Chaos spread across the room, finally, with a little bit of shouting and a couple of fireballs, Ra was able to restore some peace. He ordered everybody to take a seat, the mark on my arm no longer burned, as if it was there for years. With a single snap of his fingers, a dozen female guards with golden spears surrounded me, with their spears aimed right at my chest.

I raised my hands in defense, “Wait! Wait!” I exclaimed.

Horus ran to my aid, “He’s just a child grandfather.” He said gesturing for the guards to lower their spears, they did so, but were a bit hesitant about either following Horus or Ra, upon seeing this, Jupiter, Odin, and Zeus stood up.

“Kill him!” Odin bellowed.

“He could be a spy for all we know, we have to get rid of him.” Zeus said.

“Delightful people.” I muttered.

“A child will grow, and his threat will grow too,” Ra replied, ignoring the others,

“But this one’s different,” Horus looked at me, “I can feel it, he’s strong grandfather, if we could harness this power and tame it to our benefit, it could make all the difference between winning and losing this war, and you saw his mark-”

“He’s a Decapitai.” Ra spat out the word, “His mark means death to us.”

I was getting frustrated by this word, not because I didn’t know it, but because it rang a bell, I knew that word, I just couldn’t put my finger on it, like a memory in the last drawer of my brain, lost between all the other vague memories. I didn’t like how Horus talked about harnessing and taming my power either, and what power is he talking about, I don’t have any remarkable powers as far as I know, the only remarkable thing that happened, was that I got knocked out, not once, but twice.

“I know he’s a Decapitai, but that’s an opportunity we can’t miss, don’t you think it’s finally time to reunite with them? He could be the key to do this.”

Ra’s glare softened, “I know he’s just a kid, Horus, but we’re in very desperate times now, we can’t lose any more warriors, especially against a Decapitai, and what makes you so sure this isn’t another one of their nasty tricks?”

Horus looked at me, “I promise you grandfather, that he’ll be of great assistance to us, I’ll take personal care of him.”

Ra still didn’t look convinced, and the bad vibes coming from the other three wasn’t helping matters, he knew that if he gave the order to free me, he will have to face them.

“Grandfather, think about what would happen if we had one of them on our side.” Horus pleaded.

“Ra, you can’t let that happen, you’ll doom us all!” Warned Zeus, the others nodded in agreement.

The room became silent as we awaited Ra’s orders, “Ra, you can’t seriously be considering it.” Said Jupiter

“I’m not considering it,” snapped Ra, “I’m doing it. I’ll do what I see fit, and until another Council election, I’m still in charge here. He’s free to go.” He ordered the guards to lower their weapons, “He will be under your watch from now on, he’s your responsibility.” He said to Horus. Horus nodded.

Ra sighed, “But remember, he’s a Decapitai, you can never trust him.” He eyed me suspiciously.

“So you’re just going to let him walk out the door, what if he’s a spy?” Argued Zeus.

We left the room in a hurry and could barely catch the start of a quarrel. “What was that about! You people keep talking about me, and I don’t even know what you’re saying!” I cried as soon as we left the room.

“I’ll explain everything,” Horus replied enthusiastically.

“I’m all ears,” I said as we entered my room and Horus shrank to normal size, and sat at the foot of my bed,

“You must be wondering,” He said, “What does Decapitai mean.” I nodded, he continued, “Decapitai is an old Latin word which means ‘He who decapitates’, they are the elite of the elite, what makes them so special, is that they’re the only ones who can wield the Blades of Destruction; the two fiery blades which were constructed from the bones of Uranus, what makes them so dangerous, is that they never, ever, follow the council, in fact, they’re always opposing us.”

“Wait,” I said, “you mean there are others like me?”

“Yes, but we haven’t heard from them in a while, almost like they vanished.” He replied.

“But why do they do this? You must’ve done something.” I pointed out.

“We never trusted them, not with that amount of immense power, they always broke every agreement we made, so we never allowed them any voice in our meetings, or included them in any major occasion, whether it be a victory or a loss. Soon they started vanishing from under our eyes, only to emerge a couple of years later forming a secret underground act to overthrow the Council and take over authority, that was one of the bloodiest wars ever in the history of the Council, they were like reapers, they’d slash their way through our ranks and legions with surprising ease, their Blades of Destruction gave them this huge advantage over us.”

But I still had this question, nagging at me from what Horus and Ra said earlier, ‘we can’t lose any more warriors, especially against a Decapitai’ ‘their Blades of Destruction gave them this huge advantage over us.’

“You and Ra said something weird,” I said, “about losing to a Decapitai and their Blades of Destruction, what’s that?”

“The Blades of Destruction have an amazing ability for those who wield it.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“It can bring the enemies you slay back to life to assist you.” He said.

Silence echoed through the room, I stood there for a second, I waited for him to start laughing and say that it was all a joke, but it quickly became too late for that. “But,” Horus added, “only once, can you resurrect each one, then they’ll go to their place in the afterlife.”

“That’s a lot to process.” I managed to say.

“Fortunately, we have you on our side, you could be our chance to negotiate a peace treaty with them.”

I paced the room back and forth,

“What’s wrong?” Horus asked.

“I think I heard the word Decapitai before,” I replied, struggling to remember where.

“Every Decapitai has to swear an oath to the Commander, you pledge yourself to him, but you never remember it, it’s like memories from your early years, you can’t really grasp it, but it’s there.”

“Definitely too much to process,” I confirmed. “So now what?”

“We have to get your Blades of Destruction, unfortunately, we don’t have them here. ”

“What?” I asked, with a confused look, “I’ll go alone? I don’t even have enough training, none in fact. And how come you have a multiple floored arsenal, and you don’t have a pair of swords?”

“Hey, give them a little credit, we can’t keep something this dangerous here, plus no one can use them accept a Decapitai, and about going alone, we will arrange a companion, and we can’t train you without a weapon.”

