Chapter 1: Plans for Olympus

“To Gaia the Mother of All. I will sing of well-founded Gaia, mother of all, eldest of all beings. She feeds all the creatures that are in the worlds, all that go upon the goodly land, and all that are in the paths of the seas, and all that fly : all these are fed of her store ... Hail, Mother of the gods, wife of starry Ouranos; freely bestow upon me for this my song substance that cheers the heart!”Homeric Hymn XXX to Gaea (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th - 4th B.C.)

Olympus had been cultivated to be the most beautiful and amazing place in all of Greece. Hades’ Underworld and Poseidon’s Sea were no comparison to Zeus’ castle in the heavens.

The youngest son of Cronos had helped bring down the Mad Titan of Time. He had earned his throne and everything that was coming with it. Partner after partner came his way.

He was starting to feel worried. From Metis and the prophecy to Cratus’ family and how they handled protecting him to Hades in the Underworld ... Events were mounting. Zeus felt they were approaching something. He did not know what, but it was going to change the course of all of Olympus.

The more he thought on any of those subjects, the more it stressed him.

Feeling a hand reach over his ribs, he started to turn as if he were under attack. However, when he saw the face of Gaia, Zeus froze.

“What troubles you, my King?” Gaia asked with such a sultry edge that even Zeus could not doubt her lust for him.

“Your prophecy hangs over my head,” he said, shaking his head.

Gaia could see that her words had, in fact, extracted a heavy toll on her grandson. He was very nearly ripe for the picking.

“I have given that some thought, Your Highness,” Gaia replied back. Her earthy hands continued to roam over his body. Thankfully, she could see his body was reacting positively to her touch if only on an instinctive level.

Zeus nearly gasped when she began to stroke him. “Oh?” Zeus wondered. “And what is that?”

“Allow me to bear you a child, and I will raise him to be your protector,” Gaia breathed into his ear.

“Your child could do what Metis might not,” Zeus said through shaky breathing.

She could tell how much he yearned for her. He was such a slave to his desires. Gaia recognized that capturing Zeus was even easier than Rhea intimated.

Zeus turned to face the Primordial Queen. “But your child could overthrow me the same as Metis’ child,” he remarked with more control than Gaia thought he had.

“Not if the child swears loyalty to you,” Gaia countered.

Zeus thought for the briefest of moments. If he were wiser or more thorough, he would have had Gaia make an oath to him right then and there. Instead, slave as he was to his own genitals, he shook as Gaia wrapped the lips that once kissed Ouranos around his manhood.

With one hand stroking and the mouth lathering him up with saliva, Zeus knew what he wanted. Gaia’s sex was more than just a woman’s body. She represented royalty, nobility itself, and stability. A child by her, even an illegitimate one, could prove useful in the future. The king already knew from firsthand experience that Gaia could train a worthy warrior.

Of course she was loyal to him. She had sacrificed her own late husband to prove how much Zeus meant to her. By the time he thought of all the logical reasons to trust Gaia, he could feel his phallus hardened and twitching with anticipation for what would come to pass.

When he plunged himself between her legs to feel the warmth of her fertile, wet sex, he was lost to the idea. Her sex, her womb, all of it was his to have. Not just as king but as a conqueror. He had deposed Cronos; he stood atop Olympus; he had the throne that all deities yearned for.

He kissed her lips of bark and stone. Her skin was unlike that of any god or Titan, which made it all the more desirable to him. The unusual makeup of her body only built up in him what he already desired. He had her on his bed, her legs splayed wide into the air.

Her breasts bounced with every thrust of his hips into her. Every inch of his cock inside of her was a statement, not just to her, but the entire realm. It was all his to have. Every woman, any goddess, any time, any place, however he wanted; it was all possible.

Her moans and screams of what he was doing pushed him onward in his carnal conquest of her body. And as she screamed out for him, she was telling him what he was doing.

“By gods! You’re going to get me pregnant!” Gaia declared.

