"Are you listening to me?"
"Mmmh" Ahrein replied even though his concentration was elsewhere.
"Does this mean you are agreeing to my terms?"
"No"
"Then what? Just what do you want?"
"For you to get out of my office before I lose my patience and throw you out"
"God, you can be such an...."
"Out Rena. Right now" he said calmly. She was slowly trying to get under his skin by acting out of the ordinary and doing things she wasn't supposed to. Ahrein would have reminded her who she was dealing with but he was busy trying to figure out who just dared enter his territory without permission. He wasn't the kind of person who got easily frazzled but it annoyed him when others trespassed. The rules were simple. Ask for permission first before setting foot in his area. So he'd keep track of who came and who left. The people who'd just arrived hadn't asked if they could stay but they were busy settling down.
Other gods who settled down on earth normally didn't bother creating boundaries or rules but he was different. He liked to keep track of what was going on in his area so he'd come up with a few simple guidelines. The first was to ask for permission if you wanted to live or tour his territory. He barely refused anyone since most of the deities didn't stay long. They got bored easily and moved on, which suited him just fine. So then, who was it that dared break those rules, and for what reason?
That wasn't all. The kind of energy he felt from them wasn't the usual energy other deities gave off. This was different. More superior and maybe ancient? He couldn't explain it. The fact that he'd never encountered anything like it made him curious. He couldn't imagine anything or anyone who was older than him. Only the High God and he'd decided to leave so no one had that kind of power. But there it was, waltzing into his territory and making him wonder if he had overlooked something.
As someone who had been alive for centuries, he'd figured it was better to stay out of the power struggle that was always going on up there. He wasn't interested in becoming a ruler or getting embroiled in the elders' tricks and traps. However, he wanted to know more about humans. Deities like him always looked down on the mortals because they were just that. Mere mortals who couldn't live past a hundred years old. Such creatures weren't even worthy of their attention. Yet they had evolved and were still doing so day in day out. The way they thought and lived intrigued him. How they fought to survive even when they knew they would eventually die in the end amazed him. If he could, Ahrein would say that maybe once in a while, deities could take lessons from humans. He himself had learned the most important one. That everything was all in your head.
Humans believed they could accomplish a goal they'd set and wouldn't stop until they did it. They were relentless when they wanted something. Despite being inferior to him, they still managed to surprise him. That was the difference between them and the gods. To get what they wanted, they worked for it. The deities on the other hand had forgotten what it was like to work for something. And why would they bother when they had powers? Snap your fingers and you had almost anything you desired. Surrounded by servants, sometimes even snapping their fingers felt like a chore. There were a few things that couldn't be acquired so easily. For the lazy gods, there was a rule. If you have to work for something then it wasn't worth it. The rest simply made deals or traded a favor for another. Their snobbish attitude annoyed him to no end. He couldn't understand why any of them preferred to live that way. The only people who put in an effort to get anything were the elders and their goal was just absurd.
Spinning his chair towards the large floor to ceiling window, Ahrein wondered what had happened to Gerena. The elders claimed she'd also disappeared but something didn't feel right. He had sent one of his servants to investigate but they hadn't found anything. Which was odd. Gods didn't just disappear without a trace. The high God had informed him he was leaving. If the goddess also wanted to leave, she would have informed him or someone else. She had just inherited the position of high Goddess. He refused to believe she could just up and leave. The elder's behavior only solidified his suspicions. Instead of picking someone who would temporarily take the position, they said no one was good enough for that seat. It had been two weeks since the high goddess's disappearance which meant on earth it had been twenty years. If no one came up with a solution, Ahrein was sure war would break out soon. In his opinion, that would be progress. He was all for a little tussle with the other gods.
Closing his eyes, he communicated with his servant, asking him to find out who the intruders were. Then he went in search of Rena. She was in her office still fuming from his lack of interest in her. He stood behind her watching her pace back and forth in the tiny space with her small hands curled into fists. Not letting her know of his presence yet, he studied her. She was what humans called perfect. Tall, lean, beautiful. As the face of his company, she was widely known as the K goddess. In public, she was the embodiment of cool and calm. Nothing people did or said bothered her. But he knew her flawless public facade masked private despair. She believed she could make him love her. A completely ludicrous belief. Love was an illusion humans used in order to survive. He'd lived long enough to know that it didn't exist. Never did.
"What crawled up your ass this time?" He asked startling her.
"What... How did you come in? I was standing right here and I didn't see you..." He snapped his fingers erasing that bit of memory "What do you want now? Wasn't throwing me out of your office enough?"
"If I'd thrown you out, believe me, you wouldn't be standing on your own two feet. Get ready for the next product launching. I want no mistakes this time"
"I'm getting tired of taking orders from you Kline" she replied using his human name. Having people call him by his name was something that took a while to get used to. No one would dare call him Ahrein up in heaven. They would simply turn into thin air before they finished uttering his name. Not because he would do something to them but because it simply was unacceptable to do so. Just like how it was to call the high goddess by hers. Only a few gods could do so.
"Do you want to quit? I can easily find a replacement for you"
The tears shining in her eyes was a sign that he'd offended her. Blinking several times she asked, "Do I mean nothing to you?"
He would have told her just how insignificant her presence was but his servant had a reply for him already. One he didn't like. Their intruders were criminals running away from the authorities. The question was what had they done and why did they choose his city? Snapping his fingers again, he erased Rena's memory. The last she'd seen him was when he was in his office. Their conversation in her office hadn't happened. Then he simply teleported to the building housing their new visitors. Better to get answers from them before they settled any further.
That would have worked if there wasn't a spell on the building. One so strong that even he couldn't breakthrough.
"Interesting" was all he could come up with.
*****************************************
Ahren or Kline as the humans know him is right. It's about to get interesting.