"What? What is this?"
"Yeah, you moved the controller a little too far, resulting in a loss of balance and a dramatic increase of speed, causing you to trip."
"I have possessed humans before. None of their minds were this complicated."
"My mind works faster than most minds, as do my feet. You need everything exact and precise. If one thing goes wrong, then everything breaks down and you hurt parts of yourself."
Kronos's finger poked at the X button on the pop up again. "And what are these infernal things?"
"You live in the mind of a kid with ADHD. You're bound to get pop ups. Random memories. Stupid jokes. Battle tactics. All these things come up. You have to take the useful ones and dump the useless ones."
"And when is this useful?"
"When things get boring."
"Bah, this is too complicated. How can you, a mere mortal, do what a Titan cannot."
This was it. I saw my chance. "Maybe I could show you."
"What?"
"I could be your servant. I could operate this body while you tell me what to do."
"What are you suggesting?"
"A pact of servitude. I get to operate my body while you get to order me around. I'll do what you say and we'll be fine. We'll swear it on the River Styx."
Kronos seemed to think it over. "And what is in it for you?"
"I get to control my body. That's fine with me. Here." I picked up a microphone from the ceiling and brought it to Kronos's mouth. "This is the mouth. You can control what I say and when I speak. You can talk to me separately as well. I will serve you."
"You swear? On the River Styx."
"I swear that I will be behind you for as long as I am your servant."
We shook hands and I directed my attention to the seat behind the alpha seat. I switched on the controls, pinpointed Kronos, and got to work.
________________________________________________________________________________
I watched as he slowly dusted himself off. "My apologies. This body still requires some getting used to."
S bowed his head. He unsheathed a sword and held it in front of him. "Please, my Lord, take my sword and liberate this world."
Brandon grinned and grabbed the sword, twirling it. "Interesting. Very light, usable." He nodded and thrust his sword into S's stomach.
S stared into Brandon's eyes. "M-my Lord, I don't understand."
Holding the same expression, Brandon responded. "Neither do I."
S keeled over as Brandon removed the blade, face and pose still the same. Suddenly, he whirled around and slashed the guard behind him into dust. The rest of the guards were scattering around. Brandon ran after each one and cut them down.
Soon, all that was left was Brandon and I along with a couple dozen piles of dust.
________________________________________________________________________________
Kronos whirled to face me. I felt the chair shift until I was staring at his back.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"I said a lot of empty things back there. You see, I'm a son of Hermes. Looks like this time you were outsmarted."
"No! You swore on the River Styx that you would be my servant."
"No, I promised that I would be behind you. And thanks to this chair," I tapped it twice. "I'll always be located behind me."
"But the servant's promise."
"Oh, those aren't binding, so whatever."
________________________________________________________________________________
"You little-"Brandon began to spout all types of curses in Ancient Greek. He walked over and slashed away the chains and the handcuffs. He passed over a note-card. I slowly took and looked at the words written on it. There were letters coated in a red polish. Blood, I realized, his blood.
I read through his entire plan, all the way from back during his time in the dungeons. I found out how he tricked Kronos. I saw everything.
He continued to pass out notecards while Kronos continued to spout out curses, unable to control anything but his mouth.
Finally, he passed me one last notecard.
I guess this is the end of the quest. You need to go back to camp and tell Chiron. I can't come with you. Please, take the orb and go home. Don't be a hero. Don't try and save me. Bring yourself home. I'm too much of a burden and a waste of supplies.
Please, just leave me. I know you know what I have to do now. I know that your future is bright, and that it'll only be brighter without me.
I looked up to find Brandon looking down at the blade of his sword, coated in dust. Curses and swears continued to pour from his mouth as he raised his sword.
"Brandon?"
He made a gesture like he was flipping pages in a book. I turned to the back of the notecard.
Fainter, but still rather clear, were three words.
I'm sorry. Goodbye
"No!" Kronos and I both screamed as Brandon moved his blade down to his chest. I jumped forward and knocked the blade down so that it struck lower.
He looked at me, almost with hatred, before going unconscious.
________________________________________________________________________________
"What are you doing?" Kronos screamed over the blaring alarm signals going off in the room.
"Saving the world."
"What do you think you are, some kind of hero?"
"Yeah. That's the point of my training. I didn't go through extensive training to support you."
"Bah. What are you doing?"
Suddenly, the alarms stopped ringing. Everything shut down. It was just Kronos and I, floating in my brain. I was still seated in the chair and still flying behind him as he turned.
"I already told you, saving the world."
"I mean, why would you throw your life away just to kill me?"
"Because there are some things that are more important than my life."
"You're a coward."
"Well then, you just got killed by a coward."
We stood at a stalemate as we continued to float around.
