Chapter 342 Road
The Wind God left the temple, and far away in Acropolis, the conversation between Gaia and Pandora continued.
Perses, the god of material destruction, the son of Cleos and Eurybia, and the father of Hecate.
Strictly speaking, if the priesthood of [Material Destruction] were in other worlds, it should be subordinate to [Death], but like the God of Death Thanatos, who was directly strangled from the possibility of birth, in the original myth, he was just a subordinate. Like the Seducer, because of the imbalance between life and death in Chaos, Perses' actual priesthood is closer to 'destruction' and 'disintegration' than to 'death' and 'end'.
However, this is consistent with his status as the former God of Weather and the son of Cleos. The essence of Perses' authority is the part of the weather that is biased toward disaster and destruction, the collapse of the natural material structure. He and Poseidon, the earth-shaking god and lord of storms who were born later, equally share the field related to 'natural disasters'.
From a family perspective, he is one of the twelve main gods of Olympus today, the uncle of Zeus's most trusted wind god Zeferos, the son-in-law of Koos, the god of lightless celestial bodies, and the grandson of the ancient sea god Pontos.
In terms of strength, he himself is an existence with powerful divine power based solely on his innate priesthood, which is even stronger than the former sun god Helios who only controlled the movement of the sun.
Just talking about the opening, Perses got everything he wanted. Among the Titan gods, he was also one of the second generation Titans with the best innate conditions - until the day Hecate was born.
On that day, just like Poseidon, Perses, whose priesthood was also inclined towards natural disasters and destruction, made wild remarks at the banquet of the second-generation god king. While expressing his dissatisfaction with his wife Asteria, the goddess of the stars, He ridiculed Cronus for being "guilty of God", which led to the birth of such a god without a priesthood.
His anger was not unreasonable. After all, his marriage to Asteria was essentially an exchange, and it was the medium for the God-King at that time to win over the god of the lightless celestial body against the ancient sun god. But regardless of whether there was a reason or not, Perses still paid the price for such arrogant remarks.
Coos, the god of the lightless celestial body, immediately gave up on this son-in-law whom he disliked at first. Cleos also began to hate this son. Cronus, who was still feeling guilty at first, not to mention, he was already very restrained if he did not fall out at that time. .
After destroying his own connections at the beginning, Perses, who realized this, didn't care much, because although his power had not yet reached its peak at that time, he was already a true god with a medium level of divine power. Like Poseidon, he is unwilling to be inferior to others, and as long as he has the strength, there is nowhere in the world that he cannot go to?
So Perses immediately went to the underworld under the desolate and lonely earth and into the underworld illuminated by the dark moon. The laws there are also suitable for his priesthood. If he can conquer the gods of the underworld, then when he is promoted to powerful divine power, according to the situation in the early and middle of the second era, he can be regarded as a prince.
But ideals are always beautiful, but reality is cruel.
Although he is clearly not a peaceful god, he has disappeared since the Second Age. Not only did Hecate never find out about the other party, even when he asked Leto, he only got a vague answer. This is of course not without reason. of. (See 3-88)
Not long after arriving in Hades, Perses met Gaia. In other words, before Hades was born, Hades was originally part of Gaia's power.
"So...he has been imprisoned by you for an era?"
Asking softly, Pandora looked at the starry sphere in front of her.
She never expected that such a powerful god would end up like this.
"That's not true. At first, I just wanted him to help me go into the abyss to explore the whereabouts of those children... Unfortunately, in the end, he proved with facts that the beings imprisoned by the God King can only be released by the God King. ——At least that was the case in the abyss of the first two eras.”
"Later, he seemed to be very dissatisfied with me letting him enter Tartarus, so I kept him for a while, intending to let him reflect on his mistakes before letting him go. But when Zeus was born, Cronus As my strength increased day by day, I focused all my energy on the ground, and I forgot about him. "
Gaia spoke calmly and said 'forgot', but Gaia didn't show any embarrassment.
She actually didn't do it on purpose. Gaia had always been pretty good at treating her children, so it wasn't until Perses fell out with his father that Mother Earth found him as a coolie exploring the abyss. And when Zeus came along as a substitute, she even put him aside.
According to the original plan, Gaia planned to let Perses leave after Zeus rescued the giants. However, the plan could not keep up with the changes. From the day Zeus released the giants, ten years of Titan wars, the catastrophe of the change of eras, Gaia slept for hundreds of years, hit Olympus as soon as she woke up, and then was defeated in person, and then gave birth to a child. Typhon... For Gaia, she almost never had a moment of leisure.
When Typhon was defeated, she finally realized that Zeus could no longer be overthrown by pure violence. Looking back, thinking of Perses who had been forgotten by him for so long, and listening to his curses and hatred in captivity, Gaia, who was somewhat darkened, simply continued to do nothing.
At the moment when Typhon completely fell, Earth Mother never appeared, just busy with this matter. She used the power left in the outer gods when the Nine Realms were destroyed to shatter the existence of Perses and create a situation similar to that of the ancient sun god.
"...Then I...want...?"
Does she want to integrate this authority? But she knows very well how difficult it is to integrate such a thing.
Although she didn't know that facing the source of power was something that only a truly complete consciousness of the great divine power could do, Pandora still understood that this was not something she could do safely.
She subconsciously took half a step back, but the cold touch behind her told her that this was the venue for the debate conference.
