SWNOVELS Chapter 1
The sound of thunder startled Zeus awake. A bright light dazzled him, and he saw through sleep-fogged eyes that his ring glowed furiously. Then the quickly fading images of strange wavy daggers, monstrously lighted eyes, and a man with impossible, beautiful wings did not come from any dream, but instead a vision, a vision fed to him by the ring’s stone, one of three cut from a strange white rock by his father Kronos and shared among his brothers. The stone was not white now, but a queer black fired from within by speckles of every color imaginable. It was already dimming, taking with it any sense of the vision and leaving him uneasy, disoriented even.
And with the feeling of insects crawling on him. The sound of giggling brought him completely back to Olympus where his sleep-fogged eyes saw what amounted to a cliché: a blonde, a brunette, and a ginger tangled among the ruby-colored bedclothes. He stifled an eye roll and let their hands roam over his broad chest and the rocky terrain of his torso as if they hunted for some treasure. He could only take another moment of their attention before he disengaged himself from the godlings’ spidery clutches and rose from his great circular bed.
Nude, he slapped across the cool stone floor to a window. A feathery morning breeze danced over his silver beard and shoulder-length hair. Far below, a bird coasted like a speck across his eye, and even farther below that he could make out the stirrings of farmers, bakers, and fishermen. All seemed well down there, but here, here he was irritated.
Behind him the mild ruckus became a little more… intimate as the three godlings began exploring each other. This time, Zeus rolled his eyes with gusto.
“Lord Thunderer?” came a timid voice from the doorway.
“What is it?” he snapped without turning around. Annoyed at the goings-on behind him. Annoyed at himself. Once again, this little get-together seemed like a good idea at the time, and, really, when he looked closely at his annoyance, Zeus realized that what he actually felt was regret. All the worse to be plagued by such a human emotion.
“Your brother, Ruler of the Underworld, Lord Hades, is waiting for you in the throne room.”
Zeus whirled, intending to intimidate the servant with a full view of his godly nudeness, but the delicate-looking man had his gaze averted, quite possibly having had quite enough of a look at Zeus’ other side. A bit crestfallen, Zeus said, “Have you any idea just what time it is?”
“Of course, Lord,” the servant said to the wall. “It is daybreak.”
Zeus sighed and quelled the urge to roll his eyes. “Very well. Tell him I’ll be down in short order.” The servant exited quickly, and Zeus took himself to his dressing room, leaving behind the carefree rumpus in his chamber.