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The First Interlude

The slumbering deity let her gaze fall from her lover and down onto her domain. The small creatures walking on her were always amusing to look at with their petty disputes that in the end never made a difference whatsoever. Her beloved children were still valiantly ruling over her domain after she and her siblings, nieces, nephews, uncle, and daughter had ruled over it. She let her changing attention fall on her grandchildren, the children of her favorite daughter Rhea, and then their children again. She watched the youngest son of her own son Kronos.

Her grandson was currently sitting at the head of a council. Sitting next to him was her favorite grandson Perseus God of Nature. Her reasons for him being her favorite are his down-to-earth attitude and respect for the Protogenoi as he should. Besides his connection to her domain, she felt quite connected with him. And while she hoped that her children will win in this coming conflict she would be disappointed if her grandchildren were killed and made to fade to her parent's realm.

She felt a presence under her and 'looked' down with her perception. "Hello brother," Gaia said droopily. "I never understood why you insisted on sleep after our reign ended" Came the growling response from underneath. This was the deity's usual tone because Gaia didn't react.

"I let my beloved children have their fun and I didn't want to disturb them, and to be completely honest I was a little bored" She finished in a conspiratorial whisper. The ground under her 'sighed' "Yes I do know, you have been telling me for eons now and it's getting old" She giggled a little at his complaining attitude. "Well when you're so old as us brother, then it's time for a little nap" Tartar-sauce I mean Tartarus sighed again. "You had barely closed your eyes before suddenly two millennia had passed, right?" Her eyes widened in surprise. "How did you know that I would say that?" Tartarus sighed again "Because you tell me the same story every time we talk these days"

"So who or what were you observing this time?" Tartarus asked like he usually would "And please tell me it's not yet another one of those microscopic life forms of yours because I swear—" He didn't even finish the sentence. "No no, this time I was watching those two sons of my Rhea, you know those I rescued some years back?" She said as excitedly as a sleepy voice could sound. "Yes it was the most exciting thing that happened this millennium, of course I remember, every Protogenoi who haven't returned to our parent saw it" Tartarus replied in an annoyed voice.

"Yes yes, so they have now gotten their domains and everything I'm so proud of them, anyway... what was it... ahh yes, so I was watching them in their little council room or whatever they call it and they were planning a rebellion of course against my children and I find it excited how it will turn out" Tartarus grumbled "I'm favoring your grandchildren then, your... Titans stupid name by the way... are so arrogant and my one rule 'new is alw—" She interrupted her brother in a deadpan voice "—always better' yes I do believe you have mentioned it before"

Tartarus growled in a way that would have made any minor deity shit their pants, but only made Gaia metaphorically raise an eyebrow. "That's because it's a really good rule! Anyways we're not having this argument again" The female deity shrugged apathetically and changed the subject "I heard that my grandson tried to attack our nieces the other day" She said before he could once again repeat his 'rule'. Tartarus 'snorted' making an underground volcano emerge in northeastern Sicily. "He knows that we are constants, right? Well, we are as every other deity a variable that can change but I mean that we are immortal and if we died then everyone else would also... you know" He finished grimly. "No, he didn't recognize them so he nearly kicked the bucket as they say"

Tartarus shook his head in disbelief and disappointment but he stated nonetheless "So yes, I will favor these... Olympians? What a stupid name" Tartarus thought in his mind that maybe backing these dimwits wasn't the smartest idea but he had now already said he would so 'no takesies backsies' and besides his pride wouldn't allow it.

"So you wanna bet?" While Tartarus said that he thought to himself 'my stupid mouth—'

Gaia POV

"Those little shits!" I snarled with earthquakes sprouting all over her body disturbing the lives of the puny mortals. 'How dare those arrogant little...' I thought to myself furiously. They dared to rescue her late husband's bastards from her brother's gut. She also thought that the 'gods' as they called themselves were quite impetuous to send her Iapetus to her brother's realm, but it was thankfully done by Perseus so her children didn't disgrace themselves too badly at least. Because everyone knows that my realm's domains are the strongest so they were unfortunate to face off against him, at least in her slightly mad mind.

