Where The Dead Ones Go Book 2 -Republic-

Chapter 11

Now, this "is" Anoixi.

I looked at the beautiful blue and clear ocean while walking at the entirely white sand beach and basking underneath the blazing sun.

The president sent us three here to do his personal visitations and experience for ourselves the pride and joy of his country.

I am wearing short denim shorts, and a white blouse with a rainbow-colored beach hat picked, of course, by my foster mother herself.

My cousin is wearing his black swim shorts and slippers only that showed his thin but lean dark physique. Kairos is wearing matching shorts but silver-colored and a white tank top that made him paler than ever.

"You should at least try exercising, Kairos," Morris said as he grinned at his relatively thin body, "I was like that before, but with the help of eating three times a day and simple workouts, I buffed up a bit."

The son of the god of time checked his own muscled arms and shrugged his shoulders, "I think I am quite all right with mine, thank you. Besides, you are a Scythian. Emiratis and viceroyals can bulk up faster than normal."

"I spy with my little eye, three primordial demiurges..."

"Oh, shush, they will hear us!"

"Keep on yapping loudly like that, and they will definitely notice you two."

We looked around. Indeed, we saw behind us three familiar beachgoers lounging comfortably under a large, brightly colored umbrella without a care in the world.

"Do you two know them?" Kairos asked quietly as Morris laughed as we walked towards the three wearing matching shades and drinking luxuriously on their glasses of tropical juice.

"The thin one on the center is the fraternal twin brother of Avesa, Taurei Pavonius, Pagosian demiurge son of the Heavenly Queen and sibling of Zenith. The petite girl on his left is Narcine Regis, the Cretonian demiurge of Persephone. Lastly, the girl you wouldn't want to mess on his right is Rebie Wilkins, the Scythian demiurge of Amphitrite. They are assigned to the Department of Luxuries. As you can see clearly, they are all about doing luxurious stuff."

Taurei faked a cough as Narcine looked at my cousin with an eyebrow raised so high it almost reached her hairline. At the same time, Rebie lowered her shades to glare better at Morris, who laughed nervously.

However, Kairos seemed to save his skin.

"Well, to be fair, that department is all about branding, advertising and influencing would-be tourists to come and visit our country to experience world-class luxury they wouldn't be able to feel anywhere else," he then looked at the camera sitting besides Rebie and smiled, "If you are going to ask me, they are doing a wonderful job showing beachgoers just how comfortable and beautiful this place is, Morris. Why just looking at your friends right now, I suddenly felt jealous the way they enjoy the sun and the waters."

It looks like his honest words convinced our dangerous classmate as she returned her shades back to its proper place and reclined once more, "You owe him, Morris."

The son of Thanatos heaved a sigh of relief as Taurei grinned at the three of us, "We are just on our third day here, and you are already at the front pages of the broadsheets here. Try not to stand out too much, okay?"

"Ms Peregrine just called earlier, and she is literally begging us to keep our lines firmly a few inches below. She is just relieved that the explosion was from him. Not her favorite student here," Narcine warned us as she took a bite out of her lucban sausage, a delicacy of Anoixians perfect for outings, "Anyways, Estelle showed us some "interesting" pictures this morning. I must say you certainly know how to pick the fish from the sea. We approve, right, Rebie?"

The voluptuous demiurge nodded slowly as she sips from her glass of juice luxuriously, "Indeed, Narcine. But the bet is still not over. We still have four days to go."

"I need the money for my new books, so Morris, you better make this one a win for us, all right? I don't want Syden, Zenith, Gala, and Avesa getting the dough, you hear?"

"I hear you, Taurei, relax. We hit a major milestone last night, and I am sure we have a fighting chance," Morris assured the son of Hera as he tries to block his thoughts from my probing.

Narcine then produced a beautiful white daffodil from her flowery headband and asked Kairos to take it as he quickly put it behind my right ear sweetly.

"A flower symbolizing the present time and new beginnings," the daughter of the goddess of flowers said as she took a deep breath and smile at us, "Now, you three may go. Leave us to our work, enjoy!"

