Gandora passed through the space between the heavenly realms with minor intrigue in her glowing red eyes.
Traveling between these different planes wasn't as uncomfortable as her mate, Bayle, had told her it was.
The experience was a bit like pushing your fingers through layers of plastic wrap.
Leave it to her mate to overly dramatize the experience...
After around 45 minutes of flight, Gandora passed through a rather strong barrier to arrive at an entirely new land.
The High Plane of Heaven, also known as Takamagahara is the domain of the Shinto deities and is akin to their Mt. Olympus.
Gandora landed on a great golden bridge connecting the heavens to the earth.
With powerful strides, her legs bounded across the shining structure; traveling farther and farther than the eye could see.
Miles and miles ahead on the bridge, there is only one figure standing between outsiders and the High Plane of Heaven.
He is a very tall man with a dark beard, a ruddy face and a long nose like a tengu.
His clothes are made from white fabric reflecting his status, and he leaned his body against a bejeweled spear.
His gaze was filled with a sense of dutiful disinterest- his mind filled only with the next time he would see his wife.
Sarutahiko Ōkami is the shining bright god who guards the path to Shinto paradise.
He is very strict in his duty, reflecting the ideology of nearly the whole pantheon.
Outsiders are rarely allowed in. Leaving is expressly forbidden without special permission.
It is like Greek Olympus, but the only difference is that the Shinto deities are more or less fine with these rules and wouldn't really step out to leave even if they were given opportunity.
They just aren't the type to wander outside unnecessarily. Their main interest is in keeping to themselves.
But this also means that they can be extremely unwelcoming to most, if not all, visitors.
Especially, large scaly ones.
When Sarutahiko saw a large, scaly beast bounding towards his homeland, he immediately tightened his grip on his famous bejeweled weapon.
He didn't think about where the creature had come from, or what it's goal for coming here might have been. It's only focus was on preventing a rather nefarious looking creature from making it's way into it's glorious homeland.
Tightening his grip on his famed weapon, the gems shone with a magical divine light that burned away all darkness.
With one hand and expert form, the shining god hurled the famed weapon at the incoming beast.
An arc of light shot across the bridge like a missile, heading towards the still-approaching Gandora.
She hadn't even so much as slowed down.
Before the weapon came in contact with her precious scales, a clawed hand formed from solidified darkness snatched the weapon out of the air.
Sarutahiko felt his entire lower body tense up.
His anxiety wasn't supplemented until he noticed the royal tent on the back of the beast and he saw a familiar woman poked her head out.
"Quite an un-warm welcome, Gatekeeper. I thought we had already done a lot to improve our people's relations since our last meeting."
The old Gatekeeper's face lit up.
"Empress! Apologies, I wasn't aware that it was you! Though I should have known since, the few occasions a demonic beast has arrived on the bridge it has belonged to your family."
Movement suddenly came from behind Ayaana and Abaddon poked his head out alongside hers.
"Who is the demonic beast? Have you ever seen a cute thing more precious than this? Other than my own daughters of course..."
Sarutahiko stared at Gandora more closely.
"...Ahahaha... I see the Uma-Sarru has a sense of humor. Welcome." The old man smiled.
Abaddon didn't know what was supposed to be funny.
"I should have known it was you two. I don't remember the last time Sarutahiko has willingly shown a guest to me in such surprising fashion."
Ayaana smiled politely at the old goddess. "So does that mean we have failed to surprise you?"
"You have indeed. I'm afraid you'll have to try again in another one thousand years."
"We'll put it down on our calendar."
The pair smiled at each other as Amaterasu stood up from her throne.
Both beautiful women embraced each other in a warm gesture that almost seemed familial for some reason...
When they separated, Amaterasu stared at Abaddon, who in turn was staring back at her.
"...Old beast."
"Jail bait."
"Decrepit fogey."
"Loli."
"You bast...!" Amaterasu started to snap but quickly reigned herself in rather than let the black dragon win.
But as her face had already turned red, Abaddon knew that he had been victorious.
"...What manner of game is this?" Bashenga asked with a raised brow.
Abaddon chuckled as he clasped his hand on Amaterasu's shoulder.
"My son, this
young
lady is a family friend. I've had her acquaintance ever since she ascended to her current position."
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Amaterasu heated up her shoulder until it was easily matching the temperature of the sun.
But Abaddon was the cosmos itself. He holds our sun, and millions more like it, within himself at every moment of every day.
So when Amaterasu realized she couldn't burn him, she swatted his hand away like a buzzing fly.
"Your wrinkly old father is a continual scourge on my life. Just because he's older than sin, he believes he somehow has some leeway to treat e everyone around him as if they are helpless babies... But your mothers are the loveliest women I have ever known."
"...An astute observation." Bashenga nodded.
Ayanna's eyes began to water.
"Did you hear that!? Our baby said we were lovely!"
"Pull yourselves together, mothers!"
"No, give us a hug!"
"Stop touching me in public! Why must all of you primordial goddesses be the same!?"
While Ayaana chased their son around the throne room, Abaddon and Amaterasu stayed behind watching them in amusement.
"...So... how is he?" she finally asked.
Abaddon didn't need to ask who she meant. "You two work together quite closely. Are you telling me you honestly don't know?"
"...Forget I asked." Amaterasu said flatly.
Taking pity on her, Abaddon smiled apologetically.
"...Apophis is doing well. I believe he might like to rekindle your friendship again."
For the first time since their arriving, Amaterasu became stone-faced, cold, and empress-like.
"...We don't always get what we want in life. Even if we are gods."