Myths Reawakened

Londan Cinema, midnight screening.

Wayne walked into the screening room a minute before the movie started. The ticket inspector’s face twisted. He had thought that he wouldn’t see that damn face today, but he had underestimated Wayne.

Yesterday, Wayne had brought five beautiful women across different age groups, and tonight, he brought one plus two, the two being twins. How was he not exhausted from watching movies with eight ladies in two days? And why hadn’t he shown up during the day? Did he make a reservation at another cinema?

The ticket inspector fumed harder the more he thought about his singleness. He recognized Wayne’s face. He was the male lead who was stomped to death by the gorilla. The devoted, loyal lover on screen was a scumbag juggling multiple relationships in the real world. How ironic—no, realistic.

The ticket inspector stomped away, cursing under his breath. He swore he would resign and become an actor.

“Oh, isn’t it Mr. Wayne? I thought you were too busy with your work to show up!” Filomina sat in the center of the screening room with the twins on her sides, her arms around their shoulders. Her tone dripped with sarcasm.

She was angry. She wanted to be coddled!

“Of course not. I’ll always have time for my darling, no matter how busy I am.”

Wayne pushed one of the twins aside—maybe it was Virna, or it could be Diede—and pulled Filomina into a deep kiss.

“Don’t. They are here... Hm, you’re incorrigible.”

“Haha, as long as you like it.”

The twins stared at the shameless cou—shameless man, speechless. They didn’t understand why the High Reverend would let a pretty boy lead her on with all her mature composure, charisma, and wisdom.

When the credits rolled, Filomina sobbed breathlessly in Wayne’s embrace. The twins looked up at the ceiling, unwilling to shed a tear for the pretty boy.

“Damn director making you die, and he had the woman kiss you,” Filomina said between sobs. “Good. If you hadn’t died, the wench two-timing you would’ve married you.”

Wayne sucked in a breath. He had thought that Vera’s interpretation of the movie was ridiculous, but Filomina’s was even worse.

“Speak.”

“I still have my first kiss.”

“Huh?”

“No, I mean, you have my first kiss. The one in the movie was staged.”

***

At five in the morning, Wayne stumbled his way to the sewers. Because the movie was so touching, Filomina insisted on having an oral conversation with him for a long time. Although he hadn’t shed blood, he had suffered great casualties.

Pulling all-nighters was bad for his health, so Wayne decided to forgo sleep altogether. Since he had absorbed elements from the antique silver coin on his way back to Londan, he opted to cultivate through the obelisks now.

The obelisks contained knowledge on Storm and Thunder, once a powerful god. They suffered a defeat in the war of faiths and died, later becoming erased in history and forgotten by the world.

Now\, Wayne could make use of the Book of Greed and gain Storm and Thunder for free by unsealing the obelisks from the Book of Seals, but he didn’t do that. At Silver rank, he planned to incorporate the five goddesses, heaven, and earth. He would leave Storm and Thunder to the Gold rank.

The reason was simple: he was already latching onto too many legs. Two more would really exhaust the elements he could access.

***

It was January 1939. Londan was peaceful and serene.

Wayne spent his days training and going on dates, moving between wherever his dates took him and his home. His routine life alternated between happy moments and empty moments.

Nativity[1] came and went in the meantime. Most of those Wayne knew were heretics, and it wasn’t his holiday, either. Thus, he went to the cinema with Mona to watch King Kong again that day.

Planck had been annoyingly silent like he was in a patience competition with Wayne, or he had forgotten about the antique silver coin altogether. Never had he even contacted Wayne. Meanwhile, Filomina was taking steady steps down the right track. Although she hadn’t reached Legendary rank, she had become much more youthful with her love rejuvenating her.

According to her, she faced almost no risk in making her breakthrough thanks to her young boyfriend’s help. It was only a matter of time before it happened. But Wayne knew that Filomina was no longer the pure elf she had been. Her insides were completely changed, making her a tentacle monster wearing the skin of an elf.

With his assistance, the course of Filomina’s evolution shifted, and she slowly turned into his shape. From a religious point of view, she had committed the serious sin of irreverence, straying from the elven evolutionary path she started out on in terms of both her thoughts and her body.

Wayne didn’t want to change her like that, but every time he saw the impure Golden Triangle, he couldn’t help but brush away the dust, which naturally led to the mutation of the beautiful elf. As Filomina didn’t know the change she was undergoing, she felt wonderful about herself.

Wayne remained silent about the fact with a clear conscience. He accepted what she had become and would take responsibility for her.

