AN: Howdy y'all, I decided to try speeding up my general pace a bit, I'll be doing this by not being as descriptive of actions, as well as a few other things. If this is too fast let me know, it is just if this story ever wants to get somewhere it needs to be less jam-packed and more general.
I was approached with an idea for a story, I asked some questions. Mostly about what would need to be answered if I would go about it, and now. I am kinda betaing(badly), kinda co-authoring another fic.
The fic is called "Priest of Machine and Magic", and it is on, my fellow author(the one doing the work), Imoneoldfart's account. If you don't like it I understand, just thought I would let people know for those of you who hadn't already found it. With that being said, here is a new chapter.
Each person in the small group from youngest to oldest had different reactions. But out of all of them, it was Clio that acted first. She raced the distance between her and The deity. In but a few moments the tall deity had found himself in a hug, one he returned with a small smile. Clio separated and asked the question on the group's mind, "Omnissiah, what happened?" her voice was still excited but now tainted with confusion.
Korban spoke before an answer could come, "I should like to know that as well." he, Jace, and Alexandria moved to stand closer. He was taller than each of them by a noticeable amount yet that didn't seem to make having conversation any harder on their necks.
"As I have just said. I have incarnated, I have made myself a body. It will help me engage with people, much better than my cloak alone, no?" his small smile continuing.
Korban paused, "You are using 'I', not 'we'?" his tone slightly confused, likely having grown somewhat used to his friend's way of speaking.
"Yes, it is… complicated. But it feels more accurate to refer to myself as that now, and it will help not draw more attention to myself." Jace and Alexandria were still shocked but now has small smiles of their own. Mainly at seeing how bright their daughter's smile was, and also at the humanizing of such a distant person. They had been friendly, and grateful, and perhaps even wishing to see the friendly deity more. But he had been rather alien, at least more alien than they understood the gods to be.
The group talked for a minute, commenting on how the Machine God's body looked. And of course a few compliments for him and Praxis.
Jace idly noted part of the red robe exposed some of the Omnissiah's new chest. A thought struck him, "Omnissiah, you don't have any other clothes besides your robes do you?" the question brought slight confusion to the others.
"No, is that a problem. I am given to understand that there is some stigma against nudity in public. Is my cloak not enough?" Jace shook his head. The man's wife had a small amused smirk at the conversation.
"Yes and no. Nudity is only really acceptable in baths or for competing athletes. And while your robes are fine, you'll likely want to wear more than just that every day. Especially if you don't wear anything underneath it." Clio seemed a bit embarrassed, Korban merely nodded. The tri-part, now more fused, deity frowned slightly.
"Very well, I understand." he looked north for a moment.
"What is it?" Alexandria asked, the deity's expression concerned her as his frown slightly worsened.
"Oh, nothing yet. I'll deal with it soon. As for the clothes", lots of pieces of organic matter moved to them through their willing it. All this matter was then broken down and then restricted and repurposed into fine small strings of thread. Which wound its way under his cloak very quickly. After a minute, with his friends watching once more amazed, he pulled the top of the robe to reveal a white garment. It had four holes, a large one at the bottom where it opened just past his middle thigh.
A small hole at the top for his head to appear out of, and to side slits where his arms weaved through. Unseen was a sort of under-under-garment it covered his pelvis. Humans seemed particularly flustered about reproductive organs, which he had, so he covered them. It was simply more work to make the body masculine yet sexless than to simply have said organs. There wasn't any reason not to have them anyways.
They simply would serve no purpose, 'Well, except for producing testosterone automatically.' these thoughts were quickly left aside. After a few more minutes of talking the deity told his group of friends he had something to attend to, and that they likely had to get back to whatever they had planned before he interrupted.
Although slightly sad at the briefness of the amazing sights and moments, they left to go about their tasks. Praxis then flew off of his shoulder to find himself a meal. The trinity's attention shifted again to the north as they returned their hood over their head. Ever since last night they had kept a metaphorical eye on two individuals, since they could, 'They're coming. Discovery was inevitable, but I only wish I had more time. How should I proceed?'
After some thought, 'Hostility is too risky. Even with justification, which I don't yet have. Not for these two anyway, other Olympians on the other hand…' they thought and nodded to themselves, 'Best to greet them, what was it they valued so much again? Ah yes, Xenia, well I better be one simply magnificent host to them. Though I doubt they'll wish to stay.'
