Chapter 20: To the Underworld? (1/2)

Once again, life turned mundane.

He would spend his days with Crista, whom he now considered a close friend, and visit Athena when she invited him to her tower, which has become quite a regular occurrence, sort of like he was going to school.

Hermes, however, wasn't able to visit as he was stuck in a place with political turmoil, according to his letters and it seemed they weren't going to see each other anytime soon.

While he was writing, he noticed he had no more ink.

He also heard the sound of footsteps entering his room. It was Crista, with a light frown on her face and an expression that spelt something troublesome.

”What's the matter?” He asked her.

”We ran out of scrolls, f***ing hell!” As she spoke, she hit the door with her fist.

”Me too, but don't take it out on my room!” Alex could see a small dent in his once intact door, his aestheticism made him sensitive to small changes, and he often got angry at such details.

”Why, what are you going to do?” Crista looked at him with a provoking expression and bent her knees and put out her fists, seemingly in a fighting position.

Alex also did the same, and she charged at him and they both struck out a fist at the other.

And the battle ended with that fist, and the two 'opponents' simultaneously stating with a surprised expression ”Strong”

They then both laughed and Alex rubbed his head and said ”So? What are we going to do?”

”I need to go down to Olep to purchase more scrolls. So troublesome!” She stated that, sighed heavily and then turned around and walked away.

”I guess I'll go with you?” Alex asked her.

She turned to face and responded with a playful face ”Then the last to get ready will be paying for everything”

As soon as she said that, she sprinted to her room.

'What a cheater, she even got a head start!' Alex thought frustratingly.

But he wasn't exactly at a disadvantage, essentially having a swiftness specialty. He completed his hygienic rituals, dressed himself and got his pouch.

When he charged to the entrance of the estate, he didn't find anyone, indicating that he won the context.

”Phew!” Alex was relieved. Let's just say the expenses incurred during his trip to Abdera didn't leave much behind in his monetary ownings...

After a few seconds of just standing there, he heard a crashing sound and looked behind, to see that Crista jumped from the upper floor to the entrance hall and was looking at him both with a dejected and surprised expression.

”I even ran so fast. No fair! You're a god.” She said with an annoyed expression, but she also mumbled while giggling to herself ”To be fair, right now you would be a lesser god of the lesser gods though”

Alex wasn't going to back down, so he responded ”And you're a nymph, not even an immortal. Who is't gives thee the right to speaketh to me in such a tone?!”

He was emulating a type of formal Greek that they read in this philosophy scroll. It became quite the insider joke amongst them as they mocked the fact that the author tried to back up his weak arguments with superfluous language to sound more noble.

”Let's stop with that joke, it's becoming a bit bland, like the food you make.” Crista tried speaking the sentence in a serious tone but she cracked and started laughing out loud as soon as she finished it and put her hand to her chest as she could not stop laughing.

'I'll show her what's bland!' Alex thought resolutely to himself.

The two then quit the estate and walked down the stairs, speaking about mundane matters and appeasing to the god of silence when there wasn't much to speak about.

And just like that, they reached the Central Plaza of Olympus, signifying the start of his revenge plan.

These two really did feel like children around each other.

Remembering the first time he came here, he had met Dionysus who showed him a rather peculiar way of climbing down the mountain range.

Although in these 2 months the snow around the mountains has reduces a bit, there was still enough to make for a slippery ride down, and he was planning to do exactly that to Crista.

Alex took the lead and hinted for her to follow him and they made their way to the steep snowy cliff.

”You see, from this place, you can see the entirety of Olep.....Bla....Bla...Bla” He started spouting some nonsense about the city to lower her guard, and she was nodding, unaware of what was going to happen.

”By the way, Crista, nymphs don't die easily, right?” Alex asked with a cunning smile in his mind.

She looked at him incredulously and stated ”What an odd question? That is, in fact, true. Nymphs boast the highest vitality among mortal beings, allowing us to maintain not only our youthful attributes for a very long time, but also heal from illness and injury very well”

”If that's the case, then don't mind this!” Alex exclaimed and pushed her down the steep hill.

Crista, feeling her body uncontrollably sliding down the hill at lightning-fast speed, turned around and glared at him, mouthing something that Alex couldn't hear.

'Anyways' Alex shrugged and jumped too, albeit controlling his body and sliding down like he was riding a skateboard.

Due to him controlling the trajectory and speed of his descent, he soon found himself next to Crista, who had nowhere near that level of control and was almost rag-dolling down the hill.

When she saw him, she screamed with a hoarse voice ”Bastard! I'm going to kill you!”

Alex ignored her and said carelessly ”Care to take my hand? I'll show you how to go down!”

She glared at him with looks that could kill but she ended up putting her hand out, which Alex took and helped her stand up.

Now, hand-in-hand, the two were sliding down and even though she still had a frown, her lips were slightly raised and she looked like she was similarly having fun.

”You got the hang of it, now?” Alex questioned her.

”F***ing YES!” She reminded him of the feeling one gets when driving a fast car, at least, what he supposed it would feel like, as he never got his driver's license.....

Crista now let go of his hand and despite being a bit unstable on her feet, she was barely able to balance herself and keep her body upright.

A few minutes following this, the two would feel the speed of their descent slowing as the steep ground turned flatter and the snow started to dissipate, instead replaced by woodlands.

When they stopped, the two looked at each other with glowing eyes and stood like that in silence, but when both realized they were staring at each other without saying anything, they each turned their eyes away anxiously, and she broke the awkward silence with an unusually weak tone.

”U-umm, so that was...fun, but NEXT EFFING TIME, I'll smite your soul if you take me by surprise like that”

Nevermind, there was no weak tone whatsoever and it was just Crista being Crista.

They then proceeded through the forest smoothly, meeting no Cyclope wolf monster this time, fortunately and advancing until they found themselves inside the dense metropolis, surrounded on all directions by brick-buildings.