Two days later, Roger walked to the bath chamber with a towel around his waist. After fighting the giant robot naked and reading endless war strategies, Roger could finally relax to recover his arching body. And a good hot bath should heal him quickly. Maybe after his cleansing, he might meet Katina, Cilla, and Labda early. After all, tonight was supposed to be their date night.

Inside the chamber, hot steam clouded around the pool. It has a salty scent that calms Roger’s nerves down. Too bad the beast women weren't in the pool.

As Roger prepared to remove his towel, a tall man with a white beard emerged from the water and drenched his dreadlocks. Zeus caught Roger’s present and smiled. "Why hello there!"

Roger stepped back. His heart almost jumped from his surprise. Seeing a naked God wasn't very pleasing. But he waved to Zeus anyway. "Sorry, I didn't know-"

"Do not fear. Please, join me. My wife is being a hag right now." Zeus laughed. "I think a manly bond will brighten my day."

"O-okay." Roger dropped his towel and stepped into the balmy bathwater. Both Roger and Zeus sat down, facing each other. The water felt so relaxed, Roger could fall asleep.

"How is your training?" Zeus stretched his arms and rested them on the pool edge. "I don't see your muscles growing."

Roger smirked. “Well, we mortals do take time to grow stronger.”

Zeus chuckled. “Unless you are a demi-god. All my half-breed offspring are born with my outstanding body. They develop much faster than all mortals on Gaea.”

“Gaea? You mean the Earth?”

Zeus raised his thin eyebrow. “Is that what you called her world in your time?”

“As far as I know. Other people called our world by different names.”

Zeus shrugged. “Gaea wouldn’t be pleased, but you mortals have your own rights.”

Roger bet the Earth goddess wouldn’t be happy. Throughout history, humanity developed their own religions in their own counties. Indeed, they have forgotten about their superior beings. “Did she create humanity?”

Zeus shook his head. “No, we do not know who created you. But I believed your people were here first before Gaea arrived.”

“Can you explain from the beginning?”

Zeus smiled. “Are you sure? What you will learn will change everything you learned from your own time.”

“I don’t care. Since I am one of the luckiest humans to meet the Gods, I should learn about the secret of life. Understanding it could help me fight harder to protect it.”

“There is no secret to life. What you see is what exists. The Fates might know more, but they never told me because it is against their nature.”

“So where did Gaea come from?”

Zeus pointed his finger up. “Gaea came from an unknown world, far beyond the cosmos. She settled on this world and named it after her name. Then came Uranus, who became her husband after they fell in love. Nobody knew where he originated from either. Maybe the same world where Gaea was birthed from. Together they created their own children to dominate their new home. The Titans, the Cyclopes, and the Hekatonkheires. Their children ate all the reptile monsters who once inhabited the world, and they terrorized the primitive humans for food. Uranus began to despise his creations for their destructive nature, but his wife loved them more than the natural inhabitants.

“Behind her back, Uranus created the Tartarus in the bowels of the planet, called the Underworld. Since he couldn’t kill his immortal abominations, he imprisoned most of them inside the deep reaches of Tartarus. This brought great pain to Gaea. With her remaining Titan children, she declared war on her husband to rule the world for herself to protect her creations. Although Uranus was the strongest, the only Titan who managed to defeat him was Kronos, my father. Kronos slewed Uranus, spreading his father’s blood across the ground, producing more beings called the Giants, Nymphs, and the Erinyes. After Uranus’s death, my grandfather became the new ruler, but he didn’t free his siblings in Tartarus. He knew their destructive nature would ruin his new kingdom, and he ignored his mother’s demands. Of course, she tried to strike him down, but he overpowered her and imprisoned her inside the world’s core. All who remained loyal to him respected his rule and kept the world in balance.”

“So Uranus and Kronos are actually good?” Roger asked.

“Either of them, but they understand the importance of balance,” Zeus continued. “The Titans still terrorized the humans and animals with minor casualties. They still saw humans as rodents crawling beneath their feet. However, Kronos sighted one human who was the most beautiful creature than his Titan siblings. Her name was Rhea.”

