Herculean

Κεφάλαιο III Μέρος I

Before the rise of the Olympians, before the era of their greatness, before Hera breathed life into a sphere of green and blue, there were the Titans.

Great and terrible beings, bred from beauty and chaos, the Titans ruled Mount Olympus with fear and terror, intent on spreading their destruction across the universe. But before that could happen, their children, the mighty Olympians, rose to the occasion.

In the Titanomachy, the war between the Titans and the Olympians, Zeus assembled an army of gods. Thus, with the lightning deity at their helm, the Olympians took the mountain from their forefathers, cursing the Titans to stone and casting them to the lowest depths of the Underworld.

But not every Olympian was a hero, not every Titan a villain. The Titaness Thea earned her caption as a goddess when she aided the Olympians in the war. She sabotaged her own people, her sacrifice securing their defeat, and hers. Accepting the fate of her clan as her own, she cast herself in the Underworld, guaranteeing her children, the Olympians, could begin their ascension. Thea gave them the throne.

Olympians, and the Greeks who remember, still give praise to the goddess of light and sight. 

I closed my bedroom door and turned out the lights, kneeling on the wooden floorboards in a circle of yellow candles. Before me was a large mixing bowl filled with water blessed and purified. From Eros I had assembled bits of everlasting flower, a plant sacred to the gods. I scattered the petals the across the water's surface, then lowered my palms and forehead to the floorboards, praying to the goddess for wisdom and mercy. Naked as a candle's flame, I left myself uncovered for the deities in body and in mind.

"Like a fool, I hoped things would be different on Earth. But my mistakes have followed me from Olympus." I shook my head. "I fear I have set forth a chain of events that cannot be stopped. I am built for war, but for this battle... I am ill equipped."

Eyes closed, legs folded, I sat in wait of Thea's wisdom–for I was lost. 

A strange wind cleaved the room, nearly snuffing the candles. Light flared within the bowl--its radiance half-blinding. I turned my face until it subsided, in awe of the flaxen dots of light dancing above the water.

<<Hercules.>>  A deep, feminine voice echoed, like many in one. Mouthpiece of the gods, the water rippled with each ethereal note.

"Goddess..." Palms to the floor, I lowered my head to the wood, in reverence of the Light Goddess, Thea.

<<You speak of war, but not of love. Are war and love not similar, separated only by varying degrees of pain and lust? If war is all you know, young hero, then why have you abandoned the very city of discord?>>

I never felt such shame and remorse. "It was selfish to leave Olympus, I see that now. But the gods, they have abandoned their people. And the world has forgotten us. I have no purpose--"

<<Every thing has purpose. You have forgotten yourself, hero of Greece.>>

"I'd rather be human."

<<You are both. And without you, the fate of Olympus is sealed.>>

"Iphicles has taken the throne. The Alcatraz has already fallen."

<<Or you.>>

Every part of me seized with selfish dismay. 

<<Run from home but your destiny will follow. King or no king, few titles are as worthy as hero.>>

The water furrowed, replaying memory after memory. Within its clear surface, my story was depicted; I saw myself in ways I never had.

I saw my mother, happy and exhausted, tearful with relief as she cradled a newborn in each arm. The picture undulated. Two children were revealed, one dark-headed, one light, laughing as they raced through grain fields by the sea... Once more the story changed. This time I saw my brother, older but no wiser, bleeding out in the same field. Before his enemy could deliver the final blow, I swiftly intervened, shield-to-sword with a legendary leader, the ruler of the fearsome giants and cousin to the Titans.