Chapter 89 - A Tired Baby.

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Earth-199999, Halo.

~3125 BE (Before Emergence) ~ 1100 BCE (Before Current Era).

It's been 70 years since the Olympians—most of them—were imprisoned, and the remaining deities in Olympus were forcibly moved to my Therions for knowledge exchange.

Knowledge exchange might not be the most appropriate term. My objective was for the deities of Olympus to pass on their knowledge about their divine fields to my Therions, but this was not a reciprocating venture. The loser has no rights, so why would my Therions give them something of equal value in return to the losers of the conflict?

This wasn't to say that they were not gaining knowledge for their services. After all, most of my Therions were busy expanding and growing their Star Systems and believers, so they couldn't drop everything and come to Earth to receive their teachings, could they?

Hence, the teaching deities were moved to the Star System of their respective Therion students.

To be fair, my Therions have vastly more experience with their divine fields than any deity on this Earth, but the thing that's said about gaining a different perspective to help oneself progress is true in this case.

My Therions are all on the verge of Nine Tails Level, and aside from a buttload of faith—which they are getting from their believers—insight can help them break that barrier—like how Selene and Yao reached godhood almost on their own. The captured Olympian deities are to help provide that insight.

There was only one outlier: Hestia. The sweet girl was the goddess of the hearth, home, and domestic life, and she wasn't like some of my girls who couldn't wield the entire encompassing nature of their concepts. Hestia was the Goddess of Home in every sense of the word.

Anything that could be remotely associated with the concept of 'Home', Hestia oversaw. In a way, had she had a more combat-oriented mind, she could have been considered the most dangerous of the Olympians. Alas, Hestia is more of a Japanese household spirit than capable of combat.

The reason I said she was an outlier was that she had no one to teach.

"It's not that there's no one 'homey' in your family, Aragorn," she said with a somewhat surprised expression. "It's that all of their feelings of 'home' are directed to you, Lady Death, and another figure I have not met, so I can't find in them enough affinity to my concept to be worth teaching."

"Ah... I never thought their emotional dependency on us, 'Adults', would come to bite them in their fluffy asses in such a way," I lamented.

In the Drachantheon Therion, Noona, Gaea, and I were the 'home,' so none of them had the affinity to it—at least not in quantity to justify Hestia teaching them.

"I could teach you about it, or Lady Death," Hestia suggested.

"That wouldn't work," I said with a sigh. To her confused face, I approached and extended a hand to her. "Grab it and try to awaken my divinity of 'Home,'" I said.

She did as instructed with unconcealed curiosity, then her lovely face turned into a scowl of confusion and intrigue.

"How can this be?" Hestia asked, her warm hand holding my own as if trying to decipher its secrets.

"Divinity is a right reserved for those connected to [Life]. Noona is connected to [Life] in the sense that she stands at the extreme of it, [Death], and I'm not alive. I'm not considered dead, or even inert, I just am a [Paradoxical Existence]," I explained. "I can mimic it." I made the divinity of 'Home' flow from my hand to hers, but she easily spotted the difference.

"It feels like the divinity of 'trickery' posing as my divinity. I can tell it isn't real, though yours feels more real than trickery," Hestia said.

"I can mimic any divinity I've studied enough—just like with energy—but in the end, it's not the same. Your insights wouldn't help much in the development and growth of my 'divinity' because they are not the same," I concluded.

"Mou~ Then what am I supposed to do while everybody else is busy being useful?" Hestia said with a pout, crossing her arms under her breasts.

"What the hell is that?" I asked, perplexed.

"You don't like it?" Hestia asked with a shy look.

"I like you a lot, Hestia. You could be frozen mid-sneeze and I would still like you. Then again, what the hell was that?" I asked again.

"Hehehe~ You can be so warm and say the most embarrassing of things without batting an eye," she chuckled to herself. "Kitty taught me about this. She showed me some of the sacred ancient records of ἄνιμε (ánime) of the Imperium. I found it lovely," Hestia revealed the horrific truth.

Horrific not because Kitty introduced her to anime, but because Hestia was being subjected to the Japanazing virus.

That was alright with me, but a little if not a whole lot incongruous. To me, it was as if suddenly Sasuke would have begun talking about the power of friendship, or Goku talked about using words and not fists, or the Snake Kid began to preach about human rights—it was a break of character, shockingly so.

"I see. I'll never forget to give my Kitty regards for showing you our sacred records," I murmured, a promise to my selves. "Regarding what you'll do, how about accompanying me during my A'Heelah/Achíla work? It's my understanding you hadn't left Olympus until I brought you outside, right?"

"Yes, I saw no need for it," Hestia nodded.

"Then how about getting to know Earth, even the parts outside the Aegean Sea?" I offered.

"I believe there's no harm to it," Hestia said.

Like so, I roped Hestia as my assistant of sorts.

With the next millennium just around the corner, and the era in the middle of the collapse of the Bronze Age and the start of the Iron Age, I had a few objectives to take care of. On one side, I had to finish the last Obelisks; on the other, I wanted to build a library to preserve the knowledge—whether factual or dubious—that would be lost in the following eras.

I had been planning this for quite a while, which is why I left a spot open for the Obelisk-Library: the westernmost point of Europe.

The thing with humans of this era—and even other eras—and knowledge is that they only like it when it's convenient for them. The following centuries will be plagued with theological wars, the rise and fall of empires, the birth and death of nations, war, conflict, slaughter—pretty much all for what humans are known for.

And I find it a shame that so much knowledge is going to be lost to history, even if some of it will be wrong. For future historians, even erroneous knowledge grants them an opportunity to unveil the thinking of the humans of old.

I already have the northern face of the North Scale of Light for factual knowledge, so I figured a library would do for human knowledge. For example, after I took the Ark of the Covenant, the remaining Israelites, to conserve their image of divinely backed people, created a faux Ark of the Covenant and wrote in their texts that I asked for it but was denied.

There's also all the propaganda that the men in power will spread as facts. These won't hold factual knowledge, but they'll let future humans know about the peoples of the past.

West of Ilha das Flores, or Flores Island, is the westernmost point of Europe. That's where our first stop was, as I needed to finish the last enchantments for the Libralisk? Yeah, that sounds like a good enough name.

"Why did you choose this location? It's quite remote from any civilization, and possibly will be so for a millennium and some centuries more," Hestia asked.

"It should be either easily accessible or inaccessible to all. Otherwise, the greedy lot will privatize the routes to reach the Libralisk," I replied as I made a fly-by around the island, Hestia riding my head.

"The poles or the core of the planet are the only locations that truly meet your standards, aren't they?" Hestia asked with a chuckle.

"Yes, but the Obelisks at the poles are quite sensitive locations for some magic I'll cast in the future. I could do the core, but then, after I leave this place, who would take care of the maintenance that the enchantments required to keep such a structure stable would need?" I explained.

"So this is the place you chose, huh? Those from the other oceanic mass would find it difficult to reach here," Hestia pointed out.

"Maybe for a while, but I'll open the canals of the Isthmus in 2,500 years. Then the distance wouldn't be insurmountable," I explained.

It would not ever be equal to all, because as Hestia had pointed out, the only locations that met the qualifications were either the poles or the core. But this place was alright. After the 1500s, those from the Pacific should be able to cross the canals to reach this place.

Once Hestia had gotten enough of the view of the island, I flew us to the top of the Libralisk. I created a platform of psionic energy for us to land—mostly for Hestia to stand on—since the tops of my Obelisks are pyramids.

With Hestia standing firmly on the platform, I approached the tip of the pyramid and floated a spark of my Eternal Flame to it. The spark landed atop the tip, and then—like placing a [Water] block atop a mountain peak in Minecraft—the energy of it cascaded downward, filled the engraved ridges, and powered the [Script] on the structure.

"That's marvelous!" Hestia exclaimed. "If it isn't a problem, can I get a sample of that flame? I'm quite intrigued," Hestia asked.

"Sure," I floated the flame away from my head and had it land gently on the extended hands of the goddess.

"I thought it was locked in place between your horns," Hestia said, her eyes wide open as she scanned the flame carefully.

"It's its place of rest and birth, but it isn't confined to that location," I said offhandedly as I made sure the [Script] was operating properly and the last Obelisk was in harmony with the others. Lastly, I gazed outside the planet's atmosphere to make sure the final piece of the puzzle of the Noosphere fit correctly.

Hestia followed my gaze and asked, "What are we watching?"

"Wait for it," I said.

A moment later, after the Noosphere was completed, an iridescent sandy mist descended from above, all over the planet. It wasn't glitter-like—it was as if someone had dropped clam and pearl powder from space, except the powder conserved the iridescent properties of their origins. It was like an in-between of a mist and a dust cloud.

"This—what is this? It feels like souls, or maybe minds?" Hestia asked in alarm.

"Something similar," I said.

