Earth. A slightly different version of our planet. Evidence of the humans’ encounters with the Parthenians was lost to time, and Zeus and the like became myths, the gods of Greek mythology. Unbeknownst to most humans, however, one such god was on her way to their planet once more. Put in cryogenic sleep aboard a pod specially designed for intergalactic travel, Athena drifted across the vast emptiness of space for centuries, and eventually reached the planet which would become her new home.

“So wait, what’s the timeline, exactly?” Mo asked.

“What do you mean, the ‘timeline’?”

“It’s ‘centuries’ here, ‘centuries’ there… Centuries had already passed by the time Narthepos blew up, but then Athena’s trip takes another several centuries? Just what year is it?”

“First off, it’s Parthenos.”

“Parpepos.”

“And second… Yeah, I’ll admit the timeline isn’t clear in my head. I thought I’d define it more clearly once I started writing it on paper. Basically, a lot of time passes between the era of Greek mythology, and the moment Athena arrives on Earth, which is set in the present day.”

“Which is to say…”

“2008.”

“Right, gotcha. 2008…”

Mo sounded slightly disappointed. Was she expecting a more futuristic setting? It was true that some parts of this story were still a bit messy or undefined — but that was because it was all still in my head. Things would get a lot more structured once I began actually writing, I was sure of it. Hm, maybe the year could be changed to 2010? Slightly in the future to give it a sci-fi feel, but close enough to the current year to keep the story relatable? I should keep that idea in mind.

“Anyway,” I continued, “Athena arrives on Earth, and begins living her new life as a human.”

Compared to the wonders of the alien planet Parthenos, the main setting of the story was a pretty standard one. A large, bustling modern city, with a never-ending flow of people walking down streets surrounded by skyscrapers. In retrospect, I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired — I just needed a big city for my story to take place in, and countless films and cartoons taking place in New York City must have influenced my imagination, and in turn this image that my subconscious was now projecting for us. Mo and I walked down the city’s main avenue, squeezing ourselves between pedestrians and making our way through the crowd. Like before, we were just external observers and no one was aware of our presence, making navigating such a crowded place a bit of a struggle.

“I wonder how we will find the core in such a large city…” I sighed.

“If it’s in here, we’re bound to come upon it eventually,” Mo answered while casually pushing people away. “So, what happens to Athena now that she’s in… Wait, what’s this place called, again?”

“This is New Athens, the new Greek capital. In this version of Earth, Greece flourished thanks to the Parthenians’ help, and became the world’s greatest power, with a large advance in technology and science.”

“New Athens… That’s…”

“What is it?”

“Nothing. Don’t mind me, keep telling your story.”

I could tell she found the idea ridiculous. And, to be completely honest, I did find it a bit silly. But a fantasy story did not necessarily require a serious, realistic setting. I could probably get away with this kind of thing, right?

“There sure are a lot of people around here…” she mused out loud. “Make sure you don’t let go of my hand so you don’t get lost, kid!”

“Who are you, my mother…? I’m not going to hold your hand!”

“Sure, sure, you’re a grown-up now. Still, it is really crowded, can’t you do something about it, Ash? This is your dream, remember?”

“Do something…?”

I stopped walking for a moment. Just as I put my foot down, everyone around us stopped as well. Not just the pedestrians, the cars, the pigeons flying above us — it was like I just hit the “pause” button on a film. The whole street instantly fell into complete silence.

“I… I did that?” I wondered out loud, looking at the now frozen crowd. “They froze because I wanted them to. Meaning that if I want them gone…”

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and reopened them. Just like that, the crowd was gone. Well, most of it. A good number of pedestrians were still around and had resumed their walk, but the street was much less crowded than before.

“That’s a bit disappointing,” I said. “I thought the street would be empty.”

“Again, you are only partially lucid. You can influence the way the dream plays out, but you don’t have complete control yet. That being said, this is good enough for now. We can explore more easily.”

Having said that, Mo walked up to a random man waiting at a bus stop, grabbed his arm, and tore it off in a single pull.

“Why would you do that!?” I yelled.

“I’m hungry,” she replied before taking a bite of that arm, whose owner was now squirming on the ground, screaming in pain.

“Didn’t you bring that leg with you earlier!?” I shouted back, pointing at my fake mother’s leg, very obviously sticking out of her back pocket.

“This is my emergency snack! I’m not going to eat that rotting limb when there’s fresh dream food all around. Besides, if I ate it, I’m sure someone would start to cry like a baby and wouldn’t forgive me for it.”

“Are you still on about this? I’m telling you, I know this leg did not belong to my real mother. You can shove it down your throat, or up your butt for all I care.”

“You can eat things from your butt!?”

“That’s not what I—”

Before I could finish my sentence, I heard a loud explosion. It sounded very close, a couple of blocks away at best.

“What was that?” Mo asked.

“It has to be… This is where the story continues, let’s go!”

We began to run in the direction of the explosion. Taking a turn at the junction, we could see a large cloud of smoke rising from behind a building, and dozens of panicked people running away from it, screaming. There was no doubt about it: we were in the middle of a demon attack.

