The Titan Code

14. The Titan Influence

ANXIOUSLY sat waiting for whatever bombshell Hermes is about to drop has pretty much ruined my night. Everything felt so normal for a moment.

"I'm sorry to drop by without warning," Hermes continues with his usual competent manner, the geniality of only a short while ago swept aside, "but I felt you needed a more thorough explanation of this situation."

"Will it make a difference?" Alex asks thoughtfully.

Hermes thinks for a moment. "I believe so. I think it's best you understand the history behind it and how that effects things today."

"Are we in for a history lesson, then?" I say with resignation.

"I'm afraid so. Was it not your best lesson in school?" he replies with a faint grin.

"You should know, Harry, you were there, too." I can't help but smile and those alluring blue eyes crinkle indulgently. Alex flicks his gaze between us and something unreadable passes over his face.

"First thing to understand is that just because you know our stories from Greek mythology doesn't mean that our time began then. Gaia and Uranus created the world as you know it so whatever origins you believed in, well, this is the truth.

"The Titans were the first race of beings to create. Each of the twelve Titans formed and nurtured specific areas. Iapetus helped to create mankind itself which is why his son, Prometheus, had a vested interest.

"Prometheus really did have a passion for humans. He saw how much potential they had and wanted to further their abilities so he introduced more abstract concepts such as art, medicine etcetera."

A thought strikes me, which is a pretty rare occurrence.

"Did the other Titans not object to him doing that?"

Hermes gives a firm shake of his head.

"As Prometheus was helping mankind the world entered a Golden Age. Cronus, God of Time and technically his uncle, became ruler. He overthrew and murdered his father, Uranus, because he craved his power."

"He doesn't sound like a chap who'd be happy to let humans time travel," Alex says darkly.

"After he became ruler he was actually a good leader, so much so there was no need for laws or rules between the Titans. Nobody interfered and they did their own things pretty autonomously. So this is where your predecessors began."

"Oh, I see," I say slowly, putting together some information, I'm not great with history, "it was a peaceful time so nobody would get in the way of their plan."

"Sort of," Hermes admits, "they weren't trying to do something bad, it was simply a time to try out an idea without interruption. Cronus was a good leader for Gods and he wasn't really interested in helping mankind, but he was curious to experiment. Anyway, Prometheus had the idea to help humans travel to experience the world, cultivate different crops they brought back, learn from other environments. He needed Cronus because it was his department.

"As leader and as an original Titan he had the ability to create this supernatural gift to work within a mortal body. It's extremely difficult to transfer anything from our realm into a physical reality so it took a while to perfect."

Hermes takes a pause and I'm grateful. There is a hell of a lot of information here and it's hard to relate all these names and concepts into something tangible.

Luckily Alex has a logical brain and the presence of mind to ask the questions that matter.

"How do you mean it's difficult to transfer things to a physical reality?" Alex asks thoughtfully.