A/N: If anyone didn't notice, I changed the image of the story from Mt. Olympus on the red planet to a blue one to say that the gods had terraformed the planet. Statistically speaking, by the evidence, Olympus Mons would have once been an island if the planet had oceans. If you look up images of it, you can see it. Maybe it will be again one day.
Phase 8: Decorating
Looking past the astral space body the Mist showed, Ares saw Mars's true, divine form. A beautiful woman. She was nearly ready, he realized. Then he can reclaim his Roman name, and she will take on a new one. What will she be called? Or since Mars is a full protogenos now, she could reproduce. New gods could be born. For as long as he could remember, Ares could sense rising conflict. He was attracted to it like a moth to a flame. However, a new world of gods…. That is a conflict he might want to evade.
The sun was rising even closer to the new world, thanks to Apollo. Things were getting a little bit warmer. The ground was ready for some plants, but Demeter refused to work without her precious Persephone. Hades permitted her to go to the red planet to help. Demeter's fawning over her daughter was almost nauseating.
"Come on, my dear tulip," Demeter said, taking her daughter by the hand. "Let us bring life to this dead world."
"Of course, Mother," Persephone said. She then changed her appearance. Her dark hair changed from black to blonde, and her multicolored eyes to gold. The dark gown turned into a green sundress, and the elegant crown became a crown of flowers. From the Queen of the Underworld to the goddess of spring.
The mother-daughter nature goddesses started throwing seeds in the wind to let nature find proper places for them. Once they were sunned and watered, the goddesses went to work on sprouting, growing, and blooming. They danced on bare feet in the freshly churned soil, waving their hands around to manipulate the plants. Persephone made the seeds germinate for Demeter to mature the saplings into adults for the spring goddess to allow them to blossom. Once pollinated, they made new seeds to restart the cycle of life.
Would the mortal scientists notice that the vegetation on the alien planet was earthling? The climate was still different on this planet than on Earth. Which would force some of the plant life to adjust to it.
Now, standing on top of Olympus Mons, the twelve Olympians gazed across the newly formed island in the blue ocean. Several hundred miles northeast was the shore of one of the continents. Green covered the land, the same as the new Olympus Island. The blue ocean and blue sky met on the horizon.
"From red to blue," Poseidon said, smiling proudly while leaning on his trident. He opted out his traditional godly attire for his casual seaman's—a Hawaiian shirt with shorts and sandals.
Athena discreetly nodded so no one could see her agreeing with her rival.
Zeus spoke, "Well done, everyone. We've worked hard through and against time to create something new. To create something…." He trailed off as he noticed tracks in the mud. "Artemis," he turned to the auburn-haired goddess clutching her bow. "Did you smuggle animals up here?" he scolded.
Artemis's lips pressed together, and her eyes darted everywhere that wasn't her father's gaze. "Maybe," she said. She finally met his eye. "Well, how else is a planet supposed to sustain life if the circle of life is not complete?"
Zeus pinched his brow.
Apollo smirked. "That's typically something I would do, sis. Wait!" he stood there for all the gods to look at him urgently. "I feel a haiku coming on," he announced.
Everyone groaned.
"No. I swear this is a good one." He cleared his throat and spoke:
Unborn World of War
Nourished to survive,
A luscious land comes
"Huh? Huh?" he eagerly waited for a review.
"Poetry is for sissies," Ares insulted. No surprise there.
"That second line was five syllables, not seven," Athena critiqued.
"Okay. How about 'nourished to live longer'? Is that better?" the sun god asked.
The wisdom goddess shook her head. "Still one short."
Apollo threw his hands in the air. "Whatever. Art is flexible. It has no rules."
"Speaking of art," Aphrodite piped in. "I have to go. My favorite couple is going to get married, and he's planning on proposing to her with an apple. Just like in the old times." She squealed. "So, I have some work to do. I have some exciting ideas for that apple. Specifically, the color."
Olympians of Gaea.
A voice shook them. A beautiful feminine voice that had some bite in it. The voice of a woman who was a lioness. Nurturing and deadly at the same time. The dirt before them started to shift and form into a figure of a gorgeous woman. Her curly hair was red as the Martian soil, and her green eyes had a fierce look and cunning smirk. The protogenos spirit of Mars.
As the mortals of your world call it 'Earth' in their respective tongues, while her true name is Gaea, they can continue to refer to me as Mars, but my proper name will be Marea. Now, if you excuse me, I have to do what I was meant to do.
She looked up and in the clouds was the face of a man. A male protogenos. Marea's Ouranos. That was something that Zeus and the others had to take care of.
A/N: Please review and get ready for blastoff. The epilogue is reaching the next frontier. In case you missed it, Marea combines the names Mars and Gaea.
