The God of Gravity part 2: Olympus

The Girl Under the Haystack

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It has been hours after Jasper asked all of his questions and they were answered by the rebels they captured. And there is not much of an importance in things they certainly know. Sayuri glared at them before they were released and they ran to the west, not daring to look back or even thought about revenge.

"Life here sure is hard," commented Jasper as they watched the men tread on the desert dunes and Hiroki was beside him while the rest went back to the village. "So that's that, it's only a matter of time until Jack comes back after he destroyed their hideout. Let's join in with the others, Hiroki."

Hiroki nodded but he asked, "Why did you leave Olympus?" and Jasper stopped turning.

He smiled at him and answered, "As I said, I am curious to see how this will turn out for our goddess that made my father lost his bet."

"More than you want to solve the mystery of who truly rules the Realm?"

Jasper sighed for a moment and looked at the horizon to the west again. "I'm confused myself on what mystery I wanted to solve. Choosing between the mystery of the True Ruler of the Realm and why my father lost his bet on Lady Sayuri's fate, are very hard choices to choose from in my conviction. But I am glad that I am on this journey with Lady Sayuri. If I stayed there on Olympus, I will become a tool for them while disregarding what I wanted to do with my life. I can see that I have chosen the right path that I was able to see the truth of the world, unfiltered by what Olympus wanted for its young deities to see. This journey with her is better than what I could have hoped for."

"But what if she changes?" asked Hiroki in a concerned tone while playing with the sand at his feet. "What if she gets drowned in the darkness of her resentment and forgets about her true self - you know, being kind whenever she can without hesitation."

Then Jasper grabbed Hiroki and locked him under his arm. He rubbed his head very hard. "Don't underestimate our Lady!" he laughed. "Don't you have faith for her?"

"Ow!" cried Hiroki in pain. "Let me go!" Then Jasper let him go. "Of course I have faith for her!" he blurted.

"Then stop worrying! We are here by her side, are we not? If ever it happens when she strays from her path, we can shove her in the right direction. You walk beside her at her left, I'll walk at the right, and Jack will cover us from behind." He tapped Hiroki's shoulder. "Let's go accompany our goddess."

Hiroki nodded and followed behind him. He smiled faintly after knowing that Jasper is not bad as he looks behind his every smirk. They walked to where people gathered and saw a small coffin being brought down into the hole deep in the rocky ground they recently dug up just outside the residence. It is where other deceased have been buried. This small cemetery of theirs is located in the middle of the rocky terrain where the village prospered beside it. Hiroki noticed something peculiar about the direction in which the coffins are placed.

They started to cover it with the rocks and sand that they dug up then started to pray. "May the Goddess of Death let you walk on the grasses of Asphodel Meadows."

Jasper whispered to Hiroki: "Lady Mila will definitely let this little girl stay on Asphodel Meadows."

"Who's that?" asked Hiroki.

"She is the Goddess of Death of course. She's one of the three daughters of the King. She and my sister wanted to beat me in board games but they never won a single time, except only when they both play against me at the same time - which doesn't count."

"And what is Asphodel Meadows?"

"It's where innocent souls go."

"Oh," muttered Hiroki. Then a second later he asks, "Tell me, why are these graves pointing to the southeast instead of lining them up eastwardly so that they can save space."

"Oh, you have a sharp eye, Hiroki. It's because it is a tradition of the people of Ra to point the heads of the deceased to the center of the Ra Continent - where the past reincarnation of the God of Death built his own passage to the Underworld. They line them up that way because they believe it will make the souls of the dead enter the Underworld faster and avoid getting lost."

Then they remained silent after that. The sun is shining the highest in the sky when the village folks started to move out and hide from the sun under the comfort of their mud roofs. They all left except for Sayuri and her companions, looking at the boy - who Sayuri helped just this morning as he sat down before the grave of Jawhara, the girl found dead under the haystack. Hiroki stepped forward and went to approach the boy from behind.

As soon as he was about to touch his shoulder, the boy spoke, "My big-sister lied." Then Hiroki stopped his hand. The boy spoke slowly through his chapped lips with a seemingly lifeless tone. "I told her to share our last bit of water.... Instead, she said we should play hide and seek first so that we can forget our thirst and drink water to make the water last longer... She let me hold the water and she was always good at hiding so I never found her."

Hiroki covered his face with his hand, trying to hide his teary eyes, Jasper swallowed and Sayuri frowned while looking at the ground.

The boy continued to tell his tale without sobbing. "I drank half of it..... and looked around so that I can give it to her so she can drink her part. I waited, sitting for another day. I tried to stop myself from drinking the last water in the bottle... I couldn't..... My throat started saying things to me. 'I should drink it' - it said.... Then she died already as soon as the water poured out from the bottle... I never saw her die, but she's here now, under the sand." He grabbed the sand on her grave and squeezed it hard. Then he gave her water through his eyes. "I'm sorry...," he cried. "I'm sorry!"