I replayed the events of the past week in my head, my problems escalated quickly, from trying to keep a successful social life, to trying to not be killed by angry gods, all that in mind, I’m still determined to do whatever it takes to defend the circle of people I care about, which I found to be a pretty narrow one. “Ok, where to now?”

Horus smiled, “Vulcan, the god of the forges.”

I knew Vulcan from history class, he is the god of fire and blacksmiths, “But before that, you’ll need this.” He said handing me a paper that wasn’t in his hand a second earlier, I took one glance at it and then dropped it to the floor, written there in big bold letters, were the words ‘Death Certificate’.

“My-my father?” I stuttered.

“Indeed,” said Odin, “Your father took this quest before you.”

I nearly fainted on the spot, “What happened to him?” I asked eagerly.

Odin shook his head, “Unfortunately, we know nothing of him, he was doing well until-”

Ra cut him off, “I think that’s enough.” He said sharply, he and Odin looked at each other, and a silent agreement went between them.

“You can go to your room now, we’ll call you here in a while,” Ra said, gesturing to the guard to escort me. The guard took me by the arm, but I freed my arm from his grip and ran to the middle of the room.

“Tell me what happened to him, I’m not agreeing to this quest until you do!” I shouted at them.

“I’m afraid we can’t tell you anything until you agree to the quest.” Said Ra.

“I agree, I agree to the quest to retrieve the lost souls.” I said quickly. Nobody said anything for a solid ten seconds.

“I-I suppose it’s settled then,” Ra said, “Horus will take you to the arsenal and answer your questions about your father, he knew him pretty well.” I looked at Horus, he was busy flirting with some goddess, vines kept twirling around her hair. He looked up at the mention of his name.

“What?” he asked.

Ra looked like he wanted to strangle him, “You’ll escort Cole to the arsenal, and tell him whatever he wants to know about Jacob.” The way Ra said my father’s name gave away the fact that they were good friends.

“I will?” Horus looked confused, then seemed to regain his bearings. “Oh yeah, I will.” Ra gave him a murderous look.

He stood up and said something to the goddess beside him, but she just threw a twig at him. As soon as the twig touched Horus, it withered and fell to the ground, Horus quickly picked it up without anyone noticing, I didn’t think much of it, he walked towards me, mumbling something under his breath. He walked to the door and I followed. Soon we were alone in the hallway again. I didn’t give much thought to the quest I just accepted, which could change my life forever.

I decided to start the conversation, “So,” I said, “You knew my father?”

“Knew him? He was my best friend.” He replied. One word lingered in the air like thick mist; was.

“Do you know what happened to him?” I said, we took an escalator and stepped to a highly fortified floor.”

“We lost his signal when he entered the Final Standing.”

“Signal?” I inquired, “Final Standing?”

“Powerful beings like dragons, orcs, and large sea monsters have a strong signal. Humans, however, have a very weak one, but your father,” His voice cracked, and I realized he was crying, my father really did mean a lot to him. “Your father had the signal of an African dragon, that’s one of the biggest dragon species on Earth if you’re wondering, your father was strong Cole, not only physically, emotionally too, he won't stop talking about you.”

That caught my attention, “Talking about me? He never saw me in my whole life.” I pointed out.

“He said the only thing he regrets about his life, was leaving you and your mother, but he always watched on you, you know.”

“Wow,” I whispered, “How about the Final Standing?”

Horus Clenched his fist, “That’s where monsters go to regenerate or reform. It has that name, because millennia ago, a group of four heroes went on a quest, their goal was to destroy it.”

“What happened to them?” I asked, now starting to reconsider my decision about accepting this quest.

“They were outrun by monsters and were devoured. That was their final standing.” He said coldly.

“So, my dad is dead.” I said sadly.

“I didn’t say dead, more like missing in action, he could be alive for all we know.”

I decided to stick with this sliver of hope for the meantime.

I forgot that we were heading to the arsenal, we stopped at a metal door with two guards on either side, Horus gestured for them to open the door and they obliged. Horus went in and I followed.

“Wow,” I said, and the room echoed. “This place is huge!” I shouted.

“That’s only the first floor.”

“So, what are we doing here?” I asked

“Getting you a weapon of course.” He replied like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“Whoa, a weapon? I can’t use a weapon; I’m not trained.”

“Don’t worry you have plenty of time tot rain before your quest starts.”

I looked around the room, it was nearly as high as the Great Room, lined from top to bottom with weapons of all types and sizes. From bows to war hammers, to swords, to axes. “Why would I need a weapon anyway?” I interrupted.

Horus sighed, “They never pay attention until it’s too late.” He mumbled. “Cole you agreed to a quest, it can’t be undone, you will venture out to find the four lords of the underworld and retrieve a soul from each one,” He continued, “And trust me when I tell you that it won’t be easy, you’ll face monsters, demons, and you’ll have a lot of close encounters with death.” He paused for the words to settle in my mind, “So, you need to be trained, today, the War Gods will decide your weapon, which you’ll be trained to use.”

I remained silent for a while, really considering my quest for the first time, Horus looked me in the eye, “The universe itself is in your hands Cole.”

I remembered to breathe, “You said that this ship has enough firepower to destroy the solar system, why don’t you use this power to defeat him?”

To my surprise, Horus laughed, “Destroy him? Using this humble ship? The guy eats planets for breakfast.” He shouted. Do you even know what does ‘Asmodeus’ mean? It means wrath demon, he’ll unleash his wrath on the whole universe, we will never survive, the Lost Souls are our only chance, you, are our only chance.”

I felt a sudden surge of courage in my veins, “I’ll do it, what do I have to do first?”

Horus smiled, “Now, Now, you still got a long way before you’re ready, first we’ll have to stand before the War Gods, for them to decide your weapon and tell you the whole story.”

