Chapter Seven - Fates Had Us Meet

Winston School of the Gifted had the most majestic library I've seen in the Mortal Realm. It had medieval mosaic architecture with five-meter black and white granite support pillars. Replica art of famous artists filled the library such as the Bust of Nefertiti and Michelangelo's David. The flooring was paved with black and white checked marble. The bookshelves were about two and a half meters tall with nine rows of books.

However, the library's history section was biased toward British history and parts of central Europe. Where're the Egyptian hieroglyph books? The Norse and Greek mythology books? African manuscripts? Even a book about Shinigami would be great. I searched daily from stem to stern for any record about the deities but found nothing. All I needed was something to lead me to Death. Yes, I needed something to help me have an encounter with the god of death, Thanatos, in the Mortal Realm.

According to my fragmented memory, Thanatos is the chief god of death in the Divine Realm and a member of the Council of Kings representing Transition. All gods of death were answerable to him, including Anubis.

Thanatos' position makes it difficult for him to carry out his basic duties like collecting souls for the Underworld. Normally, he just signs paperwork on where each soul should go.

Oh, didn't I mention that I remember more about the Council of Kings now that I'm older? Well, it would seem each king or chief in the Council embodied and governed an aspect of life in the Mortal Realm.

Odin embodied Knowledge of the mortals as the KAK. With the rapid technological advancement of man, Odin would have to transcend to become a Celestial to be able to contain the mortal's growth. That's the main reason he wants a successor. The old man's time was running out and my idiot son was my throne to be eligible for the throne of KAK.

My anxiety welled up each day I failed to find any clues leading to Thanatos. Everything changed the day I met the most dangerous thing in the Mortal Realm, a mysterious beautiful woman.

This person was a young redheaded woman, in her late 20s I believed, with freckles and cupid lips. She had white brow line glasses but her hazel shone brightly. Her body was petite yet curvy with an eye-catching bust. She wore a dark navy blue t-shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers with a brown bag for her books. She was so beautiful woman that she reminded me of Aphrodite, the goddess of Love.

Aphrodite was the only titan that stayed neutral in the Titan War and she was in full support of me becoming King of Olympus. For some time, I believed she wanted to be my queen (kind of wish it was her who snuck into my chambers on my coronation day), but she genuinely cared for my well-being. She was a real friend to me on Olympus.

The mysterious woman was seated reading an odd decrepit book. I could barely see any words on the cover and she read it so intently. I found it strange for someone like her to be reading a book the sages would have loved.

As I approached her, the air felt heavy and I couldn't breathe. I felt a strong cold grip on my heart, my legs began to shake and I had vertigo. This shift came from that book. I sensed an intense ominous godly aura coming from the book and the redheaded woman seemed unaffected by it. Mortals can be so lucky to be ignorant of godly aura.

"Hey, are you feeling okay?" The redhead asked.

I reached for the nearest chair across from her to stabilize my balance.

"Yes, thank you. I'm fine."

"Please, sit. I'll get you some water." She put the book down and rushed off.

Being that close to the book, I could smell its foul stench and this made it even more difficult to breathe. But I could now sense the origin of this aura. It was a deathly aura and I knew that this book was my ticket to Thanatos. I reached for it to read but no sooner had my hand touched the book than the redhead tapped me on the shoulder.

"Here you go." She placed the glass on the table and I got a whiff of her sweet aroma. She smelled like fresh dandelions. How could someone smell so sweet and yet read a book with a foul stench?

"Thank you."

She sighed, "You scared me for a bit there."

"Sorry. Spontaneous vertigo is one of my specialities."

She laughed and my mortal heart skipped a beat. I was flushed and I felt like I was falling in love. At that exact moment, there was a loud car crash into a pole. There was a family of six in that car but thankfully they all survived. I knew that was a warning from the goddess of marriage and family, Hera. I immediately wanted to run before she sends more warns that might now harm me.

"Wow, that was a close call." She said sighing.

Her voice was so feminine and nice I decided to stay and let Hera do her worst. Wouldn't be the first time I've done this dance with my wife. Besides, I'm mortal now so I need to do what the mortals do best, procreate.

"What's your name kid?"

"M-my name is Jason, 12 years old and single and you are?"

"I'm Katherine McCain, 29 years old, an Oxford graduate student of anthropology. Nice to meet you. " She said with a smile.

She's 17 years older than me? I can work with that. I just need to find a way to make her fall in love with a 6090-year-old deity stuck in a 12-year-old body. But first, I need to find out more about that book.

"W-what is that book you're reading? It looks rather old."

Katherine's face lit up with excitement. She grabbed the book and sat next to me.

"I found this book the other in the literature section and I suddenly just felt like reading it. Take a look."

She brushed her shoulder next to mine as she showed me the book; her perfume was more defined now. I squealed like a pig when pushed my shoulder even harder.

"Are you still feeling dizzy?"

"No, I'm fine. Don't worry."

"Okay. So, when I started reading this book, I started to feel this weird presence from it and then I found something interesting."

I looked at old worn-out pages and I realised that this encounter with Katherine was predestined. On the page she opened, was a drawing of me falling to the Mortal Realm from the Divine Realm in the form of lightning.

This book wasn't a book of death. It was a book of a dark prophecy about me, and the owners planned for this to happen. Damn the sisters of fate and their ways.