36 – Gods vs The Old Ones ( 1 )

''It's... dark.'' The person who said that was Hestia, but it was a thought everyone shared.

'' ... The Underworld pales in front of this.'' Hephaestus tried to use his powers to see all around him, but to no avail.

Poseidon then went to Apollo, '' Can you tell me about the situation?''

Apollo, who was looking around the place, said to Poseidon, '' The 4 Pegasus were normal. By my estimations, '' Apollo pulled a map from his things, '' We will arrive at this place.'' Apollo was pointing at the middle of the map Pandora gave them, '' In less than 1 month.''

'' That quickly?'' Poseidon asked, feeling surprised.

Apollo nodded, '' The idea to use the Pegasus was genius. We cut more than a century of travel thanks to the map and the Pegasus.''

Poseidon then looked at the map and noticed that the place they'll arrive in a month was named Egypt by Pandora.

' Egypt... what will we encounter there, I wonder?'

Barely three days had passed, but Poseidon was already bored. He began to test various things.

''Hephaestus, come here for a second.'' Poseidon called out.

Hephaestus, who was also doing nothing in the carriage, approached Poseidon, '' What is it?''

Poseidon took Hephaestus' arm and said, "Let me test something.''

Poseidon tried to pass his powers to Hephaestus, "I transfer 0.1% of my powers to Hephaestus."

The line was not necessary, but it had already become a custom among the Greek gods.

To the shock of Poseidon, Hephaestus, and the rest of the gods, the transfer did not happen.

" ... What?"

Noting that the situation in Between the Realms was different than in the Greek Realm, the Gods tried to pass their powers to each other, but none succeeded.

Apollo also failed to transfer the power, " Maybe it's the location?"

Poseidon had also come to that same conclusion, " That's the only plausible explanation for it."

'Our powers don't work properly in this location, and it could get even more complicated if we can't transfer them. Of course, everyone here is strong enough, but it was always good to have that ace up our sleeve.'

The result of the fight with Zeus would be completely different if there was no transfer of powers.

'But is it just here that you can't transfer? What if in the other Realms, we can't transfer the powers either? That would mean that the Greek Realm is special... but then the question would be: Why only there?'

Of course, it was all just speculation, but Poseidon could sense that there was something special about the Greek Realm.

Apollo's carriage was large, practically a house. The gods spent their time talking and testing things.

For example, Poseidon's power over the waters still exists in Between the Realms, but it was limited. He still carried his emergency jar with him.

Everyone's powers were also limited. Apollo even tried to make a small sun to illuminate the front, but he could not.

15 DAYS LATER

Great sand dunes lay in front of the Greek Gods. Apollo looked at the map, "According to Pandora's map, this is the Egyptian Realm. Pandora informed us of the existence of gods that she knew. Isis, Seth, and Tooth.''

'' Seth tried to attack Kratos, and the others were friendly... The gods of this realm should not attack us, since we are passing through... Should we try to hide our presence?'' Apollo asked and looked at Poseidon.

Poseidon thought for a moment before shaking his head, '' That wouldn't be smart. Imagine a situation where even if we hid, they notice us. It could cause unnecessary confusion.''

The gods agreed. Poseidon said to Apollo, "Let's go ahead.''

Apollo ordered the Pegasus to walk forward, and so the Greek Gods entered the Egyptian Realm.

--------

As the Greek Gods passed through the barrier of the Egyptian Realm, everyone noticed something, ''Something is wrong!''

According to what Pandora described, even though it was thousands of miles away, you could always sense the presence of mortals with divine powers. But Poseidon and the others tried to sense the presence of mortals but found nothing.

Although the situation was strange, Poseidon decided to go on, "Pandora said that the most powerful God of this realm sensed her and Kratos' presence as they passed through the barrier, and then he sent a messenger. I hope he will do the same with us.''

Slowly but surely, the Gods began to pass through several abandoned places. Hestia and Apollo asked to look at one of the abandoned villages because they sensed something wrong.

After checking many times, Hestia and Apollo came to the same conclusion, '' There was a massacre here. Many mortals have died.''

Realizing that something was wrong, they started to check all the places they passed by. The result was the same. There had been massacres in all the places, but strangely, there were no bodies.

