Before they parted, as expected, this sacred Lady of Justice was no exception. With a touch of shyness yet firmness, she asked Zeus to exchange a lock of hair with her and bind it as an oath.
Even Themis, steadfast in principle and devoted to justice, could not remain unmoved when faced with this token of eternal linkage.
Zeus, of course, gladly agreed.
This was a matter of attitude, and attitude is always the most important!
Anyway, both he and Themis had radiant golden hair, only slightly different in tone. Swapping a lock wouldn't make much difference, and it wouldn't make this philandering God-King's hair color turn multicolored too quickly.
A happy occasion indeed.
And Zeus gained more than that from his union with Order. From now on, the authority of "Darkness" was also fully taken into his possession.
Having completely seized Order, and mastering fate and time, attaining near-absolute omniscience, the mindless darkness held no more secrets from him.
Even if it was the primordial source and foundation of existence, even if it was the indispensable dark energy of the cosmos, all of it was now within his control.
By the God-King's supreme dominion, by his authority as Lord of the Divine Order, Master of the Divine Network, Great Father of Fate and Temporal Order, and Sovereign of Spirit, he had now drawn darkness wholly into his divine mastery.
Nor was that all. The authorities of those gods cast into Tartarus were likewise under Zeus's control. While the original rulers were "offline," God-King Zeus was the absolute primary holder.
When Zeus and Themis returned to the feast with the six newborn goddesses, each radiating the brilliance of supreme authority, the God-King, before all deities, personally announced their honors and powers in a most solemn and ceremonious tone.
In the hall, most gods cheered with joy. Naturally, they were truly envious as well.
But they also understood that an authority like "Administrator of the Divine Order," which concerned the cosmos's very foundation, could only be entrusted by the God-King to his own children.
Now that the universe had several powerful new organizers of order, these deities' burdens would be correspondingly lighter. Without question, this was a tremendous boon.
As for anything else, the more one thought, the more one brought needless trouble upon oneself.
Even so, there were indeed a very few who grew even more jealous—no names need be mentioned; those who know, know.
And many goddesses felt another pang of sourness in their hearts.
Among the dazzling host of goddesses surged a sea brewed of sourness and envy.
Even the always gentle and magnanimous Metis was beside herself with envy at that moment.
She had watched Zeus gain one adorable child after another, yet she herself, as the God-King's first wife, still had nothing to show for it.
She was so envious she could stomp her foot!
The all-knowing goddess was also terribly sour. Though they were all the God-King's children, truth be told, her own children's authorities were nowhere near her elder sister's children's.
But she quickly adjusted her mindset. After all, in sheer numbers she had three more children than her dear sister!
Moreover—
The all-knowing goddess, ever full of schemes, turned her bright eyes and resolved to accelerate her plans!
The goddesses around her beloved God-King were growing ever more numerous. She must let Zeus sample, in advance, what the cosmos's supreme bliss was!
She absolutely must not let those petty vixen goddesses spirit Zeus away!
Her God-King, in the presence of beautiful goddesses, had no principles apart from matters of principle.
Thinking this, the goddess of civilizational memory cast a disdainful glance at a certain night goddess—who would not be named—whose eyes were reddened with jealousy.
Lady Night now gazed at the six resplendent newborn goddesses. Her night-dark eyes, which once held an entire firmament, were burning red with envy, staring so hard she was near deranged.
Look! Just look! What a mighty set of authorities these are!
Fate! Temporal order! These are the foundations of cosmic order!
Even compared to these, the authority of Night no longer seemed so enticing.
Especially compared to her own children's authorities—never mind inspiring envy—if they went out and didn't get beaten up, that would already count as good luck.
Nyx had been counting on it all along: once the Divine Order was woven, it would surely require supervisory deities. Wasn't that perfect?
If she and Zeus united, given her and the God-King's stations, wouldn't the children born to them be destined as supervisors of the Divine Order?
And the result? Now it was all over! Themis had taken it all!
Truly, "those who act first, feast full; those who act late, can't even sip the soup!"
But that couldn't be right either! She had moved early enough!
Ultimately, it was those shameless little Olympus hussies!
They flirted with my Zeus the moment they got close!
