Chapter 7: Python

“From [Gaia] [was born]: Python, a divine snake ... Python, offspring of [Gaia], was a huge Draco (Dragon) who, before the time of Apollo, used to give oracular responses on Mount Parnassus.”Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae, translated by Grant, Roman mythology, c. 2nd century CE. Copyright © Grant.

The flickering candlelight cast soft shadows on their shared bedchambers. Zeus pinned Hera to the wall. The look of close intimate desire told her everything she needed to know.

Hera’s long brown curls bounced over her shoulders. She smirked at his singular efforts for her. The flicker of light over her eyes had them bouncing between the shades of blue and violet. Her returned affections were undeniable between them.

The king’s posture was relaxed in their closeness but still there was a proudness about it even as he undressed her. Over the last fifteen years, since Leto’s banishment, he had come to admire her strength, and when they were together, it did not matter who commanded Olympus, but rather that the way she commanded herself.

For Zeus, this quiet authority was intoxicating. On this night, as with most nights, he wanted to show her appreciation.

He leaned in, his lips brushing against hers intensely. His hands gently cupped her ass, keeping her near him. The dress in question was some throw away thing. Hera responded to his affections without hesitation. She lifted her arms to rest around his neck with a trust that was being restored day by day.

Perhaps Leto had turned her husband’s gaze, but that time had come and gone. The fidelity of his affection was beyond reproach in the more recent year.

For this trust, the kisses deepened. Her tongue fought his tongue even as his probing, flicking tongue wrapped around hers. Her hands caressed his beard, which was growing in nicely.

With slow and tender deliberate affection, their exploration of one another’s bodies continued. Hera felt the warmth of his touch as her dress fell to the floor. The heat of his embrace stopped the cool breeze of the room from touching her.

“Oh I love this,” Zeus murmured, his voice thick with passion. His eyes darted over her body to examine her.

The birth had Ares had finished for Hera what the creation process from Cronos and Rhea had begun. Before, she was like an unfinished sculpture. The lines and finished work was there, but it had not been brought to light. The goddess that stood before him had thick, curly brown hair, a full, bouncy chest with a darker shade of nipple. He was not sure if he could call them a very light brown or a dark pink, but they blend so perfectly that he did not care.

Her hips were fattened, but not overtly so like Hestia, who was becoming more of a slob than a proper beauty deserving of the line of Rhea and Gaia. Her body was impressive and desired by more and more of the divinities of Olympus.

Hera, pulse quickening, smiled back as she could feel him at the entrance to her sex. “And I’ve missed you, my king.”

They stayed wrapped in each other’s embrace when his strong, pulsing phallic member slid between her legs. She let out a groaning gasp. All of her fears and worries fled with each thrust of his manhood into her.

The world outside the palace meant nothing when compared to that moment. She was not in love with her husband. That was a child’s fancy. There was lust, loyalty, and desire. Those were real and quantifiable.

She felt those very real qualities with each pounding pressure in her. Throwing her head back, Hera simply surrendered to the very real pleasures of her husband. His hands ran over her body, and for the most part, she could not tell anywhere where they were or when. Rather, she was simple in enjoying these moments.

Gripping her husband’s arms, the Queen of Olympus screamed her warning that her orgasm was mounting. Zeus groaned in turn. Her body was rewarding him for his loyalty, and he would show his appreciation.

He loved when she showed her desire, when she flexed her control. When her juices released, gushing around his cock, he unleashed his torrent of semen to flood her womanhood.

There was no guarantee that she would come with child, but Zeus was not concerned with such trivial matters. He cared more for his release and the euphoric pleasure after. They fell back into the bed together. The two locked eyes for a moment. Zeus caressed his wife’s cheek, and Hera, in turn, kissed his hand. They fell asleep after their moment’s pleasure.

Fifteen years. Fifteen fucking years. She had been in the boat, on the waters for 15 fucking years. Zeus had made the thing for Leto. It had served as a way for her to escape Hera’s bull shit curse.

The water rocked back and forth against her wooden creation. The vessel had been made for her by Zeus. He chopped one of the trees from Olympus and imbued it with his magic. It made it so she suffered far less while she was in it.

After all the tree was of Olympus, which was made, in part, by Gaia, so Leto still suffered and was unable to give birth. Traveling by boat was a somewhat new and novel experience for the Titaness ... at first. She saw much of Oceanus and Poseidon’s domain. She had hoped that there would be some assistance by one of them.

Nobody knew where Oceanus was after Poseidon rose to power, but the King of the Seas was easy enough to find. Leto even used some of her power to draw the boat underwater.

The great underwater city of Poseidonus welcomed her easily enough. The city had been made by Pontus and Poseidon. There were some of Gaia’s earth from the seabed, but Leto had felt no pain while there, and she was practically ready to give birth then.

