"So the one who planted this curse on you was Hecate?"
After listening to the full account, Athena raised her hand and carefully touched the black God seal on Lorne's chest, fell into thought for a moment, and something seemed to dawn in her eyes.
"What about that thing she first gave you? Take it out!"
Lorne blinked in slight surprise, then realized what Athena meant as a twelve-sided die of blue-grey serpentinite appeared in his palm.
The sacred symbols of the ten chief Gods on ten of its faces already flickered with light.
Only Zeus's [Lightning] and Hephaestus's [Flame] remained dim.
Athena fixed her gaze on the twelve-sided die and murmured with a complex expression.
"So it is this thing..."
"You recognize it?"
Lorne's astonishment deepened upon hearing this.
"Recognize it? Far more than that!" Athena let out a cold hum and spoke quietly. "Strictly speaking, the one who planted this seed in the beginning was me!"
The unexpected answer made the astonishment on Lorne's face deepen by another layer.
Seeing his blank expression, Athena took a deep breath and then asked.
"You went to see the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone. She should have told you about Zagreus?"
Lorne returned to his senses and gave a slight nod.
Athena drew a deep breath, recalling as she answered.
"Zagreus died during the Titanomachy period. A group of giants dismembered and devoured him. When I arrived at the scene, there was nothing more I could do.
I only had time to rescue his divinity, seal it in a small box, and bring it to Zeus.
Afterward, I enticed Zeus to swallow it, hoping my father God would scatter this [Seed] into the mortal world during one of his affairs and let it take root and grow again."
'A box containing Zagreus's divinity?'
Hearing that key phrase, Lorne looked at the twelve-sided die in his hand.
Athena gave a nod of confirmation.
"That is right. It should be this. Although the shape changed, I sensed a similar aura from it."
'That explains everything!'
Looking at the twelve-sided die in his hand, many of the doubts in Lorne's heart resolved themselves.
No wonder Hecate specifically gave him this twelve-sided die.
Because it was the seed preserving Zagreus's divinity!
And precisely because of this, the twelve-sided die issued a series of divine prophecies guiding him to directly or indirectly disrupt the order of [Destiny] and strengthen his own divinity of [Chance].
"I scattered this seed originally, only hoping to preserve one possibility of resistance against fate in the world.
I never expected Hecate to get her hands on it first."
Athena fixed her gaze on Lorne before her with considerable emotion.
"Even less did I expect that after all this roundabout turning, you would come back to my side..."
'What a fateful entanglement.'
Lorne rubbed his somewhat numb temples and voiced the confusion in his heart.
"Speaking of which.
Why were you so concerned about the matter of Zagreus? That does not quite fit, does it?"
When Zagreus was killed, even his biological mother, Persephone, did not make it to the scene.
Yet Athena got there first. That was a bit too coincidental.
The more reasonable explanation was that this Goddess of Wisdom deliberately or inadvertently kept watch over Zagreus's growth the whole time.
"Because the story of Zagreus has a first half," Athena answered impatiently, then casually asked. "Do you know how I was born?"
"I do." Lorne gave a nod. "Zeus swallowed the pregnant Metis long ago. Not long after, Zeus suffered an excruciating headache and had no choice but to ask the God of Fire, Hephaestus, to split open his skull, and you were born from Zeus's mind."
"Actually, beyond that, I also brought out one other thing from that father God's body. The divinity of my never-born younger brother, the God of Opportunity Poros..." Athena paused and added quietly. "And then Hecate, who presides over the Underworld, found me."
Lorne immediately connected the dots upon hearing this. "Zagreus?"
Athena nodded and sighed with resignation. "But the child did not manage to grow to full maturity before fate erased him. I felt keeping it in the god realm was too conspicuous, so I hoped it could be born in the mortal world and live on in peace."
'So this time it was the Theban princess Semele, and the Dionysus who should have been born?'
After hearing this secret, Lorne looked at the twelve-sided die in his palm and felt thoroughly scrambled.
'Three successive inheritors all came to grief because of this thing.
The instant-death buff count was getting a bit high.'
