Scene 1
"Thank you, Pontus, for intervening. How long was He waiting for me?"
Stepping out of the Primal River onto the shore, I glanced back at the river of abyssal stars. Spending ten thousand years walking what felt like a day's journey for a one-minute conversation was enough to remind me how little I understood about the larger Sea.
"If you knew, then you'd go mad wrapping your head around the way he views time." Pontus looked down at the current before locking eyes with me. "I might be the weakest of the Primals and Ancient Gods. Don't confuse that with me being in the same class as those stuck inside this cycle."
The waves rolled quietly against the shore we first met on.
"You're connected to the Sea, aren't you?" I asked. "Are you one of us?"
Pontus grinned.
Then he dissolved into water, leaving me standing alone on the shore.
"He can't answer because it would reveal too much about things you shouldn't attract at your level."
I spun around as my eyes landed on Father standing behind me, watching the Sea.
"It's been a while, Father." I looked him over before glancing back toward the water. "Did you know He wanted to meet me?"
Father grinned and shook his head.
"No. We're both Fateless, son. I can read as much of your fate as you can read mine. Even if I were at my mythical peak, neither I nor my brothers would dare tempt our Fates by reaching out for things we can't see."
I nodded to his words as he gestured for us to walk.
The path led inland, toward the grotto I sealed over ten thousand years ago, back when Neres accepted the Northern Star.
Scene 2
"Quite the find you made."
Father focused on the four pools with the fully developed men asleep inside two of them.
The grotto still carried the pressure of the seals I left behind. Death, Sun, and Darkness layered over the chamber to hide the four vessels from anyone wandering too close. The air was cleaner than before, yet the pools remained the center of everything. Four developing disasters resting beneath old plans.
The eldest one carried Laws of War, and his domain felt the second closest in affinity to me behind the brother bearing Death Laws.
Sickness and Hunger barely qualified in this cycle. They remained the size of fetuses, feeding on my domain as they barely developed.
"Uranus accounted for me and my brothers being the generation these would begin development in," Father said. "Yet he didn't account for his wife and grandson tearing the timeline apart."
"Uranus?" I asked, glancing at him. "I thought Chronos started their development."
Father chuckled, showing more emotion here than I usually saw from him in the throne room.
"When waging wars between beings who can blink an eye and be tens of thousands of years in the future, some plans are for the future. Or even just a one percent chance it will work."
His eyes shifted toward me.
"That's how you're alive."
The words settled between us.
"Where most gods gather resources, then shoot for the one percent, I had to do it from nothing but scheming and planning. Taking the opposite approach from Zeus regarding my court produced more loyalty than he'll ever see."
Father looked back to the pools.
"Even these vessels of Endings are just their joint effort to have backup plans. Chronos most likely found this place and decided to let it grow while placing his own mark on what he considered his share."
I listened as he explained how they all came to silent agreements or open agreements with Gaia.
"My brothers and I split the four Satans with Gaia since each of us could lay claim to one of the Satanic Titles due to affinity and nature. An extra card for a rainy day CuelJuris cashed in on by sweeping all four, just like you and the Endings."
I waved my hand and doubled the Death affinity both Sickness and Hunger were receiving.
Since Death was our closest link, it slightly aided them. Their underdeveloped forms twitched in the pools as the energy settled into their weak foundations.
"I see why everyone is willing to wait millions of years before coming to a decision for this cycle," I said. "Me and Juris are late to the party. Along with Apollo."
Father said nothing, but his eyes sharpened slightly.
I left the two Horsemen who were done developing in their pools so they would come out together as a whole.
Forcing them early would make them weapons.
Waiting might let them become something greater.
Scene 3 — Prometheus POV
"Goddess of the Moon Tides."
I clenched my jaw as I watched the veiled woman leave through the side exit of the Ocean Heart.
No doubt Poseidon allowed me to see her.
"Prometheus, mind your manners in front of Lord Poseidon."
Glancing at Rhetto, I refocused on the man sitting on the throne. His eyes were now anywhere but on anybody else. Only the Goddess had received anything resembling his real attention.
The Ocean Heart remained quiet around us, its walls shifting with currents of deep sea-law. The children of Oceanus watched from their positions, while Poseidon sat above us like a king who had no need to prove the Sea belonged to him.
"Lord Poseidon, my original goal was to realign the board to seek benefits for both parties."
"Who's included in yours?" Poseidon cut me off as his eyes finally looked up at me. "Zeus or Apollo?"
His ocean-blue eyes watched me like one of the many prey he observed in the sea.
"Lord Zeus," I answered with confidence. "Or do you really think I'm foolish enough to betray a king again? He has my Divine Heart in his hands."
A chuckle left his lips.
The first I had ever seen from him.
My grin fell flat.
Just like it had with the eldest brother, Hades.
"Hades told me a story once while we were still inside Time," Poseidon said. "How the truest wise men are only seen as foolish to those who think anything beneath them must be lesser."
His grin stretched.
"Tell me, Titan of Wisdom. Are you wise, or a wise man playing the fool?"
Before I could answer, he used the Ocean Heart to block my view of him.
The throne room split in two.
Poseidon, his left and right hands, and the side the Goddess exited from were sealed away from me. I remained on the other side with the rest of Oceanus's children watching me in silence.
A dismissal.
A clean one.
Telling me it was time to leave.
I sighed to myself before turning around.
That was when I spotted a golden tablet resting near one of the side pillars.
Five laws of worship.
CuelJuris's name marked clearly on it.
The Heavenly Scribe.
Taking a mental note to study its contents when I returned to my temple, I allowed myself to be escorted out of the Ocean Heart.
Poseidon had seen through me.
Hades had done the same.
And now I had to decide whether that meant I had failed…
or whether the board had finally become interesting again.
Scene 4 — Juris POV
"Juris!"
Looking up from my book, I barely had time to react before my big brother tackled me.
He lifted me off the ground and looked over my entire body as if making sure I was still in one piece. I had naturally stayed in a more childlike form compared to his young adult form, so being carried away by him was less surprising than it should have been.
My eyes landed briefly on the yellow sleeve covering his right arm.
The Book in my hand trembled.
I closed it before the page could turn.
"How was the land of the living, big brother?"
I didn't bother asking to be put down as he carried me out toward our shared domain.
"Quite interesting," Ten said. "I'm sure your book told you about my adventures, you stalker."
"It records."
"It stalks."
He kept walking, heading straight for our Dark Sun while ignoring the growing Netherrealms around us.
"Next time, come out with me since it won't be exile. We can start slow by visiting Bale and Ayin."
Watching him form plans without bothering to ask if I agreed, I let him carry me.
The Dark Sun opened before us.
Then we practically dive-bombed into it to talk.
For once, I kept the Book closed.
Whatever it wanted to reveal could wait.
My brother was home.