My Interview with Prometheus

A conversation with the Titan who stole from the gods—and isn’t in the mood to play nice.

Note: This project is a storytelling experiment, a philosophical investigation, and maybe a little therapy. I’m Andrei Bonilla. I ask difficult questions to fictional characters because real ones often dodge them. This series is my attempt to hold a conversation across time, fiction, and myth—to see what truths still burn, even when they’re uncomfortable.

In this chapter, I sit with Prometheus—the Titan who risked everything for us—to find out if the pain was worth it, and if we’ve lived up to the spark. Enjoy!

The Fire Interviews: Interview 2

Andrei: Prometheus. I won’t pretend this isn’t surreal. You’re bound to a rock, bleeding, ancient, and still, somehow, angry on our behalf. A firestarter told me to find you. I guess I’m here to ask the questions others are too comfortable to face.

Prometheus: Then maybe someone still has a spine. Go ahead, ask. Just know I’m not here to comfort you.

Andrei: Was it worth it? What they did to you for giving fire to us? I ask because I can’t imagine enduring that kind of punishment for a species as flawed as we are.

Prometheus: Worth it? I tore eternity open for you. I lit the fuse. And what did you do?

You built systems to keep yourself small. You betrayed your instincts for approval. You let comfort make cowards of you.

So no, Andrei. Some days, it doesn’t feel worth it.

But then I see one person act with conviction, hold their ground when it would be easier to fold, and I remember. I didn’t do it for all of you. I did it for the ones who still feel the fire inside and refuse to betray it.

Andrei: You talk about fire like it’s not just energy but conscience. That’s powerful. So, who are you really? Myth? Martyr? Trickster? Prophet?

Prometheus: I’m the one who defied power for principle. The one who chose pain over obedience.

I’m not your symbol. I’m the consequence of believing in your capacity to choose what’s right over what’s safe.

I believed you could be more than clever animals. Prove me right.

Andrei: Have we done anything worthy with the fire? I want to believe we have. We’ve built, loved, healed. But we’ve also destroyed. Do we even deserve the gift?

Prometheus: Yes, but not enough.

You’ve built justice, yes. But you’ve also traded your convictions for convenience.

The fire wasn’t meant to entertain you. It was meant to transform you.

And yet so many of you would rather be agreeable than honest. Polite instead of principled.

That’s not progress. That’s surrender.

Andrei: What are we missing in 2025? I look around and I see talent, intelligence, empathy. Yet somehow, things feel hollow. What’s the piece we keep skipping?

Prometheus: Integrity.

Not the polished kind people perform. The kind that costs you.

The kind that holds its shape when no one’s watching. That stands still while everything around it compromises.

You’re missing the will to be whole even when it’s inconvenient.

Andrei: There are people trying to make the world better. I know some of them. They’re doing the hard work quietly, humbly. What do you say to them?

Prometheus: I see them. The ones who still act from the center of their being.

To them I say: Don’t stop. Even when it hurts. Especially when it hurts.

Because in a world that rewards shortcuts, your integrity is revolutionary.

But to the rest? Stop pretending confusion when the real issue is cowardice.

You know what matters. You just don’t want to pay the price for it.

Andrei: You sound furious. But also... heartbreakingly loyal. Like you haven’t given up, even when it would be easier to. Is that what this is? Love, twisted into rage?

Prometheus: I’m furious because I haven’t given up.

You think this rage is bitterness? No. It’s investment.

If I didn’t care, I’d be silent.

But I gave you fire because I believed you could bear the weight of it. That you could live with conviction, not just convenience.

Every day I’m torn open and still I believe. That is not weakness. That is will.

Andrei: So what do we do with the fire? I mean beyond the metaphors. What’s the literal, daily action?

Prometheus: You wield it. Not to destroy but to forge.

Forge character. Forge clarity. Forge a life aligned with your values, even if it costs you everything.

Use fire to see what matters and to burn what doesn’t.

Andrei: If fire was the first gift, what’s the second? What follows after the spark?

Prometheus: Responsibility.

You don’t get to hold power without consequence. And you don’t get to call yourself good if you only act when it’s easy.

Live in alignment or don’t bother living at all.

Andrei: What’s the most dangerous idea we’ve created? I want to know the lie we tell ourselves so often we forget it’s not truth.

Prometheus: That principles are negotiable.

That who you are can shift depending on what benefits you. That truth is something to barter.

That idea? That’s what eats civilizations from the inside.

Andrei: What do the gods fear about us now? Assuming they still watch?

Prometheus: That you’ll remember your own sovereignty.

That you’ll stop outsourcing your decisions. That you’ll realize you don’t need divine permission to act with honor.

Andrei: How do we know when rebellion turns into ego? It’s easy to mask vanity as courage these days.

Prometheus: When the cause fades and your name gets louder.

Real rebellion is quiet. It doesn’t demand a spotlight. It demands sacrifice.

Andrei: What should we unlearn to grow? What must we burn away?

Prometheus: That integrity can be part-time.

It’s not something you wear. It’s something you become.

Andrei: What’s the cost of not taking risks? I’ve been paralyzed by fear before. Many of us have.

Prometheus: Self-betrayal.

Living a life that keeps you safe but makes you small.

Andrei: What does silence reveal that noise can’t? I’ve learned to fear the quiet sometimes.

Prometheus: Your true convictions.

You don’t know who you are until you sit with yourself and listen.

Andrei: When does truth become manipulation?

Prometheus: When it serves the ego, not the soul.

Andrei: What does it mean to be free? Not in theory. In practice.

Prometheus: To act with alignment, not approval.

Freedom isn’t a feeling. It’s a practice.

Andrei: What have we misunderstood about power?

Prometheus: That it’s about what you can do.

True power is what you refuse to do because your soul won’t allow it.

Andrei: And what breaks you, Prometheus? What truly gets through that fireproof skin?

Prometheus: Watching people abandon themselves just to be accepted.

I didn’t suffer for your comfort. I suffered so you could stand tall in who you are.

Stop dimming to fit. You weren’t meant to survive. You were meant to ignite.

Andrei: What do I do with all of this? It’s heavy. Real. I feel scorched and seen. But what now?

Prometheus: You already know.

Now live like it.

End of Interview

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I don’t know exactly what I expected from this conversation.
But what I found was a voice that still believes in us, even through rage.

If that unsettled you, that’s okay. I’m unsettled too.

This is Interview Two.
There are more coming.
Some from imagination, others from memory.
But all of them honest in their own way.

Subscribe if you want to be part of it.

—Andrei Bonilla