“So why did you bring me here then?” I asked.

“To give you an idea about what you could be using. If you’re lucky you could get a decent weapon.” He replied.

“Oh, it’s time, come on, were meeting the War Gods now.” He said enthusiastically. He headed out and again, I followed. We entered the Great Room again, accept now, it was darker, and the Councilor’s table was gone, a big pot with a boiling liquid was placed on the fire in the middle of the room.

Four gods stood on the other side of the pot, “Who are they, and what is that boiling pot doing here?” I asked Horus.

“The Gods of War, Montu, Odin, Ares, and Mars, these people would definitely savor a good fight. And that’s the Blood of War, from the Holy waterfalls of Asgard.”

I looked at it, the liquid was changing colors, from red to blue to yellow, I was going to ask Horus about it but it Montu spoke, “Step forward.” He said, he had the body of a human and the head of a falcon.

Horus nudged me to go forward, I looked at him and gave him the best puppy eyes I could manage, he just nudged me harder. I awkwardly walked forward, my knees nearly buckled under me.

“Take a drink,” Montu commanded.

I was shocked, “But…but it’s boiling.”

“Take. A. Drink.” Montu said slowly, pointing to a cup, placed on the floor, he didn’t seem like somebody you’d want to make angry.

I stepped closer to the pot, I lifted the cup placed on the ground, it looked like it was made of quartz, I gently scooped some of the liquid, as soon as I lifted the cup away from the pot, it stopped changing colors and stayed fixed on red, murmuring erupted through the room.

I looked around and saw the gods staring at me with a strange look in their eyes, almost like they were… frightened, even Horus, who was now standing a few feet further from when I remember.

Montu looked at me curiously, “drink.” He repeated.

I took one last look at the contents of the cup, I could see my reflection in the red liquid, here goes nothing, I thought, and with that, I took a generous swig.

At first, it was cold, but when something is extremely hot it always feels cold at first contact. I fell to my knees choking, I wrapped my hands around my throat and started coughing, it was just too hot, after that everything went black.

I woke up fresh for the first time in a good while, I stood up and grabbed the bed for support, I was still sleepy, I thought, just then the door opened, I thought it’d be Horus, but instead, Montu came in. “About time you woke up,” he said, he seemed to be in a better mood today. “The council is going to reveal your class.” He said. “What?” I asked, then all the previous day’s incidents hit me like a wave of icy water.

“Your weapon, remember?” He replied.

I groaned, “How long have I been asleep?"

“A week and a half, maybe two, can’t remember really.”

I stared at him in shock,” Two weeks!”

“Yep, the stuff you drank, the Blood of War, it does that to you. Get dressed, I’ll be waiting outside.”

I looked at my clothes, and yelped, I was wearing none except for my boxers. I quickly changed into jeans and a shirt. I walked into the hallway, still recovering from the shock Montu gave me inside and saw Montu talking with Horus, they stopped talking when I approached them, “Hi” I said, Horus nodded.

“I’ll leave you now with Horus, he’ll lead you to the Great Room.” Montu said, hurrying away in the other direction. We headed to the Great Room.

“What were you two talking about?” I asked nosily.

He sighed, “I won't lie to you kiddo, the stuff you drank-”

“The Blood of War.” I interrupted.

“Yeah,” he continued, “The Blood of War, remember when it was changing colors?” I nodded. “The colors represent the level of power the drinker has, with more power, come stronger weapons, the blue is the lowest level, followed by the yellow then the red, you drank the red, which is not your choice, the Blood of War determines what power you have, you chose the highest, or rather, you have been chosen for the highest.”

“What does it do anyway?” I asked.

“It basically determines what weapon is best for you, by… um, burning a mark on your right arm.” He winced at the last part.

“Burn? what do you mean burn.”

“I mean your weapon will appear on your right shoulder today in the great room, you drank the red, if you’re lucky you might get the bow and arrow, or the war hammer, lower marks get weapons like an ax or a club. Every hero has to go through the process.”

But Horus looked uneasy, “What is it?” I asked him.

“You were chosen to wield one of the strongest weapons,” he said.

“Wait, but isn’t that good?” I interrupted.

He looked at his feet, “Unfortunately, most heroes who ended up with the red mark have turned against the Council buy joining the evil side, they have such immense power, that they think they could challenge us, it usually ends with the council victorious, but with heavy casualties. Which means that they could end up… voting to kill you.”

I stood dead in my tracks, “K-kill me? Why? Am I not their only way to defeat Asmodeus?” I asked, terrified.

“The Council is willing to take its chances with Asmodeus than to face one of its own kin again.” He said.

“Great, just great, so now they want to kill me too.”

“They might let you go by the way, don’t jinx it.” He recommended.

We entered the Great Room, the room was gloomy and cold, everybody was dead silent, we walked to the middle of the room, “Cole Archer,” Said Odin, “You will be pronounced your weapon now.” He said, his voice echoed through the room. Almost as if on queue, I felt a burning sensation on my right arm, I clutched my arm, but it quickly went back to normal. A guard came and ripped my whole right sleeve off, “Hey!” I protested, but he just stood there in shock and started backing away. As soon as the Council’s leaders saw the mark, they stood up and backed away too, shouting spread like wildfire across the room. Odin pointed his finger at me and shouted, “DECAPITAI!” I looked at my arm, and gasped in shock, tattooed to my arm, were none of the weapons Horus mentioned, instead, there were two, crisscrossing, fiery, sword-like, curved blades.

