Rapist Zeus (4)
Rapist Zeus (4)
Leto was missing.
In this case, perhaps it's more accurate to say she ran away.
The reason is one.
Shame.
She had misunderstood Hera. A prophecy foretold that her twins would hold power second only to mine, so she believed Hera would envy and hate her. That much was only natural.
Her own first daughter, Hephaestus, worked as a blacksmith in a woman's body, and a prophecy declared that her second daughter, Ares, would become a second-rate Goddess of War, inferior to Athena.
So when the prophecy said twins born from Leto—not even a daughter of Demeter or Hestia—would claim the power second only to mine, it would be stranger if Hera's stomach didn't turn.
However.
That's where it ends.
Hera is not the kind of villainess who would envy the two children and try to kill them.
'I taught her that way.'
One year and ten months on Crete. I raised my younger sisters there with Rhea, giving them early education from the start.
Character Education!
I poured out everything I knew about human rights, ethics, and morality as it came to mind, transforming all sorts of traditional folktales into Greek versions I created myself.
Perhaps the five goddesses were born carrying the same dispositions as their original counterparts. In the same way, I too might have been born a beast who actively steals other men's women, not someone who helplessly drifts from one to the next because he has no choice as Zeus.
But the Confucian within me remade Zeus—and Zeus's five younger sisters—into beings who possess common sense and moral principles.
In other words, the current Hera became a woman who, even if she feels a little jealousy, works it out with me in bed.
She would never be a woman who harms Leto or her children!
'Damn Titan common sense!'
But it seems Titan common sense is different. In reality, even half-siblings can help each other and feel sympathy, but Leto ended up viewing Hera through the lens of Titan common sense.
I understand.
If she came to me for counsel, she would think my arm bends inward; she likely also worried that if things went wrong, she might pull a 'Cronus.'
For example, Hera might swallow Leto's twin children and lock them inside her belly.
That kind of future must have materialized inside Leto's head, so she must have been quite terrified.
Why on earth are the Titans like this? Unable to embrace the new humanism of Olympus, their Titan common sense has often dealt a fatal blow to my Olympus.
When I consider the cause, only one conclusion remains.
'Prophecies of fate.'
Because the prophecies delivered by Titan gods are too accurate and inescapable, people treat them as inevitable and sink into fear. And to avoid those prophecies, the Titans thrash about like humans staring death in the face.
'This cannot continue.'
It must not. For that purpose, I need to control fate and prophecy.
At that time, while Hera had personally departed to search for Leto,
I had come outside Olympus to find the one who had triggered Leto's flight.
The Metis problem. The Leto problem.
The root cause of all of it.
"It has been a while, Gaia."
I found Gaia, the very person who personally delivered the prophecies to them.
* * *
"It has been a while, Zeus. You have grown even more gallant."
"Gaia as well, still beautiful."
Gaia's domain. Having avoided the flames of war, it has become a beautiful flower field, but it still falls short of Olympus. I hadn't noticed before, but now that I've cultivated Olympus myself, I can feel it clearly.
'Garden of Harmony.'
The garden Demeter tends possesses the beauty of nature itself where Titans become assimilated. Just as plants live by the law of the jungle, some receive more sunlight than others and bloom prettier flowers, while others wither and have their stems snapped.
But that is nature. In Gaia's garden, not a single flower or plant had withered.
It lacks vitality. That's all I could feel.
And the same goes for Gaia herself. I hadn't known before, but after I brought down Cronus, I could definitely feel it.
Gaia was truly, profoundly, god-like. Whether in a good sense or a bad sense.
"It has truly been a long time since Zeus has come to me like this. What brings you today? Do you need my assistance?"
"You could call it assistance, or you could call it a request, or you could call it cooperation. And... you could call it an order."
At that rather high-handed word, Gaia's expression shifted. She quietly set down the tea she was drinking and glared at me.
"An order, you say?" "It depends on how Gaia chooses to receive it." "Which means it's a statement I could receive with displeasure."
