Goddess of the Deep

Seth didn’t answer the owl’s words immediately, flicking the worm off his shoulder and sitting on the empty chair in front of him.

After he was seated, all the others animals and plants except the owl took human forms, looking towards him with different emotions.

Some had greed in their eyes, some hostility, others fear, and only a few people appeared happy with his presence there.

Seth looked into every member of the Council’s eyes before looking at all the empty seats and finally turning his eyes on the owl.

“There’s so few of you left, Augur.”

“There are, Seth. Some, like Worm, were lucky to have escaped the curse of their seals..., but others were not so fortunate.”

“I’ve heard about Pain… did you seal it back?”

“We did. Eight of us died, but we barely managed to stop it from leaving the territory of Pain. Resealing it completely is impossible now….”

Seth sighed with a quick nod before fixing his eyes on a woman on the side. She had cat ears and a small tail wiggling behind her back.

“I’m sorry to greet you in this half-form, Seat of Destruction. I no longer have the life force to create a complete human body.” Said Panther, a faint smile on her lips.

“You don’t know me anymore….” Seth sighed.

“Then I must apologize once more. Compared to the world’s treasures, we are common in time. The change affected us just the same as it did normal humans.”

“There’s nothing for you to apologize for. I’m glad I got to see you, at least.” Said Seth with a subtle smile, turning his eyes back to Augur.

“Now it’s time for me to get to the main issue. Is Razim still here?”

“She is. Her world is hovering just outside our world’s influence, but before we speak about her, there are a few things we need to know. If - “

“I’m sorry, Augur.” Interrupted Seth, “But time is not in our favor. I will answer your questions, but I first need you to send someone to call Razim here. I only have one day before I must return.”

Augur remained silent, staring into Seth’s eyes before waving one of his wings. “Worm, send your avatar to inform Razim that the Seat of Destruction has returned.”

A small worm grew out of Worm’s finger, disappearing into space after Augur finished his words.

“It is done. Now I hope you can answer our questions.”

Seth nodded and said: “I will. I don’t know how much time changed for you, how much you know about the original timeline, and so on, but I’ll tell you all that I am aware of….”

Seth spent a good couple of hours telling them about the former timeline, the pieces of information he got from Dream and Isabel, leaving most of what Elise had told him out. When he was done, the members of the Council were speaking to one another in hushed murmurs.

“Is everything you have told us the truth?” asked Augur with a sigh.

“To the best of my knowledge, yes.”

“Do you really plan on waging war against Soren and Thanatos?” asked Panther in worry. “Soren is still weak, but Thanatos is not someone even we would dare to fight against.”

Seth lowered his head and said with a sigh. “I have no choice but to do so… Is the only way I can get it back.”

“Maybe the Goddess of Water will land you her aid.” Added a petite woman on the side, eliciting a smile of ridicule from the others seated next to her.

“I appreciate your enthusiasm, Agni, but I need her help with something else, and even for that, the cost is probably higher than what I’m willing to pay… Asking her to fight a battle for me….”

The woman nodded, saying, “I apologize if my idea seemed ridiculous. I’m not that familiar with the Goddess of Water.”

“Nothing for you to apologize for. How is your sister?”

Agni’s eyes became sad at Seth’s question, and she lowered her head without giving him an answer.

“Oh... I’m sorry. I didn’t know Hestia was gone.”

“It’s alright. She had died doing what she believed in.”

Seth nodded and noticed Augur looking at him with a frown. “Something the matter, Council Head?”

“But if you plan on moving against Kronos, why do you need to get that woman? She is only a demigod, and a weak one at that.”

“I need something currently in her possession if I plan on going against Kronos.”

“And what is that?”

“That is something that I can’t say here. I hope you’ll forgive me, Augur, but your home is not hidden from the most prying eyes in this world.”

Augur seemed to have read between Seth’s words and didn’t ask anymore.

The Council began asking Seth other questions, delving deeper into the changes in the timeline and his plans going forward, and Seth happily answered all of them. It didn’t matter to him the general opinion of the Council since he knew Augur would not lift a finger to help him in his mission.

He also understood it was not a matter of choice on Augur’s part and that he couldn’t spare the manpower to do it.

As Seth spoke with the Council members, a sudden silence descended over the gathering. Even the hushed murmurs ever-present disappeared.

Seth couldn’t feel it, but he knew the root of the change and also stopped talking, standing up from his chair and following the others’ gaze.

It didn’t take long until space broke right in front of Seth. His posture strengthened unconsciously as he watched the wormhole with a worried scowl.

The wormhole ripped, and a long white leg stepped through first, eventually followed by the appearance of a tall and bountiful woman. Her eyes were as blue as the sea, and her hair as golden as the sun.

She wore a revealing long blue dress, its lower part cut open on the side to display her long and subtle legs. The neckline of her dress was hanging low, making Seth’s eyes dart towards the revealed part of her massive mounds.