Lady Night now seethed with hatred. Distance was a disadvantage—indeed, a huge one!
She once again resolved that it must be soon—she must truly unite with Zeus as quickly as possible!
They must hurry and conceive their children! If this delay went on, all the best laws would really be gone.
Goddesses, alas, always want more after they have something.
When they have nothing, they want to possess; once they possess, they want better; once they have better, they want more.
Even the great primordial gods are no exception.
In fact, precisely because their divinity is the most vast and abundant, the love and desire they harbor are all the hotter.
But not every deity is the sacred Lady of Justice. Only the goddess of Order's Justice is worthy of the God-King's trust to be entrusted with the supreme authority of governing the entire universe.
As for Hera, who had been briefly soothed by her moment of intimacy with Zeus, her mood now plunged again into a sea of jealousy so stifling it would suffocate a god.
Her essential divine nature as Great Mother constantly urged her to hurry and bear children!
Before bearing children, her divine authority was incomplete.
Indeed, the entire universe was urging her in the unseen.
It urged the Great Mother who ruled fertility and generation to fulfill her sacred duty as quickly as possible, to bring more complete and harmonious development to this newborn universe!
She admired Themis's noble and selfless divine character infinitely, and she had no standing now to say much.
After all, Themis was the wife Zeus had publicly proclaimed before all gods.
But she truly, truly envied those adorable children!
She had forced down, far too many times, her desire born from the source of law and deep within her divinity.
She simply did not want to bear children alone.
She only wanted to bear children with her beloved Zeus—children that belonged to them!
But she felt she might not be able to hold back much longer.
That exuberant fertility impulse from the depths of her divinity, born of the universe's core, grew ever stronger as the universe's order became ever more complete.
The entire cosmos yearned for the Great Mother of "generation" to perfect her power as soon as possible, to bring better development to the universe.
Such pressure was not easily suppressed.
Yet under present circumstances, she truly could not accept becoming merely "one of" Zeus's many wives.
Her thoughts tangled, her divine power surging like waves.
But in the end, she forced it all down again, saying nothing, drinking god-wine in silence.
Only now, no matter how much she drank of that once most delicious god-wine, there was nothing left but a mouthful of bitterness.
There were far too many envious goddesses. Truly, these six goddesses newly conceived by Zeus and Themis were too perfect, their authorities so mighty and vast—claiming not to envy would be a lie.
But Zeus had no mind now to attend to these little concerns of the goddesses.
The Assembly of All Gods should formally begin.
Just now his gaze had fallen upon the depths of the Ocean. That foolish Menoetius still hadn't found Amalthea's place of gestation.
The grand ceremony was about to open, and this excellent "tool-god" for "establishing prestige" still wasn't ready—truly useless.
Yet Zeus had no intention of deliberately scheming against him, but would let everything take its course.
The end of fate would be his own choice.
The Assembly of All Gods—begin!
Zeus rose slowly to stand at the highest place of the gods' banquet-hall. He lifted his hand lightly, and the clamor within turned instantly to solemn silence.
With a gentle smile upon his handsome face, he spoke in a voice that rang clear: "Gods, let us pause our merry banquet."
"In the universe, too many deities have waited far too long. This brand-new, sacred order should now be formally proclaimed to them."
"I declare that the Assembly of All Gods now officially begins!"
The gods responded in unison, dispersing their mild intoxication and unfurling their towering divine bodies.
In an instant, the boundless divine might of many great gods surged and interlaced, nearly bursting this time and space!
Zeus did not manifest his more magnificent thunder-formed divine body.
Now he no longer needed this to display his majesty.
The many great gods revealed their divine bodies to show the highest respect to their one and only King on this grandest occasion!
Even if his figure seemed "small" among these sky-bearing deities, there was not a single god who dared let their gaze stray from him for even a heartbeat.
Even if he murmured a careless whisper, all the gods of the universe would immediately rouse their full attention, bow, and listen closely.
Zeus, however, had indeed changed.
His appearance shifted from that unparalleled handsome youth to a bearded, deep-eyed middle-aged form.
This change, though it lessened his delicate beauty, added infinite grandeur and sovereign might.
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