Marianne - The tale of Astraea
A story of ancient Greek divinities, of boredom and power - by Marianne, a character you might soon meet as the protagonist of her own story.
Marianne sat down at her desk, turned on her screen and immediately opened a new Word document. She wasted no time with layouts, fonts or sizes. She immediately wrote a title:
The goddess of peaceful justice
In the pantheon of ancient Greek gods, there is one who never appears. That's because even the gods have kept her a secret from humans. She was locked away after trying to talk some sense into that bitch Athena, who wanted to destroy the city of Troy on a whim. She tried to persuade all the gods. That humans were not their toys. That it was wrong to gamble with their lives by pitting them one against the other. That they should let mortals live peacefully. Their lifespan was short enough already.
Zeus let her speak (which was unusual) with a frown on his face; then he intervened:
‘My dear, humans might risk their lives, but what we gods risk is far worse if we just leave them be.’
‘And what would that be, father? (he wasn't her father, but everybody in the pantheon called him that, even his lovers) The end of all sacrifices in our name? Will they stop worshipping and fearing us and try climbing Mount Olympus to become gods themselves?’
Zeus smiled and shook his head, his white mane dancing.
‘No, my dear. Much worse than that. We risk boredom.’
The goddess thought she hadn’t heard correctly.
‘Boredom, father?’
‘Boredom! Can you imagine what it would be like to live forever and be bored? A calamity waiting to happen! We would end up fighting among each other, killing each other, or worse, freeing the giants and titans from the depths of the earth to get some action. That would be the end of the world. As long as we amuse ourselves with mere puppets, the fabric of the world remains intact. We remain unscathed. A god's boredom is a risk we can't take.’
The goddess was speechless, but it wasn't over.
‘For everything to survive, we immortals need our entertainment. What is a handful of human lives when compared to all creation?’.
Astraea put one foot forward, ready to retort, but Zeus waved a hand.
‘I haven't finished. I'm afraid your ideas are dangerous, my child. I don't think we can let you be free anymore. With such thoughts, you could bring about an age of peace and prosperity for humans. Nothing and no one would be able to prevent it. You could convince them to avoid stupid screw-ups like dictatorships, wars and injustice. We can't have that.’
Before the goddess could react, Ares and Hermes grabbed her by the arms. One look from the father of the gods, and in a split second, Hephaistos had fashioned a perfect gold chain out of thin air.
Then they dragged Astraea into the depths of the earth and chained her into the abyss; she is to live there for all eternity, hidden and unknown so that the gods can find their entertainment in our mistakes and miseries with no remorse or compassion.
Marianne breathed out deeply. She felt as if she had taken a deep plunge and had just come up for air. What was the origin of this strange tale? Her feeling that her whole life had been a fraud? Her yearning for salvation from some powerful entity who would fix the world and, more selfishly, her own life? To bring back Charles, to make her mother love her? She put the keyboard away, crossed her arms on the desk, put her head on her arms and started crying; fountains of tears, loud sobs that echoed in the room.