As the tension eased, Samael brought two cups of hot milk and asked solemnly, his gaze sharp.
"By the way, Ana, now that you've obtained the Gorgon's composite memories, you must have a deeper understanding of your origins."
"Since we're already speaking of your ties to Athena, could you tell me how your pure earth and death divinity came to be?"
"This is crucial for future plans. I need to understand what the Mother of Serpents and that Goddess of Wisdom truly intend."
The girl accepted the milk, turning the warm cup in her hands. She took a small sip before slowly opening her lips, her expression complex.
"In truth, I am the fourth—and last—generation of Earth Mother Goddesses from the era when the Greek gods split from humanity…"
"The heroes drove me out and struck me down. That act marked their betrayal of the Earth Mother and signified the end of the ancient Age of Gods, never to return."
"Olympus would then become the final guiding star to lead mankind into a new era, monopolizing all worship and glory."
She… really was an Earth Mother Goddess? The fourth generation?
Hearing this answer—expected, yet still startling—the ancient serpent's brows tightened as he spoke in a low, steady tone.
"I only knew the first Earth Mother of Greece was Gaia, and the second was Rhea, queen of the Titans…"
"If you are the fourth Earth Mother Goddess, then… does that mean the Mother of Serpents, Echidna, was the third?"
Ana gave a small nod. Sitting in her chair, she lightly swayed her serpent tail, her gaze drifting into the dark, endless cavern.
"Living here so long, perhaps you've noticed—the Arima Cavern in the Cilician Marshes is bottomless. It's actually a passage leading to the Abyssal Underworld…"
"As the new gods continued to rise, growing more and more beyond control, even Gaia, the Earth Mother, grew fearful."
"Her own creative power also became impossible to restrain."
"So, she once came here. Using her earth divinity, she fused it with the deathly power overflowing from the Abyss—and from that, she created my mother."
Samael rubbed his chin, recalling the genealogies of the Mother of Serpents, Echidna. Lost in thought, he murmured to himself.
"Gaia, Mother Earth… Tartarus, Lord of the Abyss… Earth and Abyss… Creation and Death…"
"So these two primordial gods truly were, in a sense, the parents of Echidna, the Mother of Serpents…"
The ancient serpent gave a silent nod. Some of the long-standing questions in his heart began to unravel.
Considering how the Mother of Serpents birthed countless Greek monsters—Hydra, the Gorgons, Cerberus, and many more—Samael had already sensed a resemblance to Tiamat, the Mother Goddess who once created the Eleven Beasts.
Both possessed overwhelming creative power!
And with Ana's explanation, he finally traced the Root.
The powers of Echidna resembled a degraded form of the Potnia Theron: Conception of All Animals, a counterpart to Tiamat's authority.
That explained why the Gorgon summoned to Mesopotamia could mimic Tiamat's power—breeding hordes of magical beasts to lay waste to Uruk.
No wonder Echidna and Tina got along so well—their affinities were simply too close.
The ancient serpent thought back to their first encounter with Echidna, when this mistress of the marshes had shown such warmth and ease.
But…
As Samael turned over the grim fate awaiting both Echidna and Ana, his brow creased heavily.
"With such a connection, why did Gaia never speak of it to the other gods?"
Even compared to the first two Earth Mothers, and even to her own daughters and children, this third Earth Mother Goddess remained obscure.
Her role in the Age of Gods seemed reduced to little more than bearing Typhon's brood—only to meet a vague, forgotten end at the hands of the Hundred-Eyed Giant, Argus Panoptes.
"Because the fusion of earth and death went wrong, my mother was incomplete—nothing more than a defective creation."
Ana answered coolly, a cold smile flickering in her violet eyes.
Samael's gaze shifted, a trace of realization surfacing in his eyes.
So, after a series of twisted family dramas, Gaia, the Earth Mother, still could not trust her wayward children and rebellious descendants.
She broke away from the Titan lineage and, wielding her immense creative power, brought forth the third generation of Earth Mother Goddesses.
At the same time, to counterbalance Mount Othrys and Mount Olympus, Gaia drew upon the deathly power of Tartarus, Lord of the Abyss, from the Arima Cavern. She infused it into her work, hoping that creation and death combined would produce an even greater being.
But the clash between those powers turned this act of asexual creation into a failure, leaving behind the "aberration" known as the Mother of Serpents, Echidna.
Perhaps it was because the result fell short of her expectations—or perhaps out of some twisted form of protection—that Gaia abandoned Echidna in the Cilician Marshes, letting her live or die on her own, never once acknowledging the existence of the third Earth Mother Goddess.
As their discussion reached this point, the ancient serpent thought of Ana's other lineage, his expression growing strange.
"Your father, Typhon… wasn't he also born from the union of Gaia, Mother Earth, and Tartarus, Lord of the Abyss?"
"Again, creation and death entwined?"
Ana nodded helplessly, clearly indifferent toward this so-called "father."
"You're right. Gaia, guided by the power of earth, cleverly created my mother. And just the same, Tartarus, guided by the divinity of the Abyss, secretly created Typhon."
"That hundred-headed dragon was born with the purpose of devouring the divine authority of Greece—land, sea, and sky alike—to fill the emptiness of the Abyss."
"Its union with my mother was nothing more than a way to use two incomplete beings to produce an offspring that might perfectly inherit both powers."
"My mother, however, never consented."
The Mother of Serpents, Echidna, had at least cared for her siblings, fulfilling the role of a mother.
That cruel and tyrannical king of monsters, on the other hand, had only forced his seed upon her for the sake of some goal.
Once his desire was satisfied, that creature, driven only by destruction and ruin, neither understood nor cared for the bonds of blood.
Samael gently stroked Ana's head, his expression filled with comfort and pity.
So, they had succeeded.
Ana was the fourth Earth Mother Goddess, bearing both the powers of creation and death.
And every child of Typhon was born cursed with rebellion against the gods of Greece.
Ana stretched her slender frame, finding a more comfortable position as she allowed Samael's hand to rest on her. Taking the opportunity, she revealed a deeper truth.
"From the secrets I inherited from the Gorgons, I discovered that I too am incomplete. I cannot fully inherit both forms of divinity."
"My sisters are fragments, beings born from the divided powers of earth and abyss…"
Trying to merge two irreconcilable authorities into one—anyone could imagine how difficult that would be.
That is why Typhon's offspring—Cerberus, Hydra, and the rest—were all twisted abominations.
Among the dozen or so such hybrids, only Ana could be considered even close to a perfect existence.