Crystals IV: 4th Battle of the Titans: Clash between the Supernatural and the Natural II (The Ascent of the Natural)

By Antonis Anastasiadis

4th Battle of the Titans: Clash between Natural and the Supernatural ΙΙ - The Ascent of the Natural.

The Crystals Series is a storyline in the form of a novel which starts from the very beginning of the creation of the Universe, traverses the whole human civilization, reaches the present and continues into the future, summarily following the evolutionary course of human civilization.

In the first part of the Clash between the Supernatural – Natural, we followed the evolutionary path of life from 50 million years ago to 200 thousand years ago, we witnessed the first battles between the Supernatural and the Natural, the creation of the Balkan Peninsula, the domination of the mammals, but we followed the separate phylogenetic tree of humankind. A summary reference was made to the educational/training system necessary for the development of sentient beings at the three spiritual levels, the ten -faces-, the three consciences, the four paths and the five plagues that directly and indirectly impact on their lives.

In the second part of the Clash between the Supernatural – Natural, 200 to 100 thousand years ago, we witness the slow-paced developmental modification of the Homo sapiens-sapiens, during which, life begins to acquire full self-knowledge. The final trial and oath-taking of Zeus as the Warrior of the Light take place as well as his efforts to take responsibility for reinstating the Natural Forces. Clashes of epic proportions, battles of the Titans and dwells between the Titans and the Olympians dominate the scene.

In the 4th Battle of the Titans, we are witnessing the turning point of nature to the logical, the incarnation of nature with life and its rationalization by Homo sapiens-sapiens. It is the sentient being through which the universe is trying to acquire self-knowledge and self-realization. So, on the one hand, we are witnessing the undiscernible and insurmountable difficulties through which the White Crystal will eventually reach Mount Olympus in the hands of Zeus, and on the other, the easiness with which the Black Crystal will reach Othrys in the hands of Cronos. We are witnessing in fact, the conflict between the rational and the irrational and the transition of man to the logical. Man has fought hard during this transition. His mind was aflame for a series of thousands of years in his effort to address his difficult and inscrutable questions. At the end, he came out victorious, he moved on, but it was a futile victory, since he got carried away into metaphysical and supernatural escape routes. So, the metaphysical and illogical remains latent in his everyday reality and in every one of his thoughts, and emerges in every difficulty. Such titanic battles were fought inside the human mind.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AKAKIA Publications
• Release date: Jun 24, 2018
• ISBN: 9781912322602

Book preview

4th Battle of the Titans:

Clash between Supernatural

and the Natural II

(The Ascent of the Natural)

THE ADVENTURES OF ZEUS

(Martial Warrior of the Light)

Introduction

In the 3rd Battle of the Titans: the Clash between the Supernatural and the Natural I, we saw the last clashes between the Hypercosmic and the Supernatural Forces, the final domination of the Supernatural Forces led by Cronos, their drifting into arrogant forms of ruling the planet and the first reactions from the Natural Forces. At the same time, we followed the developmental course of life, but mainly, the evolution of Homo sapiens, from about fifty million years to one hundred thousand years ago.

In the first part of the clash between the Supernatural and the Natural, the main clashes were between the Cyclops and Cronos, followed by the clashes between the Giants and Cronos, until Cronos’ final dominance once more. Then we saw Zeus’ birth and the educational and training program that he followed.

We saw Zeus’ birth and the handling of the infant by the Kourites and the Diktaies Nymphs in order to hide him from Cronos into the Idaion Cave, but also to train him as a future Warrior of the Light. Then Zeus’ education and training followed which was based on the educational and training program that Gaia had organized, which included three spiritual levels, six developmental stages and ten ‘Faces’ or ‘Forms’. At the highest educational stage and under the guise of a test, Zeus was taught the three types of ‘Awareness’ and the four ‘Paths’. Finally, the five ‘Plagues’ comprised his final educational process, according to which, he acquired a holistic awareness of life and suggested solutions for the most significant problems, but mainly about the ‘fear’ that dominates the societies of the mortals.

Recapitulating therefore, in the 3rd Battle of the Titans: the Clash between the Supernatural and the Natural I, we saw the development of the phylogenetic tree of man, up until the moment he acquired his present-day consciousness and the Warrior of the Light as a spiritual personality and uniqueness. In the 4th Battle of the Titans: the Clash between the Supernatural and the Natural II, we shall see the Warrior of the Light as a martial personality and uniqueness during the violent clashes between the Supernatural and the Natural Forces, until the final domination of the Natural Forces. With the end of the 4th Battle of the Titans, Homo sapiens would be a step before his completion as a modern-day human.

