"Young man, why do you gaze at the ocean with a gloomy face?"
Poseidon emerged from the waves and asked Aeacus with concern.
The young Aeacus felt an affinity for this stranger in a cloak. Without too much wariness, he poured out his tender feelings.
"I've fallen in love with a sea goddess, one of the fifty daughters of Nereus, Psamathe. The appearance of that blue - haired goddess made me find the only thing I long for."
Psamathe was the daughter of Nereus, the god of the friendly sea. These sea nymphs, led by their eldest sister Thetis, would guide fishermen at sea. They were widely respected among humans.
"I once begged the goddess to grant me her love, but she just smiled at me and has never appeared since then."
The boy's dejection was so obvious that it aroused Poseidon's paternal love. As the king of the deep sea and the nominal leader of the sea gods, perhaps out of a sense of compensation and guilt, Poseidon made up his mind to make Nereus' daughter Psamathe his son's wife.
After leaving the lake where she had lived, Aegina lost the glory of a goddess. This was also the reason why Aeacus, although inheriting the blood of his parents, was only a demigod.
The divine blood from Poseidon and Oceanus allowed the boy to walk freely on the water without harm. Aeacus had also searched for Psamathe, but this nymph would always flee before Aeacus got close.
Poseidon's encouragement made the boy regain his confidence. Guided by Poseidon and Apollo, Aeacus mustered up the courage to pursue the figure of his beloved.
Apollo, hiding in the clouds, cast a beam of light to show Aeacus the target. This made the sea nymph Psamathe nowhere to hide. She looked at the persistent boy in annoyance and stirred up the waves to make Aeacus back off.
The divine power of the god of the tsunami calmed the continuous waves. Psamathe tried every means to avoid this human. She tried to turn into a female snake and a swan, but she was still inescapable under Apollo's guidance.
Finally, Psamathe transformed into a seal and hid among a group of seals. This left Apollo in the sky with no way out. Aeacus didn't give up. Since he couldn't distinguish which seal was Psamathe in disguise, he tried one by one.
Apollo, seeing the boy making passionate confessions to a group of seals, felt a sense of sympathy. Unrequited love is lonely but also joyful. Apollo sincerely hoped that Aeacus would get a response from his beloved.
The god of inspiration started to play his lyre. The wonderful music made the seals can't help but flap their fins in accompaniment. Only one of them, sensing danger, wanted to hide back into the sea.
Aeacus hurried forward and blocked this seal. "Sea nymph Psamathe, please listen to my words. If you still reject me after listening to my confession, I will leave you with a grateful heart."
The seal stopped fleeing and raised its head to look at the boy.
"Human love is as short - lived as a flower for you, but please look at me, look at the sincerity and hope in my eyes. I swear to the gods that I will love you forever. If I break this oath, please take my life away."
Aeacus' eyes were so sincere that Psamathe was a bit moved. His hesitation made the boy full of hope. The sea nymph shed her seal disguise and revealed her beautiful true form. She accepted Aeacus' love - seeking and gave the seal skin she used for disguise to Aeacus as a token.
Aeacus came to Poseidon and Apollo and wanted to repay their help.
Apollo also told Aeacus the purpose of their coming. The boy, immersed in joy, immediately agreed to go to the earth to build an impregnable city wall. When this city wall was built, Dardanus came to hold a grand sacrifice for the two gods. In the square in front of the temple, Dardanus announced the new name of this city - state - Troy.
In the depths of the world's origin, Chaos, the primordial god, let out a final wail, and his mighty body completely disintegrated.
The establishment of Troy marked that human civilization would henceforth move towards prosperity. The vigorous vitality made the laws extremely active. The primordial gods, who had been in a long - standing tussle with the creator Chaos, survived this protracted battle.
Chaos' disintegrated body became the greatest driving force for the world's ascension. While humans were celebrating the birth of the first nation, the world's dimension - rising was also quietly taking place. Under the influence of the domains and laws of the five primordial gods, invisible ripples spread throughout this prosperous world. Zeus, who had been warned early on Mount Olympus, took this opportunity to integrate the growth - related divinities into one. With the divinity of life wrapped around him, the king of gods crossed that boundary that made the gods sigh.
The primordial god representing life descended and seized the first primordial god position after the world's ascension. Phoebe on the island of Delphi was also eager to try. The goddess of prophecy representing the future was very nervous. The domain of fate was not like the domain of life, which was almost monopolized by Zeus. The opportunities and choices in the hands of Tyche and the predestination in the hands of Styx both occupied a large proportion.
