[Dungeon Alert:

The dungeon wishes to communicate with you. Will you allow it to open a channel tying the mind of its core with yours?]

Well, that's... weird. I thought, upon reading through it. But a part of me, upon reading the notification was made curious by this.

[Hmmm... sure.] I told the system, hesitantly. Truthfully I was also intrigued by how differently this dungeon was engaging with me in comparison to, at least in my admittedly limited experience. other dungeons. And then I received a new message. An alien one, from a new source.

[...]

It was an odd message. I had never gotten an empty message delivered via the system like this. And the oddities multiply. I mused, grinning at my own quips.

[Hello there.] I told the thing, even as I continued to clean the place I was in. A breeze blew gently out of my palms as I moved to spin in a circle. I did this to spread out the breeze, thereby diversifying the parts of the area I found myself that in were gently cleaned. While doing it I received another notification.

[Scan commencing:]

Truly a weird moment. I mused, grinning as I continued to clean my surroundings. The scan took a few minutes.

[Scan complete. Compiling information:

Subject of scan: Althos

Type of creature scanned: Deity

Age: Newborn. Less than a half a year old.

Power of creature: Low, for a deity but not bad for its age. Mildly strong for such a young deity.

Domain overlap with Athena: Law, Magic, Healing, Mind, Faith, Knowledge, Shape-Shifting

Compatibility with Athena: Low. Not non-existent, but low.

Similarities with Athena: Both were miraculously born, both have or had empires of sorts, both are or were nondiscriminatory beings, and both have or had ties to minds.

Differences between Althos and Athena: Althos leans evil and Athena leaned good. Athena had a parent and Althos came into being spontaneously. Athena was once part of a pantheon, Althos is a loner type of deity, out of necessity if for no other reason. Althos desires to build an empire for the sake of knowledge, Athena had an empire built in her name, devoted to her by her worshipers.

Commencing dungeon modification.]

Athena? Dungeon modification? That's probably not good. I realized, in a flash of insight after reading through the second most mysterious notification I had ever received.

[Hey, wait. Who is... or who "was" Athena? And what do you mean, "dungeon modification"?] I asked the dungeon, my mental voice "loud" and urgent, or as "loud" and as urgent as a mental voice could be.

[Athena was a goddess of an ancient civilization, the civilization that built the Parthenon. Her empire no longer exists in the world of her birth, having been destroyed long ago, but she is remembered. Her holiest temple was the Parthenon, which is why one of her vestiges can be here.] The dungeon told me, but it wasn't done talking just yet.

[The dungeon modification is for you, not your servants. Your servants will achieve their goals here. But you have an opportunity here.] The dungeon said, its mechanical voice articulate and laden with emotions, which I picked up on.

[What opportunity?] I asked, as I began to try and process the implications of all of the things I had just learned.

Athena was another deity. Someone like me. At least a bit like me. More like me than anyone I've ever met. But also... different.

She was lawful-good. I am lawful-evil. She had a parent. I had none. She had a family, and might even have met other gods outside of her community. I am building an empire, and her worshipers built her one...

But why is her temple here? Infernius is a home for devils, for lawful evil beings. It is not a place for someone who was lawful-good. In order for me to learn more... I'm probably gonna have to enter this place, won't I?

But if I play my cards right... I could learn a lot right now.

[You are the first god to come across this place in a very long time. Longer than you can possibly imagine, given how long you've been alive.]

I nodded at that, unsurprised by it, before realizing that I didn't know if the dungeon could actually see me since I wasn't inside of it. [Can you see me?] I asked the thing, opting to be upfront and honest with it.

[Yes. You are already within the Parthenon, just not quite in the dungeon itself. This is a special place, the lair of one of the vestiges of Athena. Do you know what a vestige is?] The dungeon asked me, curiosity infusing its voice. I didn't hesitate. In these situations, I tended towards honesty, and I can honestly say that I had never heard that term be used in anything even vaguely resembling this context.

[I have no idea. Not even the faintest clue.] I admitted, well aware that I was almost certainly about to learn. I heard something, something not unlike a mechanical chuckle on the other end of the mental connection the dungeon had been allowed to establish with me.

[Gods can die. Killing them was nigh-impossible for anything other than other higher-beings but they were killable. You are killable. Athena was, like the majority of deities, one of the goddesses to die during the apocalyptic battle that heralded the end of the mythic age. When deities die their divine power doesn't fade away as their consciousnesses do. Instead, their power fades from their bodies and goes to their holiest sites.] The dungeon informed me, my eyes widening as I read its message. And it wasn't done.

[Vestiges are godly echoes. When a god dies the divine power they accumulated over the course of their lives, fades from their defeated bodies and returns to their two holiest sites and their realm. In those places, the power becomes... vestiges. Ghost-like entities that haunt the places where their influence was strongest.] The dungeon revealed, a certain eagerness just barely audible in its voice. The moment I heard that I froze.

While conversing with the dungeon I had kept up my crusade to clean the place I found myself in, spinning in circles so as to widen the area I was affecting with my powers. When I stopped it was because I was putting together the implications of what I had just been told.

[So wait... a ghostly-echo of a goddess, is... Athena, is located within this dungeon?] I asked, after a few moments of silence while I contemplated what sort of powerful things must have been located within the dungeon.

