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𝙄𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘽𝙀𝙂𝙄𝙉𝙉𝙄𝙉𝙂 there was Chaos, a yawning void filled with nothing. It existed before the dawn of time and eventually bore the beings that would create the universe. Out of Chaos, there came Gaia (the Earth), Eros (Love), Tartarus (the Underworld), Erebus (the deep Darkness), and Nyx (the Night).

Through the union of Erebus and Nyx, Aether (Bright Godly Air), Hemera (Day), and Melaina (Darkness) emerged. Nyx, feared by all except her brother, created a family of haunting forces fashioned from darkness itself. Among some of these vicious creatures were Thanatos (Death), Hypnos (Sleep), Nemesis (Revenge), and Eris (Strife).

Gaia then bore Uranus (the Sky) and Pontus (the Sea) without male intervention. Gaia and her children formed the Earth, the rolling emerald hills, the blistering sapphire heavens, and the violent waters. 

These Gods, the children of Gaia and Nyx, became the first primordial beings, creating the very fabric of the universe. More powerful than any other beings in existence.

From Gaia and Uranus, they produced three sets of children: the one-eyed Cyclopes, the three Hundred-Handed Hecatoncheires, and the twelve Titans. Six of the titans were male, Coeus (Intellect), Crius (Heavenly Constellations), Cronus (Time), Hyperion (Heavenly Light), Iapetus (Mortality), and Oceanus (Sea). And the other 6 were female, Mnemosyne (Memory), Phoebe (Prophetic Radiance), Rhea (Fertility), Theia (Sight), Themis (Council), and Tethys (Fresh Water). After Cronus was born, Gaia and Uranus decreed no more Titans were to be born.

Unlike the Titans, the Cyclopes and Hecatoncheires were despised by Uranus and thus were sentenced to live out their lives in Tartarus. Condemned for their ugliness and the power that threatened to topple their fearful father.

This angered Gaia and she created a ploy to overthrow Uranus with her Titan children. She gave her son, Cronus, a flint sickle and told him to castrate Uranus when he came to lie with her. And Cronus fulfilled his tasks, throwing the severed genitals into the sea. From which came Aphrodite (Beauty) out of the seafoam.

This then pushed the Titans into power, with Cronus as their King and Rhea as their Queen. Ruling over the Earth and all its creatures. From their marriage came, Hestia (Hearth), Demeter (Harvest), Hades (Dead), Poseidon (Sea) and Hera (Marriage). 

However, Gaia and Uranus had previously prophesied that Cronus would be overthrown by one of his sons. And as such, Cronus abused his children out of fear, devouring each of them at the time of birth. Doing everything in his power to ensure that fate would not repeat itself.

Rhea, fearing for her children, plotted against her husband like Gaia had once done. When it came time for the birth of her sixth son Zeus (Sky), Rhea hid herself on Crete, leaving the new-born child to be raised by the nymphs of the island. And to save her son, she wrapped a stone in swaddling cloth and gave it to Cronus who, believing it was his child, swallowed it.

After Zeus had aged into a powerful God, he returned to free his siblings from Cronus' torture. Disguising himself as Cronus' cupbearer, Zeus poisoned his father. Prompting him to throw up his five other siblings and challenge Cronus to war for the kingship of the gods.

This war became known as the Titanomachy, the war of the Titans, that spanned for a decade long before the existence of mankind. On one side, there were the Titans, led by Cronus and Atlas (Endurance) who led Cronus' army to a near victory. Many of Nyx's children also fought alongside the Titans, primarily Melaina who used her darkness and sorcery to assist with Atlas' battle plans.

Melaina had originally been against any war, remaining neutral like her mother and father. Believing this very war was far beneath them as primordial beings. But chaotic energy thrived in her veins and she sided with the Titans, seduced by their leader Atlas. Their affair was one for the ages, becoming a team that's military prowess would remain unmatched.

But on the other side were the younger Olympians, led by Zeus and his siblings. Gaining favor from Gaia, Zeus freed the Cyclops and Hecatoncheires from Tartarus, enlisting their help to defeat the Titans. Grateful for their freedom, the Cyclopes crafted Zeus his signature thunderbolt, Poseidon with his almighty trident, and a helmet of invisibility for Hades.

The tides quickly turned and the Olympians defeated the Titans, stripping them of their rule. Zeus, now the King of Olympus, sentenced the Titans to an eternity spent in Tartarus, guarded by the Hecatoncheires who they had previously imprisoned there. Atlas, being the primary leader of the opposing force, was sentenced to hold up the universe on his shoulders for all of eternity.

