When Hera returned surrounded by the goddesses, the first thing she saw was her beloved God-King standing before the hall with a smile, welcoming her in person.
Her heart warmed at once. The joy that came from her first child's imminent birth was instantly replaced by a deeper, hotter happiness.
This goddess, usually so proud and reserved, for once gave Zeus a gaze filled with boundless tenderness.
Before her cloud-car had even touched down, Zeus's figure had already crossed space to stand before her.
He drew her into His arms with utmost gentleness and walked into the temple with her.
The gracious, gentle Hera blushed a little—after all, it was under many eyes.
She secretly shot Zeus a reproachful look, hinting that He should mind Himself—her sisters were all still here.
Zeus only smiled slightly. The shameless God-King, calm and unruffled, gave Demeter, Hestia, and the other goddesses in turn a kind, tender look.
Aside from Demeter, who held a touch of coquettish pique and feigned displeasure as she glared at Him, the other goddesses all returned gentle smiles.
To tell the truth, even though she was about to give birth, there was nothing at all to worry about.
Gods, after all, are not men.
So-called "labor risks" do not exist.
Hera was nearly at term, yet her belly remained flat as a mirror-lake, without the least swell.
Zeus had hurried back mostly as a matter of attitude.
Attitude matters!
And for deathless gods especially, "attention" and "care"—at times this attitude is more important than any material aid.
Sure enough, Hera bore not the slightest grudge against Zeus now; the look in her eyes toward Him was softer than ever.
Her beloved God-King's sincere concern and undisguised, unique pampering made her heart feel as if it had been steeped in the sweetest divine honey.
Steeped through and softened by that sweetness.
Though she was about to give birth, she truly felt no sense of urgency at all. There was nothing to prepare now—only to wait for the destined moment to arrive.
It must be said—gods and men are truly different.
Seven gentle, gracious goddesses, each with their own peerless splendor, clustered around Zeus, and for a while, the temple was filled with fragrance and dazzling divine light.
The God-King, unable to help Himself from pocketing little advantages, was indulgently ignored by Hera in her good mood.
Zeus's heart held pride and feeling both.
On ordinary days, to have such bustle and such peace at once was no easy thing.
Nor was there any goddess so tactless as to try to steal the show today.
On this most crucial day, these gentle, loving goddesses were all very considerate of Hera's feelings.
Of course, another important reason was that none of the goddesses wished to anger a God-King in such fine spirits today.
Before long, Metis arrived with Eurynome as well.
In a moment, this grand Temple of Procreation held nine of the most exalted great goddesses.
And all of them the goddesses closest to Zeus.
However, after the sisters Metis and Eurynome arrived, the harmony in the hall grew a bit less natural.
It was not because of Hera, but because of Demeter.
Demeter had said she would let it go, but for her to see clearly at once was not so easy.
Her target, of course, was not Hera but Metis.
That this "outside" goddess, Metis, could become Zeus's first wife—she had always held resentment for it.
Her own three sisters were truly their own kin; about them, all could be said.
But Metis—she was a pure "outsider!"
Her eyes toward Metis, almost against her will, always carried a trace of obvious scrutiny and chill.
How keen is the goddess of Wisdom?
In an instant she noticed the not-so-friendly look in Demeter's eyes.
She only smiled and, with a gaze that seemed casual but was in fact filled with the poise of the "primary consort," met it calmly—and even nodded first.
Metis's "magnanimity" made a muffled anger rise in Demeter's heart.
But for Hera's sake, and with Zeus present, Demeter did not truly make a scene.
Only the atmosphere grew inevitably cooler.
From time to time there were a few bland little jabs among the goddesses.
Zeus sharply sensed the faint "electric sparks" in the air and could only do His best to mediate between them.
And inwardly He sighed in secret: Ah! A moment ago I could sneak a little advantage from each! Now, well, I can't pocket a single one!
This shameless God-King was truly beyond saving…
Soon, the moment of the God-King's firstborn arrived.
Though the God-King very much wished to stand at His beloved Hera's side and witness this sacred instant,
He was still, under the varied looks of the goddesses—some disdainful, some scornful, some shocked, some speechless—sheepishly "invited" out of the temple.
As the temple doors closed, it was as if someone had lightly pressed a switch on Olympus.
Across the sky, grand portents appeared once more.
