Chapters In the beginning, there was The Creator. This was the divine spring from which all life spawned. With the formation of man, The Creator sent down The Servants. These were the beings of the pagan ages from Rome, to the Norse and even the deities of the New World once it was discovered. These beings were intended to get mankind to thank The Creator for all they were given. However, mankind believed that these ones were the true creators of the cosmos. Despite trying to regain the faith of the people, The Creator was unable to get humanity back. Fed up with his Servants, he created the Prophets. These Prophets would become the creators of monotheism. They went around toppling the power of the pagan Servants. These "gods" lost their power as followers melted like thawing snow.
The Creator did not want to destroy his Servants,so he allowed them two options to not simply fade away. The first option was to reincarnate as mortals, and many lesser deities chose this option. The second option, was that they cross the dimensional barrier. The Creator weakened the barriers just enough so only the deities could cross. Most of the major gods left to find followers in a realm without a god. All the pagan pantheons started picking their choices until only the Norse and the Greek pantheons remained. However, things were about to change.
It was another boring day on Mt. Olympus for the powerless gods. Zeus was sitting in his chair when a loud sound rang out.
"Brother. I have returned from speaking with our northern counterparts." Said a deep voice and Poseidon stood before Zeus.
"What is their choice on The Creator's options?" Zeus replied.
"They have decided to leave. They are pouring in their powers together to send who they can across to another world. The rest are reincarnating as mortals." Poseidon replied. Zeus just sighed.
"I see. You remember when the lesser deities left us brother?" He asked standing up and walking to Poseidon.
"Yes. The thousands of mythical creatures we helped make. The nymphs, neriads and so many other decided to reincarnate and now walk among the mortals. A sad time for all of us watching them go." Poseidon replied.
"Yes, it seems our day in the sun has come to an end dear brother. I think it is time we leave." Zeus said looking out into the sky.
"Are you sure?" Poseidon asked. Zeus simply nodded. "I'll shall gather the others and we can talk." He continued and vanished. That night, all 12 of the Olympians gathered to talk and Zeus sat down to speak.
"I have decided the time has come for us to make our choices. I would like to send six of us to another world where they can earn the affection of the people. I plan to go so who would like to go as well." Zeus said watching the group. The first to raise their hand was a surprise.
"I shall go brother. I may not have been the best brother, but I wish to finally earn the respect of mortals rather than fear." Said a man in black robes and blueish skin. This was Hades.
"I thank you Hades for your dedication. Who else?" Zeus asks. Artemis stood up.
"I would like to go. As a huntress, I can help protect all others going." She said. The another stood that most wouldn't expect which was Aphrodite.
"I wish to go too. My love for the romance of mortals has always been important to me. I want to be able to spread love in this new world just like I have here." Aphrodite said and Zeus smiled.
"I would expect no less of you." He replied. One more stood the wisdom goddess and warrior goddess Athena.
"I will go too father. No world has all the wisdom in the universe so teaching others my knowledge would be useful." Athena said. No one else stood after half an hour of Zeus waiting.
"Hera my love? You wish to reincarnate?" Zeus asked.
"Yes. I loved you,but you always went after other women,and I will not go with you just to have it happen again." Hera replied putting her arm on his shoulder and tearing up a bit.
"I know I haven't been faithful Hera and I respect your decision. Do you others choose to reincarnate?" Zeus said. The others slowly nodded or gave other signs of the affirmative.
"I see. Well before you all go I wish for your help to get us there and to redeem all I have done." Zeus said. The others agreed to help and Zeus smiled again.
"Hermes come wit me. My first redemption is to free that who protected mankind from my wrath." Zeus said.
"You mean you are freeing Prometheus?" Hermes asked.
"He has suffered for thousands of years and I want him to come with us for something else we must do." Zeus replied. The two flew a rock where a weary looking Titan was bound and a bird was coming down to do what it had done for millennia. Hermes called the bird to his arm and it stopped. Zeus walked up to Prometheus who looked at him.
"Have you come to humiliate me nephew? I told you I would never take back what I had done." Prometheus said. Zeus stepped forward and broke the chains binding the titan.
