AO 6 Ch 8

"Brrr." Eva shivered, rubbing her arms and shoulders. "How are none of you cold?" she asked. The princess was wearing a heavy dress and a manticore coat, but that did little to shelter her from the cold.

I was rocking three of my anchors’ coats, draped over me.

Apparently out here in Badlands the temperature plummeted when the sun went down. Even with spring on the horizon, Eva was getting dangerously cold. Her eyes lingered on Maribelle's scantily clad form.

"Especially you.” Eva scowled.

“I'm an anchor, and..." Maribelle hesitated, searching for the right words. "Less fragile," she finally decided, which wasn't exactly the best choice. Those words only caused Eva to glare at her harder. 

"She's not wrong," Emlyn interjected, trying to keep the peace. "With all of Ard's magic flowing through us, we're made of sterner stuff and have no problem using his magic near constantly. It's just how it works." 

Meanwhile, only my eyes peeked out of the bundle of furs covering me.

We found a scant bit of a dried bush that we could use to fuel a small fire. However, most of the heat in the little building was coming from the fire magic I was actively maintaining. I had a flame to heat several tubs of water. 

"If only you had the Fox Sphere, you could help me with all of this," I gestured at the nightly preparations. "I apparently have over-pampered my anchors. They demand hot baths every night." I clicked my tongue and shook my head. They were really quite spoiled, but secretly I loved spoiling them. Having to share me was its own challenge, I might as well make it as enjoyable as possible.

"You're our mage, and you have to take care of us," Zuri argued with impeccable logic. 

"Uh-huh. Is that how the new Ard's oath should go? You protect my life, and I make sure you have warm, toasty baths?" I asked. 

"I mean…" Emlyn leaned out of the tub that I had just filled. "Honestly, that's not the worst anchor's oath I've heard." 

"Well, I'm so happy to please you." I performed a rolling wave with my hand and a quick bow for her. "But we have to hurry up, because after I finish making your baths, I have to make her a statue." I pointed at Missy, who was content to relax in the corner.

I looked over to confirm she was still in the corner and had not returned to the fortress in my soul. She seemed to go there to rest and recuperate, or just be lazy. I was never quite sure.

For a goddess, she was less about big magic than I had expected and more about laying around. I met her eyes as I turned, surprised at the intensity in her gaze. 

"Problem?" I asked.

"I need you to work on that statue now. It doesn't have to be perfect. It just needs to be good enough. The other goddess will do the rest of the work." Missy told me.

"It's a woman," I confirmed, waving my hand and letting a stone statue rise out of the floor. 

"Yeah, hair cascading all the way down to the floor. Put her in just a dress, and don't even bother with her face. She's vain enough that no matter what you do, it won't be good enough. You're better off just letting her finish it." Missy told me.

I made a woman with graceful curves, flowing hair, and a long floor-length dress. I didn't put too much detail into it. Instead, it looked more like a silhouette. 

"Now do me a favor, bow to it, and call it Aphrodite." Missy grumbled.

"O benevolent and beautiful Aphrodite," I bowed to the statue with a sweep of my arms, "please, grace us with all of your splendor." 

Missy gave me a weird look and I shrugged. If this woman was as vain as Missy made it sound, playing to her vanity would only work more in my favor.

Something, not quite magic or soul magic, gathered in the statue. Flakes of stone chipped and fell off as if a single strike of a chisel revealed a marble masterpiece underneath. 

A few more seconds passed before the stone statue came to life, vibrant with pinks and gold. Her body was soft, her flesh nearly looked like white silk complete with a faint shimmering sheen. 

"I see why you keep that one around," the goddess flowed out from where she had previously been encased in stone, a few more flecks falling off her dress as she moved. Her foot gracefully stepped off the small podium that she had been built on. She was, in a word, breathtaking.

Even Emlyn let out a faint gasp and she was damned hard to impress.

And I couldn’t blame her. Aphrodite was beauty incarnate. They should just put a picture of her next to the word in the dictionary, it would solve so much debate.

Part of me wanted to weep, kneel, and cry for joy at the sight of her.

"Cut it out," Missy waved a hand, and the feeling disappeared.

The beautiful woman pouted, and it made me want to do whatever it would take to make her smile once again. "I was just having a little fun. So, this is your new toy," Aphrodite looked away from Missy and stepped up next to me so quickly that it was like she teleported across the room. Her hands touched me.

I expected her to still be cold, as she was a statue. Yet, a tempting warmth suffused me from where she touched. 

Missy was by my side a second later, slapping her hand away. "Hands off. Promises will be kept. You will get a temple on this continent and break whatever veil Freya put over it. But you do not get to play around with him." 

Aphrodite giggled and sidestepped. "Fine, fine," she said, holding her hands in the air, as if offended. "I will leave him alone. I understand. He is yours," she said with a pair of lingering eyes. "But if he were to ever want to come over to my camp, I would happily welcome him." 