Roger narrowed his eyes. “I think I heard her name from my mythology class. I thought she was a goddess and Kronos’s sister.”

Zeus laughed. “You mortals made up a lot of silly stories about us. Rhea was a mortal human like you. She has no blood relation to the Titans. Foolish mortals!"

Roger reckoned the Greek scholars lied to cover up Rhea's true being. But why? Did they want the people to believe the gods were pure or something? "If your mother was mortal, does that make you a half Titan?"

Zeus pressed his lips together, humming softly. “You could say that… We are still more powerful and everlasting than our human counterparts, but we are more civilized than our Titan counterparts.”

That makes a good explanation of how the Gods were different from the Titans.

Zeus cleared his throat. “Kronos took a human form to marry Rhea. They had five children who are my siblings. Hestia, Hades, Poseidon, Demeter, and Hera-”

“Hera? Your wife?”

“Yes, why does that shocked you?”

Roger stroked his hair. “She’sss your sister.”

“So! We are married so we cannot interbreed with all the mortals.” Zeus coughed at his fist. “Sometimes though.”

Roger knew Zeus had slept with many mortal women before. He sounded hypocritic when he said his family couldn’t bleed with a lot of mortals.

“Let’s not change the subject,” Zeus continued. “When Rhea birthed her godlings, Kronos remembered his father’s last words before he died. ‘If I cannot defeat you, then my grandchildren will avenge me.’ Something like that, which chilled Kronos’s bones for many years. Kronos returned to his colossus form and swallowed his children.”

Jesus! So parts of the myths were true. Kronos was indeed a monster who ate his own children.

“I was the last child and my mother hid me at Mount Ida to avoid the same fate as my brothers and sisters,” said Zeus. “When I grew up, Rhea moved me to the Island of Crete where I trained with her servants to fight my father. I was determined to free my siblings and end my father’s tyranny rule. I made a poison that forced Kronos to vomit out my siblings. We teamed up together and battled his Titan army for ten long years. Our war became known as the Titanomachy War. Want to hear all the details of our glorious battles?” Zeus smiled his shiny white teeth.

Roger stretched his back. If he sat longer in the water, he might turn into a raisin. “No thank you, but how did the war end?”

“After Kronos’s army grew low, we pushed them to Mount Othrys. I overthrew my father off his throne and used his own weapon against him. He begged for mercy, but I eviscerated him into pieces and scattered his remains into hidden places across the worlds. And his soul fell into the dark abyss inside the Tartarus, forever. After our victory, we built our palace on Mount Olympus and watched over the mortals. Without the Titans, humanity continued to grow while worshipping us."

"And now Gaea is determined to overthrow you for losing her son?" Roger asked.

Zeus shook his shoulders. "Gaea only cares about cleansing her world to keep it all to herself. But if you and your hellhound companion can help us win the Gigantomachy, all of humanity will survive. If the Fates said it is your destiny, you cannot fail us."

Roger sighed. "All his life, my father believed God created man. I guess he would be ashamed if he knew the truth."

Zeus grinned. "Being created by a god doesn't make anyone special."

"What do you mean?"

Zeus pointed his finger at Roger. "Your kind are already special because nobody created you. My family, the Titans, and all the monsters are descended from two beings who came from space. This is your world and you have the right to defend it. With our help of course. Hmhmhm. Don't let the truth cloud your judgment. Remember your destiny."

Roger nodded. “I will.”

“Aside from that, how is your relationship with Hades’s new guard dog?”

“Oh, our relationship is great!” Roger felt like those words slid off his tongue. He still wasn’t sure if he was still in the friend zone with the Cerberus women. "I meant….. We will work on it."

Zeus nodded with a grin. "You are lucky to have a three-headed woman. I only have one who is a pain in my ass. If Hera wasn't here, I would have my own harem. HOHOHOHOHO!!!"

Roger laughed with the God of Thunder. What a horny god.