I waved my tail and then channeled my void energy to the Libralisk. Then, through the harmony of the Obelisks, the energy was shared between all Obelisks, and the first planetary-wide spell was cast.

"[Cor Unum]," I chanted the beginning spell, and all Obelisks began absorbing this mist. {One Heart}

"[Mens Una]," The second incantation flowed out, and the mist was absorbed in a grid-like pattern around the world, interconnecting all Obelisks in such a way that the Obelisks were the corners of the geodesic grid around the planet. {One Mind}

"[Anima Una]," The final incantation brought it all together, and the Noosphere above gained the properties of one large—planet-sized—soul with the stand-in for sapience of one of my SplitSelves, just enough sapience to qualify as a soul for the sacrifice needed for the emergence. {One Soul}

"What happened? What was that?" Hestia eagerly questioned. In her eyes, it probably looked as if I created a soul.

"It's a fake soul. It's meant to be a sacrifice for about 3,000 years later. It was interesting, right?" I preened.

"It sure was! I couldn't tell it was fake," Hestia said, the wonder of a child in her eyes.

After that, the plan was to go around the world copying scrolls, tablets, steles, and all other forms of knowledge storage devices used in the current era. While wearing my A'Heelah persona and explaining I was collecting information to save for future generations, we should have little to no trouble getting access to the knowledge. When words don't do the trick, mental manipulation should.

I designed one of my selves as the LibrarianSelf. This self was in charge of reproducing all this knowledge faithfully in the Libralisk.

"Hey, Boss," Selene greeted as she came up to us from a special rift.

"What's up?" I asked.

"What did you do to the deities? I was expecting a mess of complaints after the whole glitter shower event you pulled, but I barely received a missive," Selene said. She was eyeing Hestia warily.

"Ah, were you so busy in Abeyance that you didn't find out about my squabble with the Olympians?" I asked.

"I returned just recently. Did you perhaps end them and claim this pure goddess as your spoils?" Selene asked.

"Can your divinity help you see souls, or was it her scent that gave it away she was a virgin?" I asked. We, in Logosense, normally don't use the term 'pure' so easily. So either Selene was talking about Hestia's pure soul or her purity as a virgin.

"Hey, what manner of question is that?" Hestia pinched my waist. She did as much damage as the photon that had just collided with the tip of my longest hair.

"Her scent," Selene said, taking a step and leaning forward to Hestia. Hestia took a step back and hid behind me with only her head peeking out.

"Did you settle to define vampires with the quirk of drinking virgin blood?" I asked, tilting my head at the absurd choice.

"Not exactly. I took some inspiration from the Ritualistic Exchange Spell. The harder a blood is to come upon, the stronger the power it provides," Selene explained. "Virgins are not that rare, but virgin goddesses—Olympian goddesses—are only three in all the universe."

"That's a smart move. Considering you have access to the Drachantheon Therion—a group of unique individuals—you could potentially find a supply of hard-to-find bloods," I recognized the genius in the idea. "What about mine? Does your divinity recognize it?"

"Mmm..." She came closer to me, stood on her toes, and brought her nose to my neck. "I don't know. I can't smell anything pleasant or unpleasant. Can I take a bite?"

I gave her a nod and softened my skin. Otherwise, I doubted she could pierce it.

She hugged my neck and sank her teeth into it. At first, there was no sign of anything extraordinary, other than her wet mouth on my neck and the sucking force over the puncture wounds. Then I asked, "Well?" but no reply came—she simply sucked.

I changed my point of view to get a look at her face behind me, only to find her sleeping while sucking nonstop.

"I don't know what to make of this," I commented.

"I don't know either. Is she a deity of blood?" Hestia asked.

"Yes, Goddess of Vampires. Sucking blood is supposed to be good for her, but not make her fall asleep like a baby suckling a teat," I commented.

I brought my arms around her waist and tried to tickle her exposed abdomen, but to no avail—she didn't react. I looked at Hestia questioningly, and she mirrored my expression.

Seeing no reaction, Hestia and I began to probe. Hestia—quite unlike the virgin goddess she was—went for Selene's buttocks and squeezed hard. Selene showed no reaction, so Hestia went for a slap. Still no reaction—at least from Selene. Hestia was laughing like a loon.

I poked her abdomen—no response. Tickled her exposed armpits—no response. Fondled her breasts—no response. Tried to pull her away from me, but her arms were locked in such a way that if I pulled harder, she might hurt herself.

"Does this mean you guys are locked in that position? ~Hahahaha!" Hestia asked amid laughter as she slapped Selene's butt and saw how it wiggled.

"No, I can just leave the material plane, but I don't see my blood harming her, so I want to see where this leads," I explained.

"I see. However, I don't think you should go about your A'Heelah business with her like that. Won't her body get in the way?" Hestia asked. She was still slapping Selene's ass and giggling at the wiggle.

"It's no problem," I said. Then I morphed myself and shifted my body so that Selene ended up as if she were hugging my neck from behind. "See? Now my arms are free."

"You're such a strange... lifeform?" she said, doubtfully.

"No, not a lifeform. Remember, I'm not alive," I grinned at her doubtful face.

"Being? Or maybe, Entity?" she asked.

"Yes, both work." My grin widened, and then I petted her. She pushed herself against my hand, and I felt it. Her divinity affected me and gave me a sense of home in her.

What her siblings couldn't do on their own, she achieved without trying. Her divinity reached me.

After that, with Selene on my back—still sucking on my neck—we continued with our mission of knowledge collecting and healing the unfortunate.

In the turbulent lands of Canaan, amid the rise and fall of tribal confederacies and city-states, emerged a shepherd boy who would become one of the most iconic kings of the last stage of this millennium—David.

As Hestia and I saw the little kid face the giant of a man with a sling, we could only watch the giant with a face that screamed: Are you stupid? Even if you're big, a stone to the head will kill you.

"How deep do you think that stone will sink if he hits the tall human?" I asked Hestia.

"It depends. That kid looks like an expert with the sling—based on his musculature. If it hits flesh, I think the stone will be lost inside," Hestia said.

Hestia, although the most pure-hearted of the Olympians, was also the one in charge of overseeing the sacrifices made to them. So she was no stranger to bloodshed. This isn't to say that she was unperturbed by it, but more like she had resistance to it.

"I think if it hits flesh, the tissue's softness will disperse some of the kinetic energy—especially because the stones are not pointy—but if it hits bone, it'll probably do more structural damage," I said.

"Mmmm... You're righ—Ah!... The head," she said after David's stone sank into the skull of Goliath.

"At least it was an instantaneous death. Those are a rarity in these eras," I commented as, with a tud, Goliath's body fell forward.

"We should go heal those in need," Hestia said, and began walking in front of me to the battlefield.

I removed the cloaking magic keeping us hidden and followed after Hestia. What awaited was the usual: relief from the wounded, apprehension about us healing 'enemies,' reluctant understanding once I told them that the enemies were equally lowly to the allies in my eyes, a few rebellious sparks that were easily quelled once reality was shoved in their face—usually in the form of a classical force choke, praised be the wisdom of Darth Daddy Vader—and normally that's it. This time, however...

"A'Heelah, are you doing his work this blessed day of combat?" David asked me.

"Ah, shepherd kid, not exactly. I'm doing my own work this day," I replied as I healed the last severed finger of the day.

"That, of course, is all in a day under the blessing of the Lord," he said.

"Eh, are you like trying to sell me your religion, shepherd kid? Why don't you get to the point?" I asked, getting tired of all the fanaticism.

"Of course, A'Heelah. There's a compilation of text related to the teachings of the Lord that we would be interested in getting your recount of—the facts about his gospel," he said.

"Mmm, I'm currently busy. I'll drop by when I have the time within the next 100 years, is that alright with you?" I asked. If my data from my world and my Earth are correct, then the Bible's scripture started around the time I had my Sea People begin their raiding and sacking.

"I know not if I'll be alive then, but let it be the Lord's will," he said.

"Sure, shepherd kid," I nodded.

We left that region as we made our way to Egypt. I was initially afraid that the Ennead would get in our way, but they were nothing other than stellar hosts.

Hestia and I made our way southward from there. Crossing over the desertic lands of the north of Africa, we passed through the tropical area and made a quick stop in Wakanda, where Bastet received us.

Hestia was amazed by the wonder metal, and we stayed in Wakanda for a few decades. I helped them reach the benchmark of electricity generation, though in reality, they were about a century away from it—so I don't believe I did much.

We stayed in Wakanda for the end of the millennium, and Bastet witnessed personally how I made the stars shine for the year change. I decided to go the extra mile and cast a small message for all humans to see in the night sky.

"'You improved so little in 1,000 years, maybe it's time you stop killing each other for a change.' Isn't that a little hypocritical when you collapsed the last era?" Hestia asked.

