From Mortal To Divinity

Avalon Hill, Bludhaven

New Jersey

May, 2006

"Good Evening Bernard." I absentmindedly greet him as I make my way into the castle while he greets me back.

My conversation with Hera has implications that I have yet to figure out whether they are good or not. While it is good that the goddesses have elected to rebel against Zeus, the real question is how truthful are they in making that claim. Greek and Roman history have no shortages of backstabs and some even by the gods themselves. On the same hand, it could very much be a plot to get me to falsely believe that everything is going well until I make a mistake and they capitalise on it. That is something that Athena would do.

Then there is the matter of Hera's warning of "coming tides". It is honestly not hard to figure out that my fool of a father is finally making his move. There is no need for me to try and figure out his motive since it is clear as day. He wants to finally take the throne from his brother. The greedy fool wants to rule the seas and skies while becoming the leader of his pantheon. The boost of power he would receive should he accomplish this would be immeasurable. As usual, the Greek gods are squabbling like children for power with no regards for humanity. Which, unfortunately, leads me to my next problem.

How secure is Ares' prison? With the way things are going, I would not be surprised if someone decided that it is time for the god of war to be free from his shackles. Heck, I would not be surprised if Zeus himself decided to free the bastard. The imbecile freed Heracles from his punishment, it is only a matter of time before he does the same for Ares. The question is whether someone else will free him first.

"You seem troubled." comes Morgan's voice next to me, freeing me from my thoughts. I had been so engrossed in them that I did not notice the fact that I am sitting on the couch in one of our lounges.

"I received a visit from Hera." I inform her as I turn my head to face her.

"Oh." replies a surprised Morgan as she looks up from her book. "Do we need to worry about her and her cadre of goddesses?" she asks as she places her book down.

"I do not believe so." I answer as I play with my quickly growing hair. "She came to announce her support of our faction by not taking any actions towards us. Apparently she and her compatriots want their King gone as much as we do."

"She should take her claims with a grain of salt. There are no shortages of treacherous acts by the gods throughout history." says Morgan.

"My thoughts exactly." I answer just as I feel the castle shake around me.

"I presume that Diana is here." I state as I feel the castle shake a bit more.

"I wonder how you could have possibly known." answers Morgan with a dry tone. "It is almost as if whenever the castle shakes it is because her and Azula are in the training room making a mess of things." she adds with an annoyed eye roll. "Of course the rest of us must suffer the consequences by enduring the castle's shaking."

"I do believe that this is her way of getting back to you for that misfired spell last year." I answer with a smile.

"And I do believe that she exaggerates the outcome of the spell far too much." replies Morgan with a deadpan stare.

"What can I say, other than that she clearly hated being turned into a humanoid pig." I say with a shrug as the castle shakes once more.

"And no one told her to intrude into my lab while I was busy. Besides, it isn't my fault that I am not as well versed in bestiamorph magic as everything else." she replies nonchalantly.

"Last I checked that was Circe's specialty, turning men into humanoid beasts under her control." I say with a raised eyebrow. "Are you perhaps preparing for a confrontation with her?"

"Of course not." replies Morgan with a scoff, as if the very premise of the question offends her. "I was merely trying to find the appeal in those types of spells, and frankly there is none." she says before adding with a predatory smile that makes my skin crawl"Besides, should we face her I have a lovely spell that I am sure she will appreciate."

Before I can answer her however, Azula and Diana walk into the room followed closely by General Penelope, the general from the open fields.

"Ambrosius, it is good to see you." says Diana as she and Azula sit on the couch facing us while Penelope decides to remain standing near the doorway.

"Likewise Diana." I answer her with a nod before turning to Azula. "The castle was shaking again." I inform her.

"Oh, was it?" she asks with faux interest while examining her nails. "I must not have noticed. Maybe your runes are faulty." she adds as she sneaks a glance at an annoyed Morgan while Diana and Penelope look on with thinly veiled amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Or maybe you shut off the array before your spar." replies Morgan through gritted teeth.

"Ooops." answers Azula with a nonchalant shrug and a sarcastically apologetic tone."My hand must have slipped like your spell did." says Azula while Diana, Penelope, and I struggle to keep our faces free of amus.e.m.e.nt.

"How is the United Nations?" I ask Diana to quickly change the subject.

"Troubling." she answers with a frown. "They still refuse to believe that the gods exist, much less the fact that they have decided to intervene with humanity once more."

"Politicians." scoffs Morgan as she returns to her book. "If it does not benefit them then they do not care, and if it does not directly affect them in the here and now then it does not exist."

"And how do they explain the rapidly growing population of demigods?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

"They have no explanation, and as far as they're concerned the concerned cases of empowered individuals are isolated incidents." answer Azula as she proceeds to pick at one of her nails with an annoyed frown on her face.

"I will never understand your world." says Penelope with a shake of her head. "How can you possibly elect such individuals to decide the fate of entire nations? Most of them are corrupt beyond measure." she says with a frown as she looks around the room for an answer.

"Not all of them are corrupt." answers Diana defensively.

"The ones that matter are." casually replies Morgan without looking up from her book.

"And the ones that aren't corrupt will not last long." adds Azula. "One thing you need to learn about politics sister, is that if the majority of politicians are corrupt, then the honest minority will be suppressed."

With a troubled expression on her face, Diana leans back into the couch while thinking about Azula's words. This is a conversion that they have had multiple times over the past three years. Something unpleasant will happen due to politics or a politician and Diana will give said politician the benefit of the doubt before it is revealed that they are in fact sc.u.m as opposed to someone who made an honest mistake. Azula will tell her that this is what politics is like and Diana will be hopeful that her sister is wrong.

