It is the next day early in the morning and Hound is gazing outside his Tower of Babel taking in the scenery and Gods from above. As he steps outside to his balcony to relax with his morning coffee, Huginn and Muninn the two ravens that accompany Odin deliver him a letter in which his presence is required by the God Council not mentioning the reason. Hound takes a deep breath and makes his way to the great Hall of the council which contains multiple murals, pictures and paintings from different eras and civilizations. When he arrives in the inner part of the great Hall, he sees the god Council Marduk standing in the middle, Ra, Tonatiuh and Vishnu on his left, Odin and Zeus to his right and the far right Vapdra, Xynevir and Robin are also standing by expecting him.
"So…"Hound says "What the fuck do you want?" he asks leaving everyone dumbfounded
"Watch your tong" Marduk commands "You are in the presence of your elders if nothing else, mind your manners"
"As if I should" Hound replies "Most of you, if not all, are fuck ups"
"Why don't I just burn you here on the spot?" Ra questions
"I come to understand the feelings of displeasure for you Hound" Marduk stops him "But you hate us with a burning passion and I would like to know why"
"First, one of you hasn't even shown their face since day one" Hound states "One of you is a rapist based on the stories told about him" pointing at Zeus "And another gets easily tricked by his own son" showing Ra "And according to whatever I know Gods and especially top Gods such as yourselves haven't helped your fellow Gods how much humanity"
"Unfortunately or not I can't argue with what you just said" Marduk replies
"But that still gives you no right to talk to us in this tone" Odin replies
"Aside from this problem" Marduk says "If you please, keep those comments to a minimum from now on"
"Since you are polite about it, I'll consider it" Hound replies
"So then" Zeus states "I'm positive you know why you were brought here"
"Es per the first thing I said upon my arrival" Hound states "I do not know the reason of my summoning here"
"It is about you kicking and disrespecting my wife" Zeus replies
"And there are witnesses" Marduk states "Such as Vapdra, Xynevir and Robin" says showing them
"Traitors" Hound thinks "But Zeus said disrespecting and assault as two different things"
"Yes because they are" Zeus interrupts
"You assaulted her and disrespected her by releasing the spell she had put on Calisto as punishment" Marduk explains
"If I may" Vapdra intercepts "I was the one that released the spell"
"That may be so" Marduk replies "But Hound was the ethical perpetrator, was he not?"
"That is true" Vapdra replies "But I think we can write it off because Calisto's punishment was unfair to begin with"
"Explain" Marduk responds interested
"The punishment was unfair because Hera thought she was Zeus' lover" Vapdra states "And not only that but she willingly did so and she was the one who seduced him in the first place"
"Is that true?" Marduk asks Zeus
"Well" Zeus fails to finds the correct words
"I understand the situation" Marduk says "Then we will put it in a vote" he says looking towards the others "Whoever believes Hound's and Vapdra's act were justified and should be cleared of the disrespecting accusations please raise their hand in response" in response, him Marduk, Vishnu, Ra and Odin raise their hands "Then from here on out Hound's name is cleared from that accusation"
"What about the assault?" Hound asks
"You will be trialed by our counselor in a few hours time" Marduk replies "Still there is the problem of which Pantheon takes responsibility of your actions and punishment from here on out"
"My Pantheon shall take on that role" replies Ra with a small enthusiasm
"Excuse you?" Hound question "I don't need babysitters"
"We are not taking chances here" Odin replies "You will be babysat by someone until your behavior issues are dealt with along with any necessary punishments"
"So you are just pushing your problems to someone else?" Hound asks
"Think of it as you see fit but the council will not come in to session to deal with people like you whenever there is a big incident" Odin states "There are greater problems to deal with"
"Whatever" Hound sighs "Am I free to leave?"
"Yes" Marduk replies
"If I may once more" Vapdra says getting the approval of the council "I would like to be trialed as well"
"But Master" Xynevir lets out for a moment
"Why would you ask that since there is no real need for that" Marduk replies
"Because I could have prevented the whole situation but I didn't" Vapdra replies
"But" Marduk is about to say
"Let him" Odin states "It would make a good example for the rest of the candidates"
"Then I'll join in as well" Xynevir states
"No" Marduk replies "You will undergo the second trial like every other candidate"
Xynevir doesn't reply back and the meeting gets dismissed shortly after with Hound and Vapdra getting seperated from Robin and Xynevir following the instructions of the God Council to go and meet the god who will give them their special trial and potentially punishment.
