The Myth of the Greek Heavenly Demon

Chapter 34 – The Bloodline Of The Protogenoi

Hermes saw it.
A golden lightning bolt, resembling the divine power of his father Zeus, enveloped Hercules’s fist.
The justification Zeus had used while causing Hera so much distress with his infidelity.
At that moment, it became clear that creating a human hero to prepare for the Gigantomachy was true.
Until now, many heroes of Zeus’s lineage had shaken all of Greece, but none had awakened the divine power in their half-human, half-god bodies like Hercules, and none would after him.
…this thought of his was shattered in just one second.
A hammer of golden lightning, awe-inspiring even to Hermes, was met head-on by Dianes’s arms, which manifested divine power as black as the deep night sky.
However, what was even more astonishing was that unlike Hercules, who merely manifested power through his fists… Dianes used divine power with such proficiency.
The divine energy that enveloped both his arms quickly transformed into a black hole that swallowed everything, absorbing the immense golden divine power entirely.
Of course, the aftermath was significant; the black-haired hero also collapsed, bleeding from his entire body.
From Hermes’s perspective, it was a monumental event with two great heroes manifesting divine power in one generation.
He was just about to take flight to inform his father, Zeus, as quickly as possible.

“Hermes.”

“?! Y-Your Majesty?!”

Queen Hera, who always commanded the other goddesses and queens from the highest temple in Olympus.
She was the only one to sit side by side with Zeus on his throne, and she even nursed Hermes, raising him as his godmother.
From above the clouds, she looked down at him and slowly beckoned him to come closer.
Even Hermes, who roamed all over Greece recklessly, meekly obeyed her gesture.

“Hahahaha! Lady Hera! To meet you so suddenly like this. It seems my efforts to serve the gods diligently have paid off. What luck to encounter the most elegant and beautiful queen by chance!”

As Hermes gently descended onto Hera’s cloud and bowed, Hera also smiled faintly and waved her hand slightly.

“Your greetings are always a pleasure to hear, Hermes.”

“Even a rock rolling on a mountain would become a minstrel if it met Lady Hera.
Because it wouldn’t be able to resist praising your noble figure!”

In his mind, he was fiercely calculating 1,475 possible reasons for ‘why Her Majesty is here’
and predicting what kind of chaos each scenario would cause.
Outwardly, Hermes was smiling brightly and praising smoothly the Queen of the Gods as if he were overjoyed to meet her by chance.

And as she looked at the messenger of the gods, the lovely jester, the Queen opened her mouth.

“Where are you rushing off to?”

“Pardon?”

“…..”

Do I have to waste my precious words any further?
The unspoken smile weighed heavily on Hermes’s shoulders.

“Well, um… you see, Lady Hera…”

“…..”

“Well, it’s because… I owe Chiron some money…”

“…..”

This was bad.
The reason Hermes was sweating profusely and making up excuses.
Not only was the most controversial figure in Olympus, Hercules, involved, but also because the best and worst scenario he had anticipated with Chiron had come true.

Oh my goodness.

The pure-blood lineage of the Protogenoi had reappeared on this land.
They were born at the beginning of the world and would exist even after its end, beings so absolute that even the mighty Zeus could not defy them.

And wasn’t Typhon, the colossal storm giant who once brought Olympus to its knees, a prominent child created by such Protogenoi?

The powerful giant born from the union of Gaia of the earth and Tartarus of the abyss, following his mother’s command to judge Olympus, rose from the abyss.
As he lifted his head, stars in the sky shattered and struck the earth, and when he stretched out his arms to grasp the sea and land, tsunamis and earthquakes overturned the world.
Even his prized Talaria could not withstand the storm he summoned, shredding to pieces, and his eyes, burning hotter than the sun, glared at Olympus.
The twelve great gods all sensed their impending doom, and even the mighty Zeus suffered the humiliation of having his tendons cut after being defeated by him.
However, with the cleverness of Hermes and his son Pan, Typhon, who regained his strength and was granted a mortal fate by the goddess of destiny, was ultimately pierced by Zeus’s lightning and sealed beneath Hephaestus’s volcano.

If you look at it this far, it would seem like a story that ends well with applause.

