Greece: I am Zeus!

Chapter 256 The Firelight Remains Warm
Relying solely on these few primitive ways of obtaining food, sometimes going hungry and sometimes full, was the norm for life.

Especially after children are born in the tribe, a large amount of labor needs to be devoted to taking care of them, which increases the pressure to feed them.

There are more mouths to feed, but fewer people to go out and find food.

If there is no food, you will be hungry; if you are hungry for a long time, you will lose your strength; if you are hungry for even longer, you will die.

Moreover, starvation is the most painful of all ways to die.

none of them.

Although the laws governing death are not yet perfect, the human body is quite resilient, and under normal circumstances, people will not die.

However, being hungry is much more unpleasant.

And it has no end.

The pain of hunger only increases as the hunger continues, and never decreases.

That feeling was truly worse than death.

In hunger, humanity also learns to sacrifice and make choices.

If we starve together, we may all lose our strength, and eventually, we will all meet our end.

Sometimes, limited food supplies must be given to those who need them more and who are more important.

This is the most painful and difficult choice, but sometimes, it is the only one that can be made.

Hestia watched as humanity suffered the agony of hunger, and even suffered more terrible consequences from their indiscriminate eating.

Each time, her heart was filled with immense sadness and grief.

Her fire can bring warmth, make food easier to eat, and make it more delicious, but only…

We cannot allow the food to become more abundant.

She even asked Zeus what to do.
Zeus's reply was only one sentence.

"Let us wait for our beloved Demeter."

"When Demeter awakens, with her abundance and your fire, mankind will no longer go hungry."

"At least, what will starve them again will not be nature."

Hestia did not understand why Zeus said that, nor did she know what to do.

But she knew that Zeus could never be wrong.

At this moment, this was the first time Demeter saw humankind in her temple, through her "eyes" on earth.

She shared with Demeter all of humanity's joys and sorrows, beauty and struggles, needs and hopes, as well as her own love for humanity, telling her everything about humankind.

Hestia believed that her most gentle, loving, and kind sister, the true Mother Earth, would love these children just as much as she did.

When Demeter, the Mother Earth, truly loves humankind, spring will not be far away.

At that time, Mother Earth will sow eternal ears of wheat and abundant hope amidst their hunger and longing.

God loves the world.

The Mother Goddess is the same.

May the firelight always be warm, and may our hearts never stray from their course.

Through the enormous Mirror of Divine Fire, Demeter listened to her beloved elder sister's gentle narration and witnessed firsthand the simple yet resilient lives of humanity.

Watching these tiny, bewildered, yet infinitely potential humans toiling and working on the earth.

As the Mother Earth, she only needs to sense with her divine sense to feel the pulse of the entire earth.

Their joys and sorrows, difficulties and ease, strength and weakness—everything seemed to mirror her own heartbeat.

Faced with these beings who also possess intelligence and emotions, the Earth Mother Goddess's love for "life" itself naturally gave rise to the most tender tenderness in her heart.

Because she can empathize.

The entanglement and resentment in my heart caused by "love" have long been easily covered by the vast world and the painting of "life" of countless living beings.

From the boundless and selfless love of her beloved sister, the deepest and most magnificent love within her own divinity, belonging to the Earth Mother Goddess, was also awakened.

The light from the Mirror of Divine Fire slowly receded, and the image in the mirror gradually faded and disappeared.

Demeter's butterfly-like eyelashes were still damp, but the tears in the corners of her eyes had been almost dried by the warm firelight beside her sister.

She raised her head to look at Hestia and said softly, "I understand, sister."

“Thank you, sister. You told me that the purpose of love is not narrow possession, but to walk towards happiness together.” She looked at Hestia, her emerald eyes no longer filled with confusion, but instead with the unparalleled breadth and steadfastness of the Earth Mother.

"I will think about it carefully, and I will love well. Not only Zeus, but also my children, and even more so, every lovely child on this earth."

Hestia smiled gently, stroking her sister's long hair with satisfaction: "That's right."

"My dear sister, what do you think of these children?"

Demeter frowned slightly, her brows furrowed in deep thought. She said softly, "These 'people,' though they are very weak, I can sense that they are completely different from ordinary mortals."

"They possess similar wisdom and emotions to us; they are simple and innocent, a very lovely group of children."

