Disclaimer: I do not own any of the God Eater franchise as well as the blatant references to a certain famous author's series on Greek and Egyptian Mythology.
Prologue
Arielle drummed her fingers impatiently on her throne hoping that all the Olympians had gotten the message that the upcoming meeting in ten minutes was mandatory and that they were not allowed to skip out for any reason. She knew that the di Immortales were incapable of getting sick so there should be no 'I came down with the flu' excuses to explain any absences after wards.
And 'I got into a death match with an Ouroboros' did not count as an excuse either, something Apollo used on her when she asked him why he was MIA at the last meeting.
Even if it was true. Though why the Sun God would get into a death match with an Ouroboros during the last scheduled meeting was completely beyond her.
Basically everyone had to attend the meeting or else.
"Lady Arielle."
She turned her head in the direction of the voice to see a man sitting in a throne that had just been empty seconds ago. The owner of the voice was a man who looked to be his middle to late twenties with jet black hair and green eyes that reflected the un-tamable oceans. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt with shorts that complimented the vacation theme of his shirt.
"Lord Poseidon." Arielle nodded to acknowledge him. It was only right since he ruled over the realm of the seas- a vast territory due to the fact that the oceans covered over seventy two percent of the Earth's surface.
"You are the only one here?" He asked, eloquently raising an eyebrow at her as he settled into his seat.
"Apparently so." The woman in question rolled her electric blue eyes. "Has no one in the pantheon ever heard of the phrase 'arriving early'?"
"When all you need to do is snap your fingers to get to your destination, time pretty much becomes a moot point!"
Arielle rolled her eyes again at the sudden appearance of the blond haired who looked eerily like a high school jock from an era of a distant past before everything went to hell in a hand basket.
"Nice to see that you decided to come to this meeting, Apollo."
"Heh." The Greek God of the sun, poetry, prophecy and medicine rubbed the back of his head nervously at her scrutinizing stare. "You made it pretty clear last time that I wasn't allowed to miss this meeting."
"Good." Was all Arielle said. "The others should arrive on the dot, then. They always do."
And as predicted the remaining Gods who made up the shattered Greek Pantheon arrived at the exact time that Arielle had ordered them to come. When she saw that everyone was present and accounted for, Arielle made a noise of approval before signalling that the meeting officially started.
"This better not take too long." A man decked in black clothing grumbled as he plopped down in his assigned seat in the council; the seat that had once belonged to the former Queen of the Gods, Hera, before it was rebuilt to something more suitable for the death god. He had dark eyes and skin far paler than that of any healthy human. "I still have over five million souls to sort through."
"I assure you Lord Hades that this concerns all of us. Actually, I think you would be interested in knowing in that if events were allowed to pass uninterrupted, you will have another four million souls to add to those five million you are still sorting through." Ignoring Hades' sputters of indignation, Arielle returned to addressing the rest of the gods. "I have already arranged a second meeting with Lord Horus after this one. Something he agreed to without much convincing."
Everyone in the room straightened up at the mention of the deity who headed the Egyptian Pantheon. For the most part, Greeks and Egyptians did not mix unless necessary. The fact that Arielle had contacted them must have meant that whatever she had called the meeting for was pretty serious.
Emphasized even more so in that Horus had immediately agreed to her request. Horus, the Egyptian God of War, who was not well known for being able to sit through discussions patiently without challenging people to the death.
A cacophony of voices rose up as most of the gods spoke all at once, all demanding answers as to why she had called for them and how dire the situation was. Arielle waited for the noise to die down before speaking in a level voice that sounded through out the room.
"Two days ago both Hecate and Apollo approached me with some disturbing news. Hecate because she saw two possible outcomes for an upcoming future and Apollo because-"
"God of Prophecy, baby!" Apollo interrupted. "I know all, I see all!"
Arielle glared at Apollo and the Sun God sat back down with a sheepish look on his face.
"Well, as I was saying before a certain someone interrupted-" Arielle glared at Apollo again. "Apollo saw something in the future that needed to be brought to attention, which coincided with what Hecate also told me."
A man with auburn hair folded his arms across his chest and gave Arielle a stern look with the single wine coloured eye that wasn't being concealed by his hair. "What is so urgent that you summoned us here, Lady Arielle?"
Despite taking over Ares role as the God of War while still maintaining his original title as the God of Strength, Kratos was one of the more level headed deities whose immediate response to a situation was not to blast something to pieces. He was the one that Arielle relied on when she was overwhelmed- usually by everyone else's stupidity.
"The Devouring Apocalypse."
Several loud gasps sounded through out the room.
"And before you ask, I am certain of this. At least from what Hecate told me."
She nodded at the Goddess of Magic to tell the rest of the pantheon what she had told Arielle.