"What is the challenge anyways, I have some paperwork to submit" Hound says with utmost boredom
"Chill your ass a little, whoever we are up against is going to show up sooner or later" Vapdra replies
"Yeah...yeah" Hound responds
"You must be Vapdra and Hound I presume" an unknown Voice states
"Yes we are" Vapdra says as he turns his head to dace the voice "I'll be damned"
"Finally it was about time" Hound turns to face the voice as well
As they both turn around they see a human sized chubby male with long big ears, jewelry on his ears, nose and fingers while wearing an unsewn pieces of cloth around his waist covering him up to his legs.
"Buddha!?" Both Vapdra and Hound say shocked
"I'm amazed you recognized me so easily" Buddha replies
"It isn't really difficult to recognize you, you are a famous God in my respective world at least" Vapdra thinks to himself
"The challenge?" Hound asks
"Your challenge is to escape my hand, should you do that, then you're free from any punishment, should you fail, your punishment will be times harsher than any of the predetermined trials" Buddha replies
"Then let's get on with it" Hound states
"Hold your horses, can't you even just consider the challenge for a moment?" Vapdra quickly replies to him
"Are you two ready?" Buddha asks them
"Obvious" Hound says
"Ly Not!" Vapdra finishes the sentence
"Shall I give you a moment to discuss it among yourselves since you don't seem to be on the same page?" Buddha questions
Vapdra takes a look at Hound and after rolling his eyes he says "No you know what… never mind… the sooner we begin, the sooner we'll finish"
"Good" Buddha replies "But be warned, you only get one chance, if by the time I have closed my hand you haven't escaped, you lose "Buddha states
"Then begin already" Hound says irritated
"It has already begun" Buddha's voice is heard for a last time as he disappears
"The Tower upright" Hound yells as he summons his Tower of Babel "Are you coming?"he asks Vapdra
"No, I'm doing this my way" Vapdra replies
"Suit yourself" Hound says before closing the door behind him
Having chosen different ways to approach the challenge each is a little concerned about the other as both have confidence in their own strategy. Vapdra has remained stationary looking towards the sky gathering power while the Tower that Hound summoned continuously expands reaching higher and higher each passing second.
"if I am to take the challenge as Buddha said then all I have to do is escape his grasp" Vapdra thinks to himself
"Surely though looking back, based on Wukong's myth then that means that Buddha's grasp isn't limited to this planet or plain of existence alone but to the whole creation itself" Hound considers as he is riding into the elevator
"Still that brings forth a few problems as to where we have actually begun and whether with his hand alone he can hold all of existence and even the whole Yggdrasil" Vapdra thinks as he begins jumping around in circle having not moved from his original spot
"Considering that this is really the case then will the Tower be alone to escape exit his grasp" Hound starts concerning himself as he looks at the rest of his deck
"No, if what I'm seeing is true then the only thing that Buddha has grabbed is only this singular dimension" Vapdra thinks
"I can't be sure of nothing so I'll risk it" Hound says as he pulls out The fool and activates it upright
"Because I can't be sure how big the distance my Tower has to cross is" Hound then concludes
"Comparing the challenge itself, the myth and how powerful he is, there's the possibility that if I start moving now and reach the end if his fingers, he might be able to infinitely expand his grasp making it impossible to escape so I might as well wait" Vapdra decides
In a matter of minutes both Hound and Vapdra notice Buddha's hand is starting to close on them. Hound who is the closest of the two to Buddha's hand starts panicking over time since he is so close yet so far to escape. On the other hand Vapdra is as calm as a cucumber and is waiting patiently for his opportunity still jumping around with a serious look. The final moments of Buddha's hand completely closing up comes and both assured and determined to the bone finally make their move. Hound let's out and activates The Fool while Vapdra vanishes from his position in an instant and with those two final moves Buddha's hand closes.
