Trojan War Chapter 12

 

12.

“Hera”

Hera dragged herself from the stasis chamber where she was placed there by her father, Cronus. He was influenced by his fears that the children of his will revolt against him as he had done against his father, Uranus. Her first sight since birth then was her savior, Zeus himself.

“You are free now, my sister,” Zeus spoke to his sister then. He had acted on the instruction of his mother, Rhea. Since then Hera had felt indebted to Zeus till the day he approached her to wed him.

“I can’t.” Hera rejected Zeus. It was the rare rejects that Zeus had to face then. He was not to give up as his nature that whatever he wants, he will get.

Zeus observed and studied the nature of Hera. She was considered a lady of love and commitments. She professed that upon the wedding, the couple was to be committed to each other, and the man was obliged to take care of the woman for she was deemed the weaker of the two. He had to prove superiority over her but forced actions will not work. He then came up with a plan to seduce or overcome her virtues.

“Hera, help me.” Zeus had appeared to her one evening covered with drops of blood and appeared to be wounded. He had met Hera at her humble abode then on the land before the creation of his empire.

“Step in, Zeus. Who had dared to wound you?” Hera then led Zeus into her abode; a simple place compared to the tower she was to inherit later.

“Cronus loyalist. Lackeys they are.” Zeus was laid on the bedding and soon Hera tended to his wounds. He was hurt but none was grave to cause him the loss of his life. Hera then removed his clothes to bathe him. It was her look at a grown man and was embarrassed then.

“Why do you shy away, Hera? I am just a man.” Zeus had stood before her without his clothes but at his youthful age then, his hormones took on precedent then. Hera looked away and used her hand holding the cloth to clean him. Zeus himself was then having fixated on his choice of a lover and forced himself on her despite her protest.

When the body was spent, Hera found herself committed to Zeus as it was professed by her beliefs. She then agreed to his claim on her and was to bore him his children. It was a good commitment but Zeus was not ready to commit to it.

“A man is not to be constraint by a woman and what is it to me when I am the almighty Zeus. I will not be humbled to anyone.” Zeus will not be bounded by the same commitment that he had got from Hera. His infidelity was soon to be noticed by Hera and her anger was directed at him.

“How could you commit yourself to others when you are to me?” Hera had confronted him.

“I am not to commit to anyone but myself. And they commit to me and I have accepted it. Such are my beliefs.” Zeus had defended his amorous affairs.

“You will sow what you had sown.” Hera declared then. She could not discard him but she displayed her displeasure towards him. It was more adamant when the issue of Ares with Aphrodite was caught in the trap created by Hephaestus.

“My Lord Zeus, how am I to handle such matter?” Hephaestus had presented the illicit couple to the Great Hall attended by the Gods and Goddess. The trap was a metal cage that caught the two when in their moments of amorous acts. Ares had stood there in the nude and was defiant of his action. He had banged on the metal bars that defied his strength to be pried open. Aphrodite had sat on the flooring of the cage, glaring with anger at her lover.

“I begged of thee, Lord Zeus. How will you handle such a manner of misconduct?” Hephaestus had looked at Zeus. The latter looked at Ares who stood there and ranting on about his vengeance on any who will dare to comment then. The others who were present were fully assembled of the Gods and Goddess including the minor ones but none dared to look at Ares. The men there who would have slaves their lust for Aphrodite had then the look of disgust that the lady of their fantasy was seen then unclothed.

“She is not what I had imagined.” Words of such were heard but none will own to the words.

“It’s unforgiving. A harlot she is.” Such were the views of the Goddess but again none dare to measure themselves to the words. Infidelity was not condoned, but the acts were not without parties involved among the gathered.

“I will kill anyone who will utter a word of my action.” Ares had cautioned the gathered. The fury of his was well known and they feared his wrath, besides that of Zeus.

“Zeus,” Hephaestus called out. He had heard of the illicit affair of his lover, and yet with his commitment to the tasks of his labor, he had ignored it until he had chanced on them. He was spurned then by the lovers as it was his fault that his lover had found another.

“Who are you to offer her?” Ares had mocked Hephaestus. The latter had been laughing behind his back on his inadequacy due to his deformed looks.

“I am still a Man.” Hephaestus rushed to the metal cage bars designed by him. “More than you will ever be, an adulterer.”

“Bastard, let me out and I will show you my true worth.” Ares had counter threatened. It was then Hera who looked at Zeus and found him silent. He who was the almighty was silent when his siblings fight among themselves. She took on the action then.

“Silence! I demand silence to the issue now. I will see all three of you in the Hall alone. The rest will leave.” Hera looked to the assembled and then to Zeus. “You will do so too.”

It was the first time Hera had commanded Zeus and not the first if you include the personal rifts they had. Zeus had then momentarily wanted to object but he saw the anger in Hera’s expression. He saw then the Hall was empty while the others have departed, and himself did the same, with a scorn on his expression at Ares.

“I am not be silenced, Zeus. Nor my vengeance settled that easily.” Ares had snapped out.

“Silence, I demand,” Hera called out her demand while Zeus walked out of the Hall. She then looked at Hephaestus. “Free them now.”

Hephaestus wanted to object but he had seen Hera’s anger before. No wrath was greater than that of the woman’s fury. He unsnapped the lock and released the couple. Ares upon release immediately rushed at Hephaestus but Hera had known it. She lashed out with the command that even the motherships will halt in warp speed travel.

“Ares, I demand you stop. I am your …mother.” Hera used her other status. Ares had been her favorite since birth and he held his respect for her. Ares stopped in his track then. Hera then looked at Aphrodite who had remained defiant standing there without a shred of cover over her nude body. Hera admired the sister of her’ with the beautiful frame and was not surprised that many Gods had professed to own her but Zeus had her banished to the deformed Hephaestus.

“I demand justice, Hera. I was …” Hephaestus had called out in anger.

“And you will get it but not what you demand.” Hera looked at the other. “I am still a mother to you and Ares, and which mother will see harm to her children. I have held the two of you at my breast and fed with my milk. It’s not your fault that you have become the Gods that you are. It’s the fault of your father who …. Bastardize the upbringing.”

“Do not fault Zeus for my action.” Ares hit back. “I am Ares the God of…”

“And my son who has inherited his father’s character to the fullest. You have no wars to wage and not battles to inoculate now. You have seen fit to expand your ability to conquer others of their …. Love.”

“Sister, I resent that.” Aphrodite in turn protested.

“So your action to slut over my son does not love. The love to display all of your beauty and enticed him.” Hera looked at Aphrodite. “You disgust me, sister of mine. I had wished Zeus left you in stasis.”

“I am the one who requires justice, Hera.” Hephaestus reminded the Goddess. “We had a vow of love..”

“Love? Bah…” Aphrodite snarled at the other. “We have an ..”

“An arrangement by Zeus to pair the two of you; extreme to the other. Hephaestus, you were a … I shall say manipulated by Zeus to appease you so that you will do his bid to create new weapons and metals. He had seen only that in you and she was to …”

“Satiate your desires…. Aha, I would have if he had mine.” Aphrodite laughed cynically.

“I will crush you.” Hephaestus had reacted in anger. It was Ares who came to the defense of the lady and Hera intervened.

“The affair is known and I will sanction it. Hephaestus, you are free of the union and so is she. None of you may claim on the other but for the sake of Olympia, it will only be known in this Hall. Be away, Aphrodite. I will never have to see your beauty be used as a tool of revolt.”

“You will not hear the last of me, Hera. I am still Aphrodite the Goddess of Beauty.” With that Aphrodite turned and walked away. Ares had in turn followed her while Hephaestus looked to Hera for his gain.

“Hephaestus, you are the loser today but marked my words that you will win soon. The true culprit is Zeus and is the God to show him his action will be matched one day.”

Hephaestus sighed and then took his turn to leave. His anger with Ares and Zeus was still on his mind. He told himself that he will create the new weapons that will shake the foundation of Olympia in the coming years.

“It will be a war that will last ten years due to my creation.”

At that moment, Aphrodite had stood on the steps to the Great Hall where the other Gods and Goddess had retreated but not Zeus; he had withdrawn to his chamber. She stood there still unclad and wowed the assembled.

“I am Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty. None will ever match me.” Among the gathered were two young Goddesses named Artemis and Athena. They frowned at Aphrodite for the claim.

“A mere boast that only fools will listen to.” One of the younger Goddess remarked. “Does she know that she is old as Zeus?”