Ch 13-The First Calm

POV: Grey Willbeck

"Ugh..!" I blinked as I woke up, laying on a comfy bed. It was a good thing it was nice compared to the muddy and hard ground I was lying on earlier. Wait, hard and muddy.....then it struck me!

I jerked up from the bed and scanned my room: it was unfamiliar. There was a desk with a rocking chair facing a bookcase. Next to it was my sword. I grabbed it, unsheathed it and was ready to march out as the door creaked.

"Hey, Grey!" A child-like voice spoke, "It's been a long time since you woke up! It's been three days!"

I looked at the door as a tiny orange-head pops into the room, whistling. He brought in a bottle of wine which I snatched and gulped down.

"Grey! That's my wine!" a roar came from the door as it was struck down, "Give it back!"

"Finders keepers, Cecil!" I chuckled as I took another gulp before Cecil grabbed my throat, knocking all the wine on top of me as I began choking. My last epitaph flashed in front of my eyes: 'Here lies Grey Willbeck, an orphan who fought for the sake of a family'. Not a bad ending, I guess.

"Hiya!" Firenze roared. "You are gonna hurt yourself, lady!"

"What the fuck?" Cecil muttered before turning around and slamming his head onto the ground by sweeping his legs. "Who taught you to speak so disrespectfully, young man?"

"A cranky monkey," he groaned as he swiftly regained balance.

"A monkey? Now don't lie!" Cecilia grumbled.

"You aren't aware," he muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing. I was forbidden from saying anything regarding this matter to you. Also, why don't you tell your friend Grey to spend more time with his friends?"

"Now listen here you brat!" I began, "Do you not understand-" I was silenced by a finger on my lips.

"Listen here, sir Grey!" he smirked, "I would like to tell you something. I understand that you want revenge for your dead mentor according to Nico. I understand that you need to concentrate. But for God's sake, if you do things alone, you are nothing but weak."

I snorted. What is this brat rambling about? He doesn't understand anything about sacrifice. He doesn't know why I don't want people to suffer. Nico and Cecilia were supposed to be living normal lives, but they followed me to military school. If they have tagged along, it's not my fault.

"But you see," He continued with his ramble, "Let me ask you a question: how would you react if they died?" I was taken aback for a moment, then I remembered Director Willbeck, how her body was covered as she was taken out on a stretcher, how she lay lifeless as we lost our only home. My blood boiled as I remembered that day, retribution the only thing that I lived for.

"After your revenge," he continued, "Will you do what Oliva did?" I snarled as I heard him call her that on a first name basis.

"Miss Cecilia," he tugged her arm, "Please leave," she then left the room. He then turned to me and queried, "Don't tell me, you don't know what to do after your revenge?"

What to do after my revenge? What happens after I avenge Director Willbeck? I..never thought of it. But honestly, I don't care about it.

"I will leave you," he went for for the door and opened it, "But before I leave, the reason why Cecilia came here was to tell you, that she's pregnant," with those words, the door shut, leaving me shaking.

*

POV: Kain Klenton

"Gramps," Rudolf sighed, "Why did you tell Firenze to not reveal anything regarding this matter?"

He strutted in circles around my office, restless after the incident regarding Nico's and Cecilia's kidnapping. Mayla had joined us a bit later after the attack with Gungnir, but if my guess is right, Vera let her take the spear according to Shao's message to her.

"Xeres," I sighed, "Long ago, I thought that I was the strongest in this world. If we are talking about other worlds, I would not say so."

"What do you mean by other worlds?" he jumped onto my desk and held me by the collar, implying that he was excited. I gave a weak smile, remembering how that lanky and thin man forced me to retreat. He was stronger than me, way too strong.

"Yes," I sighed, "Our friend Uto, is not from this world."

Mayla's eyes widened as Rudolf stopped dead in his tracks as he stared at me with the face of Steve Harvey.

"I am sorry, what?" he bellowed calmly.

"I meant other worlds," I snapped my fingers at him, "And what about etiquette?"

"Sorry," he muttered as he sat down. Mayla put her hand on her mouth, trying to suppress her laughter.

"Rudolf," I was speaking from my throat now, "There exists other worlds other than ours. Those with the minor Legacies won't know this at all, as they were made by humans a long time ago. The concept of making them has been lost to all, so we cannot make them now. However, some of them were so strong that they could have been as strong as the Major Legacies. So to suppress their power, an etheric seal was placed on them. They came to be known as semi-major Legacies. Now, this very same seal can be used by the Major Legacies. If one know how to properly use them, they can do wonders! Not all of its abilities are known, but one of them is omniscience to a certain degree."

"Gramps." he shrugged. "Then wouldn't they not have a consciousness?"

Mayla sighed. "Not everything is known about them in the first place, even for me or Lord Klenton. If you want to explore it, that's upto you."

"Can we interact with people on other plains?" he asked, with shining golden eyes. 