But Zeus sentenced Melaina to a softer punishment, afraid of her mother Nyx and the power she held. Melaina was doomed to live out her life in Tartarus, working for her mother and father. Only after each century was she granted the opportunity to leave Tartarus and live amongst the Gods on Olympus or the mortals on Earth. However, she was only allowed 5 short years of freedom before she had to return to her post in the Underworld, made to work for another century before she could have another short tase of liberation.

But alas, life continued for the Olympians. Zeus bore Athena (Wisdom), Apollo (Sun), Artemis (Hunting), Persephone (Vegetation), Dionysus (Wine) and Hermes (Trade) from various different affairs. From his marriage to Hera came Hephaestus (Fire), Ares (War), and Hebe (Youth).

They ruled on Mount Olympus for decades but soon grew bored of their immortal lives. So Zeus decided to create beings similar to Gods, but they would be mortal and inhabit the earth below them. Zeus put Iapetus, Prometheus, and Epimetheus in charge of cultivating the new races, hoping they would amuse the Gods.

Epimetheus didn't like the new race of creatures and gave only some of the creatures gifts, that being beauty, strength, and speed. He left the human race defenseless, with no resources to sustain their own kingdom.

But Prometheus felt sympathetic for this new race and distributed his own gifts to mankind. He stole reason from Athena, giving it to man. He then stole fire from Hephaestus forges' and gave it to them to keep them warm. And the people embraced him as the protector of the human race.

But once again, the Gods grew bored. They enjoyed dabbling in the mortals' affairs and creating anarchy amongst the race for their own pleasure. The race of demigods was created, children who were born from mortals who had affairs with the Gods. Wars broke out, angering Gaia who was left scarred from the conflict. The mortal human race began dying out, the unintentional collateral damage of the Olympians' boredom.

Iapetus and Prometheus pleaded for Zeus to leave the mortal race alone, knowing that any more intervention would lead to their extinction. But Zeus denied their request, unable to come up with any other alternative to satisfy his desire to interact with humankind.

But then came the Trojan War, a war orchestrated none other than the Gods themselves.

At the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, the gods were enjoying themselves when Melaina's sister Eris, threw a golden apple into their midst with the words, "For the fairest," attached. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all claimed the apple was for them, arguing over it bitterly. The three women went to Zeus to judge between them, but he wisely refused, directing the three goddesses to a shepherd on Mount Ida who could decide the fairest of the three.

The Goddesses approached the shepherd, Paris, and each offered him a bribe for selecting her. Hera promised to make him a king who would rule Asia and have great wealth. Athena offered to give him wisdom and invincible valor in warfare. But Aphrodite won the apple by promising Paris the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of Troy.

Paris immediately went off to Sparta, ignoring Athena and Hera's vow for vengeance. He seduced Helen who was already promised to another, the King Menelaus. The two escaped back to Troy and awaited the Greek army that Helen's husband, Menelaus was leading.

Apollo, Artemis, Ares, and Aphrodite sided with the Trojans, while Hera, Athena, Poseidon, Hermes, and Hephaestus aided the Greeks in the battle of Troy. With many mortals and demigods perishing including Hector the Prince of Troy, the almighty Achilles, and both Helen and Paris.

Recognizing the devastation that the Gods were inflicting on the human race, Zeus ordered the separation from the mortal realm. He approached the original primordial beings and pleaded for them to help him create a world of their own, where they could look down on the mortals but be far enough away to no longer be the root of the humans' suffering.

The primordial beings conceded to Zeus' request and once again, created a planet for the Gods. Gaia bore the earth that the God's would live on, Tartarus conceded the Underworld, Pontus gifted the boundless azure ocean, Nyx shed her darkness on the planet and Uranus granted the heavenly sky.

The Gods' named this planet Olympus, paying homage to their old home amongst the mortal race. They pledged to Styx that they would no longer dabble in human affairs unless all the Gods' council agreed upon it and kept their visits to Earth a secret.

And slowly but surely, the human race forgot about the Greek Gods and Goddesses. They forget about their history and how the Earth came to be. Despite the Gods constant influence amongst the human race, they never questioned the seemingly inexplicable events they witnessed.

They never questioned the fury of Ares or battle plans worthy of Athena that the wars brought. They didn't doubt the plentiful spring harvests blessed by Demeter and Persephone. The many floods and thunderstorms brewed by Poseidon and Zeus were just 'freaks of nature'. And the rising of the sun and moon due to the presence of Apollo and Artemis were just accepted traditions.

Until the end of Melaina's century of imprisonment, that's when it all changed.

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