The twelve Olympians of Mount Olympus were sitting silently in shock. Apollo, God of Prophecy and the Sun, had just revealed a prophecy of a kind never before heard in Olympus.
A Child of all the Rulers will decide the end.
He will send the tides, the winds, and the dead.
To defeat the enemies of Olympus,
He will meet the one most powerful.
Under the guidance of his elders,
he will fulfill his destiny.
"Athena! What can these words possibly refer to? A child of all the gods?!" Artemis asked in a tremulous voice. Indeed, she was scared to the very core. A maiden who had sworn to never give birth to a child, she was getting a headache as to the meaning of the words of her twin brother Apollo.
"Patience, step-sister. I must think before I can utter something about a matter so severe." Athena replied quickly embarrassed about not having an answer ready by then. The gods of the council of twelve all remained silent as Athena was thinking. Only Hestia, who was not even of the council, saw that Poseidon, her brother and God of the Oceans, had a look of worry on his face.
"I believe I have the answer to our dilemma," Athena replied after what seemed like eternity. Immediately, the heads of the deities of Olympus turned to her. Across their faces, one could see a mixture of emotions. Some, like Dionysus and Ares, showed indifference to the whole situation. Others, like Artemis and Poseidon, were intently following every action of Athena waiting for the answer they desired so badly.
"Since it is impossible for all twelve of us to give birth to a child, it is my belief that we must give our blessing to a child in order to fulfill the first line of the prophecy."