Athena's Dragon Slayers

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. Or rather, this Valley hadn’t always been in the realm of the dragons.

Athena stood, regal yet weary, staring down the hillside to where her destination had lain. Mere seconds before this very instant, she had been coming down the slope of Mount Diabolos, heading towards the polis nestled low in the vale. Had she not had to get back up onto her feet, she could almost have sworn that her eyes were playing tricks on her from sheer exhaustion. But she could still feel the ripples of the forceful wave that had reverberated up from the Valley, sending her careening backwards in a most undignified fashion. When she had stood back up, the city as she knew it… was gone.

Silicanos was a small city, but a bustling one. A generous smattering of residences was interspersed with busy town life institutions. It had been, anyway. The Temple, the baths, the biblioteka, and the blacksmithery where she spent her days while in town had disappeared in one resounding boom and a flash. In its place, was a sprawling cityscape the likes of which she had never seen. The buildings were bizarrely tall, for starters. It was an odd moment when the goddess found herself wondering, what strange magic is this?

Yet, the world was mysterious and ever-changing. This was going to complicate their plans - their very urgent plans. “Hermes. Do you see what I see?” she sought confirmation from her traveling companion, who had caught up to her while she stood agape.

He strode up to his sister, irritatingly collected while looking upon the seemingly impossible sight before them. “Your eyes are not deceiving you, adelfi. This is rather inconvenient.”

She snorted. “I’ll say.” Her face constricted in panic as a sudden thought crossed her mind. “By Zeus, I hope Hephaestus had not reached the polis yet.” They exchanged a look that communicated what she had left unsaid: they could not complete the mission without him. After another minute or so of standing around in confused disbelief, Athena gathered herself and set her jaw in resolution. “Well, we definitely won’t defeat the Gigantes by standing around. Let’s go.”

Hermes resisted the impulse to retort sarcastically. You would think after a few thousand years together, they’d have learnt how not to get on each other’s nerves. Sibling rivalry combined with the urge to respond to the unexpected with snark was not bringing out the best in him, he knew. He bit his tongue and fell in line behind his sister as she resumed her march down the slope.

The sun was beating down relentlessly, and even with the protection of their divinity - what remained of it - the trek was long and exhausting. They walked on through the night, with the stars revolving overhead menacingly. Athena could not help but turn her gaze skyward, wondering how long they really had until the Hesperian dragon broke free of its heavenly bonds. The Drakon Gigantomakhios certainly made a beautiful addition to the constellations. If it were to break free, all that looked like glittering glory from afar would rain down in terrifying flames upon the earth.

They could not let that happen. There was no other choice. For the sake of what Gods still lived. And for the humans, wherever they were now.

Through the night, and through the dawn, they walked. They were silent now, where they had spent the last few days planning animatedly. All those plans might be for nought, for all they knew. Athena squashed the panic swelling in her chest. She was the Goddess of Wisdom. No matter what they found when they reached Silicanos - or what had been Silicanos - they would make a new plan. They would adapt.

The closer they got to the soaring metropolis that now stood where their city had been until yesterday, the harder it became to believe in its reality. Surely this was some kind of glamor. Was this a trick of the Gigantes? Could they have breached the protective magic that shielded their city, the final refuge of the Gods?

Yet, as they approached, both Athena and Hermes felt a low tingle of energy. Their divinity was always strengthened by proximity to Silicanos, and it seemed that, whatever had happened to their city, what stood in its place still recognised them. It still felt like a haven to their weary bodies.

They were just about at the outermost edges of this bizarre city, when they started to notice people surging around the pathways in between the towering buildings. Figures would dart to the edge the city, look out, and turn to each other in consternation before running back into their buildings. They seemed to be looking out at the Valley, as confused as Athena had been looking down into it yesterday.

“They look about as pleased with this situation as we are,” Hermes drawled. Athena nodded.

“Do you think that’s a good thing? Surely if they had been planted here to thwart us, they would know what was happening?” she pondered.

“Hm. They could be innocent pawns in the war to destroy us. They might be foes without meaning to be,” Hermes narrowed his eyes. He was starting to pick up on the conversations happening inside this fantastical polis. Their language was like nothing he had ever heard.

“They are dressed so… strangely. Certainly not battle-ready.” Athena noticed that some of the residents had noticed them in turn by now, likewise. More and more people gathered at the edge of the city, facing them, staring with palpable curiosity as they approached.

Up close, it was truly remarkable how the city’s edges stood in stark contrast to the greenery around it. When civilisations naturally grew, the edges intersected with the landscape gradually. This city stood like a gargantuan disc had been thrown into the vale, like it had been picked up and tossed here and not quite settled into the world it found itself in.