But who knew if such an opportunity would come again? Phoebe, who had made all preparations, had a resolute look in her eyes and resolutely took the final step.
Just when the gods were astonished at Zeus' powerful breakthrough, another force in the domain of life attracted their attention. However, Phoebe's situation was much more dangerous than Zeus'. The rank of the king of gods was not inferior to that of the primordial gods. Zeus also had the carefully - planned support of Tyche. Even so, his promotion process still had to be so cautious. It was probably that Phoebe didn't have enough confidence in her promotion with her incomplete domain of fate.
Under the nervous gaze of the goddess of luck Leto and the goddess of the starry night Astraea, the strange phenomenon on the island of Delphi stopped expanding, but the aura of the goddess Phoebe didn't disappear. Her promotion was still in progress!
Zeus came to the depths of the law and stood side by side with his mother. The newly - promoted primordial gods caught up with the last time to divide Chaos' legacy.
Under the World Tree, which was lush, the essence of Chaos was divided among the six primordial gods. In view of Zeus' bravery in the battle against Typhon and for Tyche's sake, four primordial gods still painfully left Zeus the supreme divinity that he deserved.
The biggest piece of the cake had been divided. The atmosphere among the six primordial gods began to become a bit strange. As Tyche had predicted, there were enough resources from this world's ascension to support two primordial gods. One of them was obtained by Zeus, which was an undeniable fact for the primordial gods. As the king of gods, Zeus had the same glory as the primordial gods and was naturally entitled to this fruit.
But they all had their own plans for the remaining primordial god position - The relatively weak primordial god of love wanted to fight for his ally Pontus, but Tartarus wouldn't want to see himself as the only single primordial god. Tyche and her son had already seized a primordial god position. If they still had any covetousness for the remaining one, probably Nyx, who had the same hometown as Tyche, would distance herself from her or even become her enemy. But the dark god and the goddess of night didn't have any allies or offspring who could seize the primordial god position. The Abyss, in the same marital situation as Nyx, was also watching. Tartarus, who had suffered the most damage in the Typhon disaster, would surely fall behind in the future race. Most of his gains this time had to be used to make up for the essence that Typhon had taken from him.
However, all the primordial gods agreed that this primordial god position could not fall into the hands of a deity unrelated to them.
The prophecy goddess' desperate struggle wasn't interfered with. Tyche had been taken care of by this goddess, and Zeus was even Phoebe's son - in - law. Eros' eager hands stiffened in place under the gazes of this mother and son.
But this was all Tyche could do. If she broke this delicate balance and helped Phoebe, the four primordial gods would surely intervene in Phoebe's promotion immediately.
In this silent atmosphere, Tyche helplessly watched as Phoebe's aura gradually faded. The prophecy goddess' desperate struggle didn't succeed. Her brilliant light began to dim. Styx, who hurried over, only left behind her remaining divinity.
The World Tree was held in Tyche's palm. The mother and son came to the island of Delphi and saw the sad Coeus and his daughters.
Tyche comforted Astraea, "Don't cry because of this. It's not impossible for Her Majesty Phoebe to return."
Then she signaled the gods to look at the incomplete divinity in Styx's hand, "The prophecy goddess still has a new choice. As long as she gets enough faith, Her Majesty Phoebe's consciousness will return from the divinity!"
"During this period, you should maintain her existence in the name of Phoebe. Leto and Astraea, dry your tears and bring revelations to all beings in the name of Phoebe."
This news comforted Coeus and his daughters. The goddess of the starry night didn't blame her friend for this. She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and thanked Tyche, "My mother had already predicted this. She told me that if such an ending couldn't be changed, she would calmly accept the arrangement of fate."
"The essence of fate is like Sisyphus' stone. The beginning is the end, and the start is also the end. This cycle cannot be unraveled."
Tyche sighed inwardly. Phoebe, the prophetess, divided her power and gave it to herself to prevent the birth of Moerae. Now, because her domain of fate was divided, she missed the opportunity to be promoted to a primordial god. It was really lamentable.
The gods on Mount Olympus didn't care about Phoebe's apparent fall. They had taught humans schadenfreude and jealousy. How many of them would truly grieve for the fall of an existence above them into the mire?
