113 Brief Conversation

Mount Olympus

The Overvoid

X776

Walking on the Bifrost is honestly a novel experience. Not only because the rainbow bridge itself is beautiful, but also because I can see all of Mount Olympus from here along with the city of Asgard which rests at the very top of the mountain. With our ascension, and the creation of our new pantheon, we needed a foundation for our residence as Gods before we could properly establish our pantheon. As such we took every remaining godly plane and placed them together to form our current residence. Unfortunately, the only planes that survived Darkseid's assault were the Egyptian plane, Asgard, and Mount Olympus, which he assaulted while most of The Olympians were attacking Earth.

With only those three planes remaining, they were merged into one plane. The mountain of Mount Olympus serves as the foundation and is the main residence of the minor gods, the Egyptian plane provides more land since everything else from the pantheon was destroyed, and the golden city of Asgard serves as the residence for us, the royal family, along with our closest allies and major gods.

"It seems that congratulations are in order." says Frigga as she appears in front of us at the end of the bridge at the bottom of the mountain. "You four should be proud." she tells us with a smile.

"Thank you Frigga." answers Scáthach.

Before anymore of us can thank her, Athena appears in front of us.

"Good, you're here. Now we can get back to work." says Athena with the usual serious expression on her face.

"Athena, we are on vacation." I tell her as I activate the teleportation array at the end of the bridge and send us to the entrance of the royal palace in Asgard.

"Are you not returning from your vacation?" she asks us, confused.

"No." answers Morgan. "We simply came to make sure that the Bifrost works properly and to check how everything else is going." informs Morgan.

"I do not understand, do vacations usually take this long?" she asks, prompting Azula to laugh while I cannot help but look at her with pity. From what I have been able to gauge from my interactions with her, Athena has been the one to make sure that the Greek pantheon ran smoothly. At least as smoothly as possible when it's one goddess that makes sure everything is alright while the other gods and goddesses cause trouble or only care about their own affairs.

"You need a vacation." I tell her.

"I beg to differ. This pantheon is very much still in its infancy and its popularity is rapidly growing." she answers as we walk into the castle and I nod towards the bowing Amazonian guards.

"Growing? Where?" asks Azula.

"In the Multiverse. Also, how could you possibly not know when you are one of the most popular goddesses currently?" asks Athena.

"Well, to enjoy my vacation, I have essentially muted any and all prayers to me." answers Azula.

"That is not wise." argues Athena as she pulls up a holographic screen from the Faith System, a magically created system to help us efficiently sort all of the prayers we receive based on urgency. "According to the Faith System-" begins Athena before I forcefully dismiss the screen.

"Athena, stop." I tell her as we stop outside of the throne room. "There is a reason why we created the Faith System. It is so that we do not have to manually do any of the work ourselves, and while I agree with you that the state of the Multiverse needs to be monitored after the drastic actions of Darkseid, that can also be done once in a while with far more efficient means." I tell her.

"Perhaps you should join us on our vacation." suggests Morgan.

"I cannot." refuses Athena with an emotionless face.

"You guys can go ahead. Athena and I need to talk." I tell the others as I grab Athena's shoulder and teleport us back to the Bifrost. Once we arrive I take a seat at the edge and instruct Athena to sit next to me.

"Be honest with me Athena, what is bothering you?" I ask her as she takes a seat next to me and I set up a runic barrier that blocks all forms of eavesdropping.

"Lying would not work, would it?" she wonders despondently.

"No, it would not." I answer.

"I…I am uncertain." she answers. "I am uncertain of my place in this new pantheon, my worth as a goddess of wisdom, and even my effectiveness as a goddess of war." she tells me. "When we Olympians still existed, I knew my place in the Multiverse despite not liking it. I made sure that none of my fellow gods and goddesses went too far by providing my council, and should they go too far then usually I would clean up the mess." she says. "Now however, the Olympians are no more and have been replaced by your new pantheon, and while I now have the time to begin researching topics that have always interested me since you do not need my council, nor do you need me to clean up your messes, I feel empty."

"I know that something else is bothering you, but I will not push and instead I'll give you my thoughts on the problems you have presented to me." I tell her with a small smile that she returns. "The first thing I want to tell you is that I need your council. While I may be the god of intelligence, intelligence does not equate to wisdom. Not only are you the goddess of wisdom, but you are far more experienced as a goddess than me, and while the way this pantheon functions is different than The Olympians, that experience is still valid." I say.

"Second, of course I will not need you to clean up our messes, that is why I have the League of Assassins. They serve as my agents in the mortal world unless my direct intervention is needed. At least until the pantheon's foundation is properly set. As for your effectiveness as a goddess of war, what makes you question it?" I ask her, causing her to tense up before quickly relaxing. "I see that it has to do with the other topic that bothers you. In that case you can talk to me when you are ready." I tell her with a smile.

Rather than answer me, Athena simply nods her head and, in a rare moment of tenderness, leans on my shoulder.

"At times I wonder how different the fate of Greece would be had you been amongst us." she wonders out loud.

"A civil war would be the most likely outcome." I answer her honestly.

"True. I cannot see you standing by while Zeus and the others did as they please." she replies with a nod.

"Speaking of, how is Heracles?" I ask her.

