Son of Kaos (PJO Chaos Gacha)

[EntropyEnginear]

Can you explain this part a bit more? Is it because you begin to pre-emptively qualify for the requirements to break the curse?

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Each chaos gacha curse comes in three different fulfillment clauses. One and done(rare), ones with escape clauses(common), impossible to break(intervention) prevents the user from rolling the curse gacha), multiversal enmity(spawns creatures from the familiar gacha to attack the user and those around him on a regular basis, no escape clauses given either be design or as an oversight by Bronz, would urge author to give it an escape clause).

None of the curses are lethal, and ALL of the escape clauses can be found in the gacha. For accepting a curse you gain gacha tickets, for solving the curse you get a gacha ticket. Meaning each curse and it's subsequent gacha roll inevitably breaks another curse quickly escalating till either all the curses are gone, or the intervention curse is rolled.

This is the ultimate curse gacha cheese and why intervention curse is a thing to begin with. It is the ultimate hail Marry of the Chaos Gacha, an exchange of suffering for a hope of an edge against the house.

By making curses cast at Creed transform into curse gacha tickets you have made him a ticking time bomb allegory for Free Will, where the gods or fate attempting to curse free will inevitably strengthening it till it reaches the level of Creed's siblings.

Also… there's NOWHERE in the gacha that says you lose the gacha after death. Not a single iota says that it goes away when the user bites it. So even death wouldn't stop the rolls. Sure it would suck if he was killed, but for all intents and purposes Creed is inevitable, who's only weakness is being boring.

 

[Bakkughan]

By making curses cast at Creed transform into curse gacha tickets you have made him a ticking time bomb allegory for Free Will, where the gods or fate attempting to curse free will inevitably strengthening it till it reaches the level of Creed's siblings.

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This... this opens up quite a few doors I hadn't considered before.... oh yessss, this is gonna be fun...

 

[EntropyEnginear]

Only thing is I would suggest you either fix the curse multiversal emnity to give it an escape clause(seems out of place), or lean into it as being an example of the universe being mad about their son being cursed.

 

[Chaosfox13]

Also… there's NOWHERE in the gacha that says you lose the gacha after death. Not a single iota says that it goes away when the user bites it. So even death wouldn't stop the rolls. Sure it would suck if he was killed, but for all intents and purposes Creed is inevitable, who's only weakness is being boring.

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...Huh. Never thought of that. Yeah, for many magical settings, death is really more of a "discorperation and forcible planear banishment" than a capital E End, even if stories still treat it as such. I could see certain bodily traits getting messed up, but other than that, yeah.

Its odd how little stories cover that, considering the sheer number that start immediately after death. Like, I get that thats usually just a framing device really, but still.

 

[Sleepy Goblin]

Shut up you damn old Crones...

He should get a least a silver for cussing out the fates.

"I'm the master of my own fate, like me you ugly old witches." Watch everyone look at him in shock with him showing respect all of them and then instantly turning and calling out the Fates. And no one can do anything about it because even khaos rewards him for doing it. He receives a coin right there and then for calling them out and in the eyes of the Gods it would seem like khaos is rewarding him for cussing them out and agrees with him. It'll be funny because it would only piss the fates off more.

Part of me was hoping that someone would at least point out that they would overstep if they killed him because they would piss off the other children of Khaos. Which honestly on the totem pole is much higher than them. Possibly funny if their Grandma Gaia comes in and says you do not decide his fate he's my little brother. Going to SmackDown on her grandchildren .

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[Achievement Recognized]
[Insult The Bitches Witches of Fate]
[Reward: Gold Skill Drachma ×1]

 

[firefrost12123]

Wonder how zeus and the fates would interact since i don't remember how they are in PJO but in mythology Zeus is the leader of them, like Apollo and the muses.

 

[ENDDRAGON]

I wonder what happens if the Servant Voucher is rolled? Imagine if Orion shows up.

 

[Bakkughan]

Wonder how zeus and the fates would interact

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In mythology, there are different backstories for the Fates depending on the writer (as is the case for just about everything else, so that tracks). The older account from Hesiod states they are daughters of Nyx and Erebus and determine even the fate of the gods. They are thus sisters of Keres (black fates), Thanatos and Nemesis. However, Hesiod later contradicts himself and states that they are daughters of Zeus by his second wife, the Titaness Themis, making the Moirai siblings to the Horae (Law, Justice and Peace). While thematically, Themis fits neatly as she is connected to both prophecy and future (she is the grandmother of the Twin Archers and the one who first built the Oracle of Delphi) and the natural order of things and society specifically (an overlap with various roles of Zeus in his function as judge and king) there is one big snag that makes me not want to use that explanation.

The idea that Zeus remarried (only to divorce Themis out of fear they'd make even more powerful children) is just too messy for the purposes of this fic. It would be nice to bring in the Horae considering Ethan is currently at trial (I might make them Zeus' kids) but that would also drag this part down too much and I feel like we really need to get the next Arc going sooner rather than later.

That leaves either Nyx and Erebus as their parents which could work (I'm aware the later series which I have not read and likely never will, feature Nyx as an antagonist) or the account of Plato, which claims that Ananke is their sole parent. Ananke is the goddess/personification of inevitability and necessity (and according to some ancient accounts, was worshipped in some places in the same temple as Bia, violent unrelenting force). Her Roman name is literally Necessitas. She is the only one (besides on ocassion Zeus in his role as divine judge) who can overrule the destiny foreseen by the Fates and she's highly respected/feared by the gods. Simonides wrote: "Even the gods don't fight against Ananke".

I'm leaning towards using Ananke even though she is more obscure because she ties in really neatly to both Kaos and Kronos (who Riordan, like so many others, have conflated with Chronos who is Time itself, Kronos is just King of the Titans and is more associated with harvest than time). Her backstory is that Ananke formed from primordial nothing alongside Time and they intertwined as snakes throughout the primordial void. In doing this, they crushed the primordial egg of creation which created the earth, the heaven and the seas, thus giving birth to the other Protogenoi. This would make Ananke a (half-)sibling to Ethan and intrinsically his complete and total polar opposite (especially as I'm leaning more and more towards him being the Protogenoi of Free Will, an agent sent by Kaos to upset the current, quite abysmal, status quo on behalf of the demigods).

How is that relevant to the next chapter? Not immediately, save for the fact that they are not daughters of Zeus and are instead agents of forces greater than he, even if he reigns supreme upon Mount Olympos itself.

Servant Voucher

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As someone who has never watched a single Fate series, I had to look up what the description for this roll was and uhhmm.... they recharge mana how???

 

[ENDDRAGON]

As someone who has never watched a single Fate series, I had to look up what the description for this roll was and uhhmm.... they recharge mana how???

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That's one way, it's essentially any biological fluid like blood and stuff. Type-moon is a great setting though it has a lot of lore due to parallel universes. Artemis and Orion can actually be summoned. Type-moon Heracles is amazing. Really teaches some stuff too. Like Europa who was Zeus's favorite mortal woman. You could try FGO it's a gacha game, but it's got a pretty great story. An upcoming event is the 30M download campaign which let's you pick a free story 5 star as well as rate ups for some powerful Servants. Though the rate up will be daily as it will have a multitude of characters. I recommend watching some lore videos on YouTube.

