After nightfall, the peak of Mount Olympus finally returned to tranquility.
The four massive Abyssal Divine Steeds stood quietly at the highest point, the golden chariot gleaming mysteriously in the moonlight. Their arrival had completely transformed the sacred mountain's aura, with ancient and powerful magical energy permeating the air, creating an inexplicable sense of oppression for everyone still remaining on the mountain.
Tom Harrison and his classmates were currently hiding in a natural rock cave about five hundred meters from the summit. This cave was discovered by guide Petros during the chaos, providing them with a relatively safe shelter.
"We... we really saw those things, didn't we?" Emma Black huddled in the corner of the cave, her voice still trembling. Her white dress had been torn and soiled by rocks and dust, her golden hair disheveled across her shoulders, but at this moment no one cared about appearances.
"Yes, we all saw it," Andrei Volkov replied softly, his arm around Emma's shoulders, trying to offer some comfort. But his own face was extremely pale, the materialist worldview he'd been taught since childhood collapsing within his heart.
Chris Williamson sat on the other side of the cave, the wound on his knee bandaged with torn fabric, but bloodstains were still clearly visible. He stared toward the cave entrance, his expression incredibly complex. "My camera... my camera broke. No one will believe what we tell them."
"Maybe that's for the better," Tom said calmly. He sat in the center of the cave, still gripping that copy of "Ancient Greek Myths and Legends" tightly. After experiencing everything that had just happened, he was paradoxically the calmest among them all. "Some things... not everyone should know about."
Betty leaned against the cave wall, having lost her glasses in the chaos, her blurred vision making her appear even more vulnerable. "Tom, did you... did you already know something like this would happen? On the airplane, what did you see?"
Tom was silent for a while, then slowly said: "I saw a blood-red glow. At the time I thought it was just an atmospheric phenomenon, but now it seems..." He paused, "maybe that was the signal of their approach to Earth."
Guide Petros sat near the cave entrance, acting as a sentinel. This Greek man who had worked on Mount Olympus for thirty years now looked ten years older. "In our ancient Greek legends," he said in a trembling voice, "there are indeed records of divine descents. But I never imagined... never imagined these legends were actually true."
"What should we do now?" Jeremy asked. He still had his forehead wrapped with strips torn from his shirt, the earlier impact leaving him dizzy even now. "Can we go down the mountain? Or should we wait for rescue?"
"Rescue?" Chris laughed bitterly, "Do you think anyone would believe our experience? The Greek government? The United Nations? They'd just think we all suffered collective hallucinations."
Just as everyone fell into silence, Brandon suddenly spoke up: "We must leave this place. Whatever those... those things are, their very existence exceeds our understanding. We should go down the mountain under cover of darkness, get as far away as possible."
This suggestion gained approval from most people. Although descending at night was extremely dangerous, compared to staying in this place filled with supernatural forces, it seemed the wiser choice.
"Brandon is right," Tom immediately agreed, "We should descend immediately. Although I'm interested in ancient legends, this situation has exceeded what we can handle. Those... those things' very existence is filled with danger."
"Exactly," Andrei also agreed, "We need to tell the outside world what happened here, let professionals handle it."
After brief discussion, everyone reached consensus: immediately leave this dangerous place.
After carefully leaving the cave, the group began slowly moving along the downhill path. They deliberately avoided the central area of the summit, trying to maintain distance from those four Divine Steeds and the golden chariot. Mount Olympus under moonlight appeared even more mysterious and solemn, and everyone quickened their pace, hoping to leave this supernatural place as soon as possible.
"Finally getting out of here," Chris sighed with relief, "I feel like I'll never forget today's experience for the rest of my life."
"Yes," Betty also felt relieved, "Although I can't see the details clearly, that oppressive feeling was too intense."
However, just as they were about to exit the summit area, Emma suddenly stopped and pointed at the ground saying: "Wait... everyone look! There's light flickering on the ground!"
Looking down, everyone indeed discovered some faint glows appearing on the rock surface beneath their feet. These glows were very weak—if it weren't nighttime under moonlight, they would never have been visible.
"What is this?" Brandon curiously crouched down.
Tom took out his phone's flashlight function, carefully illuminating the ground. When the light shone on the rock surface, everyone gasped.
Hidden within the rocks beneath their feet was a massive pattern. This pattern consisted of countless intricate lines forming a complex geometric structure. Although most was covered by rock, the exposed portions were enough to convey its grandeur and mystery.
"This... this is a magic array!" Tom exclaimed in shock, his voice filled with incredulous surprise. "I've seen similar patterns in ancient texts... this is a real ancient magic array!"
