Akrivi gave May a head start. Though he had never seen her swim, he had also never met anyone faster than him in the water. As he waited, he glanced behind, taking in the distant mountain ranges to the south. Perhaps seeking her out last night was a mistake. He should have thought about himself alone, slipped away in the cloak of darkness. Be more decisive. More selfish.
Well, it wasn’t too late to run. The stones waited in his pouch, practically begging to be used. Not yet. He would meet this master of hers, and if he wasn't convinced, he would leave and this time without announcement.
There was also her outlandish claim of killing gods. Out of nowhere, he recalled Ares’ words after his clash with May.
We will all die in the end.
The red god didn’t seem like the type to jest about death; did he know something? And his recent behaviour contrasted with his rumoured personality. He was a recluse, much like Hades, but lately he has been active. Showing up at Drys Valon, Olympus, putting his gorgon champion out there while concealing her identity. There had to be something there.
I'd listen to them; that’s all. If it’s nonsense, I’ll slip away tonight.
Satisfied with his decision, he walked to the edge of the cliff, positioned himself as May instructed and took a dive. The sea dragged him in with a magnetic pull, and as the water engulfed him, his gills flared awake and drew in aether in rivulets.
Far below, a dot of light flared in the vast darkness, calling like a beacon. Kicking his feet once, he vaguely noticed sea creatures scatter off his path as he shot in the direction. In water, aether assisted him more readily, and speed came with ease.
What was once a glowing dot expanded, then an odd thing happened when he finally swam through the light. Down became up as he pushed through the surface and dragged in a lungful of cold, damp air.
Pushing his hair from his face, he blinked water from his eyes and gawked. Clusters upon glorious clusters of luminescent crystals. They grew in abundance across the walls and roof of the cave, bathing the place in a bright, even light.
“Gods. Gods. Gods.” He hurriedly pulled himself from the water, craning his neck as he stepped away from the puddle. He did a double-take, frowning at what indeed was a puddle. It was wide as a cart’s wheel and held placid dark water. Kneeling, he stuck his hand up to the elbow and waved about. “That's ocean water, so how?”
He straightened and stared at the puddle before looking ahead. At the end of the long, corridor-like cave was a sharp bend. There was no breeze or the sound of dripping water, and the air was cool and pleasant. He took a sniff. No scent to catch. The ground was solid beneath his feet. So what was this geological impossibility?
Having to access a domain through water was something he had never encountered with high gods. Was May's master a water-type deity? Was this even a domain? He took in the crystals once more. They had to be a high deity, judging from the crystal deposits alone. His head swam as he attempted to calculate the amount of luminescent orbs the cave could generate.
I can throw away the plan to make and sell useful trinkets. This place could be it. My breakthrough. The path to a secure future for my—
A splash muddied the fantasy. He turned in time to see May emerge from the puddle, red hair plastered across her cheeks and neck.
She took one look at him and shook her head. “Of course.”
“What’s your master’s name?” Akrivi asked immediately. “This place is awesome!”
She frowned and muttered, “...god of the deep. So, why?
“God of the deep?” He made a show of straining to hear her. “Is that your master?”
“Seems you won,” she said.
“Seems?” He laughed. “I gave you a massive head start, still, here we are.”
“Bloody show off.” She flicked water at his face and trudged past him, her clothes drying with a flare of aether.
“You're the one who turned it into a competition.” He fell in step with her. “I wasn't even giving it my all.”
“Of course. Of course.” She continued ahead, still seeming pissed.
He took in the crystals once more. “But really, who’s your master? Would they be fine with say… taking a new student or merchant apprentice? I had some training under Hermes. I’m good with trade and numbers, too. You think they’ll allow me some crystals?”
“You can ask when you meet them,” May answered just as they took the bend.
Akrivi staggered to a stop, eyes widening as he took in the expanse. There was an actual night sky in the domain. Was this even a domain? Hades' domain had a ‘sky’ too, but it was a uniform grey, and Akrivi could vaguely perceive its end. The case was different here. Not only did the sky hold stars and floating rock debris and shattered pillars, but he could not perceive its end.
Descending down a short flight of stairs in a haze of awe, he took in stone shelves so tall they appeared to bend at their highest point. Scrolls, vials, odd tools and trinkets, jars holding preserved… organisms. Just ahead to his right was a large work area with equipment he wasn't familiar with.
He had just taken a dazed step in its direction when the air shifted. There was a subtle brightness to the sky along with a gentle warmth against his skin. He looked in time to see a tall woman walk past a door he was certain hadn't existed a moment ago. He blinked, and she was an arm's length away.