Here's something from the story.

In the Atlantis Lostbelt of FGO
Orion concludes Artemis broke long ago unable to conceive asking for help because she is a goddess. He calls himself a fool for refusing to destroy her because he didn't want to hurt and her a fool because she didn't want to hurt anyone. He believes she should have come to Earth like her counterpart, even if it meant she would end up hurting others or getting hurt herself. Then, out of love and compassion for Artemis, he fires the arrow with Ortygia Amore Mio. Artemis concludes she can do nothing about the arrow flying toward her, but she fires her primary cannon anyway. She doesn't understand why she reached this conclusion, nor why Orion broke his oath to destroy her. Orion tells her she wasn't acting rationally when she destroyed her terminal along with Hestia Island. She acted out of emotion, out of anger and jealously. Orion therefore concludes these past 10,000 years must have been unbearable for her and he couldn't bear seeing her in constant distress. Orion's Noble Phanstasm pierces through Artemis' beam. It is an arrow created solely for Artemis, fired out of Orion's love for her. It ignores all of Artemis' defenses, evades every obstacle in its path, and soon strikes Artemis herself. Artemis sees an endearing memory between Orion and her Proper Human History counterpart. The moment it struck her Artemis realized the arrow was Orion's very essence, a Noble Phantasm activated at the cost of his life to destroy her. It held no animosity toward her, instead it was kind, merciful, compassionate, merciful, sorrowful, and loving. Artemis realizes Orion loved his Artemis as an equal and she was jealous of that. She knows she isn't his Artemis but she is nonetheless happy Orion cared enough to aim his arrow, his love, at her. She sees the memory of when Orion rejected her counterpart's offer to make him a god so they could be together always. Orion accepted the limitations of being a mortal human, feeling that one day him being part of humanity will become very important. Though she didn't quite understand it, Artemis nonetheless accepted Orion's decision. She then asked him if he would save her as a human if she ever needed help as a god. Artemis concludes Orion would save her as a human. She calls him an arrogant, foolish human filled with foolish sentiment, but that is why it's beautiful to her. She then shuts down completely, finally able to sleep at long last, and her crumbling body explodes.

 

[Chaosfox13]

Its actually a bit of an interesting debate whether Ananake and Chronos are strictly speaking "descended" of Chaos. The void wasnt there and then they formed in it. There was the void and time and nessecity were already there.

One interpretation being the void couldn't be there before "Time", because without time there isn't a before. The appear to have co-occored

Now, this doesn't strictly assert that they aren't its kids, but it does add interesting ambiguity.

Then there are the myths in which χάος is a primordial distinct from whatever it is primordials formed out of. The "Middle Air" below Aether, above Erebus, the Gap between Earth and Sky. Clear/gray, as opposed to Blue, or Black.

This is utterly irrelevant as this is obviously not the interpretation your using, I just though it was neat.

 

[Bakkughan]

In the Atlantis Lostbelt of FGO

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Woah, that's... a lot to unpack. I even understood some of those words. Funnily enough (and mild spoilers here) but Orion will actually feature in Arc 2 of this story. Might be something there to draw from, we'll see.

Its actually a bit of an interesting debate whether Ananake and Chronos are strictly speaking "descended" of Chaos.

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While I like the idea of keeping Kaos as the ultimate beginning of everything, the primordial Void from which all things that Exist sprang forth (thus fuelling the gacha, Ethan gets blessed with tiny fragments it pulls from a sea of potential), I also like the idea of establishing Ananke as elder to the physical realm of earth and sky and so on. Even Tartarus, though a terrifying hellpit, is a physical location, whereas Ananke is a driving concept.

Maybe I'll go one step further (this is fanfiction after all, so why not, who's stopping me?) and actually ditch Chronos as her consort, since in Riordan's version he and Kronos are the same entity. I think it could be cool if she got the Fates through immaculate conception, makes the conflict between her and Ethan a more clean, pure 1v1. Like at the closure of Arc 2 (some bigger spoilers here as not even Patreon is that far ahead) the Fates might not get the outcome they'd been angling for regarding Ethan, so they go running to mommy to do something about the big mean bully that doesn't do what they want and that sets up the Big Bad of the next Arc.

Hmmm, I'm liking her more and more, there's a lotta mileage this story can get outta her....

 

[ENDDRAGON]

Funnily enough (and mild spoilers here) but Orion will actually feature in Arc 2 of this story. Might be something there to draw from, we'll see.

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An interesting story is that Artemis had a friend named Aura who was a minor wind goddess. Anywho one day they're out hunting and Aura makes a joke about how she's more fitting as a virgin goddess than Artemis due to her tomboy body and flat chest compared to Artemis's large breasted body. That leads to Artemis having Dionysus fall in love with Aura and Dionysus then drugs and rapes her. When Aura wakes up she goes crazy and kills all the men in the surrounding area and when she gives birth to twin boys she throws one into the sky and when it lands and dies she eats it. Artemis saves the other one and Aura decides to drown herself. Zeus takes pity on her and turns her into a spring.

Also it is implied that the only reason Orion is as insane and hateful as he is, is because Apollo cursed him for falling in love with Artemis seeing as he never showed such behavior in the past. His time in Tartarus may have made this even worse. It seems like no one is aware that Apollo cursed Orion.

 

[EntropyEnginear]

A servant requires magical energy to continue to exist because Gaia rejects their existence, they are also undead meaning they do not replenish their energy like normal. They regain their energy by taking it from outside sources of magic. This can be mystical items, leylines, or most commonly people. Now for the most part summoning a servant creates a contract that lets the person fuel them remotely.

Of course without a contract they can absorb the energy via consuming parts of a person, from their soul, to their blood, to their tears. Or most commonly via acting like little slutty succubuses and fucking people to get the juice.

mundane people really only have power in their soul, so they commonly get their souls eaten by the depraved who need power. Anyway… there's a few notes, supporting a servant by yourself is hard and costs a lot which is why all servants for the most part are supported by a grail(massive magic generator).

Beyond that, there is the fact Gaia the fate verse type which could bitch slap all of the pjo Greek gods and primordials without noticing is not a thing here, neither is Alaya the human half of the planet. Meaning there is no degradation pushing a servant to not exist. Then there is the fact the air is just more magical and full of literal fucking magic mist, meaning there's ton of magic around to consume.

There's also the fact they are probably counted as familiars and therefore are partially supported by the gacha. Soooo don't be concerned about the power consumption thing… although given what I know about the servants MANY of them will try and use that as an excuse to get a deep dicking from their master.

 

[ENDDRAGON]

There's also the fact they are probably counted as familiars and therefore are partially supported by the gacha. Soooo don't be concerned about the power consumption thing… although given what I know about the servants MANY of them will try and use that as an excuse to get a deep dicking from their master.