And with that, we are dismissed by the three Olympian royalties that returned to their luxurious "work" as we started walking around the beach and appreciating the marvels of the seas beyond.

-0-

It is almost sunset, and I can't believe that we did spend the whole day on the beach.

Kairos, however, assured us that it is what his foster usually does whenever he visits here.

After all, how can a president confidently sell his country to tourists if he didn't experience the thing he is offering?

We took a swim in the majestic blue waters.

Well, I don't really swim, so it's more like I am dipping my body and head in the pristine water as the two boys do the swimming.

We ate our lunch at the nearby beachside restaurant, and it is really delicious.

Grilled tilapia, squid, and shrimp dipped in toyomansi, a combination of soy sauce and citrus, topped in steaming hot white rice.

The three of us washed down our lunch with fresh pineapple juice after eating bukayo, an Anoixian dessert made of sweetened coconut strips.

After that, we spend the rest of our afternoon frolicking in the sands and waters, and before we know it, it is already sunset.

I am now staring at the orange setting sun and just admiring the beauty of nature before me while my cousin and Kairos are helping the beach caretakers pick up the trash after I helped the motherly caretakers announced the closing of the resort to the tourists earlier.

The Aurora Borealis of the magistracy and the sunset of the republic is one thing I am hoping to preserve against the catastrophe that will soon come to us all.

These kinds of beauty need to be appreciated not just by those living now but also by future generations. There can be no future for anyone or anything if the present age will suffer the same fate as the lost age from where Morris and I came from.

"Don't worry, Vivet. We won't let that happen, right?"

I looked up and saw the son of the god of death, looking down at me before taking a seat on my left as Kairos followed and sat on my left.

"I have meant to ask you two for a while now, but do you two have some other way of communicating other than talking?"

We looked at our guard and companion and nodded before explaining that we have this mental link because half of my soul is residing within Morris for thousands of years.

In the process of that explanation, we also told him of what there is to come in our now relatively peaceful world.

The horrors of the past that our class personally experienced and the dire warning of Apollo that if we don't manage to stop the catastrophe this time around, this will indeed be the last age of the world know it.

"You know, last night, when I got my wings back, I saw something. A vague vision of me standing defiantly against a giant shadow of an indescribable monstrosity. I don't know if it's real or not, but what I am sure of is that it will happen soon..."

"That is exactly what we saw back at Dodona, Vivet!"

He then showed me the scene where the monochrome flames showed us a winged boy facing against the gigantic shadow confidently.

"Indeed it is, Morris. But I don't think this is the right time for us to tell him that."

"But why?"

"We might be mistaken. Besides, we will not be permanently staying here anyways. It can be another winged boy for all we know."

"Know, huh? I wonder if we can visit the gave that he said is the Gates to the Present."

"Let's ask him..."

Morris looked at Kairos and carefully asked our question, "Hey, bro, you mentioned this kind of cave similar to the Parelton Glaciers?"

"Oh, the Simera Cave. Yes, it is the Gates to the Present or so the elder who found me said."

"Is it far from Zephyrant?"

"Very, Morris. Actually, it is closer to the capital of the Scythian Emirate because it just lies close to our borders with that southern country," he answered clearly before looking at the two of us, "Why the sudden interest? You want to go there?"

My cousin and I nodded as he, the son of Khronos, inclined his head a little, "Yes. We've already been into its northern counterpart. I guess it is only natural that we will want to visit the rest, right?"

"That sounds reasonable. However, I highly suggest that you visit it when you are in the emirate. It is far easier to get there from Notusia, Scythia's capital city than from here in Zephyrant."

We decided to drop the matter entirely and just let ourselves enjoy the view before us.

-0-

"Now that you are all well fed and comfortable, may I tempt you with an ancient story that is passed down from my family since the Golden Age?"

We looked and saw the butler who just arrived from the dining room with our host while we are just lounging at the living room quietly.

"Wow, that sounds rather interesting, tell us!"

Jeeves chuckled at my cousin and nodded as he took a seat beside his master, who reclined comfortably next to his son.

