Modern Day Mythology

My name is Aether. I am Quintessence, the fifth element. The same force from which all divine beings were born. The root of god Magic, the power that weaves itself through every world, every dimension, every mythology. I’ve existed before humanity and before the dawn of creation itself. I was the flicker of hope that created all that exists. Some have even called me the teardrop of the original one true God. I don’t remember my origin. But whatever I am, I now carry the burden to solve the most complex problem this world has ever faced. Throughout my existence, my self-proclaimed role has been to watch as things unfold throughout creation. I love watching the movement of life from the very first amoeba in the sea, all the way down to the sprawling human civilizations of the modern world. I’ve accessed all the myriad other dimensions and realities, but those don’t matter. What I do is watch. I’ve watched Earth evolve as the eons rolled by. All the way from the lifeless, barren husk it once was, down to the population of Dinosaurs that ruled long before Humans. I was watching when the first Sapiens rubbed sticks together and when they finally formed together into the first civilizations. This is where the true nature of power reveals itself. The original Christian Bible says, "Life and death are in the power of the tongue." I witnessed firsthand as these humans were endowed with that very ability—the power to speak things into existence from nothing. A gift they've wielded so recklessly. It was granted to them by the one true God, making them the only creatures with the capacity to shape reality through their words. In the earliest stages of society, humans began organizing into groups, from which different beliefs emerged, eventually evolving into the mythologies we know today. As humans voiced their beliefs, they spoke beings into existence, creating the first entities of each mythology. These primordial beings then gave rise to others, and as belief and worship in each mythology expanded, so too did the power associated with them. I am omnipotent, though not omnipresent. I can appear anywhere in an instant, but I am not everywhere at once. My omniscience is selective—I must direct my thoughts to something in order to fully grasp its workings. The problem I was faced with caught me off guard. I didn’t sense it until a shift in power rippled through my cosmic awareness. It was only when I delved deeper into that awareness that I realized the true magnitude of the problem we now face. I try and do nothing to interfere with the ebb and flow of creation, but sometimes I find myself getting involved on a small scale. Giving a hero an artifact here, influencing the decision of a God there, meddling with a relationship on Earth. Little fun things as my whims allow. But now I was faced with a situation that required me to make a decision. Being all-powerful has its perks. It means there’s absolutely nothing in existence that I cannot do, including breaking the very laws of the universe, if I so choose. But I have limitations on how much I can do at a given time, and the more power I use, the more vulnerable I become, and it takes time for my powers to recharge. Not long after the mythologies rose to power, things changed. Around 300 to 500 bc, the world started switching its focus to monotheistic religions. Most focused back to the one true God, in various forms. Then humanity reorganized the religions into several core mainstream versions. As these religions started to grow, the old mythologies were long forgotten. As belief in the ancient gods waned, so too did their power. Entering a new millennia, a new chapter in human belief system, I felt a twinge through my Cosmic Awareness than the mythologies were waning to the point where, in time, they’d ceased to exist. Now… I’m stuck with a decision only I can make. My decision is simple. I stick to my original desire, to only watch as creation unfolds. Or I get involved and do something to fix the problem. I’ve gotten involved before on a small scale, but nothing to this extent. This decision is difficult, as I’ve watched these various mythologies throughout the ages as they’ve grown and expanded. I’ve seen their wars and fallen in love with their heroes of lore. I’ve even revealed myself to and helped a lot of the gods, goddesses, and mythical heroes throughout many mythologies. They are a thing of great beauty and something that should never just cease to exist. This is a decision I don’t take lightly. Nonetheless, it’s one I have to make. So the decision was simple. I would save them. I traveled to the Nexus, which is my home. My own dimension that I created long ago. I have a great library that covers every book I’ve found in existence and many that I’ve written over time. Also within my home are untold ancient artifacts collected from many different realities. One such artifact is called the Cradle of Power. It has the power to store an unlimited amount of power to be used for various purposes. I don’t have enough power to cast a spell of this magnitude; something of the level of what I had in mind is going to require help from all mythologies. Using my power, I expanded an area of my Nexus dimension into a nearly infinite area of size and set boundaries so whatever I put in this area would be unable to travel outside of those bounds. In the center, I embedded the Cradle of Power and connected it to the four books of prophecy. These were ancient books that had the power to rewrite things into reality; together, they could alter