Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. So, what shall we
talk about, today?
I must admit that I have no idea; the last weeks have been
rather exhausting and draining and depressing and worrisome, so you know what? Here
is a piece of my fiction for you to enjoy. Any comments and criticisms are
welcome all the same:
All of this was a long, long
time ago.
This was at the beginning, and at the beginning,
there was chaos. Boundless, boundless, formless, it spread from the beginning
to the end, and then… something happened in it. Order was conceived in chaos,
and chaos began to be divided after all – into air and land, water and flame.
Life was conceived in chaos - and Mother Earth, Mother Gaea, came to be.
Mother Earth stretched itself from edge to
edge, and she divided the entire other world into top and bottom halves. In
addition, beneath mother, Gaea laid gloomy Tartarus, and there Mother Night,
Nyx, came to be. Meanwhile Gaea gave birth to Pontus the sea, she gave birth to
woodlands and mountains, fields and plains, and she gave birth to Uranus the
Sky. The Sky, the mountains and the Sea were born from Gaea and they have no
father.
In addition, powerful Uranus the Sky fell in
love with Mother Gaea. From their union came Hemera the bright Day and the
three Cyclops fathers – Arg, Steropes and Brontes – came from the union and so
have the three hundred-headed and hundred-armed giants, the hecatoncheires, and
finally, from that union came the six first titans and six first titanesses.
Mother Gaea smiled, looking at their children, but Uranus frowned sternly, he
did not like them at all. Uranus imprisoned his children in the depths of
Tartarus, and from the injustice of this act, from the grief that arose from
that act, from Mother Earth's salty maternal tears, a new metal, adamantium,
was born – the metal that was greater than all other metals.
In addition, the three eldest Cyclops – Arg,
Steropes and Brontes – told their brothers and sisters:
"We can, o our brothers' hecatoncheires
and titans, o our sisters-titanesses, forge from the adamantium metal a sickle
that will bring down our father, Uranus. But who will wield it?"
However, the other children of Uranus and Gaea
were silent, only the youngest of titans, the fair-haired Chronus, said
finally:
"I. I will take it."
Therefore, the first Cyclops-blacksmiths began
to forge the sickle from the adamantium. Sparks and shards of metal spread from
their first forge throughout Tartarus. All-seeing Night, Nyx the Dark looked at
this deed, smiling her mocking smile, and she breathed upon these sparks and
shards, and from them the other Cyclops, smaller and weaker than their three
forefathers (but looking just like them), came to be, and from the smoke and
the stench Erebus, the eternal gloom of Tartarus, was born.
The Cyclops, children of Gaea and Uranus,
worked long and worked hard. Their children – the lesser Cyclops – aided and
assisted them. Their brothers and sisters looked at this in wonder and
marvelled, only the young titan, Chronus, looked at the creation of the lesser
Cyclops with envy, since he did not know how to create as the Cyclops did. However,
no one saw this, only Nyx the Dark, herself invisible and inaudible, saw this -
and she stayed silent.
In addition, the Cyclops finished their
creation, and with a bow, they gave to it to Chronus. Chronus took it silently
- and his face was gloomier than the face of Erebus, and he went upward from
Tartarus. Rocks lay in heaps on his way - Chronus cut them with his sickle, and
the first avalanches fell upon Mother Earth. Tangles of everlasting roots
blocked his path – Chronus cut through them with his sickle, and the first dead
trees fell onto Mother Earth. Paths of underground rivers lay in his paths –
Chronus cut through them with his sickle, and rivers dried out on Mother Earth,
and the first drought came forth into the world.
In addition, Chronus came into the
middle-world, he straightened out to his full, titanic height, he yelled with
the full power of his voice, calling their father to battle. In addition,
Uranus frowned, and daylight faded, and thunderstorms and blizzards, winds,
storms and clouds, came to battle with Chronus. However, Chronus swung his
sickle once, cutting the foul weather apart with it, and Chronus waved his
sickle twice - and the first rainbow was born into the world, blood of Uranus
was spilled, straight from his cloven body, and his blood came into the
middle-world.
This blood fell into Pontus the Sea, and white
foam boiled in the sea, and from it came the fair Aphrodite, the powerful
goddess of love. She danced on the waves of the sea – and the first love came
into the world.
