The Void...
'So, what do you think?'- Aragorn asked his passenger.
'About what?'- Phoenix replied.
'About my birthplace, cradle, source, provenance, or origin—whichever you prefer.'- Aragorn gestured at The Void with one of his formless limbs.
'I can only see a great emptiness. I'm tempted to call it white, but this is more vacuous than white.'- Phoenix replied.
'No, I meant the chaotic phase—the whole empty-not-empty shifting going on.'- Aragorn clarified.
'I don't know what you're talking about. As far as I can tell, we've been here for some years, but with no point of reference, I don't even know if we've been moving. The only reason I believe we are is that I can feel a sense of direction from you.'- Phoenix replied.
'What?!'- Aragorn hit the metaphorical brakes.
'Am I supposed to observe something else?'- Phoenix asked.
'Yeah.'- Aragorn affected The Void, forcibly shifting his surroundings to the chaotic phase. 'Can you see anything different?'
'I sensed you did something, but it's still just emptiness to me.'
'What the hell?'- Aragorn muttered, continuing to displace The Void as he resumed moving toward the nearest Multiverse.
'Maybe it's something innate to you.'- Phoenix suggested.
'Yeah... maybe... I never bothered to ask The Aniki how he perceives The Void, but at least I know that Void Beasts can be differentiated.'- Aragorn mused, recalling how he had seen some Multiversal entities fighting Void Beasts before arriving at Marvel.
It wasn't long—from Aragorn's perspective—before they crossed paths with a Multiverse. Aragorn's third eye not only granted him a sense of the locations of Multiverses he had visited before, but it also illuminated paths toward points of interest. In this case, a new Multiverse.
'Let me see.'- Phoenix said, like an impatient child.
Aragorn was still some 'distance' away from the Multiverse, but after learning through experience to be cautious when approaching them, he decided to observe it for a while before getting closer.
Phoenix, in her Jean form, popped her head out of Aragorn's soul and glanced at the only discernible thing in the great emptiness: a bright Multiverse.
'I can't see much, but it seems similar to my world. Are all Multiverses the same?'- Phoenix asked.
'All are shiny and ever-shifting, but they are different. This one seems to have a stronger presence in its outer strata.'- Aragorn commented.
'What's an outer strata?'
'It's like the places that oversee a hub of lower realities—like Overspace, the White Hot Room, the Superflow, the Crown of Creation, and more. They oversee the realities of our Multiverse.'- Aragorn attempted to explain.
'Like a lower world and an upper one?'- Phoenix asked.
'Something like that.'- Aragorn replied, his eyes focusing intensely as he peeled back layers of information to get to the root of the Multiverse.
'What do you see?'- Phoenix asked impatiently.
'I don't know. It's a fairly empty world. I'm trying to locate an Earth-like planet.'- Aragorn said.
'Then what did you mean by having a stronger presence in its outer strata?'- Phoenix asked.
'Think of an atom—more than 99% of its volume is empty, with most of its mass at the core. Except, in this case, most of the mass is on the outer layer, the outer strata... Maybe that's a terrible example. Take a look at my memories—you'll know what I mean.'- Aragorn gave up on explaining and created a temporary mind for Phoenix to read his memories.
Phoenix read his mind and was surprised at how empty this Multiverse was.
'Is there anything sentient in there?'- Phoenix asked.
'... I don't think so. Let's approach.'- Aragorn moved through The Void until they appeared just outside the Multiversal barrier.
Like children observing fish in a fishbowl, Phoenix and Aragorn loomed over the Multiverse, searching for any sign of intelligence inside.
'... Empty?'
'... Empty.'- Aragorn confirmed.
'We could be wrong.'- Phoenix added.
'We could, but I know for sure that if there's something sentient inside that we haven't spotted, it's nowhere near the level of even a Duskari.'- Aragorn remarked.
'Could it be a nascent Multiverse? It's very small, after all.'- Phoenix suggested.
'Yeah, it's possible. But now that we've found it, I'll be able to locate it faster if we choose to return.'- Aragorn said.
'Then let's be on our way. I want to observe other Multiverses.'- Phoenix didn't realize how eager she sounded.
'Let's go. I bet you'll find this next Multiverse interesting.'- Aragorn teased.
'Why so?'- Phoenix asked.
'There are two separate worlds in this Multiverse, divided by a zone polluted by The Void. One of the realms is very similar to a standard reality from back home—centered around Earth—but all these types of hentai supernaturals live hidden from mortals. That realm is protected by two conceptual dragons from the invaders of the second realm, which is populated by some sort of mechanical life and spiritual gods.'- Aragorn explained with fervor.
Phoenix could feel his enthusiasm even through his soul, and the only thing she could ask herself was: What the hell is a hentai supernatural?
_____________________________
Earth-199999, Himalayas.
~6,024 BE (Before Emergence) = 4,000 BCE (Before Current Era).
After dealing with the mishap, which may or may not have been an apocalypse in the eyes of the humans, Irina and Aragorn teleported to the first of the Sanctums.
"It's a shack." - Aragorn pointed out.
"It's a log cabin, at best." - Irina observed.
"What are a shack and a log cabin?" - A man asked.
Irina and Aragorn turned to the man standing next to Yao on their right.
"It's that." - Aragorn pointed at the Sanctum.
"Don't be rude, Aragorn." - Yao said.
"Respect is overvalued." - Aragorn said from behind Yao. He had moved space layers, and Yao had poised her tails with such naturality that not even Agamotto questioned it for a moment.
"... What just happened?" - Until he did.
"Sigh" - Yao sighed heavily after noticing how Aragorn had perfectly conditioned her after so many millennia.
"Don't mind it. Aragorn has a tail fetish." - Yao said with a face that was between seriousness and nonchalance.
"What's a fetish?" - Agamotto asked, not having a word for it in his language.
"A sexual fixation."- Irina helpfully enlightened him.
"... With tails?"- Agamotto looked at Aragorn, who was combing through Yao's fluffy tails.
"It's not sexual, and it's not about tails. It's about fluff. I also like ears, but Yao doesn't let me touch her ears."- Aragorn replied, this time standing behind Irina, her bunny ears framing his face as he rested his chin atop her head and hugged her.
"How are you doing that? I didn't see you make a portal."- Agamotto focused on his movements instead of the nonsense.
"It's not something that can be easily replicated..."- Yao explained. "Actually, Aragorn, didn't you put Fury into refining some spells that could replicate what you did?"
Yao's question set Aragorn thinking, running different scenarios in his head at unthinkable speeds.
"The result is similar, but the way I move space... I've only seen Boss Infinity do it. But Boss Infinity is space, so that doesn't count-Oh! Boss eternity can as well, but I think that's through Boss Infinity."- Aragorn replied, while Irina playfully flapped her ears on his face.
"It's quite intriguing."- Agamotto admitted while pulling out a ring. "I created this sling ring for dimensional portaling, but I didn't know it was possible to manipulate space. Could the demons return via this method?"
"No. Even if they could manipulate space like I do, they would only be able to do it within the realms where they have a firm presence."- Aragorn explained.
"That's a relief. Come to my shack, I can invite you to some of this new dish I invented!"- Agamotto excitedly offered.
"Really? What's it called?"- Aragorn asked with interest.
