Book 2/24 - Power III

The Star River
The Atlan

ITHRAES POV


I remained silent, pondering and eyeing the thrones. 'Five throned. Five Deities'. We were complete. It made sense why we had to fight for the Trident, and yet I felt we could just have gotten a piece of it. 'So why did we have to fight?'.

I shook my head, bringing the Trident to stare at its markings. The Prongs were Ice white, the shaft golden. The runes etched on the shaft from butt to prong pulsed in a greyish-blue glow.

"Who holds the Trident for the Central Seas?". I could feel the drop in temperature. Henrik was eyeing everyone with a fierce glow in his dull golden eyes. "I asked, who holds the Central Seas?".

"What are you doing?". I blurted out. Henrik turned to me with an emotional gaze.

"You have it?". He looked ready, poised to strike. My eyes narrowed. 'With five of us covering the West, East, North and South, there should be Central. I have the Western seas, and his asking means he has one of the others. Which leaves the other three to hold Central'. I inhaled sharply.

"Stop it, Henrik". The warning in my voice didn't go unheeded, but he felt differently.

"Why?. You want the Central Seas for yourself?". HE glared, stepping closer. My mind ran with the memories of the abilities Henrik had shown—water manipulation like most of us and just that. I tried to think of anything else he could have done that was special. Moving through the water came to mind, and that was it.

"I have no interest in it, Henrik. I'm pretty contented as Deity of the Western Seas". I waved at the thrones. "There are five of them, five of us. The Trident we all fought split to grant us all authorities. Think".

Henrik made a face,e looking from me to the thrones and then to his Trident. His eyes moved to the others who stood silent, watching him as well. One was the Deity of the Central Seas, but they didn't show it.

'Corvus?'. I shook my head. 'He didn't look like someone who controlled the central seas. Maybe the girls'. My mind went to what they each did. 'One had sued some energy that felt weird. Like death. Souls?'. I locked on the girl who'd done it, wondering if I heard her name. It didn't ring. The next girl I remembered. She was strong. And fast. 'Didnt she throw Henrik at Corvus when these two dragged the Trident with me?'. I shook my head at the sight on my mind.

'Still had to be one of them.'

"No!". Henrik spat. I looked back at him and noted the gleam of greed in his eyes. "I will rule!". His voice had a conviction that told me he meant it.

'Trouble'. We had our thrones, and we still needed our domains. Getting those domains was what we needed. 'This is none of your concern, Ithraes'. I smiled at the use of my in-game name. Turning, I made to work away when the fairy chick flew before me.

"If he kills and takes another Trident, the greed for more power will be harder to ignore." She screamed in my ears. A sort of me went to ignore her, but the thought settled in my mind. Considering my authorization and the Trident granted me more skills and. power over the Western Seas, would I be able to defeat one who held? Sway over two seas?

'Is this why the Trident had us fight it out instead of choosing? To overcome our greed. But if one or two of us had died, what then? No. There must be five or none; it would be hard to share the tridents amongst surviving Deities without greed acting up.

"I'll. try again". Someone gasped, and something whistled. I faced Henrik just in time to see the Trident reach me. Pain spiked and then faded into pressure. Kieran, my fairy screamed, and I found myself on the ground. It was hard to breathe or attempt to breathe. The icy prongs of the Trident sunken into my body and dug into the ground from my back, with me choking on the frost flowing through my body.

'Chance. Another chance. There was no pain, and I wanted to get the Trident out of me. Henrik was already moving to me, his eyes gleaming with desire. I grabbed the Trident with a hiss, ignoring the pressure, and pulled. Henrik was beside me in a splash and slammed the Trident down harder.

The spike of pain faded into pressure. I locked eyes with him, the greed and glee in his pupils disgusting me. 'Should have killed you when you showed when an ounce of it.' I could see the image of it. See the moment we both stood face to face, me questioning him. He had not dared to attack me then. 'Coward'. I hissed again as the pressure doubled.

'That would have been the perfect moment to end you.' I could taste it. See it. I felt cold liquid flow up my neck.

The pressure vanished. I stood where I had once been questioning him. My wound was gone, and so was the pressure. I felt my essence pool halve. I turned, and seeing Henrik staring at me in surprise, his Trident stabbed into the ground. There was no blood or sign I had been there. Even my Trident was in my hand. Only Kieran buzzed next to him.