"You have suffered enough Prometheus. We plan to leave to another world and I wish to take you as a means to redeem myself. Will you accept?" Zeus asked. Prometheus looked at Zeus and then gave a weak smile.
"Time and power loss have made you much more benevolent dear Zeus. I accept to have this clean start." Prometheus said offering his hand to Zeus who took it in his.
"Thank you. now we must go to Elysium. It is time I talked with my father." Zeus said and the two nodded simply. Elysium was beautiful, but empty since The Creator took them to the True Afterlife. Standing at the entrance was a Titan. The King of the Titans, Chronos, the father of Zeus.
"Father I need your help." Zeus said.
"Ah son. Why do you need me? Did you all finally make your choice?" Chronos asked.
"Indeed, but we need more power to get just us few there, so we need you to negotiate with the titans to lend us enough power to get us across the dimensional barriers." Zeus said.
"I see. I shall help you son to make up for consuming your siblings just to protect my status as king of the gods." Chronos said. The group returned to the Olympians and they all headed down into Tartarus including Persephone. The Titans stood bound and Atlas was holding the planet still. Chronos and Prometheus lifted the earth off their brother's shoulders as it floated on its own.
"Chronos! Prometheus!" The titans called smiling.
"You guys beat Zeus!" one titan called.
"Actually we are all here to talk." Hades said as the titans looked at them and were angry.
"What do you have to talk about traitorus scum!" called a titan. Zeus stepped forward into the eyes of the titans.
"The Creator had given the choice to reincarnate or leave the universe. Prometheus, myself and four others plan to leave and we need your help. We shall free you in exchange for you lending your power." Zeus said bowing. This confused the titans and talked among each other. Then Crius, one of the four pillars of the army of the Titans came forward.
"I shall only lend my power on one condition. That Chronos go in your place Zeus." Crius said.
"How dare you ask such a thing!" Ares shouted.
"You no longer have the high ground in this bargaining. I won't give my power just so that traitor can leave. Our brother deserves to go just as much as Zeus since he was the original king of the gods." Crius replied. The other titans began chanting in agreement.
"Chronos must go!" The others called. All except Atlas and Crius looked at him.
"Why aren't you agreeing with us Atlas?!" Crius shouted.
"I have bore the weight of the world for many centuries. Being forced to bow has shown me true humility. i do not care who goes since my freedom has happened that is enough for me." Atlas said. The others still shouted that Chronos go and Zeus stepped to their feet and looked up.
"I accept." Zeus said, shocking everyone.
"Why brother?Why do you back down?" Hades asked.
"I have caused much pain to humanity, my blood relatives and my family." He said turning his head to Hera. "I now believe it is time that I give up the crown of the Greek pantheon. If my father can guard Elysium for so long, then he will be able to protect all who go to this new universe." Zeus said.
"Then we shall share our power. Where are we supposed to put it?" Crius said. Prometheus pulled out the Box of Pandora.
"This can hold the power of any divine. Hope came to humanity long ago so it is now empty." He placed the box down and the titans put their hands on the box and their power transferred into it. Their chains shattered and they were free.
"Now it is our turn." Zeus said and the other Olympians put their power inside. Persephone walked over to her husband.
"I have always loved you Hades so i want to give you something." She said reaching into her chest. Her essence was now in her hand and she placed it into a locket. "This holds the most vital parts of me. My personality and love of you, so simply build a body and we can be together in the new universe despite being separate." She said. Hades felt tears in his eyes which Persephone wiped away giving him a kiss before pouring her power into the box.
"Alright. Now before you six go. I give you this gift." Zeus said pulling out a bag. "This contains clay that, when breathed into by you, can be made into a living guardian servant." Zeus finished and Prometheus tied it to his waist.
The titans and Olympians gave last goodbyes and hugs. The six travelers opened the box containing the power of all other immortals who ever lived on Olympus or was a titan roared out and a portal was opened, but they couldn't see anything in on the other side. The everyone stopped when a sound erupted throughout Tartarus and a bright light shone.
"I see the last of my servants have made their decisions." The creator said in an echoing voice.
"Yes we have. Why have you come Creator?" Zeus asked.
