A New Era

Twenty years had passed. And so the Silver Age came to a swift and terrible end. Death, disease, poverty, crime, famine, and war had now become an inevitable and eternal part of human existence.

The western world gradually recovered from the repercussions of the divine punishment from the Eternal Blazing Sun.

The civilization did not crumble on that dreadful night, which future historians would refer to as the 'Long Night.' The golden sun itself didn't grace the world for almost 80 hours.

The Gods and Goddesses descended themselves during this darkest of dark nights and mended their broken world with their divinities.

Artemis, the Moon Goddess, rode her silver chariot through the dark and cold world, illuminating it in argent light. She extended her divinity, purifying and purging the last vestiges of evil with the platinum flames of the moon.

Demeter, the Goddess of Harvest, asserted her divinity and induced the earth to flourish with crops and plants, thereby alleviating the famines caused by the evils. She also fertilised many barren lands and allowed life to flourish everywhere. It was as if the entire western world had been shrouded in an evergreen blanket.

Hestia, the Goddess of the Hearth, imbued her power into every burning hearth across the western world, providing warmth and protection to all who needed it. And humans huddled around the hearths for the only light in the long night. Her selfless actions prevented an untold number of people, cities, and nations from collapsing and crumbling on themselves.

Through her divinity, Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, created an emergency network in the form of a web, which she wove into space. It automatically instilled vital knowledge in mortal minds, assisting and guiding them through the long night. She and Hermes combined their powers, guiding them on the quickest path to the cities blessed by the gods. This emergency network could also be accessed by gods and goddesses, who could use it to send messages and requests. The Goddess of Wisdom ran the entire network by herself, overseeing everything and reacting quickly if she detected any traces of evil.

Hephaestus, the God of Forges and Blacksmiths, halted his forging for the gods as the news managed to reach him. He sent out his new invention. It was Automatons, advanced robots made from celestial bronze. The Automatons travelled across the western world under his command, assisting gods and humans alike.

Aphrodite guarded Love. As the Goddess of Love, she understood the value of love better than anyone else. It was an emotion with limitless power. It, like hope, was one of the pillars of support for the human heart. And she guarded it, refusing to let it drown in despair like the rest of the world.

Leto, Titan of Motherhood, introduced 'Medicine' to the western world. She gave the knowledge to Athena, and the Goddess of Wisdom passed it on to qualified humans, gradually revealing it to the world. This changed everything because humans no longer had to rely entirely on Gods and extraordinary beings to survive the long night.

The Titan of Order, Themis, and the Angel of Judgement, Anastasia, flew into the infinite sky and combined their powers. They worked together to bring order to the Western world and put an end to the chaos caused by evil.

Many Gods and Goddesses, like them, did everything they could to save their world. It was an unprecedented night, with literal miracles occurring all over the world.

And the long night was ended by the Eternal Blazing Sun himself, who rode his golden chariot into the world, drowning the Despair and Darkness of the world in his light.

Hope came in the form of Gods and Goddesses, and it ignited broken and despairing minds and hearts of humanity, inspiring them to Dream—Dream for a better future, for a better world.

Years passed as the world steadily recovered from the repercussions. And with the words etched into the hearts of humans as a lesson, a new age dawned on the western world.

'Believe in the might of the Gods not in their benevolence.'

The human race, now with the blessings and approval of gods, bred and spread about the world, building cities and establishing nation states. Ships and chariots; cottages and castles; culture and commerce; merchants and markets; farming and finance; weapons and wheat. In short, civilization began. It was an age of kings, queens, trade, princes, and princesses; of hunters, warriors, shepherds, potters, and poets. An age of empires, slaves, warfare, and treaties. An age of votive offerings, sacrifices, and worship. Towns and villages chose their favourite gods and goddesses to be guardian deities, patrons, and protectors. The immortals themselves were not shy to come down in their own forms, or in the forms of humans and animals, to have their way with such humans as appealed to them, to punish those that aggravated them, and to reward those that most fawned on them.

The religion of the Eternal Blazing Sun was the most prevalent in the Western world; despite divine punishment from the Eternal Blazing Sun himself, the religion of the Sun was unaffected. After all, human civilization was, one way or another, completely dependent on the eternal sun.