While Diana is in no way shape or form naive, she is very much an optimistic person who likes to give one the benefit of the doubt, especially since the most experience she has had in politics began three years ago when her mother appointed her ambassador. While I admire this quality about her, I do not believe that one day it will be used against her and she will no longer be this way. I do hope that I am wrong however, the world is in need of more people like her. Especially in these times where the gods are no longer spectators. Then again, between the sisterly bond that she has formed with Azula and the friendship she struck with Scáthach, I pity the fool who would actually harm her because they will have none.

"Where is Mordred?" asks Diana, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"I do believe that she is getting ready for her patrol later tonight." answers Morgan.

"Does aunty Diana miss her little troublemaker?" teasingly asks Azula, causing Diana's cheeks to flush.

"Well as her designated aunt it is my duty to spend time with her and make sure that she is alright." answers Diana as she attempts to hide her happiness from the nickname.

"Designated aunt she says." chuckles Morgan as she looks at Diana with a raised eyebrow. "That child adopted you, there is no need to say 'designated' when you call yourself her aunt." she says causing Diana to blush a bit more. It is evident that she loves children, but it seems that Mordred has a special place in her heart.

"It is almost as if she wishes for a child of her own." adds Penelope casually, causing us all to chuckle at her mortified expression when she heard Penelope's words.

As much as Diana loves children, she cannot seem to fathom the thought of having one herself. Morgan and I believe that she is a bit worried about the carrying and birthing part of motherhood while Azula and Scáthach seem to believe that she simply has her eyes on someone and having a child before that terrifies her.

Before the conversation can continue I feel one of my teleportation arrays activate as an injured Aquaman and another body appears a few feet above the table between the two couches and falls on it, crushing it in the process.

Surprised by the method and state of his arrival, we stare at him for a second as the second body turns to face. Staring into my eyes is none other than Kaldur who could not be older than thirteen years old.

"Please help him! Help my King!" pleads the child to me with a distraught expression.

Without having to speak to one another, we get to work. While Morgan and Azula go about examining him, Diana and Penelope begin to make sure that his wounds are tended to while I pull Kaldur aside to ask him a few questions and to let them work in peace.

"What is your name little one?" I ask him as I gently pull him away from the others.

"Kaldur'ahm." he answers with a shaky voice.

���Ok Kaldur, can you tell me what happened?" I question him as we make our way outside of the lounge towards the monitor room in the castle. No doubt whatever caused this is going to become a major threat soon.

"He was fighting Ocean Master. At first he seemed to be winning, but then Ocean Master received the upper hand by manipulating the poison in his body." answers Kaldur as I check the sensors for any incoming threat, only to find none.

Having heard Kaldur's words about poison, I reach out with my divine powers in search of it but find none. Instead I find a piece of magic that clings to his wounds while slowly making its way inside his body. I cannot tell exactly what it does other than killing him. At the rate that it is going he will be dead in a few minutes. Ten at the most and four at the earliest. At least he would be if he did not have Morgan overseeing him.

"There is no poison inside his body." I inform Kaldur as I lead us towards Mordred's room. "Rather it is a curse, but do not worry, he will be fine."

"Who are you?" he asks me somewhat skeptically while attempting to hide his worries.

"A good friend of your King." I answer with a smile as we arrive outside of Mordred's door and I knock.

As Mordred opens the door she raises an eyebrow at Kaldur's presence.

"Who's this?" she asks me with a nod towards Kaldur.

"Mordred this is Kaldur, an atlantean who saved Aquaman's life. Kaldur this is Mordred, my daughter." I say to introduce them to one another. "Mordred, I want you to keep an eye on Kaldur for me for the foreseeable future. At least until Aquaman is fully recovered. You can take him with you to Gotham." I tell her while looking in her eyes to make sure that she understands that things might be getting very serious soon. "Kaldur, Mordred will take care of you. Do not be afraid to ask her anything, and do not worry Orin is in good hands." I say as I turn to him, receiving a reluctant nod in the process.

With that done I begin to make my way back to the monitor room just as the flood alarms blare to life and a magical holographic display appears before me to show a wave hundreds of feet high heading towards the city.

"Ambrosius, a tsunami is heading towards the eastern seaboard. Should it reach the casualties will be catastrophic!" comes Bruce's urgent voice over the communication rune behind my ear.

"I know." I casually reply as I teleport myself to the docks through a pre-inscribed array. With the age of gods returning, it was only a matter of time before the oceans became problematic. As such I have a teleportation array inscribed anywhere I believed could face supernatural storms

Arriving at the docks, I ignore the panicking people as I move towards the wave at a speed too fast for anyone to recognise me. Once I am far enough from the docks, I summon my trident in to enhance my power in preparation for this. I hope that Poseidon is not personally controlling this wave, otherwise there may not be much that I can do to stop it.

With a roar I reach out with my divine powers, severely augmented by my trident, and stop the wave in its tracks with a surprising amount of ease. Having expected a bitter struggle, I am dumbfounded by the lack of effort it took to stop the wave, so much so that I accidentally let it go for one second before quickly regaining control of it.

With interest I search out the cause of the tsunami, only to once again be surprised when I find inside the sea. With ease I part the ocean wave, even as the one who originally controlled it attempts to regain control, to allow me to see what lies inside. What I find is honestly not surprising at all, for there is Orm in his full glory, with a golden trident grasped in his hand, leading a massive army of atlanteans towards Gotham and Bludhaven.