The Empress was absolutely bored.

She sat with a distant look as another mortal begged for her aid. Upon the highest throne, which was carved out from a slab of marble, utterly bored out of her mind.

In the far reaches of Eden's territory was a planet called Whisk, of which the economy was in shambles. Pitifully on the edge of chaos.

She rolled her lips and bared her metaphorical fangs. This man's situation was supposed to be solved ages ago. Yet he kneeled before her and spouted promises after promises if she helped his planet.

The Empress simply blocked him out and instead looked around the throne room. Seated to her left, an ordinary throne made of mahogany was Death. A tall figure hidden by the dark cloak he always wore. Under the hood, one could see he was nothing but shadows below the skull of his.

As per usual, Death was silent. He merely spectated all that occurred in front of him. He gave no opinion or suggestions, and his calculating gaze was one many dreaded.

For countless millennia, nothing ever interested him.

Then she looked over to her right. A few steps below was her trusted scribe, Galea. A lesser goddess whose only strongest trait was to write down everything and able to remember the exact words that were said a month before. She was like a machine.

Galea was quite short, the shortest among the Great Pantheon. Her blue skin was covered with words, a language of the long forgotten. Even she lost the translation to these words written all over her body. Other than those two interesting things about Galea, there was also the funny helmet she always wore proudly; the lesser goddess was as boring as a rock. She was easily forgotten as well, and only a few in the Great Pantheon even remembered that she exists.

Other than Death and Galea, there were also the guards. All wore golden armor, blessed by the Empress. Warriors bred and trained solely to serve her and defend Eden from those who wish it harm. And one of the few good things Callisto brought to the table after her many mistakes.

She mentally scoffed at the thought of the Goddess of War. For years, she helped Eden prosper, but within those years, Callisto brought war after war. Some of it started within Eden. But Callisto always redeemed herself. The breed of guards, now dubbed “The Defenders of Light” were the best Callisto had ever created. Unlike the rest of the Drenz race, these guards had no thirst for war. Simply to do their duty.

Sadly, her mind wandered over to the current issue, the rogue champion. The Empress ordered Callisto to revoke her blessings from this Crow person. But the Goddess of War was defiant as he had earned his place after vanquishing the previous champion of War. Tradition, Callisto said. Barbaric is what the Empress said.

Displeased, the Empress gave the goddess a difficult mission. One that would surely make her suffer for a good century.

“Your Greatness? Excuse and forgive my rude behavior, but are you listening?” The mortal asked.

“I wasn't,” She smirked. “Now, be quiet while I figure out a solution to your mess.”

She didn't need to hear his pathetic words. It was the same as last time the man was in her presence. And back then, she gave him simple instructions to fix everything. Yet here he was, groveling and begging. It honestly sickened her.

Suddenly, the doors flew open.

And the Empress couldn't help but smile. “Justice! My amazing second in command, what brings you here this pleasant day?”

An imposing masked man with a head of flames and skin black as volcanic rock walked in. His amber eyes glowed as intensely as the fire he carried within his heart. A heroic aura could be felt from the mere glance of him. This was Justice, deity of the sun. Hero of all. And most importantly, the most trusted advisor among the ranks of the Great Pantheon.

“Well, spit it out, old pal. What's up!?” Some could even say that the Empress considered him a close friend. And they would be right. His loyalty was valued by her.

He speaks, and she listens.

Their relationship is one of respect for one another.

“Wait, let me make a guess! Is it my beautiful daughter coming to visit?”

“No,” He said plainly.

The Empress frowned at the answer. “Honestly, it has been decades since she was here…”

“Darkness is simply far too busy lately, you cannot fault her for focusing on her work.” Justice said. “Greetings, Galea, Death.”

The little goddess waved at him cheerfully. Death simply turned to meet his eyes. Justice was kind enough to give the mortal present in the room a greeting as well.

“Are you gonna greet the guards too? Come on, just tell me why you're here today.”

“I've brought Kalasraast and Devina.”

A sour scowl formed upon her face. With a deep guttural growl, she straightened herself in her throne. “Bring them in.”

“S-should I leave, your Greatness?”

One sharp glance silenced the feeble mortal.

Without any more distractions, Justice ushered in the two gods that were sent to capture Crow, who went into hiding after their attempt.

The two walked up to the lowest step of the stairs, then kneeled with their heads low. The Empress had half the mind to simply banish them for a decade but knew it would be a waste of resources.

“You disappoint me,” She said viciously. The world around them quaked as reality itself seemed to be warped all around them. “I specifically sent you both to capture the rogue champion. As quietly as possible. But what do I get? Billions upon billions of people seeing your mess. Now we have different news channels trying to trick an answer out of me. You know how damaging it is to our image that one of our own lost control of their champion?”

