Erebus, Throne of Hades
The King of the Underworld is, to put it mildly, not used to being surprised: unlike most of his fellow Olympian gods, he prefers to be prepared for anything.
But even he couldn’t predict that, when he agreed to resurrect Noriko Null, she would rather wake up in the middle of the ritual to take charge.
<Is it working?> Shinobu Tanaka asks him, unable to process to what is happening to his cousin; she’s still floating in the air, but the stream of energy from Kylon has dwindled considerably: her Lar advisor is just lying on the floor.
<She is absorbing just enough life energy to become self-sufficient again. You shouldn’t have to do this, Null, the Lar accepted to die for you.> the god tells her.
<One man already died to save my life. His name was Dmitry Voron. I refuse to make his sacrifice worthless; I don’t need you to return to the living.> she responds, her voice still unnatural given the damage sustained by her vocal chords. Then she looks around, observing the macabre décor of the Throne Of The Underworld.
<Wow, does this place look tacky. I honestly expected you to have at least a drop of class, Hades.>
<I see you are yourself again.> Hades concedes, bemused by this mortal’s casual flippancy in the face of a god of his caliber.
<I could use an aspirin though. Does every resurrection come with a massive migraine?> she asks, touching the bridge of her nose; it’s like something is trying to drill a hole through her skull.
She can hear a message repeated over and over again, with her own voice but with an artificially stilted cadence:
“Last update check 1838877207617 days ago. Please connect to Cosmic Background Network to search for system updates. Last update check 1838877207617 days ago.”
<God is this thing annoying. 79 trillion commands and none of them is a freakin’ snooze button!!!>
“Last update check 1838877207617 days ago. Please connect to Cosmic Background Network to…”
<Okay, FINE, whatever! Permission granted if…> Noriko protests out loud, then she freezes up.
Her posture becomes stiff, she looks at the ceiling, and as her silver eyes shine the electricity coming out of them coalesces into a third point in the middle of her forehead.
<Host control suspended. Connecting to Cosmic Background Network.> she says, then a beam of blinding light emerges from her forehead to shoot upwards; it passes harmlessly though the ceiling and escapes the utter darkness of the capital of the Underworld.
<Searching for system updates. Server not found. Scanning for active devices. Scanning.>
At the center of the star system
Persephone is angry, but that in itself is not unusual. But as needlessly confrontational as she is, her anger is rarely if ever directed at her husband: he’s the only one who respects her rebellious nature.
<Who the f##k does he think he f##king is!?> she laments, punching something trapped inside same impenetrable darkness that completely obscures the star at the center of this system.
<“Act professionally”, he says! As if anybody gave a s##t about his job! How hard could it possibly be to rule over the dead? They’re f##king DEAD!!!> she shouts, punching the darkness so hard with fists glowing with green destructive energy that the darkness itself growls in response.
<Oh shut the f##k up, what do you know you stupid f##king dog!?>
The darkness shows its teeth, and even the Queen of the Underworld knows it’s best to tread lightly.
Below the red set of teeth emerging from the darkness, each canine larger than a planet, there’s a far smaller set of teeth that moves closer to the black mass that holds Persephone’s punching bag.
<Easy there, big boy. I’m not taking away your chew toy, alright? I just have some s##t to work through. You understand that, don’t you Cerberus?>
The teeth retract, and the growl is replaced by a whining sound.
<Good boy. No need to be scared, we’re… uh. I wonder what the f##k they’re doing down there?> Persephone wonders as she looks at the pillar of blinding light that emerges from the planet, moving unfathomably faster than light. Cerberus doesn’t seem to like it very much: the astronomically large dark mass retreats behind the star. The resulting increase of light doesn’t let Persephone know that her favorite punching back has escaped the darkness and is wasting no time to leave the system.
Hell, 163,000 light-years from Earth
To say these have been eventful months would be an understatement. As the latest Lady Of All Demons, Agony has been busy pushing the entire planet to focus its energies into reconstruction.
Obviously even the most emotionally detached Demon can’t forget so easily the massacre carried out by Ares, and for many it’s become a tradition to visit daily the enormous chasm that leads to the planet’s core of boiling lava and Blood energy: it’s their memorial to the dead.
