Mountain of the Immortals

Life was good on Mount Olympus. At least, in the realm of the Olympians. The passing of eons had only served to make their dynasty even stronger. What were once desolate plains were now occupied by a multitude of clans, united under a single figure.

Zeus sat on his throne, enjoying the little things in life, such as being hand-fed by semi-naked mortals. It was perhaps too much of a stereotype but he had never much cared for the opinions of others. After all, the act of being fed by mortals was slowly becoming fashionable again.

Next to him, laying on an awfully comfortable triclinium, Hades too was enjoying his brother’s daily ritual. His hair was burning with blue fire and his pale skin was in stark contrast to the vibrant and lively surroundings. His visage was one of darkness and death. What he came close to withered and died, but not here. Not in the halls of Zeus.

“More ambrosia, please,” Zeus said, and raised his chalice “Some for my brother as well.”

One of the few women serving the two gods slowly moved over to a table on the side of the enormous chamber and picked up a large crystal jug. Inside of it, the sweet orange liquid that gave the Olympians their immortality swirled in anticipation, for it wanted to be consumed as much as they wanted to consume it.

“We should do this more often, brother,” Hades said, after taking a sip of the watered-down divine drink. “We haven’t sat in this place and watched over the mortals for quite some time.”

The god of the underworld looked at the large magical screens that followed the lives of thousands of mortals. Not unlike the security cameras of a surveillance agency. Some mortals were doing mundane things like taking their children to soccer practice, taking calls within the confines of their spacious coffins made of concrete and glass, or having sex. Others were fighting terrific monsters, enemies of humankind, crafting magic items, or waging wars. All in the name of the Olympian gods.

“Well, you should visit more often then,” Zeus replied, a tipsy smile on his face. “I know I can sometimes seem busy, what with running our domains and all the clans, but I’ll always have time for my brother.”

“You could visit the Underworld every once in a while too, you know,” Hades complained. “It’s not all doom and gloom down there.”

“Mostly though,” Zeus retorted.

Hades nodded while taking another sip of his ambrosia.

“Besides,” Zeus continued, “nothing beats the view from up here. But tell me, how are your followers? I heard there’s a resurgence for the gods of death, the underworlds, and all that.”

“Honestly, brother, I haven’t seen so many new mortals following the gods and demigods in my guild since the Black Death.”

“Wow, you really are that popular right now?” Zeus asked and rose slightly. “Well, congratulations. What’s good for you is good for me. Is your clan still full? I have a demigod of death who recently ascended that’s really pushing to enter our alliance of guilds.”

“I’m full right now, brother,” Hades replied. “How long has he been waiting?”

“Not long at all,” Zeus said, waving his hand. “I think he ascended, like, twenty years ago.”

“I see. Then he can afford to wait still. Mortals who ascend need to be taught the value of patience and what it means to be a god. Though perhaps I might have an opening in the guild sometime in the near future either way.”

“Has something happened?” Zeus asked, smiling at one of the women attending to their needs.

“This is one of the reasons I visited you,” Hades confessed. “You remember Thanatos, one of my guild lieutenants?”

“Of course.” Zeus returned his gaze to his brother. “Can’t take that bastard anywhere near mortals or they lose their shit in fear. What of him?”

“There was an artifact stolen from his estate,” Hades said.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Zeus admitted. “If someone took the risk of breaking into the estate of a god of death, I don’t suppose it’s for a good cause.”

“Indeed.” His brother took another sip. “It was a book containing a ritual to break the chains holding Azarus, the Hellfather.”

“Hate that guy,” Zeus spat. “Always wants to be the star of the show. Why would anyone want hell on earth? Mighty creator of the nine hells!” Zeus scoffed. “So what?”

“From what I understand, some of hells kings are working together to bring their father back,” Hades explained, “but somewhere along the way, the artifact went missing.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know artifacts above S Grade are beyond tracking and any sort of divination—”.

“It was above S Grade?” Zeus interrupted. The clouds around them darkened momentarily. “I hope you punished Thanatos accordingly.”

“I did, brother,” Hades said. “But the fact remains that the item was stolen from us and has since disappeared.”

“Why didn’t you destroy it in the first place?” Zeus asked.

“We’d have had to launch an operation to go down the hells, down to its place of creation. It is only there that it can be destroyed.”

“How poetic…” Zeus mused. “Regardless, we should keep an eye out for movements from the nine hells and any resurgence of the book. Should anything happen, we will need to protect our realms.”

“Of course, brother,” Hades agreed. “But enough about me and the troubles of my guild. What have you been up to?”

