The four Greek heroic deities sat around a table, playing poker amongst themselves.

“Are we taking any bets for the Tryfing?” Hercules asked. He grabbed one of the cards from the deck and added it to his hand.

“I think know would be the perfect time to do it. We’ve seen all the retainers and looked through their stats,” Patroclus replied. He threw his hand of cards down deciding it wasn’t good enough to win this round.

Chiron looked at his students and shook his head in disappointment. “Betting on the winner of the Tryfing? You three have no skill to determine who is qualified to even be a retainer. Even Achilles who has God’s will embedded still has a difficult time judging humans.”

His three students each threw their card hands at Chiron after he revealed a winning hand and took the chips from the table.

“Well master, I think we should still make a bet,” Achilles said with a smirk.

Chiron tapped his chin, lost in thought. “There’s four of us and eight retainers; we could each claim two retainers, that way it would be semi-even between us. What do you all think?”

His three students each smiled and nodded in agreement, clearly the idea of wagers and bids was a common occurrence between the four. One that they enjoyed having from time to time.

“Good, now that we are in agreement I call dibs on Darren and the Italian, Alessandro.” Chiron gave a chuckle as his students looked dismayed.

“You can’t just call dibs like that, we need to figure out the order first,” Hercules said as he slammed his fist on the table. “But I say Joáo and Lucifer’s vessel.”

Everyone was surprised that Hercules chose those two from the remaining retainers. Seeing their puzzled faces he decided to explain.

“See, I know guys like Joáo, years of having to be told to just deal with his issues and problems with a stoic attitude puts strain on one’s soul. There’s a monster ready to rebel in him, he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with once Nuada and him work out the meek attitude he was forced to have.”

Achilles agreed with Hercules; Joáo was told complaining about his situation and the curse made no difference and was told to shoulder the burden in silence. He did that for the twenty plus years of his existence, he wondered just how long it would take for the Nuada’s retainer to snap.

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“And Luther or Aster, whatever his name is, that’s just a gamble.” A small laugh came from the Hercules, who was known to pick the wildcards in bets and gambles.

As Achilles was about to speak, Patroclus quickly interrupted him. “Audrey and Sanosuke. I think they have what it takes to win it all.” He smiled at Achilles knowing full well he took one of the retainers he had wanted.

“Grr, fine! I’ll take Ariel and Charlie.” Achilles’ brow furrowed and he pointed a bit.

“Oh, you don’t want the weakest retainer in history?” Patroclus laughed.

“Nah, I was going to choose Charlie, the kid’s got a lot of heart and they know what they are lacking and what they need to do in order to change themselves …. Humans like that are the ones that do the greatest things and make miracles happen.” He winked at his battle brother.

“Did no one want Lugh’s retainer?” Chiron asked.

The others said nothing. It seemed they were all in agreement; it wasn’t that Ariel was weak or that his deity was. No, they just knew how unpredictable Lugh and his strategies were.

Or maybe they just didn’t trust Lugh to win it all. This lack of respect and trust was exactly what Lugh had told Ariel tricksters like him lacked from the other deities.

Achilles himself wanted Sanosuke for the bet but he was fine with the two choices he was technically forced to take.

He wanted to believe in Charlie and Freya, the deity he had fallen in love with before the Great Rebellion put a strain on their relationship.

Of course, the two were past that point and understood that they were now different deities than they were before. But they still respected and loved each other, even as friends.

So, Achilles wanted her to win, or at least reach whatever goal it was that she was plotting on the side. This was the first Tryfing to have a twin deity involved and Achilles had been made aware of Freyr’s movement in the background of the event.

He went to Hades and requested a human, and while Achilles could gain access to the information he decided to let it be for now and be surprised when it was time for the big reveal.

He also noticed how Freyr was missing during the Fantasia festival. Freyr was always the brains and brawn between the two. It wasn’t that Freya wasn’t capable, when push came to shove Freya was able to shove and shove well.

She just became lazy after God left her and would send one of her einherjar, Achilles, or her brother to take care of things for her. Honestly, it felt like a super power of hers to be able to make others do things for her.

Achilles would always ponder why he could never say no to the Norse deity. Patroclus explained it best to him:

“Her smile is so intoxicating even I want to do what she said just to make her happy sometimes. I mean she was the closest deity to God, don’t you feel bad seeing her ignored and hurt?”

As Achilles reflected on his past, his relationship with her was a bit toxic in that regard. Always giving and barely receiving.

It wasn’t Freya’s fault she had her own issues, like her feeling of God abandoning her and hurting Inari, her battle sister.

Much like all the deities and angels, the Great Rebellion and its consequences had effects on Achilles and Freya as much as everyone else.

It was thanks to the Tryfing and becoming a Judge that Achilles was starting to enjoy living as a deity again.

Not to mention he did get to meet and spend a lot of time with Damaris. Her bubbly personality and go-getter attitude was something he didn’t know he’d needed in his life. And he could be goofy with her, which reminded him of his time with Freya.

Really he was starting to become protective of her. Unlike the other angels, she wasn't created to fight and her main purpose was to be the support judge of the Tryfings.

Yeah, the Tryfing, he thought, she would leave after the Tryfing was over. She wouldn’t be around him as much, or even at all once it was said and done.

Hercules shuffled the deck and placed cards in front of Achilles, breaking him out of his thoughts. Thinking that way did him no good and right here and now he was surrounded by deities he was honored to call his battle brothers.

The ones that helped create the Fantasia world, the ones who rushed headlong with him to help save Luther and the human realm.

There was no reason to think about the future and be plagued by it. He needed to be in the now.

After all, if he really wanted to be with Damaris, he just needed to win the Tryfing when it was finally his turn.

And win his ticket back to Eden.