The Messenger, the Warrior and the Healer

[Notebooks]

The creature’s screech awakened Jim’s reflexes and he immediately attempted to aid the boy behind him, by pushing himself further away from the scene. The moment the boy started dragging him away from the vicious sea-creature however, he felt the pain in his leg explode. It hadn’t been there a few seconds ago but when Jim stopped gazing at the creature and looked towards the leg, he realised why. It was twisted a few degrees in the wrong direction, and felt as if someone had decided to cut into it with a rusty knife. He would simply have to get it examined later, since he doubted the sea-monster would be patient enough to let him call for help. When his train of thought mentioned help, he angled his head a little to look at his friendly saviour and gave him a slight nod. It was not that he didn’t want to properly thank him for saving him, but Jim was just a little bit worried that moving his lips anymore would result in a scream, or perhaps some excessive sobbing.

It hurt a lot, and he wasn’t all that good with physical pain- or any kind of other pain for that matter.

The sound of an arrow hitting the beast drew his attention away from the boy and he watched as an arrow bore itself into the beast’s shoulder. He angled his head a little more to catch a glimpse from its starting point and noticed a slightly taller girl with a bow and arrows to hand. In the back of his mind, he found her name and remembered how she sat exactly one seat behind him, in class. Before he could wondered as to how and why she was capable of using such a lethal weapon, he was yet again distracted. This time by the loud screech of an unhappy sea-creature that snapped the arrow off and now focused its slimy gaze onto its point of origin. In one of its bony hands it now held a sharp, but broken triton which had been formed out of mere water. Jim could only marvel at how the creature had succeeded in this, whilst knowing it might not have been made simply for viewing.

Behind them someone had began rounding up the students and escorting them away from the beach, vaguely referring to the main reason as a growing tidal wave. The teachers and students had seemingly decided upon simply abandoning them there, or perhaps they were they simply oblivious to the strange happenings and- the most bizarre of all -the large creature that now threatened their very existence.

Meanwhile the beast had been readying itself to hurl the triton through the air, and towards the spot where their archer must have been standing. Jim’s eyes widened as they took in its extraordinary form and he regretted not having stayed in the safe and comfortable clutches of his home. It was a tall and had scaly blue skin that stretched across half of its humanoid form, and then left glittering grey scales cover the rest of its oddly shaped body. Its tail was tattered, and the almost triangular pupils gazed in the distance, giving the archer all of its glorious attention.

Jim blinked and the lethal creature hurled its weapon towards her.

[HowlingWolf]

Alex nearly leaped and cheered when the second arrow found its target, burying itself about two inches or so into the Marian's disgusting looking scales. Not much, but it fortunately provided a distraction so that Jim could get to safety. Unfortunately, that distraction was herself. The moment the fearsome creature turned and locked its glowing, hate filled eyes on her, hissing, her excitement faded. The hideous sea creature let out a shriek of anger and held out its hand, reaching for an invisible object. After a moment, water started moving up, forming a broken trident in its hands. However, the tips were still sharp and if anything, the broken bits made it seem even more jagged and dangerous. As soon as Alex realized who it was intended for, she cursed. Shnite.

Then it hurled the trident at her, with a speed that her eyes could hardly follow.

Without thinking, Alex let her instincts take over and she launched herself to the side as it came after her. As she dove towards the ground, the trident passed, barely inches from where she was currently, and one of the tips grazed her side, opening up a slit on her back. Barely moments later, she let out an oof! as she landed in the sand, once soft as silk and now feeling as hard as a rock. Although the gash hurt, she completely blocked out the pain as she got to her knees, wincing as she did it and shooting another arrow at the thing.

"Please." She whispered quietly as she saw the other kid stand over Jim and his hurt leg, while the monster probably prepared for another attack. In the water, she could see a tidal wave starting to form, speeding its way towards them. She was pleading to anyone who bothered to listen. "Please, someone help us. This thing is going to kill us. Help us, anyone."

[Our Lady Muffin]

When the boy gave him a small nod, Kian assumed he was alright and carefully lowered him onto the sand. He didn't dare pull him away any further for fear of messinh up his already broken leg. They were just out of reach from the waves as it washed up against the grey sand - that should be far enough right? But now that he and the other boy was out of relative danger, the monster had turned its attention on to someone behind them and had hurled a very lethal looking trident.

