Death leaned against the decaying side of Yggdrasil, the bark crackling softly against her back. She was still trying to figure out just what had happened earlier.
" Erebus..." She murmured. The aura around the man was unmistakable.
"What now, Master?" The scythe asked. "Do we kill him?"
"He's an entity," Death said, "how do you plan to kill Void?"
"He's in a physical form now isn't he?" The scythe asked confused.
"Exactly, that's why we shouldn't touch him." She answered.
It was an ability few entities possessed, but a troublesome one nonetheless. Each entity had a physical form, but a select few occupied space.
Darkness, Nothing, and Void were the only entities that made space, should their physical forms be destroyed, they would revert to being concepts, with greater strength and base abilities. It could be said that they were less threatening in physical form.
" So, we just wait to die?" The scythe asked.
"Not exactly," Death thought deeply.
Among them all, there was one entity that could invade the space of others. It was the same entity that caused Nothing to not exist anymore. Life was the only entity with the power to create.
" Only Life can end Void for good." Death said.
The scythe was confused now. The man had the aura of Life, which meant that Life was dead, and he was the cause.
" Isn't he dead?" It asked.
" That's why we need some help."
She turned her body into a mass of liquid. Protruding from her was the goddess Aphrodite, still trapped in bars of darkness.
" Why would I help kill the hero?" Aphrodite asked, having heard the conversation.
" That man is not a hero." Death said, morphing her body back into a solid state.
"Then why would I work with you, who is destroying everything?" Aphrodite asked again.
It was a fair question, but not to Death. For her, it was natural to end things. For trillions of years she couldn't fulfill her purpose, and now the omniverse was grander than ever before.
" Because he will do far worse than what we are capable of." The scythe answered for her.
" Erebus? But an evil being cannot be summoned by divinity, so he can't be bad." Aphrodite reasoned.
It was a precaution taken a long time ago in the gods' realm. Each god helped create a seal that would prevent anyone with evil intentions from stepping into the gods realm.
Death sighed, it would take forever to explain the natural order to her.
" Void isn't evil," she said, exasperated.
Death gave up on trying to convince the goddess. It was easier to force her.
With a scythe in hand, her plan to kill the heroes vanished, replaced by a plan on how to use them to trap Erebus and perhaps use the aura of life inside him against him. Preferably before the dormant entity inside the man awoke.
" Will it work, Master?" The scythe asked.
" I hope so," Death said.
She trapped Aphrodite again and began planning on how to end the man Erebus, and his currently dormant personality, the entity Void.
***
"What the hell!?" I screamed in what appeared to be empty space.
Just earlier today I was enjoying my meal when some squirrel led me to that self-proclaimed hod. I didn't even get to ask what the hell was going on before a damn streak of light teleported me here.
Who am I even protecting the universe from? What the hell is the threat?
I sigh and looked again at the streak of light dancing around me. It had been like that for a while now, as if it was trying to enter my body but was being repelled.
'You'rethe hero,' her voice rang again in my ears. The light seemed tired of trying to invade my body, now staying a certain distance from me.
It paced around and then landed itself inside my palm. It felt warm and fluffy.
" What's wrong with you?" I asked it.
The light contorted itself into the image of a miniature fist and then pulled on my fingers.
" Close my hand?" I asked
It contorted again, forming a thumbs up. Curious, I closed my hand tightly. The light writhed slightly and disappeared into my skin. A few seconds later, the world spinned again and I found myself in a white room.
There was no furniture or anything of the sort. Just pure white.
Two other people stood across from me in silence. One of them, a muscular, short man with his hand on his chin, was lost in thought.
The other was a woman with her hair tied up in a bun. She was tracing lines on her palm, murmuring something softly.
Neither had seen me yet, seemingly too deep in thought to notice.
Two other people teleported inside after me. The first was a man with glasses, wearing a suit. His eyes lingered on mine a bit too long, filled with a tense urgency and...fear?
He moved around, keeping his distance from me. The other basically lunged at me, clawing at me with the same look of fear.
His eyes had a tinge of rage in them. I ducked and tripped him. Seeing as how he didn't hesitate or react to falling, I had a feeling you couldn't get hurt in here.
He tried getting up, but I kept my knee on his back and helf his hands behind him, pinning him down.
"What the hell man?!" I exclaimed.
He shook beneath me, hurling insults before a dark figure of a person emerged in the room.
I was pried away from the man as the figure created a shield around both of us.
The shield shattered and quickly regenerated as I push against it.
"Stop," rhe voice of the figure loomed.
The sound caused the first two people to snap out of their thoughts. They looked around the room anxiously, unsure where they were and then sighed in relief after mapping their surroundings.
The shield, still covered around me, seemed to hide me from the view of others, looking at how the first two completely ignored my presence.
"Now is not the time to fight, heroes " the figure said sternly, turning its head to both me and the man who tackled me.
Upon closer inspection, the man was bruised a bit, with a scar across his lips.
Seeing our conflict, the one with glasses, who was avoiding me earlier, pulled him away from me and whispered something in his ear.