Everything that defined them was Apollonian: their fire, their language, their order, their hope, their knowledge, their art, and their music.

He had laid the foundation for human civilization. And his hold on humanity was unbreakable and imperturbable. Thus, his faith and belief in the mortal world grew exponentially, much to the chagrin and anger of many.

Followed by the religion of the sun, the next four largest faiths in the western world were the religion of Zeus, the King of Gods; then the religion of Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom; then the religion of Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love; and finally the religion of Artemis, the Goddess of the Moon.

Faith. It had become an integral part of humanity, giving hope to the humanity that was still fighting against the evils of the world.

Perhaps most importantly, the plague of sorrows that had flown from Pandora's box ensured that, from this point onward, humanity would have to face the inevitability of death in all its forms. Sudden death, slow lingering death, death by violence, death by disease, death by accident, death by murder, and death by divine decree.

Death was literally everywhere. And the god Hades found, to his great delight—or as close to delight as a gloomy god could ever manage—that the spirits of more and more dead humans began to arrive in his gloomy kingdom. Hermes was given a new role: arch psychopomp, or "chief conductor of souls," which he carried out with his usual vehemence and wit. Though, as the human population grew, only the most important dead were granted the honour of a personal escort by Hermes; the rest were taken by Nicholas, the grim Angel of Twilight, and Thanatos, the foreboding Death, to the Doors of Death.

But not everyone was happy as Hades, the Gods and the Goddesses were still dealing with the remnants of evil, which proved difficult as they were as resilient as seasoned hickory. The Gods were no fools; they understood that evil had the same potential to corrupt them as it did humans. So they showed no restraint in the purging of the evils, though some minor gods and goddesses still fell in the process, corrupted by the evils.

Artemis, the Moon Goddess, led the purification with her hunters and others. She scouted and travelled through the western worlds for years on the run, hunting the remnants.

After nearly 19 years and 2 months, the last remnants of evil were purged on the day of the sun and moon. The twin archers, Apollo and Artemis, graced the sun and moon on the world, letting the light shine through every nook and cranny of the western world, purging the last of the remnants. It was a defining moment for both humans and gods.

The important matters that had been set aside during these perilous times thrashed back into the eyes of the gods, leaving no time for them to seek a reprieve. At Olympus, the first and most important issues were addressed right away.

The trial of Prometheus.

The Council of Gods convened specially to decide the fate of the betrayer. Some wanted Prometheus to be banished to Tartarus; some wanted him to bear cruel torture; some asked for lighter punishment. All in all, everyone was united in their proposal of punishment.

After hearing everyone's voices and opinions, Zeus, the Skyfather, decided on a middle ground. He judged Prometheus guilty of the crimes of betrayal and blasphemy.

Then Zeus exiled Prometheus to an island at the western edge of the world, cursing him with eternal solitude and ensuring that he spends the rest of his immortal life alone and apart from his beloved humans.

Following the conclusion of the Trail of Prometheus, the Gods considered other important matters before adjourning to deal with them.

In the mortal world, the faith and reverence in Gods were higher than ever. The gods became an integral part of the western world. And thorough the years, the world became more connected than ever as the Apollonian alphabets broke the last of the barriers to human development. The trade through the Mediterranean Sea flourished, connecting Europe, Africa, and the Mediterranean. New cities and kingdoms rose along the coast, prospering with the passage of time. Slowly but steadily, humanity emerged from the shadows and darkness cast by evil into a new era.

It was a glorious era where "mystery" reigned supreme, where humans, gods, demigods, and monsters all walked the world together, and where magic and miracles were everywhere.

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom; it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief; it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of light; it was the season of darkness; it was the spring of hope; it was the winter of despair.

This was a magnificent era.

The Bronze Age.

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Alpha Centauri.

Alpha Centauri is the nearest star system to Earth, located 5 light years away. It was a three-star system with three planets. It was barren of any life, as the existence of three stars destroyed the possibilities of the natural birth of organic life all together.

Apollo floated near one of those stars, four massive light wings emerging from his back, along with his Angel of Light, Cynthia, and Angel of Dawn, Castor.

He was holding parchment with an illustration of three stars surrounded by white rings and a plethora of complicated formulas and equations. On top of that, there was a drawing of a ring bathed in the light of hope.