Kian turned just in time to see the trident drive itself into the sand where the archer had been only heartbeats before. He blinked and realized that their saviour had been the girl he had past by in the archery glens while on his way to the washroom. The merman let out an annoyed grunt before the trident melted into water, soaking the sand it had hit. That was good right? That meant that it had no more weapons? Wrong. Turning back to the creature, Kian watched in horror as the same trident reformed in the merman's bony grasp. Kian hadn't been able to tell if the girl had been hit but, as he watched the creature run the outer of the three prongs under it's Voldemort-esque nose, Kian knew it had hit. Another arrow whistled through the air but it hit the rock beside the merman and snapped in half. A miss. His stomach churned with nausea as the merman grinned maliciously and licked the blood off the weapoon with a long, green tongue. "Mmm." It hummed, its voice oddly high pitched and scratchy, "Daughter of Ares; spicy and...delicious." Kian wondered if the other two could hear the Gollum resembling voice. It didn't sound like someone speaking outloud; it felt almost as if the monster was speaking in his mind.

He didn't know what to do; he didn't have any weapons nearby, his only companions (who he hardly even knew) were injured and the teachers who were supposed to protect them had long since retreated back into the safety of the forest. Had they been forgotten? Kian had never felt as useless as he did then, watching as the merman raised its trident and reared up, its ribs rippling under its skin as it moved. He found himself too terrified to even shut his eyes as the monster threw the weapon towards the girl again.

But the moment the trident left the creature's hand, a particularly loud whistle sliced through the air and, with a resounding thunk, the trident drove deep into the sand yards away from the girl; a golden arrow pierced straight through its shaft. There was the loud noise of a car's engine revving loudly, followed by an over-enthutiastic 'wahoo!'. The merman let loose a bone chilling shriek of pure and unadulterated fear. Three more arrows sang through the air and drove deepinto the merman's torso. It's earsplitting screech came to an abrupt end as both it and it's trident crumbled into ash. It had all happened so fast and had left Kian feeling so stunned that he almost didn't notice the 1957 Bel Air convertible as it skidded to a stop just behind them.

A rather handsome man, looking no older than his late twenties, hopped out of his convertible, a golden bow in hand. He was dressed in khaki shorts, a fiery orange polo, sandals and vintage sunglasses. He looked more dressed for Hawaii's tropical beaches more than the cold Pacific coasts. "Were those good shots or what?" Artemis would be so jealous." He grinned, slinging his bow over his shoulder. The man swept his gaze around the beach in an almost careless manner before resting his hauntingly familiar smile on Kian. "Hey there kid, long time no see."

Kian stared, so far into shock that he couldn't even find it in him to speak. Kid? Had they met before?

The man frowned, "Your mother hasn't told you yet? I'm Apollo, God of the sun, music, healing and prophecy - at your service." He did a little bow. The man - or god - spoke quickly and casually, like it was a line he said so often that it was pratically second nature. He straightened up and moved his sunglasses up to rest on the top of his head, "Oh yeah, I'm also your Dad."

Right, like that was supposed to help. Fourteen years of wondering where his father went; fourteen years of nothing but vague answers from his mother...fourteen years of barely scraping by and now his father pops out of literally nowhere, dressed in a Ralph Klein polo with expensive Rayban sunglasses while driving a freaking vintage and then - and then! - he introduces himself as the Greek god of the sun and whatever?! His shock was beginning to turn into pure annoyance.

Apollo seemed to sense this. "Did I mention I was the god of healing?" He started, his tone a bit hurried. "Go help Ares' daughter over there, Kian, while I check over your patient here." When the god was met with an incredulous stare, he nodded in the general direction of Alex. "Well? We don't have a lot of time."

Kian gritted his teeth and, as he didn't know what else to do, straightened up and hurried towards the girl just few yards off. "You okay?" He asked as he approached her warily.

Meanwhile, Apollo crouched by Jim. He frowned a bit at the broken leg, "Not too bad. Just your standard break." He said as he held Jim's leg in a firm grip. He looked up at the boy as his hands began to glow a bit, "Here we go." He said with grin. And then, he bent the leg back into place. The glow beneath his hand intensified for a moment, soothing Jim of any pain and fixing his leg. A moment later, Apollo lifted his hands, "There. Should be better now."

[Notebooks]

The large wave that been forming crashed into the mossy boulders that the teachers had been occupying roughly a half hour before and washed their remains onto the grey sand. It was a lucky occurrence that all of the other tourists had departed and that their classmates and teachers had followed them. Otherwise, the tide might have dragged them into water together with what remained of a once beautiful shoreline. Their departure had also saved them from having to face the glassy-eyed creature that now stood before Jim and his companions. Its attempt at slicing through their archer had failed, but now gathered arms again and readied itself for another try.

