Gaia, the goddess of the earth, gave a soft laugh, hoarse with self-mockery. Even in her pain, the majesty of a primordial god had never entirely faded.
"Honored goddess of night, mistress of fate, great primordial goddess, my dear sister, how did you find the time to visit your pitiful elder sister?"
Nyx raised a hand slightly, and her divine power of night condensed into a throne. She sat down opposite Gaia, the unhealed cracks on her sister's body reflected in her unfathomable eyes.
She remained silent for a long time, then sighed softly. Gaia had come to her for help before, but she had been powerless to help.
"Great goddess of the earth, my dear sister. Please forgive me. You came to me for help before, but I did nothing to help you."
She paused. "Our father god, who is also our mother god, Chaos, created us all. From the moment we were born, everyone's ending had already been written. I am not the ruler of fate. I am merely its executor."
"My incarnation of fate is trapped within the river of fate, unable to move. I can sense everything that is about to happen, but I cannot change any of it."
Gaia frowned. Some of the weariness on her face receded, replaced by a sharpness. "What ending?"
Nyx shook her head, her gaze lowered. "It cannot be spoken of. Even if I said it, it would not be remembered, and would instead bring terrible consequences."
But Gaia had already read enough in her expression.
The heaviness and evasion in her eyes, the way her gaze shifted rather than meet Gaia's-all pointed in the same direction. The ending awaiting primordial gods like them was not a good one.
Gaia sprang to her feet, the power of the earth surging around her. She stared at Nyx, her gaze icy. "You just spoke of fate's arrangements. Do you mean that everything I am suffering now was arranged by fate?"
Nyx did not answer. Her silence was itself the clearest answer.
Gaia understood. Towering fury exploded in her chest. The entire earth shook violently, and a low rumble rose from deep within the bedrock.
On the surface, the nymphs at the foot of Mount Proeon had only just fallen asleep when a dull tremor startled them into curling up tightly. A few glowing coals shook loose from the campfire's embers.
Nairmis had been about to lie down to sleep when he abruptly sat bolt upright.
In that instant, towering fury rolled over the edge of his perception. His divinity of emotions was so frightened that it almost automatically shut every channel of perception. Never mind actively reaching out to it-even receiving it passively made him instinctively recoil.
That was the wrath of a primordial god. Even its aftershocks were enough to grind the consciousness of a lesser god like him to dust.
Cold sweat seeped from his forehead, his heart pounding violently. He braced both hands against the ground and took a long time to recover.
That presence was the earth goddess's wrath. He slowly straightened and looked up at the sky. It was very calm. There was no sign of the God King's presence, so it probably had nothing to do with the sky.
Then what could have made that primordial goddess unleash such fury?
His sleepiness was completely gone. He grabbed a dry branch and tossed it into the fire. The flames leaped and burned brightly again. He stared at them, his gaze somber.
The slightest stir from those great figures-any stray aftershock that reached them-would spell utter disaster. He was still too weak. He did not even dare open his perception fully, let alone touch upon the specific content of that anger.
He needed to become stronger, strong enough to protect himself, to protect the nymphs gathered around the fire who trusted him, and to protect this little haven of peace he had worked so hard to build.
In the underground divine realm, Nyx acted. Ripples like the night flowed from her fingertips and settled over Gaia's shoulders. That fury was firmly suppressed and spread no further.
Gaia closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. When she opened them again, her violent rage had settled.
As a primordial goddess, she had experienced the stillness of chaos and the world's first dawn. She understood that there were things more important than anger.
She sat down again, bracing her hands on her knees and lowering her head. She, too, possessed wisdom. As the first deity born from chaos, she had experienced too much and witnessed too much. Once her anger ebbed, the clarity it had obscured rose to the surface again.
She began to notice the traces she had once overlooked. Why had she borne those Titans one after another, even at the cost of her own essence and against her own will? Why, when Uranus forced himself upon her time and again, had she seemed to be drawn by some invisible force, unable to truly refuse?
She had thought it was love, that it was the irresistible natural attraction between sky and earth, that maternal instinct had driven her to give birth again and again.
But now she understood. It had been none of those things. Fate had been pushing her onward.
She restored calm to the earth. The presence of a primordial goddess flowed back into her, weighty and unshakable. She looked at Nyx. "Why didn't you tell me before? Why are you suddenly telling me this now?"
Nyx sighed softly. She raised her eyes toward the unseen surface above the underground divine realm. Her gaze passed through rock and soil, coming to rest far away beside a campfire beneath a certain mountain.
"There would have been no use in saying it before. That was the fate laid down by Chaos. No one could resist it. Even if I told you, when the appointed moment for an event arrived, everything that was meant to happen would still happen just the same."
"You would still give birth to the Titans, still suffer Uranus's abuse, still watch everything you had be taken away. It would not grant me the slightest additional power to change anything, nor spare you the slightest suffering. And the reason I am telling you now-"
She withdrew her gaze and looked at Gaia. "Is him. The god of emotions, an existence beyond fate."
Gaia frowned again, but did not interrupt.
"He is not part of fate's arrangements. His name does not appear in the river of fate. He is a thread of uncertainty born from chaos, a new variable that Chaos never foresaw."
"Because of him, the river of fate's hold on me has loosened a little. Fate is no longer the only possibility. Perhaps... he can change our ending."
Gaia fell silent. She slowly raised her head, her gaze passing through layers of rock, soil, and earth veins to settle beside the campfire at the foot of that mountain.
The young blond god was sitting in the firelight in a daze, his knees against his chin. His eyelashes cast long shadows in the firelight, his brow tightly furrowed and heavy with worry, as though he were pondering something.
A lesser god, born only two or three days ago. His divine power was far too weak-so weak that a single casual burst of her anger was enough to leave him trembling with fear.
Gaia watched for a long time before finally withdrawing her gaze, her tone utterly incredulous and full of doubt toward Nairmis. "Him? He can change our fate?"