"I simply came to say Goodbye to the six of you leaving. The souls of Tartarus have been taken to the True Afterlife like the others." The Creator replied. "I am sorry that I could not stop the conflict that erupted between you all, but know this. I shall be protecting all of you in your new lives on Earth, and watching you who travel." The creator finished.
The six looked at the portal and walked in one by one before the portal snapped shut leaving The Creator and the others. Tartarus began to fade away and they all embraced one last time with Zeus giving Hera one final kiss before they all vanished.
"You are all forgiven my servants. No...my children" The creator said before vanishing himself back to the True Afterlife.
Chronos felt his body moving up and down and his eyes slowly started to open. All around them was a tundra of rock and snow all around. He searched all round him to find Aphrodite in the snow next to him.
"Aphrodite wake up." He said shaking her awake. Her eyes opened to look up at Chronos.
"Chronos? When did you have physical wings?" She said rising from the snow. Chronos looked at her back to see the wings of a Monarch Butterfly and turned his head to see feathery wings on his back with snow on them.
"Well you have a set of Butterfly wings, but I guess they are further symbols of beauty like that of a butterfly itself." Chronos said.
"Brother are you okay?" said a voice and out of the snow stood Prometheus. What both of them saw was a normal looking Prometheus, but a tail the same color as his hair protruded out of his pants.
"Yes I'm fine and so is Aphrodite. Have you seen the others?" Chronos asked and then they heard a punch followed by a flying Hades who landed in the snow in front of them with a pissed off Artemis walking her way over.
"No man touches me Hades!" She shouted in anger.
"Hey I didn't choose to wake up next to you in this world." Hades replied patting the snow off his black robes. Artemis just growled and turned away from him.
"Well that's all but Athena. Did either of you see her?" Aphrodite asked.
"I'm here." Athena said pushing Hades off where she was. "Artemis next time, please fling men away from everyone else." Athena calmly said.
"Where are we anyway?" Prometheus asked. The group looked in all directions and Artemis spotted a road and heard the sound of something walking along.
"Someone is coming." Artemis said preparing for combat with Chronos raiding his sickle and the others preparing to defend. Then out of the snow stood a being the group was surprised by. The creature stood on two legs, had the fur and head of a wolf, tail and ears.
"Hello. Why are you all out here?" The wolf man asked. Chronos stepped forward.
"We are lost I'm afraid. Would you happen to know of a village nearby?" He asked.
"Of course. Follow me." He said leading them back the way he came and after thirty minutes, a village of straw roofs lay before them. "This is the village of Canis, my home. I'm sure the local elder family can give you some food." The wolf man said.
"Thank you mister..."Aphrodite started.
"Oh my apologies. I am Scar, but some call me Leopard for me spotted fur." The wolf man, now Scar said. The group walked to the largest hut in the village and opened the fur covered door. Two elderly anthro wolves sat at a table and turned to see the group.
"Ah Ravage dear boy what brings you and these new beings here?" The female said.
"We are here because we got lost in the tundra. I am Chronos and these are my family. We were told you could help teach us about where we are now?" Chronos said. The old woman walked to the group and looked them over.
"I'd be happy to help you and your fine family Chronos, what about you dear?" She says turning to her husband.
"Oh of course. However since you are adults it is tradition here that everyone contribute to the village in some way. Children do small things like feeding the animals while adults do heavy work such as crop tending and hunting. I trust you and your family are capable of contributing?" The man said.
"Yes we can. I was a farmer of sorts in my homeland." He then pointed to Prometheus and Artemis. "Prometheus my brother is a craftsman, Artemis is a huntress." He then pointed to the others. "Athena has wisdom of many things including complex strategy, Hades was a guard and Aphrodite...is best with children and solving romantic issues." Chronos replied.
"Ah I see a truly beneficial group you are. You may stay with us. Our house is a lot emptier since our children all live in their own house in the village." the man replied. "Scar. I want you to take Artemis with you on your next hunt. Hades I'll introduce you to the head of the militia tomorrow. Prometheus you would be of great help in constructing and maintaining the village and any expansion. Athena, I would like to pick your brain as it were to help run the town with my wife and I. As for you Aphrodite, We could tell the local mothers that we have a foreign storyteller staying for a while. Chronos you can help our people tend the crops we have." The Elder finished.
