THIEF

To say that he was surprised was an understatement. He was standing in front of a being who was probably stronger than even Gaea and one who actually had a body unlike her. Did Shiva rescue him? But why? And was Shiva the equivalent of a Primordial in the Hindu Pantheon? If not the Trimurti, who was the leader of the Hindu Pantheon? Indra?

Just then, the giant of a man before him stirred.

Athos snapped back to reality finding Shiva calmly staring at him. His pupils were a dark-chocolatey brown - one that felt Bottomless yet Full, Powerful yet Powerless.

After a few seconds of silence, Shiva finally spoke, "Athos Apsifoun. You have been given a freedom a rare few have experienced, have you not?". His voice reflected his appearance. It was mighty yet soft at the same time.

Understanding the rhetoric, Athos nodded.

A small smile appeared on Shiva's face, "You may have the freedom to choose, yet you are not free from the consequences of your choices" He waved his arm and a small patch of a cloud separated from the sea below. It flew up and flattened, forming something akin to a screen. It flickered on and off for a few moments before playing a video.

It showed total chaos.

The earth wailed and oceans raged, forests destroyed and towns razed. People frantically ran in an attempt to escape falling debris while buildings collapsed behind them. Earthquakes buried lakes while Tsunamis drowned skyscrapers. Children were ripped from their parent's arms dying in pain and agony - crushed, drowned, burnt. The ground cracked open and swallowed entire cities while cyclones and hurricanes ravaged human civilisation.

"The entirety of the North American Continent would've been wiped off the map if the Greek Pantheon hadn't stepped in but they couldn't stop everything within a five hundred kilometre radius of Mount Othrys evaporating when the sky met the earth. San Fransico? San Jose? Gone. The earthquakes and tsunamis have kept the rest of the world busy", Shiva added.

Athos had a fairly muted reaction to the scene. He didn't like watching a worldwide massacre as much as any other person but he...didn't know any of the people on the screen personally and he'd already guessed what the consequences of Mount Othrys' collapse would be. Moreover, he had murdered a friend of his in cold blood. That had numbed him a little to the killing.

"Are you blaming me for this?", Athos asked. He had indeed ripped out Atlas' heart but it was Gaea who had actually induced the descent of the sky.

Shiva chuckled and the screen vanished, "You are mistaken. I do not show you this to assign blame, but to show you that every step you take can either mean a disaster or a blessing for the world. It is a lot to shoulder for a twelve-year-old but your reaction tells me you are qualified."

"Qualified for what?", Athos raised an eyebrow but Shiva ignored the question.

"You see, saving you was a gamble. The Ancient Laws forbid one Pantheon from interfering with another unless specifically invited. The sky meeting the earth generated such force that it formed a temporary bubble where one could forgo those Laws. If I had even been a millionth of a second slower, you would have perished."

"So you did save me. Thank you for that", Athos nodded and bowed. He knew there was no way he could have survived the sky meeting the earth, he was in no way invulnerable.

"There is no need to thank me. I did it, not out of selflessness but out of selfishness", Shiva answered.

"You want something in return for saving me?", Athos' eyebrow's twitched. He was starting to get annoyed at God's wanting him to run errands for them. It was only one goddess so far, but that was one too many.

"Not exactly. What I wish to ask of you far exceeds what I have done. I wish to propose a deal", Shiva shook his head.

'Well, this is new'

"Go on then", Athos said, crossing his arms. He always welcomed a good deal.

"This will take a while. Take a seat", Shiva said.

A black mat with a blue design appeared on the ground. Athos shrugged and sat down cross-legged. Once he got comfortable, Shiva took a deep breath and spoke.

"The material world concerns me little. I prefer to spend my time in penance - so much so that many a legend has sprung up about gods and men alike going through great difficulty to wake me. They always seem to forget that it is not wealth and riches that moves me, but devotion". Shiva sighed and continued, "Aeons ago, I was in such deep penance that I could not sense when Vishnu, The Preserver, The Master of Order, himself arrived here."

Athos recognized that name too. The Trimurti consisted of Brahma -The Creator, Vishnu - The Preserver, and Shiva - The Destroyer. Vishnu was particularly famous for his Dashavatar and his weapon, the Sudharshan Chakra.

"Finding me unresponsive, Vishnu placed nine hundred and ninety-nine Divine Lotuses around the peak as an offering, in the hopes that I would wake", Shiva said and flicked his finger.

That very moment, the bright pink petals of a Lotus pierced the sea of clouds below. It was giant, with equally giant drops of dew glistening on its surface. Its fragrance was so appealing that Athos had to physically restrain himself from jumping off the peak. It didn't help that hundreds of other Lotus' bloomed on the sea of white making the perfect view even more perfect.

"Wow", Athos whispered staring at the picturesque panorama, one that would be seared into his head for a long long time.

"Beautiful isn't it? but Vishnu went one step further. He was also called paṅkaja, which meant Lotus-eyed. Thus, for the thousandth Lotus, he plucked out his own eye and placed it at my feet", Shiva said.

'Damn', Athos thought. Talk about overkill!

"That did the trick and when I woke, I persuaded Vishnu to take back his eye but it was in vain. Since I couldn't return it, I treasured it for epochs, but a few hundred millennia ago...It disappeared", Shiva's eyes flickered with anger and Athos froze.

He was sucked into the anger-filled eyes. One second he was in a broken world where a Trishul the size of the moon bore down on shattered earth and the next second, he was back to reality - clutching his chest and soaked in sweat. What had he just witnessed?!

"An offering with the intention of pure love stolen right underneath my nose while I was in penance. A foreign god at that. There is no bigger slight", Shiva growled and the snake around his neck hissed.

Athos wiped the sweat off his brow and calmed himself before speaking, "Is that even possible? I thought the Ancient Laws forbid that?" Even if the Ancient Laws didn't exist, just what God had the balls to steal something that belonged to Shiva?

"It does indeed, but before that, you must know what the Ancient Laws really are. Immortals follow so many rules that many mistake self-imposed restrictions as Ancient Laws. Ancient Laws are Laws set by the very world. It is to maintain balance and prevent its destruction. If Pantheons were allowed to roam free among themselves, there would be an endless war", Shiva replied.

"I see", Athos said. Nereus did say that the world and the Fates were different. "But what happens when a God breaks a Law?"

"Destruction. True Death. Whatever you want to call it", Shiva intoned. "And that's the issue. The thief who stole Vishnu's Eye is still alive and kicking."

"What? How do you know?", Athos asked, flabbergasted. If a God could somewhat forgo the Ancient Laws, then wasn't that God somewhat similar to himself? Was he not as special as he thought he was? Was there another FateBreaker?

"I know because I recognized the remnants of Divinity that the God left behind. It is one you are familiar with. He was a newly-born God at the time - merely a few thousand years old, but now, he is one of the most powerful", Shiva stared into Athos' eyes. "Here's where our deal comes in."

'A God I'm familiar with?', Athos thought in confusion. Did one of the Greek Gods steal the eye? He'd really underestimated their sheer shamelessness.

"I want you to slay the God and bring me the Eye of Order."

"Kill a God?! That's impossible to do, isn't it? They're immortal, aren't they? Who is it anyway?", Athos asked, his heart beating faster. Killing a God? He didn't think this deal was even plausible.

Shiva's eyes turned stone-cold.

"Your Grandfather."

***

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