A woman dressed in robes of dark blue decorated by ornate silver designs stepped forward. Like all Gods and Goddesses, she was attractive in an ethereal way with long dark hair and green eyes that complimented her features. Hecate was well known as the Goddess of Magic, but she also stood for sorcery, witchcraft, necromancy, trivial knowledge and crossroads.
As if that was not enough she also represented a number of other things, but that was neither here nor there.
"I foresaw two paths. Formerly there were three paths, however... the third path was cut off two days ago."
"Why?" Someone asked.
Arielle already knew the answer but she allowed Hecate to answer the question so that everyone would be up to date with what was soon to come.
The Goddess of Magic conjured up an image of a girl with dark red hair and hazel eyes before it switched to a scene of the very same girl lying on the ground reminiscent of a broken doll, a handle of a knife sticking out from her chest where her heart was located.
"Unfortunately, the girl who had a chance to play out the best path out of the three," The 'best path' meaning the one with the 'happiest ending', "killed herself before she had the chance to be discovered by Fenrir as a new-type God Eater match. They will try to contact her tomorrow and will discover her body in two days."
There were murmurs all over the room. As sad as it was that such a young person met an early end, it was nothing uncommon in the post apocalyptic world. The world after when the Aragami had invaded it and nearly driven humanity to extinction, destroying centuries worth of civilizations and reducing the population from billions to the millions.
Food, Water and the basic necessities that were once taken for granted by the previous generation had become precious commodities and were now rationed among the people due to the fact that there just wasn't enough to go around... unless you were wealthy. The wealthier you were, the more privileges you had.
It wasn't fair since the rich fell into the minority, but that had been the status quo dating back to the time of the ancient Egyptians.
And it wasn't going to change any time soon.
In a world where most people lived in fear, wondering if they were going to survive the next day or die because the anti-aragami wall around their area decided to break down or because someone killed them over their limited rations... was it any wonder people lost hope and killed themselves and their loved ones just to escape their broken circumstances?
"And the other two paths you saw?" Arielle prodded. Hecate had already explained the loss of the first path to her, but she hadn't told her about the other two futures.
Hecate hesitated for a few seconds, but continued on. "The second path, the one that becomes active should the new-type candidate have taken her life prior to being recruited, is that the Devouring Apocalypse occurs and all but a thousand specifically chosen people die."
"And the third?" Arielle asked dully, hoping that it was a lot better than the second path.
"The third is something that only occurs if two specific people become God Eaters now that the only new-type candidate within the Far East Branch is no longer among the living. And even then, there are multiple choices branching out from that path."
"Well it's better than nothing. Who are the lucky two able to prevent the second end of the world?"
"Lysander and Alexandria La Guardia."
There was a sharp inhale of breath as Arielle sat up straighter. Her electric eyes were sharper and the air around her crackled with electricity as she gripped her throne tightly.
Lysander and Alexandria were two names well known within Olympus due to Arielle making it a point to bring up their names whenever she could.
"I've been trying to get those two..." The woman shook her head and when she spoke again her voice was level but there was an undertone of rage underneath it. "Are you serious? All these years... them? Just like that?"
No one dared to breathe, sensing Arielle's agitation and knowing just how sore the subject of the La Guardias' had been for her.
Inwardly Arielle was laughing.
It was not a laugh born of happiness, but a sardonic one. For years she had been arguing in favour of the siblings, trying to fight against the other Gods' decision to keep them separate for their 'own good' despite the pain it caused the two in question. Now seven years later, an opportunity to finally bring them together again had presented itself in front of her in the form of the two being able to tip the scales in deciding the fate of the world?
Alexandria forever imprisoned in a house well protected by the gods, her situation similar to that of a caged bird.
Lysander damned to wander the most dangerous parts of the Outer Ghetto, never staying in one place for long so that he did not risk discovery.
Both longing to see each other and their best friend again no matter what it took and how much time passed.
"...I see." Arielle's face was blank and devoid of all emotion as she looked around the room.
She was no fool and was well aware of the fact that their freedom came at the price of being destiny's tools. But at the same time, they were no longer under the protection of gods. Though the gods' intentions were good when it was decided that they would take Lysander and Alexandria away from their homes to protect both them and the people within the Far East Branch, what they did not realize was that they had subjected the siblings to a living hell.
Separated from everyone they knew, separated from each other, told that their parents were dead on the same day they had been taken? As much as life had thrown at Arielle, she could not even fathom the pain they felt.
They were alive, but at the cost of their own happiness. Even more so for Alexandria as she was forced to give up her freedom and any form of social interaction with other people. The gods came to visit Alexandria whenever they could (with the exception of Arielle who visited her everyday), but those visits were far and few and they were hardly a substitute for the real thing.
But freedom at a cost was better than no freedom at all.
For the first time in years the new Queen of the Gods smiled.
And I'm done! So tell me, what do you think?
Yes, these are the true Gods (and not the Aragami). As I'm sure many of you have noticed, there have been some changes in Olympus. It will be revealed why in further chapters, so until then enjoy the prologue!