Lydia leans back on one foot in the auditorium as she listen to the principal talk. It was the closing ceremony for the year at her school, an event she cared too much about. She never paid attention to these things, often day dreaming. Her turquoise eyes glance toward the clock. Only a minute left before she could go watch pointless tv.

Her life was nothing interesting, at least that's what she thought. She had an average family, a mother, step father, and step brother. They even had an average brown cat with orange spots. Her step father, Kaito, was the reason she was away from the small town she grew up in, in South Carolina. Her mother had met the man in a business meeting where they had hit it off right away. After a few dates and video chats over a period of a year, Kaito proposed to her mother on a romantic dinner in New York. After that, Lydia was forced away from her Southern friends to a city in Japan full of strangers and a language unknown to her. That was when she was fourteen and she was now seventeen, now use to the ways of Japan as much as any non-Japanese person could be. She still slipped up when it came to her talking in Japanese or writing papers, though it was usually nothing major.

The bell rings causing Lydia to quickly turn on her feet toward the exit. She rushes pass other students out of the auditorium so she could meet up with her best friend, Yui Kusanagi. Yui was the one who helped Lydia learn the basics to Japan when she first got there, correcting her politely on her mistakes unlike her step brother who scolded her. After Lydia got use to being in Japan, her and Yui spent a lot of time together. Yui was there during Lydia's first heart break and Lydia tried to play match maker for Yui. Lydia could never figure out why Yui was her best friend. Yui was a nice, polite girl who tried to make everyone feel welcome. Lydia was short tempered, had the mouth of a sailor, and was unwelcoming toward strangers.

Lydia meets up with Yui and her two other friends outside of the school. She barely took the time to get to know the other two girls, she had even forgotten their names. She spots the purple hair girl she had been looking for, running over to her. Lydia grabs a hold of Yui's arm, pushing the ginger girl to the side, and continues walking with the group of girls.

"Yui," Lydia muses catching the purple haired girl by surprise.

Yui smiles awkwardly at her friend. "Lydia," she acknowledges her.

"I'm getting to stay with you over the break, right?" Lydia already knew the answer to that question. Yui's family treated her like family, always welcoming her to stay over whenever she liked.

Yui nods at her red headed friend. "Of course. You'll have to wait until Monday, though. Father has something plan for the family this weekend," she answers.

Lydia's mouth forms a smile. "Great. See you then. As for now, I have to do a lot chores before mother and Kaito get home from their trip."

Lydia turns away from the group girls and walks the other way since her home was on the other side of town. She feels something wet running down her face and her eyes widen when she realizes she had been crying. She wipes the tears away in confusion since she wasn't even sad. She hums softly to the tune of her most recent favorite song, This Shit Getz Old by the lovely Christofer Drew from Never Shout Never. She never kept the same favorite song for long, it always changing every two weeks or so. The main reason for this being that she overplayed the song to the point that she got sick of hearing it. The same was with music genres. She would go back and forth between mainstream pop music to hardcore rock to American country music to classical. She had to mix things up or she would get terribly bored with the same sounds and rhythms from one genre of music.

Lydia opens the door to her house, kicking her shoes off to the side. "I'm home," she announces even though she knew no one was home. Her mother and step father wouldn't be home until later that night and her step brother always went out to play basket ball with his friends. He wouldn't be home until late either, if he even came back. That was a thing that bugged Lydia about her step brother, Daisuke. He was able to stay with friends whenever he wanted as long as he called home to let someone know. Lydia, on the other hand, had to beg for permission if she went to stay with someone besides Yui. Her mother always wanted to know everything about the person she was hanging out with. And hell would freeze over if she wanted to spend time with boy.

Stripping off her school jacket and tossing it onto her bed, Lydia closes her bed room door. She takes her socks off, hating the feeling of sweat that had built up throughout the day. She grabs her tv remote and flicks the tv on, turning it onto the news. She never paid attention to the tv, its main purpose being for background noise. She takes her shirt off and puts on a black tank top and a gray, off the shoulder shirt, the sleeves stopping right above her elbows. She takes her skirt off and slides into a pair of black jeggings.

Pulling her red hair up into a messy bun she walks over to her desk, her unfinished portrait of one of her favorite singers, Taka Morita, waiting for her to finish. Lydia hums as she picks up a letter H pencil. She scrolls through the pictures on her phone, finding the current picture she was drawing. Getting into her muse, she begins sketching the clothes of Taka.

As she starts on the shading, she hears someone yell her name. Putting the pencil down in frustration, she stands up. She walks out of room into the living room down the hall. "What do you want, Daisuke?" she asks staring at her step brother who was standing in the kitchen door next to the living room.

"I got us some food. You can eat it now or later but I was just letting you know," he explains turning around into the kitchen.

Lydia follows him and grabs her food plate from the plastic bag on the table. She walks to the refrigerator and puts the plate inside. She closes the door, turning back to Daisuke who was sitting at the table. "You're not hanging out with your friends?" She asks, her heart beat quickening.

Daisuke looks from his food to her. "Yeah, just thought I'd bring you something before I left," he says before shoving some noodles in his mouth.

"Thanks," she says flatly. "What time are you leaving?"

"In an hour," Daisuke says with a mouth full of food.

"Okay," Lydia clips the word. She walks out of the kitchen, heading to the living room. She grabs her black combat boots from underneath the table. She slides them on and heads out the door, walking down the sidewalk to the park near her house. She pulls out the headphones she had stuck in her pocket and sticks the end into her phone. Going to her playlist she starts listening to This Shit Getz Old. Lydia had never liked her step brother. They didn't have great chemistry together that struck a friendship. The feeling was mutual between the two. He only talked to her when he had to, never coming to her with personal things.

