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A/N***This one is almost purely mythology based. If your interested in a creation story mixed in with some greek mythology then read on. If not, i'm sorry to dissapoint you. I'll do my best to get another chapter up soon!
**************Mates and Princes********chapter 9
With a wave of his hand to the fire and a quick pull a rope of fire coiled in the air in front of him. As he spoke the conjured fire began to take shape. "In the beginning there was nothing but Possibility. There was no light and no dark, no beginning and no end, no before and no after. There was nothing and in that nothing lay the possibility for everything," Viktor's voice took on a deep sing-songy resonance as he told the story. It was obviously one he had memorized. His conjured fire took on colors to add to the shapes, listening to the story they watched it all unfold.
"From this possibility called Chaos arouse three beings: Gaia, Eros, and Tartarus. Gaia drew from Chaos the powers to nurture and grow. She became the foundation for all things that were to come, within her possibility became life. Eros drew from Chaos the powers of love and desire. He became the ties that bind; Within him possibility became connected to everything that was and would come. Tartarus drew from chaos the powers of consequence and the void. He became the keeper of Karma Within him possibility found outcome. For a time the siblings were peaceful, each discovering themselves and the universe they were creating.
In the presence of her brothers love Gaia longed for companionship and created Uranus the sky to cover her, the Ourea who were the mountains and their spirits and Pontus the sea. Even Chaos was affected by the presence Love and birthed Light and Darkness, and Day and Night. Peace reigned for these Immortals for time unknowing. However Uranus, created as equal to Gaia, laid with Gaia every night and together they had children. Uranus hated that which they had birthed and hid them with the deep recesses of Gaia herself, causing her pain and suffering. Conflict came when, with a sickle of adamantium made by Gaia was used by her youngest son to castrate Uranus. Instead of freeing all his siblings the youngest son imprisoned many in Tartarus. Thus began an endless cycle of son versus father and struggles of power and prestige.
The generations of Immortals grew haughty and forgot the power of Eros, thinking his love too uncontrollable, to consuming and though they wouldn't say it, too powerful (for love could create anything and love's bonds were eternal.) Still Eros persevered. He came to be known as Cupid, son of Aphrodite. Humans saw him with his great wings, dark wild hair and sapphire eyes and were smitten. It was said that with his bow and arrow he could make love and desire where non existed before. It was during the reign of these Immortals, that your story really begins. You see Eros found his mate in form of a mortal woman by the name of Psyche. She was the most beautiful being in all creation. It was due to this though that the trouble began."
All the time he was talking the fire showed the tale he spoke in three dimensions. It was enthralling and nobody in the room spoke, they barely breathed.
"You see Aphrodite was vain and capricious. She grew jealous of the mortals looks and felt that she wasn't given her due. She had grown greedy of man's worship. Her pride couldn't fathom Eros attraction to this mortal. Even though she was married she coveted the primordial god. So she cursed the young woman that no man would ever marry her, thinking to drive the mortal into a fit of despair that she would end her own life. As it was Psyches parents were quite influential in the mortal realm and could not be seen to have displeased the gods. They spoke to the Oracle at Delphi, who was herself blessed by Gaia and Apollo. She spoke to them in latin saying: "Adorn this girl, O king, for wedlock dread, and set her on a lofty mountain-rock. Renounce all hope that one of mortal stock can be your son-in-law, for she shall wed a fierce, barbaric, snake-like monster. He, flitting on wings aloft, makes all things smart, plaguing each moving thing with torch and dart. Why, Zeus himself must fearful be. The other gods for him their terror show, and rivers shudder, and the dark realms below." Her parents wept at their daughters misfortune. However Psyche faced forward bravely. This is what her beauty had consigned her to. Her marriage procession made it's way slowly to the mountain top where she was left alone to meet her promised. Her parents went home in anguish.
As she reached the peak Psyche found herself raised on the winds and was brought to the palace that would be her new home. There she was married in the Dark of Night to her husband. Eros cautioned his young wife that she could not lay eyes on him and was not to ask his identity. Night after night they made love, they talked and conversed yet when she awoke to the dawn her husband was always gone. She gladly abided by her husbands edict and they were happy.