"I haven't decided on a name, but it's made by cooking meat in the substance that floats to the top when you boil it."- Agamotto enthusiastically explained.
"..." - Irina and Aragorn looked at each other, then at Yao, who nodded.
"It seems like your true genius lies in cooking. You invented frying about 1,500 years before its time."- Aragorn commented.
"Frying? Wait! Before its time?"- Agamotto asked.
"How did you come up with the idea?"- Aragorn asked, ignoring his question.
"Oh, that? I dreamt it."- He said.
"Did this dream happen after you found that green rock you carry in your bag?"- Aragorn pointed at the small linen bag hanging around his waist.
"... How did you know?"- He cautiously eyed them.
"We know what it is. And just because it's in a bag doesn't mean we can't sense it. You should build a container for it. Use the stone to peer into the future and get better at this."- Aragorn pointed at the shack and the dimensional veil.
"That's..."- Agamotto began with some hesitation. "It's something I planned to do after setting up everything I dreamt of."
"Is that why you erected the dimensional veil? You dreamt of it?"- Aragorn asked.
"I almost died to a pack of demons, lost my entire village in the attack, then I found this stone while escaping their clutches and was able to retaliate."- Agamotto explained, grabbing the linen bag protectively.
"Then I began having these dreams. In them, I saw myself... doing things I didn't comprehend, but then it all made sense after a few dreams. The dimensional veil was something that took me 17 seasonal cycles to complete, but, in my dream, I didn't see the chaos that ensued."- He explained.
"That's partially my fault."- Aragorn admitted.
"You are to blame?"- Agamotto asked while looking between Aragorn and Yao. "But Master Yao said it was my fault."
"It is the fault of the fool who messed with something he didn't understand."- Yao said. Aragorn and Irina could feel how secretly pleased she was to hear Agamotto call her 'Master.'
"Yao is right. You should not replicate everything you see your future selves doing if you don't fully grasp the circumstances that led to those actions. Even less so if you don't understand the difference between their environment and yours."- Aragorn advised.
"Their environment? Shouldn't it be the same as mine? Just... in the future?"- Agamotto asked, disconnected from the explanation Aragorn gave.
"No, I don't exist in the futures you see. The Time Gem—or Time Stone—takes the present and past and allows you to peer into the possible futures based on the time flow. But I only go with the time flow because I choose to do so. So what the Time Gem shows you is without accounting for most of my present actions, especially those further ahead to peer into."- Aragorn explained in detail.
He made a representation of the timeline like a water stream and explained how his actions could alter the flow based on whether he chose to go with, resist, or even move against the flow.
"That, I didn't consider possible. This could lead to catastrophe. Are there many like you, A'Heelah? Perhaps your mate, Úš?"- Agamotto asked, concerned about how his actions might have already affected the future he saw if he didn't account for entities like Aragorn.
'Úš' was the word in Agamotto's language for 'Death.'
"No, don't worry. Lend me the stone for a moment."- Aragorn said, showing his open hand.
Agamotto hesitated for a second before handing the stone over. The stone didn't touch Aragorn's hand; it hovered while pulsing over it.
"Done."- Aragorn said.
"Done? As in, now I can see futures that account for your actions?"- Agamotto asked, retrieving the Time Stone.
"No, more like now I can plan around what you suppose is the future and match it to some extent. So that your expectations don't clash with reality."- Aragorn explained.
"... That's possible? Won't that mean that you have to plan based on countless futures I gazed upon and my possible actions? Can you trace that much and act accordingly?"- Agamotto asked, his voice laced with disbelief and surprise.
"That's not as grand as you're making it sound. Regardless, you can trust your future sightings more—just don't trust them 100%. If you're thinking about making a risky move, you might want to find and consult me."- Aragorn advised.
"He can contact me."- Yao interjected.
"You?"- Aragorn tilted his head.
"I agreed to sponsor his order."- Yao said.
"Oh, like the ᕓ𐌉𐌔𐋅𐌀𐌍𐌕𐌉 back home?"- Aragorn asked, encrypting the word 'Vishanti' because Agamotto was supposed to become part of it, and he didn't want his words to alter the event.
"Yes, but I'll work separately because we will leave this place in the future."- Yao explained.
"You will? Haven't you been part of Earth since before humanity?"- Agamotto asked, startled by what he was hearing. To him, it was like saying that the moon was going to leave Earth; Aragorn's presence on the planet was in his heart just as naturally as the moon.
"Eventually, it will happen after the time you won't be able to peer into."- Aragorn said, referring to his future inability—and that of all Sorcerer Supremes—to peer past the point of destruction of the Time Stone.
"That's... I don't know what to make of that. I can't really picture a world without your presence... What will happen to the souls you won't collect anymore?"- Agamotto asked.
"Oh, you know about that?"- Aragorn was surprised.
"In one of my dreams, you mentioned it to a man who didn't seem to pay much weight to your words. His facial hair was strange."- Agamotto said.
"I see. Well, nothing much will happen. Souls will do as souls do, and that's it."- Aragorn cryptically replied.
"As souls do?"- Agamotto questioned.
"That's for you to find out and for us to know."- Yao interjected.
"Ah!"- Agamotto exclaimed. "You've been guilelessly sharing so much information that I forgot the thrill of finding answers to questions on my own. The fun is more than half in the pursuit."
"That's very in line with what I imagined of you."- Aragorn said, observing Agamotto as if trying to see through his body.
"Oh, you knew of me beforehand? Oh! Of course, you did. You saw it in the future!"- Agamotto exclaimed.
"You will kickstart the order of sorcerers of Earth. You're probably the most important human of the past—the current present—since, without you, humanity would have never developed and would have been enslaved by demons."- Aragorn stated as if speaking facts.
"If it survived at all." - Irina added.
"That's a good observation..."- Aragorn said thoughtfully. "I doubt humanity would have survived."
"That's a dismal future if I've ever heard one."- Agamotto said.
"It's unwise to lose one's mind over the would-be's that will never be."- Yao said.
"That's a wise saying, Master. Do you mind if I use it?"- Agamotto requested.
Aragorn and Irina found it funny—and to some extent endearing—how Yao's emotions fluctuated when talking with Agamotto. It was as if she were speaking with her idol. The funny part was that Agamotto also idolized her.
'They make a good pairing.'- Irina said in Aragorn's mind.
'They do, but it won't happen.'- Aragorn replied.
'Alas, that's the truth.'- Irina agreed.
The Drachantheon Therion and the Imperium would one day migrate to Earth-5H1N3, and Agamotto, after passing, would become part of the Vishanti of this Earth. There was no conceivable way in which the said pairing would last.
'She's smart. Yao knows what she can and can't do.'- Aragorn added.
Agamotto and the Therions talked more about the possible futures and even magic, eventually leading to what he had wanted to discuss all along.
"Why do you want the Drachantheon Therion to sponsor your order?"- Aragorn asked.
"You're the deities of Earth. You've been here long before the new arrivals, and you've not interfered with humanity. There's also your reputation, A'Heelah."- Agamotto explained.
Agamotto had felt the increasing arrivals of foreign deities, and he could see it through multiple 'dreams.' Deities mixing with mortals never played out well for the mortals in the long term. The only exception he could find was the pantheon that had been on Earth since times before civilization.
