, um do you happen to know where I can find this flight?" I asked, showing my ticket. He took it and looked at it before smiling and handing it back.
"Yeah, that gate is right here, we are taking the same flight." He pointed to a gate to the right. "I may be able to practically run through the realms at the speed of light but it's nice relaxing sometimes."
"Oh, cool."
"So have you lived with the Velnir all your life?" Jacob asked, leaning over to where I had sat down.
"Uhm, excuse me?" I asked as I sat down.
"Well you can't speak the common tongue of the Orvannis that literally everyone but the Velnir learn from a young age. Not to mention that you act really new to all this so it was just a hunch."
"I lived all my life in London. Lived with a grandfather who kicked a demon's ass, and a girl who can summon a giant sword from her tattoo." I sighed as I twirled my ring. "And yet, after growing up all my life as some grandchild of an old man, thinking I would be some restaurant owner, a demon comes to haunt me. Now I have no choice but to be forced into this strange new world."
"Oh so you're a… Velnir?" He asked slowly.
"I don't know what that is but it sounds strangely racist." I said after a second. "I heard that word many times, but why does it mean?"
"Oh sorry, a Velnir is what we call a person that is veiled away from the real world. Those behind the Veil."
"Still offensive, you know." I scoffed as I played with my ring.
"Ah, well it's not for us, Orvannis. We better get boarding." Jacob shrugged as a voice called, saying that it was time to board for Ogygia.
"God I hope that I get some leg-room, the last few flights I was on were cramped and so uncomfortable. Though they did have a screen, that was fun."
Jacob laughed as he stood and walked to the window and lifted the blind to show a beautiful jet waiting on the runway. "Nah man, we aren't taking some boring plane like that, we fly on the best ride no Velnir will ever get to ride!"
☉☉☉
As I walked outside toward the jet, my eyes widened in disbelief as I caught sight of a remarkable aircraft. its sleek and radiant exterior drawing me in like a magnet.
"Quite a beauty isn't it? This magnificent jet was crafted by Falor Hephaestus himself," Jacob exclaimed, his voice filled with excitement. "He says it's as if the Gulfstream G700 and Airbus A330neo came together and had a baby and that baby was the Xethra."
"That is one way to describe it."
"Well, you have to admit, it is a beauty."
"No kidding, this puppy is insane!" I laughed as we stepped into Xethra and I settled into a plush seat, the excitement coursing through my veins. As the jet began to ascend, Jacob leaned back, as he started telling me alot about Ogygia, from its culture, beliefs, customs, and some quite unusual aspects .
"Hold on, so you're telling me that you guys have actual pegasus knights!"
"Yeah, the R.O.K. Royal Ogygian Knights, there are six branches, including the Pegasus Knights." He replied as he showed me some pictures on his phone of the different knight groups, as he stopped at one guy in this white horse rider suit, wearing a silver knight's armor over it. He held a helmet under one hand as he was petting this beautiful white winged horse.
"Who's this?" I asked.
"This is Ethan the Faloris Aeolus, he has been training to be a Pegasus Rider all his life, just last year he managed to tame that pegasus. Named him Tempest, with how quick that horse is."
"Wait, Faloris? Is that different from a Falor?" I asked catching the different word.
"Yes, a Faloris is a successor in training, you only become a Falor after training and passing the trials set by the Hero you want to succeed."
"Hero's? But those you mentioned are god's right? Hermes, Hephestus and then Aeolus are all Greek gods."
"Right you were raised on Velnir knowledge. Alright so all those gods and deities from those mythologies they are not actual gods. Each and every single one was once a Orvannis that after doing great things became Legends, their stories went down in history causing them to become Celestials."
"So what's the difference between a Celestial and the Gods?"
"Well the Gods are all knowing and all powerful, while the Celestials are simply a fable taken form.
"So anyone can be a Celestial then?"
"Yeah if you live a fable so grand that it'll go down in history. One that the Gods themselves see fit to immortalize." He answered. "There are even some lucky Velnir, George Washington, Nicholas Tesla, Adam the first man, Jesus, Buddha, even Alexander the Great, there are others as well. It's a dream to become a Celestial, and one of the easiest ways is to become a Falor of one of them.
We continued our conversation for quite a while. From what Jacob had told me, the Xethra could fly faster than any modern plane. So instead of a 19 hour flight from England to Antarctica or Ogygia, the plane could cover the flight more than half the time.
"We will soon arrive," Jacob said after what seemed like six or maybe eight hours. "You are going to be in for a shock, whatever you imagine Ogygia as, well it is a thousand times better."
"That great? I can't wait to see it then." I replied. "So how different is Ogygia from the rest of the world?"
"Well the Ogyian Kingdom is a matrilineal nation as the ruling monarch is passed down to the female Heiress." Jacob responded as leaned into his hand. "When our ancestors moved to Ogygia and had brought all their structures with them-"
"Hold on, what do you mean they brought their structures?"
