"Better?"

Grian sighed dramatically.

"Yes. Thank gods"

Mumbo grinned, smoothing out his new suit. The black dyed wool fit snugly around his arms, encircling his wrists at the perfect length. Ren really had done well.

"It's going to be dark soon" Grian commented, shielding his eyes from the low hanging sun. "It's not a good idea to stay outside at night. Do you have a place to stay Mumbo Jumbo?"

"Oh... uh-"

Mumbo had not thought that far ahead. Go figure. Grian cocked his head and crossed his arms.

"I'll take that as a no. Come on. You can stay with me"

"Really?" Mumbo sighed, and jogged to catch up with the small cloaked God who had already begun to walk swiftly. "Thank you so much"

"I'm not just going to leave you to the creepers. I may be a... disagreeable person shall we say, but I'm not heartless"

Mumbo chuckled softly, his steps falling in pace with Grian's.

"I don't know about disagreeable either"

Grian made a grunting sound that could have meant anything.

They allowed a calm silence to fall over them as they walked into the forest, the golden sunbeams of the autumn evening dancing in between the red and yellow leaves. Mumbo marveled at the natural beauty of the ground. Who knew anything could be as bewitching as the pearl colored cloudy heavens? Sure he had been to the ground before to deliver messages as a young immortal, but never had he stopped to actually look, nor had he been allowed a corporeal body. Something about feeling every uneven mound of dirt beneath his feet and the smell of leftover rain that still soaked the trees made it all so surreal.

After an hour, Grian finally broke the silence.

"It will be just up ahead here"

Expecting to see some kind of wooden or stone cottage like the ones in the village, Mumbo slowed a bit as Grian led him to the opening of a small cave, so hidden by bushes he probably wouldn't have seen it if not pointed out specifically. Nonetheless, he kept his mouth shut and ducked his head to enter.

It was incredibly dark, especially with the sun nearly completely submerged under the mountains behind them.

Mumbo squinted to follow Grian's movements as the small God picked up a broken branch from the ground and snapped his fingers at one end of it. Instantly, a flame illuminated the tunnel around them.

Mumbo jumped back in surprise, and Grian's lips quirked up into a smirk.

"Sorry to scare you Mumbo Jumbo" he said, not sounding at all sorry.

Mumbo put a hand on his chest, and was surprised to feel the thumping of a heart. Of course. Human bodies had such things.

"What kind of God are you?"

The sudden light wasn't what had startled him. Mumbo had been silently contemplating all day, trying to figure out what kind of God this weird little man was. He never spoke about himself and deviated from any question asked directly about personal aspects, and thus Mumbo didn't have much to go on. All he had were the two powers he had seen him demonstrate. First, the exploding cup, and now the fire. All gods had some powers in common, but most were specific to the particular God's function. Stress could wave her hand and music would play while Iskall could put his hand on someone's shoulder and instill them with instant happiness. Scar, the God of wealth, had never ending diamonds flowing from his pockets and False, the God of war, could summon any weapon in seconds.

But explosions and fire? What function did such power serve? That was just chaos.

Grian handed Mumbo the torch and turned, beginning to walk down the tunnel.

"What kind of God do you think I am?"

Mumbo groaned. "Can you please stop answering my questions with a question"

"Maybe if you stopped repeating your questions I wouldn't have to do that"

"Does it count as repetition if my questions were unanswered?"

"My house is just behind here"

Mumbo ducked under the low hanging rock and opened his mouth to argue again, but stopped at the sight he was met with. The minuscule cave had opened up into a massive canyon, with trees covering a small valley overlooking a petite lake. However that was not the amazing part. What had silenced the young God was the magnificent stone chiseled palace on the opposite end of the lake, glistening against the reflection of the moon in the water, which peered out from under the stalactites clinging to the ceiling.

"Don't just stand there with your mouth open. Come on"

Mumbo looked to see Grian sitting in a small row boat on the edge of the lake. Mumbo just barely fit across from him, having to hug his knees to his chest so Grian had room to row.

"How... when... you..."

"Mumbo, I certainly can't answer your questions without a full sentence"

Mumbo racked his brain for words.

"How did you find this place?" He decided on.

"I was scouting around a while back and came across this canyon"

"The palace?"

"I built it"

"You... you... how?!"

"I had extra time on my hands"

Mumbo gaped. That was hardly a satisfactory answer but his mind was still scrambling to come to terms with what he was seeing. The grandeur of the castle was well within the realm of The Primaries palaces in the heavens. Perhaps that had been the inspiration.

When they got to the shore, Grian held out his hand. Mumbo cocked his head in confusion, and Grian sighed in annoyance.

"Take my hand Mumbo Jumbo. The rocks are really slippery and we don't want you to ruin your new suit"

Mumbo's cheeks flushed as he took the gloved hand and allowed himself to be pulled a safe distance onto shore before a thought occurred to him.

"It's a pretty warm night. Don't you want to take off your gloves?"

Grian gave him a very pointed look.

"Mumbo, have you ever heard of the word subtle? Besides, even if you saw the God symbol on my hand, you wouldn't recognize it"

"Wanna bet?" Mumbo blurted. He only wanted to get his attention and throw him off, but hadn't been expecting the fiery look in the mysterious God's eyes.

Grian tore the brown leather glove from his wrist and stuck his hand in Mumbo's face.

The symbol, swirling with detailed arrows was far more complex than any Mumbo had ever seen.

"Well?" Grian huffed.

"I..." Mumbo wanted to look at it for as long as possible. It was just so intricate. "Beautiful..."

He reached out to Grian's hand to take a closer look, but the God snatched his hand back, shoving his glove back on.

"There. I win. Come on"

Mumbo stood dumbly for a moment, trying to put two and two together.
Fire + explosions + arrows? This was getting more confusing with every uncovered clue.

One thing  was for certain. Grian wasn't like any God in the heavens. He was crass, sarcastic, blunt, and mysterious. He wasn't polite or seemed to care about customs. He didn't talk about himself or seem to want to. He was completely chaotic and unpredictable.

And Mumbo loved it.

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed the chapter, please consider leaving a like and a comment to let me know what you think!