Poseidon welcomed her in open arms. The mistake had been Leto’s. She had been too grateful. She let out while she needed this place to give birth and Poseidon turned her away. Of course her would. If Hera had power to rival Zeus, or at the very least to separate herself from the other goddesses and titanesses, Poseidon would not be foolish enough to cross her.

Back to the sea for her. That led Leto to another bright idea. If not Poseidon, maybe Hades would be so good as to show her compassionate leniency. It would be years before she found a land that connected to the Underworld. When she did, she found a mountain spewing fire, where Zeus had defeated that Typhon monster.

She landed, tied the boat to the edge, and suffered horrible agony to make it to the boundary between the living realm and the Underworld. Hades was less helpful than Poseidon had been. That stupid bitch, Nyx, had been at the opening and did not so much as allow Leto a chance to cross over.

Apparently, it was only for Chthonic gods to make life in the Underworld. While Leto might be able to give birth there, Nyx had said that the children would belong to Hades and her for the rest of eternity. This was not good enough for Leto.

That meant she had to consider another option altogether.

For another five years, she roamed the waters looking for those options. She had heard there were other lands with other gods. To the south, she had met that Isis goddess with her husband. Surely they might welcome her. After a short consideration, that was discarded. If Isis had met with Hera or even sympathized with her as a fellow queen, Leto would be granted no solace.

Leto did not know of what other lands there might be and she could not suffer Hera’s curse long enough. There were tiny moments where Leto considered letting herself die to give birth. The children within her were grown enough. There was a good chance that they might come out in their adolescence or teenage forms like Athena. Could she give her life to ensure her children were born?

She asked herself that question many times before shaking her head. No. She wanted revenge on Hera. Leto needed to live, and part of Leto wanted to survive just to see the shock on Hera’s arrogant face.

This led her back to solving her own problem. She considered looking for Oceanus. After all, he had chosen neutrality during the Great War. Surely, he would understand her plight. On the other hand, with how the other ruling divinities turned her away, Leto could not stomach another slight. If he turned her away, she might just stand and suffer and be consumed by the pain until her child was born.

Though, with how many hands and feet that touched the outer wall of her womb, she must have been carrying a four handed and four legged monster. It might have been better for the thing not to be born.

She shook her head. In those ten years of searching for a place, that was when the idea hit her. There were two divine women who had been turned away by the gods of Olympus.

Rhea and Gaia. They had been queens. While Gaia had officiated the wedding ceremony, it felt more like she was doing an honor rather than bonding two people she cared about in love. If she bound them by duty, maybe she could be convinced to help Leto by that same sympathy.

Being on the sea, and in pain, Leto did not know how to navigate, so finding the home of two Olympus Queens was next to impossible. This was her journey though, and she would be damned to Tartarus and back if she did not see it through.

A spark of elation shot through her when the boat drifted closer to an unknown shore. Leto stood at its front excited. This was her chance to survive. She had held onto her faith, and just then it felt as if it would pay off.

Her golden eyes were mildly bloodshot from seeking out this island for so long. Every movement was agonizing both in terms of pain and also from impatience. She did not care if her body wracked with the pain from Hera’s curse. She knew Gaia had played a part, but if the Primordial Mother Earth could hurt her as so, then she could make this right.

When the island came into better focus, she recognized the towering form of a woman of earth that could only be Gaia. By her side was another feminine form of incomparable beauty.

Rhea and Gaia stood patiently at the water’s edge.

Rhea was calm and composed as ever in her trademark flowing sky-blue gown. Her dirty-blonde hair, streaked with silver, gleamed in the sunlight. Her eyes never left the boat floating closer and closer to her home.

Gaia loomed taller as the oldest living Primordial in the living realm. She was the embodiment of the earth itself in the lands of Greece. Bark and stone melded into her womanly form. Her face was framed by cascading vines for hair while her deep-set eyes resembled pools of mossy water.

The shoreline seemed to tremble from this clandestine meeting that was about to occur.

Leto’s boat scraped against the sand, docking. The titaness stepped forward with difficulty from her overbearing belly. She clutched her swollen belly that looks like it contained a second Leto within. She had tried to enlarge her form as Cronos had when he had consumed his children, but the magic of the divine was failing her. She could not know if it was because of Hera’s curse, a deficiency on her part, or some unknown, but she still struggled onward.

Her voice was hoarse but steady as she addressed them.

“Rhea, Gaia,” she started before bowing her head in reverence to them. “I come to you, Great Queens, in desperate need.”

Rhea lifted her hand to halt the titaness from continuing to speak.

