Two gods of one war

"Ares?"

Suddenly a voice echoed through Ares' head

"Ares, are you listening to me?"

Fortuna was standing in front of Ares, waving his hand before his eyes.

"Did you fall asleep?

Is everything ok?"

Ares held his head and put the other hand on Fortunas head.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm alright, just remembered something, nothing to worry about."

Fortuna looked up to him with a confused look on his face.

"Is remembering something so complicated that you blur everything besides out and stop paying attention?

Because you've been out for at least 10 minutes, maybe even longer."

Ares sighed and took his hand off Fortuna's head.

"You have to promise me something, Lucky."

Fortuna looked even more confused but still listened.

"What is it?

Also, can you please not call me Lucky?

I only had my name for 7 days.

I'll get confused when you call me something else."

Ares started to laugh again.

"You have to promise me to never do something wrong.

Live your life as pure as you are right now."

"I... don't understand what you mean but, I will try my best to live up to your expectations!"

Suddenly a voice came laughing from just beside them

"Man, you're really sentimental when no one's looking, Ares.

Could it be that you're just playing the strong man and are actually just as sweet as Nemesis?"

Ares started to get red as soon as the voice finished speaking.

"Athena?

When did you come back?

And how long have you been there?"

Fortuna looked around Ares to see where the voice came from.

"Athena?

You mean your sister?"

Suddenly the goddess vanished from his sight and reappeared before his eyes.

//Did she just teleport?...

No... she was just too fast!//

Fortuna couldn't even finish his thought process before Athena was suddenly pulling on his cheeks.

"Is that the new goddess that had her birthday a week ago?!

She's so cute!

Your name was... Tyche, right?

You even have the wings and black eyes that I heard so much from.

They're beautiful!"

Fortuna looked way more confused than before.

"B-but I... I'm not a goddess...?

Also.... my name is Fortuna... and not Tyche.

And... weren't you down on earth?

Why do you know so much about me?"

Ares looked kind of embarrassed and tried to avoid eye contact with Fortuna.

"I... may have forgotten to tell you this.

Loki and Hermes went and told the humans about your birth but,... Loki may have said that you're a goddess, and apparently, he told them the wrong name as well."

Athena, who was still playing around with Fortuna's face so much that he couldn't get a clear look, suddenly started to snicker.

"Yeah, that sounds like Loki.

Hermes must have been in Rome then.

I heard that Rome calls you Fortuna, but they still think you're female."

Fortuna didn't look saddened at all.

It seems like the opposite was actually true because he seemed the happiest he was since his birth.

"So the humans know me in more than just one place?

And they know me in such detail that they know about my eyes?"

Athena suddenly stopped playing with his cheeks and laughed, a bit embarrassed.

"No, I... actually met Loki and then... forced him to spill everything he knew about you... I was just so curious about a new goddess... or god apparently."

Fortuna held his cheeks, which were bright red from the force Athena had been pulling them with.

But now, he finally was able to get a good look at Athena.

She had bright brown long hair that was bound into a ponytail.

She had armor on that didn't really cover anything except the bare minimum.

Maybe that's why her arms, waist, and back were covered in cut wounds.

She had a really sturdy-looking body.

In general, she looked like a female equivalent to Ares, which in some way is true.

"So you were curious to know... me?"

Athena smiled again

"Yes!

I mean, I'm the Goddess of Knowledge.

I need to know about you."

"But weren't you the goddess of war?"

Fortuna asked with an even more confused face.

Athena smiled after hearing this.

"Well then, let me, the great Athena, teach you something!"

She looked really prideful for a moment until Ares spoke up.

"Hey Fortuna, do you remember how I told you that there are two ways of fighting a war?

There's the pure violent way, and then there's the strategic way, strategies are knowledge in war, and she's the goddess of that."

He still sat down at the giant flame, which they used to watch the war happening at the moment while looking up to Athena with a smirk.

Athena suddenly stopped smiling, her face turned expressionless, yet she had something of a terrible aura around her.

"Hey Fortuna, did you ever see Ares without his armor on?"

She said with a smile, though the smile looked like she was about to murder someone.

Fortuna looked pretty scared of Athena as he shook his head

"Well then..."

