OLYMPIA

The Test

Athena's POV

I woke up the next day and got prepared for the exam. The exam that would shape my future. I had never felt so nervous, the human race depended on me and if I didn't pass I didn't know what would happen. First up was the physical, changing in to my clothes I let my mind wonder and speculated what the world would be like if we hadn't ruined it. Ares and I would often sneak off to the library and look at history books of what the earth once looked like. We would dream up all the places we would travel too if we could, these were only pipe dreams though, we both knew we would never be able to travel the world like we wanted, but the thought was enough to keep our mind occupied and distracted from the reality of the future of our lives. I walked into the canteen and instantly spotted the black fluffy hair that belonged to Ares "Hey Athena over here!" he called out to me excitedly, I walked over with a fake smile plastered on my face. Unfortunately Ares instantly saw through my act of happiness, as I approached his smile dropped "Athena you need to stop worrying, you've practiced for this and you're ready, Hermés thinks so too" he said trying to offer me comforting words. "Thank you Ares" I replied sincerely whilst chomping into my breakfast.

After breakfast, we both walked in silence to the training room where the exam was taking place. I looked at the board and saw the layout of the exam. I would be starting in the Deci room, a room that is completely soundproofed, equipped with high tech electronic detectors that could pick up even the smallest of sounds, for this room I would need to slow my heart rate down and stay completely still for five minutes, this would be scored out of ten, if the detectors sense too much noise I'll be given points and to pass this test I need to get under three. We had been learning how to slow our heart rate for the past five years so I had no trouble with this, Zeus always instilled in us that the point of this room was too train us to be silent in any situation, mainly if we needed to attack a LIVE agent without alerting nearby workers. I stepped into the Deci Room and saw a small cube in the centre "Athena as soon as the cube is stepped on the test will begin, if you step off the cube or if you make any sound at all, you will fail this part of the test, do you understand" a stern automated voice came over the loudspeaker. I took a deep breath "affirmative" I replied hesitantly. After a few more deep breaths I stepped onto the small cube in front of me, a small noise came from the hologram timer that was projected onto the wall. 

I saw the seconds slowly go by, a memory started playing in my head of the time that Zeus had let ten-year-old Ares and I go outside to play. We had never been allowed out on our own before and we were so excited, we found a slab of wood and some rope and decided to attempt to make a sled. It was summer time and snow was nowhere to be seen, so we just took it in turns dragging each other on the sled along the pavement and down a small ramp. I had the first go on the sled much to Ares' disappointment, he dragged me around for a few minutes before demanding his turn to sit on the sled. I stood up and reluctantly pushed him down the small ramp. A small rock had managed to find its way onto the path and when it collided with the sled it sent Ares flying off and slamming into the gravel driveway. I ran to his aid desperate that he would only have a couple cuts and bruises, Zeus would get mad at both of us if it was bleeding too badly. As i approached Ares i looked down to see his knees were bloodied and his elbow had a small cut as well, Ares was bawling his eyes out and one of the OLYMPIA workers picked Ares up and told me to follow him to the Infirmary. The OLYMPIA worker placed Ares on a bed -

A loud beep spread through the room and I glanced at the clock on the wall '0:00' . I sighed a deep breath of relief and walked out of the room. I glanced over at Ares who had just come out of the 'Arena' room. "How do you think you did?" I asked curiously, he glanced at me with a satisfied look before replying "I think tha-, No Im certain that I passed" I nodded and sipped from my bottle of water contently before he turned to me "What about you Ath?" I smiled at the nickname that he had come up with when he was younger before i hastily replied to his question "I think I did well, I did a lot of daydreaming whilst the time passed though". He glanced at me uncertainly "About what?" I looked over at his worried face and my heart melted, "Ares don't worry I'm not going to try and leave again, I promise. I was actually thinking about that time that we made the sled after Zeus let us out for the first time" a relieved smile appeared on his face and a small chuckle escaped his mouth " Oh god, Zeus was so pissed at us that day, remember when he burst through the doors of the infirmary and broke one of the hinges?" I laughed upon hearing the funny occurrence that happened that day. I looked over at Ares with a more serious look on my face this time.