As Buddha looks down Hound's Tower of Babel raises from in between his fingers like a toothpick while he is certain that the rest is crumbling below within his palm. Hound then points at Buddha drops his hand turns makes a small jump starts dancing around along with Nyannyanthotep mocking Buddha in front of his face. On the other hand Vapdra slowly descends closer to Hound and Nyannyanthotep but as he gets closer he rethinks his approach and jumps off the tower towards the ground.
After a few minutes of falling, Vapdra can see the ground but he doesn't feel confident he can land, so he turns around facing the sky and starts counting down preparing to crush. Vapdra reaches the final seconds of his countdown and he prepares for impact but when he counts the last second nothing happens and he gets the feeling the direction he is going has changed so he opens his eyes to find Xynevir is carrying him.
The time slowly passes as Vapdra descends faster and faster, his back is facing the ground while he looks at the sky filled with stars. Hound is merely letting Nyannyan drop him down who is also looking at him intensely not believing his accomplishment. Vapdra takes a quick look at the ground and realizes he is about to hit it and makes an estimation as when he is about to hit the ground and turns around again to face the sky. When he reaches the very last second before crushing down, he focuses all of his strength to his back and clenches all his muscles but he doesn't crush and opens his eyes to find Xynevir carrying him.
"Oh why hello there" Vapdra says relieved
"Hello Master" Xynevir replies "You seem a little drained"
"So do you" Vapdra replies barely able to keep his eyes open"I'll leave the rest to you Xynevir, good night"
"Have a good sleep Master" Xynevir says
Xynevir reaches the ground where Hound is teleported and as they are about to leave Odin and Zeus show up to confront them.
"Ha in your faces, now about that punishment" Zeus says briefly before Odin places his hand on his shoulder
"No, they both passed, in fact Vapdra is no longer needed to attend any more of the trials" Odin points out "So is his servant, you Xynevir you passed the third trial unexpectedly fast"
"You're kidding right, please tell me this is some sort of bad taste joke" Zeus asks dumpfounded
Odin just stares at Zeus with a blank expression
"No, no, NO!" Zeus says frustrated
"Finally no more of this bullshit" Hound says excited "I can get some real work done"
"Says who?" Odin asks
"Says you" Hound replies
"Yes for Vapdra and Xynevir, I never stated the same applies to you Hound, you are to continue with the trials normally come tomorrow" Odin states
"What, why were they exempt from any more trials" Hound questions "Especially since he fell asleep just from this, while I'm utterly fine?"
"Are you though, can the same be said about your deck, your Tower for instance, can it be summoned again?" Odin asks
"Of course" Hound tries to grab the card, Odin then raises an eyebrow but Hound picks out the card
"The Tower upright" Hound calls out the card and throws it correctly but it just gets cut into small pieces and returns directly back to the deck leaving Hound shocked "Fucking magic" Hound thinks
"Why in Hades' name was Vapdra exempt from the trials?" Zues yells enraged "Tell me now"
"Keep your voice down" Xynevir demands
"What did you say?" Zeus asks slowly turning his head towards Xynevir
"You have ears don't you" Xynevir replies "I said keep your voice down, Master is resting"
"HUH" Zeus lets out as Hound has started giggling "Listen here"
"You are right Xynevir" Odin interrupts Zeus "It is unsightly of us to yell" he turns to Zeus "We will discuss that matter privately Zeus, no need for unnecessary yelling"
As both of them disappear Hound goes over to Xynevir laughing "Good going Xynevir, I didn't think you had it in you" he says ready to give Xynevir a pat on the back when she pierces him with her gaze
"Your thanks is appreciated but not necessary" Xynevir replies "We will be seeing you at a later date" she says leaving with Vapdra
"Well that was cold" Hound thinks
"Same as her heat signature readings" Penny replies
"Cut her some slack for this once" Hound replies "I mean she insulted Zeus"
"I just stated a fact" Penny replies "Leaving that aside, what's our next course of action?"
