And Sleep answered the call of the goddess and silence and rest befell the lands of Denia after great trials. A new fire had been kindled and a new tale set to be told. But first to be written would be the prelude and the events to transpire before the telling. Thus the would be king sat down to pen the impossible new tale and recite and ancient one.
But the Goddess Hera was not acting in kindness with her proposed spell of restful silence. She had sided against the idea of the turmoil such a thing as the Covenant could yield in the world of men for men as the stood in the new Age were easy to manipulate and control. They lacked the spirit of the people who once lived who would defy her with swords in hand. Those mortals who stood in contrary to what her heart desired and thwarted so many of her intricate plans with their acts of defiance in service of other gods and goddesses along with their own whims and wishes.
No, if Hera had her way such pagans would never rise again in spite of the numbers who would come to serve her. She was no longer looking for servitude. Such deeds were deemed worthy of rewards. It was much easier in this Age to have worshipers she never had to answer because they no longer remembered the proper rites for invoking divine aid. This people who called themselves pagan in this new time were far too easy to manipulate and keep in her small scope of what should be. Very few of them would ever develop the will to act against her.
It was her will to stop the pebble from hitting the pond. She placed many in the way yet the pebble hit none the less and in all of her immortal wisdom she could not discover why.
The missing thread that Athena had taken from the loom chamber when the Fates were distracted was woven at the request of Hera as an alternate future. One in which she would be regarded as the one Goddess of the pagan people. She had almost achieved her plot when the neo-pagans of the new Age began to write new rituals in which the names of the ancient Gods were crossed or they were left completely nameless with no true honors bestowed upon them. And she was all to happy to take the meek offerings and prayers as her own.
Then came the message that doing so was disrespectful to all of the deities invoked and could bring wrath down on the mortals who sent out such blasphemous prayers and wishes. In turn, the pagan population remain under the curses from the disrespected gods and many of them were broken in mind, body, heart, and soul due to simple ignorance. In all of the ego and pride mankind had forgotten much. They had become weak, decedent, and a sad shell of their former might. No warrior class was allowed to establish themselves in the new pagan world and therefore no one ever gained the will to defy the manipulative gods, by their own right or by way of aid from other deities who shared their biasness.
When the tale was written the thread was broken. The Chain of Olympus held true, the Fate's had been turned, the Erinyes defeated time and time again without the aid of the bound magic of the Blood Rage, and the counsel of Athena was all but fulfilled.
But Hera had one last opportunity, one last device, that could once again sway the future to her favor…
