I Became a Prophet in Greece: Part 20

She quickly composed herself. As the daughter of Uranus, the first divine king, and Gaia, the Earth Mother, she had even personally taken part in the plan to overthrow Uranus.

As one of the Twelve Titans who had transformed the Titans from weak, timid beings into the powerful and great beings they were today, Rhea was not some frail goddess who only knew how to weep.

Once she made up her mind, she acted without the slightest hesitation.

"What are you planning to do?" Rhea asked.

Over the past few centuries, Zeus had also learned about the current state of the world from the nymphs he cared for. After thinking for a moment, he said, "To defeat the divine king, strength alone is not enough."

"More importantly, it takes wisdom."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Perhaps I need to find some allies." Zeus said, "I heard that deep within the Ocean, there is a goddess who embodies wisdom. I can go ask for her opinion."

Rhea quickly understood whom Zeus meant. After all, when Metis was born, Oceanus had invited the gods to celebrate. The wise goddess's reputation had spread widely among the gods.

Rhea felt there was nothing wrong with Zeus's idea. When strength could not match one's opponent, winning through wisdom was not a bad approach.

But after thinking it over, she still said, "You could first ask Lord Theron what he thinks."

"Lord Theron's insights are very useful." As Rhea said this, she was like Gaia, trusting Theron to an almost blind degree.

They believed that Theron was the voice of fate itself, that whatever Theron said was destined to happen in the future, and that they could seek his opinion on anything.

Zeus, however, remained noncommittal.

He had never met Theron. He merely instinctively felt that relying too much on others was not a good thing. He did not want to make contact too early, and he was naturally wary of an unusual existence like Theron.

So he said, "I want to try on my own first."

Although Rhea did not agree, she said nothing more. "Then go and try first."

She was undoubtedly a very dutiful mother, encouraging all of her child's ideas. Encouraged by her, Zeus left Crete and headed first for the Ocean to seek the wise goddess Metis.

But he failed.

He did not know why, but every god of the ocean fled at the very first sight of him.

Forget asking for information—he could not even approach them.

Under such circumstances, he simply could not find the wise goddess Metis.

He did not know why this was happening, but he understood one fact.

Relying on himself alone, he had no hope of finding the wise goddess Metis.

Two Conditions

The Ocean was unlike an ordinary river. It encircled the entire world and was vast beyond imagination.

Although Oceanus and Tethys had many children and had created quite a few water-elemental creatures, their numbers seemed rather sparse within the immense Ocean.

Zeus moved through the waters and saw almost no living creatures. After wandering for a long time, he finally spotted an ocean nymph. Just as he was about to approach and ask for information, she saw him, and wariness instantly appeared on her beautiful face. She turned and fled.

Zeus did not even have time to speak.

He spent some more time finding several other creatures, but without exception, each one ran the moment they saw him. There was no chance to talk at all.

This made Zeus realize that something must be wrong.

The Ocean was so vast that finding the wise goddess Metis within it was already extremely difficult. Now that he could not ask anyone for information, Zeus could only leave the Ocean for the time being.

Rhea had already returned to the divine mountain. She could not leave too frequently, or the divine king Kronos would notice something unusual.

However, before they parted, Rhea had told Zeus that if he encountered any problems, he could seek Gaia, the Earth Mother, for help.

Thus, Zeus came to Gaia's temple and first sincerely thanked her for sheltering him all these years.

Gaia had always kept watch over Zeus's growth. Seeing him become so powerful in only a few centuries, Gaia was greatly pleased, but she also felt it was still too early to act.

Kronos, who had gained the world's recognition, was simply too powerful now. Though he had not been born as powerful as Uranus, the first divine king, had been, he was not far from that level anymore.

Under such circumstances, Zeus's current strength was still nowhere near enough to confront the divine king.

"Child, perhaps you should wait a little longer." Gaia voiced her opinion. "When you are over a thousand years old, you will be even stronger. Only then will we have greater confidence."

"Honored and great Mother of Earth, please rest assured. I will not act rashly." Zeus's attitude was extremely respectful. "I will not confront Father head-on now. I simply believe we need to prepare early."

Gaia was very satisfied with the child's prudence. A smile appeared on her face as she gently asked, "Then what do you intend to do now? What is your plan?"

"By myself, I certainly cannot contend against the powerful divine king. And he has so many great gods supporting him. We cannot oppose him directly; I need to find some helpers."

"Only when those who support me are equal to, or even outnumber, those who support Father—only after weakening his power—will we have a chance."

Gaia nodded and said approvingly, "You are neither impulsive nor reckless. That is a very good quality. And the divine king's actions over these years have already caused many gods to become deeply dissatisfied. They are all people you can win over."

"When the true war begins, they will already be helping us if they merely stand by and do nothing," Zeus said.

"You are right." Gaia once again approved of Zeus's thoughts, but she soon raised another question. "But how will you persuade those gods? Even remaining neutral is betrayal in the eyes of the divine king."

"Once they betray him, there will be no turning back for them. And they fear the divine king so deeply."

"What they fear is not the divine king, but his overwhelming strength. They fear the consequences of a failed rebellion."

As Zeus spoke, a confident, radiant smile appeared on his face. "Once the divine king no longer possesses that overwhelming strength, or once another force capable of matching him emerges, the gods who have long been dissatisfied will no longer continue obeying him."

"As more and more people support us, those who were originally neutral will gradually turn to our side as well. This is not a difficult problem."

Listening to him, Gaia became increasingly satisfied with Zeus. She asked, "Then what are you going to do now?"

"I want to find the wise goddess Metis and persuade her to join my camp, using the power of wisdom to contend against brute force."

