The day after the fall of Orniskem, and moments after the defeat of the armies of Saturnia and Man on Olympus, Zeus entered his palace alone at the summit of Mount Olympus: Pantheon.
On the second floor, inside a beautiful, spacious hall filled with ivory columns and purple curtains with golden borders, there was a dimensional shield that divided the room into two sections.
Within the part enclosed by the shield, ivory fountains brought forth fresh water from their interiors. They were placed parallel to one another, leaving space for a long purple carpet.
At the back of the room was a royal bed illuminated by a gigantic translucent stained-glass window. It bore the representation of the goddess Athena. Behind the bed stood an enormous number of bookcases, filled with an infinite number of books. On either side of those bookcases, two statues of the goddess Athena rose up, one dressed as a powerful warrior, while the other wore a singular Greek dress and held a crown of olive branches.
The room had a sweet scent of flowers. In fact, outside the shield, there was a precious garden filled with flowers such as roses, hyacinths, and orchids. Butterflies flew throughout the surroundings, adorning the chamber with their colorful wings.
Zeus, who had entered the room, approached the dimensional wall that divided the chamber into two sides.
On the other side of the shield was the goddess Athena, seated on the bed with a somber expression and looking toward the floor. The goddess wore only a singular white dress with straps. Her strong and athletic body could be seen through those garments. Her hair was loose and disheveled.
Beside Athena, on a small table, there was a silver tray with fresh fruit, wine, olives, bread, and pork steaks. However, the goddess had not tasted any food.
When Zeus saw that his daughter had once again not eaten, he felt sorrow return to him. The god stood still, contemplating his eldest daughter with melancholy while remembering the moments from when she had been a mischievous adolescent.
“My daughter,” Zeus said. “You must eat, or you will fall ill.”
Athena, without lifting her face and maintaining the same melodramatic posture, replied:
“If I am going to die soon, what does it matter to you whether I die of hunger or before a spear in Lel?”
But Zeus knew Athena was lying. He knew her. He knew she was trying to appear weak while forging a plan. He knew Athena was waiting to be rescued by Orniskem. He had known her since she was little.
“Listen, Athena. I was informed that followers of yours who had been in the New World were captured. One of them, the youngest daughter of the god El, regrettably lost her life,” Zeus informed her with an expression of disappointment, trying to turn elsewhere so as not to see his daughter’s face.
Athena could not help but flinch at those words. Inside, she was worried for them, especially for Ana and Menrva. But thinking that Tania had died after returning from Vinland was deeply troubling.
“I doubt they will be able to defeat them,” Athena said with a look full of irritation.
Then the goddess lifted her gaze defiantly toward her father.
“Menrva of Man, Morrigan of Tuatha Dé Danann, Epona of Avalon, the malak Anpiel, and an eastern deity who once worked for Ares. They are now prisoners of Olympus and will be thrown into Tartarus,” Zeus continued explaining.
Athena felt overwhelmed upon hearing Ana’s and Menrva’s names. She wanted to leave that place and rescue them, but she could not.
“Tannit of Qart-Lel, Nabu of Ekur, and a deity whom we have not been able to identify, though we only have testimony that she had a leporine appearance. They died when the daughter of the god El self-destructed,” Zeus concluded.
Athena felt terrible upon hearing those words. She could not imagine the horror Tania must have experienced to make the decision to destroy herself, killing her companions. At those words, the goddess lowered her gaze to the floor again.
“Athena, I am telling you this so you understand that this revolt you began has been subdued. It is not worth continuing to hope for victory,” Zeus said, staring fixedly at his daughter.
But Athena no longer answered anything. She felt that the little light of hope she still had had gone out. But at that moment, the goddess remembered something very important.
“Rodrigo,” Athena thought. “That boy is still alive, surely hidden in Vinland.”
Long ago, Athena had met a group of gods from a kingdom called Tula. They had gone to Lel to supervise the agreements prohibiting the cultures of the New World and those of Europe, Asia, and Africa from clashing.