She rose to her feet. Devina and Kalasraast tensed up as they heard her walk toward them. Kalasraast clenched his fists in preparation while Devina shook in place.

She earned her name and title for a reason. With so much life present across the universe, her power was beyond everyone's level, only second to Death. Not only was she the strongest, but she was a vital point in the lives of all gods. Without life, there would be no soul. Without a soul, there would be no ideas. No one to think or believe. Without life, gods would cease to exist.

She can not be denied, for her powers almost rivaled God himself.

“The other gods will see us incompetent. Galea here will have to add you both in Callisto's long list of mistakes.”

Suddenly, her hand wrapped around Devina's throat. Only one dared to step in. Justice took hold of her wrist and stared deeply into the Empress’ eyes. But one look told him that there was nothing to be worried about.

Devina struggled as she tried to plead for her life. She attempted to bargain as well. But her words fell on deaf ears.

“Devina, I am sending you to solve this man's problem. I want you to follow him back to his planet, and take over. As well as repossessing all his riches and belongings.”

“Your Greatness!?” He exclaimed. The mortal wanted to argue and claim it was unfair.

But he was silenced by her glare. “Years ago, I told you the solution to your problem was to lower your taxes. As well as revoking pointless laws that would harm the earnings of the poor. Yet you returned to me with your planet in shambles. It is clear that you never listened.”

She released Devina and marched up to the cowering mortal. A murderous intent filled the air. Enough to suffocate a man to death.

“You will be stripped to nothing. All your possessions will be mine to use as I please. Your riches. Your family. And your soul. You wasted my precious time, one that would've been better used for when you report your success. Devina, as soon as you take what he owns, send him back to me. He will be sent to Deimos to work.”

“Please, have mercy, my Empress!”

“Fail to return, you shall be held accountable. And you lose the last thing you have left in your pathetic name. Your life.”

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Which meant the alternative was death.

“Dismiss.”

With that, Devina grabbed the broken man and rushed out to perform her latest mission with haste. Devina dared not to disappoint the Empress for a second time.

The Empress then turned toward Kalasraast.

“Your mission remains the same. Find Crow, and bring him to me. This is your last chance. But there is a silver lining. Stealth is no longer an option, so you may let yourself loose if you wish. Just bring him in alive.”

“As you wish.”

She then dismissed him. The Apex still kept his head low as he left. Fists still clenched as he returned to his mission.

“Justice, you may take a break. I know you've been working yourself to the bone.”

He shook his head. “I cannot, Empress. I've been tracking down the Bloody Tyrant and found a lead on the planet Igneous.”

“Igneous,” She frowned. “I have been meaning to send someone to investigate the strange surge of energy that I felt three years ago. So potent… and familiar. Even so! Take a break. A week will be fine. Relax, tell the Wizard King to take you somewhere nice. I'll even have Queen Midas fund your short vacation. Oh, almost forgot, send your friend the Masked Lawyer a reward for helping out with Crow.”

“If that's what you want, then alright. If I'm needed, simply call.”

With that, Justice made for the exit.

Once gone, the Empress released a loud and tired sigh. She then sluggishly walked back to her throne but then collapsed on top of Death's lap.

“This is all so exhausting!”

“This is no issue to you, my love…” Death spoke only in whispers. As if he was fearful that his voice could harm others.

“Yeah, but it's like I only have one functioning brain cell in this whole mess of a universe. The rest are just doing their own thing, making an even more mess. I can't be everywhere at once. They know that, yet they just don't do as I say.”

“They are still free… Their loyalty, of course, is unquestionable. But these gods have their own responsibility.”

“I know that! That's why I formed the Great Pantheon! So we can help each other out. When was the last time I disappointed them? Never! They ask, and I give! But these people are always failing me. It feels like it's just you, me, and Justice doing things right.”

“Your expectations are too high.” He said. “Perhaps you should relax as well. Allow me to take over for once.”

She was shocked at the suggestion. “That's new. Are you sure?”

“Yes…”

“Wow, you're freaking awesome! Thanks, honey! You know what, I'll go back to our room and start playing my games! My library has been untouched for far too long.”

“Take your time… perhaps you can even stream it.”

“Aw, thanks again for stepping in. I love you so much.”

A small snickering caught her attention.

“Galea, don't you dare write those things down. Or else I send you to archive the whole history of the Great Pantheon.”

“Sorry…”

*****

“What do we do? These aren't making any sense!”

