Ginger’s day started like any other. She got up, took a shower, got dressed, ate breakfast, brushed her teeth, and started making her way out the door. However, her day was interrupted by a woman appearing in front of her like a ghost. The woman had long blond hair that was tied in a ponytail and was wearing some decorative jewelry that stretched around her hairline in silver strands with small yellow gems in it. She wore an armor breastplate with a soft looking dress underneath that was white with silver and gold accents. There were several thin sash-like cloths running from her shoulder to a metal band on her wrist making a makeshift sleeve with several ribbons. The metal band on the wrist was a golden armor vambrace with silver accents and small yellow gems.
Ginger jumped back with a light shout .The woman stood in an almost regal fashion before looking at Ginger but not turning her head, seemingly unfazed by Ginger's reaction. “Hello mortal, I am the manifestation of the wise tactician God Athena, bound to a set of shields that is now bound to your spirit.” Ginger stupid in the position she hit after jumping for a moment before getting into the car. Once inside she spoke. “I'm hallucinating somehow, right?” Athena appeared in the passenger seat and posed herself to look like she was sitting. “No. This is very much real. You see long ago-”
Ginger interrupted her. “Look, assuming this is real, can the exposition dump wait till after my shift? I kinda have a life to worry about. Then after that I'll talk to my friend Perseus who is a bit of a mythology nerd. This way I have a buffer and someone who'll know the best way to explain things for me.” Athena sighed. “I suppose I am not in any rush at the moment. But I can easily start the explanation now. No one else can see or hear me, you'll just have to avoid responding out loud when we're in public.” Ginger gripped the steering wheel tightly. “I'd like to focus on one thing at a time, thank you.”
Athena offered a simple, single nod of understanding. “Understandable, I will be patient. Have a nice day.” The figure then vanished allowing Ginger to focus on work. She was still a bit distracted and shoulder checked Hector while moving through the halls of the hospital. “Oh, sorry Hector. I'm a bit out of it right now. Hectic morning. … I didn't know you worked today.” Hector sighed. “I'm not, my gran is slipping faster and they called me in because she might pass soon. I've been busy lately and haven't been able to visit her like I used to, so I feel like it's my fault.”
Ginger put her hand on his shoulder gently. “It's not your fault. I'm not sure why but your visits seemed to slow her illness somehow. It wasn't going to stop, all it did was prolong the enviable. This was going to happen with or without you.” Hector sighed and looked down. “I know.” Ginger gave his shoulder a pat. “I was planning on going to Percy’s after work, why don't you pop over too. You two have gotten closer lately so maybe he can help. We both know he knows what it's like to watch a loved one slowly skip away.”
Hector nodded. “Yeah, you know what, I'll call up the others too. We can make it a hangout day. It is a Friday.” Ginger nodded as she sent a text to Perseus quickly to let him know she planned to visit and that Hector was grabbing others to hangout. “I'll catch you after my shift then.” She continued through her day. When her shift ended she got in her car and started driving to Perseus’ home. Athena manifested once more in the seat. “So can we talk now?” Ginger gripped her steering wheel tightly. “I'm not engaging with you until I talk to my friend. I need information and I'm not trusting you as a reliable source.”
Athena smiled. “Good, solid move. It's exactly what I would do. But I'll tell you now, regardless of his knowledge of mythology I doubt he'll know anything about the Armatus unless he himself has one.” Ginger sighed as she eased up and focused on driving. She had to park on the street as two cars were already in the driveway. She knocked on the door and was quickly greated by Perseus who let her in. Hector, Jaclyn, and Victor were all there as well. Out from the back came a short petite woman Ginger didn't recognize. “Who is this?”
Perseus gestured to the small woman. “This is Jade, I knew her in seventh grade. We recently started hanging out again after I bumped into her. She's trustworthy, so whatever thing you've come to talk about you can be fully open with.” Everyone took seats with Jade sitting closest to Perseus. Ginger squinted at this but then saw Victor was sitting next to Jaclyn and eased up. She sat in a chair and let herself sink in. “Ahhh~ this chair is cozy. Especially after a long day at work. Anyway, I was hoping to pick your brain about mythology.”