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I mean more magic power isn't a bad thing. Take Hippolyta for example. If she has enough magic power then she could cut the world in half. The CG probably helps you maintain your Servant's existence, but for stuff like Noble Phantasms it'll probably need your own energy.

 

[Arrowman]

The Parentage of the Morai varies from version to version.
Are they children of Ananke here?
What would such a Primordial think of Ethan?



I hope Artemis and Hera get their dues.






Edit: Oh.... already answered.


Very interesting.

 

[Bakkughan]

There's also the fact they are probably counted as familiars and therefore are partially supported by the gacha.

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I'm kinda glad at this point that I have a rule that Ethan cannot roll a Familiar ticket. So Servants won't show up in this story.

MANY of them will try and use that as an excuse to get a deep dicking from their master.

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... now they'll definitely not show up in this story....

Are they childten of Ananke here?

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I'm leaning very heavily towards yes, as Ananke would be a similar void-born being to Ethan, but completely and intrinsically opposed to him, especially should I go through with having him grow into the personification of Free Will. Having her and Ethan as opponents could be cool for an overarcing antagonist for this story.

However, if I do decide to make Ananke the mother of the Fates, it'll only become relevant once Arc 2 has been completed and even then it'll only introduce her at first, have her more in the background in Arc 3 and then maybe have her pop up as the Big Bad for Arc 4. Hmmm... maybe she decides to course correct what Ethan has changed, make sure certain people grow into the worst version of themselves as they should've done if this were canon.... much to explore there.

I hope Artemis

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I got something planned for her, considering who will be introduced next chapter, especially since that character will remain relevant for the majority of the rest of the fic.

Hera get their dues.

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I... actually got nothing planned regarding Hera. Well something minor, but it's tied to such a large plottwist I can't say anything about it here without spoiling like the last two books in the PJO series and how I plan to adapt them. However, for something smaller and immediate, I'm open to suggestions.

 

[ENDDRAGON]

I got something planned for her, considering who will be introduced next chapter, especially since that character will remain relevant for the majority of the rest of the fic.

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Is it Orion? I wonder if anyone is aware that Apollo is the reason he was so insane and evil.

 

[Arrowman]

I'm kinda glad at this point that I have a rule that Ethan cannot roll a Familiar ticket. So Servants won't show up in this story.

... now they'll definitely not show up in this story....

I'm leaning very heavily towards yes, as Ananke would be a similar void-born being to Ethan, but completely and intrinsically opposed to him, especially should I go through with having him grow into the personification of Free Will. Having her and Ethan as opponents could be cool for an overarcing antagonist for this story.

However, if I do decide to make Ananke the mother of the Fates, it'll only become relevant once Arc 2 has been completed and even then it'll only introduce her at first, have her more in the background in Arc 3 and then maybe have her pop up as the Big Bad for Arc 4. Hmmm... maybe she decides to course correct what Ethan has changed, make sure certain people grow into the worst version of themselves as they should've done if this were canon.... much to explore there.

I got something planned for her, considering who will be introduced next chapter, especially since that character will remain relevant for the majority of the rest of the fic.

I... actually got nothing planned regarding Hera. Well something minor, but it's tied to such a large plottwist I can't say anything about it here without spoiling like the last two books in the PJO series and how I plan to adapt them. However, for something smaller and immediate, I'm open to suggestions.

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Antony444's An Impractical Guide to Godhood has take on Hera growing as a person and her relationship with Zeus and her own domains.
Strongly reccomend it.

 

[EntropyEnginear]

All that has to be done is avoiding a lot of the female servants, or just double checking their backstory…. Also you don't have to use canon servants as basically any historical or even some fictional characters can be used, even different versions of them.

That's literally all the servants are, historical figures from the weird mindset of Japanese old is gold/better thing they have as a cultural touchstone.

 

[ENDDRAGON]

That's literally all the servants are, historical figures from the weird mindset of Japanese old is gold/better thing they have as a cultural touchstone.

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There are exceptions though like Voyager and Tesla.

 

[Araurlis]

Also… there's NOWHERE in the gacha that says you lose the gacha after death.

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And there's at least three immortality rolls one of which is Deathless:

[Deathless]
|Transcendent Trait|
You lack the concept of death. To say you are immortal is wrong, it is more that the concept does not apply to you in the first place, no afterlife can take you nor can you be put down forever by immortal killing weapons. Even if every quark in your body were to be annihilated you would eventually reform.

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Which, if rolled after death, would bring him back.

Antony444's An Impractical Guide to Godhood has take on Hera growing as a person and her relationship with Zeus and her own domains.
Strongly reccomend it.

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Which is presently >1 million words.

That's literally all the servants are, historical figures from the weird mindset of Japanese old is gold/better thing they have as a cultural touchstone.

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Did you miss the bit in the chapter about 'don't make them like they used to'?

The Older is Better trope is multiversal.

 

[Sebek]

I was thinking about which Curses would be the most concerning for the Olympians, and I'm leaning toward Leviathans and Curse Remix.

The first because the monsters it summons can be scaled to the universe, and, worse yet, there's nothing saying they have to follow the world's rules. In other words, considering that the "Leviathans" are inspired by those in Subnautica, and they're the apex predators of the setting, they could very well reach levels of strength equivalent to those of deities and not be subject to the pantheon's rules.

As for the second, it doesn't sound like the changes will be massive, but in a world where the gods are aware of their own history, I can only imagine the utter existential horror they'll feel when it's altered without their consent. Especially if they can still remember what the previous version, which no longer exists, was like.

It's not so much fun when they have to suffer the consequences of their own actions too, huh?

 

[EntropyEnginear]

Also I imagine attempting to erase a son of nothing would basically be pointless. As I imagine while Khaos won't intercede for the most part, being basically chucked into their back yard or even 'womb' would probably get a response, and I already mentioned that death shouldn't be an end to the gacha.

Edit: Btw rolling the Leviathans curse would be the worst case scenario for the Greeks, as there will instantly be an intercession of other pantheons into finding out why there are potentially god level monsters spawning everywhere that AREN'T covered by the mist.

as much as the Greeks try to flaunt their strength; if the Hindu factions exist or the biblical ones then the Greek pantheons would basically have to take it raw.

 

[Yohnos]

The fuck I would give about Artemis opinion on me is barely above the one I would give to Zeus, Apollo and Poseidon, she is alright about all the gods mentioned here being rapists, protector of women my ass. And the opinions of the gods aren't worth the shit I've made this morning.
You want a joke? Zeus is god of justice.


(Dully note that Hera's isn't worth much either, she's the Cersei of Olympus)

 

[Gamazur]

Dude, is it written with the help of AI? If so, you should put it in the tags

 

[Ink]

While Heat Immunity sounded dead useful, deadly flames weren't something that I had faced too often up until now, nor did I foresee myself jumping into an active volcano anytime soon. What I had consistently faced were traumatized teenagers beset on all sides by deadly monsters and deadbeat parents, who were desperate for someone to lean on.