"What do you think, Yao?"- Aragorn asked.
"So long as it's not a summons and only about power lending, it shouldn't be a demerit to the timeline, right?"- Yao said.
She meant that as long as the sorcerers didn't summon them and only borrowed their powers through spells—as sorcerers usually did back on Earth-5H1N3—there shouldn't be detrimental changes to the timeline.
"You've heard her, Agamotto. So long as you only borrow, then the Drachantheon Therion can sponsor your order—though you must pay in faith."- Aragorn declared.
"Excellent! Thank you very much, Master. And you as well, A'Heelah."- Agamotto said.
They stayed a few more hours to work out the smaller details of the contract, and then Aragorn and Irina left. Yao decided to stay a bit longer to guide Agamotto through some difficult spells.
Irina and Aragorn appeared in the Isthmus, in Mindee's Obelisk to be precise, and were received by the still-resentful Dark Elf. Though now she was working as Mindee's assistant, Aragorn found it quite entertaining how Alflyse was juggling demonstrating her ire while keeping her professional facade.
"Still mad, Pet Queen?"- Aragorn said with a chuckle.
"Head, how could that be?"- Alflyse said with a professional smile. "This lowly one's life is yours to do as you please. In no conceivable way would this lowly one harbor resentment for the uprooting of her life's paradigm, or the unrepentant extrication of her soul without consent—least of all the infantilization of this lowly one's body, mind, and soul."
"I see."- Aragorn smiled gently and approached her. He patted her head softly. "I'm glad you can see reason."
Aragorn's gentle smile only served to make Alflyse lose her cool and attempt to cast magic on him, but nothing happened; Aragorn was dispelling her magic.
"Grandfather, please don't bully Alflyse. You're too old for that."- Mindee said from her desk without lifting her head from the documents she was reading.
"I could never be too old for anything."- Aragorn quipped. "And this is not bullying, it's bonding."
Aragorn spoke while ignoring Alflyse's murderous glare.
"I'm guessing you're here for this."- Mindee floated a golden-trimmed paper to Aragorn. It was damp with divinity and reeked of ostentation.
"Who would have thought that we would be summoned, huh?"- Aragorn said with unhidden displeasure.
"It was inevitable. He made a global fuss with those materialized fears, and we had to react." - Mindee commented.
"We might have made a big fuss, but so what?"- Aragorn said, disintegrating the summons.
"We were here first. From their point of view, this planet belongs to our pantheon, and they are the invaders. They are not like the deities from back home, who had a connection to the planet via Gaea."- Aragorn gazed through the planet and found Bastet in Wakanda.
'Bastet, your people are getting annoying.'- He told her.
'Aragorn? What's going on?'- Bastet asked.
'Did you know we were summoned to Omnipotence City? They claim we're in violation of some interference agreement we were never a part of.'- Aragorn scoffed.
'The deities fighting the fear constructs were yours?'- she asked, sounding genuinely surprised.
'Yes.'- Aragorn said curtly.
'...Oh.'- Bastet voiced.
'Give me the location of Omnipotence City.'- Aragorn ordered.
'Was it not in the summons?'- she questioned.
'No, the conceited shits said transport would come for us at their earliest convenience.'- Aragorn laced his words with disgust.
'...Oh. Yes, just a moment.' - Bastet said before sharing the location through a memory. 'I would appreciate it if you didn't extinguish them. The department in charge of dispatching summons is not the same as the parliament.'
'Don't worry, history needs your kind.'- Aragorn's words didn't sound as comforting as they should have.
"Let's cloak our entire territory and see if their transport can find us."- Aragorn said with a malicious grin.
After ensuring the humans had been removed from the Obelisks; Halo, the Isthmus, and every Obelisk disappeared from the material plane. If someone approached the Northern Scale of Light from the north, they would find only the land south of the Southern Scale of Darkness, as if the Isthmus had never existed.
"Is there a need to cloak everything? Can't we just use shields?"- Mindee asked.
"I would have had to do this eventually anyway. The Kree should be arriving on this planet soon enough."- Aragorn shrugged.
"Kree? Who are they?"- Alflyse asked.
"A race of future warmongers, just like the others."- Aragorn said, giving her a cheeky look.
"Are you implying my people are part of the rabble?"- Alflyse narrowed her eyes.
"Am I implying your warmonger race is just like the other warmongers?"- Aragorn stared at her, incredulous.
"My people were the first! Your people and all the rest came after. We have the right to fight for the Caring Mother!"- Alflyse glared.
"Just because you were the first?"- Aragorn scoffed.
"HA!"- Alflyse exclaimed with disdain. "Weren't you just complaining about how you were the first deities on this dirt planet and how that gave you privileges over the foreign deities?"
Mindee looked up from her desk, gazed at Alflyse with pity, and shook her head.
"Are you trying to use my words against me?"- Aragorn scoffed, staring down at Alflyse. "One of my better qualities is my hypocrisy!"
Aragorn declared it with unmatched pride, even going as far as visibly looking down on her.
"So what if you were the first?" - He continued, staring at her like a yakuza. "If you think that gives you some sort of privilege just because it does for us, then you're mistaken!"
Alflyse felt everything about that logic was wrong!
"It does!"- She bravely declared. "If it grants you privileges, then it grants my people privileges too!"
"Na-ah! It doesn't."- Aragorn countered with full confidence, shaking his index finger in rebuttal. "Your people are not my people."
"So what?!"- Alflyse growled through gritted teeth. "What's the difference, you obnoxious beast?!"
"Are you stupid, Pet Queen?"- Aragorn asked, making an exaggeratedly schadenfreude expression. "The difference is right there! They are MY people, and the others are YOUR people."
"...You loathsome dragon!"- She shouted before lunging at him, her anger boiling over. She sought only to wipe that smug expression off his face.
Irina pulled an office chair from her storage and sat next to Mindee, helping her go through the paperwork.
"Thank you, Aunty."- Mindee smiled gratefully.
CRASH- Something shattered in the background.
"Don't mention it, Mindee."- Irina replied with a sweet smile.
"DIE! DIE! RACIST! NEPOTIST! DETESTABLE! OVERPOWERED DRAGON!"- Alflyse screamed in the background.
"Should we send Emma a message? She'd want to be part of the diplomatic team visiting Omnipotence City."- Irina asked.
"KAHAHAHAHA! THE LAST ONE AND THE FIRST TWO WEREN'T EVEN INSULTS!"- Aragorn's laughter echoed through the chaos.
"I don't know how much diplomacy Grandfather will use, but yes. Let's send Mom a message." - Mindee replied.
________________________________________
PrincessFox1237: [Mom?]
ImperatrixFox: [Daughter?]
PrincessFox1237: [We received a distasteful summons from the Omnipotence City. Grandfather cloaked our territories on Earth, and I believe plans to make them wait before storming in and wreaking havoc.]
ImperatrixFox: [That's quite the report. Why did he cloak the territories?]
PrincessFox1237: [Oh, I forgot to explain. In the summons, they said they would send a transport for us at their earliest convenience. Grandfather probably hid us to annoy them.]
ImperatrixFox: [Alright... I'll be there shortly.]
PrincessFox1237: [No need to rush, Mom. Grandfather is currently playing with Alflyse, and I don't believe the so-called transport will arrive soon.]
