Chapter 18

Walking around the darkly lit forge, he followed Arges up the stairs, and into the maze of mines, separating his workshop from the tunnels. Walking up a few sets of stairs, Arges moved to a dead end, and pulled out a key from his necklace. Opening a secret passageway. Following him into the massive labyrinth, they seemed to walk on forever. Continuing down the dark, unlit path’s, with nothing but their torches.

The shadows in the caverns seemed to take shape, coming alive, and stressing his already strained mind. He could now understand how some go mad in places like these. Walking along, he began to wonder if he was truly walking forward, or if my mind was turning on him, in the pitch black of nothingness. There were no signs, or discernable landmarks down this far, and the caverns all looked alike.

The tunnel began shrinking until he could feel himself scraping against it. "I really hope we aren’t lost" he muttered to himself. Gradually, the tunnel began to incline, and they were forced to climb upwards. Thankfully, the tunnel ended, and he finally caught sight of an outline of a door, as light pierced through its gaps.

Opening the stone door, the area was enveloped in a brilliant white, and blue light, that saturated the formerly pitch black tunnel, and it's surroundings, momentarily blinding his eyes. ”Oh my, I shouldn’t have let my aura leak out so much in this dreary place. But, I couldn’t help it, everything was so drab and depressing, seeing nothing but the pitch black of the cavern and the gray of the stones.” A beautiful ephemeral woman’s voice greeted them, as he struggled to recover from his momentary blindness.

The voice was beautiful, and felt, almost holy, and surreal. He immediately felt a deep, primal desire, to protect the voices wielder, and not let anything happen to her, after she spoke. Knowing the dangers of what a voice like that could create, he steeled his willpower, and readied his mind, preparing himself to make contact, but despite the danger, his mind continued to race, with questions. "Who is this? How is her voice alone this powerful?"

Finally, his eyes grew accustomed to the light in the room, as he turned to meet the woman. However, to his shock, when his eyes met hers, he discovered that their was no source of the light in the room, but the light radiated off of the woman herself, blinding him again. She was stunning, with ink black hair, and an ashen complexion, standing at the center of the room, and radiating light, like a blinding star. "A god."

He had never met one until now, only hearing of their strength and cunning. The woman was no bigger than a normal human, woman wearing a red toga, and a beautiful, ornate, open faced golden helmet, with a red plume on the top, and wielding a beautiful, ornate spear, and silver shield, depicting some famous war on it. "How the hell did she find me? Was I set up?" He thought to himself.

Taking his poleaxe from his left gauntlet, he quickly expanded it, getting ready to charge, and fight, at the slightest provocation. Seeing him taking out his weapon, the woman did not do anything, but looked to Arges, obviously asking for help.

However, before either of them could speak, anom cutt them off in anger. "What the hell is this Arges? You really thought you could kill me all by yourself little god, or maybe you were planning on having Arges backstab me and fight me together. Speak, who are you woman? If either of you so much as twitches wrong I can promise you I will drag you both to hell, even if it kills me."

Seeing anom backing up, the Woman spoke first. "Do not fear Anom, I mean you no harm. In fact, I have desired to meet you for more than ten years now. I am glad I no longer have to hide and wait to see you and get to know you when you grew older. I know you do not understand what is going on right now, but please, give me a moment to speak to you."

Fearfully, Anom replied. "What the hell does that mean? How could you be waiting for over ten years to meet me when I’m only a little over 10 years old as it is? Turning to face Arges I re-position myself to be able to battle both Arges and the woman if the need arises. What is going on? The new gods couldn’t have possibly known of me. If they did I would have been chased everywhere the last 10 years and probably killed multiple times over. It’s odd but the woman doesn’t seem interested in fighting me. I should probably use this to my advantage and get as much information as possible from her."

Irritated, the Woman replied. "Arges you should have at least warned him about me before he got here. Damn you and your eccentricities. I apologize for startling you, but I truly mean you no harm. My name is Athena and I am a god of wisdom, war, and inventions and I could never hurt you. The reason is simple. I love you with all of my heart, and just seeing you here right now truly breaks my heart that I cannot comfort you and care for you, never letting you suffer again."

Hearing Athena, Arges looked baffled and confused. Still unsure if this was all simply a ruse for the enemy to exploit during a moment of confusion. He decided to keep his defenses up and not let anyone leave, until he understood what was happening.