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Whyyyy? Between a powerup and an unpaid unlicensed shrink, always choose the power.
So what if some kids have daddy/mommy issues, it builds character (even though mostly drug dealers and Of models)
Freaking bleeding heart.

 

[Luke Sky 001]

I am almost willing to sacrifice my left arm for this man to roll this:

Item: Hera's Breastmilk [Elite]
"Hey, it worked for Hercules!" - A bottle filled to the brim with the Goddess Hera's freshly squeezed breastmilk. When someone consumes the entire bottle, the potential of their body will vastly increase, allowing even a regular human to train to reach superhuman levels of strength and durability. This does not, however, increase your talent or the speed at which you will reach that strength.


And of course, the one and only TRUE AND CORRECT WAY TO DRINK THIS:

Spoiler

 

[Bakkughan]

CHAPTER 10

​

---

The words hung heavily over the assembly and for several seconds, nobody moved. Athena still stood half-risen from her throne. Hermes' perpetual smile had vanished without a trace. Apollo stared at the Three Sisters with an expression I couldn't quite decipher, though I was fairly certain the God of Prophecy had recognised the significance of "Threadless" far sooner than I had. Even Ares looked as though someone had reached into his skull and temporarily disconnected the part responsible for shouting.

Only Zeus moved.

The King of the Gods rose slowly from his throne, the movement deliberate enough that every eye in the chamber drifted towards him. His expression remained stern, though some subtle shift had taken place since the Fates' arrival.

Zeus didn't look afraid, exactly (I wasn't even sure if a god like him was capable of the feeling in the first place) though there was a wariness in his expression that hadn't been there before. The sort of caution a king reserved for powers he neither commanded nor fully understood.

"My Ladies," he began, inclining his head with all the respect due beings older than Olympus itself, "your words carry a weight no throne beneath the heavens may lightly dismiss."

None of the Sisters answered. They just kept staring at me with the intense obsession of craftsmen examining a blemish in their otherwise flawless masterpiece.

Zeus continued regardless.

"This child was summoned before Olympus because concerns had been raised regarding both his nature and the consequences of his actions. Those concerns have been heard before the assembled Council. Evidence has been presented. Arguments have been made." His gaze swept briefly across the gathered Olympians before returning to the Three Sisters. "By the laws governing this court, judgement has already commenced."

Only then did the eldest Fate lift her eyes from the spindle.

"There..."

"...is no judgement."

"There is only the Great Pattern."

The words were spat out with such certainty, such finality, nobody seemed inclined to argue with them on my behalf.

Zeus neither frowned nor raised his voice.

"For the Loom, perhaps." The god spoke carefully, deliberately waiting a moment before continuing. "But this is Olympus. You stand within the house of Zeus Horkios, where Oaths are kept and my word is Law."

The silence that followed felt strangely different from the one before. Less oppressive, more... attentive. As though every immortal present understood they were witnessing two authorities, each absolute within its own sphere, carefully feeling out the boundaries of the other's domain.

Zeus might not like going against the Fates (especially not on behalf of someone else, even a demi-primordial), but he liked having his authority overruled even less.

"I do not presume to command Fate," Zeus said evenly. "Nor would I dream of questioning the stewardship entrusted to the Three who measure the lives of gods and mortals alike. Yet Ethan Creed was brought before this court in accordance with Olympian law. He was afforded the right to answer the concerns laid against him, as every petitioner before the throne of Zeus Xenios is."

His voice remained calm throughout, though I couldn't help noticing that nobody dared to interrupt him, not even the three ancient snarling sisters.

"Only moments ago, this Council concluded that no offence had yet been established warranting his destruction. The uncertainty surrounding his nature remained precisely that: uncertainty. Accordingly, Olympus rendered provisional judgement."

The word lingered. Provisional. Not pardoned exactly, merely... not yet condemned.

Zeus spread one hand towards the Sisters, his tone remaining carefully polite, yet unwavering. "You now demand a new, graver sentence without trial."

The eldest Fate regarded Zeus with wide eyes and wrinkled lips peeled back from small, jagged teeth.

"A trial..."

"...cannot ignore the truth."

"You delay..."

"...the inevitable."

"This Abomination must be destroyed...!"

"...before it brings ruin to the Great Pattern!"

"You have named this child Anathema and demand his destruction." Zeus pushed back as politely as he possibly could without losing face. "Such a judgement cannot be lightly executed, nor your wishes in this matter be disregarded. Yet before Olympus carries out so absolute a sentence, I would know by what measure it has been reached."

The Fates remained silent for a long moment as they seemed to measure Zeus' words. The spindle turned once, twice, and when they spoke, it was almost with a hint of confusion.

"The measure..."

"...is the Loom."

"The Anathema has no thread."

"We cannot weave it."

"We cannot cut it."

"We must EXCISE IT!"

The assembled immortal gods of the Greek Pantheon collectively flinched at the sudden outbursts, but the Fates barely seemed to notice, blind gazes still fixed unwaveringly on me. Zeus drew himself up taller, his expression conflicted but his stance unwavering, when Athena almost hesitantly interrupted.

"If I may, my King?"

He gave a single nod, looking somewhat relieved.

Athena approached cautiously, as if she was about to try something absolutely outrageous, like a lawyer about to demand to put the judge himself on the witness stand. I'd already watched her argue my case against half of Olympus without blinking, but apparently questioning the Fates required a little more tact.

"My Ladies," she began, inclining her head respectfully, "none assembled here would presume to dispute your stewardship of the Loom. If you declare Ethan Creed to stand outside the Pattern, I have no grounds upon which to question that conclusion."

The second Fate slowly lifted her blind gaze.

"It is..."

"...no conclusion."

"It is truth."

"I do not doubt it." Athena agreed immediately. "I merely seek to understand its consequence."

She folded her hands behind her back.

"Lord Zeus has rightly observed that Olympus has just concluded its own deliberations. We found Ethan Creed's connection to the Primordial Kaos undeniable, yet its nature remains unknown. Whether he is descendant, chosen vessel, or something for which no language presently exists, none among us can yet say with certainty. It is therefore neither wisdom nor justice to render an irrevocable sentence while the facts remain incomplete."

Nobody contradicted her, not even Ares.

Which was... interesting.

I'd expected at least one of them to object that 'uncertainty' wasn't a particularly compelling reason to go against the Fates themselves in order to keep me alive. Instead, every Olympian seemed perfectly content to let Athena continue.

'So basically, nobody has the faintest bloody idea what happens if Olympus executes the only person Kaos has acknowledged since Creation, and nobody particularly wants to find out. Which, yeah, fair enough…' I realized, though of course I kept my observations to myself.

The less attention drawn to me, the better. Thankfully, Athena quickly pressed on.

"You have declared Ethan Creed an Anathema. That he is Threadless, one who exists outside the Pattern. That much is now plain."

Her grey eyes remained upon the Three Sisters.

"However, is he truly at fault for such a crime, or is he the victim of it? Ethan Creed did not ask to stand outside the Pattern. Nevertheless, he now exists. Whether the Loom recognises him or not, Reality clearly does. The First of the Protogenoi, the Void itself, has answered him."

