Kairos 55: The Old Gods and the New

The Foresight swam through the lightless abyss.

Cassandra stood at the ship’s bow, grimly lighting up the way with her fork. Yet even her ghostly flames could only illuminate the world a few meters away. Sometimes, the crewmates noticed glittering forms in the sand below the ship. Most were the remains of bronze naval rams, the only parts of sunken ships that survived centuries beneath the oceans. Others belonged to half-buried helmets.

A naval battle had taken place above, a long time ago.

Kairos looked over the deck, though he remained careful not to cross the dome separating him from the sea outside. Andromache had learned the [Water Resistance] and [Water Breathing] spells, but he was in no hurry to move outside his ship’s confines. This was a dangerous region of the Sunsea.

Others sensed it too. Nessus had been eerily silent and tense since the journey’s start, his hands firmly on the ballista. Cassandra’s eyes snapped from the left to the right without warning, as if she saw forms shifting in the darkness. The archers and warriors kept their weapons drawn, and Rook anxiously followed after Kairos without a word.

They could sense something watching them.

Andromache joined Kairos, putting her arms around his left one and her head against his shoulder. “Something bothers you, my other half,” she said, sensing his worry. “And it is not the sea monsters around us.”

“You can see them?” Her lover asked.

“No, but I can tell they are here.” She glanced at the dome above her head, and perhaps the sky beyond. “The prophecy haunts you.”

She knew him all too well.

“The phoenix’s feathers could bring back the dead,” Kairos said with a frown. “If it is a vessel of Helios’ power…”

“It could revive the titan, and with the power of the planetary alignment, open the doors to Tartarus,” Andromache confirmed his darkest fears. “Free whatever crusty old gods your kindred did not purge and unleash them on the new world.”

Kairos had expected as much. He wondered why the phoenix had flown to the Necromanteion of all places, but now it made sense. Aglaonice had mentioned a door to the Underworld at the dungeon’s bottom, one that could open under the right circumstances.

“Do you think Circe foresaw her own demise?” Kairos asked. “Could she intend to return to life?”

“Whether she intends to return or inflict one last act of spite upon the world does not matter, my other half,” Andromache replied with an angry scowl. “We need to stop this plan either way.”

“I concur,” Kairos said, though he couldn’t hide the sadness in his tone. “No matter the cost.”

Kairos had tried to contact his wife and tell her of his plans through his [Idol], to no avail. Julia was too busy dealing with Orthia and the Thessalan League. He had asked his mother to transfer the information to her daughter-in-law, as he wanted her opinion on how to proceed.

The treaty with the merfolk would only become binding if the Foresight’s crew assisted in destroying Hybris’ temple, so no oath prevented them from switching sides… but still, Kairos’ decision left a sour taste in his mouth.

“The merfolk population are clearly pro-old gods, and their rulers have the power to sink entire islands,” Kairos said. “I hope we can stop Circe’s plan, but it is likely that the merfolk will take measures to support it. The fact that they already scouted Chronia and Histria on Mithridates’ behalf means that they could launch an attack on us anytime.”

There were pro-surface dwellers among the merfolk… but they were a precious few. Changing their culture would take years, and Kairos couldn’t wait that long. The planetary alignment would take place next year, and he had a military campaign to manage.

In the end, the safety and prosperity of his people came first to Kairos. Even if it came at the cost of another civilization. Even if it meant allying with monsters and lesser evils.

“You do not have to convince me, my other half. I know that all too well.” Andromache frowned. “You are trying to convince yourself.”

“I am,” the pirate king admitted. “When I became a [Hero], I swore to change Travia. To move us away from our raiding ways, and help us transition into a civilization that could coexist with its neighbors. And here I am, planning another sack. I feel like a hypocrite.”

“You can’t befriend the whole world, Kairos,” Andromache replied with cynicism. “No more than you can make peace with Mithridates. Compromise is not always an option.”

“I suppose not,” Kairos admitted. “But I hope we can limit civilian casualties to a minimum.”

Somehow, that sounded like a vain hope even to himself.

“I see movement, oh my captain,” Nessus said, his fingers tightening on the ballista’s trigger.

Kairos had sensed it too, through his [Seamanship 3] Skill. A naval hazard approached the Foresight, as Cassandra’s light revealed sunken structures. The looming shadow of cyclopean walls of corroded brass reflected in the dark waters, along with the remains of colossal, collapsed domes.

They had reached the ruins of Atlantis.

The Foresight stopped swimming at this point, instead, it used its crab legs to walk on the seafloor. No sound echoed with its footsteps; the place was so dead, so devoid of life, that not even an echo could spread through its empty streets.

