Chapter 66: Unravelling Destiny
The Persephone tavern was packed with extraordinary beings celebrating the Olympics in honour of Athena. From nymphs to satyrs to minor gods, everyone was watching the ensuing games and betting on their favourite mortals.
Apollo, Artemis, and Hermes got themselves a special and secluded box that was exclusive for esteemed guests and ordered drinks to the Nymph waiter, who looked all too nervous receiving their orders. And Apollo enchanted their box with his order authority, preventing anyone from prying or spying on them.
Then there was complete silence. None bothered to speak. Hermes began to fiddle with his new gadgets, and Artemis cleaned her already pristine silver bow - Stella - while they often spared glances at their brother, who was looking out the stained window at the rising sun.
Apollo turned to face them. They immediately looked away, attempting to appear ambivalent.
The Sun God could feel their nervousness, prompting him to internally sigh. His emotions almost went out of control at the sight of his weary sister. The diamond amulet of protection that he tied around her neck was gone. Despite his best efforts to protect and conceal her, she encountered mortal danger on her task, just as he had feared.
His little sister's task was dangerous and full of unknowns. He had a bad feeling about it as soon as he heard the news, and he instinctively tried to probe Destiny for answers, but all he found was chaos.
The results did not surprise him, but it did give him a pang of frustration; he was fateless, and his actions and existence weakened the fates of those close to him by a significant degree. Hecate's fate had already been severed, and the rest of his family's fate was on the verge of unravelling. He even had a significant impact on the fates of his angels.
Aside from the fact that it brought him great relief, it also meant that his prophetic abilities frequently failed when it involved his family. The fateless were the true harbingers of chaos on the tapestry of necessity. He admits to being somewhat reliant on his Destiny-related divinities. It always gave him the upper hand over others.
Apollo had pushed thoughts of Destiny aside and concentrated on his premonition. It didn't matter if he found nothing, but he could tell his sister was in for a tough road to the nine realms.
So he did the obvious: He tried to talk her out of her dangerous task, but his sister was obstinate; she knew of his strength, and that revelation had greatly frustrated her. He should have kept his braggart mouth shut while they were on vacation in the wilderness.
We are twins. Artemis had said. The sun and moon were said to always go hand in hand. So, why am I so weak in contrast to you?
Apollo was stumped for an answer to her question. How should he respond? Even he is not certain who granted him his authorities. And as one thing led to another, there was a large argument on the table.
For reasons unknown to him, his little sister believed that by abandoning everything on Earth and embarking on the quest to the nine realms, she would gain strength.
The disparity in strength between them frightened and frustrated her, and while he understood her feelings, he would not approve of her rash and irresponsible actions.
Artemis stood firm and was persistent in her actions and beliefs, as she had always been; it was something he had always admired about his sister, but he loathed it now.
Apollo could see her frustration in her eyes and voice as she yelled at him—the frustration with herself, with her frailty, with her weakness. It was excruciating to hear. He truly wanted to help his sister with her strength, but breaking the limits of divinity was never simple. It took Hecate her entire being to break free from the shackles of divinity.
And the path of liberation he had envisioned for his little sister will be even more difficult. To break free from the shackles of her divinity and walk freely on her divine path, she would have to slay and absorb the divinities of all Moon Gods and Goddesses to ascend to become the Primordial Goddess of the Moon. She didn't have his advantage, nor did she have his authority.
He hadn't mentioned this path to his sister. Apollo could only guess what she'd do if he said it. Despite her pragmatism, she also has her own share of extreme recklessness. He didn't want to see his sister get hurt.
Artemis was his twin, and though she may have been born first, it was hard not to call her "little sister" when she was most always in the form of a preteen. Regardless, he wanted to be the older sibling. He always wanted to protect her, and he never wanted to see her hurt. Anyone that tried to hurt her—in any way—was going to experience hell, courtesy of Apollo.
His protectiveness of her and everything else came back to bite him as he argued with his sister to a deadlock. Thankfully, their mother arrived just in time to save the day and talk some sense into his little sister, or so he thought until their mother refused to take either of their sides and forced them to reconcile.
Finally, they found common ground. Apollo journeyed to the realm of night, where he met Nyx and her dark children - truly a unique bunch. He requested the blessing of concealment from Nyx for his sister. She agreed; the benefits of being allies.
It would be an understatement to call Nyx's concealment divinity powerful; it was far more than that. The Primordial Goddess of Night has the ability to conceal things, turning them into a state of secrecy. The things she could conceal vary from her own self to environments, identities, actions, people, contents, and even rules and concepts of reality itself. Even the other Primordials wouldn't be able to see through her concealment.
It was overpowering and also perfect for his sister's task. Though the blessing from Nyx will be only a watered-down version of true concealment, it should be more than enough to protect her safety.
