5 Powers and Power Bases

With a powerful kick to the ground, Nandhi lifted off. I've always wondered why Grandfather and co. always traveled by their mounts rather than a car or something a bit futuristic but now I know. The adrenaline rush of riding a mount is incomparable to any vehicle. Nandhi could teleport me to my destination but it was decided that he would explain various powers and their bases while we are on our way.

The first thing we encountered is the Indian subcontinent. This is ruled by the Hindu Pantheon. It has various internal factions being one of the oldest and largest pantheons. The Deva faction, The Rishi faction, The Asura faction, The Adityas, and Prajapati, etc., The biggest and most powerful factions are the Deva faction led by Indra, and the Asura faction led by Shiva. This has been bothering me for some time. Shiva is supposed to be neutral in the feud between Deva and Asura but here Shiva is leading the Asura fraction. I once asked father about it but he said it has to do with Indra and Shivas' hostilities. But why are they fighting each other and isn't Indra supposed to be way weaker than Shiva? Where are the remaining Trimurti? I decided to ask Nandhi about it.

" It happened long ago at the time of your late grandmother Sati. I am not supposed to tell you the details but the gist is that Sati died and your grandfather went on a rampage killing all those who are even remotely responsible for her death. Many devas died along with your great-grandfather Daksha, who is a close friend of Indra. Since then, the hostilities never ceased. "

Oh, it seems many things are not discussed in the lores of Puranas and Vedas. But I do remember reading about it in my past life. Well, I can find out later since I have a lot of time since the canon events start. First I need to learn about the various pantheons and powers and how to bring them all together.

I felt the sea breeze as I came out of my thoughts. I saw a vast sea before me. It must be the Arabian Sea. It's my first time seeing it. I have been to beaches but I haven't seen the deep seas. Hmm, I should take a vacation after all of the apocalypse business. But now I need to train. I asked Nandhi to fly closer to the ocean's surface. I need to practice my water manipulation. I closed my eyes to feel the divine energy in my body. It is like a second heart. It pumps energy into 9 nodes of my body and circulates some energy to the cells through the bloodstream. My energy circuit is different from other divine beings. They don't have a circulatory system as their cells are always full of divine energy. Me being part human, made my cells incapable of holding divine energy for long so I have a heart to constantly circulate it in my body.

I could feel the energy moving the node for skin and discharge out of it. I willed the divine energy to manipulate the water and form a water spear. But the results were lackluster. Instead of forming a complete spear, it formed an incomplete one. The shape is not consistent. I could feel some rejection from the water. I couldn't think of a reason. I could easily control the water back home. Is it because it's saltwater? Grandma is a river goddess so maybe I couldn't control seawater? I decided to ask Nandhi this.

"No, it's not because of salinity. It is because this sea below is the domain of another god and if you try to manipulate it, it would offer some resistance. You derive your powers from Ganga. right? Then you would have more affinity for the river Ganges and its derivatives which are almost all the rivers in India. There you would need minimum energy to manipulate water."

Oh, I see that makes sense. " Whose domain is this? Is this Varuna's? Or Sagara's? "

" Neither. This sea belongs to one of the sons of Sagara. He has a vast domain and not many subordinates so he assigns parts of it to his children to govern them. They are also home to sea monsters."

Monsters are a bit different in Hindu Pantheon. They are often cursed individuals or individuals that have lost their minds. They are not immortal like those other pantheons. They exist outside the Pantheon's power. This includes stray devils, Spirits of the deceased, Zombies, cursed humans, or devas. Sometimes even exiled Asuras. Some of them may even have boons that are unpredictable most of the time.

From the corner of my, I could see land approaching it seemed to be Arabian Peninsula.

" This used to be the former territory of Mesopotamian Pantheon and Later Zoroastrianism. The Mesopotamian Pantheon used to be one of the oldest but they were driven to extinction due to internal conflicts. Remnants of them later joined the Greek Pantheon."

But internal conflicts will not drive an organization to extinction unless someone interfered externally. As if reading my thoughts, Nandhi said, " Yes, there was involvement from other pantheons too. Why even the Hindu pantheon was involved? We did not keep our top spot by playing fair. The only time we were almost dethroned was at the time of God of the Bible. You have a lot to learn. "

Wow, I did not expect that but it made sense if you think about it. There are many pantheons and they existed for a long time so there must have been lots of conflicts of interest. And I remember the creation goddess telling me my mission as guardian would not be easy. It seems it will be a pain in the ass to unite them all against the coming invaders if the invaders are sneaky. I hope that would not be the case.

Nandhi oblivious to my thoughts continued. We crossed the red sea and reached the mediterranean sea. Nandhi started to fly higher. "We are reaching the Christian Angel's base so we need to get higher to escape detection," Nandhi explained.

" Most of the southern part of Europe consisting of Italy, France, Germany, etc., is the base of Angels faction of Christianity. North-eastern Europe is mostly under the control of Grigori and the fallen angels. Devils have their base in the underworld. The combined Christian faction is one of the strongest pantheons. In its heyday before the war of three factions, it was the strongest Pantheon and by a huge margin. After the war, many powerful angels, fallen angels, and original satans died and Biblical God went into hibernation suffering fatal injuries. His status is unknown."

Well, I know that he died sealing TriHexa. Now that is the most troubling issue that I need to resolve before the invasion. But I have a long way to go about that. I barely touched the peak-high class, I need to be at peak superclass if I need to deal with it. Not to mention what other issues would be present since this world needed external assistance to preserve itself. And maybe he did not die. I really cannot rely on canon all the time.

" Did he die?" I asked just to confirm.

" Not so sure. The blessings and sacred gears are working albeit with some issues but they are not major. So he might be permanently weakened but death is uncertain."

Well, that confirms that at least god's death and Trihexa 's sealing had gone according to what I know.

"Scandinavia is the territory of Nordic gods, Ireland and some parts of Britain are the territory of Celtic gods."

" Wait then the Greek pantheon must be around Greece but we have already crossed it. " I asked him as by that time we were already on our way to the Americas."