Zeus’ final preparation

Well before prudent Zeus had reached the stage of his final training preparation, and right from the moment his mother Rhea had handed him secretly to the Kourites and the Diktaies Nymphs, he had been exposed to a constant educational and training process. Since he was born, the Kourites had taken up his protection and training. In their training effort, the Kourites had been guided by the program of studies given to them by Gaia. Still, to cover the educational needs that emerged in the process, they often would come up with improvisations which they would fit in the already educational program. Besides, Gaia herself had specified the dynamics of each and every program of studies that Zeus would go through.

During his childhood and adolescence, from eight to eighteen years old, quick-thinking Zeus received systematic education in many areas, based on the directives of Gaia and Rhea, so that he could come through the difficult project he was to undertake. He was trained in proper etiquette, mathematics, music, astronomy, philosophy and acquired a good basis in medicine, medicinal treatments but also in the sacred dances. At the same time, he was being trained in gymnastics, horse-riding, hunting, javelin throw, fencing, boxing and footrace. Particular emphasis was given to martial dancing, which represented the epitome of his physical exercises, a complex combination of martial and dancing moves. Even more particularly, he received training in lyre playing, the capture of wild aurochs with his bare hands, hunting wild boar armed with a knife, hunting vultures and Stymphalian Birds with bow and arrow. It is said that of those birds that were saved, most escaped to the Peloponnese, around Stymphalia Lake, where Hercules, a distant descendant of Zeus, would wipe them out thousands of years later.

One of the most difficult and dangerous training was the successful capture of a lion and other similar predators, alive. Such successes of Zeus were the epitome of his training effort by the Kourites. The joy they had as a result of the successful completion of their efforts, was the payback for their investment. Another, similarly important training Zeus received was learning to yell scary shouts and martial cries to terrorize his opponents. Certainly, to be able to withstand hardship, he was trained in real-time hard living conditions, in caves, staying without food and water, stranded in vast forests, under rain and snow conditions at the summit of the highest mountains, in desolate places and in gorges at night. Hunting wild boars but also all the training in hardship was taking place between the valley of Messara and the south outskirts of Psilorites. After all that, Zeus had been transformed into a fearless and invincible Warrior of the Light.

Throughout all those trials, he had a beloved companion whom he had befriended when he was a child in the gorges of Psilorites. During his training sessions in the gorges together with the Kourites, one day he came across a very small, wounded eaglet whose wings were still incomplete. Compassionate Zeus took it under his wing, cured its broken talon and its wounded wing. Ever since that time, they became inseparable friends. Zeus turned it into the symbol of his power when he was invested with the power over the whole planet. But it also stands for the symbol of the freedom each and every one is seeking.

Zeus always admired the lonely, proud eagles that soared up high all by themselves. It is the loneliness or rather the solitude of all those who seek freedom. The more one gains it, he higher he soars. Only the very few are those who soar up there, while the masses on the ground look at them with jealous envy, and slander them in any chance they get. So, after every spiritual level one achieves, he leaves behind a whole lot of masses and packs, with fewer and fewer individuals remaining next to him, thus increasing his solitude. So, it goes without saying that the higher one would climb, the lonelier he will be. It is the spiritual solitude of the thinking people, who have both the blessing and the curse, to live up there in the country of the eagles, and live under a universal light. That light will be felt only by the very few!

When sharp-witted Zeus reached his twentieth birthday, he had completed all the educational levels, including the highest level only reached by few and was then deemed ready for the final stage. The final trial would be on everything he had been taught, just before his initiation ceremony, after which he would take up active duty. The trials would last six days and on the seventh day, the official award ceremony of the armor and weapons would take place. That seventh day was later set by Zeus to be a day of relaxation and celebration for the whole planet Earth. The trial he was about to undergo would be double-pronged: first to showcase himself as a spiritual warrior and second to demonstrate himself as a martial artist and warrior. Depending on his successes on the upcoming trials, he would receive commensurate weapons. He had already acquired the iridescent golden-yellow aura that every spiritual personality has. Both of those would turn him into a Warrior of the Light. Just one of the two would not be enough. One without the other would be ineffective and potentially dangerous.

One month before the final trial, perceptive Zeus sequestered himself in a thick forest, far from the Kourites’ settlement. It was the final and cruelest trial of survival for a month. During that trial, Kourites had been watching him from afar and were trying to set up against him all sorts of obstacles they could think of. They stole his food, clothes and weapons. They messed up the traces of the game he was hunting for, made a clatter to shoo them away, and came up with all sorts of tricks to disorient him and such like. Still, they directed large dangerous predators where he lived and threw large reptiles into the caves he was spending the nights in, muddied the water from the sources, and mixed every adjoining path in the forest. They came up with all sorts of tricks to make his life more difficult than it already was. They left nothing they did not try on him. He spent a month being totally isolated in forests and caves, each day of which he would have to undergo a series of trials before the final trials and ceremonies. That dangerous month comprised the final stage of his highest training that no one had been able to endure in past except very few who would do so in the future, such as Hercules.