He prepared for their soon-to-be guests, he removed the slab of stone and placed it in front of the chapel. Positionally this meant that the Rust Root was to the side and slightly forward in relation to the chapel. And the slab of stone was now between the path that led back to the other altars and the chapel. 'I suppose this can act as a sacrificial altar. I don't really make demands for it, and no one has made any sacrifices. But apparently, that is unusual, since typically they don't really pray much with a sacrifice. Well if they honour me in their traditions before they adopt mine then no harm… seems like a waste though. The bones and fat could be fertilizer.'
The stump seats were remade into benches and chairs, though he lacked slight amounts of materials and thus needed more. While doing that another table was made and placed outside in front of the Rust Root. Three chairs were placed around the table, two closer together than the chair he chose for himself.
With that setup, he made a large bowl from stone. For that, he picked some of the tree's fruit. 'I wonder how it tastes? When making it, it wasn't really something that crossed our immaterial mind at the time. Though I suppose I will know soon enough.'
He formed a pitcher and three cups from clay and immediately transformed them to be good quality, smooth, impermeable and clean. He filled the former with water and left the cups empty.
He reached out with his senses and with his greatly increased power began to redirect though who were interested in coming to the Altars away for now. Within a few minutes, they arrived. He had been tracking them for their entire trip through their weapon/tool. It seems Athena and Hephaestus had sensed his incarnation, likely due to the domain overlap, and they were finally here. The two gods noted the other and approached in disguise, Athena as a young man, and Hephestus as an older man.
They seemed normal but since their weapons were still within, and he now had emotions of his own. He could almost feel their caution, they had both rushed here as fast as they could without talking to anyone since they didn't want to lose what they had felt, as it was a fading pulse. They only had time to stop what they were doing before grabbing their armour and weapons and leaving.
There was a slight amount of reassurance in their emotions since they had both come here, they weren't facing the unknown without any help. Overall the two Olympians took about twenty minutes to get here. As the pair came into normal view, he took in their appearance. 'Footwear. I should probably make myself footwear.' the thought then left.
They were close now and the disguised Athena spoke in a friendly tone, "Greetings, I and my companion here are travellers. We were passing by, say what is this place? It seems to be some sanctuary, especially with all of those altars so close by. But I do not recognize the symbol on this building, could you explain?" the smile was fake.
He replied to the two immortals, "I am sure you have several questions. Come sit, I don't have much to offer as a host but it would be remiss of me to not offer what I do have." They gave no outward appearance of unease but their feelings were clear. They did not like that he claimed ownership of this place, if only because it showed he had an even greater connection to the strangeness they were investigating.
The two of them took the two empty seats, even if they subtly checked the chairs with their senses for traps before sitting, "Help yourself to some food and water, I'm sure your travelling has made you at least somewhat weary."
"Thank you," the man Hephaestus had disguised himself as said. The two of them reached across the small table and each filled their cups with water, before taking a fruit. They both inspected the fruits in their hands, "I haven't seen this fruit before."
The comment was met with a nod from the hooded figure, "Yes, they are new." This got both of the god's attention.
"New?" the illusion of a young man asked.
"Yes, and as new as the tree they came from." the Primordial motioned behind himself.
The deities we not exactly experts in trees, but this one was completely different from any they were used to, especially with its foreign fruit, "I have not seen a tree like this before, what is its name?"
Answering the goddess he spoke, "Rust Root, and I suppose those would be Rustfruit."
"You suppose?" the smith under illusions asked.
"Since I made it I get to name it." and those words made even their outer appearance freeze, "You two are here because you felt the pulse no?" They stiffened further, "Calm yourselves, we are simply talking. Feel free to ask your questions." Neither had taken a drink from the water, or a bite from the newly dubbed Rustfruit. As they sat in silence he decided to try one.
As he bit into the extremely juicy fruit he noted the taste was slightly sweet, but not much else. 'Decent'
"Who are you?" the goddess seemed to have been annoyed by his casual eating and behaviour.
"I am called Omnissiah by those who know me. If that is what you are asking?" after a small glare for him to continue, at least that is what seemed to be implied, he spoke, "I am the Machine God, the Motive Force, and the Omnissiah. I hold domain over all machines, knowledge…" his words made the pair shocked as if he could not be serious because it all seemed unreal. "and the directed motion that is life, and the spirit."
Athena was the first to reply, "You claim to be a god?" 'This can not be a coincidence, that Primordial theory...and then that feeling, and his claim...I'
"How come we have never heard of you?" both Olympians were still disguised, so their hostility at someone claiming to be a god could be done by mortals, but one tried not to be incautious.
'I forgot to tell anyone, and if we were right then we are in fro-' she didn't get to finish her thought as she heard the trinity's reply.