________________________________________
"Slap GASP! HOW DARE YOU?!"- Alflyse roared in ire.
"KAHAHAHAHA! I DARE!"- Aragorn shouted, unapologetic.
"Why does Grandfather always slap Alflyse's buttocks?"- Mindee asked Irina.
"Because it annoys her. She most likely sees the gesture as something infantilizing instead of viewing it under a sexual connotation."- Irina explained.
"Oh, my dorky Alflyse. Why does she insist on fighting Grandfather? It never ends well."- Mindee said, shaking her head.
"She is the most stubborn one I've seen. Even the Young Master learns from his mistakes."- Irina added.
"RELEASE ME, BEAST! KEEP THOSE TENTACLES TO YOURSELF! KYAAAAH!"- Alflyse's screams made up for the ambient music.
"That no longer looks like a fight."- Mindee commented.
"Was it ever? The Young Master is quite the playful one. Alflyse is so vulnerable to teasing that she doesn't realize the Young Master deliberately pushes her buttons."- Irina said while gazing at the hentai tentacle drama unfolding.
'Grandfather, please don't mar the purity of my friend.'- Mindee requested.
'She is being dramatic. I'm not touching where I shouldn't, just getting dangerously close.'- Aragorn replied.
'Alright then, that's allowed.'- Mindee gave up on defending Alflyse that easily.
A few days passed, and the transport arrived at the location where the Isthmus was supposed to exist.
Aragorn and Emma stood behind the obfuscation cloak, staring with confused gazes at the god sent as transport.
"Hey, Fluff. Apart from this guy being some sort of god of the Sun and Justice—based on his divinities—do you know anything about him?"- Aragorn asked.
"If you don't recognize him, then even less will I."- Emma replied.
"Maybe he's a small figure. I confess I didn't pay much attention to the pantheons other than the Aesir."- Aragorn said.
"There are too many, I don't blame you. Let's just ignore him and drop by Omnipotence City at 'our earliest convenience.'"- Emma concluded.
"Good call. Let's ignore this guy."- Aragorn said.
Aragorn and Emma returned to their daily lives, and before they knew it, a year had passed.
On a sunny yet cold day in the Isthmus—cold because of the climate control Aragorn had in place to preserve the megafauna—Aragorn was floating idly in one of the lakes used for silk production.
"Hey, Aragorn. Didn't we forget about something?"- Emma asked knowingly after exiting a portal.
"... Now that you mention it. We put that divine business out of our minds. Weren't we supposed to go make a mess of Omnipotence City?"- Aragorn asked, reverting to his humanoid form.
"... We did, didn't we?"- Emma said, finding it laughable how little the foreign deities mattered to them. They mattered so little that Aragorn was no longer annoyed by them.
"Well, let's go now. I was about to join Noona and Jean in a centuries-long nap."- Aragorn said proactively.
"Why didn't you?"- Emma inquired, knowing Aragorn wasn't one to practice restraint on his wants.
"Spark detected a Kree probe close to the Oort Cloud. I thought they might be close to arriving, so I chose to wait."- Aragorn explained.
"Is the creation of the Inhumans in this Earth important for the future?" - Emma asked.
She had seen some of the information Aragorn uploaded to The System about the key events and future of this reality, yet she hadn't noticed much of an impact from the Inhumans. Initially, she thought they might be keeping themselves hidden—like their counterparts on her Earth—and would later leave their mark in history, but that didn't seem to be the case.
"While the Inhumans of this reality have a lower impact than in other realities, what matters is that the Kree's experiments will give birth to a secret society. This one will serve as the foundation for Hydra."- Aragorn said.
"The Kree are the precursors of Hydra? Is that the same back home?"- Emma asked, her tails swaying inquisitively.
"No, there's some alien ancestry to it, but not Kree."- Aragorn replied.
Aragorn shifted space, and immediately they found themselves in a city of opulence.
"This place... it feels strange."- Emma commented. "Like it reacts to my divine domains."
"Mmm... Maybe because of what it's made of."- Aragorn said, grabbing his chin and focusing his eyesight on the light source powering the city and the structure itself.
"The material?"- Emma asked.
"Based on what I remember, it was built with trimmings from the clay of creation and fired with embers that lit the First Sun. It was supposedly built by the Lords of the Dawn, the first elder gods, or their begetters. At least, that's what I read about the one in Earth-616. I don't know about this one, but there could be some resonance between divinity and it."
"Resonance..."- Emma muttered, forming an orb of divinity and observing it attentively. "You might be right."
"Let's move. According to Bastet, we have to report our visit so that our case can be brought to court."- Aragorn said.
"Bureaucracy?"- Emma raised an eyebrow. "I thought I had outgrown it."
"Well, look at it like a game. Let's see how far bureaucracy takes us before we resort to the ancient type of bureaucracy."- Aragorn chuckled maliciously.
"You mean the old trusty violence?"- Emma matched his evil grin.
They walked through the golden-rimmed elevated paths, with streams flowing perpendicular to them. After asking a few deities for directions, they drew more than a few leering looks—unsurprising, considering this was a crowd that would gather for orgies in the future, or possibly already did so.
Eventually, they reached the Divine Chamber of Appeals.
"I see, Case #564-JKL. Your hearing was scheduled about a year ago. I can't process this. You need to go to the Chamber of Restitutions at the Ministry of Inter-Deity Justice to unearth your case first."- A god of some sort of bureaucratic divinity informed them.
"Where is the Chamber of Restitutions located?"- Aragorn asked with a zen smile.
"Go five floors up, past the Genesis Bazaar. You'll find the Ministry of Inter-Deity Justice there. You can't miss it—it's the large gold-laden building."- The god said.
Emma and Aragorn walked away, both still carrying the same zen smile.
"How about we stop at the Genesis Bazaar for some tourism?"- Aragorn suggested.
"Sure. I want to see what these depraved nigh-immortals barter for."- Emma replied.
"By the way..."- Aragorn said. "Most buildings here are gold-laden."
"... Pfft! ~Hahahahaha. This is so absurd."- Emma cackled.
Eventually, they arrived at the Genesis Bazaar. It bore an uncanny resemblance to a mortal marketplace.
"Come get your pet Deviant! Only the most dreadful quality!"- A deity hollered.
"Deeds for proto-civilizations from Sector C-137! Get them for only one divine seed!"
"Get your seed from the Galan of Taa here! Perfect for that extra boost needed during hot nights with your divine harem!"
"Pulsars! Magnetars! We've got the best-quality neutron stars of Sector 2814!"
"Entrances for the next Auction Convergence! Get yours now—don't waste valuable time that could be spent orgy'ing!"
"Get your fallen deity slave to spice up your matrimonial union! We've got both willing and unwilling types, of all appearances! The youngest one is barely 900 standard cycles old! Come, get them before they're gone!"
Thousands of minor deities from all corners of the universe clamored in the Genesis Bazaar.
In some corners, "normal" bartering took place—celestial objects, creatures, products, territories, divine domains, and more. In others, deviant exchanges were rampant: animals, mortals, deities, toys, enhancers, aphrodisiacs, charmers, and many other things that made Aragorn's void stomach churn.
"What the hell?"- Emma couldn't help but ask.
"I believe most deities are no different from mortals."- Aragorn said cryptically, still sporting the same zen smile—though now, it didn't reach his eyes.
