“I’m anxious about the box and I don’t know any better way to acquire it in this modern world.”

Oryn smiles at Noia sadly. “Ama Levanoia You are a force of nature. Forgive me. I am not used to seeing you floundering in a new setting.”

Noia smiles and ruffles his curly hair. “Oryn, what happened to Zeus?”

Oryn looks down at his tea. “He did not find the box. All of his godly entity was sucked into the box as you planned and he turned mortal.”

Noia swallows. “Is he…?”

“He reached the end of his mortal life, Ama.”

“…a life for a life…”

Noia grips the side of the couch. Oryn watches her but says nothing. He seems to know a memory is flashing back to her.

Noia was young, younger than a mature god but older than any mortal which were only dreams in the minds of gods at this age of the earth. She was flying through the air, the fire and brimstone of Chronos’ titans streaking around her. The Great Ones and the new gods are locked in battle. Noia had been told to stay out of the fray but she had snuck out of the mountain sanctuary and darted among the clouds to watch. After all, her fate was at stake too.

Then Chronos swallowed another of his children.

The first bolt of lightning flew from her on instinct. It tickled the Ancient and Terrible One enough to turn his head – just the distraction Zeus needed to strike him with a golden sword. Chronos roared and snatched his son from the chariot of the sky, hoisting him overhead. Noia stretched from the clouds, hanging upside down, and screamed an objection.

The next bolt struck Chronos in the eye and he cried out, dropping Zeus. Zeus used his downward momentum to plunge the sword into his father’s stomach, cutting his siblings out as a gateway to Tartarus opened behind the colossal Chronos.

Then, with a wordless yell, Zeus flew upwards, kicking Chronos in the jaw with enough force to knock him into the vacuum of the gateway. A cheer rose up as the titans swirled into the gateway.

Only Noia saw it, the molten rock titan that would fly too close to Zeus. She cried out just as it passed Zeus and snatched him by the leg. Zeus seized the edge of a mountain and the jerk of their halt pulled the golden sword from his hand.

Noia turned away, dashing upwards through the storm clouds until she burst past the top layer. For a moment she was suspended in mid-jump, soaking in the heat of the sun, then she flipped into a downward descent as gravity pulled her back. The particles around her charged her, crackling with her passing. Thunder roared behind her, like a crowd chanting her onwards. She twisted herself into a spin and the clouds swirled down after her, her hair fraying at the static gathering around her.

When she shot through the undercover of clouds Zeus’s hand just slipped from the mountain. The other gods were too far away. They would not reach in time.

But she could.

Noia held both hands straight out before her, fingers curled, ready to rip the titan and the adolescent god apart.

Light sizzled to life around her and Noia screamed just before the impact.

Everything went numb.

When she opened her eyes again the titan was bouncing back towards the portal and Zeus had snatched the branches of an oak tree not felled in the battle.

He was growing smaller in Noia’s vision. Was the tree carrying him away? No, it was Noia who was moving away, caught in the pull of the gateway, tumbling head over heels towards the titans. She did not bother to scream, too exhausted from becoming the lightning. At least in Tartarus there were plenty of crags of underworld for her to escape them.

Claws scratched her, renting her apart with pain – and then the breath was knocked out of her as she connected with something solid. Black spots swam in her vision and Noia wondered if that was it. Had she reached Tartarus that quickly? It was dark and windy here…

Then the wind stopped and her vision cleared. She had not passed through the gateway – the claws trying to rip her apart had been the branches of a rowan tree and she had been knocked out when she flew into the trunk.

“Levanoia!”

She looked up – down, really – from the tree. Zeus had leapt to the base of the rowan and stood with his fists on his hips.

“Why are you not on Mount Olympus? Come down here!”

Noia moaned with exhaustion and pain. She tried to disentangle herself from the branches but slipped and crashed down through the branches.

Zeus caught her and she braced for more reprimands only to have the breath squeezed out her again when Zeus crushed her to his chest.

“I didn’t pluck you from the titans games only to see you become trapped under their abuse in the end. But…” He cleared his throat and put her down. He plucked branches from her hair and wiped blood from the scratches on her cheek. “Levanoia, I thank you. I owe you my life.”

The other gods gathered around them and Noia flashed forward in time to that moment again when she had confronted Zeus about taking the Lightning Children.

“They were trashing around devout mortals – even the ones who pray to you. I saved you from colossal disgrace, Levanoia. My debt to you is paid. A life for a life.”

Flashing forward into the present Noia coughs, clearing the taste of brimstone from the back of her throat.

“Which one was that?” Oryn asks.

“Life for a life,” Noia gasps. “I can’t believe…he saved us from the Eater of Worlds but then he started to become just like them…”

“Hm.”

“He’s – he just – wait, you said he is dead. That means the last bit of his godhood was trapped in the box so I should have woken. Why didn’t I wake until now? What kept me asleep? Who disturbed the box?!”

Oryn scratches the side of his head. “I think Prometheus did something to alter the trap you had woven around the box.”

Now it was Noia’s turn to stare at him. “He wouldn’t…”

He shrugs then looks down at his hands. “I do know how it was done or what was done. I was…not around when you wove the trap on the box nor was I around when the box was disturbed,” Oryn admits. “I was searching for you and…the others. Morphia had found signs of one of the other Lightning Children and I was across the planet when I felt the shift of power.”