"That is complicated. But it hardly matters why you haven't heard of me. I don't merely claim, I am." he focused his domain on the area the pair felt the pressure and power behind that divine presence, it had an almost, empty quality to it. Not to say that it was weak, or fake. But there was a bit of a gnawing alien, and cold feeling, like metal on skin. There was some comfort, warmth, but it felt small and centralized among the cold.
"Surely, even if I am not an Olympian such as yourselves," a choke came from both of them, "you recognize what I am." A pause as they looked quite startled now, "Come now, surely after I mentioned the pulse you must have thought I suspected your nature then. Come now. Take off those guises, and let us talk."
The pair exchanged a glance before doing so, they appeared in their normal forms. Weapons in hand, they slowly placed their weapons down, yet the weapons were still in reach, "There we go. Now that I can see you both we can talk."
Hephaestus spoke, "Shouldn't you do the same, out of courtesy?" Athena didn't want to know what this almost certain Primordial's form actually looked like, and especially if he chose to at any point show his true form. Whatever it looked like, she didn't want to know. But she couldn't whisper this to her half-brother before the voice from the robes responded.
"Ah, of course." Hands removed the hood showing a somewhat handsome face, the only odd feature was in the eyes. Grey like metal, and some gold, like bits of light. "There we go." He took another bite from his fruit.
"What do you mean, 'there we go'" Athena said in an almost exasperated tone.
He tilted his head before realization came in a surprisingly gentle and genuine smile. "Ah, I am sorry. This is just what I look like, you see what you felt was actually this. I just created this physical form. Before I didn't have a body, at least not a physical or visible one."
This got the siblings' attention but Hephaestus seemed interested in something he noticed, "You didn't seem shocked or interested at all in our appearances. And we have certainly never met."
A shrug, "You don't need to have met, to have seen someone" this got them even more uncomfortable. Where had he seen them, and when? "Did you have any more questions?"
Athena almost immediately spoke, "What are your intentions, what do you plan to do? Especially now that we know of you?" her tone was partly cautious, partly suspicious.
A smile, "Establish a cult, and guide humanity. I am in the beginnings of both. As you can see." He gestured to around them.
Athena spoke again, internally concerned, "You said what you are a god of, and I do know that domains can be distributed. Ares and I are gods of war, though we are different." she paused, looking at his face and eyes, "But if you intend to start a cult, will there not be issues between yourself and the two of us?" Hephaestus nodded.
"No," his answer and tone surprised the two Olympians, "at least, there shouldn't be. Anyone who follows me shall do so willingly, I do not want to force anyone, I wish for willing devotion."
The siblings looked at the other before the smith spoke, "What do you mean by guiding humanity?" this brought a smile to the tri-part deity's face.
"I will be helping them, both within and outside of my cult. Quality of life, efficiency in production, and the advancement of the human race as a whole. I shall bestow some knowledge, and help them work through their own advances. As they seek more on their own." the god narrowed his eyes at the deity.
"That sounds like a plan ripe with potential issues, not the least of which the problems mortals tend to cause when they are hubristic. If you help them so much, it will likely lead to hubris and end with them making horrible mistakes." The one in red robes shook his head.
"Even if you were right every time, I would ensure they would learn from those mistakes and work to fix them." the conversation fell into silence for a minute before Athena spoke.
"I have a question," the Machine God nodded for her to continue, "are you… a primordial?" Hephaestus snapped his head to look at his sister, seeing her serious he quickly looked at the one who was asked the question.
The Lord of Mars hummed, "I do not know, but" his eyes met the goddess', "given what occurred when I came here, it would not surprise me." Athena unknowingly swallowed her spit before speaking, Hephaestus' eyes were widened just slightly at what his host had said.
"And what occurred?" the goddess' question was met with a laugh and smile.
"Well for firstly, the warning your king got that bothered him so much," the two gods were disturbed, first he had seen them before, then he knew about what said in the meeting. As for the Omnissiah, despite not wanting to reveal he had been spying, it gave him a distinct advantage. It threw his opponents off, and they were opponents. Nothing had changed that yet. And, hopefully, the gods would be wary of him. Which would allow for time to act and build. And if they tried anything, 'I can always rip their faith from them, though how long that will last, and how it would affect me isn't something I've tested. And it is for the best if I don't find out.'
"And secondly, what your uncle told you and your sisters last night." Athena stood immediately.
Hephaestus stood as well, "You were there?!" her voice was less shocked and more accusing. She pointed her finger and had a scowl.
