The Greek Sacrifice

Chapter One

Troubling thoughts swirled around in Hera's head as she looked out over the vast lands of Illyricum. She wondered how much longer she and her sisters would rule this great province. The great Gods of Ancient Rome must be really angry with them and were punishing them. They were facing so many adversities.
They had to leave earth to come back to Illyricum. She loved being on earth as there weren't any restrictive rules.  She was going to college there and had friends. It had been three years since she had been back to earth as her sister Agapy needed her help. Life on earth was a completely different experience. They had to use portals to travel between earth and Illyricum. These portals were built hundreds of years ago. It was important for the Gods to understand the ways of the humans and also help them whenever they could. The portals were only accessible by the Gods and Goddesses. When Hera had come back to Illyricum it took a while to get readjusted to the way of life there. She could use her powers on earth but she only did so to help the people. She missed being there especially now with all the problems she faced.
She slumped down on the plush window seat feeling defeated. Her people were turning against her. She could barely fault them though, as their province was failing them miserably. The crops were not coming to fruition as insects had infested the fields and they had found out too late to save them. Not to mention the drought that was ravaging all four provinces.
Hera sighed loudly. What kind of Goddess was she? Maybe she should just relinquish power to the Gods of the South Province. Oriens was striving and the people there were happy and contended. Maybe Nehram was right, there was no place in the New Age Rhemus for women. She thought of her mother Aphrodite and knew that she could not give up. Her mother had trained her and her seven sisters to be strong, brave and resilient. Nehram was the God of War and ruler of Oriens along with his seven brothers. Nehram and his brothers did not believe that old Greek mythology had any place in the New Age Rhemus. They believed that women were weak and should only be the bearers of their offspring. The thought of this angered Hera and a swell of resentment filled her chest.
They needed to find a way to turn things around quickly. She could feel the resentment of her people growing. As Goddess of the Sea, she was very powerful. She could summon water to flood nations. Her sisters were just as strong. Athena was the Goddess of the Earth, Phoebe was the Goddess of Peace, Seleny the Goddess of Intelligence,  Ereny Goddess of the Sky, Agapy Goddess of Miracle,  Zoe Goddess of Fire and Elodie Goddess of Wind. They all ruled the province of Illyricum together.
New Age Rhemus was divided into four provinces and Illyricum was the only one ruled by Goddesses. This frustrated Nehram and while the other two provinces were supportive of her, Nehram wanted nothing but to take over Illyricum.
“Hera! Come quickly, some of our men were attacked in the forest,” Shouted Phoebe jolting her out of her thoughts.
“What? Who attacked them?” Hera questioned as she hurriedly followed Phoebe down the large stone staircase.
“We aren’t sure but I strongly believe it was Nehram's soldiers,” She answered as she shouted orders to the guards, “He's the only one who is after our province, we must figure out a way to broker peace with him.”
“Peace? Are you crazy? He's the God of War for heaven’s sake,” Hera replied, “We need to fight back. “
“And who is going to fight with us? Our people are growing rebellious and would rather be ruled by Nehram and this attack doesn't make anything better.”
Hera growled in frustration as she gathered the items needed to help the soldiers.
“We must attend to the injured men quickly, we need Agapy right now, she’s the only one who can help them" her voice becoming more frantic with every word.
The injured soldiers lay motionless on the bed in the healing temple, The Asclepeions. By now all the sisters had gathered.
“The people are frantic, we need to fix this,“ Seleny said in her calm soothing voice, “We must meet with Nehram to end this foolishness.”
“I agree,” Phoebe chimed in, “We could involve the Gods from the other provinces to help us, there is no way Nehram would go against three provinces. The ancient Gods would unleash their wrath upon him and his brothers.”
“So that is one problem we can start working on but what about our people, the shortage of food and the lack of water? We seem so incompetent!” Zoe expressed passionately, “I think we need to do a blood sacrifice to the ancient Gods to try and get back in their good graces.”
