Oðinn seeks the Rheingold to pay a gambling debt with Perun, but, he’ll need the wisdom of Thoth in Eagypt to pass the stupid tests to get it and he might run into Siddhartha on his way south. -- Deathshead419
[AN: How to piss off a lot of pagans speedrun ;) FWIW, I am not trying to offend. Of all these mentioned in the prompt, the Buddhists are most likely to be cool with the following]
None can truly die until the last of their impact is no longer detectable in the world. Until the last wine they pressed is imbibed. Until the last bread they baked is eaten or has rotted to earth. Until their name is no longer spoken nor written.
The same holds true for those that people hold divine.
They have to go somewhere when the worship of the living no longer nourishes them. And they have to do something with their nigh infinite time. Most choose to waste it, since those who have an overabundance find it very easy to waste that.
"Ha!" Perun crowed. "Get sniped, asshole!"
"Oh, us damn it," grumbled Oðinn. "Best fifteen out of twenty-nine?"
"Sure, I love watching you lose. This is my game. And the more I win, the larger the prize I'm going to dream up.
Oðinn idly wondered what made him think he could beat a War God at Call of Duty? Not his famed knowledge, that was for sure. "Fine. What's the pool at?"
"All of the Rheingold... or one thing worth more." Perun smirked like the cat that had found the canary drowned in the cream.
Well... he didn't say that Oðinn couldn't rely on some form of trickery. If the gods of Asgard knew one thing, it was how to skip out on a bill. Unfortunately for Oðinn, Loki had only left behind a note.
Visiting the kids. Yes, all of them. Don't wait up.
"What, all of them?" Oðinn muttered to himself.
Who else did he know with wits? Oðinn made his way to the longest-running nation where another god of wisdom resided. Thoth had had a resurgence in popularity, owing to a pun involving the pronounciation of his name[1].
Oðinn found him browsing AO3. "The font of human knowledge at their fingertips and they choose to write about..." he squinted to look. "Winn... cest?"
"It's an acquired taste," defended Thoth, turning on his screensaver to prevent further shoulder surfing. "What's this about? I'm due to play Minecraft with Saint Isadorus this afternoon."
"Lost a bet with Perun, and he wants the Rheingold or one thing worth more."
"Oof."
"Yeah, and it's not like I want to lose the other eye for the sake of knowing what happened to the bloody thing. Some joker made it into a ring? I think? I can't remember what happened to the ring."
Thoth got googling. "Damn. All I'm getting is recommendations for opera ticket prices. Stupid late-stage capitalism wrecking everything useful."
"What about your own knowledge power?" asked Oðinn.
"God of writing?" said Thoth. "Not knowledge. Basically, I can read and write. Small beans in this day and age. Though... the ability to read and comprehend might put me ahead of most of the living."
"Well where can I find something worth more than the Rheingold, then?"
"Ebay?" suggested Thoth.
"Hardy har har. I guess it's time for a quest." He sighed and wandered away from Egypt. It didn't take him long to find a glowing, meditating figure near the mountains of Asia. Siddhartha? What are you doing here?"
"I am everywhere and nowhere. I am all things and no things. Therefore I can be where I please." The Buddha opened their eyes. "And I like the view.
"You're all things, you say," mused Oðinn, pulling at his beard. "Are you also the Rheingold? Or one thing worth more?"
"I am in all things, and all things are in me," said Buddha. "Being one with the cosmos means that I am the cosmos."
"Well, that's got to be worth more. Care to help me with a debt? I lost a bet with Perun."
Buddha smile. "The thing he desires, yet he cannot own," they chuckled. "Such is the nature of folly."
Perun took one look at the two of them and growled, "Oh, you asshole."
[1] Thoth. Pronounced, "tote".
[Photo by Vitaliy Burov on Unsplash]
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