New Olympians, Tome 1 : Lightning Strikes

1

ZEUS

I know what you’re thinking: what the hell does a literal god care about what’s happening to the humans he’s ruling? The gods of Olympus, whether you believe we exist or not, are immortal. Immortality might sound like a great deal. And it is, for the first few centuries. But then the enormity of it all sinks in. And we get bored. Really… really fucking bored.

It’s an old story; human life is brief, impermanent, and beautiful. You hack away at each other, sometimes physically, sometimes mentally, sometimes unintentionally, in an attempt to make your millisecond of time on the planet mean something. I’ve seen it all. Countless centuries of warfare, triumph and tragedy. I’ve watched everything. My brothers and I, we used to get involved. Poseidon would sink fleets of ships; send maelstroms against the enemies of the kings who sacrificed the best offerings to him. I would conjure storms; enough to wipe out entire armies and split the sky in two. And Hades… Hades would collect the souls of the fallen like a greedy farmer. No man can defeat death.

But those days are long behind us. Those days of wild tempers and wilder passions… long gone. My brother’s and I used to spread our divine seed everywhere on earth, taking maidens and beautiful youths as our prizes whenever we chose.

I should have seen it coming. I should have known that something was wrong. But we were stubborn… hot-headed. We were the Gods of Olympus and no one was going to tell us we couldn’t do as we pleased. It took the curse of the goddess’ to put us in our place. And even then, we didn’t believe it. We wasted centuries consumed by our anger.

Demi-gods were everywhere, the fruits of our passions, and we loved them. But while they carried the shimmer of divinity, they weren’t immortal, and like all mortal things, they died. And we were alone.

Our war with the goddess’ had left Olympus a shell of its former glory. Hera, Amphitrite and Persephone had led the others in rebellion against our wild ways… and now we were paying the price for their betrayal. Abandoned.

Alone.

“You can’t just sit there brooding forever, brother.”

“I’m not brooding.”

I was definitely brooding.

My brother Poseidon’s sardonic laughter filled the marble hall. The God of the Oceans was more tanned than the last time I’d seen him. He’d been on earth.

“You didn’t tell me you were leaving,” I grumbled, gesturing at his bronzed chest.

“I don’t need to tell you every time I decide to go down and get wet,” he replied with a smile. “Besides, every time I invite you to come with me you say no.”

“Of course I do. I’m terrible at surfing.”