All preparations were successfully dealt with in full by Zeus. When he reached the stage of the trials themselves, he passed them all very easily, except in the case of the sixth. He had some difficulties in the trial of philosophy, something that got both Rhea and Gaia worried. It indicated a weakness that would show much later during Zeus’ course, when at a certain point, arrogance would take hold of him as well. But in any case and for the time being, Zeus was getting over one trial after another.

Zeus’ loses heart

It was a cool, quiet evening and Zeus was lying on the grass carpet that mother Earth had created and was enjoying the sweet night. Next day, the final weekly trial would commerce. But a curious worry started taking root in him. Something deep in him had started eating up all his vital energy. Up until that moment, all his efforts had been successful but this was causing him curious feelings, since he was not used to defeat and failure. It was his weak point. Defeat matures the thought and makes the individual become respectful of victory and success. It makes him able to appreciate and comprehend it! But also show respect for the defeated. But as he had always been a winner, how could he possibly understand a potential defeat?

Zeus was twenty years old, in his apex of the robustness of the flesh and was experiencing the fantastic feeling of a complete hedonistic enjoyment of living species. He was suffused by a dizzying feeling of happiness, following his many continuous successes and transformed the world around him into a terrestrial paradise full of love, flowers, music and light. Being in his youth handsome rigor, he was feeling his previous adolescent bliss that had never betrayed him. But today a female demon had subjected him into an unbearable martyrdom about the future. He now was a man starting out on his course of life. But he has already taken up a lot of responsibilities. He was haunted by tormented thoughts. Suddenly, he felt a threatening shadow over his head. It was as if an Erinyes-like entity was watching him under its lidless, unsleeping, flaming eyes. It was as if something bad was to happen in the future. He was scared of tomorrow, of the days to follow that would have been critical. Suddenly, his fear turned into a monster ready to devour him at one go. He felt lost and lost all heart. He cowered!

In anguish, Zeus was seeking a way out of this. His usual sparkling look seemed defeated and demoralized. How would he be able to pull through such a demanding and onerous duty? The monster of pusillanimity devoured him whole and puked him out again constantly but he was still alive. He felt a deep pain. Why did he feel so much pain? Fear was a monster that was gradually extinguishing him and pushing him to desertion. It was a moment just before apostasy. The idea of defection was crossing his mind and he started looking around to find a path through which he would run off, leaving everything behind without looking back. A hand was pushing him strongly towards cowardliness. He sat up! He bent his head and clenched his fists. Limp, his head rested on his raised knees. He was alone. It was he, nature and the disquieting anguish that was surrounding his soul, like a snake slithering inside him. Was there no way out then, no solution? But lo! Another invisible hand was holding him in place. That was the hand that was pushing him back to life!

Perseverant Zeus clenched his fists hard, raised his hands high and hit the earth hard, channeling all his anguish, cowardice but also anger to the ground. The earth shook from Zeus’ strength. Dust came up while at the points where his hands had hit the ground two visible dents had formed. His hands ached. But now that pain was pleasant. All his anger about the pusillanimity he had felt had dissipated. He got up and looked at the starry sky with love and admiration. How small was he? But up there was his origin. He let out a wild yell of joy! He swore heavy oaths! He swore a blood oath that he would never again permit himself to fall that low.

Today, in his adulthood, Zeus had returned to his second adolescent creative course. He chased away the insatiable monster of misery. He was back on the search for life!

Upstanding again, he would fight for justice in life.

Zeus’ final trial

When Zeus was nineteen and a half years old, he had already successfully completed the four Paths and the five Plagues. They were difficult but also instructive spiritual trials. It was an investment in spiritual property that he would need on a daily basis. In full awareness of himself, he was ready for his final trial which would last a week and through which it would be decided whether he was ready in every respect to take up the general responsibility for the revolution of the Natural Forces against the Supernatural ones.

Up until that point, all of Zeus’ spiritual and practical trials had been successfully completed. Now, he would have to go through all those practical trials that would complete his perfection in every respect, either spiritually or physically. It would be a trial based on real-life situations and not of an instructive nature as such trials had been up to that point. Gaia’s altar was ready and adorned. That would be the start and the end point of every trial. It would be here that the judges would pronounce whether the trial had been successfully completed or not. In the end, it would be here that he would give the sacred oath. It was a very difficult process which had been completed only by the very few. The Kourites, the Diktaies and Iades Nymphs who would witness the trials as simple spectators were filled with anxiety and experiencing a range of feelings.