As Zeus spoke, a puzzled expression appeared on his face. "But the gods in the Ocean immediately keep their distance when they see me. I was unable to learn where Metis is."

Gaia had not concerned herself with matters between the gods for many years and did not know much about events outside. Hearing Zeus's words, she did not know the reason either.

After thinking for a moment, she came up with a fairly reasonable explanation. "Perhaps after the conflict between Pontus and Oceanus, the Ocean is no longer peaceful and tranquil."

"The descendants of those two gods have had quite a few conflicts in recent years. Perhaps that is why they instinctively wish to stay away when they see unfamiliar faces."

Zeus felt that things were not so simple, but he could not think of a reason for the moment and could only accept this explanation.

Just as he was still considering how to find Metis, Gaia spoke up and offered the most common old advice.

"Perhaps you can ask Lord Theron. He knows everything."

This was already the second time someone had urged Zeus to seek Theron's counsel. The first had been his mother, Rhea.

Zeus could vaguely sense that both Rhea and Gaia seemed to trust that suspected god of fate immensely—so much that it bordered on blindness.

Whenever they encountered a problem, their first reaction was to ask Theron rather than think for themselves, and they did not think there was anything wrong with that.

Zeus had not originally held any particular opinion about Theron. He merely believed he should not rely too heavily on others and should depend on himself more in all things.

But now that he had discovered that both his mother and the Earth Mother trusted Theron so deeply, he instead became wary.

However, he showed no sign of this on his face and continued listening attentively as Gaia described Theron's deeds.

One matter after another, it seemed that every major event in the present world was inseparable from that Theron.

Gaia's intention had been to show Zeus how reliable Theron was, but after hearing it all, Zeus felt that this so-called Theron was simply a dangerous figure. This only made him even less willing to meet him.

At least not now. I am still too weak.

With that thought, Zeus had already made up his mind to avoid becoming entangled with that god of fate as much as possible. But in the next instant, he heard Gaia add something as though she had suddenly remembered it.

"Oh, right, child. When you were just born, Lord Theron invited Lady Nyx to conceal your traces. As payment, I agreed to two conditions on your behalf."

"When you visit Lord Theron in the future, remember to ask what he needs you to do."

Upon hearing this, Zeus froze where he stood.

He Could Not Avoid Him

Zeus had never imagined that from the very moment of his birth, he had already incurred a debt—and the creditor was that mysterious god of fate, Theron, whom he had no desire to meet at all.

For an instant, he could not even maintain his bright, sunny smile. But he quickly composed himself, nodded seriously, and said that he understood.

Of course he had to agree, because Gaia herself had made the decision. If he refused, he would be disrespecting the Earth Mother.

At a time when he desperately needed others' support, Zeus did not dare easily offend such an important backer. He could only grit his teeth and agree.

The moment he agreed, the power of an oath contract emerged, signifying that this "debt" had been formally sealed.

This only made him even less willing to seek Theron. Not only did he consider him dangerous, he also did not want to face his creditor.

Thus, Zeus said to Gaia in a sincere tone, "Now is not the time to meet Lord Theron. After all, I am still too weak and need more preparation. There is no need to trouble him over small matters."

"When the time truly comes to act, I will ask Lord Theron then."

Gaia thought it over and felt that made sense. She asked, "Then how do you plan to find Metis?"

"I will go look in the ocean again," Zeus said. "I will find her eventually."

Gaia nodded in agreement.

In her view, these were all minor matters that Zeus could handle himself. Before the time came to truly oppose Kronos, Gaia, as the Mother of Earth, would not personally step forward.

And the matter of a male god from the land entering the Ocean was soon noticed by Prometheus, the god of forethought, who happened to be returning there. He immediately told Theron the news.

Prometheus had followed Theron all these years, and with his enhanced power of foresight, he knew more or less what was going on.

This left him somewhat puzzled. "The divine queen Rhea and Gaia, the Earth Mother, should both have advised him to seek you out, Your Highness. Yet he still chose to search on his own."

"The Ocean is so vast. If he intends to search all of it, it may take more than a decade."

By the end, Prometheus cautiously concluded, "He seems unwilling to meet you."

Prometheus was an extremely intelligent and perceptive god. With some foresight, combined with Theron's previous instruction to tell Oceanus to have all ocean gods beware of male gods from the land, Prometheus had guessed that Theron's goal was to make Zeus hit a wall.

And Theron's purpose in making Zeus hit a wall was probably to make him come looking for him.

Prometheus felt it was understandable that Theron wanted to meet Zeus. Only by meeting him could Theron offer warnings and prophecies about the future, helping Zeus bring about that new era sooner.

But Zeus's unwillingness to meet Theron was difficult to understand. Prometheus had some guesses, but he did not dare be certain.

Theron, however, merely chuckled softly. "It is normal that he does not wish to meet me. Young children are always more cautious and guarded."

As he spoke, a trace of sentiment appeared on Theron's face. "This child really is different from his father and his grandfather."

In Theron's memories, there had been three generations of divine kings. The third and final one, Zeus, was said to be omniscient and omnipotent. Later, he had practically become the pinnacle of Greek mythology.

He was neither as vicious and tyrannical as Uranus nor as deficient in ability as Kronos. Zeus had intelligence and methods, while also wielding immense power. He could even be considered an all-powerful god.

Even though he was only a few centuries old now and could only be considered a child among gods, he already knew to avoid danger in advance. Nor had he blindly come seeking prophecies about himself. He was completely different from the previous two divine kings.

Therefore, in dealing with this one, Theron would have to use methods he had never needed against the previous two generations of divine kings.