Zelus (Perseus Reimagined) (BXB)

Chapter 21

"If he's a God, why is he living here, behaving as if he's nothing special?"

???

"YOU FLEW?" NIKE STICKS HER foot in the rushing stream, and the waters calm in her presence.

"Only for a few seconds, unfortunately," I replied, eying the bird lying in front of me. Nike found yet another injured animal to practice my powers on. Its injured wings weren't dire, but it still kept it from flying.

More weeks had passed since the night I felt the joy of flight. The night I met a new Perseus who ended up being my friend in this timeline. Not acquaintance, friend. Since then, he's approached me frequently whenever we had group projects or simply sat together for lunch. Apparently, the boys he used to hang with aren't thrilled about this.

I'd ask him if they hated me, but of course, he always gave me the answer I wanted, not needed.

Once upon a time, I sat alone during lunch hours at the cafeteria and was entertained by the shenanigans he and his group would do at their table. They'd toss peaches back and forth, gossip about the instructors and how their teaching methods were ineffective, or simply spread false, obscene rumors about them. They were the classic stereotype of bad students with multiple personalities.

I always look forward to the days when Perseus would soothe the room by playing the aulos, the relative of a flute. Wherever he went, the aulos followed, clinging to his waist like a sword. He conjured different melodies with various keys and chords, but the emotions I felt whenever he played were the same. His song and the sparkle in his eyes were the glistening stars in a calm night sky. Peaceful, beautiful, and dreamy. And I wasn't the only one who thought so.

These days, I found myself floating in a bubble of disbelief that he was constantly with me. I don't hate it; perhaps this is something I didn't know I wanted until now. It's just now, instead of just being the daimon who went from hero to zero, I'm also the one who steals the school's popular student, even though it was he who chose to be around me.

"Do I know this person who taught you of our gifts?" She asks. "What's his name?"

"Perseus."

"Perseus, why does that name sound so familiar," she mutters, and I pan up to see her expression, her Rapunzel hair dancing with the breeze.

It's ironic how Victoria and Nike are the same people to me, my elder sister. Though in this world, Nike has an incredible length of hair that trails on the ground, and Victoria wouldn't dare to have such length because the maintenance is hell. Maybe the hair of a goddess doesn't require much maintenance because even the length of my hair reaches down my waist, and it rarely gets greasy, no matter how hot the weather is. Unlike my short hair, I had to wash it every alternate day.

I always wanted to know what it's like to have long hair. It's just I never passed the 'awkward stage.' It's already hard to appreciate the boy in the mirror. Tolerating the awkward stage hairstyle, I might as well break every reflection item in my surrounding, for I don't even wish to steal a glance.

"I remember," she snaps her fingers, craning her neck at me. "Isn't he the son of Zeus and Danae?"

I blinked in confusion, or it was more of a shock hearing the words Zeus and son in the same sentence.

"Is he?" I remain calm, though I'm freaking out on the inside. "I don't know. All I know is that he's one of the best students in the school. Skilled in almost everything."

"He is," she confirms. "We all knew the son of Zeus was living in the mortal realm. We just don't know where. Well, up until now, that is."

I didn't know how to respond, so I just nodded. All these times, I've been joking about the fact that he might be a god because of his traits. Emphasis on the joke! Who would've thought he's actually a god?! Or a demigod? I guess this explains why he's so perfect. From his flawless skin to his godlike strength, charms, and knowledge.

"If he's a god, why is he living here, behaving as if he's nothing special?"

Our eyes clash.

"Sounds familiar, huh?" I didn't understand what she meant initially, but I did only when her eyes studied me from head to toe.

"I chose to live here; he was forced to," I remind her. "Why?"

"Zeus didn't have any choice," she gets out of the stream, and the waters return to their natural rushing state. She rests her weight on her knees, first checking on the injured bird and giving me a still-can't-access-your-powers-I-see look. "The story begins with Danae, a princess and only child to King Acrisius. The king had been warned of the prophecy that the son of his daughter was destined to kill him. It's because of this the king had the princess locked up in a dungeon. Danae prayed every day, and that's when Zeus came in. He heard her prayers and fell in love with her. You know what happens after this, so there's no need to go into details. Time passed, and Perseus was born. When the king knew about this, his rage caused him to lock the princess and her newborn son in an urn, tossing it into the sea. Zeus saw everything, and with the help of Poseidon, the urn surfaced in this city, and Perseus grew from then on, unaware of who he truly was. Not even his mother had told him this."

Perseus is a demigod, and he doesn't know it? Well, won't he be surprised shall the day comes when his true identity is revealed. Being related to Zeus? The God of Olympus... a god! I cannot imagine what that's like. But then again, I'm somewhat of a being related to the Gods. Therefore, it's not that surprising.

"Are you going to inform him of this?" She pulls me out of my thoughts.

I wanted to because I can only imagine how surprised he'll feel, and I like nothing more than to watch others getting surprised. But then again, he might not take it the right way, and our friendship could deteriorate before it even starts.

"No," I said. "He'll know when the time comes."

She smiles.

"Wise choice," she rests on her knees. "Have you flown since that night?"

"I've been trying, but no," I said. "I want to keep feeling that feeling. The feeling of freedom, like the invisible shackles around my wings, had been broken."

"And you will again. You have to," she reaches for the tip of my left wing, where a loose feather sits. She picks it up and analyzes it. "Your feathers had fallen quite a lot. It's becoming a concern."

"What will happen if this continues?"

"I don't know," she answers after the wind takes the feather from her fingers. "You're the first of our kind to have experienced such misfortune."

"But I feel fine."

"And I hope you continue to do so, little brother."