Alasayana

---

The huntress would frown lightly. Hm. Maybe she should give her a hug? She had seen humans do that to comfort others before, but would it be too friendly? Too familiar? She couldn't come off as that being a goddess. She also couldn't just demand she dry her tears either. Tsk tsk, ugh, why were humans like this? This was why she had to protect and judge them, because they were easily weakened by things like this.

Well, perhaps that was just her divine arrogance speaking.

"Hm...I don't think we'll be finding anything else out for now," Alasayana would respond. "Lead us then, Flora. I assure you that you will be safe. Oh, and, of course, I expect you to also groom my tails as per your punishment for waking me from my nap once we get a moment." Couldn't let her forget that, no. That was the most important thing in all of this.

Ashte, as already noted, had no such compulsions against hugging the girl, but at least this time she broke it off before there was a risk of suffocation, nodding along with Alasayana's idea that she lead the way. Although, as soon as they started moving, she would drop back a few steps to stare at Moridax.

Then stare a bit more.

"Hooo, cute... though do you think you could do a favour for our little priestess here~? You're able to stop decomposition until we can get to a proper funeral, riiiight~?"

@Pyromania99

Moridax, Lord of the Underworld

---

Haaa, of course humans were like this. Moridax found them only really good after they died. Well, most of them. Some of them were just pure evil and forced to work the Soulium mines. Heretics this and that. Mori really found the Merchant's story to be somewhat obnoxious. Not on her end of course, but on the end of the humans here. Then when Klois was mentioned, Mori just said, "Sounds familiar, not that I particularly care much. Maybe another god or something? I don't make a habit of remembering human names too much, considering how many I see, of course."

After that, she was ready to make herself scarce here and find some actually cute clothing. As she started to turn around to think about a nice design, she noticed a certain goddess of Lust Love and War looking at her with some pleading eyes. Then, asking for a favor for the priestess. "What? Me? A favor for this human? Hah." Mori said as she turned from the corpse of that man that fought for her. She took a couple of steps. "Why need the Lord of the Underworld do a favor for a human like this?" She said, taking a couple of more steps before seeming instantly irritated. "Now you're disappointed, thinking I can't do such a simple thing, are you not?"

The Lord of the Underworld turned on her heel and crossed her arms. "It's a simple task for me." She said, clapping her hands together to the left and then to the right before trying to point toward the corpse of the dead guardian before getting a small bit frustrated and ripping the gauntlets off her hands, throwing them on the ground. "Haaa...." She then repeated her clapping than pointed at the body. A small green fog appeared from her finger and made it's way over to the body. Entering the dead man's nostrils but otherwise doing nothing else. "Simple. Never doubt me!" The goddess said, turning on her heels again and taking some steps.

and the far less important, trivial aspects of travel and luck

So some of the others had also felt that the name Klois felt familiar. The problem was, like Aureia, none of the others could also fully recognize where they knew the name from. As a goddess that prided herself well on knowing lots of names and places (a very useful quality when it came to lording over commerce) it frustrated her to no end that the name was escaping her despite being on the tip on the tongue.

This was going to bother her for a long time.

It was then that the young girl began to bawl. But given the news of the death of her stalwart guardian… it was expected.

But why were her fellow gods so awkward? Did they not know how to deal with humans after ten thousand years?

She sighed, before heading over to the girl herself. Kneeling down, Aureia gave her a comforting pat on the head, before giving her a light hug around the shoulders. “There, there,” she comforted, before producing a silk handkerchief for her to dry her tears with. “His death was not in vain, since we’re here now. He wouldn’t want for you to be sad like this.”

Trineon
Lord of Rivers, Lakes, and Oceans

The water god found that he no longer needed to clear away the young priestess’s tears as she managed to somewhat compose herself. She then confirmed that Sir Oren was indeed a Klois Knight. The word Klois still rattled around in Trineon’s head, just narrowly avoiding his mind connecting it to something, something that would reveal what it is. This continued to bother Trineon as he felt like there was a missing puzzle piece in his mind.