Athena's grey eyes flickered towards the heavy golden band sitting on my finger as every god shifted minutely on their throne, remembering that glancing sweep of… attention as I summoned a piece of primordial chaos inside the throne room.

"If Kaos has introduced into Creation something the Loom cannot account for, then refusing to acknowledge that fact does not preserve the Pattern." Athena continued, voice calm. "It merely blinds those charged with protecting it."

The Fates bristled at the accusation, as Cloyho pulled her thread taut between her knobbly fists, holding it more like a garrotte wire instead.

"We do preserve it..."

"...we must protect it!"

"From the Anathema itself!"

"Alright, fuck this."

Every head in the throne room turned towards me.

Probably because interrupting the three embodiments of Fate arguing for my execution wasn't particularly sane, especially when I'd narrowly avoided the same fate at the hands of the twelve gods around them less than fifteen minutes ago.

Then again, I'd been standing at parade rest listening to everyone debate whether I was even allowed to exist for what felt like half an hour, so sanity was becoming less of a concern than it probably should've been.

I stepped towards the Fates and to my surprise (and everyone else's, including themselves) they flinched away from me.

"Ethan." Athena warned.

"No, seriously." I held up a hand, earning myself a look from the Goddess of Wisdom that promised a very unpleasant conversation later if we both survived long enough to have one. "They've called me an abomination about fifteen times now. I think I've earned the right to ask a question."

The youngest Fate's shears twitched as if she was only seconds away from launching it like a throwing knife.

"You keep saying I'm destroying your Pattern just by existing. Fine. I get that part. I'm not supposed to be here." I gestured vaguely towards myself. "But I am here, and unless I've badly misunderstood how this works, you're Fate. You've got a Loom that controls what happens, you measure and snip the lives of all mortals..."

My eyes dropped towards the spindle.

"So why haven't you killed me?"

The throne room went very quiet as the three old women stared at me.

"That wasn't rhetorical or a challenge or anything, by the way." I added when none of them answered. "You've spent the last ten minutes demanding everyone else destroy me. Why? If you're powerful enough to order even gods around to do your dirty work, why not clean it up yourselves?"

"Ethan..." Athena said again, considerably more urgently this time.

I ignored her.

"If I'm such a threat to the Pattern, fix it your damned selves. Go ahead, cut my thread."

The eldest Fate's expression twisted.

"The Anathema..."

"...has..."

"...NO THREAD!"

"Exactly."

That shut them up.

My heart was hammering hard enough that I could feel it in my throat, but there was something almost intoxicating about finally being the one speaking after spending so long listening to gods debate what should be done with me.

"You can't cut something that isn't there. You can't weave whatever you want into my life, or my death for that matter. You can't decide I fall down the stairs tomorrow and break my neck, because according to you, I'm not connected to your little fucking embroidery."

The sisters sucked in a breath and all three looked just about ready to strangle me with their own loom. Still, that familiar heat was bubbling in my veins, the same anger that I felt welling up inside when I first heard of Thalia's unjust punishment or of the unfair way so many discarded and unwanted demigods spent their days back at Camp.

Even if I wanted to, I couldn't back down now, surfing a wave of righteous anger that came from the most primal parts of me. I hated the Fates, I realized in a flash of clarity, perhaps even more than they did me. It wasn't even because they wanted me dead (though that hadn't exactly made us friends either of course), this went beyond that.

This was... intrinsic, almost.

"So what are you going to do about it?!" I roared in challenge as I stopped barely a pace away from the Sisters, arms spread wide.

Three faces contorted with identical fury as all three ancient crones suddenly rushed forwards, spindly arms shooting out and grabbing hold of me in grips tighter and more unyielding than iron clasps.

"Oh. That."

I had just enough time to realise I might have pushed the ancient cosmic entities a bit too far before the world disappeared.

There wasn't even any pain, just... nothing. For one impossible instant I simply ceased to have any connection to anything around me. Olympus vanished. The gods vanished. The floor beneath my boots, the air in my lungs, even the sensation of my own body disappeared as something vast closed around me from every conceivable direction.

And somewhere beyond all of it, I could feel the Loom.

Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of threads stretched away beyond anything [Hawk Eyes] could ever have shown me, crossing and knotting and dividing until the sheer scale of it became impossible to comprehend, weaving into a tapestry that threatened to break my brain if I looked at it for too long. Every single thread led somewhere, all of them connected to something.

None of them led to me.

The Fates were searching for something that simply wasn't there. I could feel their will moving through the Loom, reaching for me from a thousand different directions, trying to find some strand they could tighten around my existence, some connection they could seize and use to drag me into the Pattern long enough to cut me out of it.

They found nothing.

Their grip tightened around my arms instead, ancient fingers digging hard enough into my flesh that I distantly wondered whether they intended to settle for tearing me apart by hand, and whatever force they were pouring through the Loom surged with them. For one terrifying moment the emptiness around me seemed to contract, as though all of Fate was bearing down upon the single point where I stubbornly continued to exist.

And still, there was nothing for it to catch.

A second later Olympus slammed back into existence around me.

My knees hit the marble hard enough to hurt as air crashed back into my lungs. Around me, several Olympians had risen from their thrones. Zeus had lightning crawling between his fingers. Poseidon was on his feet with his trident in hand, while Athena had moved several steps closer to me.

The Fates looked almost as bad as I felt. Their grey hair had come loose around their faces and their robes hung crookedly from hunched shoulders, leaving all three ancient women looking like they'd just been dragged backwards through a hedge. The tools clutched in their hands hadn't escaped whatever the hell had just happened either. Fine strands were peeling away from Clotho's spindle and dissolving into smoke before they reached the floor, while the markings along Lachesis's measuring rod had warped and blackened as though someone had held them over a flame. Even Atropos's shears had suffered, a thin crack running down one blade as wisps of smoke curled from the joint.

For a moment I just stayed there on my knees, breathing hard as I took in the three dishevelled crones and the battered instruments in their hands. Apparently trying to force something completely outside the Pattern through the machinery of Fate was akin to throwing a fucking wrench into said machinery.

"...yeah. Thought so." I gasped as the eldest Fate's bloodshot eyes snapped towards mine in abject fury.

The scream that followed was so sudden and violent that even Ares flinched.

Before the Fates could rush forwards to physically beat me to death with their attributes, everyone in the room froze on the spot as golden sparks erupted in front of my face, twisting together until they formed the familiar shape of a glowing scroll.

I nearly punched it on instinct when it appeared.

"Gods fucking—" I gasped as I fell back on my butt.

The parchment unfurled itself cheerfully in front of me, apparently unconcerned by the fact that some of the oldest beings in Creation were currently having what I could only describe as a collective aneurysm.

Golden letters burned themselves across the page.

[Achievement Recognized!]

[Defied Fate]

[You have stood against the Great Loom itself!]

[Silver Trait Drachma Awarded!]

[Rewards Dispensing]

A silver drachma dropped from the scroll and I snatched it out of the air, turning the coin over between my fingers as I reread the reward.

