THEOS

Luke stared silently into the eyes of his look alike, while his look alike grinned at him and waved. The same lookalike that had been climbing the steps even to the very end, without any signs of struggle.

Lue had been hoping that he would never have to interact with him, but that very hope felt like it had been taken to a scenic cliff in the middle of nowhere, and shot in the back of its metaphorical head by someone it had trusted.

For a second, his mind flashed back to the time he had met Lukeus, and he had the horrible superstition that this meeting with Theseus might have consequences as far reaching as the ones from that fateful day. Considering that meeting had brought him here in the first place, Luke wasn’t stoked.

Maybe not now, or even in a century if he lived that long, but eventually he knew that this moment was going to cause him a significant headache. Considering he hadn’t had a headache since he broke through to the Warrior tier, well–

Saying that he didn’t look forward to it, would be putting it lightly.

Alright, I planned for this… just got a stick with it.

Just deny everything, and I’ll be fine. He hyped himself up. Theseus was pretty famous back home, had a boat named after him if I remember right, I think he killed the Minotaur too, which doesn’t bode too well for the one still participating. That said, he’s just another child of a god.

Like Heracles, who other than being unnaturally strong, is pretty chill. Nothing to be weird about… nothing at all.

Besides, there’s probably a fuckton of Poseidon's descendants running around. So, as long as I don’t come off as interesting, he’ll forget all about me.

Rex walked up behind him, and poked him on the shoulder, then leaning into his ear began to whisper. So quietly, that even with his advanced hearing, all he heard was the sound of his breathing.

“What?” Luke asked, irritation from having his ear blown into, clear in his voice.

Rex cleared his throat, and stepped back. “You’ve just been standing there, is everything–”

“I’ve never been better Rex, and sorry, did you say brother?” Luke asked his eyes boring into Theseus’s, making sure to keep his face carefully blank. A benefit of being a warrior was that he had excellent control of his muscles– including those on his face. Which, he hoped would make the heaps of bullshit that were about to spew from his mouth more believable. And rather than try and feign an emotion, he figured that it would be better to come across as someone unusually stoic.

Theseus scratched the back of his head. “I mean, yeah. You’ve seen what you look like, right?” He said, gesturing to his face then, to Luke’s.

“I do own a mirror, and I can see that we’re both pretty handsome.” Luke agreed easily, not seeing a point in denying the resemblance. Instead, trying to remember what he had told Rex and what he had told Arya and Spiros about his past.

Assuming that they hadn’t already connected the dots, and figured out who he was. Which now that he thought about it, wasn’t a possibility he could dismiss out of hand. He had been able to recognize aspects of their movements as belonging to the First Stance’s, and there wasn’t a reason they couldn’t have done the same. Except for the fact that Luke had known what to look for, and unless his cover had already been blown or they suspected already, they wouldn’t have picked up on it.

But that wasn’t even his biggest concern, or at least not one he could do anything about. He wasn’t toothless without the Techniques, but not using them at all was like trying to fight with an arm tied behind his back, which he might have to resort to, in order to keep his identity hidden.

What worried him more immediately, was getting his story, or rather stories, straight.

People may excuse one or two superficial similarities, like his name and the fact that he used a gold sword, especially when everything else didn’t match up. What were the chances however, that there were multiple Lukes running around, all of who had been found at sea by fisherman. And to make it all worse, he didn’t remember exactly what lies he had told to whom. Realizing, not for the first time that living in a web of untruths, was just asking to get caught in it.

Wait… I don’t think I told Lukeus about who raised me, I just gave some bull about being raised by my father, and then admitted that it was a lie… I’ve only told the fisher story to Al, Arya and Spiros.

Rex then, shouldn’t have the slightest clue who I am, because no one really asked after the first few days, and Cyzicus didn’t care. Cyzicus also knows that I’m from Carim, but he swore himself to secrecy, so that’s one person I don’t need to worry about.

But holy shit, keeping lies straight is a pain in the ass. Why the hell do people have to ask questions when you randomly show up in their lives out of the blue.

“I know right! Our family is the best looking in the world.” Theseus grinned, blissfully unaware of the tumultuous state of Luke’s mind. Then with a smile still on his, his storage ring flashed, putting all four of them on guard. To their confusion though, what he took out was a comb, which he promptly began to run through his already perfectly combed hair. “So, have you met Pops recently?”

Here we go.

“Sorry, I, you have me at a loss. I don’t know who my dad is.” Luke shrugged.

“Really? I thought dad visited all of us, at least once a year. Does he know you're alive?”

“I– I don’t even know what to say to that, if I’m being honest.” Luke sighed. “Who is your dad?”

Not only Theseus, but even Spiros looked at him oddly at that.

Okay, maybe laying it on too thick… Spiros did just say that I look like Posiedon, but Thesues doesn’t know that, so it’s fine.