She was lying comfortably atop my draconic head as we stood atop Mount Bashenga, the name the Wakandans used for the vibranium meteorite.

"It was going to happen one way or the other, so I don't feel responsible for it," I replied.

"You're unbelievable!" Hestia said with the tone of a scolding mother.

From there, we made our way back to Jerusalem to fulfill my promise to the shepherd kid—or King David, as he was called.

We arrived in 961 BC. They were in the middle of creating the future Solomon Temple. While I understand the reasons, I just can't help but feel how useless that endeavor will be, given the number of times it's going to be taken down.

We were escorted to King Solomon, the shepherd kid's son, under heavy watch.

"Why are they being so watchful?" Hestia asked in Aegean so that they wouldn't understand.

"I don't know, I've been nothing but helpful to these guys," I said.

It wasn't long before we met the man.

"A'Heelah, I must apologize for my subordinates' distrust. As I do not doubt you can imagine, considering the circumstances, it's natural for them to be this mistrustful," Solomon said.

Unlike his father, Solomon did not carry that shepherd air. He handled himself more like a king.

"No, I don't understand what you're talking about," I said, Hestia shaking her head to show her support for my statement.

"It's about the incident with the Ark of the Covenant," Solomon replied with some discomfort in his voice.

"I don't follow," I said. Maybe it was time I did some mental digging to understand what their deal was.

"Ah, A'Heelah... Perhaps there was an error in our records?" Solomon asked after realizing I truly wasn't understanding.

"What did your records say?" I asked.

"They said that you were the final test for Moses' Israelites—that the Lord sent Moses to fight you, to repel you from getting your hands on the Ark. According to the records, in honor of Moses' impressive display under the blessings of the Lord, you allowed his people to keep the Ark while you claimed his life," Solomon said.

I looked at Hestia. She looked back, and we both laughed. My eyes flickering between golden and pink—I was actually loving this tale, and clearly Hestia was as well.

"So, it wasn't like that? We've had our share of fights in the last 500 years, it's possible some records might have been lost in the quarrels. Please forgive my people if we made a transgression with the facts of the story," Solomon said.

"No, no, Solomon. Let's leave it like that. When someone asks in the future, I'll say that it was a fight worthy of legends between Moses and me," I said amidst chuckles.

"At this point, it would be hard to change the scripture, so I'm thankful for your magnanimity," Solomon commented. "If it's alright to seek the knowledge, could you impress upon me the truth of the events?"

"Are you sure? It's considerably different from what you have written," I cautioned.

"Yes. As the Lord's faithful believer, I believe it's upon me to listen to the truth and discern whether it should be written in the book of the Lord or saved for my time with him after my death," Solomon said.

"Yahweh asked me to recoup the Ark of the Covenant to extract its divinity. I asked, and Moses agreed. There was no fight. The part that you have partially right is where it says I took his life. I flew him to your Lord, so in a way, I took his life," I said.

My words left him open-mouthed.

We had little problems with Yahweh's believers after that, and Solomon would always seek me out to tell him stories of my time with Moses and his people.

It took me a few years to write down what I had witnessed of Yahweh's religion. I left a 'Bible' of Dragon Ore in Solomon's hand before we left. It wasn't a Bible because it was only about Yahweh's religion up to that date, but it should last for eternity.

It won't matter much in the long run because Jerusalem would be conquered in the following centuries, so who knows where those tablets would end up. After all, with so many religions worshipping idols and a culture of ransacking cities to steal these 'gods', there's no way they'll overlook the tablets.

Around 800 BC, Hestia and I decided to stop ignoring the elephant in the room. It was time to release the Olympians trapped in my stomach. Originally, I was meant to do so shortly after the start of the millennium, but Hestia and I conveniently ignored the topic.

In my draconic form, I regurgitated the Olympians. Though the image isn't quite right to say I vomited them—I simply brought them out. It wasn't like they came out covered in liquids or anything of the sort, because even if it's my stomach, it's a void dimension, not a biological organ.

Their appearance hadn't changed that much; however, they had this look to them. It was as if someone had forced them into an empty dimension where they only had their hated each other as company.

Their clothing was ragged—obvious evidence of the fights they had while in my stomach. Their gazes spoke of the torment I subjected them to by banning sexual intercourse and all manner of pleasure.

Their bodies—of those who fought me—were riddled with scars that their divinity couldn't heal, especially Zeus'.

They sent a few reproachful looks to Hestia, but that died down easily under my crimson gaze.

"How were my teachings? Are you grateful to me for taking part of my valuable time to impart to you a valuable life lesson?" I asked, my draconic head lowering to their level, my fangs exposed in a friendly smile, my eyes casting a red hue on them, and my telekinetic voice overlapping with my telepathic one.

Their fists clenched, their legs shook, their eyes became bloodshot, their jaws tightened, they bristled, and cold sweat poured down their backs.

"W-What now, Aragorn?" Athena asked.

"Now? Well, nothing changes. I trust your life lesson was enough for you to understand why it is important to follow laws, right?" I asked.

"Mortals to mortals, divine to divine, right?" Poseidon spoke next.

"Yes. I'm not telling you to avoid them like the plague, just keep to your role as deities that support your believers—not shadowy hands that spur the mortals for your amusement. The Policy of Omnipotence City is detailed enough. If only you could follow it," I said.

"It doesn't matter in the end, does it, Little Owl?" I gazed meaningfully at Athena.

"You'll kill us if we fail to uphold it," she replied.

"Exactly," I nodded. "Now, go back to your believers. I'd rather not stand here watching your wretched souls longer than necessary."

With golden pillars of light, each went away one after the other, until only Hestia and I remained.

"Want to tour a few centuries more with me?" I asked her.

"Mhmm, I don't want to return yet. Olympus was never a very homey place, even with me in it. I doubt that will change now that some of them will treat me as a traitor," Hestia said.

Her words came across as factual instead of hurtful. Hestia had given up on getting a family out of her family long ago, so there were no hard feelings in them looking at her like a traitor. She felt something closer to apathy regarding them.

"Then just stick with me! It's not like the sacred fire of Olympus needs caring, does it? I bet it will continue to burn just fine with or without you," I suggested.

"Mou~, are you suggesting my role is useless?" Hestia did that pose again—a pout accompanied by her arms crossed under her breasts. She now does it because she knows it clashes with me.

"Whenever you do that pose, your breasts protrude forward," I pointedly stared at her chest.

"Y-You!" She turned around with a blush. She was not innocent—Hestia was too old for innocence—but she was weak to bluntness.

"I'm just letting my sweet friend know that ever since you first struck that pose, and for eternity, I've been staring at your breasts because the pose makes them pop up into sight," I said with a chuckle.

"I'll keep doing it! You're just saying this to stop me!" she stubbornly exclaimed.

"Maybe you're right, but it won't change the fact that I stare at your breasts whenever you strike that pose in the future. Are you okay with that, my pure friend?" I asked, mirth escaping my tone.

"I!..." She became silent for a moment. "I-I don't care!" she declared with faux bravado.

After releasing the deities, Hestia and I returned to our pilgrimage. We visited almost a battlefield a day, sometimes alternating with knowledge centers, but there was more bloodshed than stored knowledge. Hence, we spent most of our time close to battlegrounds.

Years passed, and before we knew it, we were trekking around the territory of the Olympians, having left behind the Near East.

We were in Alba Longa, a city founded by the little kid Aeneas carried with him when I helped them escape Troy.

The culture in Alba Longa was interesting. They worshipped the Olympians like most did in the area, but they also idolized me because the ancestors of these people were my Sea People—the ones who survived and those who refused to fight—and obviously Aeneas' bloodline.

So, to say Hestia and I were well-received would be an understatement. We found this place amiable, so we decided to stay here for a while and make a brief pause in our travels.

I brought Hestia to the nearest Obelisk, and we claimed the upper floors as our residency.

"That mortal kid was looking at me strangely. What was that about?" Hestia asked after I brought her to her room.

"Ah, that," I muttered, looking at the view above the clouds from the nearest balcony.

"What?" Hestia asked, noticing my discomfort with the topic.

"The Duskari have entire fields of study dedicated to us—the Drachantheon Therion—to the point that they have our psychological profiles—though mine is classified as hazardous—and know well our likes and dislikes," I explained.

"I fail to see what that has to do with me," Hestia said. "The kid looked at me with pity and you with concern."

"It's out of character for me to be spending so long with someone outside the Drachantheon Therion. So a few centuries ago, when we made the first stops at the Obelisks while on our travels, they started a rumor of us being romantically involved," I confessed.

"But that's stupid. As a Goddess of Home and Family, I would never become an obstacle to your family," Hestia said.

"I know, but Noona has been sleeping for the past centuries, so the Duskari believe I took advantage of this and made you my mistress," I said.

"Mmm... What should I say? They have quite the imaginative minds," Hestia chuckled.

