A sword of adamantine

My little boy wasn't so small anymore. The two years to come he grew even more, and was soon towering almost two heads above me, getting even more muscular and broad over the shoulders and chest, hands big as shovels. It felt rather strange while hugging Zeus good night in the evenings, that this was the very little boy who I had been carrying around 16 years ago, or had had sitting in my lap. Now it felt almost the other way around.

He had his years of puberty clashes all right, when everything appeared awful to him and when he was fighting with me and Addie or with the Kouretes about things that might seem minor. But on the other side of these years a good-natured and kind, although hot-tempered young man emerged. A man who had understood and accepted his destiny in life, and regarded it as a fact to deal with.

" If I don't beat Cronos", he told me one early morning, when helping me with a goat who was having a kid, "I can at least try to do him as much harm as possible; so that others, who come after me, can finish the job. "
" You're going to make it, Zeus", I replied. "There's no-one like you."
" Your second statement does not necessarily prove your first, Thea."
" Honey, you're starting to sound more and more like Metis. "
" I love her."
" I know. She's a fine young lady. "

" When I'm done with the Cronos part of my life I'm going to marry her. "
" I'm sure you two will be happy. For quite a while."
" What do you mean 'while'?"
" That we are immortal, you, I and her. We will go on living, and eventually we might grow out of each other. You'll change, and so will she. And perhaps one morning you are looking at each other, realising that it's over and you both want to go further in life."
" Never", Zeus stated. "I'm never going to leave Metis. We are one. We will overcome whatever lies in front of us. That's a promise I think she deserves from me. "

" But what if she becomes the one who want to leave? Are you going to let her go then?"
" Ah -" Zeus seemed to hesitate, like that very thought hadn't crossed his mind. He turned to look out over the ocean, where green, unruly waves crashed against the rocks, sending up cascades of white foam. His brows went wrinkled as he lost himself in thoughts.

" Thea", he said after a while, "what experiences do you have of these kinds of relations?"
" Very few I must admit. You know, I came to the castle of Cronos being only twelve. At that time in life boys are just some strange and annoying creatures. Then I came here and had a few shorter adventures before you came into my life, and with you Pyrr and all the other Kouretes. But there were too many important things for me to do. Love never really got the chance to be on the agenda. "

" Poor you." Zeus turned again and took my hand. "When I'm gone, you'll have your life back again."
" I have my life, Zeus. I couldn't have wished for a better way to spend those years. Watching you growing up and becoming a fine young man has been a wonderful experience. "

¤¤¤

The same evening Damneus came and showed us a long-sword of a strange, blue metal that seemed to glow in the dark with a shine of lethal strength.
" Zeus", he said. "This blade is forged by adamantine. It's a rare metal with special qualities. It has the power, governed right, to harm even immortals severely. Used right and with special concentration an immortal can maim the enemy, give him or her wounds that will be of the hard-healing kind. "

Zeus looked at the blade with excitement in his eyes when Damneus handed it over to him.
" Tomorrow your training with this sword will start. Remember, this is not like other blades. Its use must be combined with special mental powers to reach its fullest potential. It's a different martial art fighting with adamantine. An art almost lost, forgotten since the material is so rare and there are very few adamantine blades left."
" What can it do?"
" As I said - wound severely, it was an adamantine blade Cronos used to castrate Ouranos, his precursor. "

" Can it - kill?"
" Not an immortal. You know how it works, Zeus!"
" Yes I know, immortals can't be killed, because the soul can not be untied from the body, if the body gets harmed it will only heal and renew itself. We can reach the realms of dead souls and beyond, but we can always go back. We, who hold death and life in our hands - et cetera et cetera blablabla. I've heard it enough times. "

" But it's important", I said. "It's what differs us from the mortals. "
" That, and our knowledge about a lot of things they don't have", Zeus replied. "I think we should share some of all this. It can't be right that we know how to transcend the skies while they toil in the dirt. "
" It might me dangerous", Pyrrhikhos said. "They are simple-minded and mostly egoistic. Our knowledge in the wrong hands might -"

" Are we much better?" Zeus returned. "Look at Cronos! Isn't divine knowledge dangerous in his hands? He, who have killed millions, and locked thousands of our kind up in Tartarus? What harm can a mortal do compared to him and his deed?"
" His time will come, Zeus", Pyrrhikhos said. "And with you and that sword in your hand - "

Zeus suddenly turned and threw the sword upon the meal table.
" I refuse to be your tool!" Then he left the room, slamming the door so it came off its hinges for what time in order I had no idea.

Interlude

" There's no ores of adamantine left", Hephestos tells. "Every finding has been mined out a long long time ago. The mortals do not even know this matter exists."
" But how come it's so dangerous?" Hudson asks the Olympian, regarding his own reflection in the blue knife-blade.
" It's because of its dense atomic structure. And the way the electrons are tied to each other. Immortal control of matter can have adamantine cutting through everything save for an Aegis. "

Hephestos turns pages in the newspaper until he comes upon a large commercial with a lot of empty, white space on the sheet. He picks up a ball pen and starts to draw atomic models on the paper.
" What do you remember from your physics classes? he asks the younger god. "
" Nada."
" You took Spanish instead, I hear", the Olympian jokes. "Anyhow, this is electrons, this is neutrons and this is protons. Now look how they are arranged!"