“It’s amazing.” Was the only thing I managed to say, it’s huge black sails and the beautiful carvings that lined the ship’s mast and sails were breathtaking. It looked like a regular ship from the outside, but a lot bigger from the inside. “Oh, it’s a lot more things than amazing, dangerous too.” Horus continued, “This battleship has enough firepower to destroy the whole solar system! Isn’t it amazing?” He said eagerly. “Um, wow, I guess.” I didn’t know what to say. I could see the earth from here, but…. it’s flat. “The earth is flat?” “They didn’t teach you that at school?” asked Horus. “No, they told us it’s flat.” I said. “So that’s what they see,” Horus said thoughtfully, “The magic barrier that seals our world from the mortals’, showed them that.” If the world is flat, then why is my life going downhill? I thought, “OK, that’s it, the tour’s over, c’mon” He took me by the hand and down the same flight of stairs we took on our way up. “Whoa, wait there,” I shook my hand from his grip. “You can’t just snatch me up from society, fly me thousands of feet above the ground, hit me on the head so hard that I blacked out, and carry me to a battleship in the middle of outer space, and not let me at least take a look around.” I said. He considered it for a moment. “Nope,” he said at last. I can do anything I want because in case you haven’t noticed, I’m a god.” I crossed my arms in disapproval. “How long will I stay in this place.” I asked. “Depends,” He said, “If you don’t agree we’ll just erase your memory of this place and send you back home, if not, well, let’s just say that you’ll have the adventure of your life.” He smiled, “Agree on what?” I asked in frustration. “Kid, shut up, will you?” He said. We passed a couple of hallways and went down a flight of stairs. “Where are we going?” I asked. “To the place that might change your life forever.” He smiled wickedly. He laughed “Relax kid, I’m kidding.” I was not in the mood to relax, that guy had a seriously twisted sense of humor. “That’s it,” I said, stopping in my place, “I will not move from here until you explain to me what’s happening.” “Fine, you want to do it the hard way?” he said, he walked towards me and lifted me off my feet. “No, no!” I protested, “The last time you carried me didn’t go well. Put me down!” Horus just ignored me. As we walked through the hallways, I saw other people too, some were wearing Greek tunics, others were wearing roman armor, others were wearing what seemed like animal skin, some were also wearing clothes like Horus’s, white straps of linen tied around the waist with a belt. The ship definitely was way bigger than it looked. “Ok, here we are,” He put me down in front of a huge golden double door. “Good luck,” He said, “You’ll need it.” “What’s inside this room?” I asked cautiously, the room radiated power, I could feel it vibrating. Horus smiled, “The Council of Legends.” he said, throwing open the doors. I walked in after him. The room was majestic, the ceiling was at least fifty feet high, and the walls were gold decorated with drawings of heroes fighting monsters, I recognized the minotaur and a dragon. There were four giant chairs decorated and designed with different carvings, and smaller chairs around the room. On the four great chairs sat four people, they wore clothes like the people we saw outside, and they looked like normal people, aside from the fact that everybody in the room was at least twenty five feet tall, accept me and Horus. It looked like the four on the big chairs were leaders, one of them had a long beard and an eye patch, the other had a white beard and white hair, the third, however, didn’t have a beard, but had black hair, the last was wearing full body armor that covered everything except his face and hands. We walked to the middle of the room. Horus bowed before the council and gestured for me to do the same. Horus turned to me, squeezed my shoulder and whispered, “Good luck.” He walked and took a seat among the people sitting on the smaller chairs and left me standing like an idiot in the middle of the room. “Is that him?” The one with the white beard and white hair said. “He’s barely thirteen.” “Um, actually I’m fourteen.” I corrected, but he just ignored me. “Patience, Zeus.” Said the guy with the black hair. “We didn’t introduce ourselves yet.” He stood up. “I’m Ra, The sun god. And this here is Zeus” he pointed at the guy with a white hair and beard, Zeus just gave me a disgusted look. “This is Odin,” Ra continued, He pointed at the guy with the eye patch. Odin didn’t move a muscle, he looked like one of these old Kung-Fu masters in Chinese movies. “And last but not least, Jupiter.” The only one left was the guy in roman armor, he just grunted in reply, he didn’t look like a very friendly person. “We,” Ra continued, “Are the leaders of The Council of Legends, we represent our nations, the ancient kingdoms, Egypt, Rome, Greece, and ancient Denmark. We formed this council to protect humanity and the Whole universe from danger. But sometimes we cannot do it alone, not even with the help of our fellow gods here.” He pointed at the people sitting on the smaller chairs. I scanned the seats and saw Horus, now about the same height as the rest “That’s why you’re here today.” My throat was dry, I swallowed hard. Ra continued, “We will put the burden of a great quest on your shoulders, a quest that could save or destroy humanity. One that needs a great deal of courage and power. What say you?” I moistened my lips, this was all so absurd, gods, quest, humanity. I kept thinking for a while and ended up saying, “I need to go to the bathroom.” All this talk about supernatural stuff really stressed my excretory system. The head councilors looked at each other, I felt like an absolute idiot. “Very well.” Said Ra, I was led to the bathroom by a guard, the bathrooms were like any you’d see in the normal world, I must admit I was a bit disappointed. After I finished, I washed my hands and dried them. The same guard returned me to the great room. “Now that you’re here, can we hear your thoughts?” I straightened my pose, “What exactly do you need my help on? And why me? I’m not that strong or smart.” I said. They looked at each other, “Asmodeus,” said Ra, “The master of evil, the commander of the thirty-three damned legions, one of the ninety-nine fallen angels, is back, he’s emerging at the other end of the universe, but his emerging is still affecting our laws of nature, Vampires can come out in daylight, the prey is now the predator, everything is messed up, soon he will gather his army of the damned, and march on our world, only one thing can stop him. The lost souls.” “What’s that?” I asked quietly. “Four souls that hold in them the same power as you; destroying or saving humanity, they are the only ones who have the ability to control the four elements of nature. Your quest is to collect these souls from the four lords of the underworld and return them to us.” He paused and looked sorrowfully at the others. “Unfortunately, the four lords of the underworld, have joined the evil cause.” He kept his gaze fixed on the ground. “If you accept this fate, your quest won’t be easy, but you’d be doing it for the better cause, for humanity. But about your second question, you are stronger than you realize Cole, you have great power, but the key is to use it in good not evil.” There was a round of applause. “We won’t rush you, take your time to consider. If you don’t accept, the world won’t stand a chance.” As I was led out of the door, Odin called me, “Cole,” He said, that was the first time he spoke in the whole meeting. I turned to face him. “You might find an explanation for the thoughts that haunted you for so long,” He said, “The answers that concern the disappearance of your father.”

