High School Again? Ugh! Ch. 09

"No, she's gone," Hera insisted. "You feel her power here on this island, but not her."

"But why?" Hebe asked, still not quite believing.

"I don't know the specifics of why she chose to leave. None one does except her, but I can guess. Think of the number of hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunami's and other natural catastrophes that have occurred recently."

"What are you saying?" Apollo frowned.

"I'm saying that Gaia was obviously having problems controlling her powers," Hera answered with forced patience. "And that she chose to leave before she lost control completely."

"Leave?" Hebe asked. "Where would she go?"

"Back to her progenitor, Chaos," her mother replied. This was met with utter silence. "It's the only thing that makes sense. Think about it. Where else could she go?"

There was a confidence in Hera's voice that brought a wave of sadness over me. The other gods were obviously starting to accept her conclusion. I wasn't convinced so I reached out with my own senses and tried to find Grandmother, but to no avail. I don't know why I thought I would be able to find her even though the gods couldn't. I guess somewhere deep inside I felt that my bond with Grandmother was special. Yet, whether that was true or not, I couldn't feel her either.

Grandmother gone. The whole concept was impossible. She was power personified, but it was more than just that. Her eyes held a deep compassion and understanding. What would the world be without that?

"But she's the Earth Mother," a goddess I didn't recognize said, not in disbelief, but in confusion.

"She was," Hera agreed. "But now that she's gone someone else needs to fill that position. That someone is me. As the Fates said, I've already taken a piece of her power. In time I'll absorb it all." The thought sent a shiver through me.

"And I'll do a better job than my mother. I may not be as powerful as she was yet, but I have a plan. The old woman spent her strength working at keeping the Earth whole and healthy despite all the damage the humans have done to it almost from the beginning of their existence. That was her mistake. The easiest way to protect the Earth from humans is to destroy them one and all."

The announcement was said as if she was not only stating the most obvious solution, but the only one that made sense. It was horrifying to me on so many levels, but that didn't mean it surprised me. Hera's strategy fit the monster she had become.

My body ached from her attention. I remained chained to the post, my blood dripping down my torso and on to the sand. I couldn't believe that at one point, a lifetime ago, I was half convinced that Hera was the right choice to be the mother of the next generation of gods.

Maybe the madness at losing to the Fates and Zeus had changed her into the monster I saw before me, but I wasn't convinced. It's not like she was a font of kindness and compassion before. As far as I was concerned, she was a cold, cruel goddess even in the best of times.

Whether I was wrong or right about when and how she became a monster didn't matter in the end. Whatever Hera once was, she was a monster now. She was ready to drag the world down into madness. I wanted to fight her, but there was nothing I could do to stop her.

"It's the perfect plan," Hera continued almost gleefully. "It always was. The humans are a locust that must be destroyed."

"You're forgetting a few things," a new voice said. I was getting tired of the gods popping up out of nowhere, but this one was clearly different. First off, she wasn't dressed for war. She was dressed in of all things, a pair of jeans that looked comfortable and plain white tee-shirt. Second, she wasn't ignoring me.

Blood occasionally dripped into my eyes from a shallow wound on my forehead and I would blink hard until I could see again. The goddess stepped up to me and began using a white cloth to help clear my sight and stop the bleeding. I recognized her from our only meeting.

"Athena," I whispered somewhat hoarsely in greeting.

"Hello John," Athena smiled. She said it in a way that made me feel like she knew me, but that was impossible. We hadn't met during this life time and the even the gods couldn't remember the history that was rewritten when someone traveled back in time. On the other hand, there was something in Athena's eyes.

I remembered her telling me that she wasn't on Hera or the Fates' side. I'd assumed that meant she was neutral, but this was Athena, the goddess of wisdom and staying out of the fight that could result with the world ending in Armageddon didn't sound smart to me. So, if she wasn't working with Hera or the Fates, then who? There was only one other answer that made sense. Gaia.

"You have a very expressive face," she said with a smile. "It's almost as good as being able to read your mind. My opinion of you hasn't changed. You're obviously still a smart one." Her words brought back a sense of hope as a thought struck me.

