First Blessing

"What the hell.. who chose this one?"

Thousands of murmurs rumbled throughout the large white coliseum where highers were in attendance, curiosly eyeing the frail looking boy that had shown up next to be blessed.

"What is this.. where am I?" Malachi woke up and sleepily rubbed his eyes.

He felt like he'd just had the most pleasant and relaxing dream imaginable, yet he was lying on a cold stone floor.

"He speaks!" A loud masculine voice like crackling thunder boomed in Malachi's ears.

Finally able to get his bearings, Malachi looked around and realized where he was.

But he didn't dare to believe it.

"Speak your name, mortal! And tell us the limit of your ambition!"

Malachi slapped himself to make sure that he wasn't dreaming, but no matter how hard his hits were, the scenery in front of him was never changing.

Rows and rows of divinely beautiful beings from every pantheon.

Gods, demons, angels and the most famous demigods imaginable.

At a glance he could see a man with one eye and two crows sitting on his shoulders.

'Odin..'

Looking around more he could see an incredibly busty woman with blond hair and pink eyes whose face was hidden under a veil.

Malachi wasn't certain but given the way his lower body was reacting he suspected that this woman was Aphrodite.

"It's exactly as the Blessed described..."

He continued to spin around in awe as tried to recognize as many gods as possible.

There was Zeus, Horus, Thor, and even Lucifer.

"My name is Malachi Saint." He finally introduced himself after gawking at these beings who could kill him with a blink.

"And as for my ambition…" Malachi began but then stopped when he realized the answer to this question was slightly embarrassing.

"It is alright child. You are free to speak your true thoughts here, we will not condemn you for them."

A woman sitting next to Zeus who Malachi could only assume was Hera attempted to ease his mind and loosen his tongue.

Malachi took a deep breath before he spoke.

"For ambitions… I have none."

Some seemed shocked or even amused by his words but Malachi wasn't done.

"I just want to be strong so that no one would ever think of touching anything that belongs to me ever again."

I do not know why you have chosen to bless some of us, but if your legends are to be believed you will expect something in return."

Now, none of the gods were laughing.

Out of all of the humans that had been blessed so far, not one of them had directly called their motives into question like this. Even if they suspected that the gods might want something, they didn't comment on it. 

If before they were simply interested in the young human in front of them, now they were completely focused.

"But let me say this… I don't care what you want as payment. I have lived through being unable to protect someone twice before and I will do anything not to experience that hell again."

The boy was shaking with every word and Achlys, the primordial goddess of misery, smiled as she dragged her nails down her face when she sensed that oh so delicious emotion the boy was now releasing in waves.

"So to that end, I will pay any price you require and I will be your most obedient soldier. All I ask is that you give me the power to protect the last person I hold dear."

Malachi's words contained the utmost sincerity and for a moment, there was silence.

"Well said my child." A soft masculine voice spoke.

The source of the voice was a gentle looking old man with a pure white beard standing next to a man with skin of brass and hair of wool.

Internally, Malachi was smirking a little bit.

'I was an atheist just a few years ago now look at me. Speaking to god himself with Jesus sitting right next to him.'

Life truly was a funny thing.

"Next, a god will assign you a blessing. If more than one wishes to bless you then you may choose between the two, or if they come from the same pantheon you may take them both if your soul can bear the burden. "

Malachi listened to the rules before frowning.

"Why can I not have blessings from gods of different pantheons?"

A falcon headed man with deep bronze skin chuckled when he heard Malachi's question.

"Greedy, aren't we?"

He simply shrugged. "Desperate."

The being Malachi guessed to be Ra chuckled before he explained.

"While we are all higher beings as you humans call us, our powers come from different sources and are therefore incompatible.

If you attempted to hold a blessing from two opposing pantheons, your soul would shatter like glass against stone."

Malachi nodded, while he wasn't completely satisfied with this, he realized there was no other way.

"Now.. who would like to offer this one their blessing first?" God asked as he looked around.

"I would."

Malachi flinched when he heard the voice of someone that he barely knew, yet could never forget.

He looked towards the height of the coliseum where there were seven thrones above the Greeks.

There, he saw the strikingly beautiful woman he met just before coming here.

Zeus seemed slightly fearful of this woman, as evidenced by his respectful tone when speaking to her. "A-Are you sure you-"

" I, Nyx, primordial goddess of the night, wish to bestow Malachi Saint with my blessing of the night. Will you accept?"

She promptly ignored the quivering thunder god and focused her eyes directly on the human that she'd brought here.

Furious murmurs immediately broke out amongst the gods.

Malachi smiled when he realized that the beautiful and enchanting woman he'd met earlier was actually a primordial goddess.

And such a being wanted to bless him?

Only two humans are blessed by a primordial god and they are both SSS rankers capable of sinking an entire continent overnight.

He really couldn't believe his fortune.

He got on one knee and bowed respectfully.

"I gratefully accept."