Capítulo 36: Grand Priestess of Delphi
Before the descent of the six stars, the Grand Priestess of the Temple of Apollo located in Delphi, controlled the actions of the surrounding temples, suppressing their actions.
She senses if they become restless, something that could cause the temple's stability and the state of the world will emerge.
She would never doubt her senses, as that would be no doubt ignoring what is actually happening before her.
Her actions were not well received, causing some dissatisfaction amongst the clergymen. However, she didn't care what they thought as they couldn't do anything to her. That's why her actions instead of weakening became firmer.
Truthfully, she didn't have anything to fear, as none of the warriors of the temples, no matter which temple, would disobey her.
To them, Pythia was the closest to the gods, a divine messenger that could commute directly with the gods.
If Pythia could read minds, she would scoff at them and call them fools. In this world, probably only her and her organization, the Twelve Seats of Olympus knew the truth. There are no such things as gods.
As a child of a small village, that subsequently became destroyed, she became aware of the lies she grew to believe is not true.
After her village ceased to be, she managed to escape deep into the forest, eating whatever she could salvage.
Her mind kept replaying the scene of the bandits killing everyone, wondering why it happened.
The people of her village were devoted followers of the gods and even conducted sacrifices in their names.
They abided by the rules the gods had created, but still, they met their ends, yet she who had weak faith had miraculously survived and discovered the impossibility of their existing beings called gods.
Surviving in the forest for a decade, she was found by Athena, one of the Twelve Seat of Olympus, a beautiful woman who wore golden armor and wielding a short sword.
It was from her that Pythia learns that while there are no gods in the world, there were beings capable of unimaginable feats, which stem from Genetic Mutation.
Every once in a while, there will be people born with these mutations, some of which are incomplete, which leads to disability and in some situations, death.
Athena introduced herself, showing her a red fruit that glows dimly in the night, explaining that it can awaken a genetic feature inside one's DNA, something she didn't understand.
To be honest, over half of what Athena said was beyond her understanding. Genetic Mutation? DNA? All these were new words that she didn't remember ever learning but using context clues, she could infer as to its meaning.
"I have been observing you for five years, and come to admire your will to live."
Standing taller than most men at over 2.5 meters tall, but managing to retain the curves of a city collapsing beauty.
Athena's head was covered by long blonde hair, while her body was covered by a thin layer of linen with the insignia of an owl.
Around her ankles, she had bracelets, making her look like an exotic beauty.
Maybe because of the harsh environment she had been surviving in, Pythia wasn't shocked upon seeing Athena. What was there to be shocked about? She has been on the brink of death more than once, so why introduce herself now?
Looking at the dirty looking Pythia, Athena notices the slight defiance in her eyes and is pleased. If she had become happy and not grasping the situation, Athena would leave, whether her brother was mad or not.
A warrior must notice the slightest change in one's surroundings and have countermeasures for them.
Kneeling and looking into Pythia's eyes, Athena's golden eyes seem to looking deep into her soul, "I don't owe you anything, nor do I need to feel guilty about your situation. If you live or die, it has no direct influence on me, after all, I don't know you. It's just like how a human sees a bug in the corner, whether it lives or dies as no relation to the human, but if the bug becomes an annoyance, it will be killed. You are no exception."
Pythia looks back into those golden orbs of indifference and shiver, but not out of fear but out of disappointment. She had survived this forest full of beasts and had not stopped praying for help, but no answer. It's what made her realize that the gods are false.
After all of that, why would she request others to help her? She could continue to live her life as she currently is, dying and living as she wanted, everything would be in her control.
"Why are you giving me this fruit? And what is your purpose for approaching me? To someone of your caliber, I'm not someone of importance." Pythia realizes she overlooks some things. Athena said she had been observing her for five years, but what would warrant that? She doesn't recall being someone of worth.
Athena smiles a little before sitting down, but oddly the dirt and filth beneath her are pushed away by wind, making the area she sits at to be clean. "It seems like you don't know your origins, or maybe the elders didn't have time to explain."
"What do you mean origins? I'm just a village girl, who fled when her village was destroyed, how could I not know of my origins? Don't take me for some fool." While she wasn't smart, that didn't mean she was a fool.
She remembered the village and the memories become fresh whenever she dreams.
The village didn't seem odd, everything was within the limits of what she knew a village was to be. Even the surrounding villages seem somewhat better than hers, but it might be a veil used to hide the village's true purpose but that again made no sense. If they were what Athena was implying, they wouldn't be killed by mere bandits.
"Village girl? You truly know nothing." Athena brought out the fruit, "This fruit here is a mystical fruit that can allow someone to unlock a dormant gene, allowing one to gain mystical powers. For example." Athena opened her hand and a small tattoo of an owl was on it.
The owl seems to be alive and started to crawl up her arm, before jumping out, flapping its wings, and flying in the air. Its speed was fast, appearing in one location, then the next in a split second.
