Introduction

My "father" is Zeus and my mother is Hera.

However I was born of Hera without the assistance of Zeus.

I never did like him, Zeus, that is. So arrogant, prideful, and never thinking of anybody's needs but his own. He's just downright self-centered!

Day in and day out, Zeus would try and lecture me on how to be a "good" god. What exactly is a "good" god anyway? If it's anything like how he is, then that's not something that I want to be a part of.

All I've ever wanted was to be a good brother to my sister Athena and a good son to my mother, Hera. But thanks to "dad" I've rarely had that opportunity.

Ever since I spoke up against Zeus to defend my mom, my life has been filled with hardship. Even though I'm a god, life can be rough.

I've lived the high life on Mt. Olympus and I've lived among the mortals as a cripple.

I didn't always use to be a cripple, you know... once, I stood tall and proud, being esteemed among the Olympians for my craftsmanship and cunning.

I made everything that now exists on Olympus, from Zeus' thunderbolts to Hermes' sandals. Don't be fooled by my relatives' unbelievable stories of how they got their magical artifacts.

Sure, they'd still be gods without my craftsmanship, but they wouldn't be able to do half the things that they can now. I at least deserve some credit for my work!

At least mortals get paid! All I get is some praise and worship from one single island which is called Lemnos.

The only one to ever say "thank you" was my sister Athena. Even after I was crippled she was never cruel to me like the other gods of Olympus were. She truly is the goddess of wisdom.

Apart from Athena, there are few others who I have love for. One is my beloved Pandora, another is Aphrodite, my wife, and the other are the inhabitants of the island, Lemnos.

Pandora is my daughter, whom, regretfully, I could not create on my own. With the help of my fellow Olympians, we all contributed to her creation, but I spent the time to craft and mold her.

Pandora was created in order to make the mortals jealous and envious. I crafted her to be even more beautiful than Aphrodite herself... Which didn't exactly go over too well with her.

The creation of Pandora is the one thing that allows me to continue to bear the existence of the other gods...

The inhabitants of Lemnos took care of me when Zeus cast me from Mt. Olympus. In treating my wounds they made my hands even steadier than before. Because of their generosity, I lend my aid to them whenever they pray to me.

I may not receive appreciation for my work, but their continued affection for me helps to keep me go on living.

Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and my unfaithful companion. I guess her unfaithfulness is to be expected when she is the goddess of love. I just wish she wasn't so obsessed with Ares.

They're always together! And in front of me no less!

Ares makes me so frustrated! It must be nice to be Zeus' favorite...

But there's not much I can do about that in my current state.

In order to understand what I am about to do, you must hear how I was treated. Everything that has led up to this moment is the culmination of my mistreatment.

So listen closely to the stories of my past, mortals.