The Invisible Island's scenery remained as it was, and the tree nymphs gathered around to catch up with the Rainbow Goddess, whom they hadn't seen in a long time.
Tyche, leaving time for her attendants to relax, came to the edge of the pool alone.
The lily fields, tended by the tree nymphs, were still flourishing. The familiar fragrance evoked memories of the past. This island held so much time within it. The laughter of Kannas and Zeus still seemed to echo through the forest; now, they had both grown into towering trees.
Everything had changed, yet it felt as though nothing had.
Ripples spread across the water's surface. Looking at her reflection, Tyche suddenly felt a sense of detachment. Her time as a deity had been so long that, without realizing it, her memories as a human had faded into a dream. The stirrings in her heart had also calmed under the erosion of time. She was no longer that naive, inexperienced girl.
Philyra's call startled the daydreaming Tyche. The beautiful linden tree nymph conveyed a message to the chief deity—Prometheus's trace of divinity had been fully gestated and was about to descend.
"Take him to the earth. Prometheus has always wished to lead humanity towards a bright future; let him witness it firsthand."
The causal threads, touched by this, suddenly sent a warning to the Goddess of Fate. Tyche's eyes shifted to the image appearing on the water's surface, following the causal threads to find the source of the anomaly.
Human footsteps expanded their boundaries across the land. With the support of various deities, new kingdoms emerged like sprouts after rain.
Tyche's gaze settled on a secluded high tower. This beautiful tower had been built by the King of Argos. The diligent old king was a devout follower of Hera, the goddess of marriage and childbirth, and her son, Hephaestus, the divine craftsman.
The goddess blessed the country with a bountiful population, while the divine craftsman brought them advanced forging techniques. Under the king's leadership, the people of Argos lived prosperous lives. The old king had a beautiful daughter, Danaë, who was as lovely as a flower in spring.
The old king doted on his daughter. When Danaë came of age, the king personally went to Apollo's temple to request the priests to bestow a favorable prophecy upon his daughter.
But unfortunately, the priests declared that the old king would die at the hands of Danaë's son!
This caused King Acrisius immense pain. The father did not wish to harm his daughter, so he had craftsmen build this tower and imprisoned Danaë within, forbidding her from having contact with any man.
As a princess, Danaë was not mistreated in terms of food and clothing, but a caged bird could never be happy. The monotonous life within the tower made Danaë despondent. Whenever this happened, the princess would gaze at the distant scenery from the balcony, humming the lullabies her mother used to sing to her in the wind.
The unhappy Danaë's eyes were filled with a yearning for freedom. She longed to run freely on the grass like ordinary girls. Her affluent life could not bring her happiness or fulfillment.
Princess Danaë loved rainy days the most. She would watch the returning crowds from the balcony, hoping that the vines beneath the tower would spread and grow with the nourishment of the rain, eventually blooming on the balcony. Danaë often walked in the rain, enjoying the sensation of the raindrops on her skin. The cool rain extinguished the fiery restlessness in her heart; this was the only pleasure the young princess found in her solitary life.
The clouds that obscured the sky suddenly parted, and golden sunlight shone upon the tower, causing the rainwater on the balcony to take on a golden hue.
Danaë was overjoyed. The maiden, laughing, embraced the beautiful golden rain, letting the dew wet her dress.
After the laughter came endless disappointment. Such a beautiful surprise, yet there was no one to share it with. Danaë's loneliness surged like the downpour. She earnestly prayed to the deity who brought the rain to liberate her from her endless solitude. Her prayer reached Zeus, the bringer of rain.
Zeus, who had inherited the divine office of climate from his mother, brought the rain needed for the earth's vegetation to grow. In a good mood after ascending to the status of an primordial god with the divine office of life, Zeus favored Danaë's devout prayer. The King of the Gods appeared in the sunlight breaking through the clouds and said to Danaë, "My pious follower, tell me, how can I free you from the embrace of solitude?"
Danaë, who had never seen a man after coming of age, fell in love at first sight with the handsome deity before her. She gazed greedily at the valiant Zeus and said, "God of the comforting rain, please grant me a child."
Zeus never imagined that this young girl was boldly and directly proposing. He only thought that this girl was unable to conceive with a husband. The God of Life generously bestowed his divine power of life upon this follower, and the pure princess conceived a child.
Tyche's head throbbed, but she had to continue watching. After the world's smooth ascension, the laws had reined in all powers. The offspring of the gods could no longer easily become deities as before. One of the reasons was the sheer number of divine descendants. Under the indulgence of the gods, new infants appeared incessantly.
These accidental births, born of impulse, did not receive the care they deserved. They were byproducts of pleasure. The goddesses who bore them were unwilling to invest too much effort in them, often abandoning them after they came of age. Their weak divinity could not gain the favor of the origin. They struggled with all their might to retain the glory of being a god.
Tyche had even seen over a dozen divine offspring vying for the minor divine office of dew, simply to escape their awkward predicament. Walking on the divine mountain as nymphs was vastly different from appearing as complete deities with divine offices. Helpless nymphs could be subjected to terrible punishments by deities on baseless charges at any time. Their competition was so fierce that it even led to major deities engaging in conflict.
Danaë was merely a mortal. Even with the gift of a primordial god, the laws would not permit her unborn child to become a deity. However, the birth of this child marked the arrival of the Heroic Age, and its impact on humanity was profound.
Under Tyche's covert care, Danaë successfully gave birth to a baby boy. However, her unusual state after childbirth was noticed by the maidservant who delivered her food. The maidservant, who cared for the princess, knew this was what the old king feared. But at Danaë's plea, she chose to conceal the matter and secretly raised the boy with Danaë.