XX

ZEUS

2,590 Years Before the Final Exodus

 

Zeus rode his horse up the hill to a plateau. There, he spotted Poseidon. He was sitting on his horse, staring at the ocean.

"Ho, Poseidon!" Zeus yelled and his horse galloped alongside.

"I thought you would come." The Lord seemed morose. He merely glanced at Zeus before returning his gaze to the sea.

Zeus, however, was in far better spirits. "Of course I came. I love it here." He looked back to the untouched countryside and then out to the ocean. "You have the finest steeds and the greatest vista." He cleared his throat and looked at his brother. "What's wrong?"

Poseidon nodded. "I'm getting tired, Zeus."

"Tired of what?"

"Living." Zeus' smile faded and Poseidon looked down at his hands as they held the horse's reins. "I'm old."

Zeus slapped him on the shoulder, "So am I. We all are. We just need to keep busy."

Poseidon shook his head. "I've tried that for a couple of millennia now. There's only so much I can do."

Zeus tried to smile again, but he couldn't maintain it. "Look, I came here to relax and spend some time with my older brother." Zeus held Poseidon's shoulder tightly. "You're not going to be a poor host, are you?"

"No more joking, Zeus. I am tired." He looked out to the sea and breathed. Quietly. After a few moments, he asked, "Do you remember my son, Neleus?"

Zeus' eyebrows lifted. He chuckled and said, "Son? You mean …"

"I know," Poseidon said. "I liked him a great deal. Maybe even loved him as a son." He exhaled loudly. "He died a couple of years ago."

Zeus nodded and he said, "I'm sorry."

"And Persephone?" Poseidon looked at his brother and saw his face fall. "She was my daughter. My blood child."

Zeus swallowed hard. "That one … that really shook us up. Everyone."

"Of course it did." Poseidon sat still again. His horse shook its head, flopping its mane from side to side. Finally, he asked, "Do you remember that last night with Hades?"

Now that was a name Zeus hadn't heard spoken aloud in ages. "Of course, I remember."

The three brothers, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, were gathered around a campfire outside Theonpolis. Back then, there weren't many marble buildings. Wood, brick, and stone dominated the city. The people were engaged in a festival put on by Demeter, Athena, and Hestia to celebrate the bicentennial of the Lords' descent from Mount Olympus. For once, the brothers had most of an evening to themselves.

"Did you see the women throwing themselves at Apollo?" Hades laughed.

Poseidon and Zeus had already had some wine, so their laughter came easily. "The boy didn't know what to do!" The Lords mingled with the people and engaged in various forms of debauchery. Mostly drinking, thanks to Dionysus and his agricultural skills.

Hades smiled, "It's been two hundred years. I think he would know what to do by now." Zeus and Poseidon kept drinking that harsh wine and laughing. Hades had a couple of sips, but that was enough. He smiled again and sprawled somewhat on the log.

"Everyone loved Hades," Zeus said to Poseidon as they sat on their horses later on the plateau.

"Where's Leto?" Hades asked by the campfire.

"Where do you think?" replied Zeus, as he drank more wine with one hand and pointed back to the mountain with the other. "She never comes down."

"Well, she never was excited about the whole experiment idea." Hades scratched his stomach and looked at the stars. "Hera, though, she backed your move. She's been all for the plan this whole time."

Zeus licked his teeth. "Don't you start, too. I get enough of that kind of talk from your brother," he gave Poseidon a firm push.

"Don't blame me," Poseidon said. "You married Hera."

"Centuries ago."

"But you cheated on her centuries ago, too." Hades was still staring at the stars when Zeus kicked dust onto him. "Hey! I'm just telling you the truth."

"The kid's right," Poseidon said. "Hera's supported you all this time …"

"Enough," Zeus said, almost angrily. "I mean it. I'm here to relax."

"Oh," Poseidon said. "I'm afraid neither of us have vaginas."

Hades immediately started laughing and Zeus' mouth fell open. "That is not how I relax."

"The hell it isn't, Zeus." Hades sat up and pointed toward Theonpolis. "We've been among them for two hundred years and I'm sure you've had your way with at least that many."

Zeus shook his head. "I'm leaving."

As he poured out his wine and began to get up, Poseidon and Hades both pleaded with him. "No, no. Come on. Sit."

"We'll stop. We promise."

Zeus looked at their faces and they seemed sincere. He sat down and Poseidon threw an arm around him. "There you go. Have some more wine." He passed a bowl to him.

