3. Reminiscence

A/N Titanomachy – Greek for the 'Titan War' the Gods' battle against Cronos and his Titans.

A sun, larger than its equivalent on Earth, shone brightly from deep blue sky specked with day stars but without a single cloud in sight. By the western horizon one of the moons was visible, a thin white crescent almost scratching the jagged mountain-range which was so blue and distant that it almost blended with the sky, discernable almost only by the snow-clad edges outlining it. The air over the rust coloured dessert was hot, dry and the winds brisk – loaded with energetic forces, emitted from the cosmos outside and channelized to the beings filling the air and the ground below. For those able to harvest such rarified power, this was in many ways better than regular sustenance. The heavenly Ambrosia, this ultimate nourishment kept their bodies forever young and granted them eternal cellular rejuvenation. Immortality.

Hera closed her eyes, drinking in the Ambrosia through her open chakras, feeling it empower her, readying her for the battle awaiting just moments away now. Around her she could hear the calls of the immortal fighters, the gods who had just learned that they too could face death under the new cosmic regimen.

Cronos – time – had changed the rules. He had stolen eternity from them and condemned them to a vulnerability they were not familiar with. The first who had fallen had never expected to do so, and had been taken by surprise. Cronos and his ilk had annihilated them easily. The ones coming after had been harder to defeat. However time was literally on the Titan's side. He could fight endlessly, while his enemies became trapped in a time-world where they were cornered, sometimes even excluded from the universal flow which granted them godhood. They found themselves playing a game where the rules changed constantly and the board today was unlike the one yesterday and would become different again tomorrow.

"And look how the mighty had fallen, one by one..." Hyperion's words echoed in the mind of Hera as she grasped Soulsinger, her mighty blade of Eonite. Eonite, the only material to defeat the Titans with, because it was the only matter which broke through their room-time protection, brought them out into the flowing reality again, and thus made them possible to kill. However no one really knew if the matter could kill Cronos himself, since no god had ever been able to even get near him. All who had tried had perished.

Now, the massive battle horn of Kephalos was heard in the distance, a deep reverberating and almost mournful sound. Calling all to arms. The Titans had obviously been sighted by the horizon.
"It's time," Leto asserted, standing next to Hera, the dry wind blowing strands of dark brown hair into her tanned, heart-shaped face, her gold-specked emerald eyes sparkling with the bizarre mix of apprehension and anticipation, her large double-axe held steadfastly in a two-hand grip. "However our chances could have been better. Our numbers might be the greatest, but against the Titans it has proven to mean so little."

"Don't despair, my friend," Hera replied, laying her hand on Leto's sinewy shoulder. "This is the only thing we can do. And if we go down here and now – or later – history will remember we tried at least."
"Don't be so sure of that." A third voice joined them. Raven-haired Astraios, who came walking across the hot, red sand, joining them in the shadow of the ancient ruin, his blue tunic still stained with the blood from the last battle, his coal eyes burning. "Cronos may alter history too. Believe me; he has the power to do these things. And I don't doubt for a second that if he wins this, he'll rewrite history completely. Write us out of it. Miladies, if Cronos gets what he wants, we will never have existed."

"Can he do that?" Leto asked, doubtful eyes widening. "Re-write history."
"He can. He has. And he will again. If we don't stop him," Hera said, her voice sharp and firm. Then she raised Soulsinger, let the sun bounce off the ice blue, oddly transparent matter. "So let us stop him! Then we will be the ones to write the history!"

As Hera launched herself in the air – this plinking plunking sound was heard – and faced forward, she saw what she feared were too many Titans coming in from the west, dotting the horizon – the plinking plunking continued – now what, it wasn't supposed to be any – pling plong jangling dangling doo – is Cronos doing this? Changing reality yet another time? Because she couldn't remember anything sounding like...

Plinkeli plonkely dang dang doo...

The annoying sound finally shattered the world around, her and... Hannah sat up in the sofa, cursing out loud, she had fallen asleep in front of the TV-set again. And that damn phone, where was it? She could hear it playing its too catchy melody. Yes, there it was, the dumb thing had fallen down on the floor and was now lying on the white carpet under the coffee table together with an orange pillow and yesterday's paper. With a grunt Hannah reached out, only to hear the music stop.

Missed Call, read the taunting message on the screen, and she thumbed the message, pulling it to the side. That had been Linda. Probably about that weekend trip. Hannah groined, she was very much changing her mind about this, a long weekend in the mountains didn't sound as promising as it had a fortnight ago at Linda and Erik's place. The couple owned a cottage in the Vemdalen ski resort and they had this idea of inviting up a whole bunch of friends there for the upcoming holiday.

Hannah was too tired, all this dreaming was like being awake 24/7. Never was there any rest. Still, she didn't want to be without this experience for anything in the world. This reminiscence, these adventures of the divine Hera, it was the most amazing story she had ever been through. Better than any book, than any movie. Because she had lived it!

Or at least she thought she had.

