Heavy is The Head That Bares the Crown...

Kronos POV:

My whole immortal life was spent in subservience, bowing to those fate had forced me to view as my superior. Being the youngest son of two of the most powerful beings in the cosmos can leave one in negligence. By the time I was brought into being any love Gaea and Ouranos may have had for one another had long since faded, I know my conception was one of hatred and lust rather then any love or need. Maybe that is why I turned out as I did, cursed from birth. Burdened with sharing the name with a being of such great power as Chronos, the embodiment of time itself. Such a thing would have overshadowed any other being...

I, however, was burdened with a doomed fate, a fate so cruel it would be spoken about as long as words shall be told, a curse placed upon my very essence. After all, Kronos has another meaning, 'To Cut'; looking back now at all my decisions leaves me wondering if any of my choices were mine or if I was just being forced in a direction, dancing to the whims of fate. Not that any of it matters now anyway; it's too late. Any choice or free will I held ended when I accepted that scythe from 'Mother' and agreed to the accursed fate of a kin slayer. 

Looking back now, is it any coincidence that he who is burdened with the name 'To Cut' is the one who stepped forward to cut down his Father? Maybe my life was one great plot, a classic tragedy created by my Mother to remove a tool that had run out of control. After all, names hold power, and my name is cursed.

Not that I can put full blame on Gaea, as I know that all that rage and hatred towards Ouranos was my own; not even my aunt Ananke could fake that. No, I wanted him dead; he deserved it; he was cruel and hateful, and deep down, I knew I could do better; I knew that I would not grow complacent as he had, that I would never treat my kin like he did...Like Mother did.

Looking back now, I can't believe my arrogance; I didn't even wait for the Father to die before complacency and conceit began to take hold. I can't help but think how different things would be if I had just cut him down, quick and clean before he even had a chance to react. But no, instead, I needed to feel stronger. My Father had looked down on me and my siblings our entire lives; after all, we weren't Protogenoi like him; his little failures were not quite as monstrous as the Cyclopes or Hekatonkeires, but still imperfect, unlike him. So I wanted to rub my victory in his face to let the perfect, all-powerful Ouranos know his poor sons had defeated him; if only I had Koio's wisdom, I would've seen his smug grin.

One last laugh to destroy any future his children ever had. I can still hear his voice haunting me: "My sons, Just as they have done to me, I curse them to befall the same fate by their own." At first, these words rang hollow; after all, what did the words of a dying man, no matter how powerful he was in life, have to bear on the new king of the cosmos? But still deep down I sensed these words to be true.

But as I watched my siblings spread out and had their children, I felt his curse had no hold. After all, while my sibling's children held great strength, not even the mighty Atlas, the strongest of my nephews and nieces, held the power to challenge me. And so I believed I gave into my love for Rhea, and for a time, all was well. Although many may call me a liar, no one can deny my happiness when Rhea announced her pregnancy...

But then the birth, when Hestia came into the world all I felt was happiness, the sun blazed down from the sky and the whole of Mount Orthys celebrated the birth of an heir. At least until Hestia released a fraction of her power, all the smiles died. Hestia alone could not challenge me, but he was different, smaller, and far more beautiful than the average Titan baby. Now, this could be put down to the fact she was born from the most beautiful Titan Rhea, but her essence held far more divinity than even some of my brothers, and all I could hear was my Father's laughter in my ear before, in a flash of gold, she was gone. I could feel her immature divinity fighting against my hold with strength no newborn should have...this only strengthened my resolve.

Rhea and I didn't speak much after that, what was their to talk about? She was the Titan of Motherhood, and I had forced her to watch me devour our child, our happiness. I had offered her anything when we married; all she had asked for was a family, and I had destroyed that before it could even begin. A part of me died that day, gone was the once power Titan king and in it's place a cowardly king Cannibal. Most call me brave for facing down Ouranos. If only they knew the truth that their great king feared the power of his children that I refused even to try to defy fate and instead devoured my child.

Any other woman would've run after that, but Rhea was always different. Each time she would get pregnant, we would pray for a Titan, a child I was sure I could love and would find no need to devour. Still, each time my Father's curse rang true, first the soft Demeter, then poor fiery Hera, and finally the first boy Hades, unlike his sisters who radiated strength none of which could have challenged me, but this child he reeked of death. His power pulsed in a way I was sure could one day even eclipse my own, And so once again, I had to devour him; this one would surely be the threat to my throne. And for a second, I had myself convinced that I had succeeded, that I had defeated my Father's prophecy, that I had defeated fate, and that the next child would be a Titan. Still, once again, I would be proven wrong; Poseidon was born with an aura similar to my brother Oceanus and quickly gained strength just like his brother; what else could I do but get rid of him to protect my brother's rule?

As Poseidon joined his siblings, I couldn't help but notice the broken, glassy look in eyes and a speck of...hatred. Of course, Rhea could never hate me forever, so when she got pregnant again, we once again celebrated, genuinely believing that this would be the one child to save our marriage, only for the worst child yet to be born. As an immortal, fate and karma are fickle, almost nonsensical concepts. So when all my hopes looked like they were finally going to come true, only for another child born just as solid and Godly as his brothers, Zeus, but where they held control over concepts foreign to me, this child had the look of the sky, the look of my Father...

Lightning danced between his soul and the pungent smell of ozone filled my senses, it was like reliving the fateful day all over again. So, not even giving Rhea a chance to hold the child I devoured. Bearing the same powers as my Father, this was the one the prophecy spoke of. While I was still willing to try for more children, this had been the last straw for Rhea; she could stand me no longer and fled Mount Orthys without even a goodbye.

With Rhea gone, what little of my sanity fled me, and Orthys became like a prison holding me; even my brothers staved clear in fear of my wrath, unknowing of my sacrifice for them...

Fate was a cruel mistress, and it always extracted its toll; I'll never know if the choices I've taken were my own, but it is I who must live with them; if the world needs a monster, I'll be the monster, not like there's anything else left for me to be...