Aphrodite was enraged that this woman dared still exist. She was threatened by what she perceived as Psyches power of Eros. She set about to break their bond. Psyche had two sisters who had found prestigious marriages of their own. It was this desire to see her sisters that Aphrodite manipulated. Through it she made Psyche to feel a closeness that the siblings had never shared, for her sisters had always been spiteful of her looks. With these false feelings psyche begged her husband to let her sisters visit, for even under Aphrodite's influence Psyche had no desire to leave her love. Knowing something was not quite right but wishing to please his bride Eros acquiesced though he warned her not to be deceived or lead by them.
Upon seeing the splendor and majesty of the palace that Psyche called home the two sisters were insane with jealousy. Their sisters curse should have meant this was impossible. They were enraged to find her husbands wealth surpassed their own. They told her that no man would hide from her as her husband did. He must be a vile snake predicted by the Oracle at Delphi. They convinced her that if he truly loved her then he would need not hide his form. If he was hiding it then he must be hideous and only covet her for her beauty and would kill her when he was tired of her. They urged her to be the one to bury the knife in his chest, to kill the monster before he could take her own life. This hurt psyche deeply for she loved her husband deeply even never having laid eyes on him. Could he really not feel the same? Could her love really not be returned? Was he such a beast that she was in danger? She was confused. She spent her days wondering why her husband didn't call on her during the day. Wondering why he had to hide herself from her at night. She saw no harm in seeing her husbands face.
That night she lit a lamp by her bed and gazed at her sleeping husbands form. In her hand, forgotten, was the knife meant to slay a beast. Being Eros he was stunning by human standards. She stared in wonder at her husband through the hours of night. While she hovered over her husband some of the hot oil dripped on him, burning him and causing him to wake. Eros was enraged!
"O foolish Psyche, is it thus you repay my love? After having disobeyed [Aphrodite's] commands and
made you my wife, will you think me a monster and cut off my head? But go; return to your sisters, whose advice you seem to think preferable to mine. I inflict no other punishment on you than to leave you forever. Love cannot dwell with suspicion." She tried to go after him to apologize, to explain, and in doing so fell down from their bedroom window. Her own husband was love himself and she didn't trust in him. As she fell she watched her love fly away in his own pain which she had caused. When she landed she fell unconscious.
When she awoke her distress was so great that she threw herself into a nearby river. The river god though, afraid of an enraged Eros, gently pushed the young woman back to his banks. Weeping at being denied even this she missed the arrival of Pan. The Satyr implored her to cease her attempts at death and instead send her thoughts and prayers to Eros and in doing gain his attention. However Psyche knew he would not listen to her words. She needed to find him or his temple and there prostrate herself.
With a broken heart Psyche traveled the land ceaselessly. She neither ate or slept as she endeavored to find her Lord Husband. On her travels she came to a city in which one of her sisters lived. She went to the sister in tears and told her the story. She told her that after waking to find find his wife standing over him with naked steel in her hand he had said "Wicked woman you have betrayed me. Leave this bed at once, take your belongings and leave! I will take your sister to wed, surely she will make a more obedient wife!" Her sister left even before Psyche had finished her last sentence. Lying to her good husband that her parents were ill she fled her well appointed home for the mountain top. There she cried for the wind to take her to his master. She was his wife. She jumped from the mountain yet the wind knew her heart and allowed the vile woman to fall to her death. Psyche found her way to a second city where her other sister dwelt in leisure and abundance. Her sister too ran to the mountain top in lust and greed choosing to forsake her husband in order to partake in Psyches.
While Psyche roamed the land in search of her husband, he was laying in Aphrodite's palace in pain from his wounded heart and his burn. The goddess herself had been too busy with weddings and social events to see to the fruition of her plans. She had faith that Psyche would meet her end at her sisters greed. When her faithful sparrow informed her that Psyche roamed the land in search of Eros the goddess was once again enraged! She left to gain the assistance of her brethren to track down her wayward servant.
Psyche meanwhile came upon a temple. She knew it was not her husbands but it was in disrespectful disarray. She put the scattered sickles and rakes in their proper places, the gifts of corn and barley at the alter and put the small temple to rights. Touched by the mortal woman's piety Demeter, goddess of the harvest, spoke to her. "Dearest of Eros heart so much you have suffered. Would that I could keep you from more harm and heartache. Mighty Aphrodite can not abide what she perceives your disrespect in daring to be so very beautiful. While she can not see the true beauty of your soul she aspires to own it anyway. I can not give you shelter child. I urge you to throw yourself at her mercy for even though you are at the displeasure of your Husband, his name still carry's weight. As his wife you may find a way to allay Aphrodite's schemes."
