Chapter 49: A place to call home, 1179 BCE

It’s a strange thing to feel, something inside me has disappeared so suddenly, there are no voices in my head anymore, no argument between Mephia and Astoria, only silence.

In the end, I had changed a war that was supposed to be a ten-year long war, I had ended the war within the day. I am already looking forward to the stories Homer would tell about the Trojan war… how would it affect the modern day, I mean, how will people call the Trojan Virus now… the Parisian Virus?

It has been 20 years since the war. Thena and I seperated, as she was still duty-bound to kill the deviants around the world, she had promised to visit me often, but I doubt it, as she would probably be across the world by then.

Meanwhile. Me, Helen, and Hermione travelled. We visited all of Greece like a band of vagabonds, travelling through the roads of the Hellenic world using a carriage. We spent years travelling, Hermione was now old enough to marry, Helen was getting older much to my dismay, and the world kept moving.

Hermione took interest in the ways of war as soon as she’s able to fight. I taught him how to use the spear my way, and we spar almost everyday. When she was about 21 years of age, she took interest in one of the men that we encountered along our journey, and at my reluctance, she married him. It feels strange… I feel like a father, seeing his own daughter married pains my heart a little, the girl I raised has finally grown up, it was surreal.

And so three become two. Hermione decided that she would follow her husband rather than us much to my disappointment, but she held her own destiny, and I would support her through and through.

Speaking about marriage, I had asked Helen about marriage. She doesn’t want to marry again, even though in my opinion, she was still the most beautiful woman in all the Hellenic world, it’s just that her appearance has a little touch of maturity now, and she had grown wiser.

Though she asked me if I would marry her, I of course say no, I don’t view her that way, but I’m flattered that after all this time, she still has a crush on me.

We continued to travel, but now, every year we will visit Hermione in her husband’s hometown. After a year or two, she had a child, a son. She had asked me to name him, I don’t know what to call him, so I called him Phobos(meaning fear)… Helen doesn’t like that at all, so instead, she’s the one naming him, Achilles…

An interesting choice… but I digress.

Anyway, fast forward a couple more years, and we ran out of place to travel inside Greece, so we’ve decided it is time to settle down. We surveyed for a place, and decided that Helen wanted to live near her hometown, Sparta.

So I chose a place on top of a hill overlooking the city of Sparta. The breeze is quite something, and the view is amazing.

And here we are, Helen was now in her 40s, significantly older, if a common man were to see us two, they would probably guess that she was my mother.

We’re now sitting on a chair, looking at the city of Sparta below us.

“Pluto?” questioned Helen suddenly.

“Hm?”

“If you got your gifts back… Would you bring me?”

I didn’t answer for a few seconds, I was thinking about it. If I absorbed her, would she still be the same? Will it be her? Or just a shadow of her former self?

“Do you want to?” I ultimately asked her.

Helen didn’t speak for a while. I could tell that she was also thinking about it. After a while, finally she spoke.

She shook her head. “No… I don’t think I want to.”

I hummed. “Understandable.”

“But…” Helen murmured. “Promise me… visit my grave often…”

“You’re not dead yet Helen.” I rolled my eyes.

“Promise me… Pluto.” repeated Helen, looking at my eyes.

I sighed. “I promise.”

Helen smiled. “Thank you… for everything. I love you, father.”

My face probably has a wide grin now… “I love you too Helen.” I gave her a side hug, and kissed her forehead. We then enjoyed the company as the sun set in front of us, ending the day in this place that I liked to call home.