A man stood at the edge of the pool, staring intently at the glistening waters, a frown creasing his forehead. He was dressed in a navy blue business suit, which seemed to glisten in the sparkling lights of the Roman-like building. His eyes were stormclouds, and they seemed to bristle with energy as an image rose from the pool. The image was a woman, which placed her hands on her hips, then burst into a giant sea-serpent. It’s watery roar echoed around the pillars before splashing back into the pool. The man swallowed, then turned as a set of footsteps echoed eerily in the silence that had followed the creature’s roar.
The man grimaced as he spied who was walking towards him, it was a young woman whose hair shimmered silver in the lights, who also wore a suit, but this one more casual.
“Father,” She greeted him.
“Athena,” he responded.
“Which goddess? One from the North, East, or South?” She asked crossing her arms.
“It was none of the current gods, the ancient accords still hold,” he responded.
“So you say, but small wars have started to break out, Ares is ecstatic,” she countered.
“Immortality does tend to create boredom,” he mused, “Regardless, she was older.”
“Older?” Athena asked, her disbelieving tone obvious.
“While it’s true most of the primordials have withered away, or were killed in ancient times, there are sparks that remain of them. And all it would take is a tiny flicker of remembrance for a primordial to reconstitute themselves,” the man explained.
“Who?” Athena asked letting her hands drop to her side.
“One of the first, Tiamat, and she’s issued her challenge,” the man remarked glancing up at the roof.
“Then I will hold a conference with Dionysus and Aphrodite, they are her children?” She asked.
“No good I am afraid,” the man remarked.
“What, the Mighty Zeus, afraid?” She asked.
“Mighty? No, the Old and Tired Zeus,” he countered, “One whose legacy is that of blood, assault, and betrayal.”
Athena stared at him, her face becoming neutral, and he finally broke into a wide smile. A chuckle escaped from his being, despite how he was feeling, and he walked around the edge of the pool to stand before his daughter.
“Not even a note of refusal I see,” he joked.
“Would you prefer that I lie?” She asked.
“No, out of all the gods and goddesses, I know that you’ll always tell the truth as you see it,” he replied patting her shoulder, “Only a fool would dismiss that.”
“You are the leader of the western gods, what would you have me do?” She asked.
“Tiamat’s challenge is not just to me, it’s to all of us. She means to retake all of the west or worse,” he thought out loud, “perhaps destroy all that the west has created. We are but mere thoughts of mortals after-all. You said it yourself, wars have started to crop up along the edges of our realms.”
“Would she wish to create another dark age?” Athena asked.
“Why not? It’s only when knowledge is lost, that mortals change,” he remarked.
“I would prefer if that were not to happen,” she countered.
“Indeed. Gather the thirteen, we need to discuss how to respond to this,” he ordered.
“Will they all come?” She asked.
“That, is a very good question,” he remarked before turning away.
He strode to the pool, and raised his hand. His chair rose from the floor. It was a simple chair, more of a stone bench, but he sat upon it as if it were a throne of gold. A lightning bolt exploded from the sky into his hand where is sizzled and cracked. His body appeared to grow bigger, and stronger, though in honesty it was more of an illusion of his power than him actually becoming different. The worry and doubt melted from his face, replaced with that of an old stern father.
Athena watched all of this, and shook her head. She saw it for what it was, just an old broken god posturing. A flicker of fear filled her heart as she thought of the other thirteen. The ruling council of the western gods. They hadn’t been called to this place in ages, and most of them would hate being summed here. And if she knew it, her father knew it, and that was why he was displaying his power. The same power that had fractured the thirteen so long ago now. The same power he had used to overthrow Poseidon. The same power he had used against the gods of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Did her father learn as he said he did, or did he just continue to do what was in his nature to do.
Where did the dreams and desires of mortals, and the beings known as gods come into existence? Who created who? Did they, the gods, even truly have free will?
She had no idea. Which, as the goddess of wisdom, may just be something she had been crafted with. The ability to not understand, but the ability to think. To ponder, and guess at, the wonders of the universe.
She turned and strode away from the throne room of the gods, she had work to do. She had no desire to witness the death of the wisdom that the mortals had acquired. Could she even survive another dark age, especially with the new weapons that had been dreamed up by mortals. Ares and Hephaestus had been busy inspiring them to create new ways of causing devastation. To the point that she was growing weary from how much work she had to do to stop them from using them. Aphrodite as well was no help, a war goddess, whose sole mission it seemed to drive mortals mad with the desire to protect their families. If Ares and Aphrodite had their way, a massive war would erupt, again, amongst the mortals.
Perhaps it would be better to let Tiamat wipe the slate clean.
She brushed that thought from her mind as she stepped through the gate to the realm of Hades. She felt it was better to start with the god she knew she would have no trouble convincing. Lord Hades, Zagreus, the son of Old Poseidon. As well as the eldest brother of Poseidon and Zeus. The joy of being a god, the figments of mortal’s imagination. It made it almost impossible to retain memories of lives long past, but a few sparkled through now and again.
She passed through the gate as she mused about their nature, and came upon an idyllic summer blessed prairie. She took a deep breath, enjoying the lavender smell that permeated the area, and then started to walk towards the Highrise building that stood ominously in the distance. Leave it to a by the book nerd like Lord Hades to turn his castle into an office building.
Zeus sat on his throne glaring at the pool in front of him, as Hera stepped up to his throne, her own chair rising beside his own.
“Did Athena find you?” Zeus asked.
“Do you take me for a fool? Am I not aware of what you are up to?” Hera asked in a biting tone.
“My apologies,” he remarked in an uncharacteristic show of humility, “You are the Queen of the Gods after-all.”
“Then it is that bad.” She remarked.
“Possibly worse, if the others do not agree to marshal our forces, then the western gods will be no more,” he answered candidly.
“war will come? Families destroyed?” Hera asked.
“Yes,” Zeus answered.
“What is your back up plan?” She asked.
“I have none, truly, I am without a plan,” he replied as a sad smile cracked his stern visage.
“I never thought I would ever truly see you naked,” Hera remarked.
Zeus smiled and shook his head.
“You may blame the mortals for growing up,” he remarked.
Hera smirked, then swept to her seat.
“Transient thoughts are we,” she remarked as she sat upon her chair. The King of the Gods glanced over at the Queen, and watched the same mask descend onto her. A cold detached, stern, mother, glared back at him. A familiar ache filled him, one that he knew he had caused, and he wished mortals were still cold and callus. However, time marched on, mortals changed, therefore so did the gods.
Matthew William Lindquist 