The memory of that day was still vivid in Hermes’s mind.
When he deceived him with a trick on Mount Arima to revive his father Zeus.
Those eyes of Typhon that glared at him.
Those blazing eyes, as if forged from all the destruction and fury in the world, left an immense scar within Hermes that even nectar couldn’t erase.

Whenever the messenger of the gods closed his eyes to rest, those eyes would always find him.
The roaring shout of the enraged titan, the blazing eyes glaring at him.
But in Hermes’s dreams, there were no winged sandals, Talaria, and no father Zeus to protect him.
When he screamed like a helpless child and crouched on the mountainside, the enraged titan would mock him, crushing him like an insect, and the dream would end.
Unable to bear the pain, he sought out Hypnos, the god of dreams, and pleaded with him,
even seeking Apollo to request a performance that would make him fall into a fainting sleep.
But it was all temporary; before long, the memories of that day crept into his dreams and gripped Hermes, refusing to let go.

“Hera, my lady.”

“Yes.”

“My lady Hera… you saw it too, didn’t you?”

Though it was unclear why the queen of the gods had come to this school for young heroes.
Surely, Hera, too, had seen the divine power shown by the child named Dianes.

“This… this must be reported to our father.”

If that black-haired hero realized his own bloodline and gained divinity to ascend to the ranks of the gods.
Perhaps the world might face a second Typhon.

“Father Zeus’s oracle was correct. The great hero of the Gigantomachy was born, and eventually, the Gigantes will appear. But if that child stands on the side of the Gigantes and the Titans…!”

Like a frightened child, Hermes knelt before the queen and clutched his head.
The resurfacing nightmare of Typhon weighed down the jester of the gods.

“Hermes.”

Sensing the seriousness of the situation, Hera reached out to him, but Hermes, crouched on the ground, was trembling pathologically.

“Those eyes are still staring at me, that giant arm grabbing my neck, those feet that crush the earth, trampling my legs… I hear laughter, laughter, and more laughter… it keeps echoing in my head…”

Hermes’s condition was more serious than expected.
Perhaps seeing the pure-blooded Protogenoi again had revived memories of Typhon.
Hera, feeling the gravity of the situation, hardened her expression and forcefully grabbed Hermes by the shoulders, making him stand and meet her eyes.

“Hermes!”

“…Huh?!”

The warm yet mighty divine presence pulled Hermes back to reality from the brink of being overwhelmed by his memories.
Covered in cold sweat, Hermes gasped for breath as he faced his goddess.

“Lady He-Hera… Wh-what on earth…?”

“It was our fault. I am sorry.”

Hera, loosening the shawl draped over her shoulders, gently wiped the sweat-soaked forehead of Hermes and spoke in a quiet voice.

“Always cheerful and lively, neither others nor even I realized the deep wounds you carried. As your goddess, I should have tended to the scars you bore from your final battle with the mighty Typhon.”

Whenever the Queen’s touch wiped his forehead, the vision of Typhon burning before his eyes gradually disappeared.
Whenever her soft voice swept past his ears, the screams of the giant god that had burrowed into his mind quietly subsided.

When the goddess with beautiful eyes looked at Hermes again, smiling at his sweat-soaked shoulder shawl.
The nightmare of Typhon that had gripped Hermes had completely vanished.

“Are you feeling a bit calmer now?”

“S-s-s-sorry, I’m so sorry… for this disgrace…”

Seeing Hermes bowing his head with an uncharacteristically embarrassed, almost whispering voice, Hera laughed heartily as if to lighten the mood and patted him.

“Hahaha! Stop it; I might start doubting if you’re really that sly kid who pretended to be Ares and stole my milk.”

“Mmm… Heraa…”

Hera, always on edge due to Zeus’s constant affairs, was actually a goddess who often laughed and enjoyed meeting others.
Laughing cheerfully for the first time in a while as she faced her foster son, Hera seemed more benevolent than ever.

“I understand your concerns. But leave the matter of Dianes to me, and do not speak of it to Zeus.”

“What?! B-but even though you care for that child, Lady Hera…”

“Shh, it’s not like that. Calm down.”

Though not entirely devoid of such feelings, Hera wanted to keep Dianes’s identity a secret from Zeus.

“…You are not the only one who has suffered an indelible wound from Typhon.”