"Well, we did have the help of the Goddess. We took what we wanted when we moved to Ogygia, many famous landmarks are actually the work of Orvannis you know. The pyramids, the Hanging gardens of Babylon, Colossus of Rhodes, Statue of Zeus, and so on, took every single one and placed them in Ogygia."
"Wait, isn't Ogygia the name of that island that Calypso was trapped in?"
"Uh, yeah I believe so. Though our ancestors had taken the island and made it thousands of times bigger."
"Hold on so you guys just took over Calypso's Island? So where did she go?"
"Actually now that you mention it, not really, I don't even know where she is actually. Last I heard she was traveling the world with her girlfriend. Medusa."
"Like the Gorgon, Medusa?"
"Like the Gorgon." He confirmed.
"Damn, that's a love story I need to hear." I muttered imagining how those two could have met.
"It's not my story to tell." Jacob shrugged as he grabbed his caduceus. I looked out the window, the view outside the window shifted from vast skies and seas to show Antarctica coming up from the horizon
☉☉☉
The jet slowly descended and I could see nothing but the frozen Antarctic landscape. Suddenly the jet shook violently as if passing through a barrier. My eyes widened as I saw the icy continent seemed to flicker and glitch as the frozen tundra was replaced by a tropical and lush green landscape. The sea shimmered with a turquoise glow, and dotted across its surface were ships with billowing sails, some of them ancient-looking, others more modern. It was as if time itself couldn't decide which era this place belonged to.
Massive tropical birds with vibrant feathers soared below us, their wings gleaming like stained glass in the sun. And then, my eyes caught something even more unbelievable—a herd of pegasus, flying in the distance, each looking elegant and powerful as they galloped through the air, their wings almost twice their body size.
The shoreline gave way to villages, the roofs tiled in a way that reminded me of old medieval towns, except with the grandeur of Greek architecture. White marble pillars rose in the distance, and the buildings gleamed like relics of some forgotten golden age.
As the jet dipped lower, my eyes locked onto a massive castle perched on the edge of a cliff, its towers stretching into the sky. Waterfalls thundered from beneath it, pouring down the rocks in a misty cascade. The sunlight bathed the stone in a golden glow, making it seem both regal and untouchable. Spires pierced the sky, and bridges connected the tiers of the fortress like veins. It looked ancient, powerful—like something straight out of a legend. I couldn't tear my eyes away.
"What's that castle on that mountain for?" I asked.
"That is the Pantheon, the castle where the Empress Livia Ardent Pendragon lives with her family. The King and their four children, three girls and one boy. Crowned Princess Seraphina is said to be exactly like her mother."
We soon landed and we stood, and walked towards the door as the flight attendants got ready to open the door.
"So where are we landing?"
"A village called Cresthaven, It's the largest village in Ogygia and I would say in comparison it is half the size of the United States."
"My god, I bet navigating is a horror." I mutter getting that mental image.
"Not at all, geography is heavily taught at the Academy that we all grow up knowing Ogygia like the back of our hands. You will get used to it, you can also rent or buy a mount too if you don't wanna walk everywhere."
"You guys don't have cars?" I was confused.
"Nah not really, do you know how bad they produce harmful emissions? We stuck with carriages and before you say anything, no this plane is not run on gas or electric.
As the door of the jet swung open, a rush of fresh, fragrant air filled the cabin, carrying with it the earthy scent of pine and distant sea salt. I stepped out onto the small metal staircase and paused, my heart racing with anticipation.
Looking down from the mountain where the plane had landed, I caught my first glimpse of Cresthaven. Nestled in a lush valley, the village sprawled out like a vibrant tapestry, its medieval charm striking against the backdrop of rolling hills and dense forests. It spanned for miles out as far as I could see.
The houses, built from warm, honey-colored timber, were adorned with climbing vines and blooming flowers, their thatched roofs sloping gently toward the ground. Cobblestone paths wound through the village, their uneven surfaces glimmering in the sunlight. I could see villagers moving about, their laughter ringing out as they went about their daily tasks. Children played in the narrow streets, their joyful shouts mingling with the sounds of merchants calling out from colorful stalls that lined the market square.
At the center of the village stood a tall, weathered stone well, its stones covered in moss, a relic of a time long past. Nearby, a grand oak tree spread its branches wide, providing shade to a group of elderly men gathered around a board game, their serious expressions contrasting with the playful energy of the children nearby.
"Welcome to Ogygia, kid" Jacob responded as he patted my shoulder. "Now, if you excuse me. I have to get going, this guy has a job to get too."
"Wait, I don't know where I will need to go!" I explained as he started to bounce on the balls of his feet as electricity started sparking around his body as his body started speeding up.
"Don't worry about it, one of the nymphs will help you!" Jacob yelled as I heard a crackle of electricity as he vanished from sight, a large gust of wind blowing right past me almost blowing me away.