Outside, Asgard was completely peaceful. Everyone went about their day as if nothing had happened, but inside one of the palace's great halls, the situation was an entirely different story.
Sif, Thor's recognized wife and the main person in charge of diplomacy for the Norse Pantheon, stood with her arms crossed in front of her husband. The expression on her face made it more than clear that she was far from happy. Odin remained off to one side with a solemn expression, leaning on his spear, while Freya stayed close to Sif. Being one of her best friends, it was obvious where her support lay.
"Let me see if I understand this," Sif began. "You're telling me that you found out where our children were because of the King of the Greek Gods, and your first reaction was to stand in front of him and demand that he hand them over to you?"
"They're my children," Thor replied seriously. He didn't understand why his wife was making such a big deal out of the situation. From his point of view, his actions had been more than justified.
Sif slowly shook her head. "Our children are under Olympus's protection, and the first thing you do is make an enemy out of the person responsible for their safety. Do you understand how stupid that is?" The restrained anger in her voice was beginning to show. "You can't just walk up to someone and start giving them orders simply because you feel like it, Thor."
The God of Thunder clenched his jaw, but wisely chose to remain silent.
Sif took a deep breath, trying to control the frustration that had been building ever since she heard the full story. "It's like you don't even understand how difficult this would have been to fix if that argument had turned into a fight. We're not talking about some minor god. We're talking about the current ruler of the Greek Pantheon, and you decided to do all of this in front of practically every major pantheon."
She ran a hand across her forehead. As the person responsible for a large part of Asgard's diplomatic relations, she couldn't help but feel secondhand embarrassment.
Hela let out a small laugh from where she stood. "Relax, Sif. It's not like things actually went that far."
Sif turned toward her. "Hela, there is absolutely nothing funny about this."
"Ohhh, I think it's pretty funny," the Goddess of Death replied without even trying to hide it. "There's a certain poetry in watching people lose their heads. You should try it sometime. You might even enjoy it."
A glint of madness appeared in her eyes as a tiny dagger materialized between her fingers and she began spinning it around like a simple toy.
Several people in the room gave the Goddess of Death cautious looks. Hela paid them no attention whatsoever. She was who she was, and she had no intention of pretending to be someone else just to make other people feel more comfortable.
Freya had to turn her face slightly to hide the amusement the comment had caused her. Sif turned back toward Odin. "And you're not free of blame either."
The All-Father raised an eyebrow. "Me?"
"Yes, you," Sif replied in exasperation. "I'm in charge of diplomacy for the Norse Pantheon. It is literally part of my job to prevent situations like this. If there was even a possibility that our children were in Greek territory, I could have spoken to Damon myself. We could have sent a message, a delegation, a formal request, or simply asked if they were all right. Any of those options would have been a hundred times better than publicly confronting the supreme god of the Greek Pantheon."
"He provoked me," Thor growled.
Sif stared at him in disbelief. "Damon didn't even know they were your children. From what you told me, all he knew was that they belonged to the Norse Pantheon."
That was enough to make Thor fall silent. "From his perspective, I can't blame him," Sif continued. "What did you expect him to do? Simply step aside and say yes because you're Thor?"
Hela let out another laugh, this one with very little humor behind it. "He probably expected him to shit himself. I suppose he got a small reality check instead."
Thor shot her an unfriendly look, but Hela merely returned it with a cold one.
"All of this could have been avoided," Sif continued. "And now we don't even know how our children feel or whether they actually want to return to Asgard immediately."
Thor raised his head. "Of course they want to come back."
"How do you know?" The question came out with far more force than Sif had expected.
"Years have passed, Thor. Maybe that doesn't mean much to us, but can you imagine what those years were like for them?" Her voice began to crack slightly. "Maybe they don't even want anything to do with us anymore."
The silence that followed was far more uncomfortable. The regret in Sif's voice was more than obvious. The situation was clearly affecting her far more deeply than she had wanted to show.
