Cronos and Rhea: The Celestial Ascension

Chapter 3 of The Aether Chronicles: Gaia-The Tree of Life

Cronos returned to consciousness, but He was still a bit groggy. Confused and agitated he began to look around. He couldn’t quite remember what happened but as he observed his circumstances it slowly came back to him. At the moment he was floating, and he couldn’t quite explain why but he definitely felt as if he had experienced the exact same thing before as a moment of DeJa’Vu overcame him but quickly passed. Unsure but intrigued he continued to survey his surroundings. Cronos continued to look around, bobbing up and down as he drifted, rising and falling in an uncontrollable motion he noticed that below him was a dark, almost unseeable…something? He couldn’t quite make out what it was below him in the darkness, but one thing was clear, for even as distant as it seemed to be, he could feel its coldness chilling him to the core as it continued sucking all the heat from his body.

Uncomfortable with his situation and unable to move he began to take stock of his situation a bit more frantically. He felt as if he were being ripped apart, his body slowly losing its corporal form, even as he watched in utter dismay as material that used to be part of his structure flaked away and fell towards the blackness below, as if pulled from some unseen force. As he slowly regained memory, he thought that he might have experienced this before, and if memory served well, it was an experience he didn’t want to repeat again. Straining with all his might he began trying to rise away from this monstrous being and its inexorable pull, but he didn’t really know how to accomplish the feat and seemed to be falling ever closer by the moment. Looking inward upon himself he just appeared to be a mass of particles, shining in the darkness, gaining and losing material at an incredible rate, and as he looked upon himself he could see that he was without any basic formation, just a free floating form without even the slightest sense of cohesion to ply a construct from and as he contemplated his plight, with no appendages and no way for propulsion the worst thing he could imagine began to happen, he began to fall back down towards the unknown darkness below once again. It felt as if a hand had reached out and suddenly grabbed him from underneath, and it was steadily dragging him back down to the abyss.

As Cronos fell, he became more desperate and in his panicked terror discovered that he wasn’t exactly helpless, for as he slowly descended through the particles floating about him, he thought he could feel them, like some unseen attraction he didn’t quite comprehend, and as he concentrated on that material, they began to gather towards him, attaching and adhering to give him more mass, more of a controlled arrangement and for the first time Cronos felt hope! Taking as much of the material as he could attract and molding it into his body, he began gaining mass and energy and, in the process, he felt stronger, lighter, and more powerful than he ever felt before. Another aspect to occur as he became more massive was the fact that he seemed to become brighter, taking on a brilliance like nothing that had ever been seen before enhancing his perceptions and giving him a sense confidence he had never felt before. Now as he took in his situation, he was sure that he could figure out a way to escape the doom that had so inexplicably dogged him as long as he could remember, giving him the impetus to relax and think clearly for the first time, Cronos knew what he had to do to elude what seemed a moment before his certain demise.

As the material he was attracting slammed into him, adding to his composition, he had noticed that it also gave him movement, imperceptible at first but as more of the particles, some already clumping together before they even reached him, gathered into his structure he began to spin and as he spun he was able to use that motion to move, not much, but enough to figure out a method that could eventually lead to enough momentum to allow him to climb back up and out of the darkness below. The problem with his spin was that it was uncontrolled, as matter gathered and bunched up on one side, he would start to rotate towards that new bulge, only to have material build up on a different part of his body, causing that spin to abate and reverse, basically turning him from one side to the other. Gathering up all his concentration he figured out that if he thought hard enough, he could direct his attention and his will to each particle and thusly to control that attraction, giving order and impetus to each particle, and creating a mechanism of propulsion along the way. So once more, gradually snatching up as much of his material as he could grab, he began directing it all to one side of his body, giving him spin in the process, a spin that gradually increased as the material continued its bombardment, allowing Cronos to rotate at ever increasing velocity and thus momentum. Slowly he began to rise, fighting and scratching for every inch of real estate along the way, striving for distance from whatever it was that kept dragging him down, and with each successful burst of movement a slight rise in altitude began to emerge, and as he gained distance, loosening of Ouranos’ grip unfolded, ultimately releasing the hold he had on Cronos. Finally pulling and struggling Cronos perseverance paid off and freedom was won.

But freedom came at a cost, for even as he exulted in his hard-fought victory he gazed back from where he began. Looking down below at the unquenchable morass of matter he could discern other figures trapped, held steadfast by Ouranos just as he too had been. Having accomplished his goal of freeing himself, knowing the importance escape had meant, he couldn’t leave his people behind for if even one is enslaved, then so too are we all. As he contemplated the situation one figure seemed to be fighting more aggressively than the others, and as he watched he couldn’t help but to admire her tenacity, and thus decided to call her Rhea, the flightless one. The longer he watched, her utter determination to become free only served to temper his resolve, he would lend aid, even if it killed him.

As Cronos hovered above Rhea, sometimes lowering himself to see her better, he became aware of how the closer he got to her the more attraction was established between them, a connection to her, and that the closer he got the more they became engaged with one another, stretching each other’s bodies toward one another. So entrenched in the mesmerizing feel of Rhea’s body to his he almost came too close to Ouranos, terrified by the experience, Cronos instantly tried to spin back to a safe distance once again, but as he gathered himself together and began the ascent he could still feel Rhea’s soft pull against him and mustering all the courage at his disposal he fell back toward her, embracing her as they met and with a mighty effort he didn’t know he possessed, began the arduous struggle of spinning both himself and her trying to build momentum, but no matter how hard he fought they continued to be dragged back towards the dark, and even as all sense of resolve was abandoned, his hopes and fears dwindling from consciousness, Cronos felt Rhea’s grasp, and her warmth and optimism became his as they bonded together, spinning as one they began to rise up out of the muck, finally escaping Ouranos’ grip.

