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E133-Absurdities

Apolo touched his face in pain but didn't react to his brother's shouts, causing Hermes to resign himself and leave the child staring at him dazedly while he searched the room for the sword that his younger brother had thrown at him a few minutes ago.

—Here, grab your sword; we're going to Father's party to find our brothers—ordered Hermes as he placed the sword on his younger brother's chest, causing the child to snap out of his trance.

—But we don't know where the party is! —exclaimed Apolo with concern, unconsciously picking up the sword resting on his chest.

—Look, this is the plan: we go and find a servant, then we see if the servant is also looking to take you to the party, and if he does, you pretend not to know and see where he wants to take you. Got it, or do you want me to repeat it? —responded Hermes grudgingly, not wasting time and heading to the training room's door.

—If we do that, we'll be heading straight into the lion's den like idiots! —criticized Apolo, seeing the major flaw in the plan.

—We won't enter the party room unprepared. First, we'll kill the servant before he opens the door to the party room. Then we'll look for a way to enter the room more discreetly—Hermes replied immediately, addressing the problems mentioned by Apolo in his plan as if they were absolute certainties to be avoided—Are you ready? Remember to follow the plan, and everything will be fine.

Apolo didn't reply affirmatively but approached the door of the room with his sword, showing support for his older brother's plan. When the two brothers reached the door of the training room, they walked out as usual and found themselves in the stone corridors of the castle. After walking for a few minutes through the cold stone corridors, the two brothers came across a servant who "coincidentally" was the only one searching for them in this area.

—My lord, where were you? —asked the servant, running towards Apolo with speed.

—I was training, I forgot today was my father's party. Could you take me to the party location? —Apolo asked directly, making Hermes slap his forehead with his palm. However, the servant seemed quite pleased with the child's initiative, not suspecting the intentions of the two young men, and even more importantly, ignoring the fact that Hermes' robe was still stained with blood, something that Hermes himself had forgotten.

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—Of course, come this way, let's not waste any time! —said the servant, grabbing Apolo's arm unabashedly to push him back the way they had come.

—You seem in a hurry. Is the party ending soon? —Hermes asked while trotting alongside the servant and his younger brother.

—The party is about to end, so if we take too long, we'll only arrive in time to eat the cake—said the servant, causing his steps to quicken to the point of starting to run through the corridors.

—Then we'd better hurry up... —added Hermes, looking at Apolo's back with a bitter smile. He was still not sure, but everything seemed to indicate that Apolo's subconscious was taking control of the child's dream, which in turn indicated that Apolo had developed another traumatic experience that was demanding to take center stage in this dream. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened, but each time it did, it meant more trouble for the masked teenager, so Hermes wasn't very happy to see how Apolo's subconscious was starting to impose strange conditions on the dream, preventing him from continuing his work.

The servant, the teenager, and the child ran through the castle's corridors for a few minutes, which slowly turned into hours: going up stairs and then down them, then circling around in circles until finally, Hermes' patience ran out, and he pointed out the obvious problem:

—We've passed through this place five times already, and by now, we could have easily run to the neighboring town. So tell me, where is the party taking place?!

—It's this way! —shouted the servant, ignoring Hermes' question and instead increasing his speed.

Hermes fell silent, watching with attention as it seemed that Apolo had already been infected by the atmosphere created by his dream. Thus, the child was unaware of the absurd situation he was experiencing. Which indicated that this "Apolo" was not very different from the servant who was holding his arm. Now, both of them were part of the child's subconscious, indicating to Hermes that he had completely lost control over the dream.

With resignation, Hermes understood that this was another wasted night, and unfortunately, he couldn't make any progress with his work today. Therefore, the teenager decided to continue following "Apolo" and the servant, boredly waiting for the child to wake up, and hopefully, overcome some of the trauma he had experienced today.