Prologue: This Could’ve Been An Email

Hi lovelies! Let me know your thoughts on this one, and I’ll be returning to writing in February after my little break

Cover is also subject to change cause I’m too picky lol

But for now…

Enjoy!

xoxo

Modern Gods

The old colosseum walls surrounding these powerful beings had given way to the cracks that altered the once firm foundations many years ago. It was the power of the gods that held up the stones that should’ve otherwise crumbled, and yet one particular god seemed to be the only one to notice. The only one who could see the patches of magic that had diminished in strength over time, regardless of what the ruler of Olympus claimed to be true.

Much like these walls, the foundation of the gods had shown signs of crumbling with them.

“It always brings me such great pleasure to see this many familiar faces… and well, I guess all other godly forms here too. I don’t want to exclude anyone from our harmonious gathering here on this day.”

Relax. That was the very word that coursed through one particular god’s mind as he glanced around this massive arena, his eyes shifting over each god and goddess that had in fact gathered here on this here day. That had been forced at the hands of Zeus.

This particular god’s fingers rose to gently massage the bridge of his nose in irritation. This was yet again Zeus’s poor attempt at being civil in a room filled with the least civil entities known to mankind and those that existed beyond, including himself. This mandatory congressional meeting had just started amongst the gods, and in the words of the feeble human race, it could’ve been an email.

In any case, this particular god believed Hermes, the God of Merchants, Thieves, and Travelers, the god also tasked with delivering messages the 12 Olympians sent out, would’ve figured out the message delivery sooner or later.

This particular god who now sat amongst many others that were of like him, but also not, believed he did not belong here. Not at this gathering.

“I know you have all been told why you are here. We have heard your concerns and we understand the hesitancy to congregate, we also respect and appreciate the prompt reply from all of you,” Zeus continued. “As you all know, Poseidon and I have met to work on solving this imminent growing threat to the gods—”

“Yeah , a threat for him .” This particular god’s brother Hypnos muttered quietly besides him with words that were directed at no one in particular. He was just voicing how most of the gods, including this one in question, felt. “Who is going to tell him?”

None of them would, that was for sure. With all the gods gathered amongst the twelve Olympians, no one besides those twelve would dare question this wildly illogical thinking. No one had the strength to. Or the confidence.

This whole meeting was utterly ridiculou s, this particular god thought to himself.

“As you all may know, the human world has been straying further and further from the gods for centuries. This, therefore, has weakened all our powers considerably- stretching from here on Mount Olympus to the Underworld itself. They no longer pray to us. No longer worship us. No longer–”

The groan this particular god felt his brothers Hypnos and Geras internally do in the row they were gathered in, was both pointed and longstanding. It was a ripple effect felt across the entire family of Darkness that sat together.

Only two of this god’s family members seemed to be enjoying this awfully tense crowd Zeus had gathered against most god’s better judgement, and the first was Eris.

The god in question felt that this was completely in alignment with his younger sister, with her being the Goddess of Chaos and all. This would mean she was more than happy to feed into the stupidity of this whole debated issue. She had a teethy, deeply wicked grin plastered across her pale olive skin that told him this had to be the most fun she was having in centuries. And that was saying quite a bit for the Goddess of Chaos, Strife, and Discord- a goddess who’s almost never known a single dull, bleak moment in her eternal lifetime.

Geras, his younger brother to the far left of all of his family, was tense. This god watched as his older, wrinkly aged hands twitched uncontrollably in his lap, something he did when he felt he was beyond the means of annoyance, and had entered the realm of pure anger.

He was, no doubt, calculating just how fucked Zeus’s entire plan was, and whether or not this family could realistically benefit from both Zeus and Poseidon’s insanity. They seldom ever did. Geras The God of Old Age and Virtue was not taking kindly to the fact that Zeus could even make a call as outrageous as this one- the one he had gathered these gods all here for. And that he still had the power to do so.

Hypnos, this particular god in question’s twin brother, was irritated that he had to show up for this gathering at all. The God of Sleep was first: one of the few in this family who actually gained the upper hand against Zeus on a few too many occasions— all of which drew unnecessary attention to this family as a whole, and second: one of the most powerful gods to exist. It was a pity it took such efforts to peak his interest with any politics concerning and regarding the gods themselves.

He’d much rather lose himself to the dream world he was capable of creating, where no responsibilities existed for him… well, besides perhaps remembering to wake those he might have taken with him to a world they themselves couldn’t escape alone. He had a tendency to forget.

Still, he loved the peace it brought him which almost certainly only existed in his dream world, the gods made sure of that. They made sure he favoured that realm over this one, in hopes he would spend as much time there as possible as opposed to here.