I looked to the group where I'd been and saw the trail of water that had formed from the ring of water separating the thrones from the rest of the Island. The Oasis water.

I looked back at him. The surprise and shock were gone. Rage replaced it. "You're the Lord of the Central Seas!!". He stamped the ground like a child and tugged his Trident free. "Only the Central Seas would have such peer to overrule death."

"Yeah, not exactly". The girl who I felt a bit of that death energy from muttered to my right. She still stood with the others. None had come to stop the bastard from killing me. I looked back at Henrik, and as I expected, the man was already rushing for me, water trialing his movements.

"Pause"—water from the Oasis surged past him, swallowing him and then me. It held him in a pause; I walked around and stopped behind him. The water returned like it was rewarded, and I went to the Oasis. Though I held onto some of it, flowing and coating my skin.

I lunged forward, thrusting the Trident at Henrik. A wall of water from the Oasis shot past me and formed a shield for him. 8 tugged back my Trident before it hit and dashed to the side. My essence burned the water coating me to speed me up. I was in front before he could act. Swinging my Trident down like a club, I smashed his kneecap.

Or atleast that's what I intended. The scales on his knee shattered, bouncing my weapon away. I backed off, dragging more water to me. 'Fighting below was smoother. Water was everywhere. Does this mean we're invincible underwater?'.

I ducked an angry swipe from Henrik, then lunged forward, thrusting sharply. He backed up sharply, his eyes narrowed. Water flowed around us, gliding up our bodies and forming puddles beneath our feet.

I smashed down a water spike he threw at me with my Trident. He was already moving. And he was fast. I stopped his Trident with mine, the clang of both echoing. I followed the repulsion, letting it spin me and bring the Trident back on Henrik. Hr, stop it with another clang. His skin glowed with golden light, and he moved fast.

He was a blue that vanished and reappeared behind me. Aqua Surge also sped me up, my essence burning the water clinging to my skin to make me faster. Insun sharply and brought my Trident down on him.

CLANG!!!

We moved using the water to boost our speed. I slowed down my surroundings and him to speed up. He weaved and spun, used the water to strike at me like projectiles and form shields jay s, and topped me when I was too close.

Taking a page from his book, I formed a shield of water. When he made to retreat, I replicated it behind him and then thrust the Trident forward. There was no time to practice and learn how to use the Trident, but it was apparent that I needed to pour essence into the Trident to get an effect. The question was which effect would be activated and how to choose what I wanted.

The prongs tore into the shield and slipped in. I got the mental prompt like an envisioning of what I wanted.


**Icy Vortex**


The water shields turned white, the air chilled, and my Trident halfway into the shield stopped. Henrik smashed into her icy shield, shattering it and stumbling. Aqua Surge rushed through me as I ripped my Trident free and brought myself next to his flailing form. I raised the Trident over my head and then swung down. I didn't aim for the head.

The edge of the Prongs smashed into the kneecap where the scales had already shattered. Since he'd gotten no injury, Henrik had ignored the knee—the sound of bone cracking and his scream mixed with the crack of thunder overhead.

"Stay down". I hissed, pointing my Trident to his throat. He said nothing but glared. I exhaled. Turning, I addressed all of them.

"We won't be fighting for any of the Tridents." I eyed every one of them. Corvus didn't seem to care; his eyes spaced out for some reason. 'Did he trust the players standing to his side not to harm him or what?'. I shook my head and stepped away from Henrik.

I turned back to him and walked to the others. Suppose I could convince them to stand down a ms. Not kill. Each other we could help the other in hunting for. Our domains next. The Power female tossed her Trident into the air and caught it in a javelin stance. Her eyes locked on me, and I frowned. Aqua Surge flowed through me, and Hydro-Shield was at the tips of my fingers.

She lobbed the spear at me. I grimaced as time slowed. The spear was close. 'She missed. ' Aqua Surge dulled, and I watched the Trident sweep past me. The sickening sound of meat tearing and bone cracking froze me.

The player gave me a nod and flexed her fingers. The Trident shot past me and slammed into her palm with a magnetic thrum. Behind me, Henrik dropped to his knees, Trident, and arm still poised for a throw.

'She saved me?'. I wanted to fume and argue that it wasn't necessary, but then I figured it out. She saved herself. She was the Deity of the Central. I stepped up to Henrik. The Trident had caved in his chest and ruined his heart if we had one.

