In the divine realm, two beings stood in front of a majestic door, standing all alone in the snow. The grand door loomed thirty feet tall, resembling a towering fortress. The two deities took a long look at the door, their expressions solemn and concerned.
"So, what do we do now?" Ra asked Kokou. The deity stood beside his brother, towering over the god of war like a golden statue.
"I'm not sure," Kokou replied. "I felt something amiss and thought we should come to check on old man Nik".
"Kali and her minions are becoming brazen lately, but despite our efforts, we still haven't found anything against her," Ra said
"Well, that can't be helped," Kokou replied. "She spends most of her time cooped up in Atlas—the realm of the goddess of time—and barely comes out. The only times she does are when she visits Nyxa or Loki. I even hear she visits Sango from time to time."
"That's troublesome," Ra said. "Darkness, mischief, time, and now thunder. They're a dangerous group."
"Indeed," Kokou said. "Although I placed some of my men to keep an eye on her, there have been irregularities in their reports lately. It's as if they've suddenly lost track of time—time seems to have moved forward for them, and they don't even realize it."
"I'm pretty sure you didn't think placing someone to watch her was going to do much good, did you?"
"Of course, I know that," Kokou replied. "I'm more interested in what she doesn't want us to know she's doing, than in what she's doing."
"And that has brought us here," Ra said with a growl.
"Ah, yes," Kokou replied. "Although my men didn't report it, there was a slight fluctuation in old man Nik's realm during one of her meetings with Loki and Nyxa. At first, I thought that old bastard was conducting one of his experiments again, but I don't think it's a coincidence that such an event happened when those three were meeting."
"Hmmm. Indeed. Coincidences at times like this are as rare as Tonia not being annoying," Ra remarked.
"I can hear you, you know," Tonia said in their heads.
"I wasn't trying to hide it," Ra replied. "Also, you should be locked up. Why are you prying into our minds?"
"I was bored," Tonia said.
"Bored?" Kokou asked. "What happened to the child in the mortal realm?"
"Well, she's not doing anything interesting currently," Tonia replied. "Although she did meet the one who summoned your curse, Ra," Tonia added with a chuckle.
"What's funny?" Ra asked. "Did the boy do anything?"
"Not really," Tonia replied. "It's just that their encounter was much more fun than when she met Ares' vessel."
"They fought?" Kokou asked.
"Something like that," Tonia replied. "But she has returned home and is preparing for something. Things are bound to get interesting soon," Tonia said. "Oh, and Kokou, I should tell you this—our curses aren't the only things running rampant in the mortal realm. It seems your curse has caused some kind of weird occurrences, and the other sins are converging toward it."
"Oh, that's not good for that brat. How many have you noticed so far?" Kokou asked.
"Let's see…" Tonia began. "A girl carries Pride, an unpleasant man awakened Gluttony, another woman awakened Sloth, a weird girlish boy carries Lust, and my vessel's sister seems to have awakened Envy."
"That's worse than I thought," Kokou said.
"Yes. The only missing piece is Greed, and I'm sure once it arrives, and the boy is unprepared, he'll be in for more trouble than he can imagine," Tonia said.
"Unless one of them gets themselves killed, of course," Tonia added.
"Unlikely. I think this is another repercussion of Kadara messing with things," Kokou said with a sigh.
"Well, there's nothing we can do about that now. I'll handle it later," Kokou said.
"Any other updates?" Kokou asked.
"What am I, your personal broadcasting network? You should peek into your vessel yourself," Tonia said.
"Hey, hey. You're the one with the most free time here, you know," Kokou replied.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that. You two are too slow at getting things done. Just let me out of here, and I'll get the answers from that damned hag myself," Tonia said.
"You want to start a war?" Ra asked.
"That wouldn't be a bad idea," Kokou muttered.
"Shut up," Ra replied sharply. "You don't get to talk when we're discussing starting wars."
"It wouldn't be too bad if we did. Those guys messed with us first," Tonia said.
"And what proof do you have?" Ra asked.
"That bitch Kadara confessed," Tonia replied.
"A confession you beat out of her—an illegal confession," Ra stated. "Also, we don't have a justification for war. Having our curse summoned isn't justification enough. It happens. Although it has never happened to us, that doesn't mean it can't happen."
"After all these years? Why now?" Kokou asked.
"I think we all know the answer to that," Ra replied.
The three grew silent for a while. Then, Tonia spoke.
"I won't allow it," she said firmly.
"I won't allow them to do a reset, and I won't break the curse either," she declared.
"That's out of the question," Ra said, and Kokou nodded in affirmation.
"Then we just have to search for a justification, right?" Tonia said. "And I think I have one."
"What is it?" Ra asked.
"It's little Abaddon," Tonia said. "Old gramps sent him to the mortal realm."
Ra and Kokou's eyes widened in shock