Blessed

Blank canvas

I jumped from the barstool knocking it over and ran behind the counter. I could feel my cheeks blushing as I realized that my escape wasn't unnoticed. Another wave of embarrassment hit me as I looked at Romeo's shocked face. His eyes bulging, he muttered, "What the...".

"Look away!" I whispered furiously as I swatted his leg hiding next to him.

His was perplexed and kept bobbing his head away and to me. He decided on keeping his head forward but his eyes were almost at his temple.

"Sel, what the f**k is going on?! Who is this guy? Is he a threat?!"

"Yes!"

"I mean NO!"

"I don't know!"

Romeo's face held a look of wary confusion as he watched at the person coming his way. It was just a guy... human actually. He didn't understand Selene's reaction to him. She was a goddess blessed by all the other gods, a weapon of Zeus's creation made to destroy any threat and she was sitting on the floor next to his feet afraid of this regular human?! The ridiculousness of the situation was getting to him and his lips started to twitch in a smile.

The guy carefully passed through his bar going up to the counter and Romeo said, "Hi, can I help you?"

Romeo reached with his powers to feel the man, maybe Selene could see something he couldn't and he found ... nothing. It was like he wasn't a real person or was brain dead or something!

His presence didn't feel supernatural, he was definitely human but somehow was able to block Romeo's powers. He reached to Selene telepathically and asked "Who is this guy? Can you feel him at all?"

"No!"

"I'll try something!", she whispers.

Selene didn't feel any power from the man so she tried her empathic power. His emotion were calm, almost too calm so she prodded a little more. She heard him saying "There is an add in your window. It says help needed and I'm looking for a job.", man explained. His voice was like a magnet, she felt the need to be near him. He sounded like all the Christmas mornings rolled into one, something about him was irresistible to her. She could feel something under his serene demeanor so she tried a bit harder to uncover the feeling he was suppressing. She could feel it was involuntary, it looked like he didn't even know about it.

In a flash she pierced his barrier and instead of relief she found herself falling through his mind. Her own mind was pushed back and she was falling through the endless emptiness. There was no sound, no light, not even Hades had a torture chamber so terribly painful to be in. She could see her breath as the cold was biting and for the first time in a long long time she was afraid! She was in panic! She tried to stop herself and levitate but it wasn't possible. There was no space, no gravity, nothing but the pressure of loneliness and pain that was so deep it was indescribable. She felt familiarity and her heart was hurting for this stranger as she knew how he felt inside. Selene tried to scream but her voice came out like a distant echo of a whisper. How was she supposed to get out of here?!

***

Endy was talking to the bartender about a job offer when all of a sudden he heard a blood curdling scream of a woman. It took him by surprise and everyone at the bar jumped at their feet! Some of the guys behind him produced some sounds that he could only describe as growling. What the hell is this s**t? The bartender looked amused up until that scream and now he looked at something by his feet with wide eyes. A light trashing could be heard and the bartender dove down picking up a body of a small woman. She had some kind of seizure and was trashing around like someone was killing her! "Make room for her!", he yelled at me and I instinctively wiped the counter with my hands sending glasses and botlles flying!

"What's wrong with her?" I yelled over her strangled screams. He shook his head and just said "Hold her still!", trying to grab her head with his large hands. I tried to be gentle with it as she was so petite but I actually couldn't restrain her that way! So, I grab hold of her arms and push her down. The bartender guy was holding her head firmly and I could hear him muttering something under his breath that sounded like chanting. I turn my head to look at the people behind me and yell, "Call an ambulance!" but non of them is moving. They look at the bartender and I notice some of them smiling cruelly. What. The. Actual. f**k?

I return my attention to the woman. She's beautiful and delicate and I try to imagine the pain and fear she's feeling now so I grab her arms harder and whisper to her, "It's gonna be ok, just come back to us, baby girl...". As I said it I can feel her trashing slowly stoping and soon enough she's completely calm. The bartender looks at me incredulously and asks "What the hell are you?!".

***

Selene keeps her arms wrapped tightly around her as she tries to push back the raging panic she feels. Few tears roll down her cheeks. The silence is suffocating. Her dream guy has some issues!

She's lost in his mind without a way to get out and although she's scared she can't help but feel a little curious about him. What happened in his life?

In a desperate attempt to go back to reality she tries to teleport to her own body but it doesn't work.

On the other hand, she can feel him out a bit better and he feels like a human but not quite. With a sense of warmth spreading through her upper body - she instinctively knows he's touching her. In the biting coldness of his inner world the sensation of a warmth of his touch feels comforting. Her panic subsides slowly and she's able to think rationally.

