Time Flies

“So you mean to tell me that after all this time, you’ve been beating around the bush?”  Toby asked Ari, angry and dripping with sweat.

“Not really.  I haven’t misled you.”  Ari defended herself.  She had been teaching Toby the basics of self defense, and it was hard work for him.  “I just didn’t tell you something you might have found important.”

“I thought you were lying that I had some special power, anyway.”  Toby admitted, striking towards Ari.  She blocked and countered with a kick that missed his head by inches.

“I wasn’t lying.  You do have a special power that is unique to you.  Its just... ”  Ari ducked as his foot came flying over her head.  “You have to find it.  We have no clue about it.”

“Don’t most people know what their powers are at some point?”  Toby asked her, holding his hand out to her, begging her to stop.  He needed rest.  The problem with sparring with an immortal was that they were always faster than he was.

“Well, yes.  And immortals show it at birth.  But half immortals and others don’t know until they find it.  Some just live an extended life.”

“So you’re telling me that you want me to be the leader of half, part, and mostly immortals, and you don’t even know if I have any powers to exert my dominance?”  He asked her, sipping his water bottle.  They were – well, he didn’t know where they were.  A training arena somewhere in the middle of nowhere.  Perfect for what they were doing, with no chance of people wandering through.

“Well, yes.  You’re Zeus’ son, and that in itself expects dominance.”

“But what about the gifted or half-immortals or whatever... the non-mortals... that are Christian?  Or Hindu?  Or Muslim?”

“There aren’t any.  There aren’t many of you.  But the basic idea is that they can’t accurately use their powers unless they can accept the concept of how it works, how they got it.  The monotheistic religions teach that magic or anything supernatural is a grave sin punishable by death.  It would drive them crazy.”

“Surely it wouldn’t drive all of them crazy.  I know a bunch of Christians who would probably believe after seeing all of what I’ve seen.”

“We take the safe route, anyway.  If a half-mortal is found who is of the Christian faith, we appear to them as angels, and either advise them to use their powers with us, with caution, or not at all.  Or any other faith that doesn’t accept magic.”

“Okay... so you guys accommodate everyone?”

“Yes.  I am a new goddess, and have only one name.  But Zeus, for example, has many names.  As do any of the old gods, Aphrodite, Athena, Dionysus, Artemis... ”

“So who the hell was Jesus?”

“A bastard son of Zeus.”

“And did he really take our sins away?”  Toby asked with amusement, picking up a large stick to begin the second round of fighting.

“No.”  Ari said.  “Look, religions are as much a man’s creation as they are the gods.  If we don’t feel like killing everyone who refuses to believe the truth, we let them evolve.  Christianity is a great example.  We thought that it was going to be a small cult, but we were wrong.  Before we knew it, Christianity ruled the world.”

“You guys don’t keep track of this world?”  Toby asked, swinging for his first hit.  It went right through Ari.

“I wasn’t around, so I can’t really speak for the old ones. But time in Olympus moves differently than here on Earth.  We don’t have days and nights, unless we choose to in our homes and environments.  Its very easy to lose track of the mortal time period when we live in continual existence.”

“You said you were brand new.”

“I am.  And that first time in Olympus, three weeks here went by before I realized it had happened.”

“Wow.  Did you leave your family here?”

“My mother, yes.  She had gone three weeks without hearing from me, and she was getting worried about me.  Afraid I had abandoned her.”

“Three weeks isn’t very long.”  Toby said to her.  “But I can see your point.”

“That’s why we can hear prayers and calls to us – so we can keep track of what goes on in the mortal realm.”

“Zeus must get a lot.”

“Zeus has assistants.”  Ari explained to him.  “He barely touches prayers to him, nowadays, unless its about his bastard children.  No offense.”

“None taken.  I don’t think of him as my father.”

“Understandable.”  Ari swung her staff at his feet to take his knees out and he jumped, striking on top of her, again going straight through her.

“Will you solidify or something?”  Toby gritted his teeth.  “I get an electric shock every time I actually manage to hit you.”

“Not yet.  You’re not ready to hit flesh yet, and you haven’t quite gotten the idea of sacrifice.”

