GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

It is very difficult for a god to stop being a god. Falling can give Stelios an out, but he will sustain severe repercussions that will make it not worth it.

So because Stelios has been stuck as the sun god, he has watched many gods come and go. The old is replaced with the new, only he remains the same. But things are looking up for him. If he succeeds with his plan, he won't be the sun god anymore. An opportunity for a replacement has opened up for him, so he cannot let anything sabotage his plans.

"Either way, you're the best when it comes to runes." The god of war agreed with his partner.

Their fathers were friends so the two of them met each other as kids. They didn't care about each other and didn't cross paths until they clashed during a heroic quest. Then they formed a temporary alliance to beat back the other demigods. It was then that they started having feelings for each other. They remained together and became gods together. They care for each other deeply but their relationship doesn't stop them from occasionally dallying with mortals and having demigods.

Stelios accepted the compliment with a smile. The truth is that he is very good with runes. He considers himself the best runemaster in all of Zargoth. He has both the talent for rune making and time to expand that talent into an achievement that set him as the most knowledgeable Rune maker. The Stigmata he placed on Helios is one of his achievements. Even Helios had to admit that it is extraordinary.

The sun god's gaze returned to the screen. It has stopped showing Helios and is now showing the dispersing crowd. The screen displays a god's vision. It can't show everything going on in the mortal realm because a god can't see everything going on in the mortal realm, but it can show areas where they have Influence in. The vision of a god is limited to places under their influence. For example, their churches, their believers, and objects or people that have been marked by their divine energy.

It just so happens that gods mark every child after their first star with a Stigmata. It seems like a normal part of the culture of giants but it is not the harmless symbolic gesture that mortals think it is. Gods don't mark them because they care. That Stigmata grants them access to monitoring the person and their surroundings.

Helios is the exception to the rule. He has a Stigmata of the sun god, so Stelios should be able to monitor Helios, but it isn't so. Something interferes with the surveillance. Stelios attributes the oddity to Helios' unique situation.

The lack of divine vision on Helios has never mattered before. Stelios used to monitor him through Hak and through the other believers around him. There are some times that total blackouts occur when Helios enters his private laboratory and starts working on his body but Stelios could rest assured because of his vision of the surroundings.

He might not be able to see what Helios is doing, but he knows Helios is there because of the blank zone in his divine vision. It is one of the major reasons why he didn't let Helios out of his house for 100 years so that he can always monitor him. The other reason is for Helios' protection too but that isn't as serious.

His process has always worked for him but it isn't good enough for him now since Helios is going out into the world. He won't be able to tell anything about Helios' situation if he enters a zone that has none of the Sun god's Influence. He can't monitor Helios closely as well as he used to be able to and it is causing him to be anxious.

Helios could be anywhere, doing anything, being attacked by anyone and he can't know about it. His anxiety continued to increase over the hours until Helios finally reached the war front. The screen was showing the fight going on between the defenders and the ants when Helios finally appeared. Warriors of the race of giants of Order are fighting and clashing with Goliath ants. Helios appeared within the edges of the screen as a comet.

Back To Helios.

Helios began to decelerate as he approached the battlefield. He finally stopped above the front line where the army of giants meet the horde of ants. The giants are standing side by side decked in armor and resisting the waves of ants crashing into them like waves threatening to drown them.

The ants are small compared to the giants. They are definitely bigger than normal ants since they are the size of the toes of giants. Still, the giants are way larger than them and should be able to crush them underneath their feet but the ants are not called Goliath ants because of their size.

These ants are strong beyond compare. Each one of them has the strength of a mana entity. They may be small when compared to giants, but they are packing a lot of mass and power. Their mass and small size make them far too dense to be crushed if you're stomping on a lot of them.

Their strength means they can work together to trip you even if you are a giant. Their diamond-cutting jaws of death mean they can shred a giant of Order to mince meat if he falls into their midst in less than a minute. Their greatest strength is their numbers.

These are just the workers. The soldiers are bigger. The smallest of them are as large as an entire foot of the giants while the largest are as tall as the knees of the giants. The big soldiers can cut off the legs of giants or deal enough damage to the limbs that a giant is involuntarily brought down to their level for some dangerous and painful mandible to flesh action.