6. What I can do for you (2)

When they both passed through the marble doors, the Third Heaven's guards followed behind them. The man who told Eros about the party still had bruises on his face, and the previous commander wasn't in sight. Instead, a tall blonde man wore the commander's uniform.

'Did he get kicked out?'

It wasn't new for Aphrodite to fire the minor gods working at the palace. Still, he knew it was not his mother's whimsical nature that caused this one: Eros's behavior had worsened by a lot in the previous months.

His recurrent escapades had caused a shortcut of staff in the palace. They desperately needed personnel, but it was hard for Iris to select competent people among those who only wanted an excuse to see Aphrodite up close.

'It was probably a relief for the commander to be fired~"

He didn't think much about it. Besides, he had far more urgent things to worry about.

Iris left the mansion with a sour face. Although her eyes were slowly going back to their usual kaleidoscope-like colors, Eros knew she hadn't relaxed in the slightest. If anything, she was even angrier than before.

'It'd be better to let my mom handle this.'

He knew she would turn him into a duck at the slightest mention of a human. Eros didn't know how to ask Iris about it, so he decided to keep quiet.

"Eros," Iris said.

'Mommy!' He thought.

"Stop making that look. I won't kill you."

"A-are you sure?"

Iris thought hard about it for a whole minute.

"Stop making that look or I will kill you."

'Which one is it?!' Eros thought.

Iris ignored his suffering as she cleared his phone's notifications.

"Tell her Majesty you went to Z City and don't mention what happened today. We'll take care of it tomorrow."

"My! Are you worried about me?"

"Shut up and hurry."

"Yes, ma'am."

The cold breeze messed his hair but cleared his head. It allowed him to better recognize the different emotions surrounding him, and to identify which ones were his.

Closing his eyes, he inhaled and commanded his will to move around his body, to make sure none of them mixed with his own.

-Freeze

'What is this?'

Eros touched upon an unknown amalgam of different emotions. It felt like a dark substance residing next to his heart.

'A residue of what happened earlier?'

Inside the viscosity, there was the drunken desire from the guests, along with envy, jealousy, terror, and a wide range of other variations.

'This is dangerous.'

If he could amplify human emotions just by being close to one, what would happen if he allowed them to inflict their worries and hurt on him?

Trying to dismantle it, Eros used his will to cleanse his body.

-Thump!

"Huh?!"

He staggered, a fine line of cold sweat covered his forehead.

Dizziness came over him and he felt his heart tighten. Most of the unwanted feelings had left already, but he still felt a wave of greater anger that left him breathless: A poisonous resentment that traveled his arms and made him shiver.

It wasn't his.

Someone hurried to his side and helped him stabilize his body. It was the blonde new commander.

"Are you okay, sir?"

"I…"

"Your majesty!"

He took a moment to compose himself before standing on his own, with his hands on his hips.

'...'

'..... shit.'

He made a mistake and almost infected his organs with an unknown disease that could eventually end up killing him or causing an irreversible affliction on his mind. In the worst case, he could have annihilated H City's population by mistake.

As always, Eros laughed it off.

'Mmm~ I should be patient.'

He couldn't get rid of the disgusting force at the moment, but he couldn't do anything about it if he didn't know what it was.

"Your majesty?"

"I'm fine. Who are you?"

"Leander, your majesty. I'm the new commander."

"Nice. What happened to the other one?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...that bad?"

"..."

Seeing as the blonde guy didn't answer him, Eros shrugged and followed after Iris.

To travel back to the palace, they had to go to Third Heaven's main office in H City first.

Iris walked straight to one of the black SUVs parked outside. The guards prepared to leave the Demetrious' domain.

'Mm~ Should I ask her about this? But, would she even know what I'm talking about?'

Examining the mixed energies, he concluded that it'd be better to ask his mom directly.

'She will make a fuss, but...'

'Our powers are similar and she has way more experience with this kind of thing, anyway.'