The foreign gods had descended in Rome, accompanied by a deity from Lel who served as a tour guide. The group was eating in an elegant tavern after having met with Anat.
Athena, who knew of this meeting, approached them disguised as another traveler and limited herself to listening. Fortunately for her, the gods spoke in the divine language, so she was able to understand their conversation. They spoke of Anat being furious with the Feathered Serpent, and that this could possibly lead to a war between both kingdoms.
The Greek goddess, using every contact she could, managed to find out a little about the culture in the New World. She learned that there had been generations of serpent gods there who ruled those kingdoms, and that the last king was a peculiarity because he could use sacred power, something impossible for those deities because of their affinity for darkness.
“The reason for Lel’s anger toward this god is that he surely discovered something forbidden that he should not know; something that surely has to do with his own anomaly,” the goddess thought as she read ancient Maya and Toltec codices, which she interpreted with great difficulty.
When the goddess learned that this king had been murdered, she understood that, in order to overthrow Lel, two things were important:
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· First: A new serpent deity had to appear, one who would become the successor of the one who had been murdered.
· Second: The secret to defeating Lel had to be there in Vinland, hidden from the Eye that saw everything, meaning the god El.
When the goddess saw Rodrigo’s eyes for the first time, she knew he was the chosen one. She sensed it. She knew she had to bet everything on him, even if doing so brought the terrible consequences of sacrificing her group or her own life. She had to make Rodrigo travel to Vinland, no matter what happened.
“Forgive me, Tania… but I am certain you knew the same thing I did when you sacrificed yourself. Rodrigo is the hope that will save this universe,” Athena thought, but she made no expression, so as not to show her father that there was still a small light of hope.
But Zeus knew Athena was thinking of Rodrigo. Although none of the malakim had been able to find him, he sensed that this deity had remained in the New World. Even so, if that young man was not in Europe, it was possible that he would not be able to return soon, giving Zeus enough time to ask Astarté to forgive his daughter.
“Athena, listen. I know these words must wound you, but you must not allow more people to suffer these consequences,” Zeus said with a nervous expression.
Athena looked at him with a gaze full of intrigue.
At that moment, Zeus knelt on one knee and bowed his head toward his daughter.
“Athena, before anything else, I wish to apologize to you as your father for not listening to your grievances concerning the Macedonian Empire. We were so blinded by our victory that we could not listen to the points you had to make,” the god said.
Athena was surprised by this. She had never expected to see her father say such words. In fact, she felt that he had changed considerably since the last time she had seen him.
Having said that, Zeus stood once more.
“With nothing further to say, Athena, I ask you, please, to reconsider your position,” Zeus said. “I have managed to have Astarté grant you pardon, thanks to how much we have helped Lel.”
Athena flinched, as it was something she had not expected.
“Please, my daughter, return to us,” the Greek god continued speaking. “If your future actions convince Lel, we may be able to obtain forgiveness for your friends trapped in Tartarus.”
Athena was tempted to accept the offer, but she found it strange that it was Astarté and not Anat who had said those words.
“Astarté?” Athena asked.
Zeus approached the dimensional shield and spoke softly, knowing that the daughters of the god El were still on Olympus and could hear him.
“It seems Anat died in the New World, and now Astarté is the leader. Therefore, we will be able to negotiate forgiveness for you and your friends more easily,” the god said, almost sighing.
“Anat is dead! Those brats did it!” Athena thought in surprise.
But Athena knew that neither Anat nor Astarté was the problem. She knew that as long as the Eye that saw everything remained on the throne of El, her crusade could not yield.
The goddess then lowered her head again.
“Father, I appreciate your words, but I cannot return anymore,” she replied sharply.
Zeus then grew impatient.
“But why not, my daughter?!” he said, raising his voice. “Can you not see how deeply it pains me to know that you will be murdered before my eyes?”
Then Zeus, surprisingly, shed a few tears from his eyes. However, he quickly wiped them away.
“I have already lost Hera, and I had lost you… Do not make me go through the same thing again,” Zeus said in a somewhat choked voice, though he tried to appear strong.