At long last, the week of the trials came and everyone were there, at the Diktaion Cave, before Gaia’s altar. Following the chanting of some hymns in honor of mother-Earth Gaia, the Diktaies, the Iades and the Pleiades Nymphs danced a few terrestrial sensual dances, while the Oceanid Nymphs danced fluid, liquescent dances. Then the Sacred Pyre was lit on the altar which would continue burning up until the end of Zeus’ trails. It would go out after Zeus’ oath-taking.

At the age of twenty, foresighted Zeus was simply and athletically dressed, wearing a simple short white tunic and was shining by an inexplicable divine light, while on his completely serene face not a trace of anguish could be seen. Not even a shadow of doubt. All the answers had been given the previous night in the grove. He was calm and assertive, fully self-confident and with strong self-respect. Steadily and in full awareness of the task, he was treading along the most difficult path a mortal or immortal or a titan could every walk on. During the short, solemn ceremony in honor of mother-Earth, he was simple, calm and humble. Not a trace of arrogance could be seen in his eyes, but his look was sparkling, lively and intense, full of anticipation for the trials that would follow the next days. It was unarmed, since it would be the trials themselves which would determine the level of the warrior he would become and the weapons that he would be allowed to have. That ranged from a simple laurel to the full-fledged armor with all its trimmings.

The levels of the ‘Warrior of the Light’ were seven, just as the trials that would determine what level of warrior Zeus would become and what weapons he would possess. Yet, despite the fact that he was simply dressed and without weapons, one could tell from his general countenance that he already looked like a warrior, mighty in his vigor of the flesh, the vitality of his youth, the assertiveness and the modesty of the face and his humility and unpretentious look. Everything was in good measure. All in good measure! Measure just before crossing the border into arrogance. That was the threshold point, just as much the demands were just at the threshold of endurance for a warrior of any form. How could he distinguish himself if he had not found himself at the threshold? The measure that singles out mediocrity is for those who are impotent and timid, even if they love justice and beauty. True warriors have no fear even if they cross over into arrogance some time, when the circumstances demand it. They would quickly resort to the good measure when that need no longer exists. The warrior needs that little slippage so that he would be able to surpass himself in the difficult situations. Because the Warrior of the Light cannot be immortal. He is a mortal! And as a mortal, he cannot be infallible. How else would he be able to face the unrelenting hardship that he meets in his daily struggles in life? It is not arrogance to be precise, but this is how it looks to the timid, the cowards and the crafty.

Ingenious Zeus was creating a wonderful, awe-inspiring sight. He was radiant all over. It was as if a self-produced luminance was emanating an inner light that was covering his whole body. He was already presenting a phantasmagoric and magnificent spectacle. But when he would take up arms, then that already radiant appearance would appear too poor as compared to the divine appearance that he would acquire then. His brown-blond hair was unkempt, not particularly cared for, but the small waves on it were so balanced that it appeared as if someone had deliberately concerned himself with it. His hair fell behind in a small brown-blond mane, while some shorter locks scattered lively across his brow. Just before he appeared before the altar, just prior to the commencement of the solemn ceremony of his trials, he was already shining like a solar god. He had been named ‘Warrior of the Light’, confirming Pythia’s Delphic oracle confidently expressed many years ago and repeated in different ways many times. But now, after the end of his trials and oath-taking, and in full war gear, he would appear as a solar god. But he would remain a mortal.

During the whole week of his trials, he would remain unarmed and dressed only in his short tunic. No other garment was allowed. The rules were strict. Nor was the use of weapons allowed, either of those which were precut or makeshift ones made by himself, except of course when specific weapons were given to him for the particular trial, such as archery, which he would have to hand back after the end of the trial.

The trials commenced one morning at the first rays of the sun. He would have to be successful in all of them. In the first day, he was tried in etiquette, in reciting poems, mathematics and music. In the second day, he was tried in gymnastics, hunting moves, horse-riding, javelin throw, archery, shot put, fencing, boxing and the long jump. In the third day, he was tried in the crossing of the gorge and the capture of a wild aurochs with his bare hands. In the fourth day, he was tried in the capture of a lion. In the fifth day, he was tried in the sacred and martial dances. In the sixth day he was tried in philosophy. Finally, in the seventh day, Zeus’ oath-taking ceremony took place.

