Chapter 43: Death is the old mistress of humanity.

Chapter 43: Death is the old mistress of humanity.

Here's the new chapter!

Sorry for the delay!

Reason: Positive for Chikungunya!

*(I was worse than when I had COVID, my joints never hurt so much! Even walking was painful!)

*Any images in this chapter do not belong to me! It belongs to their respective artists/creators!

Attention: Remember, the *Auxiliary chapter* is reserved for the design characters ch7osen by ME. But if you don't like it, feel free to choose the design you like for the characters.

Without further ado, enjoy the chapter!

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Pov. Thor.

Waking up in the morning and seeing a giant, winged, bull skeleton coming toward you was a good way to change your routine.

I mean, it wasn't the most normal thing in the world.

Not because it was weird. After all, I am part of the supernatural world.

But why was it something that changed my routine.

I knew what it was.

After all, Gugalanna had a 'reputation'.

The 'gateway' to the classification of the 'strongest beings'.

Occupying the 10th position along with other beings.

In addition to being the only one in the top 10 not to have the ability to think for a simple reason.

Gugalanna is an autonomous weapon.

A weapon that was created shortly after Enlil's 'sword of rupture'.

While I wanted to test my strength against this thing and possibly get into the Top 10 with my win, there was one small quirk.

This was not my fight.

I don't have enough reason to 'defend' Uruk.

Besides, Uruk already had his protector.

"Do not fear my people! As I had already promised at the beginning of my reign, no one will harm what is mine!" said Gilgamesh.

The people of Uruk seemed to hear the decree of King Gilgamesh, who was accompanied by Enkidu.

It looked like Gilgamesh and Enkidu were going to face the creature.

"Oh! My friend Thor. Do you want to fight too? It will be a worthy fight that even the great sky father Anu will descend from the stars and honor you with the highest honor you deserve!" said Gilgamesh.

I noticed that Enkidu stared at Gilgamesh in confusion.

"Wait 'you' not 'we'? And what about you Gilgamesh?" asked Enkidu.

Gilgamesh just laughed before replying.

"Fuhahahaha! My friend, you tell good jokes... I was already born with the highest honor, bestowed upon me by 'fate' itself, how do you think I have such ability?" asked Gilgamesh, creating a white-colored portal with golden strokes.

This was something Gilgamesh always said when asked about something he considered 'superfluous'.

'Fate' bestowed him with power.

And with each passing day... More and more I believe that 'fate' has given Gilgamesh a helping hand.

My old man was one of the most perverted men I've ever met in my entire life...

Although I have not yet met Enki.

And Enki had a reputation that compared to Odin...

Well, by the rumors and stories, if I were to compare Odin with Enki in the perversion aspect...

Odin would be a chaste virgin.

Anyway, if there was anything useful that Odin taught me, it was one thing...

'Fate' is absolute.

The wisest of Asgard said so.

Although I rarely take my old man seriously.

I always listened to my mother Frigg.

When I arrived in this world the first thing I saw was Frigg, she was a good mother. And she always told me about the stories of this world.

I learned a lot from her.

One of those lessons learned was about 'destiny'.

According to Frigg 'fate' was not necessarily the strongest or the most powerful.

The 'fate' was absolute for good reason.

The ability to define the fate of all living and non-living beings.

Without a doubt, I was in the plans of fate.

I really need to visit the Norns...

"I'm sorry Gilgamesh, but it's not my duty I'm neither king nor protector of this city. Also, I'm a god remember? I don't think the Anunnaqui will let it go if I interfere directly," I said.

It was a poor excuse.

But it was the best I had at the moment.

"I understand my friend, it's a pity... Come on Enkidu, let's become a legend to men and gods!" said Gilgamesh.

The king then ran toward Gugalanna, with Enkidu following him.

And in the palace, I stayed.

Sitting and eating my breakfast brought by a servant.

I wasn't the least bit worried, even from a distance it was possible to see that Gilgamesh and Enkidu were managing to make Gugalanna retreat. As I had no reason to help, I just stood by as the king of Uruk and his best friend fought a weapon created by the gods...

In a way, the 'sacred gear' was the name of the weapons made by the god of the bible and given to humans, while the Gugalanna was technically a 'divine gear'.

Of course, I knew that the 'sacred gears' are already being created by the god of the bible himself.

After all, there were already rumors of humans with supernatural abilities, but nothing of note.

I suspected the big G was already granting humans that kind of power.

But again... Would the Anunnaqui miss the giant bull?

The answer was too obvious...

Definitely yes.

However, if I'm right about Gilgamesh's ability bestowed by 'fate' itself...

Perhaps I can get my hands on Gugalanna in the future, without needing to come into conflict with the Anunnaki.

