THEOS

Calling forth his mana, Luke rose a few feet into the air. Glad that whatever it was that was preventing him from flying had released its hold. He hadn’t had the ability for long, but losing it sucked– a lot. It reminded him of the time his car had broken down in the middle of winter, and he had to go back to taking public transportation. Standing at bus stops when it was below freezing wasn’t fun. Not to mention how annoying it was to buy groceries and carry them back home with him.

Of course, considering how driving ended up sending me here, maybe trains were the way to go… nah. He shook his head, amused by his own thoughts.

Then drawing his sword, he inspected the monsters, although perhaps that was an unfair word. Compared to the Gegenees and the Winged Serpents Luke had seen on Sylcra, these were just juiced up animals. None that he recognized from Earth, but similar to what he was used to. There were a few different varieties he could see, but the vast majority belonged to the same species.

Muscle bound four legged creatures the size of horses, with black and white spotted fur, giant unicorn-esque horns that promised to skewer him clear through if he let his guard down, and rabbit like faces, that looked a little to cute for something he suspected he would be killing a lot of. It didn’t quite sit right with him, but when it came down to it, he knew he would do what he needed to, and he would sleep like a baby after. He remembered vividly, his disgust at killing the snake so long ago, and taking a moment to mourn the loss of his own innocence, he activated the First Stance with his fingers crossed.

Thankfully, they were actual living creatures capable of death. As such– for the first time in the tournament the ability he had sacrificed so much for actually seemed to be worth a damn. The knowledge that he had the skill set to actually kill the damned things, felt surprisingly liberating. Like it was with flight, after going so long knowing that he could pinpoint a way to kill practically anything, suddenly losing the means to do so made him feel naked.

Alright, how do I play this? Luke thought, even as the more hotblooded contestants withdrew their own weapons from their respective storage rings and charged into the forest, eager to get their hands on the scrolls.

He was tempted to go and join them, but this wasn’t something that could be rushed into. Finding the scrolls wouldn’t be hard. They’re were a hundred of them, and thirty-six of the scrolls, and the way Hepheastus had thrown them into the woods, all of them knew roughly where they were. A thirty-six percent chance wasn’t incredibly high, but he was confident that he was at least better than half the people here.

No, finding the scrolls wouldn’t be hard, not even if someone else found them first. The commotion that would ensue when the fighting began, and the fact that whoever had them wouldn't be going anywhere for a long time, was both comforting and removed most of the stress in the situation. The scrolls, though, were only a single aspect of the trial.

Compared to the last two, three if he counted the drone that had attacked him months ago, this was the most cerebral of the Olympian Games. He liked it.

The trick is in not getting injured. Fuck the scrolls, once the energy from the potion runs out, that’s going to be an automatic elimination. Which means, not only do we have to hold onto the scrolls, but we have to avoid getting blasted when we have them. And considering the other rules–

No wonder he was talking about not being sadistic, being an asshole and wounding people more than necessary is a way to get them out of the game.

“This is going to be fun,” Luke said, grinning slightly. It was going to be hard, the slightest mistake on either his part or Spiros’s would see him fail his Quest, but even so, he found himself looking forward to the challenge.

“It is… Good luck.” Rex said as Blinky doubled then tripled in size in the span of moments. The teen made to fly away, but grabbing his sleeve, Luke yanked him back.

“Wait– where are you going? We should work together,” Luke said to Rex, flying towards Spiros and Arya as he did before either of them ran off too. “You two as well, all of us should stick together. Going at it alone won’t work. Defending the scrolls for seven whole days, day and night, in a forest full of monsters, while everyone who needs a scroll relentlessly attacks you is going to be impossible. We don’t even know how much damage we can take before the potion runs out. That’s if you manage to get a scroll in the first place. I doubt I’m the only person here who sees the value in teaming up.”

Arya and Spiros shared a silent glance.

“I think I’ll be fine with Blinky.” Rex said arrogantly, and as if the universe conspired to prove him right, one of the rabicorns, a stupid one unafraid of the demon's anxiety-inducing aura like most of its friends, approached too close. A mistake it wouldn't have long to regret.

Luke averted his gaze in disgust as the Blinky sent forth her tendrils and pulled the helpless Mortal tier creature deep within her mass and started biting. It screamed and thrashed, as the eye-monster ate it alive, one tiny bit at a time– literally. The dreadglare’s countless mouths were barely big enough to contain her eyes, and as such each bite only tore away a thin slice of flesh. Even so, within seconds, the entire creature was gone. The only thing that remained of its existence was the blood that had spilled. It stained Blinky’s eyes and the grassy ground red.

Luke resisted the urge to empty his stomach, even as Spiros staggered away and didn’t.

