Rebuilding the World

40 Olympus Again

My head hurts like hell again. But at least this time, it’s external.

I felt something cold pressed against my cheek and voices talking in the distance. I opened my eyes to the glorious throne room of the gods in Olympus.

“Oh, joy, she’s awake.” I heard a man’s familiar voice say.

“Majella,”

A pair of hands helped me sit up and I saw Jean’s worried face.

“Jean,” I tried to smile, “You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She smiled back.

I looked around and saw that the Olympian council including Hades are seated on their thrones, watching over us.

“Welcome to Olympus,” Hera’s motherly voice echoed around the room. She’s smiling approvingly at me. I can’t help but smile back; at least someone here is glad to see me.

Jean helped me stand up and although I’m swaying, we both bowed down in respect.

“Rise, Majella Esguerra, daughter of Zeus and Jean Oliveira, daughter of Aphrodite.” A woman’s voice said, I looked up and saw that it was Athena who said that.

“Congratulations, demigods.”  Aphrodite said, smiling beautifully at us.

I held on tighter at Jean because my legs feel like jelly and that anytime now, I will collapse to the floor.

“Yeah, right,” Ares grunted from his throne.

Demeter gave the god of war a deathly glare, “They deserve more than you unceremoniously throwing them to the floor, Ares.”

Ares chuckled, “That little wimp aimed my own gun at me,”

“At your back, actually,” Jean said.

“You told me I shouldn’t turn my back on my opponents and there you are forgetting it.” Apollo laughed.

“Can we get to the point already?” Artemis interrupted. Her hand is supporting her chin showing how bored she is. I remember how fun she used to be until that day she attacked me trying to get Jean to join her precious hunt.

“Why do you look so bored, sister?” Apollo said.

Artemis shot him a deathly glare and I can’t help but smile.

“I need to get back to work,” Artemis growled.

“Yes, I need to get back to delivering things soon too!” Hermes added, putting his caduceus phone down.

Zeus shifted on his seat and everyone sat upright and said nothing.

“Welcome to Olympus, heroes,” Zeus said. But there is no twinkle in his eyes, the tone of his voice is strict and unemotional. There is nothing welcoming about the way he said that.

“You might be wondering why we called you here,” Poseidon said with a warm smile.

“Jean Oliveira,” Athena called and Jean looked up to the goddess of wisdom, “I have blessed you, do you know why?”

“To rebuild the world?” Jean answered doubly.

“Exactly,” Athena nodded, “but we could have chosen anybody else even without giving them my gift.”

“You’re saying?” I asked as my heart started to pound in my chest.

“We chose her to make a decision that will be the final phase of rebuilding the world.” Aphrodite said.

The story of Paris flashed into my mind. That was the only time I remember the gods assigning a mortal to make a great decision.

Paris was tasked to choose who was the fairest between the goddesses, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. After hearing what the goddesses has to offer, he eventually chose Aphrodite who promised to give him the most beautiful woman in his time, Helen of Sparta. This decision was the very cause of the Trojan War, a war that lasted ten long years, producing and killing great warriors.

I looked at Jean and knew that we’re in the same dangerous position.

“What if we don’t want to be part of your plans?” I asked.

Athena’s eyebrows rose at what I said, “You can’t do that.”

“What if we just leave?” I asked again, holding on Jean harder.

“Majella, what are you saying?” Jean whispered to my ear.

“You can’t choose for her,” Dionysus said.

“Yeah well,” I shrugged, smiling at Jean, “She always listens to me.”

Zeus laughed and the smile on my face disappeared. Everybody else looked at him.

“What?” Zeus complained when he realized we were looking at him, “She’s very much like me!”

I felt the hair on the back of my neck and on my arms rise with what he said. I blinked a few times and shook my head just to clear my mind. Did I hear him right?!

Poseidon broke the silence and laughed, even slapping Zeus’ arm playfully, “You’re saying that now?”

Zeus just glared at his brother and Poseidon straightened up, “Back to business,”

Everybody straightened up on their seats as Zeus stood up, towering over us.

“Jean Oliveira, daughter of Aphrodite and blessed by Athena,” Zeus called out, “We have chosen you to decide the fates of the mortals in space.”

“WHAT?!” I shouted in shock after what seemed to be a thousand years of silence.  Jean has grown stiff beside me.

“The mortals are the very reason why we decided to purge the earth. They have grown uncontrollable and destructive, it’s about time we do something about it,” Athena explained.

“Jean, we want you to choose whether we’ll allow the mortals back into the earth or let the world begin anew with legacies.” Aphrodite said with her sweet voice.

“L-legacies?” Jean mumbled.

“Are you a demigod or not?” Ares barked.

“She’s just new to the knowledge,” I answered back.

“Legacies are descendants of demigods,” Athena provided the answer to Jean’s question.

“So, what is it, child?” Hephaestus asked, finally looking at us after tinkering with something for quite a while.

“Uhh, I don’t know,” Jean mumbled, stepping back.

“Choose, child! You don’t have forever,” Dionysus pushed.

Jean looked up at the Olympians with fright, “I-I don’t know..”And then she turned towards me, “Majella, help me.”