The Myth of Zera
Thousands of years ago, on Mount Olympus, Zeus and Hera had a child named Zera. She had the power to create precious items, which were very valuable to humanity. She became the thirteenth Olympian, the Goddess of four elements – fire, water, air and earth.
When Zeus’s mortal wives acknowledged Zeus’s existence, they got angry and jealous as their children didn’t have any powers. They thought about many ways to destroy Zera’s powers. Soon, they found out that Hades had a special Cerberus which could take any Gods’ powers. They decided to send Zera to the Underworld. However, Hades declined the offer. The mortals were furious. They sent an immortal spy to capture Cerberus and kidnap Zera.
Zeus realised that Zera was missing, he asked Hermes to send Hades a message as he suspected Hades knew about Zera’s disappearance. Hades told Zeus his special Cerberus was gone, and he told him about the mortals’ request. Meanwhile, Zeus begged the mortals to set her free, and promised to gift them precious object elements. They were greedy so they accepted Zera’s treasures. However, while they were examining the gifts excitedly, Hades opened a hole beneath them to send them to Tartarus for punishments. They dropped the gifts, and the elements were hidden in the crust of the Earth since then.
By Claudia Yeung, Karrie Yam, Kirsten Cheung & Jasmine Wong