But anyway they need someone to stop them, at least if they manage to defeat her son Kronos which would be a microscopically small chance but I am nothing if not cautious(read: paranoid). 'But how am I going t—' suddenly a tremor erupted underneath her and she got the 'perfect solution.

Kronos POV

Those, those irritating ants, how dare they bother me. And the worst part of it was that they were mostly born from either my loins or line. 'They should be grateful for my contribution to their creation' I thought to myself while I paced around my quite extravagant quarters. 'Even I could admit that, but what was a King supposed to do? There come certain requirements with the job'. I thought back a century or two to the biggest mistake of my immortal life, yet.

I was having a usual celebratory feast for something that I can't remember anymore, and suddenly out of nowhere, my three cousins appeared the old hags. I, unfortunately, didn't recognize them in my slightly inebriated state and may have insulted their mother among other things, and one thing led to another. And well, I didn't go too well ending with them cursing my line to always get dethroned by their children, eventually. I didn't see any problems with this of course because I was childless and that was not about to change, so I even managed to forget about it for a few decades before my beloved wife said one fateful day that she was pregnant which was when I can admit that I went off the deep end, to say the least.

However now with me clear in the head, I can focus on the problem at hand which is my children and their allies staging a rebellion against me and managing to win a skirmish against my most powerful prison warden and the high command of my armies. With Perses, Iapetus, and Atlas himself out for a couple of years at least which slowed down our preparations for retaliation against them now that we knew where their headquarters were.

My second oldest son would at least gain a nasty surprise in a few months so they could at least hold up the oceanfront of the war with Oceanus the coward declaring neutrality after he made a deal with his son Perseus which stung and he would be sorry for it after the war was finished, but that is then and this is now, unfortunately. Anyway with my 'half brother' on his way they had to hold up his children for a few years to stop them from actually winning this war before it could begin.

Fortunately, they had received the perfect suicide squad: The Telkhines who while usually just doing their own thing down in his brother's old realm were now up in arms after they were replaced by the elder Cyclopes down in what is now my son Poseidon's realm which worked perfectly for the loyalists as we called ourselves now.

With an army of basically suicidal creatures that would throw themselves at the enemy with fanatic enthusiasm I and my generals could just direct them at our enemies and watch with no further input, this would help our side with the recuperation from previous skirmishes and it would make my half brother's arrival a fatal attack against these rebels.

And with our numerous nasty surprises to throw at them I think that this war will be quite easy if timely which wasn't a big drawback for immortals if you can believe it. Now onto more personal matters, half of my family betrayed me for my children even my wife went over to their side and this was something that made Kronos feel a tiny feeling of pain and betrayal at their abandonment of him. Hadn't he ruled over his mother for eons? Didn't that mean anything to them? It did hurt that his own family really would betray him in the first rebellion against them or him.

But he couldn't continue to wallow in his misery, he had a rebellion to win and that wouldn't happen by itself... well maybe it would but he had things to do nonetheless.

Still Kronos POV

He was effective he could give him that. The offensive against the rebels was barely adequate, especially after his second to youngest son gave life to millions of clay soldiers he raised from the ground to fight against the Telkhines. I and my allies of course replied to that with our minions to fight and they could barely fight on all the fronts of the war. After all, while the clay soldiers of Olympus were outnumbered ten to one, they still managed to hold the war to a standstill which was frustrating to watch because the clay warriors looked so fragile and even still they managed to hold their ground.

And unfortunately, the Titans' pride held them back because they refused to even take a step on any battlefield without an enemy deity there, and with the lack of enemy deities taking the field they weren't doing anything for the war effort. I had even noticed mortals fighting on some battlefields with blessed metal blades, and the worst part was that they managed to be quite effective against the Telkhines and their assortment of minions ranging from their clay warriors to other creatures created by my loyal Titans.

