Prologue

Sirara was sleeping when she heard noise just outside her window. She stirred to look outside. Floating outside was Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. Sirara's eyes widened at the sight of Aphrodite. She hadn't seen the Greek goddess in centuries, not since her forced marriage. She got up and opened the window, inviting Aphrodite in. She floated in the room and stood on the floor.

"What brings you here, Aphrodite?" Sirara asked.

"Sirara, I know you are the Sumerian goddess of the water, and I the Greek goddess of love and beauty, but I fear I need your help." Sirara paused. Aphrodite never needed help. "I fear a storm in brewing, and I need your help to stop it. You know of my forced marriage to Hephaestus, and how I had to leave Shara." Sirara nodded in response. "Shara is in danger. I need you to help him. Please, Sirara, I'm begging you."

Aphrodite was never like this. Never. She couldn't just ignore her pleas. "How can I help Shara? Like you said, I am the Sumerian goddess of water. What assistance could I possibly loan you?"

Aphrodite leaned in close to Sirara, whispering in her ear. "Hephaestus and Ares want to kill him. Ares is upset that I might've fallen in love with someone other than him, and Hephaestus is upset that I don't love him because of Shara. Please, Sirara, you have to protect him."

Sirara still wasn't sure how she could be of any help, so she asked, "What do you want me to do? Kill Hephaestus and Ares? Zeus would have my head hanging in his temple in a nanosecond!"

"Oh dear god, no! You can't kill my Hephaestus and Ares. You just need to stop them from killing Shara."

"And again, I ask you, how can I do that?" She stared at Aphrodite who was unmoving. Sirara let out a sigh. "Dammit, Aphrodite! How can I help you if you won't tell me how?!"

Aphrodite continued to stare at her. It seemed like hours had passed by since she last spoke. Finally, she broke the silence. "Sirara, I know you have the power to defeat any god you chose, without killing them. I know you can only use it on one god at a time, but I think I can stop Ares. Ares will do anything for me. So I need you to stop Hephaestus from getting to Shara."

Sirara paused at Aphrodite's knowledge of her power. How did she know about her power? Or better question, who told her? Sirara was the only person she knew of that knew her secret power. Now it appeared that Aphrodite knew as well.

Aphrodite looked at Sirara with pleading eyes. "Will you keep him safe, Sirara? Will you keep my Shara safe for me?"

The thought of helping Aphrodite threw a chill down her spine. "Can't he take care of himself? I mean, he is a Sumerian god after all. No more powerful or less powerful then me." But Sirara knew better. That one power alone that Aphrodite spoke of made her more powerful than any other Sumerian god. Maybe even one of the most goddesses out there. She sighed at Aphrodite's pleas. "Alright, Aphrodite. I'll help you. I'll protect Shara."

Aphrodite screamed and hugged Sirara tightly. "Thank you, Sirara! Thank you so much!" She let her go and vanished.

Sirara sighed. She hadn't seen Shara in over five thousand years. She wondered what he was doing now. Where he lived. If his life had gotten any better since the last time they crossed paths. But she doubted it. Shara's life had been hell from the time he was born. She was actually happy to go see an old friend. The only question was, would he still think her an old friend? She sought him out and found him staying at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas. She snapped her fingers and her suitcases appeared, ready and packed. Guess it was time to go to Las Vegas.