Magic of course, does not exist. Even when you read the stories, the lore has just... changed over time. Aliens? I suppose I could see some facts hidden amongst the legends. I could believe that Herakles was some sort of half breed or a genetically engineered being produced from a super race that descended on mankind when we were just discovering that, if you planted crops, you could store them and not starve through the winter. I can envision a man loaded with nanos, coming back in time on a ship, and “falling” from the sky riding a “tail of fire”. The savages looked up, saw a man similar to themselves stepping from the golden craft, carrying a sword that appeared in his hands from nowhere. A sword that could slice through anything they brought to bear, and wearing armor that shrugged off their bows. I could justify why they would hail him as a god on the spot. With the life extension technology, he'd live for maybe a hundred generations, gloriously immortal in their eyes. Magic existed for those people. But what yet is magic, except for the unknown? It has only ever been the substitute for things not yet explained, not yet revealed. It is the emotion generated towards a thought prior to a social awakening. Magic is a totally relative word. It does not exist. Though I suppose that if we took someone from the modern day, they might have had a vague idea of what was going on. However, in all fairness, the technology between the nineteenth and the twentieth century would make it appear as if magic existed there too. I see all of this because it's been something I've thought about long and hard. What if this has happened before? What if time is just a huge circle, and we go through endless loops over and over again? And yet, then, what is time? Does it even exist? People find remnants of ancient and futuristic technology, and all of the sudden, you have legendary figures such as Merlin, King Arthur, Osiris, Achilles, and Thor...
I shifted, uncomfortably, attempting to dispel the somber thoughts from my mind. Absentmindedly, I glanced over the cliff side, gazing deeply into the foaming, white waters below me. How raging and reckless, I thought to myself, much like my own life. Much like the new world. Bast, the beautiful woman sitting next to me, was also watching the waterfall high from the cliff. She, was the one who had found me and brought me into this little enclave. She was short and catlike, fitting her namesake. Petite, I suppose, is the proper word for it. However, unlike her name, she could not hold her tongue. It was rare, in fact, that she ever kept her mouth shut. She often knew what she spoke of, the problem was the amount of time it took for her to get to the point. She had said once before that her true name was Sabine Rossi, but she now went exclusively by Bast. Her skin was a chestnut brown, her mane of hair as black as night. Straight and even white teeth smiled back at me, a small smattering of moles covered one cheek, giving character rather than subtracting from her beauty. She was tiny and looked much like a fairy, with delicate hands and feet. Yet her razor sharp claws that glinted in the sunlight were anything but fairy like, and they served her well as weapons. I had never really understood her or why she had saved me from a Hermood, a guardian force, while I was attempting to, ahem, free resources for use by myself and my following, I had learned though, that she always had her reasons. Always. “Why are were here Bast? I've seen waterfalls before. Many, in fact, and from all over the world. I've seen them in Asgard as well, where Odin himself has warped the laws of physics!” Bast laughed, “ Horus, you are new to this, I know, but patience is something you must have learned in the past hundred years. Honestly. I told you, we are here for you to meet Isis, that she may tell us what to do.” I shook my head, “Do you always go around calling each other by these names? We're human, Bast, we really are. And yes, I know, the sheep out there follow us around and hope that we are going to lead them to... paradise or something. But come on now, what are the chances of us ever coming within a hair's breadth of seeing the world tree, or the forever tree, or whatever you call it? We just aren't going to be able to do it. There are too many followers, and with all of them giving in to the madness, we can't break free. The few we've managed to save are barely surviving as it is!” I stood and began to pace. I really was quite dramatic, I must admit. “If we ever even managed to get through the guardians and into -” Bast lifted her hand, her palm facing outwards, “Stop, Horus. I know all this but, with what you know, we may be able to get something else. Something that may even allow us to come into the gates of Hel, and past Garm.”
I am not a timid man, nor do I scare easily. I am not, however, a hero of any sort. I never have been, I never want to be. For years I had lived out my existence fending for myself, never once breaking stride. I had only ever done enough to sustain my own life, and now these people wanted to tackle a program that had literally been alive since the very beginning. The mighty Odin himself had appointed Garm, the first and only program that had never been hacked, to guard the gates of Hel. Hel, a place that followed the myths of modern day lore, serving as a monumental torture chamber and prison. Not only was it physically located in a bunker with all the standard guards, trip wires, and defenses, but it was also located in the holographic, and just as deadly, if not more, Asgard. On one of its so called levels, a lunatic woman had just suggested that I, me, a lowlife hacker tech-wizard, showman, conman, and any other negative word you can think to throw in there, knew how to get passed him. My voice cracked, rising at least three octaves before I finally brought it back under control with a clearing of my throat. “What do you expect me to do?! Throw it a bone and just saunter on by as if nothing was the matter? Bast, we barely managed to defeat the Hermood and one of Garm's hounds, and you want to actually take on the beast himself!?" Bast, maddeningly, just smiled. “ Horus, really, you're such a drama queen. We will see when we receive Isis's orders.” I was, of course, righteously wrathful and completely ready to wring her scrawny little neck, claws of no, when she looked up, her serene face breaking into a grin. I stopped cold and slowly turned, my hand flicking toward the long blade I wore at my side. “The lady comes.”
I suddenly realized where I was, noticing the illusion all around me. I closed my eyes and relaxed quickly, breathing in two deep breaths and one long one, I forced my mind to tap into the machines that flooded it. I opened them, viewing not only the world, but Asgard as well. I cursed myself for not having seen it before, the signs had been there, but the sculptor of this place had true talent and training from the looks of it. The code flowing around me solidified and, as I completed my turn, the waterfall opened up. From it emerged two of the most beautiful women I have ever seen, followed by a man that walked with a sense of power, his muscles bunching under a tight shirt. My mouth dropped and from behind me Bast murmured, “The Lady Isis, her confidant Hathor and, of all people, Anubis...”
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