Time of Mythos
Now this was a capital, Poseidon thought.
As he and his siblings bade farewell to the second generation gods, he took some time to look around.
The buildings had distinct Greek architectural features and elements like columns and temple like houses which he was only half sure weren’t actual temples. Intricate decorations adorned their walls, and vibrant colors brought him back to the glory days of Olympus. And though he would never admit it out loud, some parts were even better than Atlantis.
As they climbed a road that went up a hill, Poseidon looked back at what they had assumed was the throne room upon arrival on the island. But one look inside had convinced them otherwise: it was a round room with round seating arranged in stairs. Zeus had declared it a council room, before sending the second generation to the immense garden behind it and leading his siblings up the hill.
A line of what were most definitely temples lined the street. Contrary to the other buildings before, they seemed themed according to who Poseidon thought to be the owners. One had large windows and gold accents that reminded him of Apollo just a bit, especially in the way it looked like a hospital, and next to it was another temple that looked like someone had thrown paint all over it in random places. Another one had smoke coming out of it, while the sound of a hammer hit their eardrums.
Temples to the Celestials.
Now, Poseidon was beginning to fear what Zeus wanted to do up here.
At the very top, Poseidon could see a very welcoming temple. It was open, unlike many of the others, and had hearth motifs. A giant fire pit lay in front, rising above the entire city. It reminded him of his older sister, Hestia.
On each side lay two very distinct yet similar temples. One, on the other side from where Poseidon’s group was coming from, was silver and black, stars strewn over all the darker parts. Moon symbols adorned the whole of the building. Again, it reminded Poseidon of someone he knew: specifically his niece, Artemis.
On their side was a temple that seemed to gleam in the sunlight. Suns were showing up everywhere on this temple, and the golden accents made the temple quite hard on the eyes. Quite obviously Apollo or someone with as little style as him.
And the temple next to that one… Poseidon could barely find the words to describe it (but I can ehehehe). It reminded him of Atlantis in a way, and of his cabin at Camp. It was a deep blue with white accents like sea foam. He approached, taking in the smell of salt permeating the air. He missed his wife.
Perseus too, for that matter. What had the young hero become after his disappearance? Had he thought his father to have abandoned him? Had he lived a good life? Or… he was beginning to have an idea of who these Celestials might be.
Looking over to the others, he saw their exasperated faces. He sprinted back to them, apologizing profusely. Zeus and Hera shot him a dark look, but Hades took his hand like back in their father’s stomach. He sent a darker temple on the moon side a look before whispering to him to catch up.
They arrived before the fire pit. A group of children moved past them, calling out a name that made them freeze.
“Aunty Hestia!” “Aunty!” “Lady Hestia!” “Aunt Tia!”
Hestia was sitting down at a fire, looking older than Poseidon remembered her preferred form to be. She was not a small 9 yrs old child; she had puffy short hair with coal inside and small riddles starting to form on her face. Iridescent feathers sprouted from her back, while fireflies swirled around her. Like the rest of Oly- Celestis, she wore an outfit that looked like a mix of Ancient Greek and what Poseidon knew as modern clothes, though he had no clue how long it had been since he had been… forcefully faded into Oblivion, so for all he knew, what he called modern clothes might be as old as Greek clothes were for him.
“Hello there my little stars! Are you ready for story time?” Hestia asked, smiling peacefully at the grinning children around. The little ones nodded vigorously, stars in their eyes shinning bright. Poseidon’s older sister explained the tradition: telling the story of their origins each time they moved to a new place: currently, they had just come back to Greece, for the first time since the Olympians’ rise. This tradition of hers was called the time of Mythos, and many parents also practiced it, telling their children stories.
“Well then… as you all know, not so long ago, there were many deities known as gods who ruled Celestis,” Hestia started. The sea god sat down at a cafe with his siblings, carefully watching and listening. “Many of you know that Celestis was once called Olympus, yes?”
The children nodded again, already fully engaged in the story. “And so the most powerful gods were called Olympians: twelve or so people on a council. And the leader was a god named Zeus. He ruled as King of the Gods after inheriting his title of royalty from his father.” Besides him, Zeus puffed up like one of his eagles.
A little girl with blond hair and starry black eyes interrupted to ask who between the current king, who she called grandad, and Zeus was a better ruler. Hestia thought for a bit.
“Well, my brother, Zeus, had not had a proper introduction to his role. He was forced upon it while very young, and right after a big war. He handled it quite well, to his credit, but, time took a toll. Especially since after a while he started neglecting his duties in favor of the luxuries the title brought, like chasing after Nymphs and mortals.”
Demeter chuckled softly in reaction to her comment while the bowl of cereal she had ordered was brought to her before adding that he chased goddesses too just loud enough for all of them to hear. Zeus looked down in shame as Hera sent a disappointed glare at him. Poseidon, Hades and Demeter chuckled.
“But Apollo was given the role in much better times,” Hestia explained, catching both the children and the siblings’ attentions. Apollo was the King now?
Poseidon could feel his brother’ seething next to him as he pondered on what this meant. Hera put a comforting hand on his shoulder as he got ready to bounce away.
“While, yes, the other gods had just faded and he was still grieving, he handled it quite well. After all, he started off with his sister with him. And as you can see, Celestis is flourishing under his and his sister’s rule.” the Goddess of the Hearth continued, shooting a quick concerned gaze towards them. They all tried ti not look suspicious or to be recognized. “All in all, even if he were to hear me now, I personally think Apollo has done a better job than my brother.”
Zeus was so positively taken aback by his sister’s comment that he continued listening without complaint, which was a feat in of itself. Poseidon would tease him later on this for sure. Even their oldest sister thought he was a bad king!
