Chapter 5: The Regretful Choice

“Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Years bled into decades on and under the high mountain of the divine.

Rhea continued to give birth. Both to her annoyance and thankfulness, they were girls, which she named Demeter and then Hera.

Privately, Rhea laughed at everything. She was getting pretty good at being pregnant and giving birth. The labor pains were becoming manageable. But then, when she looked at the other Titans, Rhea observed that they were having children left and right. With the passage of time in their Realm, some titan children were having children.

There were Oceanids, Nereids, lesser titans, some like the one called Cratus were throwing around the title ‘god’.

For Rhea, she was finding the changing flows of the world to be rather charming. She wondered if Gaia saw these children the same way Gaia saw her. If so, she wondered how her mother handled such immaturity, entitlement, and just their youthful spirits.

Rhea laughed from her palace on Olympus. Things were changing. They always would, she supposed, but it was fascinating to watch it happen and so very rarely be involved.

Her thoughts often strayed from those down below. Her jailer would walk by her palace, returning her thoughts to her plans at hand.

Cronos’ behavior did not seem to change in Rhea’s estimation, but that did not stop her from lying with him. There was no love in their intercourse for her. It was primal, almost hateful. Every new sexual experience gave Cronos his release, and it could potentially conceive a son that would usurp him.

If anyone were to judge her, she could not tell them her life story. She would remind them that sex was only an act. Those who did not know what she went through could not lay claim to judge her. She was a queen trapped in a farce of a marriage with a man that cared more for his power and prestige than the woman he claimed to love.

Though ... that realization brought a sad change to Rhea. She no longer pretended it was Ouranos with her in those intimate moments. She could not imagine what was lost when she needed to focus on what was to be gained.

Her mind singularly dreamt of Cronos’ defeat.

In the end, that was her satisfaction in every regard.

As time went on, Cronos came to regret his consumption of Aether to the point it gnawed at the back of his mind. There was a lingering pain within his stomach from time to time. He wondered if that was all in his mind. If it was not, he suspected that the pain was a remnant of Aether as an echo within Cronos’ belly.

The constant pain might have just been a sign that he had gone too far. It might be better to allow Aether to live and his first son to take the throne whenever that child was born. There was very little pleasure in ruling for Cronos.

Gaia would only come to Olympus to see Rhea. His Titan brothers and sisters were more involved with one another than with him. He was starting to suspect that they were purposefully ignoring him, but if they were, he could not go down to Greece and ask them. That might only push them further away. When they got distant enough, would they decide he no longer deserved to rule over them as their father had?

His rule was becoming a lonely and sad affair, but more ... it was becoming a cage for him to wallow in. He could only sit on his throne and see his relationships deteriorate without any recourse to repair any of his relationships.

Cronos’ mind fell into the plague of doubt. He once had an unwavering resolve, but upon his seat of power, he could feel that resolve faltering. He mused that he could stop and free Rhea and let the idea of the throne go. After all, the Fates said if he let his oldest son have the throne, Cronos could live.

Looking out at the majestic beauty of Olympus, Cronos closed his fist. He knew he had lost too much, given up so much of what he once was, and battled far too hard to just give up.

Upon closer inspection, Rhea recognized that Hestia, their firstborn daughter, lacked the spirit required to become the Queen of the usurper. She was too much of a people pleaser, wanting to be loved by Rhea and Gaia to her own detriment. With a heavy heart, Rhea found Hestia’s love of home charming, but it was not enough to rule.