Welcome To Choice

“Hello.  My name is Tobias, and I am eighteen years old.  I am young, but as it stands, I am in charge of this entire process.”  Toby took a breath as some shifted uncomfortably in their seats.  He had just been introduced by Ari.

“Welcome to Choice.  It is Choice that can change your life, forever.  As you may have noticed, we have a large campus that is very remote.  You all flew in by way of private jet, expenses paid.  For some of you, you have chosen to stay a night before flying home, and others will be leaving shortly after this presentation is completed.  I’d like to start off by saying, first, well, welcome here.  To be offered a chance to visit a remote university that you’ve never heard of before, and actually take it, is a courageous move from all of you.”

“Choice campus is brand new.”  Toby shot a smile at Ari who was sitting ‘behind the scenes,’ ins a large and comfortable looking chair.  She motioned to him, as if begging him to continue and get to the point.  “Choice University is for those of us who are special.  Those of us who have lineage that is more common than we may care to believe.”

“Some of you may have noticed things throughout your life just fit together perfectly.  Others of you, may have noticed that you have a little bit more of forewarning.  A lot of lineage seems to present itself through these ways.  Others of you may have noticed nothing different about yourselves in comparison to other people.”

“In the old days,” Toby said, slowly reaching his conclusion, “People like us were well known.  They went by the names of Hercules, Theseus, Perseus, Orion, Minos, Helen.  Believe it or not, all of you sitting here tonight are part god.  Some of you are a quarter — no, please, sir, hear me out.”

Toby looked at the person rising to leave the room.  He looked around him, bewildered, as Toby desperately tried to keep him there.  If one left, others would, as well.  And any control he could have possibly gained, would have been lost.

“You may have seen signs.  You may have seen none.  Your father, your grandfather, even your great grandfather, it doesn’t matter which.  I know none of you have monotheistic beliefs.  All of you believe in some form or another that there is either no god, or more than one.  In either case, all of you are capable of making this leap in thought.  I am going to show you, now, exactly what I am.”

“My name is Tobias.  I am eighteen years old.  My mother died when I was young.  And my father is the king of gods, Zeus.  My mother’s father was the messenger god, Hermes.  This makes me three quarters god.  As a result, I have these.”  Toby removed his shirt, spun, and released his wings.  He hoped that Ari was far enough away from him to not be hit by the wings.

A collective gasp  rose from the audience, and an unknown perpetrator stood up, shouting “Magic!” and “Illusion!” over the gasps and mutters of the crowd.  Toby spun back around.

“You’re absolutely right.  Magic.  And you know what?  You may come up and examine me.  I dare you.”  Toby’s eyes focused on the same man who had stood up to leave just moments earlier.  “Come on.”

The older man rose from his chair.  He had to have been close to forty or fifty years old, with a balding head but otherwise nice figure.  He walked up towards the front of the room as murmurs filled the silence.  Toby walked to meet the man at the stage stairs.

“What is your name, sir?”  Toby asked quietly.

“Joseph McBurrows.”  The older man smiled at him.  “What type of rich child are you, to cast all of this prettiness and expenses away on such a simple illusion?  Trying to start a cult?”

“Which of your parents died when you were young?  This seems to be a trend among gods’ children.”  Toby countered as he turned around, watching his wing span in order not to strike anyone around them.  “Touch.  Feel.  Poke.  Look for the strings before I fly.”

“You...  this is very good.”  The man named Joseph said as he reached out to stroke the wings.  “However, it is going to take more than a Halloween costume to convince me that you are the child of Zeus himself.”

“This is my only recognized power.”  Toby told Joseph as he spun back around.  “And the first time it happened to me, I was falling off of a rock wall.  Then all of a sudden, I floated gently to the ground.  Luckily, no one was around to notice.  It took me more than three hours to get them to fold up behind me.”

“How?  How do you fold them?”  Joseph asked, interested and intrigued.  He could tell that he had sold the idea to this one man, and probably half the crowd through his demonstration and close, personal contact with him.

“Like this.  Here, put your hand on one.  Don’t grab, though, please.  That will hurt.”

“I’d imagine so.”  Joseph replied, and Toby was unsure.  Did he mean in reference to the fact that the wings were real?  Or that they weren't, but were somehow still attached to Toby’s back.

Toby imagined his wings receding and seconds later, the change began.  The itching on his back faded and he knew they were fully receded.  He turned back around to face Joseph, who was staring at him in wonder and amazement.

“Why did you invite us all here, anyway?”  He asked.  “Is this going to be a mass genocide attempt by the gods?”

“No.”  Toby laughed.  “Take a seat and I’ll speak to the entire crowd again.  I know some people can’t hear me from here.”

“Okay.”  Joseph agreed and turned to return to his seat.  The crowd had been deathly silent while the examination had gone on, and were silent now.  Toby took the long walk back up to the podium set in front of the room.

He could feel each and every pair of eyes on him, and he decided to exploit the attention.  He imagined his wings coming back out as he finished his plod to the podium.  He turned and Ari smiled encouragingly at him.

“Good so far.”  Ari said quietly, only for his ears.  He smiled at here.

“So.  I apologize for the brief interlude.  Now assuming that everyone sitting here believes me, I’m going to continue.  Choice University is not a policing agency.  We don’t really care what you do, as long as you don’t destroy the world.  Choice is here as a place, for people like Joseph, who does not know what his powers are, and people like me, who do.  This campus will provide each and every one of us anything from the simple security of knowing that we are not alone, to the vast security of having people to talk to.  On campus, we currently have apartments, which most of you will be inhabiting for the night.  We will have an entire community soon, with day life, night life, and anything in between, for those of us who feel alienated among an entirely mortal race.  You may stay here to learn to control your powers, or learn to exert them.  Choice is a place for you.”  Toby paused for a moment to allow the vastness of what he had just described sink into each and every one of the half gods sitting before him.