“H-Horus?” I stammered, “But you’re a myth.”

He sighed, “That’s what they all say my friend, and trust me, I don’t like to brag, but I just saved your butt. If I was a myth, you’d be dinner for those nasty lycans.” I wasn’t about to argue. I stared at the golden spear, now stuck in a pile of ashes. “What are those things?” I asked. “Lycanthropes, nasty breed there, you’re lucky I’m a great sniper.” He beamed. Show-off, I thought. “Lyca-what?” I inquired. “Those things were about to kill-” He cut me off. “Come along kid, someone needs to see you.” He walked over to the the the spear and plucked it up from the ash and slid it over his shoulder, it automatically shrunk to a golden stick the size of a baseball bat. “Whoa.” I was awestricken. He looked at me and laughed. “That’s simple magic, you’ll learn soon enough.” I stared at him blankly. “Learn what” He stared at the horizon, ” Come on kid, we’re already late.” “I’m not going anywhere until you explai-” He lifted me by the shirt and into the air. I screamed, but couldn’t hear my voice, and the next thing I knew, we were a thousand feet above New York. “Let me go, let me go.” I thrashed at his arms. “Fine kiddo, it’s your call.” He released me and I accelerated towards the ground. My screams and shouts for help were muffled by the wind, about a hundred feet from the ground, Horus snatched me back. I wheezed, struggling to breathe. “You jerk, I could’ve died!” I shrieked “Jeez, relax kid, after all, you’re in the hands of the god of the skies, the one with the golden eyes the one who never misses.....” I rolled my eyes here we go again. I thought. He went on for a while. After some time I got fed up with his bragging. I decided to play along. I pretended to be interested in my fingernails. “The lord of the skies you say, I thought Zeus was the lord of the skies.” I replied mockingly. I could feel his arms tensing. “Zeus! That imposter, the only thing he does is chase nymphs all day, I’ll take him out in a fight any day.” He remained silent for the rest of the way. “Where exactly are you taking me, my mother is probably worried sick about me.” I said, finally breaking the silence. “You’ll know soon enough, but for now enjoy the scenery while you still can.” He replied grimly. Wow, I thought, total mood shift. I looked down and saw the snow-topped mountains and rivers snaking around the green forests, the scene looked amazing. But something kept nagging at the back of my mind, while you still can, what does that mean. I was about to ask him about it when we suddenly lurched to the side. “Whoa! What was that for?” I asked. “Vampires,” he shouted, “They can’t fly that high, where have to go higher, take a deep breath.” We started rising. The vampires had huge fangs and extremely pale skin, They had black wings sprouting from their shoulder blades. They kept coming at us, there was at least a dozen of them. “But we are in broad daylight, aren’t they supposed to, like, I don’t know to die or burn or something?” I asked. “I don’t know, they are supposed to die in daylight, but with Asmodeus rising, the laws of nature are diminished.” He said, kicking a vampire in the gut and another with the hilt of his spear, it was now in full form again, a golden spear with the sharp end on both sides. Asmodeus. The name sent a chill down my spine. “Who's Asmodeus?” I asked, “Now isn’t the time really, you’ll know everything in time.” he replied. He was now holding me with one hand, and it didn’t look pretty hanging from somebody’s hand thousands of feet above the earth with vampires trying to bite your legs off. I kept thrashing at them with my hands and legs, just when I thought that’s it for me, the vampires backed off. “That’s right, and don’t come back!” I shouted breathlessly. “They’re not done, and I’m not in my full form to fight them all,” said Horus. I didn’t know what he meant by that. “Ok, here we go, this is the part where oxygen is nearly negligible.” He said. “Whoa, hold up a sec, you know I can’t breathe up there, right?” I asked quickly. “I know, that’s why I’m hoping you’ll forgive me for this, like you have a choice anyway.” He smiled wickedly. “Horus,” I said trembling “What are you intending to do?” The last thing I saw before blacking out was Horus’s huge hand slapping me on my head, and then everything went black. In my dream, Mallak and I were in her hometown in Lebanon, we were sitting in a park enjoying the sunlight. Everything was perfect until my alarm clock decided to interfere. I woke up drowsy and tired. I looked around, I was back in my room. Everything was normal, I was so glad all that was just a dream. I walked to the mirror and saw my head bandaged. I touched my wound and winced in pain. What a dream, I thought, a dream inside a dream. Weird. Suddenly, the door opened, I was expecting my mother, Instead, I was greeted by Horus’s smiley face. I groaned loudly, it wasn’t a dream after all. He was now the size of a regular human, about six feet tall. “So, it’s not a dream, you’re real, gods are real. That’s a lot to process.” I said, steadying myself. Horus looked at me sympathetically, “Yep I’m real, gods are real, and a lot of other nasty things are real too, it’ll take time, but you’ll get over it.” My head started throbbing again.

