Hermes led Shane step by step into the depths of the Divine Realm.
They were clearly taking the same route as on his previous visit to the Divine Realm, yet the farther they went, the more dramatically their surroundings changed.
Stonework and vegetation seemed to shift and flow, while the white mist thinned.
The level ground gradually rose, and the white paving stones became broad steps. The outline of an enormous mountain grew clearer within a golden radiance of unknown origin.
Light streamed in all directions, and patterns of Sacred Laurel and olive branches appeared on the towering stairway beneath their feet.
Shane looked around, feeling that the mountain's shape seemed rather familiar.
"Is this... Mount Olympus?"
"To be precise, this is Mount Olympus in its true form."
Hermes suddenly stopped. Turning sideways, he raised a hand toward Shane, his fingertips tracing an arc through the air to point toward the summit.
"Go on. The gods are all waiting for you."
With those words, Hermes vanished into the golden radiance.
Shane looked in the direction he had indicated, and the last wisps of mist finally cleared away. With nothing left to obscure it, an incomparably magnificent white temple stood before him.
"Whoa."
Shane genuinely hadn't expected them to put on such a grand show.
Before the temple at the summit stood the indistinct figures of nearly a hundred gods.
The Twelve Olympians stood on the steps before the temple's main entrance, while the other gods were scattered around them in a protective semicircle.
Those he knew, those he didn't, and even those who didn't look human.
They were all there.
Zeus stood at the very center, gazing kindly at Shane as he spread his arms from a hundred meters away.
His white beard trembled gently, yet his voice rang like