The wooden doors burst open and before Ares and I had the chance to move aside, the two guards rushed in. They obviously expected to find nothing more than a couple of heavy drapes on this side of the door, so I could imagine their surprise when they barrelled straight into two gods hiding in the darkness instead. I could also imagine the surprise of the two brothers, who briefly paused their battle to look at the immense racket that was caused by two men falling on top of us.

One of the guards fell straight onto Ares' blade, which pierced his abdomen, and he screamed at the top of his lungs, almost as if he was asking for everyone in the temple to shift their focus to us.

"Well, shit," Ares said. He stood up and pushed the two men back. "Hello, fellows."

The two brothers stood frozen and perplexed, no doubt trying to work out whether they should continue with their duel or stop to deal with the sudden appearance of a Greek god in their midst. Then I picked myself up and they identified me as well.

"Zeus and Ares," Modi bellowed. "What the fuck are you two doing here? Did this bastard pay you enough to aid his cause in invading my town on its holiest of days?"

"Actually we came here to celebrate with you," Ares said.

I was impressed at how quick he was to find a believable excuse. But it was only an excuse as to why we were in the city, not why we were crouched near the back door of the temple while the two of them fought.

"You fool. How can you not see it?" Magni told him. "If you claim you didn't steal my father's gift and these two Greek gods suddenly appear on your doorstep, is it so hard to understand what has happened?"

"Fuck me," Ares said under his breath.

"Run to the lake and prepare the oyster," I said, sending a message to the goddesses on the guild chat. "We'll be coming in hot."

"You mean they stole the knuckles from you?" Modi asked. "And then they brought them to me. Why is that, Greeks? Were you seeking my attention?"

"You stupid bear of a man," his brother said, but this time it was a different one of the three identical versions that addressed him. "No wonder father always preferred me. They did this so they to spread discord, so we would start fighting amongst ourselves."

"Is that so?" Modi said, finally starting to understand what was happening. "Are you planning to invade us then? Pair of ambitious bastards."

"We are the ones doing the invading," all three of Magnis said at once.

"Fuck that!" I said and sprinted through the wooden door and out into the temple's yard.

"Get them!" Modi yelled, as Ares ran out right behind me.

Thankfully we had a bit over one minute of Aphrodite's speed buff left. I could only hope it was going to be enough to get us away from the two gods who were righteously pissed at what had transpired. Thankfully, both of them had already depleted a few of their DP fighting each other, so I hoped they wouldn't have anything powerful enough left to keep us back or make them extra fast.

"Where are we going?" Ares said, laughter in his voice.

"Shut the fuck up and follow me," I said. "This mess is your doing."

He didn't say anything but it was obvious he didn't like the way I addressed him. It was about time he finally understood who was the boss around here. If he didn't, he wouldn't get on very well in my guild. I wouldn't put up with his childish games. Not when the consequences involved making enemies out of gods in the other pantheons.

The number of people pursuing us multiplied quite rapidly as we ran through the town, and soon the vast majority of the people who had gathered to celebrate their god had started chasing us, looking more like a horde of drunken raiders than followers coming to pay their respects. To top it all off, the two gods had come out of the temple, watching us from a distance.

It didn't look like they had become best buddies in the face of a common enemy, but it was clear that they both considered us their enemy now. I could only hope that the feud would end there and that they wouldn't involve their father in it. If there was anything I didn't want to deal with at the moment, it was a different god of thunder messing with my plans in the Greek realms. From the few interactions I'd had with him, Thor seemed to be a cunning bastard and if he ever revealed himself to be in opposition to you, it meant that he had already prepared everything in the background so that there was no other possible outcome than for him to emerge victorious.

That wasn't someone I wanted to piss off at the moment. Not while I still had my eyes on my father's throne.

With that in mind, I spent the last few seconds of my enhanced running speed buff covering the ground toward the lake where the oyster had opened up in the water.

The hooded form of Aphrodite was standing at the top of the stairs and I jumped in next to her, waiting for Ares to do the same. As soon as we were both inside and headed down the stairs, the oyster closed up, and Aphrodite threw herself down on one of the couches, trying to navigate the way out of there.

"That was a rush!" Ares said, shouting the last word. "I bet you don't get this sort of excitement sitting--"

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The rest of his sentence was lost as my fist shut his mouth and threw him onto the floor.

"If you ever put us in danger again," I said, standing over him menacingly, "I will fucking end you, and Greece will have to find a more predictable god of war."

"Is this action too much for you?" Ares asked, though it was obvious his resolve had broken, along with a couple of teeth.

"You call that action?" I said. "You sent us in there like pigs to the slaughter. Stealing one god's artifact on the day of their birthday and taking it to a place where it was certain the other god would appear."

"There was no way to know that for sure," Ares said.

"No, there wasn't," I agreed. "But you hoped this would happen. You hoped your actions would get the two brothers fighting, and they did. This was exactly what you wanted. I could see it in your eyes. The joy of seeing them dancing with your puppet strings still attached to them. The war would have just been a happy by-product of that battle."

"Admit it," he said, pointing a finger at me from the floor. "You liked it too. You enjoyed being part of it."

I slapped his finger away from me and pressed the sole of my foot down on his chest.

