Six days from Terra's mountain.
The journey took me through lands I'd never imagined—forests that stretched to horizons, rivers wide as seas, cities built on cliffs where people lived suspended between sky and stone. I moved through them like a ghost, barely stopping, barely resting, driven by the ticking clock.
One year. Three hundred fifty-eight days now.
The ocean appeared on the tenth day—vast, endless, deep. Its waters were dark, almost black, as if they'd absorbed centuries of secrets and refused to give them back.
Somewhere beneath those waves, Nereus waited.
God of depths. God of secrets. God of things lost and never found.
---
The Coast
The village at water's edge was smaller than the last—a handful of huts, fishing boats, people who watched the sea with wary eyes.
I found an old woman mending nets on the shore.
"I need to go into the deep water. Somewhere beneath the waves."
She didn't look up. "No one goes there."
"I have to."
"Why?"
"Because a god waits there. And I need his blessing."
She stopped mending. Looked at me with eyes the color of old storms.
"You're the one. The gatherer." Her voice was quiet, awed, afraid. "They said you'd come. The sea told me."
"The sea told you?"
"Its voice is quiet, but I listen." She stood, nets forgotten. "Nereus has been waiting. Longer than any of us. He knew you'd come eventually."
"How do I reach him?"
She pointed at the water. "You swim. You dive. You trust that the depths won't kill you before you find him." She met my eyes. "Most don't survive the attempt."
"I'm not most."
"No." She almost smiled. "You're not."
---
The Descent
I entered the water at dawn.
The cold hit immediately—shocking, intense, but manageable. Selene's blessing helped, keeping my core warm even as the sea tried to freeze me.
I swam out from shore, following the stone's pulse, letting it guide me toward deeper water. The village faded behind. The shore became a line, then a memory, then nothing at all.
The water darkened as I descended.
First blue, then grey, then black so complete I couldn't see my own hands. I swam by feel alone, by the stone's warmth, by faith that something waited below.
My lungs burned. My body screamed. Still I dove.
And then—light.
---
The City
It rose from darkness like a dream.
Towers of coral. Streets of sand. Buildings shaped from shells and bone and things I couldn't name. Bioluminescent creatures drifted through the water, casting soft light on a civilization lost to time.
At its center, a palace of pearl and glass.
I swam toward it, wonder pushing aside fear. The stone pulsed steadily—faster now, excited—guiding me through streets where nothing moved, where no one lived, where only ghosts remained.
The palace doors stood open.
I entered.
---
Nereus
He waited in a throne room carved from living coral.
Old—older than Terra, older than anything I'd seen. His skin was pale as moonlight, his hair long and white, his eyes the color of deepest ocean. He sat on a throne of bone and shell, watching me approach with ancient patience.
"You came." His voice was water flowing over stone. "After centuries of waiting, you came."
"I came."
"How did you find me?"
"Oracle. And the stone." I held up Mira's gift. "It led me here."
He looked at the stone. Something flickered in his ancient eyes.
"Mira. She still lives."
"She lives. She's waiting. They're all waiting—Valdur, Lira, Aric, Selene, Solara, Theron, Noctis, Ignis, Terra. All of them."
Nereus was quiet for a long moment.
"All of them," he repeated. "After everything. After centuries of hiding. They're still there."
"They're still there. And they're ready to fight."
He stood—slowly, like a mountain rising from the sea—and walked toward me. Each step left impressions in the sand, filled slowly by water.
"I've been here alone longer than any of them. Watched my city die. Watched my people fade. Watched hope sink into darkness." He stopped before me. "I thought I was the last."
"You're not the last. You're one of many. And we need you."
"Need me for what?"
"The first immortal. He's gathering power. He's going to strike. We need every god, every blessing, every hope to stop him."
Nereus studied me with those deep-sea eyes.
"You carry many blessings. Mira's warmth. Terra's depth. Others I sense but don't recognize. You've walked far, gathered much, sacrificed more."
"I've done what needed doing."
"Yes." He smiled—sad, proud, hopeful. "That's exactly what needed doing."
He placed his hand on my chest.
Water flooded through me—not drowning, but cleansing. Like being baptized in the deepest ocean.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Nereus's Blessing Received
· Can breathe underwater permanently
· New ability: [DEPTHSIGHT] – see clearly in any darkness, any depth
· New insight: The first immortal fears drowning. His original death was by water.
---
The Vision
As Nereus's blessing settled, a vision came.
I saw the first immortal as a young man—drowning. Not in water, but in grief. His world dying around him. His people screaming. His love watching helplessly.
I saw him claw toward surface, toward hope, toward anything that might save them.
I saw him fail.
And in that failure, something inside him changed. Drowned. Died.
The man who emerged wasn't the same one who'd sunk beneath the waves.
I gasped. Came back to myself.
Nereus watched with knowing eyes.
"You saw."
"His death. The one that made him."
"Yes. He drowned in grief, in failure, in hopelessness. When he rose, he was something else." Nereus touched my cheek. "That's why water is his weakness. It reminds him. It unmakes him."
"Then water will be part of how we defeat him."
"If you're brave enough. If you're willing to face what he became."
I met his eyes. "I've faced worse."
"No. You haven't." But he was smiling. "That's why you'll succeed."
---
The Gift
Before I left, Nereus pressed something into my hands.
A pearl—huge, luminous, pulsing with inner light.
"What is this?"
"A piece of my city. The last piece." He closed my fingers around it. "When you face him—when you face the first immortal—hold this. Remember that depths can be survived. That drowning doesn't have to be forever."
I pocketed it beside Mira's stone and Terra's gift. Three warmths now. Three hopes.
"Thank you, Nereus. For everything."
"Thank me by winning. By reminding him what hope feels like." He smiled. "And by visiting again. When it's over. I'll be here."
"I will."
---
The Ascent
I left Nereus's city at what I thought was noon—hard to tell, so deep beneath waves.
The ascent was easier than the descent. Lighter. Brighter. Hope pushing me toward surface.
I broke through into sunlight gasping, laughing, alive.
The shore waited in the distance. The village. The old woman who'd believed in me.
I swam toward them, carrying blessings from twelve gods, carrying hope like a torch.
---
The Coast
She waited on the shore, watching.
When I emerged, dripping, exhausted, triumphant, she smiled.
"You found him."
"I found him."
"And?"
I held up the pearl. Let it catch sunlight.
"And he's with us."
She laughed—a sound like waves on rocks, beautiful and free.
"Then it's really happening. The gathering. The war. The end."
"The beginning," I corrected. "Of the end."
She nodded slowly. "What now?"
I looked inland. Toward the academy. Toward Mei Lian. Toward the family waiting for me.
"Now I go home. And then—" I smiled. "—we prepare for war."
---
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Final Blessing: Nereus (Depths)
All 12 Gods Located:
1. Mira (Forgotten)
2. Valdur (Strength)
3. Lira (Healing)
4. Aric (Wisdom)
5. Selene (Winter)
6. Solara (Sun)
7. Theron (Storms)
8. Oracle (Sight)
9. Noctis (Shadows)
10. Ignis (Fire/Forge)
11. Terra (Earth)
12. Nereus (Depths)