Taking the words to heart Psyche made her way to a temple of the Goddess of the Morning Star and bowed before Aphrodite's alter. The goddess's wrath could be felt as she arrived. "Vile, heartless monster of a woman. You dare come before me? You who flaunt me with your vanity? You think you can deny me the worship due me and beg me for favors?" The divine wrath crackled around her like a living, breathing being. "Or you think to see your husband who is still suffering from the wounds given by his loving wife? You are unworthy and your beauty pales in comparison to those He's had and will have in the future. The only way you can gain even a place in his household is to prove your ability to serve. Perhaps he will keep you as a mistress between his actual pleasures."
Psyche felt the words like blows to her soul. However it was doubt in her love that lead her hear, even if it lead to her death she would not doubt her love again. She meekly nodded to the angry goddess. Aphrodite brought her to temple storehouse and told her to separate everything by this evening when she returned from her revelry.
There were seemingly endless mountains of various grains, seeds and beans. Taking a deep breath though, the young woman was not daunted though, the young woman refused to be daunted. She sorted out the barley, milley, poppy seeds, lentils and beans. She was soon helped by the nearby ants. They remembered Eros the great Love and saw in her the dedication to her Lord Husband and knew she was a woman of worth. The completed task did nothing but anger the goddess though her, on the next morning, set her another task.
Her next task was to gather wool from the golden fleeced sheep. The sheep were viscous and the river she had to cross fierce. The river reeds saw the courage in her, that she would face it all for her Eros. Even in the face of the untenable she would continue and they knew she was a woman of worth. They whispered to her to wait until the sheep sought the shade at noon time when they would sleep. There she could gather their fleece from nearby thickets. Delivering the golden fleece to Aphrodite turned the goddess rage cold. "You have not completed these tasks! I know it is him who you have harmed that has helped you!"
Aphrodite set a third task that surely even the might Eros would not be able to assist in. The third task required her to fill a crystal goblet from the water of the River Styx. The river was deadly and tumbled straight out of the side of the mountain. Psyche knew she could not touch the river without her death, but she would not give up. An eagle saw her perseverance in her love and knew she was a woman of worth. The eagle flew to the river and filled the goblet.
Aphrodite was enraged that Psyche was able to achieve these feats. She saw the mortal woman as weak, selfish and unworthy of the Great Love. The final task was to bring back beauty from Persephone, the goddess of the underworld. "Tell her I've used all my lotion to heal the wounds of Eros left by his treacherous wife!" Here Psyche knew a moments despair. She climbed the mountain once again went forth . She stood at it's edge. How else was one to get to the underworld without dieing? However if she must die for her love then she would. She had brought herself to this pass so she would walk it. The tower saw the woman's resolution to do anything she had for her Love, that she had in all essence, given her life to Love. "Do not sacrifice yourself needlessly," it warned her. "For how would your husband feel when his dear beloved must stay forevermore in the underworld?" The mountain tower gave her explicit instructions on how to enter the realm of Hades. What she must and must not do to circumvent the tricks and traps meant to lead people astray and how to keep herself from becoming lost in the land of the dead. She followed it's course by heart. Persephone herself was charmed by the mortal seeing in Psyche a glimmer of her own journey. She saw the woman's suffering, self recriminations, and doubts. She saw the rise and fall of the pampered daughter that had become a beautiful woman. Somehow even under attack from Aphrodite herself Psyches innate innocence remained intact. She could see that the mortal woman had learned to trust in herself and her Love. She was devoted, courageous, and carried a deep perseverance to see it all through. "Gaze not in this box," Persephone said as she handed it to Psyche. "It's not meant for mortals." Yet she knew the seeds of Aphrodite's maliciousness had found root in Psyche's doubts. She would do anything to be more beautiful to her husband. As she watched Eros wife depart her garden she called a parrot to her. She remembered how Eros had allowed love to blossom between her and her own husband. It was the only way she could keep her sanity after her abduction. She was grateful to the primordial god "Make haste to Eros my friend for his bride is still in danger." The parrot flew straight and true.