Athena felt bad for her father. She could not believe how much he had softened. However, her conviction was very strong. She knew she had to carry her crusade to the very end, regardless of the consequences.
“Even if I must become the villain, I will not yield,” she thought.
“Now that you control the Roman Empire,” Athena said. “What have you done to stop the wars among humans?” she asked.
“What do you mean, Athena?” Zeus inquired, confused.
“What about the wars against the Bulgarians, or against the Arabs in Sicily and the Levant?” Athena asked. “What have you done to control humans so they do not commit such acts of excessive violence?”
Zeus then shook his head.
“Athena, that is something we cannot control,” the god replied. “Humans always fight for resources or to impose their will upon others.”
Athena then smiled.
“You can do nothing?” she asked sarcastically. “And what about when we sent messages while they dreamed? And when we unleashed plagues to win a war? And when we ourselves intervened to stop them from doing such stupid things?”
Then Athena stood furiously.
“We are gods, damn it! We can force them and tame them with our powers!” she shouted furiously.
Zeus sighed then.
“What you seek is not freedom, my daughter; you seek oppression because you feel superior to humans,” Zeus replied, disappointed.
Athena struck her chest with her palm.
“Of course we are superior!” she said furiously. “Can they fly through space? Can they throw fireballs? Can they lift mountains?”
“No, but they will achieve it in the future with the precise control they possess over tools,” Zeus said. “Someday, they will be able to do everything we do. It lies within their intellectual capacity,” the god replied.
Athena remained irritated by those words.
“Yes, humans are in constant wars, but they generally wage them for resources,” Zeus added. “However, when they have an excess of resources, they can sit down and think about how to improve their lives and create a better world. That is the principle of philosophy.”
“But for an idle philosopher to pose a problem, he needs prosperity through an excess of resources. Resources that will have been stolen from another group of people,” Athena replied defiantly.
“We must create infinite fields of food for them!” the goddess shouted.
“And what, then, would be the meaning of their lives?” Zeus asked.
The god then turned his back to his daughter.
“A very long time ago, before even I was born, it is said that El brought to the world of the gods objects and resources used by humans, including a torch and clothing,” Zeus said. “By then, we gods, despite having no need for resources, were already in constant wars.”
Zeus then turned again to look at his daughter.
“It is possible that the violence that leads to death is as natural in humans as it is in us, whether resources exist or not,” the god said melancholically.
“It is possible that death is a necessity in every living being in order to regulate our existence, though it may be very slow for us and immediate for humans,” he concluded.
Athena shook her head at those words.
“Every person’s life is important, and we, as superior beings, have the duty to give humans that future,” Athena said.
Zeus fell silent at his daughter’s words. It was clear that many of those radical ideas had come from the human world, where people expected the gods to solve their problems. But he knew that was not how the world worked.
“Human wars are only caused by those conceited fools from Lel; specifically by El,” Athena replied angrily. “And I—my crusade will not stop until I overthrow him.”
Athena then struck her chest forcefully.
“I will not abandon my mission until I win or die!” she shouted with strength.
Then Athena pointed at her father with her index finger.
“And if you, my family, stand in my way, I will have to kill you with my own hands,” the goddess concluded.
Zeus realized that he would never be able to convince his daughter. That he would never be able to obtain Lel’s forgiveness for her. Internally, the god made a decision, one that pained him greatly, but that he had to accept.
“I hope one day you may understand the beauty of freedom, though at this moment you see it only as cruel and merciless,” Zeus said melancholically and turned around.
“I suppose we will remain at war, then,” Athena replied as she sat back down on her royal bed.
Zeus did not answer the goddess’s assertion and left the room with a melancholic expression. He knew that his daughter would never stop fighting, and it was his duty as a father to return her to the correct path, even if that meant being a cruel and merciless father.
Upon leaving the room, Zeus saw Hermes before the door. Hermes immediately bowed to him.
“Go for the prisoners of Orniskem. The time has come to throw them into Tartarus, from which they shall never escape,” Zeus ordered his son.
Hermes nodded.