Valentine.

Old Friends.

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Fighting the urge to vomit, I let out a long shaky breath as we exit the portal. My knuckles blanche as I clutch tightly onto Valentine to steady myself.

"I will never understand how anyone can get used to that" I breathe out nauseously before attempting to straighten my back. We appear inside of the all-too-familiar glass enclosure that houses the teleportation port into the main square. This mechanism was mostly used in Olympus by gods, the only ones with the abilities to generate portals. The specific one we were in had been used by the royals of the courts and their families.

Everyone else took the Mobils; the train system that connected the six main courts and ran through nearly each and every single village in Olympus. Speaking of the courts, there was a terribly high possibility we would be greeted by its various members at some point in our visit today, as I'm sure word of my controversial return must've spread faster than a wildfire. Everything in Olympus always did.

The five court Lords were: Ares, Apollo, Poseidon, Hermes, and last but not least, known to me as Valentine, but known to most everyone else as... Zeus.

Legend says the would-be sixth lord, Dionysus, had abandoned his court years ago to seek refuge and change in the underworld, leaving the sixth court the only one led by a lady-lord; Demeter. She was the only one of the rulers I could tolerate, as she valued character and morals, whereas the others sought nothing short of status and power. Obsessed over it. Which made the most powerful of the 6 lords' betrothal to me—a mere mortal—all the more cataclysmic, as you can imagine.

Feeling even less motivated to deal with the spiteful glares, the pretentious greetings, backhanded compliments, and the all-out expressions of disapproval from the rest of the litter, my shoulders hunch a bit as I continue to dread the hours ahead.

After a few more moments pass, he peers down at me and presses "Are you ready?" I want to say no, but my only response is a weak nod as I finally surrender my iron gasp on his chemise. I watch feverishly as the wrinkles I've inadvertently created in his shirt quickly smooth themselves out and vanish before my eyes. Wouldn't want to catch the Lord of the Sky disheveled now, would we? Remember: Appearance. Is. Power.

Reading my mocking remarks, he shoots me an iced glare in warning, but I glance down at my own garments and smooth them out instead, successfully dodging eye contact. Depriving him of that minor satisfaction was all I needed to chase away the residual churning feeling in the pit of my stomach.

The glass doors in front of us finally slide open, revealing the crowded square. Teeming with life and vividity, the small green field directly to the right of us bears a plethora of children, many, running around and playing in the small sections of gardens. Some were ducking behind the perfectly trimmed bushes while others chased each other through its endless slopes reaching far off into the skyline.

To our left, crystal statues and elaborate marble structures adorn the paved side of the square, the two divided by an apexing path running straight from our glass enclosure and through the middle of the divide to a raised platform in the center of the block.

Curious onlookers have already begun to fill up on both sides of the trail, forming large crowds streaming in from all directions as more and more civilians stop their dallying to come watch us.

My apprehension comes to fruition much sooner than I had hoped as the first to approach us the minute we exit is Ares, God of War and ruler of the fifth court of Olympus.