Looking at Arges, as he began to speak. "This wasn’t how this was supposed to happen. Athena is my partner and we are definitely on your side but I have no idea what she is talking about with everything else." Looking back at Athena for an answer she gave him a quick smirk before answering. "I will tell you this for as long as you must hear it, I mean you no harm and I will always be there for you because I love you. But, I suppose this alone will not answer your query, so let me tell you a story, and see if you can comprehend the hidden truths."

"Many thousands upon thousands of years ago Uranus and Gaia were born from chaos. The first to rise, Uranus was the very first being ever born. Uranus and Gaia would go on to have many children." Looking towards Arges, she continued speaking in a monotone voice. "Uranus despised two of his children as abominations and even feared them for their strengths."

"The Cyclopes, and the ever frightful Hecatoncheries. In his disgust and fear he decided to hide his children deep inside of Gaia in Tarturus. Trapping them in their mother’s womb never to be born into the world. There they were to remain for all time. However, Gaia desperately loved her children and beseeched Uranus to release them. When this failed Gaia would go on to ask for help from her sons, the titans to destroy him."

"She went to beg her position to all the gods, her children. However, Uranus was a tyrant who was feared by all and known for his cruelty and strength. He would regularly abuse her, and the children that the union produced. This trauma rooted itself deeply into the psyche of all of his children causing them to have a deep seated fear of the powerful tyrant."

"Only when she begged her youngest and strongest son Cronus for help, did she find a caring ear and willing hand. Gaia would go on to fashion him a sickle of obsidian and wait to ambush him with her son. They knew that when night came again Uranus would force himself on Gaia once more. However, this time Cronus would be ready. Before the act commenced, Chronos had castrated Uranus, tossing the flesh from atop Olympus onto the earth thereby defeating the god king."

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"The blood that fell on the land that day created the furies, the giants, and the nymphs of the ash trees. However, the flesh, blood, and seed of Uranus was kept where it landed. Surrounded on all sides by a temple that was erected to protect the flesh and guarded by a half-blooded titan named Ota. Gaia had received a prophesy. Protect the site, flesh, blood, and seed of Uranus. Unsure of the reason, Gaia had enough wisdom to respect and abide by the prophesy regardless."

"Time moved on, as one kingdom is pushed into the next. Slowly, Cronus began showing his tyrannical nature in his blood. This moved slowly, until Chronos received a prophesy. This prophesy foretold his doom and replacement at the hands of one of his own children, the same scenario that had doomed his father by his own hand. This caused him to do something drastic. He decided to eat all of his children as soon as they were born to avoid the whole situation."

"Chronos was the god of time and being inside of his stomach was like being swallowed by the black abyss itself. Being stuck forever in that exact moment of pain, fear, and sadness when they were devoured. This caused his wife Rhea, the titan goddess of fruitfulness, and abundance to switch out her youngest sons body with a stone transformed to look like him swaddled in a blanket. Gaia raised the new god herself teaching him the arts of war and ruling to be just and strong."

"Zeus struck Cronus in his stomach after feeding him a magic potion given to him by the titan of knowledge Metis, and caused him to regurgitate all of his devoured sons and daughters. Including Poseidon, Hades, Hera, and many more. Once they possessed the necessary numbers they began a massive war known as the Titanomachy. This was a massive war, where at the end Zeus did manage to take the throne from Cronus and defeat him, but at a devastating cost."

"Time stops for no one though, as old kingdoms get pushed into new. The last piece of your puzzle comes from Zeus himself. Once he was made king and had enough time to sour, he too began to become a tyrant. Gaia had warned him on multiple occasions. However, this converged into a solidary point when he received a prophecy."

"This prophesy was like his fathers, and his fathers, fathers. It said he would have two children with his then wife Metis, the Titaness of knowledge and wisdom, my mother. The first child would rival him in all aspects and be exceptionally wise and cunning. However, the second child would be a male, and he would eclipse the power of Zeus dethroning the god and taking down the tyrant."

"Once Zeus discovered this prophesy he took decisive action asking Metis to play a game with him where she would transform into any of the objects he asked for to, “show off her powers” to the mortals. She did as was requested of her until he asked her to transform into a fly and when she did, he quickly swallowed her. She did not realize the betrayal until it was far too late to do anything."

