I want to mention that
right after I wrote Week Eighteen I found out that the bible is Greek and
Hebrew. Most of the old testament is in Hebrew while most of the New testament
is in Greek. But, I’ll work that to my advantage.
--
The only education
that Vile actually had over the Greek Gods and Roman Gods were from his childhood
series Percy Jackson And The Olympians. There,
he learned that demigods didn’t have it fair and Luke, son of Hermes, wanted to
destroy all the Gods because his own father, a God, didn’t pay attention to
him. Nor did the Gods in the first book pay attention to any of their children
so for the sheer fact that Hera was talking to him was a surprise. Even if she
wasn’t a real mother to him he felt that she was. An inner instinct also ticked
inside him. He assumed it had to do with being part monster instead of God. Eventually,
after the many quest Percy and his friends got the Gods to pay attention but
in Vile’s book he didn’t believe that these stories were real. Now, he was
doubting but he also knew that if Kronos had emerged he would have noticed
something.
Hera smiled, “You do
realize Heracles is still half 'not' God, correct?”
Vile nodded. “Yea?”
He raised an eyebrow. “He’s half mortal. Like me somewhat not really?”
Hera shook her head.
“You have a reflectioned self. This is a process similar to magic. Water is
known to reflect one’s trueself.”
Vile nodded. He knew
that. Any creature who had a reflectioned form would find out one way or another. That’s why most of them stayed away from water.
Tapping his fingers
on the table, Vile looked up. “So you’re saying if you stand by the water then
people will see who you are?”
Hera shook her head.
“No.”
Vile tilted his
head. “How? If I stand by the water anyone can look and see who I truly am, a
dragon—or since you’ve cleared—a Hydra. Why can’t they see who you are?”
Hera smiled. “It all
depends on a person’s perception but mortals, unless part God, cannot process
the thought of what a ‘God’ or ‘Goddess’ looks like so they would only see who
they would think as most beautiful.”
“Wow.” Vile said
shaking his head. “Like…Right now?”
Hera grinned. “Who
do I look like to you? Who is the woman of your desires?”
Vile looked away in
dismay. “You look similar to a girl back home.”
“Who.” Her said
again.
“Her name is Gwynne.”
He muttered.
Hera smiled. “You
have the capability to see past this gorgeous woman of yours because you are
not human.”
Vile shrugged. “Well, I’ll keep you looking
the way a human perceives. It’ll help me in the end.”
Hera nodded. “If
that is what you wish.”
Vile shrugged,
thinking about how he left Gwynne behind that night. “What I wish is for you to
explain why Heracles is on your bad side. As I said, he is half God. But then
you said he still is half…” Vile raised an eyebrow. “…half human.”
Hera smirked as she
watched Vile realize what she had meant.
“You were jealous!”
Vile exclaimed in shock.
“What?” Hera
shrugged. “You think I’m okay with having affairs?” She raised an eyebrow. “Name
one person, God, or creature that is okay with having affairs. Name a
mythology. Go ahead, Vile. Enlighten me.”
Vile shook his head.
“You were jealous.” He said again with a sigh. “We can do this the easy way,
where you tell me what actually happened, or we can do this the not as reliable
way and look up what it say on the internet here.” Vile said as he tapped his
laptop.
Hera smirked. “I
tried to kill him while he was young. Although, somehow he managed to escape
that.”
Vile looked at Hera
in confusion. “He…was a baby. How?”
Hera sighed. “I send two snakes to kill him.
He was found strangling a snake in each hand joyfully.”
Vile shrugged. “Sound
half God to me.”
A grin met Hera’s
lips. “He couldn’t escape what I planned next however.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised
about Gods turning dark side. I mean, you make Gods and Goddesses sound human
but immortal.”
Hera gasped. “Vile!
Did you call me ‘human’?”!
Vile smirked. “Only
humans have emotions. I have emotions which proves that I may be a hydra but
that doesn’t mean I can’t be human.”
“How dare you!” She exclaimed
in anger. “I am immortal. Gods and Goddesses are immortal!”
“That doesn’t mean
you don’t have feelings.” Vile replied. “After all, this wouldn’t have happened
if Zeus didn’t decide it ‘get it on’ with a human. But you do realize that sex,
emotions, and ‘living’ are all human interactions. If you Gods and Goddesses weren’t
human to an extent you wouldn’t have the time to care about kids or had the
thought of what mattered to you and what didn’t. In my eyes, I see all of the
Gods and Goddesses as partly human, maybe never dying humans but human when
everything boils down to it.”
“How dare you insult
the Gods.” Hera frowned and then sighed. “But it’s not my place. You are not of
my birth right. I can see why you wouldn’t understand our ways of living.”
Vile shook his head.
“Oh no, I get it. All of you are invincible and control certain aspects of the
world. People pray to you and they get blessing. People work against you and
they cursed. No one can escape the Gods. Not even the Gods themselves.” Vile
smirked. “Which is why I’m wondering, what was that plan you had that managed
to be successful?”
Hera grinned. “I
drove him mad and he killed his own children.”
Vile paused for a
moment and then sighed. “Whoa, Hera. Good one. I’ll remind myself not to have
children for you to kill.”
Hera shook her head.
“Don’t you see Vile, we are together in this. I am not here to hurt you, I am
here to bless you and make sure that you, unlike your predecessor, actually
defeat Heracles.”
“Here’s the one
issue that’s driving me into a not confident conclusion.” Vile replied. Not hearing
anything from Hera, Vile continued, “Even if we go to the cave, how will we get
Heracles there?”
Hera smiled. “Vile,
around this time of year do you ever feel the need to fly somewhere, anywhere?”
Vile looked at Hera
is concern. “How did you know that?”
Her nodded. “See,
you’re not the only one with that instinct, Vile. Any unfinished business
between a reborn demigod and a reborn creature causes tension. You two will
always want to meet each other. I’m only making it easier for you two do so.”
Vile shook his head.
“But I’m not his first trail. So…” Vile paused. “Does that mean Herakles
already did the first trail?”
“Indeed.” Hera
nodded. “Otherwise, your sixth sense wouldn’t have been activated to go out and
end up where you are now.”
Vile frowned. “I
flew out there because my brother was missing. I didn’t fly out there to crash
land into the Mediterranean. I wasn’t planning that.”
“Oh course! Of
course!” Hera nodded. “But it was meant that way. Besides. Brother?” Hera
raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you mean brothers? A hydra has more than one head you
know, the Lernarean Hydra specifically had nine to be exact.”
Vile shook his head.
“No. I meant brother. As in, Xeq? You should know him. He’s Greek too isn’t he?”
Hera looked up at
the ceiling as if searching her memory. “No.” She shrugged. “I don’t recall one
of the heads being reborn as ‘Xeq’. He’s your brother but he’s flyer.” She
examined. “And he doesn’t swim?”
Vile shook his head.
“What do you mean he doesn’t swim? Yea, because I have gills and he doesn’t. So
what?”
Hera raised an
eyebrow. “Brother you say? An interesting concept if you ask me.”
Vile sighed. “He
went missing and this happened. All I hope is that he’s okay.” Vile smirked.