“Now back to the story!” Hestia called, gathering everyone’s attention once more. “Our story begins a few decades back, after the second titanomachy and giganomachy, on a seemingly normal day… if not for the fact that an after war meeting with many of the gods was being held.”
“As usual, they found themselves in arguments. I quite frankly do not remember what they were about, but you have to understand that these arguments weren’t anything like Perseus’ and Clariseis’ arguments. Often, these arguments had repercussions on the mortal world. Theirs are just minor scrabbles.”
Poseidon snapped back to reality when he heard his son’s name.
“Many demigods were here on that day too! Oh, they were so sweet when young. Imagine, your parents, here maybe for their first or second time, almost as young as you!”
The children giggled in joy at the sight their aunt was describing. Demeter looked as if about to cry in remembrance of her children.
“Now what set all this off was a particular topic: Zeus wanting to punish Apollo for the actions of one of his descendants, a man named Octavian.”
The children scowled, and the blond haired kid stuck her tongue out at the mention of her relative. Zeus looked downright murderous again, though Poseidon couldn’t think of why. Was it because of Apollo’s punishment not being given out, or was it because of this Octavian?
“He got his punishment, of course, but Zeus wanted to blame his actions on Apollo. Artemis, Apollo and several gods and demigods started to argue back, and I even found myself opposed to it. After all, he was proposing turning Apollo into a mortal as punishment.”
Soft gasps found their way into the tense silence Hestia’s storytelling brought. The children looked devastated. Poseidon thought it was very sweet of them to sound so concerned for his nephew (he wouldn’t tell anyone, but Apollo was his favorite).
“Someone made a rather touchy comment on how it would bring Apollo closer to understanding his lovers more: Icarus, Hyacinthus, Daphne… I do not know if that person’s comment was meant to be offensive or not, but Apollo stormed out and teleported back to Delos, his homeland. Artemis quickly left too to check on him. I personally berated Zeus and followed Artemis to Delos.”
“Delos is really pretty!” commented a small boy with fluffy black hair and sea green eyes. A small crown of seashells laid upon his curls. He looked near identical to Perseus, Poseidon noted, and for some reason was wearing Triton’s crown, making the child the heir to Atlantis. This almost confirmed his theory that Perseus was still alive, and soothed his heart to know his beloved kingdom was alright.
“Indeed! The King and Queen’s island is very beautiful, especially at sunset. Anyways, it was at that moment that I felt my connection to Olympus quite literally explode. Even as far as Delos, we heard and felt the blast. Something wasn’t right, so we went straight to Olympus.” Hestia said mournfully, tensing at what would come after. The starry black eyed kid beat her to it. Hades seemed to observe the child.
“As straight as grandad can be…” A few snickers were heard from around the hearth, and a few adults that passed by stifled a laugh. Apparently, Apollo’ bisexuality wasn’t a secret and more of a joke.
Hestia chuckled, but her face came back to a somber scowl that was quite unnatural on her face.
“But we were too late. Perhaps that’s what saved us. But all around us lay smoke, ruins, fires… Olympus lay in ruins in front of us. As we rushed to the throne room, we prayed that it wouldn’t be what we feared. But… all the gods who had previously been there were… dead. Faded. Pushed into Oblivion.”
The grief was apparent on her face. All five siblings hated to see their older sister like that, but they pushed down the need to hug her and comfort her. Instead, a small girl with brown braids and gray eyes hugged the goddess in their stead, her grey owl wings fluttering behind her. The siblings tried to comprehend what they had just learned.
After she sat back down, Hestia continued.
“It was… hard, to say the least. Crushing. Unbelievable. Sad. Silent. Alone… but the demigods handled it beautifully. They gathered all the bodies and made the memorial garden to bury them, found and gathered information and statuses of other gods across the world and states, found survivors, helped us grieve. They rebuilt Olympus up to its former glory, reunited Greek and Roman. They were gifted immortality for their service, and became the new generation of ruling deities: the Celestials.”
When Hestia mentioned the name, the soft rumble of thunder rolled from afar, while the fire in her hearth glowed brighter. The water of the sea around them began swaying more gently on the shore, and several animals hopped out of the swaying gardens. Poseidon stood shocked at the simple display of power.
“Now children, can you tell me which celestial inherited what title from their parents? I know it’s quite a lot, so let’s keep to the big 6, or well, my siblings, ok?”
The shell crowned kid Poseidon had been observing blurted out an answer confidently.
“Thaleia and Jason inherited Zeus’ titles!” Zeus perked up at that, while Hera scowled heavily.
The blond kid continued. “Perseus got Poseidon’s! And his domain.” Poseidon nodded approvingly. A good choice, and it confirmed his theory. Perseus indeed was a Celestial, and thus the other demigods were probably similarly deities.
The girl who had hugged Hestia raised her hand too after a while of thinking.
“Hazel and Nicodemos inherited Hades’ titles and realm too.” She said calmly. Hades nodded, surprised.
A small satyr with dryad features confidentially raised his hand and delivered his response when Hestia nodded at him.
“Kataris, or Katie, took over Lady Demeter’s domains. He said with reverence. Demeter stopped scowling at her “bad cereal” bowl and nodded happily.
Hestia nodded at each response, eyes growing sadder and sadder at each mention of her siblings.
“Well, this has been delightful, kids, but Apollo has brought up the sun not long ago and so I believe it is time for you to go to school, as this afternoon we have the welcoming feast!”
Even the half-hearted protests didn’t stop her from ushering them away from her hearth. Zeus ushered them away after Hades payed, and Poseidon only saw Hestia reaching out before disappearing after a turn.