Theo 1.4

Theo opened his eyes. What greeted him was a Greek temple, fully decked with marble pillars and marvellous etchings. And the colours; the entire place was a tapestry of vibrant colours. However, the thing which stood out the most about this structure was its sheer size. He wasn’t even a tenth of a single pillar, in terms of both height and weight.

He suddenly felt a tug. A force pulled him into the building. He tried resisting it to no avail. During this time, he also noticed his body. Or rather, the lack thereof. He resembled a ghost, drifting in the air.

A mist covered the whole area. White spirits shone through, and all of them were heading for the temple. Perhaps they were players, too.

Either way, this was an unexpected occurrence. Was it a surprise the developers prepared? Or was it a bug? That was indeed a possibility. They were still in the beta, after all. Even if everything had been running smoothly up to that point, problems could always crop up. It was still a new technology and a new game; he shouldn’t forget that.

He seriously hoped that it would not make lasting damage to his mind.

He went up the giant steps - more like flew up them - and passed by a stone altar. The raging blaze sitting on it made him flinch. Even with it, he didn’t feel anything except a seeping coldness under his skin. Ah, the joys of being a ghost.

He went past the porch and went through a large entrance, entering a hall full of indistinct spirits. He joined the crowd, his eyes fixed on the back of the room. There stood a giant statue of Hermes, with his signature staff as well as his winged hat and boots.

What irked him was the colour. It wasn’t marble white-what he was used to-but painted in a wide array of colours. It wasn’t bad, per se, but it seemed a bit off.

The doors slammed behind him. He glanced back. The hall was packed to the brim. He stared at the closed doors, a sense of unease rising. He tried in vain to suppress it.

The giant statue suddenly began to move, its limbs straightening and its face smiling. It began speaking, its voice booming inside the hall. “Welcome my dear travellers! It’s your friendly neighbourhood god, Hermes. Some of you might have recognized me and some might have had the fortune of meeting me,” at this, he winked. “But either way, it’s basic courtesy to introduce ourselves. Also, there are those who wouldn’t know who I am. I’m a little offended, but no worries. It’s all fine. Because, after today, you’ll all etch my image into your cute little minds.”

The god’s voice was pleasing to hear, welcoming and pleasant. He should try and find out the names of these voice actors. He wondered how many of these characters had unique voices.

He could not think too much about it, however. He was more concerned with the talking, walking statue that was in the back of the room. It was his first time seeing such a lively sculpture. A sculpture with such an innocuous smile, too.

“Now, you all might be wondering why you are still here. You should be asking yourself, ‘Why am I not waking up?’. There might be a nice breakfast awaiting you, or you simply want to do your morning routine. You want to return home or work. I bet that some of you just want to come back to this place immediately. Our world is quite nice if I do say so myself. Well, fret not, my travellers. You’ll be staying here for quite a long time.” He stroked his beard. “Probably till the end of your life, now that I think about it. If you want to return, I’ll have to deny your request. Very sad, I know.”

He stared at Hermes. What…did he just say? What the fuck did he just say?

The statue mock blushed. “Oh. Don’t stare at me so hard. Y’all making me uncomfortable. As a matter of fact, I am here to provide you with a choice. You can struggle to survive in a foreign world, your friends and family far away while hostile entities are close by. And even if you put all your effort into this endeavour, even if you sweat and cry and bleed for that slim hope of survival, you will probably die anyway. So, instead of trying in vain, you can choose to simply pass away painlessly, with no further complications. You can think that you could have survived but simply chose not to, rather than have to face the reality of your sheer incompetence. Now that I’ve said my piece, you can make a choice. Raise your hand if you are not delusional.”

No one did as he wished, though Theo saw that some struggled to make the decision. Well, that was if a spirit wriggling was an indication of internal struggle.

“Welp, I tried to help. I suppose I’ll just send you back on your merry way. Have fun, boys and girls. I’ll always be your most fervent supporter. Do try and live a bit longer. It has been dull around here for a good minute.”

Hermes gave them a bright smile. His perfect marble teeth were the last thing he saw before everything went black.

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Adonis was shaking Theo. Just as he was about to get the others awake for help, the young man’s eyes snapped open. The old man let out a sigh of relief. He gave Theo a questioning look. What-Happen-You-Fall-Sudden

Theo stayed silent. His blank expression was a stark difference from usual.

Adonis put down his lyre.

Silence used to make Adonis uncomfortable. It had been something he sought to avoid. Something he actively dreaded. Thus, he always tried to make ‘sound’, any sound, no matter the method, no matter the situation.

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After all the years, however, he had grown accustomed to it. Like all the other things in his life, really. For all of his godlike abilities, he never had much agency. The world decided his fate, not him. It was something he was forced to come to terms with.

If there was one thing he had learnt over the years, it was that silence was decidedly better for moments like this. Fairly simple concept, but one that was quite foreign to a man whose ears had been deformed by the will of gods.

Theo finally spoke up. His voice was emotionless. “What do you do when those…gods wronged you? Change your life around for their…their fucking amusement. What did you do?”

Adonis was silent. He looked at Theo. He did not know where this outburst came from. He did not know what had happened. The boy had been odd, and there had been some changes. No matter how vague, he could still sense it. Not ‘he’ exactly, but him.