The figure then sighed and allowed the shield around me to shatter again, allowing me closer to the rest.
" I'm sure you've been told the situation by each of the gods that summoned you," it begins.
The others nodded solemnly.
'The hell? Am I the only one clueless here?', I brushed the thought off, expecting the figure to explain further.
" As you should know," it continued, "they've given you a slight bit of their divinity and abilities."
They nodded again. I remembered the light around me earlier but then dismissed it. No way that thing gave me any abilities.
Not only did I have no clue what was happening, I also had no abilities I was supposed to feel have. I felt a bit scammed, really.
The figure snapped his fingers, and before us were five exotic-looking fruits.
"These are the fruits of Yggdrasil, gathered over the past trillions of years. These give the gods their powers," It said.
Had they been gatekeeping these?
"Each of you has been scouted across the multiverse for the best results possible. These should add to the divinity inside of you, and give you what you need to stand a chance."
' A chance against what?' I thought, but because I didn't want to be the only idiot confused in the room, I stayed silent, waiting for more of an explanation.
One fruit was handed to each of us, exuding an aura somewhat familiar to me, yet not pleasant.
I raised an eyebrow. These give us powers?
Everyone else took a bite. The fruit was small enough to be consumed in three bites.
On the first bite, I feel nothing different. It didn't even seem like I just bit my way into divinity. On the second bite, a sweet-ish taste was introduced to the fruit. The third bite was like the first, tasteless and empty.
' That's it?' I thought before an uncomfortable feeling settled in my stomach.
A low growl came from my gut, but nothing else. It seemed to reject the fruit with all its might, yet something inside me kept absorbing it in, feeding off of it. The others don't seem to have a similar problem.
Genuinely, they seem to enjoy the fruit. A look of bliss and happiness flashed across their faces, perhaps forgetting about whatever beef most of them seemed to have with me for a split second.
The figure clapped, drawing our attention. Its left eye glowed with a purple radiance before nodding sagely.
For some reason, the figure then decided now was the best time to introduce us, as well as tell us the abilities we gained from the fruit.
"Lei Ling, summoned by Hades," it called to the woman with her hair tied in a bun.
"You can summon the ability of any creature from myth or imagination. These can be infused in weapons or clothing."
'Holy shit, that is overpowered.'
"Not more than two abilities can be active at once, and your lifespan is drained after each usage," It explained.
'Nevermind.'
" Wargod Gumesh, summoned by Athena." It said, this time to the muscular man from earlier. " You have been given mastery of all weaponry and invulnerability."
A pretty basic ability, but a good one nonetheless. The figure kept his gaze on him a bit, trying to find out more.
" It's weaker than the rest, but with no drawbacks." The figure added.
It continued explaining the abilities of the next guy.
"Jake, summoned by Odin. You have limited omniscience. The past and present of all realities and realms are as open as a book, but the future is uncertain."
The man who avoided me earlier perked up at the mention of his name and nodded quickly, then fell back into thought.
If there was a drawback, it wasn't revealed. The figure continued.
" Felix, summoned by...huh?" The figure paused, seemingly troubled at finding out the god who summoned the man that tackled me.
" No matter," rhe figure shrugged it off. " You can change the past, but not more than 7 times."
The edges of Felix's mouth turned upwards. For the first time since coming here, he wasn't looking at me with a malicious gaze.
He looked much more preoccupied with finding out how to use this ability of his.
The figure then turned to me.
"Erebus, summoned by Aphrodite." I urged it to go on. " You...have no abilities."
" What?" I ask blankly. The exchange caused the others to look at me with wide eyes.
The woman, Lei Ling, stared at me for a few moments. The next thing I saw was a blade exuding energy held at my neck, with Lei Ling wielding it.
" How'd you follow me?" She asked with a heavy voice, much to my confusion.
"And what did you do to my brother?"
The room was tense with silence, and I could feel the cold sweat running down my back. The figure created a shield once more around me and added some distance between us.
Jake went to her side, taking caution around her sword.
"It's not him," he whispered to her.
Before she could reply to him, Felix shouted an insult at me, before disappearing from the room. The gesture did not help clear any confusion I had.
" Shit," the figure said. "Lei Ling, could you bring him back?"
Reluctantly, Lei Ling put her sword down and summoned a lasso from her imagination.
She swung it once and threw it to where Felix was standing. The lasso disappeared halfway and reappeared a second later with Felix caught in it. I can only assume it went through time.
"DAMNNNITTT!" Felix shouted, kicking at nothing in frustration. His eyes were a bit watery and his body was trembling. He looked at me with a bit more anger and fear than before.
" You're a monster..." He said, before collapsing on the ground.
The figure was even redder in anger than Felix was.
"How are you only left with 3 chances to go back in time?!?" It screamed.
The lasso around Felix disappeared, and the woman collapsed as well, breathing heavily.
I could see it already, we were not off to a good start. The entity might be laughing if it could see us.
Speaking of, could someone explain to me what the entity is? I still have no idea what is happening. Also, why do all these guys want my head?