I stood on a white, circular platform. It was around 50 meters in diameter and right in the center were three beings on golden thrones. They all wore white togas and had ivory staffs at their sides. They each had on featureless white masks and they were turned in my direction.
"We are the children of Death and we will judge you to determine your fate." They all said in usion. I had never believed in any kind of god but being around people who did made me wonder. I cleared my thoughts and tried to speak as clearly and respectfully as possible. If these guys were who they said they were, no need to be stubborn and offend them.
"Hello, my name isβ¦" I can't remember my name. That's not right, I just died how could I not remember my own name. "Forgive me but I seem to have forgotten my name." "Worry not mortal, your name means little to us" the three spoke in unison.
"Right, so are you gods or something?" I don't remember any myths where one is judged by whoever these guys are.
"We are not known to the humans of your former world." The middle one said. The voice was familiar, but I couldn't remember where I heard it from. And does what they said means if one dies do they no longer belong to the world they originated from? But, who's to say earth was my original world. For all I know my latest life was but one of many. If that's the case why do I still have memories of my life?
"It is as you imagine, when a mortal dies they lose all connection to their former lives and move on to the next to begin anew. But, we do not have time for meaningless conversation. You will now be judged." With that the being in the center lifted his arm and a scale appeared atop his hand. The scale tilted towards the left, basically touching the god's hand. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.
"You have been judged. Normally we would send you at random to your next life but a higher being has made arrangements for you." Wait what? Higher being, arrangements, what the hell are they talking about.
"Forgive my ignorance, but what does the scale judge? I was not a believer in gods and the like so did I get a good score or was the outcome hell?" The being on the left spoke with a slight feminine tone. "We do not judge based on what the people of your former world consider good or bad. In fact, the concept of such things holds no sway over your judgement. You are not permitted to know of the process."
"Let's just say that you did better than most," said the being on the right side, his voice deep and menacing. "You will get four wishes."
"And you will keep all of your memories," the being on the left continued.
"You cannot wish for more wishes, you cannot wish for power above this system, and you can't choose your world" The center being finished.
I sat down and began to think. This was a question I would always ask myself as a kid. What three wishes would I choose. I was most likely going to go to another version of earth but I didn't know what the rules would be like.
"For my first wish, I would like to reincarnate as Zeus." If I couldn't choose my world, I might as well try to veer the options to fit my tastes. "Give me Absolute Attack, so I can target an attack on someone or something so that the attack cannot miss. Next I want the All Seeing Eye of God from Blood Blockade Battlefront, but add the ability worthless from High School DxD, but instead of a demonic power it is a godly power that can cancel the skill of lesser gods and weaken stronger one's." The beings thought about it and nodded for me to continue.
"Finally Absolute Evasion, can dodge/evade everything/anything, including physical attacks, powers that manipulate the mind, space, time, gravity, physics, spiritual, biological, probability, motion, reality, magic, etc. I can dodge multiple attacks that leave little or no room to get around or through or dodge many attacks such as thousands, perhaps millions of attacks attacking the user at once, ."
"Your wishes have been granted," the being on the left said. "You will now be transported," the being on the right continued. "Good luck Zeus, King of the gods." The center being finished as I was enveloped in a ray of light and vanished from the platform."
I woke up in a woman's arms. I had the urge to cry but I knew better. The beautiful woman holding me was Rhea, Zeus' mother and Cronus' wife. And She was planning on saving my life. She had dark brown hair flowing down to her waist, and she had a golden crown on her head. Her ruby eyes filled with sorrow. Her green silk dress dragged across the dirt. The gold embroidery being darkened by the soil.
"Oh my sweet sweet boy. I can't lose you too, I won't. Why, why must he be so paranoid? Does he expect me to keep giving him children only for him to devour?" She had tears in her eyes as she paced back and forth. I wish I could ease her worries, to wipe the tears from her face, but alas I am but a newborn. She walks over to a chair and sits with me snuggled into her bosom crying softly.
"Oh if only I knew this would be my fate. That this was the man he would become. I'm all alone, no one is willing to help me. All fear angering Cronus and the ones who have the power to help don't care. Mother is ever silent to my pleas for aid, I am truly alone."
She lifts me up and looks at me. I try to smile and it seems to work as she smiles in return and a bit of the sadness on her face seems to fade away and I laugh at my success. "Haha haha, such a beautiful well behaved boy. My boy. Don't worry my son, I will not fail you as I have failed the others" she says with all the conviction in the world.
"If no one will help me then I must act on my own". The moment she says this a booming voice that makes the cave we are in rumble with its power. "RHEA! Why have you gone silent!? If you are finished then bring the child to me!? DO NOT keep me waiting women!"
Fear creeps back into her face but is quickly replaced with a look of determination. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! It was just a short reprieve my love! I will be finished shortly!" She began faking giving birth to buy her some time. I don't know how she did it since I don't see a phone nearby but a woman walks into the cave with a worried look on her face.
"I'm sorry but you are my only hope" Rhea says to the woman. "Think nothing of it, I will help the best I can. Now, let me see him". After they spoke a little longer it was finally time for us to leave. Cronus could not be kept waiting much longer and should he discover his wife's treachery he will not spare her or me.