This blood fell onto Mother Earth, and Mother-
Earth conceived from Uranus for the last time: she gave birth to nymphs -
dryads, hamadryads, and all the others, and she gave birth to giants, the last,
passionate theomachists, she it gave birth to three Furies, 3 winged virgins,
Aphrodite's terrible sisters.
In addition, some of Uranus' blood was spilled
into Tartarus - but at that, time from there emerged powerful titans, and
beautiful titanesses, and here they beheld Aphrodite's wonderful dance, and
blood boiled in them from desire, and blood boiled from desire in Chronus. However,
his blood was poisoned by his envy, he waved his sickle – Mother Earth, Gaea,
shuddered, and the exit from Tartarus was brought down - neither the powerful
hecatoncheires nor the artful smiths the Cyclops could leave from there. In
addition, Mother Earth said to the three Furies:
"You there fly there, I do not know
where, and you bring here Nemesis!"
The Furies flew unseen and unnoticed by the
celebrating titans; the Furies flew to the western edge of the middle-earth,
there, where the kingdom of Night was located. In addition, they exclaimed in
loud voices:
"Mother Dark Night, you release Nemesis
into our world!"
Nyx the Night said nothing to them, but only
smiled. In addition, the Furies exclaimed once again:
"Mother Dark Night, release Nemesis to
help us!"
Nyx the Night still said nothing, only smiled.
In addition, the Furies exclaimed for the third time:
"Mother Dark Night, by the command of
Mother Earth, release Nemesis to aid us – to punish perfidious Chronus!"
Nyx the night smiled for the third time, she
only clapped her palms - Nemesis, the daughter of Night from the blood of
Uranus that was spilled into Tartarus, came to the edge of the world. Then
Nemesis flapped her eagle wings, she flew after the three sisters to the
middle-earth.
In addition, there was a celebratory feast –
as wide as the entire world. Aphrodite-Love was dancing throughout the entire
world, wherever she only looked, wherever she would just flap her fair wing,
[new, unprecedented life came to be – the oceanids and the nereids, the
phaeacans and the centaurs, the satyrs and the fauns, the tree-folk, Lapiths,
and the Amazons, and many, many others. Yet, as titanesses and titans danced
Aphrodite's dance, they too gave birth to many new other titans - Helios and
Selene, Astraia and Eos, and many, many others.
Chronus danced, and he danced with his sister
Rhea, the favorite of their mother Gaea. However, invisible,
Nemesis-Retribution flew by him in the guise of a cuckoo; she sat on a hill
before Chronus and cried:
"Chronus, Chronus, you are powerful, you
rise above the clouds, as the head of Uranus fell off, so will yours!"
Chronus shook and the Furies were already here
as well! Sister Alecto was disguised as an eagle owl, she sat on the left side
of the titans, and she started to bellow:
"Hoo, hoo, boo, boo! All earthly is only
dust and ashes! You were carried upwards by wind, by wind you will fall back
into Tartarus, hoo!"
Sister Megara was disguised as a black raven,
she sat on the right side of the titan and she cawed:
"Caw, caw you have a flaw! You conquered
Uranus, and before long your son will conquer you, caw!"
Sister Tisiphone was disguised as a black
woodpecker; she sat on top of Chronus' head and began to drum it! The titan's
mind grew dark, and fear with envy boiled in his veins, darkened his eyes, yet
alas - no one saw this, no one heard it: Aphrodite of the sea, the white swan,
has blocked everyone's ears, covered everyone's eyes!
In addition, Chronus, the conqueror of Uranus,
went mad. In addition, here Rhea came to show him their eldest daughter –
Chronus swallowed her. Afterward he swallowed their other children, two sons
and two other daughters. In addition, a third son was born to Rhea. In
addition, here to her came the whisper:
"Rhea, you can keep your last child! Hide
him on Crete, in the mountains of Gaea with their ancient magic! You can ask
the local nymphs, the nurses of the Curetes, for aid! Take care to save your
last child from Chronus!"
