The Flames of Last Hearth (Book One of The Chronicles of Olympus)

Prologue

Long ago when the Earth was new, Titans ruled the world. Led by the evil lord Kronos, the Titans were able to overthrow their father Ouranos the king of the Heavens, and take over the world. But before Ouranos fell, he cursed his youngest son Kronos and foretold that his children would destroy him in the very same way.

For centuries after the defeat of Ouranos, Kronos ruled over his family as King of the Titans alone, constantly fearing for his life and paranoid of someone overthrowing him. He swore to himself that he would never have children out of fear of his father's threat. And for many more years, he kept to that oath.

But then one day in the earlier summer evening when the sun began to set over Mount Orthys, Kronos spotted someone roaming the palace gardens, a woman. It was his sister Rhea. From the moment he laid eyes on her, he felt a deep, primal need to be with her. So, he disregarded his father's threats and courted his sister.

Ultimately, they both fell in love and were married not long after. For many centuries after their marriage, life was peaceful. Until Rhea became pregnant. And all at once, the happiness that Kronos felt turned to ash. When the child was born, the aura emanating from her was different from anything Kronos and the other Titans had ever felt. It was stronger and more divine than their own dark energy.

Thus, Hestia, the eldest Olympian God was born!

And that's when Kronos's paranoia had finally gotten the better of him. So, to prevent the prophecy from coming to pass, Kronos devoured his daughter. However, Hestia, being immortal, lived on and grew up within her father's body.

Despite this, Kronos's paranoia continued to get the better of him. And it didn't help matters that his wife continued to get pregnant. Four more times Rhea became with child, and four more times he devoured his children. But after he had eaten his fifth child Poseidon, Rhea, the Queen of the Titans, had finally had enough. So when she became heavy with her sixth child, swore she would protect him.

And that's what she did.

On the eve of her son's birth, she took to her husband and made him drunk. Then, while she went into labor, he had fallen into a stupor. So when he awoke the next day to seek out his wife and child, he was discombobulated and overwhelmed. In his drunkness, he ordered her to give him the child so that he may devour him like all his brothers and sisters. However, she gave him a large stone in place of her child and hid the baby far away from Kronos's clutches.

And far away from the palace atop Mt. Orthys, she raised the child herself. After many years, her sixth child, Zeus returned to Mt. Orthys and rescued his siblings from within Kronos. And thus, Zeus declared war on the Titans.

For centuries, the Olympians and the Titans fought in an endless conflict of good and evil. But one by one, the Titans fell to the gods. And when the time came to face their father in a final confrontation, Poseidon and Hades distracted Kronos with constant attacks of powerful energy that crippled the Titan King long enough for Zeus to deal the final blow. When that happened, Kronos was shattered into a billion pieces that the brothers banished to the depths of the Underworld.

With the Titans defeated, the gods acknowledged the great leadership and prowess of their brother and hailed him as the King of the Gods. So, with the war over, the children of Kronos settled their new home of Mount Olympus. And the world found peace, for the people of the world knew they were safe from the clutches of the Titans and Kronos' reign of terror.

Or were they?