Where The Dead Ones Go Book 1 -Magistracy-

Chapter 5

What I saw for a few seconds seemed so fantastical and bewildering.

Morris showed me his memories of a place where he knew he came from.

Flashes of scenes, colors and swirls of emotions mixed with mirages of people, voices and sceneries.

And then I saw clearly a gigantic metal bird flying straight to the skies unknown. The next scene is a gigantic steel fishes cruising through the high seas and breathing fires. The final image was of a giant wheeled iron vehicles marching through a burning city and spewing flaming rocks of destruction.

It was like I am seeing these visions through the eyes of Morris and they are all so real but impossible at the same time. Something this vivid can't be made up from mere imaginations alone.

No, this is real...

But at the same time, not true.

"Morris..."

"I know, Vivet. It's better to pretend that I have an amnesia than share these unbelievable thoughts are nothing short of fantasy. I know it may seem unreal to you but for me, they are the only thing that I have with me..."

"Vivet? Morris? Are you two okay?"

We both blinked and tried to smile when Narcine suddenly spoke when she realized we have stayed silent for a long time.

"Yeah, I'm good," Morris answered as he pointed at his almost empty plate, "Food coma, I think."

I nodded and pretended to sigh when I looked at my plate which is almost barren of edibles, "Same. After that death-defying written exam, eating these buffet meal is just a dream come true so to speak."

Narcine laughed and nodded as she glimpsed at Taurei and Rebie who seemed to be getting along quite cordially, "Well, you two better be on high alert because the second part of the examinations are about to end."

"What's the second part of the examinations? To get comatosed while eating?" Morris asked jokingly as the daughter of Persephone just laughed and pointed at the man who just entered our dining area.

"Quiet down, please!" the obviously disgruntled man said while scratching his bloodshot eyes, "I am Vineas Lyro, your proctor for the second "examinations". For those who are slow or blind who didn't notice my leopard print jeans, I am a child of Dionysus and an angry one at that since I am forced to face you all before sending you off to your dooms, er, I mean your thrid and final part of examinations which will be an all out brawl. Those who will score the highest will get all the glory and those who will sadly get the lowest will go home without meeting our esteemed Headmistress. So if you want to meet our illustrious Headmistress and pass the entrance examinations, you will all follow my simple instructions to the letter. Any questions or violent reactions? My leopards are all ears to your complaints."

Two huge cats appeared out of nowhere in a puff of purple smoke and growled at all of us while pacing around the son of the god of wine and parties.

No sane person in this room would dare raise even an inquiry with the threat of being cat food so there is only silence that answered our proctor.

He nodded to himself and nodded at the three identical boys besides him, "These three are the prized triplets of Apollo himself. They are my assistants who will observe and give bonus points to those who are cordial and amicable to others here be they your countrymates or not. You are already being graded the moment you entered this room. So to make things more interesting, we will be separating the mortals from demigods. Yes?"

"How about demiurges?" asked Rebie pointedly that made Narcine choke on her roasted chicken while Morris shoved water on her throat.

"Demiurges will stay with the demigods," the proctor said quite seriously as he looked at the daughters of Amphitrite and Persephone curiously, "Forgive my choice of words. I forgot that we have firstborns here. Let me clarify my instructions, all mortals will be separated from the children of immortals. Mortals, please proceed to the door to my right. No need to worry, a similar buffet will welcome you there. That is a very simple instruction that requires a simple mind to follow. Now, carry on!"

I stood up with the two boys in our table as we bid ourselves goodbye to Rebie and Narcine.

"Can we at least make a promise not to take a shot at each other in the third part of the examinations?" Morris asked as he looked at Narcine who nodded and Rebie who heaved a sigh and nodded as well after a short pause, "Great! I really do hope we all pass. Shall we get going, Taurei and Vivet?"

I smiled and glanced at the Pagosian who cordially hugged a happy daughter of Narcine who returned his embrace and a surprised daughter of Amphitrite who gave a pat on the frail back of Taurei.

"You say your name is Taurei, right?" Rebie asked tentatively that made him smile happily by her acknowledgement despite her aloofness.

"Yes, Rebie!"

She blinked and looked at him from head to foot before glancing at Narcine who is now eating once more from her plate, "Are you sure you are..."

"Are what?"

Rebie closed her eyes and took a deep breath before shaking her head finally, "No, never mind. I guess all will be revealed soon enough."

"Okay?"

Morris put his arms on our shoulders and forced us to walk towards the direction of the doors for the mortals as the last of them are heading through it right now, "C'mon you two. I bet we can continue eating once we get to the other room."