“Absolutely not!” Hera exclaimed, “Our mother stood against that practice strongly, that is one aspect of Ancient Greek that must stay ancient. It would be better if we offered jewels instead of harming the animals!”
Zoe shrugged in a nonchalant manner. She was the youngest and was very impulsive.
“Let us see if that works, we shall go to the temple this eve, at sunset. Gather your most precious jewels and we will meet there.” Hera added.
Everyone nodded in agreement to this plan and while she seemed to believe what she was saying, she was very doubtful. The Ancient Gods were angry at them because they believed that they did not need men and refused to marry. They had a harem of men to satisfy their sexual needs and if they wished, fathered their children. No romantic ties involved. This went against one of the founding beliefs of Ancient Greece and was also another reason why the people of Illyricum wanted new rulers. Only selected men were able to participate in sexual activities, the others were castrated as early as eight years old. The men who were able to have sex were called the ‘chosen' and had at least five partners each month. At the end of each month they had to change partners.  This was done to keep emotions from getting involved. However, there were times when that did not work and people have tried to form groups to rebel. They were swiftly apprehended and sent to the underground prison. In Ancient Rome there was only one prison but now that we had different provinces with different laws each province had their own prison.
Hera slowly pushed herself off the wall of the healing temple. Like most of the other buildings, the temple was decorated with statutes of Ancient Greek Gods. The high stone ceiling was supported by large, sturdy columns that were over a hundred years old. It was beautiful, the intricate cravings at the rim of the columns were astounding. Every detail of the Greek architecture was obviously clearly thought out.
She slowly made her way back to Olympia, the palace in which she and her sisters resided. As she walked through the mystical gardens leading to Olympia, she stopped to sit a moment at the stone fountain in the middle of the garden. A beautiful statue of her mother stood tall and vibrant in the middle of the fountain. The water poured from the stone jar that was carved into her hands. Hera thought it was symbolic of how her mother had poured out love to the people of Illyricum. This was her favorite place. Whenever she was troubled, she went to the garden for peace and clarity. She felt as though she could sense her mother's calming spirit. She ran her hands slowly along the grooves of the stone bench that she was sitting on, again the detail was amazing. She gazed out at the beautiful flowers that filled the garden. There was a variety of flowers littered throughout the garden and the mixture of the different smells was calming plus it smelled really good. Hera looked up at the large oak tree behind her as she heard the exciting chirping of some squabs in a nest high up in the tree, their mother had returned with food. Hera watched as the dove attended to her young and she wished her own mother was still alive. Illyricum would not be in so much trouble.
Hera thought of Ancient Greece and a feeling of nostalgia erupted within her.
“Wait Hera!” a winded Nehram shouted as they played happily in garden at Mount Olympus. They were all playing hide and go seek.
“There’s Zoe!” shouted Poseidon excitedly, “I found her!”
There was only one person left to be found by the boys when their mother called.
“Children we must leave now,” Athena called. Her voice was trembling and she looked troubled.
“Girls, Aphrodite wants you to come inside,  get your things and let's go.”
Hera had no idea that her world would soon drastically change. That day would be the day when Ancient Greece started to give way to the New Age Rhemus and the day her mother would perish.
Hera's mother Aphrodite was a radical Greek Goddess who believed the ways of Ancient Greece needed to end. She fought hard to achieve this but there were Gods who did not want or support this change. Hera's own father, Aries, was one of these Gods and had sent her mother, Athena and many other women who shared his wife’s views, to the gallows. This was one of the reasons why Hera resented her father so much and had drafted the laws of Illyricum to protect herself and her sisters from a similar faith.
Even though her father fought so hard to keep Ancient Greece intact, other Gods slowly began to adapt the changes that her mother had fought for. A huge war started and her father along with Nehram’s father who held the same beliefs as him,  were killed in battle. Nehram’s father, Apollon, taught his eight sons the ways of Ancient Greece. This has caused a great divide between Illyricum and Orien and broke childhood bonds that can never be regained.