A Silver Trait.

For pissing off the literal embodiments of Fate so badly that they'd tried to erase me from existence.

'You know what? Worth it.'

I glanced back at the Fates as they leaned on each other, unsteadily working their way back to their feet. If my mere existence had pissed them off, then the appearance of the scroll outright baffled them.

"You said I have no place in this world. Clearly..." I held up the silver drachma towards them and they shrunk away from it as if it were a powerful talisman. "... Dad thinks differently."

I ignored Zeus' booming 'Mister Creed!' as I moved the silver drachma to my thumb. After surviving an (literal) elimination attempt, I was quite done with asking for permission. The coin flicked through the empty air and at its apex was sucked up by a sudden swirling void that made the Fates scramble backwards in such a hurry they stumbled over each other's feet.

A silver hologram flickered into existence above my head, taking the shape of a broad-shouldered figure standing beneath an enormous boulder, arms raised as it held the impossible weight aloft.

Pleasant warmth spread throughout every individual muscle in my body as the golden text on the scroll rewrote itself before everyone's eyes.

[Strong]
|Common Trait|

You were always pretty strong, granting you slightly increased strength and allowing you to exert more force with your body.

I blinked.

"...Strong? Thanks... I think?"

After everything that had just happened, I'd apparently earned the supernatural equivalent of eating my vegetables and remembering to go to the gym.

However, much like with my previous blessings, this one was actually quite useful if combined with my other rewards. A part of me couldn't wait to see how this interacted with the strength enhancement of my [One Star Uniform].

I shot the baffled looking Sisters a considering glance that actually saw Atropos' eyes widen as she scooted backwards, holding her shears outstretched between us in slightly trembling hands like one would a sword.

'... nah... I've pushed them far enough for today...' I shook my head, squashing that part of my mind.

The throne room hadn't quite recovered either. Most of the gods were still staring between me and the three dishevelled Fates, while the Sisters themselves had drawn together around their damaged tools, whatever murderous thoughts they were entertaining apparently tempered by the fact that they'd just tried about as direct an approach as possible and I was still standing here.

Athena, on the other hand, looked thoughtful.

Her grey eyes moved from me to the faint wisps of smoke still curling from the Fates' instruments, and I watched something click into place behind them. Apparently my brief attempt at getting myself erased from existence had provided the Goddess of Wisdom with something useful after all.

"You have just demonstrated the flaw in your own argument." Athena said.

Three furious faces snapped towards her.

"The Loom cannot account for Ethan Creed. You reached for his life directly through the Pattern and found nothing there to grasp, yet he plainly continues to exist." She gestured towards me. "His existence and his effect upon the Pattern are therefore two separate matters. You cannot simply assume that because one lies outside the Pattern, the other must inevitably destroy it."

The eldest Sister bristled.

"The Anathema..."

"...remains..."

"...a danger!"

"I do not dispute that." Athena replied evenly. "I question whether you have correctly identified the nature of that danger."

That seemed to give them pause.

"If Ethan Creed's mere existence tears the Pattern beyond repair, then there is little left to discuss. If, however, the Pattern has been damaged by his actions instead, by the choices he has made, then surely the nature of those choices must also matter." Athena challenged, and to my surprise the Fates didn't immediately dismiss her words.

The throne room fell quiet as everyone considered the distinction she had just drawn.

If the crime was my existence, then there wasn't much room for negotiation.

If the crime lay in my actions...

Well.

Actions could, at least in theory, be judged.

The eldest Fate regarded her for a very long time. When she answered, there was no longer unbridled anger in her voice, only seething certainty.

"You seek..."

"...a path..."

"...where none exists."

"The Anathema was never woven."

"And its every step unravels…"

"…what was and shall ever be."

"I wonder if that is entirely true. In any tapestry, what has been torn asunder may be woven whole once more. I don't think the existence of the wound obliges us to reject the possibility of its remedy."

The youngest Sister's fingers tightened fractionally around her shears, subconsciously holding them in a reverse grip as she stared daggers at the unflappable Goddess of Wisdom.

"The wound..."

"...cannot..."

"...repair itself."

"No." Athena's agreement came without hesitation. "It cannot. However, in any tapestry, should the weave finally give way, no weaver of any skill attempts to repair it by drawing upon the damaged fibres surrounding the break. They have already failed once. Asking them to bear still greater strain merely enlarges the wound."

Athena allowed silence to settle over the cavernous room as she let the image sink in for everyone.

"The repair must come from elsewhere. New threads must be introduced, to bind together strands that have already forgotten how to hold one another."

She turned back towards the Three Sisters.

"The thread that restores the pattern is, by its very nature, foreign to the original weave."

I became aware that Apollo had gone very still. There was an intensity in his attention that hadn't been there moments before, as though he'd recognised the direction of Athena's reasoning several steps before anyone else and found himself wishing she would choose another path.

At length, Clotho spoke in a furious hiss, her fingers curled so tightly around the spindle that ancient wood creaked beneath them, teeth bared as if the mere possibility of not smiting me on the spot was a personal insult.

"You would..."

"...entrust..."

"...the Loom..."

"...to the flaw?!"

"I would trust that Ethan's unique nature can be used to mend what was broken." Athena challenged, but the Fates scowled at the goddess of Wisdom.

"The Loom..."

"...accepts..."

"...only its own thread."

"And it will. Ethan Creed need not become part of the Pattern itself for the Pattern to change around him. Threads already woven may cross where once they diverged. Others may bend away from courses they once seemed destined to follow, should the caretakers of the Loom see fit to weave them so…" Athena offered slyly and for the first time, the simmering rage of the Fates flickered as something else entered their clouded eyes.

The Three Sisters exchanged hesitant glances, as if barely daring to consider a possibility they had spent eternity very deliberately not thinking about and Athena immediately pressed the advantage before they could reconsider.

"Do not destroy Ethan: use him. If there are places where the Pattern has begun to unravel... where the Loom strains beneath burdens unforeseen... where the tapestry bends towards an image even the Three Sisters would see altered..."

Her eyes returned to the ancient women. "Then send him there."

That was too much for the God of the Sun as Apollo sprang to his feet.

"You go too far Athena! The Moirai are caretakers, observers, not the architects of the future! You would ask the Sisters to introduce into the Pattern something no oracle could foresee? That is to challenge the power of Prophecy itself!" he accused, his eyes twin blazing suns, though Athena didn't back down.

"Hmph. Not like most of 'em have been all that helpful in the past. Or even made sense for the most part." Ares groused.

Tellingly, Zeus didn't rein in his bull-headed son this time, instead thinking Athena's words over as he stroked his beard, a calculating look in his eye. It was the expression of a king who had just realised that, while everyone else had been busy playing chess, someone had dropped a checker onto the board and he was figuring out if he could get away with playing it.

For some reason, I got the distinct impression that I wouldn't like the moves he had in mind for me.

However, more interesting than the scheming of the King of Olympos was the reaction of his brother. From my position below the thrones, I was one of the few who spotted that Poseidon looked almost... hopeful, before he carefully schooled his features.

