Chapter 49 - Athena, Something And Death

Ethers, an island in the far north where the holy city was located, the last city a god ever set foot on the mortal world.

With a small population, the city could also be called a village around a large temple surrounded by several statues of gods.

There was a statue of a man with a large ax and a dead deer on his shoulders, a naked woman with long hair who carried a sword, a girl with a large book in her hands and others.

Athena looked at it with total disinterest. She couldn't care less about the gods who sat in their comfortable seats somewhere in the world, watching so much misfortune happen in the world.

"Aren't they beautiful?" A priest asked.

Athena looked at the old man beside her with the same disinterest as she looked at the statues.

"I've seen better..." Athena replied thinking of the Greek sculptures.

"Athena, let's go! It's about to start!" Lobana yelled in the distance.

"Go without me. My problem is with these guys." Athena responded by pointing to the temple and heading into the building.

Inside the temple, on the walls were several paintings depicting the gods acting in the world a long time ago.

Hija, the god of calamities, throwing plagues, diseases and natural disasters on a kingdom.

Asha, the fertility goddess, with a baby in her arms and surrounded by several other children.

Ertala, the goddess of war, delighting in the show that mortals showed her with their wars.

Rugar, the god of dragons, towering over a mountain with several other dragons, of different colors, flying around him.

Verika, the earth god, molding mountains and dividing valleys with his hands.

The gods dotted the painting on both walls. There were so many that if Athena started counting them, it wouldn't be over until the end of the day.

Athena made her way to the altar without paying much attention to the painting, but then she was forced to fix her eyes on the art.

On the wall behind the altar, the painting on both walls was completed in one and in the middle of all gods there were three entities with their faces covered.

A man, a woman and a child stood among the gods as if they were supervising everyone else.

"This is the trinity." A soft voice echoed off the walls.

Athena looked around, looking for the source of the voice and rested her eyes on a black man with long braids and black eyes without light. He wore a long white blanket wrapped around his body and had two gold bracelets on his arms.

"Trinity?"

"Yes." The man walked to Athena calmly. "They who gave life to the other gods."

Athena stared at the man, wondering the way he looked at her, not looking at her, as he smiled.

"And who are they?"

"The woman in white on the right is Neph, the gentle-looking man on the left is Viha, and the child in the middle is Meno."

"Death, Life and Time?" Athena stared at the image of Neph, of Death.

The woman with a veil covering her face was nothing like Athena imagined.

Neph conveyed an air of elegance, maturity and serenity as she guided souls.

Dirty and tormented souls passed through Death's hands and came clean to Viha like a bow of veil.

Viha, in turn, guided the souls around the world with gentleness, while creating more and more with the help of Meno, who like a dictator, limited the time of the newborns and watched over their destinies.

(Hahaha...) Athena mentally laughed and dismissed the image she saw.

The Death she knew wasn't nearly the same as in the painting.

For Athena, Death was selfish, jealous, controlling, and at the very least, crazy. A child who had found a new toy, she, and didn't want to let go.

"How can I talk to them?" Athena asked the man who accompanied her in her moment of silence.

"Talk to the trinity?" The man smiled. "My child, they are listening to us right now. We are at their house after all."

(This man...) Athena looked up with a serious look.

Athena never liked priests, whether in this world or the other, they always seemed to want something from you, but this man, even without seeing it, seemed only to look at your faith.

"Right... Your name?"

"I am Hecius, one of the temple priests of all the gods."

"Well then, Hecius, I am Athena. I came to talk to Death."

"Feel free. I'm sure she'll heard." The man said and disappeared into the temple just as he appeared.

After watching the man leave, Athena sat on the altar step without any respect or reserve and faced the door.

Athena didn't know how to pray, so she just urged Death's presence into her mind and calmly waited.

***

After an hour of looking at the entrance to the place, Athena saw someone approaching slowly.

From the silhouette, Athena could tell the person was a woman, but there was something odd about that person.

With every step she took, Athena's skin prickled as if she were cold.

(Huh? Scared? Am I scared?)

Athena trembled as see that wicked aura around the silhouette, that was different from Death or demons.

The thing was less than ten feet from Athena, but she still couldn't see what and who it was.

Athena couldn't even get up and was sweating to the point of dampening her dress. She was breathing hard as if there was no air in the place, her nose started to bleed and her mind couldn't focus.

