AN: I am lazy, apologies, I kinda just didn't do writing when I had time. I did other stuff. Also please tell me if there are grammar issues or the Machine God doesn't use the "they, us, we" stuff.


Over the land they flew, it was now close to mid-afternoon at this point, and the sky was calm. A thought brought on by previous events came to mind, 'How are we to pay for incense. We need it simple enough to know how to craft it ourselves...sculpture perhaps?' it was something they could produce quickly and precisely. More so than any other, given their immaterial hands.

The Machine God thought as they flew. Closer and closer until finally, Tritia came into complete view. The deity started to mask their approach so as to not draw attention to themselves. As they came into the town the deity saw a rock slightly bigger than a person's head by the ditch near the road. Summoning it to their robes they move in.

In the town, a few travellers came and went, most likely from or to the docks for either. The docks were to trade or fish for most. The shadows and edges of buildings served to keep the eyes of the people off the robes as they wrapped around the stone to make the form smaller.

As they moved they listened to the people around them. Most were gossip or without context, almost all of no use. They continued on, more small nothings heard and discarded. 'Finding this merchant may prove to take a bit of time.'

Just that thought came to their mind their senses were alerted to something significant. A man moved through the people at a slightly faster pace than the others. That wouldn't be eye-catching but he carried incense. A quick extension of their senses allowed confirmation of that.

The lord of machine spirits went in the direction the man came from. And they were rewarded with the sight of a man selling goods. One such good among the man's stock was incense. With one of the goals in sight, the robes moved unseen and then took their usual form. The robes were of course now a vibrant red, this would draw some attention. But it could not be avoided, not now anyway.

A few looks came their way as they came into the open view and moved to the merchant. For part, while slightly alerted by no features being shown, the expensive dyed robes made him put aside his worries. Lest he loses a profit opportunity. "Are you the merchant Anatoli?" his name spoken by the one in front of him was slightly alarming.

After a moment's pause, "Yes, I am. And you are?" his tone was cautious of the stranger.

"I am a friend of Korban, he told me that I could seek you out for purchasing incense." as the deity spoke the merchant seemed to relax and a small smile appeared as that relaxing comfort reestablished itself. "Though we do not have money. As a trader, you may be interested in what I can offer you, to sell, if not to keep. We have great skill at rock sculpture. What commission would you like in exchange for a bundle of incense sticks?"

As the lord of Mars continued Anatoli frowned then took on a thoughtful expression, 'Well, I suppose I wouldn't be at a loss given a good sculpture is worth much. I have no shortage of my stock, and my home has gotten rather dull…' The man slightly nodded to himself. "So I can choose eh?" the robes nodded to the man, "Alright. As a merchant, I have always sacrificed to Hermes to attempt to ensure my business's stability. Recently my business has been good, so I intend to make a sacrifice soon. If I were to have a small statue related to Hermes I would be grateful."

The idea of making an idol for one of the Olympians was distasteful. Until the deity realized that they had seen all of these gods. 'If we were to create a simple statue in his likeness it would not debase ourselves. We gain, and the merchant does what he would have done without the statue. Worship some deity other than us… swiftly then.'

The robes nodded, "We shall be but a few moments. We have materials now, we shall return soon with our payment. We simply require a quiet place to carve." the merchant raised an eyebrow then shrugged. The man figured soon meant within a day or two.

The trinity then moved from the Merchant's stall and into an alley. Once there, the Rock was still within the robes as it began to be shaped. Large amounts of material were removed until. A stone statue stood, in the complete miniature likeness the god who the lord of all machines saw.

The statue held no colour but there was a resting light smile worn on the statue's face. A small circlet with wings coming off the sides. The statue had a small base that met with sandals that bore another such pair of wings, only these wings were almost alive in their naturalism. They were only matched with a face that was so close to the original one could scarcely believe it. Every detail perfectly captured in their mind was made into the stone.

'It will likely suffice', they made their way back to the merchant. It had at most been ten minutes since they had spoken with Anatoli. The merchant looked at the approaching robes with confusion.

"...Hello again, is something the matter? Did you need to check something with me before you got started on the commission?" the question almost made the deity smirk. But there was no mouth to do so, thus only the emotion came.

"No, we have finished it." now that the statue was done it was held by the sleeves of the robe, covering most if not all of it from view. When the seemingly hidden arms presented the statue to the merchant the man froze.

He reached out and held the artwork, taking in the details of the piece. His lips seemed to twitch as if he wished to speak but could not find words. Then the silence was broken, "I...how? You have been gone but a few minutes?!" his voice was not loud but it certainly held certain stress to it.

The robes nodded, "We are very skilled and a fast worker. We assume the statue is acceptable?" the question seemed to snap the merchant's mind into place. And that mindset is a cautious one.