'It's not like it'll go on its own.'

Then, Eros felt his pain disappear along with the remains of the amalgam.

'What? How?'

"Wait!" Someone shouted.

Eros turned to the direction the voice came from, surprised. Psyche came running up to him, her jacket hanging loosely from her shoulders.

He breathed in and out a couple of times before speaking. When he did, the look on his eyes surprised Eros.

"My name is Psyche."

"You said you wanted me, right? Then take me."

"I'll give you a fair price."

*

Half an hour later, Eros realized he didn't know a lot about humans.

He had spent a lot of time with them, but that didn't make it any easier for him to understand them. Some were extroverted, others were shy. Some were rotten and others were pure.

He didn't need to know a lot about humans, though. Even if he couldn't find out their intentions on the first try, no one could hide his heart from him.

'Psyche, huh?'

That kitten-like guy.

He was the first, from his impetuous actions to his troubling emotions. Not to mention how much his looks contradicted his personality.

He had never met a human being more genuine, yet so confused by himself.

'He is so…'

Eros didn't know how to describe him.

'Fierce, naive, distant, endearing … what do you call such a human?'

He didn't know how to put into words the purple eyes that had captivated him an hour before.

Just thinking about it made him giggle. They were so magnetic that he had done something reckless.

'Well, that's a problem for tomorrow~'

Furthermore, Eros felt strange after parting with him. More exactly, after the amalgam vanished.

He was left with chest pain, diffuse thoughts, and tachycardia. Those were all signs of human diseases. Was there something wrong with him?

'I'm… I'm not dying, right?'

-TapTapTap.

Eros glanced at Iris in the front seat of the SUV. She had her head down and wrote maniacally on her Instabook mail.

Eros thought he saw his mother's profile picture for a moment, but he dismissed it.

"Iris?"

"Fuck off."

"Is it possible for a deity to be sick?"

"What nonsense are you spitting?"

"So, no?"

She went quiet for a moment. The color of the traffic lights and the phone's screen reflected a series of patterns in her pupils.

"It depends. Some side effects might come with a god's awakening that could qualify as sickness," she said with her eyes still glued to her phone.

"Some gods experience overexcitement, sensory overload, high levels of activity, hypersensitivity, restlessness, and headaches."

"...Does it happen often?"

"It's not something linear. Some feel depressed, others become paranoid. It varies according to your element. Some primordial deities have it worse as their symptoms are worse because of their divinity being strong enough to sink three countries."

"... I see."

Eros felt even more conflicted. He stared outside of the window, wondering if it was a good idea to ask Iris to contact Asclepius, the god of medicine, for a quick check-up.

'Ugh, I don't wanna ask mom about this.'

'She is gonna freak out and lock me up in my room, isn't she?'

Ignorant of the god's thoughts, Iris pondered on the matter before taking her eyes off the phone abruptly. As if she had just thought about a possibility, she sat straight and turned around on her seat to inspect Eros' complexion.

"You're not feeling any of those, right?"

"Um, no?"

"Good, scream the moment you feel something strange like that."

"Scream what?"

"Call your mom."

"For heaven's sake, I'm not a kid."

"You're barely eight hundred!"

"Why are you changing my age now?"

-BuzzBuzz

Iris took her cell phone at the speed of light and resumed writing frantically.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!"

"Shut up."

"Who are you talking to anyway?"

Before Eros could peek at Iris' phone screen, the car came to a stop, and a baritone voice spoke. It was Leander, who acted as their chief commander and driver at the moment.

"We've arrived," he said, getting out of the car.

Iris slipped away from Eros' prying eyes before he could see anything, jogging to the Third Heaven's headquarters' building.

"Tch. So soon?" Asked Eros, pouting in the back seat. He waited for the driver to open his door before getting out of the car.

"I took a shortcut. I thought it'd be better to arrive quickly."

"Great! You're smart!"

"Thank you, your majesty."

"Mm~ Who were you again?"

"..."