Being a God doesn’t really mean much anymore, the Gods spent most of their day’s people watching on Earth.  Humanity doesn’t even believe we exist.  The strongest God that rules them all Zeus has forbidden interaction with Earth and just setting foot on the planet would cause great punishment for all Gods, this law happened after the Cuban Missile Crisis stirred by no other than Loki.  Zeus decreed that one more mishap would cause banishment and loss of power.

Of course they didn’t listen… 

It was year 2018 now, Gods and Goddesses secretly went to Earth intrigued by the acceleration of technology and culture.  Zeus knew all, he watched as his children defied his law, he spent many years laying the foundations of their imprisonment.

Zeus sat on his throne in Olympus with a wooden box on his lap, he glared into the contents inside while flicking light from his finger creating life itself.  The center of the box there is a yellow star with a planet floating near it, it was smaller than Earth but shared many similar features.  The small blue planet had a moon as well.  He viewed down on the habitants of this small planet, many different walks of life were there, motionless as if time was stopped, Zeus who was pleased with the creation of this new world, he then breathed into the box, in which his breath went into every lung of every creature on the planet, the planet began to spin and rotate around the star.

*

A God was spending his day in a park in Switzerland, enjoying the slight breeze on that summer day, like many other Gods, he broke the rule of living with the humans of Earth.  Aeolus who was God of the Wind held that title without real meaning to it.  Like most Gods, Aeolus never actually has to do anything, everything is self-regulated.  With no need of a God to govern over every aspect of life, the Gods and Goddesses of the Greek, Norse, Egyptian, and so on just watch the mortals live their life while trying to entertain their own.

Aeolus was about to call it a day when he had an eerie feeling strike him, he put his hands through his black curly hair, giving the back of his head an itch.  He heard the thunderbolt soaring through the winds aimed right at him, without enough time to react to the thunderbolt, it landed on him instantly teleporting his body to Olympus with the others.

My eyes opened, I viewed the great hall in Olympus, where it appeared over dozens of Gods were taken.  The first thing noticeable were the deities outrage over what has happened.

“This is unacceptable!  My concert is about to begin in thirty minutes, I can’t stay any longer!” Apollo yelled.

Apollo who was trying to teleport out of the hall unable to do so, he began to walk out of the room, being stopped by an electrical force field created by Zeus.  Apollo unable to speak because he was so furious just stood in the corner cringing his teeth, waiting for something to happen.  He always was quite dramatic.

Near the stairs was a cage that Loki was kept in, his body posture as if he was bored, he sat in his cage with one arm keeping his head up, many deities stopped by the trickster God to get an insult in, none of us liked him very much.

Behind me were a couple of Norse Gods planning an assault on Zeus when he was to show, they lowered their voice when they noticed I was eavesdropping. The one handed God Tyr, and Thor glared at Aeolus with distrust in their eyes knowing he was a Greek.

I was a weaker deity compared to the others, I would never try to attack the almighty Zeus the ruler of all Gods, and he was the God of law and justice.  Even the stronger Gods like Thor wouldn’t last a second, which is why Zeus himself was the one to claim he was the ruler of all Gods, and even forcefully made all deities that went against him submissive thousands of years ago.

The grand door on top of the stairs opened, everyone watched intently for the God who is holding them against their will.

Zeus with Hera stepped out, staying on top of the platform on top of the stair case, the fierce look in his eyes and power emitting from him was enough to put fear in all of us deities, ceasing all attempts to fight back.

“There is a thing called rules that I put out.  Did I not?” Zeus said rhetorically.

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Everyone was still quiet, afraid that the punishment would be more severe if they spoke.

“You will no longer be the Gods you were…”

The phrase shocked all, many did not know that Zeus was able to do such a thing.

“Father how could this be?  Taking away our power would be too much of a punishment for us visiting Earth.” Ares said.

The crowd got loud with their opinions as he ignored the question.  Zeus waited for them to become silent again.

Zeus’s fierce look now more gentle, his frown turning into a malicious smile.

“There will be a game!” He shouts.

The room now eager for him to finish.

