Zane: The Atlantean Prince

CHAPTER 3: AERA, THE IMMORTAL CHILD

Aera giggled before sitting on the empty chair beside him. She stared at him while he was still shocked because some stranger was being kind to him and offering him food.

Zane thought she looked too beautiful and harmless to say no. He was hesitating but he was really hungry. He took it immediately and unwrapped it. "Thank you..." he said, then he bit a huge chunk of sandwich. He almost choked while trying to swallow it.

"Here's water," the girl said. She opened a bottle of water and handed it to him. He grabbed it and drank fast from it.

"Thank you so much for your kindness," he said after catching his breath from choking. He was shy but he was really, badly hungry.

"Did you forget your lunch box? You looked so hungry like you came from a battle." She laughed hard.

"My classmate took my lunch box..." he said. He can't lie to this girl who was so kind to him. He also does not know how to tell a lie. His father taught him to become an honest and trustworthy person.

"I'm sorry to hear that... anyway, my name is Aera. You are?" she asked. She offered a handshake.

"Zane Cole," he replied. He accepted her hand. "I have not seen you riding the school bus nor on the campus before."

"My mother usually drives me to school, but she went somewhere. She said to take the school bus." She smiled. "I'm a transfer student this school year and I'm from section C."

"That's why I have not seen you before. I'm from section A."

"I need to go now. Our house is right there." She pointed to the huge white house at the corner of the street.

"Thanks again, see you around." He waved his hand. He found a new friend. He thinks she is nice.

She stood up and got out of the bus. She looked back at him from outside of the bus, then she waved her hands. They did not know it would be their first and last time to see each other again in a while.

***

She kept on rubbing her eyes while still trying to process in her head what was happening and where she was. She remembered she was in her pyjamas and was sleeping in her bedroom when she felt something woke her up, and then she opened her eyes, standing in a huge ballroom-like hall, with her father beside her, kneeling. She looked at the huge, strange man in front. He has a poker face and he rarely smiles in his life. He looks like a middle-aged man who suffered hardships in life.

"King Zeus, we are here. Meet my daughter, Aera." The god of the west wind—one of the Anemoi gods—is still kneeling before the king of Olympus. Aera, the ten-year-old child of Eurus, is beside him, standing and still in awe. Her eyes were as big as the doe's and her mouth was in O-shape.

"Eurus," Zeus looked at the god of southeast wind. His eyes switched to Aera. "Does she know about anything?"

Eurus shook his head slowly. "No, King Zeus. She has no idea about her past, and every change that is about to happen. I... I prefer to tell her everything one at a time."

"It's okay. Keep it that way." He kept his silence and studied the girl. "How are you, Aera? Are you feeling okay?"

Aera's eyes were still wide, looking at the huge figure of the man sitting in front. There were twelve chairs in different designs, but the man was seated in one of the two chairs in gold, placed in the middle. His crown was made of fine, shiny gold. He has brown hair and brown eyes, a protruding nose and thin lips, surrounded by a brown beard. His golden cape and golden clothes from head to foot look radiant, which almost makes her blind. The man looks nine feet tall, or even taller.

"What are you?" she asked with big, round eyes. "Who are you? Why are you so huge? W-where am I?" She looked at her father. "Dad, where are we? Is this just a weird dream?"

"Aera," Eurus said, got a little nervous with his daughter's straightforward question. "Give him some respect. He is Zeus, the king of Olympus. Stay right beside me and be polite."

Her jaw dropped. "Is that for real?!" She stared at her father's face, thinking it was a joke, but her old man looked serious with what he said. She glanced back at the huge man sitting in front. "You are Zeus? The one in the textbooks?! The king of Olympus?!" Her mouth is still open, waiting for the huge man to reply to her. "Are we in Olympus?"

"Yes, I am," the huge man's short reply to her. "And you are in Olympus."

"Whoa!" She looked around the palace made of gold. Everything around her was in the same shade. "Is this Olympus? How did we get here? I was just sleeping in my room a while ago. Am I just really dreaming?" Her surroundings are different. It seems she is in a fairy tale book with a castle and king in the story, and she is the pauper. She can see the peaceful sky through the windows. and she can hear different birds singing while flying in the clouds. She tapped her face several times to wake herself up, but she was still standing there, and the giant was still sitting in front of her.

She only read about gods and goddesses in textbooks. She even thought they were just from someone's imagination a long time ago and were passed down from generation to generation like a folktale. She does not believe in them, but Zeus is right in front of her.