But still, the Gods were on alert, '' Don't the Gods of this realm protect mortals? Thousands have died!''

Poseidon sighed, '' We can't say much. It's only been a few decades since we changed our methods... the Gods here may not be so kind to mortals.''

'Of course, that could be true, but it would go against what Pandora said about Thoth and Isis. They were kind, so why did they let mortals die...?'

After walking thousands of miles without seeing any sign of life, the Greek Gods finally felt the presence of some mortals. They could not use their powers to cover the entire realm, for that was exclusive to the Gods of the realm itself, so the place their sense reached was limited.

"Straight ahead!'' All the Gods started walking faster.

"Iris, go see how the situation is, and if necessary, protect the mortals!'' Poseidon gave Iris an order.

Iris, who felt useless before, smiled and nodded at Poseidon. She disappeared from the scene and reached the mortals' location within moments.

The other gods arrived soon after, and the situation they found was ... strange. '' Are those souls?''

Yes, it seems souls were walking in the land of the living.

'' Shouldn't there be some kind of Underworld here too? I wonder what happened for the souls to walk in the mortal realm.'' Apollo tried to reach out to one of the souls, but his hand went straight through. '' They have no intelligence.''

The other gods were also confused. Ignoring the souls, they headed for the place where Iris went, and where the mortals were supposed to be.

Arriving at the place, the Greek Gods were surprised to see a handful of mortals kneeling in front of Iris and worshiping her, '' It's Goddess Isis! The Gods have come to save us!''

'' Goddess Isis!''

'' Goddess Isis!''

Iris was totally confused by the situation, '' I already told you my name is IRIS!''

One of the kneeling mortals said excitedly, "One letter doesn't change anything! Your appearance is the same as in the myths our elders taught us! You have wings, and you are fast and very beautiful! If you are not the Goddess Isis, who else would be?''

Iris was speechless and about to continue refuting the mortals when she noticed the presence of her family. She looked up at Poseidon with a look that said ' Settle this, please!'

Poseidon sighed and went in front of the mortals. Of course, he adopted the persona of the King of Olympus. The rest of the Greek Gods did the same, their aura was imposing.

''Mortals!'' When Poseidon said this, the mortals finally noticed the presence of the others, "We are Gods from a place far away... can you explain to us what happened here? And no, this woman is not your Goddess.''

The mortals, who had never seen so many divinities together, began to cry, '' We have hope now...''

Poseidon noticed that the mortals here were of various ages, and all were very moved by their presence.

One of the oldest mortals in the place took the lead and began to tell what happened to the Egypt Realm, "In my grandmother's time, something attacked the gods. They managed to contain the enemies, but some Gods, all the oracles, and people who could see the future died. Then he said, our great God Ra took responsibility and stood guard at the portal where the enemies entered.''

''However, two months ago, strange creatures began to attack cities. We prayed to all possible Gods, but none of them answered our prayers. And to make things worse, for some reason, the souls of the dead aren't able to enter the Realm of the Dead and are wandering in our lands. We fled and hid from the creatures, but our food supply was running low, so we needed more... and that's when we found the goddess Isi-Iris.''

The man knelt down again, a gesture all the mortals repeated, "Please help us!''

Poseidon said nothing and looked at his family, who nodded, "Okay, we can help. But can you describe the creature that attacked the mortals?''

'' Some were half human, half octopus. They not only killed our people but also captured some of them.''

As soon as the Greek Gods heard the description of the monster, they were all surprised, '' A Chaos creature... but what is it doing here!?''

Poseidon ignored everyone, took out his communicator, and called Athena, who answered right away, '' Hello? Poseidon... what happened?''

''Has an attack occurred?'' Poseidon looked anxious.

'' ... No, but why do you ask?''

Poseidon sighed in relief, '' We arrived at the Egyptian Realm and found that Chaos creatures attacked them. It took us a long time to find any living mortals.''

Realizing that the situation was bad, Athena tried to see if Poseidon had any more information, '' Did you find out anything else?''

'' No. Only that in Between the Realm, we can't pass our powers to each other... wait a minute.''

Poseidon, still with the communicator on, called Hestia. The Goddess came toward him with a doubtful face.

As soon as she reached the range, Poseidon touched her arm and tried to pass the powers to her. He even forgot to mention that he was going to transfer the powers.