"Okay... and?"- Emma urged him to continue.
"Let's say you take a random mortal from our universe. Give him divine power and nigh-immortality. Place him in an age of lower information transit—whichever era when mortals are mostly ignorant, and information spreads slowly.
"Now, let's assume, in the best case, this mortal was a good person. Say he has a newlywed wife, and you bring her along. Now, you have this couple—both nigh-immortal and powerful compared to mortals, knowledgeable, and morally upright.
"As you might expect, things go well for a few years. They live quite literally like gods among men, gather a following of faithful believers, and maybe even quell a war or two. But eventually, things grow dull, just as they do in the vast majority of mortal marriages.
"Deities can feel attraction toward mortals, as you know. With their marital union growing stale, and his worshippers looking at him with such devotion that he might mistake them for hostesses, temptation creeps in. He resists once, twice, maybe a hundred times... but then, he starts thinking like an immortal.
"'Till death do us part' now seems absurd. He is nigh-immortal. His wife is nigh-immortal. So… doesn't that mean that regardless of what he does, they will eventually gravitate back toward each other? He starts making excuses: 'We didn't know what we were doing. We were naïve. We didn't know forever could be so eternal. We thought we'd die after a few decades, but we've already been together far longer than we ever expected. So... why not take a bite of the forbidden apple?'
"And it's not just about fidelity. He starts to realize how ephemeral a mortal's hundred-year lifespan really is. In doing so, mortals lose their shine in his eyes. He sees them clash over meaningless things, wasting their pitifully short lives. Contempt begins to fester in his heart.
"And before you know it, the good man you picked has transformed into just another god.
"Mortals back home proclaim how awful, unjust, lascivious, domineering, and contemptuous the Olympians were. But they fail to understand—
"The Olympians are the perfect portrayal of what the average mortal would become in their shoes."
Aragorn paused, looking at the surrounding bazaar, filled with scum.
"That's why I believe most deities are not that different from mortals. Immortality is not for all. Some mortals can barely manage with their limited lifespan, yet they lie to themselves, thinking it would be great to have more. That's like reckless gamblers believing they just need more gambling or more money. How can they barely enjoy what they have and still think they need more of it? Nonsense!"- He declared, coming to a stop in front of a stand selling slaves—mortal and divine alike.
The alien deity at the stand was a silver-skinned female with tendrils for hair, folded insect wings, clawed hands, and a scorpion-like stinger swaying menacingly behind her. As far as they could tell, she was wearing her exoskeleton as clothing.
"Customer, are you interested? I can guarantee their age."- She said with a leering grin at Aragorn.
"Where did you find goods so young? Was it from your territory?"- Aragorn asked, his serene smile fixed on his face, his crimson eyes emotionlessly staring at the divine soul of the alien deity.
"~Hoh, a connoisseur, I presume."- The deity smiled greedily. "Yes, these ones are as young as they appear, unlike the fakes you might find around the Genesis Bazaar. And no, dear customer, I am what is known as a territory-less deity. My worshippers are no more—there is only me."
"Interesting. Then how did you acquire these pure souls?"- Aragorn crouched to the eye level of the captured aliens, their lost eyes staring fearfully at his blood-red gaze from behind the containment crystal.
"It's a trade secret, of course, dear customer."- The deity said with an impish smile.
"Tell me."- Aragorn ordered her mind.
"Through trade with a third party visiting nascent civilizations. They take advantage of their budding power and capture the deities during their moment of hatching. Their worshippers are also captured, their planets raided, and later sold."- She answered immediately.
Her eyes became unfocused for a moment, but she soon snapped out of it.
"Dear customer, that was not very nice of you."- She said, her smile fading.
"I'll buy them."- Aragorn said, ignoring the deity's falling mood. "Name your price."
Her faltering smile perked up again at the prospect of profit.
"...What can you offer?"- She asked, her eyes pointedly moving toward Emma.
"Are you interested in buying her?"- Aragorn asked, pointing to Emma with his tail.
"I must confess, I can't deny that."- She said, focusing on Emma's tails. "There is a particular group who would be very interested in trying a bite of that."
"A bite?"- Aragorn asked curiously.
"Yes, you know? A taste, a bite, a piece. The flesh tasters are a famous sort."- She said.
"I see. Why would they prefer her over your wares?"- Aragorn asked, pointedly looking at the pure souls.
"They have had enough of that. But her?"- She pointed at Emma. "She's something new, something exotic!"
"I see..."- Aragorn struck a pensive pose. "How about you give me your wares and anything else you might have in store? As for payment, you can go and locate your suppliers, gather as many of them as you can, and then detonate your divine soul while in their presence for me. How about it?"
"...As you command, dear customer!"- She replied, an enraptured and grateful expression spreading across her face, as if Aragorn had just handed her the keys to paradise.
"Great!"- Aragorn smiled sweetly. "It was a pleasure doing business with you."
"No, no, my dear customer! Thank you! I can't wait to return home and show off to my partner."- She said, her expression full of love.
"Oh? Do you have someone you love? A romantic partner, or a business partner?"- Aragorn asked with the same sweet smile.
"Both! We combined love with business."- She smiled.
"That's great! How about you call your suppliers to your home and then show off in front of your loved one?"- Aragorn's eyes flickered between golden and red nebulae.
"That's..."- She faltered for a moment... but just a moment. "A great idea!"
"Awesome!"- Aragorn patted her shoulder in a friendly manner.
"Don't forget to escape my control just after having initiated your divine soul's detonation—after it is too late to stop—and look straight into the eyes of your partner."- Aragorn commanded.
"Of course, I will do as you say, dear customer."- She said, feeling blessed to have encountered such a thoughtful customer.
In a rush, she went behind her stand to drag out the other slaves. While she did so, Aragorn displaced the containment cages to The Ark and dropped them in Spark's office—she had already been informed. Then, the deity returned with more slaves, happily and excitedly overseeing their disappearance.
"Listen, dear customer. I don't always say this, but... you're a good deity. You made me and my family very happy with your purchase."- She said.
"No, my dear. You made me very happy today."- His golden eyes didn't lie.
"I wish you success in your future endeavors."- Aragorn said, approaching and hugging her tightly, like one does a friend.
"Oh, you're gonna make me tear up! Goodbye, my best customer!"- She said between tears.
Emma and Aragorn peacefully and blissfully watched as she made a rupture in space with her divinity and vanished.
"..."
"..."
"Should we go?"- Emma asked nonchalantly.
"Sure!"- Aragorn replied cheerfully.
Not long after, they located the Ministry of Inter-Deity Justice, and after asking for directions again, they found the Chamber of Restitutions.
"I see, Case #564-JKL. Your hearing was scheduled about a year ago. I can't process this—you need to go to the Halls of All-Knowing and get yourselves removed from the registry of the lost."- The deity in charge said.
(Halls of All-Knowing.)
"The registry of the lost?"- Emma asked.
"Yes. Your case should have been escalated to an inter-pantheon war since you didn't attend your summons, but given that you're here, that means the Parliament of Pantheons was unable to find you, and declared you lost. It happens all the time—deities come and go, especially those from nascent civilizations like the one from Planet Terra."- The deity helpfully explained.