[Yes. Yes, one is.] The dungeon reinforced, its voice quiet and filled with awe as it shared that. And that was when my servants arrived.

Lugh and Aoine arrived as the dungeon communicated the identity of what I assumed was the strongest creature within the dungeon. They walked up behind me and stopped not far from where I stood, cautiously.

"Hey Althos, what's going on?" Aoine asked his voice as filled with caution as my mind was. I grinned, as I thought about how to respond.

"Hey there. I've just been waiting for you two." I told the vampire and his friend, keeping my voice calm. While they looked at me and also began to notice the strange, reflective floor at our feet, I prepared a message for the dungeon.

[If I enter you right now, what happens?] I asked, curious as to what the future would hold. The dungeon didn't take long to respond to my question, its own message simple.

[If you enter the Parthenon you and your allies will be split. We, the dungeon, are aware of your objectives. You will be given an "opportunity", the one we mentioned earlier. Your allies will achieve their objectives without your help, while you are taught about the history of this place. The "opportunity" here is the opportunity to gain knowledge.] I was told, by the dungeon. I was pensive for a moment before I asked another question.

[You've told me that the... echoes of a goddess haunt this dungeon. I am trying to behave intelligently. Earlier today a version of myself made a mistake and suffered for it. I will not repeat that. You told me gods can die, that I am, at least right now, a weak god, and that a goddess' powers are lurking, apparently sentiently, within this dungeon. If I go in here, am I putting myself in danger?] I asked, allowing myself to be cautious.

I heard another strange chuckle on the other end of this connection that the dungeon and I shared. It was a louder one, an eager one. [Good question. No. You are not going to be putting yourself in danger by coming into this place. We understand your hesitation and it's not a bad instinct at all, but you are not in danger. Our modifications were to make the place a place of learning. For you anyway.]

[How can I trust you?] I asked, curiously. Another eerie chuckle, once again growing in volume.

[We honestly don't know how to convince you to trust us. But we know that you see and seize opportunities. You have in the past, and you will in the future. We are hoping that you'll opt to take another opportunity, another chance that is laying in front of you. If you enter, when you enter, you can begin to learn about the past. We hope you enter. We have told you no lies, but the only way you'll learn that for sure is if you come inside the dungeon.] It told me. I heard the sincerity in its voice, the emotion sneaking past the mechanical tones of its words.

It's as I suspected. We have to enter don't we? I thought, grinning despite myself.

My first chance to meet a god. Kind of. I figured, smiling. I was keenly aware that me not being in danger didn't mean I wouldn't encounter the vestige. It's reckless, but it's also a path forward... I realized. And then I put on a neutral mask, as I had a moment of realization. Do I have to be alone while I do this? I wondered, my find filling with possibilities.

[Do I have to enter alone? I know you want to split up the girtablilus and myself, but I have other followers. Other servants who'd do well here. Do I need to go in alone?] I asked the dungeon. I was met with silence, a long, lingering silence. I turned to face my comrades and nodded at them.

"We will be entering this place soon. Do you feel ready to do so?" I asked them, a grin on my face as I felt that my question had caught the dungeon off-guard, surprising it for the first time since we began our conversation. They nodded at me, eagerness visible in their gazes. And then the dungeon sent me another message.

[You don't have to enter alone. You will be split up from the girtablilus, but if you bring other minions they'll be allowed to travel and learn with you.] The dungeon announced, calming me a bit.

Good. That means I can bring together a party. I should select a party of people who can defend themselves, who would also most benefit from learning about another god or goddess... I thought, musing to myself who would best fit those lines.

And then my followers vanished. They were abruptly whisked away from me, and the sight of the suddenly empty air where they had just been standing alarmed me. I immediately composed a message to send to the dungeon.

[Whoa, what? Did you just take them?] I asked, deeply annoyed by that.

[Yes. They are safe.] And then it sent me a mental image, that of my two girtablilu servants. They stood in a small chamber, and immediately in front of them stood a spherical, beating heart similar to the one I had once used to takeover Agowraith's tomb.

My two servants were freakishly still as if they weren't alive and were immediately killed the instant they appeared in the chamber. Like all, it'd take was a single gust of wind to blow them over and kill them.

[What did you do to them?] I asked, anger sneaking into my message's tone.

[They are fine. And they will be fine. You are what we are interested in. And we know that this doesn't make you trust us, but we've done the emotional calculus and we're willing to sustain this blow if it is necessary to get you inside of the dungeon, so you can learn about Athena, older gods, and about the power of law. The multiverse needs a lawful deity Althos, and as far as we can tell you're all we've got. Come. Enter the Parthenon.] It told me, cryptically.

I sighed and immediately began using the vast network of mental connections I had established over my life to their full effect. Within seconds I was reaching out to the figures I knew and had recruited who'd best be able to help me inside this dungeon, and who'd be able to learn the most while in here.

I'm not a fan of what the dungeon just did... I mused, annoyed at the sudden turn. I tried to reach out to the girtablilus but was met with the thought-equivalent of hissing static. It was painful to say the least, to suddenly hear and feel that noise invade your brain, even if for a second.

Tristan, Agowraith, the pious devils, Casis, and who else... I wondered, seconds later after regaining my wits. Assembling my team would take a bit, but not very long. A small part of me, however, reluctant I was to admit it, was filled with dark and excited curiosity about what laid ahead of me, within the Parthenon.