Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 316 The Former King
Since the incident with Tantalus, the King of Gods began to restrict the gods from descending to the mortal realm at will, while on the other hand, he also became increasingly lustful.

How many lovers and offspring did this god-father have? Countless.

Zeus and the nymph Tygate had a son named Rathimon, a powerful hero who founded a city-state named after himself and became the ancestor of the Rathimons and the king of the city-state of Rathimon.

This city-state later acquired another name among the Greeks – Sparta.

Zeus then transformed into Pan, a half-man, half-goat god, and abducted Antiope, the daughter of the river god Asopus. They had sex and had children, Amphion and Zetus of Thebes. When the poor river god father finally learned of his daughter's whereabouts from Sisyphus while searching for her, he was struck dead by a bolt of lightning from Zeus.

Amphion later married Niobe, the daughter of Tantalus. Afterwards, as mentioned earlier, the music-loving Amphion received a beautiful lyre from the Muses. The delighted king held a celebration, only to receive news of the deaths of all seven of his sons, ultimately leading him to despair and suicide.

Zethos married Idon, the daughter of King Pandaus of Ephesus. They had a daughter named Aedelus. One day, Idon accidentally killed her, and from then on, she was consumed by endless sorrow and self-blame. The gods then transformed her into a nightingale, so that she would sing mournfully every night to express her grief for her daughter.

Zeus also disguised himself as a giant eagle and abducted Aegena, another daughter of Asopos, with whom he fathered Aeacus.

This handsome man married Endeas, the daughter of the famous centaur Chiron, and together they had the even more famous Telamon and Peleus. Of course, their story is far more magnificent, so we will not go into details here.

In Arcadia, Zeus took a fancy to Callisto, a handmaid of Artemis, the Queen of the Hunt.

She was the daughter of the famous King Lycaon. From a young age, she vowed to remain chaste and not marry a man. Artemis admired this princess and often chased wild beasts with her in the mountains and forests.

When Zeus encountered this princess, he transformed himself into Artemis. The delighted princess went to greet him, but when this "Artemis" began to kiss her, she realized that the person in front of her was not her mistress, but it was too late.

After becoming pregnant, Callisto gave birth to Arcas, who was then transformed into a black bear by the enraged Hera. Arcas's grandfather then adopted the poor little boy.

Fifteen years later, a young boy was hunting in the forest when he saw a mother bear lingering in front of him. Unaware of the danger, the boy thought the bear intended to harm him and was about to shoot her with his bow and arrow when Zeus saw this. Zeus then transformed the two into constellations in the sky, preventing this tragic human tragedy.

The mother and child were Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. As for Hera's later discovery and her indignation, she sent hunters and hounds to transform into Boötes and Canes Venatici to hunt down the two bears, that's another story.

In addition, Zeus disguised himself as a bull to attract the maiden Europa, who then took him to Crete where he gave birth to the Minotaur and his brothers.

He also seduced Io, the daughter of King Inachus, and fathered Epaphos with this intelligent and beautiful young woman. Later, he became King of Egypt...

The list goes on and on.

In his increasing indulgence and debauchery, Zeus seemed to become immersed in sensual pleasures, fathering his mortal offspring all over the earth.

But as a result, more and more heroes and kings with Zeus's bloodline appeared on earth. Zeus no longer directly ruled the earth, but the earth's worship of Zeus grew day by day.

However, even with so many outstanding offspring, Zeus was still not satisfied.

On the majestic Mount Olympus, Zeus, seated on his throne, stroked his beard, his brow furrowed, as if deep in thought.

"Not enough... far from enough."

He muttered something under his breath.

Finally, as if he had made up his mind, the great god changed his form and silently headed to Tartarus.

Thanks to his frequent experiences of being caught cheating by Hera, Zeus developed a remarkable ability to leave unnoticed. Hera was unaware of his departure, nor were the other gods.

And so Zeus passed through the underworld and arrived at Tartarus, the endless abyss.

Tartarus was almost infinite, and although it couldn't completely contain the monster, it wasn't a problem with Tartarus itself, but rather because the monster's size was far beyond reason.

Elsewhere in Tartarus, there remains an infinite amount of space, imprisoning countless enemies of the gods.

In the dark and eerie abyss, Zeus traversed, passing many incredible things. Among them were many Titans who had followed his father, Cronus.

The cunning Cronus escaped at the end of the war of the gods, while the Titans were imprisoned in Tartarus and suffered endless torment.

