Olympus: The Agency (Book One)

25. Don't Forget Me

WARNING: This chapter contains graphic imagery of violence.

Aaron's eyes opened as his alarm clock blared next to him. What an insane dream, he thought to himself. He sat up, slamming the alarm clock and rubbing his eyes of sleep.

He remembered he was a government agent in the future fighting aliens and fantasy creatures. What was his name in the dream? Tartarus? Was that a Greek thing?

He heard someone stir next to him, and he looked over to see his wife, Alice, lying asleep despite the light creeping into the room. He ran his fingers through her garnet red hair gently, then got out of bed. He walked to the bathroom and ran the tap as he looked at himself in the mirror.

What!? He stood back as the face that looked back at him wasn't Aaron. It was a face he didn't recognise, with a wire poking out of their temple.

"What the hell?" he muttered. He touched the mirror slightly, the surface rippled, and suddenly it was his face in the mirror.

He needed more sleep. He was still thinking about the dream. He needed to just focus on his routine this morning.

So he stopped the tap in the sink, and instead turned the shower on. After undressing, he stood under the warm water, his eyes closed as he let the warmth relax him.

The water felt thick...

Aaron opened his eyes and found his body was covered in thick crimson liquid. He cried out in surprise, slipped and fell, hitting his head on the wall.

"Dammit!"

The door opened and Alice ran in. "Aaron? What happened?"

The water wasn't red anymore. Just more remnants of the dream...

"I just fell over. My head... I hit my head."

Alice knelt down and smiled at Aaron as he sat in the shower.

"You can talk to me, you know."

"I just... weird dream."

Alice nodded. "It wasn't a dream. You need to remember."

Alice pulled her hand back and punched through the glass, grabbing Aaron by the throat. He fell back against the wall, swinging a punch at Alice. But she wasn't Alice anymore. She was the man with the wire in his temple. Aaron screamed, and punched again, harder, unable to breathe.

"Stop it!"

Nothing. Blackness. Aaron was naked and alone in a void of nothingness. He could breathe, despite there being no air. He felt impossibly cold, but he was still alive. Was he dying?

"Remember."

Aaron turned at the voice. No one was around him. Just an empty, cold void.

"Remember what?!" Aaron shouted angrily. What the hell is happening?!"

Goosebumps appeared on his skin as he felt a presence behind him, a hand on his shoulder. He heard words spoken mechanically, with no emotion.

"Forget. You will cease to be. You will become us."

Aaron turned and punched in the direction of the voice, but there was nothing there. He grit his teeth in frustration.

"Remember who you are."

Alice's voice. His wife, but... not his wife? His brain was fuzzy, like mould was growing on his grey matter. He felt another hand on him, this time cupping his face. His eyes adjusted to see her.

It was Alice, but this time she was almost transparent, a single shade of green. Her face was the same; soft with rounded cheeks and wide eyes. Her eyes looked into his soul, serious and sorrowful.