The group of three swiftly followed the goddess back to the cottage.

Her earlier rampage ravaged the farmland along the valley, and dirt upturned the crops. Alex observed the spectacle of the nature goddess's fury in awe and fear.

Hermes and Alex wanted to check up on Cybele.

Huios, however, advised them not to, and instead took a seat upon the hill.

The two nodded in tacit understanding and also sat alongside the former.

They waited for a while before they observed movement from the cottage. Cybele had left the cottage and with a move of her hands, the earthen stairs retreated back into flat ground and sprouts grew on the dirt.

She then advanced towards them, and when they were near, she spoke, "I am sorry you had to see that after your first visit here, Hermes."

She bit her lips in frustration and turned towards Alex, and said, "I apologize I killed humans despite awareness of your title, Alex."

Alex frantically replied, "It's o-okay, I don't condone all of humanity anyways."

"It was nice meeting you, though, Great Mother." Hermes declared.

"Likewise, Hermes, it's like we went back in time two centuries. I hope Olympus can return to what it once was." Cybele sighed heavily.

Hermes chuckled and stated, "Well, Athena wants to become Queen."

Cybele looked on in astonishment and exclaimed, "Now that you say it, that role would fit Athena very well! Knowing her, I feel like she could restore Olympus..."

Hermes nodded, then glanced at the sky before stating, "I think we have to go, Great Mother. I wouldn't wish to overstay our welcome."

"So soon? Well, if you don't find anywhere to stay, the cottage will always have its doors open."

She said with earnest eyes, "Goodbye, you two. I wish you great luck on your journey."

Following that, they bid their goodbyes to Cybele and Eros(Huios) and got on the chariot.

It was the afternoon, and with the sun's current intensity, they could probably still drive for a bit.

While the chariot was speeding through the skies, Alex got curious.

'They always speak of Olympus in the past, was it very different to what it currently is?' He wondered.

"Hermes, was Olympus in the past any different from now?" He asked the latter, who was watching the shifting scenery.

Hermes turned to face him and said, "Well, Alexei-boy, it was a vastly different place. Everyone was much closer in the past, and Olympus felt like a true organization."

"And what happened to change it?"

"....Athena is better-suited to telling you, you should ask her when we get back..." Hermes softly spoke.

After that, silence returned upon the chariot, and they rode it until the sun gave off an orange hue and the chariot slowed down in speed.

Hermes noticed the change and stated, "At least we're close to a city, look that way."

Alex followed his line of sight and in fact, monuments and structures towered in the distance.

Strangely, however, everything looked a bit too bright, but he couldn't distinguish the reason from this distance.

As they approached the city, however, he understood.

'The city is entirely made of....gold?!' Alex stared at the buildings with wide eyes.

Everywhere he looked, he only saw the metallic sheen of gold.

They landed the chariot and Hermes said, "I think this is Ancyra, capital of Phrygia, where King Midas ruled"

"King Midas, the one with-

"The golden touch, yes, Dionysus gifted it to him and he ended up going mad."

He continued, "Apparently, he tried to end his life by jumping from a cliff into a lake and the lake turned to gold, causing him to drown in the very thing he loved and hated the most, gold."

Alex felt goosebumps rise upon his skin at the chilling story.

The city had an interesting aesthetic ambiance to it.

As he walked through the streets and observed even the golden trees and ground, he noticed an unusual fact.

'There are no...people?' The streets were completely empty and despite the sprawling architecture, no sign of life could be detected.

Alex entered a building that looked like a castle and almost exclaimed when he noticed a terrifying fact.

Inside of the building, there were golden statues of people going about their day, unwillingly frozen in time.

'It's....horrifying that they all look like they didn't expect any of this to happen.' Alex left the building and entered another one.

It was more of the same, as numerous status stood there.

He then returned to Hermes and said breathlessly, "Why did Dionysus grant his wish?"

Hermes shrugged and said, "Well, he wished for it and Dionysus was a child at the time, and as you know, being the god of alcohol and all, he doesn't exactly have the best sense of responsibility or judgment."

Alex wasn't convinced but he dropped the matter.

"Well, let's go to sleep and wake up early to advance a long way?" Hermes asked.

Alex wasn't really too eager to sleep next to golden statues and reluctantly nodded.

Hermes went to a random building but he came back five minutes later with a frustrated expression.

"As it turns out, golden beds aren't exactly comfortable...."

Alex searched for a bit for a place that didn't have any statues and ironically, the buildings inside the cemetery had none.

They upsized the chariot and ended up sleeping on the seats since they were relatively comfortable and spacious.

At the first sign of daylight, Alex and Hermes woke up.

The golden buildings reflected off all of the sunlight and the brightness was uncomfortable even for gods like them. Alex understood why people didn't inhabit this place besides the issue of the creepy golden statues.

After that, they immediately left on the chariot and bolted through the sky.

It was a monotonous day as they only spent it on the chariot but they occasionally discussed and it wasn't a bad day-long trip.

As they traversed Anatolia, they entered the Levant and Philistia. historical

The climate got progressively drier and arider and when the sun was barely about to set, the scenery had changed from autumnal vegetation to a dry sandy desert.

They had to land in here as there was no longer enough sunlight to sustain the chariot.

The moon looked very large and bright in the night sky, and they had an uninterrupted view of the stars.

The desert was infinite in all directions and colossal sand dunes dominated the landscape.

"Well, let's sleep.." Hermes said.

*Grumble*

Alex rubbed his stomach, embarrassed at the sounds it was making.

Herme giggled and asked, "Hungry? Did you bring any food?"

"Very litt-

"HALT!"

A voice screamed and galloping sounds approached their location.

When the sound stopped, they saw the owner of the voice.

It was man, sitting on a camel's back, and his entire body except his eyes was covered in a light fabric.

Around the man's eyes, a smoky black powder was visible.

The man had a sword in his hand and he sighed in relief and said, "Ahh, I thought it was a Jinni, but it's just two foreigners..."

"You two are Yunanites, people of Alexander, right? You should come with me, Parthian troops patrol the desert and massacre every Yunanite they meet."

Alex and Hermes looked at each other confusingly.

"Do you speak our tongue?" The man wasn't speaking in Koine Greek.

As gods, the two obviously had a fluent understanding of all human languages, and Alex replied with a nod, "We do, we are just a bit confused."

The man laughed and reassured, "Don't worry, us Bedouins are not like the Parthians, we only want to shelter you."

Hermes spoke to him in Greek, "I don't think we have much to lose if we follow the man. We can defend ourselves against mortals."

Alex shrugged and nodded to the man.

"You made a good decision. The desert is ruthless upon people unfamiliar to it."

As they followed the man and climbed through some dunes, he was talkative and kept speaking.

"I don't understand why you, Yunanites, chose this road. The passage through the north is less unhospitable and you could have even taken a detour from the Parthians through the land of the Armens."

When he said those words, they perceived a reflective surface in the distance.

'An oasis..?' A relatively large body of water stood solitary in the middle of the desert and a small amount of vegetation grew near it.

Next to the oasis, there was a large tent and a tall fire that illuminated the surroundings.

"We're here." The man stated.