Agony is present there when the Blood begins to be agitated; even more strangely, it gets brighter and brighter. Much more than it usually is.
To any other Demon, this is just a reaction of the Blood to their pain. But to Agony, this has a more personal connection… because she feels a soul resonating inside the Blood.
<The Regent of Hell is back. We must prepare to answer Null’s call.>
Themiscyra, 90,000 light-years from Earth
Queen Tecmessa sits on her throne, monitoring the situation through the multitude of screens floating around her: they show the Vanguard getting closer and closer to her palace, with a counter listing the number of Amazon androids destroyed and the progress of manufacturing new models.
<Model 97 destroyed. Engineering model 98. Model 98 deployed. Model 98 destroyed. Engineering model 99. Model 99…> the screen reports, ending the list when the wall explodes due to the sheer force of something being thrown through it… the remains of Model 99.
<Lesson #1, Your Majesty: never f##k with a Myridian’s family.> Kari Zel says, her body saturated with energy. Tecmessa reaches for the sword hidden in the throne’s armrest, but her hand is blasted by a bolt of electricity from Quantum.
<Lesson #2: don’t make weird science experiments on heroes and kids. That’s just messed up!>
<Tell us what you did to Null and Vesta.> Torn adds, appearing behind Tecmessa and holding a Blood knife against her throat.
<Dude! You were supposed to start with “lesson #3”, you ruined the theme!> Quantum complains.
<Why would we want to teach our enemy how to be a more effective adversary?>
<You’re no fun.> Quantum sighs, ignored by the Amazon queen who answers:
<I had nothing to do with your leader’s death, and the goddess is safe with her family.>
<Right, like we would believe Noriko is really dead or that Vesta would willingly spend time with her family.>
<Take it up with her mother. As for the Slayer of Gods, I said she died, not that she’s dead right now. I just found out about this.> the Queen says, as a screen floats in front of her: it shows the Twelve Galaxies, with several points of light spread throughout.
<Someone activated every single Drylon device in the universe, including one in the Stygian Galaxy… the Underworld. Since neither the dead or the gods can use them, it’s safe to assume that someone went there to get herself resurrected.>
<Yeah, that does sound like a Noriko move. And trust me, she’s not going to be happy about what you did to us or to Kari’s husband and kids. Especially the latter.> Quantum tells her.
<Tell your males to leave my planet at once, Zel, and I’m willing to discuss a peace treaty.>
<Or, how about you shut the φουcκ up and give us everything we ask for, and in return we don’t reduce your entire planet to a junkyard? Because that sounds like a great idea to me right now!>
<You drive a hard bargain.> the Queen admits, grateful that her android body doesn’t include sweat glands.
Parthenos, 80,000 light-years from Earth
Protocol is everything in the Athenian Federation, but Nike doesn’t have time to waste on the minutiae of mortal government. She flies through the city at the speed of sound, landing on the balcony that President Athena uses to address her subjects.
She rushes through the presidential office, finding Athena sitting at her desk busy reading the Grimoire of Drylon Weapons.
<Lady Athena, our technicians report that…>
<Our stockpile of Drylon technology is suddenly shining, I know. Goddess of wisdom and all that.>
<You… expected this?>
<Not exactly, but I accounted for it. All Drylon devices are designed to connect to each other, if one knows the rights commands. Thoth discovered it billions of years ago, although it surprises me that anyone else has figured it out. Especially now that Null is dead.>
<Could Thoth be behind it now? Relationships with the Egyptian pantheon are not…>
<Nike, you are a capable right hand goddess, but espionage is not for you. Triangulating the origin of the phenomenon was trivial… my sources report sightings of Drylon devices very efficiently… and there is no doubt that it originated…>
Athena pauses. Nike knows her better than almost anyone, and she can’t recall the last time she saw an expression of anger on her face.
<That son of Kronos. What kind of death god resurrects mortals so easily!?>
Boreas, 3,000 light-years from Earth
If there’s one thing Leiko Tanaka doesn’t like about her duties as the Ice Queen, is having to listen to her generals when she plans for war.
