LAUREL

Chapter 2

To see the world through the eyes of time.

Laurel had never given a thought about the meaning of those words. She never did care about it in the first place. But at this hour, at this moment, Laurel felt like time had played a trick on her. The words came rushing like a truck, hitting her in the process.

"...and this time, with the help of the gods, the new king ascended to power."

The kid had been telling Laurel about the place. After he referred to Laurel as a naiad nymph, the young woman pester him with questions. It was then that she found out that she's in Greece, miles away from where she's supposed to be.

The information came in a shock. Questions flooded her brain, and disbelief brush across her face. How did it happen? There's no answer. She couldn't think of an answer. The more she uses her brain, the more her head hurts.

"What to do?" She kept repeating, biting her nails in the process. Laurel knows where she is, so it would have been easy to navigate her way back home. Only if that's the case, but where is not the problem, it's when. When in Greece?

How the hell am I expected to navigate my way out of ancient Greece?

Laurel got tangled in an unknown timeline back to the ancient past. Before the great civilizations came to an end, before countries became established, and before arts and music flourish. There's plenty of things to think about. Laurel doesn't know what or how to process them all. It's unexpected, totally out of the loop. Something normal people in the 21st century couldn't explain.

"How did fantasy become reality?" she muttered, massaging her temple while processing the story the kid had told her.

"A-Are you okay, river nymph?"

"I hope so," she mumbled. She has to do something. It is not her timeline. A change in history can be fatal to the future. She must lay low while finding the way out of this mess. The only thing she can think of would be learning about the place and finding someone to help her or believe her ridiculous story.

Right now, this is what she knows. One she's in ancient Greece. It's a country composed of hundreds of independent city-states separated by mountains, hills, and water. And with some luck, she can speak, read and understand their language without worry. Two, people strongly believe in Greek gods and goddesses. Every citizen of the land believes that they watch over or coexist with them. She had to roll her eyes when she heard that. Okay, Whatever, she thought, passing the information.

The information should have been enough for Laurel to blend in the society. But, there's one thing she lacks, something she never thought would ever be essential when she's in her time. Laurel was not familiar with the stories of the Greek gods and goddesses. She has no idea about Greek mythology.

All the knowledge she has about religion was from the kids' story. She doesn't really have much of world history in general. Her modern knowledge's limited to trade and some famous philosophers. Talk about poor academic skills. She sighed at the thought.

"Tell me, kid, do you have a book or anything that shows where we are and what's in this place?" she asked.

"There's a lot of maps from different lands. But there are also fake maps roaming around. I think it's better to find a journal from travelers that might help you find what you're searching for. You can also go to the temple of Hermes for guidance and safe travel. Then again, since you're a naiad nymph, you have the power to see him, unlike us mortals."

Laurel didn't respond. She's weighing her options, thinking about her next steps. She knows gathering information is the key to find the answers to get back to her own time. But knowing that she's in a different timeline, her existence might cause trouble. Or worse, it may result in something critical and change the whole damn history of the world.