Jim reckoned that it had been skill rather than luck that allowed their archer; also known as Alex, to leap from the fatal assail before it hit. This had not gone without consequence entirely, which he realised upon having the metallic smell of blood entering his nostrils as she hit the hardened sand. He was unable to see how badly she had been hurt, however. Jim moved with some delay but was forced to abandon the idea of aiding her as the pain in his leg multiplied itself by at least four. He was in no condition to attempt something of that kind, let alone succeed in it. He had a slim, rather than muscular built and could only use his reflexes to avoid or escape instead of strike. But even his reflexes had been reduced to dust as the injured leg barely allowed him to move, let alone avoid the assails of a dangerous sea-creature.

From out of the corner of his eye, he watched the creature’s sharpened weapon force itself into the grey sand and the archer take her bow to hand again. He could not see whether the arrow hit or not and squinted to try and get a better grip on the situation. The wave hadn’t only wiped out most of the shoreline’s scenery but also dotted his spectacles with its salty liquid. He raised one of his arms and used his sleeve to wipe the drops of water, in order for him to be capable of focusing on the scene that unfolded before him. His spectacles were cleaned just in time for him to see the last of the archer’s plea forming on her lips, although he couldn’t possibly imagine what it was she had been whispering to the wind.

The trident renewed itself in the claws of their sea-monster and Jim could feel his heart grow restless as the beast ran it under his lizard-esque nose. For a moment he could swear the beast had been enjoying the smell of the watery metal weapon that looked remarkably similar to the one it had handled before. Or was it perhaps the same? He could only speculate as to how powerful its magic actually was- assuming it was not all a trick or illusion that plagued his mind.

His attention was stolen from the beast’s weapon as it was hurled towards the archer once again, but with an entirely different result this time.

Not one but four golden arrows liberated them from their adversary, as a heroic stranger made his appearance. He arrived with a whistling noise, a childish cry and the piercing of the beast’s watery weapon with a golden arrow. His 1957 Bell Air convertible made a loud noise and the skidded to a stop only a few metres behind them. It all happened in so quickly, that Jim barely had time to catch much more than the stranger’s name and the surprised, but bothered expression on Kian’s face.

The man had referred to himself as Apollo; the God of sun, music, healing and prophecy and then as Kian’s long lost parental figure. The latter didn’t exactly seem to please his companion, but Jim was glad nonetheless that at least someone had turned up to save them from death by mutated mermaid. As if those facts hadn’t been odd enough, the self-proclaimed God wasn’t exactly dressed for the occasion either. He sported khaki shorts, a fiery orange polo, sandals and vintage sunglasses that now rested on top of his head.

After the short introduction, he proposed to help them with their injuries, repeating the fact that he was a healer and then sent a grim looking Kian towards their archer; Alex to mend to her injuries although it remained a mystery to Jim as to how he was going to do so.

Then the man headed in the direction of Jim.
He crouched next to him, gripping his leg firmly and then uttered some words before his hands began to glow. Not ‘glow’ in the ordinary, more common meaning that could be used to describe a setting sun or the reflection of light on a river’s surface but rather the fairly unused, stranger meaning. It could be better described as a soft light coming from within and spreading over the palm and onto the fingers of the stranger’s hand. More than anything, it just looked like textbook-magic that had been fed to most children with the invention of fairytales and colour-television. Jim braced himself for a moment; expecting the standard fracture to explode in pain once again, upon touch. But it didn’t. The man threw out a grin and then bent the leg back into place without causing any more harm. The glow intensified as he succeeded in repairing the broken leg and removed any pain Jim had been suffering from.

Jim waited until the friendly stranger removed his hands and then stretched out his leg a little, assuring himself that the pain and the injury had now been dealt with. Then he leapt onto both his feet and slightly raised his shoulders to relieve them from the stiffness that he had developed while lying on the ground for a little too long. After removing his spectacles, watching the clouds retreat a little and then turning back to the man, he thanked him: “A lot better, actually. Thanks for that, and for saving us from the lethal sea-creature, of course.”

He wasn’t entirely at ease around the odd figure that had claimed to be one of the Gods and Kian’s biological father, but it wasn’t in his nature to show hostility towards strangers either.