Athena narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Perhaps the Gigantes had thrown this here after all. But surely something of this magnitude was beyond even their massive size and power? Besides, she could feel the pull of the city even more strongly now. Like a lizard drawn to sun itself on a rock, she kept walking almost against her will, closer and closer to the strange city.

The faces of the residents were clearly visible by now. It was not just their clothes that were like something out of a mythical tale. Their hair was cut so strangely. Some of them seemed to be wearing subtle face paint - or else why were their lips so unnaturally coloured? Their shoes were like nothing Athena had ever imagined. And she imagined a lot.

Athena suddenly realized that these were…

“Humans,” Hermes expelled in shock.

Her breath caught. It had been two and a half thousand years since they had seen humans. Two and a half thousand years since the world of Gods and men had been ripped apart, each to survive in their own realms.

The humans were not approaching them, but they were also not running away. More and more of them were gathering at this particular edge of the city, staring out at the divine half-siblings as they approached. She could see their eyes darting over her body, her clothes, trying to make sense of her as much as she had been of them.

After what seemed like an interminably slow approach, Athena and Hermes were finally standing within talking distance of the humans at the ragged edge of the city. Her heart was full to bursting, while suspicion and relief warred against each other in her chest. Hermes stood just behind his sister - half in deference, but half in cowardice. Typical. The small crowd facing them seemed paralysed, too, and uncertain what to do.

She took a small step forward.

“Humans! How we have missed you!” She didn’t know where to start, but she was taking a chance on connecting with them like long-lost children.

Those at the front-most edge of the crowd reared back a little.

“Where have you come from?” she ventured. Their eyes grew wider.

“What is the name of your city?” she gestured vaguely at the towering structures behind them. They were starting to murmur in panic.

Hermes stepped forward gingerly. “I think… I feel… I’m going to try something.” He put a hand out and slowly started getting closer and closer to the humans. Some of them retreated further into the crowd behind them. Some knitted their eyebrows defensively.

But one stood looking straight at him. One stood, her expression a mix of fearlessness and trust. One reached her hand out to him in return. While these new humans were unlike the ones they had once known, Hermes guessed that she had seen about twenty revolutions of the sun. She had blunt, short black hair, alabaster skin, and bits of metal pierced through her eyebrow, nostril and lower lip.

As the rest of the humans fell back behind her, this one human took one tiny step towards Hermes with her finger tips pointed towards his. He dropped his shoulders and tilted his head while looking up at her to let her know he was not a threat. Her eyes fluttered as their hands met. Hermes breathed a sigh of relief. Wherever and whenever these humans had come from, it seemed that they still recognised handshakes as a gesture of goodwill. After they slowly and tentatively greeted each other, Hermes slowly moved his hand up to his forehead, then gestured at hers. She cocked her head in inquiry. He repeated the gesture, slowly touching his forehead then motioning towards hers.

She understood, and nodded her head. Hermes wasn’t familiar with this particular gesture, but she ended with her head tilted slightly forward in acceptance. He took his chance.

He placed his hand on her forehead and closed his eyes. Long-forgotten pathways opened up in his mind, in his psyche, as he connected with her consciousness. He hadn’t done this - he hadn’t been able to do this - for millenia. He opened his eyes and looked into hers. His eyes glowed with golden light, and glittering filaments danced in hers as their vision met. She gasped.

He slowly took his hand off of her forehead while holding her gaze. “Do you understand me?”

Her lips parted in shock. She nodded. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what that means,” he apologized.

“It means - yes. Yes, I understand you.” Her voice was youthful, but firm.

“Ah! I see.” The golden glow in his eyes was starting to settle now. The connection had been established. “Yes, I do understand you,” he smiled. “What is your name?”

“My name is Xanthea,” she said carefully.

Hermes chuckled. “A beautiful Greek name - but you are not golden-haired!”

Xanthea’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “Oh. Is that what it means?” She paused. “Wait, are you Greek? Is that where we are? Are we in Greece?”

“In Greece? By Zeus, would that we were. No, we have been trapped in this realm since Olympus was destroyed.”

Xanthea started. “O… Olympus?”

Hermes smiled. “Have you heard of us? Do humans even know our names anymore? I am Hermes. And this is my sister by Zeus, Athena. You may know her as Pallas perhaps?” Hermes gestured behind him.