"Athena, stop-!"

Before Ares could finish, he already got punched in the stomach so strong that the armor protecting his upper body bursted into tiny pieces.

His body was revealed the first time for Fortuna.

It was just as covered in scars as Athena's body, no actually, he had even more wounds than she had.

"These all come from me.

No human could cause this kind of wounds on Ares' body."

So my first wisdom, don't have such disrespect as he has, or this will happen to you one day too."

He looked at Ares in shock, but after a few seconds, he calmed down, looking over to Athena.

"Doesn't that mean that the opposite is also true?"

Athena looked at Ares and then back to Fortuna with a big grin on her face.

"Yes, that is true, but take a good look at his body.

He has way more scars than I do, right?"

Fortuna didn't even look at Ares but looked straight at Athena

"He said, you're the goddess of Strategic war, meaning that you are a quick thinker, so of course he has more wounds, you hit him more often, but he hits you with more strength, that's why his scars are smaller than yours."

Athena looked at Fortuna with confusion.

"I heard... your mind was just like a newborn's, a week ago... a process like this shouldn't be able to make for you, how did you do this?"

Fortuna suddenly looked just as disoriented as Athena.

"Aphrodite told me this is an effect of the birth ritual.

She said my mind will be fully developed way faster than a regular god that was born like a human."

Ares grabbed Athena by her shoulder and whispered something in her ear.

"Aphrodite and I decided to not tell him about his extraordinary fast development, so he won't get any wrong ideas."

Athena just looked at him with an understanding expression and then back at Fortuna with a smile.

"Well, I should've looked into that ritual more.

That's truly fascinating."

"By the way, we were talking about what gods you are, but... what good does it do that Hermes and that I forgot his name told the humans about me?"

Athena looked at Ares with a serious look as if she told him to not take this moment from her again, but then she looked at Fortuna with a smile.

"First, his name is Loki, and he is the God of Mischief from the Norse gods and-."

"What are Norse gods?"

Fortuna didn't let Athena finish to ask another question.

"Oh, you see," said Athena, "the Norse gods are the gods that different people on earth pray to, not different like another species but in another place."

Ares stood up and walked in between both of them.

"You see, there are people all over the earth, and most of them believe in gods, but not only us, because there are places on earth where different kinds of gods are more prominent."

Athena broke through Ares' words.

"For example, we are called the Greek gods, while Loki is one of the Norse gods."

"So... people believe in different groups of gods but not all of us?"

Ares started laughing.

"Look, we're not all as unique as you are.

Some gods share the same place of authority.

For example, our good old man Zeus is the Greek god of thunder, but the Norse god of thunder is Thor, Loki's brother.

As you see, multiple gods sharing the same place of authority is a contradiction for existence, or at least that's how humans see it.

If there's a Greek and a Norse god of thunder, then obviously one of them doesn't exist, and if one of either group doesn't exist, then no one of them exists.

That's the humans logic for "Mythologies" that's how they call us."

Fortuna looked a bit overwhelmed.

"So... you want to tell me that there are even more gods than us?

Even thousands more?"

Athena smiled and bent forward, so their faces were at about the same height.

"Ex-act-ly"

"But... we're in groups... so does that mean we're like an army?"

He looked at both of them with an excited look in his eyes.

"Kind of... I guess?

Why do you ask something like that?"

Fortuna still looked excited.

"A group that's known for the strength of every little soldier and the overwhelming power of the generals.

That is absolutely amazing to watch or even be part of!"

Ares whispered to Athena again.

"He got excited over the concept of armies the very first time I showed him.

We all think it's because he was partly born through my blessing."

"Ooh, does that mean that the blessings you all gave each triggered something different in him?"

Athena asked with a curious smile.

"That's what we think, at least," said Ares, "for example, his eyes and wings are apparently something humans consider one of the highest forms of beauty."

"So that must be the blessing of Aphrodite, huh?"

"What are you always whispering here?!"

Fortuna yelled at both of them

"You're talking about me, right?!

Then talk about me while I'm able to hear you!"

Athena walked up to him and put her hand on his head.

"Don't worry, little Tyche.

But we're the grown gods, and we have things to talk about that you shouldn't be worrying about."

