Prometheus was both startled and delighted to hear such high praise from the Muse.
Even he, the "one of foresight," had never dared imagine that these mortals he had fashioned with his own hands might, one day, become gods—
that they might truly stand shoulder to shoulder with those great deities born extraordinary.
Even to imagine such a thing brimmed with supreme challenge and a glory that made divinity itself tremble!
He forced down the exhilaration surging to burst from his heart.
But the smile on his face could not be suppressed.
"Exalted Calliope, th-this is truly too generous. These children are but mortals—how could they possibly stand alongside the great gods? It is truly beyond belief."
"If only they may obey His Majesty's supreme will and bring prosperity to this world, that is already very good."
Calliope merely smiled demurely and said no more.
Her silence was not a denial, but a gift of all things to time and the future.
Then Clio, who represents "social science" and records and spreads eternal history,
spoke in a gentle, approachable smile: "Let's not have these newborn children lying on the ground any longer—let them all rise."
"Our great Father once said with His own lips that He does not need the gods to lightly use the rite of kneeling to display His awe and nobility."
"As His daughters, so with us. We likewise do not need these mortals to kneel to us at will to display our nobility."
"True respect and reverence lies in whether they will truly abide by our great Father's holy will—not in such paltry outward forms."
Prometheus grew solemn at that and said gravely, "Goddess Clio speaks true!"
"Our great His Majesty the God-King has brought peace and tranquillity to this cosmos. His Majesty Himself established the most just and most magnanimous sacred order of justice!"
"His Majesty loves all things and all beings. By sacred order He restrains all injustice and wantonness, and thus bestows upon all things and all beings the most precious happiness and serenity!"
"In teaching humankind to grow, I will most earnestly instruct them to absolutely follow His Majesty's sacred order!"
"His Majesty's sacred order is not to be trespassed by any being! His Majesty's mercy is by no means a reason for any being to violate the just order!"
Calliope said with equal seriousness, "Father's sacred order of justice is the sole foundation by which this universe can develop in health."
"Any civilization that strays from the sacred order of justice is doomed to a ruinous end! We, too, will instruct them well. That is our charge."
"But," Calliope's expression turned warm again, "for now the most important matter is to teach these poor children how to survive upon this vast earth."
"That's right! The beautiful goddess speaks well!" Epimetheus had finally found a chance to speak.
Though no one paid him any mind.
Prometheus stretched out a great hand and gave a slight wave.
A gentle, unseen divine force lifted all those who still lay prostrate, and slowly set them upon their feet.
"Humans" and "gods," in their forms, were already alike.
They were born to gaze at the stars, to look this beautiful world in the eye, and to seek all that is good—
not to creep forever like beasts.
Humankind at this moment had no concept of writing or speech.
By his mighty divinity Prometheus linked directly to every human soul and sent the will to "stand up" straight to the depths of their spirits.
Facing a greatness utterly beyond their imagining or understanding, the standing humans stood dazed and unmoving.
The fear born of instinct remained in their eyes.
Yet at the same time they felt a sacred breath—innately close.
Their panicked hearts grew much calmer for it.
Still ignorant, they were brimful of curiosity and questions as they gazed quietly at the great gods who hovered aloft.
And in that instant, the yearning to "fly" was forever branded upon the depths of the human soul.
When all humans had stood,
Calliope turned toward distant Mount Olympus and began her holiest prayer.
The other Muses, with her solemn hymn, danced a sacred dance of reverence.
Strains of holy music sounded slowly in the void.
The lovely Muses' hems lifted lightly; each step kept time with heaven's music, each turn sent small but bright ripples through the air.
The wind came from mountains and sea, carrying mellow floral scent and shifting clouds; the rosy clouds quietly began to gather once more.
"At the dawn of Chaos all things were still. O sacred sovereign of primeval fire, great and gentle Lord of the holy flame!"
"You are the first manifestation of all light and heat! O blazing, warming flame! The world is warm for your being—through you it teems with life and hope!"
"Great Hestia! Source of all fires, the Hearth of Warmth! You are the emblem of wisdom and civilization, the emblem of life and vitality, and the tender bond that ever yokes the Supreme God-King of thunder!"
"The sun's radiance is your robe of majesty; the earth's molten heart your everlasting foundation!"
"The devouring wildfire that consumes all must, even so, gain your leave to burn in this world; the supreme smelting flame that forges divine tools likewise must borrow your undying divine essence!"
"O—first flame, heart of the universe! Your fire guides the way of all things! It lights the long road for the multitude of beings and drives out cold despair! You are the eternal guardian of all wisdom and civilization!"
"O great and holy fire! You are the most sacred, eternal emblem of the Supreme God-King Zeus—who drives out evil, dispels gloom, purges poison, creates, heals, purifies, chastises, consecrates, destroys, brings rebirth, life, growth, vitality, motion, warmth, flame, light, blaze!"
