Mount Olympus was in turmoil. Hera, the queen of the Gods, was possessed by such anger and hate that if it wasn't because of all the gods intervention on behalf of men, she would have destroyed the lot of them.

Zeus escapades were far beyond any comprehension, he would take on animal forms thereby seducing young ladies.  Little did Hera know that with time, having love encounters with animals would be identified as a deviant behavior. Hera knew that there were several half human - half god children running around the ground.  These youngsters would grow up to be a nuisance to the gods, especially to her.

Hera was the darkest and most vengeful of all the gods, she didn't love anyone but one; her son.  Nevertheless, after Zeus punished her son for all the atrocities he had committed, Hera's path was revenge, for as long as she lived, none of the gods would have any peace or happiness, men would fare worse than the dwellers of Mount Olympus.

She ordered one of the gods to create a storm as it has never been seen before, it was to be so destructive that besides her temples and her statues, nothing would be left standing.  Then something happened that Hera didn't count on, men survived, there were not many left but there were enough to start the cycle of life all over again.

Hera came up with a plot that would ensure that no mortal woman would have qualities that would set her apart from the rest.  Every mortal woman would be like the next one, they would be vain, temperamental, difficult to deal with, will love to gossip and out of malice get the others in trouble just by a flick of the tongue. They would have qualities but no one would be able to find all good traits on just one.

The Spring festival was near, it was to be the best ever, she ordered the god of wine to participate and make sure that every single participant had a wonderful and happy festival. As planned, on the day of the festival, the god of wine mingled with men and showed them the wonders of wine.

As they slept under the influence of wine, Hera reached for a small pebble and went from woman to woman stealing one quality from each one, when she was done, all the qualities were placed inside of the pebble and with a movement of her hands, the pebble was gone.

Hera was satisfied, unconditional love, patience, understanding, friendship, truth, loyalty, forgiveness, care, pride, honor, self-determinism, self-esteem, ethics, and free-will were safely tucked away inside of a pebble in the center of the earth.

No one knew what she had done,  there was no reason for anyone to suspect the truth of her actions, no one would be looking for the contents of the pebble and there was no way for the pebble to ever surface again. Hera was content, she had achieved perfection.

Little did she know that thousands of years later, after she was gone and forgotten, in a new age in time, the pebble would find its way back to the surface of the earth.  She never even guessed that the pebble started to make the journey as soon as it was deposited in the center of the earth.

When the pebble found itself on the surface of the earth, it decided it was time to flourish and prosper, everything that was safely contained within was about to be release.

Hence, Dianna was born.

Claudia Arevalo-Lowe ©2004