The merchant cleared his throat, "Ahh- yes of-of course. Thank you um, your speedy work should be rewarded, no? Here have two bundles since you only asked for one. I think you will find both are of the highest quality available." the man handed of the two bundles and put on a smile that was mostly faked due to the suspicion this person clearly warranted. Robes covering everything, a commissioned statue in minutes, and mysterious air about them with odd speech. Suspicion was now warranted in his mind.

The tri-part deity had no worries of the merchant's thoughts, despite clearly being worried about their presence now. They would not be here long after, it mattered little. 'We need only see to the temple next, should we be subtle or blunt?' A moment o thought as they observed the bundles of incense before placing them away in their robes with the sleeves as arms. "We shall test them later. Though we trust you would not try something ill-natured, so it matters not."

The man tried to keep a steady smile, he almost failed. The man didn't know what man, monster, or god this self-proclaimed friend of Korban was. But they were not normal. "Is there anything else?" the tone was one of attempted sincerity.

The robes shook the hood, "Not at this moment, thank you. We shall leave you to your other customers now." a polite nod then they began to leave. They seemed to slip out of sight from the people in town as easily as a fish swimming in a stream. Once out of sight they moved swiftly to the edge of town where the major temple and altars were.

The altars were outside to ensure burnt offers' smoke went skyward without dirtying a building, the altar within the temple was an exception. There were shrines to a few gods but those did not have their altars of sacrifice indoors. Of course, this was a small temple that was shared despite being dedicated mainly to Aphrodite.

A cult image, also known as a really big statue, couldn't be afforded for such a place. A small shared temple, in a town. Though a small or perhaps life-sized cult image may have been doable. There wasn't one, however. As they came to the temple the thoughts of what they were going to use as their approach came into mind.

'We do not wish to bring Olympus' attention to us, but we are already in the open in Dimitis. And they already search for us, though they have no leads as of yet…' they came into view and entered the temple plainly, 'With things as they currently are, in motion, rapid expansion and establishment will bring the best results for us.'

As the lord of Mars entered they spotted a woman speaking with a small group of other people, the group was roughly seven people. And their senses heard their conversation, "-and that is what happened elder. We don't know anything more, should we send word to Dimitis? I am afraid I must ask for guidance from your wisdom since I have no experience in this. Though I doubt many do."

The robes approached and spoke to Matea, though the deity did not yet know her name. "Excuse us. What are you talking about?" to the deity despite their message having only been made in the dark of that morning, it seemed they may save them the trouble of consulting with Dimitis to know what their signs meant.

The woman spoke again, "I am in an important conversation with our village's elder sir. Please come back to the temple later if you need to speak with me."

After she spoke the others in the group seemed slightly suspicious of them, though one man seemed to have a hint of recognition in his eyes when they had spoken. That recognition then turned into fear after a bit of time, "Ack-T-that, that voice. That's, that's the god."

The others in the group looked at the man as he spoke in shocked tones and then at the red robes that hid all. They all took an unconscious step back as the lord of machine spirits turned to the man and spoke, "Ah, you know us. You must be from Dimitis, correct?" the man slowly nodded, "It seems you have told at least some of what those here must know. Thank you."

The man wasn't happy at the praise but he did relax slightly, "Tell us, what is your name?" their voice was friendly in tone to set people at ease.

"Ah, Eugene, my lord." his voice steady yet a little frailer than strong. The robes nodded in thanks and then turned back to the group.

"Tell us. What has Eugene told you, and are any among you a priest? We would assume this temple had one." the woman who was earlier speaking stepped forward.

"I am Matea, a priestess of Aphrodite and I am charged with this temple's care." she seemed to almost shiver in the cold when the robes focused on her. They motioned for her to continue encouragingly. She cleared her throat, "Well what he has told us is that you are a god of knowledge-"

She was cut off, "We are the Machine God, lord of all knowledge and machines." the voice was calm and reassuring despite the interruption. That didn't stop her from slightly flinching, "We are not a machine god, we are the Machine God. Though, since that is confusing given your traditional deities we shall allow you to call us Omnissiah, or some title of respect. Aside from our domains what else do you know of us? We would presume not much?"

The priestess nodded, she relayed that they knew of his self-declared role as guardian of humanity. She spoke of how the group knew the Machine God had lost some of their omniscience, and how they learned the very language they spoke in. And she mentioned the lord of Mars' previous lack of knowledge on the Olympians, "Hmm, that is not very much, allow us to inform you as we have to the people in Dimitis who have asked us questions."

The lord of spirits told the group of their wish for followers, though none would be forced. Their want for devotion and faith, not sacrifice. And the hope that by being open and honest, people would choose them. Of course, all of the minute details had yet to be touched upon. 'We should compile what we expect from our worshippers into a manuscript codex. Or in some written form, though that would only be useful with literacy...hmmm'

"Lord," they looked over at the priestess known as Matea. "Could you perhaps explain something to us?" she looked hopeful.

