POINT OF VIEW: DYLAN
Friday, October 28, 2028.
Carlasco = Around 09.30 A.M
Greece = Around 2.30 P.M
When his thermoreceptors suddenly responded to the cool air, Dylan knew he was just waking up. Opening both of his eyes, everything around him was dimmed. In a second he was reminded that he was in a guest chamber in Heracles' house. He was still feeling light-headed, so he shut his eyes back. When the uncomfortable feeling finally receded, he opened back his eyes again and attempted to get up.
Dylan fumbled through the switch location and clicked on the first switch when he managed to spot it. Immediately the room was brightened with white light. After stretching both of his hands and letting out a long yawn, he got out of bed and grabbed his wallet and phone. The time, as the phone had adjusted to local time, was 2.42 P.M. When he was about to sleep, he glanced at the phone and noticed the time was 09.23 A.M. That means he had been sleeping for more than four hours. Hephaestus must have finished briefing the others the urgent priority, which must be none other than William and the beast that attacked them in the library. That's what he thought when he was walking towards the room entrance.
The room in front of the guest room was the gymnasium, the entire wall was built from glass. Heracles was there, focusing on his phone at the bench press equipment. Dylan immediately entered the gym to thank him.
"Hey, feeling better already?" Heracles asked when Dylan was approaching him.
"I've recovered already. Thank you so much for allowing me to stay."
"No worries!" Heracles said. "Ah, wait, I gotta reply to this first," he said, then he put his focus back on the phone. A little while later, he exclaimed again. "Okay, done!"
"Done managing the business?" Dylan asked as he sat on the butterfly equipment.
"Business sounds too serious," Heracles said. "I've just explained the proper steps for weight lifting to my member."
"Ah you're some kind of online fitness instructor then," Dylan said. "Being instructed by a legendary Greek demigod hero is surely something awesome."
Heracles chuckled. "Well ... I obviously never told anyone about my real identity. To avoid suspicion, I have studied the maximum capacity of a mortal with my size, and I pretended to only have that capacity."
Dylan nodded a few times, but said nothing.
"I also did real jobs that earned me money. Obviously all the jobs I took related to fitness coaching or any other physical activities. That's because I simply cannot imagine myself having to deal with tons of financial numbers, or typing computer codes that are far more complicated than The Hieroglyph of Egypt."
"No offense, but I think people won't let their eyes off you if you apply for those jobs," Dylan said as he laughed a little.
"See?" Heracles responded with a little laugh too.
Dylan leaned against the chair backrest. "Man ... I still could not believe you're actually real," he shook his head. "All this time I only knew you from some games or movies, like Dwayne Johnson's 2014 movie, or Hercules cartoon made by Disney."
"Dylan, never let Hera know about the cartoon version, okay?" Heracles suddenly leaned forward and turned serious. "If she ever knows that there's a movie depicting her as my birth mother, I can assure you she will be so furious."
"So the conflict between you and Hera were all true?"
"Of course," Heracles said. "From the very beginning she always despised every child my father had from other women. However, it was me whom she hated the most. Surely in the end, we reconciled. But if she ever knew about this Disney version, it would surely be an insult to her face."
"That doesn't sound pleasant," Dylan said as he nodded a few times. "I promise in front of her, I will stay tight-lipped about this cartoon version."
"I appreciate it, Dylan," Heracles nodded. "Ah, wait, someone wants to video call with me."
"Ah, okay, I'll leave now."
"No need to leave if you want to try exercising."
"Mmm ... I think I'll pass today."
"Just tell me if you want to exercise here," Heracles said as he got up.
"Will do," Dylan said as he smiled, before he turned around and exited the gym.
Heracles' house was just like Nike's. The furniture and household facilities were all like normal houses, while the ancient interior structure was preserved well. Much earlier before Dylan went to sleep, Heracles had permitted him to freely explore the first and second floor. However, feeling uncomfortable to explore with the assistance of the house owner, he chose to just get out.
Unexpectedly, Athena and Nike were sitting at Heracles' terrace, both focusing on their phone. Wondering how and when Athena got a phone, Nike suddenly asked, "How's the sleep, Dylan?"
Dylan turned to Nike. "Ah ... it's good," he said as he nodded awkwardly. "I don't know you're here."
"Well ... we haven't told Heracles," Nike said. "He's busy exercising, isn't he?"
"Yes, he is," Dylan said as he sat at the chair next to Athena.
"By the way, I'm teaching Athena how to really use a phone. This is one of my old phones. Rather than having it sit on my shelf, better to just hand it to Athena."
"What phone?"
"I honestly can't see the difference between this phone, Nike's phone, or your own phone," Athena said as she flipped the phone to Dylan. "The distinct difference is just this one is white, while yours and Nike are black."
"Is that myPhone 14?" Dylan leaned forward.
"Yes, it is."
"It's the last year's edition, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is again," Nike said. "This year I decided to change it to the S-Version, so this one sat inside my glass shelf."
"You didn't sell it?"
"I didn't see the need to sell it," Nike said. "Well ... actually, I never sold any phones I ever acquired since the first generation."
Dylan nodded a few times. "I'm now imagining that a part of your house is just like the museum of mobile phones."
"I can't say you're wrong," Nike chuckled.
"Sorry to interrupt you, but what is Facebook actually?" Athena asked impatiently. "There are people selling stuff, showing photos of places, and spreading news. I really couldn't pin down what this thing actually is."
"Ah, I'm sorry to have ignored you, Athena," Nike said. She then proceeded with explaining the basics of social media, then to mentioning the famous examples and what we could achieve through them. Focusing on Athena, Dylan could see how she attempted to comprehend every single thing Nike had spoken. Having witnessed the goddess could quickly understand most of the modern knowledge books he ever gave her, he felt it was so strange to see Athena unable to grasp the concept of social media. However, later he came to realize that probably social media was some kind of joke to her, something that her serious mind always refused to process and comprehend.
"I know you feel it's stupid to have a social media account," Nike finally said. "But trust me, over time you will get addicted to it."
"You said I will get addicted to this?" Athena responded incredulously. "What's so fun about putting your pictures on a website, describing yourself, and putting the pictures of where you've been??!"
Nike instantly grinned. "Believe it or not, I had the same thought when MySpace was first launched."
"So you once thought it's stupid, but then over time you changed your opinion?"
"Yes!" Nike nodded.
Instead of responding back, Athena focused back on the screen and squinted her eyes, as if she was trying to read words that were too small. A few seconds later, she said, "I might have to consider the possibility that one day I'll be just like you."
Nike grinned again, but said nothing.
"Enough with today's lesson," Athena said as she put her phone into the pocket.
"Just take it slowly, Athena," Nike said. "Anyway, Dylan's woken up. Let's have lunch now."
"That will be great. I'm pretty hungry now."
"You must be hungry too," Nike said to Dylan.
At the moment Nike made that guess, Dylan was instantly made aware that his system had beckoned to be fed. Nodding once, he said, "I'm pretty hungry too."
"Let's get back to my house then," Nike said as she smiled.
While walking to Nike's house, Dylan received a message from Hephaestus, telling him what The Smith god had discovered from his strands of hair. Hephaestus offered him to come to his workshop and see the discovery by himself. Curious of what benefit his mundane hair could offer, he decided to come. He told Athena and Nike about this, making the two goddesses also curious. After they finished their Ambrosia fish and chip lunch, the three of them headed to Hephaestus' workshop.