anything. Connecting the Cradle of Power directly to these books means whatever spell I cast will be rewritten into reality using the power of the books. An unalterable series of changes that will become woven into the very fabric of realities laws, unchanging. With everything in place, I focused my power and within an instant every creature throughout every mythology was transported to my open dimension, all collectively gathered together and all sharing a common telepathic link, so if I spoke all would hear. From there, I cast spells to calm everyone in the room, as even mortal enemies would be in the same vicinity. I floated in the middle of the room near the cradle of power; all eyes were on me. I saw the ancient gods and goddesses of time standing around me, with the titans and giants looming in the distance. I noticed that smaller groups of beings moved together to huddle closer to the ones they were most familiar with. Instinctively, I read fear yet indignation from most of their faces. I shifted away from my natural wisp form into that of an old man with a cane. Then I spoke. “My name is Aether. Now see what I see.” I waved my hand and mentally every being in the room saw what I saw, via Cosmic Awareness. They saw the steady rise of human worship, followed by their shifting into monotheistic religions, and finally, the power of the mythologies dwindling before finally ceasing to exist. “What is this you show us?” Thor, from Greek Mythology, stepped forth. His voice booming throughout the room. “The cradle of power holds unlimited power. It’s tied to the 4 arcane books of prophecy, able to rewrite reality,” I said. “I’m omnipotent and can cast the spell, but even I’m limited. So this has to be a joint effort.” “What spell?” Thor asked. I sighed, genuinely concerned about the limited intelligence of these creatures. “If you do nothing, you’ll cease to exist. I can rewrite reality into a form where you continue existing, despite the absence of worshipers.” Zeus stepped in front of Thor. “Your words make no sense creature, speak plain.” I thought through how to dumb down my own words, and then decided a mental explanation might be better. So I transmitted the core of my thoughts on the subject to all the creatures. My intention was to have the creatures vote on which ones want to be part of the spell and which one’s don’t. The majority within each mythology would be the deciding factor. From there, all mythologies would break down their dimensions: Mount Olympus, Valhalla, Duat and so forth. Those realms would all be melted down to pure power and fed into the cradle of power. All their artifacts would be given to me as payment for casting the spell. Then all of them would melt themselves down to pure power, and put themselves into the cradle of power. Based off all the collective power I would cast a powerful spell that would alter reality at it’s core, sending them to Earth in Avatar forms to live out the rest of existence for eternity. Once the mind tap went out and they saw all I had to show, I waited for a response. They all sat in silence, staring at each other. “I’ll need two things from you. A decision on which mythologies want to do this, and which ones want to be returned, which you’ll eventually cease to exist. The second thing, is the details of how you want your mythology to be handled on earth in avatar form. Work out all your nuances for your part of the spell. I will return in time to get your decision.” Without another word I vanished, leaving them all to their own conversations. All of them were powerless in my realm and rendered docile, so they could not fight if they wanted. All they could do was talk and argue and make decisions with their voices. Despite my absence from them visually, I stayed with them in spirit. I could see and hear their discussions, arguments and panicked murmuring. I traveled slowly throughout the various mythological circles listen to them have internal discussions about the fate of their future. The greek mythological creatures made decisions fast, but then got stuck on negotiating what would happen to the titans and how they would be handled, the same for the norse when they started discussing the giants. All had deeper discussions on which god would get which power level, and things were chaotic. The good entities wanted a universe with no evil entities, and vice versa and there was chaotic arguing on all sides. In time, the arguing died down, and most decisions were made. I reappeared in the midst of them and floated down to the ground, switching back into my human form. As I did, hushed silence filled the room. Using my cosmic awareness, I scanned the generalities of everyone in the room, then I used my selective omniscience to sort through the various complications. “I can tell there are a lot of misunderstandings on certain points,” I finally said, as everything came into view. “Let’s work through those. I will present ideas that I think will work.” I focused on the Greek mythology first, and within my mind a few inconsistencies popped up. “Two main issues. The fates, and the Titans. Is this correct?” Zeus nodded. “The fates have always had a huge connection to reality. Without their ability to weave the fates, they are nothing. If your spell undoes their purpose, what purpose do they serve? Also, the Titans are our mortal enemies. We waged a war for decades to strip them from power, how can we risk them joining us in this new reality?” I spent a few minutes peering into the future, watching how several potential scenarios would unfold throughout history. Then