Aphrodite's Curse Ch. 067

"Yes, it is inevitable Di-Di. The fates have decreed it, although I may have accidentally helped things along a bit today."

"OH? So, when do you think the war will begin?"

Giggling to himself as he thought about the lovely afternoon tryst with Sekhmet, he turned and poked Dionysus in the ribs. "Well, probably in about nine months!"

"Well, you should probably have Mercury scout things out, you know, he is really good at that sort of thing as you know." Dionysus replied, concerned that Zeus seemed so sure that war was coming he realized that it was now official, war would DEFINITELY come, and sooner than anyone realized.

At the mention of Mercury, Zeus frowned, thinking about his poor friend now suffering under the vengeful hands of Pethio. As they reached the crest of the hill, the palace of Dionysus came into full view. It was astounding, made out of deep purple marble, it's gold roof glinted in the sunset. Suddenly both paused as they saw a huge purple flame was shooting out of the center atrium of the building, reaching hundreds of feet in the air. Seeing this, Zeus punched Dionysus in the arm. "Well well Di-Di, your devotees are quite active today!!! You better not let Hera see this ostentatious display, as she will get quite jealous. You know how competitive she is. Is there some sort of special festival to you going on right now or something? I have to admit; this is quite impressive."

Dionysus was confused. He knew what the flame was of course, but it was far larger than it had ever been, even if his Priests were holding a thousand simultaneous festivals. Every God, including himself, had in the center of their palace an Atrium with a perpetual burning flame to catch and magnify their earthly devotions. Prayers and sacrifices to the God from anywhere on the earth fed this flame, and it was a source of pride and great competition amongst the divine as to whose flame was larger. In Zeus and Hera's palace for example, the golden flame of their devotees reached one thousand feet into the air and had a special tower build around it to both highlight and contain the enormous conflagration. Turning to Zeus, Dionysus said "Lord this is a mystery to me! I know my Maenad Priestesses had their Bacchanalia last night, and that usually causes the fire to roar up a little, but this is beyond me. I tell you what, let me get you your drink and I will just pop down to Thebes for a minute to check out what is going on."

Zeus nodded, and turning to Dionysus said "Sounds like a good idea, and hey, do you think you might bring back a couple of those wild Maenads with you? I bet they would be thrilled to have a "divine" encounter with two Gods."

Winking Dionysus nodded and said "You and I think alike Lord, we certainly do." as he began to float up into the sky, ready to journey to Thebes.