" Thank you for your kindness." Aphrodite said giving the elderly man a peck on the cheek and he blushed. The crew went to bed to prepare for their new jobs tomorrow. As the group went to sleep, Hades pulled out his gift from Persephone and hugged it to his chest.
"I will bring you back to me Persephone." He said before tucking it back into his coat and fell asleep with a smile on his face. The Elder's wife saw the spectacle and smiled at the desire of the young lad. She didn't entirely understand, but whoever this woman was, this man was loyal to her and her alone when it came to his heart.
Author's Note
Quick addition. In this story I did not really desribe the height of the gods so this is them by height.
Author's Note
Uh quick talk before you read this just as a heads up. This chapter is an experiment on sharing multiple small stories of the gods doing their own things much like Hesiod and other Greek writers fill out their books with many smaller stories.
The times in Canis
Artemis and Scar
It was a bright and early morning as Artemis woke up and walked out of the elders' hut. She walked around looking Scar when she heard him.
"Morning Artemis. I see you have the internal clock of a huntress." Scar said. he wore a small blade on his left boot, a quiver on his back and a bow to go with it.
"I am a huntress so I'm used to waking earlier than others." She replied.
"Alright. Here I brought my spare hunting equipment." Scar said handing her a quiver, bow and short blade. Artemis grabbed the bow and quiver but pushed the blade back to Scar.
"I use only archery in my hunting." She replied slinging the quiver and its arrows on her back. Scar just shrugged.
"If that's your wish then okay. We best get started." He said and the two headed out for their hunting session. Eventually they came to a cold plain with a lake that had not frozen over.
"How is the river not frozen?" Artemis asked.
"Not too far below the ground is the remains of an ancient volcano whose ash changed the climate to what it is now. That lake is a hot spring still safe enough to drink from." Scar replied and as they looked a group of moose came walking by to drink. Scar readied his bow and looked to Artemis. "You ready?" he asked.
Artemis nodded and their arrows flew. two of the moose were dead and the others prepared to run. Artemis struck down another moose in the heart and Scar managed to cripple another before the group scattered and the duo walked over to the kills. AS they picked up their kills they saw a baby moose curled in fear in the snow.
"Looks like we might have gotten this child's parents or scared them off. Sad really." Scar said. Artemis put down her bow and leaned closer to the baby moose. the child looked at her and was shaking. She gently moved her hand to pet the baby moose very slowly. The animal stopped shaking and she even gave it a peck on its small nose. The baby moose nuzzled her cheek and gave her a small lick.
"Wow he likes you. Where did you learn how to do that?" Scar asked.
"I used to have a pet deer and I've learned much about creatures in my time." Artemis replied. She picked upp the little thing and petted its head. "I think I'll call her Novellus." Artemis says as the duo walk back to the village with the kills and a new friend.
Chronos King of Harvest
Chronos awoke that morning and wandered off to go find the local farms. A kind wolf pointed him to a cave where the dampness grew good mushroom and other crops that grew in damp cave climates. He looked around to see the area yet to be harvested and a little disjointed. "Well best get to work." Chronos said cracking his knuckles before getting to work.
He collected all the crops one at a time first and then used his knowledge as a harvest god to move the new seeds to their best locations with the fields arranged from least to most sunlight and he realized this place could be improved further. "If I break a hole large enough to the top of the hill then It can help with light and moisture when the rain comes in can be collected in a barrel." He said and searched for a digging tool. All he found was a simple pick which he assumed was for expanding the cave to provide better crops ans so he walked out to the top of the hill and used what little godly power he had to connect with the earth and see where he needed to dig to get to the center of the cave.
After several hours the hole was big enough and he broke through into the cavern. At this time the farmers looked to see Chronos come out of the ceiling.
"What happened here?" one farmer asked.
