Project X

The Next Step: Bronze

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

BRONZE

    I decided to read those books from the office.

    Not just skim, read. Like Not-Emil had told me to. There were two of them, titled 'The First Mother' and 'The Last Titan'. I read 'The First Mother' first.

    It was more or less the story of Pandora's Box, but it was different to any version I'd read before. It spoke about the first woman, Pandora, created by Prometheus, and given to his brother as a gift, to be his wife. She was given a box and bidden to never open it. Told that awful things would happen if she did; and, for years, she listened. She stayed with her husband, obeyed his every wish and command, and abided by his cruel treatments of her. Eventually, she fell pregnant, and everything changed. With a child growing within her, she could no longer justify standing beside a man like him.

    She snuck away to the secret place where she had hidden the box, believing the horrid fate within to be her death, or his, not caring which. And then, came the most well-known part of the story. The part that's more or less the same in every version: She opened the box.

    Out of it came Fear, Hate, Despair, Sickness, War- all of the Plagues of Man. Realizing what she'd done, Pandora slams the box shut, sealing Hope inside.

    Her husband, of course, immediately discovers what she's done, and casts her from the Heavens. She gave birth on Earth, to a daughter named Phyrra, and bequeathed the box to her once she was of age, bidding her open it when all Hope was lost.

    Eventually, Phyrra had children, and her children had children, and several Lines of Pandora were born.

    According to the book, there were several descendants, both direct and indirect, of Pandora to this day. It was said that, within the direct lineage, the first born would always be a daughter, always named Phyrra, or Pandora, in alternating fashion; and that all women of Pandoran blood- direct or indirect- were seen as a weakness of the Titan who had spurned her.

    I had no clue what this story had to do with anything, but I still found myself wishing we had a few Daughters of Pandora around to help with Phil. I laughed to myself, thinking, 'Who knows? Maybe all the girls in our group are badass Pandorans after all.'

    I cracked open 'The Last Titan' next. Something about the title struck me as oddly familiar, but I couldn't place what it reminded me of. I shrugged as I began to read, figuring I was about to find out.

The Last Titan

    Everything that exists was born of the Universe herself. The Stars, the Planets, all Cosmic Beings and Entities. Among these, were her Favored Children, her Pantheons; groups of Gods, breathing Life into each of their own Galaxies, Soul-Tied to each of their own Heavenly Bodies, be it a Planet, Star, Heavenly Satellite, or the unique Gravity of each Planetary System. The oldest of these children were known as Titans.

    There were several unique groups of Titans; the Titants of Norsia, the Titans of Paga, the Titans of Latia, among many others. But this story revolves mainly around the Titans of Grecia.

    These Titans were given the system of Sol, residing over what would come to be known as the Greek Pantheon. The Sol System, as it would turn out, was home to a peculiar little blue planet, known as Gaea. While life existed on every Heavenly Body tied to a God or Titan, the beings of Gaea were an anomaly; they were the only beings who had ever become conscious of other Pantheons throughout the Universe. And, not only did they become conscious of them, they began to worship them. The Greek Pantheon, and the Titans of Grecia, were, for the most part, unbothered by this. In fact, many of them saw this as proof that Gaeans were special, a more advanced Life-Form, especially Prometheus- the Titan Soul-Tied to Gaea, and creator of all Life-Forms there.