Something in him snapped, and Zeus was unable to contain himself anymore. In the privacy of his bedchambers, Zeus released an orgasmic emission of his seed into the fertile Primordial’s body with the natural instinct of a horse rutting a mare. As king, he was meant to stud out his sperm to the most worthy of prizes.

What prize could be greater than the Earth Primordial?

On another part of Olympus, later that very night, Hera made her way to the palace of the one woman she trusted above all others. Because she recognized her mother and grandmother’s machinations, Hera was all too aware that the previous queens could not be trusted. While they might have had Zeus’ ear, they were duplicitous in nature.

Sadly, by that same score, Demeter was a recluse, and Hestia was in love with Hyperion’s Flame. In fact, Hestia’s interest only allowed for Prometheus to claim her time as Prometheus was the only one coming up with solutions to play with the fire that consumed everything.

This led Hera back to the palace of Metis. Hera did not want to entangle herself further in the relationship of Metis and Zeus. While her mother had planned for Hera to marry Zeus, Hera could think of an infinite number of other activities to do with her time. She could see Zeus for the problematic lech that he was. By her estimation, he would end up fucking half, if not almost all, of the women on Olympus.

Shaking her head, Hera knew that she did not want to involve herself with the King of Olympus in any way. However, as events seemed to conspire against her, she knew that she would need to get her hands dirty in the running of the kingdom.

She found Metis’ palace to be dimly lit. The very air seemed to have an aroma of a salty sea mixed with sage. Hera’s exploration led her to a room adorned with scrolls that had scribblings and diagrams. There were paintings, symbols, and other unrecognizable pieces of art on Metis’ wall.

For her part, Metis was staring in deep concentration at some old writing on an even older piece of parchment.

“What is all of this?” Hera wondered, looking around. Her initial plan to discuss the Hesperides was gone.

“Notes, journals, drawings, and a few collectibles from Hyperion,” Metis said offhandedly.

“The Titan?” Hera wondered. “What does he have to do with,” she paused to motion at the very room itself, “any of this?”

“Oh!” Metis replied, realizing it was Olympus’ premiere mage that she was talking to. “Sorry. I was caught up in all of this. Welcome in, Hera.”

“It is nice to be welcomed,” Hera replied, still lost in trying to figure out what was going on. “Will you answer my question? You know ... the one about what Hyperion has to do with any of this?”

Metis let out a laugh. “Oh. Hyperion has been traveling outside the lands of Greece since he could walk, it seems.”

“And?” Hera asked, looking over a scroll of something labeled an ‘Oni’ ... whatever that was.

“He’s accrued a lot of knowledge about other gods in other lands,” Metis said. “After the Titans fell, I went to his palace in the lower realm and collected up everything he owned. I wanted to see if he found a way to not have the Flame consume everything since it did not consume his torch, but then, I found all of this, and I sort of got lost in the study.”

“The study?” Hera wondered. “Sorry. I don’t mean to sound like I am just asking questions, but this all seems ridiculous.”

“What’s ridiculous about it?” Metis asked. She turned to the powerful daughter of Rhea. “You had to know that we were not the only deities in the world.”

“I mean ... maybe, but after defeating the Titans, do you really want to go rummaging through their stuff and picking a fight with the other deities that might be out there?”

Metis smirked knowingly. “But don’t you see, Hera? That’s the beauty of it. We should know more about what’s out there, not less, and by rummaging through the Titan’s belongings, we have the chance to prepare ourselves for our neighbors.”

Hera looked uncertain.

Metis in response showed a drawing of a tall, lanky being with markings on his wrists. He looked more like he was wearing an animal pelt rather than clothes befitting a deity by Hera’s estimation.

“This is Týr,” Metis said. “Hyperion made his acquaintance while he was in the land of ‘Midgard’. Though, his earliest map called it ... what was it? Oh! Norvegia!”