Jonah could not help but whine and complain as they tried to decipher Hound's journal. It was written in a language even Ivory didn't know. Or simply, it was just gibberish.

No, they knew better. Hound was a tricky man. There had to be some sort of clue that would lead to the answer.

“Nate, do you recognize anything?” Scratch asked.

“Nope, this is just as confusing to me. I mean, what do we even get from this?”

Ivory was almost at the point of shredding the journal apart. “Hound is so damn annoying, despite being practically dead. A few characters get repeated in one or two pages, and then everything changes. Whatever is on this damn thing, he doesn't want anyone finding out.”

“You'd think someone as smart as him, he would've thought twice before double crossing the Bloody Tyrant.” Jonah said.

Nathan sighed. “If Gluttony could talk, she'd probably call him a dumb dog.” She would've laughed too, despite her being the one who made the pun.

Gluttony was still limp in his arms. As lifeless as a real puppet. There could've been another joke made by her. But the thought only saddened Nathan as he worried for his partner. This was so different from their usual days. The small little puppet would always try and get everyone's attention. To be in the center of it all. She always thought she was the brains of the two, which the others found strangely adorable.

He promised her that he would find a way to cure whatever ailment she was in.

But was there even a slight bit of hope? They weren't making any progress with the journal. And deciphering it seemed impossible. The three older beings couldn't comprehend the writings. Abe and Ivory swore it was not written in an old, forgotten language. Scratch, despite her vast knowledge, said it was beyond her understanding.

Sally had not said anything since they started.

When they tried to ask Watcher for some clue, he told them even the Bloody Tyrant was befuddled.

But then, an idea came to Nathan. He and the gang rushed back home and ascended the stairs as quickly as they could. Even passed by the landlady, Miss Mabel, who scolded them all for making so much noise.

It wasn't long before Nathan brought them all to the one place he believed held the answer. The Martians. Luckily, they were at home.

Sadly?

“This is a bad time, you guys.” Conn said. She looked absolutely haggard. And by the look of things, the others seemed to be on the same boat as her.

Nal was staring at the computer screen like a corpse. D'mym looked as if she was fighting a losing battle with sleep. The rest of the Martian gang, Stev and Raze were already out for the count in their respective desks.

Conn didn't even question why the gang was there. Nathan caught the door with his foot just as she was about to close it.

“What happened?” Ivory asked.

“Jerry already sorted things out, don't need to get involved.”

“Jerry?” Nathan tensed up as the police officer was named. “Conn, what happened!?”

“It's nothing, now scram, us ladies need to freshen up.”

Jonah frowned. “I know I ain't the right person to say this, but this isn't the time for jokes.”

“Dear friend, what troubles you?” Abe asked.

Conn sighed. She glanced at her friends, who might as well be out for the count. Then she ushered the guests in.

This wasn't exactly the first time for Nathan to be in their apartment. It was quite spacious for the larger beings. One could describe the room as similar to a computer cafe with all the monitors and junk. The air was extremely cold as well, thanks to the number of air coolers they installed.

They would've sat down, but all the seats weren't the right size. Except for Sally, who was smaller than the Martians.

“Alright, something happened last night. We were working on Nathan's request and- I'll just tell you, we were so close to solving your stinking mystery.”

“Really!?” One piece of good news. Sadly, it just wasn't meant to be.

“We lost it,” She finally said the bad part. “Not just that, we lost everything. Someone broke in last night while we slept.”

She walked up to her desk and showed them a single USB stick.

“This was plugged into our PC. All of our information and files were deleted completely. When Jerry left, we tried our best to recover anything. But as you can see, it's all pointless!”

D'mym howled in tears. “My collection! Gone! I've spent all my life, and it's been ruined!”

“Even our profiles have been deleted. We're practically ghosts in the internet world!” Nal growled.

It was then that Raze woke up. And she woke up crying.

“Jeez, this is just sad…” Jonah said. “I get how they feel, like losing my guns in every mission, but this is just honestly pathetic.”

“Silence, human!” D'mym hissed like a feral cat. “You are the pathetic one! You do not understand our plight! And I envy your primitive minds!”

“Shut up,” Conn scolded. “Like I said, this isn't a good time, Nathan. You should leave.”

“But we need help, there's something I think you guys could solve.”

“Oh no!” Stev returned amongst the living, an accusing finger pointed at Nathan alone. “We helped you, someone broke into our home and ruined our life's work!”

Raze scowled. “Yeah, the moment we got that picture, everything went bad for us. Luckily, whoever did us wrong took the picture too.”