Missy cast a glance in my direction, as if checking to see if her words had any effect on me. Of course, they didn't.

While physically she was provoking all sorts of reactions, it only took me a moment to realize there was something more than true interest at play.

I cleared my throat. "Missy, you wanted me to help you bring her here. Perhaps you do me a favor and get down to business. It's been a rough day and I would like to get some rest." 

Missy smirked in victory at me being unbothered. "Of course. You have been working hard fighting that abomination. Aphrodite, dear sister, now that you are here we have much to discuss," the raven haired goddess turned back to the offer. 

"I am. Thank you for your offer. The rest of the world has been dull and mostly carved out. I didn't know that this area was so contested. Your," she hesitated, squinting to remember my name, "Ard and his family have already broken ground on a temple for me. Not to mention, I brought over a literal boatload of priestesses." 

With a wave of her hand, the goddess sat down on a marbled bench with gold trimmings around every corner and cranny. Somehow despite being made of marble she laid on it like it was a feather bed.

Missy joined her, creating her own plush lounge to recline on. It seemed goddesses all had a certain type of style. They clearly liked to be comfortable.

I used some of my magic. Stone rose up beneath me, cupping my body and reclining me back. If I was going to talk with the pair of goddesses, I might as well play the part. 

Aphrodite giggled. "Oh, I like him," she said, squinting at my magic. "But he's not using your magic, he's using..." She hesitated, searching the stone I was reclining on, as if it would give her the answers. 

"Freya's," Missy informed her. "I once gave mortals access to magic in this area, however, Freya came in and made it simpler to use. As a result, most of the magic users in this area grew up learning how to use magic from Freya's spheres, as they call them. They're really just monster seeds embedded in their bodies." She wrinkled her nose, not exactly liking that phrasing. 

"Oh, that's interesting. Isn’t that the way with humans? They always take the easiest option. Shame he can't use your magic." Aphrodite said.

"Oh, he can," I said, speaking up for myself. "I can even mix them together." 

Missy's eyes flashed with warning, but it seemed it was already too late. It would have been nice for her to warn me that the subject was off limits.

Aphrodite's eyes went wide. "Mix them together?" She echoed, propping herself up on the marble bench. "You shouldn't be able to do that unless…" She hesitated, glanced over at Missy, as if looking for confirmation for what had been left unsaid.

Whatever answer she was looking for she must have found, because she gasped and turned back to me, her lips curling seductively. 

"Ard, was it?" She got up off the bench and extended a hand to me. "I think I didn't introduce myself well enough when I first appeared. Aphrodite." She held a gentle hand out towards me.

I took it, feeling that was the proper thing to do, and then gave it a quick kiss. Since we were going with singular names, I smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard more than a few things from Missy here. The Mistress of the Underworld, Ruler of Crossings and Boundaries." I tried to throw those in to make her happier.

Missy rubbed at the bridge of her nose as Aphrodite gave her a strange expression.

"Don't mind her, Ditey. She doesn't like my nickname for her either." I added. Though that name didn’t quite click as well as ‘Missy’. I’d have to test a few others out.

Aphrodite turned back to me after receiving her own pet name, her brows pinching down in momentary confusion. "Yet you still stand.” She blinked at me curiously. “He is an odd one." 

"We know," my anchors, who had been quietly lounging in the bath, all spoke up in unison. 

"Well now," Aphrodite sat down, reassessing me, clearly far better than when she first arrived. "How many are there like Ard in this continent?" Aphrodite asked quickly, doing her best to hide her eagerness in her question, yet it was plain for all to see, at least to me. 

"Oh, Ard's unique," Missy said with a shake of her head, tossing her raven locks about as a wry smile twisted those full lips. "You'll find there's no one else quite like him." 

"Well thank you, Missy," I flashed her a smile, deciding to take those words as a compliment. 

"One of a kind," Aphrodite clicked her tongue. "But able to use the magic from two different pantheons as a mortal. That is incredibly interesting." 

"Yes, well," Missy interjected before Aphrodite could say too much more. "I would appreciate it if you don't inflate his ego too much. After all, as you can see, we're already dealing with quite a lot."

"Hecate, haven't you learned? Stroking a man's ego is one of the best methods to win them over," The blonde goddess flashed me a charming smile and twinkling eyes, even though she was talking to Missy.

"If you ever come to me in the future, I'll remind you that you're jumping into the fire of your own volition and I did not push you." Missy muttered before rolling her eyes at Aphrodite.

Aphrodite scoffed and ran her fingers through her floor length blonde hair. "There isn't a man I can't handle. Even if he has a glib tongue. Tongues can be put to work. A man that’s good with theirs is more fun than you’d expect.”