Ginger couldn't help but notice a strange feeling that made her uneasy. “(What is with this feeling?)” Athena manifested at Ginger's side once again. “Someone here has an Armatus.” She put her hand on her chin. “This Perseus looks familiar, I feel like I've definitely met him before but that can't be right. Maybe in a past life?” Perseus knitted his brow. “I assumed it was something more serious but sure.” Ginger tapped at the arm of the chair. “Specifically I was hoping to learn something about Athena.” Perseus shifted. “Athena? She was the Greek goddess of wisdom and crafts. She was also often seen as a sort of war goddess, with a specialty in tactical thinking.”
Ginger nodded. “What is she like personality wise?” Perseus chuckled. “Oh she's a real piece of work in all the old stories. Sure, she's wiser than others but she also had something of a temper. Once she was mad it was like flipping a switch. She'd go from rational to unreasonable. Once she's pissed at someone she had a bad habit of taking it too far and holding grudges after. Though she had plenty of good moments too. Wisdom and intelligence aren't exactly the same however.”
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Ginger nodded, then looked to Athena who had her arms crossed but didn't immediately argue with what Perseus said. “I've worked on my anger… kinda” Ginger looked back at Perseus. “What did she look like?” Perseus sighed. “Well there's some wiggle time there but like most Greek gods she was usually depicted as Caucasian or lightly tanned. Her hair would often be brown but sometimes blonde and she always kept it in a ponytail even though cutting it short would be more tactical as long hair runs the same risk as capes. Function over fashion every time. All looking fancy will get you is a nicer looking corpse.”
Athena turns her nose up and away. “Hey, there's an advantage to an intimidating silhouette.” Ginger hums. “Right….” Perseus shifted in his chair and looked at the rest of the group before looking back to Ginger. “You're asking a lot of questions about Athena specifically. Did something happen to bring this on?” Athena moves in front of Ginger. “Volunteering information is rarely a good idea, especially considering one of them is a potential enemy and has an Armatus. Who knows what God they are owned with or how they have influenced them. Ares and Aphrodite would be extremely bad encounters for me. Especially with Ares having gained an “there can only be one” mentality.”
Ginger shifted. “I’d trust Perseus with my life.” She said out loud. Perseus sat forward and activated his second site. Ginger's inner light was a green and yellow flowing energy that filled her silhouette. “Ah, I see now. Hello Athena.” The rest of the group give Perseus a look, then Victor gestured to Ginger. “You're joking right? This has to be a cosmic joke.” Ginger blinked a few times, then looked at Athena's shocked face. “Oh, oh no. I knew he looked familiar. And it seems everyone except the big guy there has an Armatus and even he is somehow aware of our existence.”
Ginger let out a relieved sigh. “Well thank God Perseus knows what's going on, because that means he can explain everything.” Athena crossed her arms and scowled. “You can't trust a single thing this Perseus says. I don't care if you've known him your entire life. Even if he's like a brother to you. You, can, not, trust, him. Everything that comes out of that man's mouth is a manipulation. Even when what he says isn't a lie, every action he takes is only to serve his own ends. He is a selfish and manipulative piece of shit that is unworthy of an afterlife. Go ahead, ask him how many times he's been reincarnated. I'm willing to bet it's been more than three.”
Ginger makes an angry face and ignores Athena. “Give me the short story of what an Armatus even is.” Perseus shifted. “Long story short, several of the gods from Greek, Egyptian, Norse, and Japanese mythology put their divine essence into weapons. These weapons bind to mortals to keep the gods from fading. If they find the right mortal they get to ascend to godhood with no threat of fading away. If your partner is Athena then you have the Shields of the Protector God. Not sure why that's the title for the weapon when she wasn't exactly a goddess of protection.”
