I didn’t really blame Bill for not believing me. In this century, children are taught that the Greek gods and goddesses are simply myths. Interesting stories at the most. When the original authors began telling stories about us, TV didn’t exist and people had to do something for entertainment. The stories were woven together so well, I am surprised that anyone believes they are just stories. Even the fragments of tales that survived the burning of the Library of Alexandria all agreed on the major points.
Humans outgrew the need for supernatural explanations for things as simple as a thunderstorm or a flower blooming in spring. The Olympians didn’t make the sun rise, as the myths said. Helios didn’t pull the sun across the sky in a four-horse chariot. The Seasons didn't bring snow in winter or spring rains. Demeter didn’t make crops grow. As a race, we didn’t control the tides, the movement of the stars in heaven, or the changing attitudes of man. But, at one time, the simple and innocent humans thought the stories were true. They worshiped that race of beings that were sent to render education and aid to the fledgling race of humans.
The Titans and their Olympian children are travelers, teachers from the Home World, called Sonara. The Creator of All made us, just like all the other intelligences in the universe. The humans proved to be different from many other races. Humans possess curiosity, passion, skepticism, inquisitiveness, and imagination. They also possess a desire for power and greatness. Their passions made it easy for the Titans and Olympians to get caught up in the excitement. I am no exception to that. While I didn’t start wars, I am guilty of allowing myself to be worshiped, when that right is reserved for the Creator of the universe. I participated in the jealousies and passions taught to us by our students.
The Creator could have destroyed us all, but instead, he scattered us about the planet and distorted memories of us. The Creator forced us to live among the humans who had once elevated us to the status of gods, scratching out a living among the ashes of our former existence. No longer celebrated teachers, we toiled and worked as hard as any human.
Bill’s reaction should not have surprised me. No human believes we exist. Very few humans believe we existed at all. Now, when they needed to believe us so they could save their own lives, they couldn’t.
Eli wrapped his arms around me from behind. “You are thinking very hard.”
“We have to find Ares. I don’t want Bill to die. It is not his fault he doesn’t believe me.”
“There is still the possibility that it isn’t Phobos, at all,” Helios, former god of the sun, told me.
“Agreed. But, if he is not responsible, did I just stir up a hornet’s nest?” I asked Eli.
“Quite possibly.” Eli let me go and sat at the table again. ”Athena, I think it is time to make a real plan.”
I stopped staring at the top of the stairs as if I would suddenly see Bill standing there and joined Eli at the table. Self-recrimination was something that I had never done well and it didn’t suit me to start. I said the wrong thing to Bill and he now thinks I am a freak, so rather than regretting what I said, it was time to mend it, if it could be mended.
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“What’s your plan?” I asked him.
“We agree that we have to find Ares and recruit his help, but we can’t just march up his mountain. If you want Ares, you don’t knock on his front door. But, engage him, we must. Your friend’s reaction to your story is the same reaction we will get from any human, so we have to go it alone. We have to protect Bill from Phobos, even if Bill doesn’t want our protection.”
Zeus officiated at the marriage of Eli and me over six hundred years ago, but still, Eli held onto a very large part of himself that he never let me see. I never worried about it very much because I returned the favor. I didn’t tell him so many of the things going through my head. Maybe it was because of a natural mistrust. Maybe it was our nature to never tell anyone everything we know. “The question is, how do we convince Ares to come out of hiding?” He asked me.
“I don’t know. Aphrodite probably knows him better than either you or I. Well, better than anyone outside of his dark circle of companions.” I shrugged my shoulders.
“But, Aphrodite is vacuous and vain. She pays little attention to the world around her unless it directly affects her. Besides that, don’t forget that our little goddess of love bears an intense hatred for me.”
“I don’t know, then, Eli. I don’t know how to attract a spider.”
“Spider you say? You attract a spider by becoming a fly.”
I really hate it when he talks in metaphors. “And how does one become a fly?” I asked, with little patience.
“Athena, we didn’t call you ‘Wisdom’ for nothing.”
“Wisdom isn’t the same thing as scheming.” I stood and began pacing across the dining area and in an apartment as small as ours, pacing meant three steps in any direction before encountering a solid object. But, the pacing was purposeful and productive. I always think better on my feet. I said, “Going to Ares’s territory is a way to attract his attention. You know where he is, so you can take us there. Maybe something as simple as thrashing around in the bushes is enough. Not all plans have to be complicated. Once we have his attention, we talk to him.”
“I think you may be correct. How about this? We go get the horses and take them to the Rockies where Ares is holed up. We ride in from a considerable distance to give him plenty of notice that we are coming.”
I smiled. I knew Eli missed riding his four horses and would use any excuse to do it. Aloud, I said, “Ares could simply bolt if he doesn’t want to talk to us.”
”He could do that, anyway. But, I think he may be curious as to why we would visit him.”