The Scared God [ManXManXMan]

Chapter Thirty-four: Авось - Avos'

~Chapter Thirty-four: Авось – Avos'~

My well-cushioned shoes make barely a whisper on the bricks as I carefully walk across the quiet, ancient city currently shrouded in the shadows of the massive temple on top of the hill overlooking it. The city itself is far smaller than the temple, as it was made with the non-god Greek creatures in mind. It is because of the size that I have remained in my human form to avoid being the metaphorical tree branch in a pile of haystack. I kind of wish everything was fit for the gods here, as it would have been easier to sneak around if everything else was gigantic while I remained small since there would be less chance of being spotted by giant gods than satyrs or naiads of the same size.

Of course, the chance of me being seen is already low, as it is night time, but I would still have liked the added bonus that the size difference would have given me, even if my small size would have made travel take long–

The scuff of boots against dirt has me hastily jumping behind an empty food stall in front of a dark store. "Why do you think Father is calling everyone to the temple?" A familiar voice asks, but I dare not peek out from behind the stall to confirm who it is. After all, Apollo might be kind of oblivious sometimes, but if he is with the person I think he is with, then I would be noticed immediately; Artemis is fucking sharp, after all.

Apollo's question only receives a noncommittal hum, and I would even dare to call it sleepy, but I still do not risk being spotted by looking. Sleepy or not, Artemis or not, there are not many Greek goddess I can name that do not have eyes of hawks. And I am not stupid enough to risk capture over something as unimportant as curiosity over something that does not actually matter.

Thankfully, they do not linger, as I hear some more soft scuffing of boots further down the street, fading more with the distance. And, sure enough, when I glance over the stall's counter, the road is once again empty. Still, I wait another a few moments for any other surprises, wary of being caught off guard again.

When no one else comes down the street by the sixtieth second mark, though, I start moving again towards the middle of the city. I have a mission, after all, and if Zeus is calling for some kind of meeting in the middle of the night, my timeline just sped up. There are only a few reasons he would call a meeting so suddenly, and none of them are good.

- - - - - - -

One week earlier...

Hors sits up straighter, eyeing the book I shoved into his hands. However, when nothing stands out to him after a couple of seconds, is it is not like I highlighted it as I went, he looks inquisitively at me. "What am I looking at?"

"Well, it's really not just that page," I tell him, looking at the book and then meeting his gaze before letting my eyes slide back to the book, finding it hard to stay focused on any one thing after spending so much time researching. "It's just that it mentioned something in one of the passages about warding objects and why they are used."

The sun god blinks slowly. "Explain."

"Well," I start, licking my dry lips – I should probably drink some water eventually – and running a hand through my hair, "the other books have mentioned ward stones and runes, but none of them mentioned why ward objects – not just stones – are used. They're a...a balance thing. When a ward is too powerful, it becomes unstable and needs something to channel it, so some really ancient guy came up with a way to balance the ward by giving it a physical anchor."

Hors mouths 'ancient guy' in amusement, but I ignore him and keep talking, "I already knew all of this – Ainmire was a very thorough mentor – but I didn't really consider it since the Greek gods aren't known for using ward stones. However, I just realized that that doesn't mean the Titans didn't. Or, really, that they didn't use something like this. Ward stones were mostly used by the Celtic and the Norse gods back then, but the Titans must've had some sort of anchor; that's the only explanation that makes any sense."