▌│█║▌║▌║Chapter 5║▌║▌║█│▌

I called out to John saying, “I’m over here John! Don’t freak out when you turn the corner!”

I could hear John’s running footsteps as he rushed around the corner of the bus. As he turned, he was asking, “Why would I freak out? Did something happen to…you?”

He paused at the sight of the scene in front of his eyes. Giselle, not far behind him, eyes grew wide, and she screamed at the sight. My introducer, Garen, got up with a sigh and walked over to them to do the same for them. While he was explaining everything to John and Giselle, who were freaking out, I just sat there, too tired mentally and physically to get up and join them. I sat there staring at the fire, listening to the noise the breeze made through the leaves of the green trees above us, and soaked in the new dramatically cleaner atmosphere of this world. I still had a lot of questions about this world, but since my talkative friend wasn’t around to give them, I turned to the girl beside me, Sasha, and tried to start a conversation. I said to her, “So you’re a vampire huh? Does that mean you are like immortal and hate sunlight and garlic, or is that just a superstition of my world?”

“It’s rude to just ask questions about a person’s race like that.” She told me flatly.

Embarrassed I told her, “My bad.”

I guess that’s one thing that doesn’t change in this world from mine. She had a look of confusion on her face though, and she asked me, “What do you mean your bad?”

A knowing smile creeped onto my face. “I guess they don’t have the same figure of speeches we have in my world.” I thought to myself.

“It means I’m sorry. Sorry I didn’t clarify. I didn’t think that people here wouldn’t have the same figure of speeches as we do in my world.”

Sasha’s face loosened up a bit as she said, “Oh, it’s fine, I guess. Since you’re new here, I’ll let it slide this time, just don’t do it in the future. Most creatures here have the same powers as they are said to have in your world, but some are more exaggerated and some are also downplayed. My weakness, for example, is a bit exaggerated. Sunlight just irritates my skin, and garlic gives me indigestion. Everything varies here. I’m sure you’ll be able to find some books on this kind of stuff where you are going. I’m sure Lord Zeus will be good to you.”

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“Is Zeus really that amazing? Everyone here keeps complimenting him, but I don’t see a reason why. Is he really thatgreat?”

Everyone looked at me and said, “Yes!” all in unison.

I was taken aback by this, and I turned around to see that Garen stopped talking and both he and the other two were looking over here too. I turned back around, and asked everyone one “Why? What has he done for any of you? All I have heard is that how the gods make you do all the dirty work, they treat you worse than other gods and descendants of gods, so why do you guys support him so vehemently?”

Jerry, of the centaur race, spoke up saying, “You don’t understand. Lord Zeus gave us everything.”

One of the minotaurs spoke up after him, saying, “Without Lord Zeus, we would still be in your world being persecuted.”

Sonya, descending from the lamia, then said, “We would all probably be extinct by now if Lord Zeus didn’t bring us here. If working for Lord Zeus and the gods is the price, we have to pay then we’ll gladly pay it.”

Jimmy, of the werewolf clan, that told me, “You humans are full of hate, and constantly hunted us. We may be stronger than you, but your people had way more numbers than us monsters. We all prayed for salvation, and Zeus gave us that. Even though some humans could access this world for a little while a long time ago, that many people couldn’t destroy us all. This is our sanctuary.”

While I can see where they are coming from, something just doesn’t feel right. While I know some humans do hate and hate always, some naturally love everything. I think monsters, just like people of different races that were treated like slaves, would be eventually accepted by almost everyone as a part of society. They’ll always be bigoted people in the world, but I think the majority would accept them. I then thought back to my experience of social life though, and how I was isolated because of my looks though and social skills. I then thought maybe that it was for the best they traveled here. I’ll probably never know what would have happened if they stayed. Humans, emotions, and social relations are so complicated, it may be impossible to predict what would happen. All I could do was nod in agreement from my own experiences. I wondered though, why there are still stories of monsters like bigfoot in the modern day if every monster traveled here. I looked at them and asked them, “Did every monster take Zeus’s offer to come here? I hear stories about bigfoot and stuff all the time.”

Sasha said in a kind of depressed tone, “No sadly, they didn’t believe Zeus when he offered them sanctuary. They thought it was too good to be true. Some also thought that they could handle themselves well enough off, and just rejected the offer. Those fools.”

I brightened up and told them, “Well you guys could have survived after all, if bigfoot is still alive and going strong.”

Jeline, the cyclops, asked me, “Are they though? Are they a part of your society, or are they ostracized? If they came here, they would have all of us to talk to. They also weren’t the only race to stay behind. What happened to the rest?”

I lowered my head and went silent in defeat. Maybe there wasn’t any other way. Garen finally walked back to the fire, and told me, “Sounds like you had some interesting conversations while I was away explaining a lot of the events to those two. Did you find answers? I hope so. Well everyone pack up and put out the fire. We are going to be heading back towards Mount Olympus now. We shouldn’t make Lord Zeus wait any longer in his condition. I’ll explain more things better on the way there. Let’s head out.”

Everyone got up immediately and started bustling around, leaving me there looking around. I watched as the lively, dancing fire was put out just like my thoughts about going home early. I got up and looked around, and hoped to myself, “I really hope this Zeus guy is as good of a guy as they say he is.”

▌│█║▌║▌║To be Continued ║▌║▌║█│▌