“You slapped me on the head so hard I blacked out!” I shouted at him. “I was doing it for your own good, how else could I have made you sleep. you would have never survived the journey here if I hadn’t decreased your oxygen consumption level. You breathe less when you’re out cold” he explained. I stared at him blankly. I remembered my mother, I ran for the door, but Horus stopped me. “What do you want, I want to see my mother” I struggled against him, but he was too strong. “Why are you in my house anyway? I want to see my mother get out of the way.” I said, “This is not your house,” he said at last, “Urshu, our best architect, designed an exact replica of your room here.” I ignored what he just said, “Where’s my mom, what did you do to her.” I said. “Your mom’s okay, don’t worry.” He replied. “She must be worried about me, I should have been home by now,” I said, pacing the room nervously. “Kid,” said Horus “you really do worry about things more than you should, we sent your mom a letter from your school saying that you went on a camping trip with your class.” I stared at him. “So you’re saying that you sent my mother a fake letter” I asked, “The letter wasn’t fake it was even stamped by your principal.” He clarified “But why?” I said, “you’ll know everything when it’s time,” he said “Wait,” I said, “how did you even manage to get that letter, you do know that meeting ancient gods isn’t in most people’s to-do lists.” Horus smiled “One word: magic, the letter was enchanted to look exactly like one your school would send.” I couldn’t help laughing “Magic? Magic doesn’t exist.” He looked at me like I just ate a hedgehog, “You were flying at a height of a couple thousand feet with a god, and you were attacked by vampires in broad daylight, I say you reconsider your beliefs.” I admit, he does have a point. “Whose Urshu anyway?” I asked. “You seriously haven’t heard of Urshu? He’s the guy who built Seth’s tribute to Ra, the thousand feet-tall pillar.” “Never heard of him, sorry,” I confessed. I looked around “Well it isn’t an exact replica; my room isn’t this tidy.” I said, throwing some clothes on the ground. “You said earlier that I would have never survived the journey here if you hadn’t decreased my oxygen consumption level right? Where exactly is here?” I asked. He smiled, “Come with me” He took me by the hand and up a flight of stairs, we emerged on what seemed like a ship’s deck, it was made of wooden planks. the ship had huge black sails that blocked the sky, they were lined with ancient drawings and carvings that I couldn’t recognize. He pulled me to the ship’s rail and gestured for me to look over. I bent over and all the air was sucked from my lungs, the ship was floating in the middle of outer space! A giant chain was hoisted to the ship, at the end of the chain was… the sun itself! Horus extended his hands, “Welcome” he said, “To the Battleship of Ra!”

The Unknown. It always haunts us. What’s in the shadows? What’s under the bed? What’s in the closet? The Unknown and Fear are always together. We are scared of the Unknown, regardless of how small or insignificant it is. We fear the unknown, the unfamiliar. We will continue to fear it, until...we decide to face it.

"What the hell are they doing here?" I thought."That's it!"

I excused myself to the bathroom, as I was walking to the door, I could feel their eyes staring daggers at me. Clearly, no one else saw them, everybody acted normally, Mr.Potter was explaining quadratic equations, half the class was asleep, and Mallak was avoiding eye contact."Yeah," I thought "Everything looked normal." As soon as the door closed behind me, I took off running. Not in school this time, but to the woods. I went to my secret spot near the lake. It was a cold Monday morning, and I left my jacket in maths class, but I wasn't dying to get back there either. I heard rustling behind me, I climbed the nearest tree and kept watch from between the branches. Eventually, the men showed up, they looked around for me. After a while, they gave up and retreated. I climbed down from the tree and scanned the perimeter. Nothing. I darted home, I ran like I've never run before. I reached my apartment's door and slammed it shut behind me. I could finally relax, but that didn't last long. I saw my mother staring down at me, "What are you doing here? You are supposed to be at school." she eyed me suspiciously."Nice to see you too mom." I muttered. "What did you say?" she asked. "The teachers let us out early today because of the bad weather." I quickly replied. "Oh," her glare softened to a smile "And how was your day honey?" "Great." I mumbled. I quickly reached my room and closed the door. I started pacing the room back and forth, questions flooded into my mind. "Who are those people?" "Why am I the only one to notice them?" " Should I tell mom?" "Should I ask them about their intentions?" I decided that I won't tell my mom, at least not now. And that I will confront them tomorrow. I went to bed early tonight, but I couldn't sleep, I was so stressed out. I guess my mom realized my unusual behavior. She came to my room and sat at the edge of my bed."Cole," she said softly. I couldn't help but stare at the deep lines of weariness in her forehead from working long hours at the diner next to our house. She worked two shifts to support both of us and yet, I let her down with my bad grades." Is there something bothering you? Did Billy bother you again?" She looked really concerned."No mom." I sat up in my bed. "I'm fine, really." I told her about the incident with Billy today morning, she couldn't stop laughing. That's the thing about my mother, her laughter makes you forget all your troubles. We sat there laughing for a while, then she stood up, kissed me on the head, and said goodnight. After that, I didn't have trouble sleeping. In my dream, I was standing on a small hill, surrounded by...snakes. I hate snakes, it's like I've got a phobia from them. They started slithering all around my legs, I started jumping up and down. Suddenly, a guy landed beside me and started shining very brightly, that he drove the snakes away. The light became so intense, that I couldn't see my hands. I sat up abruptly in my bed, just in time for school. On my way to school, I couldn't stop thinking about that dream. When I reached school, Billy and his goons where nowhere to be seen." Weird, they aren't usually late for bullying me every morning" I thought. But I wasn't gonna go look for them. I headed to homeroom, praying the creepy men weren't there, but, of course, they were, standing by the wall staring at me like I killed their whole family. All the courage I mustered up yesterday about talking to them withered when I saw them. They started walking towards me. I didn't hesitate, I dashed through the main entrance, dodging drowsy kids and teachers, and into the streets. I headed to the woods, the only place I can hide. I didn't go to my secret spot, they already know that place. Instead, I ran into the deepest part of the woods. The trees and bushes started to get really thick. I could hear the footsteps behind me, but I couldn't dare look back. finally, after I thought that I lost them, I came to a dead end. "Oh come on!" I shouted, out of breath and exhausted from the long run, I turned around and saw the two men casually walking towards me. I tried to speak, but my throat was dry. I stared at them and hoped that they just wanted to know the way to the closest restaurant. Then the strangest thing that I've ever seen happened. I stared in horror as the two men started bending and their limbs started twisting in odd directions, as they turned into....wolves. Huge black wolves, both of them were six feet off the ground and nine feet from tail to nose easy.They had night-black fur and huge claws. I backed away in shock. They bared their teeth, and I saw big, yellow incisors, perfect for ripping meat to pieces. They started to growl and close in on me. I froze in fear, I forgot how to move. They were really close now. I closed my eyes and accepted my fate. For a while, nothing happened, I opened my eyes and saw the two wolves staring at the sky. I was confused."Why aren't they attacking?" I glanced at the sky and saw something coming down with impossible speed. I didn't have time to look closely, because the wolves started growling again. One of them poised to pounce on me, and I braced for impact. Then I thought "I'm not going down without a fight!" I picked up a small rock beside me. The first one pounced, but suddenly and out of nowhere, a long, golden spear hit him in the chest in midair.I stared at its lifeless body with shock. The wolf lay and started burning to ash. "Whoah," I said. The second one turned and ran away. I was still in shock from what happened. "Great shot, isn't it?" I turned around, standing there, was a man with wide, golden wings. I stared in awe at them. Suddenly, I recognized him, I gasped."You're the guy from my dream!" He smiled, "Hi kid, I'm Horus, the god of the sky."

