Chapter 23: A Year

Chapter 23: A Year



Egypt gave birth to what later would become knows as 'Western Civilisation,' long before the greatness of Greece and Rome.

-John Henrik Clarke

After that fateful day, Hypnos and Hera spent almost all of their time together. The Titanomachy had temporarily abated, providing the world with a much-needed reprieve. Titans and Gods appeared to have reached an unspoken tactic agreement, retreating and preparing for the final battle that would decide the fate of their pantheon.

Meanwhile, Hypnos had also assumed command of their side with no opposition; on the contrary, many immortals were relieved that they could finally see hope in the despairing war. Metis and Prometheus became his assistants, and they together began to devise new plans and strategies for the looming final battle, which was filled with variables and uncertainties. Though they were certain of one thing about the final battle: it would most likely occur within a year.

With that assumed deadline, the gods began to prepare and train, putting everything on the line as if their lives depended on it, which they indeed do.

Speaking of training, his classes with Zeus were still going on every day in full swing. The God of Lightning was improving at astronomical speeds on his cosmic path.

And he was also overseeing the training of Mnesmosyne-she was making slow progress on her cosmic path, pushing through mountains of failure. Then there was Hecate, who moved into his realm and continued with her research into the mysteries of magic. Unlike Mnesmosyne, she didn't want to be reliant on him and instead aimed to forge her own cosmic path with her own strength and will. And he respected her choices.

Finally, there was his realm. Don't worry, he hadn't forgotten-he was still determined to open his realm by the end of the year, as planned. He returned to his realm and continued to write the laws and regulations, as well as assign duties and responsibilities to his living creations-dreams and nightmares.

You may be wondering how he was doing all of this at the same time. Well, just like gods, primordials could be in multiple places at once, dividing their primal essence into parts of themselves.

However, unless necessary, Hypnos avoided using this method. He just didn't like the idea of multiple hims roaming the world at the same time. Call him a wasteful fool for ignoring such a useful method, but it gives the creeps to whatever bits of humanity remain in him.

But, despite his discomfort, Hypnos chose to use it in this critical situation. He had sent a part of himself to Zeus to train him, another to Metis and Prometheus to prepare for the final battle, and another to Dreaming to continue the development of his realm.

Hypnos himself joined Hera, who was totally with him. She never separated herself or anything; rather, she always met him wholeheartedly, increasing his discomfort. Fortunately, she didn't seem to really mind, notwithstanding her obvious jealousy-that oddly warmed his heart.

They then began courting each other, showering each other with presents, stories, and anecdotes while learning about each other's likes and dislikes. Their time together was blissful and beatific. They forgot about their worries and responsibilities while thoroughly enjoying their time together. And they both avoided pushing the boundaries, only exchanging warm kisses and smooches on their dates, preferring to linger until they were certain about their feelings for each other rather than rushing into a potentially unhealthy relationship.

Hera was brave and daring. She would not shy away from expressing her feelings and grievances to him, though she sometimes still struggles with sensitive issues. She was also polite, caring, and supportive to those she cared about, but to the rest of the world, she was mostly indifferent and apathetic.

And the Goddess of Marriage was not without flaws; she was a perfectionist as well as quite temperamental, which was not a good combination in his opinion. But with him, she was much more restrained, willing to listen to his words even if they went against her usual approach.

Hera was thoughtful like that, and Hypnos admired her for it, as well as everything else about her. And being a good boyfriend, he didn't just exploit her feelings but rather cared for her all the more. Honestly, their relationship was rocky at first-they bickered a lot-despite their immense feelings because they didn't really know each other, but as time passed, they gradually began to understand one another.

Their dates, however, were somewhat unconventional since Hypnos was also training Hera during them. His girlfriend was well endowed with talent and aptitude. She was extremely powerful for a goddess, even surpassing her sisters in power and might, though her brothers outmatched her. And, not surprisingly, she had an immense affinity for stars.

Hypnos always knew she liked stars; how could he not? The memory of Hera gazing at the ocean of stars with utter wonder during their eternal journey had been burned into his memory forever more.

And thus, he began teaching her from the basics, informing her about the cosmic nature of the divinity and then expounding on the essence of stars. He was never short of knowledge about the cosmos, since Dreams filled him in on just about everything.

