Sisyphus (6)

New Gods, New Rules

VIII. New Gods

“His twin brother, Hypnos. Now that’s a decent fellow.”

Humans and Gods alike, have always favoured my brother, for he brought them the illusion of peace. One you can come back from. Even the cruelty of nightmares was welcomed with a sigh of relief when they opened their eyes and it was all dreams.

I, however, they ran away from. Some did accept me, but with reluctance and often found long-winded ways of deceiving themselves that they did accept me with open arms. I was a fact of life that they would happily have gotten rid of, a tumour developed since birth, a curse. Even the so-called immortal gods kept their eyes on me at all times, pushing me to the edge of Hades. If it wasn’t for my brother, they would have me locked up in Tartarus. They needed his sand.

“Ah, his sand. A gift to godkin and mankind alike.”

The sand could be called a gift, if instead of a toy car or doll, your parents ripped out their organs and wrapped them in a box every single minute of the day. The sand was a part of my brother.  They, of course, never thought twice about it, while my brother, with his infinite kindness, send them out like Santa Claus.

Sooner or later, even something seemingly infinite as sand ran out.

Hestia lived still, cursed with Life and the memories of seeing her beloved fell one by one in front of her eyes. Hestia of the Hearth, but her fire’s now run cold, for the deities that resided on her siblings’ thrones - these abominations - knew not the meaning of family.

The Hearth burned still, smelling of ponderosa pine, Dionysus’s favourite. There was the familiar crackle of the wood, and smoke twirling and snaking to the Heavens. Fruitless attempts, all of it, for Hestia to reach the New Gods. Unused to their powers, they let time passed by in fragmentation, of weeks and minutes and hours and months. All the while, they were constantly bombarded with the pleas and cries of their followers and worshippers, without any effort to tune them out. Without the Sand of Rest, Hestia doubted their consciousness could withstand the stress much longer, and Madness would soon creep in. Three of them are presence now, the ones that still clinged on to the old World, of order and conversations.

“Death’s back.” America spoke atop Ares’s crimson throne. He took the form of a businessman, hands clasp, face and eyes and back straight, ready for the Wall Street bell to ring, a smile etched on his face. His voice boomed the hall, exuding a sort of confidence found only in TV commercials and political debates. Here is a man truly believing in his lies.

“So she is.” – Omega, at Athena’s, nodded. Today, Omega was a woman so attractive Aphrodite would have been jealous. Yet, the shadow of the woman spelled a different story of a fate worse than Death. One moment it was hers, the other, it stretched and grew and shrank and twisted, eyes popping up and darting, mouths and fangs yapping, a form of Madness she herself created. She was the embodiment of “necessary evil,” for she was in control of the Internet.  

“The only thing I want to know, is if she is good or bad for business.” – Money’s voice came from Hades’ throne. The Helm of Invisibility, Hestia thought. She’d never herself seen his form, but she knew well the effects he had on human and her siblings. Even in this Husk of a world, material values were atop the food chain.

Unlike us, Hestia reckoned, they were forced upon the role of Gods to patch the shattered reality, to fill in the gaps left behind by the sudden extinction of her siblings. She pitied what the Fates had weaved for them, for Hestia was the kindest of all, but her grief didn’t allow the Goddess to treat them as family. So, Hestia of the Hearth sat at her place, kindling her flame, missing her family, craving for Sleep, cursing Death.

IX. Which came first, God or Man?

We were driving through what seemed to be the desert when it hit me: sand wasn’t blowing into my face. In fact, there was no gust coming from the friction of the Jeep with the air, even at 120km/h. 

Which came first, God or Man?

Human scientists (to differentiate from God scientists) have long believed that the Gods mere imagination of ancient men, created to represent nature’s phenomenon that couldn’t have been explained, back when the word “science” didn’t exist. Zeus, Thunder. Ares, War. Poseidon, Sea. Apollo, Sun. Hephaestus, Fire. Dionysus, Wine. Hades, Wealth. Hermes, Trade. Thanatos, Death. They put us into categories, then subcategories (boxing, for example, because Apollo killed a boxer that one time. Quite a stretch, but people loved Apollo back then).

We, on the other hand, knew our birth. The Twelve from Chronos and Rhea, they from Uranus and Gaea, they from Chaos, he from Nothing. My brother and I, Nyx. The point was, they, we, all came from somewhere, long before there was such a thing as Man. And we certainly weren’t born to inherit any “concept.”

Example: Apollo. He was God of the Sun (and music, and boxing, and healing, and diseases…) but he wasn’t born with that title. Rather, his association with the Sun only came about after he won against Helios in battle. Any of us would have been able to best Helios.

Another example: The Sky, the Sea, and the Underworld. This had nothing to do with whether or not Zeus was better at wielding the Thunderbolt than Poseidon, nor Hades was that depressing and gloomy back then. The Big Three could equally control the waves and raised the dead, and how they came to their respective territory was down to chance. Literally, they just threw a dice and Zeus just happened to get the highest.

And myself? Man called me Death, Gods called me The End. Birth from Night (Nyx) and Darkness (Erebus), I was there at the beginning of Beings, and will be there to close the door on the way out of Existence. I am more than a tour guide for souls. And yet.

And yet, whoever in charged of reality chose to “fix” it in accordance to Man’s perception of Gods. But who? And why?

“Maybe because it was simpler?” – Sisyphus said.

There was truth in that answer. If you were tasked to quickly save Reality from collapse, you would veer into whichever ways were easiest.

“It is best to not delve on such thoughts, for they are an open invitation to Madness.” – Sisyphus advised.

“How many of these “concepts” then did I erase? And what were they specifically?” – He was right yet again. They were useless information anyway. In order to find my Brother, I needn’t question why the rules changed, only what they were and how to adapt.

“It is rather difficult to tell exactly. You have seen the obvious: water, the Sky, the Sun, the lack of Wind, the lack of Death, Fire has no heat, unless from a Hearth, everyone is sterile, “Love” is fiction, War is no more, and things can no longer be built or crafted. Worst of it all, you can’t get drunk.” – Of all he’s listed, Sisyphus seem most shaken by the last.

“How does anyone live in such a world?” - I asked.

“We have to.” - Sisyphus answered.

From afar, I can see the silhouette of buildings and skyscrapers. It seemed we’d finally reached the home of the Grimscribes.