Obviously they have no say in the final decisions; but not only the Lar are very heavy on traditions, but she needs the troops to be loyal to their commanders just as much as to their ruler.
<How long until we can just start the war? I’m tired of skirmishes.>
<Your Majesty, the Winter Kingdom has no stakes in the infighting of the Mortal Republic. We are strong enough to defend ourselves, should the revolts spread.>
<President Aura is a disgraced ruler who no longer has any real power; I know for a fact that Null is planning to declare herself the successor.> the Ice Queen reveal.
“After all, that’s what I ordered her android double to do” she thinks.
<You want us to… go to war against the Slayer of Gods!?>
<Once we destroy Myridia and the Church of Null with it, she will be left with no choice but to surrender her domain into my hands. Now, how long will it take us to prepare a…>
She pauses: the Vial of Destiny attached to her choker is suddenly shining brightly. She has no idea why, but she can’t act like she isn’t all-knowing in front of her subjects.
<This audience is over.> she declares, using the Endless Winter that has replaced her heart to create a wall of ice to separate herself from the others. She then takes off the choker and wonders if this is affecting other Drylon devices.
Myridia, 50 light-years from Earth
These days, Eros often asks himself why it took him so long to discover this planet. Creating the impenetrable pink barrier that completely surrounds the planet was his only job, and he would do anything to protect the only planet outside of Aphrodite’s sector that really knows how to party.
He’s taking a break between orgies, resting on a hammock while one of his many lovers feed him grapes, when something distracts him: streaks of light coming off the ground.
<Another attack? Honestly, who would want to hurt such lovely mortals?> he wonders.
<Is the Monolith okay? We can’t use our powers without it!> his current companion asks.
<Oh, that’s right, it seems your planetary Drylon device is acting up. Shouldn’t be anything to worry about, as long as we have each other.> Eros says, pulling her closer to kiss her.
Asgard Station, Null Zone
The twin Portal Generators have been running continuously for months: powered directly by the artificial suns surrounding the stations, they could conceivable continue teleporting the same mass back and forth until the end of time. But once they begin to shine, the space between them is warped by a very different technology. And a bald woman whose body is full of cybernetic implants steps out of it, exhausted by the experience.
<You overstepped, Null. Nobody holds me forever.> Skorpios says, looking down: there’s a light emanating from beneath her skin, where her uterus was replaced with the device called the Manifold. It’s not hard to figure out it has something to do with her being able to break free, but this isn’t the place to dwell on it. And since the Manifold gives her near limitless control over space, she wastes no time leaving this dimension.
The Stygian Galaxy, 2.7 million light-years from Earth
Erebus, Throne of Hades
Kylon recovers his consciousness in an unusual situation; the light emitted from Null is too bright for human eyes and Hades doesn’t seem in a hurry to do anything, but Lar eyes have evolved to withstand the Sun’s reflection on the icy landscapes of their worlds.
He can also recognize one of the images flickering around the pillar of light: he has seen the map of the Olympian Galaxy so many times that he can clearly recognize its shape. But it’s not the only one: more and more galaxies keep being added.
<Scanning completed. Connected to 237 devices. Comparing data history for updates. Check completed: downloaded zero data. Your system is updated. Host control restored.>
The light fades quickly, and so does what was left of Noriko’s strength: she faints, and she doesn’t fall to the floor because Kylon catches her at the last second.
<What… what was that!?> Shinobu wonders.
<The last whisper of a long dead people.> Hades responds; his face is perpetually hidden in the darkness of his cowl, but Kylon can tell he’s staring into the distance.
<Those were galaxies, weren’t they? She was scanning them.>
<She connected to every single remaining Drylon device in the Twelve Galaxies. Some of which have never been discovered.>
<And you saw all of that. Does it mean that you now know where to find them!?>
<It is time for you to return to your galaxy. It is not proper for living mortals to be in the Underworld.>
<Wait a second, after all we’ve been through you can’t just…> Kylon argues, but the King of the Underworld has no reason to listen to him: the three mortals disappear into a dark mist, and Hades slouches back on his throne.
<I can’t be the only one to have seen that. I fear that resurrecting Null might have awakened something infinitely more dangerous than the Slayer of Gods.>
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