"I harvested the crops and used my previous knowledge to replant the seeds in the best growing spots. I dig this hole to bring natural light to crops and if you put a container here it can harvest any water that comes from the roof." Chronos said. The farmers were all shocked at what he had just said and one even dropped his sickle. "I'm sorry did I do something wrong?" Chronos asked. Then one person hugged him.
"You have done things we didn't even think about." The man said and the others were confused so the man explained. "Look, the plants are marked and in all the best locations based on what they need, this hole can help improve growth too. All we have to do is throw a wooden cover that can let water in but prevent wolves from falling in." He finished. Then everyone started cheering.
"Chronos! Chronos! Chronos!" they cheered at seeing these new techniques. Chronos simply smiled and then got back to work with the others. Happy to belong among mortals.
Hades's New Pet
It was a rough awakening for Hades when he heard a cow moo in the distant pastures.
"Ah, time to get up." He said stepping out of the hut and looked for the Elder. It seemed that he was busy off with the pastures so Hades decided to go on a stroll. There was a forest at the edge of the village so he decided to go exploring there. The trees were evergreens. As Hades walked, he spotted many beasts from his world that survived in the frigid lands. Thickly pelted bears, snow white bunnies and foxes running through the wild. Then a loud howl rang out through the forest.
"Ooo, now that sounds interesting." He said sneaking closer to the sound. Moving towards a clearing he saw a saber tooth tiger and one extra large wolf. This thing came up to his waist, and was beating up several smaller wolves who were trying to tackle it. The bigger wolf was severely injured from the constant barrage of the smaller sized wolf pack.
"Well I can't let them hurt that big boy anymore." Hades said looking around for a weapon or something. He saw an old tree branch, and channeled his power and felt and saw a glow from his horn. The branch rose from the ground and smacked the small pack away into the woods with blood coating the branch. The big wolf was looking at him snarling in fear as it stepped away from the branch.
"I will help you." Hades said. The wolf tried to back away, but Hades lit his horn. Small motes of life came from the ground and went into the wounds of the wolf which closed. Hades put his head on the wolf's as it snarled through the pain. As the pain ceased, Hades picked up some of flesh of the wolves he hit to feed the big thing. The wolf was hesitant before licking the meat and consuming it.
"There there big guy." Hades said petting the big wolf which licked him in return. "I'll make sure to come feed you and your name shall be...Spot. Its not that creative, but I like to have the memory." Hades said thinking back to his old guard dog. Spot licked him and Hades rode him back to the forest edge before heading back to tell his siblings...
Aphrodite the Storyteller
It was a crisp morning as Aphrodite strolled strolled through the village. A group of kids were playing when one saw her.
"Ms. Aphrodite!" the girl said hugging her.
"What can I do little one?" Aphrodite asked. the girl looked and pointed to a boy.
"He thinks he can do anything and gets others in troubles because of it." She said. Aphrodite gave a small smile and patted her head then walked over to the boy.
"Excuse me little one. I was told you think you can do anything??" Aphrodite asked. The wolf boy turned to her and smirked.
"That's right. I know I can." The boy said.
"Well you know someone thought that exact thing once where I came from." Aphrodite said. The children turned to look at her.
"Are you telling a story miss Aphrodite?" the girl asked.
"Yes. One of the legends from my home." She looked out at all the other kids who came and sat down. "Allow me to tell you the story of Icarus." Aphrodite finished and this is the story she told...
Many many years ago a great craftsman was called upon to build a great labyrinth to house a fearsome Minotaur. The person built the labyrinth and was then imprisoned to keep the building secret. Angered at this, the craftsman build wings of wax and feathers for himself and his son Icarus. the craftsman told his son to not fly too low or risk sinking, but if he flew too high, the sun would melt the wings. The son agreed and they flew off.. Then Icarus got overconfident and flew towards the sun. His wings melted and he plummeted into the sea never to be seen again.
"The story children is all about believe in your skills." Aphrodite said.
"What do you mean?" The boy asked.
"If you don't believe in yourself, you will never succeed, but if you believe you can do more than you can, then you will crash and burn." Aphrodite explained...
"Tell another story Miss Aphrodite!" a child called.
"Well I have another one you may like about the mighty hero Hercules." She replied and told stories long into the night...