Kairos could distinguish very little of the city’s landscape even with Cassandra’s light, but he saw enough. Broken spires that once rose all the way to the heavens, now covered in sea parasites and rotting shells. Sunken statues representing bulls, horses, and dragons, defaced and dismembered. Collapsed stone arches overwhelmed by alien, underwater vines black as night.

The ship continued its journey past a second row of defensive walls, this time made of tin. Parts of the structure had collapsed, while the seafloor had long filled the moat. The Foresight entered through a breach and passed before a gigantic, humanoid statue partly buried in sand. Though the waters had long destroyed its stone visage, the fact it wielded a broken trident revealed its nature as a lost [Idol] of Poseidon.

This place was as great as Orichalcos once, Kairos thought grimly, as the ship walked below a bridge rising more than forty meters above the seafloor. The remnants of marble stairs and walls gave observers an idea of the monument’s past glory. Gravestones are all that remain.

And corpses too.

“Here, Kairos!” Rook said, pointing at something on the seafloor. “I see a fish!”

Kairos looked down, noticing a scaled tail sticking out of the sand below them.

It wasn’t a fish.

Kairos almost flinched, he recognized the bisected lower half of a merfolk guard. Blood flowed out of it, tainting the dark waters red.

The Travian noticed movement in the darkness, and the monsters surrounded the Foresight.

One came from the left, a cyclopean fish with an eye shining as brightly as a star in the darkness; four long tentacles writhed from its flanks, while its black body glistened like oil. Another monstrosity approached from the right, a chitinous hybrid of a lobster and a dragon with pincers strong enough to shatter walls. A ship-sized squid emerged from the sand near the Foresight’s bow, the arcane symbols on its body unnerving to look upon, and Kairos noticed the movement of glittering spheres above the ship’s dome.

A whole band of Cetae had ambushed the ship.

Kairos’ men immediately raised their weapons, but their captain calmed them with a hand signal. The Travian warlord remained as silent as a tomb, showing no weakness while the Cetae observed the Foresight.

“You were followed.”

The voice echoed across the dead waters, although the speaker made no sound as it moved. A serpentine shape slithered above the bridge, anglerfish lures glittering in the darkness as the beast moved right in front of Kairos. The remains of a humanoid arm stuck out from between two jaws.

“These were not escorts though…. but spies, stalking you from the shadows.” Hybris coiled on the seafloor like a serpent, its tail sweeping sand away. “Did you notice them?”

“We suspected their presence, though we had no way to get rid of them without alerting Orichalcos,” Kairos replied. “I thought they would turn away once we entered dangerous territory.”

“They should have. None of them will escape this place alive.” Hybris’ lures flickered. “Have you made the right decision, Kairos of Travia?”

“We will not side with the merfolk,” Kairos declared, while Andromache and Rook eyed the [Demigod] warily. “The laws of hospitality no longer bind us to them.”

The Cetus licked its fangs in pleasure, swallowing the remaining arm of his victim. Kairos found the gesture grimly symbolic. “Good, I would loathe to eat you. But this begs another question… will you leave this abyss, or shall we hunt together?”

Cassandra approached Kairos to whisper in his ear. “Are you sure?” she asked, still worried about this turn of events.

“Almost,” Kairos replied, before focusing on Hybris. “I will need more information on what joining your [Pantheon] will entail, before making a decision.”

Thankfully, it seemed that Kairos’ refusal to side with the merfolk had mollified Hybris’ suspicions. “Understandable,” it said. “What do you want to know?”

“You invited Andromache and me to join, but not Cassandra, who has been my loyal ally through thick and thin,” Kairos declared. The flattery made his former first mate smile. “Why?”

Hybris glanced at Cassandra with its many eyes, and her smile instantly faltered. Though she was no stranger to fighting the Cetae, she had never faced one as powerful, nor with such a large escort.

“The name of our [Pantheon] is the Térastheon,” Hybris explained. Kairos translated the term as Monster gods in ancient Greek. “Our purpose is to unite all monstrous [Heroes], [Demigods] and [Gods] into a single alliance, and make our voice heard. Your human companion is neither a monster, nor a monsterkin.”

“So you would accept Typhon and Lycaon, but not dear Cassandra?” Nessus asked mirthfully, as the satyr left the ballista to back his captain up.

To Kairos’ surprise, Hybris shook his head. “His long imprisonment has driven the God-Eater to madness. He now seeks to devour all things and rule a world of the dead, so that none may imprison him again. Neither his consort Echidna nor his many children would escape his hunger. As for the wolf-god, he formed his own [Pantheon] whose goals do not align with ours.”

“So it’s all a matter of practicality to you?” Cassandra asked.

