Chapter 3: Birth Of Zeus and Tragedy
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As the time for Zeus' birth drew near,
Rhea could no longer bear the thought of losing another child to Kronos' insatiable hunger for power for this throne . Desperate, she sought out Gaia, her mother, for guidance. "Mother Gaia, I cannot let him devour another one of my children," Rhea pleaded, her voice trembling with a mix of anger and despair.
"I must save Zeus. I must stop him."
Gaia, ever wise and deeply understanding of her daughter's plight, nodded. "Then listen carefully, Rhea. We must outwit Kronos. If we don't act now, the cycle of his tyranny will continue, and your children will remain trapped inside him for eternity."
Together, they devised a bold plan. Rhea would give birth to Zeus far from Kronos' prying eyes, in the hidden caves of Mount Ida (which, according to ancient interpretations, lay in what we now call Kuwait). It would be a place safe enough to shield Zeus from his father's destructive paranoia and close enough for Rhea to carry out the next steps of their scheme.
When the time came, Rhea retreated to the remote cave in Mount Ida. Alone, she endured the labor, her determination fueled by the hope that this child would one day end Kronos' reign. Finally, Zeus was born. His first cries echoed through the cave.
Zeus was unlike any child she had ever seen. His golden hair glowed faintly in the dim light, as though touched by the sun itself, and his piercing blue eyes seemed to hold a spark of divinity. But despite his extraordinary appearance, he was still just a newborn—helpless, crying, and innocent. Like all gods, Zeus was not born with his wisdom or power fully formed. He was, in many ways, like the golden-Era mortals(capable of lifting 2-3tons) of that era: fragile, naive, and entirely dependent on his mother.
Rhea held him close, her heart swelling with both love and fear. "You will be the one to save them," she whispered, her voice trembling. "You will save your siblings and end his reign of terror."
But there was no time to waste. Kronos would grow suspicious if Rhea stayed away for too long. Gaia, who had joined her daughter in the cave, handed Rhea a large, rounded stone wrapped tightly in swaddling cloth. "Take this to Kronos and tell him it's Zeus," Gaia said calmly. "It will buy us time."
Rhea hesitated for a moment, staring at the stone. "Do you think he'll believe it?"
Gaia smirked. "Your husband doesn't exactly take the time to savor his meals, does he?"
"You're right," a deep, resonant voice echoed through the cave, shaking Rhea and Gaia to their cores. "I wouldn't have noticed... but lately, I don't bother chewing while I eat."
Rhea froze in terror as Kronos stepped into the dim light of the cave, his towering figure casting a long shadow over them. Gaia turned sharply toward him, her voice trembling but defiant. "Kronos... how? How did you find us here?"
Kronos smirked, his golden eyes glinting with an unsettling mix of amusement and menace. "What do you think, Mother? Did you really believe I wouldn't notice? I am the Titan of Time. Finding you is child's play. This world, no matter how vast it seems to you, is nothing compared to me—compared to time itself."
He took a step closer, his voice growing more intense. "I can sense everything, everywhere. But do you want to know how I knew? When Rhea was pregnant before, I could sense the life growing inside her—your precious children, my prey. And now? I felt it again. Another life stirring within her womb. Then she met you, and suddenly, you both started plotting to disappear. It didn't take a genius to figure it out."
Gaia clenched her fists, stepping protectively in front of Rhea and the newborn Zeus. "You won't harm him, Kronos! He is your son—your own blood!"
Kronos' face softened for a fleeting moment as his gaze fell upon the innocent child cradled in Rhea's arms. Zeus' tiny golden curls and soft cries filled the tense silence. "I'm sorry, child," Kronos murmured, almost as if speaking to himself. "This isn't your fault. You're just a baby. But you see... the power, the respect I have as King of the Titans—those things are worth more to me than anything else. Even you."
