Sea monsters, visitors from the depths, rulers from the Unspeakable Black Abyss—they were now waiting silently and patiently in the seawater beyond the island.
The magnificent, ancient Great Divine Temple was deathly quiet. Most of the priests who had once filled this place had vanished without a trace. The last of those undergoing transformation hid in rooms throughout the temple, awaiting the day fate would arrive.
In a room at the deepest part of the Great Divine Temple, an old man wearing the Triple Crown of Storms stood before a bed carved with waves, clouds, and lightning, looking down at the person lying upon it.
He was the last Storm High Priest in the temple besides the Pope himself, a Supernatural Being of great power and unwavering will.
Yet now, this powerful man could only lie dazed on the bed, slowly weakening beneath overwhelming terror and unease. His skin had taken on a visibly grayish-blue hue, while scales like those of a sea fish covered all the skin on his neck and limbs. In fact, the Storm High Priest's legs had already "melted" and warped. His former human limbs were gradually merging into a form somewhere between a fish and a snake, leaving him unable even to wear human clothes. He could only wrap his entire body in a thin blanket.
"Your Holiness the Pope..." The Storm High Priest lying on the bed suddenly moved his lips and murmured in a low voice. "You're still here... aren't you?"
"I'm here." Thor Storm, the Pope of Storms, bent down and spoke in a low, gentle voice. "Can you still hear me?"
"I can... though you sound very far away," the Storm High Priest said quietly. The scaled tissue around his neck rose and fell as he spoke. "Are we by the