"That, they do. They also have little fear of us, so they are comfortable creating rumors like that," I said, shaking my head in disapproval.

In the following years, while we trekked the surrounding areas and healed and collected knowledge, the throne of Alba Longa was usurped by a human named Amulius.

"What's interesting about this? Haven't we seen multiple familial disputes for multiple thrones in our travels? I still remember that guy that ate his siblings," Hestia said with a grimace as we made our way to the throne. Our presence had been requested.

"This is one of those events of importance. Let's just play along," I suggested.

Amulius was in the throne room—or the equivalent of this time-place—waiting for us. Next to him was a girl, guarded by his men on both sides.

"Achíla, my Lady Hestia, it's an honor to stand in your presence, and it fills us with gratefulness to have you attend my humble court this day," Amulius spoke with reverence. Hestia nodded to him in recognition.

"Speak, human. What do you desire of us that you thought it appropriate to request our presence?" I asked. I already knew what he wanted, though—I read it from his mind, and it matched the mythological records Spark and I had of him.

"Yes, Achíla. This is Rhea Silvia, my brother's only daughter. We beseech Lady Hestia to convert her into one of your virgins through a vow of chastity," Amulius motioned to the girl, and she was gently shoved forward to Hestia.

Hestia looked at the frightful and resigned eyes of the girl and said, "I don't believe she is a participant in this situation out of free will, is she?"

"It's as you say, Lady Hestia. As my brother's daughter, as you may surmise, I can't allow her to produce offspring. The traditional option in this case is death, but I'm fond of her. I saw her grow, so I figured this was a possibility the gods might shine upon the girl," he replied.

Hestia looked impassively at Amulius, then at Rhea Silvia.

'Don't worry, you can convert her. She has a role to play in history. Your vow won't negatively affect her,' I told Hestia.

'Okay, I trust you,' Hestia replied.

"Very well. Rhea Silvia, via vow of chastity, shall be converted to one of my priestesses," Hestia declared.

What followed was a ceremony for the vow, one worthy of a princess, with Hestia and I officiating it.

"So, what do you have planned for her?" Hestia asked while we observed the mortals dance and feast.

"I'll impregnate her," I declared.

"PFFFT!" Hestia choked on her drink. While coughing, she glared at me with unshed tears. "What's wrong with you?!" she asked accusingly, still coughing the liquid out of the wrong path.

"It was the only way to spare her life without heavy intervention on our part," I said while calmly slicing a piece of lamb with my telekinesis and floating it to my mouth. It wasn't delicious, but it was alright.

"How can you say that right after declaring you'll impregnate her? That's plenty heavy an intervention for me!" Hestia exclaimed. I was dispersing the sound of our conversation.

"Originally, your dear nephew Ares was supposed to impregnate her. But since I'm here—and I'm sort of a trauma for the guy—he won't get near the princess even with Reality blessing their union," I explained.

"Did you have me bless her only to break her vow?" Hestia glared harder.

"No. I mean, I could break her vow and impregnate her in a 'natural' form, but I could also impregnate her without fornication," I said.

"What about Lady Death?" Hestia asked, looking at me with a mix of disgust and concern.

"Oh, I'm not planning to penetrate her, if that's what you're imagining. I was thinking of creating a cocktail of sperm with the genetic markers of my discretion, and then loading them into a psionic construct resembling me. After that, I just planned to seduce her with the construct and do the deed," I explained my first plan. "I could also simply deliver the cocktail through telekinesis while she sleeps, but since she'll go through the pregnancy and all of that, I thought about repaying her with sex out of mortal reach."

"Will Lady Death be alright with that?" Hestia asked, doubtful.

"The psionic construct would be different from my body, and if that's considered cheating, then the ones in charge of collecting horse semen and artificial insemination are doomed," I explained. "Actually..." I chuckled.

"Actually?" Hestia asked.

"Noona wanted to be part of the ordeal," I replied.

"Part of it? As in... what?" Hestia asked.

"As in she wants to be there with me while I control the construct," I said.

"... Why? I don't understand," Hestia admitted.

"Well... aren't you curious? About mortal sex, I mean," I said with a teasing grin.

"What difference is there between mortal and divine coitus?" Hestia asked.

"I don't know how your family does the deed, but what Noona and I do can't be replicated by mortals, and the Therions' coupling is not far from ours. So Noona is curious about watching mortal sex," I explained.

"Can't you just... you know... watch mortals have sex?" Hestia asked, a flush rising in her cheeks.

"No, I don't mean to say we're ignorant about how mortals copulate. I meant getting a more hands-on approach," I said cryptically.

"I don't understand," Hestia confessed.

"How about you accompany us while at it?" I asked.

"... Okay," she accepted.

'Hehehehehe!'

>Hehehehehe!<

-Hehehehehe!-

|Hehehehehe!|

}4!4!4!4!4!4!4!{

I was not going to impregnate the girl right then and there, though. Hestia and I kept working around the area, and using her status as Hestia's priestess, we began to include Rhea Silvia as part of our group.

Flirting—if it can be called that—when you can feel the target's emotions should be illegal. I had never seduced a woman. Noona and I clicked together and then she claimed me while grooming me, and back in my human days I disliked the problems that emotional exposure brought, so I never sought after a woman.

However, I can say with full certainty that I've never seen anything remotely as impressively skillful as what I'm doing with Rhea Silvia.

Maybe it had to do with the amount of trauma she carried and her disposition, but either way, it took me less than a few hours to get her to have a crush on me. A week later it had turned into infatuation; two weeks later, she loved me enough to be lost in the emotion.

Noona joined us around that point, then something weird happened.

"..."

"..."

"..."

The three of us—non-mortals—were seated around a small campfire, gazing speechless at the sleeping mortal. Normally we would sleep in my Obelisks, but this time we decided to camp along the coast because of a beautiful meteor shower that could be appreciated better near the water.

She was sleeping in one of the beds I brought out of my storage, out in the open. The bed was enchanted with [Script] and environmental control, so comfort was a guarantee.

"She is in love with us," Noona said.

"Yeah, I don't know how that happened," I said.

"Before she heard you say Lady Death was your wife, she had fallen for Mistress' appearance at first sight. Then your words gave her a feeling of belonging towards her," Hestia said. "I just don't understand how that logic computes."

"My Love, what did you do to her?" Noona asked.

"I just made her fall for me," I replied. To this point, neither of us could take our eyes off the sleeping girl.

It is not easy to fall in love with Noona and me—or should I say, it's nearly impossible? Because Noona and I are both Abstract beings—Death and Paradoxical Existence—it is unnatural for mortals to fall in love with us. If one were to pay attention to Noona's simp and Deadpool, it would be plenty apparent how unnatural the entire situation was.

Somehow, this mortal and very normal girl fell in love with Noona at first sight. I understand how she fell for me—I've been weakening this self so that we could be considered closer in life level—but I can't comprehend how she fell for Noona.

"But how? Did you use some forbidden technique or something similar?" Noona asked.

"No, just normal... I think?" I said.

"You think?" Noona asked, then turned to Hestia.

"He was quite charming, if I may say so. He showed care to her—just enough not to overwhelm her while also creating a sense of dependency on him," Hestia began explaining her observations. "There was the obvious allure of power, whether through the Obelisks, his persona, or his personal strength.

"He cooked for her and taught her about life. He treated her differently from me to make her feel special. He showed her his 'vulnerable' side when he spoke about how much he despised the injustices of the human world and wasteful bloodshed, making her feel needed.

"He hasn't shown her his face, but she caught glimpses of his lips and hair. Overall, Aragorn was really... gentlemanly? Charming? I don't know the word, but it was like he was everything she ever and never hoped for," Hestia finished her evaluation.

"Okay, but there's nothing unusual with that. I don't understand," Noona said. "My Love, please take a look at the girl's mind."

I invaded her mindscape while she dreamt and began exploring its confines. An instant later, I was out.

"Okay..." I dragged my words. "She is part delusional, part yandere, 100% obsessed with me, and she considers you mine, which somehow translated to you being hers and her being yours. In turn, that transformed into her being obsessed with you, and she already imagined her life as 'our' wife? Pet? Daughter? Mistress? I don't know, she doesn't either."

"..."

"..."

Noona and Hestia turned back to stare at the girl. I did as well.

"She is also doubtful about our relationship, Hestia," I added. "Know that she is prepared to make you part of her delusions the moment it is confirmed that you're anything to me... or Noona."

"How is this possible? She acts like a normal human," Hestia questioned.

After our initial shock, we paid no mind to it. Our relationship was already unconventional—one crazy mortal added to the mix didn't mean much.

Eventually, the time arrived.

One night, in one of my Obeliks, with the starry sky as the backdrop, she offered herself to us.

Hestia was in the room with us—there were Noona, Hestia, Rhea Silvia, me, and two psionic constructs. One resembled my male body, and the other mirrored the physical appearance Noona had shown her.