What he did know, was that the lofty beings above had made another soul suffer. He was too familiar with it. His own fate, as well as many others, gave him that experience.

As hard as it was, he wrote. Just a piece of chalk. A voice would have been better, more comforting, but this was what he had. As for his lyre, he still preferred to leave it for happier tunes. Not for such bitter things. His mind ridiculed him time and time again for it; his bitterness was the best fuel for his songs, after all.

Still, he wrote with his chalk, on the hard earth beneath. [NOTHING]

It was hard to swallow, but it was the best answer. He’d seen too many try to get revenge and fail. Himself included. So, what if he had succeeded? After all, he could never fully achieve his desires – the death of a divine being was beyond any mortal. At the same time, the cost it took and the time it had stolen from him were too much to ignore.

Even now, he still wished that he realized it beforehand. He just hoped this man – no, this pitiful boy- would not lose himself in such a meaningless endeavour.

Theo was silent. He let out a laugh. A dry, humourless laugh. “Really? Is that the case? I should’ve known better than to ask.”

Adonis said nothing. He slowly wrote. [I will cover for you. Get some sleep. You seem to need it.]

“I think I’ll take up your offer. I don’t think I’ll sleep though. I just want to go for a walk.”

Adonis closed his eyes for a moment. He sighed, then nodded. Theo did not bother to look at him before leaving.

This poor boy was now fully in the vengeful palms of Nemesis.

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Theo had always liked walking. It was an activity that remained enjoyable throughout the years. Walking gave him time to think.

And he really needed to think right now.

As much as he wanted to deny the truth, he was stuck here. He should have known there was a catch to something so good. How could man make such an incredible technology with no prior indication? No, such a miracle was only privy to the supernatural. Supernatural scammers and kidnappers.

He gritted his teeth. Gods. They were real. This world was real. Its people too were real. He needed to accept that before anything else. Delusions and dreams weren’t acceptable in this situation. If he wanted things done, then he shouldn’t harbour any wishful thinking.

Powerful as they were, he had no idea why they’d summon him and the others here. Amusement? Probably not, but he should keep it in mind. More likely, they had problems, and the humans were here to solve them. Something that the gods themselves needed help with wasn’t going to be easy.

That, of course, was assuming they summoned Earthlings for help. That’s the best-case scenario. If they did, then he’d have material to barter with. To have the best results, he needed strength, knowledge, magic, or anything that could be remotely useful.

With how dismissive Hermes was of them, and with how he told them literally nothing, he was a bit worried.

He shook those thoughts away. One thing at a time. First, become more knowledgeable and powerful. Everything else comes later.

He unconsciously looked at the sky. The foreign sky, while indeed beautiful, reminded him that this was an entirely different world. And it was all real.

That might explain why those so-called NPCs were quite real.

…

It also meant he had taken over somebody. Someone real. Someone so young, even younger than him. He felt like puking. Where did the soul even go? Did the original Theodoros come to the Underworld? Did he enter Theodore’s body, like what the Earthling did? Enter his body and become him. Take his friends and family as his own.

NO.

Don’t. Just don’t go down that route, brain.

But it did. He thought of it. And he shuddered. Not from the thought of being a body snatcher. To be honest, he could not care less about who was the legitimate owner of this body. He had bigger fish to fry. It was not his fault, either.

It was the thought of his family that worried him. What were they seeing? His unconscious body lying in a pod. Ice-cold, or perhaps still warm.

What would they think?

He cut off all those thoughts. He smacked himself. Hard. Twice.

He stared blankly to the front. Currently, a tree was blocking his vision. Trees, huh? In this magical world, would there be Spirits and Dryads? Perhaps what Don had said that one time they went to a national park was truer than they both thought. “Trees have heartbeats. Ridiculous, right? But it’s a scientific possibility. SOMEHOW.”

Well, now they could have actual heartbeats. The human type. Or the godly type. Who knows? Who gives a shit this point?

God. Markus and Don. They suffer the same fate as him. He could only hope they were doing fine. Don might be okay – he’d always been fine through struggles. Markus was a different story altogether. He could only wish for their good fortune.

He couldn’t do anything right now. NOT A SINGLE THING.

His mother always told him to see hope in the bleakest–

He stopped himself.

Theo decided he needed some sleep. A nice, good sleep would do wonders.

He went back to the camp, went past Adonis, and entered his tent.

He lay down.

As he stared at the ceiling, he couldn’t help but chuckle. The tent was not in a good shape. Likely no one paid attention to it. It reminded him of the last time he went camping. They used a similarly tattered tent. It was something his parents had had for a long time, and they kept it for nostalgia. It did come to use that day, though, since the new one was a disappointment.

He then sniffled.

God.

He stopped trying so damn hard. He simply cried.

It was a single tear at first. Then two. Then an overflowing stream. He started sobbing, silently. Or at least what he thought was ‘silently’ in his ragged mind.

He would come back to Earth, to his family. He swore. He would be coming back. He would be. He could not not do so.

He would find a way home, at any cost.

And for the first time in the short years that made up his life, Theo knew what it was like to cry himself to sleep.