“Glad you asked,” Zeus said, and stretched his body, accepting another grape. “You know the Dark Energy Marketplace, right?”

“The mega-corporation?” Hades asked.

“That’s the one,” Zeus agreed, and laughed. “I had a talk with their CEO at a banquet the other day. Damn smart guy, I tell you. Anyway, we were having a conversation about ways for gods to extend their influence and he had some very interesting theories.”

“Let me guess.” Hades closed his eyes. “Did they include employing his company in some way?”

“You haven’t met the man. That’s why you’re saying this, brother.” Zeus said, with a smile that even Hades’ closed eyes couldn’t hide. “He would never try that kind of slimy behavior. No, what he said was that the followings of modern gods are exploding because of social media making them more approachable to mortals.”

“You can’t be thinking of making an account? What would you do, throw lightning bolts around with childish mortal music in the background?”

“I’m not,” Zeus said, “though even you might find something you like if you actually looked into the music of the Cosmos…”

“If the Cosmos was meant to hold anything great,” Hades retorted, “its people would be able to see what every one of us in the Apocosmos can.”

“I’m not going to make an account,” Zeus said again. “That’s not for gods of our ilk. But I am going to become more approachable.”

“You already have a plan, don’t you?” his brother asked, looking at him. “I can see the cogs turning in your head. This is another of your great ideas, isn’t it? What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to have my biography written,” Zeus announced. “Mortals will know of the greatness I achieved through persistence and struggles. Not only will they be able to connect and identify with me and our guilds better, but they will also know of the greatness of the Olympians.”

“A book, Zeus?” Hades repeated in disbelief “A god writing a book about his life? I’ve never heard of anything like that before.”

“Which is exactly why it’s such a great idea,” Zeus said enthusiastically, “but I’m not going to write it. I’ll have someone else write it for me.”

“Control the narrative and give the people a piece of entertainment…” Hades mused. “The more I think about it, the more I like the idea.”

“I’ve had a lot of awful ideas before, brother,” Zeus admitted, “but this is one of the good ones.”

“Who’s going to write it? One of the gods in our clans?”

“Not a god, actually.”

“A demigod then?”

“Not a demigod either.” Another slier smile snuck its way into Zeus’ expression. “It’s a mortal. In the Cosmos.”

“A mortal?!” his brother exclaimed. “How will they even begin to comprehend the magnificence of your nature.”

“He lives in the Cosmos but is already part of the Apocosmos. He’s mortal but higher than level fifty.”

“Does he at least live in Greece?”

“Not in Greece, no,” Zeus said. “I didn’t want him to have much prior knowledge about me. He lives in Texas.”

“Across their ocean?” Hades said. It seemed like he was trying to remember the geography of that realm. “That’s an odd choice.”

“It’s one of the places where we have the fewest followers in the Cosmos,” Zeus explained. “I figured it would be a good place to start our expansion.”

“Whatever you think is best, brother. I trust you.” Hades raised the ambrosia-filled chalice in his pale hand. “May you be successful and have the whole Cosmos kneel to your magnificence.”

Zeus raised his chalice in response, but he wasn’t looking at his brother anymore. Instead, he was looking at a pair of beautiful mortals who seemed to be discussing the brothers in hushed tones. He had not seen them in his service before and instantly offered them his best smile. Life as a king among gods was indeed good.

But it wasn’t always like that. Even though his power had always been great, he hadn’t always been immortal and impervious to defeat. As a matter of fact, many times he had reached a point where he thought he would be done for, but his iron will had prevailed every single time. And that was the story that he was going to offer humans in exchange for their support and adopting him as their primary deity of worship.

A few hours of intense strategic discussions, careless gossiping about the happenings of other pantheons, and enjoying the more physical pleasures of life later, the two brothers said their farewells. Hades returned to his underworldly domain through one of the portals in his brother’s palace while Zeus sat in his place of power to take care of all the administrative tasks even a king of gods still had to attend to.

He glanced at the screen one last time, taking in the naivety and ignorance of the citizens of the Cosmos. He wondered how life might be for them, not being able to see any of the information provided by the Dark Energy, living their whole lives without gaining any levels or even knowing of their existence. He wasn’t sure that this world called Earth, would take well to discovering they were but a blip in a multiverse that, for the vast majority, operated with a different set of rules.

Realizing the ambrosia he had consumed was probably less watered down than usual, he pulled up his guild interface, a habit that had still not abandoned him.

