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Chapter 42: Glimpse of the Divine
🕑 Added 2024-08-24 15:53:59 +0000 UTCChapter 42: Glimpse of the Divine
The customary arguments and low level bickering that was emblematic of the Council quietened as their missing member flew into the pillared throne room, his winged sandals creating a soft thrum at the speed of their movement.
“Hermes.” Zeus spoke, his voice echoing in the suddenly silent room, “What news have you brought us?”
Hermes chuckled sheepishly, bringing one of his hands up to rub the back of his head while nervously gripping Caduceus in his other, “Well, Father, I ask you don’t kill the messenger. She was most emphatic that I repeat her words to you verbatim.”
The King of the Gods narrowed his eyes at his son, before indicating that he may speak his message. Hermes cleared his throat, “I found her exactly where you said she would be Lord Hades, I handed over the invitation like you wanted, Father. She read it, then…”
He paused, swallowing as he remembered the terror he had felt, looking into her eyes, “She told me to return and relay these exact words; ‘I am not a dog to called to heel on command. Be thankful I have something more important to deal with, otherwise I would remind your father just why he ran in terror the last time he displeased me.’”
The hall was silent again after his words, but this time it was from tension rather than anticipation. A vein was pulsing on Zeus’ forehead, a look of apocalyptic rage on his face as thunder rumbled throughout the room.
“Does Nyx wish for war with Olympus? Would she be that bold?” Hera asked incredulously, “Surely she knows that would be foolish?”
“We would lose.” Hades replied, having slumped in his throne, a look of disinterest on his face when he realized the Primordial would not be making an appearance, “So now all we have to go on is what Artemis felt from her Moon, although with it being over India at the time…”
“The Hindu are not accommodating when it comes to sharing their domain. As perturbed as we are by what occurred, I believe that the Hindu be actively hostile to this new God.” Athena opined, sharing her view with the Council.
“Either way, without Nyx, who I recommended against summoning (I would add), there is not much we will accomplish with this meeting.” Hades sighed, his time being wasted by this pointless diversion.
Unlike the rest of these louts, he had an actual job to do.
“That was not the only reason we called this meeting, Brother.” Zeus took a deep breath reigning in his anger, stopping Hades in his tracks from where he was arising from his throne, “Nyx will pay for her disrespect, in due time. For now, we need to discuss the fact that the Shinto are starting to move again and how we may benefit from this occurrence.”
Hades nodded solemnly, but groaned out in pain inwardly. He had a feeling that this would drag on for an inordinate amount of time. A feeling that turned out to be correct, as the meeting began in earnest and the customary bickering of Olympus made it’s return.
Afterwards, when day had long surrendered to night, the Great Council chambers finally stood empty. The only sound was the crackling of the flame, the great hearth still lit. Tending to it, the first fire of Olympus, was a young woman, barely out of her teens. This Hearth situated in the center of the room was special. It was lit at the first council of Olympus and thanks to it’s caretaker, this Hearth had never once gone cold.
Said caretaker paused in her ministrations, before standing and turning to the entrance of the Throne room, speaking into the night, “Greetings, Nyx. It’s good to see you again.”
Out of the darkness, a girl appeared. Youthful in appearance, wearing stately purple robes that faintly shined with randomly appearing pinpricks of light, evoking the look of the night sky. Her hair was as black as night, and her dark purple eyes held flecks of silver within, that caused them to shine like stars when the light caught them.
The attendant smoothed her white toga, brushing her fire red hair over one shoulder as she bowed slightly towards the Primordial.
“Hestia.” Nyx spoke, her voice not at all matching her current form, “It’s good to see you again. How has Olympus been treating you?”
"The same as it always has, Nyx. The council that has just finished spent some time discussing you, as I’m sure you are aware.” The Goddess of the Hearth replied, “If it’s not to much of an imposition, may I ask for the reasoning for your current appearance?”
“Truly, the Olympians have no clue of the gem they have left languishing in their midst.” Nyx murmured, “I have told you before, but my Hearth is always welcome to you, should you wish to visit. As for my appearance… I have befriended someone recently and took on this form to better connect with her.”
Hestia smiled at that, genuine joy gracing her face, “I’m glad to hear that. Your isolation, though understandable, has always saddened me. I apologise that my visits have been so irregular.”
“Think nothing of it.” Nyx waved the apology away, an action that would have angered some of the other gods but that Hestia understood was due to their mutual fondness, “Your company has always been a gift, the time spent is treasured, regardless of how long or short it was.”
The Goddess bowed again at that, “Thank you. Is this a social visit? If you have time, I just found out something about Tiamat that you would love to hear…”
Nyx grinned at her friend, the formality and tension broken easily, “I would be most interested in that discussion with you. But before that, I am afraid that this is not purely a visit to a friend. My Night was usurped by a being over Japan, who I have never felt before. I wished to ask you for any information that you could glean about them.”
