A New Quest

Sunlight filtered through the windows of the place where they were currently at. Julius felt the bright light even if his eyes were closed. Ever so slowly, he opened them up and when he did so, he blinked several times before his vision began to adjust.

Then he felt something breezy. Down there. He lifted the blanket that was currently wrapped around his body and what he saw almost made him wish he isn't awake yet. He was wearing a skirt.

Nah, not really a skirt. To be more accurate, he was wearing a chiton, or the loose, draped clothing fastened at the shoulder – an ancient Greek fashion icon. He didn't really want to feel more Greeky now, considering he's already in Ancient Greece in and of itself.

The door to the room opened and he was greeted by his friend, Sayo, who was carrying with her a basin of what appeared to be water with a cheese cloth floating around it.

"Good thing you're awake now, loser." She too was wearing a female-styled chiton, similar to Corinna's.

"Where are we?"

"Inside a house of a good Samaritan who hired our services"

"I really don't get it. But I see you've met the rest at the Temple of Demeter last time?"

"Yeah, right."

"How long was I gone?" He asks her.

"About three days. That's quite a nap."

'Three days?!' Even in his life before in the Modern World, he have never been out for that long. Then he realized that he suffered from a grave injury before, so he directed his gaze in his right arm….wait a minute. There isn't the nasty wound there anymore! But how?! The spear should've at least left a nasty scar and a severely damaged arm muscular build-up. He was so sure he won't be able to spike the same way as before even if that injury really healed.

But as he looked at his arm right now, he can't believe it. It's as if there wasn't even a hole right there in the first place. "Wha – "

Before he can finish, Sayo answered to him a single name. "Tobias." And she pointed at Tobias using her lips. That's when Julius noticed that he wasn't alone in the room. Another person was actually out and sleeping soundly on the next clump of hay a few feet from his.

"Tobias?" He repeated for clarification, to which Sayo replied more concisely.

"Ah, that guy is actually a pretty cool healer. And he can block solar powers too."

'Solar powers?' The hell is she talking about?' Julius can't wrap around his brain what Sayo was mumbling, and he massaged his temple for that, and decided to just ask about it again later.

Tobias was snoring loudly, and looked so damn tired like he did farming all day under the heat of the sun.

"Jules, mah boy!" Rexis, who heard the conversation between the two, entered the room and joined in their conversation. "Good to see ya alive!" He too looked ridiculous with his chiton.

Julius: "That dress doesn't suit you."

Rexis: "Says the one who looks like shit."

Julius: "Where did we get these chitons, anyway?"

Rexis: "We bartered it from around town in exchange for doing minor services. Like harvesting a loads of crops, thanks to Demeter. And you know, our clothes were filthy af and we felt the need to wash them so we can use them for later."

Julius thought that maybe he's right when he wondered if Tobias got tired because of doing a farmer's job.

"But dammit. I've wasted three days." Julius said.

"No. Not just three days. According to Sayo, it's already been six weeks and three days since the last time she saw us." Rexis replied like he's unbothered by that huge time gap.

Well, Julius sort of understood. Similar to Olympus, maybe the flow of time in another Realm, like in the Underworld, is different from the normal flow of Time in the Mortal World. He's doing too much thinking already just right after waking up from his long slumber. Then, he felt a wet towel being thrown at his hands. Sayo gracefully handed him out the cheese cloth that was floating from her water basin.

"Wash up, you smell. Give the other cloth to Tobias when he wakes up." And she left the room to do god-knows-what to god-knows-where.

Now only Rexis and him remained in the room, so Julius opened up the conversation about Sayo and asked Rexis to explain it for him since the girl was clearly unclear in her narrations.

Rexis: "Ah. So yeah, we met them few minutes right after Demeter, Hermes and Persephone ascended to Olympus. Corinna and I got so worried that you'll die, but – "

Julius: "Speaking of Corinna, where is she?"

Rexis: "Oh – she left. She said she'll hunt somewhere else. We'll probably never see her again. Can't blame her. After all, who would like to join a party of inexperienced fighters in a quest against Time?"

But Julius knew better. Rexis had no knowledge that Corinna is immortal. Maybe, someday, in their future leaps in the eras after this one, they'll possibly bump into each other again.

Rexis: "And yeah - Tobias was amazing for saving your ass out there."

Julius: "Tobias?"

Rexis: "Yeah. Sayo told me something really incredible. You see, when we left them to go to the Underworld, they also met another man from the modern era and they fought with him. And here's the thing, the guy can manifest some powers attributable to the God of the Sun."

Julius: "What?" - 'So that's what Sayo meant when she said something about solar powers earlier.'

Rexis: "Yeah. And they call themselves Mythos. I wonder if the guy we beat up in the Underworld is with them."

Julius: "Most probably. And then?"

Rexis: "And then Sayo said she kicked the ass of that guy but the guy cheated."

The way Rexis constructed his sentence sounded so stupid for Julius.

Rexis: "The guy suddenly manifested the power of Helios, the Titan of the Sun, and launched solar spheres at her. This got her terribly injured. And that's when Tobias stepped in to join the battle."

Julius: "That boy? Are you sure?"

Rexis: "Well, that's what Sayo told me. He was able to counter the Solar Attacks with his strange magic. In the middle of the fight, he even healed Sayo's burns. Meaning, aside from that strange magic he used against the Mythos, Tobias also has healing magic. And he used it upon you too when you were in the brink of death last time. It was him who healed your wounds. And he got exhausted from it. He's out for two days now."

Julius: "So that's why he's sleeping like a log now."

Now that Julius finally got a clearer picture of what happened during the last three days, he now wanted to proceed in the next quest. He told Rexis about it, but his friend only asked him if he's sure he wants to leap into action this soon after he just recovered.

"The heck? I don't wanna stay here longer, dude. The sooner we finish all these friggin' quests, the better. We've gotta get back to Boston." He reasoned out to him

"Are you sure you're fine already? I mean, I'm pretty sure Sayo and I are okay. Once Tobias gets enough rest, I'm sure he'll be up in no time soon and join us. But you – are you sure?"

Julius gave him a decisive nod, to which Rexis only replied. "Sure then, so, where to, next?"

Julius then manipulated the space before them to open up his inventory. There, he pulled out the Greek Mythology book, which, as he expected, was glowing – a sign that a new quest is up for them.

They read the rewritten tale of the Origin of the Seasons. Nothing much changed, except that Persephone wasn't forced to eat the Pomegranate. Instead, she chose to be Hades' Queen despite the results of the bet between Hermes and Hades.

When they turned to the next blank page, they expected another gibberish code that will stir their minds yet again for deciphering. Yet, they met a rather straightforward message.

'1 Corinthians 13:4-8'

"What's a bible verse doing here?!" They loudly said in unison.

Julius and Rexis' sudden noise jolted Tobias awake. Below, Sayo also heard them and rushed upstairs to figure out what the heck just happened.