"Enjoyment is irrelevant," I said coldly. "If you ever put me or my people in danger like that, I will make sure you'll never be able to do it again."

"What are you going to do? Kill me in front of my sister?"

"I would never hurt her like that," I said honestly. "But I will make sure you never see the light of day again. Mount Olympus has more tricks than you can fathom."

Of course I was bluffing, but Aphrodite furrowed her eyebrows as if she understood what I meant and that, along with my unmoving stare, made him reconsider. He finally turned his eyes away and bared this throat, as if surrendering to me.

"You better mend your ways, Ares," I said, removing my foot from him. "I will not tolerate shit like this. Not around me, or my people. There's plenty you can benefit from in our guild but you need to play by the rules. There aren't many of them, but they're my rules."

Again, he didn't say anything, but now he nodded somberly. Apparently my threat to imprison him had affected him more than I thought.

Having made clear that I wouldn't take any more of his shit, I threw myself on one of the other sofas, where Artemis was already sitting.

"We've lost them," Aphrodite said. "Should we head back the way we came?"

"Ares, is there a portal that would take us out of Niflheim through the water?" I asked.

He seemed too occupied with his own thoughts to respond.

"I'm talking to you, boy!" I shouted.

He jumped in place, snapping his head to face me. "To the south," he replied quickly. "Head to the south and you will find a portal back to the prime material plane between two large pillar-like rocks."

"Alright," I said.

Aphrodite nodded. "I've set the course. Zeus, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure," I said, and picked myself up, walking toward the other end of the library-like chamber.

"My brother..." she started, but I interrupted her.

"I know he's your brother and I would never do something to hurt him unless he directly attacks us," I said. "But I had to teach him a lesson."

"No, you're right," she said, taking me by surprise. "He deserves all that and more. I just wanted to tell you why what you did worked on him."

"You mean threatening him with imprisonment?" I asked. "Not that we actually have a place to do that right now."

"Our father used to do that to him whenever he was out of line," she explained. "Lock him in a room until he had thought about his actions and asked for forgiveness."

"Is that why he instantly stopped?" I asked. "I guess calling him a boy didn't sit well with him either."

"It probably didn't, but he needed to hear it," she said. "Ever since our father died, he has been spiraling out of control. Chasing the next big thrill, completely disregarding his safety and that of those around him."

"Aphrodite, I had no idea--" I said.

This time, she interrupted me. "No, but you did good." She took my hand in hers. "You did a good thing. For us and for my brother. I will speak to him, and hopefully this will be enough to tame his mind for a while. He needs someone like you in his life."

"Thank you," I said and kissed her gently.

"No. Thank you," she replied. "I had better get back and find that portal."

I nodded and watched her with pride as she turned her back and sat on one of the armchairs, her eyes losing focus as she took control of the oyster again. Artemis looked like she was getting ready to rest, and Ares was still looking a bit lost in his thoughts.

Considering what Aphrodite had told me, I felt a little bad about going in so strong with him, but he really needed that wake up call. I couldn't let him think that what he had been doing when alone would be acceptable once he joined the guild. Having said that, I couldn't have him brooding or feeling intimidated by me either.

"Ares," I said quietly, so as not to disturb Artemis. "Can you come here for a second? I want to talk to you about something."

He stood up instantly, almost as if he'd been waiting to be addressed, and came closer to me. I sat down in a very comfortable reading chair placed between a wall of bookcases and a small table with another identical chair at its other side.

Ares took a seat across from me, his usual air of confidence now having completely evaporated. He was waiting for me to initiate the conversation, and probably felt like an awkward discussion was incoming. I hated those talks as much as everyone else, so instead I decided to focus on something that would benefit us both in the long run.

"You look like you're a hell of a fighter," I said.

He looked a bit surprised that I'd started off with a compliment.

"I think we've got lots of good fights ahead of us," I continued.

"I... thank you," he stammered. "I can only assume from the story of you fighting Typhon, but I hope I can fight on your side soon too."

"Does that mean you do want to join my guild?" I asked, keeping my voice straight and serious.

"I thought that was the deal?" he said. "You helped me with what I wanted to do in Niflheim and I join your guild."

"Things did not go exactly as planned back there, and a leader always bears the responsibility for the failures of his group."

"But you had no say in what we were going to do or when," he replied. "The planning was all mine and your execution was perfect."

"Then it was my fault for completely leaving the planning to you," I said. "Regardless, I don't want you to feel forced to join my guild. I want this to be something you want. I need you on my side because you believe in what we're doing and not because of a simple trade."

For a few seconds he didn't say anything. He turned to glance at Aphrodite, who was still controlling the vessel--or was at least pretending to do so, if she was listening--and then looked me straight in the eye.

"My sister is ambitious and can be difficult to work with," he said, "but she seems happy with you. And I know that if someone did to her what Cronus did to your siblings, I would want them destroyed too. I will help with everything I've got because I believe in what you want to achieve, and because you are a straight blade."

I nodded with appreciation and accessed the guild menu immediately. I sent him an invitation and watched as his eyes lost focus while looking at his notification.

* * *

Ares has accepted your guild invitation.

* * *

"Welcome to the guild, god of war," I said, and we clasped wrists.