Refusing My God’s Advances

"My parents?" I echoed, disbelief tinting my voice. "How is that even possible? You're gods!"

Eldros offered a patient smile, the kind that seemed to hold centuries of wisdom. "In the realms of gods and men, many seemingly impossible things are merely hidden truths. Your existence, Leon, is one that we don’t even fully understand. Yes, you were born from Gachica and I, but this body is not the same as him. Your soul is the same, but your body is only half-divine."

Gachica leaned forward, her eyes soft yet piercing, as if she could see through to the essence of my being. "I know that you are confused right now, and it will take some time to get used to things. We don’t expect you to start acting like we are your parents, but I hope that we can go back to that one day. We've watched over you, guided you in ways unseen, and now, it's time for you to know the truth."

I sank back onto the bench, my mind racing. "But why? Why hide this from me? Why all the secrecy?"

"Eon and you were friends, but you didn't like the way he did things. We didn't hide anything. Instead, Eon put you in a body on earth with no memories. No one knows why he did it and didn't kill you or why he is helping you now. None of it makes any sense, but there were stipulations he set in place. Ones to prevent us from even remembering you until today, and you accomplished your task, or this one at least," Gachica explained, just adding another layer to everything.

The news of me being some demigod, mixed in with celestial machinations and divine oversight, left me reeling. Eldros and Gachica, gods in their own right, were my parents, and the omnipotent Eon had played a pivotal role in taking half of my power from my very being. Yet, I couldn’t deny that he constantly tried to give me tips, and I knew that all my powers and skills came from him. 

Each time I felt like I was moving forward, it was the same as walking from the beach into the ocean. The universe's complexity and the web of destinies spun around me were intricate and bewildering, and now the web got wider.

"So, Eon intervened in my life, placing me on Earth without memories as part of some grand design or experiment?" I asked, trying to piece together the fragmented puzzle of my life. At this point, the notion that my path was not entirely my own, manipulated by the whims of gods, was old. 

There was hardly any reason to get worked up about it. The divine screwing around was the same as the sun rising. It was going to happen. 

Eldros nodded a mixture of pride and sadness in his eyes. "I really don’t know, son. Eon's motives are often inscrutable, but his actions are not without purpose. I want to say that there is some noble purpose waiting for you at the end of this all, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up. If there is anything I can say about being immortal, it gets boring when you don’t see progress. No one knows what Eon is really like or his goals, but I assume he enjoys doing things that entertain him."

Gachica added, "I do not know Eon as well as your father, but the two of you did spend a lot of time together, even if Eon was very pushy about it. From what I understood and what you told me, your friendship was more of a back-and-forth argument that never seemed to end. There is something about your personality that Eon likes, but I don’t know why he would strip you of everything and force you to live as a mortal, only to bring you back now as half a god."

"Yeah, this is all 50 shades of fucked up. What's so special about my existence that necessitated such drastic measures?" I pressed, seeking clarity amid the storm of revelations.

"You have always played for peace by unconventional means, but that always drew the ire of other gods. That never seemed to both Eon; if anything, it entertained him," Eldros explained. "But why did he pick you out of everyone? You annoyed him if I remembered his words correctly, the last time we spoke before you, and our memories of you vanished. That is as close to being entertained as he has in a very long time. It's not like we could have stopped him, even if we had wanted to. The moment you vanished, so did all memories of you." 

Eldros's words, though intended to offer some semblance of explanation, only served to deepen the well of questions swirling within me. The realization that my existence was a pawn—or perhaps a knight—in Eon's long game left me with more questions than I knew the bodiless voice would tell me. Eon had some sort of plan for me, but what was this plan? 

"Does anyone ever just get tired of him fucking around with everyone's lives? Or do the gods just deal with it because that is essentially what they are doing? Shit rolls downhill, so everyone just continues the chains of messing with people's lives? Aren’t there any beings that want to just, I don’t know, see their worlds prosper and help the people they rule become better people who work together?” I asked, rattling off some of the things irritating me. 

Gachica's expression softened, a mother's love emanating from her gaze. "They are all working at the IHSR or were removed from power and lost not only their divinity but their worlds also lost all knowledge of magic and technology. Only so many stores can be opened, and there are some requirements to have one. In the end, it is the Gods of the Roundtable that constantly push the other gods to take their power. If the god defending does not have a hero, the enemy can just destroy the entire world using the hero they bless. When this happens, the god in question gets 50 points and any remaining points the defending god has."