Chapter 47: The Age of Heroes (3)
Poseidon knew—through Prometheus’ prophecy and his own knowledge—the monster Gaia was preparing as a blade against Zeus.
“Gaia, I know the sword you’re forging for Zeus.”
Twitch.
Gaia flinched like a child caught hiding a secret.
That reaction proved her sincerity toward Poseidon.
He smiled, gently embracing her.
“That’s not what I mean. I just want to give the powerless on the surface—and the weaker gods—a chance to choose.”
Gaia tilted her head.
How did human rebirth offer choice?
“To be precise, a chance for the powerless gods. Those who can’t create their own races. And for Prometheus’ humans to teach the surface races how to lie and deceive—so they can choose between Zeus’ path and your blade.”
As Poseidon said, lesser gods couldn’t form races.
They lived listlessly or only mingled among themselves.
Dwarves, elves, beastkin, goblins—each served their creator-god.
Lesser gods couldn’t bond with them emotionally or physically.
That was possible only when humans existed.
(From Kronos’ era to now.)
No one could deny that was when all gods were strongest and most vibrant.
“So you want to give gods freedom again?”
“Is that worth more than stopping me?”
Gaia’s tone held resentment, but she knew the truth.
Poseidon, true to the sea, hated confinement.
He loved sharing joy with others.
Proof: the merfolk and mermaids thrived, building vast underwater city-states—because Poseidon gave them ‘complete freedom’.
Just as he allowed all sea gods to be worshipped, he gave the merfolk and mermaids the freedom to choose whom to revere.
“Yeah. You know this is more fun.”
“And Epimetheus and Pandora fought through surveillance and hardship to reach me. How could a world-king ignore them?”
Gaia gazed into Poseidon’s eyes—clear as a cloudless sky, the same as when she first saw them during the Pontus affair.
Then and now, standing before them melted even her hardened heart.
“Sigh. How did I end up married to a guy like you?”
“Fine. Humans—I’ll accept. But nothing more. You know what I mean!”
“Deal.”
Gaia left, answering Charybdis’ persistent calls, raising a fist at her husband as she went.
Poseidon watched with a grin.
***
The human rebirth was ultimately approved.
Zeus remained reluctant, but his children—over half the Twelve—voted in favor.
Most other Olympians followed their patrons.
Even the opposition yielded when Zeus and Hera stayed silent.
“By the will of the gods here, the rebirth of humanity is decreed.”
Tap, tap, tap.
The decision echoed across earth, sea, and underworld.
Some were shocked, the few surviving humans cheered, and those who’d warred with humans scowled.
“Zeus made the call in the end.”
“You instigated it.”
“Not instigate—just necessary.”
“Shut up. Epimetheus and Pandora’s last trace was your palace.”
“Maybe. I only acted as a god should.”
“…”
Hades visited Poseidon, glaring as if to bore holes through his face.
“Ease up. You supported human revival too.”
“Hmph. Only because you lot keep stealing the dead. Damn it—binding their own creations even after death.”
Poseidon nodded.
Since humanity’s fall, underworld souls had dwindled.
Powerful gods loved their races deeply—and often kept their souls in personal afterworlds post-mortem.
‘But Hades wouldn’t come just to complain.’
Poseidon pretended to listen while eyeing the object Hades blatantly carried:
A reliquary of souls—one of Hades’ ten greatest treasures, ‘The Relic of the Dead’.
‘So that’s why he came…’
“Thanks for helping with human rebirth.” but grumbling the whole way.
“Nothing’s changed since old times.”
“?”
***
Meanwhile, Olympus fiercely debated who should enact the rebirth.
Prometheus was a criminal—but his creation, so his son should do it.
Or: entrusting it to a deceiver’s child could spell disaster.
After three days and nights of argument with no resolution, Zeus used his authority.
“A father’s sin doesn’t pass to the son. Bring Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha.”
Guided by Hermes, Prometheus’ son Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha—daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora—arrived on Olympus.
Zeus addressed them.
“We gods have agreed to repopulate humanity.”
“You and your wife are the children of the first human-makers. This time, you will create humanity.”
Deucalion and Pyrrha had remained unshaken from the moment they ascended Olympus—unfazed even by Zeus’ sudden command.
They had already heard every prophecy from Prometheus.
“Yes. We will fulfill the task.”
In their calm eyes, Zeus saw Prometheus’ shadow.
‘Those eyes…’
The only god to scorn Zeus and survive—now reflected in his son.
‘What are you plotting now, Prometheus…?’
Zeus felt uneasy, but the decision was final.
It was Poseidon’s request, and he and Hera owed him too much.
Reversing an Olympian decree over a bad feeling would tarnish his honor.
“Then do well.”
***
Deucalion and Pyrrha returned home, pushed aside their bed, and descended through a hidden passage with torches.
They walked until reaching a well-maintained, ancient temple.
“Let’s go in.”
Deucalion donned priestly robes; Pyrrha lit the temple’s fire.
The cold, dark cave filled with warm spring sunlight—a miracle.
A goddess emerged in the light.
“It’s been a long time, Deucalion and Pyrrha.”
“Yes. Since humanity’s fall.”
“Greetings, Lady Themis.”
Themis—child of Uranus and Gaia, goddess of law and order.
She bore the Horae with Zeus and the Moirai by herself.
“Your visit means Prometheus’ prophecy of human prosperity has begun?”
“Yes. Lord Zeus commanded us to rebuild humanity.”
“Zeus…? So that was the council’s topic.”
Themis was not of Olympus.
She lay with Zeus only because it served cosmic order and law.
“Then I’ll give you what Prometheus entrusted.”
With a gesture, a massive scale appeared.
Countless stones piled on one side.
“Place what Prometheus and Epimetheus gave you here. Then the fallen humans will rise with Mother Gaia’s bones.”
Themis’ scale was the ‘Scale of Causality’—symbol of law, order, and world balance.
Offer fitting compensation, and nearly anything could be achieved.
“Yes. We offer Father Prometheus and Mother Pandora’s tribute.”
Deucalion placed a glass vial of blazing fire—the first spark Prometheus gifted humanity.
Pyrrha added ‘Pandora’s Box’—vessel of all evils that doomed mankind, now containing Cybele’s divinity ‘Hope’, obtained by Prometheus from Poseidon.
The scale tipped toward the offerings.
Themis nodded.
“Prometheus saw everything. You may claim the surplus compensation.”
Deucalion and Pyrrha exchanged glances.
“We ask for humanity’s complete freedom—the right for all races to deceive and betray even gods.”
Hummm.
The scale balanced perfectly—no excess, no deficit.
Themis nodded in approval.
“Your request is granted. Go—scatter Mother’s bones and let humanity flourish.”
With Themis’ verdict, the Moirai wove human and surface-race fates into their threads.
All gods felt the new right settle into the world.
It meant: if gods tried to annihilate humans or races without ‘causal justification’, the world would retaliate.
(For now, just the right not to be destroyed on a whim…)
***
Atop the mountain, Prometheus—bound—felt it.
Humanity had taken root, beyond even gods’ reckless destruction.
“It’s done. They can’t be wiped out so easily now.”
In Olympus, Zeus felt the same.
‘So this was it…’
“Completely played. By Prometheus.”
“With this, all races’ freedom is guaranteed—without Protogenoi or my siblings’ power.”
Zeus laughed hollowly from his throne.
Poseidon had hinted Gaia’s plan required human strength to counter.
Prometheus had seen this far—from the first human’s birth.
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