The mortals had completely sided with the Olympians and more specifically Perseus. I had noticed them breaking away from my curse for about a year but I didn't care enough about the mortals to fight them about it, I broke the curse myself, and immediately after I lost the previously perpetual feeling of a Boulder resting upon my shoulders. Once I realized that what I presumed was the feeling of old age as a result of my ignorance I felt quite ashamed of myself to be completely honest. I don't know why I never managed to connect those dots which in hindsight was quite obvious.

I was frustrated, to say the least, but even if I was a deity of time I couldn't change the past which I thought was a very dumb rule but I couldn't do anything about it so I would have to put it behind me. At least my son Poseidon will be in for a nasty surprise in a few days, that would hopefully raise my spirits.

Alchymedes POV

My life is great! Only a decade ago was I an unimportant poor farmer in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere and now, I was one of the most powerful men in the known world at least in the mortal world which was quite exhilarating in my humble opinion. Eight years ago my all-powerful Patron the King of the Gods and God of Nature visited my old home, rapidly growing the settlement from an unknown settlement in the middle of Crete to one of the most known sites in the civilized world. While the population was only at one hundred inhabitants the visitors were in the thousands, with nearly every adult worshiper of Perseus traveling there on pilgrimages.

Now the head priests of Perseus which was me and five other priests (who were my advisors and administrators for the cult/religion) weren't situated in Perséa anymore because of its quite remote location, but it was still a really important place for not only the pilgrims but everyone worshipping Perseus and his family. But now we were based in Knossos the biggest city in Crete. The local kings were quite excited about Perseus so they thankfully didn't have any qualms about the up-and-coming religion which was spreading like wildfire throughout the whole island gaining hundreds of followers by the week.

The Olympic Pantheon as it was now called was now the main religion of Crete and the neighboring islands of Karpathos, Rhodes, some small islands in the archipelago south of Attica and Athena's burgeoning city, and the island of Kythera which was already familiar with Aphrodite because that was where she had first arrived to land. The numbers which my scribes had calculated were in the thousands maybe even twenty thousand if the more flattering predictions were correct.

The temple which I was currently inhabiting was on a hill in Knossos, it was the most ostentatious and prestigious temple of Perseus to date with its expensive white marble floors, limestone pillars, and mud-brick stone tiled roof which glinted under Helios's rays. The insides were inhabited by a limestone altar lined with imported gold and resting upon it was a golden dyed cloth. Torches were flickering along the walls of the main chamber and its assortment of halls and quarters, there was a big statue of an imposing portrayal of Perseus in all his godly glory.

The statue was 'clothed' with a black leather cuirass, he was otherwise unclothed except for an elegant scabbard resting on the statue's left hip. The reason for the scabbard was Perseus's newly gained godly symbol which was a scabbard and sword, they were told by Myaló one of Perseus's now holy animals which had one day flown into the middle of a sermon, where it had decreed the addition of a scabbard and hilt for the statue.

After that day the temple had received some new inhabitants consisting of the local Ravens which were now watched by one of the six head priests which who was now named The Keeper of Ravens which had now become a quite prestigious title in the pantheon. The current Keeper of Ravens was named Orsillia who was a middle-aged woman from Karpathos west of Crete, she was quite content with her duty and constantly was at The Tree of the Ravens, people were very fond of ostentatious titles for even the smallest things because they continued to make new titles every time anything happens regardless of what it is which I didn't see the appeal of but to each and their own I guess.

Outside the temple in the gardens and grounds surrounding the temple was an assortment of shrines to Perseus's wife and children. The garden was a beautiful specimen blessed by Persephone herself with the designs and construction of the beautiful art pieces littering the garden done by Hephaestus. Prokopios who while also having an outdoor shrine had a small building with his priests which healed everyone asking for it.

All in all, the Pantheon of the Olympians was doing well with burgeoning numbers and increasing influence all over the southern islands of Hellas. The other gods had also been spreading their influence throughout the civilized world with Poseidon interacting with a city in Corinthia named Korinthos, he was also apparently interactions with the city which Athena had taken interest in because they had been in a very public dispute in the middle of the city.

