Her face was shrouded in unseen night. The Three Fates turned toward her together and bowed once more, their faces bright with smiles.
Their manner was more intimate this time. After all, they had been born from her essence, and though they bore the power of fate, they had also incorporated the aura of her night.
"Noble and beautiful Lady Nyx, our mother, your daughters offer you their love. May night shelter you forever."
Nyx merely nodded slightly. Her gaze swept over the three goddesses before finally settling on Uranus.
Just then, a dense brown light surged from the earth.
The contours of mountains and the patterns of rivers coalesced into an immense face in an instant, with brown eyes, mountain-like brow ridges, and river-like hair. Gaia's voice emerged from that face.
"Uranus, enough. Stop."
The God of Darkness and the Goddess of Night flanked her face, while the three newly born Goddesses of Fate stood before her. The opposing sides had already taken shape.
Uranus's gaze slowly swept over that face formed from mountains and rivers, over the two Primordial Gods of Darkness and Night behind her, and over the three Goddesses of Fate, who held a power he could not evade.
The dim light at the entrance to the Underworld fell across his profile, its shifting light and shadow obscuring his true expression.
At that moment, the atmosphere grew utterly stifling. Even the souls in the Styx felt the oppressive weight.
The pen in Nairmis's hand raced across the parchment, capturing the scene before him stroke by stroke. Every detail became a sequence of images beneath his pen, and his Record Godhead pulsed ceaselessly.
His pen moved faster and faster, while his eyes did not so much as blink as he watched the beings facing off with complete concentration.
As he drew, faint footsteps sounded beside a rock not far to his right. He instinctively turned his head and saw a deep-blue figure emerging from the night.
Her long hair was the blue of the deep sea, her eyes pale gray, and she wore a simple long dress.
Her gaze lingered on Nairmis for a moment. Then she smiled, curiosity and a probing air in her smile.
"Lord Nairmis, a fellow leader in wisdom, Metis the wise, daughter of the Ocean God Oceanus and the Sea Goddess Tethys, greets you."
She nodded slightly, then exclaimed in admiration, "Your beauty truly is as dazzling as the rumors say."
Nairmis's pen hand paused. He recognized that name: Metis.
Foremost among the Oceanids, the Goddess of Wisdom who would play an important role in Zeus's Titanomachy. She was also the one whom Zeus would swallow into his belly one day.
He could not help giving her another couple of looks. The deep-blue hair, the composed smile, that calm bearing, as though everything lay within her calculations-she really was just as the rumors described.
Nairmis set down his pen and offered a polite smile. "Lady Metis the wise, foremost among the Oceanids, I have long admired you. I, too, have heard your name."
Metis smiled. She did not pursue the matter, merely turning her gaze back toward the slowly dissipating golden light.
"Then, Lord Nairmis, possessor of the Prophecy Godhead," she asked softly, "will a fight break out today?"
Nairmis considered it and secretly stirred his Prophecy Godhead, but nothing came. There was only a silent blank.
Nairmis sighed inwardly. This Prophecy Godhead was only third-rank, after all, and was practically powerless when it came to Primordial Gods and world-scale events.
He had tried prophesying certain things before, too, but whenever they touched upon Uranus, the Primordial Gods, or major turns of fate, the Prophecy Godhead fell completely silent.
In truth, this godhead's formation had largely depended on his own knowledge of this mythological world.
It was like holding the answer and then pretending he had calculated the result himself. There was still a gap between that and true prophecy.
He maintained a gentle expression, unwilling to show uncertainty before this fellow practitioner.
He glanced once more at Uranus's distant back, quickly reviewing the details he had observed while playing for Uranus during this time.
Though he was merely a musician who had presented himself at the door, his understanding of the God King's temper was indeed more direct than that of most gods. Uranus might look menacing, but if he truly intended to fight, he would not have held off for so long.
Besides, three Primordial Gods and three Goddesses of Fate stood opposite him. However much Uranus relied on his might as God King, he would not strike rashly without absolute confidence.
He smiled slightly and gently shook his head at Metis. "There won't be a fight tonight."
The words had barely left his mouth when a muffled crash came from afar.
Nairmis whipped his head around. Uranus's palm was descending from the air, golden divine power condensing into an enormous palm print that struck squarely against Gaia's face of mountains and rivers. That brown face shattered into countless motes of light in an instant.
The stretch of earth where she had appeared returned to stillness. No new face took shape.
Yet after smashing that face, Uranus did not spare anyone another glance, and the air fell silent again. He gave a cold laugh, turned, and stepped into the air, flying back toward the Sky Divine Domain. His figure was swiftly swallowed by the night.
Nairmis: "..."
He felt Metis cast a somewhat puzzled look at him from his side. Without changing his expression, he calmly added, "I meant that there would only be this one strike, with nothing to follow."
The trace of puzzlement slowly vanished from Metis's pale-gray eyes, and a faint smile returned to her lips.
She asked no further questions, merely nodding slightly, as though accepting his judgment.
In the distance, Nyx, Erebus, and the Three Fates stood at the entrance to the Underworld, watching until Uranus's figure vanished entirely above the vault of the sky.
Nyx's expression was hidden beneath the veil of night, but she did not linger. With only a slight lift of her fingers toward the Three Fates, she disappeared with them into the darkness of the Underworld.
Erebus followed a step behind, then likewise faded away at the entrance to the Netherworld.
Seeing that both central parties to the confrontation had dispersed, the other watching gods withdrew their gazes one after another.
Nairmis quietly let out a breath. That was close. At least I didn't keep getting slapped in the face.
He bowed slightly to Metis, preparing to take his leave. "Lady Metis, it was a pleasure to witness this scene with you tonight. If you have some free time another day, you are welcome to visit Proeon."
He turned to go, but Metis's voice came from behind him. "Lord Nairmis, please wait."