"While the Amazons seem to enjoy their new pet, Heracles is quite miserable." she responds with a satisfied smile.

"He brought it upon himself after what he tried to do in Tartarus." I spitefully answer as I think about the fact that Heracles had rallied all of Tartarus' occupants and was about to have them all **** Athena, Aphrodite, and Hippolyta had Morgan not arrived when she did. That is why she was a few minutes late when coming back to Earth, she let her inner Azula loose and was punishing the entire population of Tartarus.

"Let's not talk about it." says Athena as a small shiver goes down her spine. Were I a betting god, I would bet that this is what else is bothering her. Despite being gods we are not above experiencing trauma and being heavily affected by it.

"You are right." I agree. "However, I am ordering you, as your King and older brother, to join us in our vacations." I command her.

"Is this an actual order you are giving as my King?" she asks as she gets up from her position on my shoulder.

"It is." I answer with a nod.

"Very well." she answers. "So what exactly do I need to do?" she asks me, and I cannot help but sigh at the fact that she is such a workaholic that she needs to ask me this.

"Anything that relaxes you." I answer.

"Research is quite relaxing, along with training." she answers, causing me to sigh again.

"Since you seem adamant on researching, I have a task for you that I'm sure is much simpler than whatever it is you have in mind." I answer her. "In the world where Westeros is located, there are quite a few 'gods' that are worshipped there. While I have not seen any trace of them, I am sure that most, if not all of them, exist. I need you to find them and compile a report on them, and based on that report, I want you to decide their fate." I inform her.

"You don't seem to have a high opinion of them." observes Athena.

"Their followers have very questionable practices that I am not fond of. Slavery and burnt human sacrifices to name a few." I inform her, causing her frown in distaste. "Should you find them to be a threat, deal with them as you wish, they should prove to be no problems for you."

"I know that ever since I have joined this pantheon I have become more powerful, but if I can personally take care of them, how exactly are they a threat?" she asks me.

"For one, I do not want them to decide to wage war against our worshippers in Westeros, and for another, I do not want them to be able to set their eyes to other worlds once we connect the Bifrost to Westeros." I answer.

"Logical." comments Athena with a nod as she thinks about the information I have given her. "What of your worshippers coming from the DC Multiverse, as you like to call it?" she asks me.

"I honestly did not expect that the entire Multiverse would see our battle with Darkseid." I tell her honestly. "I knew that space and time was crumbling despite Hecate and Morgan's efforts, but having our battle broadcasted and the shockwaves felt throughout the Multiverse was beyond my expectations. In that regard I was unprepared, and I am still thinking about how to deal with this." I answer her just as Azula, Morgan, and Scáthach teleport near us.

"Very well." says Athena as we get up from our sitting position on the Bifrost and I collapse the barrier.

"How is everything?" I ask them as they walk towards us.

"Working perfectly." answers Scáthach. "Trigon seems to be doing well as the overseer of Hell, Purgatory is the most crowded as usual, and the Heavens are functioning well under the Valkyries."

"We are going to need new names for the planes of the afterlife." I comment as I think about how confusing it must be to those who have knowledge of the Presence's pantheon.

While Hell is exactly what it sounds like, the afterlife for the worst of the worst, and Purgatory is just that, a place where those who do not deserve neither Heaven or Hell go to, our Heaven is nothing like the Abrahamic religion's Heaven. For one we have two versions. One for warriors, and one for those who deserve it but are not warriors with both groups having the ability to move in between them should they choose in order to visit friends, families, or anyone they would like to meet.

"Yes we are." agrees Morgan, bringing me out of my thoughts. "But for now, we return to our vacation." she says as they wave goodbye to Athena and walk back to Earthland.

"If you want to talk, don't hesitate." I tell Athena before she leaves and I walk back towards the portal to Earthland.

Arriving back in the basement of our house, we close the portal to Mount Olympus and fly back up the elevator shaft to our room.

"Finally home. I can hear this nice, hot shower and bed calling my name." says Morgan as she strips off her dress.

"We are gods Morgan, we don't need sleep." comments Azula as we all follow Morgan's example.

"That won't stop me from enjoying the pleasures of life." answers Morgan.

"I agree, which is why I say we do something far more pleasurable than sleep." suggests Azula with a lascivious smile.

"Oh��" answers Morgan with a suggestive smile of her own as she turns to face Azula. "Do tell." she says with a smirk as she walks to Azula with her hips swaying and places her arms on Azula's shoulder.

"You're two are insatiable." comments Scáthach as she walks past the flirting duo.

"You have no room to talk."rebutes Morgan.

"You are as bad as me, if not worse some days." says Azula.

"I am not!" denies Scáthach as she looks towards me for support.

Rather than answer her I merely raise an eyebrow and quietly dare her to refute that. As a blush covers her cheeks, Scáthach knows that she cannot honestly refute either of their statements and simply walks back into the bathroom.

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AN: For those wondering, these past two chapters did not happen before the interlude. Ambrosius can return to any world that he has visited before. He just hasn't been doing it until now. Also we learn more about how the pantheon works so tell me what you guys think about that, and this chapter in general.

Also, Zeref and Mavis' curse are not lifted, at least not yet. Morgan and Scáthach will find out about the curses soon since they each took an aspect from Ankhseram (Morgan life, and Scáthach death). They will deal with that situation.