[HowlingWolf]

The merman-type creature scowled, curling down its scaly lips while narrowing his bright, squash yellow eyes. Not far from her, the trident had impalled itself in the sand and with a gulp, Alex realized that it could have been sticking through her and not just the golden sand. Before her eyes, the jagged grey trident melted back into water, leaving nothing but a puddle that sank into the sand. A skidding sound caught her attention and she looked to the merman again, seeing that it was just the shifting of his slime-covered tail on the rocks as the grey trident reformed in his hand out of water. Something red was covering one of the tips and with a sickening feeling, Alex realized it was her blood. The sickening feeling only increased when he licked the tip and tasted her blood. "Eew. Gross." She murmured.

The creature lifted the trident again, pulling it back and aiming for her. With a grim feeling, Alex knew she wouldn't be able to leap out of the way again, so she just stared at it, not wanting to close her eyes. The trident was launched with the same astounding speed, hurtling right towards her. However, before it made impact, four golden arrows launched into existence, hitting the trident squarely and knocking it off target to it crashed into the sand several yards away. A surprisingly young voice followed next, whooping with excitement, before more arrows appeared in the chest of the merman, causing it to shriek and crumble into ash, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur that was rapidly disappearing with the sea breeze.

The next part, Alex didn't really follow much. All she caught was that the man was Kian's father and Apollo the Greek god. Another part Alex caught was that of her Dad. Wait a minute. He knows my dad? She wondered, but not voicing it aloud as Kian came over to her and asked if she was okay. "I'm fine. I only got a little scratch...er, big gash." She corrected as she pulled up the bottom of her shirt and stared at the wound.

The trident had got her more Han she had originally thought, and now a long gash extending from her side to the middle of her back was releasing a torrent of blood that ran down her side and onto the sand. It had already stained her shirt quite a lot, though because it was black, it wasn't that noticeable. "I'll be fine." She said quickly. "It doesn't hurt too bad. Just a dull sting." However, it was starting to hurt more by the second and she winced when she moved.

[Our Lady Muffin]

Apollo watched the boy got up onto two feet and tested out his injured leg. He scoffed a bit, "Of course it's a lot better - what do you take me for, a satyr?" He got up then and dusted the sand off his khaki shorts. "And you're welcome for saving your life; I'll make a haiku about it later, if we have time, but we don't, so let's head over to see how Alex is doing, shall we?" His words moved quickly and he spoke like he was speaking to himself more than he was to Jim. Still, the god flashed the boy a sunny grin before turning and heading towards the pair of kids just a little ways off.

Kian almost gagged at the sight of her wound. Just a little scratch? He didn't know how she was even still speaking to him; there was so much blood that he was sure it wasn't healthy. How was he supposed to help her over to his supposed father without making the wound worst? "Doesn't hurt that bad?" He repeated, tone incredulous as he looked at her with part awe and part shock. "That's insane - no - you're insane."

"That's right she is!" Apollo's sudden voice made Kian, who was already still on his toes from the merman encounter, jump and whip around. The god was beaming, all blond hair and blue eyes and looking nothing like Kian, continued to speak as he approached them, "As are all of Ares' children. Insane and hella' brave." Apollo knelt down beside Alex and inspected her wound with a light frown, as though he was playing doctor with a young child instead of a girl with a huge, bleeding gash on her side. "No biggie," He concluded after a moment's pause, grinning again as he reached out and touched his pointer finger to one end of the gash. The finger glowed again, like it did with Jim; light seemed to gather where he touched, it's soft streaks looking like sunshine peeking through a curtain. The glow travelled along the length of the gash, creeping along as it mended the wound. Moments later, the light faded and Apollo retracted his hand to reveal a perfect healing; there wasn't even a scar left.

Kian watched on in complete and utter shock. What...How was that even possible?!

Apollo waggled his brows and held his hand up like a gun. He blew on the pointer which he had just used to heal Alex like he was blowing off the smoke from the end of a gun. "Godly powers." He said, still grinning sunnily before getting up, "Better, right? I know, no need to thank me."

[Notebooks]

After stretching his legs a little more, Jim looked up at the newcomer and wondered as to what precisely a satyr was, as he had not heard the word many times before. He was not a greater reader of the fantasy genre; with the exception of thick, old novels that his mother had purchased as a child and now had been passed on to him. The word ‘satyr’ had only been in one of them: an old, dusty book concerning Greek mythology and its many interesting features. Oddly it had been one of the few books he either hadn’t finished or- in this case –hadn’t even flipped open so far. His dyslexia had hindered him a lot, but it was not a good reason to give up reading altogether. He found that reading with minor difficulties was still better regarded than not reading at all, at least in the company of his mother dearest or any of his teachers.

