On his way to Valhalla, Saxon stopped by a couple of stores to grab the Eye Spy trilogy for James and Ina’s game console. She still hadn’t sent her list of games, so Saxon knew he’d have to come back, but he figured he may as well get what he could on the way out.
As the door to Valhalla opened, a horn bellowed to signify Saxon’s entrance.
“Heil!” a waitress called out while cleaning a table. “Welcome brave warrior to the halls of Val…”
The waitress paused as she looked up to see Saxon standing at the door. “Oh, it’s just you Saxon.”
“What, no speech today Helga?!” Saxon questioned, playfully annoyed.
“Why waste my breath?” Helga replied.
“Because it helps set the mood,” Saxon protested. “Makes me really feel like I’m in Valhalla.”
“You know what would really make you feel like you’re in Valhalla?” Helga asked. “Being dead. Unfortunately, I don’t have anything on me to help with that right now, but I’m sure one of the chefs would let me borrow a knife.”
“Sorry my tolerance for murder tops out at near-death experiences, but when I’m ready to try the real thing I know where to come,” Saxon joked.
“I’ll make sure to sharpen my spear,” Helga replied.
“Wait, you have a spear?” Saxon asked, genuinely surprised.
“Every Valkyrie does,” Helga responded matter-of-factly. “Now go sit down, your partner saved your favorite booth for you. ”
“Eddi ain’t my partner,” Saxon said.
“Oh, my mistake,” Helga replied. “Figured Herman woulda stuck you with somebody by now.”
“He did,” Saxon informed Helga. “I’ll bring her around sometime.”
“Well we’re open 24/7,” Helga responded. “Let me go get your food.”
As Helga left, Saxon made his way over to the booth in the far back of Valhalla where Eddi was there waiting for him.
“So how’d you know this is my favorite booth?” Saxon asked, sitting down so he would face the door.
“Your favorite booth is the same in every diner,” Eddi replied. “It's always the one in the back.”
“Well I like to see everything that’s going on,” Saxon said. “Atmosphere is what makes a diner.”
Eddi’s face made it obvious that he knew Saxon was just fibbing. “Whatever you say. So what’s the occasion?”
“Wanted to pick your brain about the science that goes into mythoi,” Saxon responded. “Some weird stuff has been going on, but I don’t have enough knowledge to back any of my theories up.”
“I’m an avatar therapist, not a scientist,” Eddi protested. “Isn't there somebody more qualified for this?”
“I trust results, not credentials,” Saxon replied. “You're the most knowledgeable person when it comes to avatars and mythoi I know. Plus some of the ideas I have are a little out there, so a professional might just turn me away.”
“Well, what are your ideas?” Eddi asked.
Saxon took a deep breath and thought about what was the most reasonable thing to start. “I guess one thing that’s on my mind is if a mythos can manifest through secondhand information.”
“Whadda you mean,” Eddi inquired.
“Well a mythos normally manifests when an avatar learns of their myth,” Saxon said. “What if somebody tells them about the myth instead? Is a secondhand account enough to manifest a mythos?”
“It’s more common than you would think,” Eddi informed Saxon. “Most often it occurs amongst students in cases where their teacher discusses a myth in class.”
“But it doesn’t necessarily have to be students?” Saxon questioned, specifically wanting to see if Octave’s mythos could have manifested based on the stories he had heard from his friend Orpheus.
“Not at all,” Eddi clarified. “If you think about it, throughout history, myths were often spread through word of mouth.”
“Here you are,” Helga said, arriving with Saxon and Eddi’s food.
“Thank you,” Eddi responded. “Helga was it?”
“That is indeed my name,” Helga replied.
“Does your family run this diner?” Eddi asked.
“They do,” Saxon answered.
“What he said,” Helga said, pointing at Saxon.
“How did you learn about what Valhalla was?” Eddi asked.
“Parents have been telling me about Norse mythology ever since I was a kid,” Helga replied. “When they immigrated over to Fable, they made sure to hold onto their history.”
“An admirable thing to do,” Eddi said. “Thanks for sharing, I was just curious.”
“Well, enjoy your food,” Helga said.
“We will,” Saxon replied.
“Wait when did you order?” Eddi asked Saxon, realizing that he had ordered while waiting for Saxon.
“Doesn’t need to,” Helga answered. “He’s a regular.”
“Of course he is,” Eddi said.