Warning screeched like cicadas in his head, urging him to step back, but he felt strangely at ease in her presence, watching dumbly as she reached for his face. She held his earring and observed it.
“Hera does impressive work.”
Her words barely registered as Akrivi blinked at her face. He couldn't pick up the scent of her aura despite the soft golden light outlining her body. She had sleepy, kind eyes, wore a clearly expensive peplos, and gold jewellery flashed at her nose, ears, neck, and around her slim fingers.
She dragged her focus from his earring and pierced him with a gaze so intrusive he felt utterly exposed. Then he blinked only after she blinked.
She glanced at May and smiled. “I see you’re beginning to trust. Even spilt some secrets.”
May hummed in response. She had released her water cat, and now she carried it like a baby as she pecked its sleepy head. It was even bigger now and twice as fluffy.
This… Akrivi frowned, confused. Where was the worshipful interaction between master and student or goddess and mortal? There was no trembling or a show of hard hierarchy. May even acted more stiffly around Ares than this goddess.
“Come sit,” the goddess said in a motherly tone, waving them over as she strolled to a chaise. “I have… refreshment.” An ornate glass jar holding what looked like undiluted wine appeared along with three goblets.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
As they both sat, Akrivi glanced around, still in awe. He noticed one of the shelves held what looked to be unrefined ores. It possessed a purplish hue and flared occasionally. Even though he had not yet touched them, he strongly suspected they would act as good aether conductors. “What are those?”
The goddess looked at the towering shelf he was looking at. “They're part of my collection,” she said vaguely. “Interested?”
Akrivi nodded vigorously, earning a chuckle from May. He sent her a look. What?
She shook her head and continued petting Rico. The animal was snoozing on her lap.
“Do you have more of those?” He dared to ask. Judging from how relaxed May acted in the goddess’ presence, it seemed her master possessed some kindness.
The goddess waved as if dismissing the irrelevant. “More than enough.”
It was worth it. Even begging. It was not beneath him to beg this goddess to allow him some liberties with her treasures. Every glance caught something new. Possibilities upon possibilities danced in his head. The crystals were one thing, but this… this was bigger.
Just who was this goddess? It was clear she was a high deity; probably a hidden one like Hades, who was largely unknown among the people.
“Here.” She nodded at the goblets now holding the wine.
Akrivi looked at May, intending to copy whatever she did. She was yet to take the cup.
“Is there a problem with the drink?” The goddess asked, voice polite and soft.
Sighing, May brought the cup to her lips and took a very modest sip.
Well, let's do that too. Akrivi first sniffed the wine. A faint kynigos berry scent. When he took a sip, his brow flew up.
“What’s this?” He took a gulp, then another larger one.
The goddess beamed, her sleepy eyes shining with a pleased glint. “I'm the better brewer of my sisters.” She turned to May. “See what you were missing?”
“I still insist kids shouldn’t drink wine,” May said. “But this… it's nice,” she seemed to reluctantly add.
That was a great understatement. It was the best drink Akrivi ever had. There was the sweetness of honey, the barest taste of kynigos berries and something else he couldn't name. It clearly wasn't wine. Perhaps an elixir? Its effects were instant. He could sense ambient aether more, something that had eluded him for years, save for when he was in his cursed state. And there was a general feeling of relaxation across his body. He almost felt too healthy.
May's master is the best!
“... is that a risk you’re willing to take?”
At first, he assumed the goddess was speaking to May, but when she looked straight at him, he gulped and cleared his throat. “Risk?”
“I am one of Zeus’s most hated enemies. She”—the goddess nodded at May—“has come to accept the risk of aligning with me. Is this a risk you are willing to take?”
Aligning? Who said anything about an alignment? I just came to see the offer. I'm leaving tonight!
No, you're not. You were already dreaming of riches and experiments.
Yes, he was, but not about Zeus. What was this sudden talk of being Zeus’s enemy? Akrivi sent a panicked glance May’s way. She calmly patted Rico as she sipped from her cup, clearly avoiding his gaze. Just what had she dragged him into?
“Is…” He looked between May and the goddess as his apprehension rose. “Is this a cult?”
The goddess blinked at him, then laughed, complete with thigh slapping that caused her bangles to jingle. “A cult? That’s a first.” She laughed again, shaking her head as she wiped the corner of her eye.
Akrivi didn’t understand what was so funny. There were myriads of cults in Greece and Tartarus, and those fanatics had backing from actual gods.
“There is no cult, child.” She poured more wine into her cup, “I simply wish that you would see the fires you're stepping into.”
“Fires?”