No matter what, she kept writing it all down. If it should turn out to be nothing more than over-vivid imagination, Hannah was still having the story at her hard drive and backed-up at Dropbox. It could be an amazing book with a little work and a bit of beta-reading. And since she had her own publishing company, there was nothing stopping the book from hitting the stores.

"I'll call Linda on Wednesday," she said to her android phone. "Tell her I've come down with the flue. A white lie, then again I won't be the greatest company up there this time. Not with the life of Hera writing itself all over my mind. Now I have some story additions to do before I tuck in." Hannah turned off the TV, which was showing football to someone who couldn't care less and walked out in the kitchen to fill up a large glass of ice water before going into her office and her waiting laptop.

¤0¤0¤0¤0¤*

With a solemn expression upon his face, Zeus strode across the marble floor of the large, airy hall, heading for the trio of gods gathered by the near end of the oblong conference table of shining, obsidian crystal. On the other side of the table, the sun shone in through high windows, and together with the glittering blue sea beneath, it was bathing the room in cascades of brilliant white light. The curtains were blowing slightly in the wind from the sea and the iridescent mother-of-pearl textile was counter-pointing the sunlight with alluring reflections around the walls and furnishing.

Procrastinating slightly, Zeus stopped by an urn and nipped a merry red begonia from its stalk, inhaling the sweet scent. Then he took the few steps needed until he was merely a few feet from the others.
"You have bad news," his sister Hestia had red his face immediately.
"Yes, I have," Zeus nodded his head in acknowledgment and the blonde goddess' shoulders slumped just the tiniest bit.
"You couldn't open the portal?" Poseidon asked. "Or she wasn't there?"

"I could open the portal all right," Zeus said, letting his eyes wander from Hestia over to Poseidon and then stopping at green-eyed Demeter. The latter said nothing, though, waiting for him to speak.
"But something must have gone wrong when we closed the gate. Because the world on the other side, The Earth Realm, it was – how should I say – it has changed."
"What do you mean by changed?" Hestia pressed on, when Zeus stopped speaking. It was so unusual of him to not finish what he had to say and Hestia was beginning to fear that something was really wrong. Hera?

"It's... how should I say it? It's different. First I thought it wasn't the same place, that I had made some mistake and managed to open the Portal to one of the many other worlds we know exist out there. Those others which were cordoned off during the Titanomachy, to spare them from the terrors of Cronos. But it is the same world. It is the world of the Earthlings all right."
"But?" Poseidon asked, staring intensely at Zeus. He too was beginning to feel really uncomfortable.

Somewhere a bell told three strikes and Zeus' blue eyes darted towards the sound before he went on.
"It's the Time Inaccuracy again. Some of this damage Cronos did to our Cosmos, and which we have yet not managed to repair. When I opened the gate to the Mortal World, more than 3000 years had passed since Hera and I sealed it. And Hera," Zeus choked upon his words and faced down, the begonia fell from his fingers and landed on the cold marble floor, like a drop of blood on white snow. "Hera is gone."

¤0¤0¤0¤0¤*

"Look at that man!" Astraios raised his hand and pointed up in the sky. "That can't be possible!"
"And yet you just saw it," Nereus' deep bass resounded as the burly sea god kept his eyes on the appearance above. "That single man just defeated six Titans. With one strike of that mystery power. He undid their time shields and killed them." He shook his head in disbelief, his mane of dark dreads flowing about him.
"Just like that," Astraios added, snapping his pale fingers for emphasis.

"Who is he really?" Hera wanted to know as she stared at what looked like a dream come true for the gods. A secret weapon materializing out of nowhere.
"Only thing I know is that he calls himself Zeus," Nereus replied. "Leader of the Khaberis."
"The Khaberis, huh," Leto huffed. "They came in late in the game."
"Perhaps they couldn't help it," Astraios defended the strangers, "perhaps they were kept by Cronos' temporal games."
"But if we cannot trust the time, what can we trust?" Leto asked.
"Our weapon, and our minds," Hera replied, feeling some indistinct kind of hope flicker in her chest. A hope which she let colour her voice, eager to inspire the others. "Come, let's help that god! He shouldn't have to clean this place up all by himself."

As they whizzed trough the air to join Zeus and his followers, Hera heard Nereus' odd dismay behind her.
"That man is too powerful," he god huffed. "One single person with so much potency, it can never end well!"

She had wanted to question him at that moment, but there was no time for that, they were closing in on the enemies fast, it was only a matter of moments before the Titans would shift their attention and see what was coming for them.

But they didn't. They were too preoccupied with their new enemy, the god who was cutting through them like grass, using something which at times looked like a blade, at times like a whip and at other instances appeared to be nothing but pure energy. Hera had to force herself to take her eyes off that striking, tall man with his shining fair hair and swift, almost liquid body language. It was as if nothing of what the enemies threw at him could sting him, instead he danced his way through them with impossible ease.

Meanwhile Hera and her siblings in arms grasped the element of surprise and launched themselves right into the melee of Titans, who were now starting to retreat – to flee even. This powerful stranger didn't bother with runaways though, he left them for Hera's force to cut down. Instead he appeared to have set his objective elsewhere. That enormous silvery orb which had just materialized out by the sea-shore and was now hovering menacingly there. The war headquarters of Cronos.

