I Am Zeus

The colorless expanse stretched on, in ways no one there particularly liked. It wasn’t exactly empty, not like a field that had simply been harvested. There was a sense of withholding, of expectation. The atmosphere resisted each step with a sluggish heaviness, and even the raw power that had brought all of them here- wind, waves, death, war, and life itself- slowed in this impossibly thick air.

Zeus shrugged one shoulder experimentally. A single filament of electricity responded unwillingly to his call. He let it dissipate and turned to regard the others. "We need to establish some parameters on this place," he said. "What it is, and how far it might stretch."

Athena was already testing the consistency of the landscape as she walked in a slow pacing circle, her spear’s butt tapping a pattern on the ground, feet slow. "It’s wrong", was her reply. "Not unfriendly, just...dated. Everything seems to require about two thirds again effort than it should."

Posiedon kept his trident planted firmly and shot another irritated look to the horizon. "It reminds me of the depths of the ocean", he muttered. "Only even less willing to acknowledge the pull of the currents."

Sun Wukong lounged back with hands on his weapons. "It has similarities to certain heavenly realms", he remarked, "Most notably the areas I had been banished to periodically. Although there at least there were usually clear signs of guards or gates to deal with. This one barely even notices us."

Kratos said nothing, only observed from a distance, his chains silent and his gaze fixed ahead, as the others did. Hermes quickened a pacing walk before coming to a halt, and his relaxed, knowing smile seemed genuinely unsettled this time. Loki trailed around the outskirts of the group, loose and unassuming but with an interest that betrayed his usual detachment. Odin waited with one hand on his spear, the better of the two eyes half closed as if he could see into the distance the others were observing. Hades remained where he was, his usual glow in his bones subdued to a faint flicker of green.

Zeus turned, surveying all of it with a glance. Turning back, he frowned. "The force that brought us here was strong."

"It nearly killed us." Hermes reminded.

"No," Zeus said, "it was capable of killing us, certainly. But that does not answer what it was." His eyes met Athena’s. "It had reach."

"Into a place being unraveled?"

"I mean," she countered before Zeus could speak, "the creature that judged us, executed us, was an agent of something greater. It did not save us." She paused. "So what brought us here is something else, something older perhaps, but more specific."

Posiedon grimaced. "I am not liking the sound of that word. No like the word ’specific’." His fingers flexed over the grip of his trident. "Means we matter to someone. Someone specific. Something that decided what it wanted."

Loki drew near to regard the group, his mouth turning slightly, his eyes narrow. "Well now in that case, you will not like it here. Most likely." He glanced around as though he expected the surroundings to comment. "In fact it is a general rule of thumb for places such as this that things do not run on random chance. Purpose runs on gravity."

Sun Wukong shot him a considering glance. "Sounds less like a neighborhood you know, and more like a neighborhood you are in."

"That too", Loki replied, "Though big entities don’t go around scooping a few survivors just out of charity." He let his gaze flicker to meet the others. "We are probably either tools, witnesses or unfinished business to whoever owns the place."

No one seemed very offended by that statement. "It is very well put", Hades murmured. He sounded, if anything, impressed. "Though I prefer to think that the last category includes more things than just ourselves. Tell me, whoever finds this one had to make...a great effort to retrieve us."

No one had an immediate answer to that either. "Agreed, it does matter to them." Sun Wukong said after a moment before lifting his gaze from the gloom. "Now, let’s be very precise and take stock in the parameters of this place before going any further."

It took a pause, but another nod came from Zeus. "We proceed carefully." He took a step forward. So did the others, with the sound and feel of being a slow press against the atmosphere, the consistency somewhere in between stone and wet ground only less tangible. The air thickened slightly as they advanced, enough that Zeus could feel his breathing changing, adapting to the new conditions and reducing. He barely had time to register how strange that was before the world ahead of and around the travelers began to change as they neared it further. At distance, figures loomed, likely to prove towers or monuments of sorts, and even farther beyond them were wisps, currents of glowing light like rivers flowing in the upper reaches, and the occasional sensation in their skulls which made them realize these were but echoes, things of a greater scale flowing through or by this place. The current, the feeling, almost like a flow of pressure made them realize that even the space around the group seemed different, uneven.

"We are past this in places", said Odin at last. He paused, a slight frown pulling at the corner of his mouth. "Though not yet seeing the reasons. The entity here has levels of movement within these territories, even ones beyond our sight."

Kratos grunted. "In that case we are insects within a hall."

"Possibly", was Zeus’ response. It was not entirely dismissive. In his gaze was something like thoughtfulness. "As for now, Hades, your turn to ask if it is worth our time."

The dark lord let his expression remain as it was. "For the moment, insects that were sent deliberately from one burning hall to another. I am certain I will know why when I hear the voice, whichever owner that might claim these places. Tell me, when this happened, can anyone remember hearing or seeing signs or any law or authority here?"

The others hesitated a moment, then shook their heads. Only Loki said "I believe I heard one", quiet. When the others turned the remark came too quietly to see his expression.

When the haze by the front of the group thickened, Athena halted. Not from the thickness, no, from what came along with it. The air thickened again, even more than at times, with the feel o something else moving. Lightning flickered faintly lower on the ribs of Zeus. At the same time, Posiedon pulled his stance in readiness and Sun Wukong’s staff touched his fingers. Even Hades lifted his gaze now, his light dimmer and more intense where it should have been. The figure ahead was humanoid enough to pass as such, if one put aside height, the layered effect over armor formed by growth itself, and a mask taking all features away. It carried no weapon that was apparent, but there was a sense as if the presence of any made breathing feel heavier. It stopped, some distance from the group itself. It regarded them for a long moment after it had drawn close enough to see.

Then, a voice came to them from inside their skulls and the feeling as if the stranger’s mind had touched theirs, but without its own awareness of that. "You are not logged."

A pause. Then a second remark. "..You are not logged." The figure turned towards the group slowly, considering. The air pressure around it adjusted, briefly. No weapon, no tool at its belt, just the presence of the creature was enough to feel as though the pressure of the space was about to compress on them. The voice came slowly and clearly to their minds again, but without particular inflection. "You, I see no transport records for, and no marking for, and no designation of sanctioned entry for. You should not be here," The creature took another, single pace forwards. "Identify yourselves. State the transport passage and the authorizing house for your transit."

Zeus took up half a step forwards, and met, in turn, the unreadable gaze of the stranger. "The first one is not mine to state", He said calmly. Around them, others waited, their own tools of potential force ready to hand. Though the stranger’s expression was unchanged, its tone suggested something like irritation and its presence grew firmer again in weight. The one that had brought such sights and this place to all of them had apparently not marked its visitors for...whatever it was that this stranger was waiting for. What it had taken, it could likely keep with whatever it intended its charge to be.

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