Though Leto saw the hand, she could not help herself. She had been turned away from two other potential refuges. She could not afford a third. Her belief that she would survive this pregnancy was hanging by a thread, and one more disappointment might be all it took to destroy her last vestiges of life

“I am in need of sanctuary. Please! I am not one to bed, but I have no place to rest. Your heir, Hera, has cursed me never to be able to set foot on any of your lands, Gaia, and I have been carrying my children within me for years.” She looked at them desperately.

Tears were welling up in her eyes. This was not some show. She could no longer contain herself. The years had taken her toll on her, and she could barely hang on.

“Please, I beg you both,” she said, kneeling on the edge of her boat. “Grant me reprieve.”

Rhea’s expression was softened by pity for the poor creature. She knew in some way that this was all part of Gaia’s plan for Greece. She did not know how or why events were playing out as they were, but she said nothing and trusted in her mother. For this, she waited for Gaia to speak.

Gaia’s gaze was heavier. There seemed to be some deliberation on her part. The weight of the mountains would come from her when she finally spoke as she had the depth of ages by her side when she approved or disapproved of individuals.

“Daughter of Coeus, even if I wished to help you, I could not,” she declared. “The land beneath your feet of me, and by my oath to Hera, and by her curse on you, I cannot shelter you. To do so would break my very magic, and bring ruin upon myself and my daughter.”

Leto winced at the words. She held firm. While both had seen her tear up, she refused to allow them to see her break down to her lowest and outright cry. She trembled as she gripped the railing of her boat for support. It was taking all she had to not break down

“Gaia, please! I have been in this boat for over ten years!” Leto cried out. “I am at your mercy. I carry children—your great grandchildren twice over—within me! They have done no wrong to you or anyone. Will you punish them too?”

Gaia’s expression remained unmoved. “I am a grandmother to many on Olympus. I do not see how your children are worthy of being so special.” When she saw how crushing this response was on Leto, her features softened ever so slightly. “The curse on you is not mine to lift,” she said more kindly. She had a resolute resolve about her, but that did not mean she could not be without regret or kindness. “Your suffering is sourced with your quarrel with Olympus, not mine.”

Leto turned her pleading eyes to Rhea then back to Gaia. “But ... But ... You were both queen once. How can you not?”

Gaia offered her nothing. A slight twinge of empathy crossed Rhea’s features, and from this, Leto latched onto what little chance there was.

“What of you, Rhea? You know what it is like to protect your children! Wasn’t it you who saved Zeus from Cronos? That must have been impossible. Is this no less impossible? Can’t you relate? Can you not help me?!”

Rhea’s expression faltered momentarily at that memory. Saving Zeus is what had led them to this predicament. While the titaness could not know of Rhea and Gaia’s plan to oppose Rhea’s wayward son, could not helping this daughter of Coeus, her own niece, set them on a path to failing to defeat Zeus?

That question alone gave Rhea cause to be careful in her wording.

“Leto, I do understand your plight,” she said respectfully. “Perhaps, more than you know. But Gaia speaks the truth. We cannot defy the oaths that were given, nor my daughter’s magic.” She hesitated just then.

Her gaze flickered briefly to Gaia before returning to Leto. Rhea recalled the mission her mother gave her those decades ago. She wondered about that. She raised an eyebrow ever so slight, and Gaia returned a cordial smile. With that small sign, Rhea hoped she was understanding her mother correctly.

“This island is of my mother. You would need to find a floating island, untethered to Gaia’s lands,” Rhea said, almost sardonically.

Leto lifted her head.

Gaia’s head turned sharply toward Rhea. “Rhea...” she warned, her voice low and rumbling.

Rhea smiled at her mother. “I have not betrayed your or Hera, Gaia. I have only spoken of what lies beyond your domain, to the west. Surely that is no crime.”

Leto’s heart quickened at the possible place she might go, not matter how fragile it was. She bowed her head to them both. “Thank you ... For what you said and for what you did not,” she said with a trembling voice.

The two queens turned their back to Leto as the pregnant titaness guided her boat back out to sea. She was using magic to make sure the tiny vessel carried her back out to the big blue ocean.

When Leto was gone, Rhea turned to her mother silently.

“Did I assume correctly?”

Gaia nodded. “You did, my daughter.”

“Why is she so important?” Rhea wondered.

“Our loyalty to Zeus must be unquestionable,” Gaia said. “My mistake was not in creating Typhon to battle Zeus. My mistake was in creating and releasing him upon the god so soon. Time is our ally if we let it be.”

“How?” Rhea asked, still not understanding.

“If Zeus trusts us, believes we would never cross him, then he will be blind to our movements,” Gaia started. “I think the life inside of Leto could be a powerful heir for Zeus. This will enrage Hera, turn her against us, but Zeus will see it as us being loyal to him, so when the time comes...”