Flora then offered the gods to follow her somewhere. Trineon immediately decided to follow her, as he felt he could trust her. It would also seem that Alasayana and O’Menus trusted her enough as they both told her to lead the way. But as Trineon focused on the priestess, he couldn’t help notice what Ashte and Moridax were doing to the body of Sir Oren. The god of the underworld filled the corpse’s lungs with a green fog, one that was definitely magic. Trineon appreciated the gesture as he turned back to the priestess.

“Would it be alright if I carried the body of Sir Oren with us? I wish to give him a proper burial when we can. If he is as good a man as it seems you believe, then he would deserve at least that dignity,” said Trineon to Flora.

While carrying such a large man as Sir Oren while journeying would seem like an impossible feat to most mortals, Trineon was gifted with divine strength. Plus it would be easier for him, knowing that he was helping the young priestess, who Trineon had taken a liking to. This was not a rare occurrence, as the last time Trineon was alive, he would favour certain mortals.

"... Th-thank you..."

Flora's mood had hardly improved, given she learned that her guardian had just recently died. But the words of the deities, one way or another, seemed to have had an effect. She dried her eyes once more, then took a deep breath. Sir Oren was going to go home to... to be properly laid to rest, too.

She had to lead the way.

It was why she was here.

At first she stumbled a little, unsteady on her feet. But it seemed as if at least most of her strength had returned, for now, and she was able to guide the collected revived deities down the mountain path, to the



As they descended further, the temperature grew warmer, and the sounds of various beasts could be heard in the distance. The calls of all manner of birds and insects and some unidentifiable noises grew louder and louder. The path itself seemed to vanish into thick foliage, as their surroundings became more and more green.

By the time they reached the forest floor, Flora was panting heavily, her gait unsteady. She was clearly feeling rather tired at the moment, even if she was still trying to keep leading them onward.

The largers trees were enormous. Not, likely, a particularly unexpected sight. But regardless, they towered into the air like huge pillars, with extremely thick trunks. Other trees with thinner, shorter, between the gaps between their enormous kin. The forest floor was dotted with various unusual, dark-leafed plants and branching vines coiling up tree trunks, as well as strange, large fungi bigger then any of the gods' current forms with enormous dark red caps. Above them lengthy, segmented, thin creatures with innumerable wings lining their bodies wound their way through the trees. Curious, orange-furred, small animals with slender snouts, large ears, and large dark eyes scrambled down trunks to get a closer look from a safe distance.

And some distance away, louder movement could be heard, signifying larger creatures.

@Martian@Raineh Daze@Click This@Rune_Alchemist@Renny@Pyromania99

"Hmm..." the white-haired goddess said, eyeing the small girl as they made their way through the forest. Whilst the batsquirrelfox things were interesting, it just wouldn't do to have their guide collapse whilst they were still travelling. And it would be inefficient if they, a collection of deities, stopped whilst the sun was still up. Especially when you were going around with a sun god. Therefore... "Up you go~"

Not giving Flora any time to resist, the war goddess grabbed the small girl and half-threw, half-spun her in what looked to be something incredibly dangerous... and probably was some modified, gratuitous wrestling at that. But when she stopped, the girl was firmly parked on her shoulders. Albeit probably befuddled.

"Gentle with the horns, okay~? Just keep pointing the way."

Alasayana

---

Ah, such a lovely forest.

Calls of beasts, ripe for hunting. Birds, insects, flitting about freely in their domain. Unidentifiable noises, likely of some animal or beast that would make for a fine hunt. Ah, it was hard. Hard not to just break away from the group and do just that. As the Goddess of Hunting, the prospect of hunting something she had never hunted before was a powerful compulsion, to ignore it was practically driving her crazy. If she hadn't managed to get a good workout on those humans above, she might just find herself dragging her benefactor through the forest on a hunt. A good thing she didn't, since Flora looked like she was ready to pass out any second now. Thankfully Ashte had taken care of giving the girl a helping hand. She was a bit annoyed she couldn't do it herself, but she was better suited to handling anything that came their way than looking after mortals currently.

Was it bad to hope they were accosted by a beast?

