Mount Olympus was shrouded in dark clouds. They rolled in from the void, pressing down on the summit in layers.
The once clear sky was now as gloomy as dusk, with thick clouds obscuring the sunlight and shrouding the entire sacred mountain in darkness.
Thunder roared through the clouds, lightning tearing them apart and then stitching them back together, the deafening roar shaking the mountains.
Trembling slightly.
The gods were all silent.
Inside the Temple of Apollo, Apollo sat motionless, a cup of wine in his hand. The wine had already...
It sat there for a very long time, so long that the liquid in the cup lost all desire to be shaken.
"How about..." Artemis tentatively began.
"I'm not going." Apollo said without turning his head. "Neither are you allowed to go."
Artemis opened her mouth, then closed it again.
Inside the Temple of Ares, Ares huddled in his corner and sighed.
"Here we go again," he said.
Every god on Olympus had seen far too many of these kinds of things. Hera and Zeus would quarrel every three days for a minor argument and every five days for a major one; if Zeus got into trouble outside, the quarrels would escalate to twice the usual amount.
This time, however, the argument seemed particularly fierce. (1r5Rp)
The thunder, the roar, the tremor that shook the entire mountain—all caused the gods to silently shut their divine gates.
The door of the temple.
At this moment, in the heart of the argument, the battle raged on.
"Zeus—!!" 1r5Rp
Hera's voice pierced through thunder, through clouds, through the entire Mount Olympus, and clearly reached every god.
The gods shrank further into the corner.
Zeus stood in the center of the temple, his clothes disheveled and his hair loose; he had just returned from outside and had genuinely only gone for a stroll.
He went to Poseidon's place for a drink and a chat about the gods, but before he could even sit down, he was dragged back.
"Hera!" His voice rose, trying to regain the upper hand in this contest of momentum, "What are you saying now?"
nerve!"
"Am I crazy?!" Hera stepped forward and grabbed his collar. "You lied to me!"
"What did I lie to you about?!" Zeus tried to break free, but found Hera's hand gripping him tightly. "I've always been in Olympus..."
Linpis didn't move! Poseidon can testify to that!
"Poseidon?" Hera sneered. "That wretched thing? What can he testify to? Testify that you ran away enough?"
quick?"
Zeus was momentarily speechless.
"No, I really..."
go!"
"You instructed Athena!" Hera interrupted him, her voice rising several decibels, "to lure me back to..."
"I didn't!" Zeus's voice was tinged with grievance. "It was Athena's idea!"
As Zeus said, it was indeed Athena's idea.
Hera wouldn't listen. She had already completely overpowered him, pinning Zeus to the ground. King of the gods, King of the gods, Thunder...
The Lord of Thunder was currently being straddled by his wife, his clothes torn and tattered.
talk!
"Would Athena have done it without your instructions?!" Hera said, tugging at his beard.
"Agh—!" Zeus cried out in agony, "That was her own idea! When has she ever listened to me?"
"She is your daughter!"
"She's my daughter, that's true, but when has she ever listened to me? You know that!"
Hera paused for a moment.
It seems...that's true.
Athena, that girl, has never been one to listen to orders. She has her own ideas and her own plans.
They have their own little tricks...
But only for a moment. 1r5Rp
The next moment, Hera grabbed his beard again.
"So what!" Her voice rose even higher. "Without your permission, would she dare to deceive me like this?"
?"
Zeus was completely speechless.
He opened his mouth, wanting to refute, to explain, to say, "What wouldn't that girl dare to do?"—but he found that nothing he said...
Nothing worked. 1r5Rp
Because Hera didn't believe it; she didn't believe a single word of it.
In Hera's eyes, Athena was her daughter, her most cherished child, and the universally acknowledged wisdom of Olympus.
A goddess. How could someone like that do such a thing without his authorization?
Zeus lay on the cold ground, with Hera riding on top of him, her beard being pulled painfully and her clothes being torn to shreds.
rotten.
This illustrates the importance of accumulating good karma over time. 1r5Rp
Clearly, Zeus's reputation score with Hera is already negative.
What he has done for thousands of years—transformed into a bull to seduce Europa, transformed into golden rain to approach Danaë, transformed into…
The swan seduces Leda, transforming into her husband to sleep with Alcmene—every single thing, every single incident, is...
At that moment, it transformed into a boomerang, smashing hard into his own face.
Hera didn't believe him.
It's not because the incident itself is particularly suspicious.
It's because she knows him too well.
Knowing his constant lying, knowing his cunning and deceit, knowing his constant "I don't know" and "it's not my fault" routines.
The excuse that "it was all someone else's idea" is used.
She couldn't utter the words "The boy who cried wolf," for the fable hadn't yet been born. But she knew that the same trick could be used again.
Zeus has been playing with it for thousands of years.
So this time, whether it's true or not, she won't believe it.
And what about Athena?
The goddess of wisdom was sitting in her temple, slowly sipping a cup of wine. Her temple...
Not too far from the center of the argument, just enough to hear what was happening, but not too close to be affected.
She heard Hera's roar, Zeus's screams, and the thunderous tremors that shook the mountains.
Then she raised her glass, pointed it at the air, and gently touched it to the ground.
It's like they're paying respects to someone.
Perhaps it was in homage to the baby who was now fast asleep in the Theban palace.
Perhaps it was in celebration of the move he had just made.
Perhaps it's out of respect—1r5Rp
That Father God deserves to take the blame.
In short, she drank very slowly and enjoyed it.
Meanwhile, in the Theban palace. 1r5Rp
Hercules was fast asleep in Alcmene's arms.
The outside world—the quarrels on Mount Olympus, the silence of the gods, the deafening thunder—and
He has nothing to do with it.
He simply curled up in that warm embrace, his breathing long and even, his small chest rising and falling.
Beneath the skin, those golden eyes remained quietly closed.
He was unaware of the uproar his existence had caused, and oblivious to the fact that Hera and Zeus were currently fighting fiercely over him.
He made his move, unaware that Athena was leisurely sipping wine in her temple.
He knows nothing.
All he knew was that the embrace was warm and the dream was long.
But for him, life had only just begun.
Alcmene held Heracles and sat there for a long time. So long that the morning light outside the window changed from pale gold to bright.
Bai, for so long that her arms began to ache, for so long that the little one in her arms slept even more soundly. 1r5Rp
She looked down at him. Her small face was utterly still, her brows relaxed, the corners of her mouth slightly pouting; she seemed lost in thought.
What a sweet dream. A few sparse strands of baby hair clung to her forehead, dampened by her tears, messy yet strangely evoking a sense of...
Gotta be cute.
Alcmene watched for a long time. Then she gently removed him from her arms and placed him in the empty cradle.
inside.
Alcmene placed Heracles inside, adjusting his position to make him more comfortable. That little...
Her body sank into the soft mattress, her little head tilted slightly, still fast asleep.
She straightened up and stretched her slightly sore arms.
"The little one can really sleep," she said softly, a smile playing on her lips that she herself didn't even realize.
The baby in the cradle didn't respond. He simply turned over and continued to sleep soundly, his body still recovering.
Transform that milk.
Alcmene stood by the cradle, looked at him for a while, then turned and walked toward the door.
She should go see the other child, the one who had been well cared for since birth and was currently nursing in her wet nurse's arms.
She nursed her other son.
The door closed gently, and the delivery room returned to silence.
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