And both you and Hecate are among the sources of my birth, while also being tangled up in a thousand threads with my growth. How exactly is one supposed to categorize that?
An elder sister in the abstract sense, plus half a mother figure?
And in the traditional sense, a scheming stepmother who showed up to cut in line?
After briefly sorting through the complex tangle of emotions, Lorne continued asking. "Then what is the purpose of collecting twelve portions of divinity?"
Athena thought for a moment and offered her view. "The twelve chief Gods of Olympus represent the order of destiny.
Consuming these divinities perhaps signifies that it is inheriting the original destiny and providing nourishment for the growth of the [Divinity of Chance] within it?"
"Mm. That makes sense."
Lorne nodded and asked again. "Is there any way to bring this thing under my own control?"
"Let me try..." Athena picked up the twelve-sided die and tried to use her own magical formulae to break the restrictions on it.
However, after a flash of light, Lorne immediately felt his heart clench painfully as a powerful, suffocating sensation came from his chest.
His soul let out wave after wave of cries, and his consciousness was gradually swallowed by darkness.
The rapidly intensifying discomfort made Lorne hurriedly raise his hand to stop her. "Stop!"
Athena immediately put down the twelve-sided die and helped the cold-sweat-covered Lorne back to his seat, gloom gathering on her face.
"It seems this thing has already become one with you. There is no way to remove it forcibly."
Lorne nodded as a faint suspicion took shape in his heart.
He was originally a variable outside destiny, not accepted by this world.
And precisely because this twelve-sided die containing [Possibility] resided in his body, it sustained his existence.
Once it was forcibly severed from him, he would most likely be finished too.
"Forced separation will not work.
We can only try another approach." Athena thought for a moment and produced an answer. "If you can become a chief God and your soul enters the [Immortal] level, this thing might no longer restrict you. You might even turn it around and take control of this divinity yourself."
"Hecate will not give me that opportunity." Lorne shook his head with considerable resignation.
"The moment I complete collecting twelve portions of divinity, steal part of Olympus's destiny, and elevate to chief God, Hecate will definitely move against me."
"What about going around that path?"
"I tried. The divine healer's immortality medicine is only a concept at this stage. Who knows how long it would take to complete, and at the current rate of divinity collection, I am afraid I will not have long before I mature."
Lorne let out a sigh, thoroughly disheartened by his far-from-optimistic situation.
Although he tried hard to avoid the work of collecting divinity, both the inevitability of destiny and the possibility of chance kept nudging him forward, whether he noticed or not.
Just like this encounter with Hera.
It was outrageous piled on top of outrageous, outrageously thorough.
So he suspected that even if he deliberately avoided things, sooner or later something would bring him into contact with Zeus and Hephaestus.
As strategy after strategy was eliminated, Athena narrowed her eyes as a faint cold gleam showed on her face.
"Then let us simply find a way to finish that woman off?"
If the problem could not be solved, solving the person who caused the problem was equally a method.
Seeing Athena's face full of ill intent, warmth stirred in Lorne's eyes even as his mouth asked without restraint.
"Can you beat her?"
"Never tried. So it's hard to say."
"Add in Hypnos and Thanatos?"
"Difficulty becomes very high..."
"Add in the three Moirai and Zeus?"
"..."
Athena caught the meaning beneath those words and turned to look at Lorne with surprise.
"You are saying that if I move against Hecate, all of them might intervene?"
"More or less."
Lorne shrugged and told Athena what he and the Underworld King learned in the [Dream of Truth] in further detail.
"I roughly understand. She is the key to completing the integration of divinity, responsible for keeping those dangerous old Gods in a state of continued slumber.
So the moment she encounters trouble, the three Moirai and Zeus will likely step in to intervene."
"That is exactly right."
"Then, is there any way to pull her trump card away and have us control the [Dream of Truth]?"
"Good idea. The King of the Underworld and I both tried, but could not find the core of that dreamscape world at all."
"You and Hades?"
Athena furrowed her brow slightly, then her gaze flashed as she spoke with gravity.
"Tell me again about your experience entering the dreamscape world.