"Ah, this forest almost reminds me of the forests surrounding the desert...Though the trees feel larger and creatures unfamiliar..." Alasayana would idly comment, having decided to take point. If nothing else, her keen senses would be able to detect most immediate threats before they were attacked, hopefully...well, supposing they hadn't entirely degraded as the rest of her abilities had. She could at least tell, there were large creatures further in. "I'm curious to how the beasts of this era would fare against I."

and the far less important, trivial aspects of travel and luck

Heartened a bit by the priestess’s response, she stood up, letting the girl take the lead. Nonetheless, she paused for a moment to shoot a look towards the sun god, shaking her head in disappointment at him before continuing on.

Before long, she found herself in a great forest together with the others. It was a strange one, with trees and fauna so great –at least by the sounds they made—that it seemed like this place had been so bereft of human touch that it had probably been left unmolested for millennia. In direct contrast to the goddess of the hunt… such a forest disturbed her. As a goddess born from human influence, the complete lack of it only left her feeling hollow and incomplete as they traversed through the thick foliage and uneven pathing of the wilderness.

“Nnngh… I for one would prefer if we left this forest sooner than later. Preferably, straight into a human city so that we can get a proper fix on the state of the world rather than taking the words of some zealot at face value,” the goddess of commerce and wealth grumbled.

Trineon
Lord of Rivers, Lakes, and Oceans

The water god kept pace right behind the young priestess, the body of Sir Oren resting on his shoulder. While this would easily tire out a mortal, Trineon was gifted with the physique of a god and thus easily carried the slain protector. Thus Trineon did not complain as Flora led the revived gods into a deep forest, the path becoming smaller and the plant life thicker.

Trineon was amazed at how much life on this world had changed since last he walked it. He couldn’t help but stare as they passed mushrooms larger than any man and trees that would dwarf a giant. But it wasn’t just plant life that had been altered, as the water god caught glimpses of various flying creatures moving about at the top of the forest. And what looked like a family of small orange-furred mammals watched their every move, clearly on edge. However that did not put Trineon on edge as he believed that they were not a threat.

What did alert Trineon was the other, mysterious animal calls that rang out through the forest. Whatever creature was making them was a lot bigger than the orange watchers. But while focusing on these creatures, Trineon did not notice that Flora was becoming tired, that was until Ashte scooped her up and put her on her shoulders. Trineon was glad in that moment that he wasn’t the only god looking out for the priestess.

But it seemed that Trineon was not the only one thinking of what may dwell in this forest as Alasayana wondered out loud about how they would fare in combat. Personally, Trineon didn’t feel like fighting anything, having eased himself of his pent up aggression by slaying those soldiers earlier.

He then agreed with Aureia, saying, “We should try and reach a settlement before nightfall. I already feel like there are a thousand eyes watching us, hidden in the trees. At least when dealing with humans I know what to look out for.”

Trineon hoped that the other gods would agree with him, as he prepared to increase his pace. Something about this forest seemed off to the water god, as he was surrounded by the noises of who knows how many creatures.

Moridax, Lord of the Underworld

---

Mori just kept walking with the others in her clanging armor. She was begrudgingly going along with the others. The idea of a living forest all around her was antithetical to her being. Well, in her mind it was. It definitely unsettled her on some spiritual level and there was some small desire to escape the quickest she could. "Human city or disgustingly lush forest makes little difference to me... though perhaps the forest is better since it's citizens watch to be wary instead of watching from an abject interest. Both are disgusting creatures." Said the God that inhabited what is basically a mutilated corpse.

"Looks like we disagree on something which company we'd prefer, Lord of Rivers." Mori mentioned with a smirk, having experience 0 interaction with real humans or animals. After all, she was stuck in the underworld for most of her existence. Still, his words rang slightly true in a sense. There were likely dangerous creatures out here and she wondered just how fragile her body may be. She wasn't nearly as strong as she had been and fighting had never been a strong suit of hers.

She walked up to Alasayana and grabbed her arm. "If something pops out to try and eat us, you'll protect me, right?" She asked with a smile. A perfectly demanding smile.