“They what?” Nathan's eyes widened. His only lead to his past life, gone. He would've been furious about it, but knew that the Martian girls suffered the most from this. He shook his mind clear. “As long as you girls are alright, I can be without that picture. Still, I need help, and you're the only ones we have left.”

Before the others could even decline, Conn raised a hand. “Galactic Love 3. Six copies. Not just that, you'll come and give us a hand when we call you. That's the price I'm putting up.”

D'mym smirked. “Guess you'll be seeing us more than usual. We have a lot of stuff to fix.”

Jonah shrugged while Ivory sighed. The two were going to have to share Nathan by the sound of it. Abe was a little out of the loop. Sally was just silent.

“What is Galactic Love 3?” Abe asked the machine.

“Some video game, that's all I know.”

Nathan then agreed to Conn's terms, and they made it official with a handshake.

“You're lucky that we're friends. Now, what do you need help with?”

“This journal is written in some code. Scratch and Abe can't decipher it, so I thought you five would be our best bet.”

Conn perused the journal. The rest of the Martians stood behind their leader to help out as much as they could. The others watched with bated breath. The journal was skimmed through page by page. Once they got to the end, Conn would go back to the first page and repeat the action. They spoke in their native tongue, a language the two humans didn't understand.

They at least expected them to consult their computers, but it seemed that the Martians didn't need it.

Suddenly, Stev pointed at something. Their eyes all widened as something was discovered. Before they even knew it, Conn ripped a couple of pages out.

“What are you doing!?” Jonah exclaimed.

“We know how to decrypt it.” Conn claimed. But it just looked like they ruined a good journal.

They watched as she placed the two pages on the floor.

“Whoever wrote this was very creative, mixing languages and junk. But they all seem like nonsense because of that. On the edges, there are these half-drawn Martian symbols. That's when we notice a recurring message, which means “unite” in our language.”

It was then they saw the picture. Two halves of a single symbol now one. Which meant that there were more. Slowly, the answer dawned on them. Without any distractions, the Martians tore the journal apart and pieced it back together into the biggest clue they had yet.

“This was used during the war against Earth, actually, when the Crusade first started,” Conn explained. “But usually it was supposed to make a bigger character instead of… whatever this is. See, we Martians don't communicate much with long sentences. A single word is all we needed back then. We'd carve half of the word for “unite” or other words onto the edge of a brick. And once decoded, we scatter the message again for the next group. It was honestly a flawless method. Until the GCC took over Mars.”

Once she was done with her little history lesson, they finally finished decrypting the journal. It wasn't a giant letter of anything. No, it was something far more complicated.

“Though, I didn't think someone would use it for a map…” Conn said, not just impressed by the result, but with how Hound used the Martian trick.

It was indeed a map. All the scribble and mixed written languages finally made sense. Hound perfectly crafted a secret map, which looked like gibberish out of context. Not just that, it was a place they recognized.

“Midas City.” Ivory named the city just north of the town they're in. It was a city that no one could miss as a massive golden statue of Queen Midas was built at the center. The most famous landmark of the planet Igneous.

“What's he hiding over there?” Abe asked as his brows furrowed. “There…” His hand pointed on the eastern side of the city, the docks. There was an English word written above the location.

“Home?” Jonah read. It was highlighted red as well. They wouldn't have seen it without the help of the Martians.

“I've already taken pictures of the map.” Sally informed the rest.

“Good,” Ivory faced Conn. “Burn it.”

Conn was taken aback. “Are you sure?”

Even Nathan was surprised by the order.

“We don't want anyone to find this. Looking at it now, there's more to it than we know right now.” She growled. It was a deep and guttural one too. “Man's Folly. The Fool's Crown. Whatever Hound was doing on this planet, it doesn't look good.”

“Who's Hound?”

“Someone you don't want to get mixed with. Now get rid of it.”

“Thanks again, girls. I knew you five would be helpful.” Nathan said.

D'mym started to crumple the map together. Slightly disappointed that they were told to burn their work. “Just remember Nathan, we will call you for some help with our games. None of us like playing the support class.”

“I'll come running.” He promised them.

With that settled, the two groups parted.

“Think that was a smart move?” Raze asked their leader. “This seems dangerous. You know what kind of messes those guys get into. And I don't want us to be a part of it.”

Conn shook her head. “A little too late, girls. That break-in is a clear sign that we'll see more in the future.”

“Girls! I found a backup of our games!” Stev informed them.

“Stev, you're a goddess!” Nal said as everyone rushed over to her desk.

As they were preoccupied, they had not realized that the map was missing. If they completely checked every nook and cranny, they would have realized that whoever broke into their apartment… was still there.