Leave nothing out."
Seeing Athena seemed to think of something, Lorne immediately recounted the whole sequence of events from start to finish, honestly.
After listening, Athena rested one hand under her chin and began muttering.
"Something is off. Given your strength, only going once and finding nothing is understandable.
But as master of the Underworld, Hades went again and again without finding even a trace of the core in the dreamscape world.
Do you not find that strangely odd?"
"Right. That is a bit strange."
Prompted by Athena's observation, Lorne also thought of another suspicious point and murmured in a measured voice.
"And the infiltration seemed far too easy each time. Hecate seemed completely unconcerned about anyone breaking into the dreamscape world and digging out her trump card."
"Is it possible that the trump card was never there in the first place?"
"Once being absent is one thing.
But every single time?"
"Could it possibly move around?"
'Move around?'
In a trance, both of them caught that phrase as a flash of insight struck them simultaneously.
They looked at each other and said the answer in unison.
"Hecate!"
That was right.
The core controlling the [Dream of Truth] was not in Elysium, not in the [Dream of Truth] itself.
It was on Hecate's person.
To be precise, it was very likely Hecate herself!
With the answer spoken aloud, everything fell into place for Lorne.
"Possibility! The continuation of the dreamscape is a kind of possibility!
Only Hecate herself acting as the core could sustain such a vast and orderly [Dream of Truth]!"
"[Night] is the mother of dreams.
And [Path] guides the direction of dreams, letting the sleeping ones know when to wake!"
Athena, who solved the riddle at the same time, recited the relevant records.
As that deeply satisfying, familiar feeling surged and flowed through them, the two shared a smile as if together returning to the little stall in Knossos long ago.
That was an encounter over a riddle game, and the beginning of their bond with each other.
Afterward, there was mutual support as they worked together with all their strength for the survival of Crete.
But after the two came to Athens, the external pressures they faced together disappeared.
And with each having their own plans and thoughts, the once-close relationship gradually grew somewhat distant over time.
Now, mutual honesty broke through the accumulated barriers and let them both rediscover that feeling of working in full cooperation from the old days.
With the greatest riddle cracked, Lorne continued asking.
"The answer is found. So what do we do next?"
"Since we cannot kill her, we can only capture her."
"Capture her alive? The difficulty seems even higher..."
"Or you could put your charm and strengths to work, and sleep your way to subduing her?"
Athena suggested with a grinning smile, her face full of teasing.
Lorne knew this elder sister's temperament well.
Seeing her smile this brilliantly, he was not about to fall for it and immediately refused with firm words.
"No, thank you. I will take option one."
Seeing Lorne not take the bait, Athena shook her head with an exaggerated look of regret and casually offered her hint.
"That works too. To capture that woman, two things are probably needed."
"[Bait] and [Hook]?"
Lorne responded with immediate understanding, then furrowed his brow.
"The bait, I understand. We have two candidates here, using either me or Melinoe works. But the hook? Containing that woman will not be easy."
"Have you forgotten? I possess the [Labyrinth] authority.
And the eighty-eight star palaces
I personally built are spread throughout the entire War God Mountain. As long as the sanctuary is closed, this place is like a sealed cage. Containing her is not without opportunity."
"Not that straightforward either."
Lorne picked up the twelve-sided die he could not open in his hand and gave a faint hum.
"That woman is sharp. Setting aside that her witchcraft is no inferior to your magic level, she herself is a God with the attribute of [Path].
Your [Labyrinth] might not be able to contain her.
Back when we first came to Athens, she once quietly slipped onto the War God Mountain specifically to find me."
Hearing the other party was this troublesome, Athena also felt a headache.
However, she quickly had a new idea and pointed at Mount Olympus among the stars with a smile that was not quite a smile.
"If the [Hook] cannot hold her, how about adding a few [Nets] on top?"
"You mean?"
"Hephaestus! There are still quite a few materials left over from what we scraped together from the Sea God's temple. Have him forge us a few solid nets!"
"Brilliant!"
Lorne's eyes lit up at this as the gloom in his heart gradually dispersed.