I cleared my throat. "I think we got a little off-topic here. Perhaps, Missy, we could talk about the giant crab? You know, the one that wants to eat me every time I use soul magic. Or perhaps there was another reason you're here…" I gestured at Aphrodite. "Frodyte?" I tried another pet name before shaking my head. "Sorry, that was a particularly bad one. No one would associate a name like that with someone as beautiful as you."

The blonde goddess gave me a curious look like she wasn’t sure if she was just flattered or insulted before ignoring it entirely. "Giant crab. I'm... sure there are all various manners of beasts. Especially if Freya has had her hands in this continent.”

“This one seems odd.” Missy drummed her fingers on her chaise lounge. "It seems particularly drawn to Ard when he's mixing magics. So far it has had no reaction to my own magic or yours. And this thing is a behemoth capable of moving through the hard-packed ground as if it was wet sand or water.”

“Curious and certainly dangerous, but there have been dangerous beasts throughout the eons. Perhaps this is just another one of Freya's monsters. Or perhaps it is a strange amalgamation. After all, we're trapped in this prison-like planet. Maybe it could be just as strange of an anomaly as Ard here." Aphrodite offered.

There were definite holes in their conversation that stopped me from getting the entirety of the picture, but I caught the last bit, referring to me as an anomaly akin to the crab, which made me frown.

"If I could see this crab, there's probably more I could offer," Aphrodite continued, probably misinterpreting my frown.

"You just want a reason to stick around, don't you?” Missy clicked her tongue.

“Would it be so bad? After all, if an alliance with you is in the cards, we should spend some time together and begin hammering out the rules of what would be a new pantheon."

“New pantheon?” Missy raised an eyebrow. “How is Olympus? Zeus should have kept it all together.”

Only for Aphrodite to scoff, “Long gone. After you were cast in here, the rest went about squabbling as usual. Then…” She trailed off. “Frankly, I don't even remember what happened." A scowl briefly marred her beautiful face, as if, now that she thought about it, there were holes in what she remembered.

I watched them carefully, feeling like there was definitely information I was missing.

Aphrodite shook off whatever had made her go quiet and smiled again. "Either way, we're here and making the best of the situation. Even that bitch Hera is being nice from time to time. And she never compromises.”

“You'd be a bitch too if your husband slept around all the time.” Missy said.

"Well, it's not his fault he would prefer a harem, and she simply is unwilling to accept it. One of those days, it was always going to bite her in the rear. That it finally has is a surprise to absolutely no one." Aphrodite leaned forward like a woman about to unleash a binge of gossip.

“She’s the goddess of fidelity.” Missy waved a hand. “It's no wonder she tried to hen peck Zeus all this time. Though, you are right, it was always going to blow up in her face.”

"Oh, heck," I raised an eyebrow and leaned forward deciding to go along with this. "I have been bereft of celestial gossip for some time. Did he finally leave her?"

Aphrodite laughed, smacking her knee. "Oh yes. It's been a while now. She was absolutely livid for over a decade. She went absolutely mad and stalked him, killing them all.”

“Shit.” I said with wide eyes. “What an idiot that Zeus must be.” My eyes slid over to Maribelle before reigning them back in. “There are just some women you don’t ever want to let down.”

“What about the other brothers?” Missy asked, a smirk on her face as she saw my attention shift.

“Ugh. After Hera basically imploded the pantheon, Hades tried to go the way of his brother and form a harem but no one wanted him. The idiot had practically become a mercenary for hire at this point, though it wouldn't surprise me to find that he was off simping for Freya.” She made a face of disgust before hesitating. "You will have to be careful," Aphrodite warned. "Hades isn't the same as we both knew back in the old days." 

“We have our own forces.” Missy promised. “Though we are heading into direct confrontation with Freya. She’s challenging my aspect and I’m out here on my lonesome.”

"Like I said, I brought a literal boatload of priestesses, though they're all fairly new to the Order. You aren't far from the ocean. If you'd like, I could have them swing around, give you a hand, perhaps deal with this crab?" Aphrodite offered.

“It is more of a nuisance than a real problem.” I sighed. “We can make plans, but that is for tomorrow, I'm afraid to say, Aphrodite. We called you here before we settled in for the night."

"Oh, I don't mind," she replied, her lips curling up into a delicious smile. "You're always welcome to call me for the night."

Missy cleared her throat. "Why don't we let Aphrodite get back to what she was doing? I'm sure she has plenty of things to take care of on her own, and you can't monopolize all of her time."

"Oh no, it's fine," she interjected. "Why don't we all catch up, and maybe I can get to know these lovely ladies. Are any of you interested in changing over to a new goddess?" The blonde batted her lashes at my anchors.

“Let them be. I’d love to hear the latest tea on the others. It’s been so long since the two of us caught up and I’m sure I’m completely missing out on the shift in dynamics.” Missy got her attention and subtly pushed at me with her magic.