Gods of All Nations

Chapter Two

Jake woke up and felt the warm sunlight on his face. It took him a moment or two to realise why he felt so horrible. As the memories flooded in, he kept his eyes shut. He hoped, childishly, that it was it was all a dream, that the absurd, impossible events that had happened the day prior were just a figment of his imagination, and that he would wake up in the same bed and put on the same uniform and eat the same breakfast. But as much as he wished it were true, Jake knew it had happened. He had died and his mother wanted to kill herself with grief and his entire world had fallen apart. If only that was it.

He lay there listening, until he faced reality and knew he had to look around.
Finally, reluctantly, Jake opened his eyes. It was a plain room, with nothing except a bed and a bedside cabinet which held a bland lamp. Confusion soared through Jakes body as he neither knew nor wanted to know this room. He stood up and walked to the window. There was a blind, which was slightly too small to cover the entire window, and it allowed light and warmth to enter to room. He pulled the blind to one side and was suddenly assailed by the pure height that he was at, and the beauty he was seeing beneath him.

It was a city. No, a city would not be a fitting description of this majestic, almost heavenly place. A city was wild and bustling and loud, whereas this was the complete opposite. It was a utopia, a place of absolute perfection. Had he died and gone to heaven.

''That wouldn't be too bad' Jake thought.
'At least I'm not in hell'
There were buildings that were made entirely out of diamonds and golds and emerald and buildings that reached so high it was as though they could touch the fiery morning sun.

The sun.

Could the sun be seen from heaven? Was this even the sun of Earth? Was he, perhaps, on a other planet? Jakes ridiculous thoughts were suddenly interrupted when the bedroom of his door opened, and there stood a woman who looked to be about in her twenties.
She simply stood there, looking at Jake as though he was a mildly interesting specimen she had never seen before.

'Um, can I help you?' Jake asked hesitantly
Jake almost laughed. Can he help her? He needed to know where he was, what was going on, why he was here. But Jake kept all these things in his mind. She didn't look like she wanted to be questioned. Instead she said
'Someone wants to see you'
She spoke with a soft voice, yet it demanded authority.
'Someone?' Jake replied
'The person that owns everything you were gawping at outside the window'
'Were you watching me?'
'Do you have a problem?' She replied curtly.
'Yes. I do.'
'And what is the problem that is obviously so important that we need to keep the king waiting?'
'King? What king?'
'The king that can have you killed as easily as he could have had you summoned to him. So hurry up with your 'problem' if you want to be alive to have it solved.'
'Fine. I am in a building I have never seen before, in a room I have never seen before inside a city that looks like it belongs in a fairy tale.'
'And where is the problem?'
Jake stared daggers at her as he replied in a tone that clearly suggested he was having trouble keeping his anger under control.
'Where am I? What am I doing here? What do you want from me?'
'You're in Greece, in the city of Alympus, which is Greek for Olympus. I do not know what you are doing, but I presume that the king would know that. And, right now, I don't want anything from you except that you follow me where the rest of your questions can be answered. Happy?'
'Not particularly' replied Jake

The woman ignored his remark and strode out of the room, and Jake, seeing nothing else that he could do, followed her.

The corridors were gorgeous. They had deep red carpets lining the floor neatly, and pure black walls that seemed to suck the very light out of the area. It gave the effect of a sort of miniature black hole, but Jake shook that ridiculous idea out of his head. In the few seconds he had been looking at the walls, the woman in front of him disappeared. Perplexed, Jake looked around the corridors and could not see how she vanished. It was a completely straight corridor for as far as the eye could see. Suddenly, he heard footsteps resounding around the corridor.
'Hello? Is anyone there'
Jake looked around. The footsteps seemed to be getting closer.

His heart pounded hard in his chest as the footsteps got closer and closer. The footsteps seemed to be right next to him, Jake sweating crazily and still looking around for something, anything, the footsteps stopped, as suddenly as they started. Jake gave out a sigh of relief when he realised his feet were wet. He looked down at the previously crimson floor.

Blood.