Meanwhile, the Fates seemed to reach a consensus as they slowly turned towards Athena, to the despair of the God of Prophecy.

"My Ladies..." Apollo began almost pleadingly, "surely you cannot be considering—"

"The Anathema..."

"...has no place..."

"...within the Pattern."

Briefly, Apollo's expression became hopeful as the eldest Fate slowly turned the spindle between weathered fingers, before the Three Sisters spoke again.

"But still, the flaw..."

"...may yet..."

"...serve the Pattern."

The words seemed to surprise the Moirai almost as much as they did the rest of Olympus as Apollo's face drained of what little colour remained.

"Of course. What must be done?" Zeus demanded imperiously, having decided for me.

I opened my mouth to point out that at no stage had anybody actually asked whether I wanted to become Fate's new cosmic repairman, only for the eldest Sister to speak first.

"A knot tightens."

"It must not break."

"The Great Pattern demands its preservation."

For the first time since their arrival, the anger disappeared from the Fates' faces, replaced by a stillness instead (which somehow just made them even more unsettling). They looked past all of us instead, blind eyes fixed on something only they could see as Zeus leaned forwards.

"What Nexus?"

The eldest Sister continued to turn her spindle as though she hadn't heard him.

"The woven cannot reach it."

The second Fate drew invisible thread between weathered fingers.

"The flaw shall preserve it."

The youngest slowly raised her ancient shears.

"Or perish."

There was no menace in their voice anymore, no trace of the naked hatred that had greeted my arrival.

It was simply the conclusion their unknowable loom had reached.

For a long moment, nobody spoke, before, just as abruptly as they had arrived, the Three Sisters were simply gone, leaving empty space where they had stood just before.

"So... now what?" Dionysus eventually asked, as his posture slackened in his chair and he went back to lounging carelessly.

Somewhat similarly, though of course far more reserved, Athena slumped ever so slightly from her rigid posture, now that the ominous charge in the air had left with the Fates.

"You heard the Moirai. Either Ethan proves to the Fates that he can be useful, dies trying, or is executed for the crime of his existence regardless." The Goddess said brusquely, before her grey eyes, so similar to Annabeth's, swept over me.

Her eyes met mine for a moment and some of the severity left her expression as it turned almost apologetic, or as close to it as she could allow herself to. Then it was gone, and she returned to her throne.

"And should he succeed in preserving this nexus of fate, preserving the future that the Fates have foreseen for us all?" Hermes wondered aloud, and Ares scoffed as if the mere possibility of my success (and continued survival) wasn't even worth considering.

"What do you think will happen? When has a specialized tool like him ever existed? When have the Fates ever had an opportunity like this, to actually touch what they've only ever been allowed to observe?" Hephaestus grunted, before shooting me a pitiless look.

"They can't bind him in their threads, but they will find other chains." The Master of the Forge said pessimistically.

Tellingly (and depressingly) nobody challenged the cantankerous god.

"And what if they decide they don't want to bother with chains? What if they just burn him to a crisp instead, wash their hands of this whole mess as we should've done from the start?" Ares challenged his brother, before he stilled and for once, a brief flicker of uncertainty flashed over his features.

"... wait, what would happen? They just proved it ain't easy to really kill a primordial enough they actually stay dead. Ouranos is still floating around up there without his mind and Gaia is still asleep. Even if they did manage to kill the brat the old fashioned way, I dunno, hit him over the head with a really big brick or something, can't imagine his ol' Dad would be pleased." The God of War mused, surprisingly articulate.

"Not to mention the fact that he may not arrive in Hades after death, but return straight to the Sea of Nothing instead. Wouldn't be hard for his dad to just... spit him back out again..." Hermes snapped his fingers as he shot me a considering glance.

"It will not come to that. Ethan will embark on their Quest and successfully complete it. For all our sakes." Zeus calmed the rest of the Olympians down as he shot me a commanding stare.

The 'or else' was left unsaid, yet hung over me like a thundercloud.

"Sure thing, uhm Lord Zeus, sir. But... how?"

The assembled immortals blinked at my question as I turned to look at them all.

"I may exist outside of Fate, apparently, but that doesn't mean I can see it. I have no idea what exactly is being threatened that the Sisters want me to protect." I explained with a shrug.

Zeus frowned at my objections, but could hardly refute them. Even the King of the Gods could not foresee the future. There was one, however, who could and as one the gods turned to face Apollo and the God of the Sun blinked at the sudden attention.

"Well? Go on then, give the boy his Quest. Or do we need to summon that ratty old Oracle from the Camp?" Demeter pressed and at the mention of the Oracle, Apollo's mouth pursed as if he bit into an oversized lemon, before rising to his feet with a sigh.

"There's no need for that, Auntie. I'll summon the power of Prophecy myself..." he responded, before muttering under his breath, "... if it even works on the guy."

The Sun God briefly cleared his throat, rolled his shoulders and closed his golden eyes as he sucked in a deep breath, hands held up, palms facing upwards.

"Oohhhmmmm...."

A hum came from deep within his chest as-

'thwack!'

"Ow!"

-Artemis smacked her twin in the thigh with her bow, rolling her eyes at him as he shot her a betrayed look, hopping on one leg.

"Artie?!"

"Cut it with the dramatics, brother. The sooner the spawn of Kaos can be sent on its way, the better." She said coolly as Apollo rubbed his thigh with a wince.

Then something came to her mind as she narrowed her eyes before-

'thwack!'

"YEOW!"

"And don't. Call. Me. Artie."

"I won't, I'm sorry!" Apollo cried out as he hopped in place with renewed vigour as the assembled gods either rolled their eyes, palmed their faces or outright ignored (Dionysus, of course) the Twin Archers' antics.

"Just cut the theatrics, you child." Hera rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"... you do know I'm literally the god of the dramatic arts though right?" Apollo muttered, before holding up his hands in surrender as Artemis threateningly held up her bow again.

"Alright, alright! Sheesh, tough crowd."

The God of the Sun straightened, glanced at his twin, scooted a little to the left and closed his eyes again. After a few moments however, it immediately became apparent that this was the real deal as a golden glow began to suffuse him and the air took on an almost heavy feel, similar to the presence of the Fates.

When Apollo opened his eyes again, they were completely gold and his voice had an odd, distant echo.

Seek where endless forests meet inland sea;
With she whose quarry still roams free.
A child of gods must live when all is done;
Where sisters fled, stand fast and fight as one.
Upon shattered rim where stars once fell,
One trusted hand shall choose, and all shall tell.

As the last syllable slowly faded from the room, the golden glow surrounding the God of the Sun ebbed away as he slumped where he stood, letting out a small breath.

"That was… surprisingly difficult. And more… intense than I'm used to." The god breathed for a moment, shooting me a considering glance.

"Alright then. You've got your Quest, Ethan Creed, and now the Prophecy to guide you. Make sure to bring it to a successful end." Zeus commanded, clearly done with the whole affair as he made a shooing motion.

"But… but I don't know what any of it means!" I protested and Zeus' eyes flashed at my shout.