The first day was the easiest trial for Zeus because to everyone who was kind-hearted and had been exposed to high culture education all those trials were simple daily routines. They were part of his everyday way of life. So, during the first day he was tested on etiquette, reciting poems, mathematics, music, the lyre, astronomy and on botany and medicinal herb lore. For all that he was helped by the Diktaies and Iades Nymphs, while Gaia and Rhea contributed to his test on botany and medicinal herb lore. All that was necessary for the spiritual weaponry of a Warrior of the Light. It was important to be polite, generous and brave. That trial was not meant to show how he should behave but how he felt and experienced all that. That is, he should be polite and brave and not just appear that he was so. He had to be imbued with ‘Wisdom’, ‘Prudence’, ‘Valor’ and ‘Justice’, the four main virtues that predetermined that all those virtues would be part of him. A Warrior of the Light loves truly, timelessly, without contradictions and conflicts. He loves nature, life, man and the universe. Among those, the defense of the weak and naturally of the defeated ones would be a sine qua non. Besides, it was there that the courage, generosity, high culture and the special feeling in the body and spirit and in the end, the spiritual level and humanity of every intelligent being could be shown. The umpires ruled that Zeus had been absolutely successful in that set of trials, while he would be free for the rest of the day.

The second day was not particularly difficult despite the precision it required. Whoever had had tough training could pass those trials. So, during the second day, he was tested in precision gymnastics, hunting moves, horse-riding, javelin throw, archery, fencing, boxing, track events and long jumps across gorges.

Zeus was successful in all of those trials, tests and processes that began in the morning. Last there remained the most difficult of all which was jumping across gorges. This particular trial demanded that he could jump over the Gorge of Samaria. Just after noon, Zeus with the trial officials was walking up a dangerous rocky path leading to the summit of the gorge, at a height of about 1200 meters, on either side of which was lush vegetation in which blooming Cretan orchids dominated that continued into the interior of the gorge, going all the way from the top to the bottom. It was like a flowery army marching along the exterior of the gorge and descending in its interior.

That particular trial would be really useful to Zeus when he would be crossing into the country of the Centaurs, but also in the duels he would engage, particularly that with his father, Cronos. So, he went to the edge of the gorge which was above a drop of 700 meters and 100 to 150 meters wide at a certain point. Deep below was a chasm pinned by sharp rocks that gaped horribly, while upon the sharp cliffs there were enough wild goats grazing on the short, tender grass and added a calming brush on the wilderness of the scenery. Zeus would have to jump at a point where the opening of the gorge would be about 50 to 100 meters. He made up his mind to try the jump at its maximum opening of one hundred meters. He carefully observed the gorge at the point where the opening spanned a hundred meters, examined the distance, stepped back about a hundred meters and started running gaining momentum as fast as he could, reaching a speed that no one else could ever reach. Running like that, he reached the edge of the gorge and made a forceful jump that was so powerful that he landed ten meters further than the point he was supposed to land. The umpires again ruled that the trial had been absolutely successful and following the completion of the trial, they all returned. During the rest of the day, Zeus fell asleep because his next trial would begin at night.

In the third day, he had to start again in the middle of the night long before the crack of dawn would sweeten the wild surroundings, because he would have to cross the Gorge of Samaria at night, an 18 km walk. In the gorge there were caves on either side that harbored wild carnivorous animals. But despite all that, he would have to cross it completely unarmed, sparingly dressed, without food or water. On his walk, he was only allowed to get water and food he would find in that environment, up until the end of the gorge. Then, once he reached the exit of the gorge under present-day area of Portes or Iron Gates, he would be allowed to use only plant fiber rope. As he was walking in pitch darkness that would strike terror in the heart of every living being, since the light of the moon was playing in the nooks and crannies and on the trees, creating hundreds of shadows, creating forms of wild predators. For a scared soul that would be forced to tread on the bottom of the gorge at that wild time of night, fear alone would have enlarged and multiplied imaginary monsters in its imagination, since fear comes from the past and is so strong that it feeds on itself and gets reinforced at every which moment. The result would be for that soul to lose heart and come running back after the first few meters into the gorge. But Zeus had no fear in him. He had had clear knowledge and knew that all that were just phantoms created by the light of the moon. So, he walked the path fearlessly. Some predators that got wind of him almost ignored him, having been filled and tired from the hunting effort of the day, clearly preferring to get back to their necessary sleep. They just half-opened their eyes, and growled unenthusiastically, just to scare off the walker of the night and ward off his entering their lair, after which they went right back to sleep. Some were a bit more aggressive but Zeus’ yells were wilder and scarier, since he used his hands to amplify his voice. So, all wild animals just cowered, preferring not to challenge him. Right at the time the black night was giving way to the crack of dawn, Zeus was reaching the exit that was the narrowest point of the gorge. Thus, he passed that part of his trial that had to do with fear, since a Warrior of the Light, if nothing else, had to be fearless and timeless. Because fear is knowledge, knowledge is memory, memory is time and time acts negatively. So, whoever has been consumed by fear, he must have been fighting in the past. So, he has little chance of successful end to his efforts, whatever those might be, since he is living in the present.