“Sacrifice?”  He asked, swinging at her again.

“Yes, and control.  You should be able to stop the stick centimeters from me.”

“I can do that.”  Toby asserted.  “But what about sacrifice?”  He asked, stopping his maneuver a small distance away from her glowing, transparent head.

“Each time you do strike someone, or attack them, or go on the offensive, you pay a price for the energy and change you create.”

“That’s understandable.  Can you take away the shock?”

“No.  Much worse will happen when you strike a god that doesn’t want you to do that.”

“But I doubt I’ll ever fight gods.”

“But you will be fighting extremely dangerous and insolent half gods.  The charge and effects of their defenses could be worse.”

“Okay.”  Toby gave up on arguing.  She knew best.

“Plus, understanding the energy play is an integral part to understanding your own abilities.”

“You just like watching me wince when I hit you.”  Toby accused her, and she smiled, moving to strike him over the head.

“Never.”  She said, outright laughing when he deflected her blow and countered through her midsection, again.

“Let me hit you.  Its killing me!”  Toby said, setting his staff down when the fight had been called to an end by Ari.

“Get a drink.  Then in hand to hand, I will assume fully mortal form and we will fight as such.  But my strikes will hit you.”

“I know.”  Toby said, taking his drink.  He stripped off his shirt.  “These past few weeks have put me in the best shape of my life.”

“I know.  And you do realize that I am stronger and faster than you?  I will try to tone it down.  This is not to test you.  It is to train you.”

“I know.  Your call when to go.  I’m ready.”

“Let’s do this.”  Ari said, solidifying and obtaining a fighting stance a few feet away from him.  “This is just sparring.”  She added as she threw a punch into his midsection.  “We will be going into how to end a fight very quickly.  Most should be over in thirty seconds.”

“Right.”  Toby delivered a kick to the inside of Ari’s thigh.  No electric shock, but a nice, satisfying, dull thud.  He liked fighting mortal forms a lot better.

“Watch your guard!”  She said, as her fist wound right through it and hit his nose.  Blood spattered.  “Ended.”  She muttered as she assumed her transparent form again.

“Shit!”  Toby said as involuntary tears streamed down his face.  “I think you broke it.”

“I know I broke it.”  Ari said to him.  “Now let me heal it while you learn another important lesson.  Healing takes more pain.”

Ari placed her transparent hands to his nose and touched lightly.  The electric shock ran through him and he resisted the urge to double over in pain and scream in pain.

“Clean yourself up.”  Ari said moments later as all of the pain faded.  She pointed to a small bowl of water and towel she had created on the sidelines of their ring.

“I think that’s enough lessons for today.”  Ari commented to him as she watched him clean up the blood that had managed to drip down his face and onto his chest.

“Me too.”  Toby commented, drying his face and chest off and putting his shirt back on.  “I’ve been shocked and broken enough.”

“Well, I was more referring to the fact that we’ve been working for three hours.  Its nearly six at your home.”

“It didn’t seem that long.”  Toby said, amazed.  “Are you serious?”

“Yes.  We’re in between realms right now.  We skipped some mortal time.  I’m sure this happens a lot.”

“I never know where the time goes.”  Toby admitted to her.  “But that only felt like two hours, at the most.”

“Let’s get you home.  Your dad ordered pizza.”

“Awesome.  I hope he remembered I would be home around 6:30.”

“Of course he did.”  Ari said, reaching out to grab him.  “You are the only thing your father really cares about in this life.  He just is expecting you to be late like usual.  You’ll actually be early.  Its only a few minutes after.”

“You straightened my nose back out?”  Toby asked her, worried momentarily.

“I was human once, too.”  Ari laughed.  “Have a little faith.  Of course I straightened it.”

“Okay.  I just never know with you immortal types.  Transparent and magical and what not.”  Toby said, relieved.

“Time for you to go home.”  She admonished him.  “Grab your other shirt.”

“I brought two?”

“Yeah.  Your non-training t-shirt in the corner over there.”  Ari pointed to him.

“You know, for a goddess, you sure make me get things a lot.”

“Remember what you learned today?  Every piece of magic has its cost.”

“I know.  I know.”

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