"You're dying?"
Tiny's words were simple, but Atlas had a hard time understanding them as they weren't following the logical string that the other boy had previously established.
"How can Gods die, though?" He thought out loud, staring at the club members and Rin.
Everyone else seemed to understand what was going on, except him. The rest said nothing because it was clear that Tiny wanted to explain the situation himself.
"It's simple, really. Gods exist through worship. They need people to remember them, acknowledge them!" Tiny gesticulated as he spoke, waving them all around him.
"Once they have no one, or the number of people worshipping and remembering them starts to decrease, then they die."
It was as simple as it seemed. Very much similar to the emotional concept that a person only truly died when they were forgotten.
Tiny then added another bit of information.
"Another way God's die is when the domain or the divinity they preside over is also dying. One case is with my dear sister who has only managed to survive so far by relying on the moon,"
"So all the Gods are dying?" Atlas asked, ignoring that bit. causing everyone to nod their heads simultaneously.
"Not everyone. Some have it easier than others but a lot still died. That is, referring to members of other pantheons. A lot of the Greek pantheon didn't adapt to the new world in time."
Atlas easily pieced the information together, but it made him realize one thing.
"Are you also a dying god?"
He adapted to the situation much quicker than one could have expected.
Tiny ran his hand through his hair and gave a charming smile.
"Allow me to re-introduce myself. You may know me as Tiny but actually, I am Apollo the God of Oracles, Healing, Sunlight and my most known one: Archery."
The situation now completely dawned on Atlas. Tiny or rather, Apollo, was the bright man from the previous day that had saved him. There were a lot of questions Atlas wanted to ask but they had to stay on topic.
"Are you saying other pantheons adapted quickly?" he asked, resisting his urge.
Apollo nodded his head pitifully. He collapsed exhaustedly and for the first time looked energetic.
"Indeed. A lot of them have gained strong representations and humans unknowingly worship them."
"The Norse pantheon is the most prominent one. Their one of the major reasons Greek Gods are dying. They have representations everywhere in the form of movies and even comic books, whereas, you rarely see representations of members of the Greek pantheon,"
"The Japanese pantheons come close after. While they might not have a lot of gods that can stand toe to toe with us. The few gods with their strong representations have unimaginable divine power."
Apollo sighed when he said the last one. There was admiration and a hint of something underneath when he spoke about the last pantheon.
"Then the last goes to the Chinese Pantheon."
"They might be the strongest, yet the weakest. They have even fewer remaining Gods than the Japanese but the might of those deities is unbelievable. So much so that even my father couldn't beat the few that exist!"
Atlas had a solid grasp of the situation. He'd summarised that Apollo and the other kids in the club were from the Greek Pantheon, and Rin was from the Japanese Pantheon but that didn't matter. He still felt a lingering suspicion that something was wrong in the back of his mind.
"That dumb info dump still hasn't explained why you need me," Atlas uttered coldly. He didn't want to spend time with these dangerous people if he could help it.
Apollo sighed and raised up his hands in defeat.
"Fine, I'll get to the bottom of it. The thing is, if we want to survive we need a new God. A modern God to take a seat in the Pantheon. When that happens, a lot of energy is transferred to the rest of the pantheon, restoring them. It's only happened recently when a new god popped up in the Japanese pantheon. That's how they recovered."
Atlas saw where this was going and shook his head.
"Let me stop you right there. I don't want to have anything to do with this God business. Right now, I just obtained a huge lump of cash thanks to you, and I can live peacefully for the rest of my life. I don't see why I should suddenly agree to this,"
Atlas was absolutely serious, but so was Apollo.
"First of all, as long as you have even the tiniest speck of your father's blood in you, then there won't be any peace for you for a long while. Monsters will be chasing you from north to south, east to west. And second of all, don't you want to know about your father's death? There's no way the all-powerful Titan, Atlas could die so easily."
His words caused Atlas to narrow his eyes and furrow his eyebrows. The God was dangerous but he was useful. "Give me more time to think about it,"
Atlas grumbled as he got up from the ground, preparing to leave the room. He'd only said he would think about it, but that pretty much made Apollo overjoyed.
"Wonderful! Please meet me in front of this school at night. We will be beginning your training there."
Atlas gave a strange look at Apollo, then he realized that the other 'boy' had probably been alive for thousands of years prior. If he wanted his way, he would get it.
"I never agreed…" He grumbled as he got up from his spot on the floor.
Rin also rushed to get up as he headed towards Atlas with a perplexed expression on his face. He seemed rather worried that Atlas would disappear as he stopped Atlas in front of the door and presented a book to him.
"Thank you for saving me. My mother sends her deepest regards,"
He pushed the book into Atlas' hands and left without saying anything. The book appeared like an ordinary notebook but the words on it read: "Harnessing Divine Energy"
Atlas sighed and put it in a small pocket in his hoodie as he watched the blue-haired boy leave
If it was before that day. He would have thought people were playing an elaborate prank on him, but now he knew different. He had witnessed a man floating, and a being made of shadow. He'd witnessed a boy his age swinging a large sword out of nowhere and blocking bullets.
Atlas was pretty smart, but he knew that it didn't take a genius to figure out that his life wasn't ever going to be the same again. For better or for worse.
He took one last look at the club members, and left the room, praying it couldn't get any worse.
As he left the school building, he felt a pair of leering eyes at his back and turned to look for the owners but found nothing there.
"Weird."
. . .
Meanwhile, a shadow stalked the boy's figure from the roof of the school and laughed manically.
"It looks like the boy still has a long way to go. Pity that I won't give him that time he needs to develop.
"No matter the cost. I cannot allow them to develop a new God!"
He said those words to himself, words full of power, then magically disappeared as if he wasn't there in the first place.
****
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