Game of the Gods

Chapter 3

"Hmm..." she says stroking the side of my face and giving me a heavenly sort of smile that could ignite the sun for years on end. "Hello...I am Apollonia. The goddess of light."

"What?!" I said, confused on where I was. I stumbled back, a little ways away from where the "goddess" was still poised like an angel. I looked around me once more, trying to process my surrounding and evaluate my situation or find out what time of day it was and the location. But the room was completely shaded cream and alabaster, with no windows, doors, escapes, or even decor or furniture; there was nothing in the place other then the mystical lady standing in front of me and a large weapon behind her. "Where am I." I asked, er, "demanded" the woman.

"You must be Mark." she concluded, dodging the question entirely and with another beautiful flutter of her voice and eyelashes. "You look exactly like your father. It's a shame... He was such a good man," she said, voice light as air. She turned her head a little from where I stood, almost like taking in the room for herself, eyes roaming the place before settling delightedly back on my face and remembering to answer my question. "This is my chamber. AKA the Chamber of Light. This is where I reside and rest when my duties aren't required. It could even be yours someday, I reckon, though you can't decorate it all that much..."

"Whoa whoa whoa. Why am I here, goddess." I asked, hands held up in front of me as my face registered the expression of an idiot trying to solve a math problem. I mean, who can blame me? I was completely flabbergasted at the situation.
The goddess' face turns from a prize-winning smile to a saddening frown, pierced with pain as though her thoughts were literally damaging her.

"Mark.... You are here because you are... Dead."

"WHAT?!" I exclaimed, drawing back and trying to grab something. I tripped and fell on my tailbone, stumbling on words as Apollonia's face drew a flawless expression of concern. She brought a hand to her mouth, reaching out her other as though she was going to help me up, but I forced out my words so harshly she decided against her action. "How the hell is this even possible? Dad did tell me about you, but I never really believed him. I-I never expected him to be right. And the one time I actually prove his words is when I've freaking died? And why am I in here anyway? Shouldn't I be in some Elysium with my f-father instead of--of... Am I being damned?!"

"Slow down and let me explain." She commanded sternly, snapping her fingers to summon a very beautiful throne for her to sit upon. She drew up one for me, too, directly across from her seat. She waited until I calmed myself and obeyed her words before clearing her throat, the billowy fabric of her outfit rippling with the movement of her hand. "Listen carefully, Mark. You are dead, but you have a chance to come back."

"Really?" I asked, my heart lurching at her words and my stomach gaining the feeling of insane butterflies at the relief of what the goddess had just said. "H-How?"

"Since your father is... No longer with us, you are his next of kin." Apollonia exhaled, smoothing out her gown and appearing to choose her words very, very carefully. "And, since you have no siblings, you are going to be my successor, to put it bluntly."

A shocked look sprawls across my face when she says that, my mind fogging over and my mouth and tongue going dumbly limp as the information registers. Me, a successor to a god. No, I can't, I'm not strong! I wouldn't be able to handle that kind of responsibility, any kind of responsibility. Not yet, not at this age, not when I've barely gotten through half of my training and only started to actually learn things! "Goddess, I can't do it, I-I-I would just probably let you down in the end. Is there anyone else who can do this? Why can't you give my father this chance? He's your successor anyway, revive him! Why can't you do that?!"