Cry of the Moon

Chapter 4: More Gods are Born

It's not long before I'm left alone on the beach, my only companion a small bundle in my arms. Rhea had kissed the child and said a blessing of health over him before passing him to me and disappearing in a burst of light. Her last words hover on the air still, seeming to echo in the sound of crashing waves.

"Keep him safe."

That night, the baby Zeus rode next to me in my chariot. I pulled down the stars and let him run his pudgy hands along the velvety fabric of the universe. Rhea was right; he was very clearly different. Although there was nothing about his looks or physique to suggest he was anything less than a Titan, he had a certain aura that sent a shiver up my spine every time I looked at him.

I kept him with me for a little while, but quickly realized I couldn't keep him as he grew. Although what I had told Rhea about being alone was true, I never knew when Helios or Eos would drop in without warning. Also, as Zeus grew, his aura grew with him and I worried someone would notice. I couldn't risk Rhea's secret being found out by anyone, not even my own family.

So on one warm summer day, I brought Zeus, who was now a toddler, to a small island populated only by a small family of nymphs. The island was small enough that no Titan would purposefully go near it and if they did, its rocky caves and cliffs made for many perfect hiding places.

I left Zeus in the care of the eldest nymph, Amaltheia, with a promise to visit as often as I could. I swore to her the island would have my protection so long as the child was safely hidden there.

As the child grew, I kept my word and visited often. After Rhea and Kronos announced they had given up on having an heir, I began to bring Rhea there so she too could watch her child grow up.

Time passed quietly for a while after that. Rhea spent more and more time at the island until the point she was there more often than she was at the palace on Mt. Othrys. Kronos was seen less and less, and rumor spread that he spent most of his days locked in his throne room, to drunk to even stand.

It took only a few years for Zeus to go from toddler to a full grown being. He was shorter than a typical Titan male, but the aura of power I had sense when he was a baby had grown with him and now filled every room he walked in to. He reminded me of my brother in that a golden light seemed to follow him wherever he went, though his was not as harsh as my brothers'.

During those years, I continued to keep to myself. I watched as my brother married Perse, a young Oceanid daughter of Oceanus, and moved into a palace on the ocean at the farthest end of the world. I eventually stopped going to our palace except to prepare my chariot for my nighttime rides. Helios and I had shared the palace of the stars for millennia, since we had begun driving our chariots across the sky. Now, walking the dark, empty halls, everything felt cold and alone without his golden light illuminating even the darkest corners.

One day, tired of the loneliness and depression that had soaked into my soul like a cold rag, I called Eos to the palace.

I hadn't seen my sister in a while, not since she had married Astraeus, Titan of the dusk, and moved to a grand palace perched on a cliff so high it seemed to sit in the heavens themselves.

When she arrived, I was surprised to see a small bulge around her mid-section.

"Are you... pregnant?" I ask incredulously. My sister, who had always sworn she would never have children for they were far too loud and disgusting for her, was pregnant!

Eos smiles, an embarrassed flush reddening her cheeks. "And you, sister, are still not married! When will you find another Titan to spend your life with? There are many good options still available." This last part she says with a grin and a wink.