There was one other sibling who wholeheartedly supported this insane proposal brought upon by Zeus, and that was this god in question’s other younger sister. Nemesis. As her name implies, she was the Goddess of Divine Retribution and Revenge. It was quite literally her entire life’s mission and work to punish any human who committed the defiant act of hubris– arrogance before the gods, and the most unforgivable sin.

This meeting had to have been what the humans would call a wet dream of hers.

Zeus had went on an entire campaign before this gathering of the gods to preach about how the humans had done just that. Committed hubris. And Nemesis was listening with intent. Perhaps enjoying it as much as Eris was, yet just for very, very different reasons. Nemesis wanted to punish those who’d dare commit a wrongful act against us, whilst Eris just wanted to simply punish . The binding of chains and the striking of whips excited her, wrong or right be damned.

This god’s last sibling forced into attendance was Apate, and she was here… somewhere. Being the Goddess of Deceit, she was one of the few amongst both gods and goddesses who could take on the most believable appearances, masking her from other gods. This was her favourite pastime, which led this god in particular to believe she had disappeared amidst the crowd upon the family’s arrival.

This god knew she was here because all three thousand or so of the gods were required to be, there just wasn’t a seating arrangement in place to pinpoint each god’s position.

Considering everyone gathered had all had eons and eons of history here between each other, both good yet mostly bad, many gods who still even remotely tolerated each other sat clustered together in the large partially enclosed colosseum, the visible sky around them depicting a soon setting sun. Earthlings would say they had cultivated somewhat of a cliquey environment, where the phrase ‘bad blood’ probably involved actual blood spilled or tainted by an intentional poison, and lots of it.

The twelve marvelous rulers of this broken class were sitting in high chairs located in one solid row at the center of the massive circular arena down below, ten of which were now listening to Zeus’s declared ignorance according to this particular god, with as little amusement as this god’s own family was showing.

First to stand was Zeus himself, The King of the Gods, and the God of Lightning, Sky, Thunder, Law, Order, and Justice. A title so unfitting for a god so irrational. Then there was Poseidon, God of the Sea, of Earthquakes and Storms, and a god who unwaveringly supported his brother Zeus in almost all his pursuits.

These were the two main participants of this disastrous gathering who one would think needed no further introduction, but granted their history, one wouldn’t know where to start with these two if they did. To transcribe each crime this dynamic duo had committed against gods and humanity alike during their existence, would shed centuries off one’s life.

This was ironically how this family of Darkness sitting in the stands had found themselves in the predicament they were now in. How they had gotten themselves entangled with the Olympians and their idiocracy.

Next to them sat Hades, God of the Underworld… who also looked like he would’ve rather spent his time anywhere else. And this particular god knew he felt this way because technically, in a way, that was kind of this particular god’s business partner down there, and if things were to go the way Zeus was pushing for them to, both this particular god and Hades would all be working well into their retirement years.

In fact, if Zeus were to have his way with this, the entire underworld would be looking at a remodel for overcapacity. This was part of why most of this mysterious family of darkness wanted absolutely no part in these affairs- they were already used to cleaning up the gods’ problems as is.

Hera- Goddess of everything that would oppose this ridiculous idea, such as the Goddess of Marriage, Life of Women, ChildBirth, etc. sat beside him with that same adorned expression etched into her face. Like the nonsense Zeus was spewing was a sweet melancholy melody.

It was undoubtedly her deranged adoration for Zeus that could even make her entertain the thought of decimating earth, and at such a colossal level, but then again, Hera was known for making rash, quite stupid, and rather love-obsessed decisions like this all the time.

Demeter the Goddess of the Harvest was difficult to formulate an opinion on, but her usual warm nature as opposed to this more tentative one now, told this particular god that this had to be a no from her. This god thought to himself that Aphrodite’s vote must’ve read as: ‘Hell No,’ with a tender ‘Go Fuck Yourself’ and a kindly drawn heart attached at the end when she submitted it, because he could feel her disapproving energy from here.

He understood her stance however, The Goddess of Sexual Love and Beauty was absolutely flourishing down on earth. This meeting didn’t concern her. These ‘problems’ Zeus insisted on addressing were not of her own.

This particular god was not one for gossip, but as he and many gathered here believed, at some point Aphrodite may have overtaken Zeus in the balance of power amongst the twelve, and she was doing everything she could to mask her greater power and keep the peace amongst the Olympians.

The most dire part about it was, this god believed Zeus knew that most here, including himself, knew that too.

And this god in question believed he was incredibly bothered by it- hence why he assumed these gods were all clustered together in this massive arena for something this ridiculous.