Noia held her head in both hands. “Prometheus did it…?”

“I don’t know whether he damaged the web on the box on purpose or not, Ama. I try not to lay judgment when I don’t know all the facts – like when Zeus sealed you amongst the mortals as Pandora.” He turns the half empty mug in his hands. “I made a mistake accusing you then and I could not make a mistake about your friend when you did not wake. I was angry, but I could not find him.”

Noia’s vision jumps. She is staring at her empty hands in the present then her center of balance tilts –

Pandora stared at the jar in her hands in admiration. It was so light for the promise it held.

Inside her a voice screamed. Something is wrong, it said. Give it back! The intricate swirls lulled the angry voice down into the depths of her subconscious and a light feeling filled Pandora’s head once more. She looked up at the god before her, shining so brilliantly at the main dais.

“Thank you,” she said. Something stirred in the place the angry voice had come from. It hissed that her voice was wrong. It was too high, too breathy, to empty. She pushed it back stubbornly, leaning forward in the light of the god of gods. “Thank you for this honor, Zeus. I shall keep it safe. But how will I know?”

“How will you know what?”

“How will I know when to open it?”

“I will call for you by name,” the king of gods said. “Your true name.”

Pandora’s brows lifted and she smiled helplessly. “My true name? King of gods, forgive me. I do not understand.”

She blinked. Had the god just snorted at her? He was grinning now and pointed to the box. “Pandora, gift to mankind, you hold in your hands the vessel of wonders to grace the kingdom of man in reward for their cleverness. You are blessed with a precious package but do not seek to know all its secrets.“

“A thousand apologies, great lord,” she said, bowing but cradling the jar in her hands. She felt a touch on her head and froze, holding stark still under his hand.

“Your curiosity will be sated when you know all of your own secrets.”

Then he was gone.

But the voice was back, screaming obscenities for the snide comment that had slithered out of the god’s mouth. Pandora gasped at the intensity of the bodiless voice and almost dropped the jar in desperation to cover her burning ears. She clutched the jar, staring intently at the swirls until the voice inside faded to a cry then a whisper, then silence.

Years later and Pandora waved to her eldest child and husband until they disappeared among the long stalks of golden harvest. She turned back into the house and arranged herself in her sewing chair. A new little one was on the way and this one would have all the clothes she could make for it. For a moment she glanced at the jar sitting high on the mantle, tracing the swirls with her eyes. The angry voice inside her all but disappeared during her pregnancies so it was more habit than anything else. She smiled and laid a hand over her stomach.

The door burst back in a gust of wind, banging on the wall behind it. Pandora cried out and raised her arms in defense. The gust of wind dissipated and she peeked over her arms.

A child stood inside the doorway. His skin was sun-soaked and he was clothed as the noble errand boys were – except that his robes glowed faintly. On his wrists were two gold manacles with the mark of the king of gods.

She beamed at him. “Are you him? Are you the messenger for the King of all? Is it time?”

The devine boy advanced upon her and she could see power behind his rich eyes. “What are you doing here, Ama?”

“Oh, you honor me. That I could be mother to one of–” She cut herself off with a gasp when the boy seized her by the shoulders.

“What do you think you’re doing? You’re ruining everything!”

“I don’t understand. Was this not the purpose Zeus set for me? More women come to my call and mankind is multiplying once again. We honor the gods, empowering them with our worship and live under their bounty in return. Have we done something wrong?”

The boy was silent, searching her eyes desperately. Feeling sympathy for him she smiled and dared to touch his cheek gently.

He flinched away from her hand and released her. “So you’re working with Zeus now?” He spat the words out, revulsion on every syllable. “How can you–?” He bit his lip. Then he huffed and stomped over to the door where he paused. His next words were so quiet she almost missed them.

“What happened to you?”

That night the Lady of Dreams, Morphia, came to her as always but instead of begging her to remember something she could not she transformed into Zeus. He bullied her with a godly might, saying it was time to give mankind the surprise blessing stored in the jar and so he spoke her true name: Levanoia.

Noia woke in one of Zeus’s temples, the jar open and the little horrors of worry, crime, hate, prejudice, and envy spilled out amongst others to infect mankind and prey on their inborn weaknesses. She had managed to shut the jar and fled the temple.

But she had been spotted.

Mankind chased her into the underground as blood dripped down her thighs with the loss of the babe for a goddess could not birth what was conceived as a mortal – and yet she had only a fraction of her original power.

For years she fled through the subterranean network but the cover of the earth could not block the screams of her once fellow women. Some time later, she could not remember how long, she felt the shift in power as a poet condemned her, a poet who had not even been there! The balance shifted towards man and Zeus laughed and laughed and laughed.

This was the fate of those who crossed Zeus. The whole situation was worse for everyone. They lost intellectual minds and dreamers and innovators as darkness clouded the mortal minds.

Then Noia grew angry and she pulled out of Morphia’s grip and turned–

Only to be stayed by Prometheus who wrapped his arms around her and held her in her anguish and rage. She was so angry she was almost spitting lightning again! The sparks crackled around her but when Prometheus’ grip tightened they died. When she was no longer sobbing he released her to Morphia who brought her to a pleasantly numbing darkness…

(continue to the next part to finish this segment and make your vote!)