I felt a hand grasp my shoulder and a massive amount of weight bring me down. The hand disappeared and a body sat down beside me. I glanced over and saw Chronos red-faced, exhausted. He mumbled something incomprehensible and started to, slowly, get up. He stared longingly at the plain fields in the distance and breathed in the fresh air.

“Well, I guess we should get going. We only have so much time to waste. Noah, focus!” Chronos sternly reprimanded. Noah seemed to not hear and continued to peer at the beautiful houses. Chronos began to speak again. “This is the Oyx dimension, a place you may or may not have heard of. We are only able to spend a few days here; we can’t have your parents worried. But first, we need to figure out who’s controlling all this power.” Chronos sent a suspicious stare at me. I guess he noticed something was off. “You seem to know, tell us, Callum.”

Noah seemed to have focused and waited for me to speak. I gathered my thoughts and spilled the following words: “I heard a voice in my head when we were going through that window. It said ‘Tower of Despair. Find what you seek there. His power creates a fuss. You must find Erebus. It is the only way….” Not quite sure what that means but Erebus is most likely the dude we’re looking for. I anticipated a response but both stood still in silence. Chronos muttered something that sounded like “I should have known” but that’s all I could catch. Noah showed indifference and I felt my face warm up. I guess it does sound kind of weird, hearing voices in my head. He probably regrets even coming along with us.

“We should get moving. We need to find this ‘Tower of Despair’ place, right? And we only have so little time. But, you look like you know this place well, sir,” Noah uttered. Chronos visibly tensed but still commenced walking.

We walked for around twenty minutes and were face to face with a huge field. There was strong smell of lemon. My eyes watered slightly and I closed them. When I opened them, Noah and Chronos were gone. I ran back in the direction I came from but no sign of them. Around me was a fairly small village. Now, it didn’t look that bad but you could tell it was for the less wealthy citizens. The houses were made of stone or brick, not marble. I stopped to take a break when a shrill scream filled the air. I turned toward the noise and saw a man and woman fighting. I stepped forward and tore the man away from her. Married couples, I swear. The woman crossed her arms and made a noise of frustration. I know I shouldn’t have interfered but she needed help, I couldn’t just leave her to deal with it herself.

“Thank you, young man,” she lauded. “It seems some people don’t know how to behave themselves in public spaces. Honestly, acting like an animal just because I said I was better than him. How childish.” The woman said this casually, albeit maliciously. “Please forgive Aether, he has problems, I’m Selene, I’m an instructor for children down at the local school, and you are…? It took me a while to respond, I was too busy admiring her beauty. With vivid green eyes, flaming red hair, and pale skin, she was by far the most beautiful female I’ve ever seen. Selene’s hand waved across my face and I sheepishly answered.

“Callum,” I presented. She gave me a small smile and reached into her pocket. A gold chain appears in her palm, which she places on my hand, a lingering feeling as soon as it touches me. I confusingly examined it. Normal, I thought.

“Thank you, Callum, for helping me. As you can see, no one even cared to look.” She was right, everyone scuttled by her and ignored the situation. She cupped my face and smiled dearly. “You are the one who will save us from Erebus. Only you can do it.” I stood surprised and asked her about Erebus and how she knows me. Selene let me go and prepared herself for a long conversation.

“Erebus was once a very good man, always helping others. But one day, his mother and father had an argument and they split. Erebus, only six years old at the time, went on to live with his father. No one knows exactly what his father did, but by the time Erebus was nineteen, he craved power. Now, you being from Earth, you wouldn’t understand any of this. Let me… dumb it down, per se. This place, the Oyx, is my home, very different from yours. Here, many of us hold godly power, dangerous power that could destroy the Universe. Chronos, for example, is the primordial God of Time meaning he can manipulate it to his will. Erebus also holds that power. He was not born with it, he stole it from Chronos’s body.” I did a double take. His body? But he has a body already. Selene must have sensed my confusion because she clarified. “Chronos is a God, Callum. Not everything about him will be true. Do you really believe he’s less than forty years old? The gods are hundreds of lifetimes old, he can’t be that young. Here, the Earth equivalent to five is 129 years. And forty is around 1190 years. We age slower than you humans. But back to the subject, Chronos’s body was locked up here because he was accused of using time to do horrible things on Earth. This was all going according to plan-” The man from before interjected. His deep voice rang loudly through the bustling “road”.

“Erebus had always wanted a power greater than any. And Chronos just happened to be a target.” Selene had crossed her arms disapprovingly and sighed. The man side-eyed her and continued as if nothing. “There can only be one God of Time, Erebus plans to destroy Chronos and drain his power. The only way we can stop him is by retrieving the body that was hung in that tower and getting it back to him.” She pointed at the large, narrow building in the distance. “His body’s rumored to be hidden in the Tower of Despair. That massive building, that’s where we need to go.” The man outstretched his and and finally introduced himself. “Name’s Aether, pleasure to meet you,” he said with a lazy smile.

“We’ll be glad to help you, Callum.” I nodded and Selene smiled. “Let’s get going; Tower’s that way.” Selene pointed East and started sprinting.

“Hey, wait for me!” I yelled. This was going to be a bit easier now that I have Aether and Selene helping me.