Golden blood poured from his chest and lips. I didn't say anything as he stared up at me with anger. "There'll be the next chance." His eyes turned to look behind me. "I know which Deity I'll be staying."



**Deity Henrik has been Slain**
**Deities - 4/4**



Henrik's body dropped to the sides, sprawled on his Trident. I exhaled. I looked at Keran. Her seahorse legs and fairy wings buzzed her closer. "I know there's a consequence for losing one of us. Will, can you tell us?". Kieran stared back at me without a word.

I nodded. " The fact you can't deny or accept means I'm close to something." Turning, I picked the Trident and tugged it out from beneath Henrik. 'What a waste. You were letting greed spoil your chances of playing this game. The other three were shuffling closer. Eyeing me and the Trident I held. 'I won't let greed spoil this for me. I'll have to be careful with my choices.

"What now?'. My savior asked. She eyed the Trident and then me. I shook my head and then spun my Trident around. Making sure there was enough water beneath me, I pointed my Trident's butt to the female who had the death energy around her.

"Can. to hold unto this?". She seemed confused. Even my savior did. Corvus glanced at the exchange and then back to me. A smile split his cheeks, and he stepped away. I didn't know if he understood my plan, but I didn't care as long as he didn't interfere. The girl took the Trident and from.5hr way she gripped it tightly, I was glad to see she was competent enough to stop calling it back.

"I'm Ithraes. What should I call you?". I faced my Savior. She eyed me, trying to gauge what I was up to.

"Akari". Her eyes returned to the Trident and from. The way her Trident trembled, I knew what she wanted to do.

"Akari. Thank you for saving me". I didn't add that I knew she did it to save herself the trouble of facing Henrik. I could have been wrong, and she just actually wanted to help. 'Maybe she isn't even the Deity of the Central Seas. Maybe it's Corvus or the Death girl'. Either way, I needed to make her feel like I was indebted to her before asking my next question.

She nodded at me, still cautious.

"May I ask what the records say regarding this?". I nodded to the Trident I held, and she stiffened. " If I'm right, one, I can't even take the Trident for myself; two, I would need to kill you to do that,t and it might not even work since we don't know the rules of taking a Trident. Finally, I'm not interested in it, and I have no intention of letting anyone else have it either". She bristled visibly at my words, and I had to raise my hand to appease her.

"Hear me out, please. " She eyed me reluctantly, and even the other girl seemed annoyed. 'I watched them both fighting down there. Hmmh. We fought once we arrived, so they were mad to fight either way. I waited for her to reply, and when she nodded at me to continue, I exhaled.

I didn't just speak to her, though; I ensured I was looking at all. Three, as I said. "Think of it. We each want the Trident. Why wouldn't we? It increases our authority and grants us dominion over the seas. If there had been five of us, it would have been okay since we each had a Trident, and, there was there was no way we could get more and be greedy".

"Even if I gave you this Triden t to merge, who's to say you wouldn't lose yourself to the greed we experienced below there?". I pointed to the hole below our Dias. "Even if you don't feel greed, would you believe me if I told you I wouldn't covet the Trident. Would you trust Corvus?". I eyed the dead girl. I hid the relief at seeing my words. We're making sense to her.

"But Henrik is dead now. And there's a Trident. Are you saying none of us should have it?. How would we trust you or ourselves not to take the Trident when the others are not looking?".

I turned the Trident and sighed. " I was hoping to toss it into the sea. But we have omniscience of all that lies within our seas". Akari scoffed. " But..." I eyed her. "...if I threw it back into its sea, then we know not where it is".

"But we all know where it would be exactly." The death girl pointed out.

"I say we bam ourselves from heading out there."

"How would we enforce it?". Corvus asked. The Deity was sitting and bobbing on a ball of water.

"Maybe...". One of the fairies, not mine, drifted down to us. "...you could form a Pantheon".

The frowns on all our faces were evidence of our ignorance. "How would a Pantheon enforce us?".

"Is it like a Guild?". The Fairy nodded. "Ah. We could state guide laws, and all of us would have to obey them".

"But, can't someone just head closer to the sea, then leave, and then go for the Trident?". Dead girl asked a crazy and yet sensible question.

"No. It's impossible to level a Pantheon. Not because you lack a choice but because..." She seemed to choke on something. "You'll see anyway. But to leave a Pantheon needs days of ..." She didn't choke this time, just looking for the right word.