I walked into my quarters and laid down on my olive wood bed with cowhides as my bedsheets, I closed my eyes and the last thing I thought about was the very bright future ahead of me.

A little time jump

The world was going to Hades. Well not quite as extreme but it was not as perfect as I had imagined it for a couple of months ago. The world of deities and mortals had suddenly crashed together and the mist had been disabled which fucked with the minds of the mortals who were suddenly surrounded by monsters on all sides which they had been previously oblivious of.

A good number of young men had however made deals with the Gods and more specifically Perseus to gain boons if they fought against the Titans in this rebellion, this was very popular with young men and a few women who weren't yet sure about their place in the world. Combined with the innate attitude of superiority and adventurous attitudes of young humans you had it going with droves of inexperienced mortals 'enlisting'. They got a leather cuirass, a bronze helmet, and a blessed sword and were sent out to fight against the Titans' armies.

The surprising part of the whole debacle was the actual effectiveness of the mortals with them holding their own against the Telkhines and other minions of the Titans. The mortals had even become officers in the Olympian armies gaining either a small squad of clay soldiers or if they were really impressive they could even become commanders who answered directly to the Gods themselves. The more structured and disciplined organization of the Olympian military was a game-changer that neutralized the Titans' superior numbers.

The world was put on its head and everything they thought was down because up and vice versa with nightmarish creatures and monsters becoming reality prowling the outskirts of the mortal settlements, making the Olympian army garrison the major mortal cities against the monsters. One of the good things of the arrangement was that Perseus of course held his word and granted the boons he had promised to the enlisted mortals which ranged from helping their families with harvests and fertility of the fields to promises of beautiful wives and husbands in the future.

The worst thing about the merging of worlds was the monsters that were now terrorizing helpless mortals all over Hellas and her colonies. Even the sights of the monsters could make a mortal mad with fright or even just kill them outright by the just wrong visuals of the monsters.

'I hope this war ends soon' Alchymedes thought to himself not knowing that it would only get worse before it could get better.

Perseus POV

I was sitting in a forest with some miniatures of the clay soldiers that were currently fielding battlefields all over Hellas. The wind blew calmly around me and I nearly managed to forget the current situation I was in, while I was taking in the sights of my domain I was giving life to the miniature before pressing it into a clump before molding it back into a clay soldier and repeating the process mindlessly. I saw my Ravens swooping in from wherever they had been and waited for them to perch upon my shoulders.

Their sharp claws gripped onto my shoulders with unnatural strength which would have been impossible for a normal raven to emit but they were not normal. They were quietly... crowing into my ears about everything and nothing of what they had seen, smelled, and heard.

There was a giant rumbling in the ground on an island to the west of Hellas, there was an unnatural storm cloud perpetually moving west from the middle of the Anatolian windswept landscape which sounded quite disturbing but it was thankfully very slow-moving with a lot of distance to cover, the mortals were still suffering from the lack of a protective mist against the monsters and deities they could now suddenly see, smell and hear which didn't go over well with them, and finally, there was a— I quickly flashed away from the forest that I had been residing in for the last hours, leaving only a half-molded clay figurine behind me.

I arrived into my black and golden throne with the council half assembled already which was good, 'Constant Vigilance' and all that. I reached over to my wife who smiled a small smile before mentally asking me 'Where have you been?' I looked around before answering mentally 'This war is wearing on me, I needed some time to calm down. My wife nodded understandingly and managed to just answer 'It wears on us all before the meeting started, I nodded in agreement and then focused on my brother's words.

Sképsi and Myaló were paying rapid attention to my brother, which probably had something to do with their recent report. "Well, we have gotten a tip of a massive sea monster swimming towards your newly constructed city which probably doesn't have friendly intentions to you and yours" Poseidon nodded in understanding before his eyes suddenly widened and he flashed out.

Zeus got his wits together after a few moments and promptly said to me "Perseus you will be his backup, you will take Aphrodite with you" I nodded, and with an unspoken agreement I and my wife flashed out to war.

End of Chapter

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Next: A Ginormous Sea Snake

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