"As you all already know, the House Axiopisto and Tina's, Seola's, and mine have been existing at least since the Golden Age..."

Back when the Republic of Anoixi is just a province of the Empire of Plurinational Alliance Xenocracy or the Empire of Pax.

It is today, a tourist and leisure capital of the continent where gambling is allowed, and all the luxurious inventions and breakthroughs of the empire are being developed and enjoyed by its citizens and deities.

The Anoixi today is nothing but a mere shadow of its former self compared to what it really was during the Golden Age height.

Every night there is a province-wide fireworks display. It is also called the "Province That Never Sleeps" because of its vibrant nightlife that is as lively as its appearance during the day.

One day, Apollo's god of truth and the sun burst out of his temple in Dodona, followed by his worried Sibyls with a dire revelation.

He has foreseen incoming destruction that will change the world as they know it back then.

The god tried to warn the other Olympians, major and minor deities, even mortals of this coming disaster, but nobody believes him.

Apollo tried everything, and only a scant few immortals and mortals took his premonition seriously.

One of those mortals is the reigning empress of the empire whose name has been lost in the destruction of her dominion.

However, even if she is the empress, she is nothing more than a mere figurehead for her empire. It is ruled by the Imperial Council, comprised of the four provinces' ruling heads and the capital city.

She and predecessors before her are just there to provide a symbol of unity and preserve the empire's culture and nothing more.

The empress holds little political sway, and her influence is restricted to within the imperial walls of her palace.

Upon hearing the warnings of Apollo, she tried in vain to push the leaders into action. They just dismissed the sun god's warning as one of his pranks or something since the King of the Gods himself didn't pay heed to it anyways.

Defeated but not hopeless, the empress accepted the help of a powerful primordial god. Together, they did what they can to preserve what they can from her empire that will soon fall.

However, the current ruler of the Anoixi Province is a staunch imperialist, and he sympathizes with the plight.

The empress discreetly provided her aid by building a massive underground vault where the imperial household stored a part of the imperial collections of priceless works of arts, scrolls, blueprints, and other essential things they knew will be needed for rebuilding after the disaster has indeed come to past.

They did what they can. Even then, even if no one believes what she is saying, the last monarch continued to repeatedly call out the people to save themselves and flee all significant metropolises around within her empire.

The Imperial Council, barring the leader of the Province of Anoixi, finally decided to personally silence her and use the military forces under their command. They marched towards the imperial palace at the heart of Auralia's capital city.

Many have thought that a bloody civil war will occur because the empress herself commands formidable armed aerial, ground, and sea forces under her personally. They are comprised of competent, heavily armed and loyal soldiers, mortals and demigods alike from all corners of the Empire of Pax handpicked from the cream of the crops of their respective provinces ready to lay their lives for the empress.

But to the surprise of many, after the last televised pleas of the empress urging her citizens to quickly flee and save themselves, she vanished.

Not just her but also the whole Imperial Armed Forces and their military armaments into thin air.

Not even a single trace remained of the empress. Her loyal soldiers were seen the moment the Imperial Council's military forces marched to the palace unopposed.

The imperials tried their best to search for their missing empress to no avail.

It is as if they never existed at all...

Those who believed the empress' words and the sun god's warnings fled the cities in droves. They hid on the canyons beyond the deserts, the frozen northern reaches, the eastern mountain ranges, and the western wilderness.

Many laughed and make fun of the believers, but they didn't have enough time to be happy for the warnings they soon found out are indeed correct.

A catastrophe of unbelievable proportions ravaged across the empires, leaving millions dead, injured immortals who desperately tried to stem the flow of the seemingly endless destruction from reaching the Capital City of Auralia, the seat of not just the Imperial Power but of the Olympians as well.

The unspeakable personification of calamity managed to reach the Aurapolis, destroy the Imperial Palace, and is preparing to lay siege on Mount Olympus itself. Still, thankfully, he was defeated, and he fled to the dark continent across the oceans of the Province of Anoixi, never to be heard from again...