"I understand. Thank you for your help. Could you point us in the right direction?"- Emma asked. She and Aragorn once more wore serene smiles. To them, this was more like a trip than an important transaction, so even with all the bureaucracy, they were having fun.
"Sure, sweetheart. Just follow this wisp."- The deity raised her fist and opened it, releasing a small glowing pink wisp with tiny fly wings.
The wisp slowly flew toward the opposite hall.
"Thank you!"- Emma and Aragorn said, floating after the pink wisp.
In a relaxed mood, making note of everything they saw—taking pictures, videos, memories, and more to upload to the system—they even made commentaries like influencers as they followed the wisp to the Halls of All-Knowing.
"I see, Case #564-JKL. Your hearing was scheduled about a year ago. You need to remove your case from the Hall of the Lost."- A man with a long flowing beard and light fairy wings, who identified himself as Lord Librarian, said.
'Maybe I should identify myself as Lord Aragorn... Nah, that's too cumbersome and chuni.'- Aragorn thought to his selves.
"The Hall of the Lost?"- Emma asked.
"Let me take you there, Emma Fulgebunt Draconis. You can follow as well, even if we don't have a file for you, Progeny of the Outside."- Lord Librarian said.
"How interesting—another nigh-omniscient being."- Aragorn commented.
"Only within my field of omniscience, my Lord."- He replied.
"That is still impressive. I'm not nigh-omniscient in any field."- Aragorn shared as they hovered toward the Hall of the Lost.
"You flatter me, my Lord."- Lord Librarian said. "By the way, I didn't know the Parliament of Pantheons was seeking its own destruction."
"You don't have to worry. I might destroy them, but I will also bring them back shortly after their demise. Your kind is needed in my design."- Aragorn explained impassively.
Lord Librarian turned to Aragorn and found no lies nor emotion in his statement. He then turned to Emma.
"The Drachantheon Therion is quite blessed, Queen Goddess."- He said.
"We are."- Emma nodded and coiled one of her tails around Aragorn's affectionately.
Not long after, they arrived at the Hall of the Lost. Lord Librarian pulled out the case in question and handed it over. After bidding farewell, Aragorn and Emma backtracked their steps and eventually returned to the Chamber of Appeals. Their case was sent to the Parliament of Pantheons with the utmost priority—thanks to a small divine trace Lord Librarian left on the case records—and a court hearing was scheduled for the following standard day.
"By the way, Emma."- Aragorn called.
"What's up?"- Emma asked. She was resting her head on his lap; they had decided to wait in Omnipotence City for their appointment.
"What are you wearing?"- Aragorn glanced at her clothing. "Since when has fashion in the Imperium turned so daring?"
Emma was wearing thigh-high white boots, white bikini panties, white opera gloves, an overbust front-tied corset, and a long white cape lined with some of her fur on the upper trim over her shoulders. The only reason it didn't appear as racy as it was was because her tails were draped atop her thighs and around her hips.
"What? You don't think it's cute?"- Emma asked with a cute grin.
"I think no matter what you wear, you will be cute."- Aragorn said. Given that he normally saw people for their souls, he was not lying. "But if you are asking if that outfit is cute, then I will tell you that I already took notes and sent them to Noona for her to wear during our next alone time."
"~Fufufufu! Thank you, Aragorn. You always say nice things to me."- She chuckled.
"Well, I love you, and you always light up in my eyes when I compliment you, so why wouldn't I?"- Aragorn sincerely said.
"Are you sure you don't want to officially become my sugar daddy?"- Emma impishly grinned.
"Am I not that already? Last I checked, at least."- Aragorn mirrored her grin.
"Pfft! I know, I know. Hahahaha!"- Emma laughed, her voice chiming like a soft bell.
"Your outfit is almost as racy as Madelyne's during her cosmic hunger phase."- Aragorn remarked.
(Well, this pic won't make it to WebNovel.)
"But mine is more modern-racy. Hers was something like S-cavewoman-racy."- Emma countered.
"Yeah, that's right."- Aragorn readily agreed.
Emma looked up at Aragorn with upturned eyes and, in a childish yet sultry tone, said, "Hey, Daddy—"
"Please don't. I've had enough with Yelena calling me 'Daddy.' Don't join her side."- Aragorn interrupted.
"—I've been thinking. About that auction mentioned in the Genesis Bazaar—could I attend?"- Emma asked.
"Are you lacking something?"- Aragorn asked.
"Nothing the Imperium can't possibly supply in the future."- Emma admitted. "But I'm curious."
"Are you sure?"- Aragorn asked in a cautionary tone. "You'll just find a repeat of what you saw in the bazaar."
"...Really? I thought there would be more to it."- Emma said, incredulous.
"There's more variety, maybe some exclusivity, some exotic wares, but in the end, it's all the same debauchery we saw before."- Aragorn said, his eyes glowing green as he peered into the future.
"That's disappointing. I thought I could buy a singularity at the auction."- Emma confessed.
"Why would you buy one? Can't you just locate a black hole with the Imperium's resources? It's not that hard—there's one at the center of the Milky Way, Sagittarius A*."- Aragorn said with curiosity. "Singularities are not the stealthiest of celestial objects."
"I could. In fact, we have several mapped in our star charts."- Emma nodded. "But I want a way to contain them. I'm seeking to weaponize them—though it's mainly for a present."
"A weaponized black hole as a present?"- Aragorn asked, bewildered by the extravagance of his fox queen.
"It's for Jean."- Emma confided.
"Why would Jean need a weaponized black hole?"- Aragorn asked the obvious question.
"She said she needed to get rid of the Shi'ar when she returned. But we all know Jean is too soft-hearted, and whether Phoenix intended it or not, she would end up killing innocents while dealing with the birds.
"I thought giving her a weapon could make things... impersonal. Similar to how killing with a gun is easier than strangling someone to death. Since our return is just around the corner—less than two Convergences away—I wanted to prepare her gift in advance.
"A weaponized singularity sounded perfect. Just throw it at the targeted planet or fleet and watch it do its job—efficient, fast, but most importantly, impersonal. I thought it might reduce the guilt she will undoubtedly experience."- Emma explained.
Aragorn fixed his gaze on her with a warm smile.
"What? Why are you looking at me like you're about to kiss me?"- Emma asked in alarm, protectively covering her lips with her hand. "I'll warn you now—I'll tell the Madame it was all your doing."
Aragorn rolled his eyes at her antics, then leaned down and kissed her hand covering her lips.
"Don't be an idiot. I was reminiscing about the aloof, cold Emma Frost I had met before. You've come a long way."- Aragorn said, softly running his nails over her scalp.
"You're the idiot."- Emma playfully quipped.
"But, sorry to tell you, no deity can contain singularities."- Aragorn informed her.
"What? Why not?"- Emma asked, peeved.
"Singularities operate under the natural laws of reality—the jurisdiction of The-Natural-Order-of-Things, the Abstract—also known as the laws of physics. While existing within the natural laws, singularities bend and test them.
"For example, did you know all singularities are exactly the same, regardless of the size of the black hole? Or that all singularities are located in the future? Did you know that it is impossible to naturally destroy a singularity, other than waiting for it to end itself?
"Singularities are the boundary between the supernatural—the jurisdiction of The-Powers-That-Be, the Abstract—and the natural.