After his eyes darted over her sexy body, Seth finally locked on her face, and the worry in his eyes went away, just slightly, replaced by a look of reminiscence.

The rest of the Council was already on their knees, except Augur, who was still floating in mid-air.

“Shouldn’t you be on your knees? You’re not even a demigod anymore.” asked Razim in a haughty tone, a challenging look in her eyes.

“I don’t know. Should I be?” asked Seth with a subtle smile.

A collective shudder passed through the council members, gulps resounding behind Seth as a slight frown appeared on Razim’s beautiful countenance. Her long golden hair started gently floating up from her shoulders, a blue hue covering the golden glow from before.

Still, before her hair turned completely blue, the transformation stopped, and her hair fell down her shoulders again.

“Sigh… what a disappointment you turned out to be…” muttered Razim, turning around and starting to walk back towards the portal.

“And you are a lot quicker to temper than I recall, but it is not my pride that’s keeping me from kneeling. It’s your petty charade.” Said Seth with no change in expression.

Razim’s footsteps stopped, but she didn’t look back as she asked: “What is that supposed to mean? Think carefully about your answer, abandoned host, or those words might be your last.”

“When I said I want to speak to you, I didn’t mean this image of perfection you show the world. I meant the real you. The one probably yawning in the core of your world, looking at a water mirror.”

A subtle smile appeared on Razim’s face before her body turned into water and coiled against Seth’s, dragging him into the portal.

Seth could see his body getting dragged through a deep ocean at an incredible speed, all the way to its deepest part, where the core of the entire world was spinning gently. The water carried him through the surface of the core, releasing him from its bindings before dissipating into nothingness.

Before Seth, a simple and petite girl stood with a proud look in front of a throne made of ice.

An inhuman and majestic atmosphere surrounded her, like a lingering will of a superior, inhuman being. The dainty girl’s ocean-blue eyes were filled with curiosity as she scanned Seth in front of her.

Seth looked at her petite body before falling to one knee and lowering his head slightly.

“The former Seat of Destruction greets Her Excellency Goddess of the Deep. May the tides of the world forever carry you to a brighter sky.”

“You speak as if you are one of my people, but that is not something I am ready to believe so easily. Tell me, you bearer of a will that takes and never gives, what was our relationship in my future that you call your past.”

Seth sighed and lifted his head, looking the curious goddess straight in the eyes.

“I was your friend… at least to you and for a short time….”

Razim looked into his pained eyes and seemed to understand what he was trying to say, laying her tiny body to sit on the throne behind her.

“Was it of your own accord? Your betrayal?”

“Yes and no… I wanted and rejected it simultaneously, but one does not simply say no to a greater will….”

“Who won?”

“Who do you think?”

“Did I die?”

“Yes, you did.”

“My divinity?”

“Sealed.”

“I see…” muttered Razim, “Destruction would have always been the end of us all, I suppose.”

Seth could hear the resignation in her words and added: “It was not an easy fight if it brings you any comfort, but the order of the world is not defeated so easily.”

“I do not blame you for something that has not happened yet, but I also won’t treat you as a friend. Since your divinity was broken, I won’t even treat you as an equal anymore. As you have said, the order of the world is not defeated so easily.”

“I know. That’s why I’m still kneeling in front of your throne. A feeble apology in the hope you’ll find it in your heart to listen to a plea of mine.”

“You want me to help you fight Kronos?” asked Razim with a raised eyebrow.

“I want to, but that’s not why I am here. I know you’ll never agree to it. I came to offer you a pact.”

Razim’s eyebrow eased up as she waited for Seth to continue with a smile.

“As long as your excellency helps me track Kronos….” Seth took a deep breath and said: “… I’ll tell you everything I know about the Tower and the answers I found at its peak.”

Razim’s smile faded at the mention of the Tower, and she asked with a serious expression.

“And what makes you think I would be interested in that?”

It was Seth’s turn to smile as he said: “Because you are a god. Isn’t it normal to want to know about the one being above all gods?”

“Even so, how do I know the answers you sought for yourself would even interest me?”

“I asked the Tower to tell me the truth of this world.”

With Seth’s answer, the throne beneath Razim cracked, and she stood up, her divinity pressing Seth’s body so hard his bones began to break.

Razim’s hair started floating again, the blue hue from before returning as her divinity caused the entire world outside to treble.

“DID IT ANSWER?” a voice completely different from Razim’s calm and tranquil one resounded all around, making blood begin to flow from Seth’s ears.

Seth lowered his head, not daring to peak at the divinity in front of him as he answered through greeted teeth.

“It did, but if you don’t stop, that answer will die with me.”

The pressure dissipated with Seth’s words, and Razim fell back on her seat, her countenance returning to normal as she closed her eyes and released a tired sigh.

“The decision has been made for me, it seems... We agree to your accord.”