“Yes,” Hybris replied bluntly. “Do not misunderstand us, Cassandra. We don't accept pureblood humans among our [Pantheon] because we despise them, but because we are the gods of the beasts and outcasts. You do not belong to either.”

This didn’t please Kairos. “Still, turning down valorous [Heroes] based on their race does not bode well with me.”

“It’s alright, Kairos,” Cassandra said. She didn’t take the rejection personally. “I follow you, no matter whether we belong to the same organization or not. Truth be told, I don’t think I would have joined this group, even if I could.”

“Who leads this [Pantheon]?” Andromache asked shrewdly.

“You will meet her soon,” Hybris rasped. “She must give you her assent before you can even join.” The Cetus’ lures shone brighter than usual, causing Kairos to immediately receive a notification.

You have been invited to join the [Térastheon Pantheon]. Warning: once a [Pantheon] is joined, you cannot leave it until it is disbanded.

Information about the Pantheon appeared, revealing its leader’s identity.

Térastheon

Purpose: Unite and protect all monster races.

Key virtue: Henosis.

Founder: Gaia, Mother of All.

Entrance benefits: Blessing of Gaia + access to the [Henosis] Legendary Skill.

Restrictions:

• Members cannot go to war with each other. Disputes must be resolved by trials by champions or arbitration.
• Defensive alliance. Members must provide resources to defend the Pantheon if it is threatened.
• Recruitment is done through co-option. Any existing member can invite a potential recruit, but their admission must be validated by a [God] Rank. Only monsters or individuals with monstrous blood can join.

Gaia.

“Gaia?” Kairos said out loud, causing Nessus to scowl. “Didn’t she perish during the Anthropomachia?”

“The Earth Mother is the world itself, and only its destruction may kill her,” Andromache said. “I suspected her involvement. She has a long history of supporting her monstrous children against whoever ruled the cosmos at the time.”

“My father Poseidon buried her beneath the waves and few worship her nowadays, but Mother Earth’s power remains,” Hybris added. “I will summon her into my temple, and she will either enlighten or deny you.”

“Can I come?” Rook asked, wings expanded. “I can’t let my human wander too far!”

“You may follow your partner and his mate,” Hybris replied. “But no one else.”

Nessus suddenly opened his mouth, but Kairos didn’t understand the words that came out. The tongue was deep and guttural, with some elements of ancient Greek.

To Kairos’ shock, Hybris flinched as if he had been hit by a sledgehammer. The Cetus immediately answered in the same tongue, he and the satyr conversing. Nessus crossed his arms as he spoke, his face serious.

“What is this tongue?” Kairos whispered to Andromache and Cassandra.

“I don’t know,” Cass replied with a frown. “I’ve never heard something like this.”

Andromache had more to say, recognizing the language. “They speak Atlantean, though I cannot understand half of what they say.”

Atlantean? “And the other half?” Kairos asked.

Andromache only answered with a suspicious scowl.

After a short exchange, Hybris examined Nessus warily, and reached a decision. “You can come,” the Cetus said in ancient Greek, though with clear reluctance. “But do not expect a warm welcome, ghost.”

The satyr responded to the threat with a casual shrug. “Doesn’t matter either way.”

Hybris uncoiled and slithered on the seafloor. “Follow me,” it asked before moving deeper into the sunken city.

While the Foresight walked after the Abyssean warlord, escorted by the other monsters, Kairos frowned at Nessus. “You owe us an explanation.”

“I suppose I do,” Nessus replied, his voice deep and serious. “I knew this day would come.”

“I understood little of your conversation,” Andromache said with a frown. “But I gleaned one thing at least. At one point, you called him ‘cousin.’”

The satyr chuckled joylessly. “We’re a pretty large family. Or we were, back in the day.”

Kairos’ eyes widened, as an idea formed in his mind. Hybris is a scion of Poseidon, the Travian thought. If they are cousins, then that means…

Kairos thought back of all he had learned from Nessus, all the way back to this night when the phoenix hatched. He remembered the rituals which the satyr had organized, the few hints of his past he had given, and suddenly it all clicked. “Nessus, are you—”

“You figured it out, didn’t you?” Nessus interrupted Kairos. “Took you long enough.”

“How is it even possible?” Kairos asked. Andromache’s eyes widened, as she probably guessed his true identity as well, while Cassandra remained in the dark. “You don’t have a [Legend].”

“I swear I will tell you everything soon, oh my captain,” Nessus promised. “And... I hope we can stay friends afterward.”

“You traitor!” Andromache snarled with fury, raising her scepter at his head threateningly. A flame formed at the tip, the Scylla barely holding herself from incinerating him. “This is all your fault!”

“Hey, calm down!” Cassandra interposed herself between the Scylla and the satyr. “Explain yourself!”