(Ah... Aaaagh...)

A sinister smile suddenly appeared in that sea of ​​evil and then Athena felt an icy blow to her chest and something warm trickle down her legs.

"Kurgh!" Athena couldn't even cry out in pain from the dread. "Argh.."

Slowly Athena's vision became more and more blurred and when she could no longer see anything, she heard a fragile, dead voice.

"That doesn't belong to you."

Athena's heart, which had been racing, had now stopped and her body was rapidly losing heat.

"Go your own way..."

Athena felt something leave her already weak body and felt even weaker.

She felt empty.

"The time... Athena, come quickly... I'm waiting..."

..

...

....

"Aaah...~ Why is that?" Someone complained in a misty place. "It was so fun to see a mortal become a god... Who spoiled my fun?"

The person squirmed like a child, but everything was so cloudy that couldn't see who was complaining so much.

"Oowaah! Did you wake up? If you woke up, say you're awake!"

Suddenly large, wicked eyes appeared.

Dark eyes, with deformed pupils that looked like a beam of darkness dancing freely in the eyeballs.

"I was waiting for you to wake up." The person approached, but it was not possible to see her face or what her body was like.

There was just something like a white shadow, or maybe a blur.

"You know how difficult it was to interfere to bring you here? Frankly... Gods aren't omnipotent, you know?"

The person continued to complain.

Couldn't tell what time it was or even if time existed there.

"So what? Are you going to tell me what happened or are you going to look like a scarecrow who lost his arms?"

The person leaned forward, getting very close.

"Me? Not me..."

Nothing came to mind... Maybe a memory loss?

"I don't know... I was..."

A pain in the chest bothers and the heart seems to stop.

"I died?"

"Huuuh? Hell, no!"

The person looked stunned by the question.

"I don't understand why you look so angry..."

"First of all, is this a…dream?"

Why a question?

"Second, of course I'm pissed!" The person threw it's arms in the air in contempt. "I'm a goddess, you know!"

"AND?"

"And I've never encountered anything that could interfere with a god's powers, but even so, I can't control your class anymore."

Suddenly everything was clear and the memories kept coming back.

"Death?"

"What you want?"

"What was that?"

"Did you go deaf after I brought your soul here? I don't know, okay? What? Why that face?"

"Death, I came here for two reasons."

"Huh? Isn't it because I brought you?"

"Not here! Here, in the temple of all the gods." Athena sighed. "First, get this thing off of me. Second, I need to know who brought me into this world."

Death paced and then stared at Athena with haunting eyes.

"First of all, the first question wasn't a question but an order. Don't order me around." Death narrowed its eyes menacingly and then relaxed, floating on its back in the air(?). "All I know about you coming to this world is that I couldn't get your soul three times and that's why it took my interest, but first..." Death made an awkward silence and then pushed the thought away. "Neither Meno and Viha know who brought you, but we know one thing."

"And what would it be?"

"Do you know the difference between you and the other mortals in this world?" Death spun in midair as if rolling on a bed. "Ah! It's not immortality. You're not the only one after all."

Athena frowned, thinking about the difference and several things came to her mind, but even before saying, Death denied it.

"No, that's not it either. There have been others who have been reincarnated... Although you haven't been reincarnated..." Death narrowed her eyes again thoughtfully and then threw the thoughts away like a paper ball in a dumpster . "Well, whatever."

"So what? Are you going to say it or are you going to keep it up until my body gets old?"

"The difference is your soul." Death's eyes smiled. "Your soul is one step away from being like a god and one step away from being a mortal. Your existence is unique. A demigod wouldn't be right, but it's not wrong either."

"I still do not understand..."

"The mortals of all the worlds have to work hard to be strong like you. But you and your nymphs... What are your nymphs anyway?" Death looked interested for a second and then continued talking. "You feed on what you kill and make it your strength." Death spun and turned upside down. "Like the gods, but more efficiently because you can kill all the time. Apart from special existences like me, Viha and Meno, the other gods need sacrifices and offerings to get strong."

"Got it…" Athena narrowed her eyes in thought. (That means my body and the girls still work like we're still in the game...)

"You seem to know something..."

"No, I don't know anything." Athena shook her head and stood on what she believed to be the floor. "Alright.... Now, get rid of the class you imposed on me, please?"