Grandmother had held my memories when I first arrived back in time this last trip. She had clearly shared some of them with Athena. This was about to get very interesting. Hera was watching us very carefully.

"Get away from him!" she snapped angrily.

"Relax," Athena said calmly. "Unlike you, I have no desire for Grandmother's power." I didn't quite understand that comment, but Hera didn't really give me any time to think about it.

"Back away from him or you'll join Zeus!" Hera demanded. Athena sighed and rolled her eyes at me. I smiled through my pain. I'd liked her the first time we met and I had a feeling that my opinion wouldn't change today. She shrugged up at me and stepped away.

"Okay," she said to Hera. "But let's be honest, if things keep going down the path you've laid out, I'm going to be joining him sooner or later anyway. Actually, I expect most of us will be."

"Of course, you used quite a bit of Gaia's stored up power killing Zeus," she continued. "And although you have plenty more, you really can't afford to keep killing us, at least not yet."

"Why are you here?" Hera asked. She might be crazy, but she wasn't stupid. She knew Athena was right. Besides, no one ignored Athena's wisdom when she offered it.

"Just to remind you of a few things," Athena said.

"What things?" Hera asked.

"Well, the most obvious is that Grandmother would never have left without a plan," Athena said. She glanced my way meaningfully, but then refocused on Hera and added, "Oh, and I think we both know it wasn't to leave you with her power. Despite what you think, it will kill you eventually."

"I'm willing to chance that," Hera said with false confidence.

"I expect so in your currently state," Athena replied. "But you're forgetting something, or should I say someone?" Tara. I hadn't forgotten about her. I could never do that, but I had forgotten how important she was to the world and Grandmother's plans now that she carried our child. "Do you really think Grandmother put all that effort into getting the next generation of gods started only to have you destroy it?"

"Is that where Tara is?" I asked. "Is Grandmother shielding her?"

"Not Grandmother," Athena replied, meeting my eyes, willing me to see something that was completely obvious to her.

She was being careful. Clearly, she had something to tell me, but couldn't come right out and say it. I had the feeling that if she tried then she would join Zeus in oblivion despite how much of Hera's stolen power would be drained. Whatever it was must be important if she was willing to chance Hera's wraith.

The problem was that I didn't understand what she was hinting at. Maybe I was being dense, but then again she was the goddess of wisdom while I was just human.

Well, not just a human according to Grandmother. That made me start thinking. Athena was right. Grandmother would never have left without a plan. I thought about what Gaia said the last time we met.

I was human, but I was also a Child of Earth. The first ever since Gaia first started having children and spreading her powers amongst them. My ancestry could be traced back to each of the multitude of being standing in the cove right now. I had a touch of all their powers and therefore Grandmother's, but none of them strong enough to manifest, at least not until Grandmother woke them.

Even then, they were weak compared to the power of the gods. I would never have been able to replace Zeus as the father of the next generation of gods if not for Grandmother's gift. She lent me the power necessary, or was it more than that?

The truth struck me so suddenly that I lost my breath and forgot about my pain. I met Athena's gaze and she nodded once slowly.

Hera wasn't taking Gaia's power from the island. If she could do that she would have done it long ago. She was taking it from me. Each time she danced in my blood after she was done torturing me she pulled the power from it into herself. I was the spigot that granted her access.

Hera wasn't keeping me alive to torture me. The truth was that she wasn't keeping me alive at all. That was Grandmother's power. I'm sure Hera's original plan was to kill me as soon as she was done with her vengeance, but my death wouldn't come. That's when she realized what was happening and came up with her new plan.

Grandmother's power was that of the Earth itself. She was born of Chaos and had been its conduit since the beginning of time. I was a Child of Earth, but that didn't put me on par with Gaia. I was an imperfect replacement at best. That's how Hera was able to manipulate me. I had access to Grandmother's power, but wasn't strong enough to hold it all. Most of it remained at its source.

Hera's twisted mind had devised a way in which she could make me pay for ruining her original plan while feeding her the power she wanted so desperately. She chained me to the post so that my feet didn't touch the ground. I would have been able to sense more of the world if I did and she didn't want that. More important, I would have absorbed Grandmother's power faster than Hera could draw it from me. I wasn't Gaia, but unlike Hera I was a Child of the Earth. The power flowed into me even when I wasn't reaching for it.

