Olympus

Pantheon Hall

Goddess Status: Active Pact

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Riora came out of her portal. Out of habit, she'd cast her 'normal' face on. She also schooled a bored expression over her features.

Inside the walls of her mind, she was a hot mess.

Had the other goddesses been made aware that Phenїx was MIA? It wasn't unprecedented, but for someone of her latent strength, the gaping silence in the wake of her disappearance had caused Riora to worry.

The original Mount Olympus had long ago been done away with, shortly after the Greek and Roman pantheons discovered the lean times that would be ahead for them. They'd relocated the realm and made Olympus the cathedral seat of the entire goddess pact. But rarely were all called to appear in its halls.

The goddess of impossibility, the Talisman's Hie, and all annoying chants during soccer games moved with a swiftness through the amphitheater foyer and over to a small side cottage that levitated free of a sheer cliffside. Her permanent quarters as a 'minor' goddess in the pantheon.

Said home also included a gingerbread wall for her. By the time she finished taking the time to nibble on a piece, she sensed the approach of several sisters. She squared off with the door, awaiting the customary barging-in that usually accompanied a visit.

The knock at the door made her notch an eyebrow. Hells, they are never that polite unless it's...

"Please come in!" she called.

The first through was none other than Skathi herself. She'd chosen her hunting attire. Never a good sign. Skathi's furs were swept up over her shoulder, revealing her accoutrements... a skinning knife, leather thong ties for her kills, and a quiver.

Her bow was unstrung at the moment, but that could change with a simple thought.

The goddess was choosing to show her frost giantess heritage today. Her long hair was no longer solid red, but instead streaked with wisps of white and grey.

Behind her, Hekate, Saroh, and the Great She-Bear also appeared. Riora looked them over. Hekate's pixie features were distracted, while Saroh, the goddess of the Jinn, was struggling with a jar of some kind.

"Stupid lids," she was mumbling.

Riora cast out a quick flick of a finger, and the lid popped off of its own accord. Saroh glanced up and sighed, "Thank you. I've been trying to open this for a month."

"No trouble." Riora nodded. "And welcome. Please make yourselves –"

"Have you heard from Phenїx?" The goddess of the hunt rushed out the question.

Riora looked at Skathi. No pleasantries? No introductions? She stilled slightly.

"No," she answered. "Why?"

"News has reached us of late that there might be someone who is hunting her," Hekate murmured.

"Hunting her." Riora blinked.

The very idea was ludicrous. Hunting a demigoddess was an incomprehensible and foolish endeavor under the best of circumstances. But to hunt an oracle? Even moreso.

She shrugged slightly. "I was concerned that she has not checked in of late. Could it be the Møriør?"

"No," Saroh sighed. "This threat comes from someone else."

"More like some thing," the Great She-Bear growled.

Riora looked at the female. Towering almost ten feet tall, she remained in her humanoid form. Yet the green lines of her power font were criss-crossing her face. Whatever this thing was, it frightened her.

"What exactly is this thing?" Riora asked pointedly.

Another voice called from behind her, "A reaper."

She twisted around. Sekhmet had arrived. With dark brown hair bordering on black, the goddess had her eyes done in the old style of the ancient pharoahs. But the death goddess' face was sheened with sweat.

As if she had been running for her life. Goddesses almost never showed that sort of exertion. Ever.

"Sekhmet, what-?"

"I just spoke with Persephone," she explained breathlessly. "The reapers are returning."

Skathi had gone quiet. If Riora had thought it possible, the goddess of the hunt had shivered. As though she were afraid. Was that now a possibility?

The goddess of the hunt tilted her head. "Are you certain?"

Sekhmet nodded.

"Okay, I'm new. So I'm not familiar with these. Can someone explain?" Riora asked. "Reapers are... what, gods?"

"No," Skathi answered.

Elsewhere, a growing thunderstorm confirmed her strong emotions. As a distant relative of the Valkyries, Skathi was long regarded as an aunt to their kind. Although she mourned the fact that the Valkyries had inherited an enormous amount of their mother's sensuality.

There were rumors, however, that the goddess of the hunt was growing more... lax in her restrictions among her Skathian followers.

"They are immortals, but they are different," she answered.

Oh, because that explained a lot. Riora huffed. "Skathi, perhaps a less vague answer would be helpful?"

"They're assassins. They hunt us."

Sekhmet's words brought Riora up short.

She turned to the death goddess, "Come again?"

"Long before you ascended, reapers were created by one of our kind as a breed of immortals that would enforce the laws and covenants that we ourselves created." Sekhmet explained simply.

"Except they weren't infallible," the Great She-Bear intoned softly.

"No," Skathi confirmed softly. "They were far from such. And in the process, they took their duties to an extreme."

"They slaughtered over fifty of our kind during a period of time known as the Primordial Wars," the She-Bear explained. "Before that, they reaped dozens of gods and goddesses. Most of those at the end of their time of worship, but there were some they reaped before their appointed time."

Riora looked at Skathi for confirmation. The goddess of the hunt had formed a thin line with her lips. The frost giantess turned to Sekhmet, "Are we absolutely certain that this immortal even exists? I thought they were extinct."

Another knock at her door. Oh well, now it was just becoming a party! Riora threw up her hands, "Well, please, do come on in!"

Kali entered.

"Is what I am hearing true?" she asked breathlessly.

"That depends," Riora hummed. "Are we talking about Phenїx, or are we talking about reapers?"

"Both, in this case," Kali answered. "I just received a word from a high priestess among the Sirenae. She requested my immediate attention."

The others turned to look at the Hindu goddess as she worried her lip nervously, "There are rumors proliferating among the Vertas immortals that a reaper attacked Nїx the Ever-Knowing outside of New Orleans."

The room stilled.