During this time Eros had been kept an unknown prisoner to Aphrodite. Her healing beauty potion was had sent him to slumber. However he felt Psyches remorse and her deep love for him. He came to as the parrot landed beside him. "Hark my Lord your wife is in peril!" the bird began a perilous tale. His own beloved at the mercy of Aphrodite! His own rage knew heights that it hadn't ever known. Bonds such as his were never meant to be severed, how dare she try! With a thank you to the parrot and his mistress Eros flew straight to his wife.
Just as Persephone had predicted Psyche had opened the box and was now entangled in a Stygian like sleep. With great care Eros used his arrows to scrape the substance off of his wife and back into the box from which it had come. Gazing down to his wife he leaned in and woke her with his kiss. Loves kiss would redeem her. "Wake my beauty," Eros said. As his wife awoke she gazed around her. When she realized who's arms she was in she sobbed and wrapped her arms around Eros's neck.
"I am so sorry my husband. You were right that I allowed doubt, confusion and the words of jealous grasping women to come between me and the feelings I felt for you. I love you with every particle of this existence. I have toiled through revenge, doubt, sorrow, and even a goddess own rage to find you. Please don't leave me again!"
Touched Eros used a finger to bring Psyches chin up so he could see her face. "Gaze upon Love dearest Psyche and know that he is yours. Know beyond all doubt that Love has claimed you and you will never be released." He kissed her deeply as he claimed her with his mouth and his tongue. The kiss was of the like that even Love himself was humbled. He felt the call of Chaos and knew what he must do. "Now take this," he handed her the box, "and do as Aphrodite bid you. I promise, she will never come between us again."
As Psyche went to the palace of the Goddess Aphrodite, Eros went to his place of birth. He was met there by Gaia and Tartarus. "Congratulations my brother," Tartarus's deep voice was like the rumbling of bolder deep within the mountains. "She is a worthy soul." A high compliment from a god who constantly saw the worst that man and god alike had to offer.
"Indeed she is," Gaia whispered. "She has been purified by her sufferings and misfortune, much to my grandchild's frustration."
A great sigh escaped Eros. It was true. "You could have given me warning Sister," though he could honestly hold no anger toward her.
"No Eros. You had to learn again of who you are. You are not the mere son of an Olympian Goddess. Your power holds the very fabric of the universe together. Without you we would all be adrift, unable to connect with another being. Without love the universe would tear itself apart." Gaia's tone held a quiet reprimand. "you think Aphrodite's love strong enough to hold us together? When she herself flits from lover to lover leaving broken hearts in her wake?"
"Our sister speaks true." Tartarus was a man of few words, but they bore the weight of his knowledge. "Cause and effect, action and reaction, these are truths of the universe. Without you to bind it together it all ceases to have meaning and fades back into Chaos."
At this chaos itself shivered. Pushing it's way free of the possibility were two ampules. One clear liquid that was Ambrosia in it's most pure form. A purity even the Immortals playing as gods didn't get. He knew that this was for his love to join him as his equal and he was humbled. The next vial caused him a moment of confusion for it was dark and seethed within it's boundaries. As one they all came upon the knowledge at the same time, as if placed there.
The second vial was the possibility of chaos. He turned to Gaia but she stopped him. "Come brothers, let us head to Olympus."
They found the place in turmoil. His wife was on her knees before Zeus. Apollo at her side facing his father. His face was red with anger. On her other side stood Demeter and behind them stood Hades and Persephone. Against them with Zeus stood Hera and Aphrodite. The other gods stood in a semicircle staying neutral in a very powerful discussion. It seems every god in existence was here in this moment.
"What is the meaning of this?" Eros asked coldly as he and his siblings stepped onto the mountain top.
"Aphrodite accuses your wife of sacrilege and treachery. We are here to decide her punishment," Zeus said with amusement. The lightening god, like his father and his fathers' father before him was jealous of his power. He was threatened by the triad that approached him now. His power could never match theirs.
"You dare threaten to punish my sister?" Tartarus asked quietly. "What right have you to judge us, genesis of all that is, has been and will be?"
At this many of the gods paled. How easy it was for them to forget Eros true heritage when he so often played within Aphrodite's games.
"She has transgressed against us! Justice will be served!" Zeus yelled and thunder rolled.
