As he followed the flying letter, Adrian took his first step into the Tower with a rapidly beating heart.
"I wonder which god chose me?" Adrian muttered as he moved through the crowd of people who were getting led to the gods that chose them.
"Hey, kid."
With a deep voice calling out to Adrian, a giant that exceeded 2 meters was currently standing in front of the teenager.
"How many I help you?" Taking a few steps back so that he could see the man's face, Adrian tried his best to sound polite since he had the nagging feeling that he couldn't afford to offend the giant in front of him.
"You're a good child I like you." Easily noticing the politeness in Adrian's words, the giant had a small smile as he patted Adrian's shoulder.
The giant darted his eyes around before hunching and whispering in Adrian's ear. "You know you don't necessarily have to sign a contract with the god who chose you."
"Well, it's not mandatory but signing a contract with the god that chose you would give you the most benefits." A soothing yet deep voice said after hearing the giant's words.
"Huh?" Raising his head to look at the person who butted into their conversation, the giant who was about to give the person a piece of his mind was frozen in place.
In front of the duo stood an extremely handsome man who was wearing a purple-trimmed black coat and had a dangerous smile on his face.
"It might be an unwritten rule but breaking it would lead to severe punishment, god of Strength Hercules." The man said while playing with the staff in his hands.
The man stared at Adrian from the corner of his eye before saying. "Yes, we may be stronger than the council but if we get kicked out it's over for us."
"And I'm sure you wouldn't want that, right?" Raising an eyebrow, the man had a smile plastered on his face while he talked.
"So could you run along now? We have things to discuss." With an unreadable expression on his face, the man took a step towards Adrian while staring at Hercules.
"Tch... It's not like he was that good anyway." Hercules clicked his tongue before turning his back towards the duo and going to search for other people.
Having something like a cell phone appear in his hand, the man placed it by his ear before saying. "I've found someone that you might like."
"We'll be going to room 549, meet us there." As he ended the call, the man had a smile on his face.
"My name is Hermes, and I'm the god who chose you." With the cell phone disappearing, Hermes patted his coat before he continued. "Also I'm the god of Magic."
"My name is Adrian nice to meet you." Subconsciously feeling safe around Hermes, Adrian looked at the man with admiration in his eyes.
"Anyway let's get going, the person we're going to see hates waiting for people" Having the staff he held disappear, Hermes subconsciously remembered what happened to the people who made that person wait.
Adrian placed the letter that had stopped floating in his pocket before following Hermes.
After they had walked for a few minutes, Hermes had a white screen manifest in front of him.
"Your life wasn't too pleasant." Hermes turned to look at Adrian while he watched how the latter's life was.
"It was really shitty." Adrian let out an awkward laugh before scratching the back of his head.
"But because of the people I met, it was a very good one." With a grateful smile spread across his face, Adrian stared at the floor while he walked.
"I see," Hermes said before dismissing the white screen in front of him.
"Thanks for always being there for me," Adrian muttered with a mix of different emotions traveling through him.
Remembering the time he spent with his loved ones, Adrian's eyes slightly reddened as a smile appeared on his face.
Without the slightest change in his emotions, Hermes took his eyes off Adrian as he kept on walking.
"Get on," Hermes said before stepping on an altar that had a silver Magic circle etched on its surface.
"Oh." Pulled out of his thoughts, Adrian looked at the Magic circle for a while before stepping on it.
"To room 549."
As Hermes' voice traveled through the air, the Magic circle underneath them gradually lit up.
Staring at the formerly dull Magic circle, Adrian's eyes held awe as he saw it get brighter by the second.
After the Magic Circle's luminosity reached its peak, a dazzling beam of silver light shot out of its center. Consuming everything that was on it.
When the beam vanished, the figures of Adrian and Hermes had already disappeared from where they stood.
****
Appearing in front of a golden door, Hermes and Adrian were standing on a Magic circle similar to the one they were on a few seconds ago.
Hermes ignored the beautiful circle underneath them as he placed his palm in front of the golden door's keyhole.
"Get in," Hermes said after releasing a few strands of Divine essence into the keyhole and turning the doorknob.
After Adrian had entered the room, Hermes closed the door before sitting on a chair opposite where Adrian was seated.
Leaning on the chair he sat on, Hermes crossed his legs and said. "We'll start when my friend gets here."
Adrian gave Hermes a nod as his mind was flooded with thousands of thoughts after he had closed his eyes. 'I hope I get something nice from signing the contract with him. Would it be magic-related things since he's the god of Magic? I wonder if his friend would give me something that'll help me grow stronger. Ah! I can't wait!'
Click...
With the door getting opened, an oppressive aura was released by the person who had walked in.
Adrian felt choked the more he stared at the woman. Accidentally locking eyes with her, every fiber of Adrian's soul screamed danger when she glanced at him with her cold red eyes.
Slightly gasping for air as stared fearfully at the goddess before him, Adrian realized the difference between Agius and a god were leagues apart. And the difference between the both of them was infinite.
"Sorry, I'm late." Sitting on the chair beside Hermes, the woman had a stoic expression on her face as she said. "Hope it's cool that I brought a friend along."
"Who am I to stop you Hel?" Hermes let out a sigh as he knew she didn't care if others waited for her.
Having an old black book appear in front of him after snapping his fingers, Hermes made the book float by his side.
"Hermes this is Nidhogg, a friend of mine." With a small smile gracing her pale face, the beauty of the goddess before them could bring more than a million nations to their knees.
Hermes looked at the black dragon that appeared for a while before saying. "So you did prepare him a gift."
Looking at Hermes, Hel said. "You did say he might catch my attention and that was what he did. So giving Nidhogg to him as a pet isn't a bad idea, right?"
"You sure are quite the mysterious lady," Hermes said.
Hermes sighed after seeing that Adrian had been quiet since Hel walked in. "You should take it easy on mortals with your terrifying aura."
"If they can't handle my aura it's their problem." Showing that she didn't care about how mortals felt in her presence, Hel crossed her legs while looking at Adrian.
"The same as always." Hermes sighed after heating Hel's reply.
As he made the book move towards Adrian, Hermes said. "This is a portion of my Divinity and I'm going to give it to you as a gift."
"Huh?" Only able to process what Hermes had said a few seconds later, Adrian stared at the book in front of him with shock on his face.
With the book easily passing through Adrian's chest thus merging with his soul, he vaguely enjoyed the mysterious but pleasant energy that traveled through him.
Adrian bowed to Hermes as he wondered whether giving followers their Divinity was part of the contract.
"Here." As a blood-red spider figurine appeared above her palm, Hel transformed Nidhogg into a ball of grey wisps before handing the both of them to Adrian.
"I expect great things from you." Coldly staring at Adrian with narrowed eyes, Hel's Divinity along with Nidhogg's soul seamlessly merged with Adrian.
"Yes ma'am." Swiftly nodding his head, Adrian's thoughts about followers getting their god's Divinity shattered akin to thin ice.
"It's time we began." Tired of the idle chatter, Hermes radiated seriousness out of every fiber of his being as the letter that was in Adrian's pocket flew towards him.