The craftsman God's skill was beyond question.
Even Hera was once contained by him.
If operated correctly, Hecate might not necessarily escape being ambushed by them either.
Only in doing so, he would inevitably have to make contact with the craftsman God, which could very well accelerate the [Seed]'s maturation.
'Forget it. Better to fight boldly than wait for death sitting still!'
Lorne made up his mind as a sharp gleam flashed in his eyes.
"We'll go find Hephaestus right now!"
However, Athena shook her head with a resigned expression.
"That will not work, I am afraid. I am already being watched. I have not dared return to Olympus casually lately, for fear my father God asks questions."
"Zeus?"
Lorne's heart lurched as he immediately understood this was trouble brought on by the War God Mountain's too-rapid development.
Especially his continuously bringing batch after batch of Gods up the mountain, which deepened Zeus's suspicion.
And at this moment, Athena had been holding the pressure head-on for so long she was also running out of ways to contain the trouble.
Thinking of Crete sinking in his memory, Lorne felt a twinge of worry.
"At a time like this, you still want to move against Hecate as well. Is that not too risky? If Zeus pursues the matter..."
"But it is not quite at that point either. My father has more than just me giving him a headache right now."
Sensing the rare concern, Athena waved her hand with a light smile as a gleam of schadenfreude showed in her eyes.
"Recently, Aphrodite went missing.
No one knows where she ran off to have fun. Ares and Hephaestus fight over this every day."
"Apollo seems to enjoy visiting the Ocean of Oceanos greatly and frequently comes and goes together with Poseidon."
"And thanks to you, Queen of Heaven, Hera seems to have taken a genuine liking to you.
The moment she returned to Olympus, she started making contact with Poseidon and Apollo..."
Hearing this string of recent developments on Olympus, Lorne felt equal parts amused and helpless.
Good heavens. The seeds he planted one by one before all seem to have sparks heading toward them.
No wonder Zeus noticed Athena's restlessness, but still did not intervene.
Apparently, things up there were already a total mess.
If that was the case, then did that mean...
Athena seemed to see through Lorne's stirring thoughts and punctured his fantasy with a single sentence.
"Do not celebrate too early.
No matter how much those few of them stir things up, it only adds some trouble.
My father, God still has three Hecatoncheires in his hand and the three Moirai at his back. He is not so easily dealt with."
"Fair enough. Those with ability go first."
Lorne shrugged and raised his hands in a praying gesture before his chest.
Without even thinking about it, these few preparing to rebel could not hide from Athena, much less from Zeus's eyes.
They were most likely destined to be cannon fodder in the future.
Counting on them to outmaneuver Zeus was far less reliable than counting on himself and Athena joining forces to turn things around.
After a simple review of the current problems and corresponding solutions, Athena offered her follow-up suggestion.
"I cannot help you right now. But I can go to the Ocean of Oceanos to find Thetis. As long as she steps forward, Hephaestus will certainly be willing to help with this."
Hearing this, Lorne felt somewhat abashed.
Right.
It seemed that every time he had dealings with that Sea Goddess, nothing good came of it.
Just as he was thinking about what excuse to use to smooth over the awkwardness when they next met, a violent tremor came from somewhere on his chest, accompanied by a powerful burning sensation.
He immediately pulled open his outer clothing and looked at the Gorgon bronze emblem humming and vibrating in his chest, his expression shifting.
"Thetis is in trouble! She is calling for my help!"
As he said this, Lorne did not wait to explain further and immediately leapt out of the great temple, transforming into a streak of golden-red light that split through the heavy darkness outside the window and plunged straight toward the Ocean of Okeanos shrouded in vast mist.
Watching that figure disappear into the horizon, Athena stood at the doorway and gazed after him as an inexplicable sense of unease seized her heart, as though she sensed something bad was about to happen.
He was just going out for a trip. Same as always.
That little fellow was slippery as a catfish, always coming out ahead and never taking losses. How could anything happen?'
'Right. I am surely overthinking it.'
Athena consoled herself with this thought, even as her fingers unconsciously twisted a piece of parchment into shreds.