Stopping in front of a bench at the park, Lydia attempts to sit down as a white light emerges from her necklace that was a miniature silver bow with an arrow going through it. Lydia stares at it bewildered as a white surrounds her. A small four letter word escapes her mouth before she blacks out.

Lydia groans as she stretches out on a cold, hard surface. She stops stretching when she notices that she doesn't know her surroundings. She stands straight up, getting slightly dizzy from standing so fast. She was stands up, noticing she was in a classroom. The room was filled with dark wood desks, each with a sun design on the side of them. At the front of the classroom hung a banner with the same sun on it. She studies the classroom for a few minutes before walking into an elegant hallway. The hall had multiple double wooden doors with a gold colored etched into them for design, windows beside them to view into the rooms. The windows that would've showed the outside where stained glass. She furrows her brows, wondering how she had got to the strange, beautiful place. She walks down the hallway, peering into the windows for every room for signs of anyone else in them.

"This is so far the most graceful school I've been in," she mumbles to herself as she walks to the end of the hall.

She turns to the stair cases, which was done beautifully as well with dark wood. She began to wonder who had the time to make such a school before it donged on her. It had to be an academy. Public schools didn't take the time to make the building comfortable. She exits the stairway by a door that led to an outside corridor. She notices a small clearing that she guessed to be a courtyard. In the middle was a golden gazebo done in the style of Greek architecture with four golden stone walkways leading to it with flowers surrounded it.

Lydia walks over to gazebo, stepping up onto it. She runs her fingers across one of the blue chairs at the table that sat underneath it. She takes a moment to process where she was at which still confused her. "Where the hell is this place?" She asks herself with confusion. She looks around the area, noticing not a soul in sight. "More importantly, why am I the only one here?"

Lydia pulls her phone so she could probably use GPS to figure where she was. She scowls when she notices that she has no signal. "Oh, fucking perfect. I'm in a strange place with no signal. What could possibly get worse?" She stuffs her phone back in her pocket, hopping off the gazebo. She walks to the other side of the courtyard where another entrance was at.

As her fingers touch the door, a white light consumes her again, teleporting her to another set of tall door. She looks around noticing she was at the end of a hallway. She takes a deep breath before opening the door, stepping into a dimly lit room. As she takes in her surroundings, she notices she was in a throne room, Greek styled columns leading down in a row to a throne on either side of a long, red rug.

"Welcome, Murphy Lydia," a deep voice booms from across the room. Lydia takes notice of a middle aged man with golden, shoulder length hair that was gelled back with one stray hair falling into his face. He was sitting on the red throne, holding a golden staff. His golden eyes stare intently at her, causing Lydia to rub her arms, sweat building up on her hands. "There's no need to be nervous. Come here," the man says with a sly grin.

Lydia walks down the rug towards the man in red and gold robes. "Did you bring me here?" She questions as she gets closer to him.

"Yes," the man replies with little concern in his voice.

"What for? Who are you?" She asks, slightly glaring at the man who had disrupted her life.

The man stands up, well over six feet. "My name is Zeus. I am the god who rules the heavens," he continues to smile with arrogance.

Lydia looks at him for a moment before letting out a small chuckle. "Zeus? You really expect me to believe that you're Zeus from Greek mythology? As if."

The man points his staff at her, lightning crackling around it. "Do you wish to find out?" He asks. Lydia stares wide eyed at the staff before shaking her head. Zeus lowers his staff back to the ground. "I summoned you here to play part in my plan along with another human girl. Since ancient times, gods have been beings that must both love humanity and be worshiped by them. However, the connection between the heavens, ruled by gods, and the human realm has grown lamentably weak," his face becomes grim. "At this rate, a terrible future is inevitable. This is why I have brought together the gods who struggle the most with their connection to humanity, to educate them." He walks around the room, causing Lydia to turn to face him as he moved.

Lydia tilts her head to the side. "Educate?"

"Yes. What are humans? What is love? By making them understand these things, a terrible future can be avoided," he walks pass her to the other side of the room. "That is why I have created this school," he turns to her with a smile. "Yes, this is an academy for the gods. You," he points his staff to Lydia, "Murphy Lydia, will show the gods the bad side of humanity. The other human I have brought shows love, faith, and compassion for the gods. You, on the other hand, show no love or faith to the gods."

Lydia's eyes narrow at his accusation. "Excuse me?"

"You've never believed in the gods. When you do, you blame them for everything that goes wrong in your life. You have decided that even if gods are real that you will have no trust in them. Here at this academy you will learn with the gods, teaching them of the stubborn side of humanity while growing to have faith in them," Zeus orders her.

Lydia stares at him wide eyed for a moment. She then starts laughing. "You honestly think I'm going to do what you want me to do? Hell no."

Zeus narrows his eyes at her. "You dare to defy me, human girl?"

"Basically," she nods with a sarcastic smile.

"You have no choice. I do," he says.

"You're being a tyrant and you wonder why humans don't believe in gods? They don't like having to act a certain way," she exclaims, feeling heat raise to her cheeks as her angers builds.

He brushes her words to the side by continuing. "I shall not release you from this world until you have fulfilled my plan."

Lydia glares at the man more intensely. If she did what the man wanted, she went against everything she stood for. She swore to never live her life to please a god. As far as she was concern, the gods had never did anything to earn her support. Though if she didn't do what he wanted, she would be stuck in this world for who knew how long. As much as she would enjoy staying in the place away from people who made her dislike her life, she knew she couldn't run away from her problems back home.

"Fine," she says flatly.