Ball of Nothing 323 Visiting Hyacinth 1

"Athena was a good girl. Unfortunately, lady luck wasn't with her. She was a very independent lady who grew up without the love of any parent. I remember she always preferred pants over skirts and as a titan, she was probably the strongest. Poseidon became her teacher from a very young age because I was often travelling around for work and could not be there for her often enough. I guess it's a common thing for teens to have crushes and fall in love with people they admired. Athena might be a powerful titan but she was also an ordinary maiden who fell in love just like everyone else. Those grudges she held and curses she placed couldn't be removed by anyone till this date. We all tried but I guess nobody can truly understand the heart of a maiden. I'm very sorry that I can't be of more assistance, Zero. However, I really do wish that you will be able to resolve the last of Athena's regrets in this world."

The young doctor smiled and reassured Hades that he would get to the bottom of the case. Hades seemed to be more informed about Athena's personality so Zero tried to pry for more details. To Zero's delight, the God of Death told Zero some more solid information about his niece's past.

"Athena was... a very kind person but also very righteous. If anything, you can say that she is rather similar to Michael but less uptight. However, like all girls, she was easily hurt by the opinions of others. While stories told about her strength, the truth is that Athena's Titan genes came from Zeus and she looked more masculine than feminine. I think it has always been a sore topic for her whenever she attended the gatherings of gods in her armour instead of a gown simply because there weren't any gowns that made her look like a woman."

This news piqued Zero's immediate interest. "I've never seen a picture of Athena, there were only paintings of her in books and old archives. They've always painted Athena as a very pretty goddess... are you sure about this?"

Hades grimaced. "Those pictures were requested by Poseidon and myself. After Athena's death, I took a long time to gather all the old records and pictures about Athena's appearance and either altered them or burned them. Poseidon said that in life, she never had a chance to be seen as a woman hence in death, this was the least we could do for her."

"I understand now..." Zero nodded. He felt pity for this goddess after hearing the truth from Hades. It was very different from how he imagined her to be. In fact, after Eros told him about how Athena treated Arachne, he had many doubts about the records written about her.

"Can you tell me more about the story between Arachne and Athena? I heard some of the stories from Eros and it didn't match the records. Rhinestone's hatred stemmed from there so I'm hoping to clear some doubts about it."

Hades sighed. "That is a story from a long time ago."

Zero waited patiently and called for another pot of Poxie tea. Hades took some time to recollect his memories and tried to tell the story as vividly as he could with some details that he thought Zero would take interest in. The young doctor could understand why Baal liked listening to stories so much now. The teen enjoyed being painted a beautiful world that took his mind away from the current worries. If he hadn't become a doctor, Zero might have become a storyteller instead.

The first part of the story was as everyone knew it to be. Arachne's arrogance in her weaving skills made her catch the attention of gods above. Athena was sent down to investigate the situation. Of course, everyone knew that Athena wasn't as good with the needle as she was with a spear. The entire thing was a setup by jealous goddesses at that point of time who wanted to humiliate Athena.

At this point, Zero became very certain about one fact. The stories and drama revolving around Athena were probably more complicated than it seemed on the surface. Back then, the Titans were very powerful but not everyone was famous. For gods, the more attention and worship they receive, the greater their ability to command power and grant strength to their followers. The more famous gods like Zeus, Hades and Athena were very feared among the other titans. As a result of being unable to gain followers from their dwindling fame, many lesser-known gods and goddesses chose to create rumours to defame the famous gods and turn away their followers in hopes of poaching those who were easily brainwashed.

The young doctor started to understand why Murvin wanted his help to uncover the truth of the matter and resolve Athena's grudges. The gorgon sisters might really just be unlucky in the crossfire between the political battles between these titans. As the Divine Entity of Kindness, Murvin must have really treasured Athena. Unfortunately, the world hadn't been kind to the powerful titan, causing her to fall over the edge and wish for her destruction. Athena's spirit might have shattered but her soul was still stuck here with the grudges holding the last pieces of her down. To truly set Athena free, Zero must uncover the truth and resolve the regrets she had. Perhaps this was Murvin's way of saying goodbye to her favourite child before she too lost herself and became a part of Zero like Law and Isaben. The young doctor noticed it. The quests given by the Divine Entities had to be their last regret or request before they were able to give up on their freedom of existence to lend their powers to Zero. This made the teen worry a little. What if Solo was also trying to accumulate the power of the Divine Entities like him? Doesn't that mean that Zero had to hurry?

"Arachne was cursed to become a spider that weaved forever in the part of Heaven that broke away and became Hell after the war. It was something that Athena decided on her own, nobody could deny that she placed that curse on Arachne to punish her for the arrogance she displayed over her weaving skills. However, in another sense, Athena granted Arachne immortality. The weaver even gained fame from it and became a minor deity known for her weaving skills. Many young brides and maidens prayed to Arachne after her curse for blessings when they had to embroider handkerchiefs for their lovers who were summoned to the battlefield. It's not entirely true that Arachne and Athena had a bad relationship. Perhaps it was so in the beginning but because Athena was such a gentle person, Arachne found herself letting go of her anger towards Athena. They eventually became best of friends when Athena shyly asked Arachne for lessons about sewing. I still remembered it when Athena came to me proudly after she successfully mended the tear in her cloak during a war."