"You know I'll never leave you again, I'm sorry that I tried to before, but Zeus and I had gotten into a huge fight and I just couldn't deal with all of this anymore" I desperately tried to explain.

"Couldn't deal with what?" Ares said looking at me inquisitively .

"Life, Ares. Do you know what its been like trying to fit into Zeus' perfect world?, the pressure got to me one day and I packed all my shit and I le-" I tried to reason before I was interrupted. 

"I know what happened, you don't need to remind me. Look Athena, I'm not mad that you left. I never was". Ares took a deep sigh before looking up at me with a tear brimming in his eye

"I was mad that you left me behind, you're my best friend, and you always have been" he choked out. I smiled at him and gave him a big hug. I looked over his shoulder at the huge clock in the corridor and saw that our break was over, I looked over at Ares and nodded at him "Good luck, and stop crying Ares or you might not pass the Deci Test, and I need you with me when we take down LIVE".

We smiled at each other before heading into the other room that we each hadn't completed a test in. Walking into the 'Arena' ,  My eyes searched the room looking for my weapon of choice, I finally spotted it, placed delicately on a beam near the ceiling. "Of course they wouldn't make it easy" I huffed under my breath. Looking around at the objects in the room I figured out a way to reach the ceiling, I knew it wouldn't be easy though, I ran and jumped onto a tiny ledge that was delicately hanging on the wall. I looked around and jumped onto the next one which was only a few meters away, I followed this pattern all the way to the top and then slowly got off and pigeon stepped on the wooden beam. Thats when I saw it, a few meters and it would be within my grasp. Another couple of steps and I was able  to grab my throwing knives and special weapons harness that strapped to my back. I reached down carefully and grabbed my stuff before standing upright in a swift motion. As I stood up straight, I had a quick loss of balance and started heavily wobbling on the beam before finally managing to stand normally. As I stepped forward to get to the other side of the beam, I heard a huge crack, the beam had nearly split and was folding in two. I looked down and knew that if I fell then I was a goner. I ran as fast as I could praying I wouldn't loose my footing. Thats when I heard a high pitched screech and i looked directly behind me, OLYMPIA were really testing us this year apparently. Directly behind and quickly gaining on me was a huge monster made up of different animals that even I couldn't figure out what the mixture of DNA was. I managed to make if off the beam in time and jumped onto a piece of furniture that I had not spotted before. I quickly rummaged around in my harness bag and grabbed a poisoned dagger doused in a neurotoxin that causes organ failure in seconds. I spotted the creature coming towards me in my peripheral vision, right at the last minute I turned and plunged my dagger into the chest of the beast. I looked down as I saw the   life slowly drain out and it disintegrated into a powder, I was out of breath and slowly becoming more fatigued by the minute. I was grateful when the door opened and I was able to leave. 

I walked into the lobby and saw Ares there with his head in his hands. I walked over to him and slid down the wall next to him. Sweat dripped off me and I was still panting heavily as I looked over and asked "Whats wrong Ares?" with a concerned look on my face. 

He looked up at me with a huge grin on his face "Oh my god you still fall for this trick every time I do it?!" he laughed at me. I rolled my eyes with a smile on my face, "I'm starved lets go get dinner" I relied to Ares. He nodded and we both walked off to the canteen. On our way we bumped into Hermés "Athena! Ares!, I'm so proud of both of you. I watched your performances and you went above and beyond what I expected. You both should be so proud of yourselves. I'll let you know your results tomorrow" We both thanked him and carried on the way to the canteen. 

Although Hermés had put some of my worry to rest, I was still nervous to find out the results. "Hey, are you even listening to me?" Ares barked at me, "Shit sorry Ares, I'm just so stressed about tomorrow, what were you saying?" I replied. "It doesn't matter. Look, I know you're worried but theres nothing else you can do now, so stop overthinking and just get some sleep. I would happily bet my right arm that you've passed the exam, thats how confident I am" He encouraged me. I smiled at him and gave him a big hug while tears started to make my eyes glisten "Thank you Ares" I whispered into his chest. I don't know what I would've done without Ares in my life. I wished him a goodnight and went to crawl into bed. I laid in bed looking up at the ceiling waiting for sleep to take over me, my mind drifted off to other happy memories of my time here at OLYMPIA. I smiled to myself and felt sleep take over me.