---
....
At the same time.
A snow-white seagull skimmed rapidly over the sea surface as though fleeing some terrible predator.
Behind it, a young man with blue-green long hair, clad in armor, bow and arrows at his waist and a cross-shaped spear in hand, rode a magnificent black winged horse in relentless pursuit.
This was the revelation of the divine mandate, and also the fine match his father God Zeus bestowed upon him.
Once he completed this achievement and captured the goddess, he too would in the future elevate to become an immortal God and enjoy divine favor eternally on Mount Olympus.
Seeing that graceful, elegant figure gradually increasing the distance between them, the young hero with blue-green hair took down his longbow and notched a golden arrow engraved with dense incantations, drawing the bowstring fully taut and aiming at the seagull ahead.
"Whoosh!"
The arrow split the air.
The white seagull in full-wing flight had no time to dodge as its right wing was pierced clean through.
"Pfft!"
Blood sprayed as the seagull's body shuddered, and it fell to the sea with a cry of pain, transforming into an elegant goddess with long golden hair in a white gauze dress.
The ocean nymph Thetis, known for her wisdom.
The moment she hit the water, she forced down the pain and opened her mouth to send out a high-frequency humming call.
A moment later, a white dolphin answered and surfaced, obediently lifting her up and carrying her rapidly toward the deep sea.
Sensing the pursuer behind her gradually losing some ground,
Thetis bit down on her silver teeth, painfully pulled out the arrow embedded in her right shoulder, briefly treated the wound with a healing spell, then wrapped one arm around the dolphin's neck and looked at the deathly still sea surface with a wave of desolation in her heart.
Despite all her precautions and repeated retreats, disaster still came to her door in the end.
Zeus wanted to give her in marriage to Aeacus's son Peleus, and generously provided this young hero with a winged horse, a divine bow, a spear and armor, inciting him to come to the Ocean of Oceanos to harass her.
Thetis made her refusal perfectly clear, but that father God dismissed it without a care, promising that once Peleus succeeded, he would personally arrange a grand wedding to give her to Peleus and bestow a God position on him.
With such temptation before him, the young hero pursued her relentlessly.
Unwilling to submit, Thetis fled all the way to the deep sea of the Ocean of Oceanos and sought help from her father, Nereus, her younger sister, who was the Sea Queen, and her brother-in-law, Poseidon.
The result was that not a single person at sea dared respond or step forward to stop things.
When she caught sight of the three Hecatoncheires who normally stayed in the primordial ocean, surprisingly drifting around in the outer waters of the Ocean of Oceanos, the sharp-minded Thetis immediately grasped the full picture.
Obviously that father God noticed signs of restlessness among the Sea Gods and used her as an example to make a show of force.
Or he was directly coercing them into compliance.
After all, she was the strategist of the Sea Gods, daughter of Nereus, elder sister of the Sea Queen.
Her weight and reputation were sufficient.
But the sad truth was that, whether it was her weak-spirited father, her complicated-minded younger sister and brother-in-law, even if they watched her being cornered into a dead end with their own eyes, not a single one dared extend a helping hand and provoke Zeus.
And she was destined to be nothing more than a sacrifice in this game of the powerful.
Feeling the God blood within her draining away continuously, Thetis lowered her head to look at the wound on her shoulder that refused to heal and felt her heart sink.
That arrow carried extraordinary God power.
She would probably not be able to hold on much longer.
The dizziness in her mind grew stronger and stronger.
The sound behind her grew closer and closer.
Thetis gripped the warm metal piece in her hand and could hold on no longer, sliding from the dolphin's back and floating on the vast sea surface.
At this moment, Peleus, who had been in pursuit all along, saw the stunning beauty, finally unable to escape, and a delighted look spread across his face as he drove his winged horse diving toward his target.
BANG!
However, the moment the galloping winged horse beat its wings, the horse's head instantly exploded into a burst of shattered flesh.
A golden-red streak of light plunged into the sea surface, and a pair of arms reached through billowing clouds of steam to lift the unconscious Thetis up.
(End of Chapter)