When we arrived at the scene, it was already complete chaos. A large fiery hole had formed on the ground, and dozens of demonic creatures were continually climbing out of it. Windows were shattered, lamp posts were bent, cars on the road were upside down, and monsters were running and flying everywhere, causing even more damage, setting things on fire with their breath, and hunting down the poor civilians trying to escape. These were the main antagonistic force in this story: Hades’ underworld demons.

“Demons?” Mo sighed, unimpressed as always. “Don’t tell me they’re the same demons that Zeus was at war against on Tarnephos?”

“Parthenos,” I corrected her. “And yes, they are the very same demons. For you see, Athena wasn’t the only one who survived the destruction of her home planet… So did Ares and his allies!”

“Ah, I see. That’s a bit…”

“A bit what?”

“Nothing. Please, continue. How did they survive?”

“Ares knew of Zeus’ plan and was able to hide along with Hades and the rest of the evil Gods in the underworld to escape the planet’s destruction. Then, they followed Athena all the way to Earth. It took him centuries, or, uh, a certain amount of time that I still need to properly define — but Ares has finally reached the planet he wanted to conquer!”

“Oh, so humanity is doomed, huh. That’s a weird ending.”

“It’s not the end of the story!! Obviously, Athena is going to fight them!”

Just as I said that, powerful rays of light began pouring down from the sky and onto the demons, pulverising each of them, one by one, in a matter of seconds. As the dust settled, a single person was left standing in the street, adorning a golden, shining armour, her sword raised towards the sky.

“Your imaginary girlfriend is back!” Mo exclaimed.

“Will you stop calling her that!?”

More demons began jumping out of the hole, this time much larger and powerful, but that did not intimidate Athena. With a single slash of her magical sword, she sliced them all in half.

“Are these your strongest beasts, Hades?” she shouted, as she calmly advanced through the ruined street. “Let’s save both of us some time, show yourself!”

Thick, black smoke rose from the hole, and began swirling and forming a cloud in front of Athena.

“No way…” I whispered. “So we’re at that chapter already…”

“Chapter?” Mo repeated, confused. “What chapter?”

“This is like, very far into the story. The first confrontation between Athena and Hades!”

The cloud dissipated, and out of it came a tall figure, clad in black robes, with a skull engulfed in bright red flames for a head. He was Hades, ruler of the underworld.

“You won’t give up, will you Athena?” he said with a deep voice. “How long has this been going on? Two years? Aren’t you tired of fighting?”

“I will never stop fighting! As long as my brother and you try to take over this planet, I will stand in your way!”

“Ares, your brother, only wants to ensure the survival of our race. The survival of Parthenos. Why are you so insistent on preventing that? Do you really want Parthenos and its legacy to disappear, just like that?”

“Parthenos’ legacy won’t disappear as long as I live… Our legacy of peace and pride will never die, and it won’t be tainted by your impure ambitions of power and conquest!”

“You have the same foolish ideals as your idiot father… What good will those ideals do if we cease to exist? So what if the people of this planet have to die along the way? We used to be their Gods! Our need for survival far outweighs theirs! We have knowledge and power that no one else in the entire universe has, think of all the other planets, all the other civilisations we could help, we could guide, we could enlighten!”

“You don’t care about helping them, you only care about becoming their Gods! This is precisely why my father decided we should step back and remain silent observers. He did not want Parthenians to become too involved with other civilisations and end up ruling over them! The inhabitants of Earth, just like other civilisations across the universe, just like us when Parthenos still existed, they deserve to live on their own, free of the influence of another civilisation, free of Gods!”

“Then you leave me no choi—”

Hades suddenly fell silent. Not just him, Athena did too. They both froze… Wait, ‘froze’?

“Ah, they finally shut up,” Mo sighed.

“Huh!?” I exclaimed in surprise. “You froze them!?”

“Yeah? I’m in your brain, remember? If you have control, I have control too. If you can pause the story, so can I.”

“Why did you do it? Did you find something about the core?”

“No, I just… I was kinda tired of listening to these two.”

“But they were explaining their motivations! This is the crux of this entire story!”

“Look, Ash… I don’t know how to tell you this, but…”

“What is it?”

“Promise me you won’t get mad, okay?”

“Uh… Okay?”

“Before I gained consciousness, I didn’t have any real notion of what a ‘story’ was. I didn’t even know my own name, so of course I wouldn’t know anything about storytelling, about writing, about all of these things. But now that I’ve seen so much of your story, and heard you talk about it… ‘Space Justice Warrior: Athena’, the story of your dreams, the story of a lifetime, your masterpiece…”

Mo took a deep breath, and continued.

“I think it sucks. Even if it’s the only story I’ve ever known since I became conscious, I think I can confidently say it is the worst story I’ve ever heard, and will ever hear in my existence.”

“H-Huh…!?”

“In fact, if I were to phrase it in just a few words… I think I hate your story.”