Athena was yet another goddess who didn’t need to be included in this conversation. She hadn’t garnered as much power as Aphrodite these last few centuries, but the Goddess of War and Strategy was still loved and worshipped by many on earth.

The irony of both love and war being the two things ruling the human realm didn’t escape this particular god, which put Artemis almost as an equal to Athena with her being the Goddess of the Hunt.

Apollo’s reaction to all this was also difficult to make assumptions on, but it would make sense that he voted no. The God of Sun and Light had also fallen deeply in love with philosophy and poetry over the years- a secret known to very few, including this particular god, and though this god and Apollo seldom ever spoke, the few run ins they did have with each other on earth and their own realm, led this particular god to believe that Apollo too saw the charm of the mortal world.

Ares, the God of War, just wanted his time on a battlefield. Any war. Any conflict. The details didn’t matter to him. Something told this god that Zeus must’ve twisted the details of his troubles when he told him about this nonsensical plan just to get his vote, but then again, the promise of bloodshed was enough to get Ares aroused. That was how much he loved war.

Hephaestus, and Hermes were the last two of the twelve, and with Hephaestus being the God of Fire, this particular god could see why he’d vote in favor of this. His power had diminished quite heavily over the years- men no longer viewed fire as something so sacred.

Hermes on the other hand? Every god sitting in this colosseum would bet everything owed to them on his vote being no. That god lived for earth, and would surely give his immortality as the ultimate sacrifice for his survival. Being one of the few allowed to walk the mortal world as the Messenger of the Gods, none could see him supporting this decision at all.

This particular god’s assumptions of what he referred to them as the Big Twelve, proved to reign more true than he could’ve possibly imagined, as he watched Zeus unroll a bright golden scroll out in front of him, down below.

“It is with great honor to declare that the council has reached a final verd–” Zeus paused a moment, running his large hand through his thick, flourishing white beard that was long enough to touch the scroll itself, as he read that golden paper intently… then reread it again. “A… tie ? We have… we have reached a fucking tie? “

Ah. There was a bit of the god this one in particular knew Zeus to be. The King of Gods could never stay professional for long.

This god in question watched on as Poseidon approached his brother immediately, already working on containing the damage before Zeus was given the opportunity to completely let his flippant emotions show in front of all the gods. That wouldn’t aid his efforts with what he was trying to accomplish here at all. Especially if the gods were this divided on a final verdict.

“There is no way there is a fucking-” Poseidon whispered something in Zeus’s ear, cutting Zeus’s words short mid sentence. Once he had said his peace, Zeus whispered something back to him before pointing down at the scroll. They then looked closer, assessing the document as if they must’ve read it wrong.

The entire arena was completely silent to this, waiting to see what would happen next. Had we really reached a tie? This god still sitting in the stands had wondered . Zeus had a look on his face that clearly stated it would take any additional inconvenience to set him off now. It was the look that led to many, many wars for these gods.

“This is…” Zeus’s words trailed off, working on putting more of them together. Probably words that didn’t involve lewd language, per Poseidon’s advice one would assume. “There isn’t… wait, now wait just a moment.”

“Everyone is waiting, you absolute dimwit,” Hypnos whispered beside his brother, and the god in question would’ve mustered a chuckle if he wasn’t already trying to understand how this could happen. A… tie?

“Come.” Zeus beckoned Poseidon over just as he was making his way back to his seat. Poseidon joined him in the very center of the stage again, and both men conversed quietly together before they each looked back down at the scroll.

T he first thing this particular god thought to himself, resembled that of an earthly mind. I must be stuck in some sitcom time loop , he concluded to himself. Must’ve been a Halloween episode

And this particular god was right to think that, because the next thing to come from Zeus’s lips was what a human would refer to as an absolute jump scare . One that made those separated operating gears in this god’s head finally click into place.

“Thanatos,” he called into the crowd. And this god in question– Thanatos, didn’t have the moment to process that his name had been called because he felt Zeus’s pull immediately, and not even seconds later, Thanatos, The God of Death, was standing directly in front of The King of the Gods himself at the very bottom center of this colosseum.

An act startling to The God of Death himself considering he knew why he was called before this irrational King of the Gods.

He had decided he would not cast his vote… an act he once stood by for his inability to want to weigh in on such matters.

If all of humanity were to be wiped out, Thanatos would become the most powerful of the gods during billions of their deaths, before Zeus could rebuild again, however Thanatos’s ties to earth and to its people made it conflicting… and that act of keeping his vote to himself now was proving disastrous considering the weight it had since taken on by his inability to decide.

It was now a tie-breaker for the gods.

And Zeus wanted him to answer for it. To pick a side.

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