The boy cried harder than the sun cried its rays. Then someone hugged him from behind. He felt his sister's hug through Sayuri. She frowned in anger instead of sadness.

An hour later after they left, Hiroki sat on a log under the palm trees, looking so down. Jasper threw seeds of the dates he grabbed from the trees after eating it and into the sandy dunes towards the west. And their goddess locked herself inside her room she used to stay last night. Jasper looks unaffected and already moved on, unlike his companion.

"This world is cruel," said Hiroki.

"You realized it just now?" asked Jasper. "Then I welcome you to the Guys-Who-Realized-the-World-is-Cruel team." He cheerfully spread his arms in front of Hiroki. "Congratulations."

"Don't you have restraint in your sarcasm?"

"There's no sense in getting affected by it."

"You have no heart, don't you know that?"

"That's not true, I would be dead if don't have one."

"I mean-"

"I know what you mean, Hiroki but my point is that we don't have time to be sad about the injustices we discover during our journey, or else we would stray from what we intend to find. We are not here to weep every second we encounter these kinds of things. Weeping doesn't help. Accept it and deal with it with action but of course if that's what Lady Sayuri wants us to do."

Hiroki's sad face turned into irritation. "I hope that's what she wants us to do."

Then a jet stream came running over the horizon from the west. Jack returned unscathed and landed near them that the sand blew at their faces and lips.

"Pwehh!" spat the two of them.

"What the hell, Jack?!" yelled Jasper. "Don't land in front of us again."

"Oh, sorry," he apologized.

"Did you find it?"

"Yes, and destroyed it. I also found it strange that they kept yelling, 'The Heir will judge you!'"

Jasper nodded in satisfaction. "Strange indeed, but anyway, let's go to Mustafa. I still have some questions for him."

They went to where Mustafa and his family reside. It's relatively bigger than other houses for the reason that he is the leader of the village.

"Yo, Mustafa and his family," greeted Jasper as he went inside and sat on the chair at the long table in the living room. Mustafa's wife and two daughters stayed in the kitchen, looking scared under their fine head coverings. "Damn, your house is cool - in temperature and decorations." Then he leaned to the side and looked at the wife and children. "And you got a beautiful family. You live in quite a luxury, don't ya, Mustafa?"

"What do want from me?" cautiously asked Mustafa while looking at Hiroki and Jack sitting on their respective chairs.

"Answers and lunch."

"Hey!" scolded Hiroki.

"I'm kidding!" he laughed. "Answers to my questions, that is all." But then, as scared as they were, the wife and daughters of Mustafa gave them food and went back to their places. "Thank you, beautiful ladies!" he saluted. "Are you fine if we eat this?"

"Go ahead, " said Mustafa.

Hiroki frowned at Jasper.

Jasper cheerfully says, "Great! But let's eat together."

Mustafa looked confused as he expected something degrading and threatening from them. Hiroki brought food to Sayuri while the five of them ate on one table. Mustafa sat at the end, and Jack sat at the right of Jasper. The ladies were scared and worried while they ate while facing Jasper from the other side of the table. That's when Jasper got the urge to make them feel otherwise.

"So," he said to Mustafa - who is at the left of Jasper. "can you introduce to me your family?"

He had second thought but then he said, "This is my wife, Ghunwah. My eldest daughter, Khansa, and second daughter, Daneen." The daughters are about the same age as Jasper.

"Such beautiful names," he said with a smile. "I am Arrius, it's a pleasure to meet you." And they nodded politely. Jasper looked around while chewing his food. He swallowed and said, "Your home is very beautiful and clean. I can say that whoever cleans it, really does wonders." The eldest daughter got a little startled that can hardly be noticed but Jasper did. "So, Khansa is the one who kept it this way, or am I mistaken?"

"You are right, Sir Arrius," answered Mustafa.

"I can tell that your daughter will become a fine wife," he said while nodding at her. Then Khansa blushed. "Daneen - that I almost mistaken as Danae, the beautiful Goddess of the Sea but comparable in terms of beauty, uh.... How do you help your big-sister in the house? I am sure this magnificent neat home is the work of people working together."

"I...," stammered Daneen. "Uh...," she swallowed in anxiousness.

"Go on," smiled Jasper.

"I help mother with cooking."

He snapped his fingers and exclaimed, "No wonder the food tastes delicious! You really have great daughters, Mrs. Ghunwah!" he said while looking at her.

"Thank you, Sir Arrius," she thanked.

Mustafa didn't buy the flattery and focused on assuming what questions would Jasper ask him about as their conversations over the meal continued until they finished eating and at the same time Hiroki returned.

"Now," Mustafa whispered to his wife. "please go inside the room with the girls. I'll handle this."

"Are you gonna be fine?" she asks.

"Yes."

Then she nodded and called her daughters to stand up and leave the living room. Khansa and Daneen smiled at Jasper as they walked away. He smiled back until they went inside the room, shut the door, and Jasper's face turned dead serious as he looked at Mustafa and asks, "How did you know about the sword?"

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