"Tracking down my own earth and making contact with my fleet" Hound replies
"That's impossible" Penny replies
"Why?" Hound questions
"Because according to the murals and pictures depicting stars, none match our home world" Penny replies
"Are you positive?" Hound asks
"By analyzing every single one, I have come to the conclusion that each depiction is similar to pictures humans had gathered in the 20th and 21st century" Penny explains "Beyond that there are enough differences to determine that none of the earths would be a past period of our own timeline"
"Alright then" Hound sighs "Give me possible course of actions"
"Taking into consideration IFFC, info, food, fuel, communications" Penny takes a few seconds to process "Info is provided by The Temperance, food and fuel is abundant and communications are severed in which case I can provide adequate assistance if you provide me with a task"
"We start rebuilding" Hound replies "We will start with a crude printer and we will build up as we go, up until I have a small space station and later a fleet"
"Understood" Penny replies "It would be best to start with the earth ruled by the Hawaiian and Australian Pantheons, it it is the earth with the most untapped raw materials and less human interaction"
Hound takes it on as a challenge to strip mine the whole earth and make use of every single one of its raw materials and immediately makes his way to Heimdal demanding that he is let into the earth he wants. To Hound's surprise he is let in quite easily and in goes but not before shoulder bumping Heimdal once more.
Captain's journal day five, my time continues getting wasted the more I stay here, Gods fight day in and day out, apparently Sunday is the only fighting free day or so they say at least. This earth has more craters from the moon, raw materials do indeed seem abundant but hard to reach how much get. Whatever remains of human civilization has gathered in what should have been New Zealand and survive mainly from agriculture, animals are scarce to come by and all of the cave and mines are filled with Giagantic insects while the only thing keeping these people alive is the GrEaT Rainbow Serpent which guards the surrounding area tighter than the density of my ass cheeks.
"So that's it…I'm out" Hound states finishing the journal
"It is a good course of action" Penny agrees "Since so many gods fight each other daily making survival extremely difficult"
"Note that Temperance's info is to be questioned" Hound replies
"Noted" Penny replies
Hound returns back to the branch he came from requesting from Heimdal to let him pass to which Heimdal complies happily. Hound doesn't take long to return back to the God grounds but this time doesn't shoulder bump Heimdal and instead offers him coffee and dipping cookies and asks him about Yggdrasil's traveling system. Heimdal doesn't take long before he starts talking he starts by stating with the restricted parts of Yggdrasil.
The restricted areas are God Governed places such as the Underworlds and the Heavens like Valhalla and Olympus which require special permits from the Gods to be entered. Alongside them, the realm of the elves and the dark elves are forbidden by the order of Odin while the earth governed by the Greek Pantheon is restricted by the order of Zeus.
The one that have a free pass to everyone to be entered are the realm of the dwarves Svartalfheim, Niflheim and the realm of the fairies. Alongside them are earths or realms which are connected to the Pantheon one has chosen to follow which in Hounds case is the earth of the Egyptian pantheon and in other case is guide is necessary for the travel and during the stay of the individual.
Hound finds it to his best interest to enter Svartalfheim first to gather resources if he is to start rebuilding which Heimdal allows. Hound going into Svartalfheim finds it initially hard to converse with the dwarves but after Nyannyathotep manifest, she translates for him and becomes the intermediate as he trades the resources he is in dire need of. While in the dwarf realm he learns that nuclear material are restricted by the God Council and cannot be accessed by anyone without authority which irritates Hound since he can't fuel his projects.
"How am I supposed to power up my mass destruction weapons now?" Hound questions
"There may be a solution to that problem" Penny replies
"I'm listening" Hound responds
"We can make a request from the dwarves to make a machine that turns magical energy to electricity and utilize the cards as power sources" Penny explains
"And in the meantime I can create a robot to carry that machine from here to the earth I'll be staying" Hound adds "Brilliant"
Hound gets to work and within a few hours he builds an A.I. powered stripped down copy of himself which will bring him the machine once it is ready. Almost a week goes by and Hound is still expecting his robot to arrive as he has found the perfect place to set up his factory and so he goes to check up on it and it seams that it was stuck for the past four days in Svartalfheim unable to traverse Yggdrasil because Golems aren't permitted to do so unsupervised and because they physically can't according to Heimdal whom Hound was questioning and insulting for over an hour.
"And now what?" Hound questions "How am I going to be transporting things from dimention to dimension?"
"Utilize the fairies" Penny replies
"You serious?" Hound questions "They are supposed to be as small as a fly what are they going to do transport them gram by gram?"