"No" that caused her to frown in confusion, "I simply looked from here. Since I knew you and your fellow Olympians had noticed my presence to a minor degree, I have been keeping an eye on all of you as best I could. My attention was initially drawn to the gathering of goddesses, though I stopped watching when nothing of interest to me was spoken off. Though my attention was re-captured when your sister called her husband." these words we both relieving in that he was not spying on them 24/7, but also disturbing, as they had never been spied on at all, "And I was right to do so, seeing as it is what allowed me time to prepare for your arrival. Especially since I haven't spoken with any Olympians, I assure you I have no reason to want hostilities with Olympus or yourselves." both gods relaxed their posture slightly but stayed standing.
"You still spied on us." Athena pointed out.
A small frown, "And you spy on mortals whenever it takes your fancy, I at least have good reason to want to know what you are doing. If I had ever looked and found Olympus was planning on destroying me should they find whatever I was, I wouldn't be speaking to you. Both sides of this conversation, you two and I, are cautious of the other. But we don't have to be." Hephaestus frowned before asking a question.
"And what exactly did you have in mind for us instead of mutual caution?" the Lord of Crimson Robes replied with a small and true smile.
"Friendship," the two gods tilted their heads, "We could either work on projects together, simply converse, or if you do not wish to do any such things. At the very least amicable relations with your two and Olympus. Simply leave the other party be. But for now, please, sit. I have a question." the two once more exchanged nods before sitting once more. "Now, my question is simple. Now that you know about me, what do you intend to do?"
There was a pause, "I had no chance to inform anyone of what Artemis and I learned from Hades last night. And this, we will need to tell our fellow Olympians as soon as we return." Hephaestus nodded in agreement with his half-sister.
"I see, very well. Is there anything else you wish to ask?" the two seemed confused as they shook their heads, "Very well, I can't exactly ask you to not tell anyone of me, so instead I will simply ask you to convey my wishes of friendship, and failing that, simple good relations."
The smith blinked, "That's it?" a smile was his reply.
"I don't need enemies, nor do I want any if I can help it. I'm sure we can get along at least decently well. Regardless, we have been talking for a decent while now. I assume you wish to take this to your fellows since you have no more questions." the two nodded but just as they were about to leave an eagle flew down, a large mouse in its talons.
What caught the two gods' eyes, however, was its golden feathers and two heads, it landed on Omnissiah's shoulder and stood on one leg. Feeding both heads with one talon. "W-what is that?" Athena started. The Lord of Invisible Works looked at her and replied with a chuckle.
"Oh, well I suppose introductions are in order. This is Praxis, Praxis this is… how should I address you two? I feel simply calling either of you by your names alone to be rude at this point in time. And I won't address an equal with how mortals address either of you." neither commented on the equal remark.
"Athena is fine…" her eyes watched as the eagle's heads regarded her with frighteningly intelligent eyes.
"You can call me by my name... so are you going to explain the bird or?"
"Well, I needed practice in creating flesh before I created my form. So I sculpted Praxis here and granted him living motion through spirit." a pause, "There isn't much else to say, much like my Rust Root. His creation served a practical purpose." that got Athena's attention off the bird's eyes.
"Why did you make that tree?" her tone was curious.
"The fruit is juicy, I am sure you would have noticed that had either of you tried my offered food, and is perfect for dyeing clothes. Such as my robes." she nodded slowly. "The townspeople were quite impressed when they saw it, most likely because it reminded them of your own tree." she seemed to be slightly uncomfortable with the comparison.
"Regardless, feel free to take a Rust fruit. I would be a bad host if I retracted my offered food." a pause, "This meeting strikes me as different from the situations that would call for your laws of hospitality. And since we are all gods here, I think we needn't worry about it, no? After all, I doubt either of you has a guest gift prepared."
Of all the words he could have said, it seems those threw them off quite well. Though not a lot. The two Olympians left. Each speeding north, '...Not ideal, but it could turn out alright. Not bad for my first bit of diplomacy, but it could have been better. And hopefully, they will respect me and my wishes. That will allow me to gain open favour with the Hellene people. Well if anything does happen, I'll just be correcting the behaviour of their messy family sooner rather than later. It will just be harder. Much harder.'
There were a few people approaching the altars, so it seems their meeting ended at a good time. The table and chairs were placed under the Rust Root, 'I may need to create another building nearby to house these, and to entertain friends. Hmm, we should check on Mairus, it seems a little early but we need to expand as much as possible whether things go well or not.'
AN: Apologies for the bad interactions, I can't write for shit(and if you disagree, don't worry, I'm mostly joking).