Sekhmet intoned, "This was precisely what we feared. We had instructed the reaper only to be summoned for a deathbrush on Phenїx."

Wait.

"Uh, excuse me?" Riora wheeled around and stared at the death goddess. "Did you say, 'deathbrush'??? That sounds like a hells of a lot more than 'only summoned', Sekhmet."

"A deathbrush is not what you think it might entail," Sekhmet huffed. "To deathbrush a demigoddess in ascension, the reaper must escort her for a time."

"Escort her? So it is possible he took her willingly?" Riora clarified.

Sekhmet swallowed slowly. "No. The deathbrush is intended to be done in secret. Only if there is a truly vicious threat... one from the gods themselves... does a reaper reveal himself."

"Why would you commit this deathbrush?" the She-Bear inquired.

Sekhmet sighed, her hands playing over her sides for a moment. "There have been... some... inconsistencies with Phenїx in recent months."

"Speak plainly, Sekhmet," Skathi answered abruptly.

Kohled eyes glimmered sadly, "We were concerned there would be the possibility that she might end up prematurely ascending, and causing a spiritual vacuum when she did."

The rest of the goddesses peered around at each other. Riora went over what she knew of from her time when she had ascended.

"... You're saying she could cause mortal casualties?" she asked.

"Not just mortals. No Lorean is safe. That, and heavy natural catastrophes, if she is not prepared," Sekhmet replied.

Riora thought on that. The mortal plane had seen a few volcanic eruptions when she herself had ascended. A couple major earthquakes here or there, but mostly deep under the ocean. Nothing to the degree that Sekhmet described.

"Are you absolutely certain that her ascension would even do such a thing?" she asked.

"It was a precautionary mission," Sekhmet explained. "The reaper was to remain nearby in the event that she did happen to ascend prematurely, to ensure there would not be massive fallout." Then she waved a hand. "Instead, it appears that the reaper has gone rogue."

Riora glanced over at the others. "Aren't there any of us that can contact Phenїx?"

"You're the goddess of impossibility, you tell me, sister," Hekate mentioned.

Her lips pursed while she considered the option. Yes, she was able to do the impossible, but that was with her parishioners. Still, it couldn't hurt to try. She closed her eyes and began focusing on her power font.

When she began reaching further into the ether, she sensed something terrifically wrong. Normally, her powers would simply delve into the realm of what mortals and immortals deemed impossible. There would be a surge while she coaxed the impossible to become possible, and the deed would be done.

Now, though, instead of slipping into her power, it felt sluggish. Belabored.

After a short time, she looked back at the others. "I guess it is possible."

"Or, he is actively using his aura," Saroh interjected.

"What difference would that make?" she asked.

The djinn wafted a hand through her gold hair, "Reapers are able to cut themselves off from all gods and goddesses. Except for a few of the higher gods. Namely, their creator."

They peered around at one another a moment. Then the She-Bear huffed, "No way in any of the hells am I going to ask him for a boon."

Riora looked them over. "Who?"

"Death," Skathi intoned.

She blinked. "Oh. Uh. Yeah, we might have a problem."

Of all the gods in the pantheons, the Grim Reaper had been noticeably absent. There were missives from realms far and wide that reported sightings of him, but Death never remained long enough to be spoken to.

Where some were raunchy, Death had earned the title "Grim Reaper" handily. He did not play games with mortals or immortals. There were some who said he had a good side, a playful side, but it was buried.

Something had happened, long before she'd ever come to her ascension. Whatever it was, it had scarred the primeval god.

That gave her pause, "Just curious, if Death is their daddy, who is the mom?"

"It's not quite that simple," Skathi sighed. "Reapers weren't all born by Death. Many were chosen by him to join his ranks."

"There were a few natural births," Kali mentioned.

When Skathi shivered, Riora caught a sense of omen. The taste of something that drove her to take risks. To do and know the impossible. The scent of myrrh was poignant in her nose.

"Who is the birth mom?" she pressed.

"We do not want to wake her up," the She-Bear interjected.

"But she could find Death, explain the matter to him!" Kali was earnest.

Riora couldn't remember a time when she had seen the other goddesses this apprehensive. Their gazes were shifting, their demeanor reserved. Agitated.

Hekate lofted a hand, "She and Death were bound by vows they gave eons ago. Until the appointed time. Now is not it."

"And we are certain of this how?" Kali inquired.

"Are we pulling a Voldemort now?" Riora sighed.

Sekhmet gave her a look. "Pulling a what?"

"Oh, my powers, you ladies need to get out, sometime," she grumbled. "At least give me a name of this mother of reapers?"

Skathi sighed. "We're talking about Nyx."

Riora stilled at that. "The goddess of night?"

"One and the same."

She floundered slightly. Among the pantheons, Nyx was considered one of the most ancient. Something occurred to her. "Okay, yeah, but wasn't her hubby Erebus?"

"Death prefers not to be called that."

Riora's mouth flopped open. Death was Erebus?! Then she realized... "Wait, I've never even met Nyx!" she argued.

"You have," the She-Bear answered. "She's a duality."

Riora's brow lofted. Duality goddesses were uncommon at best. The oldest such were said to hold knowledge that transpired when the multiverse had started fully coalescing. "Well," she offered. "What's her other half?"

"Knowing you, you'd go raise some kind of hell to get her to show off her other half," Skathi grumbled. "The answer is no. Absolutely not."

Riora flung up her hands. "Then this solves nothing about our problem with Phenїx."

"I've already sent out calls to my followers among the Lore to watch for Nїx," the goddess of the hunt answered.

She tapped her foot. "And what happens if this reaper is disobedient?"

They shared a heavy glance between them. "Then we will need to address where the reaper goes after he is eliminated," the She-Bear answered while she began heading out the door.

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