Athena sighed. “I mean if you want to put things in the most simplistic way possible and leave out a number of important details. Like for example the fact we were forced to turn to this extreme because people stop worshiping us, and that all started with a domino effect started by that friend of yours right there. He's directly responsible for the end of the age of magic.” Ginger knitted her eyebrows. “How long ago did the age of magic end?” Perseus shrugged. “It was a slow process that started five thousand years or so ago and fully ended a little over a thousand years ago.” Ginger nodded. “Reincarnation is a thing, right?”
Perseus nodded. “Yeah. I'm on at least my third life if not higher.” Athena gestured to Perseus. “Three is the normal maximum.” Ginger sighed. “Athena says three is the normal max, and that you were somehow responsible for the end of the age of magic.” Jade finally pitches in. “That… can't be right because magic started on its decline after the Trojan war around five thousand years ago. My sister who's paired with Hecate and is a total b- er female dog, she told me that it started with Odysseus who started to seed doubt in mortals. But that's something Hecate told her because Cerce had a connection to Odysseus.”
Perseus nodded. “Cerce is often said to have been Hecate’s daughter. But if I was Odysseus I haven't recovered any memories of that yet. Considering the fact the furthest lifetime I've confirmed myself to have had was in the eighteen hundreds there is a possibility of me having been Odysseus. I'm not going outside dismiss it since I myself don't know.” Ginger nodded with her eyes closed. “So it's possible, and if that's the case you've had three lifetimes since and have likely changed, making any grudge Athena might have irrelevant.”
Perseus sighs. “I really hope I wasn't Odysseus because he did some messed up things that are against my morals. Can't change the past however, can only move forward.” Athena chuckled. “I cursed Odysseus so that he'd never reach an afterlife until the age of magic was restored.” Ginger groaned. “She suggests that you having more than three lives is because Odysseus was cursed to not be able to reach an afterlife until the age of magic is restored.”
Perseus tilted his head. “The age of magic ending was a good thing. No real progress is made when you have low effort shortcuts. Also no magic ment no monsters either. Yeah, humans can be just as bad if not worse sometimes but I'd rather not deal with dragons.” Ginger nodded. “So since this God soul is attached to a weapon that's now attached to my soul, that means I can summon the weapon and use the power of the god to an extent, right?” Perseus nods. “Put both hands out and call out to your weapon.”
Ginger stood up with both her hands out, shaking them out. “Okay. Come forth, Shield of the Protector God, Athena!” Wind gathered, forming two shields with sharp wing-like shapes on the sides when Ginger made a small test swing, the wings extended in length by unfurling and opening the metallic feathers slightly and a small burst of wind came off the weapon. “Okay, that's cool.” Perseus nodded. “I guess that means you can also help us fight any threats. We've got a lot going on and now I'll have to bring you to speed.”
Perseus stands up. “But first I should tell you who you're working with. I've got the Trident of the Sea god, Hector has the Staff of the Messenger god, his sister Jaclyn has the Candelabra of the Night God, and Jade here has the Bow of the Hunter god. Her sister June has the wrist claw of the magic God and she kinda hates me and might eventually be a problem.” Ginger shifted back and forth on her feet. “I'll try my best. I'm guessing there's something that keeps most normal people from remembering magic because Athena seemed surprised Victor can retain memory of it despite not having an Armatus.”
Perseus nodded. “Hecate's Vail. Yeah. We don't know why Victor is immune yet.” Ginger nodded. “Well I'll help however I can. If I am the one in control of this power, I'm going to use it to help people.” Perseus smiled. “Then welcome to the team Ginger, it's good to have you onboard.” Perseus then spent a good amount of time explaining everything that's happened so far and everything he's figured out, including having been William Yates in his past life and how Bill has an Armatus as well. Once the explanation was over the group ate food before everyone went their separate ways to go home.
