SOMEWHERE IN MOUNT OLYMPUS

Both I and my goddess left the inner perimeter of the banquet and Lady Athena muttered [TELEPORT] and both of us vanished into thin air.

For some reason the blood in my brain had shifted to one side, but it was soon getting settled. While I still felt a bit nauseated I opened my eyes and saw that we were walking across a meadow. The grass was Eden-green and thigh-high to a thrush. A neon-blue ribbon of river ran through the centre of the meadow.

After taking a few steps along the stream we came across an inhumanly quiet and solitary dilapidated small wooden bridge. It was a graceful pedestrian with a medieval fifteenth century, old fashioned lattice metal plated architecture style. We crossed the bridge under a silent sky, which was to my surprise dark. At last, for the first time I was glad to see darkness because a source-less light just didn’t add up.

The bridge landed us on a higher elevation than the surrounding and what stood before me was a tall ancestral, unfamiliar yet a majestic tall tree with mint green leaves and antler shaped branches. This was our final destination.

“Whenever I am sad or angry I come to this place. It is the only spot where I can feel like myself.” For the first time I got to see this cheerless side of Lady Athena. She then lifted my hurt hand in which the bleeding had stopped.

“Does it hurt?”

Before I could speak anything, Lady Athena started speaking in a bit different tone as if she was chanting.

“OH GODDESS OF LIGHT, I BESEECH THEE, HEAL THY WOUNDS AND BESTOW UPON US YOUR DIVINE PROTECTION.”

Lady Athena’s body started shining brightly, surrounded by a golden mist, even in the dark the light it radiated was more than enough to even out-shadow a full moon. The light then siphoned through all her body and collected on our hands and just like that the wound closed up on itself and was healed to the extent that no mark was left. As if the cut had never existed. (Living in heavens has its own perks after all.)

Lady Athena clutched my hands more tightly, and yet the touch was gentle and warm. Tears fell on our curled up hands, but for some reason I felt as the happiest person alive on earth. For the first time someone had got angry for me and was worried about me getting hurt.

“Sorry, my classmates usually try to bully me and you got so worried because of me.”

“Sorry the goddesses tried to hurt you in an attempt to humiliate me.”

Both of our voices overlapped as we spoke at the same time. A complete silence followed these bizarre contradicting statements which were complimented by the wind which was shaking the trees with a whizzz sound.

We sprang into an outburst of laughter, laughing at our sealed and intertwined fate of being played out in the hands of strong up till now.

We both looked up in the sky while both of our long hairs fluttered in the cool breeze which had made us to forget the tiredness and stress of the recent events. According to the goddess this was the only place on the Mount Olympus where you could see stars.

A SHOOTING STAR SHOT DOWN IN THE SKY FOLLOWED BY A RAIN OF FALLING STARS LEAVING BEHIND A TRAIL OF GOLDEN DUST IN THEIR TRAIL, WHILE I AND MY GODDESS COULD JUST LOOK UP HIGH IN THE SKY AND CHISEL DOWN THIS EPIC VIEW IN OUR MEMORY.

‘I PROMISE, I WILL PROTECT MY GODDESS WITH MY LIFE.’

‘I PROMISE, I WILL PROTECT SACHI WITH MY LIFE.’

AND AN ETERNAL VOW WAS MADE WHICH WAS ACKNOWLEDGED BY THE DIVINE REALM ITSELF.

***

THE BALCONY OF THE HIGHEST BUILDING IN THE PANTHEON

The World God and Lady Gaea were taking a night stroll in the large balcony of the Pantheon. Creepers as tall as thirty meter were growing on the side walls of the balcony which continued to twirl around itself in the small bars of the balcony and grow further.

“Tomorrow is a big day after all.”

“Yes my Lord, the TREE OF LIFE bears its fruit after every 10,000 year and that auspicious day is tomorrow.”

“The fruit of the tree of life is an apple which has an extraordinarily high amount of life force stored in it. Even if a god of lower echelon eats it they might die by the sudden outburst of energy. Only the stronger Gods of upper echelons and gods with sub administrative rights are able to properly assimilate this fruit and control its power. So only very few gods knows about the existence of such a powerful fruit. It is also said that sometimes the fruit chooses the bearer itself by falling in front of the person it thinks is worthy of its power.”

“I will be looking forward to tomorrow and will witness the glory of this divine tree myself.”

After circling around the balcony once, World God turned towards Gaea to inquire about something.

“I heard the gods and goddesses caused quite a conundrum for Athena and her beneficiary.” The Almighty World God spoke with a sour taste in his mouth.

“It’s as you suspect, my lord. I was informed that the girl even got hurt in the banquet hall.” Lady Gaea quickly responded to World God’s enquiry to lift up his spirits in this unfortunate series of events. After all a goddess being harassed by other gods could destroy the order in the divine realm.

But now something special has caught World God’s attention. Lady Gaea looked up in the sky in the direction which He was looking.

Her face totally went blank by the sight she was witnessing and unable to keep her curiosity hidden directly asked the World God.

“How could there be a star fall in divine realm?”

The World God lifted up his scepter and pointed towards the multitude of stars which were barely hanging and were about to become the part of the fall.

“In the ‘Traditions of the Divine System’, star falls is a sign that two people make secret promises which continues for a whole eternity. I wonder who those brave fellows are. We might as well be witnessing the beginning of a new legend.”

***

OUTSIDE ATHENA’S ROOM

I spent a lot of time with Sachi near the ‘Tree of Life’. Wait did I tell her that the tree under which we were watching the star fall is the tree of life. Next time when I take her there, I will make sure to tell her.

Wait what are Lady Hera and Sir Apollo doing outside my room. They are the gods of the upper echelon of the divine realm and were one of the strongest gods out there.

“Sir Apollo and Lady Hera, what bring you here this late at night?”

“Nothing dear, we were just worried to hear about what happened at the banquet hall.”

“Are the both of you doing fine?”

“There is nothing to worry for you, Sachi is fine and I have already asked someone to properly escort her to her room.”

For some time Lady Hera hesitated but finally she asked.

“Athena, you do realize that you are a non-combat goddess and so will be your beneficiary. The world you will be reincarnated will be ravaged in war by powerful beings. You might as well be throwing your life without gaining anything.”

Apollo followed in the footsteps of Hera and interrupted.

“Remember you are not risking only your life but your beneficiary’s life too. She later might blame you for her misfortunate conditions.”

“Sachi is not like others. She would never blame anyone.”

“Even so don’t forget that your parents too died in a war in the same world.”

“Will you be able to overcome the difficulties and hardships if you can’t even punch someone, let alone defeat a monster? You will make a life of hell and fear for that girl if it still continues. Don’t worry there will be more other opportunities to become powerful in divine realm.”

“So let this one just slide. Don’t worry you don’t have to decide now. Think it out properly within three days and make a proper decision.”

The two Gods then took their leave.

After my family died in the war two hundred years ago, they have been looking after me from time to time and giving me advice. They were one of the closest friends of my mother and father. Even still they were usually busy and couldn’t always be there for me. If I want to make my own place among the god’s then I have to take this risk.

But remembering the innocent face of Sachi, I can never dream in my life to hurt her feelings. What if I really make her life miserable? Does she really even want me to be her goddess? Will she still accept me as her partner if she knew I was weak and cannot provide her with a good unique skill? Will she blame me for her misfortune?

All these bad thoughts kept on popping in my mind, but I concluded to talk things out with Sachi and then let her make the decision.

The tiredness of all those uncanny events had exhausted her and she went to deep slumber free from all the worries of the world.

***