"This was done so metis could not get pregnant from Zeus while she was inside of him and he was also planning on absorbing her entirety gaining the wisdom and knowledge of a titaness goddess. This might have actually worked. However, what Zeus did not know at the time was that my mother was already pregnant with me. My mother Metis gave birth to me inside of Zeus and raised me until I was old enough to defend myself and with the last vestiges of her power she made me this helmet and spear."

"Once I was strong enough I made my way to Zeus head and began to ram my spear into his skull, causing him immense pain, and suffering. Eventually he asked Hephaestus to crack his head open with an axe. Once he did, I was able to fully escape from his head, fully grown and in my armor. Once Zeus saw me and my potential and wisdom, and I was welcomed, with both arms into the pantheon. Meanwhile my mother was slowly absorbed by Zeus who gained some of her wisdom and she is still there to this day. However, that is a lie."

"The truth is that my mother knew of the prophesy long before it was brought to Zeus’s attention. I’m sure you are wondering, if Metis already knew of the prophesy, why would she stay to suffer? The truth is that Gaia approached Metis and told her of her future pains and sorrows if she chose to stay long before Zeus knew. However, she also told her of her stunning daughter, being equal to Zeus if she stayed and gave birth inside of his body."

"She also informed her that despite Zeus’s attempt to thwart fate, she would be giving birth to twins. One female and one male. However, she also voiced to her the sad reality of not being strong enough to birth the child alone. Therefore, we made a plan. When I escaped Zeus, being born through his skull into the world I brought my family with me, smuggled inside my body."

"From this point on, we had to move very secretly. One mistake would doom us all. So, I waited for Gaia to come and congratulate Zeus and meet me to implement our design. My mother was stripped down to her last vestige of strength, and once Gaia asked if she was still sure she wanted to go through with everything, she did not hesitate for a second. However, due to mother’s physical weakness from incarceration, digestion, and her twin pregnancy she was painfully tired and weakened to a great extent."

"Both twins were foretold to be abnormally powerful, but the son would be stronger than Zeus, and the massive amount of energy and potential needed for the development of that child would be astounding, so mother decided to infuse her entire being into the child giving him the strength and wisdom of the Titaness of knowledge."

"Taking the god child, Gaia gave him the flesh, blood, and seed of Uranus and poured it into him giving him the strength, endurance, and potential of the universe above. Gaia then allowed him rest and develop in her womb, even giving him her core golden ichor making the child a direct blood related son. All of this was placed on the potential of Metis’s child’s prophesy creating an immensely powerful being that could grow to destroy anything if so desired."

"Combining all of these bloodlines and prophesy’s together makes for an extreme creation, and one that none of the new gods would allow to survive if they were to find out about it, and especially if they were to see it. So, if you are dense and still do not understand let me spell it out for you. I love you and will stick with you until the end of time because you are the only family I have left. You are my brother, and my mother. You are an old primordial god, strong and terrifying, and also a new god, understanding, and beautiful."

"This was not my plan to defeat the king of the gods. However, after hearing it all the way through from Gaia I had to admit it was pretty ingenious. But, the choice like always is up to the individuals. I have laid out our plan and shown you what we have sacrificed. However, the question is, what do you want to do?"

"Do you want to keep walking the same road or do you just want to live out a normal life? Although my mother sacrificed herself for you, you are not indebted to us. I want my brother to live a life that makes you happy and I know that’s all mom wanted as well."

Looking at Athena and Arges, he was stunned silent as he attempted to comprehend the new information that he was given. Thinking for a few moments, he looked to Athena and asked, “Why are you telling me all this? What do you even want to do? I now know you have a grudge against Zeus but you realize I not only have a grudge against Zeus but all the new gods. For no other reason than they would never allow me to exist if I am ever found out. Are you a true ally or will you thwart my offence to the other new gods?"

Smiling gently, Athena replied. "No brother, you are my only family. I have no true friends or family in the gods. The only thing I desire is to be of aid to you and be a family again." Confused, but somber, Anom replied. "I do not know how that would work, but if your words are true then I would be thankful to have a new sister."

Relieved and excited, Athena spoke. "Then we shall be a family from this day forth. Since this is our first meeting then I should give you a gift in place of mother and Gaia also has a gift for you, but she cannot come now for fear of attracting Zeus’s gaze. Please wait here for a moment."