The news of the Argonauts' failed return sent shockwaves throughout all of Greece.
No one could believe it. So many of Greece's top heroes had set out together, yet only a dozen or so returned alive. The rest had all perished overseas.
Was the world beyond Greece truly that dangerous?
Was Colchis really that terrifying? So many heroes had died, yet they had not even brought back the Golden Fleece?
For a time, the entire Greek world trembled at the mere mention of Colchis.
Only the mages found this outcome quite reasonable. A place capable of teaching so many mages, of course the heroes would stand no chance against it.
The only person who felt relieved was King Pelias of Thessaly.
If Jason had successfully brought back the Golden Fleece, Pelias would have been forced to rack his brains over how to refuse handing over the throne, especially with a divine oracle standing behind the matter.
But now, he no longer needed to worry about his kingship being taken at all.
For the Argonauts themselves, however, their foremost concern was not the collapse of their reputation, but the revenge of the gods.
While at sea, protected by the mages and the Argo, the gods might not have been able to do much to them. But once they returned to Greece, things were different.
If nothing unexpected happened, those marked by the gods would live lives much like the protagonists of Final Destination, constantly scrambling to deal with endless deadly "accidents."
At that very moment, however, something surprising occurred.
The goddess Athena finally intervened.
She made a grand public declaration that the Argonauts were under her protection.
Such a proclamation effectively cut off any thoughts other gods might have had of harming them, doing so would mean openly turning against Athena.
The Argonauts were not especially important figures to the gods, not individuals whose deaths were absolutely necessary.
The gods' desire to kill them was merely to vent their anger.
However, Athena's decision also signified another matter.
The long-standing ideological rift between her and the other Olympian gods, which had previously remained unspoken, was now brought into the open.
Of course, this did not mean a complete break.
Athena still lived on Mount Olympus.
The outbreak of conflict merely severed her surface-level interactions with the other deities.
And what of the Argonauts?
With the expedition concluded, they disbanded, each returning to their own destiny.
The ship that had originally been meant to be sacrificed to Poseidon at the end of the expedition was now, naturally, offered to Athena instead, after all, it was Athena who had protected them in the end.
Athena was quite pleased by this, having once again made her old rival Poseidon lose face.
After the expedition ended, Jason not only failed to seize the throne, but sorrowfully discovered that his father.
Aeson, had previously been persecuted by Pelias and had committed suicide by drinking poisoned bull's blood. Jason's mother had hanged herself.
And the infant son they left behind had ultimately been murdered by Pelias.
The fate of his parents and brother enraged Jason. Before the heroes parted ways, he asked the Argonauts to avenge him.
Pelias, caught completely unprepared, was naturally no match for the Argonauts. On a dark and stormy night, he was slain within the palace.
Afterward, those responsible for the deed all left Thessaly.
Jason himself also departed this land of sorrow, wandering until he reached Corinth.
There, King Creon took him in. Jason's striking appearance and eloquent tongue played a significant role; Creon deemed him a truly tragic hero.
As it happened, Creon had no heir of his own, and thus he betrothed his daughter Glauce to Jason.
Though Jason did not, as in myth, win Medea's affection or obtain the Golden Fleece, his subsequent fate was far more favorable.
Jason, determined to become a king in his own right, did harbor a sincere wish to benefit the land he ruled.
Yet the Jason of myth had betrayed far too many people in pursuit of that dream.
When faced with the same fate, the mythological Jason was bound by Medea, and thus he ungratefully accepted a marriage alliance and divorced Medea.
Medea, seeking revenge, presented the new bride with a robe poisoned as a wedding gift.
When Glauce put it on, she was burned alive by violent flames, and her father perished alongside her while trying to save his daughter.
Medea then murdered her own two sons and escaped to Athens in a chariot drawn by flying dragons.
Jason, having broken his oath, lost the protection of the goddess Hera.
Once, as he slept at the stern of the Argo, the long-rotted ship collapsed and crushed him to death, bringing about the retribution of fate.
But now, Jason had obtained exactly what he sought.
He betrayed no one, became Creon's son-in-law, and later ascended the throne of Corinth.
At last, he was able to fulfill his dream, using his own strength to benefit a land and prove his worth.
Under his leadership, Corinth grew prosperous and powerful, surpassing his homeland Thessaly to become one of the strongest states in the region.
This alone proved that Jason was indeed a capable leader, after all, one could already glimpse this quality in his ability to unite the many heroes aboard the Argo.
Seen from this perspective, perhaps he was not such a bad person after all.
During this process, Jason's views of the gods unconsciously spread among the people of Corinth.
Compared to vague and intangible deities, the populace naturally placed more faith in a king who brought them a prosperous life.
Thus, aside from Athena, the other gods were gradually abandoned by them, and after Jason's death, this viewpoint continued to spread.
The other Argonauts each had their own fates as well. Some became regional lords, others gained fame through their various deeds.
Though their destinies differed, one thing was shared, the true nature of the gods gradually spread through their words.
Stories of the gods' actions upon the earth, of how they treated humans as mere playthings, circulated endlessly.
Especially the despicable conduct of figures like Zeus, who acted recklessly across the world, spreading his seed everywhere, became known to humanity, and the image of the gods began to crumble.
Thus, among the Greeks, aside from a few low-key deities, the Olympian gods gradually lost their reverence.
Of course, there was another reason behind this as well, the gradual improvement of productive technology.
After all, if mortals could not even sustain themselves and had to rely excessively on the whims of the heavens, how could they possibly muster the courage to resent or oppose the gods?
Only when civilization reached a certain stage, when mortals could live well without the gods, when they possessed sufficient facilities and reserves to withstand misfortune, when temporary natural disasters could no longer devastate them, only then would mortals have the courage to raise the banner of rebellion against the gods.
And now, that moment was approaching.