Cloaked in the Mirror Dimension, I hugged Noona from behind while Hestia stood next to us as we controlled the constructs.

My construct approached the shy, naked girl from one side while Noona's came from the other. We were doing a pincer attack.

I grabbed her chin and made her face me. My other hand went to her lower back, dragging my nails down her spine, making her pleasantly bristle all the way up to her nipples.

Noona's face went for her neck—the exposed side after I made Rhea turn to me. She slowly dragged her tongue from the base to her sensitive ears.

Noona's hand went to Rhea's hardened nipples. At that moment, I kissed her, and she immediately returned the kiss greedily.

"So... What am I supposed to be observing?" Hestia asked us. "Is there something I'm missing?"

Noona and I turned to her with a mischievous glint in our eyes.

Noona walked away from my embrace and approached Hestia from one side. I followed and approached her from the other. Noona grabbed one of her hands and I the other, our fingers interlocking. Then it hit her.

What Rhea Silvia was experiencing, she began feeling.

"A~hn WH-WHAT?!" Hestia moaned and exclaimed.

"We understand how important purity is to you, Hestia," Noona said.

"So we thought about gifting you this," I continued after Noona.

"My Love had noticed how you're curious about it," Noona said.

"But you never act on it. I figured your vow was important, and equally so, you never found someone to trust with helping you experience it," I said.

"Without breaking your vow, of course," Noona finished for us.

Hestia's eyes darted back and forth between us and what our constructs were about to do to Rhea Silvia.

"Y-You! This w-was a trap-p!" she managed to get out amidst muffled and stifled moans.

I smirked, and Noona mirrored my smirk.

The next day, Rhea Silvia awoke impregnated. I awoke to Hestia straddling me while using the blade of my tail to stab me in my heart. Noona rolled on her side of the bed, laughing her ass off.

Days passed. Hestia's icy mood melted away, and one night, while in confidence, she said, "Thank you. I won't repeat myself, but I was indeed curious about how it felt. And you both were gentle and attentive with Rhea, so it felt nice." She looked away by the end of her heartfelt thanks.

With my empathy, it's hard to hide things from me—unless it's that mess that Rhea's head is—so I had noticed long ago, throughout our travels, her interest in sex but also her apprehension.

"Don't mention it. I had fun seeing you enjoy yourself," Noona said.

I petted the blushing Hestia. We never talked about that again.

Nine months later, Rhea Silvia gave birth to twin boys. Both boys were white-skinned and white-haired. They might have passed for albinos if it weren't for their violet eyes.

Amulius, when he got news of this, ordered Rhea Silvia to be killed and the babies disposed of.

"Hestia's vow was divinely enforced," I said to the mortal king.

"Achíla, could I inquire about the nature of your comment?" he asked.

"I meant that only someone of status equal or higher than Hestia could have broken the vow of chastity. You risk angering the father of the twins with your actions. Are you prepared for that?" I asked.

The gears began turning in Amulius's mind, and as they did, his expression turned more complicated by the second. He looked between the serene Rhea and the sleeping twins in her arms with desperation.

"Could I humbly request your counsel, Achíla?" he asked.

"The will of the divine is as abrupt as their whims. In a few years, this father might forget about the creatures—or maybe he has a grand scheme to sit them on the throne, as you fear. In both cases, you stand to lose should you hurt them or her," I said, Amulius growing more despondent at the iteration of my words.

"How about Hestia and I take them from your hands? Rhea Silvia is already part of our group. Two babies are not that much of a problem for someone as experienced as us in the topic of parenting," I offered.

"What difference does it make? They might return for my position after a few years," he said.

"Affirmative, that's a possibility that can't be denied," I asserted. "But if we raised them as our own, I can ensure you get to keep your life should they ever aim their sights on the throne."

Amulius mulled over my offer for a few minutes.

"The father is possibly one of my siblings," Hestia added. "They can be... willful, but they wouldn't dare to be so in Achíla's presence."

Amulius eventually caved in, the reputation of the Olympians for once helping our case, and the twins—Romulus and Remus—and Rhea Silvia were officially given to me as rewards for my services in his lands.

Rhea, the mentally strange princess, showed no contentment until we were in private. I took a peek at her mind and discovered she had migrated some of her obsession for me and Noona to the twins. I didn't know what to make of it.

Hestia, Noona, Rhea Silvia, and I raised the twins with the objective in mind for them to start Rome.

Mathematics, social studies, history, and physical training were the topics I was responsible for imparting to the twins. Noona took governance, economy, psychology, and military stratagem. Hestia taught them how to be decent human beings, which Noona and I could only teach by the example of our healing services—other than that, we were not the best role models. Rhea Silvia took care of the part that related to social conduct expected of royalty and the usual.

By their twenties, they took over Amulius's land, Alba Longa. Remus took it upon himself to become its ruler. Romulus went not far away to find his own land and build his turf from the start. He named it Rome.

We stayed until Rhea Silvia died of old age. I erected a small spire for her tomb in Dragon Ore. It read: Rhea Silvia, Mother of Rome, mistress of Aragorn, The Shine Dragon, and Death, The Incarnation of Death. A dear friend of Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth.

With her death, we departed. The twins, despite being well into their late years, looked young—a gift of my hand, undoubtedly.

We said our goodbyes and parted. A few years later, we returned for their funerals. I had left space for their bodies in the small spire, so I unsealed the structure and carried the bodies myself inside.

For their epitaph, I wrote: Romulus and Remus Draconisfilius, sons of Rhea Silvia. First and only mortal sons of Hestia, Aragorn, and Death. A gift from Aragorn to humanity flows in their blood.

Then I left the structure unsealed. There were no more spaces for other corpses left, and should their descendants wish to visit the inside, they could walk in.

The epitaph made more than a few of the guests turn their eyes in our direction, but we ignored them and portaled away.

Time flew as it should. Around 535 BC, we visited Croton, a Greek colony in southern Italy. There we met Pythagoras, The Sage of Samos and the Prophet of Harmony. The man was brilliant, but he was limited by his numerals. Doing math with Greek numbers increases the difficulty by a factor of eleven, in my opinion.

Just take the average mathematical operation and then change the Arabic numbers for Greek ones, and the thing will turn demonic.

Well, what do I know? I do math without numbers, but that was my opinion from a mortal perspective.

I wanted to teach the guy—a little curiosity of mine. If I were to provide the tools of modernity to these ancient geniuses, how much would humanity advance? Well, my PuppeteerSelf advised me against it.

Apparently, humanity would have advanced too much, and the mortality rate would have lowered in kind. In turn, more humans would inhabit the planet, and by 546 AC I would have to purge half of the population to ensure Tiamut didn't emerge prematurely.

That's alright. I was not that curious, anyway...

Around this time, we visited Cyrus the Great, King of Kings. He was brilliant, but what was greater than anything was his propaganda machine. No one had anything bad to say about the guy, and that speaks volumes by itself.

His empire, though—the Persian Empire—was actually a very modern government, even with the practices of the era considered. It was a multicultural empire where religious practices and customs were not forbidden for the subjugated peoples.

I supposed this only worked because there was no religion explicitly telling their people that they should kill all others who were not part of their faith...

Persians also had proper roads, a postal system, and coinage, which improved trade and cohesion. A highly diverse and vast army, and appropriate bureaucracy—to the point that, even with their limitations in telecommunications, they had a proper hold of their vast land.

After Cyrus passed, his son, Cambyses II, took the mantle. But it wasn't the same. There was instability, which led to rebellions that forced Cambyses II to resort to cruelty to keep his subjugated peoples in line.

Even with all of this against him, he managed to conquer Egypt. The Ennead were not happy about that, but they didn't interfere when they sensed Hestia and me in the neighborhood.

Cambyses II ended up dying in one of the rebellions. Darius I rose to power, a distant relative of Cyrus, and this guy made some good improvements to the Persian Empire after quelling rebellions.

In 499 BC, the Greek city-states in Ionia (western coast of Anatolia), under Persian control, revolted against the empire and failed. This became the precedent for the famous Greco-Persian wars.

"So, this small group opposing the over 100,000-strong group is supposed to be one of your historically important events?" Hestia asked.

"Yes, supposedly this event is important for future Western society. In reality, it isn't as significant as it's been alluded to be, but it is still of importance," I replied.

We stayed hidden while we watched the Battle of Thermopylae unfold. It wasn't as cinematic as the movie, and initially, there were more than just 300 humans—though there were indeed only 300 Spartans from the group.

Eventually, Xerxes I and Leonidas and his 300 men—who secured the retreat of the others of their group—met. One of Leonidas' own betrayed them and allowed for the Persians to surround them.

(I don't know how the movie went from the bearded Persian to this.)

(This Leaonidas was alright though.)