"Magic array?" Chris repeated the words in disbelief, "You mean... real magic? Not those stage performance tricks?"
"Absolutely not tricks," Tom crouched down, carefully observing the patterns on the rock surface with his flashlight. "Look at the complexity of these lines, and the precision of this geometric structure... this absolutely couldn't have been created by modern people. Moreover, look, these lines seem to be carved directly inside the rock, not surface engravings."
Andrei also crouched down to observe, reaching out to touch those glowing lines, but Tom immediately stopped him.
"Don't touch!" Tom urgently said, "We don't know the function of these magic arrays. Carelessly touching them might trigger unpredictable consequences."
"Tom is right," guide Petros also came over, "In ancient Greek legends, there are indeed records of mysterious arrays. It's said ancient temples and sacred sites would set up such arrays to protect sacred objects or conduct mysterious rituals."
"But," Emma said tremblingly, "if there really are magic arrays here, doesn't that mean... magic truly exists?"
No one could answer this question. For these young people raised under modern scientific education, the very existence of magic was a massive shock to their entire worldview.
"There's more than one here," Chris suddenly said from not far away. He had moved to another position, his flashlight illuminating the ground, "There's another one here! And it looks even bigger!"
Everyone hurriedly gathered at Chris's location. Indeed, there was an even more massive magic array pattern hidden beneath the rocks. This array was at least twice the size of the previous one, with even more complex patterns.
"My God," Jeremy gaped, "Is this entire mountaintop covered with these things?"
To verify this suspicion, everyone began searching separately. Soon, they made an astonishing discovery.
"There's another one here!"
"Here too!"
"Heavens, this one's even more complex!"
Within just over ten minutes, they had discovered dozens of magic arrays of varying sizes. Some were relatively simple with only basic geometric shapes; others were extremely complex, containing countless intricate symbols and characters. They were distributed throughout the entire summit area, forming a massive network.
"This is simply like a giant magical laboratory," Betty marveled, and although she couldn't see the details clearly, she could still feel the shocking nature of this discovery.
Tom stood in the center of the numerous magic arrays, his mind rapidly recalling the ancient magical texts he had read, his expression growing increasingly grave. "If I'm not mistaken, these aren't randomly placed magic arrays. They form a complete system, each array having specific functions and purposes. We should be more careful and not casually touch anything."
"What kind of functions?" Andrei asked nervously.
"Protection, purification, teleportation, communication..." Tom analyzed with concern while observing, "Ancient mages would set up different arrays according to different needs. The number and complexity of arrays here indicates this was once an extremely important magical sacred site. This makes me even more certain—we must leave here immediately."
Just then, Brandon shouted from a distance: "Everyone come quickly! I've found some strange writing!"
Everyone hurried toward Brandon's direction. There, they saw an even more shocking sight. In a particularly massive magic array, countless ancient characters were carved densely. These characters had complex strokes and peculiar shapes, completely different from any known writing system.
"These characters... I've never seen them before," Petros stared at those characters, "They're more ancient than ancient Greek writing, even more complex than any ancient writing I've ever seen."
Tom crouched down, carefully illuminating those characters with his flashlight. Suddenly, his expression became grave.
"I recognize these characters," he said slowly, "This is... ancient magical script."
"What?" Everyone looked at him in surprise.
"In some extremely ancient magical texts, the existence of such writing is indeed recorded," Tom continued explaining, "It's said this was a special writing system used by mages in ancient times, specifically for recording and transmitting magical knowledge. But I thought those were just legends..."
"Can you read these characters?" Chris asked urgently.
Tom studied them carefully for a while, then shook his head. "I can only recognize some basic symbols, like 'power,' 'summoning,' 'protection,' and similar basic concepts. But to fully understand the meaning of these characters would require deeper magical knowledge."
"Wait," Emma suddenly pointed not far away, "The light over there seems brighter."
Everyone turned to look and indeed discovered that in the most central position of the summit, an area was emitting much brighter light. This light wasn't white or gold, but multicolored, constantly changing colors, beautiful and mysterious.
"What is that?" Jeremy asked.
"If I'm not mistaken," Tom took a deep breath, "that should be the core of this entire magical system... the central array."
With both excitement and trepidation, everyone slowly walked toward that multicolored glow. As the distance closed, that mysterious and powerful magical energy became increasingly obvious, making everyone feel an indescribable sense of oppression.
"I can feel... a force," Emma said tremblingly, "Like something is vibrating in my heart."
"I feel it too," Andrei nodded, "This feeling is strange, both frightening and fascinating."
When they finally approached the source of that glow, everyone was shocked speechless by the sight before them.