The man’s strange manner of speech was an odd one: he scoffed at some words, dashed over others and then ended up speaking about haikus. These were a form of poetry that wasn’t uncommon but had originated in Japan. A haiku consist of three lines of 5, 7 and 6 syllables that weren’t meant to rhyme. It was a necessarily brief and imagistic type of poetry. Despite knowing about its origins, he hadn’t written one before and wasn’t planning on doing so any time soon, either. Nonetheless, he took the man’s warm grin as a sign that he hadn’t offended him and shot one back at him. He was then supposed to head for his friends, but made a short detour to pick up his bag. It hadn’t gotten too wet and as the sun broke through the clouds, he assumed it would most likely be dry soon enough.

Then he ran after his new comrade; the beaming god with the blue eyes and blond locks of hair. He crossed his arms when he came to a stop and watched as the man started to heal their archer’s wound. Her injury had disappeared completely by the time he was finished, leaving not even the slightest trace of a scar. The glow had travelled through his fingers and then along the length of the gash, mending to the girl’s wound. As he finished and Kian’s expression became one of complete and utter shock- one his friend Jim shared –the man rose again after having kneeled. He made a small gesture with his hands all the while having a sunny bright grin plastered across his young features.

Jim watched and listened with great curiosity as the words ‘godly powers’ were uttered and wondered as to whether or not the god’s appearance had been entirely coincidental.

[HowlingWolf]

Apollo's constant smile that could light up a cave located in the middle of a huge forest at the dead of midnight and bright blue eyes that were continuously glittering and shining in their own way reminded Alex of something. After a moment, she realized what it was: Before she had gotten big enough to be a dress up doll to her mother or old enough to stay at the house alone so that her mother could go to parties, Alex had seen a look like that on her mother's face everytime they spent time together. Whenever Alex had asked her to read a story, her eyes lit up in that way and whenever Alex had attempted to tell a joke -even ou they didn't make any sense whatsoever- her mother smiled and laughed in a way rivaled by no other. Then, of course, Alex turned ten, the big "double digits" and suddenly she had to learn to "grow up" and become a "presentable young lady" in order to find a "husband with plenty of money." Like a lawyer. Or a doctor. Alex had never seen an expression like that on her mother's face again.

As the god leaned down to inspect the wound, Alex wasn't sure what he would do to patch it up. It would probably need stitches, being that long and wide. However, as she watched, he just reached out and touched it with a finger tha was shooting out mini rays of sunlight, like a dozen mini flashlights. A tingling spread through her body, especially in the area with her wound, and she flinched slightly, from the sheer shock of it, but after a moment, the tingling faded and her skin was completely new, not even a scar showing on the now smooth, pale area. She stood up, amazed that there was no pain at all. "Yep. I am completely and utterly insane." She muttered.

Alex turned to the glowing god, snapping, "Now, you are going to answer some questions for us. First off, how do we know you are really Apollo, god of the Sun? You did some pretty fancy magic there, but for all we know, you could be like that sea creature who tried to kill us, and are just gaining our trust before hand. Second of all, did you honestly expect to just waltz in here in your fancy convertible car, save our lives and talk about our fathers as if its no big deal? You dropped a pretty big bombshell on Kian. How do we know its for real? And my dad? You're saying my dad in Ares? My dad, who left fourteen years ago after some one-night-stand with my mother, is the freakin god of war? Buster, you are going to have to seriously explain yourself."

[Our Lady Muffin]

Apollo raised his hands up, palms facing outwards as the girl suddenly started to spew forth questions. Man, she was feisty. Yeah, he had been expecting that when he found out she was Ares’ kid but - man - he had pretty much just saved their life and she was lashing back like some angry kitten. He backed up a bit and shifted so that he was facing the three of them.

Kian nodded at the girl (God, he really should learn her name) let loose a torrent of questions that he was sure on everybody’s mind. Big bombshell on Kian...yeah, he would consider finding his father a pretty big bomb; finding out his father was the god of multiple things was the equivalent to a nuclear bomb. He stared at his dad, all handsomely built with blond hair and blue eyes - everything he was not. How were they even remotely related? Save for the hair colour, Kian was scrawny with hazel eyes and not at all like his dad. He wanted to ask about what had happened with his mother and why she refused that his dad ever existed. Obviously he knew that his dad was real because, otherwise, how would he have been born? But Kian had never seen his dad before, not in pictures and not even in words. What had this man done that had been so bad that his mother was forever wounded?

