Damaris zapped Audrey's phone and a special number appeared. “Call this number when you're ready and mister Charon will come pick you up.”

 

Audrey wanted to stay at the bar before heading to Elysium, she didn’t want the people there to get worried and she wanted to see the band play their set.

 

“There’s still a few hours left but do not delay yourself, we need to plan some things out before the end of the time limit.” Zhong Kui took off the cowboy hat and placed it on Audrey’s head. At first she seemed annoyed by the gesture, but Damaris giggled at the exchange and told her she looked cute.

 

“You think so?” She was a bit red in the face acting bashful. Zhong Kui gave her a thumbs up in agreement with Damaris.

 

Audrey looked to the side and a small smile was created from the exchange. “Maybe there really wasn’t a catch,” she thought.

 

The two ethereal beings shed their disguises and began to float up in the air. Damaris was a bit bummed she couldn’t be emo any more. “There's going to be a minute delay before time flows again, so just wait around until then,” Damaris said with a wink and a peace sign.

 

As Audrey stood waiting for the flow of time to return, she looked at her phone which had a picture of her and Allie together. Clenching the phone she let out a victory yell that rattled around her.

 

“I’m going to do it, I’m going to win and save Allie! JUST YOU WAIT, SIS!”

 

///

 

Elysium

 

Returning to Elysium didn’t take long for the two. Zhong kui had a few tasks he needed to delegate to his replacement warden so he excused himself and bowed to Damaris.

 

She looked a bit shy, as if she wanted to say something before he left. “Um, warden,” she said. He turned around to see her.

 

“I freaked out a bit back at the bar. I was scared that I wouldn’t be the support judge again if I caused trouble in the human world.” She had a stressful look just thinking about it. “But you really helped calm me down by being there. So, thanks, warden Zhong kui.” She flew fast and gave the burly warden a hug, one that had caught him off guard.

 

To Zhong kui what he’d done wasn’t anything huge, he was doing exactly what he would have done in that situation.

 

But he understood that this was all Damaris had; to lose her purpose that she was created for scared her. “You are welcome, young one.” He returned her hug with one of his own, it was a gentle hug, one that didn’t match the strength and body of the deity.

 

As the two parted ways Damaris saw Lady Freya and her retainer Charlie walking the halls. Freya had a confident smile and Charlie had a meek face of confusion. He definitely didn’t belong here in Elysium.

 

“It took a while but Freyr is finally ready.” Freya was looking back at Charlie as they moved forward through the hall.

 

“Where are we even going? Shouldn’t we be waiting in the war room?” Charlie nervously said. Much like the other humans he still couldn’t believe where he was. To him it was like he was in one of the stories of the Japanese role playing games he loved to play.

 

“We are going to Valhalla, my home, I thought I told you?”

 

“You only said we were waiting for your brother in the war room.”

 

“Oh… I thought I did, maybe I said it in my head and was too lazy to physically say it to you.” Freya shrugged and lightly chuckled.

 

Charlie sighed. Although she wasn’t what Charlie thought a deity would be like there was something about her that made Charlie feel at ease. It could have been the fact that she was a scatterbrain like his sister was.

 

“Oh! I forgot to get Bygul and Trjegul! I left them with Heimdall when we returned from Earth.”

 

Yep, she was definitely like Charlie’s sister. Bygul and Trjegul were Freya’s cats, she would constantly leave (forget) them out and about. It got to the point that they were causing problems for the other Norse deities, so Heimdall would reprimand her constantly.

 

Freya begged him to help her take care of them but really she just wanted to pawn the responsibility off to Heimdall and relax when she was in Elysium.

 

“I’ll be back. Charlie, just wait here, we are going to need those two and I can’t summon them when they are with Heimdall.”

 

She rushed off leaving her retainer standing in the hallway. Charlie just leaned on the wall, not wanting to cause any problems or stand out.

 

A few angels passed him with looks of confusion at the lone human just standing there. Charlie really felt out of place here.

 

“Please hurry up, Lady Freya.”

 

He was looking down the hallway that Freya had ran towards eagerly waiting to see her figure, when he heard the sound of footsteps coming from the other side of the hallway.

 

He turned and it was there he saw the deity that he was secretly here to help win the Tryfing. His mouth dropped a bit as the deity who one moment looked like she wore a mask and the next had fox attributes walked past him.

 

She looked just like Freya’s description of her. She was way more regal than Freya, she gave that aura off, but their beauty and strength were on the same level to Charlie.

 

Inari was speaking to an angel next to him, an old man who also walked with them.