Was Zeus really going up against the Titan King? And with such a determination? This was something Hera really wanted to see. No matter how it ended, if someone could shake Cronos, this new mysterious and powerful player on the stage was the one.

¤0¤0¤0¤0¤*

"Get well soon, Hannah," Linda said over the phone. "There'll be more skiing weekends, count on that! Perhaps we can go up during Easter, if there's still any snow."
"Yes, that would be nice," Hanna replied non-committedly. Easter was way into the future. Hopefully these dreams would have ended by then. One way or the other. Besides, she'd never been the biggest fan of skiing, what had tempted her with that weekend had been a chance to hang with her friends. Not only Linda and Eric but also Karl, Natek, Chantale and Renate had told they were in. Since Renate wasn't any avid skier either, Hannah had counted on being able to sneak away with her to do some outlet-shopping and spa-afternoons.

However what she really wanted to do, Hannah thought as she hung up and put the phone down on the kitchen counter, was trying to find Zeus. Her lost starman. Now she knew his name, his looks. He had to be somewhere out there, hopefully looking for her too. She couldn't deny her heart ached for that man. He was no substitute for the family she had lost, he was far more than that. He was his own enigmatic abscense, and Hannah hoped profoundly that she would find a way through to him. No matter where he hid.

Opening the fridge, she pulled out the frozen vegetable mix she had left there to thaw, poured some oil in a frying pan and turned on the gas. She poured the vegetables in the pan and stirred them around, using a large wooden fork, before she added fresh scrimps, some blue cheese and then more oil. Taking the remote, she turned up the music a bit more, sang along to Loreen's Euphoria while finishing her dinner. She poured it all down on a plate before fetching a bottle of chilled water from the fridge and cutting up a slice of bread. After that she was finally sitting down to eat. Only to stop with her fork halfway into the food, as a strange sensation came over her. It was as if...

Putting down the utensil on the matte blue china plate, she raised her head slowly, opening her mouth as if to say something.

But the place in front of her was empty. There was no dish there, no glass of water, no nothing. Especially not anyone sitting in that chair. Which was impossible anyway since it was occupied by all those old papers and magazines she ought to take out to the recycler bin.

Yet for a short moment, not longer than a heartbeat, had she got the distinct impression of a presence. Like someone had been there. Someone with the wish to be with her, to share her meal.

"Zeus," she said out loud, but naturally there was no response whatsoever.

¤0¤0¤0¤0¤

"Zeus!" Metis called in exaltation, raising her blade in the air, sun bouncing off the metal. "It's him! Zeus!"
"You know him?" Hera enquired while halting in the air in front of the striking, dark-skinned woman, whos vibrant and clear-ringing contralto carried forcefully over the landscape. Metis was an authoritative and powerful old goddess who had been around longer than any of them cared to remember and she was one who Hera held in deep respect.
"We've met," Metis said non-committedly, and Hera wondered about the peculiar emotions fluttering across the older goddess' face.
"Is he really thinking he can break through that orb?" Leto was asking as she approached the other two.
"Just watch it," Metis replied with a smirk.

Compliantly, both Hera and Leto turned to look at the horde of newly arrivals. A multitude of gods and goddesses who were now gathering around the Orb of Cronos. The Khaberis. They were circling the gleaming structure, spiraling around it as if they were a rope out to suffocate the thing there. And at its lead – Zeus. Zeus, whose name all those new deities kept chanting out in a hypnotic rhythm. Zeus, who lifted what appeared to be a luminescent, yellow spear surrounded by dancing blue flashes of static. At the same time he called out something in a language none of them could understand – and then he forcefully brought the spear-like contraption down, hitting the top of the orb. Where it stroke a large fissure appeared. A crack, which was soon multiplying, tearing up the structure into smaller and smaller pieces like a breaking egg shell – until a rustling sound was heard, like a heavy torrent of rain, when those shards came crashing down towards the ground below.

When all those glass-like pieces fell, they were sending off sharp reflections, almost blinding the onlookers before they cut into the ground with a force as if they had weighted far more than they could possibly do. Cut down and opening chasms to in the ground. From those hot, deep orange lava came fountaining up in the air with booming and hissing sounds. Soon it met the sea-water streaming in to replace the suddenly vanished sand, causing it to boild and smoke. Vapors and mist swiveled upwards, almost hiding the shore-side landscape before the evaporating lava cooled down and stiffed into strange formations. This all happened within moments. As Hera took her eyes off the ground, she found the large structure in front of her being engulfed in fire. Fire frozen stiff – or that was what it seemed at first sight.

But the hot and bright yellow things engulfing Cronos' structure was not frozen fire, it was distorted time. These frightful-looking anomalies were the result of Cronos constant manipulations with the temporal flux. Time was being turned inside-out and back to front and slowly beginning to tear reality apart.
"If this doesn't stop," Hera heard Metis' voice somewhere to her left, "our whole universe is going to be ripped apart and we're all doomed. Even Cronos himself, however he refuses to see it. Our only hope now is Zeus."