“I’m guilty of many things, dear nymph, but treachery is not one of them,” Nessus said with an eerie calm. Death didn’t scare him, perhaps because he had already come back from the other side before.

“You helped the egg hatch on Travia,” Andromache accused the satyr. “You knew what it contained!”

“Yes, but not what the witch intended to use it for.” The satyr shrugged. “Now I do, and I don’t like it. One apocalypse was enough, thank you very much.”

Cassandra blinked, her expression twisting into a frown as she put the two and two together. “We found you in a slaver’s cargo hold,” she said. “But it wasn’t an accident, was it?”

“I never had luck with pirates,” Nessus said with a smile. “Fate takes me to odd places.”

“Will you turn us into dolphins?” Kairos asked, causing the satyr to chuckle. “Why reveal yourself now?”

“Because I know Gaia, and I do not trust her. She does not think as we short-lived creatures do.” Nessus glanced at the seafloor with his lone remaining eye. The Foresight crossed a hole into walls of red metal, untouched by the abyssal waters. “I don’t want you to end up castrated like Ouranos. Your wife would never forgive.”

The Foresight reached its destination before Kairos could interrogate the satyr further.

The living ship had walked into the very core of lost Atlantis, the ruins of an ancient palace. Once, it must have been a structure of dizzying height, with walls and towers as high as mountains… but like the rest of the city, only buried ruins remained. Five spires of glittering red metal formed a circle around a large crater of sand, each of them bent, broken, or slumped. Kairos recognized the material as the rare and precious orichalcum, which gave the mermaid kingdom its name.

A dome of air similar to the Foresight’s one protected the site, though more than thirty meters in height. Hybris crossed into the dome like one would through a veil, followed by the Foresight. The monstrous escort remained behind.

The ship landed on the sand, Kairos, Andromache, Nessus, and Rook climbing down from the deck and stepping onto the ground below. The air was thick and rancid, smelling of sulfur and rotten algae. Hybris slithered on land like a snake, and almost as fast as in the water.

The group walked after the [Demigod] without a word. Andromache kept her scepter pointed at Nessus all the way to the temple, while the satyr glanced at the ruins with what could pass for nostalgia. The sand covered most of them, but Kairos noticed the remains of a marble bathhouse, and the collapsed walls of a great hall larger than most castles. The royal family of Atlantis once lived within them, before Poseidon buried the island beneath the waves.

A part of Kairos knew Orichalcos might end up looking the same way by the time they were done, and it filled him with melancholy.

A statue of Hybris oversaw this desert of stone and memories from atop a marble altar, as tall as the original. Shells made up its scales, pearls its lures, and rubies its eyes. Kairos’ [Magical Knack] Skill identified the statue as the dome’s source, and an [Idol].

Hybris stopped right in front of the altar, and coiled around it like a snake around its prey. “Mother of All,” the sea monster rasped. “I bring you the new gods, and the old.”

For a moment, only silence answered his call.

Then the sand started to move on its own.

The dust swirled before the altar, before rising up in the air and reaching the dome’s summit. The sand coalesced into stone, forming the shadows of arms and legs.

Andromache lowered her scepter in silent awe, while Rook nervously moved closer to Kairos. The Travian [Hero] petted his best friend on the head to reassure him, as a gigantic figure cast a long shadow on them.

When every last grain of sand had at long last coalesced, the earth mother looked down on mortals with gemstone eyes.

Gaia was a creature of soil and stone, with skin as unblemished as marble and hair made of woven flowers. Roots and ivy grew down from her shoulders and all the way down her legs, forming a dress. Her feet melded into the seafloor, algae sprouting around them.

This woman of stone was no arousing beauty, but she exuded power and wisdom. Her very presence weighed on Kairos like gravity, as if his entire body struggled not to sink into the earth below. This was an entity as ancient as the world, the mother of the old gods, and the one who helped mankind cast them down.

Before Kairos knew it, he was on his knees, as were Andromache and Rook. The Travian didn’t remember bowing; his body and mind had done so on their own, unable to resist her mere aura. Even using [Observer] on her gave Kairos a headache, the screen so bright it almost blinded him.

Gaia, the Earth Mother

Legend: Mother of All (God)

Level: ???

The stone woman appraised the group with an unreadable face, her eyes focusing on Nessus most of all.

“Great-grandma,” Nessus said casually. He alone among the group hadn’t knelt. “How have you been?”

“Better than you, my poor Dionysus,” the Earth Mother said, her words as thunderous as a rockfall. Even so, Kairos sensed the pity in them. “This life hasn’t been kind to you.”

“No more than death, great-grandma,” the satyr said and shrugged. “No more than death.”

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