The chattering of countless jaws snapping shut and the heaving of a cultivator quickly put a damper on any and all enthusiasm Luke felt moments before.

Sorely tempted to tell Rex to go off and do his own thing, Luke closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Forcing himself to think rationally. Despite how gross the way she fed was, Luke knew first hand how strong the demon was too. He knew how useful she would be. He just needed to convince her master of that.

“Blinky is strong, but she’s not fast, Rex. Anyone or anything here worth their salt isn’t going to do what that unicorn-rabbit-horse-cow thing just, did and walk into her. You remember her mom right?” Luke said, and promptly turned away while he opened and closed his mouth, likely thinking of a rebuttal. Not that it would matter, he would agree. Rex could be obstinate, but Luke had developed a good measure of the teen. Rex liked to act tough and pretend to be cool, but there was never any way that he would go into the forest by himself when Luke offered a better alternative. That in mind, he focused on the two he really needed to worry about.

Seeing the looks on their faces though, he knew he had already gotten through. They just needed a push. “Spiros, Arya, right now, we all have a choice not to compete against Rex and his pet demon, and have her on our side instead. That and my previous point… I don’t know what else would convince you. So what do you say?”

“How do we split the scrolls?” Arya hedged.

Gotteem.

“Simple. First we find a complete pair. There’s four of us, so we each hold it for eight hours a day, before passing it onto the next person. Once we get two sets, we each hold the scrolls for sixteen hours each. That way, we’re all banking the same hours.” Luke looked between them, hoping that they were following it. Seeing as none of them looked too confused, he continued. “And we don’t stop hunting for scrolls until we have four sets, one for each of us. We’ll keep holding them for equal amounts of time and trading them between us. If everything works out, we all get out of here at the exact same time.”

“What about who gets the first pair of scrolls?” Rex asked.

“We’ll draw straws or something, I don’t know. It’s something we can figure out later. Are you three in oe not?” Luke looked each of them in the eye.

“Yeah, why not.” Spiros shrugged, and looked towards Arya.

She eyed Luke with a hint of suspicion, before nodding.

Leaving only Rex. He made a show of looking between them, and Blinky. In the meantime, another rabbicorn charged into her mass and was shredded to peices. “Yeah, let’s do it.” He said after a moment.

“SCREEEEEEE!”

“SCREEEEEEEE!” One rabicorn after another started screaming. They ignored it.

“Great. Let’s get started.” Luke clapped his hands together and turned his attention back to the divinely constructed forest, and began charting a path.

Their entire conversation hadn’t taken long, but already most of the other contestants had burst into action. Some in groups of four or five, others in pairs, and a few alone. All but a brave few, were visible over the treeline. Flying, by far being the fastest and for now, safest mode of transportation.

“So, that thing won’t eat us right?” Spiros asked.

“No.” Rex replied, having the gall to be offended at what Luke thought was a perfectly reasonable question. One he had asked himself, more often than he would like to admit. Luckily, the demon was well fed, and combined with Rex’s bloodline, and the fact that he had possessed her since birth, meant that it was remarkably well behaved.

“Alright, we can get to know each other better later, let’s get going.” Luke urged.

Blinky suddenly began to shrink into herself, before assuming the vague shape of a cape that draped itself over Rex’s shoulders. Then with a final nervous glance, they all took off.

Luke scanned their competition once again, before steering everyone towards one of the scrolls thrown in the west side of the forest.

His decision, however, wasn’t random. He had purposely chosen to go in that direction, to avoid who he thought of as the stronger contestants. The fact that one of them happened to look just like him, and that any meeting with him, might spawn a conversation he was in no way ready for, had everything to do with it.

Not that it mattered too much at this point. Everyone with eyes could see the resemblance Luke possessed to the King of Atlantis and his offspring.

The only thing he could hope for under the circumstances, was that his presumed situation as an unknown and unclaimed descendant wasn’t uncommon, or at least not entirely unheard of.

Poseidon was a god, and based on that alone, there should be plenty of people with his genes running around all of Theos. Depending of course on how… promiscuous he and his children were.

If you have thousands of kids, who themselves may live millennia and each of them has their own kids, and so on and so forth, then there’s a good chance that not all of them would be responsible. Avoiding them altogether is the best course of action, but when we do inevitably meet, just deny, deny, deny.

I don’t know why I look like you. Promise. I don’t know who my parents are, it’s very sad, let’s not talk about it.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, a grin came over his face. The more time he spent thinking about the whole looking just like a god thing, the less severe it seemed.

Afterall, it hadn’t gotten him into any trouble yet, what were the odds of that changing anytime soon?