"Now, the destination has been decided but... how are we gonna get there? There's no way we can go to Hela's and to the meeting in the span of just two weeks, not with these kids," Fenrir contemplated while gesturing towards his pack and Jörmungandr's.
"Hey, the Hel ya mean kids—" yelled Dare before his brother and Ime managed to restrain him, mentally communicating to him via glares that now was not the time to be an angry new adult.
"... I have someone I can call," Anubis quietly murmured, attracting the attention of everyone, as ever since his priestess had come here, he had been silent and distraught.
He stood up, and to everyone's great surprise, the jackal god who perpetually appeared as a child seemed to have grown into an adult, with shadows beneath his eyes and a hollowness only the grown, world weary and scarred could have.
Gazing towards the sky, where the moon hung high and seemingly lonely, he called to the god who had brought his priestess to such a state:
"Khonsu, come here."
Chills swept up the wolf's, the serpent's, the humans, and even the incorporeal specter's spines at the jackal's tone, bone-chilling as it was. His eyes which were usually so bright and mischievous with gold were now blacker than death itself, and far crueler and more terrible than any reaper could be.
Then, more shivers overcame them, though this time it was not Anubis, but rather the swell of divinity that left everyone—even the ever stoic Fenrir and emotionless Jörmungandr—to instantly be on their guard against the presence.
Descending from the moonlight like a droplet, came a pale flash of light that grew and grew until it fashioned itself into a man.
He was tanned, with jet black hair and pale silver eyes the crescented into a mischievous smile; wearing an all white suit save for a black tie that was accessorized by a moon opal golden pin, he seemed like a man who had been made from moon rock itself, and was just as cold and distant as the celestial body he seemed to come from.
For a moment, Aspen's older sister, Alexi, and even Laura stared open mouthed at the new handsome man, but quickly recovered when the twins and a few from Fenrir's group glared at them; the newly arrived god simply smiled at the reaction, enjoying it before he forced his attention back to the terribly irate jackal god.
'...Yup, he's pissed,' he thought to himself gleefully while his smile grew a bit more.
Outwardly he exclaimed, "Ah, Anubis! It's been a little while since I've last seen you, how are you? Little Ain was with you last, wasn't she? And how is the little darling, is she well?"
Gritting his teeth, Anubis bit out, "She is stabilizing after your last altercation with her, but more importantly, I need to go somewhere with a few people—will you allow us travel across the servers through the moon?"
Smiling slyly at his question, Khonsu hummed, "That's quite the request; carrying only one person across the servers to here took three years off their lifespan last time—with such a large group, I would require either an inhumane amount of time that you would never give up, an entire soul, or a decent amount of divinity. Are you sure you want to pay that price, Judge of the Dead?"
His fists tightening enough to bring golden blood, Anubis's expression quickly became wrathful, and the easy smile on Khonsu's face fell away as an enormous swell of divinity arose from the god.
"You took three years from her life? THREE YEARS?!"
If the pressure from before was bone-chilling, the sheer hatred that arose from the god was leaving the brothers breathless with panic and brought the humans to their knees.
Khonsu's face became stern before he replied, "Ma'at must be maintained; to travel as a god, one must give up something inherently divine in the process, and the only divine things a human possesses are their soul or their time. I gave a counter offer for instead some of the divinity you gave her, but she chose the time instead.
"Understand this, Anubis," he leaned into the jackal's furious face, his eyes shining with pale silver, "I could have asked for her soul, and I instead took only 3 years; I have been generous with my deals, and you come to me for help only to express fury?"
Shamed silence overcame Anubis who slowly calmed down at Khonsu's rebuke.
'Calm down,' he sighed in his head, 'knowing Khonsu, he could have indeed taken more, and it was my fault for leaving in the first place...'
"...I apologize for my outburst, Khonsu—you understand how... sensitive I am, in matters concerning Ain."
"It's no problem," he smirked again, "but it will cost a tad bit extra as compensation. You understand, right?"
"...Yes."
"Perfect!" he exclaimed while clapping his hands and turning to the spectators who were catching their balance and breath again. "Now, where would you like to go and how many people are going?"
"We will take only our Priestesses and ourselves. As for the location..." he turned to the siblings, hoping beyond hope that one of the brothers would know where their sister is so that the travel cost would not be too terrible.
'Please don't make me pay extra!' he thought to himself desperately when he saw Jörmungandr's habitually blank face and even blanker eyes, a sure sign of him not having a clue where she was.
"I have a solid place in mind," pipped up Fenrir as he saw the slow degradation of Anubis's stony expression and lifeless eyes.
For a moment, it seemed like Khonsu tsked at them knowing before a business smile crossed his face once again.
"I see, what a relief; I'd hate to charge more than I have to."
'That's exactly what you want to do, you scammer!' everyone collectively thought aside from Jörmungandr, as he was still shell-shocked someone came from the moon. In fact, he was wondering what would happen if he were to punch him—would he turn into light before reforming again, or would he actually hit something solid, like rock?
'So curious...'
Vaguely, Khonsu felt a chill run up his spine as the serpent stared at him intensely, but he chose to ignore it before naming his price.
"To the divine, I ask only for a part of your divinity, or a fragment of your souls; time is wasted on you guys. So," he grinned, stretching out his hand towards the three higher beings, divine or otherwise, "do we have a deal?"
Anubis hesitated.
Weighed his options.
Looked back at Khonsu.
Clasped his outstretched hand with his own.
"Yes."