Hera took her vengeance and Grandmother's power when the tide was out and I was at my weakest. The incoming tide reconnected me to nature more directly as it rose and covered my body. I would begin absorbing Gaia's power from the water itself and it would heal me. Equally as important for Hera, the cycle also gave her time to cope with the power she was stealing.

What she didn't understand was that as time passed and my bond with the Earth grew stronger I didn't need direct contact to it to pull power from the vast reservoir. That's why I was healing faster and faster. That's why I felt a special kinship to the cove and the animals that lived here.

Despite that, I wasn't foolish enough to think that I was supposed to take Gaia's place. If that were true then my connection with the Earth would be far strong then it was. No, Grandmother's power was for another.

The prophecies foretold the coming of the next generation of gods. The assumption was that they would be like the Greek gods and the Titans before them, but this generation was going to be different. I was the Child of Earth from the prophecies and Tara was the Child of Man. Our daughter was going to be a combination of both.

The next generation of gods would be the best of both worlds. It would begin and end with the birth of Tara's and my daughter. That was Grandmother's plan. Unlike Hera, who wanted to obliterate mankind and horde power, Gaia believed in us so much so that she was willing to give up her power for us.

She gave it to me to help combine two the conflicting prophesies. With that done, I was now simply holding on to it for safe keeping until Tara and my child was ready for to take it up.

"If Grandmother's not hiding the girl, then who is?" Hebe asked Athena, clearly confused.

"Me," I said, answering Hebe's question, knowing it was true. It was time. I could feel it. I allowed myself to remember some things I'd been blocking.

I looked down at my bloody body and willed the wounds closed. They began to obey, but too slowly so I looked at the water still a few feet away and called it to me. It came willingly in a swirling torrent that covered me for a few moments and then fell back to the sand. Everyone in the cove was watching me by that time. I stepped away from the post, the chains falling free. Athena smiled.

"You?" Hebe asked in confusion.

"Yes me," I answered. "I protect the ones I love. Tara is safe. Our daughter will be born soon and with her birth will begin the time of the next generation of gods."

"Never!" Hera cried, reaching out toward me the way she had to Zeus. Her purple eyes glowed inhumanly and I felt what she was trying to do. I could sense the Earth power trapped inside of her. I had only an instant to react. I reached out to it and pulled it back into me.

Hera screamed and it took me a moment to realize that I'd done far more than I planned, but in the end I was satisfied with the results. Honestly, more than satisfied. It seemed a fair punishment for what Hera had done to me and Tara.

All of the gods' powers came from the same source. In my haste to take the power she stole away from her before she could use it to destroy me, I not only took it, but also the gifts Grandmother had bestowed on her at her birth. In short, Hera was completely powerless and she could feel it. For her, it was probably her biggest nightmare. She dropped to the ground as if someone had knocked her feet from under her and began sobbing. Hebe ran to her.

"Ouch, that had to hurt," Athena said, sounding relieved, but also somewhat sad. There was a stunned silence from the rest of the gods as they absorbed what I'd done.

"But if you could do that, why did you let her hurt you for so long?" Hebe asked as she tried to comfort her mother.

"I realized the truth some time ago," I explained. "But at first I was too weak to do anything about it, and then afterward I realized that if I disappeared from your mother's care then she would focus on something else, someone else. Tara. I couldn't have that. So instead, I used Grandmother's gifts to take Tara away from Zeus and put her in the safest place I knew as my bond with the Earth continued to grow."

"Why take her away from us?" Apollo asked. "We were protecting her."

"Because I didn't trust you," I answered honestly. "Everyone knows the gods are fickle. Besides, Hera's followers were searching for her and they thought some of you were protecting her. I didn't want to chance them finding her."

"How did you take her if you were stuck here, chained to the post?" Hebe asked.

"That was the easy part," I smiled. "Tara and I are soul mates. The connection between us is unbreakable. The hard part was opening the way to where I wanted to hide her. That drained me almost as badly as saving Tara from death had done."