For a moment, the air grew still—unnaturally so. Neither Rhea nor Gaia noticed at first, but time itself had stopped. Kronos, the master of time, had frozen everything but himself. He walked slowly to the baby, his massive hand reaching out, and whispered, "Know this, Zeus. It isn't personal. It's simply the price of defiance. Your mother and grandmother should have known better."
Time resumed, and Kronos turned his sharp gaze toward Gaia and Rhea. "You know," he said, his tone icy, "if you had just given him to me, he would have joined his siblings inside me for eternity. Alive, if not free. But now, you've forced my hand. You will understand the consequences of challenging me."
The cave trembled as Kronos' power surged, his intent clear. Rhea clutched Zeus tightly, tears streaming down her face as Gaia stepped forward, standing between her daughter and the enraged Titan.
As Kronos roared, the entire planet trembled, shaking even the stars above. Gaia and Rhea clutched each other, their faces pale with horror. Kronos extended his hand, and with a flash, Skártē, the blade of time, materialized—a weapon of such power that even time itself seemed to bow before it.
"Enough!" Kronos declared, halting time itself with a casual flick of his wrist. Everything froze, except him. The winds stilled, the cave fell silent, and even the flickering torches seemed trapped in place. Calmly, he approached the frozen figures of Gaia and Rhea, plucking the baby Zeus from Rhea's arms with the dispassionate efficiency of someone picking an apple from a tree.
When time resumed, the two women screamed in unison as they saw their precious Zeus in Kronos' iron grip.
"You should have known this would happen, Rhea," Kronos spat, his voice laced with venom. "And you, Mother," he said, turning his gaze to Gaia, "you are the one who made me kill my own father. Don't you dare interfere in my family affairs again."
"Kronos!" Rhea cried, tears streaming down her face. "He's your son! How could you do this?"
But Kronos was unmoved. He held Zeus up as though inspecting a mere trinket, his expression cold and calculating. "He should have been alive, Rhea. But now? Now I will destroy his very soul itself."
Skártē glowed with an eerie green light as Kronos raised it high. With a single slash, a shimmering fragment—the soul of Zeus—began to erode, its golden light dimming as it flowed into Kronos' hand. He crushed it effortlessly, as though it were nothing more than a brittle leaf.
However, 5% of Zeus' soul stubbornly remained within the baby. Kronos sneered. "Stubborn, aren't you?" he muttered. With a flick of his wrist, he discarded 4% of it, flinging it into the infinite expanse of time and space. "Good luck finding that, Mother," he taunted Gaia with a wicked grin. "Let the cosmos deal with it."
Now, only 1% of Zeus' soul remained. Kronos looked at the baby, who was now unconscious and glowing faintly. "1%. That's all you get, Mother. He'll survive, sure, but it will take eons—multiple cosmos, multiple eons—before he ever wakes up again. By then, I'll have surpassed even you and become the Primordial of Time itself!"
He laughed, a deep, malevolent sound that echoed through the cave. Rhea stared at him in disbelief. "Monster! He's your own child!"
Gaia's voice trembled with fury and despair. "Kronos, I didn't think even you could stoop this low. Your father may have been cruel, but even he would never have done this to his own child. You've outdone him!"
Kronos rolled his eyes as though bored by their outrage. "Oh, spare me the moral lecture. My father sealed the Cyclopes in Tartarus just for being ugly, remember Now i have done the same with them i mean who wants those creature to Roam again? And for this child At least I left 1% of a soul. That's generous by my standards."
"You've sealed your own brother in the Tarturus again," Gaia cried.
"Of course I did," Kronos snapped, his tone dismissive. "Those hideous things belong in Tartarus. And now, with Zeus reduced to a spark of a spark of lightining , nothing can stop me. I will ascend beyond Titans, gods, or even the Primordials. I will become time itself!"
As Kronos disappeared into the shadows, laughing triumphantly, Gaia and Rhea stood frozen, their hearts heavy with despair. Zeus, now a fragile fragment of his former self, lay still in Rhea's arms.