The robes nodded, "What do you wish to know?" she paused and then spoke in a voice that showed her slight reluctance.

"I wish not to offend you, lord. But I must ask, have you yet gained an understanding of…" she paused, 'I can not say fellow gods, they seem to view them much differently'. "The Olympians, do you know of them, now?"

"Yes," a change in tone though almost imperceptible, "We have had many discussions of their origins and nature with our friend, Korban. I am sure Eugene spoke of him?"

The priestess and the others nodded, "He mentioned you left the market in Dimitis to speak with him, yes." after yet another silence before another question came to her mouth, "I-well, my lord. I suppose I should ask what you are doing here today?"

"Did we not make it clear we were being open and honest, in order to spread the word of our being, and faith? We came here to so, as well as instill knowledge." the group seemed a bit stiff at that moment, "Tell us, are you afraid of us?"

The question didn't really help dispel that tense atmosphere, "Ah-" Matea eventually spoke to reply, "well, you are a god," she almost felt some slight pressure at those words but she continued, "so yes, gods should be respected and feared."

The robes set their sleeves together in front of themselves, "We suppose, just because you see your gods as beings of worship doesn't mean you should tread without care. But that isn't what we meant. Has our presence and the knowledge we brought made you more scared than before or reassured of our intentions and nature?"

A moment to speak was taken by Eugene this time, "Both, I think all of us are glad you are not like a mortal tyrant cruelly making demands or hurting anyone. But you are still a divine being of power among us. It is, a lot, to take in."

A small laugh came from the robes, "We suppose that is fair, do you have any more questions?" the group looked among themselves, the temple was void of anyone else. Even the elder that had been consulted was completely silent and still was. "In that case, we shall take our leave, if you have need of us. We are likely to be in Dimitis."

With that, the robes floated towards the back of the temple so as to exit close to their shrine, "If you are unable to make the trip in time," the robes turned to see the group all looking at them, "pray at our shrine. We listen closely." those words said, they set off.

Not long after, a flight found them back in Dimitis in the late afternoon. They set down near Korban's house. They began to slowly move towards their chapel. As they did so they began to graze at the incense sticks. Breaking down the materials within, the plant fibres from the powders, structures, weight, shape, volume. All of it was noted, 'It shall be a while before we have an infrastructure to make our own without personally having to do so, but soon.'

As they eventually came to their chapel they found a few people kneeling in front of the tree, either admiring it or praying. Not yet noticing them, 'Praying… we don't hear them though?' taking a deeper and metaphysical look at the people they could see their faith pushed towards the tree. The tree itself simply stored it, 'Hmm, we wonder...what-'

As they reached out and touched the tree with non-physical hands the faith flooded into them. The prayers alongside them, the voices numerous and As this happened, a thin line much like those they had seen for the Olympians connected the tree to them. 'Ah, so because we had not established a connection, since they were praying to the tree a symbol we hadn't had before the automatic connection wasn't made...but their prayers were still to us why should it not have gone to us directly?'

The question sparked a theory, 'Perhaps... perhaps it has to do with the new symbol… or" the prayers were looked through once more.

A man spoke in their mind, 'Thank you for blessing us, oh Lord of Rusted Soil, hear my pray-' another voice this one female, '-One of Invisible Works, I am-' another voice, 'Omnissiah, Machine God, Lord of Rusted Soil, Great One of Invisible Works, hear my prayer for I-' the voices had given enough info.

'Hmmmmm,' they looked at the people, many now looking at them, 'new titles, we suppose they heard the name of Rust Root we gave to the tree and continued on with it. Even just a few hours later. And they have heard Korban call me by Omnissiah, many have seen use move things without hands…' they moved into the chapel and the people followed, 'This is not an issue, yet. But we shall have to guide our titles to be... epithets? No matter the name, so long as they are not distasteful it shall not be an issue.'

They moved to the front of the chapel in front of the shrine, the two stones with holes cut into them were on both sides of the altar/shrine. Two more were at the carved rectangles on the walls which contained the Universal Laws. An incense stick was placed in both of the front stones. They were lit by a small flame produced from fiction and controlled oxygen. A slow burn was controlled, the windows on both sides of the chapel had their airflow stopped, so no smoke would escape there. The door had airflow limited.

People began to sit in the chapel, or kneel. A few stood, but all were looking at the Machine God. "You are welcome to stay here, we shall be thinking on certain matters. You may disturb us, but preferably only on matters of import." Their words were steady and the people stayed as the chapel slowly filled with the sweet scents of flowers and other plants.

'We should check on the Olympians, the ones we can see from here at least.'


AN: Let me know if there are errors please, I don't have an editor to catch things I don't.