Hestia was surprised at that, eyes narrowing slightly, “You came to me? Surely Artemis would be a better choice, considering how it involved the Moon.”
Nyx nodded, face serious, “Indeed, but I looked into the matter before imposing upon you. At the time, the only event of note happening in Japan was a scheduled visit between the Kyoto leader’s daughter and the sister of Damocles Sagan. If those events are connected, then you would be the much better choice to consult.”
Hestia laughed briefly at that, not surprised that Nyx pieced that together so quickly. The Goddess of the Hearth was used to being overlooked by the other Olympians, relegated to just being the tender of their Fire in their heads ever since she relinquished her throne. She doubted that they even remembered that the only reason why violence had never broken out in this room was due to all of them being under her Domain.
For indeed, before she was the Goddess of the Hearth, the keeper of Flame, her true domain was much more simple yet all the more powerful for that simplicity. Her first domain, the one that was so often forgotten. Hestia, the Goddess of Hearth, Home and Family. She did, in fact know more about what happened in Japan than anyone else in Olympus. She did not volunteer the information, not just because she was never asked, but also…
“I know you do not relish in the sharing of the private information your domain provides, so I also brought an appropriate offering for what I am asking you to do.” The Night spoke, pulling to her side a covered tray, which she then handed over the junior Goddess.
Lifting the lid, Hestia found a fond look drifting to her face as the scent of pastry and cooked meat. The lifted lid revealed the contents of the tray to be a home-cooked pork pie, baked to perfection. To most, they would expect an offering from a Primordial to be a priceless artifact, or an item of great power. However, that is not considering what this seemingly innocuous pie represented.
It was home cooked, handmade by the Primordial of Night herself. It was immeasurably priceless for that fact alone, never mind the symbolism that came with it. That her friend remembered her reservations about sharing what she learned from her domain and made sure to give her a gift in return brought a warm feeling to her chest.
“Thank you, Nyx. I am glad you remembered.” She spoke, putting away the pie to enjoy later, once her duty was done, “I do indeed have some information about what happened there. As you know, the Sagan has some form of protection that allows him to shield himself from our eyes. However, he dropped it some time into the fight he had, against the user of the True Longinus. He was there to protect his Sister, as you surmised, but unfortunately I was unable to see exactly what happened next, as the being who overtook your Night rebuffed all other Divine presences as they arrived.”
“Thank you for the information.” Nyx nodded her head, “Just that is enough. I think I know where my new friend wondered off to now. Now what is this that you heard about Tiamat?”
Hestia’s eyes lit up, a fire of mischief lighting in them, “Well, you know those Devil play fights? Someone has managed to get her to act as a babysitter…”
The serious talks over for the moment, the Night was soon filled with the happy conversation between two friends.
---XXX---
Yggdrasil was not just a tree. True enough, one could traverse it’s branches to move between the realms, but the World Tree shattered and twisted reality around it constantly. There were places where if you fell off the branch, you would actually fall onto another higher up. These pockets of twisted space, the unique corridors that acted like shortcuts throughout the Great Tree, were known as Wyrd Ways.
The creature that knew them the best, that had them mapped out the most thoroughly, was Ratatoskr. However, Odin was no slouch when it came to knowledge of how traverse the place between the Realms. It was far to useful to not know, seeing as you could leave Midgard, traverse a Wyrd Way and arrive back in Midgard, thousands of miles from where you left in a fraction of the time it would have taken to travel the distance normally. That went for all the Nine Realms. However, the Wyrd ways he knew to traverse Midgard were the important ones for what he was currently doing.
He was sitting on one of the Branches of Yggdrasil, resting his old bones and awaiting one of his oldest companions to arrive at the exit of a Wyrd Way. It was not often that he investigated happenings in Midgard directly, but this was certainly important enough to warrant the effort. His Seidr Workers were all clamouring for answers, seeing as their runes and bones were returning gibberish.
Indeed, even Odin’s divination had become completely unreliable. Rather than panicking, however, he sensed that this might present an opportunity. Fate was in disarray, destiny derailed. It might just be temporary, or it could be permanent, but either way it was something that could be useful. Ragnarök hovered over his head, over all the Aesir like a sword waiting to fall. It was never stopped, merely postponed, at great cost each time.
Now however, with fate and destiny in flux, it's possible that it could be averted entirely. Still, as always when dealing with concepts as all encompassing as these, it paid to be cautious. He could hardly engineer the outcome he desired if he was blind to what caused it, after all. That is why, when Muninn flew out of the Wyrd Way and landed upon his outstretched hand, he was excited at the Raven’s presence.
