ONCE upon a time, Morpheus, the god of dreams, played a prank upon the bound titan Hyperion and allowed him to dream of his greatest desire: to dethrone Zeus, the eternal, inviolable god in the heavens that rules over the earth. His reverie permitted this wish, thus, he was able to slay the god of thunder and lightning and was seated as the lord of all creatures that resided in both heaven and earth. He became greedier afterward, desecrating the parts of the earth that did not please him. His mother Gaia awoke and, in her anger, she swallowed him whole and buried him beneath herself—along with his hubris.
Shortly after, Hyperion awakened. When he opened his eyes, he learned that he was still as powerful, only that his body is now composed of wood and he spawned a hundred arms. These arms were like tendrils that had green shrubberies at their tips, and he could not move an inch. A titan bound by Mother Earth, he was doomed to be the tallest tree, his entire body subjected to house every life form that his mother Gaia cultivates.
Spending the rest of his days as a slave to the creatures which Gaia creates, Hyperion admits defeat and looks up to the heavens upon learning that ruling the earth was nothing more than a waking dream. F ADRIAN PAUL L. TAÑEDO