“Brother! Brother, did you just…” Athena could barely believe her eyes. Hermes hadn’t been able to use his powers like this since the realms had been torn asunder. Granted - he hadn’t needed to use his powers of translation since then because everyone they had been stuck here with spoke the same language they did.

“Indeed, adelfi. The Messenger God is back!” he grinned. Even in the face of absolute confusion, Hermes managed to be a cocky prick.

“Can you please -” Athena gestured to herself and Xanthea.

Hermes frowned. “I actually don’t know if my powers extend that far, sister - I’ve only just managed to connect my own understanding with hers. Perhaps we should -”

“Oh, stop dithering and just try, will you!” Athena snapped. Xanthea’s eyes were darting back and forth from Hermes to Athena. She understood every word he was saying, and it was not hard to work out what the statuesque, if tired, woman just behind him wanted. She was still trying to process the fact that she could understand them at all. And that they apparently came from Olympus. And that he was Hermes. And that she was Athena. Athena!

Hermes sighed and gestured for Athena to come closer. He turned to Xanthea. “May I?”

She nodded again, before remembering that that was apparently not a gesture the Greek gods were familiar with. “Yes!”

He placed his hand on Athena’s forehead and Xanthea’s, and he opened his mind as a conduit between the two women. This was much harder than opening his own mind to Xanthea’s. It didn’t help that he could sense Athena’s impatience and lack of faith as he did so.

But he did it. He opened his eyes and stood panting this time. That was going to become very tiresome if he had to do it for every resident of this polis. Xanthea would have to be the messenger on their side.

“Where have you come from? Who are you? Why are you here?” Athena’s question came quick-fire and urgent, and would have been off-putting, had her gestures and face not communicated her genuine curiosity about Xanthea and the other humans.

Hermes interjected. “Can we please find somewhere more comfortable to have this conversation?”

Xanthea turned around and spoke to the humans behind her, explaining that these visitors were no threat. The crowds parted. The gods stepped over the jagged edge of the city. They entered a strange structure, with plush flooring and an odd sitting area in one corner. The humans called it a coffee shop, but they seemed flustered that none of the gadgets and machines around the place seemed to work. But they were seated now, and ready to talk.

“Uhm…” Xanthea didn’t know where to start. “Well, what you see around you is Silicon Valley,” she began.

Athena’s eyes grew wide as Xanthea began her tale. Silicon Valley was a hub of innovation and invention, and Xanthea herself worked on creating machines and programmes that decoded ancient languages. They had had a major breakthrough yesterday morning, where they had been testing new “software” to translate an ancient Greek scroll that had recently been found. All was going well, until the machine went over one particular page. And then - “Boom!” Xanthea said, and made a sweeping gesture with her arms. “We were here,” she came to a pause.

“Listen, we don’t understand how we got here, why we’re here, or what to do really. But we want to get back. We can all recognise that where we are looks an awful lot like the California we call home. But it’s like our city got picked up and plopped in the middle of this Valley as it was thousands of years ago.”

Athena and Hermes looked at each other. “It’s not that it’s from a different time. It sounds like our two realms have collapsed into each other.” Athena thought carefully. “If your version of your city is now here, where Silicanos used to be… it stands to reason that Silicanos is now in your realm where Silicon Valley used to be.”

Xanthea put her head in her hands. “I just.. I can’t decide if this is an incredible dream or a nightmare.”

Hermes patted her gently on the shoulder. “I know what you mean.”

Athena suddenly became aware of the other people staring at them again. “Xanthea, not to ignore your plight here… but aside from the little matter of our worlds collapsing into each other, may I ask what it is that you all DO in your world, if you worship the Gods there still? The thing is, the closer we get to you, the stronger I feel.”

Hermes nodded in agreement. Their powers were stronger than they had been in over two thousand years.

As Xanthea explained that Silicon Valley was full of innovators, inventors, designers and thinkers, who didn't all observe one particular religion, Athena’s mind went into overdrive. This was why as they had approached the new city, her powers had grown stronger. These humans thrived off the very qualities that Athena and Hermes embodied.

“The spirit of the quest manifests itself in countless ways. In some, it is the drive to invent and to create. In others, it is the calling to explore distant lands and venture into realms unknown. Yet in others, it lives simply as an openness to new ideas, new thoughts and new ways of being,” Athena explained. Xanthea smiled and relayed this to the humans around her. Their curiosity had long been piqued, and now a sense of hope was starting to ripple through the throngs.

Athena raised an eyebrow. "So you want to get home. And our world is under threat by the Gigantes and their dragon hordes. Do you think we can help each other out?"

Xanthea looked at her and extended a hand.

"Let's go."