***

Wayne’s Detective Agency, Commercial Street.

Locked in his office, Wayne wrote in his future diary tirelessly, hissing and taking breaks every now and then, distracted.

Veronica was too greedy. He had already written up to the year 1940. He updated every day with considerable output. It was no longer a diary, but a novel.

To satisfy her, he had no choice but to plagiarize history books. At least it was for a good cause. Looking back at history made one wiser, and through his work, he hoped to educate her about the dark side of the world.

She didn’t have to get involved, but she should at least be educated.

Knocking, Kelly, the office assistant, called out from the door, “Boss, your appointment is here.”

“Take our guest to the meeting room,” Wayne said without looking up. “I’ll be right there.”

“Understood.”

Five minutes later, he closed the diary and sighed in relief. Mona stood up and wiped her mouth with a handkerchief. “Boss, should I go and greet our guest?”

“The client has made an appointment and offered a high payment. Having you do the greeting would be impolite. Besides... It’s best that you don’t talk for the time being. The smell is too obvious, and the image of the agency will be tarnished.”

Wayne waved her away with a helpless look on his face, as if he were the one being taken advantage of here. He still remembered the stormy, silent night on the eve of Nativity, when he went to the movie with Mona. Afterward, Mona fooled him into going home with her. She said that it was tradition for angels to eat apples that night and went on and on about Father, unconditional love, and faith.

Wayne didn’t get to eat any apples, but ended up losing his first kiss and other first times. It still made his heart ache when he thought about the billions of seeds he had lost that night.

He had been too naive! He shouldn’t have trusted Mona so much and believed that nothing would happen.

Mona watched him leave with a serious expression. Once she made sure that there was no one else around, she picked up the black jacket on the coat rack and took a few deep breaths. Looking at her awe-struck expression, an outsider would’ve thought that she was praying!

Well, she might just be.

Questionable didn’t even begin to describe the cross that the Pope had given Mona. It unearthed the desires she had hidden in the depths of her heart, and while making sure she was absolutely loyal to her master, it also fueled her yearnings for him.

Every time she saw Wayne, a voice in her head would remind her that a reincarnated angel only ever descended to wipe out demons, and once they completed the mission, they would return to heaven. If she didn’t somehow tie Wayne to the human world, she would never see him again in her life.

You don’t want that, do you?

Of course she didn’t. The voice stemmed from her deepest desires, and it grew louder every time she saw Wayne. After careful consideration, she realized what trapping an angel would entail.

She got her answer!

***

Meeting room.

Wayne met with his important guest. The woman with short black hair dressed herself expensively with aloof, alluring makeup. She wore stockings even on a cold winter day, which meant she either valued her looks very much or had ulterior motives.

“Wayne.” Wayne politely took her fingertips. “I’m the owner of Wayne’s Detective Agency and the most competent detective here. May I ask for your name?”

“Solar.”

They sat across from each other. Wayne glanced at the black briefcase on the table and said, “It’s an honor, Miss Solar. I promise you that you’ll get more than what you pay for. Your commission will be completed without issue.”

Solar smiled and explained her request. It was a simple missing person case.

About a year ago, she lent a colleague money, who went missing afterward. At first, she didn’t pay it any mind. She and her colleague were often abroad due to their line of work, and it was natural for them not to see each other for months at a time.

However, after a year of not hearing from her colleague, she concluded that her colleague was avoiding her, obviously not planning on paying her back.

“How despicable! Windsor operates under the rule of law. Things won’t end well for such a shameless scoundrel!”

Wayne sympathized with his client for having to deal with someone refusing to pay up. He then asked for more details, including the debtor’s name, age, workplace, and last sighting, but something started to feel wrong. When he saw the photo of the debtor, his mouth twitched.

It was a familiar face. He saw it every day when he looked in a mirror.

“So, you’re...?”

“The air trembles as if the sky is burning,” Solar said with a smile.

Wayne tried to control his lips, which made his eyes start twitching instead. “Yes, a storm is coming.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you again, Wayne.”

“The pleasure is all yours...”

1. The original just uses the most common translation of ‘Christmas’, but since the word Christmas is basically Christ’s mass, and that doesn’t quite fit in this world, I’ve opted for Nativity, which has a more neutral meaning outside of the religious context. The common translation of the word Christmas actually literally means ‘the day when the saint/sacred was born’, which is also more neutral sounding, I suppose. It’s not yet explained what the day means in the context of this world. ☜