"Yes." She smiled

Rudolf's eyes were wide open as he slowly walked up to me and was going to ask for 'that'.

"Rudolf!" I raised my hand, motioning him to stop in his tracks, "Will you do me a favor?"

He growled, backing away as he nodded his head. "I want you," I ordered, "To train both Avier and Firenze. If you are successful, I will grant it to you."

He smirked and bowed, "Yes, sir," before leaving the room.

*

POV: ???

I walked through the halls of Swarga whilst searching for Hito. After my attempt to contact Zalgnity's vessel, he seemed to be quite furious because of the strict rule that we were not supposed to touch or manipulate a Fallen again. Then again, it wasn't Imhullu's fault to begin with.

Fortunately, Wukong had let it pass due to his carefree attitude. It still irritated me that he still banished Zalgo despite me providing alibis and evidences which denied his involvement with the Fallen. Now, he might be out for my blood or maybe not. I will need something to calm his nerves a bit. However, To cool that hot-headed attitude of his, a neutral party is essential for "negotiations", as he put it. If an argument between two gods goes haywire, it would lead to the destruction of entire universes with every move of ours, so we had to be as calm as rational as possible. I doubt that an Ascended can keep that up, however.

As I was lost in my thoughts, a tug jerks my robes and I turn around to see a small girl in rags and soot, yet with shining brown eyes look up at me. I smile as I pick up everyone's favorite goddess before moving on.

"Hestea," I smiled as I hoisted her petite figure onto my shoulder.

"It's been a long time, like what? A while?" She chuckled as she waved her hands in the air. Hestea may be the goddess incharge of maintaining Swarga, it was a very important job despite being a meagre one. Her lively personality was cherished by almost all of us as she was the friendliest.

"I don't know. We don't exactly keep track of time, do we?" I chortled, "Also, can you please do me a favor?"

"I want ice-cream!" She chimed, which made me burst into laughter.

"All right," I conjured an ice-cream and the moment I was done, it dissipated into thin air.

"Wo, qhah du eeu nheed qwelh blip?" Hestea queried as she guzzled the ice-cream down her throat.

"I want to have a 'negotiation'," I air-quoted, "With Mr.Hitorima?"

"Gwoh, blat Shashsuckit? Qhah eeu bonneah blark eeth gim?" she said as she gulped down the ice-cream. I tripped and fell on the floor as I burst into laughter. I began banging the floor.

"It hurts!" I heard a small sob from my shoulder and looked around only to realise that I had fallen along with Hestea. I jerked up and picked her up as I began rubbing her face and whispering sweet nothings to calm her down, which wasn't very effective. I carried her bridal style as I rubbed her forehead. This invited the wrath of a few gods on the way to the Akashic Records, where Hito had wanted to meet me. Like the others, he had a soft spot for her, so it was better to calm her down before we got there. By the time we had arrived at the Akashic Records, Hestea had calmed down and was now suckling her thumb. I looked at the door behind which the Akashic Records were sealed by Wukong. There lay a man with furry head, dark skin humanoid with a right eye hole, two antlers of light adorning him, which seemingly take on the form of antlers, and sharp nails.

"Took you long enough," He grumbled as he waved.

"Come now, we have plenty of time to talk about this, Hito," I nudged him. He growled in response.

"Don't forget, Marduk! Do not assume that you are safe just because you bought Hestea to ride along!"

*

A few hours after calming down Hito that it was a lapse of memory -we technically can't forget things, but we can put things as such on the back burner- he accepted my apology with a warning that he would hunt me down the next time I pulled off such an attempt. That dude requires some humbling medication before I snap and eradicate his metaphorical spine.

"Well anyways, I will see you around! I need to catch up with cleaning!" Hestea gleamed as she dashed away .

As I continued wandering through Swarga, since that's what we gods do in our freetime, I happened to stumble by the universe where we had left the fallen to their fate ages ago. I bent down as I scooped up the universe in the palm of my hand before expanding it. I was nervous, hoping that Hito had not caught on my plan yet. I willed vivum to scan its existence to trace more of what he was doing. Wait, Kitsune? Not just ordinary Kitsune, the nine-tailed variants.

Hitorima was initially a yokai that used to snuff out the lights and fires at night, especially on cold winters. Despite being a mid-grade yokai initially, he ascended the ranks over the years to take over Indra's and Erebus's places, two gods that had died in the conflict against the Fallen back then.

"You know that he will not spare you if you pull that stunt again." A voice whispered behind me.

"Lord Wukong," I smiled as I, "but you aren't opposed to it, are you?" the old monkey chuckled at my retort.

"I have noticed the recent influx of Kitsune as well," Wukong sighed, "Go and investigate for your answers."

"Why will you not tell me?" the old monkey simply shook his head as he walked away.

"Guess I have no other choice, huh?" I sighed as I let the universe suck me in.