Energy Unbound
Chapter ?
The True Heir
Terra looked immensely surprised. She turned to Ari with a raised eyebrow and an unamused frown. "You didn't tell her?"
The Celestial sheepishly smiled and chewed her lip. "It… might have slipped my mind?" she hesitantly defended herself.
Terra sighed. She turned to the little goddess currently glancing between the two of them, clearly worried. The Earth Mother smiled serenely, kindly, at Hestia. "My, isn't she forgetful?"
Hestia gulped, eyeing Ari. Her confidence that she wouldn't do anything was weaker than the fear not answering the planet itself instilled in her very being. "Yes, uh… Lady Terra," she squeaked.
Ari snorted. "Terra won't do Jack squat to anyone without my permission, don't worry."
"And there is no need to call me Lady, young one," the Planet chimed in.
Hestia's almost invisibly tense shoulders relaxed a bit. "Oh. Why did you two call me here then?"
Terra leaned forward and grinned. "It is time for you to claim your birthright," she stated.
The young goddess was confused. "What?"
Ari abruptly sat up and groaned in exasperation. "Okay look, Hestia," she barked out, causing the mentioned being to wince slightly, "you were attractive to my previous self for a few reasons, but most importantly you were attractive because of the power you are supposed to command," she explained.
Hestia's little eyebrow rose even as a blush adorned her cheeks. "What power? I am the Goddess of Hearth, Home, and Family, Ari. Those are not very powerful domains."
The grins both incredibly powerful beings in front of her suddenly sported told her she was wrong about something. "What?"
Ari leaned forward to match Terra, eyeing her speculatively. "Think, Hestia. Your domains are much more than you believe them to be. You forget you are also the Goddess of Fire," she pointed out.
Hestia shrugged. "So?"
Terra rolled her eyes. Ari grinned wider. "Hestia, think hard on this. What is at the center, the Hearth, of Humanity's Home Planet? What is her core made of? What is held in the Heart of every being?"
The poor little goddess wasn't quite sure where they were going with this. "Uh, family is held in the heart," she said. "And your core is made of molten rock, right?"
Both incredibly powerful entities sitting on metallic leather chairs across from her leaned closer. "And? So? What?" Ari asked.
Hestia thought about it for a moment longer. Nothing came up that she could actually believe. "I don't know," she admitted.
Terra sighed, collapsing back into her chair. "Hestia, you are the Goddess of Hearth, Home, Family, and Fire," she repeated.
Realization slammed into Hestia so hard she thought she'd been thrown up by Kronos again. "What?!" she gasped.
Terra and Ari nodded. "My previous self asked Terra to bestow a part of herself she had never, ever allowed to be a domain upon someone else, someone so deserving of it, they would never abuse such a gift. You, Hestia, are that someone," Ari explained.
Terra continued the explanation. "Never before has any descendant of mine had all four of your domains in concert, Hestia. They are a passkey to the most powerful domain I can grant."
Hestia was trembling at that. "Wh… which is?"
Terra smiled. "I, Terra Jord Soldottir, hereby unlock the domain of my Core, to be given to Hestia Olympia, Goddess of Hearth, Home, Family and Fire. Do you accept?"
Hestia's eyes flew wide open. She glanced to her previous lover with a pleading look, gaining an assuring look and a 'go ahead' motion from the unhelpful Celestial's hands. She turned back to the Planet, and with a trembling voice, spoke the words that would turn the entire mythological world on its head.
"I, He… Hestia Olympia, Daughter of… Kronos... and Rhea, hereby accept the d… d… the Domain of the Core from Terra Jord… S...Soldottir."
On that day, in that single moment, power of a kind never before witnessed on Terra collapsed into her from all directions. She could only scream.