"No, Aera," her father said. He held her hand and pulled her lightly to stay close to him. "This is not a dream, and we are really in Olympus. I used my power to transport here using teleportation."

"W-wait, what? You have powers, Dad?" She can't believe everything she hears. "How is it possible?"

"I am also an immortal, Aera." His father looked so serious, that he never even smiled for a bit. "And so are you."

"Wait... I-I'm immortal, too? I have powers?" She quickly shook her head and raised her hand to gesture to pause for a bit. "That's impossible. I don't even have powers. You're kidding, Dad, right?"

"I am not, Aera. We blocked your powers to avoid being traced on Earth," Eurus explained. "We will remove the block on your powers once you can already adapt in Olympus. You are one of us."

"Hold on a minute, we will live here?" Another shocking news to her. "Where's Mom? Is she not coming with us?"

"She is not your real mother, Aera. She's a human being I married to mask our scents as immortal gods living in the mortal world." He sighed. "I love your mother, but she was not happy with me... anyway, you are staying here for good."

"But... b-but..." She was speechless. She slapped herself again left and right to wake up, but she was still standing in front of the huge man beside his father, who was saying ridiculous things to her.

"Aera, this is where you belong, that's why I am bringing you back here." She could see the sadness in her father's eyes while he was talking. "You are the immortal goddess of sky and wind. You should stay here in Olympus."

"But, Dad! You expect me to accept everything in a snap? Telling me that the Mom I grew up with is not my real mother, I am immortal of some sort with powers and I have to live here?" She could feel her face was red hot, not accepting everything until she fully understood the sudden changes in her life. "And my mother won't come here with us?" She hasn't won her mother's heart yet. She was cold to her, and she was never pleased with whatever Aera had achieved in school.

"My daughter," Eurus said. He held her daughter's hands while still kneeling to match the girl's height and have a heart-to-heart talk.

"This is also difficult for me. It's not easy to leave the mother you have known because I learned to love her, but we need to move back here for your safety. Also, you need to train your powers here to become a fighter and, someday, do something bigger for Olympus and the mortal world."

"Aera," Zeus called her attention. She looked at her with curious eyes. "You need to stay here and prepare for a bigger dilemma that will come to the immortal world shortly. You will take part in protecting the world where your human mother lives. Also, you will meet your real mother when the time comes, just not now. We will put her life in danger if some people find out."

"I am not going to live with the mother I have known my whole life, and I will not meet my biological mother. Why is my life so difficult?" Tears formed in her eyes. "And you are expecting me to accept all of these right away?"

"I-I am not asking you to accept the changes now, Aera, but I am asking for your understanding. You are smarter and wiser than anyone in your age." He waited for his daughter to respond.

She sighed deeply, then rashly wiped the tears in her eyes using her hands. "I don't have a choice, do I?" she asked in her poker face.

"No," it is a short, sweet reply of Zeus to her. "You can't also go back to the mortal world. No one here will send you there."

"Then a ten-year-old child will just say yes to everything." She wanted to protest but what else can she do? She is forced into something that she can't back out and is unable to run away. She doesn't even know how to go home. "We need more time to tell me what I need to know. Do you have tea?"

Eurus glanced at Zeus, who just shrugged his shoulders, telling him to decide on his own. "Let's go to your room. It has been prepared before we arrived here."

"Hold on, Dad," she said, stopping her father. "I need to ask something."

"What is it, Aera?" he asked.

"If we are immortals, why are we not as big as him?" she was referring to the king of Olympus.

She made Zeus laugh. He laughed like there was no tomorrow. It went on for almost a minute before he calmed down. "Do you want to be as big as me?"

Aera shook her head. "No."

"It's your choice if you want to grow as big as me or stay that way, like your Dad. He mostly stays in the mortal world. That's why his height is the same as humans, a little taller and still buffed, though, without working out. He still has the qualities of immortal gods."

"I-I'd rather be in human height. I'm all good." She gave an awkward smile. She still had a plan of going back to the mortal world once she was bigger and stronger. She will find her mother and ask her why they separated. "I will go to my room and rest now, Dad. Where is it?"

His father glanced at Zeus, then shrugged his shoulders.

"You may go now and rest. You need to learn a lot of things about Olympus." He waved his hand. "You can leave now."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Eurus bowed, then held Aera's arm to guide her towards the exit. "Let's go, young lady."

Aera waved her hand and threw a glance behind her. He saw Zeus was still looking at them, particularly at her. She wondered why but she just ignored it.