Un-blessed Love

Chapter 2 (Rewritten)

Jin looked up the daunting, evil and seemingly endless stairs. It was after the first hour that Jin began to doubt they even led to Olympus. A wave of pain had been steadily growing in his stomach over the hour of the climb, each step causing another stabbing pain. Temptation to just walk back down to hell was overwhelming, but Hades had warned him of the aura of the stairs. They were meant to do that. To convince you to go back down to the pits of hell. To not rise to Olympus. 

He ran his fingers through his silky, black hair. A slight wetness had grown from the exertion. he let out a groan as he pushed his hair up form his forehead, forcing it to the side. His throat had groan rough and sore from the harsh breathes leaving his lips. He decided to stop for a minute to breathe and recollect his thought. He dropped his bag beside him and lowered himself to the grey stair. Looking out, he noticed that it had definitely grown brighter then when he set out. He scrunched his eyebrows together as he looked back down the stairs. A smile took over his lips as he realized he was getting somewhere. It was not brighter, but less cloudy. Barely any fog covered the stairs as it had at the bottom. 

With a new found motivation, he opened his bag, pulling out a mask. It was simple, one that went from his nose up. Not completely covering his face but enough to hide his parentage. He was well aware that if you knew the features to look for, then you could probably tell his parentage, but he doubted anyone beside a few would dare ask. The sudden image of a imposing man in an Olympian military outfit, soaked through with blood, shot through his thoughts. Quickly shutting it down, just tied the rope that held his bag closed and stood on much stronger legs. His breathing had corrected to a calmer pace as well. Looking up now, he was happy to see the fog and clouds got more spare as the stairs continued up. He nodded strongly to himself before starting up the stairs once again. 

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The amount of joy SeokJin felt once he had finally reached the top of the stairs was unimaginable. Once he was at the top, he allowed his body to collapse to the suddenly harder surface. He huffed as he stared at the sky above him. The clouds were a bright white, much different from the blacks and grays of the underworld. He could have sworn he also saw a few children or teen jumping between them. Squinting at them, he noticed that a few connected and lead over the gate... Gate! He sat up fast, causing a slight dizziness. He struggled to his feet and he turned around. Gold pillars held silver walls up, separated by a shiny white framed set of doors. They must be at least twenty times as tall as Jin. 

Stumbling slightly at his eagerness, he went and placed his hand on the door. There was a gust of wind that caused him to shut his eyes from the impact. When it has finally ceased and he opened his eyes, he was met with a blur of blues, whites, grays and golds. His eyes focused to see a bustling town. Olympus. Buildings stacked on each other, not looking at all secure. The buildings were made of a sand colored material. A few eyes turned his way and were followed by whispers, but no one dared to walk up to him. The sounds of the door closing shook him out of his frozen state. A pout covered his lips as he rushed forward out of the way. There were a few laughs in the surrounding area. Jin could not stop the heat raising to his cheeks. 

With a huff, he reached his hands into his slacks right pocket. Grasping the piece of parchment, he unrolled it in front of him. A map, Persephone had eloquently told him when he asked when she decided to pick up painting. It was not detailed. It did have names of passing buildings noted down though. It was a struggle, but he was able to follow the directions. He had taken a few wrong turns but he made it to the tall building held up by strong pillars on each corner. The holes for windows were covered by a thick fabric from the inside. Peaking his head through the wooden door, he did not see any indication of anyone being in there.