"I bet we will, Morris," I said as I touched my right pocket to be sure that the parcel my foster mother entrusted me to deliver is still safely tucked in there, "I bet Taurei here is also interested for round two, right?"

"You bet I am, Vivet. I have not yet tasted the dessert section of the buffet," he answered jovially as the last mortals passed through the door before us, "The chocolate fountain looks so delecta---."

He didn't managed to finish what he is saying when a blinding light suddenly burst from the door and the three of us were thrown forcefully away by an unknown force that sent us flying several feet away from the door.

Taurei and Morris fell faced first while I consciously fell on my back so as to defend my important package from harm at all cost.

Even at the cost of my back that seemed to be broken.

"What in the underworld?!"

I looked at Taurei who is trying to get up and shake his body to moving as Morris painfully pushed himself up and swayed on the spot where he is standing as he scratched his dirty matt of hair in confusion.

"Yeah, what gives?"

I took a deep breath and against my better judgment, I took a step forward towards the door that just rejected us, "I don't understand why? Why won't it let me in? I am a mortal."

"Vivet, wait!" Morris said hurriedly as he and Taurei walked besides me on our way to the doors for the mortals, "Let's be rational about this."

But Taurei shook his head angrily at him, "We are instructed to go through this door, Morris and we will!"

"Oh for goodness, sake! Can we just take a deep breath and..."

He didn't finish what he is saying when another blast of light appeared from the door and this time, it sent us flying with such force, we landed in front of the table where Narcine and Rebie are sitting.

The daughter of the goddess of flowers screamed as she stand quickly and rushed to our aid as the goddess of the waves quietly followed with a look on her face as if she is expecting this will happen all along.

"Vivet! Morris!"

I tried to look up and in the blur of pain, I saw a familiar silhouette of a girl that is trying to help me and Morris to at least sit while leaning on her as Narcine and Rebie are tending to Taurei.

"Are you two all right?!" the girl shouted loudly as she slapped us as we almost lose our consciousness from the pain and shock that we received, "Get a grip of yourselves!"

A hard slap on my face and I finally saw the face of the beautiful girl who smuggled us in here together, "Gala?"

"Yes, Vivet! What in the underworld are you two thinking charging ahead like that knowing full well what will happen?!"

It was Morris who answered in disbelief after the daughter of Athena forced him to drink from her water bottle, "I tried to warn them but well, as you can see, it didn't work out."

"Taurei? Hey, Taurei! Say something!" Narcine said loudly as he just stares blankly at the door that kicked us out not once but twice already.

"Quiet down, Narcine. The proctor is coming," Rebie said to the daughter of the goddess of flowers as we heard several footsteps getting closer.

Mr Vineas and Apollo's triplets appeared right in front of us.

"And here I thought my instructions are very simple and clear. Are you children of Koalemos by any chance?" the son of Dionysus asked but before we can even react, a boy from a table next to ours raised his hand.

"They are not my siblings, sir," he said clearly as he smiled lopsidedly at us while he is surrounded by the children of the goddess of wisdom.

The proctor nodded in gratitude, "Thank you for clarifying. If you were indeed the god of stupidity's children, I would've relented and give you three a leeway. But seeing as his son has better judgment than you three, I have no choice but to disqualify you all from this examination in accordance to the rules we must adhere. Failure to comply with the directives given by your proctors will result to disqualifications. Suck on that."

"Hold on for a sec here, sir," Taurei said suddenly as he looked at the proctor directly with his wide and angry cyan eyes, "You said that mortals should head towards that door and that's what we did! For some odd reason, it won't let us in!"

Morris nodded and sighed before glancing at the infernal door, "Unless that door is malfunctioning then I guess it is rather unfair to shove the blame to us when we were merely following the directives."

"I am a mortal! My fire magic is barely serviceable at best! Why the hell won't it let me in?!" I asked angrily as I opened my pocket and sighed in relief to see that the rainbow parcel is still in one piece.

The proctor blinked and looked at his triplets who looked at him in confusion. He then take a step forward and nodded, "Very well. In the spirit of fairness, I will let the sons of Apollo to take a look inside of you and see the truth. They have this special ability to completely judge and separate the truth from falsehood. A gift from the god of truth himself to his prized children of this generation. If they touched your heads with their right hands, they will ask a single question. Lie and you will all suffer fourth degree burns to say the least. Tell the truth and you will be healed completely. So unless you are all willing to melt your heads with the heat of the sun then I suggest that you just accept your disqualification with honor."

"There's no honor in accepting something wrong imposed to you," Taurei answered quickly that made the proctor raise an eyebrow at him, "Do it."

Morris and I looked at each other and we both nodded at each other, "By all means," I said as I steel myself.

