The Olympia Chronicles

By: Elizabeth Bundick

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When God and the Devil showed up at the gates of Olympus, no one thought twice. Since Hercules had been made a God, it seemed like everyone and their uncle was becoming one. Problem was the new guys didn’t think like the old ones. They had new ideas, which didn’t exactly mesh with the way things had been going for thousands of years. The ruling power at the time, the Greek Gods, decided that something should be done about this. So, they went with what had worked for thousands of years. If God and the Devil’s ideas could become more popular than the Greek ideas, they could rule the mortal world. This system had been in place long before the Greek Gods had over thrown the Celts to take power. The deal was struck and off went God and the Devil to try and gain mortal followers.

It took awhile, but the deal came to fruition and the Greek Gods were forced to step down. A millennia or so went by and the Gods of Olympus were getting a little, okay a lot, bored. There wasn’t much to do when you couldn’t interfere with the mortal world besides sit around in paradise and remember the good old days.

Around the time of the Crusades, Zeus decided that it was time he started working on the issues he had. Hera, after seeing the huge improvement her husband was making, also took up therapy. The other Gods and Goddesses were stunned by the change. Before the therapy Zeus had talked about over throwing God and the Devil by force. Now he was loathed to break the deal with God and the Devil. It was part of his new outlook on life, respect yourself by respecting others.

A few of the old Gods tried every now and then to convince Zeus to lead an attack against God, but he always ignored them. A handful of times a few Gods tried to get the other Gods and Goddesses to overthrow Zeus and then overthrow God. That didn’t work so well either. The Gods liked the new Zeus and they respected God, even if they were irked by the whole “pagans burn in Hell” thing.

It was during one of these lulls between revolution attempts when four Goddesses were sitting around in a garden. This was a common activity for Goddesses to indulge in since Gods had discovered no limit Texas Hold ‘Em and were playing quite obsessively. Which meant the Goddesses were left to their own devices, and as usual, this meant gossip.

“You know what I heard; there was almost an apocalypse this year.” The first Goddess said, trailing one hand through the water. The hand was delicate and the color of pale porcelain. The Goddess was lying on her back, watching the clouds roll past the giant domed glass ceiling above the garden with her mismatched eyes, one gray and one green. Her ink black hair floated like fog around her angular, aristocratic face. Along with her hand, her toga of dark gray silk with the green sash trailed in the water.

“Really?” the second Goddess was doing one armed push-ups, “Wouldn’t that void Dad’s deal with old Beardy?” She wore sturdy brown leather hunting boots instead of sandals like the first Goddess. Her toga was knee length, so she could run easily, and a deep forest green cinched tight at the waist with a heavy gold belt. Her long dark red hair was braided and piled up on top of her head. Her brilliant green eyes were fixed on the ground and her cupid’s bow mouth mumbled the number of push-ups she had done.

“Yes, based on the rules of the contract a destruction of the mortal world would put it up for grabs from any God who wanted it,” the third Goddess answered, her quick gray eyes focused on the giant book she was reading. The book matched her simple white toga with a blue sash pinned at the shoulder by a gold owl. Her chocolate brown hair was in a tight knot at the base of her skull and gave her a severe headache.

“Pft, well obviously it didn’t happen,” the fourth was combing her platinum blonde hair for the thousandth time that morning, “Or else we wouldn’t be here. We’d be helping Daddy kick old Beardy out of here.” This Goddess’s hour glass figure was draped in a soft pink toga with a bright red sash wrapped over he impressive breasts. Her eyes were perfectly shaped, dazzling blue and looked very bored. Her skin was flawless and her lips pouty. Simply put, she was a splendid specimen of perfection.

“Yeah, unluckily for us old Beardy and the Pitchfork reached an agreement so they could stay in power,” Sighed the first Goddess. “It looks like we’re going to be staying here a little bit longer.”

“Ugh, I’m so sick of this place!” The fourth one threw up her hands, “I want to go see what’s going on out there! I mean, is Thebes still the place to be? And whatever happened to the Romans? Or those silly British isles?”

“Well, Aphrodite, Thebes is nothing more than a tourist spot,” When her sister looked quite confused, Athena elaborated, “It’s a place where mortal families go for vacations, which are trips where you don’t work and get very stressed out. The Roman empire died out about…”

“Athena! You’ve been sneaking peeks!” the platinum blonde accused, waving her golden brush at her sister.