The three hundred-handed giants, under Zeus's command, kept watch over the gods' enemies, who roared and wailed in their suffering, yet still relentlessly sought an opportunity.

"A person? A mortal?"

The Titans, seeing a cloaked figure whose face was obscured, crossing the abyss, mistook him for a mortal who had stumbled upon Tartarus. Overjoyed, the Titans roared and stretched out their arms, trying to call upon him for help.

"Mortal! Come quickly! If you rescue us, I will grant you three wishes."

"Do you want mountains of gold? Or a peerless beauty? Or immense power? Or immortality? If you help us, we can give you anything!"

"Look over here!"

However, Zeus, cloaked in his robes, paid them no heed.

But the Titan's cries were urgent, loud and noisy, which annoyed him. The great god frowned, pointed his finger, and a bolt of lightning struck.

"Ah..." The Titan, struck by lightning, trembled all over and instinctively let out a scream, covering his head with both hands.

"You, you are Zeus!"

"Is it the son of Cronus?!"

"How could it be him?"

"How did he end up here???"

Amidst panic and cacophony, the Titans trembled.

This wasn't because the lightning was particularly powerful, but simply because of primal fear. In that heaven-shaking divine war, these Titans had been terrified by Zeus's thunderbolts and dared not confront them again.

Zeus glanced at the Titans, then looked away and continued deeper into the mortal realm.

Deeper within Tartarus lie the enemies of the gods, as ancient as the Titans, or even more ancient and mysterious.

From Uranus, the god of the sky, to the time of Zeus, three generations of god-kings cast all those who dared to rebel and oppose them into this endless abyss. Even as the pantheon changed and the god-kings transformed, these great enemies never had any hope of being released.

However, even after reaching such a deep place, Zeus did not stop, for there were even deeper and more mysterious depths where Zeus had hidden the greatest secret of the entire world.

Finally, Zeus arrived at the deepest part of Tartarus and saw a god, the oldest god.

Which god is the oldest among all the gods? Is it Zeus? Of course not. While Zeus is indeed the king of gods with infinite divine power, he also has a father, the cunning Cronus.

Was Cronus the oldest? No, although the cunning Cronus was older than Zeus, he also had his own father, who was Uranus, the god of the heavens.

Was the oldest being Uranus, the god of the heavens? Still no. The sky is indeed great, but the earth is even older than the sky. The mother and wife of this god Uranus were the broad-chested Gaia.

Was Gaia the oldest? Still no. Before Gaia existed Chaos, a mindless chaos from which all things were conceived.

So, is Chaos the oldest?

No.

neither.

The oldest being is none other than the Creator who created everything, the Father of Time.

Before him, time had not yet been born; after him, time appeared. Is there anything older than time itself?
In the very beginning, a formless deity with the heads of a human, a bull, and a lion created everything. Time came into being because of its appearance, and thus time began to flow.

It gave birth to Chaos, the primordial egg of the universe, from which countless gods and an infinitely prosperous world arose.

But even though he created everything, even though he was the beginning of everything, the Father of Time still lost his power and strength.

It was the creator, the father of time, yet it still perished. The world has forgotten it, even the world no longer remembers it. Only this last trace, this lifeless shell, testifies to the existence of this creator.

In the distant past, from the moment Zeus became king of the gods, he became aware of the ancient remains of a deity hidden deep within Tartarus.

The ancient deity is long dead, but its remains still await awakening.

Zeus was not initially aware of the dead god's purpose, but later he realized that the god's remains were waiting for him to awaken them.

It created the gods, including itself, and is the source of the gods, like their great-grandfather. But Zeus is the true king of the gods, the current ruler of this pantheon. Which is more important, the former king or the current king? The answer is self-evident.

Even though he created the world, this ancient creator god still needs the permission of the God King to awaken.

Zeus did not want it to awaken, because this primordial god, like Gaia, was a troublemaker in the world. Long slumber should have been the destiny of these ancient gods, and awakening would only create more obstacles for them.

But now, if Zeus wants to achieve his goal, the only option is to awaken the creator... even if it's not the kind of awakening he desires.

"You want to wake up, don't you?"

Zeus, cloaked, looked at the remains before him. The remains did not respond; for now, they were merely corpses.

Zeus looked closely and suddenly laughed.

"Then be my son."

……

Several years later, in Thebes, Queen Alcmene suddenly became pregnant.

(End of this chapter)