As Zeus sipped, Hades sat on the log beside him and patted his back. "Give me some more, too." Poseidon passed the jug to him and as he lifted it, Hades nudged Zeus, "If you're lucky, I may let you have your way with me."

"You soaked him with that wine," Poseidon recalled with a grin atop his horse. "He was simply dripping."

Zeus nodded. "If I hadn't poured it on him, he wouldn't have gone back up the mountain."

"It wouldn't have mattered." Poseidon began to slowly guide his horse down the plateau, away from the sea.

Zeus watched the waves for a moment and followed. "Sometimes I wish I had gone up instead."

"No. You don't." Poseidon began to parallel the shore.

The brothers trotted along slowly, silently, for a time. Zeus broke the silence. "That's another name I haven't thought about in a while."

"Hm?"

"Prometheus."

Poseidon nodded. "Well, you need to pay better attention."

Zeus looked at him quizzically, "What?"

"You haven't heard, I gather, that there is apparently an underground movement attempting to put Prometheus 'in his rightful place' as the one, true god."

Zeus stopped his horse. "What?"

Poseidon turned his around. "Just a rumor I caught."

"Prometheus as the one, true god? That doesn't make sense. How do the humans even know that name?"

"Time can't erase everything, brother." Poseidon started back on a path along the shore and Zeus rejoined him.

Zeus wanted to refocus on Poseidon; not get bogged down in names from the past. "What do you mean, you're tired of living?"

Poseidon grinned meekly. "It's just been so very long. I feel old. Useless. Those little fishing villages I visit? They've started trucking in Cylons. They don't need me anymore."

"Eh." Zeus watched a bird fly overhead and out toward the ocean. "You're a god, brother. If you want a use, you can make one."

"But there's not one I want. Not anymore."

"You have millions upon millions of worshippers!"

Poseidon grinned again and put a hand on Zeus' shoulder, "That doesn't matter to me."

"There's plenty to do. You could rule Illyria more directly. You could come back to Olympus and stay for a time."

"I lived there for almost a thousand years."

"You could take that ship of yours out to sea and visit every port on Kobol."

Poseidon chuckled, "I did that. Eight hundred years ago."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure things have changed since then."

Poseidon leaned over and patted Zeus' thigh as they rode. "You have always been an optimist. You just can't fathom that someone doesn't see the world the way you do. That's fine. That's what makes you a good, yet stubborn, leader."

Zeus fell quiet. Poseidon was looking out to sea. The sun would be setting before them within the next few minutes.

"Why won't you come back with me? I may be calling a council of the Olympians."

Poseidon raised his eyebrows. "Why?"

"A few years ago, Apollo told me Kobol was becoming stagnant and I didn't see it, until recently." Poseidon laughed. "I need to talk to the council about … changing things."

Poseidon inhaled deeply as he realized. "Asclepius didn't tell you?"

Zeus furrowed his brow, "About what?"

"My decision."

Zeus felt his chest tighten. "You're going to …"

"Yes." Poseidon got off his horse and began to walk to the shore. "Wait … if Asclepius didn't tell you, why are you here?"

Zeus was right behind him. His mouth went dry and he licked his lips before he answered. "It's your birthday."

Poseidon smiled a little and then nodded. "I've thought about this long and hard, brother, so don't try to stop me."

"I don't understand." Zeus pulled on Poseidon's shoulder, turning him back. "Why?"

Poseidon smiled and held Zeus' face in his hands. "My time is over." A single tear left Zeus' eye and ran onto Poseidon's hand. "Our time is over. When you speak to the council, tell them that for me." He stood, staring at his brother for a moment.

Poseidon turned to walk into the water and Zeus stayed at his side. "Poseidon." He stopped and turned. "Thank you."

Poseidon smiled again. "I can't imagine for what. I don't know what I've done to deserve your tears."

Poseidon walked into the water. Waves lapped at Zeus' feet and he wanted to say something else, but nothing came to him. His mind raced with words, phrases, memories. He tried to calculate what it would take to pull him back, but he felt nothing would work. So, he gave up. He said the only genuine thing on his mind.

"I will miss you."

Before he dove under the ocean, Poseidon turned and said, "And I you." He plunged under a coming wave and began to swim into the west, toward the dropping sun. The Lord of Lords sat in the sand, watched the waves, and wept.