"Goodbye Zeus," she whispered and handed me to the other woman. "Take him to Dictaeon Antron, no matter what, you must keep him safe." The woman holding me nodded. They actually wore clothes unlike in the painting, and they also weren't as chubby as the greeks depicted. The woman was a whole head shorter than Rhea and had simple black hair she kept in a bun. She wore a green dress just like Rhea but it was plain and single colored. The woman bowed before vanishing away with me.
We reappeared in a small cave furnished with two beds, a crib, an oak table and chairs. In the center of the cave was a white goat lying on a chair. The woman brought me over to the crib and set me down. "What am I going to do with you?" She sighed and began to prepare milk from the goat.
I grew up in the crib. The woman who I now knew as Amalthea, cared for me and played with me. From time to time, other nymphs came to the island and while I was around eight, I met Metis, an oceanid who played with me.
I was walking along the edge of the island, looking out at the vast ocean. I've never seen the outside world. I mean, I knew it was the same earth I grew up on in my previous life, but I didn't know how different it was under the Titan's control. It was nighttime, as Amalthea didn't want me to walk out at day lest Helios report my wearabouts to Cronus.
I sat in the sand and practiced my writing. Honestly, ancient greek was pretty difficult, and I couldn't be labeled as illiterate. I wore a simple white Himation and a brown belt. At my side was a wooden cup full of milk from a goat.
"You know you wrote that wrong?" A cheery voice asked. I shot up and looked towards the source. A young girl stood on the water and walked into the beach. She wore a light blue silk gown that reached her ankles and left her shoulders uncovered. She had pale skin and her eyes matched her dress. "Honestly, who's teaching you?" Learning to understand and speak the language wasn't nearly as difficult so I blushed and scratched my head. "It's harder than it looks okay."
"Well not really."
"Easy for you to say."
"Exactly." She walked over and ran her foot over my incoherent writing. She gestured for me to come over, and we sat down together to teach me how to properly read and write.
After a while however, I could see the sun begin to rise. I stood up quickly and brushed off my clothes. "Sorry, I need to go."
"Huh, why?" She asked standing up. "It's just Helios. What, is he mad at you?"
"Well you could say that. For now, I can only be out at night, because if he sees me I'm screwed."
The nymph shrugged. "Been there done that. Well it was nice to meet youβ¦"
"Zeus", I finished. "Metis," she replied before walking into the ocean. She waved me goodbye and dove underwater. I sighed. If I remembered correctly, she was going to be crucial to help me free the olympians from Cronus.
Another four years had passed and now that I was twelve, I needed to start some sort of training.The Kouretes, a group of soldiers that would come from time to time to make noise to drown out, well, our noise, were loudly training on the beach while Amalthea tended to Gida, our goat.
She was having pain in her hooves and was essentially screaming, so the soldiers had come to drown out our noise.
I was sitting with Metis on a couch that I made with goat fur and oak wood. Probably the reason Gida doesn't let me milk her, but I was tired of sitting on that hard mattress, or the floor. I tried making a sandbag, but at the time I was too scared to touch that goat while Amalthea was around. And sand probably wasn't going to be too comfortable. She was a strict woman, and if I disobeyed any rules I'd get a beating with her staff.
Me. Future king of the gods, getting disciplined with a wooden staff. Not only that, but Metis kept reminding me of that incident when I tried to pull a prank on Amalthea.
Metis had brought a goat carcass with her. So we hid Gida on the other side of the island and I pretended like Gida had died. Amalthea had broken down and started crying so we had to end the joke early and I got myself a severe beating. Completely unfair that I was the only one that got in trouble, but I completely deserved it.
After that Amalthea didn't let me touch Gida ever again and Metis, who made the whole plan, laughed at my expense.
I stood up from the couch and walked out once the sun had set. Gida had fallen asleep, so the Kourtetes had begun to rest. I made my way to the captain. He turned to me and opened his arms. "Ah, Zeus." He half whispered "What brings you out here."
I bowed. "I'd like you to teach me how to fight." The man raised his eyebrow, not that he had any. He was a tall, hairless man, around seven feet with bulging muscles under his chiton. "Huh, why?" He asked.
"Well, I think it's important that I learn how to defend myself." I replied. The captain nodded, as it made sense. He picked up a sleeping soldier's spear and tossed it to me. "Alright now listen closely."
On my 16th birthday, everything was prepared. I had tuned my skills with a spear, xiphos, and a round shield. I had finally reached maturity. I was 7 feet tall and had well defined muscles on my body. Metis had my disguise and the potion ready for me. Putting on the brown cloak, I pulled the hood over my shoulder length, curly light brown hair. I grabbed a satchel and put gold and the potion inside.
"You ready?" Metis asked, and I nodded. We had planned this for the last year, and now we were ready. Every year, Cronus allowed the mortals to give him offerings and we were planning to hide the potion into a wine and present it to him. If things went as planned, it should make him barf up the other olympians. They were gods, being eaten whole couldn't kill them.
We walked into the water and I turned myself into a dolphin and swam alongside Metis towards Cronus' throne.