Chapter 6: Eidolon

“Why am I sitting between the two of you?”

“Because if I sat next to Aren, you’d keep complaining about being the third wheel,” Vilkie replied from his left, not sounding particularly concerned as she brought a silver fork to her lips.

“I’m still the third wheel! This just makes it even more awkward!”

“Don’t say that, Nerez. Think of us as your siblings. That’s what it means to belong to a faction,” Aren added from his right, taking a sip from a jewel-studded goblet.

“First of all, why are you both sitting so close to me? This table could seat a hundred people!”

The three of them were in the parlor of one of the rooms in the dormitories. But the place looked less like a dormitory and more like the private chambers of some mythological being.

Even “silver” fell short as a way to describe that “silverware”. The sheets on the enormous bed looked as though they were made of clouds, and from a waterfall of crystal-clear water in the wall sprang little channels that ran all across the room.

“I can already picture myself stepping into one of those channels if I wake up in the middle of the night…” Nerez said after looking around once more.

“Don’t worry. The water gives off a faint glow in the dark,” Aren replied with a smile.

“Look, I appreciate you guiding me to the dormitories, but how long are you planning to stay here? Don’t you have rooms of your own?”

“I bet you want to be alone when the nymphs come back to clear the plates,” Vilkie said with a mischievous smile. “You couldn’t stop staring at them, after all…”

“In my defense, they were wearing sheer togas. Anyone would’ve stared… even Aren, if you hadn’t covered his eyes with your hands…”

“Besides, what Nerez really wants is to steal the silverware and run away before the challenges begin,” Aren added, lifting a fork to his mouth. “But it doesn’t matter where you are. We’re all going to be transported there anyway.”

“Tch… there goes my master plan.”

“If you really want us gone, all you have to do is say the magic words,” Aren said, idly toying with his empty fork.

Nerez let out a tired sigh and thought for a few seconds before answering.

“All right. I don’t know how much use it’ll be to you, but you can stay near me during those so-called ‘challenges’.”

“An alliance, then!” Aren exclaimed, getting to his feet. “That will do for now. But sooner or later, I’ll convince you to join my faction, and together we’ll build a pantheon that will go down in history.”

Aren held out his hand. Nerez shook it reluctantly, and the demigod left with a satisfied smile.

“And you?”

To his left, Vilkie was still chewing, her cheeks puffed out.

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“But I’m not done yet…”

“You have food in your own room!”

***

Finally alone and at peace, Nerez sat in one of the armchairs on the balcony of his “dormitory”.

“It was a risky gamble… the only thing on my mind while swimming was escaping the cycle of reincarnation, and the moment I reached that barrier of light, I threw myself into it without hesitation.”

What happened after that? Nerez had no idea how much time had passed since then. The only thing he knew for certain was that he had woken up somewhere beyond his understanding.

In the distance, he could make out the other four peaks that, together with the one he was on, formed the city of the gods, all of them filled with sumptuous palaces, hanging gardens, and rivers that spilled into waterfalls above the clouds.

“Despite having lived for hundreds of years, they have the energy of youngsters… Are all gods like that?” Nerez sighed to himself, thinking about the two demigods. “If my intuition is right, they could go far… and that means my plan to stay unnoticed and enjoy my last life in peace and quiet is going to be in danger.”

Nerez rose and walked to the marble railing.

“But if there are no more gods of fate… No. I can’t let my guard down. That angel-faced demon has to be like a cockroach. I don’t believe it’ll be that easy to get rid of her.”