The Warriors of Aregon--Vol 1

CHAPTER FIVE FINALE

"We're not going to destroy the universe, though, right?" Genex asked cautiously, sitting in one of his father's old lawn chairs. (And considering Pantheos was a god, that meant really, really old.) Pantheos looked up from his own chair, lifting his sunglasses.

"Pfft. No, we aren't. Duh. Prophecies can change, you know." The god lay back down, sunglasses perched precariously across his nose.

"And, anyway," Nora began, looping around to set a tray of pinkish-red lemonade on the table, "We don't exactly look like a universe-destroying crew, do we?" She sat down next to Genex on his lawn chair and smiled, taking in the sunshine. Fluffy romped around in the yard, chasing after birds, squirrels, and his favorite prey: pinecones. Somehow, they were always just out of his reach, but the furry beast chose never to give up. Genex smiled wearily back at Nora.

"No, I guess not."

"As I said," Pantheos started from his lawn chair, taking a minute to slurp down some of his lemonade from the striped pink-and-red paper straw, "Prophecies can change. That prophecy? Super old. Like, super-duper old. I was barely twelve thousand years old then." His voice sounded blissful, though the two teenagers beside him couldn't tell if he was smiling or not between the breaks for pink lemonade. "Ah, those were the days, eh?"

"Um, Theo," Nora replied awkwardly, breaking the spell, "We weren't alive back then."

Pantheos blinked. "Oh. Right. That."

Genex grinned, bouncing energetically. "I'm almost 14."

"Ha-ha," Nora teased. "I'm already 15."

Pantheos ignored the girl and grinned at his son like a fool. "I know! I'm glad I get to be there for your 14th birthday. We are going all out."

"It's alright," Genex shrugged. "I wasn't even there for my 13th birthday."

"What do you want to do for your 14th?" Nora asked. "Something big?" She kicked her legs absentmindedly. For her 15th birthday, Pantheos had agreed to help separate Nora and Genex's consciousnesses. She had been pretty excited about that, and Genex enjoyed not having a random girl in his head teasing him about his fighting technique.

"I have an idea," Genex said with a smile. He reached back and pulled out his sword. "I want to give my sword a name."

Pantheos straightened himself up.

"And what name would that be?" He asked, a smile growing on his face. "I mean, I'm guessing you've already chosen it."

Genex grinned to himself, running his thumb along the flat of the blade.

"Ajwhqbwx," Genex said proudly. "Spirit of the Found."