Eros walked to his huddled wife and he bent before her. "Come wife, you bow before no one." he raised her up. "I have claimed you as my own. Creation, Chaos itself, has heard my claim and gives us blessings. Drink this beloved and stand by my side ever more." He handed her the ambrosia. Psyche looked deep into his eyes. Her face tear stained but her eyes strong.
"I love you husband, and with you I will always stand." She broke the top off the ampule and drank the contents. No one spoke. They had seen the ascendance of demigods to their godhood, however for a mortal to ascend so high had never been seen. Psyches beautiful hair became caught in a wind that only affected her. Its golden strands grew and became thick. It wrapped around her slowly, hiding even her face from view. From within the cocoon of hair flashes of light could be seen as it floated and writhed in the space where the woman had stood. A tinkling could be heard, like laughing sprites and tiny silver bells. The pressure built and grew almost unbearable until the cocoon exploded into cacophony of butterfly's. Above her an eagle screamed, from the distant fields the golden fleeced rams and sheep answered the eagles call. Below her the ants marched proudly. A goddess was born. And she was Beautiful. Her hair was pale as moonlight, her skin shimmered with iridescence and her eyes were the same as Eros's own sapphire. She was gently robed in Grecian style. She stepped delicately down, next to her husband and looked around. With her new senses she could feel an intrinsic part of those around her. None could lead her astray again.
"Welcome wife," Eros said quietly
"Husband," she bowed her head to the side regally.
Around them the gods stood in shocked awe with few exceptions. Aphrodite was pissed. "You had no right to raise this bitch to godhood!"
A deep silence met her protests. "Careful Aphrodite, you have no power over me and it seems you have forgotten such." By the shocked look on her face he could see it was true. "I recognize I brought your attitude on by playing at your little games. They amused me. However I can not let your challenge go unanswered. For your crimes against my beloved and worse for your crimes against me you will spend one day in Tartarus."
Gasps all around answered his pronouncement. "One whole day?" she asked meekly. She looked around trying to see if she had any help. Ares just shook his head and Hephaestus didn't even look at her. "Father?" She looked at Zeus who looked very uncomfortable on his throne. They all knew he was just as angry at his rule and power being ignored with the raising of a new goddess, but unlike his daughter he knew he couldn't stand against Eros. He just looked away. Hera's lips thinned but she also said nothing.
"One whole day." Tartarus said as he walked toward the goddess
"But how will I know..time is broken there," She stuttered very un-goddess like.
"Yes Chronos is needed for your precious mortals to exist? Without him that you overthrew, you could receive no worship. No time doesn't exist there like you are used to. It will feel like eternity." Tartarus said quietly as he hugged Aphrodite to him. She whimpered as his body consumed her, swallowing her into the abyss where her punishment awaited, the consequences of her pride and capriciousness.
"Now for all to see," Eros said quietly and pulled out the vial of chaos (all the possibilities of the universe contained in such a small, fragile container). "Gaia my sister?"
Gaia flicked her wrist slightly and a vaguely humanoid shape formed before them. "To long you residents of Olympia have fallen prey to your own petty desires. To long have we allowed you to forget that you too are bound by consequence. These, the progeny of mine and my wife's, will be bound only to us and will honor only those who give us honor." He smiled down at his wife. He walked forward and held his hand over the slowly turning lump of clay. Looking at his wife he used an arrow tip to pierce his finger. "Of my blood, for my blood, to my blood; in your blood is primordial creation, that all bonds shall be known to you even without your senses. In your blood is primordial love, that it knows neither good or evil, right or wrong, light or dark for all fall under its purview. With that primordial love and primordial creation, with all under it's purview and all bonds known, you shall be the protectors and defenders of the bonded. All shall know you by the mark you bear and know the bonds in freedom they make before you will be as blessed by my own hand. The Laws of Heaven do not bind you for it is only to me and my wife that you owe servitude. To those who honor our house, they too shall find honor from you, " he let a drop of his blood fall on the clay and it flashed.
His wife walked up to him and held out her hand. He smiled and struck her finger gently. "Children of my own dear husbands blood, children of my own newly immortalized blood, Our children; to know Love is to know Thyself. Never will the machinations of others, or even your own ignorance and petty pride, interfere with your fathers gift. His bonds are sacred whether made in frivolity or wrath, as a blessing or as a curse, or a beginning or end. As I can sense the true self, so too can you if only you will listen. Your own true self will always come through." As her drop of blood fell she kissed her husband gently, letting her love for him spill through. Their love seeping into their creation as well.