I woke up, drenched in sweat, I glanced at my clock, it was five minutes to two in the morning. I tried to get back to sleep and not think about that dream, or shall I say nightmare? I tried to get back to sleep but couldn’t, I gave up when I heard my mom cooking breakfast downstairs. I dragged myself out of bed, but my knees didn’t cooperate. They buckled up under me, and I fell with a thud. “Ouch” I heard my mother’s footsteps echoing through the hallway. She burst into my room. “Are you okay?” she asked. “Yes mom, I was never better” I replied. She helped me to my feet, and we descended the stairs. The food was fabulous as usual, mashed potatoes and omelets. We ate in silence, I cleared my plate, thanked my mother, and headed for the door. “Cole,” she said.

I turned around. “If those guys bother you today, try to act more mature, okay? For me”. “I’ll try mom” I promised. And with that, I headed for school. I thought about what she said on my way to school. It was only a ten-minute walk from my apartment to school, but today it felt like a lifetime. It took some time, but finally, I reached my school, it was an old school with a castle-like texture. It had huge rectangular windows, covered with iron bars, and huge metallic doors with extra locks. Well, maybe not the last part. But you could easily mistake it for a prison, if not for the big billboard right in front of the doors reading: New York Eagles Middle School. I started for the main entrance when something in the corner caught my eye. “Oh great,” I thought “It’s billy and his goons again.” I rushed to the front door, keeping my head down. I bumped into something soft. “Ugh,” I thought “Billy’s big stomach”. I looked up and saw Billy towering over me, blocking the sun.” Well, well, well, What do we have here” he said mockingly. I tried to go around him, but his friends were blocking the way. “What do you want Bill?” I asked angrily.” I just want to know why are you still here, aren’t you supposed to be chasing that three-butted dog or something?” He mocked. His friends doubled up laughing. I knew he was referring to Cerberus, the three-headed dog. But that guy is a fool, a head and a rear-end are the same thing to him. I clenched my jaw. I thought about what my mom said earlier today, and decided to play it cool. “Well yeah billy, that’s why I’m here, I was looking for you, and you just made my job a whole lot easier by coming here willingly. ” I smirked. His face turned a dark shade of red. His friends stopped laughing. He gave me a murderous look, “What is that supposed to mean?” He asked, clearly confused. “Idiot,” I thought “His IQ is lower than the temperature, and we were in December”. I seized the opportunity and ran for the entrance while they’re still dazed. They started after me, but I quickly disappeared into the crowd. I knew Billy was off my back for the rest of the day because he wasn’t in any of my classes. My first class was history with Mrs.Burton, my favorite subject with my favorite teacher. We flooded into the classroom. The classroom was warm and cozy, and Mrs.Burton’s smile filled you with warmth. She was in her early thirties. As she took the attendance, I opened the mythology section. My dad was a mythologist, so no wonder I loved mythology. The heading read: Kronus and Ouranos, I knew the story by heart. I read it a million times. Gaia, also known as Mother Earth, Gives her son Kronus a scythe, and with the help of his siblings, the Titans, he cuts his father, Ouranos, into pieces. “Cole Archer.......Cole Archer” repeated Mrs.Burton. I looked up from my book and saw twenty-four pairs of eyeballs staring at me.“Uh, here, MrsBurton”, I stammered. Everybody laughed. Mrs.Burton tried to calm the class down and gave me an apologetic smile. I just shrugged, I was used to being the laughing stock of everybody. We started our lesson, it was about the Egyptian god Ra, the God of the Sun. Ra lived on a flying ship that towed the sun using a rope made from souls from the underworld. He would fight Apophis, a huge worm-like creature, threating to consume the earth, and wipe it from existence. Ra used his spear, one of the most powerful weapons in mythology, to redirect the power of the sun and continuously blast Apophis until he would retreat to darkness. Apophis can never be killed, as he is a god, so that way Ra has to battle him every night or risk the destruction of the world. I was so immersed in my book that I didn’t notice the bell ringing. It wasn’t until the whole class left that I realized I was alone. I stood up and collected my things. I hoisted my bag over my shoulder and headed for the door. “Cole, can I have a word with you please?” said Mrs.burton. “Um, sure” I replied. As I came closer to her, I felt her gaze fixed on me. “I noticed that you are a little distracted these past few days,” she stated. “Is there anything I can help you with?” I hesitated “Uh, no, thank you, just school pressure.” she looked me in the eye, and said “Just remember Cole, whatever happens, stay strong, we are on your side. “Okay.” I said slowly, and hurried out of the room before things got weirder. “what was that about” I thought. “she must be talking about how teachers are always helping you and all that” I settled for that answer. History was always the high point of my day, after that everything was dull. It was lunch break when I noticed them, the two men from yesterday were here. I started panicking all over again, “what are they doing here” I cursed silently. I elbowed the guy next to me, a fat guy who was bent over his XXXL burger. He gave me a look of disgust “what do you want?” he said through a mouthful of food, “Do you see these guys over there by the door?” I asked. “what are you talking about?” he said, clearly confused.“Those guys right there, by the door, can’t you see them?“I pointed frantically in their direction. “Get glasses.” he said and went back to his burger.