"Moreover, I am certain that Zeus placed great hopes on these children. And these children do indeed have a bright future that we can look forward to."

As Demeter spoke, a resolute glint flashed in her ocean-blue eyes. She looked at Hestia and said earnestly, "Sister, I want to go to the earth myself and see them for myself. Will you come with me?"

Hestia was overjoyed, yet hesitant. She said softly, "Of course I want to, but... Zeus, He didn't intend for me to descend to the mortal realm before."

Demeter gave a soft "humph," her lips curling slightly, regaining some of her usual spoiled manner, her voice filled with barely concealed resentment: "Who cares! As long as He doesn't explicitly forbid it, what is there that we can't do?"

“He is now…” Demeter glanced resentfully at the horizon, where golden clouds and colorful sunsets were rolling into a sea, and the light of thunder and the aurora of wisdom overlapped to create a breathtakingly beautiful scene.

Her eyes held even deeper sorrow and resentment as she murmured, "He must have put everything behind him now; how could he possibly care about the affairs of the Three Realms?"

"Forehead……"

Hestia strongly agreed with this point.

However, she still hesitated, after all, she would never do anything to put Zeus in a difficult position.

"Isn't this... a bit too hasty? I think we should ask Zeus for his opinion first?" she said cautiously.

Demeter, however, could not wait any longer. She took her sister's arm and pulled her to leave.

As they walked, she said in a sweet voice, "Does Zeus dare to stop us from doing what we want? If he dares, we won't let him into the temple!"

"Oh, right!" she exclaimed as if suddenly remembering, "We should invite Hera to come along! Looking at this magnificent scene, I bet she's feeling down. Let's go keep her company and help her clear her head."

Seeing that Hestia still seemed hesitant, Demeter continued, "Don't worry, dear sister. We can go to the mortal realm and hide ourselves, won't we?"

“This time, we’ll just observe and do nothing for now. Only by truly going among people, seeing for ourselves, and understanding firsthand can we know what these children need most.”

Hestia thought this was indeed the case, and finally nodded: "Alright, then let's go together. However, you must restrain your temper and not be too impulsive, lest you disrupt Zeus's plans and cause him trouble."

"This time, we'll just observe and figure out what to do first, but we won't take any action for now."

Demeter nodded repeatedly, and Hestia smiled slightly, saying nothing more, but instead said, "Hera has not seen you for a long time, she must miss you very much, let's go see her first."

The two goddesses smiled at each other, then rose into the air, their robes spreading out in two gentle arcs as they swept towards the Temple of Fertility not far away.

The three sisters' sacred mountain range is connected, with its peaks resembling hands gazing at each other. It is the closest and warmest ridge in the Olympus Mountains.

At this moment, Hera was filled with mixed feelings.

She felt genuinely gratified that her dear friend Metis had finally achieved his wish.

Meanwhile, she was also deeply worried about her dear sister Demeter.

Not long ago, she clearly felt the earth-shaking divine power that Demeter awakened.

Immediately following, the entire planet Olympus trembled violently.

As for why... that's something you don't need to think about.

Even the most foolish person in all of Olympus, even that idiot Epimetheus, could figure out the key to it. How could the wise Hera not understand it?
The bond between the sisters was her most cherished treasure.

She really didn't want that wicked Zeus to cause even the slightest rift between them.

That's really not worth it!
As Demeter's emerald light, representing the earth, flew straight toward her elder sister's temple, Hera became even more worried.

She wanted to rush over immediately, but she was afraid that the timing would be wrong and would only make things worse, so she could only sit anxiously in her palace and wait.

In fact, at this moment, there were quite a few goddesses waiting to watch the spectacle throughout Olympus, and even on Earth and in the underworld below.

Seeing Hera's house catch fire is something many goddesses would gossip about for centuries, and some would be so happy they couldn't stop smiling for years.

Of course, there are also gentle and loving gods who are silently worried and ready to go and persuade at any time.

At this moment, when Hera finally saw the divine light of her two sisters coming towards her, the heavy weight in her heart was finally lifted.

Immediately, a great joy welled up in her heart, and she hurriedly ordered Leto and Asteria beside her to quickly bring out the divine wine and delicacies that had been prepared.

(End of this chapter)