 

As they passed, Inari glanced at Charlie, she had no time to speak with him but gave him a slight nod of acknowledgement. Charlie was caught off guard and didn’t have any time to nod back, something he would beat himself up over later.

 

The old man looked at Charlie. It looked like he was trying to give him a smile but was either too scared or too shy. Charlie already messed up his greeting to Inari up and didn’t want to seem anymore rude.

 

Noticing the old man’s clothes he immediately came to the conclusion that he was Japanese. “Ah, you’re a priest,” Charlie said out loud. The old man stopped in his place waiting for Charlie’s next move in order to react.

 

Charlie bowed to him in respect like he saw in the Japanese shows he watched. “It’s nice to meet you priest-sama. Good luck in the Tryfing.” Using his knowledge of Japanese culture he used the prefix “-sama” as a sign of respect to someone older and wiser than him.

 

The old man was now the one caught off guard. He smiled a big smile to Charlie and bowed back at him. “I’m Kento Sanosuke, good luck to you as well…?” The old man stayed on that last

word waiting for Charlie to tell him his name.

 

“I’m Charlie, Charlie Wilson.”

 

“Good luck to you as well, Charlie.”

 

The two men bowed with immense respect to each other. It was almost as if Charlie could see a hint of joy in Kento's eyes at having this exchange with him.

 

Inari called Kento over as she waited near her war room and Kento gave another bow and walked away.

 

Watching the door close he saw the man and the deity he would lead to victory one last time, remembering how Freya would say that Inari deserved to win.

 

In Charlie's mind that same desire flashed after meeting those two. Even though the exchange was barely a minute, even though they only said a few words to each other, Charlie knew Kento Sanosuke deserved to win the Tryfing. He got even more impatient waiting for Freya.

 

“Come on, Lady Freya. I need to get stronger now.”

 

///

 

The underworld, Duat

 

Osiris's main hub office

 

The Duat was the Egyptian section of the underworld. Here Warden Osiris and her worker mummies worked to help balance the flow of souls.

 

Osiris had just entered her office after a long rest, she was forced by Hades to take a vacation. She hadn’t stop working since the Great Rebellion, making sure the underworld infrastructure was running smoothly.

 

She took her mandated time off and just slept for a few years. She was still feeling groggy, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Her grey skin was visible underneath the mummy wrapping she had over her face.

 

She let out a big yawn that caught the attention of her loyal mummies “Ah, Warden Osiris, how was your sleep?” one of the mummies asked.

 

“It needed to be longer.” Osiris yawned again, this time bigger than the last “What did I miss?”

 

“The third Tryfing my lady, it has begun! I got juicy information that seven out of the eight retainers have been recruited!”

 

Osiris grabbed the papers the mummy held that had the juicy information. These were official Tryfing documents only a judge or support judge would have access too.

 

“How did you get these Keket?” She gave him a raised eyebrow and a scorned look.

 

“My lady, a pink haired angel girl was leaking the information! She was giving these out to others, honest.” Keket looked terrified, he definitely didn’t want his boss to dock his pay.

 

Osiris shook her head in disappointment. “That Damaris leaked it out, she probably wanted rumors going around to make the Tryfing more exciting. I’ll just have to speak with her about this, she should act more angel-like.”

 

She went through each of the papers and saw the current lineup of retainers. Her eyes widened at the official third retainer document.

 

“I know this human, I know this soul!” She scanned the document and saw the deity whose name was on it. Her eyes started to shake nervously and a look of worry appeared. “Keket I need to go speak with Ra, just act like I’m still on vacation and go to Arawn if you need assistance.”

 

She dropped the stack of papers on the desk and rushed out of her office. Keket grabbed the stack and stared at the document that had a picture of Darren Donaldson paper clipped to the top left corner.

 

“What did this kid do for Lady Osiris to act like that?” Keket asked.

 

His fellow mummies looked around at each other and just shrugged.

 

3rd Tryfing

 

Official judge: Heroic Greek deity, Achilles.

 

Support judge: Angel, Damaris.

 

Chosen deities:

Ra: Demi-God: Darren Donaldson

Lugh: Knight: Ariel Morales

Zhong Kui: Exorcist: Audrey Rhodes

Inari: Polymath: Kento Sanosuke

Freya: Assassin: Charlie Wilson

Nuada: Conqueror: João Machado

Minerva: Tactician ???

Team Arc-Angel: Hero Luther Satenly

 

Fantasia world: The world known as Helioan

 

Starting year: not yet decided.

 

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