Chapter 339: _Bury Ourselves Before Seeing The Battlefield

Hale-Ferguson Residence

"Alright, everyone. It’s taco Wednesday. Come round and make yours." Devon announced later that night, already standing before the kitchen island with Ambrose and Orion.

"Taco Wednesday?" Viktor called from the living room, striding to the kitchen with a can of vodka soda. "We’ve never had one of those."

"Well, we’re having it now." Devon shrugged, arranging cheese into his. "I’m way too worn out to make anything more complex tonight."

"I could just use one of my mother’s recipes and whip up something," Viktor suggested, head swerving to the fridge. "Do we have macaroni and butter?"

Ambrose was about to answer when a voice drifted from the living room.

"Tacos sound good enough, thank you."

Every head turned.

Gabriel and Valentine strutted to the kitchen, their red and black coats respectively whipping gently behind them. They’d both arrived about an hour ago, in time for dinner.

Ambrose squinted.

Ever since Gabriel came, he’s been more silent than usual.

He tried asking how his meeting with his parents went, and all he kept answering was ’fine’.

But Ambrose knew that was a lie.

Based solely on his experience with the man’s mother and what he’s heard about his father, he could already guess what the main discussion they had was. He’d like to visit that topic again—but for now they’ve got far bigger fish to fry.

"These look nice." Valentine grinned, grabbing one of the tacos Orion had already made. "Thanks, little one."

"Hey! Not cool, I was going to eat that."

Devon quietly passed one he’d just made to Orion. Then he drummed his fingers on the island.

"Any updates from Loki yet? You’d think the person calling for a meeting like it was some kind of intervention would be here earlier."

Orion’s attention perked while he was in the middle of digging into a taco. "Papa, what’s the meeting going to be about?"

"Oh, buddy, it’s—"

"Not something you should worry your cute little head about."

All heads snapped almost in unison, past the kitchen, living room and then locking on the stairs.

And there they were.

Loki descended the steps, donned in a handless blue see-through outfit, short brown hair permed to perfection like they were about to give an inaugural speech instead of talking over dinner.

Orion was the first to react. "Loki! Daddy and papa have been expecting you."

The lord of chaos grinned when they got to the island. "Have they now?" Gently grabbing Orion’s hand, they leaned down and whispered. "Hey, this is going to be a really important adult discussion. Why don’t you go to the living room for a bit?"

The boy pouted. "You guys always shoo me away whenever you’re having adult discussions. When am I going to be ready to have one?"

"When you’re fifty," Loki said before they could stop themselves. They chuckled when Ambrose gave a disapproving look. "I’m just kidding. You’ll be involved eventually, kiddo. Just do this one thing for me, okay?"

Orion eventually left when he was told there were two new episodes of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s space documentary airing tonight.

"That should keep him occupied." Ambrose sighed. "So should we take these to the dining table or—"

"I don’t plan to take long." Loki grabbed a taco Viktor made, taking a huge bite with zero shift in their expression. "Long story short, the Pantheon had a meeting today. One of Kali’s impressive skills that makes her arguably our second most powerful member is her ability to get visions into the past and future."

Devon’s brows furrowed. "Now that you mention it, who’s the most powerful amongst y’all?"

Loki patted their hair with a proud grin that instantly made Ambrose know he was about to hear some horse shit.

"Me, of course. I could basically warp reality with my illusions. I mean, how can you beat that?"

Gabriel arched his brow. "Wasn’t she able to bypass my spatial lock with one of her projections?"

"Not to mention the time she sent another projection to my past." Ambrose rolled his eyes. "We’ll argue who’s the most powerful in your group of godly Espers later, Loki. What was Kali’s vision?"

Loki’s grin faded.

The kitchen seemed to lose whatever warmth it had carried only moments ago.

"Kali’s vision..." They set the half-eaten taco down on the counter, appetite seemingly forgotten. "...wasn’t just another prophecy."

Nobody interrupted.

"She saw members of the Pantheon dying. Apollo. Wukong." Their gaze lowered briefly before lifting again. "Me."

The silence that followed stretched so long the ticking wall clock suddenly sounded deafening.

"She doesn’t know what’s coming," Loki continued quietly. "She only knows it’s bigger than the Void Entity. Bigger than the Devourer. Something capable of bringing even the Pantheon to its knees."

Their eyes settled on Ambrose.

"But all of you already know what she couldn’t identify."

"The Archons..." Ambrose whispered.

The word hung in the air like a death sentence.

Gabriel suddenly barked out a laugh, making everyone look at him.

He rubbed the back of his neck, another small chuckle escaping despite how hollow it sounded.

"Well..." He shrugged weakly. "If the world’s ending, I should probably stop procrastinating and write that will I keep forgetting about."

"Gabriel." Ambrose reached across the kitchen island and quietly took his hand.

The Space God’s smile cracked almost immediately beneath the simple gesture, his fingers instinctively tightening around Ambrose’s.

"Hey," Ambrose murmured. "Let’s not bury ourselves before we’ve even seen the battlefield."

Gabriel let out a slow breath. "Yeah. Right."

Viktor remained thoughtful, fingertips tapping lightly against the countertop.

"At the moment," he finally said, "it feels as though we’re sitting ducks."

Nobody argued.

"Fortunately," His icy gaze shifted toward Loki, "that isn’t entirely true."

Devon frowned. "What do you mean?"

"We’re not powerless." Viktor folded his arms. "We’re simply isolated. If what’s coming truly surpasses everything we’ve faced before, then we need allies."

"The Pantheon?" Valentine asked.

"The strongest allies available."

Devon’s expression slowly hardened as realisation dawned. "You’re suggesting..."

Viktor looked directly at Ambrose.

"You have to tell them about Future Ambrose."

The room fell completely still.

"And," Viktor added after a measured pause, "if we’re asking gods to wager their lives on us... I think it’s time you told them all your other secrets too."