It's Incredible How Weak Magic Makes You, Isn't it?

A New World

I thought she had been lying to me, perhaps she was, but I could not deny her strength as I picked myself up off of the ground. She stood several feet away from me, clearly amused. "I find it infinitely fascinating," she said, putting her weight on one hip. "That your first instinct, after I reveal myself as what you know as the goddessAphrodite, is to attack me. Tell me, what was your goal there?"

"To make some annoying pretender go away?" I answered, both annoyed and in a state of shock. She had beaten my sudden attack away like it was nothing... with one hand.How was that even possible?

"And yet I can see in your eyes that you are now understanding I am no pretender. Was it the clear difference in our strength? I understand that it may feel somewhat... emasculating to be beaten quite so easily. My apologies, but I found that a demonstration tends to accelerate proving my identity. But, that aside, you must have questions."

I did, oh I absolutely did. But I wasn't at all sure of which question was the most pressing. She seemed to sense this, nodding in understanding. "It is a lot, I understand, for such a revelation to be placed so suddenly upon your shoulders. Take your time, I will not leave before we have finished our talk."

I appreciated that and nodded my thanks. That gave me a sense of peace and I decided to just start asking any question that came to my mind. "How?" I asked finally. "How are you even alive? Are you really a Monarch?"

"Immortality would be the simplest answer to your first question." she said. "I know it may be hard to understand, and even harder to come to terms with, but your days of aging are behind you now. Both your mortal form, and your divine form-your Monarch form as you are fond of calling it-, will no longer age. As you have witnessed first-hand, that does not mean you are invincible. But disease and time will no longer ravage you."

She paused again, presumably letting me come to terms with this, but honestly that didn't really surprise me all too much. I gestured for her to continue and she smiled that oddly infectious smile once more. "And, yes, I am what you would call a Monarch."

"Then where have you been?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked coyly, her smile turning sly.

"You know exactly what I mean." I said, "If you have been alive for so long, why is the world like it is-was? You could have stopped every war; you could have made the planet a utopia!"

"And for a while we did." Aphrodite said softly.

That stopped me short, catching the one word there that was out of place. "We?" I repeated. "There are-?"

"More of us?" Aphrodite laughed. "Of course, young one, of course. Horus, Zeus, Thor, Chantico, there are hundreds of us."

If I wasn't in my Monarch form, I would have probably fallen over in shock. There wasn't anything I could say that would make sense now, no questions or statements I could make. I had thought that we were the first, but apparently that was wrong. Were it not for the fact that I somehow knew that she wasn't lying I would call it a lie to her face.

"This must be... a lot for you," she said gently, taking a step forward and placing her hand on my shoulder. "It must be hard to believe me. You must be wondering where we have been as the world kept turning? I could show you, if you'd like."

Perhaps it was a bit impulsive, but a curious nature had always been my way. "Yes," I managed. "I want to see it for myself."

She beamed at me winningly and extended her hand. "Come then," Aphrodite said as I took her proffered hand. "I'll show you what you humans would call Mount Olympus, Asgard, and so many other names. Are you ready?"