Even before the second recording finished playing, Hermes had thrown the doll to the floor and began running desperately in search of Apolo. Unfortunately, Apolo was no longer in sight because Hermes had wasted too much time inspecting the doll at the door.
As the trees passed by his sides and the dry leaves were lifted by his steps, the teenager ventured deeper into the forest while babbling a thousand unfinished words, still not fully comprehending how he ended up in this situation. However, the teenager was one hundred percent certain of one thing: this dream was identical to those of subject F-24. Therefore, the only logical conclusion was also the most terrible: this dream was no longer controlled by Apolo, and instead, it was not being controlled by anyone. The subconscious of Helena and Apolo were in conflict at this moment, and from that deduction arose the most dreadful of all results: the ring had been deceiving him all this time!
Hermes, or rather the masked teenager, had been completely underestimating the power of the bronze ring. The teenager believed he had everything under control, but this dream had just awakened a great doubt in his heart: What if the ring had the power to deceive him? It was evident for Hermes to recognize the similarities of this dream when he remembered his experiences with subject F-24. However, to Hermes and any sane person, it would be impossible to think that the deceased Helena was manipulating Apolo's subconscious from beyond the grave. No one would think that a person who died because she couldn't control her acolyte's subconscious was somehow manipulating Apolo's. Nevertheless, the facts had spoken for themselves: the impossible was happening! Or rather, the impossible had become possible since Hermes had just discarded a fact that he had always assumed to be true, or rather, the ring had led him to assume it was true.
—That damn woman never failed in her research! She really managed to control Minos's curse and feigned madness before the council. The ring could control her acolyte's subconscious. No, even worse: the wretched woman was trying to fake her own death!—Hermes shouted, running like a maniac along the path, as he considered all the probabilities and consequences that followed from this central idea—It's so logical and illogical at the same time: Helena's old dream shows failure in her experiment: her mind merged with her acolyte's, and all her plans went to hell. On the other hand, we have the ring's power that allowed her to succeed and thus solve the first problem of her curse. Therefore, the harsh reality is that only one of two options could have happened, and it's the one that cannot be ruled out based on what this dream has shown: Helena came out conscious and right now she's struggling with Apolo's subconscious. But why? Why didn't she just take control of Apolo's body when she met him in his childhood? Why did she wait so long? Or why did she want Apolo's body in the first place?
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
As unanswered questions swirled in Hermes' mind, the masked teenager looked towards the horizon with no sign of Apolo or the servant. Fortunately, the teenager knew that his body was a thousand times better than Apolo's and the servant's, so he should be able to catch up with them, following the simple logic that subject F-24 could not actively intervene in his dream. Therefore, until Apolo's subconscious died, this was a dream where Helena couldn't interfere. Consequently, once Helena initiated this dream, she condemned herself to battle Apolo's mind until the dream ended and probably managed to kill Apolo's subconscious, taking control of the young man's body.
Knowing that Helena couldn't interfere, the masked teenager understood that Apolo's life depended on a race against time. So, running like a madman, Hermes felt his leg muscles burn as he sought the servant and the child's body.
If everything the teenager was assuming turned out to be true, then the situation was terribly more complex than he had originally imagined, and the biggest problem was also the most obvious one: Hermes still didn't understand how the ring really worked, and he had even less understanding of what Helena wanted with Apolo. Despite that, Hermes didn't appear desperate for not being able to comprehend the truth; rather, his desperation came from time: he was running out of time, and he wasn't winning the race he had set for himself because this dream was about to end.
Running and understanding the implications of not getting there in time, Hermes could hear the thunderous noise of water crashing against the rocks coming from the end of the hill, where the teenager could see Apolo and the servant preparing to jump from the cliff. Hermes avoided shouting for them to stop; he knew they wouldn't hear him, and the best thing he could do was to keep running and try to get there in time. But to his dismay, just before he could reach them, he saw with bitterness as Apolo and the servant leaped off the cliff.
—Damn it, I just needed a few more seconds!—Hermes exclaimed with anger, while burning the last of his energy to reach the top of the hill and, without wasting time, jump off the cliff. Immediately after jumping, two fireballs the size of a basketball appeared on the teenager's legs and began pushing him violently downward as they disintegrated part of his legs. Ignoring the pain, Hermes watched with hope as Apolo's falling body approached in the distance, and it seemed like he would catch him before he fell.
When Hermes reached the side of his younger brother and stood in front of Apolo's lifeless face, he noticed that the boy's eyes seemed lifeless, not reacting to his movements, reinforcing the teenager's initial concerns. Removing his silver mask and revealing a face full of acne, the teenager shouted, trying to make his voice heard over the sound of the crashing water:
—We're running out of time, kid! This doesn't depend on me anymore. Good luck!
Just as Apolo and Hermes were about to crash into the rocks at the end of the cliff, Hermes placed the silver mask on Apolo's face, causing a flash of green light to burst from the boy's lifeless eyes.