So, on the third day, when the first sunrays struck the ground, Zeus had already exited the gorge and was starting the trial of capturing a wild aurochs living in that area with his bare hands. That area was at the side of one of the entries to the gorge, quite narrow – only three meters wide- that today is named Portes or Iron Gates. Certainly it was a very hard thing to try since the young bull was bursting with sinuous strength. As Zeus exited the gorge, he followed a rolling path. He just let himself observe the many aromatic herbs spreading on his left and right like marjoram, ironwart and lavender as well as others. Absorbed by the beauty and aromas of nature he did not realize that he had come to the area of the wild aurochs that hid behind a thick tree as soon as it saw him. But despite that, with his peripheral vision that had always been kept on the alert as he had been trained in any case, Zeus perceived its move like a swift shadow shifting imperceptibly by and turned his eyes to investigate. He felt the presence of the bull and walked in the direction of the tree carefully. The wild bull charged suddenly forward, roaring and hitting the ground with its hooves. It was a huge aurochs that would strike terror anyone. The earth shook under its feet. Even the predators of the area did not dare come closer. But ingenious Zeus was not afraid before the bull’s nervous angry jumps and jerks, nor its attacks with its head bent forward with its very lethal, big protruding horns. At a certain point, taking advantage of one Zeus’ rather delayed jumps, the bull’s horn pierced Zeus’ tunic, pulled him down to the ground and dragged him for a short distance. But the tunic ripped off and so Zeus jumped back on his feet, ready to intercept the bull’s next attack. What was needed was stamina and courage.

In the beginning, Zeus was trying to avoid the bull’s hits by constant jumps, just to tire him off. When he felt that the bull had started breathing heavily, he managed to trap him down and tie his four feet. Then, following the capture of the bull, he tied a plant fiber rope around his neck and a loose tie in the bull’s front legs so that it could walk easily. Just as tight or loose it took to prevent the animal from attacking or charging. When the bull became aggressive or tried to escape, Zeus would pull the two ropes with which he had tied up the bull’s front legs so that the bull would not be able to walk. In that way, he gradually tamed the bull that exhausted, gave up trying just before noon. Tied up just from his neck, the animal would now obediently follow Zeus, all the way to Gaia’s altar.

After the umpires pronounced that trial successful, they commanded Zeus to free the animal. But despite the fact that he had been set free, the bull would still follow Zeus. Then Zeus blessed the animal, caressed it tenderly and then, after he turned it into an immortal animal, he gave the order for it to be allowed to roam free all over Crete and send messages of freedom and optimism. Sometime in the future, after thousands of years, he would give it as a gift to the king of Crete, Minoa, who was the son of Zeus and Europe, but the animal would still be free to roam the country of the Cretans.

Zeus was very tired and so he took the rest of the day off for as long as he could. The next day would be difficult and dangerous.

The fourth day of his trials vigorous Zeus was tested in capturing a lion but without leaving even the slightest scratch on him. After resting well the whole night, he started the trial in the following morning. It was a truly difficult trial. He started out from the altar unarmed and dressed only in his short tunic which was clean but had turned grey and was torn from the previous trial. He was walking towards a forest that was on the other side of the Gorge of Samaria. He jumped over the gorge again to save himself some time and entered the thick forest. Zeus knew those places well. He had grown up in a similar forest near Idaion Cave and there he had learned how to waylay prey, camouflage himself very well so that even if one happened to pass by him or even touch him, he would not understand that someone had been hiding there. On the other side of the forest was the Diktaion Cave, the place Zeus was born but which he had never visited as an adult. He knew of course that he had been born there but he simply did not have occasion to visit it.

When Zeus entered the forest, he came across a creek that disappeared into a thick grove. The water had however started to go dry because its riverbed was clay mud or covered in green moss with a few water puddles left here and there. Zeus thought that around those puddles, he would certainly find either the lion or its prints. So, he kept walking along the creek, carefully observing its banks. At a point, he entered the grove, which was comprised of big old oaks and many slender young ones which were desperately seeking the light, which was allowed in, somehow, by the older trees since some of their branches were dry and sparse, thus allowing light in. It was not very much but it was enough for the seedlings that were starting their lives. In the grove, Zeus saw that there was a bigger water puddle, the larger yet, and huge prints suggesting the presence of a large lion. He looked carefully at the prints, while his attention was also focused on his peripheral vision so as to perceive any potential move. He distinguished the fresher prints and followed them as they were moving away from the water puddle.

Just before Zeus walked out of the grove, he saw a small rocky barren hill that had been hidden in the grove. He suspected that perhaps the lion’s lair might be there. He walked carefully there and saw he was approaching the opening of a cave. He continued treading carefully, either to waylay the lion or to reconnoiter the area. This would be useful information, in case he would have to fight around that spot. Every possible hiding place had to be known. Thinking like that, he approached the opening of the cave while nothing seemed to be happening.