Gaia shrugged.
"Speak, Zeus. What is it you seek to ask with such tension?"
"Please stop foretelling the fates of all beings."
In short, this is it.
Prophecies, halt!
"You delivered prophecies with good intentions, Gaia. Yet there have also been cases where countless people ended up suffering because of those prophecies."
"It's my fault?"
"Yes."
I may have started with roundabout wording, but once the floodgate was open, I didn't hesitate. Even to ensure something like Leto's case never happens again, indiscriminate prophecies need to stop.
"Good intentions do not always bring about good results."
"So you tell me not to prophesy? Even when a sorrowful future approaches?"
"I understand the intent to prevent things in advance. But what you don't know can be medicine. What you do know... can be poison."
For things that have already happened, 'if' has no meaning. But if you start thinking about hypotheticals for things that haven't happened yet, the resulting exhaustion makes it impossible to live in the present.
"Even if we face harsh trials, Olympus will live on without prophecies."
I do not wish for a future fixed by someone else's prophecy.
"Fufu, shall I make a prophecy?"
"I said don't."
"Zeus, you shall fall by the hands of those you love most."
Gaia revealed her true colors. The moment I openly raised a rebellion, she prophesied my future.
"You are my equal or greater. But... even so, if we fight each other, heaven and earth would be extinguished first. That is something even you would wish to avoid. However."
Gaia cupped my face in both hands.
"You, who are so overwhelmingly powerful, shall in the end die for the sake of those you love above all else. You shall self-destruct."
"Gaia. Do you know something?"
I seized Gaia's wrists and pulled them away.
"Every now and then, you see, Gaia's prophecies feel just like a declaration of war."
"What did you say?"
"You say whatever comes to mind first, then maneuver to make it actually happen."
"Wha..."
For the first time, a crack appeared in Gaia's expression. A sharp thrill ran through me, but I reined in my emotions and kept pressing her.
"Am I wrong? One of the children Cronus sired... no, a child of Cronus brought about Cronus's downfall. And you exerted an extremely profound influence on that. Is that not true?" "Zeus...! That was because my daughter Rhea was in agony...!" "If you truly believed she would suffer, you should not have delivered a prophecy to Cronus as a venting of anger. What prompted you to cast such a prophecy? Was it not because Cronus failed to keep the promise he made to Lady Gaia before cutting off Uranus's genitals? To release the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires, those imprisoned in Tartarus, from Hell. That was what Gaia desired of Cronus, but Cronus deemed them a threat to his own authority and did not retrieve them from Hell. That became the occasion for Gaia to cast a prophecy. And that prophecy became the occasion for Rhea to lose five children and send another away. That Metis had to kill herself as Athena. That Leto grew frightened without cause and fled. All of it springs from fate and prophecy."
"Hu, huhu... Zeus. Gaia's prophecies are absolute. Do not forget that."
"Is that so. In that case, do you know this, Gaia? I shall also make one prophecy."
I dared to leave Gaia with a prophecy that carried a threat.
"If war breaks out between Olympus and Gaia, a child Zeus sires with a mortal woman shall lead the war to victory."
"What did you say...? A mortal...?!"
She must be appalled. The very thought of bearing a child with a human—creatures she considered mere lower animals—is preposterous enough; how utterly dumbfounding it must be that such a child would dare bring victory in a war of gods.
"You said prophecies are absolute, did you not? Very well. Then... I shall see to it that this prophecy comes true."
Here.
"If you refuse to abandon casting prophecies."
Goddess Gaia.
"If you continue to decide the futures of the Titan gods in the name of prophecy, in the name of fate, and keep creating tragedies."
If you intend to fight me, you had better prepare to fight Heracles.
"Then it will be war, Gaia."
My Olympus has no predetermined fate.
"And if I win that war, there is only one thing I will do."
I seized Gaia by the waist and drew my face close until just before a kiss.
"I'll fuck you."
As Zeus, the Rape Fiend.