Chase
. . .
"Why do I feel like someone is following us somewhere?" I asked Agnes when I thought I saw a silhouette or some figure watching us from a distant. It made me cautious in my surroundings and look if someone might be after us, but I hope it's just my imagination.
Agnes stopped walking and looked around us. After a few seconds of looking around, she looked at me.
"I am not quite sure, August." She said.
I looked around. "Why not?"
"I can feel magic all over the place, even in the trees. I think this place has magical properties. It's harder for me to track magical properties from magic users when all I can track is the magical property of this place." She explained.
I scratched the back of my head. "Is that so?"
She nodded.
"Maybe it's just my imagination. Let's go." I didn't wait for her to answer and continued walking. I saw her pick her pace to catch up with me.
It's been a few minutes since I started walking with her and I didn't know how to start up a conversation. I kept asking her about my abilities, and how I should hone them but she kept asking which one. I only have one ability, so why is she asking which one?
I asked her what did she mean by 'which one' and she just explained that she can only answer and explain one ability at a time, confusing me even more.
"Are you human?" I asked her.
She shook her head. "No." She replied.
"How come? You look like one." I eyed her from head to toe.
"I am designed to be the counterpart of Argus, Lady Hera's loyal guard. But I am created to be your guard, just like how Argus protects Lady Hera." She explained.
Argus?
"Argus Panoptes?" I asked. I only know one Argus related to Hera. It is Argus Panoptes, the many eyed giant. In the stories, he was a loyal guard of Hera and did deeds for her. But I thought Hermes killed him ages ago? I thought he died?
"Yes, Argus Panoptes." She confirmed.
"How is he alive? I thought Hermes killed him before to free Io?" I asked.
"Yes, that is correct. But Lady Hera has the ability to summon him back from time to time, and with the help of Hephaestus, he is constructed like me. That was also the time my design made."
"When were you created then?" I asked.
"I remember the first time I went to this world, there was a threatening war between the Egyptian Pantheon and the Japanese Pantheon. Argus and I accompanied Lady Hera to the council that resolved the conflict of the two pantheons."
Egyptian and the Japanese? Wait...
"That was about 5000 years ago!" I realized in shock.
I can remember that! It's one of the topics we learned in my previous school, about the war of the two pantheons. My teacher said it didn't continue because the council of pantheons resolved their fight even before the war started. My teacher told us that if ever the war broke, there's a big chance that our country isn't even here in the first place. It would've turned into a desolate land as a result of the war.
"Yes, 5026 years to be exact." She said as if it was nothing.
"You're that old?"
"Perhaps. But compared to others, I am very young." She answered.
