Tyranny of Steel

Berengar admired his own appearance in the mirror, as if he had become a character straight out of an anime. He now had a condition known as heterochromia, meaning his two eyes had separate colors. One was a deep sapphire, as if it were carved out of the gemstone itself. The other was a beautiful yellow gold. Though his eye itself no longer had a scar upon its flesh, the mark of his old injury was still on his eyelids. Giving him a distinctive appearance.

Anubis glared at the kaiser in silence, as the man shamelessly inspected his own appearance for longer than any man naturally should. After nearly five minutes, he could not sit back and wait any longer.

"Hurry up and ask your questions, mortal. Though you have passed my trials and earned my respect, I do not have all of eternity to wait for you!"

Berengar was instantly reminded of his reason for staying within the tomb, and dropped the mirror by his side, without a single thought to its durability. The expression on the Jackal headed god's face as the ancient artifact shattered into pieces on the ground was priceless from Berengar's perspective. Ultimately, Berengar did not allow the God of death to scold him as he asked the first question on his mind.

"I suppose the first question on my mind is how exactly did you, the Egyptian God of Death, come to guard the eye of Horus?"

Anubis looked at Berengar as if the man was wasting his time before questioning his intentions.

"Do you honestly care the slightest about how I became the guardian of this divine artifact?"

Berengar merely shrugged his shoulders and answered the question honestly.

"I mean, I've got time, so let's hear it."

Anubis sighed heavily and placed his forehead in the palm of his hand before explaining the complex origin of how he had come to guard the eye of Horus.

"In ancient times, before the pyramids were even built, the god Set betrayed his nephew Horus in a bid for power. The two deities fought a ferocious battle where Horus lost an eye. After emerging victorious, Horus had imbued his severed eye with his divine power, turning it into an artifact which he bestowed upon his descendent. So that he would never suffer the same fate.

The eye of Horus passed through the lineage of Kings for several generations without incident. However, in the end, the last Pharaoh to hold on to the divine artifact had taken it with him to the afterlife. Where he revealed to me that he had done so, because each of his successors had conspired to kill him.

I reached a deal with this Pharaoh and swore that I would hold on to the eye of Horus until someone worthy had appeared within the world to claim it. Nearly four thousand years have passed since then, and until today, nobody had even passed the first trial.

So imagine my shock, when a foreigner invades my tomb long after our religion had died out, and claims the artifact for himself. However, I doubt you came all this way for a history lesson. So let's get onto the more important questions already."

Berengar nodded his head in understanding of the deep lore behind this divine artifact. After hearing what Anubis had to say, he instantly became curious about something in particular, and was quick to inquire further about it.

"You said you made a deal with this Pharaoh? Is it possible for you to make one with me?"

Anubis glared at Berengar with suspicion in his eyes. The price of a deal with a god of the underworld was no laughing matter. Thus, he could not help but be curious about what the mortal man had in mind.

"I'm listening..."

Upon hearing that the Jackal headed god was interested in his proposal, Berengar did not hesitate to ask the question on his mind.

"I have a bit of a problem on my hands. Though I am freed from eternal damnation due to the actions of a certain goddess of the underworld, my family will end up suffering for my actions. After all, I have crippled the power of the Abrahamic God, and since he can't get revenge on me personally, I fear he will take it out on my family in the afterlife.

What if I were to tell you that within the next ten years, these lands will fall into the control of one of my sons, and that I can influence him to restore the old religion of Egypt? It won't be easy, but after several generations of friendly emperors, the power of your pantheon will return to you all.

In exchange for this, you will remove the seals from my family's souls and allow them to go to an afterlife of my choosing. What do you say? Are you interested?"

Anubis thought about this prospect for several moments. If the people of Egypt turned away from their Abrahamic religion, and returned to the old faith of their ancestors, it would indeed create a river of power and influence for the Egyptian Pantheon to take advantage of.

As of right now, there were few if, any, believers left in the world, and because of this, the egyptian gods were constantly draining away at the power they had conserved for centuries. Sooner or later, they would become useless, not even able to sustain their divine domains within the mortal realm.

Thus, after ample consideration, Anubis called forth his staff and slammed it into the ground, where a dark miasma spread forth. After Berengar gazed into the abyss for some time, it dispersed, where the jackal headed god made a fierce proclamation.

"the Abrahamic God's claims over your lineage have forever been removed. You could even baptise your children, and he would gain nothing from it. However, I have exerted quite a bit of power in order to achieve this. Thus, you must swear to me that you will fulfill your end of the bargain. If you do not, your soul will belong to me, and I will devour it to restore that which you have taken from me!"

An excited grin appeared on Berengar's face as he asked for further clarification.

"What about my wives and my mistresses?"

In response to this, Anubis snarled before clarifying the extent of how much divine energy he had expended.

"Any woman who conceives your child, or a child of a man belonging to your lineage, will be exempt from the claim of any other deities. Now that you understand the price that I have paid. Answer one of my questions for me, will you?"

Berengar grinned and nodded his head. After what Anubis had just done for him and his family, he was more than happy to answer some of the god's questions.

"I'm an open book feel free to ask."

Anubis glared at Berengar in silence for several moments before asking the question on his mind.

"In your past life, did you worship the Germanic gods?"

Berengar shook his head before answering this.

"No, I was an Atheist. Why is that important?"

Anubis rested his chin in his hand as he gazed upon Berengar with a more interested light.

"Curious... You may not be aware of this, but there is an ancient pact among the world's various deities not to interfere in the world directly. At least not in any serious capacity. Though champions were chosen in the past to fulfill certain objectives, they were never wielded with the intent to change the balance of power that exists between the various gods of this world.

By summoning you, a man from the future of an alternate world, Odin has spit in the face of this pact, and has undoubtedly used up most of his energy. If he were to bring a capable believer into this world to restore his religion, then that would make sense.

However, you were an atheist in your past life. The only reason I can possibly think of as to why the All-father of the Germanic pantheon would summon you to this world is because he was severely pissed off at the Abrahamic god, and wanted a champion that would disrupt his power."

Berengar was dumbfounded at this logic and for several moments he stood in silence before asking the immediate question that came to mind.

"You're telling me that I was brought into this world so that Odin could troll Yahweh?"

Anubis merely looked upon Berengar with a curious glint in his eyes before answering his question.

"I have no idea what that means, but judging from the context of your statement, I would say yes."

Berengar could only chuckle and shake his head in response to this. It was as if the two deities were in a heated shootout on some multiplayer FPS, and Odin pulled out a hack for the sole reason to piss off his opponent, because he knew that he was already too far behind to possibly win.

When the Kaiser thought about the disputes between various deities as such a laughable scenario, he could only chuckle at his fate and accept his lot in life. As for Anubis, he had no idea why Berengar found the whole scenario to be so funny. However, as long as the man lived up to his end of the bargain, he did not care.