"Nothing to it!" Morris said quite happily as if he is excited himself to know something.

"You heard them, give them what they want," Mr Vineas said to the triplets who kneeled in front of us and put their right hands firmly on our heads, "Now, ask the question."

Their blue eyes suddenly glowed yellow like the sun and the one holding my head spoke in an ethereal voice, "Are you a child of immortals?"

"I'm not!" I said defiantly as I chuckled at the notion of otherwise.

The two boys besides me answered the same and to our horrors, we are healed completely and we got the strength to stand up on our own.

"Welcome to the world of demigods!" the proctor said while chuckling after he summoned a bottle of wine out of nowhere together with a glass and pour himself a healthy amount of liquor, "The doors are blessed by Apollo himself to expel the spawns of immortals from entering."

Taurei ran his hands on his curly hair and shook his head, "This is insane! Impossible! I'm just a mortal!"

"Now, now. Apollo and his children's truth-seeking powers cannot be denied. While it's not my business to know who the heck are your godly parents, I will humbly rescind my orders to disqualify you three from the examination," he said before bowing a little and nodding at the triplets, "I will leave you three here. I must report this curious incident to Ms Celica. She won't let me party with the nymphs and satyrs again if I tarry any longer. Carry on and wait for further instructions on when and where to proceed to the next and final stage of your tests."

He then turned his back on us as the three sons of Apollo dispersed to assist other students with their queries.

Gala assisted me and Morris back to the table as Taurei was assisted by the demiurges carefully.

"Vivet, are you okay?"

I looked at the daughter of Athena and smiled sadly, "I am,Gala. My memories are as blank as ever. What else could be hidden in my forgotten past? But that can wait. Right now, I have more pressing matters to attend to. I need to meet the headmistress and deliver this infernal package. This is probably the longest day of my working life and I am almost at the end of it. Just a little more."

"That's what I like about you. You know your priorities as I expected," she said approvingly before looking at Morris who seemed to be taking everything to stride, "While I can understand Vivet not knowing her godly lineage, I don't recall you having an amnesia. I guess your parent decided for some reason to not tell you about it."

He just chuckled and shook his head, "It's not that I have an almost delibitating amnesia like Vivet here. It's just that my memories are here but muddled and incomprehensible. I don't even know what is real and what is not. Maybe all of them are nothing but fantasies. But somewhere deep down, I always have this feeling that for a mortal living on the streets for years, I've been faring relatively well compared to others."

Unconsciously, I managed to look inside Morris' head and saw familiar flashes of scenes that are really hazy, incomprehensible and fantastical to say the least. Like he lived in a different reality. The only coherent string of memories are his time as a homeless. How he worked for a junk shop and collect scraps and garbage for money. How he sleep all alone at night in a shallow hole he dig for himself with his earth magic. I also saw that he keeps on returning in front of the gate of the citadel.

As if he is drawn to it subconsciously...

"Do you like what you see, Vivet?" I heard his voice asking in my head as the visions changed to the one where we first met and how he saw me from a distance looking out curiously at the parade of the Scythians, "As a boy, I think it is rather embarrassing for you to look into the depths of my memories and see everything that I am."

I closed my eyes and smiled a little, "I'm sorry for this intrusion. But I am rather jealous of what you remember for I have almost none. Only a dark void of emptiness before I met Ms Irene."

And in a split second, it changed from his memories to mine and he saw the first time I opened my eyes and the first face I saw was that of my foster mother who is looking at me with utmost concern and pity, "Well I am jealous that you have someone like her to help you when you woke up. Me? I woke up in a cold, dark and damp cave just outside the Scythian Emirate capital city all alone with nothing but my old bag, ragged clothes and impossible memories of past. There's no one there to care for me. The people I spoke to treated me as if I am a mad man when I told them about my memories. Now, I found out that I am a demigod. That I have a deity for a parent. I guess in that regard, both of us are one and the same, huh, Vivet?"

"Too true," I thought sadly as we looked at Taurei being almost catatonic and lost in his own thoughts, "But I guess we have it easy. We don't have relevant memories in our minds to make us think that it is impossible for us to be more than mortals. Him? Judging by his look, he is not taking this lightly."

Morris shook his head and sighed as the daughter of Persephone threatened to expose the nose of Taurei to her pungent flower that she summoned from nowhere if he doesn't speak any moment now, "Who can blame him? Everything he believed in. Everything he remembered may just be all a lie for all his life. I guess he got the shorter end of the stick compared to us."

I just nodded sadly when Taurei forced a smile and jokingly slaps Narcine with the flower she is threatening him.