STARS

Twinkling stars littered the inky heavens, their glittering bodies forming patterns in the endless black. Zeus slowly exhaled, yearning evident on his rugged face but the very next instant he stiffened. His body's outline blurred and he felt his very existence unravelling.

Death.

"Fuck!", he bellowed and a thin bright - blue layer of Divinity coated his body drastically decreasing the unknown effect but his injuries immediately flared up, making his skin pale. Yet, that was not the end of it. The layer of Divinity started to corrode and a horrendously powerful forcefield enveloped his body, almost making his spine curl and suppressing his Divinity.

"I SHALL NOT SUBMIT!", he boomed and his eyes gleamed with resolve. Divinity burst out of his body in large swathes, covering his body in a transparent cocoon. Yet even that began to corrode, but at a drastically reduced rate. A few seconds later, the forcefield receded but the corrosion remained.

Zeus sighed in relief before bending over and coughing his lungs out. Once he was done, he stood up straight but his hands gleamed gold with Ichor. He had to go through this every time he entered the Gloom - the Exoshpere's border, the space separating Earth and the Void of space.

It was where the World was both the strongest and the weakest.

It may sound contradictory but both statements were equally true. Any God who dared to enter the Gloom would find the World bearing down on them with every intention of erasing them from existence. No amount of Faith could possibly counter it, but their Divinity could do the trick. Of course, the corrosion would force said God to continuously burn through his or her Divinity, but the fact remains that Divinity was enough to temporarily suppress the World in the Gloom and only in the Gloom. Divinity would be useless against the World outside this place.

If that wasn't surprising enough, the Ancient Laws amounted to nothing here, which implied that the Gloom was the only place that Pantheons could interact.

Zeus took a deep breath before looking all around him, drinking in his surroundings. His electric-blue eyes emanated a childish wonder that one would not expect from the mighty God of Lightning and the Sky.

Stars twinkled, Planets danced while Galaxies twirled in the black expanse.

He raised a hand, hoping to pluck the shining white dots in front of him but all he grasped was air.

"So close, yet so far", he sighed, lightning unconsciously dancing on his outstretched palm.

He could see a thin barrier in the distance that marked the end of the Gloom. Mortals called it the Kármán line - an imaginary barrier beyond which Earth's atmosphere ceases to exist, but to the gods, it was nothing imaginary. No matter how much they struggled, they could never rip it open. It trapped them on this Hellhole where they had more restrictions than they had freedom. Even the Master Bolt couldn't as much as scratch the barrier, but Mortals and the products of their tinkering could pass by it as though it were indeed imaginary.

The Immortals were suppressed while the Mortals roamed unfettered.

Gods were chained while humans were free.

Ironic.

Zeus sighed once more before ripping his gaze away from the sky. His time here was limited. Once all his Divinity was corroded, he would be at the mercy of the World and his very being would be erased.

He flicked his wrist and a small, plain, white, circular slab appeared on his palm. It seemed to be the product of pottery and looked relatively mundane. He then closed his fist and crushed it, turning it into dust.

A few minutes passed but other than the occasional space junk whizzing by, nothing happened.

He frowned but at that very moment, a white dot appeared below. Something was hurling toward the Gloom at high speed. It was nothing before his own speed, but it was commendable nonetheless.

As the dot grew closer, its features grew clearer, that is if it had features in the first place. It was a ball of white energy that had a trail of light extending out from its back making it look something akin to a comet. It zoomed through the atmosphere before breaking into the Gloom and appearing before him.

"I never thought you'd come. I expected you'd send your grandson", he said, holding his hands behind his back and trying to look as intimidating as possible.

The energy ball flickered as though unstable before a feeble voice spoke.

"You are as powerful as the stories say, God of Lightning, your stores of Divinity are formidable. As for my grandson, Onaj does not have the required Divnity to do so."

A fit of coughing followed the reply.

"Apologies. The World is as unforgiving as ever."

"It indeed is", Zeus replied, his face now stoic, the childish wonder he'd previously displayed long gone.

"Why have you called me, Lord of Lightning?", the being questioned, his voice sounding as though he were on the brink of death. Rather than showing how weak he was, it showed how formidable Zeus was. The only real injury he had faced while heading toward the Gloom was internal and it was a trivial one.

"You should know. My end of our deal is complete. Thoon has been slain. Your vengeance is complete", he said, holding his head high, not a hint of shame appearing on his face.

The being remained silent for a few seconds, digesting the information, before speaking once more.

"How long will he take to return?"

"Millenia at best."

"Did you do it yourself?", the being inquired.

"Does that matter?", Zeus countered.

"No....it does not", the being muttered. "Purysho...I hope this brings you peace."

Zeus stood quietly while the being mourned.

"Do you believe I am stupid?". the being mumbled.

Silence.

"You may speak freely. We both know you can annihilate me in a fight and I cannot renege on our deal. Our Oaths prevent that."

"I do. Offering a replica of the Kava Menge for vengeance is stupidity at its finest. Os Kugu Jumo, I believe you to be too sentimental for a Cosmos king", Zeus said coldly.

Trades between Pantheons rarely occurred, if they ever. Not only did gods abhor their foreign counterparts by nature, but how many gods even had enough Divinity to last in the Gloom for longer than a few minutes? How many gods had the capability to reach the Gloom in the first place? The answer was close to none, thus, Kugu Jumo offering one of their prized weapons to him in exchange for an impermanent assassination was incredibly stupid in his eyes.

Os Kugu Jumo chuckled weakly. The energy ball around it was slowly fading and becoming more transparent, revealing a silhouette of a giant bird that was the size of an elephant.

"Thoon forcefully dragged Purysho out of the Gloom and into your territory and made him bear the World's wrath for going against the Ancient Laws. He betrayed our trust!"

"You sided with the Gigantes back then. You reap what you sow", Zeus snorted.

"And reap we did...", Kugu Jumo sighed. At this point, half of the energy ball had corroded, clearly revealing Kugu Jumo's true form.

He was a giant.....duck. His feathers were pure white and his beak and feet orange. If it were not for his size, he would've looked comical, but currently, all he looked was pitiful. A wing was badly bent out of shape and Ichor trickled down his beak. Getting into the Gloom was not as easy as Zeus made it look.

He raised his beak and stared directly into Zeus' eyes.

"At the very least, I care about my brothers. I fight for our honour! I fight to preserve our legacy! What do you fight for? Power? Influence? Tell me. What do you fight for?"

Zeus chuckled and stared right back at Kugu Jumo.

"The stars", he said, a smug grin gracing his face.

"What?"

Zeus looked up and the Universe seemed to reflect onto his pupils.

"I fight to reach the stars."

***

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