Metis offered Hera a seat accompanied by a calm gaze. The Oceanid pulled out a map with the names of places with names on them. A land called Babylonia had the names Marduk and Nabu next to it. Norvegia had Odin written next to it with a smaller addition of ‘Týr’ with the annotation of friend next to it. A place called India with the note ‘over 500 deities here and counting’. The land Aígyptos was south of Greece and said, ‘Talk with Ra and Osiris.’. The last big portion was Sinae and it said, ‘Beware the Jade Emperor’.

“This is ... A lot...”

Metis could see that her investigations had run their course, so she looked Hera over more seriously.

“So, Hera ... what brought you here tonight?”

Hera paused. “I thought we were discussing what you discovered.”

“We were,” Metis said with a nod. “But I think you came here for a reason, and I don’t want to bore you with something that you are clearly not interested in.”

Hera was careful to take a moment to center herself. She had to be careful, given Metis’ ambitions to be queen.

“As you know, Zeus can be a bit ... licentious,” Hera started carefully.

“He can be a ball of raging sexual desire,” Metis said with a nod. “I know what he is, Hera. You do not need to tiptoe around the issue with me. Talk freely, and I will do my best to help you.”

Hera sighed. “I do not know if there is some arrangement between you two, and if there is, I do not want to know about it, but more recently, his gaze has fallen on the Hesperides girls.”

“Atlas’ daughters?” Metis asked for clarification.

Hera nodded.

“But they are so young,” Metis replied, repulsed.

“Those were my feelings on the subject,” Hera said. “I was thinking I could take them into my care.”

“I assume that you are asking because you fear for their safety, Hera?” Metis inquired.

“I was on the battlefield. Maybe I am overreacting, but I know Zeus. He does not like being denied what he wants. I simply want your help in protecting them.”

“And I have to ask Zeus?”

Hera shook her head. “As a matter of fact, no.”

“No?” Metis tilted her head in confusion.

“You said you would do me a favor in return for the spell that made Cratus and his family loyal to Zeus,” Hera explained.

“And you want me to tell Zeus that I agreed to this, and he will think you’re twisting my arm rather than just asking me for help,” Metis said.

“Something like that,” Hera replied with a smile.

“Wonderfully devious, Hera,” Metis said, patting Hera kindly on the forearm. “You will be a wonderful Queen of the Underworld.”

“I do not know how wonderful of a ruler of the Underworld I would be,” Hera said.

“You still haven’t seen him?” Metis asked, almost aghast.

“There is never any time,” Hera whined

“There’s time right now. Go see Hades. I will send the three daughters to your palace, and I will handle Zeus.”

“Handle him?” Hera asked Metis with a raised eyebrow.

Metis pushed Hera away gently. “Go. Get out of here! Go see your foolish Underworld King.”

Hera laughed, pretending to stumble out of the palace. Metis shook her head before returning to the scrolls. She keyed her focus in on Norvegia and Aígyptos, eyeing the names ‘Odin’ and ‘Ra’. She wondered if they could be useful to Olympus.

Sadly, with so much to do, she quickly moved her gaze away from the map and went back rummaging through the other scrolls. There was much to do, and Metis felt as though she were running out of time.

The next morning’s light caressed the beautiful island when Gaia emerged. Her travels from Olympus to her home was easy enough. Rhea was sitting patiently by Gaia’s scrying pool.

“How did it go?” Rhea asked, looking up with intense interest.

“He went along with it. He did not so much as ask me to give loyalty like his little servants.” Gaia shook her head at the foolishness of her grandson. He had grown so comfortable in his throne that he was ignoring the possibility of a threat. This was to Gaia’s benefit, thankfully.

“And?” Rhea asked. The unspoken portion of the question was clear to them. After all, this was part of their new plans for Zeus and Olympus.

“I have his child in my womb,” Gaia remarked. She ran her hand over her belly.

“Will it be a boy?” Rhea inquired with great interest. She looked her mother over, unable to see the difference in the Primordial physically. The Titaness did not know why she expected there to be a visible change so early in the pregnancy.