Gaia stepped forward as the couple stepped back. From her bosom she produced an egg and the tail feather of a rooster. "On behalf of my brother and his mate I find blessings in this creation. Though the way's of Love are often hard, though his arrows may sting and his ways are incomprehensible, he is always with honor." She quirked her eyebrow, "It may be a thieves honor at times but always he acts with honor. Lets not forget the path to self knowledge, for her ways are no less filled with turmoil and strife. There are always those who would control who you are for what you can become. Yet she, who's blood runs within you, walked with dignity. She faced the unknown with courage and she held to her faith in Love in all ways. IN this too you shall resemble your makers: Honor, Courage and Dignity that is not defined or confined by any but your peers. As the Great Mother I've given you bodies and so too shall they procreate, Male or female will be fertile when bonded."
She stepped back and Tartarus stepped forward. "Blood of my own blood. You carry a burden with your blessings for man and gods alike with the power to choose of to choose the bindings of power. As children, only once removed from Chaos, you know things that can not be seen by those bound by reality. With these bodies you will have the senses to handle these extra perceptions. As protectors and defenders of the bonded you will often face the roll of Justice. For this I share with you the knowledge of karmic punishments. Your judgments will always suit the crime committed. Always remember causality." He took a rock from his chest and dropped it in the swirling clay.
For a time many of the Olympians stared in awe and terror. Soon others wanted to show their support for Eros and Psyche. The first to come were those who had given help to Psyche and Eros against the jealous Aphrodite. First came Hades with his Queen and Consort Persephone. "I have lived among the dead since the fall of the Titans," said the Lord of the Dead. "I have wealth, power and prestige. Yet nothing compares to the gift of Love in the binding I have with my Consort. Who forgave this man his atrocities and with free will urged Eros to bless us. With this knowledge I know you will have much work to be done. I can not grant you wealth, fame or fortune but even in death the bonds you created shall continue until they are fulfilled. Your immortality is guaranteed by your birth, but if a mortal shall be your own mate then your binding will share with them your immortal status. The dead will always honor you." From a pouch hiddin beneath billowing robes the Host of Many scattered bone dust on the Clay.
From his side his wife spoke, her very voice carrying the sound of the spring. "I wish I could grant you the power of spring, of light after darkness but hope herself is heartless and fickle. However I share my Joy of the lands rebirth with you and the very air that carries through from the fall to the spring." The goddess smirked, "I also give you unearthly beauty, that even gods may weep at your visage!" With a wink to Psyche she upended a small wooden chest, where fell the substance Psyche herself had brought from the underworld.
The next to standforth was a suprise to Eros. He knew it was Apollo who had granted the prophesy that lead to his wife being with him now. But Love had never been exactly kind to Apollo. Eros had never opposed the God, and had always enjoyed his music and respected his prophetic and healing abilities. He'd even helped him improve his archery. "I know," Apollo said "that my standing here is a shock as my loves both big and little are often a source of amusement for the Olympians. However I know desire. Not simply lust, which I do enjoy as well, but desire. It is this desire that gives me my sense of justice, my urge to improve myself and my abilities and to bring light to the darkness. I respect the power of Love and honor the mortal journey that Eros wife has made. So I gift an innate skill in archery, in music and with respect to bonds in healing. I can't in good conscience give mastery for in such skills mastery has to be earned. But these, your children, will know these blessings if they choose to improve them." Apollo stuck one of his own arrows of light into the clay.
Demeter then stepped forward. "I have also never been happy in love. I have shared my bed with some. Through that though I do know Love as a mother to her Children. I also know that love can be terrible." At this she glanced and shared a bitter sweet smile with her daughter Persephone. "I also know Love of the land and have a deep passion for life. So this gift I give you; no fruit of my labor will harm you. Indeed in times of great need the land itself will provide if you but ask." Psyche was suddenly even more grateful that she had helped in Demeter's temple. She knew that this gift that their children would know no poison was made in her honor as much as her husbands. Demeter produced an apple and placed it in the clay.