When he reached the entrance to the cave, he looked inside carefully, trying to listen to any noise coming from inside. It was dead quiet. He took a large stone and threw it in the cave and then he listened carefully again. Nothing seemed to be stirring. There was no noise or clatter coming from the cave. He then took a smaller stone and flung it away with all his strength to drive it as far inside the cave as possible and then he stopped and listened again. He understood the rock had hit the sides of the cave, he could listen to the rock trickling down, but then nothing again. So, he decided to enter the cave himself.

He entered the cave very carefully and watched every dark corner, watchful to see any possible move immediately. But there was nothing. The cave was abandoned but full of bone remains of other animals. The lion’s lair was certainly here. After he reconnoitered the whole cave, Zeus decided to continue outdoors. As he was stepping carefully towards the exit, he suddenly heard a noise, a small pebble moved a little behind him to the left. He immediately turned, assuming a defense position, but he at once smiled and relaxed. It was a huge fat rat that could hardly walk and seemed to have been feeding from the lion’s leftovers. So, Zeus continued to move towards the exit. Just before he got out, he slowed his step giving a chance to his vision to get accustomed so that he would not be blinded by the outdoor light in case he had stepped out abruptly. He took this precaution so that his vision would be perfectly working to help him when out of the cave to face any attack or need to react correctly. Sometimes, all it takes for disaster to happen is a few seconds. It is all one has in his disposal to react correctly. Indeed, that was what saved Zeus.

Walking slowly, and hardly after he had gotten out of the cave, he found himself before the lion, at a distance of about fifty meters. Both opponents froze from their surprise, watching each other, while at the same time assuming a defense position. They measured up their opponent and seemed to adjust their attack depending on the adversary they had to face. Without any growls, shouts or clutter. It was as if one showed respect for the other, as if they knew that those tricks would not count in their case. They started moving in a circle, but without losing eye contact even for a second. It was if they were trying to see deep into the opponent’s thoughts. As if they were trying to locate some weakness in the opponent. But they couldn’t find any. But Zeus interestingly noticed that the lion’s snout was all bloodied up, meaning that the lion was returning from some successful hunt and was well-fed. So, on the one hand, it would be less aggressive and on the other, slower and heavier in its moves.

The two opponents continued their slow, circular move, until they reached each other’s original position. As if they had been coordinated, they both lunged at each other engaging in a wild but respectful attack. It was as if they did not have a wish to truly harm each other. But the wrestling was cruel despite the fact that they were both trying not to hurt each other. The lion did not make use of its teeth and Zeus did not use weapons. They wrestled for a long time before the entrance of the cave, when suddenly the lion decided to leave the scene, running away. It was not scared but it obviously failed to see the purpose of the struggle. It could not care less. So, it run away and disappeared into the forest. Zeus ran after it.

Looking for the lion in the thick forest, Zeus came incidentally upon the Diktaion Cave and was enchanted by its beauty. He went in and felt as if he knew that place. He felt a curious surge of emotion taking over him. In a way, he felt tied to that place. As he moved along, he saw the blue-green pond in the cave and admired the beauty of the stalactites, their reflection in the lake that gave the impression of pillars. At the end, he gave in to temptation. He forgot all about the lion and dived into the pool. There he had another strange emotional experience. Indeed, that was the place that Rhea had given birth to Zeus secretly, away from Cronos. It was there that the secret meeting between Gaia and Rhea to help Cronos against dark Uranus had taken place. But the most important thing of all was that there lay well-hidden by Gaia, the White Crystal. It would remain hidden there until Zeus became ‘Warrior of the Light’, in which case, he would be in a position to locate it, to hold it in his hands and handle it properly. Zeus felt cohesively ‘tied’ to that cave, but he was running out of time, the hunt for the lion took precedence over everything else. As he was heading towards the exit, his eyes fell on a strange complex of stalactites behind which the White Crystal was hidden, but he did not stay there any longer. His mind was occupied with the capturing of the lion. He had to get back on his hunt for the lion because it was already nearing noon and he had not completed his mission.

He stepped out of the cave, admiring at the same time the beauty of the surroundings. As he was outdoors, still mesmerized by the beauty he had just witnessed, he committed himself to return after the end of his trials. As he came out of the cave, he felt way much stronger than when he had come in. He didn’t know why; he was ignorant of the fact that the positive energy of the cave had amplified all of his abilities, and he started running faster than any time before. He himself wondered how that happened, but he went on regardless. Not even in the track event had he run like that.

