32 Prelude

Hypnos handpicked a card from the deck of tarot presented to him by his foolish brother and flipped it with anticipation, revealing a spiritual image:

A old man carrying a staff in one hand and a lit lantern containing a six-pointed star in the other hand. It was numbered "9."

"The Hermit," the Sultan of Sleep rendered, and then read the rest of the card inwardly: 'He is the seeker of Knowledge, Mysteries, and ultimately Oneself. He means wisdom, introspection, inner guidance, and solitude, as well as isolation, loneliness, and paranoia.'

'How apt,' he thought wryly.

"Greetings, Mr. Hermit," the charlatan said, grinning.

—Hypnos, the Hermit.

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However, Hypnos could still see the possibility of his student becoming the same Tyrant in the Mythology and Percy Jackson books, though without the abnormal amount of paranoia and indecisiveness since his power was literally unrivalled; none of the Olympians could ever pose a threat to his future rule.

Expect Hera.

Oh…

HERA.

Hypnos could already see his beloved leading a rebellion of gods against Zeus in the name of freedom. With his actions, he unknowingly sowed the seeds of another civil war.

"Teacher," Zeus suddenly called, capturing his complete attention.

"What?" Hypnos hummed, reclining in his seat.

Zeus remained in contemplative silence for a while before voicing a sombre request. "Teacher, I want to witness your true might."

Hypnos furrowed his brow. "Do you truly understand what you are asking of me?" he inquired, giving him the opportunity to retract his words. He, on the other hand, was not surprised by his student's request. He already discovered that Zeus had a new dream lately: to surpass Hypnos.

"Yes," Zeus nodded firmly, as adamant as a mountain. "I am certain."

Hypnos raised his hand and pointed at Zeus. "You are a mortal," he said cavalierly.

The God of Lightning felt all of the power he was so proud of vanish into nothingness. His divine body and soul began to deteriorate as claws of mortality buried themselves into his very being, shredding whatever pieces of divinity remained in him to oblivion.

Zeus rattled in his seat, trying but failing to contain his terror. It was uncontrollable and uncontainable, for it was the fear of the unknown.

In his eyes, for a split second, Hypnos appeared to be an amalgamation of all the unknowns of the cosmos, enveloped in the shadows of mysteries—indescribable and ineffable.

"You are a god." Hypnos declared again, bringing Zeus back from the grips of mortality and back into godhood with nothing but words.

Zeus took a deep breath, immediately trying to pull himself together. Even in his wildest dreams, he never imagined his teacher was capable of such a feat. He had assumed that his teacher's ability to alter reality could be somewhat limited, but he was wrong, so wrong....

"Does that suffice, Zeus?" Hypnos asked, jarring him out of his reverie.

"Yes, teacher." Zeus nodded, his voice strained. "More than enough, in fact."

"So, what are your plans for your dream now?" Hypnos inquired, his head tilting willfully. "Giving up?"

Zeus was unsurprised. "Never," he chuckled wryly, his face filled with confidence. "But, teacher, you already know that."

"Zeus.." Hypnos sighed. "Preserveness is a double-edged sword. You would do well to remember that,"

Zeus nodded. Hypnos saw his final words go in one ear and out the other, but he didn't care; he had taught everything that needed to be taught, and now it was all up to Zeus. Will he continue to impress or end up disappointing him? Only time would tell. Despite this, Hypnos braced himself for disappointment.

"Let's continue," Hypnos finally said, restraining his thoughts. He pointed to the section of the parchment that discussed the electric field and began to explain it, while part of his mind began contemplating the situation of the coming Olympian civil war.

Zeus leaned forward in his seat, raptly listening in. And so they went on with last class under the afternoon embers of the sun.

——————

Main Hall, Olympus.

Hypnos waved his hands over the silver table one last time, finalising the modifications. Metis stood beside him, looking on in wonder.

"There." Lord of Dream ended by patting his hands. "I linked the table to the mind realm, forming a superficial mental network that will allow you to pass commands and instructions to everyone during the final battle."