Hera soaked up the knowledge and applied it to reality, attempting to summon stellar energy from the stars that dot the night sky. There were mountains of failures before there was a glimpse of success, but nothing could deny Hera's talent, which was equal to, if not greater than, Zeus'. (That's not personal bias. He swears by it.)

Hypnos and Hera continued dating/training each other as time flew by-seconds turned into minutes, minutes into hours, hours into days, days into months-and before they knew it, ten months had passed.

A lot had also happened in these ten months with his other selves in various parts of creation, but let's not dwell on that for the time being and return to the dreamy tales of his dates with Hera, as things were about to take an interesting turn.

It happened on one of those nights after their dating/training while Hypnos and Hera lay on the grass and just watched the stars for the rest of the night in contended silence-stargazing was one of their shared hobbies.

Hera abruptly broke the serene silence by deciding that they should add travel to their already unconventional courtship.

Hypnos agreed immediately. Travelling - it was something he very much liked in his previous life; even now, he sometimes just travels through the abyss, jumping between dreams of worldly beings. Hera had already discovered it and planned to take him on a great adventure.

asked her to pose with him. Then he willed into existence an image of them in the form of a painting to commemorate this inedible moment-Hypnos and Hera stood hand in hand, gazing at each other with brilliant smiles. They were dressed in Egyptian attire and stood between a massive golden gate engraved with the sun disc.

As Hera regarded the painting with blissful tears, Osiris arrived to receive them for the day. He was extremely surprised by their attire. Then he began to enthusiastically suggest varieties of dresses in the kingdoms while leading them around Egypt; he even recommended taking them to visit the God of Clothing, which they graciously accepted.

Egypt was... enthralling. Whether it was gods, mortals, culture, or traditions, everything was

fascinating in Egypt, sometimes totally not in a good way.

The Egyptian gods, in particular, distinguished themselves from all other immortals. They were pure energy beings that represented the forces of the world, so they lacked corporeal

bodies and must always rely on mortal hosts to walk the earth, but even this method has numerous limitations and constraints, which future Egyptian magicians would exploit to exile the Egyptian Gods from the planet, blaming the gods for all of their misfortunes and

troubles a classic move.

In comparison to other pantheons, the Egyptian Pantheon was truly pitiful, banished by their

own people in the end. Khaos must have been pretty cranky when "She" chose to create this

pantheon. Anyway, the news of the arrival of Hera and Hypnos in the kingdoms of Ra seemed to have already spread throughout Egypt. They were frequently interrupted on their travels with Osiris by other gods, who temporarily joined them on their journey (Hypnos made certain that mortals did not begin worshipping Hera and him alongside other Egythian gods; he didn't want his beloved to take on an Egyptian form, and once again, the faith issue for gods

emerges; he must find a permanent way to deal with this).

The Egyptian Gods were too curious about them, especially him-a primordial being walking

on earth in a physical body. All in all, they were surprising warm and welcoming in their own ways. Though among the gods, two stood out: Thoth and Nut-he wasn't joking; those were

truly their names-who swarmed him with questions to the point where Osiris was forced to send them away while apologising to him. Hypnos didn't mind, since he knew some gods could be quite eccentric. And they weren't being disrespectful; they were purely intrigued by

his existence for different reasons.

Their stay in Egypt was mostly wonderful. Osiris guided them, proudly showing them around the civilization during the day-he was also somewhat gullible, which Hera took full advantage of, secretly drawing information on the Egyptian Pantheon from him. She was totally shocked when she learned about the Egyptian gods' reliance on and need for mortals-

and in the night, Hypnos and Hera would sneak out on their own in concealment to witness the magnificence of Egypt for themselves.

They also attended numerous god banquets on invitation, where they sometimes bumped

into Isis. Hera wasn't thrilled with the existence of the Egyptian goddess of magic from the beginning, and Hypnos was certain her feelings were shared by Isis. Hera, on the other hand,

got along well with another temperamental god, Anubis, though Hypnos himself didn't like the dog that much.

Ultimately, it was truly blissful times, but as the saying goes, good things never last in life, and thus the dreamy times came to an abrupt end, at least for Hypnos.

It was one of those unforgettable nights in Egypt when Hypnos put Hera to sleep after their

customary training session to give her some rest and stepped out to the balcony with a cup of

nectar for some alone time.

And obviously, he didn't get what he wanted-his path was blocked by the unexpected appearance of three primal women of varying ages.

"Hello." Hypnos greeted the Fates quite warmly. "My dear cousins."

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