“We are all gifted.  It is our hope, that each and every one of us sitting here today will discover our exact lineage and hold relationships with our real parents and grandparents.  It is up to us to discover these pasts, presents, and futures.  Momentarily, I invite you to get up, move around, and meet people.  But first, I would like for the one instrumental in creating this palace of a place to get up and tell you a little about it.  Please welcome Ariana, goddess of the Gifted.”

Ari stood, surprised.  Toby grinned at her and took her seat as quickly as he could, putting his wings back where they belonged.  He hastily reached over to the floor where the shirt he had been wearing was laying in a crumpled pile.

“Hello.  I am Ari.  I was completely mortal once, and then I was taken in marriage by one of Zeus’ youngest sons, whom only some of you may know.  My husband’s name is Arkonel.  This is beside the point.  Toby here has graciously introduced himself and the concept as easily as was possible, and I am not going to tell you about the building.  This building, a week ago, was a large, abandoned warehouse.  We converted it into the main meeting place for Choice Campus.  The hallways to either side, previously locked, hold many blue framed doors.  Each door on this side,” Ari motioned with her right hand to indicate the entire left hand side of the building, “Has an altar and an entire room dedicated to each of the gods of Olympus.  And on this side, we have an altar and entire room dedicated to each of the lovely goddesses of Olympus.  In addition, scattered throughout are rooms for instruction and meditation.  Please, I am here to answer questions, as is Toby and any of the staff available here.  The rooms are self locking, so you may spend as much time as you’d like at each room.  We will reconvene in about thirty minutes or so and continue our presentation.”

Ari stepped off of the podium and onto the floor as people slowly rose from their chairs to look around.  A few of the younger people headed up towards the podium, as if they were about to speak to Ariana and Toby. Toby stood nervously, and his jumps when Ariana placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Wipe your hands off on your shirt. You have broken into a cold, nervous sweat. You did just fine. Your father would be proud of you.”

“Which one?”

“Both of them.” Ariana told him as she smiled and reached out to shake hands with a young black man. “Your mother, too.”

“I lost my mother at the age of three. When I get angry, I just make things happen. Most of the time the cause of my anger gets destroyed if it’s an object, or very, very sick, if it is a human. My parents never really disowned me, but they know that something is up.”

“Parents?”

“Well, dad remarried. My stepmother is, to put it nicely, a bitch.” The young man laughed, and Toby jumped as his attention was taken by a poke to his shoulder. He turned around

“Hey, Lisa!” Toby said surprised. “I didn’t think you have managed to come.  I didn’t see you beforehand!”

“Well, you know. I am kind of short.” Lisa laughed, shyly. “This is Ben.” Lisa offered the man behind her to Toby. He was only older by a few years.

“Hi, I’m Toby.”  Toby extended his hand.  “You too?  I didn’t know that monastery — that’s where you met, right?”  Ben nodded in agreement.  “Is it an entire monastery of halves?”

“Yes.  We are all here.  Your invitations were very nice.  Your explanation was a bit rough, but I think you got the point across to everyone.”

“Really?  I’ve never ever spoken to large crowds of people in my life.  I was breaking down, nearly, out of nervousness.”

“You did very well.  We, obviously, don’t get out much.”  Ben said, rubbing the budding stubble on his chin.

“You’re doing well for yourself, it seems... ” Toby gave Lisa a hug.  “Unfortunately, a line seems to be forming behind you guys I’ll catch up with both of you at the end of this chaos.  Alright?”

“Fine with me.”

“And me.”  Ben agreed, taking Lisa’s shoulders and directing her towards the entrance to one of the hallways.

“They hit it off well.”  Toby commented to Ari as he reached out to shake hands with the next person in the gang of people heading towards the front.

“Are you really the leader of this whole enterprise?”  A young woman dressed in business attire asked him.  Toby nodded.

“I am the go between for the gods and the mortals.  Ari here, is the presiding, resident goddess.”  Toby pointed the questioner towards the goddess.

“Well, I was just wondering.  What are we doing about currency?  Food, here?  I mean, you can’t have a functional community if the residents can’t sustain themselves.”

“Business woman?”  He asked, smiling.  “We would be glad to have you on our team.  Currently, all of our supply needs are taken care of, but I’m sure I would love to get with you personally to see what we could do for our budding community.  However, we are kind of...  off the radar, for now.  With mortals.  We’re concealed and no one knows we’re here.  So we don’t really need any laws changed, if you know what I mean.  The gods plan to take very good care of us.”

“Well, here’s my card.”  She handed him her business card.

“Anita.  I love your name.  I dated a girl last year with your name.  Unfortunately, she dumped me for one of my friends.  You know how it goes.”  Toby winked at her and finally managed to crack a smile on her face.  “Do you know what you can do yet?”

“No.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to learn?”  She asked, and he nodded.

“To be honest, we don’t know either.  Its up to each individual to discover his or her own journey.  We just offer the tools to aid the journey.”

“I see.”  Anita nodded.  “Well, I’d really love to go and check out those rooms.  Hopefully, I’ll have time.  There’s quite a line.”  She said to him.  “How many rooms are here?”

“I’m not sure.  We just added some new ones yesterday, but the count included all of the major Greek gods, plus twenty five meditation and instructional rooms.  I have personally visited all of them.  We commissioned the art work, and they all came out equally amazing.”  Toby bragged about Athena’s art work, trying to keep the true artist as a secret for just a little longer.

“Well, thank you for taking the time to talk to me.”  Anita shook his hand and blended back into the crowd.  Toby turned with a big smile towards the next person in line.

“Hello.  What can I do for you?”

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