[PAN-thee-ahn]
Noun
- A group of particularly respected, famous, or important people.
- All the gods of a people or religion collectively.
Let’s Create!
** Either a story beginning, a story ending, a piece of flash fiction, a poem, painting, dance move—inspired by the word, pantheon, where does it take me? Where does it take you?
He sprang into existence with a soft, pop! He looked around, and a small group encircled him with kind and understanding smiles. How he understood their “understanding facial features,” he didn’t understand. But, sure enough, he knew it.
“We’ve been expecting you,” said a tall, broad-shouldered man with long white hair and a white beard to match.
“You have?” he asked. “I’m not sure I was expecting me…”
“There’s been a bundling of energy,” said the white-haired man, “growing steadily for a while now. It was just a matter of time.”
“I’m sorry, but who are you?” he said, and after a short pause said, “Who am I exactly?”
“My name is Zeus, but you can just call me Z. Everyone else does. Come on”—Zeus waved him forward—”I’ll show you around.”
He understood the name of Zeus. It was supposed to be a big deal to be in his presence. Zeus was a God. Suddenly, as he stepped towards Zeus, a new recollection hit him: I’m a God…
“My name is Hermes,” he said.
“And what are you the God of, Hermes?” Zeus asked, unsurprised.
“I am a Messenger God… Z.”
“Those humans are so clever,” said Zeus with a grin. “Always creating new Gods.” Zeus put his arm around Hermes, bringing him closer to the group of Gods huddling to greet him. “All they do is think about what they want, a God they want to make, and after enough of them think about it, poof! One of us springs into existence.” Zeus laughed, and the other Gods that stood around them chuckled with him.
“You were the first,” Hermes said to Zeus.
“That’s right.”
“But the Humans think you created them,” Hermes said, trying to put things together.
Zeus and the other Gods went silent and stared at Hermes.
“Do they?” Zeus said, and the others looked equally confused, staring at Hermes, awaiting more news.
“You didn’t know?” Hermes said, but by the looks on all their faces, Hermes understood that they didn’t.
Notes/Thoughts/Ideas
I can see this being a fun story, full of comedy, and a feel-good vibe. What if we created the Gods? What if it turned out that we, the humans, were the Gods, and we had some kind of amnesia? I like that.
Somehow humans forgot that they are the ones creating the Universe, and they’re creating these “Gods” that maybe have no real power. The power all comes from humans instead.
There’s a lot of cool potential in that, I think. We could follow the arc of Hermes trying to relay messages to his creators, the humans, about their real powers.
Also, to add a bit of tension, we know that at some point, belief in the Greek Gods fades away. Does that mean they would vanish as a result? It could be a race to get the humans to know their power, so they can keep the Gods in existence. If they stop believing, the Gods will cease to exist. I’m in love with this idea but as usual…
What do you think of Patheon?
Is there as much of a story here as I think? Something you would watch, read, or listen to?
Leave your thoughts, your own story beginning/ending, flash-fiction, or whatever in the comments! Where did pantheon or my story take you?
If you liked this story, check out my podcast of short stories, More Than A Story.
Today’s word is from Word-Genius.
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