"Ting!"
"Ting!"
"Ting!"
In a large old barn, the sound of a hammer on hot steel can be heard.
"Ting!"
"Ting!"
"Ting!"
Inside the barn one would find a middle aged man bent over an anvil hammering away at a piece of steel. The surrounding temperature was well over 100 degrees and the air was filled with the smell of burning coal.
After several hours of heating and working the steel, it ends up taking the shape of a Viking long sword. The man heats the steel one last time before dunking the steel in oil, quenching it before taking it to a grinding wheel to finish the blade.
As the man was finishing up the last touches on the blade, a bright light flashed before him and an old man in a white tunic with gold trim appeared before him.
The man looked up from the blade that he just finished and asked the old man,
"Can I help you" with a passive face.
"The correct question is, if I can help you" The old man said with a small smile on his face. As he was talking he walked over to a table nearby that had a manila folder with a medical report in it.
"As you know you are currently dying of a rare disease that causes your body to slowly harden like stone. I'm offering a way for you to both live and gain the chance to have a better life." The old man said with a calm look on his face.
The middle aged man took the sword that he just finished over to an open crate, put it in and closed it, before bringing it to the door to be shipped out. The man was known for making perfect replicas and pieces of old cold arms, his work was his life, his pride and joy, and yet the disease caused his body and muscles to slowly harden. This made moving and working harder and harder, he could barely move without straining his body to great degrees and he could no longer do the things he loved.
The middle aged man stopped what he was doing and looked at the older man with raised eyebrows. He could get his normal body back? He could continue to do what he loved, to make and create weapons and tools, to slowly make and form his thoughts and dreams into a reality through his forge and anvil?
"What do you want in return? For anything taken something must be given, before I agree I would like to know what it is that I'm giving up." The middle aged man said as he thought about the deal that was presented to him.
"What I want is quite simple, for you to not only entertain me and the other gods, but for you to try and ascend as a fellow God to help fill the place of those that have retired. Other than that you can do as you wish, oh and also you will be reincarnated into a new world that is filled with swords and magic." the man said as he opened a portal to what seemed to be a large meeting hall made of marble or some similar white stone.
"If that's the case then I'll take you up on that offer." The middle aged man said as he followed the God through the portal into the large meeting hall. As they were walking over to a large crescent table, the old man introduced himself
"Before we meet the others to discuss how this is going to work, I should introduce myself and let you know what you should and shouldn't do. My name is Bartholomew, and I am the god Wisdom. I'm going to let you know that not all gods are as easy going as I am, and it's in your best interests to act as respectful as you can in their presence until you get to know their personalities." As Bartholomew finished the Middle aged man looked over at the crescent table and saw that there were others already there.
There were 11 people sitting and one open seet near the middle, Bartholomew walked over and sat in the open seat and asked for the man to stand and a slightly raised platform in the center of the crescent table. There were 6 gods and 6 goddesses, and as the man got to the spot he was told to go to Bartholomew said "I welcome you to our great hall, and to start this off I believe we should all introduce ourselves, I will start. My name is Bartholomew and I am the God of creation, and the oldest among us."
The man to his left then spoke, "I am Kretos, the god of war." Kretos was a man of large stature at around 6'2", he had pure white skin and a large beard with a bald head. He had a large norse stile axe on his back with 2 large chain blades wrapped around his arms.
To his left was a man with long bright golden hair and skin that seemed to glow. He was wearing a golden toga that had purple silk highlighting its edges, and a golden sword at his hip. The man said "Hello mortal, I am Lunox and the God of Light."
Next was a dwarf that seemed very tired, he was short, stout, and possessed a ton of muscle. He looked at the man with a discerning look before smiling and greeting joyfully, "Hello there young one, I am Olaf, the god of the forge. I am currently looking for someone to take my place as I wish to retire, so would you please take my place when the time comes?" Olaf was looking at the man with hope in his eyes, and the man looked at him and said "Gladly, but I do hope that you stay around long enough to help get me through the first little bit." "Of course! I wouldn't want to leave you with this bunch of nut heads without any form of help!" Olaf said with a slight smirk.
Next to Olaf Was a large suite of black armor about 8 feet tall, next to it was a large mace that gave off an eerie green glow. "Young one, what is your opinion of death?" The armor spoke. "My opinion of death? It's something that all things experience at least once, and in the end nomadder what, it is inevitable." the man said to the armor. "How interested would you be in taking my place as the god of death? I plan to leave and experience true death, but not before giving my power to a worthy successor, and just happen to fit the bill."
"Now listen hear you hunk of iron, I had him first so keep your mitts off of him you hear!" Olaf yelled as he stood up and pointed at the suite of armor. The armor turned its head and said "That decision is up to him, not us, so sit down and wait for his answer." They both looked at the man and he said "Can I choose both? Take Olaf's place and inherit your powers?" the man said with a wondering look.
"I don't see why not?" The armor and Olaf agreed. "Well then that's settled, my name is Judge and I'm the God of Law and Justice." the last man on the left side said.
" Are you cranky old men done over there? Jees they don't know how to behave. Hello there mortal Im Muse, the Goddess of Music, and the cranky one next to me is Obscura, the Goddess of Darkness." the woman next to Barthalamew said as she smiled. The woman next to her, who was apparently the Goddess of Darkness, just nodded at the man before closing her eyes.
"And I am Mother Nature! You can just call me mom if you want to, dear." the lady next to Obscura said with a large smile. She had long green hair and looked like the motherly type. She was wearing an ocean blue dress that was barely able to keep her massive "Mountains" in. To her right was an equally beautiful woman that looked younger, but she looked at him with disgust.
"Tell me again why this disgusting thing was chosen? It looks just as bad as the old goblin over there." The woman said with a sneer.
"I'm a dwarf you damn wh@re! And at least I dont go sleeping with everything that has a d!ck!" Olaf yelled with rage.
"Enough you two! This is not the time to be bickering as we have very important stuff to go over!" Judge yelled as he looked at the two and said "Amare you should know better then to say such things, especially to our guest here who has the potential to kill you easily in the future should he wish, especially with the fact that he's inheriting the power of TWO MAJOR GODS. And Olaf I know that you're angry but please keep the insults to minimum please."
"Alright" Olaf said with a grunt.
"The woman that just spoke is Amare, The Goddess of Love and Beauty, although I doubt the Love part. And I am Lunara, the Goddess of rebirth and life." said the woman next to Amare. She had long golden hair and eyes that sparkled like diamonds with their lovely light blue, and a figure that could only be described as perfect with the perfect hourglass body that seemed to scream take me. The man quickly looked away to his left at the woman next to her as he heird Lunara chuckle sweetly.
"Hello there, I am Hermia, the Goddess of Hearth and Home." the last woman said. She had light brown hair that went to her waist and looked like the older sister type.
"Well I think that's everyone, so let's move on to the main point" Bartholomew said with a smile.