Eternity

Prologue

 Persephone

The time is...2 in the morning. Eastern Standard Time. I'm closing up my club. It's only me and my bar tender Thalia. 

Thalia...and old name for a young soul. She is nothing like the Thalia from old stories, when I first saw her application I thought...I thought otherwise. But after knowing her for two years, she is just a young soul with an old name. 

A beautiful, young soul. 

That's another thing about her, I have these feelings. New and...warm. She stays late to help me clean up the club, comes in early to open. She talks to me and listens when I need to talk. Something I've never had. And from a mortal no less. A simple mortal. 

Mortals dragged me from Olympus. Mortals destroyed my home...my mother. Mortals destroyed everything in the old world and now the Gods were...little to none. Even lesser gods. Not to mention the council. Athena checked in on me; Apollo and Aphrodite still lingered around but I kept my distance. That is all I know. I try not to linger on those thoughts. Not these days. That was centuries ago, a life time. I keep my distance from it all. 

Especially with all these...stirrings that have come up since meeting Thalia. I can hardly sleep without her haunting my dreams. Especially if we end up in the same dwelling, it's happened a few times. Especially after a break up, she needed a girl debrief? I didn't really understand at the time but she ended up falling asleep on my couch and I took her to bed. And then I spent the rest of the night watching her sleep, I wouldn't ever tell her, I just said I woke up before her. 

Things were quiet, have been for centuries. But on this night, I feel restless as I watch Thalia from my office. It could be a number of reason. My longing for her has been especially powerful. From what I know, she isn't seeing anyone, so I could...indulge. She goes with men and women, as I've admired. I have a taste for women, perhaps it's just this body. 

I had to leave my old body behind at the turn of the century, get a new look. 

But this restlessness, I haven't felt anything like this before. And I know I'm not horny, I've taken care of that. 

Was Athena coming? She did have a knack for coming unannounced. I do allow other gods to come to my club and enjoy themselves. It is a safe space. But we don't usually mingle. And it was empty. It was just Thalia, cleaning up behind the bar. 

Something else was happening. Something just out of my reach, out of my sight. 

For now I would just keep Thalia safe, perhaps take her home. I hadn't done that before, as much as she had come to my dwelling, I had not seen hers. 

What I didn't know...was that being close to me was what the worst place she should be. 

The other gods were restless, and that's what caused it in me. It was time for change in their eyes. 

Not in mine.