Chapter 3: Ambrosia

While the two were descending, Alex could finally take a good glance at the exterior of the abode. It was unsurprisingly quite beautiful, incorporating elements of ancient Greek architecture such as the cliched pillars with an angular design and a few colors such as a brick red and blue.

There was also a small plaza surrounding the building upon which was planted a single olive tree, although it was concealed by the boundless snow.

Hermes took the lead and entered through the window Alex 'so bravely' jumped out of earlier and Alex followed behind, led by the witch's broom, oops, staff*.

Upon entering the familiar room, Hermes took a comfortable-looking chair out of nowhere, but Alex would probably not feel surprised by anything for a while.

The god pointed to the bed and hinted to Alex to go sit on it which he did.

'I'm a bit confused right now but it won't hurt to listen to the rest of what he has to say before making a decision' Alex thought to himself.

"We can finally talk business heh?" Spoke Hermes in his usual annoying tone.

"I have a lot of quest-

"I know you do. Let me guess. First, you want to know what Ambrosia is and what it does to your body?" Without waiting for Alex's approval, he continued.

"Ambrosia is an invaluable liquid refined from the corpses of the titans thousands of years ago and it can ascend mortals to godhood, there is a very limited quantity of it, and finding even a single drop is an impossibly hard task, and even Tyche, goddess of fortune, wouldn't be able to guide one to Ambrosia"

Alex shrugged, this wasn't his most pressing question but he decided to patiently listen.

"Second, you want to know what this Ambrosia will do to you?" Hermes once again continued " For you, Ambrosia will just make you immortal and your body a bit stronger, as you don't have any defining skills or characteristics, you won't be able to wield any divine powers at first." Hermes bluntly stated, hurting Alex's self-esteem in the process.

"Considering you don't currently have any defining characteristic, you'll just be running errands for the various gods in here and you can pick up skills from the gods as rewards. You being a blank canvas might not be a disadvantage, as unlike us, who were born with a very specific skillset and have limited room for growth, right now you can essentially become whoever you want"

Alex fell into thought. It finally hit him that this was probably not a dream and he had to make a choice.

Becoming immortal and acquainting himself with Olympus didn't sound too bad, it was better than his boring life back home.

If he wasn't brought here, he would have continued struggling financially, eventually finding a well-paid and boring job, maybe marrying and having a few children and traveling a few times a year.

The thought of living this kind of monotonous life scared the sh*t out of Alex and made him extremely anxious and depressed but now, he was given a chance to change it all and lead a more exciting life.

On the other hand, he missed his mother and younger brother very much and wanted to see them, yet he figured out that if he chose to take 'Ambrosia' and stay here he probably wouldn't be able to see his family anymore.

"Once I become a god, can I go back to my homeworld?" Alex finally spilled out his most urgent question.

"Well h-hmmm the machine we used to bring you here is b-broken an-" The sight of a god stuttering was quite funny.

At Hermes' response, Alex felt blood rushing out of his limbs and his vision going blurry. He knew what Hermes' answer meant for him; The tool used to bring him here being broken meant that he wouldn't be able to go back even if he wanted to and he had no other real choice than to go along with their plans.

Alex felt himself starting to tear up. After all, he hadn't seen his family for a long time and wasn't even able to say his goodbyes to them.

He didn't have many friends or important possessions in his life except his family and the possibility of never seeing them again made him melancholic.

Seeing this unexpected reaction, Hermes knew he had said something wrong and tried to salvage the situation with the following sentence.

"B-but you can ask Hephaestus, our blacksmith to repair it."

Wiping his tears, Alex asked with red eyes "And where can I find this Hephaestus?"

"Following a conflict he had a few hundred years ago, he's sheltered himself in his mountain peak and it's going to be a bit hard to get him out of there but I promise you I'll try my best." Hermes responded with a guilty look on his face.

This was a bit of a handful for Alex to take in, but he knew he couldn't be sad forever so he stood up and tried to speak in a confident tone, although it sounded meek considering his muffled voice.

"So, can I have the Ambrosia?"

"You made a good choice, lad. Here it is heh" Hermes pulled out a small tinted glass flask and opened it.

Inside was a single drop of a brown-ish golden liquid that didn't have any distinctive smell.

Alex wanted to be over with this fast so he grabbed the flask from Hermes' hand and took it to his mouth and drank the liquid.

Immediately, his head started to hurt so much it felt like he was dying and he collapsed on the bed and breathed loudly as he tried to bear the splitting sensation in his skull.

2 minutes later the pain finally started to subside and Alex stood up to examine his body.

He didn't look all that different, except he felt just a bit taller and he gained some muscle definition, giving a small impression of strength to his meek body.

Hermes took out a mirror and showed him his face.

"Wow...." Alex gasped at the sight of his new appearance. His face became more angular and symmetrical and his eyebrows and hair, which previously reflected his lacking diet, now shined like dark silk.

The most stunning difference, however, was his eye color. Alex formerly had brown eyes but as he looked at his irises in the mirror they reflected a light gray color and they had a certain depth and glow that Hermes too held.

"Welcome to the club, Alexos" Alex ignored the mispronunciation of his name.

"Do I need to eat, drink or sleep now that I'm a god?" asked Alex in a curious tone.

"Hmmm, you won't die if you don't do any of those but to keep your body in good shape you should do those things, although you'll need much less sustenance than a mortal does." Hermes responded in a calm voice.

He then looked at what seemed to be a wristwatch and started fidgeting, it looked like has something urgent to do.

"On that, I need to go. Being the messenger of Olympus and all, I'm usually quite busy, if you have any questions, ask Athena." Hermes took his staff and stepped in front of the window, ready to leave, but when he spoke of Athena he seemed to remember something.

"Oh, your living accommodations will be in this mansion. It's originally mine but since I don't come here too often, you can have it. Athena will also come by with a gift for you and Aphrodite is busy with something but she seems to have a gift for you too, although you're better off not meeting her honestly." Even though he seemed tight on time, Hermes still took the time to curse at 'Aphrodite', it looked like those two didn't get along very well.

Hermes left silently, it seemed like he wasn't the type to say goodbye.