Dungeon Raider System

With Arausio's business cleverly settled by Jon, it was finally Dana's turn to speak with Zeus, the ruler of the Olympus and widely regarded as the strongest god.

"If you are serious about wanting to venture inside megacities, I must warn you that it would be dangerous. We don't know what goes on inside those walls and we won't be able to send any help."

"I'll be fine, I'm not like those wimps." Dana said, confident in her power.

"That may be so, but even Fate went missing." Zeus said in a hushed voice.

"That can't be right, are you sure she didn't just hide or something?"

"When it's about her, you never know, but finding her is a priority. I will make sure whoever brings her in will be rewarded. Also, I've heard there's mortals producing Ambrosia, if you can confirm those rumors I will also appreciate it."

Dana took a pause to gaze at Jon who by then had lost all interest in the conversation and was scanning the building.

"I can do it, but first, do you know what happened to my emissaries?"

"What were they called? The Rhubarb family?" Zeus tormented his chin.

"Sage, it was the Sage family." Dana let out annoyed, since Zeus not remembering them could only mean their betrayal went unnoticed.

"I don't think they're a thing anymore, but you would be better off asking Hermes or someone who actually cares." Zeus let out and as if summoned by Zeus, Hermes showed up with his mercurial speed.

"That was fast." Dana chuckled.

"I didn't call him." Zeus said, his eyes wide open as Hermes showing up unannounced and uninvited could only mean bad news.

"There is something that requires your immediate attention, father." Hermes produced a glass orb the size of a basketball that showed him and those nearby the far distance of the Schwartzwald where Uriel had just managed to forcefully summon a god.

By pouring on beer, instant noodles and reciting the words on the altar while channeling a sizeable amount of flux energy, Artemis was summoned on the spot. It happened completely out of the blue and she didn't even realize that she was holding a can of beer.

"How did you do this? It is impossible for a mortal to summon a god!" Artemis asked in utter disbelief.

"We cheated." Uriel shrugged his shoulders and pointed at the tier 3 batteries Medusa linked in a chain to meet the energy requirements.

The gods at the Olympeon could only see and not hear, though it was evident Artemis was more shocked than angry which meant she was safe, but the same could not be said about all the other gods whose altars were scattered throughout the earth.

Every god who saw the images on the glass orb had the exact same reaction and thought the exact same thing: 'what if they find my altar'.

"This is something we cannot allow, for mortals to be able to call us on a whim..." Zeus declared to fight the horror spreading across the Olympeon like a wildfire.

"Now, let's not get ahead of ourselves, who knows. Maybe Artie made a pact with him." Dana said with a mix of pride and concern. She only met her son for a short time and he was already giving him trouble. It was something she had been warned by many people, but she always thought it would be little mischief like breaking a vase or painting the walls with crayons.

"I figured this altar was your anchor to this world and well, it paid off." Uriel continued, blissfully unaware of the many godly eyes fixated on him.

"What now? Do you realize that summoning a god and getting them to do what you want are two very different matters?" Artemis used her godly presence to prove her point, but Uriel was already prepared for that and covered himself with a thin layer of his own flux energy and so did his friends.

"I don't need you to do anything for me. I just wanted to try this, anyhow... you have a nice place here." Uriel said.

"Not really." Nika scoffed.

"This is a sacred forest, a place not even after your civilization lost all respect for nature was touched. Hunting here is forbidden and..."

"I know, we guessed it already, not that there's much to hunt around here anymore."

They chatted casually while the uproar grew in the Olympeon with most gods demanding blood, others uncaring as usual and only Dana trying to make a case to defend Uriel.

"Sure, the knowledge about how to summon gods was long lost, but who knows. Maybe Artie told him and that's the extent of what humanity knows." She didn't so much as bat an eye when throwing Artie, her self proclaimed bestie, under the bus. However, not even Dana herself believed her own words as the realization that what happened to her could have been the same thing Uriel just did to Artemis.

One moment she was in one place, then the next thing she knew she was trapped in Rathcroghan and she blamed the Sage family, though now she was starting to second guess her theory that she was betrayed.

"It doesn't matter, does it? What is the life of a mere human against that of us? It is known that they have been sealing gods and draining them of their life essence for selfish purposes and now we know how they're doing it."

"I can also take care of that." Dana offered, but her willingness to help made Zeus grow suspicious of her. Thanatos was never one to meddle in human or god affairs and she almost never showed up for celebrations other than her own.

"Why are you so helpful all of a sudden?" Zeus voice echoed like a thunder. His question was as much an inquiry as it was an accusation.

"Fate is missing after all. Not even I know when a human's life is meant to end, I just reap their souls. And that is precisely why I want to take responsibility of finding her. Also, Artemis is my dearest friend and..."

"Alright, that is taking things too far. If you stopped before I could have believed you but everyone knows you consider her to be a nuisance."

"Because," Dana struggled to find a suitable answer and just said the first thing that came to her mind. "I want to prove my champion is the best hero to ever live. In fact, he already is known as the first hunter and I want to prove he's also the strongest."

"I knew it! I knew you had a second motive!" Zeus clapped his hands in amusement. "you're as easy to read as a scroll! Fine, go on. Prove your hero to be worth of the Olympus and we'll receive him with open arms."

"I like a good love story as much as the next guy, but can we really leave it on her hands?" Hermes asked his father who frowned at him.

"Are you doubting the abilities of the god of death? Perhaps you forgot because you were too young, but there's a reason why she only left her abode one day of the year."

"Is she too strong? Stronger than you?" Asked Hermes dumbfounded.

"No, but she's incredibly vicious when she's angry. Do you remember the god of wood?"

"There is no such god." Hermes replied with confidence.

"And now you know why." Zeus replied as he watched Dana leave with one of the few human candidates to become gods, or as humans saw it, to reach the divine rank.

After witnessing the divine realm Jon's mind was spinning and while he understood about half of what he heard, one thing was clear to him, it was the most dangerous experience he ever had. The way towards the zeppelin was silent, as Dana too had many things to ponder.

Disclosing her relationship with Jon turned out to be the right decision, but she was starting to second guess her decision to choose him as a hero. In the old myths, heroes were humans of elevated status and flawless character that would stand up for humanity to perform tasks for the gods.

"Am I like Heracles now or something?" Jon asked.

"Precisely like him," She replied without putting much thought into it, but then realized her blunder as Jon took it as a compliment and not the foreboding tale it actually was. "you really have no idea. Heroes aren't necessarily good people, but they need to be perfect in what they do. Heracles was a spoiled kid with more browns than brains. He always fixed everything with brute force, but you can't afford that luxury."

"I am pretty strong." He said with a cocky smirk that died down when he noticed the look of pity in Dana's eyes. It brought him memories of Dana asking him to open jars or move heavy furniture in the past and he started questioning literally every interaction he ever had with Dana.

"I'm sorry for getting you into this mess," She apologized, then looked Jon in the eye. "but there's no going back now."