Above the peaks of Mount Cyllene, the land that was once part of northeastern Arcadia during the reign of that disgusting race, I floated in the air with some of my family members and friends, watching with amusement as our very first creation born of Athena's idea made his move.
Apollo, my ever-dramatic nephew, directed his pleading eyes at me.
"Uncle? Aren't you going to do anything? That brat is stealing my sacred cattle!"
At the base of the mountain, an infant brimming with divinity was indeed guiding a lot of Apollo's precious cattle away from their herd in Thessaly, all the way to the child's home in Mount Cyllene. The brat was even clever enough to tie grass to the cattle's feet and make them walk backwards, creating tracks that would suggest that they were led into their pasture instead of being taken out.
Unfortunately for the poor little one, we have all been keeping an eye on him from the very moment he was born to his mother, Maia, the eldest of the Pleiades and the one who agreed to our experiment after I promised her and her sisters a place in Hera's garden, right by the side of their half-sisters, the Hesperides.
I waved my hand at Apollo's whining while Zeus chuckled.
"Well, I must say, this child is indeed talented. Not to mention that his divinity is extremely stable. I believe congratulations are in order, my dear daughter."
Athena nodded at the praise but then spoke softly to her father.
"Thank you, father, but I believe the majority of the credit goes to Uncle Brolios. Without him giving me the knowledge of the microscopic level and the deeper intricacies of divinity as a whole, as well as his ability to manipulate life force, which was an irreplaceable part in the child's creation, I do not believe I would have succeeded."
I patted Athena's head, much to the goddess's annoyance, and spoke with my amusement leaking into my tone.
"Learn to take the credit, Athena. All I've done is give you knowledge. Similar to how one would hand pieces of a puzzle to a scholar. How you put together those pieces, if you can put them together at all, is something for you to decide. So it is safe to say that this success is mostly yours, because you took the knowledge I gave you and turned it into tangible results."
The golden blush on her face made Zeus and I laugh while Apollo continued sulking by our side.
It was only at that moment that Maia, the mother of this little one, whom we awakened and brought with us the moment we saw the child crawl away to Thessaly, gave me worried looks and spoke up.
"My lord? Is it really all right to let him do such things? Won't Lord Apollo punish him for this act?"
I shook my head at Maia's question, understanding her worry.
After all, no mother could stay still when her child is in potential danger. Unless said mother is a Saiyan, but that is a different matter entirely.
When we approached Maia with the proposition of bearing this child as an experiment, she was only supposed to provide us with her essence so that we could cultivate the child in a pseudo-growth pod that I created with my magic.
However, Maia refused. She wanted to bear the child herself, mainly because she believed that artificial means of growth would affect the child's growth, especially when the child is wholly artificial to begin with. Of course, I knew the real reason for her objection, which was the fact that she wanted to experience motherhood without the need for physical intercourse with someone.
Whatever the case might be, given that she had given birth to the kid herself, it is natural that her maternal instincts were now in full overdrive.
"Do not worry, Maia. He will just put on a show, nothing more. At most, he will just ask for some compensation from the kid, and given how he has been eyeing the child's creation, I have no doubt that he would ask for that so-called lyre as said compensation."
At my words, we turned collectively to look at Apollo, who was staring at the musical instrument that the child had created sometime during his travel from Thessaly to his home to keep the cattle entertained.
'Yup. He is definitely attracted to that instrument.'
Given his affinity for music, it is not surprising that he was attracted to that instrument. It is one of the reasons why his temple is so cluttered with his various attempts at creating different kinds of musical instruments, much to the Muses' joy, as they had countless new tools to try out every day. Granted, most of the time, his attempts are a failure in his eyes, but the point still stands.
Watching as the baby boy, Hermes, as he has been named by his mother, finally walked into the cave, I signalled Apollo.
"Alright, time for the act that we discussed before. Remember what I said?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'll go and scare the boy a little to see if his instincts are working and if his divinity responds to his thoughts. Then, I will take him to Olympus, where Father and Athena will further test him. After that, should he succeed, he will be made into a new Olympian."
I nodded with approval.
"Good. At least you remember the plan this time. If not, I would have had to call in Arty over to handle you."
"Hey!!"
I chuckled at his dismayed look.
Yup, there is nothing as fun as messing with your nieces and nephews.
With the plan set, Apollo vanished in a burst of light, teleporting into the cave while taking Maia with him and leaving me alone with Zeus and Athena.
Taking advantage of this short free time, Athena asked a question that sent waves of rage and sorrow through my heart.
"Uncle, with this success as the guide, should we move on to the next project?"
"No."
My answer was flat and clear.
"We still need time to further refine the process. And....I need time to calm down."
"But-"
"Athena. No. I refuse to make the same mistake I made last time when I agreed to Prometheus's idea and immediately set about creating the Bronze Race with him."
The anger and sorrow must have shown on my face since my beloved niece did not even dare look at my face.
"We have already seen what kind of disaster those...things were as a result. So, this time, we will be slow, we will be deliberate, and we will make sure that they are better than their predecessors."
It really was a mistake to agree with Prometheus so readily back then.
I guess my eagerness back then must have come from my desire to see the human race again. The human race that I knew from my old life. The ones who gave birth to the noble warriors like Krillin, Roshi, and others of Kakarot's group. That chaotic bunch that always made our training sessions so entertaining on Beerus's planet.
It was the reason why I made sure that these humans would be capable of utilising their Ki and would be trained as warriors with honor.
Unfortunately, they turned out more similar to the ruthless monsters that my race, the Saiyans, were, instead of the kind and noble beings that I remember from that version of the Earth.
Truth be told, if it were just that, I would have accepted it. After all, if I could accept my original race, I could accept these humans. But the Bronze Race took it a step further and became creatures that were not worthy of bearing the name of 'humanity'.
That was why I was so decisive with my actions of ending their kind, eradicating them both in body and soul, with the rare few kind souls and the children that I felt through my domain being preserved in my Grove.
This is also the reason why I don't want to start working on the so-called Heroic Race just yet. Not until Athena, Prometheus, and I have thoroughly hammered out all the kinks from the previous iteration and made sure that they won't be like the Bronze Race.
Soon, we felt Apollo's divine signature head for Olympus with young Hermes in tow, signalling that the test had moved onto the next stage, prompting us all to teleport back to Olympus as well.
'Let's put aside all those depressing thoughts for another time. For now, I have another young and cute nephew to welcome into the family.'
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