Chapter 106

Herculian

Her palace was white stone, and the halls were filled with gold and purple accents However, I was the only person anywhere Near her right now. Even her attending servants were hiding. She had a pile of clothes on the floor, stubbornly not wanting to wear maternity clothes, but entirely too big to fit her normal outfit. That I didn't understand about mortals It's Just fabric, but I would be supportive.

"You look beautiful." I said kissing her on the forehead, and she slapped my hands away when I tried hugging her.

"I'm a fat cow! Get Out!" She burst into tears. She glowed green and pink in alternating flashes My poor girlfriend really was large There was a toddler in there as far as I've been told. He'll come out a 4 your old

She's giving birth to a 17-pound baby by Dr. Sampson's account. There's a whole bag of dog food in there. I held a giggle that was a little mean and if I said it, she'd kill me for real. I don't know *how* but she would.

"Baby you look adorable. Whatever you wear to your own baby birthing ceremony is FINE" I laughed lightly. I shouldn't have, it made her screech at me. I ran-walked out. It was safer to just let her simmer down than to keep trying at this point.

She caught her clothes on the floor ablaze. "DIE!!" The smoke turned on the sprinklers and now even the dress she had on the bed was 'ruined'.

"Baby-" I was cut off. She looked like a wild animal The ceremony wasn't even that important. It was just a small party where she announces that she'll have our son soon.

"Don't look at me!" She shrieked, ruining her makeup on purpose. "Nobody Look At ME!"

"I'm. I'm going to go get the blessing for our son." I said as she began to rip the dress she wore off.

"Get out!" She tossed it at me. "All I wanted was today to be perfect but Every Fucking Time This Happens!"

".Herculian I got my mother." Said her eldest daughter. "Mom It'll be alright." She hesitated to go inside, and I silently wished her luck.

I tried not to laugh at that too The dress wasn't *that* bad It rode up and showed her panties, which made her upset that the knee-high dress couldn't fit over her bump.

Diana She seemed extra snippy, and I took that time to leave well enough alone, and request audience with my father. That was something I put off, because that man is insufferable. How he treats his humans makes me almost jealous.

They wouldn't have to do anything to earn his love or attention... They just got it. Unlike the Horned One's line, father doesn't care about, nor really watches his children.

I became a beam of light. The only thing to intercept me was The Endless Mountain. Father's herald did business with the God of Bounty, my full god half-brother. He was responsible for keeping Urth's rotation, blessing crops, and protecting the Gates of Haven.

Bounty was a claimed son a properly claimed one. His mother was the Earth Goddess, while he made it clear that he looked down on me. His green eyes made me feel as dirt, though I could probably take him if he won't let me in. Maybe. It would not be an easy fight, that's for damn sure.

"Halt." Said Bounty. "Demigods are not allowed within the pantheon's throne room. Go back to frolicking with the Adversary's kin." He hissed. The war was over, but Bounty was particularly bitter at King Xaxas The God of Judgment defeated all father's full god children, and crippled War, father's favorite son

"I know that. I come to formally request a formal audience, on the grounds that my son will likely be born today." I said seeing him sternly glare at me.

"I'll escort him." Said the Endless Mountain, Zumitas. "You shouldn't hold anger at him Bounty." He said walking with me. Bounty only bowed, being outranked by him.

"Thank you." I said as we walked the stone path.

"Don't." He said gruffly. "You interrupt their royal audience, though your merit gives you what you seek. Had you been anyone else, any other son, I'd have killed you."

He'd kill me without hesitation of I even breathed a disloyal breath too. I was still wondering what the hell could I do to warrant such security anyway. I walked around on the stone paths. The ground was made clouds, and since I wasn't a god, I'd fall through if I stepped on it.

"I know." I said stoically.

There is no comradery here. There is Service or Death. The path of light is arguably harder, as there was no room given for mistakes.

We CAN'T. Corruption is easy, so the path to true light is marred with temptation

In battle, we protect all from the darkness, but it made me wonder what was I fighting for, if instead of being treated as a hero, I am talked down on, looked down on, and disrespected.