There was no place for her to retreat behind, and it was impossible for her to run away from Gaia... Pandora set her sights on Epimetheus, and naturally did not receive any response. She looked at the clay pot she was holding again, and just like every time before, it looked like an ordinary pot and did not produce any reaction.
"Well, yes, just like you thought, just take it step by step - you'll get there."
Nodding and acknowledging Pandora's suspicion, Gaia turned a blind eye to her look for help.
When she created the Silver Generation, she had seen this descendant of Iapitus. He had no courage to do anything, just like he had no courage to save his two imprisoned brothers.
As for the magic jar...
"Relax, this is said to be a gift from fate. I chose you because of it."
"If there is any power in this world that awes the primitive gods, then True Destiny is one of them. I don't know if it is really useful, but this kind of thing that is absolutely impossible to accomplish under normal circumstances can only be sent to Hope it’s fate.”
"But this is a gift to mankind." Holding the pot that brought her temporary glory but more pain, Pandora tried to convince Gaia: "It won't work on your appeal! "
"No, it will, Ryan owes me this!"
The voice was suddenly high-pitched, and the face was distorted for a moment, but the next moment, just like changing its face, Gaia returned to normal.
"It will." The woman in her forties said with a soft voice and a smile: "People say this is 'hope', isn't it?"
"Perhaps it will take effect when your master is facing annihilation and pull you out of the abyss of despair?"
Feeling cold all over, Pandora knew she couldn't refuse.
She didn't know what she had done wrong and why everyone in the world was deceiving her and using her.
The gods created her, and she woke up in the palace of the gods on Mount Olympus. She thought she was the favorite of the gods, but later she learned that the reason for her birth was to be a tool to destroy the Bronze Age. One of the excuses.
Epimetheus married her, and the goddess of grace came to compliment her. She lived happily in the world for a while, but later she knew again that the hind-awakened man had never loved her. He only regarded this human woman created by the gods as his A chess piece to achieve one's own goals.
Later, the fourth generation of humans who gained life from her children spurned her and cursed her, so she had to put all her hopes on the clay pot in her hand. However, 'hope' is like a light in the darkness, you can only see it, but you can never touch it.
To this day, 'hope' has not only failed to bring her any help, but has instead led her into another abyss.
Looking back on her past life, Pandora suddenly realized that she seemed to have never been loved.
Maybe it was in Hestia when she was born? After all, she was the only one who gave Pandora the protection, not those talents that seemed useful but were actually the source of disaster.
No, that's probably just pity.
"You said this is 'hope'?"
Raising the clay pot in her hand, Pandora smiled brightly.
"I think it's a curse."
"No one will curse you, and you are not worthy of the curse of the Lord of the Spirit World."
Gaia spoke calmly, not caring what Pandora was thinking.
"Now, start your first step - I don't know if it's a coincidence, but there seems to be a strict limit on the size of the broken divine fragments. Except for the core authority, its sizes are divided into nine types."
"5, 3, 1, whenever there is a qualitative change in the odd number, since you are the first generation of humans created by God, just skip the first five and directly contact the sixth level. As long as I am here, no one will affect you."
"...Then come."
Nodding, knowing that there was no second option, Pandora stretched out her hand and touched the crystal clear sphere directly.
She was no longer afraid.
'If this is a curse, then I am a disaster. ’
‘How can there be any disaster and fear of destruction? ’
As her palm touched the authority from Perses, some kind of intuition arose in Pandora's heart.
The wish she made may not have been distorted. She will indeed become a true god who truly holds power and cannot be taken away. Her future power will not really come from the legacy of Perses.
She seemed to see another path, which was pointed out to her by fate.
It's just that that's still vague right now, because true fate is fair. Whatever it takes away, it will give you. Whatever it wants to give you, it will first take away the price.
And everything she has endured in the past...may be an insignificant remnant of this price.
······
"Um?"
His heart moved slightly. Sitting in the audience, Ryan suddenly felt that his spirit was touched for a moment.
It seems like something good has happened, but it will also have some negative consequences. But when he tried to explore this feeling, he didn't get any results.
"What's wrong?"
While doing three things at once, he was on the stage "pointing out the world and debating with scholars" and was alert to Gaia's existence. Iapetus still had time to pay attention to the guy next to him.
His origins were still a mystery, and the God of Speech would not believe him so easily.
"Nothing, probably... got the revelation of fate? After all, I am a prophet."
Shaking his head, Ryan made a casual excuse.
"... This debate is about to end, so let's say goodbye."
Staring at Ryan for a while, Iapetus said lightly.
"Please, but I personally suggest that you stay a little longer."
Lian said with a smile, pointing to the sky, and Iapetus, who followed him, was a little confused at first, and then seemed to have discovered something.
'Zephyros? It turned out to be him. His level of monitoring others is still so average... but his luck is really good. '
Shaking his head, Iapetus remembered his experience of going to Delphi under the other party's nose, while Ryan smiled and said nothing.
Over the years, as he has learned more about fate, he has come to understand Zeferos's situation.
Fate is always fair. What it gives you, it will take away; what it takes away, it will give you.
Ryan is not the master of fate after all. He is the god of spirituality, not the god of fate. Even he cannot violate this iron rule.
So the curse Zeferos suffered, perhaps from another perspective, is actually a special kind of luck.
