Titans of Chaos

Each one could negate one other. I could reach through the fourth dimension to alter the internalnature of any atoms Victor programmed, and he could neither see nor understand what I did. HisNewtonian universe did not even have words for the relativistic principles I used. An azure rayfrom Victor's third eye could banish Quentin's thaumaturgy as quickly as a skeptic's questionquiets a table tipper. With a wave of his charming wand, Quentin's unseen familiars could banishColin's passions. And Colin could simply will my powers to stop.

Vanity was different. She was not a princess of Chaos held hostage, but a princess of allies theOlympians did not trust, an ancient and immortal race called the Phaeacians. She (and, we hadreason to believe, her people) could find secret doors through solid walls, and passages beyondleading to distant realms. These secret paths always looked as if they were natural andcontemporary, as if they had been built there long ago: And yet I suspected they were made, assuddenly as the details in a dream are made.

And the laws of nature varied from realm to realm, and the Phaeacians could erect barriers toprevent one set of laws from being enforced out of its realm, or part the barrier to permit it. Oneother power they had, stranger than the others: Phaeacians could tell when someone waswatching, no matter what means were used.

Yet even all these superhuman, supernatural powers did not make them supreme of the races ofCosmos. They were a conquered people.

The Olympians could manipulate destiny as adroitly as the Phaeacians manipulated space. A godof Olympos need only decree the outcome he desired from the future, and somehow thestep-by-step details, the coincidences needed to bring that chain of events about would be createdto suit. With this power, they could dictate the desired outcome of battles and love affairs, theprogress of industry, the direction of philosophical and scientific inquiry, the verdict of trials ornegotiations... anything there was for a god to control, they could control. They conquered lesserraces who had powers like ours, cyclopes and sirens, maenads and meliads.

In the same way I could overrule Victor's paradigm, so could a siren; in the same way Victorcould negate Quentin's powers, so could a cyclopes. We were really safe only when we weretogether and used all our talents in combination.