LORE BEHIND THE LORE- Ch.2: Patriarchs
"What would you have me do Hades?! Release the Titans; that they might pluck it from your Underworld and carry it elsewhere? As though there were even a means to do so without destroying the very resource which makes it possible!" The increasingly-familiar sound of Zeus's booming voice echoed out into the howling vast reaches of The Underworld beyond the bounds of the Arena of the Gods.
"Quiet yourself, good brother" Hades hissed, motioning for Zeus to calm. He had apparently struck quite a nerve. "You'll waken the dead."
The pair stood together within one of the Arena's two great temples. Until just a moment ago they had been conversing peacefully whilst they watched the scene down field. There, Artemis was heatedly engaged in her latest training session amidst the eternal battleground's front-lines... Her third of the day. The Arena had already hosted many glorious battles between the Olympian deities since the day when Hephaestus declared his designs for it complete, and with each one Hades had grown more and more displeased.
Giving his temper a moment to cool, Zeus continued at a more rational tone. "It is simply the fact of what has come to pass, brother. You have seen how the promise of good sport has lifted the hearts of your fellow gods. You would be doing yourself and all of us a cruel disservice were you to restrict us from it now."
Hades; though hardly the sort to be swayed by sentiment, understood well enough that it was indeed the way of his Olympian kin to settle disputes through matters of sport or contest. That did not give him any less cause to feel conflicted.
His mostly self-relegated isolation before the invention of the Arena of the Gods had not been entirely pleasant, but he had considered it a necessary element of the task which the Fates had deigned him with. He was Death; and none, be they god or man, should take the crossing of those borders wherein lied the Land of Death lightly. Yet, now he had great hosts of Mount Olympus' finest coming and going as regularly as the sun rose and set... Moreso even! He had begun to spite The Arena for all the intrusion it brought him. Though he could not argue that to deny The Arena from Olympus now would surely turn the resentment of the other Greek gods against him, stronger even than ever before.
"Simply know that this discussion has not ended here." Hades concluded, and returned his attention back to the front lines of the eternal battlefield; where Artemis was skillfully whittling down her 'sparring partner'.
Artemis had, in fact, imported her own training dummy of sorts. She had captured a burly manticore decades ago during a particularly exciting hunt. It was still young then, and after years under her care it had become a creature with strength and toughness enough to withstand even the mightiest of godly blows.
Indeed. the manticore was fast growing legendary for it's ability to take a beating. Though the gods of Olympus were never cruel enough to intentionally try to slay Artemis' beloved pet there had been a number of times in the past during which it was gravely wounded to such a degree that many, even Hades himself, had assumed it to be taking it's final breaths. Yet somehow the resilient beast was to be found hopping around ready to 'play' by the next morn.
It's scorpion-like tail, nearly twice as large most of it's kind, whipped around ferociously and broke more than a dozen of Artemis' arrows off it's bulky hide. Though in truth that hardly did much to alter the ever-growing illusion that the creature was somehow slowly incorporating hedgehog spines into it's repituare of walking zoology. It shook it's great mane and buffeted it's dragon-like wings. The long minutes of being continuously prodded by Artemis' arrows had finally driven the beast to begin fighting back.
The manticore charged forward with a deafening roar, battering rows of swordsmen aside in the process. For all the power and ferocity the beast had, in Artemis' eyes all she could see was her excitable pet wanting to play Tackle. She fired off a pair of arrows as she turned, one for each step of the motion, and intended to start strafing the giant monster until it gave up on chasing. Though, as her view turned forward to match her stride it unexpectedly met the cold, unseeing face of one of the eternal battle's footmen. She stumbled over him, losing barely a second's worth of momentum.
Unfortunately, one second was all the manticore, swift for all it's massive size, needed to pounce on her. The huge lion's maw clamped down on her lean arm and it's massive form bore her to the ground.
While the beast was amazingly strong, perhaps one of the strongest of it's kind, it stood no hope of injuring Artemis. Frail though she may appear she was still Zeus' daughter; and a goddess of Olympus. The biting pressure of the lion's jaws was enough, though, to cause her to drop her precious bow. Agitated, she slapped at the gargantuan monstrosity's face with her free hand repeatedly. "NO! Bad Thorn! Get off me!"
Just as the manticore's lioneqse jaw began to loosen from her arm a new voice filled the Arena; one that none of the deities there recognized. It was strong, like Zeus', but gritted and worn as if from countless years of drinking something akin to mild acid...
"FOR ASGARD!"
Looking upward the three gathered members of Olympus saw the shadow of a massive steed, though it's legs numbered twice as many as any horse ever seen in Greece before. It's body was outlined by the shimmering sun passed high overhead, propelled by a great leap. The gallant steed was jumping the miles-wide chasm which housed the Arena of the Gods as easily as a mustang hops a shallow ditch! As it did figure of a man, a huge man; with a shimmering spear clutched in his grasp, began to plummet from it's back directly toward them.
A booming crash pushed trees a-sway and sent ravens flocking and crying in every direction when the powerful bearded figure landed squarely on the manticore's bulky torso. The resounding shockwave could be felt even by the two brothers still standing many meters away within the temple. The impact of this powerful being crushed the manticore with the blood-wrenching crackle of many, many bones breaking in unison; and the stone beneath it splintered out for several feet.
Artemis rolled backward swiftly, collecting her bow from the ground as she tucked and readying it in a kneeling stance as she recovered. Faster then the beating of a hummingbird's wing, the Goddess of the Wild had a shaft notched and aimed directly at the intruder's one good eye.
"In need of some assistance, lass?" The burly newcomer bellowed, booming with a hearty laugh.
"Do you know who you're addressing, barbarian?" Artemis replied coldly. She loosed her string, and her missile flew with deadly intent. It's line was as sure and steady as the goddess' hands which hand launched it, and it made directly for it's target. That is, until it was blasted aside by a spark of lightning from her father's fingertips. In the commotion she had not been aware of his swift approach.
"Artemis, take your pet to go recover." His tone was commanding, stern, but measured. Standing before him Zeus saw a figure who held the stance and stature of a leader, much like himself. Whatever had brought this unannounced visitor to the Arena, Zeus felt it was his duty to be the first to know of it.
Once the leather-clad figure stepped down from the manticore's spine Artemis easily hoisted her thousand-pound lapdog over her supple shoulders; from where it let out the sort of grotesque groan capable only by those creatures which are enduring the unique agony of attempting to return one's innards to their proper locations. As she made her departure it was marked with a stream of whispered curses, not the least of which included 'buffoon', 'unwashed', and 'primitive'. Shaking his head, Zeus turned his attention back to the matter at hand.
"I bid you greetings, outsider. It can be seen by both action and appearance you are unquestionably one whom men would know as a god, but your face is new to me. I am Zeus, God of Thunder and lord above all who call Olympus home. What are you called, and what brings you to this place?"
"I am Odin, The All-Father of the Aesir and Ruler of Asgard! ...And if ye can't tell, I'm here for the brawl!"
Zeus paused a long moment as he considered this newest revelation. Then laughed openly. He peered back over his shoulder to witness his brother Hades, whose shoulders now sunk and head hung in defeat. They both knew what was about to occur. The Arena was about to become Olympus', and chiefly Zeus', newest tool of diplomacy. Any objections Hades may have had to the amount of traffic it had brought to his Underworld were certain to fall on deaf ears now.
His smile as wide as a Cheshire cat, Zeus extended his hand to welcome the first inter-pantheon deity to grace the unending battle of The Arena of the Gods.