“All your God powers stripped, you will still live an immortal life…As long as you aren’t killed of course.” Zeus finished with laughing.

Hermes walked from behind the door with a box for Zeus, he held it open as if everything was choreographed before.

Zeus began twirling his hands above his head creating electricity, the clouds in Olympus got dark, as he twirled his hands, this caused all the deities to fall to their knees draining the power from their bodies into Zeus’s hands.  Clouds turned white again as everyone laying on the ground got the energy back to stand.

I looked at my hands and saw the glow leave my body.  I was human…

Even Hercules and the Japanese deity Susanoo looked like ordinary humans.

Zeus stopped twirling his hands.  He looked far more intimidating from the eyes of a human, he was blurry and bright, you couldn’t make direct eye contact with him, it was as if you were to stare into the sun.

His voice shook the floor and was barely conceivable to our ears, we all had to earmuff our ears to avoid passing out “The last five alive will be brought home with their powers returned.”

With that Zeus snapped his fingers turning all the former gods into lightning, they zoomed through the air into the wooden box in Hermes hands.  Hermes closed the lid.

“Put the box in my chambers Hermes.”

“Yes my lord.” Hermes said and walked away.

“Are you sure this is the best action Zeus?” Hera said with a worried voice.

“There is just no way to govern all these children who think they are too good to follow the rule of law that I have established, this is the best answer that I can come up with to get things under control.” Zeus said with a light sigh at the end.

*

Aeolus found himself in an oval building, it looked old and Greek.

My head hurt quite a bit, I’ve never felt such pain before.  There was a piece of paper on the ground in front of him:

Rules of the Game

1. You are unable to physically hurt anything.

2. You will receive one Hero coin for a champion.

3. With Olympus coins you can use it to gain buy armies, buy structures, and luxuries.

4. Olympus coins are gained by how influential your kingdom is, income is received at home every month, the higher in rankings the higher amount of coin you receive. Killing another deity increases revenue of coin every week.

5. Once only five deities are left, is when the game will end, see the rankings on the wall to see who is left alive.

6. Once dead your soul will forever be crystalized for eternity, never to return to the living world.

7. There is no time limit, you will not age.

After reading the small note I felt something I have never felt before…fear for my life.  I squeezed my hand and hit the ground with my fists in anger.  That is when I noticed a coin on the ground next to the note.  With a symbol of a heroic man on it.

This must be the Hero coin, Aeolus thought.

My head starts to become more rational, as I stare at all the names on the wall, many of whom are Gods of war.  I don’t socialize with many Gods of war, but I may be able to join with Athena, she is my best bet to get out of here alive.

Looking at all 58 names on the wall there is a number rank to the left of our name, every single one of us with a “1.” It must be because we are all on even playing field right now.  A little relief that the strength of the God has no effect here, we are all equally weak.  As a God I would never be able to even compete.

I approached the table in the center of the room, there was a map of a continent with a symbol of a man blowing wind out of his mouth located south east on the continent, I suppose that’s my symbol and it represented where I’m located in the world.  Next to the map is a leather book, on the front with bold font “Olympus Coin Catalog” I opened the book to the first page, which was “Recruit a Champion” the description for it is as follows:

A Champion is a natural habitant of the world; the habitant must also accept your offer for this to work.  The Champion will receive your blessings and be bestowed power from their deity.  The Champion will then be able to gain influence for said deity to gain rankings against the other deities.  Once a Champion, they will be significantly stronger and will get stronger the more battles they fight.  To use the Olympus Coin, you must give it to a habitant and ask to join your house.

As Aeolus analyzed the catalog, he noticed the names on the wall moved.  No longer was everyone ranked 1.  One name now was on top of the list…it was Ares.

Of course he is already gaining influence, he probably loves this game!  Aeolus thought.

This is not good, Ares will be relentless if he becomes powerful, he will destroy everything in opposition, which is why he exists, and he loves killing on the battlefield.  He would not hesitate a second to end my life.

Now panicked Aeolus frantically grabbed the coin and a brown wool cloak on the ground, stumbling out the door and out into the new world.