In addition, Rhea listened to that whisper,
and she heeded this whisper's advice. Maybe, it was indeed a whisper of Mother
Earth, who wanted to help her favorite, and possibly that it was the whisper of
Nemesis. But Rhea obeyed that whisper, and she hid her last child in the Cretan
mountains, and to her husband she gave a fake, a stone covered in diapers - and
no one saw that, dark night has hid that, and Chronus then fell asleep, tired,
contented.
But people say that Nemesis, in the guise of a
swallow, flew away from Chronus' palace, she flew off and came to the cave of
Zeus, son of Chronus and Rhea, grandson of Uranus and Gaea. Was that so or not
- no one knows, but Zeus, son of Chronus, grew in his cave not at a daily, but
an hourly rate. In addition, after growing up, he said:
"Not for a son of Chronus to sit like a
rock in the cave – time for me to go and meet my father –Chronus, to look at
other gods, to show off myself."
He said that - and disappeared, dissolved in
the dark blue of the Cretan skies. Soon a new cupbearer appeared in Chronus'
palace, ever smiling, with locks as white as clouds and with eyes the color of
celestial dark blue. With a white-toothed smile, he gave wine to the guests of
Chronus, to titanesses and to titans, and he reached Chronus as well.
Recklessly did the titan drink the dark wine – and trembling with his entire
body he spat - and spat the stone out. The stone was spat far away – it flew
through one-half of the world, it fell accurately into the world's middle, and
came right through the middle-world: it went through Hades, the land of the
dead, and the dark Tartarus, and this stone, Omphalos, the navel of the world,
reached even the great Abyss!
In addition, Chronus, maddened by Nemesis and
the three Furies, drank again. Trembling with his entire body - he spat out two
of his eldest sons, Poseidon and Hades. They landed flew away – Hades landed in
the land of the dead, Poseidon – in the realm of Nereus, the ocean.
In addition, the lunatic finished drinking the
remainders of that cup. His innards shuddered, he spat out his daughters, he
collapsed in unconsciousness - and off his arms and his head departed the
Furies, the dark birds, they circled once around him, and following Nemesis,
they left the palace. Therefore, no one saw the fall of the daughters of
Chronus. Of Demeter as she fell among clear and wide fields of wheat, of Hestia
- into the burning center of the palace, of Hera - straight in arms of Zeus.
The mighty son of Chronus, Zeus, grabbed Hera
tightly, and from that unexpected weight, he stamped his foot - throughout the
world that rumble was heard, it reached even the underworld. That rumble, their
hands rose as numerous as rivers, roused the powerful hecatoncheires and they
cleared their way from Tartarus, created by Omphalos! They went into the light,
and after them came their brothers the Cyclops, the blacksmiths of underground
world, and they brought their nephews their gifts.
To the eldest son, to Hades, came the helmet
of the invisibility: whoever bears this helmet is invisible to the gods, and
people, and monsters. To the middle son, to Poseidon, came the trident, the
cold lightning: the trident goes to one side - sea will boil with storms, and
if it goes another side - the calm will fall onto the sea. However, to the
youngest son, to Zeus, son of Chronus came the royal sceptre – the deafening
thunderbolt, intolerable for all in the terrestrial and celestial worlds. Only
the subterranean Cyclops and the powerful hecantocheires, only Nyx the night
and Erebus the gloom do not fear it.
In addition, Zeus waved the thunderbolt and
Chronus fell from his mountain palace, his brothers, who fled from his palace,
were brought down further along the road as Chronus fell downwards. Once more
rose the hands of the hecatoncheires, they grabbed their brothers the titans,
they took away them down into Tartarus - to the end of time, with the songs of
Nemesis-Retribution singing in their ears: "What you reap is what you
sow!"
Three times then flew Nemesis in the guise of
cuckoo around Zeus and Hera. At their feet, then grew a copper tree with silver
leaves and gold apples - whether Gaea, Mother Earth grew it, or whether the
Cyclops had tried once again. Zeus the hero accepted this miracle-tree as his
and Hera's gift. And people said, that before their wedding night Hera ate one
such apple - and from her union with Zeus came Hephaestus, the first blacksmith
and the expert of all the ores, and Ares, the first soldier, who sent numerous
souls to uncle Hades into the land of the Dead, and Eris, the goddess of
Discord. That is another tale...
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