The time had finally come.
Far from the cold, golden walls of Mount Orthys, hidden beneath layers of divine secrecy and the whispering leaves of ancient trees, Rhea took refuge in the cave of Mount Lyctos, deep within the isle of Crete.
The world itself seemed to sense what was about to unfold.
The sky turned black.
Thunder cracked across the heavens like the roar of a war god. Storm winds howled, shaking the mountain as if nature were holding its breath.
And then through the chaos of the storm came a high-pitched sound that cut through the darkness.
"Wahhhhaaa!!"
The first breath of life from her sixth child.
A wail of power and defiance.
He is born in storm and fury, as if the heavens welcome his coming.
In her trembling arms, Rhea held her son
A tiny infant with eyes like lightning and hair as white as clouds.
She looked at him, this fragile, divine spark who was destined to rise higher than any before him.
The one whom fate whispered would challenge Cronus.
"Zeus," she whispered, voice trembling with awe and hope,
"My child of thunder… my last hope."
As the storm raged on, she wrapped him in divine cloth, kissed his forehead, and with tears hidden behind a mother's resolve.
She left him in the care of trusted spirits and sacred beasts, far from the tyrant's gaze.
She floats in the sky and summons her time and space divinity. A deep blue and violet energy wraps her hand.
'space distortion' she creates a space distortion field and envelopes the isle of Crete. This field is completely invisible to the island, and even if someone tries to enter, they will lose their way and direction.
And with her heart aching but her will unshaken, Rhea returned to Mount Orthys, holding the stone in her arms, wrapped in white cloth…
Rhea returned to Mount Orthys just in time.
Her footsteps were slow, heavy with the weight of grief. In her arms, wrapped tightly in soft divine cloth, was the white stone the gift from Gaea that now carried the hope of Olympus.
She took a deep breath, masking the fire of resolve within her heart, and let her expression fall into one of despair and exhaustion. She summoned her sword and wore golden armour.
A heavy sound of foot stomping, ground shaking with a minor tremor. Rhea tightened the grip of the sword, then looked at the white stone, which was wrapped in a white cloth and placed on the bed; it looked completely like a sleeping baby.
Moments later, Cronus entered the grand chamber, his presence dark and overwhelming. His eyes, sharp and always suspicious, darted to her arms.
"The sixth?" he growled.
Rhea doesn't say anything, holding the sword and lunging towards him. She swings her sword at him, but Cronus sidesteps and dodges the sword.
'Acceleration' Rhea used her spell to amplify her speed several times. 'Space slash' Rhea enhanced her sword into a violet blade. 'Teleport', she teleports to the back of Cronus and slashes at Cronus.
'Nulify' Cronus, god king of time, he holds complete dominance over the time domain, with one word, nulify the Rhea acceleration spell and easily dodged her slash. Rhea slashes the sky and cuts the dimension.
Cronus then fused a little divine energy in his fist and punched in the stomach.
Rhea crashed into the wall, the wall was completely cracked, and her armour broke into pieces, some of the pieces even pierced her body.
*Cough
She coughed up blood, her eyes blurry and saw her husband, Cronus, lunging forward, without hesitation, his hunger for survival greater than any shred of fatherhood. He didn't even look at the "child."
His eyes have no warmth, no hesitation.
Only paranoia.
With a triumphant snarl, he swallowed the stone whole, its weight sliding down his throat and into the prison that held his other children.
Then, he laughed a deep, echoing laugh that filled the golden halls.
"Hah! The curse is broken! I have defied fate and defeated my father's prophecy. "
He raised his arms to the heavens as though proclaiming his invincibility to the cosmos.
But he did not know…
He had not defeated fate.
He had only fed it.
For the real child Zeus, his sixth and final son had been born far away from his reach, beneath the stormy skies of Crete.
There, hidden from Cronus's eyes, the child was now being nurtured, trained, and protected by ancient spirits and sacred beasts
Amalthea, the divine goat who fed him,
Kouretes, the warriors who masked his cries with clashing blades.