There seems to be a limit to how far away the owl could go from Athena, flying at that limit before landing on her shoulder.
Ruffling the feathers of the owl, Athena spoke, "As I said earlier, I'm Athena of the Twelve Seat of Olympus. I'm proficient in battle, strategist, and my companion is an owl." The owl seems to be intelligent, rubbing against Athena's cheek, "My allows me to summon owls to do my bidding."
Athena used her ability and summoned more owls, until hundreds flew in the skies.
The owls gather together and began to fuse,morphing into an owl the size of a elephant.
~ HOOOOT ~
The hooting of the owl shook the trees, alarming the forest creatures, causing them to run in fear.
To these beasts, this was the first time they had heard such a sound, even the owls in the forest flew away in confusion as they felt a familiarity in the sound but the volume had frightened them.
"Do you see, my Gene Mutation allows me to have unrivaled power. To humans, when they see me, I'm the goddess of war, Athena. Just my Gene Mutation alone made my lifespan things of legend. I can live for 200 years, while a normal man could live to 40." To Athena, the value of her vast lifespan was great. With more time, she acquired a large amount of information. However, she didn't have many people to share this long life with other than her family.
Two hundred years of life? Such a thing was impossible, but she just saw Athena conjure a parliament of owls, and the gigantic owl was proof this was no dream. However, "This doesn't explain to me why you have been observing or my origins are."
Athena pauses, "I guess I should be straightforward with you. I have told you about the Twelve Seats of Olympus, but what you don't know is that you are connected to one of them. Apollo is your father…. well not exactly." Athena had a conflicted expression on her face as if finding it difficult to talk about this.
Sighing, she pressed on, "Apollo just like me has an ability. It's called , which allows him to create clones and all of them act independently. As long as one of them survives, he lives. However, one of his clones rebelled against him, which led to the others subsequently rebelling, with your father being one of them. That's why I said your father is Apollo."
Pythia frowned as she found it hard to believe what she was hearing. Her father was the clone of Apollo? She wanted to deny it but Athena's earlier demonstration had proved that the impossible was indeed possible. However, to say her father was Apollo seems like a stretch.
"You have explained, and cleared up some of my confusion, however what does that have to do with me? Even if what you said was true, I was but a child to a mere clone that died, I don't possess any value to you or the organization."
"It's true, you are the child of a clone but you don't seem to understand what I'm trying to say." It seems this niece of hers was not that smart. "Unlike you, we cannot just mate with anyone, as the chances of children being born are next to zero. Even if your father is a clone, he still has the same nonhuman characteristic of my brother, but to a lower level. You are perhaps the first child to be born of an Enchanted Human and a Human, so we are not willing to abandon you. I told you earlier, the fruit is called Gene Unlocking Fruit, but do you know the value of it? We can only collect one fruit every decade, which we have a small supply of. Your father wishes for you to join our ranks, and thus requested one for your use."
Pythia remained calm and didn't show her joy. Her father was alive? Well, he died, but if his memories are indeed being shared by his main body, that means he is still alive. It's a shame her mother didn't have the same luck, otherwise the family would be reunited.
"What do you mean join your ranks? You have been saying twelve this, twelve that, how can I join you rank, wouldn't it make it thirteen?" These people have been trying to imitate the Greek Pantheons, or perhaps these people are where the Greek Pantheon came from. It would explain why the Greek Pantheon is so extensive.
Athena held back her laughter, "Not exactly, you wouldn't be joining us per se. You will be going to a temple in Delphi to be the Grand Priestess of Apollo. The situation currently at the Headquarters is not stable. If you arrived at a time like this, it was likely that you would die, or worse become a breeding thing for the others. We have a low population, but through you, we might increase our numbers."
Pythia got confused, "Didn't you just explain to me that the Gene Unlocking Fruit unlocks the genes of a person, making them an Enchanted Human? Doesn't that mean you can increase your population that way or just breed each other?"
"If it was that simple, we would have done it." Shaking her head, Athena continued, "Only people who descend from my father can unlock their genes. We all descended from the first Enchanted Human called Zeus, the leader of our organization. As the first and strongest of our kind, he possessed incredible power." Looking at the fruit in her hand, sadness tinge her voice, "Over the years, he was only able to sire eleven children, with me being the youngest. The Gene Unlocking Fruit is only a key, but if one doesn't have a lock, the key would only lead to one's death. Meaning that only those descended from an Enchanted Human could make use of the fruit."
Pythia ponders about it for a moment before deciding to take the fruit. If she didn't take it and she ended up in a situation she could have escaped with the power she will gain, she will regret it.
As for what taking the fruit suggested, she will worry about that later.
"Good, I wonder what kind of power you will gain?" Athena's eyes glowed in a mesmerizing manner, as she watches over Pythia.
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