"They are done for," Hestia said matter-of-factly.

"Yes, they were done since the beginning," I agreed.

Things went as everybody expected: Leonidas fell, and so did his men.

Even though this story will be warped into something to feed the popular tastes of future generations, credit where it's due. Leonidas reminded me of some of my comrades-in-arms during our retaliatory invasions of the bugs' nests. Even knowing we were all basically marching to our deaths, there was a form of pride and honor in our stride.

I left Hestia hidden behind my spell and flew to the dying king in my draconic form. I made a platform with psionic energy because I couldn't step on the ground without landing on the bodies of his men.

The Persians tensed at my visage but relaxed upon noticing my iconic features—crystal horns, eternal flame, and cosmic eyes.

I locked gazes with the dying king and said, "I've seen many and most," I looked to Xerxes I, "Godking mortals in the many," I looked at Ephialtes, "traitors to fill the Dead Sea," and then back at Leonidas, "yet you showed me something new. The spark I find pleasant in humanity. The will to fight and push through, to not succumb to inevitability, and to carry pride and honor with one's death. Speak your wish, dying King of Sparta."

His body was torn by the vicissitudes of life—he was 60 years old, after all—and battle. His eyes, gaining and losing focus. His mouth opened and closed, unable to make a coherent sentence, but even then, my Logosense picked what he wanted.

"My wife, and son, I want to see them one last time," he said between mouthfuls of blood, organ failure, and his soul almost departing.

"As you wish," I declared.

From my body, SplitSelves emerged and began collecting the souls of the fallen subjects of Leonidas. I pointed my tail blade at the now-dead king and pulled his soul out.

I turned to Xerxes I, his demeanor calm and collected, his mind and heart a storm of anxiety. "I liked Cyrus better, but you're not so bad yourself. May you find your glory, Xerxes I, Mortal Godking of Cyrus' empire," I said before flying away. On the way, Hestia appeared on my crown horns.

We made our way to Sparta, and our landing brought attention to ourselves. We waited near an open ground as the Spartans surrounded us. Whenever one of the souls I collected spotted one of their loved ones, they let me know, and I allowed them to materialize and say their last goodbyes.

Eventually, Queen Gorgo arrived. Our surroundings were filled with semitransparent spirits and wailing women, elders, and children.

She didn't need to ask what this was about. I materialized Leonidas' spirit.

With that task done, I left the SplitSelf to migrate the souls after the end of the day. Hestia and I made our way to the Acropolis because Xerxes I would burn it down by the end of this year, 480 BC.

We copied any knowledge of importance. I blessed any architectural structure I deemed valuable, like I did the Pyramids and other structures.

Eventually, the Persians made it to Athens and sacked it. The city was mostly evacuated, so the loss of life wasn't big.

After that, I lost interest in what was left to transpire. We continued with our travels, and I left my SplitSelves to collect the souls of the soon-to-be fallen soldiers.

The Greeks won, as expected, and the way for the Athenian Golden Age was opened. We met several more of those bright humans, like Pericles, Socrates, Plato, and even those like Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, whose genius was routed toward the arts.

Then, in the usual manner humans like to switch sides, change ideologies, go back on their words, backtrack their progress, or simply go to war for greed, the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta began in 431 BC.

I made sure to bless the newly constructed Parthenon—even if it was a temple built for Athena's sake—and then we left. Hestia didn't want to be there for the subsequent bloodshed.

"Is it always the same?" Hestia asked with a long face. The constant warring was getting to her heart.

"I could probably become something like the Demon King of the world and be the common enemy that unites humanity," I said.

"Is there really no other way?" Hestia asked.

"I don't know if there is. I don't know any other way, though. A common enemy, a global crisis, mental manipulation, and total annihilation are the ways I know of making peace on Earth," I said.

"It's... disappointing," Hestia said.

"I've come to see it as part of their way of being. They find progress through wars, so in my opinion—although other paths are theoretically better—war is the preferred path of advancement of humanity," I explained.

Hestia sighed, and we went on our way.

We only returned to the area around the time when Alexander of Macedon ascended to the throne—the one who would later be known as Alexander the Great.

"War and death, as you claimed, are intrinsic to humanity," Hestia said upon seeing the start of Alexander's campaign on the Persian Empire.

"The worst part is that his empire will cease to breathe with him," I said.

Hestia and I observed in silence before making our way to collect knowledge for the Libralisk. Around the time Alexander was declared Pharaoh, we departed for the Isthmus.

"What are we doing here, Aragorn?" Hestia asked.

We were on the southern end of the Southern Scale of Darkness, the sprawling jungle before our eyes, Noona's dark scale behind us, and the Caribbean not that far from us.

"I noticed you've become quite exhausted by humanity's antics, so I figured a little respite was in order," I said.

"Mmm... I understand that, but isn't total reclusion to the jungle a bit too much?" she asked.

"Did you know there were humans on this side of the planet as well, other than the ones in the Isthmus?" I asked.

"There are? I don't know their deities then," Hestia said, surprised.

"Before you deities arrived, humanity as such was born in Africa. From there, like a virus, they spread throughout the surface of Earth. Some went for the oceans and perished, some sought the long winding rivers like the Nile and prospered, others found the mountains, fertile prairies, and plentiful beaches. And then, some others walked through the frozen lands up north or sailed the perilous Pacific and found their path to South America.

"These are their descendants, but unlike their brethren in the other war-ridden continental mass, here they found lush jungles, coasts, and rivers filled with life, tropical and temperate climates perfect for living, and best of all, no competition with vast groups of humans.

"At the moment, these humans have no real deities. They worship and fear nature, their main enemy and provider," I explained.

"I don't think we ever saw humanity in such a primitive state," Hestia said. "Are we here to become their deities?"

"No, we have one simple task—one that the Duskari have been in charge of so far—and then there's a certain event that will happen, which my PuppeteerSelf told me about," I said. "But the event will happen later, so for now, only the task."

"And that is?" Hestia asked.

"Historically, humans migrated between South and North America, but since I founded the Isthmus, that link has been broken. Our task is to identify which humans would have made it across and then portal them to the other side of the Isthmus," I said.

"Sounds simple. No war, no bloodshed. Sabbatical, even," Hestia said.

Like so, we let the years go by and the decades ebb.

I still kept track of the happenings in the world of humans, collected knowledge, collected souls, and saved babies from time to time.

The Libralisk would probably be discovered only in the 15th century, so there was not much action there.

Since I knew humans had this nasty habit of forgetting, I still made a few rounds in my humanoid or draconic forms to remind them that I still lived—if my SplitSelves were not enough.

As kingdoms and empires rose and fell, sometimes new rulers coveted my Obelisks, but it was nothing the Duskari custodians couldn't handle with a few well-placed spells.

The Roman Republic grew in power and soon turned into the Roman Empire. I was present there when Octavian assumed the name Augustus and transitioned the Republic into the Roman Empire, though I kept to the shadows.

Romans were a group of a variety of ethnicities, but the ruling class always bore either white hair or violet eyes—sometimes both—the genetic heritage of Romulus and Remus flowed strongly through their veins.

Shortly after, Mark Antony and Cleopatra took their lives, and with her, the title of Pharaoh died.

"I thought they were going to make a comeback like they had always done," Bastet spoke at my side. She referred to the Egyptians.

We were both gazing down at the corpse of the last Pharaoh of Egypt.

"In a few centuries, monotheism will propagate in the hearts of the humans, and your pantheons will lose your faith engine," I informed her.

"That's not my problem," Bastet said dismissively. "My believers could take on the entire world at this point, and they are only growing stronger.

"I learned from you, Aragorn. Claiming a small piece of the cake and then developing it fully is a thousand times better than vying for the whole cake and then either losing the fight or being left with the dregs of it," Bastet explained.

"Are you using cake as the metaphor because you're vying for the recipe?" I asked.

"... Can't you be a nice friend for once?" Bastet implored.

"Fine, I'll drop by Wakanda and hand them a compendium of cake recipes," I said.

"Yes!" Bastet celebrated.

Before long, the birth of a certain King of Jews arrived.

In 5 BC, Caesar Augustus decreed a census must be taken of the entire Roman world. To comply with the imperial edict, a certain human named Joseph made his way to Bethlehem in Judea with his heavily pregnant wife, Mary.

Due to the sheer quantity of people making their way to the city, there were no rooms left in the inns. They had to seek shelter in a small stable.

"Hello there," I greeted the couple as they entered.

"W-Who goes ther—A-Aquila!" Joseph exclaimed after seeing my features.

"Joseph, Mary," I greeted them by name.

"... Are you here on behalf of the Highest One?" Joseph asked.

"In a way. I'll make sure the birth of that child is without complications," I said, pointing at Mary's pregnant belly.

Joseph looked at Mary. They shared a look of relief, then looked back at me and said, "May it be the will of the Highest One."