But Apollo had started speaking so Kian remained silent.

“Woah there, buckaroo.” He said, looking at the trio, “Do I look like some ugly sea monster to you? Lookit here, I can turn my car into a chariot, dress in my toga, sing you beautiful melodies and tell you the secret to curing cancer and next week’s Lotto 649 jackpot - but that will take too much time and we haven’t got time.” Apollo turned to Kian then and something in his gaze changed. His expression seemed to softened, “And Kian, you really are my son. I’m really sorry for what I did to your mother, but it couldn’t be helped. I know you don’t believe me -”

Of course Kian didn’t believe him. Maybe he wasn’t good with school but he wasn’t stupid.

“ - but this should change your mind.” Apollo snapped his fingers.

Immediately afterwards, a blinding flash of light appeared over Kian’s head. The fourteen year old boy winced and instinctively ducked away from the group, tripped and then fell back onto his bottom, but whatever was above his head followed him. The light faded to a burning symbol that hovered just a foot over Kian’s head. It was a wreath made of leafy laurel with the lyre cradled inside, a bow and arrow was placed behind the lyre and the whole thing was glowing like how the sun often did during the sunrise. It was, without a doubt, Apollo’s signature; that much Kian knew. Growing up with a fascination for Greek mythology, he had visited many museums, looked at many pictures and watched many documentaries but he had never read any books on it. Dyslexia was a curse like that.

Kian, who was already deep into shock at that point, stared up at his symbol in wonder as it slowly burnt away and faded.
“Actually,” Apollo started, glancing at a nonexistent watch on his wrist, “Ares and Hermes should be making their claims right about...now.” And then he looked up at Alex and Jim expectantly.

[Notebooks]

During the moments that his comrade’s leg was being examined and brought back to its original state, Jim hadn’t merely been watching. He had used the time to lower his bag and go over the contents for the second time that day and make sure the water hadn’t done too much damage after all. Most of his valuable belongings had been left either back at the hotel, or at home laying around in his mess of a room. That said it didn’t mean he didn’t have something important with him in the bag. Its contents were as following: a dark brown wallet that contained his credentials and whatever was left of his pocket money, a small bottle full of white, round pills that had a curious taste and were meant to treat his ADHD, two more stolen apples, a red cap to protect him from the rain and a thick and empty notebook his mother had gifted him before his departure. He wasn’t amused by writing, due to the many mistakes his dyslexia ensured him to miss and the time that went wasted assuring it was readable. No, writing definitely wasn’t his type of trade. The thick black book was mainly used- or rather was to be used –for scribbling and sketching roads and maps. He took books just like it everywhere new he went, to take notes of his surroundings or make a small map to pass the time. When he returned home, he always tore the page from his book and pinned it up at the wall. It was safe to say that the left wall of his room was plastered with just that.

Somewhere around the time he had located his medicine, his comrade suddenly started to spew out a thousand and one questions in a rather loud, cross fashion. He popped open the medicine bottle and swallowed one of the small pills while he listened. It was more than amusing to watch and Jim looked forward to the aspiring deity’s reaction. Their comrade- Alex –questioned the fact that he had appeared out of nowhere and proclaimed himself the god of the sun. Furthermore she also wanted to know if he had any proof as to being Kian’s biological parent- which was understandable since they didn’t look alike at all. Other than the hair Jim doubted they had anything in common at all. In a fury of soft words and slurry sentences the god gave out the answers to most of her questions and then turned back to his possible offspring, Kian.

There wasn’t any right way to explain what happened next. In an odd flash of light and the hovering of a symbol the god claimed Kian as his rightful son. His comrade had ducked and landed on his bottom by the end of it and had entered an entirely new- and much higher -level of shock. After the strange scene had passed the god looked over at Jim and Alex and then mentioned the names ‘Hermes’ and ‘Ares’.

Give or take a minute later several flickers of light which had appeared above his field of vision, caught Jim’s attention. They looked similar to small far-off stars before spreading out and causing a blinding dash of light that seemed to materialise roughly a foot above his head. The small flickers of light connected after that, as if forming a map in the skies and then showed a holographic symbol. It depicted a pair of golden-brown sandals that were held up in the air by two tall, white-feathered wings. Between them a half-long staff had been placed, with two living snakes circling around it until they came to a stop at the highest point and focused their gazes on each other. As the event started settling itself inside Jim’s memory he blinked, took a few steps back- only to watch it follow him –and then blinked again. Needless to say he now shared Kian’s expression of outstanding shock.