Another loud horn sound echoed in the diner, causing Helga to whip her around toward the door. “Gotta go! Heil! Welcome brave …”
“Alright, I get your point that most myths have been carried through history by word of mouth,” Saxon said, trying to get the conversation back on topic. “You’re saying a written and spoken rendition of a myth both are equally valid tellings of it.”
“Now you’re catching on,” Eddi responded, affirming Saxon’s assumption. “There’s no reason to believe that an accurate telling of a myth could not manifest an avatar.”
“That’s another thing I wanted to ask about,” Saxon said. “You said accurate telling, but I’ve seen lots of deviations in the manifestation of mythoi from the source material. I get that an avatar’s interpretation of a myth can alter its manifestation, but to what degree can it change?”
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Eddi pounded on his chest to get his food to go down. “Differences between the myth and the manifested mythos are complicated. There are a lot of working theories.
Notably, there have been instances where avatars have learned of their mythos, but not manifested it either because their interpretation or the material itself was wildly inaccurate. These cases make it reasonable to assume that a mythos can’t manifest if its avatar doesn’t possess at least somewhat of an accurate understanding of the myth itself.”
“Right, so there is a limit,” Saxon said. “I know core aspects don’t change. What still confuses me is why a mythos can deviate.”
“There is a theory to explain what you’re curious about, but nothing is proven,” Eddi said, clarifying to Saxon that he may be wrong.
“Anything is better than nothing,” Saxon replied, desperately in need of answers.
Eddi finished off the rest of his water. “The theory goes that a mythos’ manifestation is guided by the avatar’s interpretation, but ultimately constructed by the public interpretation.”
“Public interpretation?” Saxon inquired, requesting elaboration.
“As myths are told, and passed on from person to person their details change,” Eddi said. “If I tell you a myth, and then you tell it to Herman, you aren’t going to tell the exact same story.”
“Yeah, of course,” Saxon affirmed.
“So over time the original myth ends up deviating into several different versions each with its own unique differences,” Eddi said. “Some of the changes are people modifying the myths intentionally to fit their own story, and others are simple mistakes.”
“Like how most fairytales are portrayed as kid-friendly in the media, but in actuality are pretty gruesome,” Saxon commented.
“Exactly,” Eddi replied. “Essentially, the theory goes that when a mythos manifests it does so based on the public interpretation, or in other words, every rendition of the myth ever told. As a result, core ideas that are almost always represented in some capacity in every telling of the myth, such as Hades being the ruler of the Underworld, are always present in the manifestation.”
“So that means the deviations occur in places where the details are a little less universal across all versions of the myth,” Saxon said.
“Yes,” Eddi confirmed. “Places in the myth where details are frequently altered or changed, are when the avatar’s interpretation affects the manifestation of the mythos. According to the theory, in those areas, the mythos will manifest following the avatar’s interpretation of the myth.”
This made sense based on Saxon’s experience. After fighting Kenji, Saxon discovered that Miyamoto Musashi didn’t fight using two katanas.
While Musashi did invent the two-sword fighting style, he fought using a katana and a wakizashi, which was a shorter katana, so Saxon was confused about why Kenji’s mythos let him conjure two katanas.
As it turns out, upon further research Saxon realized that Musashi was often depicted in several stories as fighting using two equal-length katanas, even though historically that wasn’t accurate. If Eddi’s theory was true, then it would explain Kenji’s mythos as it is likely Kenji’s interpretation of Miyamoto Musashi was based on media, not history.
“Well, what if the avatar’s interpretation contradicts a core aspect of the myth itself?” Saxon asked.
“What do you mean?” Eddi questioned.
“Say there is a detail that is pretty much universal in a myth,” Saxon said. “If an avatar interprets that detail as something completely different, either due to the material they are reading being strange or their own beliefs, then could the mythos possibly manifest according to that detail?”
Eddi shook his head. “An interpretation would need to be well known enough for it to be present in the manifestation of their mythos. Remember, the basis for the manifestation is the public interpretation.”
“So a core aspect has to always be present in some capacity?” Saxon asked.
“Only in a fully realized mythos,” Eddi explained. “As you know an avatar can strengthen their mythos and unlock new capabilities with proper training. Therefore, a core aspect may not be present initially, because an avatar has yet to fully realize their mythos, in fact, few ever do. However, a mythos that contradicts a core aspect of its myth has never been observed.”
Saxon breathed a heavy sigh. He’d researched to see if any accounts of Orpheus also detailed his music as being a form of manipulation, but none of them did. It was a direct contradiction of the myth, and nowhere near widespread enough to where Octave’s interpretation could influence it.