Reaching out with his power, he was gladly accepted by the enchanted corvid, who started to share it’s memories with him. With long practice, Muninn and Odin were able to flit through all that the Raven saw in it’s trip to Kyoto, the Shinto starting to mobilize and become active after so long. He had never seen this happen in the Runes, yet another way Fate had been altered. However, as was often the case with investigating an occurrence after the fact, there was little to point towards to what actually caused the disruption.
All he could find was the remnants of a foreign magic, dense and heavy hanging over a lake in the Yokai’s forest. Odin was not easily able to discover what happened there, the spirits that inhabited the area being fanatically loyal to the caretaker of Kyoto, Yasaka. So even if he went personally to entreat with them, it was unlikely to bear fruit. Not to mention the headache that going incognito would cause were he to be discovered.
Rubbing his chin, the All-Father considered his next moves. The Sagan kid was related to the Yokai, one of their few allies that was outside their own Faction. He had already asked the Devils for information, but while he awaited their response, were there any other avenues to pursue?
His reflections were broken when Huginn cawed, appearing from Wyrd Way and leading one of his beautiful Valkyries towards where he sat.
“All-Father.” The serious woman intoned, bowing towards him, a fist over heart, “I have news.”
“At ease, Sigrun. What do you have for me?” Odin waved a hand, letting the Valkyrie rise from her bow.
“The Satan, Leviathan, has responded to your request for information. The Moon was moved by a new God, Ranni, self-proclaimed Goddess of the Chill Night.”
As she said the name, Odin felt a shiver run down his back, as if some one had dropped ice down his collar. ‘Self-proclaimed’ she may be, but this new Goddess was anything but weak. Of course, to wrest the Moon from the Hindu, she would have to have strength in abundance. It was always difficult to deal with Gods who were that powerful.
Still, he had never heard of this ‘Ranni’ before. Rather than make him suspicious, it merely confirmed his hunch that she was the one behind the disruption in Destiny.
“Thank you, Sigrun.” Odin smiled, “I know what to do next.”
“For Asgard, All-Father!”
For Asgard, indeed.
---XXX---
“You look ridiculous.” Wukong spoke, causing the God he was addressing to growl, “Why wear the blindfold? You have the discipline to merely keep your eyes closed, surely?”
“I can see through them.” Indra spat out, “Even with them closed. The light is still blinding. The blindfold is enchanted to dim it.”
“Mmhhmm.” Wukong hummed, “Did we learn to not attempt to alter the Fate of an unknown deity?”
“Tch.” Indra clicked his tongue, “Who could have known there was another on the level of the Infinite and the Dream? Especially one that that makes no attempt to hide itself. My Prophecy is almost completely useless now, I’ll have to rebuild it carefully.”
“So that’s a no, then.” The Monkey King sighed.
He didn’t expect anything else, to be fair. With what happened to Indra, only the most narcissistic would still press ahead on their path, so it was fitting in a way. He must admit, watching from the sidelines as an enraged Indra attempted to challenge the new Goddess that had stolen the Moon was a spectacle.
Especially when his eyes had burnt out with azure blue flames as the Deva clutched them and writhed madly from the pain. The fact that the new Goddess could accomplish so much with little visible effort certainly was a cause for concern, but Wukong felt that she was likely not an enemy. If she wanted domination and conquest, there was precious little that could oppose her.
Of course, such a being did not fit into the ‘Order’ envisioned by the King God before him, so she had to be either subverted or removed. Indra was still operating in an old paradigm, thinking that his fated enemy was Shiva. However, with the sundering of Fate itself, Wukong felt that was no longer the case.
Still, his boss would of course do what he felt was best and the Monkey King would do what he was used to. Survive.
“I don’t know why you are so smug.” Indra turned towards him, “Your descendant was killed by this Goddess, after all. Are you that callous?”
Wukong carefully controlled his reactions, long practise and centuries of mastery of self being put to use as he showed no indication of his true feelings on the matter, “Death is a cost of life. Bikou knew this. You do not attempt to kill without being prepared for others to return the favour.”
“Spoken like a Buddha.” Indra rejoined, subtle mockery in his tone, “Should you ever rediscover your thirst for revenge, let me know.”
The Monkey King would certainly not do so. Indra would act like he always did, too set in his ways and inflexible. This would backfire badly on the Deva, something that Wukong would be sure to avoid.
After all, as strong as Indra was, he had little experience in fighting someone that was even stronger than him. Wukong had no such luxury. His life had provided him ample opportunity to get well accustomed to such an occurrence.
Practise that he would be sure to put to good use, when the opportunity presented itself. The most dangerous thing he had learned from his youth, the thing that would see him victorious through this situation was something that many, even the divine still lacked.
Patience.
“We will work around the new variable.” Indra spoke, “Just like we are moving around Infinity. Keep an ear to the ground, if it has a weakness, we must be the first to discover it.”
That, Wukong would gladly do.
Comments
xPYROTECHx
Lmao, Indra got hit with some frenzy Ranni Style.