Metis nodded, her face flushed with excitement like a child who just received a new toy. She dashed over to the table and imbued it with her essence, familiarising herself with it and analysing its structure for future purposes.

Hypnos simply shook his head in amusement and walked over to the other side of the table, where Prometheus was briefing Gaea on the assault plan on Mount Othrys, their only plan that she was undecided about.

"Shall we begin?" Hypnos intervened.

"Yes." Gaea said ethereally, and then she turned Prometheus. "That's more than enough, Prometheus."

Prometheus nodded, and Hypnos sat down beside them.

"Metis.." The Titan of Forethought called out to the Titaness of Wisdom, but she was too absorbed in the silver table to hear him.

"She will eventually join us." Hypnos simply stated.

Prometheus hummed and waved his hands at the end of the silver table, causing a projection of the solar system to appear in front of them. "The most pressing issue of the final battle that has yet to be addressed is the problems that come with the space; there is no gravity in space, and that is just one of the many issues, which all but renders having a battle in space implausible." he presented the case to the Primordials, who sat together facing him. "What are your thoughts on this, your excellencies?"

"There is nothing to consider." Gaea shook her head dismissively. "Hypnos can solve these little problems of yours."

With doubts written all over his face, Prometheus turned towards Hypnos.

"Dreams can make the impossible possible, Prometheus." Hypnos started off mystifyingly.

So he began explaining his plan to solve space problems, which were summarised as follows: he was going to alter the reality of the solar system to make it suitable for the divine war. Metis joined them in the middle and was once again struck by his power.

After that was cleared up, Prometheus moved on to the next priority on the agenda: Order—Hypnos and Gaea assumed the positions of the keepers of the order. Gaea explained that they would keep the chaos from spreading beyond the battlefields. And they would also negate the aftereffects the divinities of gods would have on the solar system. She also added that she would enable teleportation for both sides throughout the solar system, cementing the equilibrium between gods and titans.

Prometheus and Metis listened intently to Gaea's words, making some final adjustments and improvisations to their plans. And their meeting continued on under the last rays of the setting sun.

——————

Hypnos lay on the lap of his love beneath the brilliance of millions of stars. The night was filled with tranquilly. It wrapped itself around them like a blanket, soothing their hearts and souls into harmony.

Hera leaned against a pillar on his room's balcony, her hand caressing his hair as they stared silently at the dark sky flecked with glimmering lights.

Throughout this day, Hypnos gave Hera another thorough training in preparation for tomorrow. She had grown much stronger in the previous year, embarking on the cosmic path and ascending to become the Cosmic Goddess of Stars.

Hera attained star divinity at the start of this year by following his instructions and comprehending the true nature and composition of the stars. After that, Hypnos immediately began training her on the cosmic path, and because stars were completely cosmic in nature, just like time, it gave her an advantage over the other gods on the cosmic path, and she also had unrivalled talent—all of which enabled her to achieve the status of cosmic goddess somewhat easily compared to other gods embarking on the cosmic path.

Aside from training, Hera told him about her foray into the underworld and how she met his brother. She told him that they got along well, much to his dubiousness…

"I want to see your realm," Hera said abruptly, jolting him out of his reverie.

"Tomorrow," Hypnos promised.

Hera lowered her gaze towards him. "You said you'd take me to your realm when the war was over—"

"Yes." Hypnos silently nodded, raising his hand and rubbing her chin. "It will end tomorrow."

"Tomorrow…" Hera drawled, her tone marred with surprise.

"Why the surprise?" Hypnos chuckled. "You don't believe in your own brothers and sisters?"

"You know, it's not that," Hera stared at her beloved. "I know we'd win with you on our side; that's a given. However, it is still surprising that you claim it will all be over in a day."

"Well, my love," Hypnos said cryptically, "you will understand everything tomorrow."

Hera didn't press, instead humming to him.

"Speaking of war…" Hypnos drew a blue staff from his dream. "I finished remodelling it."

Hera reached for her staff, which the elder Cyclopes had forged. It didn't sit well with her after her ascension to the position of goddess of the stars. Hypnos wanted to make her a new weapon, but she had grown attached to her staff, so he offered to redesign it for her.