There were hundreds of angels flying around, attending the other gods, the source of my silent anger. I got looks many whispered and as a demigod, and a bastard, all I could do was accept it for my boy's sake. Making a scene would hurt *him*.

They talked about me behind my back that I was originally a dirty slave from a filthy mortal concubine, and how they *would* have saved my mother, but they were afraid of Lia's anger at them.

That it was a shame what Arviel did to Lia Over and Over, and that we crawl as cockroaches to beg for blessings not allotted to usThat demigods are tools, a means to an end That I should know my place and I should have gone to a temple and begged he glance my direction, when I knew in my heart that he wouldn't know of his grandson if he wasn't the one who made him.

How I hated up here

.In the old times, mortals once I saved them, they cheered for me. I didn't do as my father did, I couldn't... I couldn't do that to a woman like he did my mother. I never got to know her face because of Lia... Him too. He could have stopped her, yet he chose to let my mortal mother be punished and cast to Tarteron because Lia didn't want her up here.

How they gossiped This place was a hub for Every world so every pantheon's gods huddled around making mixed mingling groups to hear the 'juicy gossip of this particular Herk'. Fuck them.

Many said it didn't matter if my mother lived, as she would be already dead by now. That they couldn't *imagine* getting in a mortal bed to breed a lowly *mortal* as if they were talking of a damn cow, yet I knew quite a few of them had They had no mothers; many of them were created They will never know the sting of being bound, mistreated, hungry, or whipped They sit up here and eat offerings, giving scraps to their few favorites

"Halt." Said the God of War, Aris. He looked enraged, though more than just his naturally passive sour face It made them silent.

He was hunched over a bit, with his faded crimson wings tattered, unable to be used anymore. Today, he wasn't in his armor, just red and gold trimmed robes. I believe they were ripped off in the most painful way by King Xaxas. It made me wonder did he come over here to heckle me too.

"What business do you have?" I respectfully asked Aris. He hadn't said anything to add to the salted wound, so I wouldn't be mad at him.

"I will be your voice." He said firmly. " I know the sting of losing sons. I don't know what it's like to be mortal, but I will aid you as I bless my little ones." He said putting a hand on my shoulder. He was only decrepit because of a lost battle; in a few thousand years he will be fine.

"Then I accept. I come for my child." I said as the three of us walked.

"Mother's champion right? Dyann Right?" He asked.

"Diana. She's the Fae Queen." I said as he smiled lightly.

"If father does not aid you, I will. I may be injured, but I'm not dead." He said proudly. They bowed as he walked, and made way for him. He was still father's favorite, the god of all war on every world He absorbed the rest It made him, I believe, number 6 in the Royal Pantheon.

His presence made them silent, and I was thankful. I think that was why he offered a hand something rare

"I did. You did not come here to be belittled, heckled, and disrespected. Last time I checked, you saved my mother. I mean to thank you for that." He said simply.

"It was nothing. I wouldn't allow such a level of disruption." I said as we finally got there Those who were in the throne room sat on thrones as well, though father and the Horned One's were atop a high flight of stairs. The four thrones held the four gods who ruled as Kings and Queens of all there is

Father sat on his throne It was solid gold, and his angels glared at me as if I did something wrong. I could see a thin thread between father and Lia now, something he should have done eons ago. Maybe then I'd have been born the God of Strength, something he would have been proud of.

"You bring yourself here?" Father asked completely disgruntled. The Earth Goddess was at his right, and the throne of the Horned One wasn't empty.

He was here too. He also looked pretty pissed. Queen Lulliba looked sad, while Queen Lia looked at me with indifference. I was still a bastard, no matter what I'd done for her. My mirror image of father only reminded her of another affair.

I kneeled. "I don't know what I've done to warrant the hostility of all the gods, but I come for my child."

"We know." Said the Horned One. "How do you want him to die?"

I blinked there stupidly.

"I I don't understand." I said looking up. I was allowed to stand in their presence, but it was hard to do so. They were a cut above us all by quite a bit, to the point to where I contemplated remaining kneeling. It was easier to balance.

"You made a Lesser Contradiction." Said father. "I made one because I was jealous I believe so were you."