"As such, they are regulated by both Abstracts and even the Cosmological Compass. You could even say singularities are the point of convergence between Boss Eternity (Time-Space) and Boss Infinity (Space-Time).
"They are also a point of interest for Father-in-law (Oblivion) and Senior Sister because singularities can be used as a natural cataclysm to end a universe once and for all—or to restart it. Singularities have many uses and purposes. They are not something my bosses would allow deities—who tend to act like willful children—to haphazardly manipulate."- Aragorn explained.
"So that's why the Madame suggested you reset that reality through a universal gravitational collapse."- Emma said after a moment of thought.
"Yeah, among other reasons, but that's pretty much it."- Aragorn admitted.
"Hey, but now that I think about it—can't a space warper or a gravity manipulator create black holes? And what about technology, like what we acquired from the Dark Elves?"- Emma asked.
"The restriction is not in creating them; it's in handling them."- Aragorn replied. "Creating black holes, all things considered, is easy. Just follow the recipe, and you'll end up with one. But handling black holes? That's hard to the point of impossibility."
"So no contained black holes?"- Emma asked with a pout.
"No contained black holes, and in fact, no one can move singularities from their established paths or planes. So even if you could contain one, you wouldn't be able to move it."- Aragorn added.
"The Black Elves' tech skirts around these laws. First of all, their tech was developed before the birth of the two Abstracts that directly handle singularities, which gave them an advantage in peering into singularities when there was no time or space.
"And second, their black holes are created without singularities, which places them closer to the jurisdiction of magic—The-Powers-That-Be—rather than natural laws—The-Natural-Order-of-Things. So you could even call their black holes fakes."- Aragorn explained.
"But you or one of your bosses can handle black holes with singularities."- Emma asserted.
"Yeah, or someone close to our power, or operating outside the laws of reality, or, in super rare cases, someone with a purpose that serves my bosses. Additionally, The-Natural-Order-of-Things and The-Powers-That-Be are not that strong in this iteration, so someone stronger than them could bypass their restrictions."- Aragorn clarified.
"This iteration?"- Emma asked.
"Yes, I read they were supposed to be added to the Cosmological Compass in the next iteration. I don't know if that will be the case here."- Aragorn explained.
"Right, the end of the multiverse. How could I forget?"- Emma rolled her eyes at the absurd turn the conversation had taken.
"Yeah, well... it's not my fault the Beyonders already set it in motion. I can't stop it now, and honestly? It won't affect us. I'll just make sure Noona is safe when it happens—she will be particularly affected."- Aragorn added.
"Sigh This conversation grew out of proportion."- Emma lamented.
"Okay, back to the original matter. No, you won't find contained singularities, and as you know, the Dark Elves' tech won't give you the type of black hole you're looking for."- Aragorn concluded.
"Well, that's bad news for me."- Emma grumbled.
"You could create veritable weapons of stellar destruction with neutron stars, though. Why don't you buy a few of them and weaponize them?"- Aragorn suggested.
"...That's not a bad idea."- Emma admitted after a moment of thought. "With a magnetic field strong enough, electrons can be ripped out of their atoms. Death via magnetar sounds impersonal enough. It's not quite the same as death by spaghettification, but it could do."- She mused.
"We can go to the bazaar and take a look if you want."- Aragorn said.
"Thanks, love. Let's go do some window shopping. I might purchase one, even if it's just for the Imperium to study."- Emma said before standing up from her lap pillow.
Like that, they walked around the Genesis Bazaar, bought a few neutron stars, and tried some of the alien cuisines. Emma bought a few hundred outfits and then had Aragorn shift to his female form and bought a few hundred more for him/her. Before they knew it, the appointed time had arrived.
Their appeal would take place in the High Holy Court, and the vast majority of the heads of the Parliament of Pantheons were in attendance.
Bor Burison, the head of the Aesir; Cronus, the head of the Olympians; Atum, of the Ennead; Anu, of the Anunnaki, the current pantheon in Mesopotamia—many of the deities Aragorn recognized from Earth were present. But there were also others, like Kly'bn, the head of the Skrull Pantheon, along with many Aragorn didn't recognize.
(Bor Burison.)
(Cronus, but do me a favor and imagine him less like the local crackhead bum and more like a proper god.)
(Atum.)
(Kly'bn.)
"Emma, the Queen Goddess of the Drachantheon Therion, the local pantheon of the pre-developed planet Terra, and... an unregistered deity?"- Cronus asked, observing Aragorn, who was imitating the signature of a deity.
"How is that possible? There must be a file for him in the Halls of All-Knowing. Did the Librarian forget to add it?"- Anu asked.
"Let's get back to the matter at hand. We can have it confirmed after we address the unauthorized material presence of the deities of the Drachantheon Therion in Terra."- Atum said.
"Unauthorized? My deities were simply protecting the mortals of Terra, just as we have done for eras."- Emma said.
The entire court hall was set with the heads of the Parliament seated on elevated thrones. Each throne was decorated with divine energy to match the domains of the pantheon heads sitting on them.
Emma and Aragorn stood at a lower level, forcing them to look up to address the Parliament.
The walls of the room were plastered with even more gold than the exterior of the building, as were the floor and ceiling.
"It's not your time to speak, Queen Goddess!"- Another of the heads said in a commanding tone.
It was a strange deity—represented by a glowing orb the size of a head. While it appeared to be made of ceramic, it was pure divinity. However, with his All-Seeing Eyes, Aragorn could see that inside the orb was a miniature humanoid deity with fairy wings.
Emma looked at the glowing orb expressionlessly.
"[Tace!]"- Emma cast, her voice imbued with void energy.
"..."- The deity inside the orb tried to say something, but no sound was heard. It brought its hands to its mouth, but no matter how much it panicked, it could not utter a word.
This did not go unnoticed by the other heads.
"Girl, are you trying to accrue charges?"- Bor Burison asked, his tone imposing, yet his eyes narrowed with suspicion at the energy Emma had used. It was not any form of divinity he recognized.
"Girl? I was already old enough to be your father's ancestor when you were born."- Emma looked at him and the rest of the heads with ridicule. "It seems you have a misunderstanding born out of misinformation. How old do you think my pantheon is?"
"..."—The heads looked at each other in confusion.
They immediately turned to review the file on the Drachantheon Therion from the Halls of All-Knowing, only to realize they couldn't find the date of its birth.
Unease spread rapidly.
"How is this possible?"- Anu asked.
The Halls of All-Knowing were named that way for a reason—various divinities had combined their domains to create a facility capable of recording almost all past events, and—were the TVA not controlling time—future possibilities.
"It can't be a mistake. The Halls of All-Knowing don't make mistakes."- Bor Burison said with resolution.
"But how could a pantheon be older than the earliest civilization on the planet that gave birth to it?"- Kly'bn of the Skrull, one of the eldest deities in the Parliament, questioned.
Deities in Earth-199999 followed an established path. A civilization was born in a realm, planet, or world, and after some time, it gave birth to deities—whether through the aggregation of faith or the apotheosis of one or some of its individuals. Regardless of the specifics, civilization always came first, followed by divinity.
This was not without reason. Unlike other realities, there was no progenitor goddess like Gaea, so it would be unnatural for a random caveman to ascend to divinity without the backing of a civilization or for a deity to be born as such to mortal parents.
