Adrean alucard's Arc

Chapter 13 of 28

The gods left, and the hall went quiet. Adrean sat back on his throne. The stolen divinity inside him churned, a mass he could not yet steer. He needed to know what waited for him. He closed his eyes and called up the system. The interface bloomed in the dark behind his eyes. He scanned it fast, hunting for warnings. Two lines stopped him. Draining: Deactivated. Rival Gaze: Unavailable. His two great weapons, both dead. Not damaged. Simply switched off, as if a larger hand had reached in and pressed them shut. He felt fear first, then relief. If his powers slept, then no god could accuse him of feeding in the chamber. Lucifer had warned him. Break their law and every pantheon falls at once. The system had locked his hands before he could break it by mistake. It was protecting him. "You look pleased," said a small voice. Adrean opened his eyes. On the lowest step stood the abyssal god who had trained him for forty years. Megalom was child-sized, blood streaked down his white face, red eyes bored and cold. Adrean still felt the old ache of those beatings in his bones. He was bound to this god's will, and he had never stopped being wary of him. "My abilities are shut off," Adrean said. "For the chamber." "Then you learned to read," Megalom said. He climbed one step, unhurried. "Look again. Deeper." Adrean opened the interface once more. He pushed past the surface lines. A new message waited, folded beneath the rest. He read it twice to be sure. Divine Directive: You are granted six years to prepare. At the term's end you will be summoned. Odin Allfather requests your favor. "Six years," Adrean breathed. "They gave me time." "The chamber does not meet on a whim," Megalom said. "A hundred pantheons must agree on a single hour. That takes years. And someone spoke for you." A second figure entered the hall. Old, white-bearded, broad, one eye milky and dead. Odin walked with a spear for a staff. He had trained Adrean once, in fire and will, and Adrean had feared his stern silence more than any blow. Now the old god's face was not stern. It was grave. "I asked the council for the delay," Odin said. "Not out of love. I need something from you, boy. When you stand in that chamber, I mean to ask my favor. Refuse the others. Grant me." Adrean looked from the drained god to the abyssal one to the system still glowing behind his eyes. His weapons were sealed. His enemies were held back. He had six years, a court, and now a debt owed to him by a grand god. "Six years," Adrean said again, and he smiled. "Then I will spend every hour of it growing strong enough to walk into your chamber and take whatever I want."