Death leaned against the decayed side of Yggdrasil, the bark crackling against her back. She was still trying to figure out just what had happened earlier.
" Erebus..." She murmured. She had blurted the name out due to the aura around that man, she didn't expect it would be him.
" What now, Master?", asked the scythe. "Do we kill him?"
" He's an entity," Death said, " how do you plan to kill Void?"
" He's in physical form now isn't he?" The scythe asked confused.
" Exactly, that's why we shouldn't touch him." She answered.
It was an ability few entities possessed, but a troublesome one nonetheless. Each entity had a physical form, but a select few occupied space.
Darkness, Nothing, and Void were the only entities that made space, should their physical forms be destroyed, they would revert to being concepts, with greater strength and base abilities. It could be said that they were less threatening in physical form.
" So, we just wait to die?" The scythe said.
"Not exactly." Death thought deeply.
Among them all, there was one entity that could invade the space of others. It was the same entity that caused Nothing to not exist anymore. Life was the only entity with the power to create.
" Only Life can end Void for good." Death said.
The scythe was confused now. The man had the aura of Life, which meant that Life was dead, and Void was the cause.
" Isn't he dead?" It asked
" That's why we need some help." She turned her body into a mass of liquid. Protruding from her body was the goddess Aphrodite, still trapped in bars of darkness.
" Why would I help kill the hero?" Aphrodite asked, having heard the conversation.
" That man is not a hero." Death said, morphing her body back into a solid state.
"Then why would I work with you, who is destroying everything?"Aphrodite asked again.
It was a fair question, but not to Death. For her, it was natural to end things, for trillions of years she couldn't fulfill her purpose, and now the omniverse was grander than ever before.
" Because he will do far worse than what we are capable of." The scythe answered for her.
" Erebus? But an evil being cannot be summoned by divinity, so he can't be bad." Aphrodite reasoned.
A precaution was set in the god's realm long ago. Whoever has evil intentions wasn't able to step foot in the realm.
Death sighed, it would take forever to explain the natural order to her.
" Void isn't evil." She said exasperated.
Death gave up on trying to convince the goddess, she would force her now. With a scythe in hand, her plan to kill the heroes vanished, she would now use them to trap Erebus and perhaps use the aura of life inside him against him. Preferably before the dormant entity inside the man awoke.
" Will it work, Master?" The scythe asked.
" I hope so." Death said.
She trapped Aphrodite again and began planning on how to end the man Erebus and his currently dormant personality, the entity Void.
...
"What the hell!?" I screamed in what appeared to be space.
Just earlier today I was enjoying my meal when some squirrel led me to that god Aphrodite. I didn't even get to ask what the hell was going on before a damn streak of light teleported me here.
Who am I even protecting the universe from? What the hell is the entity?
I sigh and look at the streak of light dancing around me. It's been like that for a while now as if it's trying to enter my body but it's being repelled.
' You have to save us all,' her voice rings in my ears again. The light seems tired of trying to invade my body, now staying a certain distance from me.
It paces around and then lands itself on my palm.
" What's wrong with you?" I ask it.
The light contorted itself into the image of a miniature fist and then pulled on my fingers.
" Close my hand?" I ask.
It contorts again into a miniature fist. Curious, I close my hand tightly. The light writhes slightly and disappears into my skin. A few seconds later, the world spins again and I find myself in a white room.
Two other people sit across from me in silence. One of them, a muscular, short man has his hand on his chin, lost in thought. The other is a woman with hair tied up in a bun. She is tracing lines on her palm, murmuring something softly.
Neither have seen me yet, they are too caught up in deep thought to notice. Two other people teleport inside after me. The first is a man with glasses, wearing a suit. His eyes linger on mine a bit too long, filled with a tense urgency and...fear?
He moves around, keeping his distance from me. The other lunges at me, clawing at me with the same look of fear. But his eyes have a tinge of rage in them. He tumbles over me, eventually stopping under me as I keep him pinned.
" What did I do?!" I exclaim.
My question goes unanswered as a few seconds later, a dark figure of a person emerges in the room. I'm pried away from the man as the entity creates a shield around us.
The shield shatters and quickly regenerates as I push against it.
" Stop." The voice of the figure looms.
The sound causes the first two people to snap out of their thoughts. They look around the room anxiously, sighing in relief after mapping their surroundings.
The shield covers my body from being seen by the others and propels me away from the man under me.
" Now is not the time to fight, heroes." It says sternly, turning its head to both me and the man who tackled me.
Upon closer inspection, the man is bruised a bit, with a scar across his lips.
Seeing our conflict, the muscular one pulls him away from me and whispers something in his ear. Though he too looks at me warily.
