Chapter 4: Vision of….

You have entered the Tower of The Gods. Now prove you are worthy of remaining inside its walls. Survive for 336 Hours Reward: Entry into First Floor. Failure: Death.

Odysseus didn’t have time to fully wrap his head around the words as he became distracted.

On the other side of the screen craning his neck to stare at Odysseus, was the large smiling inhuman man. 

Maintaining his composure, Odysseus recovered quickly and focused on the inhuman man staring at him.

“So… I just… I just need to survive for two weeks?” Odysseus said, quickly calculating the math in his head.

“That’s right buddy.” The man smirked, appearing beside Odysseus with his arm draped on his shoulder before he slowly himself to stand… float upright.

I could have sworn this hole was smaller. Odysseus said to himself, wondering why the cave seemed so big now.

“Welp, this has been fun but I've got to jet. I’ve got places to be, people to see, messages to relay. Cattle to steal. Oh, and word of advice.” The man said, narrowing his eyes. “Don’t eat anything that requires a spoon.”

“What? Wait! Don't go! You still havent-” Odysseus began, but as if he were a figment of his imagination, the lanky flamboyant man winked then vanished, leaving not a trace behind except for Odysseus and his confusion.

“Gah.” Odysseus let out in frustration before his legs gave out, his exhaustion catching up and his worn out body wobbling to and fro. 

“Ah… shit.”

Odysseus’s eyes rolled to the back of his head, his body falling with the momentum sure to damage him, yet, before his body could impact with the stony floor, time around the teen seemed to come to a crawl.

The boy was falling, slowly, almost as if invisible hands were gently laying him down upon the floor where leaves shifted.

*****

BOOM!

Odysseus woke from the sound of thunder. Jolting, he quickly shot up, his body covered in leaves with the entrance of the cave blocked heavily by green foliage that was illuminated by the repeated lightning.

In pitch darkness, his shivering body aching, Odysseus climbed to his feet and used the light from the storm to inspect the cave filled with green that had been blown in from the winds raging outside. 

Somehow, a large chunk of the foliage had been swept onto him, creating a cover of leaves that had kept him from freezing on the hard floor of the cold cave.

“Well… shit.” Odysseus muttered, flinching from the angry storm. “Crap. What the heck do I do now?”

Odysseus clenched his jaw, he was wet, cold, hungry, and perhaps worst of all, he had to use the bathroom. 

He looked around his domicile, eyeing the small enclosure before willing his system open.

Support System Menu
SPONSOR: &(1 ERROR! CoRRupted Data!&^
Title: A Strategic Goddess’s Beloved Name: Odysseus		HP: 69/100
CLASS: Challenger LvL 1		MP: 0/0
Free Points	5	AFFINITIES  Divine 150 Chaos 10 Fire 2
STRENGTH	8(5)
VITALITY	10(7)
SENSE	12(9)
DEXTERITY	13(10)
ARCANA	0
EGO	20
[SEALED]
[BUFFS]: Protection of %^!@()[ERROR! Data does not exist!] [DEBUFFS]:  Malnourished (-3 All stats) [RESISTANCES]: Divinity 175%, Chaos 10%, Fire 2%
SKILLS: Shard of Aegis (25MP), Telumkinesis, (10MP)
QUEST TRACKER 1. Survive for 332 Hours.

Well. Copper-lining, four hours have passed. Odysseus said to himself before taking a seat, flinching once more from the sound of thunder. 

Shelter check. Now it’s time for food and water. Odysseus said, his mind working on the priorities essential to his survival. 

A cold wind blew, causing Odysseus to shiver and look down at his garments. 

“And I suppose something else to wear…”

To your right.

Odysseus’s brow furrowed, a sudden feeling in his head ushering his head to gaze to his right.

Following the feeling, he turned his head, the next barrage of lightning illuminating what appeared to be a large leaf with crystal clear water lying atop it and familiar colorful berries separated into two bundles nearby.

With narrowed eyes, Odysseus approached the berries, noticing the movement of tiny black creatures around each of them as he reached out to touch the leaf filled with water.

He paused, using the light in between each lightning strike to stop and study the berries laid out and the creatures surrounding them. 

At a glance, the two berry piles were the same, but upon closer inspection, Odysseus could see one key difference as he brought himself low to ground, his nose nearly touching the soil.

On one side, lay little tiny creatures that were shriveled up, dead by the looks of it, their tiny black legs balling into themselves with mandibles twitching. However, on the other side, were the same creatures crawling all over colorful berries that were still alive and well. 