Both good and evil in human nature came from the gods' gifts. Their emotions would only be more extreme than those of humans.
Among Phoebe's legacies, the prophecy divinity was given to Tyche by Coeus. Leto and Astraea couldn't keep this divinity. Rather than letting their wife's legacy become rotten meat fought over by hyenas, it was better to entrust it to Tyche. At least, fearing Tyche's power and unwilling to touch the prophecy divinity, their wife's relic could remain intact.
Tyche promised to return this divinity to Phoebe after her return. And the lack of prophetic power benefited Apollo. The divinity of fate that he inherited from Leto smoothly connected with the divinity of omens. At his mother's request, Apollo gladly became famous among humans as the inheritor of the Delphic oracle. His priests all made prophecies for the nobles in the name of Delphi.
While bringing faith - nourishment to Phoebe, Apollo was smoothly promoted to a powerful god in the trend of faith. And the development of civilization also drove the development of various fields. In this wave, Demeter, the goddess of fertility and agriculture, was promoted right after Apollo. Then came Artemis of nature, and then Athena and Poseidon also broke through one after another.
Among the chief gods, only the goddess of luck Leto and the god of wealth and funerals Hades still remained at the intermediate - level god position. Leto's children both became powerful gods, and the queen of gods shared power with the king of gods. The gods had no dissatisfaction with Leto's stable position as a chief god.
The reclusive Hades wasn't so lucky. The first one to challenge him was Poseidon. The god of the tsunami claimed that the king of gods' position of his elder brother was his mother's legacy and shouldn't be enjoyed by Hades alone. Such a reversal was unexpected by everyone, but all the gods were happy to watch the joke of this pair of brothers and tried to make Hades fall from the king of gods' position.
The god of wealth was tired of this long ago. Looking at the red - faced gods in front of him, he slowly and solemnly said, "I am willing to give up the king of gods' position."
The gods were busy arguing and ignored the voice of this chief god.
Seeing this, Tyche couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for Hades. There were very few gods who didn't covet power, and even fewer who could resolutely give up power after tasting its sweetness. Hades usually didn't get involved in the gods' struggle for interests, which showed that he was a clear - headed and sensible person.
Just like vultures fighting over rotten meat, the voices of the gods became more and more noisy. Finally, Zeus, the king of gods, couldn't help scolding them.
"Put away your ugly looks. The king of gods' position won't be determined by your noise!"
The thunder in the sky exploded timely. Zeus' pressure as a primordial god made the temple return to silence.
Hades still maintained a calm face. He stood up in the silence and stated his wish again to the gods.
"I am willing to give up the king of gods' position."
The fellow chief gods were also astonished. Hera and Demeter were in a dilemma and turned their heads away silently, not looking at Hades and Poseidon.
For the first time in the spotlight, Hades still had the same calm expression, which made Poseidon a bit uneasy. To be fair, as an elder brother, Hades was qualified. He and Poseidon had supported each other to this day, but because of his younger brother's selfishness, this relationship ended on an incomplete note.
Putting down the scepter representing the king of gods' position, Hades left the Pantheon calmly with a calm look. The gods watched the god of wealth disappear on the earth and then immediately cast covetous eyes on the scepter without an owner.
Tyche ignored the occurrence of this farce. Regardless of the gods' whispering, she summoned Athena, the goddess of guardianship and strategy, to her side.
"Athena, who has inherited the wisdom of the Ocean God and the Sea Goddess, I will pass on the king of gods' position I got from my grandmother in the sea to you! From now on, you will shoulder the responsibility and obligation of protecting the sea gods."
Athena took over the scepter from Tyche's hand. Immediately, the rain, snow, clouds, and mist representing Tyche on the throne were replaced by waves and shields.
Tyche's abdication obviously didn't shock the gods like Hades'. Athena had the same bloodline as Zeus, which was inherited from Oceanus. This intelligent goddess would surely stand firmly on the side of the king of gods.
Tyche didn't care who the king of gods' position left by Hades would ultimately belong to. Accompanied by the Rainbow Goddesses, she returned to the Invisible Island.
The Rainbow Goddesses were originally Tyche's sub - gods. They came to Mount Olympus to share Zeus' pressure. But now that Zeus had become a primordial god, the absolute power gap made the gods dare not disobey the king of gods' orders like before. The goddesses were also freed from their busy work and returned to the comfortable Invisible Island.