“I’ve been getting books, Father says I am supposed to keep up with the times so I can stay the wisest Goddess. It’s work,” Athena countered regally, “Even Old Beardy knows about it and he’s says it’s perfectly alright.”

“Huh.” Finishing her push-ups Artemis sat cross legged on the ground, propped her arm on her knee and rested her chin in her hand, “Seems like we’ve been gypped.” Though she had done one thousand push-ups, she wasn’t even breathing hard.

“You know,” Persephone said slowly as she sat up from where she was lying on the outside rim of the fountain, “If you guys are really bored I have an idea.”

“Isn’t that Athena’s territory?” Artemis quipped, nudging Athena’s knee with her elbow. Athena shifted her knee away and snorted at her sister.

“Oooh!” Aphrodite got up from her golden bench and sat next to Persephone on the fountain, “You always have fun ideas, Sephe, what is it this time?”

“Well, I heard some of the Celtic Gods got bored once so they joined with some mortal souls and spent some time in the mortal world,” She explained, worrying a piece of hair between her fingers, “Since they didn’t actively interfere with anything going on, they didn’t break the contract they had with us all those years ago. And if we do the same thing, we don’t break Dad’s contract and we get to see what’s going on.”

“I love it!” Aphrodite clapped her hands excitedly, “I think I’ll take over that Jennifer Anston or whatever. She’s married to that hunk who looks a lot like Adonis.”

“Wait, wait,” Athena folded her book closed and sighed, “While I, too, am charmed by Persephone’s plan, it can stand some improving.”

“Here she goes,” Artemis rolled her eyes and flopped onto her back, her arms under her head.

“If we join our souls with mortal ones, we’ll be temporarily mortal. We will still retain some of our immortal powers, similar to Hercules when he was living in the mortal world, but if our “host souls” die we too shall be wiped from existence.”

“You’ve done some research,” Artemis laughed.

“I heard of what the Celtics did and was curious,” Athena nodded her head towards her sister.

“Oooh, dying. Daddy won’t like that… neither will your husband.” Aphrodite glanced at Persephone out of the corner of her eye.

“It’s the start of spring, he has no power over me now,” She titled her chin high and tried to look confident, “Anyway, Mom would crush him if he laid a finger on me.”

“This is true,” Athena nodded towards her younger, and yet much older sister, “I also think if we split up it could cause problems. None of you know how the world has changed, nor do you know anything about the technology or etiquette of the time. Since I am the only one with a good knowledge of the modern world, I suggest we stay close together.”

“Oh you really have been doing research,” Artemis sat up and studied her sister, “So, we take over four human souls, who happen to be friends, and then stay for what? A month, two?”

“How about until Sephe has to go back to Hades?” Aphrodite suggested, “That will give us plenty of time to learn about the mortal world and have a little fun. Oh! And if we go someplace that stays warm all year round we could even probably string a couple of more weeks out of it!”

“No, the deal with my husband works on time, not weather,” Persephone sighed, “Do you have a place in mind, Athena?”

“I do,” Athena rose gracefully from her chair and held her hands out before her. Shimmering into existence her huge gold circle hoplon appeared. Spinning above her hands the hoplon tilted until the rounded front faced the sky. “Gather round,” Athena ordered, and her sisters moved to stand in the circle around the hoplon. “There is a town in a place called the Midwest. It is named Olympia.”

“How appropriate,” Artemis grunted, watching as the hoplon began to spin rapidly over her sister’s hands.

“There are four women there, who are perfect for our souls.” In the middle of the hoplon the faces of four women appeared, “They are all friends who have known each other for years. They live in the same house, and work in the town. While they are close, they all have their own time with which to do what they wish. Their interests are similar to our own, and I believe there are none better suited to serve as hosts for us.”

“Perfect!” Aphrodite leaned further over the shield, studying the women, “So, how do we join souls with them?”

“We’ll have to drag Morpheus away from his game. The mortal soul is most closely connected to our realm when they are dreaming. Morpheus will implant us in the women’s dreams and there we will join with them.”

“That doesn’t exactly answers the how part,” Artemis pointed out.

Athena sighed, “That is the difficult part. They have to touch us. We can not forcibly join our souls with theirs. They must touch us and then we will say the incantation and be joined. When we wish to leave, we will call for Morpheus again, the women will dream and we will say another incantation to release our soul from theirs. Morpheus will pull us out back into our realm.”

“Seems simple enough, the hardest part will be getting Morpheus away from his game,” Persephone smiled at her sisters, “Shall we?”