"Great Sovereign of Fire—Hestia! Have mercy upon these mortals small as dust! Accept this purest mortal awe!"
"Grant, in generosity, to these frail humans swaying in the wind the unchanging peace and warmth—the holy flame that signifies the God-King's radiance!"
At the first word of Calliope's sacred hymn, great Hestia upon Mount Olympus answered at once with the gentlest reply—
in concert with the God-King's will.
Above the Muses a crimson cloud slowly appeared, as if aflame.
Within the red cloud, sacred lightning of gold and silver-white roamed without cease, bringing to all living beings the utmost sanctity and awe—
and that most terrible pressure that stole the breath!
Crimson and gold-white overlaid in the high heavens, as though the Sovereign of Fire spread a mantle across the sky; thunderlight moved along its folds, flaring and dimming, foretelling the holiest, most merciful gift.
When Calliope's hymn ended, the countless lightning bolts within that red cloud rolled like writhing dragons and serpents!
Hundreds and thousands of dazzling bolts poured down like a rainstorm!
The blinding brilliance made all humans clamp their eyes shut at once!
Yet the extremity of light easily pierced that thin shield of lids, filling them with a sightless radiance.
The awful thunderclaps and blasts, like heaven and earth rending, drove all the people once more, by primal instinct, to drop in fear upon the ground, shaking like chaff.
As if only so could they find a shred of safety.
In truth, it was not so.
No one gained any sense of safety by any act.
This was plain in the fearful cries and chaotic shouts from every mouth.
Those thousands of bolts struck, with perfect precision, upon thousands of towering trees, turning each into a great torch, blazing warm and bright!
The merciful God-King and the equally loving Sovereign of Fire bestowed generously upon these newborn humans the most sacred "heavenly fire" of the cosmos!
And in mercy, they measured the distance to perfection.
Each mighty torch, blazing fiercely, would bring to these newborn humans only endless warmth, without scorching them a whit.
Under the holy blessing the flames would never die. Fire ran along resin and rings; the crackle chanted a great hymn; warmth spread among the people, driving out the chill of fear.
Orange-gold light trembled in every pair of eyes. In that moment, after wisdom, the God-King tucked little suns into their hearts.
This was survival and ascent.
When the clouds drifted away, heaven and earth were clear again, leaving only those hundreds of eternal torches to prove it had not been a dream.
Prometheus, coming back to himself, once more forcibly lifted all humans to their feet.
This time he used more strength.
And the moment he let his force go, those who had just stood would topple again.
Thus three times over, under his forced uplifting, humankind at last could barely stand.
All eyes fixed upon those holy, awe-inspiring, bright, blazing torches.
They stared agape, and in their gaze was the primal fear and reverence from the soul's depths—
and the endless longing born of felt warmth.
In this moment, reverence for thunder and love for fire were carved deep in every human soul—
and became the eternal brand that no generation would erase!
Fire burns, and fire illumines; thunder will cow you, and thunder will guide you.
Henceforth humans, beholding fire, would not treat it lightly; encountering thunder, would not speak without awe.
They learned to take warmth with reverence, and take light within order.
The nine Muses turned as one toward distant Mount Olympus and bowed deeply,
offering, with their most graceful bearing, their highest respect, and together intoned: "Thanks be to the Supreme Father! Thanks be to the sacred Sovereign of Fire!"
The two brothers Prometheus quickly followed, not daring the least delay,
bowed likewise with the utmost reverence, and offered their most devout thanks to the Supreme.
Prometheus's heart now was overflowing with joy.
Though he still could not see through His Majesty's ocean-deep mind, he understood one thing with perfect clarity.
His Majesty the God-King bore toward these newborn humans a generosity beyond imagining.
And that generosity was itself the most precious attitude and proclamation!
That was enough.
Calliope straightened her tall, graceful divine form, eyes beneath the golden crown sparkling, a bright smile touching her lips.
She looked to Prometheus and said in a voice as clear and high as a hero's horn, "Honored god of foresight, now that Father has bestowed His most precious gift, humankind has the hearth-warm protection of the Sovereign of Fire."
"I believe that from here on, all of humankind's growth and development will shoot up along the path of light."
Prometheus nodded firmly; the exaltation in his divinity was all but irrepressible, and his voice rang with strength: "It will!"
What Zeus and Hestia had bestowed together was not mortal fire, but the "heavenly fire" filled with holy power!
These hundreds of torches would never go out, nor would they need any fuel.
And so long as ash twigs served as the lead, the fire drawn off would not go out.
Covered by the warm radiance of this flame, there would be peace and guarding.
The holy flame shone generously and sacredly upon these newborn humans.
Under this warm, undying fire, they would not shiver to death in long nights of bitter cold, nor sicken and wither in the mountain shade.
