~Scroll of the Dead~
Shin’s eyes opened, he found himself inside a tent on a sleeping mat. Taking a peep at the net window, he realized he was inside a forest.
“Where am I?” he looked round the place
“You’re awake” Theseus spoke up startling the boy. He sat down adjacent to the boy on a log from a tree he cut down.
“Freeloader?” Shin’s mouth widened.
“You really did it brat” Theseus continued, though he sounded even more frustrated courtesy to the Matsumoto siblings “You and your sister managed to do the one thing no mortal has ever accomplished since that guy on the chariot”
“Huh” he asked in confusion before he decided to stand up and observe the location, they were currently on the edge of a cliff. But down below, he could see a what seemed to be a mixture of an ancient Greek and modern city. Ancient in the sense there were ancient buildings tiles with a floral pattern decorating the streets with pillars the size of a street lamp at some sidewalks, they were painted in graffiti with words like ‘DIONYSUS THE GOAT’ or ‘ALPHA RULEZ’, that aside, modern buildings and skyscrapers with digital billboards made the place livelier. What gave it the chef’s kiss was the beautiful night sky, it was mostly dark purple with a hint of orange signifying the sunset with stars as numerous as the grains of sand in a beach filling it up. Shin froze in shock at the scenery, everything looked so beautiful from his point of view.
“Welcome to Heaven” Theseus pinched the bridge between his eyebrows “Starting point, The Realm of Greece”
“Wait, Greece? That’s so cool!” Shin’s eyes lit up, he had never been to other places outside Japan, so hopefully this would count.
“It’s not a sightseeing trip” Theseus scolded the boy as he stood up “Be lucky we didn’t get scattered to another realm or something worse”
Shin cocked an eyebrow in confusion making Theseus growl even more at the boy’s ignorance. Then a thought came to Shin’s head, the main reason he had come here. “Where’s Hana?” he asked the adventurer but was met with a shaking of head. The boy looked down in defeat, he really failed his dad even after all that effort.
“But don’t call it quits yet brat” Theseus assured him “She’s definitely alive, I can tell”
Shin blinked before a smile formed on his face again “I’ll take your word for it”
“Which brings me to this” Theseus spoke up boldly, Shin leaned in to hear what the adventurer had to say “A compromise”
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“Compromise?” The boy tilted his head
Theseus cleared his throat “We’ll definitely find her, this realm is as far as she goes” he used ‘we’ saying Shin would be with him for a while “But I’ll need your help”
“For what” Shin sneered “You were going crazy on that bird guy back on earth”
Theseus cut him off in a calm manner “There’s more to this place than just fodder Griffin. Heaven is a place filled with monsters, creatures, heroes of monstrous strength” he paused for a brief moment “And gods”
“Gods? Like Raijin and Amaterasu?”
Theseus replied back “Yeah, and we’ll probably run into more like them. But that won’t stop me from the goal of my quest”
Shin stared before asking “And what’s that?”
Theseus now thought deeply, the next few words he would say would change the course of this boy’s life. Nothing about him would be the same from now on if he did. But he’d have to come clean as he’ll be working with the boy from now on.
“To become a god” he finally spoke out with pride.
Shin blinked once, then again before exclaiming “WHAAA?!”
“Something wrong”
Shin jumped towards the adventurer “A god? You?” Theseus now had a stern look, to be fair no one would straight up believe godhood could be shared like that so he explained further “It’s not the first time someone’s done it”
“Wait really, then who?” Shin asked
Theseus froze for a while before answering “Not important”
“Now I really want to know” Shin insisted with a frown
“You’ll find out later” Theseus began cleaning his ear with his right pinky “So, will you help me brat?”
Shin now sat down to think, this was a lot to take in. He would be lying if he said all the sounds of adventuring wouldn’t excite him. But he was just a human so he would be dragging Theseus down.
‘Hana is probably by herself, and probably in danger’ Shin thought as he looked down, elbows folded. This was his usual ‘Thinking pose’ he used when he actually felt like making critical decisions. It helped in most cases but this one being different. They would need to act fast for Hana’s sake.
“Okay, I’ll do it” Shin finally agreed to Theseus’ deal “I better get my pay though”
“Yeah right” Theseus muttered as he rolled his eyes
“What was that?”
“None of your business” Theseus replied blankly
“I mean it, in fact let’s shake hands on it” said Shin with a stern look as he stretched out his hand towards Theseus
“Who the hell makes a deal over a handshake?”
“A fist bump then?” Shin closed his fist and stretched it even further “Shin Matsumoto”
‘This guy…’ Theseus’ lips twitched in confusion. He expected something like a written paper or a blood oath. He could tell he was making a mistake already, but who was he to judge “Theseus” he co-signed the agreement with a fist bump which made the boy grin.
‘He has no idea what he’s in for, but that’s okay’ Theseus looked down as the boy laughed heartedly ‘It’ll grow on him. At least that’s what my instinct says’ He suddenly stood up, confusing the boy.
“Get some rest” Theseus began walking away to get some firewood “We’ll be heading to New Macedonia to get some supplies tomorrow”
“Ah alright” Shin nodded as Theseus left the place.
Today’s events were really weird, but that made Shin yell in excitement.
“LET’S GOOO!”
Theseus couldn’t help but chuckle as he was just a few trees away. Things wouldn’t be that boring with the boy around. Then another thought suddenly hit him as he went back and cut off Shin’s celebration.
“By the way I forgot to mention, I’m actually the Son of Poseidon so that makes me a demigod”
“WHY REVEAL THAT AT THE ENDING OF THE CHAPTER?!”