"So basically," Hades put in. "You used your power to hide Tara away from us all. You let us fight against each other simply to distract us from the truth." I didn't bother denying it.

"Yes," I said without guilt. "But unless you were on this island where time runs far faster than in the outside world then only a few moments passed and the fighting couldn't have gotten that far, even for the gods. Yet, even if that wasn't true I would have done it anyway. It was necessary. So was my staying with Hera, and not just because of what she'd do. If I'd escaped her then you all might have guessed that I was the one who had Tara hidden away. It was much smarter to remain with Hera and let you fight among yourselves."

"But what mother did to you was..." Hebe began, but the memories of what she saw and I'd lived were so horrible that she couldn't finish. Instead, she asked, "How did you survive it?"

"It was necessary," I answered with a shrug. "Hera drove me to the brink of insanity and then over it, but throughout it all I never lost sight of my goal. I blocked out what was necessary including my knowledge of my place in Grandmother's plan. I had to. If I'd let myself know that I could escape Hera then there was no way that I could have made myself stay during the worst of it, and I had to stay because that was the best protection for Tara."

"Why tell us now?" Apollo asked into the quiet that followed. The gods were having problems digesting what I was telling them. I didn't blame them. It sounded insane to me too, but it had worked and that was enough for me.

"Because it's time," I said confidently. "I'm finally strong enough to send you all on your way to Tartarus." It didn't take them long to realize what I was saying. Their time, like the Titans before them was done.

"The child comes," Athena said softly. I hadn't planned on telling the gods that because it would let them know Tara was on the Island somewhere, but I was unsurprised that Athena guessed. I waited for their reaction, ready to do what was necessary.

"So, it's finally happened," Apollo said, sounding somewhat melancholy. It was understandable, considering.

"Nothing is forever," Athena put in, accepting the inevitable.

"Tartarus," Hades added with a frown, clearly not looking forward to spending the rest of eternity there.

"It's not where you are," Aphrodite offered. "It's who you're with." I wasn't sure if that was a good thing for the gods or not considering how much infighting they did.

"No!" Hera cried suddenly, jumping up and running toward me, hands outstretched. She looked like she wanted to drive her nail into my eyes. It wouldn't be the first time.

I could hurt her now. I had the power. I could do all the things she did to me, but what would be the point? Whatever sanity she had left was gone. I lifted my hand and the sand under Hera's feet came alive. It held her in place until Hebe caught up to her.

"You know, I think this is in part why Grandmother left when she did," Athena sighed. "I don't think she could have brought herself to deal with Hera's growing madness. What mother could?"

"Each generation of gods has begun with the castration and banishment of the ruler of the last generation. It happened to Cronus and Uranus before him," another god put in sadly. I hadn't met him before, but I knew he was Poseidon from the trident her carried. Well, that and I could feel his power. He was clearly one of the strongest gods. Zeus was his brother and Poseidon's mind was clearly on his loss. "This one has an even darker beginning. Let's hope it isn't a foreshadowing."

"It isn't," I said confidently, suddenly knowing what needed to be done. I reached out in a way that I myself didn't fully understanding. I can't explain what I saw or how I saw it, but one moment there was nothing and the next Zeus stood between his brothers once more.

No, that's not quite true. I didn't create Zeus from nothing. I simple reformed him from all the microscopic bits Hera created when she destroyed him. It drained me, but the Earth quickly replaced what I used. I wasn't grandmother, but I was a Child of Earth.

"Brother?" Poseidon asked, not quite believing. Zeus nodded and exchanged a look with both his brothers. I don't know why, but it surprised me to see a tear in Hades's eye.

"Why?" Zeus asked, turning to me. "Why bring me back?"

"Because I don't want my daughter's birth to be marked by your death," I replied honestly. He seemed to understand. He'd been forced to castrate and imprison his father in order to take over. That had to be a painful memory no matter how necessary.

"Daddy?" Hebe asked, not quite believing. She sounded as young as she looked for once. "Is that really you?"

"Of course," he smiled, and suddenly the funeral like mood dissolved as Hebe ran and jumped into her father's arms. The gods were a completely dysfunctional family, but a family none the less. Having Zeus back seemed to make most of them happy.