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Zeus lifts up his head from his family seated at the dark wooden table and locks eyes with a faded tapestry hanging from the opposite wall. The tapestry shows all the members of the Olympian family, made with golden thread spun and dyed by Athena herself. She alters the tapestry whenever a new member of the family lives. Except for Dionysus and Pan, no one has lived.
So the tapestry has faded into dark brown, and Athena has nearly abandoned her once beloved craft.
Except.
Except now, the tapestry is glowing.
Various colors glow from the tapestry. Zeus in electric blue, Hera in vibrant purple, Hades in vivid black, Poseidon in sea green, Athena in gray, Apollo in golden yellow, Hermes in yellow, Dionysus in a wine-purple.
The threads, the individual threads of the Gods, disentangle themselves from the other, disentangle themselves from the tapestry, and levitate in the air about five feet in front of the table of the Gods.
They swirl around each other, glowing blue-purple-black-sea green-gray-golden yellow-yellow-wine purple-pure golden-white-
Zeus instinctively raises his hands, not to protect himself, but toward his children, to shield them from the entity- '-not deity, the Chthonic Beings, long forgotten and scattered, are far greater than the mere deities the Gods are-; -the Gods have not seen in millennia.
“Get behind me.” He orders. “Now!”
They scatter, crouching low behind their Father. Even Artemis, sensing the fear coming from her brothers and sisters, reappears on Olympus, drawing back her large silver wooden bow, and pointing it at the glow that nearly outshines the Gods in their glory.
The glow fades, and Zeus tenses, readying himself for the anger of an entity long forgotten but feared by the mortal world-
Instead, someone, with the voice of a small child, the very age of his now daughter and son in the temple, giggles.
Zeus opens his eyes and stares at the kneeling form of a blond-haired tan young woman, a girl of seven summers, at the other end of the table. Her black chiton seems to be made of the stars itself, with swirls of dark blue, purple, and magenta everywhere on her chiton. She pushes herself to her feet and opens her eyes to reveal bright sea-green irises that resemble a wound up thread. For some reason, Poseidon and Athena choke on air as soon as she looks at them. Then, She tilts her head to the side and Zeus nearly stumbles as a young girl of about twelve summers, with freckles along her nose, black hair, and electric blue eyes '-my eyes-' blinks at them curiously. Before Zeus can even respond to the entity's sudden appearance, appearance as a child Zeus should know, she changes again, this time to a brown-haired girl of about twelve summers, with hardened brown eyes and the faint sign of muscles in her form. Ares gasps. Whatever he says is lost to the wind, for the girl flickers back to the first form and looks around at all of the Gods.
Then She smiles. Gently, as if seeing an old friend, and bows at the hip toward the Gods.
Gods of Olympus. The long-lost Domain of Fate itself greets them. I see that you have found my gifts.
“I… was right?” Hestia whispers.
Fate bows her- its head of the form she has taken.
Indeed, Lady Hestia.
I have come here with my apology.
And an explanation.
It lifts up its head.
I would have preferred to do this when the children were awake, but time works against us, so I will say the truth.
It bows down in front of the Gods.
I offer my apologies for abandoning this world to Time, O Gods. When I discovered the curse, I, like you, sought every possible solution. I begged Mother Nyx and my surviving relatives for guidance, I turned to every Chthonic Being and Domain still aware and stable enough to give me the answers.
Then I approached Apollo's Oracle.
The God of Prophecy looks surprised. “Great Fate, you spoke to my Oracle? But why?”
Desperation. I may be a Domain, but I could not see how to break the curse of Time. In pure desperation, I turned to your Oracle, and asked her how to break the curse of Time.
She told me that only the Gods, and the children of the Gods could break the curse. How and when, she did not say, but it was enough for me to scour the world for a child of the Gods that survived.
Then, again, I turned to the Stars and the darkness I came from. Maybe they had the answers.
As soon as I touched a star, I caught a sound of pure laughter.
Then I realized something shocking.
The stars that I had been seeing were not stars at all.
But gateways into other worlds.
With Time against us, I told only Mother Nyx of my plan, and I dove into the darkness to find the children of the Gods prophesied to bring an end to Time's curse.
“How many did you find?” Hera whispers.
Fate bows its head again.
I found none.
I searched every star, every world that I could find, every inch of the darkness for eons, and found nothing.
Its hands clench in anger.
For a moment, I despaired. I thought our world would fall apart, and Time's curse would last for eternity.
And then, when I thought I had lost hope, I found them.
It slowly turns its head in the direction of the children.
What Lady Athena said is true. There is a world filled with countless children of the Gods, and your new children are from that world.
Countless.
Countless children, enough to contrast the stars in the night sky.
It is almost impossible to imagine.
Fate sighs sadly.
But they are not loved in that world.
The Gods stiffen in anger.
They are treated like soldiers, rather than miracles, and are often left to fend for themselves.
When I first entered that world, I glanced at their tapestry, to see if there was something I missed.
I saw numerous threads, some very close to ascending, and some-
Here, it pauses. Looks troubled. Then it says:
There is so much I wish to say about this. So much I wish to show you.
But for the sake of the children, I will keep quiet.
Before you get angry, let me explain.
They are troubled, and used to the life of war. All they know is that their Gods have abandoned them, neglected them, left them to die at multiple times throughout their lives.
All that I ask for is that you are patient with them. That you do not blame them for circumstances outside of their control.
They will be angry, they will be confused, they will not want to be around you.
All that I ask is that you give them time.
And look at it this way.
They are lost, confused, in somewhere resembling the home that they lived in. They are missing their mortal families and their godly siblings.
And to their knowledge, they have no idea how to get home.
I will be here to help at every moment that I can.
I just ask that you let them come to you. Let them learn to rely on you, not as Gods, but as their parents.
Everything else will fall into place.
Athena bows her head. “A wise and honorable decision, O Fate.”
“Indeed.” Zeus rumbles. “Thank you for your intervention, and your time spent searching the world for an answer to our prayers.”
Fate gives them a small smile.
It is nothing, O Gods of Olympus. I too, wish to see Time defeated, and I too, wish to see our new children succeed. I just wanted to warn you of how your children have lived while they sleep.
Now, if you will excuse me.
I have more of your children to save.
~~~
Grover had fallen asleep in the car.
It was an accident, especially considering he was supposed to be a protector and the new Lord of the Wild… but he just. Leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes.
He opens his eyes to see Morality bending over him, looking worried, scared, and terrified all at once.
“Morality?” He mumbles. “What’s… what’s wrong?”
“Well.” Morality announces brightly, clapping his hands together. “We have. A problem.”