"Paperwork". The fairy looked at us and then shrugged, seeing we understood.

"So we create this Pantheon to keep us from going for this. But what if ..." Everyone groaned, and the death girl harrumphed."Hear me out. What if we need to go there. What then?. Like it's a situation critical. Maybe a quest or something?".

"If we're doing the Pantheon thing, then maybe we don't need to throw it into the sea." Akari finally spoke. She didn't look happy, and she caught my eye." Look, I get what you're saying, and honestly, if there was anyone to take the Trident, it should be you, considering you had lots of chances to kill. the dude". He looked down at the corpse. "On, e actually." she shrugged.

" I get why you didn't kill him now. So if we're doing this Pantheon thing, it's best it stays here under our watch".

"She's right. Plus, it leaves wherever the Trident's sea authority is free. Best not to ban ourselves from somewhere ".

"Southern Seas".

"Huh".
"Hmmh".
"Eh"

"The Tridemt. Its authority is for the southern seas".Akari confirmed. I nodded.

"Then, if we're all in agreement," Corvus nodded with a smirk. Death girl stamped out tridents into the ground in rhythm. Akari nodded to me, her gaze determined.

A notification appeared in my vision.


****


Ring - 2nd
Realm - TORHEIM


The city of Alminros bustled under the new day. Children ran from. Corner to corner. Adults striding with purpose and those leaving the gates locked. Lord Ulmr watched his people go about their day with a worried gaze. He couldn't remember when one of the realm Dwellers had raised a blade against the other. Peace was something that came to them usually. Greed didn't matter when all the resources needed were abundant and everywhere.

Yet he couldn't help but feel that the days of peace were diminishing. His blurred face showed enough features to see the frown he had. His extensive and muscular body left the balcony and entered his room. Ulmr eyed the ball of crystal, which contained a blue liquid.

"Still no calls." The young Celestian watching the orb informed him. Ulmr couldn't help his worry. His last contact with the City of Yelrem had been aggravating and disturbing. The Lord of Yelrem had indicated his seat to another. That in itself was strange. Lords did not relinquish their position unless they fell in battle against the dungeon beasts or roaming monsters.

The second strange thing was the new Lord. A creature that was so similar to the one he had in his city. It's a Female version, though. His feet carried him past the balls of his castle, down the stairs, and into the yard where Celestians sparred with a man—a Divine.

Ulmr thought back to the previous day when the male had arrived. There had been nothing to show the man would usurp him. It was just stupid in itself. Their seating power sat beyond the mists and not here. He sighed. 'Why was the female different? We're the Divines, not alla s Holy as pure as their father'.

The man stood tall as any Celestian. His golden hair flowed like the wheat of the fields. His eyes were like the glare of the First Realms light. Ulmer saw nothing to show that this one would steal his throne as the other did. 'And yet, I could do nothing if he wished for it.'

The Divines were weak, atleast should have been weak. But they were not. Ulmer had watched the man use more skills than Shou had been possible. If the one in Yelrem was similar, then it went to show just how much problem this brought.

'No, it I direct his attention where it should go.' Plotting to kill a divine was something he knew the Primordial would it him and his people for. But if he could lead this fella on the path to unlocking the Pillars and clearing the mists, they had their thrones. 'And my people and I keep ours.'

Ulmr retreated into the Castle, his mind plotting. The Divine had told him what he searched for. And he could see it being what he wanted. For now he had to hold back the divine from charging into the mists. 'He'll. Die in there if he's not ready.

Inside the office, he nodded to the Celestian boy and waved him away. Setting his hand on the crystal, he made a connection. The blue water pulsed, and for a minute, there was nothing.

The Bluewater cast an image on the crystal; a feminine version of the male who fought in his training yard staring back at him.

"Lady Hanna.". His smile was tight. "If I may, we'd love to call a consul." His words didn't move her. Why would they? She knew nothing of what he meant and what ruling the Divine Realms entailed. He hid his sneer as her head vanished from the image. 'Atleast she takes counsel'. It wasn't avoidable, considering she knew nothing.

She reappeared and smiled. Pearly teeth glinting in the Crystal. "Very well". The image cut off. Ulmr squeezed his fists but said nothing.

"Come boy". The little Celestian stopped at hand length away, and Ulmr whispered. Words that were not meant to leave this room. The Celestian boy nodded and turned away.

"Oh, and, on the way, summon the Divine, please."