As freedom became apparent, the two separated, gathering their individual material back unto themselves they slowly began to orbit around each other, dancing and cheering with relief at their newfound freedom. As they each frolicked about, enjoying the company of the other they once again took notice of Ouranos, and remembered that there were others still trapped, held firm in his clutches. Sobering from their victory they began to discuss the fate of the others and whether there was a way to free them from their misery. Cronos explained to Rhea all that he had learned about their existence, their attributes, and their limitations and how they were able to attract or repel other particles. As Rhea listened, she perceived their environment in a way that Cronos never could, to him everything was linear, a personal view of oneness that defined his whole being, whereas she saw things more in perspective, an all-encompassing view of entanglements allowing individuals to interact both personally and collectively, giving her an objective and holistic view of the universe, which guided her thoughts toward a clear and secure path to safely extract her siblings from the darkness below. Unfortunately, she feared that explaining it to Cronos would stay his resolve in rescuing the others, so taking matters into her own hands she came up with a plan and pushed it towards fruition.

She began her scheme by first trying to pull further away from Cronos, but this proved difficult, for he was much more massive than she, giving him a greater attraction than she could ever hope to achieve in her diminutive state. Instead she decided to try to even out their masses, and so she once again allowed herself to be united with Cronos, one last time, and with love and compassion encompassing all her thoughts she slowly began to extricate herself from his embrace, and in the process she grabbed hold of as much matter as she could, dragging the material into her body, impregnating herself with the bodies and souls she was able to slip past Cronos love addled mind. First to be liberated was the soul of the persona known as Hestia and as she plowed into Rhea she dug her way to the center, where a bright flame awaited, and prepared the way for the coming of her other siblings, stoking the flames of the hearth for warmth and comfort and making room for her brothers and sisters. Next to arrive was Hades who immediately spurned her hospitality and sought shelter of his own further underground, going so far as to shun all future attempts of socializing by his brothers and sisters. Demeter soon followed and joined her sister by the hearth, the two becoming steadfast friends, gossiping about their other siblings, and wondering what the meaning of Hades withdrawal may portend, Her arrival was also a bit distressing to Rhea, for as she consumed Demeter who was the largest of the masses to be absorbed, she became top heavy in her spin and began to wobble, which brought an ever-changing environment to her surface.

As Rhea continued to spin in Cronos’ embrace the next child to arrive was the beautiful and serene Hera, the personification of the Lady of the House and governess of their domain. Lastly came Poseidon who did not come willingly as he was pulled and twisted from the clutches of Cronos in a last-ditch effort as Rhea was losing her grasp and began slipping away, leaving their final child Zeus to fend for himself. With Poseidon firmly in her womb, the impregnated Rhea began to spin, faster and faster, and as she spun, she gathered momentum, preparing herself for what was about to come next.

Cronos noticed that Rhea was beginning to disengage from their embrace, disappointed by this sudden change of events he gazed upon her drifting form as she steadily drew further away and was shocked by her appearance. He stared at her spinning body as if seeing her for the very first time, she had changed so dramatically he could barely recognize her. Her physique, which a moment ago had been quite petite was now almost twice her original size! Then he looked down at himself and almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He had shrunk significantly, in fact the two of them were now almost identical in structure and before their embrace he was at least triple her size! Then he became aware of how far she now was, every second getting further away, almost as if she were trying to escape from him. Totally blindsided by her sudden betrayal and the fact that she seemed to be trying to evade his presence he became furious and began to follow her as quickly as he could manage, but she had too much of a head start and soon began to circle around to the other side of Ouranos. Now his anger, mostly dissipated at this point, turned to worry, as He couldn’t comprehend why she would want to run from him, why she would deceive him so, and most of all, why she would want to hurt him without so much as a word in her defense. No longer able to see her fleeing form, Cronos continued to follow in her wake, pledging his undying love to her, he promised himself that he would never give up his pursuit of her throughout all existence, not even space or time could quash his unending devotion to Rhea, she who had enlightened his life and purpose. And so he chased her around and around Ouranos, every once in a while, able to catch a glimpse of her as she orbited the opposite side of Ouranos, as they became night to each other’s day.

Rhea continued to run, gaining speed and velocity with every rotation, now assisted by Cronos’ own mass as he followed far behind on the opposite side of Ouranos. Her plan was slowly coming to a climax, as she gazed below, she could see that their orbit was starting to affect the dark abyss below. Ouranos had begun to warm from the heat of her and Cronos bodies and as they circled, over and over, he began to thin and stretch, the coldness of his form warming at their presence, giving the others a chance at survival, a chance to escape Ouranos perpetual hold upon their bodies, but at what cost? She had given up everything, the love of her life followed behind, always within reach but never in her presence. She vowed to him her unending love, in this life and the next, no matter where they ended and however their souls began, she promised that she would always find him, never again would she allow life to separate them and no matter what she would never ever hurt him again.

And thanks to Rhea’s sacrifice the ten titans began to emerge from the depths of Ouranos, a chance to grasp life, a chance to evolve individually, a chance to achieve their own personality and gain enlightenment, a chance to follow a love of their own. Through Rhea all other intelligent life now had a chance, a window of time, to come into their own, to become individual souls with agendas of their own as they too marched through the depths of time, each fighting for a chance at enlightenment.

Continued on Kindle Vella:

https://www.amazon.com/The-Tree-of-Life/dp/B09NC229BL