Freya placed a hand on her back and began rubbing it gently. As the Goddess of Love, she could clearly feel her friend's sadness, and seeing her like this broke her heart.
"I'm going to fix this," Sif declared after composing herself, gradually regaining her firmness.
Odin frowned. "What?"
"I'm going to contact the Greeks the way we should have from the beginning. I want to know what happened to Astrid, Hiccup, and Soren, why they ended up under Olympus's protection, and most importantly, what they want."
Odin took a step toward her. "Sif—"
"I think you should let her do what she needs to do, dear," Freya interrupted, positioning herself slightly between Sif and her husband. The firmness in her voice stopped the supreme Norse god in his tracks.
"I'm afraid she's right," the black-haired goddess continued. "Even as a Goddess of War, I can recognize that diplomacy would have been the most sensible option from the beginning."
Odin said nothing..... He knew perfectly well that arguing with Freya when she used that tone rarely ended well for anyone involved and, depending on the situation, could end up becoming a problem for all of Asgard.
The All-Father's silence was answer enough.
Sif turned around and began walking toward the exit with firm steps. Freya remained in the hall for a few more seconds, looking first at Thor and then at Odin. The expression she gave the All-Father was far from friendly. "You really screwed this up." She didn't wait for a response before leaving after her friend and sister-in-law.
Hela watched the two of them disappear down the corridor before slowly shaking her head and turning back toward Odin. "All that work for nothing, huh, old man?"
Odin narrowed his single eye.
Hela smiled. "Anyway. Some of us actually have responsibilities to take care of." A dark mist began forming around her body. "Try to have a little fun, will you?" And with that, she disappeared along with the mist.
The great hall fell into silence..... Thor stayed there with a frown on his face, still annoyed by everything that had happened and, if he was being honest with himself, even more irritated with Damon than before.
Odin adjusted his robes before turning his single eye toward his son. "Don't worry, Thor. We'll get to the bottom of this my way."
With that said, the All-Father went his own way. The sound of his footsteps eventually faded down the corridor while Thor also left the hall, though with a very different destination in mind.
Straight to the bar... he urgently needed another drink.
What neither of them noticed was that they had not been alone. Somewhere beyond their attention, a certain presence capable of changing shape had listened to every word of the conversation with obvious interest. It disappeared into the shadows only to reappear far from the great hall, calmly walking through one of the palace's long corridors. At first glance, there was nothing particularly unusual about him. He looked like nothing more than one of the many servants who walked through the palace every day, someone far too insignificant to attract the attention of the guards stationed throughout the halls.
As he turned a corner, however, his face began to distort, followed by his hair and clothes. Without missing a step, Loki continued walking as though nothing had happened, an amused smile slowly spreading across his face.
"What a troublesome family."
He couldn't deny that he had enjoyed the conversation quite a bit. He loved watching everyone tear into one another and get angry with each other. It was like a pathetic little Ragnarok that he could savor every second of.
Loki let out a quiet laugh. Without a doubt, he had been wrong: the meeting between the pantheons had not been a waste of time after all.
Originally, he had expected to gain something different from the whole affair, but the information had proven incredibly valuable. Especially when the people involved were already angry enough with one another to do most of the work for him.
The Trickster God stopped in front of one of the palace's enormous windows and looked out over Asgard for a few moments. From there, everything seemed perfectly normal. Its inhabitants went about their own business and lived their lives while the guards patrolled as though the Norse Pantheon had no major problems brewing beneath the surface.
Loki stepped away from the window and continued toward a less populated section of the palace. Once he was completely alone, he raised one hand and the space in front of him slowly began to distort.
"I suppose I should pay an old friend a visit." Without another word, he stepped through the portal..... to never be seen again. :>
XXXXX
Olympus
The sound of Grayfia's heels echoed calmly throughout Damon's palace as the silver-haired woman walked with a small silver tray in her hands. Resting on it was a freshly prepared cup of tea along with a few small portions of food that she had personally chosen before making her way toward Damon's office.