* * *

Name: Guild of Zeus

Level: Maximum

Members: 1/255

Alliance: Olympians (Leading Guild)

In truce with: Norse Pantheon, Egyptian Pantheon, Chinese Pantheon, Japanese Pantheon, Fay

At war with: None

* * *

His guild had been empty since he’d decided to let all of its members go so that his siblings and closest friends would be able to create their own clans and join the alliance of the Olympians—one of the greatest alliances of gods ever to be created, with him at its top, of course. Despite all the tasks involved in running such a large and influential organisation, he still found himself missing the idle chatter in their clan channels. He thought it funny how stupid little nothings that would not have affected or interested him at all before were now the parts that he missed.

Shaking off the feeling, he pulled up the alliance interface instead.

* * *

Name: Olympians

Level: 12

Member Guilds : 12

In truce with: None

At war with: None

* * *

His and many of the clans in his alliance might have signed a peace treaty with other pantheons, but there were some gods that would just not let go of their spite, which meant that no real truce was possible. The Morrigan would never cease skirmishes against Ares’s guild and Poseidon would continue trying to get some of Njord’s domain. There would always be something happening, preventing an alliance truce from becoming reality. But then again, they were not at actual war with anyone either. That hadn’t always been the case, and Zeus appreciated the recent prosperous times of peace much more than the opportunistic days of war.

Maximizing the alliance menu, he brought up the consolidated view of his crown city.

* * *

Place of Power: Primary Guild Hall - Divine Realm

Name: Mount Olympus

Level: 12 (Maximum)

State: Idle

Belief Intensity: Devout

Happiness Level: Ecstatic

MP: 72,859,187,228,719

MP Generation: 2,325,000 MP/minute

Population: 6,849,788

Researching: Origins of Dark Energy I (42.51% completed)

Improved Resource Gathering - Wood Level 71 (37.57% completed)

Improved Resource Gathering - Metal Level 69 (36.25% completed)

Rune Engraving Level 31 (29.98% completed)

Enchanting Coefficients I (12.35% completed)

…Expand

Constructing: Greater Mana Generator (91.02% completed)

Greater Mana Generator (91.01% completed)

Greater Mana Generator (91.01% completed)

UPGRADE : Heavy Armor Crafting Workshop Level 53 (57.32% completed)

UPGRADE : Divine Arts Library Level 4 (48.69% completed)

…Expand

* * *

He had set the MP Storing Ratio to 50% which meant that half of the MP generated there would be stored and the other half equally distributed among the buildings under construction and the topics the scholars were researching. Content that there didn’t seem to be any foreseeable emergencies or bottlenecks that might occur during his absence, the god of gods walked through the alabaster corridors of his palace—the ones only he had access to—heading toward his personal chamber of interrealm teleportation portals.

Long gone were the days where he needed to climb down Mount Olympus or ride a magical beast to travel more quickly. Neither he, nor any of his alliance members would ever have to go through the mind-numbingly boring process of flying over, or—even worse—sailing across, the Atlantic to reach the Americas.

With a flick of his finger, Zeus pulled one of the countless floating portals from the high ceiling of the teleportation chamber down in front of him.

“What do you know, the sun is just setting up there,” he said, and crossed the threshold of the portal. Instantly he was transported from the top of Mount Olympus all the way to Boerne, Texas.

It was after a long and bloody battle between his clan and a pack of werewolves that he had claimed ownership of this hill and placed the gateway back to Mount Olympus. That had been a few hundred years ago. Only a few years back, upon seeing the majestic sunrise over the Texan valleys, did he decide to start building a small mansion here. It wasn’t extravagant, at least not for a god of his stature. Just a simple wooden building. Large by human standards but more like a small cottage for any god worth their salt. It was intended to be a place for him to come and escape it all. Nobody would know of it.

And nobody ever did, but he also never actually used it himself. The challenges of being a leader had kept him away and the abandoned mansion was left half-finished. In time, local children had taken to throwing rocks at his unfinished retreat and the rains had rotted the interior for winters on end, until he’d eventually sold it to a mortal that would appreciate it in a way he couldn’t.

Looking at the mansion now, he was sure that this very mortal was going to achieve the one thing that he, the highest of greek gods, couldn’t. Enjoying his time on this world. Not that he hadn’t had his fun, but often he yearned for the blissful ignorance of humans. He yearned to free his mind from all the responsibilities. Perhaps he would manage to do it one day. But not yet, for today was about getting started on the plan for expanding his pantheon.

Here, in Texas.

He walked down the hill until he found a road that he’d be able to drive on and produced a magical item he’d been looking forward to trying out.