“Fires,” she repeated, then leaned forward, all signs of her earlier mirth vanishing. “I plan to end the immortality of the so-called gods. Zeus loathes me for that.”
Akrivi asked the first question that came to mind. “Are you not a deity? Why would you want to stop what you’re part of?”
Her expression turned grave as she fell silent for a heavy moment. When she spoke, her voice reverberated. “Child, do you understand immortality?”
Gulping, Akrivi felt the chill of fear for the first time. Though there was no visible change around the goddess, there was a sudden heaviness in the air. “I—”
“Day and night. Their time stretches in maddening, crawling repetition. Over and over. They look ahead with no end in sight.” Her eyes, glazed over, glowed with amber light. “Slaughtering to revive the dead. Seeking the extremes of stimulation. Some clutch triggers to protect what remains of their humanity. Some are too twisted to try.” She blinked, and her eyes were back to their sleepy dullness. “Do you understand what I mean, child?”
Akrivi shook his head, still reeling from the terror of whatever that display was.
“Immortality on the mortal mind is a disease.” She crossed her legs and rested her jaw on a closed fist. “All the gods are mad, child.”
“Huh?” Akrivi looked at May, seeking an explanation with his eyes. He hated the thought of immortality, but he had never heard a deity voice disdain for their eternal life. This was odd to the point of madness.
May sighed and dropped her empty cup. “The Moiria has agreed to give you whatever assistance you need if you help me with my plan to kill gods.”
Whatever assistance I need? The statement clanged in his head like a bell, drowning out all else. “Anything? Even the crystals? Even those ores?”
“And more,” The Moirai, as May called her, said. “But getting my assistance means my goal becomes part of your goal.”
“Your goal to end immortality?”
“Yes.” She pointed with her cup. “May intends to kill them on the path to the goal. But I think there are… other ways.”
For a moment, Akrivi entertained the thought. A world without deities wielding catastrophic powers. What would that kind of world be like? He couldn't even imagine it. There have been gods since the beginning of Cosmolith. Everything came from their benevolence. Zeus was the life-giver. How can one kill the life-giver? It made no sense. What sort of delusions were they under?
Then Akrivi suddenly recalled that horror. Zeus summoning forks upon forks of lightning and roasting Ares where he stood to the gleeful cheer of the spectating gods. Is that the life-giver? A ‘merciful’ goddess who would pitch a goddess against a blood carrier. A god who would steal his mother and do that to her. What sort of gods are those?
Akrivi nodded slowly. The gods were indeed mad. Insane, all of them. This goddess… the Moirai was correct. Had he not promised himself to pour his intellect and all his waking moments into finding a way to make the strong beg for their lives? How was it that one threat from Poseidon turned him into a rat seeking a hole to hide? What would be the value of his life living in hiding with a threat of crushing proportions hanging over his head?
“Is it really possible to end their immortality?”
She nodded. “I even saw it happen. Did she not tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
Akrivi glanced at May in time to see Rico leap off her lap and bound away. She muttered something about his litter and hurried after him.
“That I see all the past of mortals and glimpses of their future.”
Was that the goddess’ power? A seer? “Do you speak the truth?”
She chucked, eyes sparkling as if she held a secret. “I swear by the Monolith that I speak the truth.” She dropped her cup and offered her hand. “Do you wish to see?”
“I…” If Akrivi were honest, he didn't need to see the future she spoke of to agree to be on their side. Access to the crystals and ores had since convinced him. Still, he succumbed to curiosity. “Show me.”
The instant she took his hand, Akrivi opened his eyes to a sight that felt too real. The wind against his skin, the smell of burning flesh in the air, shouting, roaring, and screeching. He was standing on a hill overlooking a valley. A clash between beasts, men and gods.
Thud.
A massive shadow fell upon him as the earth trembled beneath his feet. Horror washed over him as his heart beat heavily in his ears. At a distance, a living, breathing titan stood with their face turned away from him. In their fist was a person, shouting in acidic rage, but like a child handling a doll, the titan easily ripped off their head and tossed it aside.
Frozen where he stood, Akrivi watched as the head sailed through the air in a macabre arch and splattered at his feet.
Even in the vision, nausea yanked at his innards, but he couldn’t look away. Those eyes, milky in death. That hair, stained with blood and gore.
Akrivi recognised that face.
He was suddenly jerked back to the present, panting, sweating and trembling. Staring at the goddess with wide, horrified eyes, he couldn't get the name out. Unbelievable. It had to be a lie.
“H-how?”
The Moirai brought a finger to her lips just as her voice went off on his head.
Say nothing, and look forward to the future.
Whose sailing head did Akrivi see?