And the result... he couldn't make the transfer.

' Interesting...'

Poseidon then spoke again into the communicator, '' And in this realm, we also failed to make the transfer.''

The Sea God thanked Hestia, who returned to Apollo's side. Both Gods were healing the mortals.

'' ... Is it something unique to our realm?''

'' I don't know, but it's something we have to look into. Love, you need to get everyone ready. Tell the mortals, pass some blessings to some of them and tell them to prepare for war.''

'' That could cause panic.''

"Better to have mortals with panic than no mortals at all... Talk to Alecto too. Tell her about the situation.''

"Leave it to me.'' Athena then said, '' I love you.

"I love you too.''

After saying goodbye, Poseidon went to his team, and reassured them, '' Our Realm is normal, but I warned Athena to keep everyone alert.''

The Gods sighed in relief. Poseidon looked at them, '' The situation has changed. We don't know why Chaos attacked this realm and if will attack ours, but now we know that our home may be in danger. Whoever wants to go back to Greece can go.''

The Gods were clearly unsure whether to stay and help the mortals of this realm and Kratos or to return home to improve the defenses.

It was then that Hestia intervened, '' I will help.''

The Gods who were still in doubt looked at her, '' Just because they are mortals from another realm doesn't mean we shouldn't help them... Imagine if this were happening to our realm, us out of combat and our mortals needing help. If gods from another realm appeared, wouldn't you ask for help?''

''But what about our home? They could be attacked at any time!''

'' We have very strong gods there, and you know it. We should help here, where we are at the moment.'' Hestia was firm in her decision,

The other Gods then looked at Poseidon. Noticing that they were waiting for his choice, the God of the Sea said, "We'll stay, help the mortals and Kratos, and then go home. Let's try to do this as quickly as possible.''

After that, the Gods split up. Poseidon asked Iris to look around and see if there were any signs of the Gods of this realm or other mortals, "Remember, at the first sign of trouble, come back here! We don't know what happened around the realm, so don't risk it. If you find any mortals, bring them here too.''

Iris nodded and disappeared from the scene. Hestia and Apollo were with the mortals, which left Hephaestus and Poseidon alone with nothing to do.

'''Aren't you afraid to let her go alone?'' Poseidon asked.

Hephaestus shook his head, "No, she can handle herself. But I'm really curious to know what happened to this realm.''

'' Me too... I just hope we don't have any more problems.''

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NORSE REALM, WITH ODIN

What Odin wanted most was knowledge. He would do anything to get what he wants. This brings us to today, where he was talking to a Chaos portal.

''I will open portals across the Nine Realms and let your creatures do whatever you want... and in return, you will give me what I want, correct?''

An old, distorted voice came out of the portal, '' Exactly. You don't have to do this quickly, you can open the portals one at a time. Of course, the knowledge you will gain will also be limited...''

Odin, who currently didn't have many problems, except for the lack of Oracles and the Prophecy of Ragnarok, didn't hesitate to accept the deal,'' No problem, I'll open portals in strategic locations and let the Chaos creatures run wild.''

The portal voice laughed at Odin's folly, '' Betraying your entire realm for knowledge... you are indeed a fool. But I must keep part of my bargain!''

Having said that, a kind of mental wave came out of the Portal and went towards Odin, who was initially going to defend himself but when he felt what it was, he let it hit him, 'It's direct knowledge from Chaos!'

After spending some time with his eyes closed and absorbing all the new information he had gained, Odin opened his eyes. What was in them was reverence, ' All this knowledge already in the first conversation... I need more!!!'

Odin thanked the being from Chaos, '' Thank you for the knowledge.''

''There's plenty more where that came from. As long as you do your job right, you'll get a lot more.'' The voice then added, '' Place portals in places hidden from view.''

After saying this, the voice disappeared. All that was left was Odin and the portal to Chaos. The All-Father looked at the portal with a very unfriendly face, 'Although I don't like being used, what I'm getting is well worth it. I'll wait a bit to start placing the portals, but I should start with Jotunheim, since the Giants are gone.'

Odin, to get more knowledge, betrayed his entire realm just like that.

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The Greek Gods and Kratos didn't know, but Chaos was about to invade the Norse realm too.