But, just in case, he crafted a diamond amulet imbued with his and their mother's power and tied it around her neck for her protection. He even wanted to add his summoning function, but Artemis refused, instead changing it so she could use it to return home at any time.
It should be enough. He had foolishly thought as he watched her depart with their mother to the nine realms….
"Your orders, your excellencies." A wood nymph said, pulling him away from his thoughts. She placed the glasses of nectar tremblingly and shuffled away.
Hermes packed away his gadgets and handed the glasses to Apollo and Artemis. They took it, and Artemis gulped it down all at once.
"Take it easy," Hermes chastised as her empty glass refilled itself.
Artemis nodded absentmindedly and drank another glass, this time more slowly.
Apollo said, after she had somewhat calmed down. "Tell us everything."
As Apollo and Hermes leaned forward in their seats, Artemis began recounting her journey in between drinks....
—————
The War of the Nine Realms was deteriorating. For centuries, Asgard has been fighting alone against the other realms. The weaker realms had fallen under the might of Asgard within a few decades. The war against the remaining realms—Vanaheim, Jotunheim, Svartalfheim, and Muspellhiem—was, however, the most difficult challenge Asgard had ever faced.
Odin had to personally lead the army to Vanaheim and Svartalfheim for the war. But even in the face of Odin's might and power, Vanaheim did not surrender. The Vanir would rather die gloriously in battle than surrender like Svartalfheim's cowards.
Given that Freyr, the leader of Vanir, would never surrender and was willing to sacrifice his people in the war, Odin proposed a truce in the form of his marriage to Frigga, the Vanir Goddess of the Hunt, Magic, Prophecy, and Motherhood, in order to unite their realms under his banner. Freyr didn't have much of a choice but to marry away his beloved daughter, so he agreed, despite knowing full well that Vanaheim would become a vassal of Asgard.
Odin then turned his attention to Jotunheim and Muspellheim, the realms of ice and fire, after conquering Vanaheim and Svartalfheim. The All-Father chose to conquer Jotunheim first, and the war there was terrible, even worse than the previous wars. Stars, planets, and star systems were being destroyed almost every day, and Odin hasn't even entered the battlefield. The repercussions of the war between Asgard and Jotunheim had even begun to affect earth, all of the Milky Way, and the nearby galaxies.
And it gradually began to worry the gods. Odin showed no signs of desiring to stop his expansion despite the fact that he was about to face Surtur next, the Primordial God of Fire, who wielded flames powerful enough to burn the entire universe in its crimson embers.
The council of godheads does not want a battle involving a primordial since it could potentially tear apart the entire universe. So they had been trying to persuade Odin on this, but all their efforts had been fruitless. The rulers couldn't sit still any longer, and they sent scouts from their pantheons to the edges of nine realms to assess the situation and gather information about war. As long as they don't cross the boundaries and intrude into the nine realms, there won't be much of a problem. Odin would turn a blind eye to them.
Naturally, in their pantheon, Zeus issued the quest to Artemis to let her scout the edges of the realms—except for Asgard, Vanaheim, and Muspellheim—to collect information on the overall situation of the war.
Artemis accepted the quest and entered the universe. She had departed the Milky Way through the portals in the Omnipotence City to travel to the Nine Realms. She approached the rim of the nine realms with the caution of a huntress. She travelled to various worlds and observed nature in each of them, as well as their differences and peculiarities. She was attempting to connect with the nature of the universe while simultaneously scouting and gathering information on the state of the weaker realms. Everything was going well, and she even managed to gain some strength through nature, but things began to fall apart at her final destination: Jotunheim.
Her timing couldn't have been worse; the war of the nine realms was reaching a boiling point in Jotunheim, and Hela and Lauefy were expected to enter the battlefield for the decisive battle.
"So you got involved in the war?" Hermes guessed silently.
"Sort of," Artemis nodded tiredly, "I was forced to join in the war."
She inhaled deeply and continued her recount. "The war was coming to an end. The armies of Asgard and Jotunheim had already retreated to safety. Hela, the Goddess of Death, arrived on Fenrir to face Laufey, the King of Frost Giants, for the final battle that will determine the victor of the war."
"I had just arrived on the edges of Jotunheim when Hela and Laufey exchanged their first blows. Hela instantaneously brought death upon a nearby star, causing it to explode in a supernova. She then harvested energy of the supernova and directed it at Laufey as a beam. The King of the Frost Giants also attacked Hela. The giant unleashed a colossal ice sword the size of Jupiter, causing the surrounding environments to reach the temperature of absolute zero."
"I wanted to retreat and continue the task as soon as they finished their battle. I was circumspect. However…." She came to a halt, her gaze fixed on her brother. He was just staring at her, his expression unreadable. She then went on, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. "Laufey found me. He saw right through the Night's concealment—I'm not certain how he did it—and immediately attacked me..."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone