In The Beginning, Chapter 39
Charlie POV
Lunch was delicious, as always, but Daniel’s attempts at getting to know and tolerate Theia was what made it special for me. He kissed me softly, walking us to the door, and as much as I wanted to learn, I couldn’t wait to get back to him and spend the rest of the day in his arms. I was able to find and draw from my power quicker than the day before, its warmth protected me from the bitter chill of the wind.
“So, what are we doing today, Sensei?” I asked joking around, because Theia seemed a little subdued.
“We aren’t learning martial arts.” Theia replied bluntly, looking at me like I was crazy.
“Yeah, I know, it’s... never mind. What are we doing today?” I asked with a shake of my head and a giggle.
“I want you to picture your power, outside of your body. It can be any form or shape, anything you want. I just want you to produce something visible, and somewhat physical.” Theia replied.
“Okay, but how?” I asked, just as clueless as before I asked.
“By imagining it!” Theia laughed, then sighed at my blank expression. “Like this.” She said, and closed her eyes for a moment, when she opened them again, her hands were glowing softly, with one hand above the other she moved her fingers like she was pulling something, and a feather made of her glowing purple energy appeared between them. She moved her right hand, which had been at the tip of the feather, and holding the shaft in her left, brought it closer. I gazed in awe at the beauty of it, my fingers reached out to touch it and I felt the energy flowing through it, before it disappeared with a flick of her hand. “Now, to begin, I think you should try something a little simpler.” Theia chuckled at my childlike wonder, but excited to try, I rubbed my hands together and tried to think of something easy. Remembering Theia’s movements, I cupped my hands, one over the other, and tried to draw my power into my hands. When nothing happened, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and tried again, nothing. I rolled my shoulders and neck, trying to rid the tension in them, and like I had done when I looked inside for my power, I imagined grabbing it and pulling it towards my hands. I started rolling my hands, like I was holding a ball, while trying to draw my energy down to them. After several minutes of this I felt a buzz along my fingers, like something was vibrating between them. I heard Theia gasp and my eyes shot open to see a paler version of the same purple energy Theia had used to create her feather, but in a baseball sized globe. While Theia’s was the same violet as her eyes, mine was more of a lavender colour. We both watched the ball in fascination. “Well done, Charlie!” Theia clapped excitedly; she ran a finger over the smooth surface of the orb and giggled happily. “Now, throw it into the centre of the field.” Theia instructed. I wasn’t sure if I could even let go of the strange ball of light, but not willing to argue with a goddess, I raised my right hand, and made the motion to toss the orb into the meadow.
“What’s-?” I didn’t get a chance to ask, what was going to happen, because at that moment, the orb hit the ground. Like a time-lapse video, once the ball landed the snow melted and disappeared, and then the energy shot outwards, like a fire along a piece of paper, the snow was melting, the clear area spread wider. The grass below, rather than being dull, lifeless and dead from the cold winter months, was thick and healthy, wildflowers were growing and blooming at incredible speeds. The energy hit the treeline, and seemed to flow up the trunks, reviving and rejuvenating them, as soon as the new snowfall melted away, budding leaves replaced the empty branches. I heard Theia chuckle, like she couldn’t quite believe what she was witnessing, as the entire meadow looked like we had been transported to spring, while the areas beyond were still stuck in the dead of winter.
“Oh Charlie, I’ve never seen anyone display this much power before!” She gasped.
“How many... pupils, I mean...?” I stumbled, unsure how or even if I should ask the question I’d been curious about since I learned about my father’s family.
“How many of your cousins did I train?” She asked, as she walked towards the trees, inspecting them.
“If you’re not comfortable talking about it- “
“It is a difficult subject for me, not all of my students survived.” She whispered sadly. “And one in particular, it would have been better if she had died.” I was shocked at Theia’s bluntness, but also the grief in her voice.
“You don’t have-“ I tried again but she interrupted again.
“No, I do, you need to know.” Theia took a deep breath and walked to the same log we had sat on the day before. “Athena was the first of us to create a child for herself. I do not count Apollo, that abomination...” Theia went quiet for a moment, I took a seat beside her and held her hand in comfort. “Athena has never been attracted to males, but she wanted a daughter, this was before the Amazons. So, she crafted a daughter, in the same way we were created, using her own DNA, but the egg split, and made identical twins, Selene and Harmonia. Oh, they were so beautiful, hair like Athena, eyes that made you enamoured with them instantly, they were such sweet happy things...” Theia looked at me, her lip quivering and her eyes glassy with unshed tears. “Their abilities worked in conjunction with the other’s. Selene could calm unease and Harmonia could mediate any squabble. But Harmonia was so confident, headstrong.” Theia drew in a long trembling breath. “She tried to go to Zeus, use her powers to bring him back to the family, she did not tell us of her plan, we would have stopped her. By the time we realised where she had gone, it was too late. Zeus fed her to his children, until there was barely any of her spark left...” This time her body violently shuddered with a suppressed sob. “Then he forced her to ingest the spark of an innocent. It killed Selene, Athena, it hurt her so badly. When we found Harmonia, she was too corrupted, we couldn’t bring her back, she has been with Zeus ever since. They were the first, I helped train, it is why it took many of us a long time to have children, some of us still have not procreated. Diana was close to Selene and Harmonia, as the youngest of us, she bonded with them, she couldn’t go through that again. She created the moon as a birth gift for them. I had two sons, and a daughter, whom I trained, my daughter lives in Athena’s realm, my son... left when his brother died, I have not seen him since then. But to answer your question, you will be my twelfth pupil.” Theia finished with a sigh.
“I’m so sorry, that must have been awful.” I sympathised.
“It was hardest on Athena, she left Earth not long after that, created her own realm. Many of us have sought sanctuary there.” Theia replied with a smile.
“So, I have nine cousins? I’ve never had a cousin before, I’d like to meet them some day.” I muttered, mostly to myself as I came to grip with the idea of having a family at all.
“Oh, goodness no, you have many more than that, I just didn’t train them.” Theia replied with a chuckle.
“Well, yes but I wasn’t really counting Zeus’s whatever they are, they’re not really my cousins, they sound like parasites.” I said with a grimace.
“No, well yes, they are parasites and not your cousins, I mean Poseidon's children. I forget how many he has, he is not the settling down type. But has had many lovers, some of whom bore him children, and he kept them in the oceans, away from us and Zeus. After the last battle, many left with Athena, but Poseidon forbade his children to leave. Some are dead now, it was a long and bloody war.” Theia whispered, she looked lost in the memories of that time, I reached for her hand again. But the moment I touched her I heard screaming, slashing, growling, it was overwhelming. “Charlie? CHARLIE!” I could hear someone screaming my name, but I was frozen, after the sounds came flashes of horrific images.
“What... what was that?” I asked when I was back in the meadow.
“One of the battles... I am so sorry, I did not mean to allow you inside, you are getting stronger.” Theia said sadly, she reached out to touch me, but dropped her hand. “It is the anniversary of that battle, where I lost my son, and his father. My mind was not prepared, we will leave the lesson here for today, tomorrow I will be more focused.”
“Wait, I need to know... Will it be like that when I face Zeus?” I asked still shaken by the violent images I saw.
“I will tell you about the battles, but not today, I would be unable to give you the full picture. I will be back tomorrow.” Theia smiled and disappeared in a sparkle of her magic. Leaving me alone with the aftermath of the terrible scenes I witnessed. I walked back to the house, my thoughts consumed, the screams still echoing in my mind. I had just stepped onto the garden path when Daniel opened the door, his face showing his concern before I felt it through the bond.
“What happened? Where’s Theia?” He asked as I wrapped my arms around his body and sobbed. He held me until I calmed, leading me in the house and stripping off my coat for me. He sat me down on the couch and waited for me to explain.
“Today, is the anniversary of the last battle between Zeus and...” what? My family? They didn’t feel like that yet, as much as I liked Theia, I hadn’t met the rest of them. “His siblings and their children.” Despite my clunky sentence structure Daniel nodded he understood. “I saw flashes of it while she was... I dunno feeling the effects of PTSD or something? It was awful, there was so much blood, and screaming.” I took a shaky breath as I fought back the tears.
“I thought they couldn’t fight Zeus because of the balance?” Daniel asked confused.
“Theia told me the earth still bore scars from their battles. It looked like a paradise before, and Death Valley afterwards.” I whispered as the images flashed before my eyes once more. My mother and I had gone on a road trip to the Grand Canyon when I was younger, done the whole donkey tour, and I was almost certain it was the same place.
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