It would help if she knew his name to try to call out to him. He seems to have a tight hold on whatever is his trauma, that means he would be able to let her out.

If she could build up her power maybe someone could sense it (Zeus maybe, but not likely after this morning) and pull her out of here.

Suddenly she hears his voice filling this space-void saying, "It's gonna be ok, just come back to us, baby girl..."

She follows the sound and can feel her body temperature rising like she's getting out of an ice bath.

***

Romeo feels Selene's conscious returning and her trashing stops. Her breath is even now, she appears to be out of it for the time being. This guy Endy is still holding on to her and he can hear him saying over and over again, "It's ok, you're ok...".

In the terms of longevity, Romeo's not the oldest creature alive but he has a few hundred years on Selene. He knows the story of her life and he feels kinda bad for how she was treated but he also knows that Selene's not a weak little girl she appears to be. Just this morning, a whole world witnessed her show of pure power. No, she's not a weakling. To see her cowering at his feet hiding from this guy and then getting comatose and in some kind of seizure after she tried to probe at his psyche was... Well, it was scary. If a most powerful being in this universe was scared of a guy he'd be a fool not to be at least worried.

He looked at the guys behind Endy starting to teleport away and soon his bar was empty. This is great for the business, he thought to himself. Endy was oblivious to the fact that they were alone now and was fixated on Selene's face. He looked at her like he was trying to scan her image to his brain and keep it there forever.

He finally let go of her body and pulled her sunglasses of. It was a miracle they didn't fall off while she was having a seizure. "Is she sick?", he asked himself out loud.

Romeo scoffed at this, "No! Are you?", he asked in return.

Endy was confused. What is this guy talking about?

"Seriously, Endy, what the hell are you?"

Endy's head snapped up, he didn't really want to talk to this man but said "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?!" Romeo was shocked.

"I don't know! I'm alive since forever, I don't drink blood so I'm not a vampire, I don't shiftshape into any animal l, I can't fly so I'm not Superman, I don't know what I am!" Endy was getting annoyed. "Who is she?" he asked returning his attention to the unconscious beauty.

"Her name is Selene. Do you know about her?" Romeo asked.

"The moon... Her face is somehow familiar but I know I haven't met her before. This is so confusing."

"No shit.", Romeo added. "Are you a god?" Romeo tried.

Endy looked at him like had three heads and was wearing a tutu, "Wouldn't I have some powers?".

Romeo was getting a headache. He didn't go anywhere with Endy, Selene was unconscious, his bar was empty and he didn't know where to begin to solve all this s**t. He groaned and pulled at his hands though his hair. How the hell did he get himself in this s**t?

"You wanted a job? You can start now. Mind the bar while I take the girl you knocked out to bed.", Romeo said walking over to Selene to pick her up.

"Where are you taking her?" Endy asked Romeo. He wanted to know more about her, why she looked familiar. He wanted her awake, to speak to her, to look at her eyes. "What do you mean I knocked her out?"

"You did. She tried to feel you out, see if you are a threat and you did something to her. You say you don't have any powers but the unconscious goddess in my arms proves you're lying!"

"She's a goddess?!"

"Well, technically god-slayer but yeah, you're oogling Zeus's youngest daughter."

Endy was dumbfounded.

He didn't protest further while the bartender was carrying the girl away. He knocked out a goddess?! He knocked out a god-slayer?! With what? He didn't even know she was in there. He never had any powers. When he woke up one day two thousand years ago, he was sprawled on the ground. He was covered in some blue sticky liquid, his head was throbbing. There was no one around him. His hand was gripping a sword so he assumed he's a warrior of some kind but he couldn't remember anything.

He didn't recognize his surroundings, he couldn't even remember his name. He wandered around the forest where he woke up hoping to find some other warrior but there was no one. Eventually, he stumbled upon a village. People were looking at him wide eyed and moved out of his way. He was thirsty and exhausted and just wanted a little break from all the unanswered questions flying around his head. He sat at a table belonging to a tavern. When the owner showed up, he asked for water. The old man eyed him holding a serious face, "What happened to you, warrior?"

"I don't know. I can't remember. Is there an army camp nearby?"

The tavern owner shook his head eyeing the man, "Come inside. You need to wash and rest."

The man was called Elios. His son was a hoplite who died in battle, so Elios named him Endymion after his dead son and took him in. Elios was the only family he had ever known. He missed the old man.

While the bartender was away with Selene he started to clean the mess. Selene... he tried her name in his mind. It felt right. The girl was a mystery but then again, so was he.

Romeo returned when Endy was in the middle of cleaning the broken glass from the floor and scrunched up his brows.

"I'm sure I'm gonna regret this but I wanna hold my eye on you. You're hired."