Chapter 4: Dauntlessness
It had been two days since he arrived in this world of Gods, Angels, Demons, and Cosmic Entities, abruptly pulled from his life into another world to merge with none other than Zeus, the God of Sky and the King of Olympus.
What a surreal situation, isn't it?
Even describing his current state was kind of hard. He was no longer the same Caspian who had been striving to find his way in life after college, with a lover in the boot cheering him on, his life on the verge of settling onto a comfortable and happy track. Nor was he exactly Zeus, the infamous God who single-handedly made Greek Mythology all the more interesting and intriguing.
However, he wasn't lying to Hera when he said he was Zeus. He indeed was the King of Olympus but also a mortal man at the same time. He didn't know how or why this had happened, their souls merging into one to birth something entirely different: him.
A soul fusion, in fantasy terms. Objectively, this shouldn't have been possible, since a mortal soul was so much weaker and insignificant compared to a God, much less a King of Gods. In a battle of souls, Zeus should have devoured Caspian easily, with no difficulties or problems. But that was far from what happened. There must be some reason, someone or something, behind whatever caused him. He doesn't believe in coincidences; even calling his situation a coincidence was stretching the term greatly because of the logical impossibility that was him.
As far as the prospect terrified him, he still had many issues and conflicts within himself and around him to deal with first. One major example was the fact that he was married to his sister, which should have disgusted him, but whenever he thought of Hera, all he felt was love and pain and sadness and anger—he could go on listing actually. As much as Hera would like to parade around that she was the only one vulnerable in their relationship, that was far from truth, especially now.
All in all, the conflicts within himself were too much, casting everything he had done as the King of Gods in a whole new light. Things and decisions that hadn't bothered him before now twisted his heart. For another example, he had just watched James, one of his demigod sons, get brutally consumed by Hades' monsters. He didn't do anything, citing the Olympian law of non-interference, but that was just a lie.
Zeus didn't even feel the need to save his son, even as James cried out his name, even when he could have easily intervened. He was the King, and he enforced those Olympian Laws. He could have added exceptions to it immediately, but he did nothing. To top it all off, it wasn't even during a quest or due to a prophecy, where the fate of demigods was entirely up to the three Fates and no Gods were allowed intervene to tip the scales.
Ultimately, James didn't die a valiant and heroic death, but a hopeless and needless one amidst the childish bickering of three immortal brothers.
And it wasn't just the decisions he had as King of Gods irked him, but also those of Caspian. He recalled how careless his teenage years were, always dancing on the precipice, hunting the next thrill. Life's high that he chased with abandon, growing more audacious with each passing day. He now starkly realized if it wasn't for Ella entering into his life and mellowing out his sharp edges; he would probably have ended up in far darker places. He had never thought of the past in this angle, never bothered to consider Ella might have pulled him from the brink, and it shattered his heart all the more.
So, yeah, as you can see, he wasn't exactly acing this whole process of adjusting to his new self. But he refused to let these conflicts consume him. After all, he was a King, entrusted with a realm to govern, shape, and change. Weakness and vulnerability were not qualities he wanted his subjects to witness in their ruler. Olympus had already been rocked by his transformation. Any more cracks could shatter the foundation.
And it wasn't like he loathed what he'd become. He couldn't, when both Zeus and Caspian felt like they'd been etched into his soul, part of the very marrow of his bones.
He was them and they were him.
Always.
He may still be struggling to process everything, silently grieving for everything he had lost, feeling disgusted and guilty over dark yesterdays, regretful of his past choices and paths.
But in the end, he knew he could—no, he was certain that not only would he recover, but he would also blaze further until he reached the peak of life. Because for all the chasmic differences between Caspian and Zeus, there was one common characteristic, a sync that coursed through them: dauntlessness. Now he had inherited everything from both of them, including their blazing dauntlessness.
So, look, he wasn't going to stand by and watch himself wither out further or let his kingdom fall deeper into the clutches of Heaven. And for sure as hell, he wouldn't let the fate of Olympus rest upon fucking DEMIGODS! No offence against them, but what a humiliation the whole future affair of the second Titanomachy and Gigantomachy was for Olympus, for him, the King of Gods, to have all of his realm be saved by a group of children, not once but TWICE!