"My, my ~ Were you waiting for me?" said a voice.

It was a female voice, and for just a brief moment I thought it was Inanna again.

But as soon as I turned around, I was wrong... Even through it was woman...

It wasn't Inanna.

"It's kind of unlikely for me to wait for someone I don't know... Who would you be?" I asked.

I was suspicious.

She just gave me an innocent smile.

"You don't need to be so alert son of Odin... After all, my son considers you a friend, my name is Ninsun" said the woman.

Ninsun, the goddess of healing.

I was immediately interested, after all...

She also has other interesting abilities.

"Oh?... What did you come here for? Did you come to tell me my future?" I asked.

The ability to see into the future was one of those interesting abilities.

Ninsun just kept smiling.

"You may already know, this ability of mine is not very reliable for a simple reason... I'm not one of the 'agents of fate', if I remember correctly, one of the Norns has the same power that I have, but I assure you that she is more reliable and powerful," Ninsun said.

I just shrugged.

"It doesn't really matter if your ability is weaker or stronger, I just want an answer to my question, not an excuse," I said.

Ninsun just stared at me.

For a brief moment, I saw Ninsun's eyes gleam.

And she froze in place.

Pov. Third-person.

Though in Thor's vision, the goddess Ninsun had frozen in place...

In Ninsun's vision, she went to another place...

A place she knew all too well.

The dimensional gap.

Home of 'infinity' and 'dream'.

And Ninsun saw Thor floating... and bleeding.

Thor's entire body was covered in blood and it looked like he was unconscious.

Ninsun also noticed someone else...or rather, something else.

It was a hideous creature, it seemed that the whole body had the characteristics of various animals, having seven necks, seven heads, with ten horns, as well as seven long tails; plus four stout arms and two legs that are even thicker than the arms.

Its main body is that of a primate leaning forward and is covered in black fur and what appears to be scales all over its body.

Ninsun was fully aware that this was just a vision and that this was not real and will probably never happen.

But the goddess cannot think that if this creature, this beast, existed...

It would be the end of the world.

The creature seemed to be just staring at Thor, waiting for something.

It was then that Ninsun saw Thor open his eyes, not in fear... not in determination...

But in acceptance.

"I'm sorry Lrii... I'm going to be late for your birthday," said Thor.

It was then that Ninsun saw Thor face the hideous creature.

And start talking a... chant.

"I, the one who is about to fight, will drown myself in madness in search of power..." said Thor.

One sentence.

A phrase that made Ninsun break out in a cold sweat...

And Ninsun suspected it was just the beginning of a chant.

Before Thor continued with the chant.

Hundreds of seals appeared.

Forbidden stamps.

And then a flash of light blinded Ninsun, and the beast had been sealed away, but... Thor had fallen into a crevice created from the seals and the chant's quote.

Thor was gone.

And then Ninsun blinked just once before realizing that her 'vision of the future' was gone.

Pov. Thor.

"Well... You will disappear from this dimension" said Ninsun.

... What?

"... What do you mean by that? Does that mean I'm going to die?" I asked.

Ninsun just shrugged.

"It's like I said, this power of mine isn't very accurate. I just saw a brief flash, you were fighting something... A scary thing with seven heads... And then you started to say a few words, but suddenly hundreds of seals appeared, that was the last thing I saw before from the flash of light," Ninsun said solemnly.

This was not what I expected...

Fighting a seven-headed thing?

To vanish?

Was I... Sealed?

...No, Ninsun said 'disappear from this dimension', but then...

Where did I go?

"Don't be too worried about it, what I said may not even come to fruition," Ninsun said.

Ninsun's words snapped me out of my thoughts.

"I'm curious... What do you want from me?" I asked.

Ninsun just stared at me and then looked at Gugalanna who was being knocked to the ground.

"*sigh*... I need a favor" said Ninsun.

I got curious.

"And what kind of favor would that be?" I asked.

"Stop right there! Who are you?!" shouted someone.

I turned towards the origin and saw someone walking towards me with an ax in their hands.

I raised an eyebrow.

"I just want to talk with Ereshkigal, I came to ask her a favor..." I said, trying to explain.

But it looks like this guy doesn't want to have a reasonable conversation...

"My beloved wants nothing to do with you, I am Nergal, the guardian of the 7 gates and I will not let you through," said the being, now identified as Nergal.

I knew that sooner or later I would find this guy.

After all... Nergal was the only god to disrespect Ereshkigal, it was only after Enki warned him of the power of the 'Queen of the Sumerian Underworld' that Nergal decided to apologize to Ereshkigal personally.

However, no one imagined that Nergal would end up falling in love with Ereshkigal's appearance.

Unfortunately, for Nergal, the sentiment was not 'returned'.

