The Age of the Gods (1)
“The sky's the highest thing there is! It's above everything, so it's gotta be the greatest! So why won't you praise me?!”
A sky-blue little kid was whining and flailing about. Baal. I let out a sigh as I looked at the brat.
“I've got a lot I could say, but first things first—how did you even know where to find me?”
“Shamash aunty told me.”
Ah, aunty.... Calling Shamash aunty.... This kid. He's no ordinary punk.
“Don't call her aunty—call her sis.”
“No way! She's old, so she's an aunty!”
“Well, yeah, she's older, but....”
By that logic, would they call me an aunty too? I was kinda used to being called mom, but aunty? That one hit different.
“So praise me already! Granny!”
“H-, granny....”
It was a sneak attack I hadn't seen coming. Maybe I deserved a medal for not breathing fire right then and there.
“Don't call me granny....”
“But if we're talking age, you're basically an ancestor, right?”
“Th-that's true, but....”
Attacking me with age like a coward.... This was no ordinary brat.
“Hoo, haa.... Deep breaths.... Haa....”
Just the words of an ignorant kid. A puppy that doesn't know to fear the tiger. Getting mad over this would just show how small-minded I was. It'd make me out to be a petty god who can't handle a clueless child's words.
So, for now, I'd let it slide.
“It's not about age. Wouldn't you get mad if someone called you a brat?”
“But it is true! She's an aunty, and you're a granny.”
“It's fine saying that in front of Shamash or me, but watch it around the other kids.”
Shamash seemed to think getting mad over it was beneath her, so she'd let it go.... But the others? They'd blow a fuse without hesitation.
Anyway.
“You really came all the way here just for a pat on the head?”
“Yup!”
I might hold the seat of the supreme god and all, but the new gods usually took one look at me and bolted in terror. This one had the guts to track me down. Was he fearless? Or just brave?
“If you want praise, don't you need to do something praiseworthy first? You can't expect applause just for being born with it.”
Sure, you could compliment innate looks—“You're so handsome!” or “What a beauty!”—but praise was fundamentally for achievements, right? You couldn't get cheers just for popping out as the god of the sky.
“Hmm.... Something praiseworthy....”
The sky-blue kid pondered my words, then lit up like he'd struck gold.
“I'll become awesome! Like, uh.... a king! The king of the gods! Then you'll praise me, right, granny?”
“For the last time, drop the granny....”
“But if you won't let me call you granny, what should I call you?”
“I've got a name, you know. Not that I'm telling you.”
Baal puffed out his cheeks like a sulky chipmunk and shot back.
“Why won't you tell me your name?”
Why not tell him? No real reason.... Hmm. Maybe I could spice it up a bit and mess with the kid.
“Actually, my name is sealed away.”
“Sealed?!”
“Yeah. The power in that name is so immense, even hearing it could drive the weak-minded mad unto death.”
“M-mad... unto death...?”
“Gods aren't immune either. Speak or hear it, and your divinity crumbles—you lose your godhood. So I sealed it myself.”
Of course, total BS. I'd never told anyone my name, and it didn't pack that kinda punch anyway. How could it, when no one's ever called me by it?
“So, wanna know it?”
I grinned mischievously at Baal, who started trembling, face pale as a ghost. He was picturing his doom and freaking out. I'd only meant to spook him a little, but this reaction was hilarious.
“Th-then! I can just call you something else!”
“Hm?”
Something else?
“Shamash aunty calls you Mom sometimes, or Mother of Life—those are fine, right?”
“Those aren't names.”
“Exa-ct-ly! So call you something that's not your name! Anything but that terrifying real one!”
I nodded slightly. Not that my name was terrifying to begin with.
“So! I'll give granny a new name!”
“Granny, seriously, stop....”
Ignoring me completely, Baal yelled with his still-pale face.
“Gaia!”
“Hm?”
“I'll call granny Gaia from now on!! Problem solved!”
“Solved....”
Gaia, though? Where'd he get that from? It was definitely from another world, but names from there kept popping up weirdly often. Excluding the ones I'd given out myself.
“Gaia! I won't call you granny! Or your real name! And Mother of Life is too stuffy! Gaia! Gaia it is!!”
The flailing sky-blue kid. I sighed softly at the sight.
“Do whatever you want. Whatever.”
Still, Gaia.... In Greek-Roman myth, that was the goddess of the earth, right? Maybe I should look it up on the wiki later.
The goddess of the earth in Greek-Roman myth. The earth itself. The world itself. The goddess of creation and mother of the world.
Hm.... Uh.... Wait, what? This lines up way too well with what I've been up to. Skip the earth goddess bit. But goddess of creation, mother of the world....
The origin of life, existing alongside the world's birth—the world itself, the source of matter, the rules of the world incarnate. A goddess with the power to create new beings and forge worlds. Known as the goddess of reproduction, creation, and life; overseer of oracles, prophecies, and oaths.
Hm.... What the hell. That's me. No way, right? I'm no earth goddess! Just a silver dragon who makes stuff!
But.... Why do so many points overlap? Why? It's a god from another world, isn't it?
As I mulled it over, a tiny voice piped up beside me.
“You don't like the name Gaia?”
Baal looked anxious, his expression shrinking timidly. Hmm.... A tiny kid like this pulling that face.... It didn't sit right with me.
Whatever. Other worlds were other worlds. This was this. Draw the line.
“I like the name Gaia.”
“Really? For real?”
“Yeah.”
Baal perked up at my single word. Such a little kid.
Hm. Yeah. Raise him right, and maybe I could offload some faith my way? A sky god would make a fine king of the gods. He was a bit selfish and cocky, but that was fixable with some education.
If I kept sitting on the supreme throne.... I'd end up as the literal goddess of life.
Alright. Let's raise this brat. Mold him into the sky god, king of gods, and dump divine duties on him.
Then.... My workload shrinks. Yeah. For my peaceful life.
Aim true! NEET lifestyle!!
Gaia. Mother of all earth.
That name emerged in an era when countless gods were born into the world.
The very moment the Age of Gods began.
Ancient gods like the Mother of Life had existed before, but they governed only fragments of natural phenomena. It was in the voids they left that a new generation of gods was born.
Gaia was one such new god.
Theories abound on her origins, but the most prevailing is the Four Elements Theory.
According to it, the ancient gods of fire, water, wind, and earth maintained the world's balance.
Sagarmatha, the dwarves' holy mountain, had originally held the earth domain—but a massive, inert mountain god couldn't embody all earth, so his status was downgraded (some say due to friction with the dwarves). At that juncture, a new earth god was needed... and Gaia was born.
……
But Gaia's faith was absorbed into the worship of the Goddess of Life.
In the end, Gaia became not the goddess of earth, but one of the Goddess of Life's epithets.
Author unknown. Much of the book contains claims later refuted or of dubious veracity; most copies were reportedly recalled and destroyed.