“He does not see the blow coming,” Rhea breathed in understanding.

“Precisely,” Gaia said with a nod. She was not cruel, cold or calculating. She was simply answering her daughter.

“My daughter will hate us,” Rhea observed.

“Yes,” Gaia conceded. “But what we do is also for her wellbeing,” she said. “She will suffer under Zeus, and if Prometheus helps her, she will have her balm. Hera will believe we are working against her best interests, but all we do will be to empower her.”

Rhea laughed.

“What is it, dearest daughter?”

“While I understand what you’re doing and why, I hope Hera sees it that way,” Rhea commented back.

“What she sees or believes is immaterial,” Gaia said, waving the Titaness off. “It is the outcome that matters, not just simply the suffering along the way.”

She turned from her daughter, motioning for Rhea to return deeper into the island. They had played their part on that day. There would be more to see and observe, but that was for later.

Hades stood atop the black marble portico of his nearly completed palace. His grand plan for a House of Hades was coming together quite nicely. His golden scars glinted like molten veins in the pale Underworld light.

He made a new light for the realms of the Underworld to see. Darkness was all well and good for getting others to fear him, but when it came to working, he needed some equivalent to Helios’ light. As such, he and Nyx made a light that would light to way over the highest parts of the Underworld. Unfortunately, that meant it would eternally be day, but what did Hades care? He worked, lived, slept, and repeated what he needed where he needed to.

The flaming wreath atop his head cast a flickering glow over his ashy blue skin. His black robes were lined with crimson and swayed faintly.

Nyx stood next to him in her gown of black starlight. Though she bore no crown, she was still a Primordial begotten by Chaos, and as such, her mere presence commanded the same deference as the King of the Underworld.

“Are you sure we need all of this?” Hades wondered.

“Ever since that titaness came begging for help, I think we need your palace to be even more grand than it already is,” Nyx commented simply.

The slain Titans worked diligently on the final touches of Nyx’s additions to the palace. Menoetius carefully shaped a gargantuan granite pillar with his immense strength. Phoebe aligned the vein of garnet along the throne’s dais. Iapetus carved tiny, intricate caricatures of the Titans’ subjugation to Lord Hades onto the walls of the Great Hall.

Hades’ eyes scanned the immense structure. The veins of ore and precious gems embedded in the onyx walls glittered faintly. The bronze floor of the entry hall gleamed. His gaze lingered on the grand throne at the heart of the Great Hall. It was a masterpiece of volcanic rock and jagged diamonds that formed a chair. It appeared to be uncomfortable; however. It radiated with authority for a god who ruled without challenge.

“It came together well, I think,” Nyx remarked.

“It has,” Hades replied with a nod.

Nyx’s eyes flicked toward him. A shadow of amusement played across her features. “You take no joy in their suffering, do you?”

Hades shook his head. “Joy has no place here, Nyx. They serve a purpose. Their punishment is pragmatic. No more. No less.”

Hades watched with interest as Iapetus finished his final part of his carving. Only then did the Lord of the Dead realize that the engravings were also of the Underworld rivers: Styx, Lethe, Acheron, Cocytus, and Phlegethon.

Hades’ voice cut through the silence. “Is there any update on the door”

Nyx tilted her head. “Of course not. Change here is slow, much slower than on Olympus.”

“But your children still watch for newcomers?” Hades queried.

Nyx nodded her head. “I would have thought you cared more about the one cursed by your Queen of Olympus.”

Hades shook his head. It was not that he did not care. This was a warning to Nyx to not mention Hera again on this day. Often she did not, but in rare occurrences, such as this, he would give her a warning.

“Your children may look within for their rooms.”

Nyx smiled faintly as she moved toward the Great Hall. “Your complaints, notwithstanding, you may find, Hades, that even gods, king or otherwise, need company.”

Hades stood unmoving. He let her leave his sighed. His golden scars glowed faintly in the darkness. He ran his hands over the healed flesh. His mind was considering events. He had finished his palace in such a manner that he was comparable to Zeus’ Olympus.

Looking up, he wondered what in the name of Chaos was going with Olympus. When Leto came, looking for refuge, it made sense that Nyx turned her away. But what stunned the Lord of the Dead was that Hera could have come to Hades.

What could be so wrong that she could not reach out to him?

Did she not know that even if she had discarded him that his love for her was greater still? He would not abandon her to whatever pains had taken place on Olympus. The problem was Zeus. Hades could not simply walk onto Olympus without upsetting his ruling brother. The populace of that mountain loved Zeus after he bested Typhon.

Regardless of their strength or power disparity between them, Hades knew that if he were to come to the mountain city, the outcome would be a battle between brothers. In that scenario, the eldest son of Cronos may prove himself the better of two, but the other gods would support the Thunderer.