The God of Gravity part 1: Demigod District

The Stormy Sea

It's been a while since that incident happened. That was roughly a month ago. Now I am here in the middle of the sea, swimming across the Darthos channel. It is located to the east of the Olympus Capital. The sea is rough and dark, because of the storm.

"Are you fine, Leo?" shouted Philip from ahead of me.

"Just fine," I said. "The Goddess of the Sea really doesn't care about us."

"No," said Sander who is behind me. "I heard that Lord Enzo purposely told her to bring the storm into this sea today."

"He did that? What for?"

"I don't know. It is very awesome if it is true because the Goddess of the Sea is a second seater after the King. Not to mention that she is the first daughter of the King himself."

"You think it is awesome that we could've died here?" I asked Philip.

A big wave lifted us up, and I had a good view of the others. There is one particular person that leads the group, and it is Lord Enzo. I see him ahead, and it inspires us to see that he does. Being a demigod that became a god on Olympus is very inspiring for us. There were fifty of us left out of the thousands that gathered at the assembly months ago. Usually, hundreds of students pass the endurance tests, but after Lord Enzo took over, they said that the number of passers per test, significantly fell down. It is even a miracle that I managed to pass every test. This is the 17th test out of 18 tests he said he will give us, but then again, they said that the total tests should be just 10. Enzo really is a high-quality man.

My graded goggles are getting filled with water, so I turned my body around and floated while pulling it. There, I saw the storm and felt the raindrops falling on my face. I saw something flying just below the clouds. It looked like a cloud darker than the other clouds. Then there were lightning strikes going in and out. They didn't strike at us, but they come out and then coming back deep into the cloud. I stopped thinking about it and continued to swim in freestyle.

It is very cold, and we've been swimming for twelve hours now. We only get a liquid diet for replenishment that the mermaids give us. They are very gentle in their own ways of watching over us. It's kind of ironic that they used to lure people with their magnificent voices and beauty then drown and eat them. This might also be the work of the Goddess of the Sea because she rules all of the waters here on Earth, so the mermaids don't have a choice but to follow her command.

I saw a big ship ahead of us. Lord Enzo signaled us by putting a fist up to stop for a while and let it pass. It honked its horn as it passed by. They saw us so they turned their spotlights to us. It went from our right, going to the left, which is to the north. I watched it as it sliced through the giant waves. At last, it passed by, and that's when a giant squid came out from under us.

"Arghhhhh!" someone screamed.

"Get away from it!" shouted Lord Enzo.

Everybody else was in a panic as they tried to avoid the beast. It didn't attack us, but it just passed by. I got a touch from its body, and it was slippery. It was glowing in the color of blue, so it is clear to see that it is as big as that ship. We saw its gigantic tentacles sprouting out of the water, and into the ship. Even if the ship is made of steel, the teeth of that squid can pierce it. Lord Enzo told a mermaid something that I can't make out what it was, but she nodded.

He faced us and said, "Stay here, for a while! I'll be back!" He dived down and after a minute, I saw him coming out of the water like a flying fish towards the squid, or in this case, I like to call it the "Kraken" from an old legend. The water exploded from where he came from and as if he is the projectile and the water is the trail.

"Is Lord Enzo, gonna be fine?" asked a girl from our group. I couldn't clearly see who exactly she is.

"Of course!" said a boy. "He is the strongest demigod!"

"Yeah!" said everyone.

At the distance, I just watched the kraken's tentacles getting ripped apart, one by one, until it let go. Then everyone cheered louder than the storm. It was persistent in chasing the ship, but then there was a big explosion that made a big splash. One tentacle came flying to our direction, but it flew past us.

"Man!" cried Sander. "He really is awesome!"

"Yeah," said Philip. "I want to be as strong as him someday!"

"Me too," I said in awe.

A minute later, he came out from under the water, near us. "Let's go!" he said. Everyone cheered, and it's as if we forgot how tired we are when we saw him quickly handled the kraken.

I looked back at the ship, and I saw a bolt of lightning that struck on its deck.

"Lord Enzo!" I said. "The ship's been struck by a lightning!" He turned around to see.

"It's fine," he said and started to swim to the east.

I looked back a little longer before continuing, and I saw a bolt of lightning on the ship again. The ship didn't catch fire, so it is safe to assume that the people there, are fine. A mermaid pushed me from behind and I see that there is quite a distance between me and the group, so I swam faster to catch up.

An hour later, I saw a guy being carried by a mermaid. He is unconscious. A huge turtle that is bigger than a human, surfaced. The mermaid put him on its back, and there he rested for a while. I hope he is fine. And I hope I don't end up like that too. I feel very tired too, but I can't give up not only in the body but also in the mind. I won't allow Zol to take over my body again. I will push through!

My stomach growled. "Miss mermaid," I called on the nearest mermaid I could find. She gracefully turned towards me. "Can I have a sip of that juice?"

Her eyes are the same as the eyes of a cat, but they looked like there are stars inside. Her face is very pale, yet looking full of life. Her hair is very long with a color of red. She smiled and pulled out a gourd that's made of some kind of fish skin. I floated on my back and opened my mouth as she poured the juice. It was slimy and sour, but it was satisfying. I felt my energy coming back again.

"Thank you," I said, and she dived down after another smile.

Two hours later, the sky cleared up, and I can feel the sun at the back of my head. The waters became calm. There were no huge waves to worry about, just the hope of getting this test over as quickly as possible. I saw land far ahead of us.

"Land ho!" shouted Lord Enzo.

"Yeah!" we cheered, except for the guys that've been riding on the back of the turtles, together with other people that gave up. There are roughly twenty of them, and they were scattered across the group. This test really put us into our limits. I know these guys are very strong when I saw them show their endurance in the past tests, but here, they looked like humiliated people.

Sander said that they can try again next year, but they will be going through again with those hard, and life-threatening tests. Some didn't dare to go back after they tasted how hard it was to pass, but I know for sure that I will not stop trying.

That long time of swimming across the sea gave me a chance to think. I was thinking about how my courage collapsed over the face of hardship then Zol took over me. I thought about how pathetic I am in thinking that I should not give up only because a monster will take over my body. I must be perseverant even if there is no monster inside me, in that way, I can say that it is "real perseverance." Even Lord Enzo did it without a Prime Power. I have a Prime Power, but no Olympian Strength. Still, it's the same as his situation.

A couple of minutes later, I felt the sand under my feet.