"He did. And I understood the death he spoke of. He struck me and I died. But I was reborn in the body of another. As for the rest of the story, you know it."
Shanxi nodded his head in reply. That was because he truly did know the rest of the story. "So that's how you got Perpetual Rebirth," Shanxi sighed in exhaustion. He had learned a lot in the space of a few breaths.
He knew, just like Anna and Peter that their father had a unique skill. This was the skill called Perpetual Rebirth. This skill allowed the user to be reborn in the body of another, no matter how madly mutilated they were before they died. The downside was that you couldn't personally select what body you would inherit. So you could end up as an old man, or as a newborn. It was even possible to find yourself back in the womb! Luckily it was quite picky too. Perpetual rebirth only picked targets with great strength and impressive talent. So even if you ended up in the body of an old man, it will be an old man with a great amount of talent. The same went for newborns and unborn fetuses as well. Even more amazing was that there were two ways to use it. One could use it on themselves, or on another!
Perpetual Rebirth was a powerful skill, and if it were a Glow, the race to inherit it would possess power like none other. But the universe was fair, for Perpetual Rebirth was no Glow, neither was it a Breath. It was a skill bestowed by the Universe itself, just like Universal Delay! However, unlike Universal Delay which was tethered to one man or woman, Perpetual Rebirth could be handed over to another. And that was how Zeus had been able to hand over the skill to Atlas.
Everyone in the True Universe knew the story of Zeus birth. Before the Olympian God King was born, he had brothers and sisters come before him. But each was eaten by their father Cronos, who feared that they would grow powerful enough to dethrone him. However, his children were born from the primordial forces and were gods at birth, killing them wasn't easy for their Godheads had been born, and their locations unknown. So he couldn't truly kill them. Using the Devour Skill he gulped them into his mindscape and imprisoned them there, refining them with Time Laws that sought to cancel their connection to their Godheads.
Zeus was meant to share the same fate. But his mother Gaia grew desperate, and in an act of desperation, she presented another's child – of similar looks and hair color – to Cronos. And Cronos ate of this child. And that was how Zeus was preserved. That was the story the entire universe knew of. But this was untrue. And Atlas knew the true story.
When Zeus was born, the omen that followed his birth was so great that Cronos feared him even more than the other children. For the forces of lightning and might revealed themselves during the young babe's birth, and even the immature Universe Will presented its congratulations. With that amount of attention the boy garnered, there was no way Cronos was going to spare him. However, it was indeed true that Gaia tried to trick Cronos. But it failed.
The Selfish Titan King discovered right away that the babe presented to him was not of his blood and had no Godhead. With the attention Zeus had gathered from the Universe, there was no way he was this ordinary. And so Cronos punished Gaia, sealing her into the depths of the earth to serve a million year sentence of pain and misery. And he did gulp the newborn babe whole.
However, what Cronos didn't expect was that Devour was going to help Zeus, instead of killing him. The skill devoured the impurity in Zeus' blood and awakened his Universe granted skill – Perpetual Rebirth. Unlike Universal Delay, Perpetual Rebirth didn't need millennia to awaken. It awoke instantly. But just like Universal Delay, its awakening was unique. And the first thing it did was to cancel Zeus birth, effectively killing the babe!
But, all was not lost. For it was a skill of creation, not death. And Zeus appeared in his mother, Gaia's belly once more, much to her joy. Because she was imprisoned with no one to accompany her, her pregnancy was kept secret. And when Zeus was born, although the skies blazed with lightning and echoed with thunderous roars, none associated it with the birth of the future Olympian King. So Gaia raised Zeus in her captivity, with not a care in the world for they were alone. Gaia herself was no weakling, and she was the first and only Titan who practiced the Spiritual Arts. She passed this on to her son, as well as many other Energy Wielding Arts, for Zeus refused to follow the path of Body Wielding once he understood what kind of monster he had for a father. He wanted nothing from the man, not even his inherent talent for Body Wielding. In a sense, it was just like Ray's decision to abandon lightning because it came from his father Zeus. So you see, the two were father and son after all.
Zeus was meant to train for those million years that Gaia was to be captive. That was enough time for him to grow so powerful that even Cronos would be at a loss. But that plan was abandoned because of Zeus's decision to save Atlas. Since he was raised alone, he was naïve and knew not the ways of man. That was why he was able to make so many selfless decisions at a go, including handing over Perpetual Rebirth, much to Gaia's rage.
Zeus couldn't use the second feature of Perpetual Rebirth – granting Atlas a new life instead of handing over the skill – to save Atlas because there were restrictions to that power. It couldn't be used on folks older than the owner of Perpetual Rebirth, and it couldn't be used on one whose life was fully intact. Although Cronos chased after Atlas, Atlas wasn't gravely injured by him so his life was still full. Secondly, he was much older than Zeus, and that was why Zeus resorted to handing the skill over.
But, even after handing over Perpetual Rebirth, a few sparks of the skill remained, and that was what Zeus used to save his siblings. For Zeus fight with Cronos had affected them greatly, corroding their talents and rendering them just slightly better than average. Because they had been in their father's mindscape all their lives, they were still babes. And though Zeus was supposed to be the youngest, his siblings were covered by Time Laws and regarded as newborns. And that was how their birth ranks became reversed. And it was what saved them. For if this wasn't so, Zeus couldn't have used Perpetual Rebirth on them.
That was the true story of Zeus's origin. And only a few knew this. Luckily, Atlas was one of the few. Once everything was settled he left Olympus as a different man and started a new life elsewhere. With his Titan Blood he was able to sire a group of talented descendants, and they conquered a world. They named this world Planet Celestial. And ever since then, Atlas has been depending on Perpetual Rebirth to return time and time again. At times he became emperor, and at times he remained in the shadows. But now he could remain in the shadows no longer.
The two had been walking for almost thirty minutes. Each was silent. Atlas was thinking about what was about to happen, whilst Shanxi was still digesting what he had acquired. Soon the two reached a large metallic door.
"We are here," Atlas sighed, and Shanxi was forced awake from his reverie. He looked at his father, and both nodded their heads before proceeding to open the door.
"You have returned – and with a guest," a charming voice greeted the two once they were past the doors. Shanxi looked upon the man before him and had to admit that this man was as handsome as his father. Although his skin was pale from the lack of strength, his charming eyes and exquisite facial features were uniquely rare in any world. His white hair flowed freely down his shoulders and unto his back, going so far down that it covered his unclothed torso.
Atlas prompted Shanxi, and the man who had just found respect for this man in his father's story showed no objection to his father's request. Both kneeled down in respect. Any Celestial who had seen this would have been enraged. But the man before them required such basic courtesy.
"Atlas (Shanxi), greets the God King Zeus"
That's right. The man before them was a man whom the entire True Universe thought was dead. This was the man who had saved Atlas all those years ago. This was the man to whom Perpetual Rebirth truly belonged. He was the father of the Brute King, one of the most talented New Gods. And his grandson was the one destined to rule over the Universe, the Supreme!
This man was Zeus!