"According to the Temperance, they are hard workers and with the right exchange they can get most works done within hours" Penny replies
"I'm not putting my trust on Temperance ever again" Hound states
"Technically its intel wasn't flawed" Penny replies "But it was incomplete"
"Alright" Hound replies "And what would be a good exchange for the fairies?"
"Any milk based product" Penny replies "They consider milk a delicacy and they can apparently create fairy dust from its powdered form which the lower class mainly utilizes"
"Milk?" Hound asks confused "Are you sure it states MILK!?"
"Affirmative" Penny replies
"Whatever" Hound replies making his way to the realm of the fairies, there he is taken in front of their queen and goddess Titania to whom he explains his needs and his proposition
"A very interesting proposition indeed" Titania replies an almost human looking creature if it weren't for her elf ears and four giant wings, standing a little lower than Vapdra with fiery Red hair, a dark green dress and spiky bracelets around he wrists, neck and ankles
"Alright then" Hound states
"But know this mortal our services are not going to be cheap" Titania states
"Don't worry about it I'm going to throw in something special" Hound replies confidentely
"If you are referring to ice cream that's a given requirement" Titania states leaving Hound buffled as to how she guessed it "But first things first, we are going to seal this contract"
"Contract?" Hound questions "Isn't that a demon thing?"
"Where do you think they got the idea" Titania replies "Now come closer" to which Hound complies cautiously "Now kneel before me" Hound still complies confused and when he does she kisses him
"Was that it?" Hound questions
"That was just a test" Titania states
"Then?" Hound asks
"With sex" Titania states confidently
"Okay" Hound replies as Nyannyanthotep pulls him away
"No, I will not let you defile my sweet sweet nephew" Nyannyanthotep says
"You could always join us" Titania suggest
The next day after Hound closed the contract with Titania, he makes his way to Vapdra's living quarters, there, he knocks once and immediately opens the door and enters the door. The moment he has fully stepped into the room, he notices Vapdra on the coutch and Xynevir on top of him both fooling around, Hound then clears his throat and Vapdra turns his head to face him while Xynevir doesn't even move. It is until Vapdra grabs her by her sides that she finally brakes it off.
"Haven't you heard of knocking before?" Vapdra asks Hound
"I did knock" Hound replies
"And did anyone tell you to come in?"
"I have been" Hound is about to say
"I don't really care" Vapdra replies "Now...what do you want?"
"I have to say you lack hospitality, you don't even offer bourbon" Hound says sarcastically
"It's literally 10 in the morning" Vapdra replies unimpressed
"I see your point, I did drink a little bit too hard yesterday" Hound says
"Then do you want something to take the edge off" Vapdra says lifting his brow "It's the good stuff" Hound mentally agrees and Xynevir brings him a cup
Hound takes his first sip "This" he says puzzled and takes another one "This is just plain water"
"Yeah the Good Stuff" Vapdra immediately replies
"Can I have something stronger?"
"You mean like apple juice?"
"Sure" Hound says mildly irritated "That'll do"
"No you can't" Vapdra replies "Mainly because we don't posses any"
"You certainly woke up and chose violence this morning?"Hound questions
"Well you barged in as if you own this place, you blue balled me and yesterday wasn't an exactly pleasant day" Vapdra lists out the reasons "So what do you want?"
"First things first then" Hound responds "I have been meaning since two days prior, what the hell are you?"
"That's a tough question to answer, but the most accurate answer would be that I am 1/3 demon, 1/3 angel and 1/3 human"
"So technically a god" Hound cautiously tries to confirm
"If you also take into consideration that I yesterday joined under the God council as an enforcer….. you'd be correct" Vapdra replies
Hound is taken aback but he keeps his composure and firmly states "Then I am afraid our alliance is terminated"
"How so?" Vapdra questions
"Well I don't intend to help a shitty god such as yourself" Hound states stood up
"What exactly makes me shitty?" Vapdra wonders as Xynevir is getting visibly irritated
"You being a god is reason enough for me but since you're one of the Council's dog that makes it quite clear, you stand even lower than them" Hound states as he opens to door
"One last thing before you leave" Vapdra says with a smile
"Make it quick" Hound responds
"When you find Mesta inform him that like you he will also be under my supervision" Vapdra states