"Hyah?!"

Flora barely had time to let out a surprised squeak as she was suddenly hoisted into the air, and for a moment wondered if she was about to die as the world whirled around her and blurred before suddenly finding herself on Ashte's shoulders. For a few moments she was completely baffled as to what happened to her, though the War Goddess and the Sun God's words caught her attention again.

"Mmm... um... the forest is a little difficult, but I remember these trees..." she said, glancing around for a few moments as she lightly held onto one of Ashte's horns with one hand.

"... This way," she said after a moment, pointing ahead, through a thick grove of foliage. Above it some smaller ribbon-like flying creatures drifted, though they slipped further between the trees if approached, their larger brethren still lazily soaring above.

The orange-furred creatures on the tree seemed to be watching the deities carefully, warily, as if uncertain as to the nature of these newcomers to their forest.

And then, just within sight, a gaggle of strange grey creatures walked from the trees. There were at least a dozen, most of them perched on four long, slender legs taller then any of the assembled deities. Three of their number were smaller, but had the same general anatomy. Their bodies were compact, with stout necks and blunt, rounded heads with large orange eyes and small round ears. They came to a halt ahead, near a large, lush grouping of bushes, what looked like lengthy tongues extending from the underside of their heads to shear leaves from the branches and gather them into what was presumably some form of mouth beneath the head.

It was likely their journey through the forest would not continue with encountering other creatures.

@Martian@Raineh Daze@Click This@Rune_Alchemist@Renny@Pyromania99

Alasayana

---

Well, she supposed she should have expected that response, with the other gods being what they were. Hmph. Not like she could say they were wrong either. They should avoid confrontation, getting Flora into trouble was probably a bad idea and she didn't want to put the poor girl through anything else...now of course, whether or not she could refrain from her more predatory instincts remained to be seen. She was a bit disappointed in the God of the oceans though. She wasn't expecting him to turn away from a decent hunt...but she really didn't know much about the oceans or the god himself, really.

Not that she didn't get to question this.

Moridax had the audacity to actually ask for her protection. Well, she didn't have a problem with it really. Protecting people was something that at least loosely fell under her domain. She might have readily agreed too, had the moment she asked something didn't cross their path.

Some sort of...odd grey creatures. About a dozen of them, four long legs. Slender legs and taller than any present. Compact bodies, with round heads and large orange eyes. She had never seen such creatures before - and seeing them immediately made her ears and tails all stand on end. An unknown creature? Right in front of her? Well, how could she say no?

"Hmm, what were you saying Moridax? Sorry, I was busy observing those creatures. I suddenly find myself hungry, so..." Pulling away from the Goddess of the Dead, the Huntress wouldn't wait for someone to tell her no before she'd crouch low to the ground, pushing off the ground towards the four legged creatures using her tails to pounce upon the one closest to her.

Trineon
Lord of Rivers, Lakes, and Oceans

The water god was still wary as he walked through the forest. The god of the underworld then made a comment, calling both humans and animals disgusting creatures. Trineon took some offence, he had come to treasure both the mortals who worshipped him and the creatures that lived in these lands, especially those who resided by his watery domain. He supposed that Moridax couldn’t understand the sentiment as they lived among the dead, and would thus know nothing of the vibrancy of life.

She then smirked at Trineon, as she stated that they would disagree on what company to keep. The water god decided to pay her no heed as he had never placed no worth in her opinion. Back when they lived before, Trineon had almost never even seen Moridax as he avoided the underworld. The goddess and her undeath had always seemed unnatural to Trineon, a perversion of the life he cherished in the mortal realm. Truth be told, he was still off put by her state, possessing a rotting body. But she was a fellow god, so Trineon knew that qualified her for respect, especially since there seemed to be so few gods left in this different world.

Trineon decided to focus on something else as this undeath was troubling him. So he saw that O’Menus asked Flora if anything was familiar in the forest. As she tried to remember, the priestess pointed toward a grove thick with vegetation. Trineon began to enter the grove, careful not to drop the body of Sir Oren as doing so would be an indignity to the fallen knight. But Trineon did almost drop the body when he was surprised by a large creature emerging from the thick forest.