Zero nodded. "Then Rhinestone's rage was misplaced the whole time?"

Hades didn't want to admit it but it was difficult to deny what happened. "Perhaps. However, nobody would know if he was willing to believe in the truth if someone told him about it. The fact remained that he was resentful over being tossed into a miasma poisoned environment due to the turn of events when he could have been enjoying his immortality as the proud descendant of Arachne in Heaven. It's the same situation as Schaf, we cannot determine if it was misplaced hate. The hearts of people are the most difficult thing to understand."

The pot of Poxie tea was finished quickly and Zero thanked Hades for the information. Hades smiled. "I'm afraid this is the extent to what I know about Athena. If there is anyone who knows more than I do who could aid you in your investigations, I would suggest you seek my brother out."

"Your brother? But Zeus doesn't even know Athena well enough despite being her father..." Zero frowned.

Hades laughed at that. "That is true. Back then, Zeus was quite the ladies' man. He didn't really care about the children he fathered because his wives were constantly causing chaos and Zeus had to somehow pacify all his lovers. He was rather hen-pecked so needing to please a harem of powerful ladies wasn't the easiest task."

Zero made a disgusted face and Hades didn't hold it against the teen. Instead, he had a gentle smile. "Poseidon might be a fallen god but he is still a titan through and through. He might have the powers of his domain stripped away but he is still a proud titan born on Olympia. He might not be able to support the plane but he still holds power over the oceans."

Zero was surprised to hear that. "Where can I find him?"

Hades pulled out a tattered map from beneath his sleeve robe and passed it to Zero who quickly scanned it into his communicator so that Mii could start researching about it and marking the location out.

"He's been banished to a water planet called Hyacinth. You might need to borrow money from someone in order to get there quickly. Hyacinth is quite far away from Earth, we don't have a direct portal there. I also wouldn't recommend planet-hopping for you just yet, it's too dangerous without Truen."

Zero swallowed nervously. "There are other planets apart from Earth that I can travel to?"

Hades laughed. "Of course! You didn't think that Earth was the only planet with humans and life forms, did you?"

Zero chose not to comment. His first planet was Amarania but he didn't seem to think that it was unusual for it to have life forms because Sedna owned the planet. However, he didn't think that there were independent planets that developed their own life forms without the help of gods. Then again, Zero thought about it. The memories of the divine fragments showed him many unique existences, especially in Gugu and Jevy's memories. Suddenly he felt stupid for not realising it earlier that planet travelling was a thing.

The blush on the teen's face was endearing and Hades secretly took a picture of it that was going into his private photo album. He also explained to Zero how planet travelling worked. Steve was usually in charge of operating that one portal in Heaven for anyone who needed to travel to different planets for business. Most people would also carry an intergalactic compass if they didn't have the function in their communicators. Older versions of the communicators didn't have that function and Hades recommended Zero to check if he had that app before he left.

"Some things to note are that you cannot activate the portal after you arrive until the cooldown is up. Sometimes planets too far away don't allow you to use your intergalactic communicator. It isn't within the area of coverage. Planets that do not have portals set up for travelling cannot be travelled to using coordinate locking. You'd have to do it the physical way by teleportation from the void or nearest planet. Some other ways to travel to such planets would be by sending your astro clone through meditation, by travelling in a space ship although it takes a lot more time to reach, by crossing time cracks also known as wormhole hopping if you know which current brings you to it and by riding on one of Zeus' lightning bolts. As the God of Sky, Zeus is able to reach any planet and toss a lightning bolt there when he needs to send rain over."

Zero considered the options carefully and thanked Hades. Planet-hopping sounded like something he wanted to do at a later date. First, he had to complete Murvin's quest and meet Truen back on Earth to begin their adventures there. First, Zero had to figure out his mode of transport. He never knew that there were so many things to worry about when going on an adventure. Finance seemed to be the most crucial problem for now but Zero had an idea how to go around these limitations. If he could hitchhike on a space rock, surely hitchhiking a lightning bolt wouldn't be too difficult. Also, why should he pay for portal usage when he had a conveniently available portal wherever he went in the lamp?

Zero checked his communicator and found that he was missing that compass function. Enma's old communicator must be an older version so it was lacking this wonderful feature. Zero left the Garden of Roth quickly and dropped Steve a text. Once he had that feature installed, he would pay Zeus a visit in person. Hopefully, the titan was in a good mood enough to be considerate enough to land a good throw so that Zero wouldn't crash land into Hyacinth too badly.

"Oh no!" Zero realised. "I might have to bring gifts. What does Poseidon like? I forgot to ask Hades earlier..."

With that, the teen turned around and ran back, hoping to catch Hades before he returned to work.

Chapter end