Story: "Legacy" (22 Pages)

Credits:

George Perez (plot)
Mindy Newell (script)
Jill Thompson and Cynthia Martin (pencils)
Romeo Tanghal (inks)
Agustin Mas (letters)
Carl Gafford (colors)
Karen Berger (edits)

Feature Character:

Wonder Woman (apparently revealed to the reincarnation of Pandora in this story, although this may contradict the origin hinted at for her in #1 and confirmed in #150)

Guest Stars:

Prometheus (first appearance in the DCU Universe for this Titan of Myth; not to be confused with Prometheus II, who makes his debut in the Prometheus one-shot, cover dated February 1998)
Atropos
Clotho, and Lachesis (first appearance for all three; all three make up the Fates; all three appear next in War of the Gods #1)

Supporting Characters:

Zeus
Hermes
Aphrodite
Pallas Athena
Poseidon
Hestia
Demeter (all six appear next in issue #1)
Hephaestus (next in issue #2, his first actual appearance; all eight appear only in flashback, chronologically following their appearance [with Hestia and Demeter behind the scenes] in the flashback in issue #132, in which they split from their Roman counterparts)
Harmonia (in between #13 and War of the Gods #1)
Gaea

Other Characters:

Epimetheus
Deukalion, Pyrrha

Synopsis:

Ananke and her children (Clotho, the spinner; Lachesis, the tailor; and Atropos, the shearer) let us all in on the fate of Pandora, and perhaps, of Diana as Harmonia seeks their counsel to learn the meaning of her dreams.

It all begins when the gods chose to gift Prometheus with the living embodiment of all that is woman. A reward, instead of punishment, for stealing fire from the heavens. Created from clay, blessed by the gods, she was named Pandora which means "the gift of all". And she was to present to Prometheus a box that shall never be opened.

But Pandora was rejected by Prometheus, and what one brother does not desire, the other craves. So Pandora was given to Epimetheus. Prometheus' pride was his downfall. Punished by Zeus atop Mt. Caucasus, an eagle feeds upon his liver endlessly for what the eagle devours grows back again in the night just to be eaten again the next day.

Epimetheus lived with Pandora happily until her curiosity gets the better of both of them. They had opened the box which should have never been opened, unleashing untold evil on the world. Banished from mankind, Pandora lived a nomadic existence. While Epimetheus shared all her burden, he did not share the blame. What sustained Pandora was hope and what made Harmonia remember her is the amulet that gilded Pandora's box.

Ananke and her children unravels the story of Pandora further in time before the existence of the Titans and the Olympians. When there was only Gaea and her children. When Gaea gave in to her desire to be with her children. When Gaea manifested herself and became flesh, thus becoming the Pandora, the maiden-mother. And she gifted her children with humanity that came from a bottomless jar. After blessing her children, she returns back to Gaea's womb.

Gaea's children revels in their humanity. And ages passed. The Titans lost to the Olympians. To Poseidon went the seas, to Hades the underworld and to Zeus the spoils of war. One was a piece of jar having the same design as that of Harmonia's amulet. The other was the power of fire. And last was precious clay dug up from holy earth. After gathering all these, Zeus declared a new order.

Meanwhile, Pandora's nomadic existence came to an end as her hope for a better life reached Gaea. Gaea asked Poseidon to take Pandora back to her womb, until she is called forth again to live a better life. Thus was the fate of Pandora, going back to clay only to be shaped back into all that is woman and this time, in the form of Diana, Princess of Themyscira.

What bothers Harmonia was how her dream ended. Ananke and her children showed her how willingly Pandora went back to Gaea's womb. But in Harmonia's dream, Diana was screaming as she reverts into clay as she witnesses the death of the Wonder Woman and the end of Mother Earth. What does it all mean?

The Fates answer Harmonia with silence.