But he was still devoted to Ereshkigal.

"...I just want to ask Ereshkigal for something, not you," I said.

Nergal then approached and stood just an arm's length away from me.

"The goddess Inanna also wanted to demand to speak with Ereshkigal to have her husband, Dumuzidi, back from the dead, Inanna thought her goddess status would help, but... Inanna arrived at Ereshkigal's palace completely naked, as she passed at every gate she was to give up something of value, by order of Ereshkigal. Now tell me how you expect to get through the gates if your god status is of no use here in the Kur?" asked Nergal, mockingly.

Nergal was taller than me maybe he has nine feet.

And as a god of war, he was quite confident.

Too confident...

"...then I will ask you to 'please' open the gate for me so I can have my talk with Ereshkigal in private," I said.

Nergal stared in disbelief before acting.

"Ha... Haha... Hahahahahahahaha! Do you really think I'm going to open all seven gates out of 'goodwill', just because you asked, please? You know how to tell jokes, Asgardian! Hahahahahahaha!" said Nergal, as he laughed.

I remained expressionless.

"...I never said you would open the gate out of 'goodwill'..." I said.

That seemed to stop Nergal's laughter before he looked at me.

- Location: Ganzir / Ereshkigal Palace.

Pov. Third-person.

Ganzir's palace was no ordinary 'castle'.

After all... It was located underground.

So it was just the biggest cave in the entire Kur.

And in the center of Ganzir was a woman, sitting on a throne and playing with a green fire between her fingers.

The woman was the 'queen of the Sumerian underworld', Ereshkigal herself.

She was in that moment, reflecting as she looked at the small flame in her fingers.

"... Only in death do you realize that life is just an instant," said Ereshkigal.

Ereshkigal, like most gods of death, lives in isolation from the other gods.

There are few gods of death who still remain sociable with the rest of the pantheon.

Ereshkigal just didn't feel the loneliness because of two beings.

Husbishag, the 'secretary' of Ereshkigal.

And Namtar, the Sumerian god of fate, the messenger of Ereshkigal and husband of Husbishag.

The two were Ereshkigal's best friends, and they protected her from other beings...

All was peaceful until Ereshkigal froze and released the flame from her hands because she had sensed a disturbance in her realm.

"The first gate wasopened?" said Ereshkigal, confused.

For Ereshkigal, it was confusing, after all, Nergal had orders not to open the gates to anyone except two beings, but...

It was not the time to open those gates yet.

Which can only mean one thing.

Someone broke through the first gate of Kur.

Ereshkigal, realizing the situation, frowned.

It was then that someone caught the goddess's attention.

"Ma'am, we have a... troublesome guest," someone said.

That was Husbishag.

As soon as Husbishag finished speaking, Ereshkigal felt a new disturbance...

The second gate has been breached.

It was then that a new voice echoed through Ganzir.

"What is happening? I felt two earthquakes all over Kur?!"

It was Namtar, one of the agents of fate and god of luck, as well as being the husband of Husbishag.

As Ereshkigal and her allies thought about what was happening, just a few minutes later the third, fourth, and fifth gates were breached.

- Location: Kur / Sixth Gate.

Pov. Third-person.

The gates of the Kur only opened according to the will of Ereshkigal and the Kurds.

And they remained closed the rest of the time.

*BOOM*

The sixth gate was knocked down by the collision of something...

It was then that something started trying to get up from the rubble of the sixth gate.

It was Nergal.

"Ple Please, I've already apologized and said I would open all the gates for you," said Nergal.

Nergal was completely wounded.

It was then that someone walked through the sixth gate and approached Nergal, who was still trying to get to his feet.

It was Thor.

"And I've already said that I accept your apologies... But I still prefer to use your body as a 'key' to open the gates," said Thor, narrowing his eyes.

The Norse god then raised his foot in a ready-to-kick position.

Nergal seeing what was going to happen yelled quickly.

"Wait!" shouted Nergal.

But he was ignored and ended up being kicked by Thor... for the sixth time in a row.

Nergal's body crossed the entire area of the cave, from the sixth gate to the seventh gate.

As soon as the body reached the seventh gate, the last gate was destroyed as did the six previous gates.

The seventh gate was the entrance to the Ganzir area, the home of Ereshkigal.

As Thor passed through the seventh gate he saw three beings in the center of the cave, these beings remained silent, staring at Nergal's now unconscious body.

It was only then that the woman, who appeared to be the leader, looked at Thor.

"I am Ereshkigal, ruler of the Kur and ruler of the dead... May I know who you are and why my only guard at the gates of the underworld lies unconscious at my feet?" asked Ereshkigal.

Thor just explained calmly.

"My name is Thor and I came here just to ask you a favor, but it seems your guard wasn't veryreasonable. So I asked him to open the gate politely," said Thor.