Since she had begun serving him directly, Grayfia had quickly learned some of his habits. Whenever Damon focused on something, he could spend far too much time without leaving his seat, ignoring simple things like eating or resting properly. It wasn't exactly something she approved of as his personal maid. Even if he was a god, every living being needed to rest their mind from time to time.
She reached the door and knocked a couple of times. "Come in." Grayfia entered without delay. Damon was sitting behind his desk, surrounded by several papers and small formations of energy suspended in front of him. Some appeared for a few moments before disappearing, immediately replaced by others as the god modified different parts of whatever he was creating.
"Damon-sama," the silver-haired woman announced her arrival, causing Damon to briefly pull his attention away from his work.
"Ehhh, Grayfia."
The silver-haired woman approached and placed the tray beside his desk. "I brought you tea. You should eat something as well."
Damon looked at the tray, noticing that Grayfia had taken the time to prepare the food herself. "Thank you, Grayfia."
The silver-haired woman simply nodded in satisfaction and remained behind him for a few moments, watching as he immediately returned to his work. After thinking about it briefly, she placed both hands on his shoulders and began massaging them with calm movements. Damon raised an eyebrow slightly, though he didn't stop her.
Grayfia maintained a perfectly serious expression as she continued massaging his shoulders, although Damon could easily sense that her emotional state was far from as calm as she was trying to appear. There was a certain arousal hidden behind her movements. Damon had to suppress a smile. It had literally only been one day since that night with Grayfia and Medusa, and apparently the silver-haired woman was already beginning to want more.
Even so, Grayfia knew perfectly well when to restrain herself. She didn't try to take the contact any further or interrupt his concentration. After a few minutes, she finished the massage, adjusted Damon's clothes slightly, and took a small step back.
"Do you need anything else?"
Damon turned his head slightly toward her, still wearing a small smile. "Not for now."
Grayfia inclined her head. "Then I'll be nearby if you need me."
The silver-haired woman picked up the empty tray and diligently left the office. Damon waited until the door closed behind her.
"Hm."
An amused smile remained on his face for a few moments before he turned his attention back to his work. Needless to say, he had been more than satisfied with his two maids that night, and judging by how both of them had ended it, the feeling seemed to have been entirely mutual. After weeks of jumping from one problem to another, he finally felt like his mind was clear enough to focus on the Sacred Gears again.
He already had a fairly clear idea of what he wanted to accomplish; now the important part was implementing it correctly. Damon had spent much of the day perfecting a system capable of keeping all of his creations connected to one another while, at the same time, preventing them from eventually becoming a problem beyond his control.
He called it Sacred Link.
Damon had made sure to keep the system as simple as possible. Every ability granted through Sacred Link would possess a direct connection to him from the moment it found a wielder. The user would still own their abilities and have complete freedom to develop them according to their talent, but Damon would remain the highest authority behind the system. He would be able to sense the general state of his creations, recognize when one awakened, and prevent outsiders from trying to manipulate them or steal their secrets.
But Sacred Link went much further than that.
Each ability would be capable of preserving a small imprint of those who had wielded it before. Experiences, techniques, and even some of the abilities developed throughout their lives could remain within the system after their deaths. A future user would not receive everything for free, but they would have the opportunity to overcome trials created by Sacred Link itself to prove that they were worthy and capable of using what their predecessors had left behind.
That way, the Sacred Gears could grow from generation to generation without Damon constantly having to create new versions. It would also prevent future demigods from having to start completely from scratch. There would always be something to strive for, a goal to reach, or a trial to overcome once they had progressed far enough in their training.
Naturally, Damon had also prepared several security measures. If some outside force managed to sever his connection to Sacred Link, the system would automatically enter a protective state. The Gears would continue functioning for their users, but any information related to their creation, internal structure, or connection to Damon would be completely locked away.
In other words, they were gifts. But at the same time, they were still his gifts. With all of that finished, Damon had decided that it was finally time to see whether the system worked the way he expected.
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