In long last, Zeus located the lion again back in its cave where it had gone to relax. A new wild chase commenced since the lion refused to stay and put up a fight. But now Zeus was much faster and was constantly coming closer to the lion. At a certain point, the lion realized that there was no escaping him and it stopped and turned to face Zeus, roaring loudly and forcefully. The time of mutual intimidations had come. The lion roared so strongly that all the living beings in the forest froze for a moment, turning their scared look at the direction of the roar. At that time, some were having a draught of water, others were grazing on the tender grass, some were regurgitating under some shadow, while some others were suckling from their mother’s tits. The birds were either drinking water, eating seeds or twitting nonchalantly. The whole forest suddenly turned into a frozen shadow. Everything froze in a moment, as if time stopped. But it was not time that froze! It was fear that had been struck in the souls of the living. Besides, wasn’t fear steeped in time? Contrary to the frozen image of the forest, only the leaves of the trees that were just before the lion were rustling in the soft breeze, but even those reacted to the blast of wind from the roar. The drool from the lion shot from its mouth and reached Zeus and fell over him like rain.

But despite all that, Zeus did not step back and did not lose heart. He stayed there steady and immobile. He would only step forward. He knew it! He was completely ready for it. It seemed that the huge, wild lion felt it, too. It closed and opened its eyes in wonder that a living being was not scared of it. It had been used to watch everyone retreat before it. What it was perceiving now was a strange image, and that scared it a bit. It stepped back for a moment, a sure sign that it cowered before Zeus’ steady and unwavering courage and his uncontested superiority. Two wild beasts, one facing the other, one so different from the other. That was a strange but true image of nature.

Suddenly, both beasts lunged at each other and a wild struggle ensued. With agility and grace, Zeus was easily avoiding the lion’s now drawn claws, since the time had come for each of them to fight for freedom and liberty. At times, a moment Zeus seemed to be right in front of the lion’s mouth, open and ready to maul him to pieces, but right at that moment, Zeus jumped up on the lion’s back and hassled it. He two beasts kept fighting, both sweaty but neither having drawn blood, until fatigue took the better of them. But visibly more fatigued was the lion that was already breathing in and out heavily. It had succumbed before the exceedingly arduous struggle it had to fight for its life. More trained and already used to extreme training, Zeus, on the contrary, was able to go on, constantly drawing energy from within himself. He understood that the lion was getting tired and started to hassle it, pretending to be an easy victim, to force it into further aggressive moves that would tire it even more, to the point it dropped. He would step right in front of it and stood there still, then getting out of the way with swift moves, always avoiding danger. The lion fell in his trap and was soon exhausted, falling ponderously on earth, breathing heavily while his heart was pounding forcefully, ready to explode from the effort it had been subjected to. Using plant fiber ropes, Zeus then tied the beast’s mouth and feet and sat on the ground to get his breath. He had been tired too! He drew strength from mother Earth and then he headed to a nearby water puddle to cool himself. He had a draught of water and then he dived in to wash himself. Using a flat-leaved plant, he carried some water to the captured lion to cool it, too. The lion gladly accepted the water, sucking it down through his teeth with difficulty because of the way its mouth had been tied. Then he loaded the beast on his back and started on his victorious return. If he got tired on the way, he would try the trick on the lion he had used on the aurochs as well. Mind had proven victorious over brutal physical strength, no matter how much that was.

That trial completed itself right at the moment the sun had touched the horizon, behind which he would disappear at night to rest. He managed to get back within the deadline by a few minutes only. In eight minutes he would have lost that trial! He had been delayed at the Diktaion Cave that had enchanted him so much. The Kourites had been on the edge all that time. With clouded, worried eyes, they would look towards the direction of the returning Zeus, while at the same time, they were looking at the setting sun to gauge the position of the star of the day. For as long as they did not see Zeus returning, they were wishing that the sun stopped on its tracks for a while. In the end, Zeus appeared returning from the opposite direction. He was first perceived by the Idaioi Daktyloi who shouted out a thundering victorious yell of joy. Their yell was so loud that all those present around Gaia’s altar heard it and turned to look in that direction. As soon as the Kourites saw Zeus, the ominous and brooding look of theirs changed and they joined in the shouting and yelling, while at the same time they started jumping up and down like crazy, spurred by the contradictory feelings and emotions they had been experiencing.

Zeus reached Gaia’s sacred altar while the sun, already half-hidden in the horizon, was still sending its rays to it. He placed his precious cargo on it right at the point just before the sun vanished completely, making it just in time as the trial demanded. The umpires examined the lion carefully checking whether it had been hurt by Zeus in any way. In the end, they ruled that the trial had been successfully completed in every respect and ordered Zeus to release the lion. Looking curiously at all of them, but mainly at his tamer, it bent its head in gratitude and then disappeared into the forest forever. Some descendant of that lion thousands of years afterwards would meet Hercules, also a descendant of Zeus and a similar story would ensue. Then a bitter and nostalgically sweet smile would form on Zeus face.

After that trial was completed, Zeus