Ethan lay on the bed. His body was covered in bruises, with blood still marking some of the deeper cuts. The room was quiet except... Olivia stood over him. Or rather, the one controlling her body at that moment.
Athena.
She raised her hand and slapped him across the face. The impact stung, stung hard, as Ethan turned his head back toward her.
"Did you actually want to kill your own brother?" he asked.
Athena simply shrugged as she sat down on the edge of the bed. Her legs already rested across his injured body.
He flinched but said nothing. Could say nothing.
Silence stretched between them for a while. Both of them staring at each other, when finally, she spoke.
"Before you summoned me through rage and deceit... have you met other gods or demigods before?"
Instantly, Ethan thought about the guard. The one who had given him the idea. The man who had later vanished from memory in a way that still did not make sense, but he kept that part to himself.
"It was my own doing, all planned here," he said, pointing at his head.
Athena watched him and did not believe the answer. Call it her pride or whatever, but she also did not push for more.
Ethan noticed the shift in her posture. It seemed she had accepted her situation after a month to herself. A realization that she was locked inside this body for now.
"You have a worthy vessel," Ethan said. "Why not take it back to Olympus and park it up there?"
Athena turned her head and looked at him. Her expression stayed hard and cold. Then she kicked one of the open wounds on his leg.
"Ouuuuchh..." he hissed through his teeth.
"I cannot," she said. "I am trapped here for the time being. Here I thought it was some god’s plan, but it was really only his.
So I am not going to kill you, if you accept my deal. That is."
"A deal," Ethan repeated.
"Yes." Athena kept her eyes on him. "I want my wisdom back. It seems some of it sits with you. Father has plans for you. Large ones. For the time being, there has to be a reason Zeus cursed me into this place. I am certain it connects to you."
Ethan processed the words. He remembered how the system had blocked him from killing Olivia. Maybe that restriction existed for this exact reason. He did not say the thought out loud.
"What do you want from me?" he asked.
Athena studied his face again. The voice, the speech. She saw the same arrogance in his blue eyes that she had noticed in him, along with a clear lack of deeper understanding.
"All I want is to return home. To Olympus." She pulled a bracelet from somewhere in Olivia’s clothing and tossed it onto his chest. "That will keep me linked to you. It will show me every move you make that concerns me."
She stood and started toward the door.
"What, just that?..." he asked, but more importantly, he asked, "Will you come back? Will you interfere with my plans involving Karisa?"
"No," Athena answered. "This host, Olivia, especially prayed for me not to interfere either. Especially not with her."
She paused near the exit. "I plan to meet my children. The demigods scattered across this corrupt land. So don’t worry, I won’t interfere in any of your... plans."
Before she left, her tone changed. The presence suddenly shifted as Olivia’s own voice came through.
"And... tell Karisa I would have given her the seat if she had simply asked. I would have gone to war with the Roman Empire itself if that had been her wish.
And... tell her I love her from the bottom of my heart."
Then the presence was gone. Olivia’s body slumped for a moment before she steadied herself and walked out without another word.
Ethan stayed on the bed. He picked up the bracelet and turned it over in his hands. The metal felt ordinary.
He put it on his wrist anyway. A deal was a deal; he didn’t want death hovering over his head every time.
[Connection with Athena, Confirmed.]
Days passed. The bruises faded under basic treatment. The cuts closed again, and Ethan returned to regular duties while the transfer paperwork moved through the system.
Marcus handled most of the administrative side. Ethan focused on recovery and the quiet presence of his new bracelet.
A week later the confirmation letters arrived. Both men received new badges that marked their higher positions. The next morning they boarded a long warship bound for the Canadian hills.
The deck was crowded with soldiers and supplies. There were many who got promotions. Marcus stood beside Ethan near the railing as the ship pulled away from the dock.
Both of them looked at the resources headquarters for the final time. A place where it all started. Where the man who was now beside him had been seconds away from killing him. The same man who was now smiling, looking at his wrist transmitter.
"We can bring a mage into the battalion now," Marcus said. He smiled. "Who did you pick?"
Ethan pulled out a small hologram from his wrist and showed it. Marcus looked and nodded.
"The attack mage," Marcus said. "Haha, here I thought you picked this guy..." he said, showing the defense mage. A seemingly vengeful smile plastered on his lips.
Marcus continued, "You should have taken the healer. You can push her until she breaks, then order her to heal herself, and keep the cycle going. Infinite torture." He laughed at his own idea.
Ethan shook his head. "No... hell no, I chose the attack mage."
Marcus raised an eyebrow.
"I am a mage myself," Ethan said. "An attack type. I need to learn from different angles, so she will be useful for that."
"Fine," Marcus replied. "Your call."
The ship moved into open water. Hours passed without incident, which was rare. But right when they thought they were lucky, the surface broke. Large sea creatures rose around the hull. Tentacles and jaws slammed against the wood and metal.
Alarms sounded and soldiers ran to positions.
The battalion didn’t back down; they answered with coordinated fire. Ballistae launched heavy bolts. Mages on deck released controlled bursts of force and flame.
The creatures took damage after damage. Simply, they didn’t stand a chance, and pulled back. Most of them sank, dying. Others fled into deeper water, and without a single scratch, the ship continued forward with only minor damage to the outer planks.
Marcus watched the last of the monsters disappear. "Damn... this is what the Roman Empire has become," he said. "Large enough and strong enough that beasts like these no longer stop us.
Natural disasters do not stop us either. We are the Roman Empire."
"Come on now, don’t forget who we actually are..." Ethan said, as he observed the efficiency of the response and filed it away.
He was right. The Roman Empire. It had become more than a simple empire. It had become a force of nature itself, nothing standing in its way, and he was against that.
The rest of the voyage stayed quiet. The ship reached the designated landing point along the Canadian coast.
The hills rose in the distance, with a group of soldiers waiting on the shore. At the front stood a woman in officer uniform.
Tesserarius Amanda.
Marcus leaned closer as they stepped onto the dock. "Rumored daughter of Hermes," he said under his breath.
Ethan looked at her. "Huh? Is our superior a demigod?"
Marcus shrugged. "Could be. Could be not. No one confirms these things out loud. And the upper echelon keeps it hushed."
High above, beyond the clouds and the reach of mortal sight, Hermes observed the landing. He noted the arrival of the two soldiers and the presence of the bracelet on Ethan’s wrist. A small smile touched his face.
"Let the thievery begin," he said.