The Goddess of Marriage gripped her staff tightly and frowned, as the connection she had always felt with her weapon had vanished.

Hypnos saw right through her doubts. "I severed your connection to your weapon. Your essence is still present in there; absorb it back now."

"Why?…" Hera found herself asking, and she immediately regretted it.

"What why?" Hypnos rose from her lap and gave her a startling look. "Have you not learned anything?"

"A weapon is a weapon." Hera immediately repeated his words to calm him down. "Ultimately, only your own power matters."

Hypnos' scowl did not dim at all.

"I understand entirely." Hera went on. "But still…" she caressed her staff forlornly.

"I never understood the obsession that gods have with their weapons." Hypnos whispered under his breath, peering at the melancholy Hera.

Hera finally looked up at him with burning determination, as though she had just made a life-changing decision. "Thank you for this, Hypnos." And with that, she extracted her essence from her staff, breaking all of her connections with it.

Seeing her like this, Hypnos didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Anyway," he wisely opted to change the subject, summoning two glasses of nectar and giving one to her. "For tomorrow," he said as he raised his glass to her.

"For tomorrow." Hera reciprocated emotionally, clinking glasses with him. And they sipped the wine together, surrounded by stars.

"Tell me a story." The Goddess of Marriage immediately brought up their tradition, completely disregarding her staff, just as Hypnos had predicted.

Hypnos cleared his throat and began telling one of the many adventurers on the shadow realm, where Hypnos mostly concealed his identity, to join the crews of dark feys on their journey to explore the shadow realm's undiscovered regions. He even made a name for himself among dark feys with that fake identity. Those were truly unforgettable times.

Hera placed her chin on her palm and looked at Hypnos who was proudly narrating his adventures with a contended smile....

——————

That was all the major events of the last day; as for the minor, Hypnos went to check on Poseidon and Hecatoncheires (they made a truly interesting group) and then he also checked on their cavalries, which were mostly made up of monsters, ghosts, and natural spirits, all ready to swarm towards Mount Orthys.

And with that, the last day came to an end, and Hypnos teleported to the outer reaches of the solar system, a hundred thousand miles from Pluto. He gathered all of his essence and then gazed at the brilliant solar system—the hub of creation.

Hypnos raised his palm to his mouth and blew into it, and sand particles flew out, glistening with starry light. It sprinkled and melted onto the fabric of reality around him, unleashing an unseen wave of power that swept the entire solar system in a fraction of a second.

Hypnos closed his eyes and imposed his will on reality, bending the material laws of creation to his whim. The reality of the solar system immediately shimmered with unreal light, changing to the will of the Lord of Dream.

Hypnos had just grafted the entire solar system into a divine battlefield for the final war of Titans and Gods, making the impossible possible.

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Next day, Mount Olympus.

The light of dawn shone through a long, golden track filled with arrays and arrays of divine chariots ready to be drawn by a myriad of mythical creatures and spirits. The immortals were present at the helms, gripping the reins tightly, solemness and sombreness marring their countenance.

Hypnos and Gaea stood shoulder to shoulder, calmly facing the immortals. The Earth Mother was giving the final speech, and as she finished it, Olympus trembled with deafening cheers and clamour. And finally, everyone turned to him in reckoning silence.

"Well," Hypnos cleared his throat, looking at the immortals. "I suppose there's only one thing left to do."

"What's that?" Hera asked from her golden chariot tied to peacocks.

"Win the whole fucking thing." Hypnos declared boomingly, and waved at the gates behind him.

The gates of Olympus opened with rattling thunder. And the immortals yanked on the reins, and the swarm of creatures moved restlessly, shuddered, and reared as if to signal. The divine chariots then began to ascend into the brilliant sky.

"Victory is ours," Zeus thundered, and the Immortals raised their weapons in unison, hailing away from Olympus with chants and hears. And the world itself trembled with their ascent, drawing the attention of all towards them.

The divine chariots began to emit an infinite amount of light, which increased their speed exponentially until they morphed into shooting stars that quickly vanished into the boundless sky with brilliant twinkles.

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