I let out a sigh of exasperation, “I was the only one who can see them..... I’m crazy” I thought. I went through the backdoors of the cafeteria and into the bathroom. “I’ll stay here until the bell rings” I decided. Thoughts raced through my mind, “what do they want, who are these people?”. The bell rang, and I headed to class. The next class was math, with Mr.Potter. We filed into the class, I took my usual seat, the farthest corner, as farthest away from Mr.Potter as possible. Don’t get me wrong, Mr.potter is a great guy and all, he cracks jokes and is openminded. Personally, I’m a funny person, but I wasn’t the same for the past three weeks, since the breakup with Mallak, My ex. She broke up with me for no apparent reason, one night she called and said that we could no longer be together. I pleaded with her but to no avail. And who did she leave me for? Billy. That’s right, the guy who couldn’t tell the zero from a donut. That’s another reason why we detest each other very much, aside from him being the biggest bully in New York. As the rest of the class took their seats, I put my head on the table, trying to come up with an explanation for what was happening. Suddenly, someone plopped into the seat beside me, that was weird, nobody usually sits beside me. I raised my head, only to see the two men sitting on either side of me.

“Why are those two men following me?” I exclaimed silently, “they’ve been following me since I left for school.” I started panicking.“Even in the hallways, I saw them staring at me, Who are these people, and how didn’t anyone at school notice them?” I quickened my pace. My student badge read “Cole Archer”, I promptly put it in my pocket. I didn’t want those creeps to know who I am. They weren’t the normal creepy guys you’d see in low-budget movies, wearing black suits and shades. They wore normal clothes, which, unfortunately for me, made them blend in and look less suspicious. the reason I found them creepy is that their gaze was fixed on me, and they had a sort of robotic movement. The first guy seemed to be in his late thirties, with jet black hair and olive skin, and had a Middle-Eastern look. The second guy, however, was much older than the first, with white hair and florid skin, which I found a rather unique and fascinating combination. They were closing in on me, I quickened my pace even more. I saw the younger man whisper to the other guy, he nodded and they crossed the street and disappeared into the crowd. I let out a sigh of relief ” that was close” I thought.

After what seemed like forever I reached what I call home. It was a small apartment in the messiest part of town. I unlocked the door and tiptoed my way to my room. I closed the door after me as quietly as I can and turned around. I gasped. someone was sitting on my chair. “Where were you!” shouted my mom “mom!” I replied.“you scared me” I realized I was holding my breath. “Do I have to stay up late every night until you come back?” she yelled.

“where were you?” she repeated, “I was in detention” I muttered,

“detention till 9 o’clock?” she questioned “then I went to jake’s” I lied, jake and I didn’t talk in weeks, I was actually deep in the woods by the creek, where I could relax. she gave me a questioning look. She turned on the light. It was her time to gasp.” Who did this to you?” She exclaimed, staring at the deep gash on my forehead,” it’s nothing mom, I just fell” I lied.“No you didn’t!” mom said, “Was it Billy?” she inquired.“No Mom, I already told you, I fell, okay?”. I walked to my desk and dumped my books. She walked to me and placed her hand on my shoulders,” Cole, tell me what happened” She said softly. I slumped my shoulders, I knew I had to tell her.” He called Dad a wimp, mom, he did it right in front of me” I started to sob into her shoulders, I told her the whole story, we sat there in silence. ” You could’ve handled this in a..more adult way,” she said smoothly. I knew she was right, but part of me wanted to resent her for saying this, this was my Dad after all, how could she wave off something like that easily? Billy Johnson was the most notorious bully in our school, and I was his number one victim, we had several incidents before, but none as violent and aggressive as this. He picks on me because my father was a mythologist, and one day he left to seek some hidden item before I was even born, and never returned. We all assumed he was dead, it was 14 years already. Billy always taunts me by saying that Dad ran off because he didn’t want to see how ugly I will be when I was born (I’m not exactly prince charming). Today he said it in front of half the school, that was the last straw, I went ballistic. Although I got a nasty gash on the forehead I still managed to do some excruciating pain to his big fat face. We went to the principal’s office, which became like a home-away-from-home to me for the number of times I visit it every day. Mom just patted me on the back and told me to go sleep. I couldn’t sleep that night, I kept thinking of what happened in my mind until I fell asleep. Then i started dreaming, I was on what seemed like a cliff, I looked down and stumbled backward, all I saw was darkness, how high was this cliff? and suddenly I saw a person’s hand reach over the cliff, I stood there paralyzed, I kept telling myself that this was just a dream, and kept pinching myself to wake up but to no avail, I stared as the person pulled himself up the cliff, and fell motionless on the ground I heard wheezing, the person was clearly tired and probably hurt. I rushed to his side, as I got closer I realized that it was a man and he was unconscious, I knelt beside him and lifted his head, I nearly dropped it back, he looked familiar.... then it hit me, that man..... was my dad.