Other constraints added to the equation—such as lifespan. Even if a race had the ability to gather faith and a civilization backing it up, it would take an immense amount of time to accumulate enough faith to naturally ascend. Most would perish long before reaching that threshold.
Of course, if a civilization was powerful enough, it could theoretically provide sufficient faith within a single lifetime. However, such a civilization would have to be at the level of modern humanity, and those kinds of civilizations would never worship one of their own. If that were the case, then Michael Jackson would have been the God of Pop rather than the King of Pop—or so Aragorn had explained to the Drachantheon Therion a few hundred thousand years ago.
"We completed our ascension on Terra, as you all infer, but we were not born from Terra. We were already immortals by the time we arrived—about 290,000 standard cycles ago—so apotheosis came naturally to us."- Emma calmly explained.
"Additionally, you can't find the records of the Drachantheon Therion in the Halls of All-Knowing because I hid their past."- Aragorn interjected. "You know how it is—travel back in time and kill them before they are born. I made that impossible."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
The room erupted into a litany of questions.
Where are you originally from?
How are you immortal? Are you Elders of the Universe?
Time travel? How is that possible?
How did you ascend on Terra with so few believers?
Where is your pantheon located in Midgard?
So that's why all of you have similar levels of strength—how is that feasible? Are you aiming to create a pantheon of Skyfathers and Skymothers?
How can you hide the past?
How can you hide from the Halls of All-Knowing?
How big of a civilization do you have to power the apotheosis of so many deities?
Are you using a realm like the Asgardians?
Are all of your deities corrupted by faith? If not, how do you avoid it?
'Honestly? I thought this was going to turn into a close Xianxia encounter of the third kind.'- Aragorn said to Emma.
'What the heck is that?'- Emma asked, confused by the terminology.
'Well, a Young Master encounter is obviously the first kind, then Jade Beauty is the second, and the third is Arrogant Elders deciding your future after spotting your heaven-defying talent.'- Aragorn explained.
'Ah, you thought they were going to try and legislate us.'- Emma asserted.
'Yeah, I thought they were going to get into our business, but they're more focused on how to gain some of our "ancestor's teachings" than regulate us. I wonder why.'- Aragorn mused.
'Why don't you take a look at their minds?'- Emma asked.
'I don't care enough to find out, and regardless of how much of a farce this hearing is to us, they've been quite polite for deities. I don't want to turn into an Xavier for something that doesn't merit it. What if I turn bald?!'- Aragorn asked in faux alarm.
'You won't turn bald, idiot.'- Emma scolded, amused.
'Hah! You're the idiot. Don't come running to me when you turn bald!'- Aragorn quipped.
'Shut up! Don't even think about such a horrendous thing!'- Emma admonished.
'Hmph!'- Aragorn scoffed.
'Hmph!'- Emma scoffed back.
'What do you think we should do?'- Emma asked, shifting topics.
'We have several options. What do you have in mind?'- Aragorn said.
'Let's make them believe that the Isthmus is the entrance to our realm—The Ark—and that it is the point of contact between our realm and Earth—they'll think we are something like extra-dimensional deities.'- Emma said.
'Are you trying to tempt them with The Ark and incite a war?'- Aragorn asked.
'No, not really. I just don't want future Odin to get ideas of us as the rulers of Midgar and then sic his mad-dog daughter on us. So we will claim we rule over the Isthmus and our realm, which is outside Midgar, and only that. They won't find out about our intergalactic presence until after we've dealt with the TVA in the 1500s.'- Emma explained.
'I see, by then Hela would have long been imprisoned, and Odin would have turned a new leaf. So you're trying to implicitly inform them that there might be more power in The Ark they don't know about to keep them on their toes.'- Aragorn concluded. 'There's probably still going to be a divine war, but it's better than nothing.'
'Yes, something of that nature. I'll say that the Halo is our scanning and control of foreign signals satellite, or something like that. However, I don't know what to say about the Obelisks.'- Emma shared.
'Let's say we placed them to assist in extradimensional protection and to help the mortals with temporary shelter in case of another natural disaster like the Toba supereruption. We can say that we learned from that catastrophe that almost ended the mortals.'- Aragorn suggested.
'... Yeah, I like it. It makes us look benevolent.'- Emma accepted after a moment of thought.
'If you think about the results of our actions, we are quite the benevolent pantheon.'- Aragorn mused aloud.
'I know, but you know that at heart our motivations are not born of righteousness or benevolence; the 'good' path is simply the most efficient.'- Emma said.
'Yep, yep, but I tend to help you develop good karma because that keeps your souls shiny.'- Aragorn confessed.
'... Are you... raising our souls like one does a plant? Enough light, good soil, plenty of water, all to keep your ornamental plant beautiful?'- Emma asked after a loaded pause.
'Kind of.'- Aragorn said, doubtful. 'Good karma, positive emotions, the right amount of sin, a contract as an ornament, divinity as your soul-raiment, psionic energy to keep it lustrous, void energy to give it my touch, yeah now that I think about it... I do give you a lot of benefits and somewhat control your lives to keep your souls pretty.'
'... Should I say that I feel objectified? But then again, the soul is not an object.'- Emma said.
'Hey, the soul is the most intimate part of a living being. I can say that I care about your souls the most. There's no objectification there.'- Aragorn countered.
'Whatever!'- Emma stopped thinking. 'You've done stranger things, and I can't say I dislike how you love and care for me and the rest.'
'What if they ask for entry to the Obelisks?'- Emma changed the topic.
'It's alright. Even if they try something while inside, they will accomplish zilch! In fact, I can channel my power through the Obelisks, making the insides the most dangerous spot for an enemy of mine.'- Aragorn said.
After answering more questions than they cared to count, the appeal was done, and the case was dismissed. What came next were the insistent requests/demands to join the parliament, but Emma denied all by stating that her pantheon would gain nothing.
After a tiring day at Omnipotence City, the fox and dragon returned to the Crystal.
"They will declare war."- Aragorn asserted.
"Sure, but not now, and most likely not this generation."- Emma followed Aragorn to his room. "You leaked some of your presence, and even if they didn't understand it, they feared it. They will refrain from acting. The next generation, though? They will probably do so, but it depends. I still think we will avoid Odin. I don't know about Zeus."
They entered his room, and in the large bed, which appeared to be made of conceptual comfort, lay Death, treating Jean like a plushie.
"I think you're right."- Aragorn whispered before dispersing his clothing while remaining in his underwear. "Wanna join us?"
"Mmmm... Maybe just for a night or two. I'm busy, and I don't want to rely heavily on Mindee and Spark."- Emma replied, removing her cloak, boots, gloves, and corset, sporting only her bikini panties.
"Your busy schedule makes me appear lazy."- Aragorn whispered. He hovered and softly landed behind Death, spooning her. Emma did the same to Jean.
'Aren't you always building Obelisks? Even now.'- Emma said in his mind.
'Ah, you're right! It became second nature, so I kinda didn't count it.'- Aragorn nuzzled comfortably in Death's neck and planted a kiss on her cheek.
Dragon, Dragoness, Firebird, and Fox slept deeply, cuddled in familiarity, comfort, and bonds.
A few centuries later, the Kree arrived.
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{A/N:
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}