So obviously he was all for change, and Olympus was going to follow in his path, one way or another.
Last but not least of this much needed psychological monologue, he decided to go by the name of Zeus. That name and Caspian both belonged to him, but Zeus was more suited for his current situation because you know. He really didn't want to give a real heart attack to any of the Gods. You should have seen the look on Athena's and Hermes' faces when they saw the new him for the first time. He suspected their reactions would never get old.
And that, for a moment, made him feel like it was all worth it.
————
The year was 1937, the year when everything began to boil down, eventually erupting into a war that would sweep the world.
Zeus didn't know why his change happened exactly at this time, but he didn't delve too much into it, as there were already too many 'whys' and 'whats.' At least this gave him ample time to prepare, even try to prevent the future second Titanomachy and Gigantomachy.
However, the looming world war itself seemed too daunting of an affair, different from what was portrayed in the Percy Jackson books. Zeus wasn't particularly surprised by the disparity. After all, there should be clear distinctions between fiction and reality. Percy Jackson, above all, was children's literature, despite its incorporation of many mature and dark themes. There was a limit to how vividly the author could depict the harshness of the world Zeus inhabited through his work.
And this world wasn't just Percy Jackson, that was much glaring to Zeus, since in the past he had hosted a banquet for the literal Cosmic Embodiment of Dream and Reality in Olympus. So yeah, changes weren't really going to surprise him that much at all.
Looking at current affairs, the impending world war wasn't just about the demigods of the Big Three, dutifully carrying out their fathers' legacies. It marked a complete seismic shift in the geopolitics of pantheons.
The coming causes were numerous, but it could be narrowed down to two major factors. The first one being Amaterasu's hunger for power.
The Queen of Shinto Pantheon didn't seem sated even after the Korean Pantheon ceded their mortal territory to the Shinto Pantheon, acknowledging the supreme rule of Amaterasu. Now her greedy gaze was turning towards China, and the winds of war were becoming deafening, turning into a hurricane ready to sweep all of Asia, possibly even the world because the problem was unlike Korea, China was a behemoth in and of itself.
The Heavenly Court held dominion there under the crown of the Jade Emperor. An annoying guy he might be but Zeus couldn't deny his might. If it was before, Zeus would have dismissed this whole situation without much thought because even if the Shinto Pantheon and Heavenly Court went to actual divine war, both of them would only end up caught in a deadlock. And above all, Amaterasu had no hope of achieving complete victory over the Jade Emperor.
But now Zeus wasn't so sure anymore, something about the abashed confidence behind Amaterasu's recent actions bothered him. He felt like he was overlooking something, like there was more to her than meets the eye.
The bizarre situation of Amaterasu needed to be addressed, but for now, let's get back to the second factor behind the coming seismic shift in divine geopolitics: the West.
Yes, the West, all the territories that fell under his dominion. It was the largest Divine Empire in the world, ruling all of North America and Europe. As for the other pantheons belonging to those continents like Asgard, Aztec, and Slavic, all of them had integrated with the West over time for survival and opportunity, making the West their new home as well.
Their relations with Olympus were complicated; they weren't technically under the rule of Olympus but also they don't claim any territory of the West as their own. They were just there, passengers on the Boat of West steered by Olympus.
What truly irked Zeus was not only the passengers had not paid any fare but also the fact he could do nothing but accept their uncertain presence. The other option was complete breaking and disintegration of the West, after all.
But the fascinating thing about the West was its influence. It wasn't just limited to the official territories of North America and Europe but also prevalent throughout the world. How, you may wonder? Simple answer: Colonisation.
At the height of the West, in 1819, the Hearth of Olympus shone on over sixty percent of the world. At the time, some even had the audacity to compare Olympus to the Silver City, the Heaven where Yahweh and all of his angels reside and rule the cosmos. Oh how foolish they were, oh how infuriating they were…
Anyway, the influence of the West began to dwindle soon after, with colonies gaining independence one after another, but still many parts of the world remained as colonies, especially under the Crown of Britain. The pantheons in those colonised regions had gone weary of Olympus extending indirect influence over their mortal territories through the proxy of the British Crown. So what was World War if not a perfect opportunity for independence and rebellion against the oppression of the West?