It was grey-skinned, with legs going significantly higher than Trineon’s head. As the water god was spellbound by the magnificent creature, several more walked into the clearing. All in all, around twelve entered the area, before walking over to a bush and beginning to strip it of its leaves and eat them.

“Such graceful creatures,” Trineon said, “I wonder how much the other animals have changed since we last walked these lands.”

But as Trineon admired the animals, Alasayana had a different feeling about them. Out of the corner of his eye, Trineon saw the goddess of the hunt hunker down before leaping at the nearest of the tall creatures. While Trineon’s initial thought was to stop her, but then the rational part of his brain kicked in. In ages past, Trineon would not of faulted someone for hunting a stag, a magnificent creature in of itself. So why should these grey animals be any different? Trineon decided that Alasayana was not in the wrong here. As long as she wasn’t just hunting for the kill, and would actually use the meat of the beast, Trineon felt that he couldn’t complain about it.

"Oh, these are all new," Ashte said, looking at the various creatures as they went. Hmm, just how long had they been away for the wildlife to change this much? Or was something else at fault? It could just be a matter of distance, one might suppose, since there was no telling where they had been woken up... all these unanswered questions starting to pile up.

Of course, with a goddess of the hunt around, there was likely to be a few less of these strange grey-haired beasts wandering around in a minute. "Hungry, dear?"

Hm, hopefully they could avoid making a mess of this "cooking" business. It would be awfully embarrassing if a group of deities gave their acolyte food poisoning because of ineptitude.

Moridax, Lord of the Underworld

---

Mori was smiling along with Alasayana but as soon as those creatures showed their faces, she knew how this Goddess of the Hunt would react. Did stop her from wishing she's stay with her. "Well, my dear Alasa, I was saying that you'd protec--" As she said those words, her Huntress friend, one of the few she had, ran off to hunt some mystery creature. The goddess of the dead sighed as she just watched. "That was about as expected." With a small frown she just kept walking. O'Menus was right, she'd catch up. Still... "Now, now, Sunny. Take it easy or you're going to burn this forest down." She teased the god of the sun. She noticed the steam that was coming off of him. "I for one do not wish to find another host body anytime soon. I can make this one last so long as the God of the Sun doesn't set it ablaze."

She wondered what the best course of action for her was from here. Likely, it was following the other gods, though she wondered about the use of the human that Ashte and Trineon kept with them like a pet. Really, she wanted to know the state of her underworld. Of all her servants, the state of the soulium mines. And the best way of figuring that out, was following the gods and by extension this human girl. How vexing. Well, if the girl could get her back into her beloved underworld, perhaps she could give her a little bit of extra special treatment when she did inevitably die.

and the far less important, trivial aspects of travel and luck

Well, those were certainly some strange looking creatures within the shrubbery. Sort of cute, if Aureia had to say so herself, although she had enough experience with certain animals in the past that she knew that cute didn’t necessarily mean harmless…

She was pretty sure they were harmless anyway, especially when you had the goddess of hunt nearby, and oh dear, it looked like Alasayana wanted to hunt the strange looking deer. Were they edible, though? “Hmm… that does raise a question though, cute as the local fauna may seem… can we actually eat them? Will they taste good?” At the very least, even in their reduced state, Aureia was positive mortal poisons or inedible fauna wouldn’t hurt gods. The question of whether they’d find the meat tasteful, on the other hand…

Well, at least she knew some good recipes from her time hanging out in mortal cities. It was only a shame they didn’t have a full palace kitchen, and they would have to settle for field roasting any meat they hunted.

The goddess of commerce rolled her eyes at the sun god, but she did at least half agree with him. She still didn’t want to dally for much longer in the forest, but she recognized the need to hunt, if only to give their new mortal friend some sustenance.

She yawned. “Come now, O’Menus. I dislike this forest as well, but I suppose we will need to make camp at some point… why don’t we scout ahead to find a suitable spot while ‘Yana does her thing?”