The phantom web of the Heavenly Order's threads once again showed clearly in the universe.
Endless, mysterious runes that stand for "creation," like golden sunlight, were displayed without reserve before all beings.
At the birth of the "god of creation," the endless mystery of "creation" was generously granted to all beings of the universe.
Joy in His heart, Zeus lifted His hand; at once, rainbow clouds spread to cover the whole world.
Thunder of glad solemnity resounded through the clouds and drove away every filth and haze under heaven and earth.
The God-King's divine power gathered into inexhaustible, countless petals of every color and kind, and like a never-ending spring rain of blossoms, drifted across the world to bring all beings boundless blessing, that all might celebrate this day.
Not much later, a wondrous light shone from within the Temple of Procreation.
In an instant it lit all Olympus.
Then, with speed beyond all, it shone upon the world—the whole universe.
In a flash, the universe was bathed in the holy radiance of "creation."
Zeus smiled faintly; His golden eyes tightened—and thunder burst.
He had suddenly revealed the most-strong, most-exalted Thunder-Body of the God-King!
The most radiant, most holy, most awe-inspiring, most mighty, and most magnificent divine body of the God-King!
The all-knowing, all-powerful God-King did not exert His full might.
Yet even so, before His present divine stature, Mount Olympus itself was as insignificant as a mote of dust.
It was a vastness and greatness beyond description in any tongue.
A magnitude that no words could compare to, depict, or describe.
Indeed, His magnificent divine body had become the very concept of "immensity"—the ultimate measure by which all "grandeur" is reckoned.
All the world of being was already held within His palm.
The boundless universe is empty and without edge by nature.
Yet when the God-King unfurled His great divine body, it still seemed cramped and small.
And even so, the almighty God-King was only showing a mere tip of the iceberg of His might.
At His will, thunderbolts sprang from a cloudless sky.
Gold-white lightning, beyond dimensional bounds, left not the least speck of darkness or shadow in the universe—it became a pure realm of light.
Then the most-high God-King stretched forth His great hand.
The endless sea of stars lay within His grasp.
But the God-King's aim was not the star-sea—His hand reached straight forth and thrust beyond the world of "being" itself!
He came to that "Tartarus," an eternal endless void!
Under the God-King's most-high, most-strong, unsurpassable might, even that pure "nothingness," that eternal chaos—Tartarus—shuddered and shrank back with instinctive fear before the God-King's sheer power.
He cast a single thunderbolt with a casual flick.
Pure void, endless chaos, under the God-King's might, began silently to undergo the most violent convulsion.
Chaos and void, under thunder, began to twist, shudder, and break—and swiftly underwent a qualitative change.
"Nothing" turned to "something."
The God-King seized and drew in, without the least courtesy, that primal force born from "nothingness," and infused into it His own son's boundless "radiance of creation."
The giant golden eyes of His most-high divine body flashed faintly.
The "Fire of Creation" that Hestia had bestowed was born from no source within that pure void!
And at the God-King's urge it burned bright, feeding upon the endless power of the void as its fuel!
In that pure void, the radiance of "creation" and the holy "Fire of Creation" devoured the power of "nothingness" to their heart's content.
Until, under thunder's thousandfold tempering, at last it took complete shape!
It was a hammer that shone with undying fire, golden-cyan throughout—ancient and solemn—the Hammer of Creation!
A most-high artifact of creation was thus born in the God-King's hand.
This was the most-high artifact the God-King personally forged for His firstborn son's birth.
This hammer was named SphyraKtiseos/σφρακτσεω, meaning the Primordial Hammer of World-Opening Creation!
This hammer, founded upon the "Light of Creation," was kindled from "nothingness" into the "Fire of Creation," and was shaped by "thunder."
All things can be forged; life and death can be wrought!
With the prerogative of "creation," it can wield the great transformation from "nothing" to "something"!
Life and death, yin and yang, are all within it.
In the world, there is no thing this hammer cannot create!
The rumbling ebbed, but heaven and earth still echoed.
If any god looked up now, they would see: a great hand limned with lightning reaching from beyond the frame of "being" to pull back "nothing," and striking it into "something" with fire and decree.
Each unseen fall of thunder's hammer set down a newborn rune in the depths of the universe.
These were the rules written into the Heavenly Order for the "god of creation."
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