She said with a smile.

"At least try telling me!

I know that I'll understand!"

Ares sat down at the fire again and waved his hand, telling Fortuna to sit down next to him.

"You know, now, that the humans in Greece and Rome know you under two different names, they will pray to you with two different faces in mind, meaning you will have to put up with a lot more than expected."

Athena sat down next to them with a glass of ambrosia.

"So... I will have no free time, right?

Because I will have to answer prayers?"

He glanced over to Aphrodite that silently drank her glass while watching the war through the flame and muttering to herself.

"Athena was in Greece for a week and couldn't attend my birth because of that, right?

That's because she answered all of her prayers down there."

Athena spat out the ambrosia she had in her mouth and started coughing, which slowly turned into laughter.

"Because I answered prayers?!

Little Tyche, we answer prayers by giving the humans a small temporal raise in our place of authority.

For example, when humans pray to me, I grant them my wisdom in exchange for them to continue praying to me.

Listen well, because this will also be the answer to your previous question.

Each prayer gives the god that received it more might and more authority, in general, more power.

They will be known among more humans and so receive more prayers. after that, they will not only have temples in which the humans will bring us offerings, but we will become known even among gods."

She explained with a smile the entire time.

Ares looked at the fire with a bored face.

"There are 12 great gods in our group.

They're called the 12 gods of the Olymp, which we both are in as well.

Mt. Olympus is the tallest mountain in Greece, where the humans think we live on, though they don't know that all the places humans believe gods live in exist in the same realm.

The Olymp, Asgard, all this."

"So that means you two are one of the greatest gods in all of our group?!

That's amazing!"

Fortuna declared, with eyes that sparkled from excitement.

"It's kind of like that, yes, but there are differences in power even between those 12 gods.

For example, Ms. Knowledge here beat Poseidon in a fight over the human's gratitude, and now there's a city named after her."

"Aphrodite told me that gods give their blessings over cities a lot, so this is nothing special, right?"

Fortuna asked with an unimpressed face.

"Poseidon is one of the most powerful gods, though, right?

How did you beat him then?"

Athene smiled again.

She was about to lose hope as he said it wasn't anything special but felt prideful as he asked it.

"You know, it was a battle over gratitude, so we decided to give them presents.

Poseidon gave them a fountain that only produced saltwater, so it was useless to the people there.

I gave them an olive tree with the best possible olives they could receive, they loved my present, so I won the fight and the gratitude of the humans there."

Fortuna laughed a little.

"So you won because Poseidon was stupid?

That's not really a good win."

After he said this, even Ares had to chuckle a little.

Though Athena, again, looked broken by his words.

"Say, little Tyche... what do I have to do to make you look at me so excited like you did before as you were talking about armies?

Come, I want you to think that I'm impressive as well!"

Fortuna was a little shocked and also weirded out by her reaction.

"I... I uh... I-I'm sorry b-but... I don't know... I guess"

Ares touched Athena on her shoulder and pulled her down so she'll finally sit down.

"He's a kid, Athena.

Stop bragging about yourself and let him be, or else you'll influence him in an immoral way."

"Stop pushing Me!-"

She was about to yell at him again, though this time, as she turned around, she suddenly felt a menacing aura coming from him and kept quiet.

The room was suddenly filled with an awkward silence until a voice came from the outside that nearly sounded like someone singing, followed by an arrow being shot just between them.

"Oh no, not him."

Both of them said the same thing as the voice got louder, they both looked equally more annoyed, and the person didn't even enter the room yet.

"Listen, Fortuna, this is your first-ever close combat meet with him.

Remember your training, and I'll be gone!"

He suddenly stood up and went out the other way.

Athena stood close behind him and followed Ares without a second of hesitation.

"We don't like to do this, little Tyche.

But we'd prefer to keep away from him as long as it's possible."

Fortuna looked scared.... really scared.

Even Ares and Athena didn't want to be in the same room as him.

Who could this monster be?

This is all that Fortuna could ask himself.

He was too scared to move and looked at the entrance, prepared to meet one of the cruelest warriors in the existing world.

"Why did they leave me in here?

As bait?

Did they know he wanted me?"

He slowly stood up as he could hear the steps along with his voice