A Misled Hero

Chapter 1: A curious being

"Aphrodite!" Dionysus called the goddess. It was one of the few times he did not have a glass of wine in his hands.

" The last of the Gods have already used all their power to summon heroes." He said, handing over a ring to Aphrodite.

She wore the ring on one of her hands, ready to complete her part of the plan.

" What about Odin? Zeus? Loki?" She asked panicked. The ring on her hand glowed before turning into a streak of light around her.

" I believe Odin left a few decades ago to summon the last of his warriors and defend whatever is left of Asgard." He answered.

" Maybe Zeus and Loki are having sex with a horse. Or each other, you never know with those two." He joked. A smile playing on his face that had been lost for years.

Suddenly, he frowned.

"She's getting quicker," He said, looking worriedly in the distance.

Aphrodite, taking the hint, flew off towards a platform below the world tree Yggdrasil. The death of all universes was increasing at an alarming rate. It hadn't taken more than a thousand years for the entity to reduce an infinite number of worlds to mere trillions.

" A few more decades..." Aphrodite whispered to herself, aware of the spreading darkness across every universe.

She reached the platform, quickly working on opening up a portal. The streak of light around her expanded, opening a gate to the furthest edges of reality.

" Ratotoskr," she called to the squirrel. It was after all the only being left on the tree, even the snakes that had eaten its roots had disappeared.

" Go to any edge in reality and find whoever responds to our call. Bring them here as soon as possible." She told.

The squirrel obeyed, running through the light to the other side. The streak of light condensed and expanded unsteadily.

' It should break any moment now' She thought to herself. She pulled out a large fraction of the portal, molding it back into a broken ring. She threw the ring into what was left of the portal, placing it around the tail of the squirrel.

" Use the ring to return," Aphrodite said, transferring her remaining divinity to the squirrel.

As the portal collapsed, the light condensed into a piece of a ring and fell towards the stone platform. The goddess followed, having already exhausted all her strength.

From the ground, she noticed the steady decaying of Yggdrasil's roots. More than half of the tree has begun withering, with each universe killed, one root followed.

"My my, it seems I'm a bit late" A dark figure smiled, leaning against the decaying side of the tree. Aphrodite remained silent, looking at the creature with horror and trepidation.

" Oh c'mon." It said, " No welcome? It can't be that I've been forgotten right?" It asked playfully, its hands gently caressing over to the living side of the tree. For a second, the entity looked fondly at the tree, leaning over to touch more of it. The bark withered where it was touched, and the entity pulled its hand back quickly.

" Damnit." It said, rubbing its smoking hand before it regenerated back. "There's still such life force in this damn tree."

It relaxed again, standing back on the decayed bark.

" Well, I am killing it slowly." It said, looking at the roots before turning its attention back to Aphrodite.

" Y'know that squirrel you have is real tricky." It complained. "I can't find it anywhere, where'd you send it?"