All evil things and defilements dared not approach this holy light; all fierce beasts haunting the forests dared not peer beneath this blazing awe.
This gift staked out for fragile newborn humankind an absolutely safe initial land in which to survive and multiply.
Add to this the two great Titans of "foreknowledge" and "afterthought,"
and the nine Muses—who touch nearly all existence, all civilization, all laws, and represent all arts, sciences, and letters in the universe—serving in person as their first teachers,
and one may say humankind's opening was a "paradise mode" as simple as could be.
All this, because—
the Lord loves the world!
Eleven great deities thus began humankind's first tutelage and instruction.
Step one was to make them understand and learn to use "fire."
How to kindle, tend, guard, and use fire? When to approach, when to keep away?
Know this: fire can warm the heart—and burn the ignorant.
From revering fire's all-devouring power of destruction to learning to use its warmth and light—this was a long and crucial journey.
Next came how to gather and to hunt, and how to use "fire" to roast what was fit to eat.
Then how to make clothing to cover themselves, and find shelter from wind and rain.
The Muses used divine power to display images of all things, teaching them which berries were sweet and harmless, which roots could fill the belly.
The brothers Prometheus taught them to make rude stone tools and to track prey.
With the gods' lightest push, the gears of civilization, though yet infant, began their solemn and orderly first turn.
All proceeded in good order.
This newborn, tiny race was passing, with a speed beyond imagining, through the hardest, earliest age of ignorance.
Of course, a god's life does not suit mortal beings.
Thus they taught humans no supernatural arts.
Though these frail, small mortals possessed nigh-infinite potential, for now most of it lay on the level of "wisdom."
Their bodies were still weak, their souls not yet condensed.
They could not, like gods, freely draw in and use the aether elements—the basis of ordinary divine power.
Besides, the right to use aether elements was not yet open to mortals.
In the God-Net order His Majesty had established, there were no rules related to this at all.
The cosmic order now, though past its earliest founding, was far from perfect.
The grand "Heavenly Dao" and "God-Net" systems were as yet somewhat simple; many particulars awaited filling in.
Common mortals could not cultivate even the most basic training unless they received special grace of divine favor.
For the God-Net system simply did not yet have those rules!
Law unwritten; art without ground.
Only when the gods create some new rule in the God-Net system can mortals, upon meeting the conditions, use the power now manifest in the world.
If the rule does not yet exist, then all is vain.
Now was still a pure age of gods and mortals.
There were only "gods" and "mortals"; no so-called "extraordinary" in between had yet been born.
Everything was still only beginning.
For humankind, what must be solved first was "survival," and a "basic understanding" of this world.
The other paths were, for now, too far away.
As humankind learned survival and development, the ideas of "unity," the habit of "reason," the farsight of "planning," and the power of "collective cooperation"
were like invisible brands, deeply carved into their tender yet full-of-potential minds.
The great gods, out of loneliness, chose to create intelligent life.
Thus in the nature of all intelligent life there is, innately, a fear of loneliness.
Likewise, lowly humans have not the gods' might to create all and move heaven and earth.
What they had were only their hands—and one another.
And in a wild world full of the unknown and peril, only unity could let them live and grow.
So small tribes, bound by ties of affection and blood, gradually formed.
Like faint stars in the night, they were scattered over the broad earth; as life multiplied and knowledge accrued, they quietly began to grow strong.
At this time the world had no clear definition of "death."
Mortals' lifespans were exceedingly long; so long as their bodies could endure time's erosion, they could go on living.
Thankfully His Majesty the God-King had already shaped the order of the Underworld.
Otherwise, those whose bodies had decayed, leaving only the soul, would drift aimlessly in the world until total dissolution.
That would be terror second only to Tartarus.
But be it how it may, all was steadily moving for the good.
This act of making humans, though it caused vast cosmic portents,
was not something most gods in the cosmos thought of as especially worth notice.
This most sacred, greatest moment meant something only for "humans," this newborn race.
To the gods on high, it was merely that there was one more small race in the world.
No matter how grand the portents, mortals were still only mortals.
Even if this newborn had a form so like the gods,
the gods would not truly care for that.
Had this been the brothers Prometheus creating on their own, perhaps a few narrow, proud gods would have been displeased.
But as it was, the wisdom goddess had joined in this creation; why would the gods offend His Majesty's beloved first wife over so small a thing?
Moreover, His Majesty had from first to last offered no objection; He had even sent down holy creative lightning, and in the end the Muses themselves had come to help.
That showed His Majesty had given tacit consent.
Thus there was all the less reason to meddle—or to destroy them.
Mere similarity of form does not prove anything.
They were merely small mortals.
Aside from those gods and nymphs who, from boredom, felt curiosity toward this "race resembling the gods," most watched in quiet.
And there were a few far-seeing gods who wished to approach this race that His Majesty appeared to value so highly.
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