(Greek Mythology) The Abyss of the Underworld
Chapter Six
Sitting alone in the empty temple, Tartarus couldn't deny that he was genuinely bored.
Erebus and Eros had long since given up their flower-planting careers; he wasn't really going to let them fill the entire floor. However, judging from the way they left, they seemed to have been deeply traumatized. It was likely that his two younger brothers wouldn't want to come here again for a long time. Tartarus sighed regretfully. How much fun this had taken away from him! He hadn't been very interested in the hobbies of the Greek gods to begin with, and now without his two silly brothers to act foolishly in front of him, there was absolutely no fun left.
Looking up at the sky with melancholy, life was truly as lonely as snow. Was he really destined to live that endless cycle of cultivation—research—sleep? It was only a few hundred thousand years; for gods whose basic unit of time was years, it really wasn't much. Thinking of the almost eternal life of gods, he suddenly felt a darkness over his future. If things continued like this, one day he would simply fall asleep and never wake up again. So he felt it was essential to develop new hobbies. The idea of sleeping in and never waking up should be nipped in the bud. He absolutely didn't want to wake up one day to find it was the end of the world; that would be incredibly embarrassing and awkward.
However, before he could find a hobby that would satisfy his desire to stay home, he received some shocking news.
The celestial phenomenon of a god's birth could be clearly perceived even in the Abyss. If he remembered correctly, this time Gaia alone gave birth to Uranus, the god of the sky; Pentheus, the god of the sea; and Uriah, the god of the mountains. Note the word "alone"—thank you, that's important.
He had only just remembered this. Asexual reproduction was rather advanced; this kind of setting, only found in plants, was too fantastical. He felt he needed more time to adapt to this unscientific world.
Before Tartarus could finish agonizing over this in the Abyss Temple, Nyx arrived, dragging along an unwilling Erebus. "Brother, did you know? The God-King is Uranus!" Nyx's words and expression revealed his dissatisfaction.
"I know," Tartarus replied, looking at his sister who had rushed over. The fluctuations of the laws at the moment of the God-King's birth were obvious; how could he not know?
"Brother, aren't you going to see?" She had gone to Earth with Erebus the moment she sensed the God-King's birth, and had even argued with Gaia about it.
"Why should I go? It's just the birth of a God-King."
Nyx really wanted to kneel before his older brother. That was the God-King! Couldn't he stop making it sound like a trivial matter? And, brother, had he even grasped the point? "Uranus, a mere second-generation god, what right does he have to be the God-King?" His tone was indignant, his face unable to hide his resentment. Erebus, who had remained silent until now, nodded in agreement with Nyx.
Uranus's status was indeed difficult to accept, even Gaia's support was only due to him being her son. Even compared to the mythological figure with an elder brother, Gaia, as the first goddess to be born, was far more arrogant than Nyx; otherwise, she would never have accepted it. Eros, on the other hand, didn't seem to have any objections, but considering his goofy nature, it wasn't surprising. He never cared about such matters; he probably preferred to do other things. Of course, you could also say his focus was always misplaced.
"Since the laws have chosen him to be the King of the Gods, that's an unchangeable fact." He paused, then, worried they might do something out of dissatisfaction, added, "The succession of the King of the Gods cannot be interfered with; that's the law."
"The law?!" Nyx and Erebus exchanged a surprised glance, but since the Father God had already given the order, Uranus's appointment as King of the Gods could be considered the Father God's decision, and they shouldn't interfere.
Nyx bit her lower lip. "But I'm still not reconciled." As Chaos's daughter, she was undoubtedly extremely proud, and she had the right to be proud. How could she possibly be reconciled? Erebus didn't speak, but his expression said it all; he was also reconciled.
"It's just a God-King's position. Since it doesn't govern us, what difference does it make who becomes God-King?" As the five great creator gods, their status was no lower than, and perhaps even higher than, that of the God-King. If they weren't under the God-King's jurisdiction, what was the point of this God-King title? Tartarus truly didn't understand what they were arguing about. Did they find dealing with official duties every day interesting?
This was a matter of face. Nyx and Erebus were speechless. They finally realized that their elder brother's way of thinking was completely different from theirs from the very beginning.
Unable to understand what his younger siblings were thinking, Tartarus gave up on the idea. "Actually, being the king of the gods isn't necessarily a good thing," he said sincerely to Nyx and Erebus, recalling the tragic fates of two other god-kings in mythology.
"What's going on here?" the two gods wondered, looking at Tartarus with curiosity. But Tartarus didn't intend to say more; after all, it was something that hadn't happened yet, and he couldn't spoil it. "Alright, since everything's fine, you can go back now."
The two gods, dismissed by Tartarus's few words, felt a lump in their throats, unable to spit it out. Couldn't you just stop arousing curiosity and then not providing an explanation?
However, Tartarus was destined not to receive their resentment, because he had gone off to cultivate again.