That meant either Eddi was wrong, or it confirmed Saxon’s suspicion that the mastermind’s mythos somehow allowed the newly manifested mythos to be guided solely by the avatar’s interpretation of the myth.
“You alright?” Eddi asked.
“Yeah, yeah, just had an idea,” Saxon replied.
“Mind sharing?” Eddi asked.
“Well if a mythos manifests based on public interpretation, which is susceptible to change, and not a definitive story that is concrete, then what’s to stop a mythos from being altered after it has been manifested?” Saxon asked, trying to naturally move the conversation to the topic of changing a mythos.
“It’s a good idea,” Eddi admitted. “Like I said the theory isn’t proven, and a mythos can develop with proper training, but alterations to an already manifested mythos have never been observed.”
“So the only way a mythos could change is if an avatar entirely forgets their mythos first, resulting in it disappearing,” Saxon clarified. “Then upon relearning the myth it manifests again, and then that manifestation can differ from the original.”
“Right, if an avatar forgets their myth entirely then they will be stripped of their mythos,” Eddi affirmed.
“Is that why you keep pestering Seph about Hades?” Saxon asked.
“Did she put you up to this?” Eddi questioned.
“No, just heard about it,” Saxon answered.
“She never leaves her room, let alone read about Greek mythology,” Eddi protested, feeling the need to defend himself despite Saxon having said nothing. “If it weren’t for me, one day we may all wake up and the entire Underworld would be gone because Seph forgot what little she knows about Hades. My lecturing her may very well have saved Fable.”
“On the behalf of all the citizens of Fable, I thank you for maybe saving us,” Saxon joked.
After a brief bit of laughter, Saxon asked one final question. “Do you think if somebody had the right mythos they could bypass all these rules we were talking about? You know, change someone’s mythos, and not care about public interpretation.”
Eddi shrugged. “Why not? A mythos can do anything. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, but the possibilities are endless. If such an avatar does exist, then I have to admit I do envy them slightly. With such a mythos, he’d have the power to change the world.”
Saxon felt a buzz in his pocket. He pulled out his phone to see he had received a text message from Lya informing him that they had received an anonymous tip about a crime in Backwater, and that the name Draumur Chimera was mentioned. It seemed Kuri worked faster than Saxon expected.
“What’s the news?” Eddi inquired.
“We got an anonymous tip,” Saxon said. “Nothing notable, but the name Draumur Chimera was tossed out.”
“Wait, that name sounds familiar,” Eddi replied.
“Was he in the Underworld?” Saxon asked.
“Think so,” Eddi said, struggling to remember.
“I’ll dig through some files, and see what I can find,” Saxon said, standing up to leave. “Thanks for all the help.”
“Good talking to you,” Eddi responded.
Saxon quickly made his way back to the Library of Alexandria to investigate Draumur's stint at the Underworld. Whereas Kenji’s findings detailed Draumur’s activity in Backwater, Draumur’s file would inform Saxon about what he was doing before establishing the Chimera family.
After a bit of searching, Saxon managed to locate a file labeled Draumur Andersen. His last name being different didn’t surprise Saxon whatsoever, given that most people end up changing their surname when attempting to establish a crime family.
From what Saxon could remember of Kenji’s findings, Draumur chose the name Chimera, because it was his mythos. Scanning through the file, Saxon managed to locate Draumur’s mythos which was listed as the Chimera. However, Saxon was confused when reading the information detailing the capabilities of the Chimera mythos.
Saxon pulled out his phone and dialed up Kuri. “Hey Kuri, do you happen to have the Chimera family information on hand?”
“Got it pulled up right now,” Kuri replied.
“Do you mind reading off the section about Draumur’s mythos?” Saxon requested.
“Sure thing,” Kuri responded. “Says here Draumur’s mythos is likely the Chimera, hence why he chose it as the family name. It allowed him to transform parts of his body into various animal parts. Some examples are him using a turtle shell for defense, porcupine spikes for ranged offense, and snake venom to debilitate his opponent.”
Saxon listened to Kuri while reading the description of Draumur’s mythos from when he spent time in the Underworld, and the two weren’t matching up.
An evaluation had been done to confirm the capabilities of Draumur’s mythos when he was arrested, and Kenji wouldn’t risk reporting anything other than the truth since it was a multi-month operation for the Killian family.
All that left Saxon believing there was only one possibility. In the time between leaving the Underworld, and establishing the Chimera family, Draumur's mythos had been altered.