We had to do this now. I'm ready to go home and say goodbye to all of you. Instead of saying that, I put on a fake smile with enthusiasm.
We stood on the edge of a clearing with a river on either side. People walked around in a daze, and I was sure that even if I touched them, they wouldn't know I did.
"These people are in mourning," Cronus stated, moving forward toward the far side of the field.
"What are they mourning?" Hyperion wondered, poking a man on the cheek. The man didn't even look at him, just stubbed to the left, then resumed the same position. I stared at him sadly for a moment, then put my face back to neutral before anyone else could see and assumed it was weakness.
"Who knows? Life, Love ones, and so on." Cronus sighed, waving his hand. Hyperion nodded as if he knew exactly what he meant, as if any of us knew what that meant. We live forever; if we want something, we can snap it into existence, and our loved ones never die.
We walked through the rest of the field, and not one of the people got in our way. Crossing the bridge into another field, these people seemed more lively, running up to us and asking for money for the boat. Cronus snapped, putting a shield around us so they couldn't get anywhere near us.
I didn't listen to their cries for help or look at the pledging faces. How could we be so heartless? I noticed they avoided Iapetus but tried to get near us. Probably because they were already dead, and he just made them even more depressed.
At the bottom of this field was a long pier with five boats and ghostly figures on each. There was what looked like a toll booth where it started. A woman handed something to the thing in the tollbooth, and it let her through. Some man tried to run through with her, but a tentacle came out of the water, wrapping around him and pulling him under the water as he screamed for help.
I wonder what happened to him, but the bubbles underneath the water were probably a sign of him being eaten. We walked right up to the pier, and the black creature in the toll booth let us go through. Cronus threw a few gold coins and wine at it, which it heartily took.
We walked on the pier, heading to the nearest ship, and boarded. I looked into the water and saw body after body, floating just beneath the surface as if they were part of the water itself.
"The people who are in the water are the ones who can't pay or commit humanity's worst crime," Cronus explained, sitting down next to me and putting his arm around my shoulders. Dad seemed so proud. I wanted to throw his arm off of me, but I didn't. I could feel my uncle's side glances, but other than that and the floating bodies, it was an ok boat ride to the other side. The other side was a bustling city that felt like any other city.
"I was not expecting this," Hyperion said, with Coeus nodding in agreement.
"So what am I supposed to do? This place looks like it runs itself?" I asked, looking around.
"Whatever you want, leave it as it is or change it. You can refuse the dead, throw these people out, or whatever." Cronus said nonchalantly.
"Then why give it to me?" I insisted while my dad glared daggers at me for even asking about Cronus's decisions.
"You seemed to have changed your ways and have gone out of your way to help me and Rhea. I wanted to respond to that in kind." Cronus stated, looking me in the eyes. I looked him back, which a lot of couldn't do. They respected him but were scared of him.
"Thank you, Ruler Cronus," I replied, kneeling, unsure of what else to do. I wondered slightly if he read right through me.
"You're welcome. Well, now that I showed you how to get here, we can leave." Cronus smiled, grabbing my shoulder and pulling me up. With a snap of his fingers, we were back at the house and resumed eating and drinking. This time, my brothers were allowed to join us, but I knew they were upset that they couldn't talk freely as I was. Every time they did, someone interrupted them. I felt so bad for them.
I didn't want to drink, but my uncles and dad pressured me. I just hoped that I was not a talkative drunk.
A few hours later, and with a few more drinks in all of us, I had the sky outside stuck on dusk. Hyperion was timing me to see how long I could hold it while everyone else took bets. Coeus said two hours, while both of my brothers said less than thirty minutes. I flicked them off when it went past their time. Dad said 24 hours, while Hyperion and Iapetus said twelve to fifteen hours. Cronus didn't bet but just cheered me on.
"What is going on!" Women screamed, flying down from the sky.
"Hey, sweetie!" Hyperion yelled happily, waving at an angry Eos.
"Don't, hey sweetie me! Why is the sky stuck on dusk!" she screamed, pointing at the sky.
"We bet Astraeus that he couldn't hold it on dusk." Pallas giggled.
"A bet? You did this over a bet? You messed with mortals' lives over a bet!" She screamed, turning to me.
"You are beautiful even when you are so mad." I blurted out, which I didn't mean to. All the others started jeering at me while I apologized, going red as a tomato.
"Leave!" she screamed at them, making Cronus raise an eyebrow, to which she begged politely. He accepted, and they all left, leaving me along with her.
She turned to me, and I held my breath. A long list of ideas is running through my head, but my favorite is her accepting and kissing me.
She punched me on the right side of my face sending me to the ground.
"You are a piece of work!" she screamed, kicking my leg, then took off toward the sky. I couldn't help but fall in love even more.