"You dare-"

"The prophecy does state he is to be accompanied by someone. It would be… unwise, to send him off without at least considering the matter. The prophecy is trying to predict a fate for one who is naturally fateless, that warrants a bit of caution, brother." Demeter interjected for the first time.

The Goddess of Harvests hadn't intervened much so far, but the dark-haired woman in a wheat-golden dress was still a powerful Olympian in her own right and even Zeus fell silent for a moment at her words, before huffing as he straightened on his throne.

"Very well then. We shall grant you insight into the Prophecy as to further aid you on fulfilling your Quest for the Moirai and thus, your duty to me- to Olympus." The God of the Skies caught himself, before he glanced at his golden son.

"Well? Out with it then! Say it plainly, what is this son of Kaos to do then?"

"Look, Dad, that's not how Prophecy works-…" Apollo pleaded tiredly.

"Just give him a hint then. A heading that gets him out of my throne room at the very least." Zeus rolled his eyes as he leaned back in his chair, waving a dismissive hand.

"He should start in the Great Lakes area. 'Inland Sea' is an old name for them and there are various forests surrounding it. Worth checking out, what with the other hunting references and all." Demeter cut in smoothly, a small smile on her face as if she enjoyed unravelling the puzzle.

"He must be joined by one of my own then." Artemis stated strongly, clearly willing to defend her point with violence if need be.

Across from her, Ares bristled, but refrained from challenging her outright.

"I shall call upon my Lieutenant, to… accompany Ethan Creed on his Quest." The Goddess of the Hunt continued as I raised an eyebrow at her sudden vehemence.

'Accompany? Baby-sit more like. An insurance policy from the gods; distrust and then verify.' I groused, though I wasn't the only one unhappy with Artemis' demands.

"Your Lieutenant? Is that wise? Ethel's provenance already makes him suspect, do we really want to add another potentially untrustworthy-" Dionysus began to drawl, though before he could finish his sentence, an arrow speared itself through his can of coke, tearing it from his hand and pinning it to the back of his throne right next to his head.

The other gods stilled as their eyes tracked from the still-slouching Dionysus to the now standing Artemis, another arrow already knocked, her silver eyes blazing.

"… you missed." Dionysus drawled, but a shiver crawled up my spine at the lazy words nonetheless when I saw that purplish gleam slowly enter his eyes.

"I can assure you: I did not." Artemis rebutted, before very deliberately moving her bow two inches to the left.

"ENOUGH." Zeus boomed and thunder roiled around Mount Olympos at the King's sudden anger.

Some of the tension bled out of his children, though neither dropped their pose. Zeus rubbed his forehead, before looking at Artemis with a somewhat tired expression.

"Artemis, his words, unkindly as they may have been said…" the King shot his uncaring son a dark look which was promptly ignored, "… there is some merit to them. Her parentage-"

"Lord Zeus, Father, my Lieutenant has proven herself in over two thousand years with nothing but utmost loyalty and service. I would trust her without a doubt. I would trust her with my life." Artemis addressed her father, without taking her eyes off Dionysus.

"That may be, child of Leto, but would you trust her with ours as well?" Hera challenged dismissively, venom creeping into her otherwise melodious voice when she mentioned the Moon Goddess' mother.

"Yes." Artemis shot back without hesitation, much to the Queen's annoyance.

"Alright! Alright, so that gives us a heading and a companion. Ethan, head out West towards the Great Lakes, accompanied by one of Artemis' Huntresses, in search of whatever creature or item the Fates think is currently being threatened that should be saved for later. The rest will reveal itself as the Quest develops; that's usually how these things go anyways. Questions?" Hermes quickly defused the situation as he jumped up from his throne and walked over towards me as he suddenly shrank to a human size.

He clapped me on the shoulder with an excited boyish grin, as if he was the one going on an adventure instead of me.

Seeing the tensions in the room and feeling pretty wrung out from the back-to-back trials (which I had miraculously survived on nothing but the fact that nobody knew for certain if just killing me outright was worth the potential hassle) I only sighed and shrugged.

"… when do I leave?"

"Right now! Well, as soon as Artemis has called her Huntress over, that is."

"And how long is that-"

A sudden silver halo appeared at Artemis' side, quickly solidifying into the silhouette of a young woman.

"… oh, I thought you meant like… a cellphone call…" I finished lamely as Hermes chuckled.

The silver glow faded, and whatever I'd been about to think disappeared completely.

'Oh... wow...'

She was stunning and, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman that ever was or ever would be. And also, someone who just turned those dark chocolate eyes on me with a hauntingly regal, almost disgusted expression, as beside me Hermes was clearly struggling to not just double over laughing on the spot.

Somewhere off to the side I could hear Aphrodite let out a barely disguised squeal and I could feel my stomach sink.

"I said that out loud, didn't I?" I said somberly as I lamented the fact the ground hadn't yet opened up and swallowed me whole.

The fact said ground was currently 600 floors above Manhattan was a bonus at this point.

The new arrival lifted her (perfectly shaped) nose up at me as she turned towards Artemis, immediately dropping to a knee as she bowed her head, dark tresses falling past a circlet of pure silver.

"My Lady, thou hast summoned me? What is thy bidding?"

"Zoë, my dear friend. A Quest has been issued, from the Fates themselves no less. Its success depends upon your participation." Artemis said, her earlier confrontational tone replaced with warmth as she addressed her second in command.

Zoë's eyes widened before she immediately bowed even lower.

"Anything, my Lady! I shall not fail this Quest, nor thee."

"I know." Artemis smiled faintly. "But this charge will test you in ways no hunt ever has. Your resolve will be strained. Your patience exhausted. You will be asked to place your trust where every instinct tells you otherwise."

Zoë raised her head just enough to meet Artemis' eyes.

"Then I shall master myself. I will endure."

"You must track a quarry the Fates themselves have marked for preservation. Another has been charged with its protection. You are to ensure they do not lose the trail... and, if need be, keep them alive."

'And if not need be....' I finished the rest of the sentence that was left unsaid, a frown marring my face.

"Gladly, my Lady! Whom dost thou entrust to my care?"

Artemis was silent for a heartbeat.

"… that." she said after a heavy pause, jutting her chin towards me with a displeased look.

"Oi… harsh." I frowned, as Zoë stood and turned, glancing towards me with a troubled expression, her earlier zeal nowhere to be seen.

"But… but, my Lady…"

Her eyes flitted around the room as the assembled gods looked on with varying levels of amusement and disinterest, before she leaned in closer to her goddess, though her hiss was of course heard throughout the entire throne room.

"But, my Lady… that is… a boy…"

My shoulders slumped in quiet despair as besides me, Hermes just laughed even harder.

---

AN: As always, you can read up to 5 chapters ahead over on my Patreon

 

[bazerkerking]

Now we just need Zoe to discover that said boy is Techically higher up on the pantheonal ladder then even her Goddess and thing will get even more fun

 

[Ahzura Twilight]

Yeah I really wouldn't survive here without the biggest of sticks