For Mary's comfort, I assumed my female form, though my exposed clothing had the opposite effect on the two of them. In the end, I chose to wear my starry A'Heelah cloak over my female form—without the hood.

With me assisting the birth, even if Jesus hadn't wanted it, there were no complications.

The moment Jesus opened his eyes and locked gazes with me, I saw in him the same tired look as Yahweh. A tired newborn—one done with life—I had never seen before. When Joseph took him from my hands, he turned into a regular baby—acted like one, at least.

It's not something to be surprised about. Yahweh and Jesus are part of a whole, and this Jesus was definitely not the result of a Nexus event from a nearby reality. This Jesus was the real son of Yahweh, so he had already lived through countless crucifixions in other realities and had seen the mess humanity made of his sacrifice—and the monster that Christianity would later become. No wonder he was born tired.

I stayed with the couple for a few days until the Magi arrived. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh were the presents given to Jesus—symbols of kingship, priesthood, and a foreshadowing of his death. What a cruel joke!

I gave him a stash of divine weed...

I don't believe drugs are cool—of any kind—especially not for humans who have a natural disposition for addiction and whose societies further exacerbate this... but... if there's someone who might need it, it should be the one whose entire life was defined by his death from before birth.

The tired baby gave a look that was half what the fuck is wrong with you and half gratitude. Mary and Joseph looked at the herb strangely—they didn't recognize it—so I told them that the son of the Highest One would know what to do with it when he grew up. Since these humans were easily moved by prophecies and such, they accepted bullshit explanations with devotion.

After that, I told them they should flee to Egypt until Herod, the ruler of these lands, perished.

By the time they had fled, Herod began his Massacre of the Innocents. He sent his soldiers to kill any baby two years old or younger.

I covered the babies in void barriers and made them float my way. I sent a telepathic message about what awaited their babies to the concerned parents. They saw their babies fly away in tears from their homes.

The soldiers followed the floating babies, and some of them went to inform Herod. When they arrived at my location, they found all the babies floating around my draconic form. Herod arrived shortly after.

"A-Aquila? Are you interfering with imperial business?" Herod asked from behind his soldiers, his voice cracking.

"You ordered their deaths, not the emperor," I said, my voice making their horses whine in stress.

"What business would you have with the lives of these creatures?" he asked.

"Why should I answer, human?" I countered.

"... These are my citizens, my belongings, as decreed by the glorious emperor," he gnashed his teeth.

"I recognize no imperial authority. I allow you humans to prowl my world. Please don't do something as idiotic as trying to cow me with your fake power," I said as I extended my neck in his direction, passing above his soldiers, my body looming over them like the shadow of the moon during an eclipse, "or I might decide to take offense at that."

I opened my maw wide enough for them to see how perfectly they would fit inside—then I snapped it shut!

Their horses reared and bolted. The soldiers scrambled away after them—Herod with them.

After chuckling at their panicked retreat, I flew the babies to the Isthmus and then went to Hestia. The event I've been awaiting is soon to happen.

"Are you done with your business?" Hestia asked upon my landing.

The area around the Southern Scale of Darkness had changed little after all these years, except for the addition of a cozy log cabin.

"Yes, I helped deliver a third of a multiversal-level entity with concerning levels of depression and also saved a bunch of babies while at it," I replied, shifting to my humanoid form.

"It's all in a day's work, isn't it?" Hestia chuckled.

"Yes. By the way, Hestia. How about you switch pantheons?" I asked.

"What brought this up?" Hestia tilted her head in question—a quirk she picked up after staying with me for so long.

"Although you don't draw power from faith, in four to five centuries you would have no real believers left. Your pantheon will probably leave this world long before that. This is without mentioning the mess Odin created," I said.

"Odin?" Hestia asked.

We moved inside the cabin. Hestia went to the kitchen to prepare a meal for me and brought some firewood for our wood-burning stove... It's like we are a married couple.

"So, Odin, after I beat his crap out through his mouth—"

"Please don't paint that image in my head!" Hestia recoiled.

"—after I gently taught him about his limits, he decided he needed to strengthen his house before even considering a rematch. So he went and bedded a 'woman of high potential' and got himself an attack dog.

"He wanted a boy, of course, but instead got a girl. In the end, a weapon has no gender, so it wasn't a problem. He raised his weapon right and initiated a campaign to conquer the Eight Realms. This began about 570 years ago.

"Svartálfheim had basically fallen the last time I was there, so there was no resistance there. Nidavellir was already allied with him through the friendship between the dwarves' king and Odin. Niflheim was empty—again, no difficulty there—and the elves of Alfheim were not the confrontational type, so they submitted willingly.

"But Muspelheim, Vanaheim, and Jotunheim were a different matter. For almost the past half-millennium, he and his daughter have been at it, but recently they achieved hegemony over the Eight Realms," I explained.

"So? Is he coming for the ninth?" Hestia asked. No concern could be found in her question. I had told her about what I, Noona, and Jean are a few centuries ago, hence she knew Odin's chances were non-existent.

"That's where it gets interesting," I said. "My PuppeteerSelf told me that after the conquest, he realized he still was not powerful enough to match the power level I displayed last time. So, after some soul-searching and inner peace-seeking, he overcame some of his heart demons and advanced his cultiva—"

"Now you're talking bullshit," Hestia interrupted.

"—a slur?! From Hestia's mouth?! Was I caught in a genjutsu? No, that's not possible. A Multiverse-wide wave of reality-warping and overturning paradigms? That's possible, but who could wield such power?—"

"Stop it! That's why Lady Death calls you an idiot dragon!" Hestia exclaimed, her cheeks flushed.

"Noona calls me 'her' idiot dragon, that's different," I replied with a smug grin.

"Just continue, please," Hestia facepalmed.

"So, Odin realized opposing me was not worth it, and a few months ago he contacted my Fluff Queen and began an arduous process to purchase Midgar from her," I explained.

"Was Earth ever on sale?" Hestia asked.

"Not really, but he is purchasing the right of ownership from us so that he can claim to be the ruler of the Nine Realms. After he advanced his cultivation, he gained some brains and realized we cared not for things like ownership, rulership, authority, and hegemony.

"Hence, he turned over a new page and married the daughter of the leader of the Vanir, made peace with the Jotuns, and focused completely on the Fire Demons. He stabilized his authority over the other eight realms, and that's how he ended up contacting Emma. Now, can you guess where the problem is?" I asked.

"... Probably discontent in the Ice Giants, and maybe Emma is charging an exorbitant amount, right?" Hestia asked.

"Those are good guesses and technically actual problems, but no. The problem is the attack dog he raised as a weapon. He fed the girl dreams of ambition and grandeur and taught her how to wage war, slaughter, break, and destroy. However, he never taught her how not to destroy," I explained.

"Is she going to kill him?" Hestia's question was born from the countless scenarios she had seen in humanity about patricide over a throne.

"No, she's weaker than him by a small margin. According to the possible scenarios my PuppeteerSelf saw, she is either going to rebel and then fall imprisoned in Hel, in Niflheim, or she is going to take a shot at us," I said.

"So that's why you said we should stay here. The emptiness of this part of the world will keep casualties at a minimum," Hestia said. "But what about me joining the Drachantheon Therion?"

"I doubt Zeus' ego will allow him to stay on a planet owned by Odin, and since faith will begin to wane, the decision to leave this world will come easily to him. So, why not abandon the sinking ship and become part of my family?" I asked.

She brought dinner over to the table and sat to my right.

"Thank you, Wifey." I grabbed her hand and kissed it.

"Idiot!" With the same hand, she flicked my forehead. "I'll think about it."

Soon the end of the millennium arrived, and I decided to write another encouraging message in the night sky: You did better in this last millennium, still, you couldn't do without bloodshed for even a year, could you?.

Around the end of 1AC, the familiar pillar of multicolor light of the Bifrost Bridge descended with a boom just outside our little log cabin.

Almost catwalking, Hela strode out of the curtain of iridescent light, her eyes immediately locking on me.

"You should go, Hestia." I opened a portal for Hestia, and she walked through it after giving Hela a pitying look.

"Lady Galadriel," I smiled amiably, "it's a pleasure to have you in my humble realm."

"I don't know who this Galadriel is, but it must be her utmost honor to resemble me if your implicit statement is to be believed," Hela smiled pridefully. "But enough of jesting around. I don't see the monster my father claims you to be."

She strode confidently to me and circled around with no regard for her safety. Her eyes stopped momentarily on my tail blade and my eternal flame.

"Well, that's because you and I aren't enemies. On the contrary, I'm quite curious about you," I replied, my eyes switching between different colors, exemplifying my curiosity.

"Curiosity, is it?" She flicked her right hand and a blade of her divinity appeared in her hand. "It's promiscuous and foolish to declare ourselves not enemies. After all, don't you have something I want?"