“Poseidon. Our father is Poseidon.” Theseus said, his eyes beginning to roll, before he caught himself and adopted a more serious expression.

“Yeah, I think I would know if my father was a god.”

“Are you sure?” Theseus frowned. Once again pointed to his face, then back at Luke’s. “I think the evidence is pretty clear. Orion said he didn’t know until he was dad’s son either, not until he became a Saint and went to Atlantis. So, maybe dad just forgot about you, too?” He offered, his face becoming more and more sympathetic by the second.

Luke didn’t know what to say to that, and felt a little bad for Orion, but he liked what he was hearing. The more promiscuous Poseidon was, the better.

“I’m pretty sure mom would have mentioned it… Is there any way to test it?” Luke asked instead, knowing what the result would be.

“Uhhh, yeah.” Theseus nodded. “There is.” Then looking around, his eyes landed on the headless corpse of the hydra. A look of concentration came over Theseus’s face, and suddenly, Luke felt his robes get wet against his frame.

What the… Luke’s eyes widened as the Son of Poseidon’s arm turned transparent, while the rest of him was covered in a wet sheen. Glimmering in the light of Theos’s nine moons, the teen pointed a single finger at the carcass.

A loud torrent of white water shot out of his forefinger, and mist sprayed everywhere. Drenching each and everyone of them to the bone and making rainbows in the beams of moonlight. When the thunderous noise of pressurized water faded away, and the mist settled, it revealed a hole big enough to crawl through on the giant monster's body. Cut so clean, it looked like someone had taken a giant hole-punch to the thing.

Holy shit. Thought Luke, eyeing the teen with wide eyes. He had known that a Son of Poseidon wouldn’t be weak… but this was far outside what he had expected.

“That’s it?” Sprios chimed in for the first time. Walking up to it, he poked his head in, and started inspecting it. “I’ve seen better.”

“Who are you?” Theseus lifted an eye at the son of House Paris.

“That’s Spiros,” Luke answered for him, “and no… I’m positive that I can’t do that.”

Theseus and Spiros continued to stare at each other, until Theseus turned away. “You have to have it though, that’s our bloodline.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, but I know I can’t do that.” Even though it would be awesome if I could. Killing the hydra would have been cake.

“Can you check?” Theseus insisted. “Even if you're not my brother, you should be a nephew… or related in some way”

“Look… uh, Theseus. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I really can’t do that. If I was related to a god, believe me, that would be amazing. Maybe Poseidon is my great, great, great grandfather or something. Besides, I’d only have the bloodline if my parents were cultivators and awakened their mana. Mine didn’t.” Luke shrugged.

Theseus, looking dejected, nodded, and Luke had to hold back a sigh of relief. Just when he thought it was all over though, the Son of Poseidon opened his mouth again. “Even if you don’t have the bloodline, it’s not too late to awaken it. Considering how alike we look, you can’t be too many generations away from dad. Why don’t you come to Atlantis once this is all over, and I’ll ask dad if he can do it for you?”

Okay, this is getting weird. Luke decided. It’s one thing for him to be curious about some guy who looks just like him, but another to keep pressing. So what does he want? Our scroll, it would explain how he found us at least.

But… I’ve never heard about bloodlines being awakened either.

“How would that even work?” Luke asked, partly because he was curious, and partly because saying no outright, would be strange. No cultivator in his right mind would turn down what he had just seen Theseus do, barring some very serious costs, and definitely not without hearing more about it.

“It’s pretty simple. You just need to drink a drop of his blood, and if your descended from him, you’ll have it! It won’t even hurt that much, honest.”

“Alright, that’s not happening. I’m not going to Atlantis to drink a god's blood for a fraction of his power… I’ve come this far on my own, without relying on any handouts. I don’t need to beg favors from distant family, who I’ve never met before, to increase my power.” Luke said, injecting a little heat into his voice. Knowing full well that had he actually been related to Poseidon and didn’t already possess a bloodline, he would be jumping on the opportunity to mooch off a god.

As it was, he couldn’t ignore the fact that he didn’t naturally look like this, and the last owner of the mask that he had used to make him look like this was very likely to have been killed by Theseus’s family. Even though the Seed’s description said that the disguise was undetectable, it didn't mean he’d be passing any DNA tests. Which he wasn’t even sure didn’t exist anymore. Considering Hephaestus had drones and ripoff T-1000’s, it would be weirder if they didn’t.

“Are you sure?” Rex said, his eyes darting between the hole carved in the hydra and Theseus. “As a friend I think you should go for it.”

“Yes, Rex. I’m sure.” Luke sighed. “Anyways, it was really nice meeting you. I appreciate the offer, but I’ll have to decline.”

“Well.” Theseus shrugged, disappointment clearly written on his face. “If there’s nothing I can do to convince you, I’ll just take that scroll and be on my way.”

Luke reached into the sword with his mana, and instantly used it to double his agility, and reactivated the First Truth of Death.