I rise. I have never liked physics either. It's for geeks like Hephestos, even if he works mostly with computers these days; living in Silicon Valley known as Heinz Vulcan and associating with people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

Instead I walk over and talk with Heph's little sister Hebe who sits alone in a corner with a vodka-smoothie and her laptop. Not many people know it, but she is actually the one behind this 'Goddess Diaries' blog. I didn't know until just a couple of months ago, when I "caught her in the act". Before that I could have sworn that the moniker "Zeusdaughter" was really one of the muses.

Interlude ends

I found Zeus beneath the grand old oak at the end of the martial-arts turf. His usual place when he was sad.
" Zeusy", I rounded the tree and kneeled in front of him.
" He's my father." My boy refused to meet my eyes, he was sitting with his head bowed, twinning a strand of grass between his large fingers, long hair weiling his face. At that very moment it hit me how very much he reminded me of Rhea.

" Yes, that is true, I told. Nonetheless - "
" He's the cruellest man existing, and still - he is my father. I'm of his blood. How can anyone expect me to stop him, or even harm him? I should -"
" He held no love for you, honey. Cronos never cared for any of his children. You know what he did to them and what he would have done to you hadn't your mother saved you. You are like her. Remember that. Do always remember that! And that you with your strength and unusual powers are our only hope. "

" Thea, I'm not sure I'll be able to live up to that. What if I instead end up joining him? What if he is able to convince me to unite with him instead?"
" You're not that week in soul, Zeus. "
" But if he pleas to my blood?"
" It has no relevance. He was the one who cut off these bounds. He has no right to claim you, Zeus. I know your soul is in conflict. It's always hard to turn on our blood no matter how much harm the people of it have done to us. We still want to love them, it's in our nature. "

" Then why did he do these things to my sisters and brothers? And to my mother?"
" Because he was scared. Scared that there should be one as powerful as him and lusting for power. Zeus, it's your sisters and brothers you owe. They are your blood too. It's for their sake you must stop Cronos. If you just listen to your heart you'll hear that call of truth. "

Zeus sat quiet for a while. Then he rose, let go of my hand which he had been squeezing.
" That's true. That I do! I'm going to take up that blade and continue down my path of destiny. I owe mother that. And all my sisters and brothers who's names I don't even know. "

¤¤¤

The next day Zeus begun his training with the adamantine blade like this pang of doubt had never happened. He was like that a lot of time during those teenage years. Ups and downs, doubts and trust, rage and joy. Oceanos' meditation classes helped a bit and so did Metis' presence. But she had her own life, couldn't come here as often, and besides, travelling had become more dangerous than ever these years. It was as if Cronos sensed that there was a growing, clandestine resistance out there again.

However, when Zeus reached seventeen he had already become a master-class adamantine fighter, having wounded several of the Kouretes in a lot of places.
" Necessary", Kyrbas only answered, when I helped him healing his wounded right arm and hip. "Necessary if the lad is about to learn and be able to take on Cronos. "

I regarded Zeus out on the turf, he was now fighting Prymneus, and he sure was fast. My immortal eyes could hardly follow his movements, and for a mortal he must have been almost invisible, only resembling a whirling mist.
" He's so swift", I said to myself. Kyrbas answered:
" He sure is. Boy is incredible! Never seen anything like it. "

I turned, looking at the man with the shaved head. It was not often the Kouretes were offering praises, even if I knew that they had been regarding Zeus with a lot more respect during this last year.
" Only a matter of time now before he can become what he's meant to be, to do what he's destined for. Whatever happens, nothing will remain the same where Zeus threads. He's the Great Changer. We will follow him to the end. To victory or defeat. Zeus will never stop. And we'll go with him. I guess that's what we were meant to do all the time. Not only Zeus has a destiny. We have one too. "

While toying with a lock of my hair I was watching my ward. It struck me while listening to the normally so taciturn man, that this time was nearing its end. The years with Zeus. And with these Kouretes. Those years, which had seemed like an endless row of moments, were almost over. It was inevitable of course, but I hadn't really realised it until now. That my Zeus was leaving me, going out in the world to do what he was meant to do. That he was no little boy anymore, he was a grown-up man and with a heavy responsibility resting upon his shoulders.

I was having flashbacks, remembering the first time I had held Zeus, his first steps, his curiosity, his achievements and mistakes and his witty comments. Although I knew it had to end I wanted to deny that ending, to pretend that it would always be like this. With Zeus around me as well as his band of teachers. And my sister Adrasteia of course.

When Zeus came in that evening he looked tired but content. Prymneus was trailing him, looking a bit ashamed.
" You let him beat you again", Pyrrhikhos said.
" What do you mean, 'let him?'" the dark-skinned man answered. "You know as well as I that none of us can match this young man anymore. He's better than any of us. Even better than you, Pyrr."
" You're right, there's nothing we can teach him anymore", Pyrrhikhos said. "It's time for the next step."

"And that is?" Zeus asked.
" Actual preparation", Pyrrhikhos told.
" For war?"
" For war. Are you ready, young man? Ready to lead us?"
" I am", Zeus replied. "I know what it takes and I know what it's going to mean. And I am ready. "

"Good!" Pyrrhikhos exclaimed. "Tomorrow we are going to talk about getting in touch with the other resistance movements. Gathering an army. An army of gods. Your army, Zeus."