With a casual shrug, I make my way toward the closest camp, drawn in by the sight of skilled horse riders and their well-organized surroundings. As I approach, the guards at the entrance raise their weapons in a defensive stance. Ignoring their aggression, I flash a charming smile and greet them, "Hello there. Might I inquire as to what brings you all here?"
For a moment, they are taken aback by my presence. One of them speaks up, her tone stern and unwelcoming. "Man! You are not welcome within our camp. Leave now."
I can't help but grin at her response. "Well, being called 'man' by such attractive women feels like quite the compliment." I glance around, searching for someone else to speak to. "Is there anyone else I could talk to? I assure you, I mean no harm. Just curious."
Suddenly, a voice cuts through the tense atmosphere from behind the guards. It belongs to a beautiful warrior woman adorned in form-fitting golden armor with flowing blonde hair. At her side hangs a weapon that radiates divinity.
"And who is he? Why have you not chased him away yet?" she demands.
I raise an eyebrow in amusement, now that I have focused on her I know who I am speaking to. "Trust me, it's not that easy to chase me away, Hippolyta."
Before any weapons can be raised again, they all freeze in place as if held by an unseen force.
"Now that's just rude," I chide lightly. "I had no intention of intruding on your camp." With a random thought, I decided to try something, a test if you will.
As the Queen of the Amazons moves forward to check on her sisters, I introduce myself with a smirk. "I am Paragon. And I'll do you two favors, simply because I'm bored." Despite my confident demeanor, I can sense Hippolyta's deep suspicion of me. But if my hunch is correct, it won't matter.
"The first favor, when you are on the brink of losing this battle, you may call on me for help."
Her expression seems offended, but nods to acknowledge my offer.
"The second favor, after the betrayal that is yet to come, your eventual daughter will be called upon by the world of men to defeat Ares. Make sure she understands matters of the heart before she embarks on that journey, or she will only experience sadness."
With a sly smile, I vanish from their presence, leaving Hippolyta and her sisters in confusion as they regain control of their movements.
As I continue along the ridge of hills, I notice another camp in the distance on a stoney beach. Based on their use of tridents and their affinity for the water, I assume they are like the Atlanteans from Marvel comics. But the camp ahead catches my attention, it appears to be humans with traces of divinity present. They make no effort to hide it, which piques my interest even more. I wonder who they could be.
Without hesitation, I make my way towards them, keeping my own divinity hidden for now. Whomever they will be fighting must be an easily identifiable enemy, not even sparing a glance in my direction as I approach.
I take a seat by their fire and listen in on their conversation. It seems these gods are the Greek ones, Zeus, Ares, and Artemis. And they are facing off against Darkseid, a name that rings familiar from my other self's knowledge. He may be a powerful being among humans, but compared to other greater gods in the same realm, he is merely average and relies solely on his massive size for strength. It's all about perspective really, like an ant versus a boot. (I must admit, doing things to annoy people can be fun at times, hehe.)
I gained no divinity from the Greeks, so I can assume they are weaker than me then, it makes sense since at this point, while they have the Olympian dimension, in this realm, they only rule the Greeks and Romans. (Amazons were created by the old gods and only really worshiped the Gods after Zeus created Themyscira for them after the rebellion. Weirdly some sources say Zeus created them so not sure MCU is clear about it. Sorry, I know the comics better.)
I walk over and sit next to the female god, it seems a few people are chatting at the fire, Zeus looks more like I would expect Hercules to.
I keep listening in, but eventually, Artemis realizes I am next to her and jumps up, leveling her bow at me, seriously what is with these women and wanting to poke me?
I do not react, but it seems everyone else does.
Zeus speaks while playing Raiden with his lightning, "Who are you, how are you able to bypass our senses!"
I burst out laughing, "Wait, wait, let me get this straight, you believe your senses are so great that if someone can bypass it they must be trying? Have you considered you are just so weak you could not detect me?"
Bingo, Ares roars and lunges at me, wielding a large double bladed two handed axe and I can feel the divinity of it, but a bladed weapon only works when the blade hits, I reach up with one hand and trap the sides with my fingers, looking at Ares with a bored expression. "Really little war god, that is all you have?"
Zeus is about to release his lighting when I see Artemis get his attention and shake her head slightly, going unnoticed by the others.
Zeus seems to have an ego like Ares, as he is about to release it I oppress him with my divinity, Zeus's eyes grow large as he finds himself falling to his knees, looking at me in disbelief, "Honestly, I am disappointed, you are what passes for gods on this little ball? I came to help like I did the Amazons. I guess you got this and do not need my help." As I say that I turn undetectable and step back.
The human leader steps forward and drops to a knee, "Lord Zeus, who was that man." Zeus huffs and replies, "No one, a trickster who uses artifacts then runs." The humans nod and move back to let the other leaders know.
Artemis sighs and shakes her head, "We could have used the help, this will not be an easy battle."
"We are 3 gods and Darkseid in one, do not underestimate our power. We do not need some strangers whose purpose is unknown."
I notice there is one creature alone, the ring looks a lot like the yellow one my other self studied, but this one is green, hm, yellow was fear, I wonder what green means.
I focus on him and nod, Yalan Gur of the Green Lantern Corps, is that like Boy Scouts?
I link to the ring. hoping the same information my other self found about circumventing them counts, bingo.
It's like hacking it, my other self found after a time they fixed the 'bug', since we are in the past, hehe, no fix.
I slowly go through it, to be honest, it's almost exactly like the yellow one, just runs on mental strength, not fear. I keep focused and after a few hours, with the knowledge my other self already discovered, I think I have an idea of how it works.
I go sit on a mountainside so I can see the battlefield and start playing around, obviously, I do not have any knowledge on the spectrum, so I am not using that. I do have my Alpha and Omega though, so I spend my time playing around with it.
Not long after dawn, I see more ships in the sky, these are more like troop carriers. I see quite a few of them in the sky, and then someone leaps down from one and does the superhero 3-point landing, he holds a spear in his hand, and behind him, loads of flying bug-like people fly out of the carriers.
The one on the ground stands up and seems unimpressed with the people before him.
(So, keep in mind he got his but kicked, his only 8 here I think, so do not expect adult Darkseid power, he does not even have his googly eyes.)