The Voyage

9. Initial Contact

Erebus was speechless. That was rare, he usually always had something to say...

"I-"

He was utterly gobsmacked. Of everything Darius could have possible said to him, the fact that he had fallen in love with Mateo really threw Erebus off.

"What, never heard of a bisexual before?" Darius laughed. Erebus' face was one of pure shock, as he quickly turned away, blushing wildly.

"O-o-of course I have!" Erebus stammered. Why was he struggling to comprehend anything? The feeling of confusion whizzing through his head, a million different emotions flooding through at once. "Wait... is Mateo also bi? He doesn't seem... I-"

"Woah there, never assume anything about anybody" Darius laughed once more.

Erebus flicked a small smile towards Darius. The seemingly tough unit of a man showing compassion and giving him a moral lesson. Things seemed to be getting stranger and stranger.

"Anyway, we should probably get back, they'll be wondering where we've gotten to" said Darius.

Erebus glanced over to Darius, who had just fished a spare T-shirt out of his bag. He watched as he pulled it over his head and his body. Why was he so mesmerised? Quickly snapping out of it, Erebus did the same, putting on a fresh shirt.

*ALARM BLARES*

"What the hell is that?" Darius asked, whipping his head towards the bathroom door. "We need to move, now!"

Taking no more than a second to gather themselves, they sprinted out of the bathroom, straight towards the lobby. Erebus feared the worst, were the authorities here? Did somebody get through security? All these thoughts smacked him in the face as he ran, struggling to keep up with Darius. The man was a god-damned athlete.

Finally reaching the lobby, Erebus locked eyes with Calista in the middle of the room. "What the hell is going on?" He asked.

"I really don't know" she replied. "That alarm only goes off for one of two reas-"

She fell silent.

"Calista?" Darius prompted.

"Quickly, with me" and in no time at all, she was off, running towards the stairs down to the vault, Erebus and Darius swiftly behind her. As they reached the staircase, they bumped in to Mateo, who had arrived from the other direction.

"Well, this is exciting" Mateo smirked. "Let's go." The echo of footsteps booming around the staircase as the four flew down each step, throwing caution to the wind as they took no consideration to their feet moving below them.

As they reached the bottom of the staircase, the alarm finally subsided. The bank was plunged into silence, the only noise being the heavy breathing coming from everyone who had just run a marathon equivalent.

Suddenly, the door to the room holding the vault crashed open.

Standing in the light like a messenger was Ares. His figure emitting a dark shadow against the wall.

"Ladies and gentlemen" he boomed. "What you are about to see will shock you beyond your wildest dreams" Erebus rolled his eyes. Seriously? A great alarm sends shockwaves through the building and this guy tries to play funny?

"What the hell is going on" Mateo demanded.

"ARES!!!" A shrill voice echoed from the room behind him. "I SWEAR, IF YOU'RE PISSING ABOUT AGAIN..."

Ares sighed. "She never let's me have any fun..." He shot a sly grin and a wink towards Erebus, before strolling back into the room.

Darius looked at Erebus and couldn't help but laugh. Whatever was going on between Ares and Erebus was entertaining to say the least. Quietly, they all hesitantly followed Ares into the room, not knowing what to expect.

The faint glow of red struck the marble around them, every flicker of light casting a shadow upon them as they moved towards the far wall. That was when they saw it.

It was beautiful.

That was the only word that sprung to Erebus' mind.

"Here we are" Adara's voice rang out through the darkness.

"Initial contact..."