Ereshkigal, as well as Namtar and Husbishag, looked surprised by Thor's response.

"...politely?" said Ereshkigal, looking at the unconscious Nergal and the seventh gate knocked to the ground.

But it was Namtar who had a different reaction right after hearing Thor's name.

Namtar had the look of recognition.

"... Thor?... So it's you" said Namtar.

Thor looked at Namtar, confused.

"... What? Have you ever heard of me? I've never seen you before," said Thor, frowning in confusion.

Namtar seemed amused by the situation.

"Not exactly. As one of the agents of fate, I have 'friends' in a few pantheons, your pantheon is one of them... Verandi doesn't like you very much and Skuld thinks you're funny for some reason" said Namtar.

Thor was confused and afraid, after all, it seemed that the Norns were talking about him.

Before Thor asked Namtar more about Narnas, Ereshkigal chose that moment to interrupt the conversation.

"You said you wanted a favor from me... What favor would that be?" asked Ereshkigal, curious.

Thor then looked up to Ereshkigal and chose his words carefully.

"I'd like to ask Adapa's soul for " said Thor, before being interrupted.

"No! There's a good reason the Kur has known 'the land of no return', no soul should return to the world of the living beings!" said Ereshkigal.

Thor knew this could happen after all the name Kur is a short abbreviation of 'Kur-No-Gia' which means exactly what Ereshkigal had said.

'The land of no return'.

"Ereshkigal, I know this is a rather unusual request. However, I'd like to do it the right way..." said Thor.

This caught Ereshkigal's attention.

"What do I mean by the 'right way'?" asked Ereshkigal, curious.

Thor then smiled.

"I know that for the souls of mortals there is no judgment, only the supernatural is a fair judgment... However, Adapa should be a special case," said Thor.

Husbishag soon interrupted.

"And why would Adapa be special? Why is he the first human chosen by the gods of our pantheon?" asked Husbishag.

Thor continued to smile.

"No For being tricked by accident. He shouldn't be judged as a human, but as a supernatural being," Thor said innocently.

Ereshkigal frowned in response.

"... What do you mean by that?" asked Ereshkigal.

Thor then explained.

"I know that a long time ago, Adapa refused the gift given by Anu, which was the 'water and bread of life' made from the 'plant of youth' and therefore Adapa refused immortality, however, there is a great mistake as it was unfair," said Thor.

This made Husbishag, Namtar, and especially Ereshkigal more and more interested.

"And what mistake would that be?" asked Namtar.

That was a question Ereshkigal was ready to ask as well.

"Simple... Enki unintentionally caused Adapa to remain a mortal, if Adapa had not obeyed Enki's instructions he would be immortal and therefore there would be a judgment for a supernatural being or there would not even be a judgment at all, because he would be an immortal," said Thor.

This was one of the few pieces of knowledge Thor still had of his previous life, and Frigg had also expressed that this might have happened, but no one wanted to make amends or... No one knew.

What Thor said made Ereshkigal nervous, because it meant Adapa shouldn't even be in the Kur because of Enki's mistake.

An error.

Ereshkigal's first possible mistake.

And for a goddess who took pride in her work as ruler of the underworld...

It was like the end of the world.

"What?! No no no no, that couldn't have happened! Do you know what that means?!" said Ereshkigal in panic.

That was a side that Thor found fun to see.

For Thor, it was like seeing a not-so-lonely version of Hel.

Ereshkigal grabbed Husbishag and shook her to the point that Husbishag was disoriented.

"What will become of me?! Can you imagine if my little sister found out about this?! Inanna will never leave me alone again!" screamed Ereshkigal, still in a panic.

Namtar soon tried to stop Ereshkigal from hyperventilating.

"My lady, calm down!... Remember you are in front of a stranger" said Namtar, whispering the last part.

Ereshkigal froze and glanced in Thor's direction, who was grinning amusedly, then dropped Husbishag.

"*Ahem* It's a prettysubstantiated claimbut what would be your solution?" asks Ereshkigal.

Thor then took a step forward.

"I propose a second chance. Let the soul make the decision, after all, Enki, purposely or not, made Adapa blind and foolish... If Adapa chooses to live, then he will live according to his will" said Thor.

Ereshkigal seemed to consider before making a decision.

"...Consider it done," said Ereshkigal.

For Thor... It's never been so simple to recruit someone.

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Well... That's it, folks!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Until next time, don't forget to leave a comment!

*Updates: Even after I've improved considerably and got back to work, having gone so long without writing, I'm lacking motivation... I really want to finish this fanfic so I'll try to continue in due course.

Title of the next chapter:

Chapter 44 The Journey Continues! Next stop: the land of the 'young master'!