The table was simple in shape, but grand in presence—a wide circle of living wood, sprouting from the roots Aetherion had called up with his divine will.
It stood at the center of the garden he had cultivated over the years, surrounded by ethereal flora, humming streams, and trees that pulsed faintly with divine essence.
Three figures sat around it.
Aetherion sat with his hands folded, his silver eyes gleaming beneath his golden hair.
Across from him sat Rhea, Her expression full of softness after her reunion with her son.
And beside them, a beautiful toga that's hugging her body, legs crossed, and sitting calmly, was Gaia, silent and waiting for the conversation to start.
"I've been staying here, in this hidden realm, The moment Gaia took me in."
Aetherion said, breaking the silence.
"Since the moment I could talk, I've been learning from her. And the moment I could walk, she even taught me how to fight."
He looked over at the Primordial, who gave him a faint, knowing smile.
"She's taught me more than I thought possible. Not just about domains, but control, and how to listen to the world. And I have to say, I am quite talented.I've learned to draw power from the stars, to bloom life from the dirt, to call upon nature's will… and—" he paused, eyes brightening with excitement, "—I've already achieved my Divine Form."
Rhea's eyes widened.
"What!?"
she breathed.
"Already!?"
Aetherion had a smug expression and nodded his head, while Gaia's face expressed pride as his teacher.
"Yeah, for the moon domain. It was the one easiest for me to master. I finally broke through… only a few days ago."
He hesitated, then added with a smile,
"I look pretty amazing in it, if I do say so myself."
Rhea blinked, stunned and a bit flabbergasted by her son's narcissistic comment.
"But… most deities —my siblings and I even—don't reach that stage for decades… sometimes centuries."
"Hehe I know,"
Aetherion replied, chuckling softly.
"But I had no choice. If I want to release my siblings and take down Kronos. I had to grow stronger—fast."
He continued, explaining the techniques he'd created, like Parallel Expansion, and how his training had evolved from playful sparring into something serious, methodical, and strategic.
Rhea listened quietly, her heart both swelling with pride and heavy with sorrow.
She hadn't been there to see any of it.
Not his first steps.
Not his struggles.
Not his joy.
And yet… here he was.
Strong.
Whole.
Radiating with divinity.
When he finally finished, she looked down at her hands, then spoke.
"There are four of them,"
she said softly.
Aetherion looked up.
"My siblings."
She nodded, golden eyes shimmering.
"Hestia, Demeter, Hera, and the last… Hades. All of them are within Kronos now. Not truly dead, but swallowed. Trapped. Waiting."
He said nothing, his jaw tensing.
Rhea continued,
"I… I begged Gaia to bring them back. I prayed. I screamed. But the prayers remained silent."
Gaia looked over gently and a bit regretful.
"I'm sorry, my daughter. We primordials are not allowed to interfere in the realm of the deities nor mortals, especially I, the mother of life. If I interfere every time, one of my children needs help. The whole world will feel my power every second."
She said a bitter smile appeared on her face.
Gaia knew she could not interfere with the struggles of divine beings.
Across the world, most who existed were born from her—the Earth itself.
Everywhere she looked, she saw her children.
Not only the Titans and gods, but the animals too.
No—all animals, in truth, were her children.
She knew that well.
They had been born from her and her alone.
But her Titan children—the Twelve Great Titans, now only eleven—were different. They were born from her union with Uranus.
And they held a special place in her heart.
Yet after all that Kronos had done—devouring his own children, abusing his wife—Gaia could not forgive him.
But neither could she intervene.
These were the affairs of Titans and deities.
They were not hers to judge.
She could not act unless they directly threatened her, unless they defiled the Earth itself.
Only then could she move against them.
Even curses were beyond her to give—she could not repeat what Uranus had done to Kronos.
The only reason she had even taken in Aetherion was because he had unconsciously teleported into her embrace, bound to the Earth.
If not for that, she might never have met him.
Just the thought of it made her uncomfortable and started to dislike Kronos even more.
Rhea looked at her mother's sad smile.
She already knew everything her mother had said, but in her grief and sorrow, she had chosen to blame Gaia instead of herself and her own weakness.
That realization made her and made her feel even more uncomfortable, a spark of self-hatred rising within her for her frailty, for directing her pain at her mother when she already knew the truth of the divine laws that governed the universe.
Acknowledging her mistake, she raised her hands and clasped them together with Gaia's.
"I'm sorry, Mother. I already knew… yet I blamed you. Forgive me,"
she whispered, her voice heavy with sorrow.
The two women looked at each other, their eyes brimming with tears, ready to spill over.
"It's alright, my daughter," Gaia said softly. "I never blamed you. And I'm sorry I couldn't do more."
For a long moment, they held each other's gaze—mother and daughter, both scarred by grief, both wounded by the cruelty of their husbands.
Yet in that shared pain, a soft smile began to form on their lips.
After their brief moment of reconciliation, they sat back down together, resuming the conversation where it had left off.
After a long pause, Aetherion exhaled and sat back.
"Then it's time we talk about the future,"
he said.
Both women turned their eyes to him.
"I have a plan."
Gaia raised a brow.
Rhea tilted her head.