The figure sighs. The forcefield around me shatters again, allowing me closer to the rest.
" I'm sure you've been told the situation by each of the gods that summoned you..." It begins.
The others nod solemnly.
' The hell? Am I the only one clueless here?', I brush off the thought, expecting the figure to explain further.
" As you should know," it continues, "they've given you a slight bit of their divinity and abilities."
They nod again. I remember the light around me earlier but then dismiss it. No way that thing gave me any abilities.
The figure snaps his hand, and before us are five exotic-looking fruits.
" These are the fruits of Yggdrasil, gathered over the past trillions of years. These give the gods their powers." It says.
"Each of you has been scouted across the multiverse for the best results possible. These should add to the divinity inside of you, and give you what you need to stand a chance."
' A chance against what?' I think. But because I don't want to be the only idiot confused in the room, I stay silent, waiting for more of an explanation.
One fruit is handed to each of us, exuding an aura somewhat familiar to me, yet not pleasant.
I look at it a bit skeptical. These give us powers?
Each took a bite. The fruit is small enough to be consumed in three bites. On the first bite, I feel nothing different, it doesn't even feel like I took a bite. On the second bite, a sweet taste is introduced to the fruit. The third bite is like the first, tasteless and empty.
' That's it?' I think before an uncomfortable feeling settles in my stomach. My body rejects the fruit with all its might, yet something inside me keeps absorbing it in, feeding off of it. The others don't seem to have a similar problem.
Genuinely, they seem to enjoy the fruit. A look of bliss and happiness flashed across their faces, perhaps forgetting about whatever beef they have with me for a split second.
The figure claps, drawing our attention. Its left eye glows with a purple radiance before nodding sagely.
For some reason, the figure decides now is the best time to introduce us and tell us our abilities from the fruit.
" Lei Ling, summoned by Hades." It calls to the woman with her hair tied in a bun. " You can summon the ability of any creature from myth or imagination. These can be infused in weapons or clothing."
The ability sounds magnificent, but then he lists the drawbacks.
" Not more than two abilities can be active at once, and your lifespan is drained after each usage." It explained.
" Wargod Gumesh, summoned by Athena." It says to another, this time the muscular man from earlier. " You have given mastery of all weaponry and invulnerability."
A pretty basic ability, but a good one nonetheless. The figure kept his gaze on him a bit, trying to find out more.
" It's weaker than the rest, but with no drawbacks." The figure added.
It continued explaining the abilities of the next one.
"Jake, summoned by Odin. You have limited omniscience. The past and present of all realities and realms are as open as a book, but the future is uncertain."
The man who avoided me earlier perks up at the mention of his name, and nods quickly, then falls back into thought.
His ability also seems to have no drawbacks, as the entity continues to the next person.
" Felix, summoned by...huh?" The figure had a bit of trouble finding the God who summoned the man who tackled me.
" No matter," The figure shrugs it off. " You can change the past, but not more than 7 times."
Felix was a bit giddy. For the first time since coming here, he wasn't looking at me with a malicious gaze. He was much more preoccupied with finding out how to use this ability of his.
The figure then turned to me.
"Erebus, summoned by Aphrodite." I urged it to go on. " You...have no abilities."
" What?" I ask blankly. The exchange causes the others to look at me with wide eyes.
The woman, Lei Ling, stares at me for a few moments. The next thing I see is a blade exuding energy held at my neck, with Lei Ling wielding it.
" How'd you follow me?" She asks with a heavy voice, much to my confusion. " And what did you do to my brother?"
The room is tense with silence. The figure creates a shield once more around me and adds some distance between us.
Jake goes to her side, taking caution around her sword.
"It's not the same person." He whispered to her.
Before she could answer, Felix shouted an insult at me, before disappearing from the room. The gesture did not help clear any confusion I had.
" Shit." The figure said. " Can you bring him back, Lei Ling?"
Reluctantly, Lei Ling put her sword down and summoned a lasso from her imagination.
She swung it once and threw it to where Felix was standing. The lasso disappeared halfway and reappeared a second later with Felix caught. I can only assume it went through time.
"DAMMMMNITT" Felix shouted, kicking at nothing in frustration. His eyes were a bit watery and his body was trembling. He looked at me, with a bit more anger and fear than before.
" You're a monster..." He said, before collapsing on the ground.
The figure was even redder in anger than Felix was. " How are you only left with 3 chances to go back in time?!?" It screamed.
The lasso around Felix disappeared, and the woman collapsed as well, breathing heavily.
... seriously. This is my team? What did I ever do to them? And how are we supposed to defeat the entity with a half-dead member and one that already used the majority of his abilities? Speaking of which, what is the entity for God's sake!?