There were more surprises. Eros knew he was as much feared on Olympus as he was revered. Many thought love should be something controllable and malleable (even as they couldn't control their own expressions of Love as evident by Aphrodite's current stay in Tartarus). He was still surprised. Hephaestus gave the gift of metal working "if they so decide to make a go of it." Artemeis, Apollos twin sister, in her quiet and savage way gave the gift of the Wilde saying "If ever the hunt bores you in the mortal realm, the Wilde will welcome you." Hekate a mysterious goddess of magic and the underworld, companion to Persephone, gave an innate gift of magic but only if perused.
From heros and demigods to the Olympians themselves many stepped forward. Gifts and talents ranging from intelligent to whistling, piercing eyes to keen ears. It seems many wanted to find themselves on the side of Eros, his wife and his siblings. Once the barrage had ended Eros stood forward with little fan far and broke the ampule of chaos over the clay and stepped back quickly. In the way of Chaos, which was home to all possibility, time had little meaning. They stood for a moment that was neither of time or in time. A great choir of sound vibrated around Olympus. Clouds condensed around the clay figure as it began to turn faster and faster in place. The speed heated up the gaseous clouds around them causing them to glow. Before them was a site only seen when a planet or star was born. It was glorious. The energy of this birthing was felt on all levels of creation. Storms raced across the various planes (the wilde, the elemental planes, the atheral plane, even the land of the dead!) And still it spun.
It began pulling the clouds into itself. Gods who had freely given found themselves with a feeling of euphoria. Those who had not found gifts ripped from them forcefully by the unyielding nature of chaos. None could stand before it and many payed for standing against it. However Eros had little remorse or guilt. They were immortal after all, it all grow back in time (Zeus didn't need his testicles anyway, he had too many bastards as it was and he still had one good eye!) As if she could hear him his wife smirked and lightly smacked him on the arm as if to admonish him.
The clay spun faster and faster, pulling in all the the cloud within itself before it exploded. Again it seems Chaos favored choice. Those who gave freely, while buffeted, were still standing. Those who didn't choose found themselves laying flat and prostrate before the newest members of the Immortal family. Where once there was a humanoid lump of clay now stood a circle of Twelve and behind each of those stood Seven more. It appeared the stood on the belt of the zodiac. Each group of eight stood on a separate piece of the sky. The inner circle of twelve raised their hands up and cried out in ecstasy. From their backs exploded thin wings of pure diamonds. Psyche gasped at their display. In their wings and around them their power radiated, soaking up light and shadow alike, yet flashing with possiblities.
"So twelve clans yet thirteen houses. Each clan with their own house and a seperate house that connects them all." Eros nodded in pride. They were amazing. They all shared many features. They had long pointed ears, reminiscent of Apollo's and Artemis's elves (He wondered if they themselves carried the elf like traits and hid them). Their eyes, while they varied in color were all slitted like a dragons with no visible sclera (which made it impossible to tell if it was white or black). Their bone structures were similar, though their builds all varied. As their power was currently flowing threw them they all had a mark on their forehead, a different one for every clan, and various markings. The center circle seemed to be the only ones who's facial markings were black, though other markings varied in color from each individual.
Eros swept his wife bridal style into his arms and flew down to the center of the circle. When he touched the disc where they stood his power caused it to ripple out. All his creations bowed before him and his wife. "It's a little discerning to be standing in the middle of stars," Psyche whispered to her husband.
"What are stars but a moments brilliance my love?" He smiled as he set his wife on her feet beside him.
"It seems you have been granted the Sidereal Court." He spoke to his creations. All those divinities who had chosen to give freely stared down silently (the others were still forced to prostrate themselves). "This should make things very interesting, don't you think wife?" He said as he turned and looked around. To the winged bowed before him he said, "You are the Princeps Archon and your house rules all the clans.
You are all Sidereal."
*****************Mates and Princes************end chapter 9
Oracles quote from: www.
Eros quote from: www. /cupid_psyche/
Holy goodness that was crazy. I did NOT expect that chapter to keep going as it did...and it kind of wanted to keep going. It was a bit frustrating in places trying to make my brain function but I think I managed a little success at least. I realize mythology isn't for everyone so I'll try to get the next chapter up soon. They discuss what they don't really know as not much is really revealed here...but it was a fun challenge to write! Thank you so much for reading!
Please review!