The Gods there wouldn't want to miss such a precious opportunity. If nothing was done, Africa and Oceania and Asia would erupt in a blaze of independence, carrying the fury of liberty with their Gods rising behind them against the Order of the West.
Desire. Despair. Destruction. Death.
Ares was going to love the coming war so much, but Zeus?
Not so much.
The more he considered the current state of affairs and the possible future, the more he became worried. He could practically envision many versions of how everything would turn out, most of them didn't end well for Olympus.
Regardless, Zeus didn't overly fret; Olympus had been through worse and they had survived. They would not only survive the coming world war but also come out as the victor. Zeus would make sure of that. Things may very well happen differently in the coming war, from the foreknowledge he had, since you know, this was the world of Gods, but Zeus had both the power and authority. He may fear for the future, anxious over all the possibilities, but he didn't let it get to him. A problem, no matter how impossible it appeared, would have a solution in the end. It all comes down to whether you were capable of grasping it.
He just wished his fellow Gods were as aware of the worsening situation as he was; some definitely were, but others like Poseidon and Apollo were living in their own little perfect worlds, especially Apollo. Even his brother had mellowed out in recent times and tried to make a difference, but Apollo, oh, his son was a piece of work.
Just look at his son's recent accomplishment: plunging the country of Spain into a full-blown civil war.
Apollo wanted to stabilise and heal the divide between the common populace of Spain but of course he only managed to make it worse in the end.
That needed to be addressed; Zeus had overlooked it before since the Spanish affair was strictly mortal, even Apollo didn't break any laws while worsening it; he just indirectly guided the course of events in the worst imaginable way. Even the Spanish Royal Family, bearing Apollo's legacy, refrained from direct involvement, though their fingerprints were everywhere in the shadows.
There was also another important and blasphemous matter that Apollo overlooked, so yeah, his idiotic son wasn't getting off the hook anymore.
Not at all.
Speaking of the Spanish Civil War, Zeus cannot ignore how Germany was sending support to fascist and nationalist faction in the war, even encouraging Italy to send theirs as well. To address this, you must look at the crux of the matter: Hitler.
Yes, Hitler, the big bad guy who almost took over the world, who also just happened to be a half-blood of Hades in this world. Oh, Zeus usually hated cliches, but he couldn't help but make an exception in this situation.
Look at that Hades, I was right about him!
Jokes aside, to describe Hitler, 'Ambitious' wouldn't be enough; Zeus could see it from both mortal and divine vantage points. He could almost envision Hades' spawn's ultimate aim – to shift the heart of the West from America to Germany, to jolt Olympus and force the Gods to bend to the new order of civilization he sought to forge. Or maybe Zeus was, as usual, thinking on a grand, flamboyant scale. Perhaps the half-blood's ambitions weren't as colossal, his deeds surely not aimed against the Gods who had continuously discriminated against his father and his kin.
As if.
Zeus very much wanted to just smite Hitler and spare the world the suffering that was to come, but of course, he couldn't do that; things were different now than how it was in Age of Gods where he could just smite to solve most of his problems, there were new laws and customs even he as the King of Gods had to adhere, and Hades would probably not take it well if he just smote his son in front of all. The differences between him and his brothers were already causing so much destruction and death; he really didn't want to add more fuel to the fire.
All in all, this impending world war felt like a beast of a different breed, maybe even more foreboding than the Second Titanomachy and Gigantomachy in some twisted way. Zeus had to move with caution if he wanted Olympus to come out the other side intact. Sooner or later, Amaterasu would set her sights on the juicy cake that was the West.
But for now, Olympus demanded his full attention. He had to let his fellow Gods adjust to this new version of him, to the changes he was about to bring, without sparking a rebellion in the ranks.
So here's for hope!
———————
"Is that all, Lord Father?" Athena's voice held that steady, professional edge she always had. It seemed she'd already wrapped her head around his seismic transformation and was already following him around for his orders, like she was born ready for this.
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