CHAPTER 197: NYX—THE PRIMORDIAL OF NIGHT HERSELF—SMILED FAINTLY.

The shoreline was gone.

What had once been a proud city was now a mosaic of drowned ruins, broken spires jutting like ribs from a seabed that had not existed yesterday. The waves no longer obeyed their old boundaries; they clung to the ruins, swirled through alleyways that had become canals, and whispered through the bones of those who had not escaped.

And Poseidon stood at the heart of it.

His bare feet pressed into silt that had once been marble steps, his trident humming like the pulse of the earth. He did not command the sea anymore—he was the sea. Every drop of saltwater in the flooded streets was an extension of himself, every crashing wave a flex of his lungs.

The silence that followed the destruction was not peace. It was reverence.

Mortals clinging to rooftops, their faces pale with terror, did not shout his name in worship. They whispered it with the fear of prey cornered by a predator too vast to comprehend.

"Poseidon..."

He closed his eyes, and for a moment, memory flooded him—his past self, chained in the Rift, mocked by the gods who had divided his seas. He remembered the sound of Zeus’s thunder laughing over him, of Athena’s blade piercing his chest, of Aegirion’s trident locking him in the abyss.

But that had been then.

Now, the ocean itself remembered.

---

The Breath of the Abyss

As Poseidon inhaled, the tide across the mortal coastlines shifted. Fishermen hundreds of miles away staggered as their nets were ripped from their boats. Shorelines cracked, docks splintered, and wells filled with brine instead of fresh water. His will stretched outward, not merely around this one city, but far, far beyond it.

He felt the entire sea like veins in his own body. He felt the sting of ships miles away trying to ride out his currents, the panic of villages where the waves crept too far inland, the prayers of sailors who begged for calm seas.

The prayers made him smirk. They did not know who they prayed to anymore.

The old gods had lost their claim.

Every whispered plea to the waves now funneled into him.

Into Poseidon reborn.

---

A Shadow Among the Ruins

Yet even as his power swelled, he felt the faintest disturbance. A ripple in the water that did not come from him.

From the ruins of the drowned temple, a figure emerged. Cloaked in dripping robes, saltwater running like tears down his face, the man held in his hands a shard of coral glowing with unnatural light. His voice was hoarse, yet it carried:

"Lord of Drowned Bells, hear me. I am your servant."

Poseidon tilted his head, amused. A mortal calling to him directly? That was rare.

The man fell to his knees, the coral shard cutting his palms until blood mixed with seawater. "I am Veyrus, chancellor of this city. I... I give myself, and all knowledge I hold, to you. Spare me, and I will be your hand upon the land."

Poseidon studied him for a long moment, waves swirling around the mortal without touching him. His eyes narrowed. He remembered this one—his frantic orders, his false prayers, his pathetic attempt to deny the inevitable tide.

"You offer yourself because you fear me," Poseidon said, his voice layered with the rumble of earthquakes beneath the sea.

Veyrus shuddered. "Yes, lord. But fear makes for faithful servants. Use me. I will not betray."

For a moment, silence. Then Poseidon extended his hand. Water rose like fingers, coiling around Veyrus and lifting him off the shattered stones. The man gasped as the tide pressed against his skin, filling his mouth, his lungs, testing if he would break.

But he did not resist. He let the water claim him, choking, drowning—yet bowing.

Poseidon smiled. "Very well. Live. Serve. But betray me once, and I will make you part of the sea forever."

The water spat Veyrus back out, leaving him gasping on the stones. The coral shard pulsed once, then embedded itself in his palm like a brand.

A servant of Poseidon had been chosen.

---

Olympus Watches

Far above, on the thrones of Olympus, the gods leaned forward. Through mirrors of starlight and orbs of fire, they watched the drowned city below.

Zeus’s thunder rolled faintly in the chamber. "So... it is true. Poseidon has broken his prison."

Athena’s eyes narrowed. "Not broken. Reborn. Look at him—his power isn’t the same as before. It’s more... focused."

Hera leaned forward, lips thin. "Focused... or tempered? The boy has given the drowned god something he never had before. Humanity."

"That humanity," Ares snarled, his hand gripping the hilt of his warblade, "is what makes him dangerous. Gods are predictable. Mortals are not."

Aegirion, standing apart from the thrones, lowered his gaze. He could feel Poseidon’s pull in every drop of ocean across the world. The sea no longer answered him fully—it bent to Poseidon instead.

Zeus rose. Lightning carved the ceiling of Olympus in jagged scars. "It is decided. The drowned god walks again. We will not wait for him to grow stronger. He must be struck down—now."

The council erupted in voices—some agreeing, others hesitating. Athena’s voice cut sharp through the din:

"You forget. Every time we tried to kill him before, we only made him stronger. Chains did not hold him. Blades did not end him. If we strike blindly, we may awaken Thalorin in full."

The name sent a hush through the chamber.

Zeus’s thunder dimmed, but his eyes blazed. "Then we strike carefully. Send one first. A blade that cuts unseen. Let the mortals believe their city drowned by nature, while we cut the heart from him before he grows."

The gods’ eyes turned toward the shadows at the edge of Olympus.

And there, Nyx—the primordial of night herself—smiled faintly.

"I will go."

Back below, Poseidon stood on the half-submerged temple, Veyrus kneeling at his feet. His gaze was distant, staring at the horizon. The hum of the sea around him had grown louder. Not just a tide. Not just a storm. A pulse.

The ocean was awakening to memory.

In its deepest trenches, old shapes stirred. Forgotten leviathans rolled in their sleep. Coral forests whispered. Whales keened low songs of recognition. The sea remembered its true master.

And within Poseidon’s chest, something deeper stirred. Not just his godhood. Not just his rebirth.

Thalorin.

The abyss without end. The hunger that even gods feared.

Poseidon clenched his trident until the water around it boiled. He would not be Thalorin’s puppet. He would not be anyone’s vessel.

He was Poseidon.

And the ocean was his.

Yet still, in the corner of his mind, he heard the faintest chuckle. A voice not his own.

"Claim what you will. In the end... all depths return to me."

Poseidon’s eyes narrowed. "Then I will make the ocean so vast even you cannot swallow it."

Lightning split the sky far off. The gods were moving. He could feel their eyes upon him.

The war was not yet here.

But it was coming.