"I do?" I tilted my head.

"Midgar!" Hela exclaimed, her arms opened, pointing at our surroundings.

"Mmmm... But you can have it if you want it," I looked at her questioningly.

"What?" My sentence brought her theatrics to a stop.

"Yeah, I only claimed ownership of the Isthmus behind this scale," I pointed at Noona's scale. "In fact, there's a rights transfer for the ownership of Midgar in the works between my Queen Goddess and Odin. I'm not your competitor for what you think belongs to you. If anything, Odin is."

Not even the Ennead, Olympians, or any of the other pantheons—like the Hindu, Babylonian, Chinese, Japanese, or any of the small ones—are competing for the ownership of the planet. The first reason is that they are afraid of the Drachantheon Therion, and the second is that faith in pantheons is starting to decrease. From a business perspective, Earth is treading its last productive years—for them.

"What manner of submission allows for the subjects to keep territory?" Hela asked with a vicious smile.

"Submission? I thought you wanted Midgar, not the Drachantheon Therion," I quipped.

"What difference is there?" Hela asked, the sword of death lazily spinning atop her index finger.

"Well, let's assume you're stronger than the Drachantheon Therion and that the 'respect'—to not call it dread—that your father has for us is all a product of his imagination. What about that?" I pointed to Noona's scale. "There's a reason you can't drop the Bifrost Bridge inside the Isthmus, isn't there? You can't peer into it, and the Bifrost can't even register its coordinates.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Bifrost the greatest weapon of Asgard? Not even your personal strength could accomplish as much damage as the Bifrost could. So, what is your plan in case the Drachantheon Therion refuses to submit or engage at all with Asgard's, and we retreat to the safety of the Isthmus?" I asked.

"Aren't you here? The head of your pantheon. Won't they submit to me once I have your life in my hands?" Hela asked with a malicious grin.

But to that, I lost it. I barely had the time or mind to change Selene's cloaking field to a shielding cloak and rip her from my neck, launching her as far away from me as possible.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" I laughed genuinely so hard I failed to control my presence, and it leaked.

Shit! I'm gonna kill everyone in South America!

>Calm down!<

|Breathe in! Even if it's useless!|

'SHIT!'

-What about Hela?!-

>Calm down first!<

}▲Áä|>▄╦J↑•uÿ╗?p4Ak♠{

|I think Selene landed somewhere in the Pacific!|

-What a fucking mess! Volcanoes are erupting!-

"KahHAHAKKAHAhaha!ICANt!"

Before I knew it, Noona had arrived and dragged away a body I assumed was Hela's. Jean opened an Astral Path next to me and then went full Phoenix mode and rammed me through it. I appeared in Far Shore and then I stopped holding in my laughter.

————————————————————

Earth-199999, Southern Scale of Darkness.

As the Astral Path closed and Jean Grey exited her Phoenix mode, the world stopped shaking. Volcanoes went back to slumber, the continental plates stopped shaking, and the atmosphere ceased churning.

"What was that idiot thinking?" Jean muttered while looking down at her shaking hands. Clasping and opening her hands, she breathed out, trying to calm her nerves. Although she and Death were the only ones who could intervene—others risked ending up like Hela—it didn't mean that Aragorn's presence was something she could scoff at.

Jean teleported to the Halo, the med-bay, where Death had brought Hela.

"How is she?" Jean asked. She feared the worst after seeing Hela not in a healing pod but on a simple bed.

"Well," Death paused for a moment and observed Jean. After making sure she was alright, she continued, "she died. Her divinity bound her soul to her dead body, so at least she didn't pass on."

"But?" Jean asked.

"Deities of [Death] have a chance for a second 'phase'. The Undead phase. She is an undead now," Death revealed the truth.

"That's not optimal, is it?" Jean asked.

"Yes, but it also isn't grave enough to derail the timeline. Odin was going to seal her either way, so it matters not whether she is sealed alive or as an undead," Death said.

"But then she'll be a stronger foe for Thor. Won't that be a problem?" Jean asked.

"My Love will have to intervene," Death nodded.

"It was his fault, so he won't have anyone other than himself to blame," Jean shrugged.

"Did you figure out why he lost it?" Death asked.

"Hela said something funny and absurd, I think. His mindscape was filled with laughter, so I had a hard time navigating it," Jean replied. She had used her link with Aragorn to peek into his mind.

"Oh, My Love. So silly sometimes," Death said while shaking her head with a love-dripping smile.

"Would this be a problem for Emma's business with Asgard?" Jean asked.

"If anything, it'll grant her some leverage to hike the price up," Death chuckled.

"..." Jean didn't reply; she teleported away in a hurry.

Back in the Pacific Ocean, Jean appeared hovering above the deep waters wreathed in flames. With a pulse, her psionic field covered half of the Pacific, and shortly after, she teleported again—this time appearing above a patch of water that was bubbling as if an underwater volcano were stirring. The catch was that the water was viscous and red, not unlike blood.

"... Okay," Jean soon concluded that she needed help. Two flashes of flames and fire later, Jean returned with Death in hand.

"That's the problem," Jean pointed at the boiling crimson ocean like a toddler girl showing her mother something unknown.

"... I also don't know what that is," Death said. Her eyes scanned the boiling crimson waters with interest.

"Selene is responsible, but I can't pinpoint her. I just know she is somewhere in there," Jean used her telepathy and psionic energy in countless forms to fish for Selene's body in the bloody waters.

"Mmm... I think Selene is that crimson liquid. Possibly a physical expression of her divinity. She drank too much of My Love's blood, so we're dealing with something that hasn't happened before—it's unexplored territory," Death said.

"Based on what Aragorn mentioned during the time we met in his mindscape while I slept, he was sure Selene drinking his blood was beneficial to her. So maybe the problem is not the blood, but the lack of it," Jean said. She herself was not sure about her statement, but it followed a certain logic.

"I see, you mean to say that the damaging part was My Love separating her from his neck? Mmmm. Should we feed her high-quality blood, then?" Death pondered.

"Aside from you, me, and Madelyne, I doubt any of the Therions will happily feed her their blood. Selene is among the most hated of the Drachantheon Therion," Jean said with a complicated expression.

"Then our blood will have to do," Death said. "Go to Abeyance for a few pools of Madelyne's blood."

"Pools?" Jean asked, shocked.

"Selene's definition of a vampire gets stronger the rarer the blood is. My Love's blood is unique to the entire Multiverse. There are other personifications of myself, and there are other Jeans, just as other Madelynes. We will need to compensate rarity with quantity," Death explained.

"Ugh, I'll charge her for every sip of my blood she gets," Jean grumbled before teleporting in flames.

"What about you, Phoenix? Want to contribute?" Death asked.

'I don't bleed,' Phoenix's voice reached Death's mind.

"But I bet you know where to find unique blood," Death quipped. "You're curious, aren't you?"

'She is skirting the edges of what I feel compelled to burn away and a form of [Life] never seen before. My curiosity is expected,' Phoenix said.

"Just hand Jean the locations and she'll go blood hunting," Death said.

'Very well, but you'll kill her if the outcome becomes irreverent,' Phoenix said.

Death hovered directly above the bloody waters and slit both her wrists vertically with her tail blade. She held her arms parallel to the water's surface. Dark ichor flowed down, obeying gravity slowly. She had to halt her regeneration to keep her blood flowing.

A few hours later, a disheveled Jean arrived through an Astral Path.

"Celestial blood unknowingly given," Jean recited like a witch pouring ingredients into a cauldron.

"A pool's worth of blood from my little sister, willingly sacrificed," Jean spoke like a cult follower.

"A mouthful of blood from the Elders of the Unknown Universe, forcibly taken," Jean's words echoed like a chant.

"And finally, my own ichor." Like Death, she slit her wrists vertically with a psionic blade and halted her regeneration.

"Now, we wait," Death said with a chuckle at Jean's theatrics.

As more of their blood dripped down into the red viscous mixture, the liquid boiled and churned all the more, as if reaching for a crescendo.

Until the red tincture of the oceanic waters seemed to recess and coagulate into a single blob—or cocoon. Jean and Death allowed their wounds to heal and then waited a few minutes more for something to emerge from the cocoon, yet nothing like that happened.

"Maybe it's in a gestation period, like a butterfly," Jean said.

"Maybe... Let's take it with us to the Halo," Death said.

Jean lifted the cocoon with her telekinesis, and Death tapped her P-Link to open a portal to Halo. They didn't know if teleporting with the cocoon could be detrimental to it, so they chose the more stable wormhole method of transportation.

On Halo, in the med-bay, a very undead woman awaited them.

Hela had awoken and seemed to be transfixed by the changes in her body.

——————————————————

{A/N:

Please check out my P@treon account! There are already 10 chapters ahead for premium members, which is at least 100,000 words. Premium members also gain access to a new chapter every week.

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}