What was the difference between the berries? What was going on? The creatures that swarmed the pile on the left died almost instantly upon crawling up the berry, but the ones on the right seemed fine.

He laid on the cold ground, keen on studying the local flora and bugs that were so akin to ants.

Maybe it has something to do with the berries? Odysseus pondered, waiting for the next flash of lightning to illuminate the cave as he plucked two berries from the ground and held one in each hand.

BOOM!

Another flash of lightning, Odysseus narrowed his eyes, taking that split second to engrave what he saw.

Berry on left, red and blue stripes, Berry on right, blue and red stripes. Odysseus noted, taking time to repeat his process and observations. 

At a glance, the two fruits were nearly identical, the only difference being the order of the pattern of their skin. 

Is it edible?

Odysseus grimaced, eyeing the berries before casting his eyes downward as his stomach let out a growl.

He was hungry, famished, starved even. More so than usual with his status reflected in his system.

Should I chance it? Odysseus asked himself, before he noticed movement. The ants on the left side had began twitching, moving, unscrunching up.

It seems the berry on the left has some form of paralyzing effect. Odysseus surmised before stopping. Paralyze? 

He had never used that word before yet he knew it. Both its meaning and how to pronounce it in his mind.

Something is wrong. Odysseus said, thinking back on the strange man’s words, his actions, the lightning bolts in the sky, the odd feeling of being watched and finally… the berries and water on the plant laid out for him.

In fact this whole thing was strange. It was like being in a dream but being in control, a constant feeling of deja vu that bothered him to no end.

There was also that feeling of someone watching over him. Spying on him. 

“Who is there? Show yourself.” Odysseus asked, scanning the cave to the backdrop of lightning.

Nothing.

Worth a shot. Odysseus muttered inwarldy before turning his attention back to the berries. 

“Well… crap.” Odysseus sighed, holding his head low.

He inhaled, taking a moment and flinching again from the sound of thunder bouncing off the walls of his hovel. 

“Welp.” Odysseus said before opening his mouth, tossing a handful of berries covered in bugs into his maw. 

Huh. Crunchy 

Besides the crunch of chiten breaking in his maw, the berries themselves were pretty flavorless, leaving much to be desired but at least it was subsistence. The bugs on them were an added bonus of protein.

Ravenous, Odysseus quickly finished the berries off before placing his mouth to the floor, sucking up the ant-like creatures to continue his feast, occasionally getting dirt in his mouth.

Once done, he turned over, eyeing the leaf filled with liquid that was described as water. Water that was so different than the murky processed grey-colored water of his childhood.

“Thank you.” Odysseus said to his invisible benefactor as he reached over, carefully cradling the leaf with both hands to bring it to his dirt covered mouth.

Odysseus’s eyes went round as he took a sip of the crystal clear water.

For the first time in Odysseus’s life, he drank pure unpolluted water

It wasn’t sweet, it wasn’t tangy, in fact, it held no taste at all yet it… 

It was divine.

Odysseus dranked it all, lapped it up like a dehydrated puppy and only stopping when it was finished and he was out of breath.

When he was done, Odysseus sat there for a moment, holding a bit of the water in his mouth, savoring the taste of nothing and swishing it in his mouth.

Odysseus put his back to the wall and pulled up his menu, attempting to assess what he had. 

He couldn't stay idle, this was only a temporary reprieve. He was stranded, out on foreign land with no means of stable food and water. 

He was flying blind, with no support, no help, and no clue what to do other than to prioritize his next meal and shelter.

In short, it was just another day. 

Odysseus eyed the stats on the screen, the skills and the free points, along with the buttons. With a sense of dejavu, he understood that he could increase his stats, but why? And what should he increase?

“Hmm.”

His eyes traced to the skills at the bottom of the page that he could see clearly despite the darkness.

Shard of Aegis… Telumkinesis. MP? And I have zero MP… Is it because I have zero Arcana?

Odysseus quickly put two and two together before testing his theory by placing his finger on the arrow next to the arcana stat point.

Almost immediately Odysseus felt a buzz, a numbing tingle upon his skin that imminated from his chest and expanded outward.

Suddenly, another flash.

An image of that scarred man with blue eyes, this time, the man stood in golden armor amidst a crowd bowing to him as he held a silver scepter in his hand adorned with rings. 

The man narrowed his eyes, his hand radiating with red power before he stretched his palm towards the hundreds of gathered people and…

Screams. 

Odysseus blinked, the vision gone, his body shaking as he witnessed the deaths of hundreds.

A/N