In the very center of the summit was a magic array so massive it exceeded imagination. This array had a diameter of at least one hundred meters, its complexity far surpassing any they had seen before. Even more shocking was that this array was completely exposed on the surface, not covered by rock, as if specifically meant to be displayed to the world.
Those four Abyssal Divine Steeds and the golden chariot stood quietly in the exact center of this massive array. The Divine Steeds' giant hooves were positioned precisely on specific points of the array, as if everything had been calculated exactly.
"This... this is simply a miracle," Petros murmured, "I've worked on this mountain for thirty years and never seen anything like this. When did they appear?"
Tom carefully observed this massive array, his mind rapidly analyzing its mysteries. "I think these arrays have always existed, just hidden by some force normally. The descent of the Divine Steeds and chariot activated this mountain peak's ancient magic, causing these hidden arrays to reappear."
"You mean," Chris asked incredulously, "this mountain peak itself is a giant magical device?"
"Not just a device," Tom's eyes flickered with worried light, "If my understanding is correct, this is a portal. A portal connecting different worlds. This is more dangerous than I imagined."
This statement plunged everyone into shocked silence. A portal? Connecting different worlds? This sounded like the most insane science fiction plot.
"Portal?" Jeremy stammered, "You mean... it can really teleport to other places? Even other worlds?"
Tom nodded, opening his copy of "Ancient Greek Myths and Legends" and pointing to a page: "In ancient magical theory, there are indeed records of passages between worlds. It's said those powerful mages could open channels connecting different dimensional worlds through special arrays. And Mount Olympus, as the dwelling place of the gods, very likely is the location of such a passage."
"Those Divine Steeds and chariot..." Andrei said thoughtfully, "they came from another world?"
"Very likely," Tom continued analyzing, "And from their ability to land precisely in the center of this array, they're very familiar with this place. Perhaps in ancient times, this was the meeting point between the divine realm and the human world."
Just as everyone was still processing this information, Betty suddenly pointed to the edge of the array: "Everyone look! Those lines... they're moving!"
Everyone hurriedly looked and indeed discovered that the light lines forming the array were slowly flowing, like liquid moving through pipes. As the light flowed, the multicolored glow emitted by the entire array became even brighter and more brilliant.
"What does this mean?" Brandon asked nervously.
Tom's expression became grave. "If I'm not mistaken, this portal is being activated."
"Activated?" Emma's voice carried fear, "What will happen?"
"I don't know," Tom answered honestly, "but I think we should leave here immediately. If the portal is truly being activated, things we can't control might happen."
"Tom is right," Petros also agreed, "We've witnessed enough miracles. We should go down the mountain now and tell the outside world what happened here."
"Let's go," Tom closed the ancient book, "We've discovered the secrets here. Continuing to stay might be dangerous."
However, just as they prepared to leave, an accident occurred.
Due to the massive impact when the Divine Steeds landed, the mountaintop was covered with cracks and debris. A female student, while turning to leave, suddenly found the rocks beneath her feet loosening. She instinctively reached out to grab nearby stones to steady herself. However, this action disturbed a piece of debris that was already precariously balanced.
That piece of debris rolled and fell precisely into a small crevice at the array's edge, striking a glowing magic array pattern.
A light "click" sound was heard.
Instantly, the entire world seemed to freeze.
After the light "click" sound, the massive array suddenly erupted in blinding light, multicolored light pillars shooting skyward, illuminating the entire night sky. Those four Abyssal Divine Steeds let out earth-shaking neighs, and the golden chariot began emitting mysterious golden light.
Before anyone could react, blazing golden beams shot out from the array's center, instantly surrounding everyone.
Tom, Emma, Andrei, Chris, Betty, Jeremy... each person's body instantly transformed into a brilliant beam of light, without pain, without struggle, not even time to feel fear.
These light beams streaked across the night sky like meteors, shooting directly into the golden chariot.
The entire process was incredibly fast, from array activation to everyone's disappearance took only the blink of an eye.
The mountaintop returned to tranquility, with only guide Petros standing there alone, shocked by what had just occurred. He didn't even have time to blink before those students had vanished without a trace.
As the light beams disappeared into the chariot, the four Abyssal Divine Steeds let out a long cry, and the massive array's light reached its peak. In the dazzling brilliance, the golden chariot slowly rose, carrying the light-transformed young people and disappearing into Mount Olympus's night sky.
The mountaintop returned to tranquility once again, with only those hidden magic arrays still emitting faint glows, witnessing everything that had just occurred. Petros stood frozen in place, unable to recover for a long time.
And in the distant sky, a golden streak of light was crossing the night sky, heading toward an unknown destination.
An adventure beyond imagination was about to begin...