Curiosity flickered stronger than fear, and Dolus simply stared.
The monster chuckled, a bubbling sound like shifting tides. Then, with a shimmer of scales and a ripple through the water, the beast’s form melted into something far more graceful—a man with flowing blue hair, translucent fins, and a long tail that swayed like seaweed in a gentle current.
“Hello, little one,” the figure said softly, his dark eyes crinkling with a smile. “I am your father, Phorcys. And this—” he turned, lifting a golden blur into view, “—is your sister, Aphrodite.”
She giggled and kicked her feet, already radiant and playful. Though born the same day, Aphrodite had grown faster—twirling through life like sunlight on waves, already nearing the stature of a two-year-old child.
Dolus, slower but steady, was catching up. Growing swiftly in his sleep, he was now around the size of a one-year-old—a remarkable pace for a daemon, though still shy of his sister’s speed.
Not long after, Keto swept into the chamber like a current. Her serpentine tail shimmered with grace, and her eyes sparkled at the sight before her. The palace, once hushed in the deep, now bloomed with life. Seeing her son awake and at peace with his father and sister filled her heart with joy.
With gentle laughter, she introduced herself to her son and joined the playful gathering.
The family of four sat together, awash in coral-colored light and soft laughter. For a moment, the depths of the ocean were peaceful. But like mortal infants, divine ones held much less energy and slept for most of their first months.
As the children yawned and drifted back into sleep, Keto turned to Phorcys.
“Now that both children have awakened… shall we visit Nereus and share the good news?”
Phorcys nodded. “Of course. Nereus was vital to the miracle of their birth. He has foresight and wisdom beyond compare. Perhaps he will offer us guidance on how best to raise them.”
With agreement from both sides, the two gods set out. Cradling their sleeping newborns close, they slipped into the winding ocean paths. Though their palace lay deep in the abyss where even light forgot the way, ancient sea currents connected it to the realms of their blood kin.
Nereus, god of calm seas and prophecy, embodied the ocean’s gentler side. Known among sea creatures as a kind and wise elder, his home reflected this serenity.
Where Keto and Phorcys dwelled in shadowed halls of black seastone and glowing gems, Nereus’s realm bloomed in contrast. His palace was a garden of coral and light, sea creatures drifting like petals in a floating breeze. The palace itself was a transparent crystal dome, shimmering with refracted sunbeams from the surface far above.
The palace doors opened before they arrived, sensing their approach. From within stepped an old man, his beard floating like a silver cloud, his robe the pale hue of morning frost.
Gently stroking his beard, Nereus smiled. “My dear brother Phorcys, sister Keto—have you succeeded?”
Keto beamed. “Haha! Indeed we have, brother! This is my child, Dolus.” She raised him proudly in her arms.
Nereus leaned down, taking the slumbering boy into his own. He let out a delighted laugh.
“Hahaha! Congratulations! What a sweet little one!”
He held Dolus close and whispered a blessing, ancient and soft:
“Child of the depths,
May the sea know your name,
May its creatures call you friend,
And may its mysteries never frighten you.”
The words rippled through the water like a sigh. Nereus’s face paled by a shade.
Keto looked on, concerned. “Brother Nereus, are you alright? You didn’t have to exert yourself.”
The blessings and curses of gods were never trivial—they drew upon divine essence, taxing the soul, equvialent the subject's potential.
“I wanted to,” Nereus said softly. “For a child born of miracles, how could I do less?”
Dolus stirred in his arms, cooing gently. Nereus laughed.
“He already laughs,” the sea god mused. “Before he speaks, he laughs. That’s a rare and lovely thing.”
Keto, pleased by Nereus’s affection for Dolus, smiled.
"And this must be Aphrodite?" Nereus inquired, turning to the golden-haired goddess—a ray of sun in a family of somber blues and blacks. "I can see why this little one will grow into the goddess of beauty. Her divinity is almost crystalline—a rare state."
Unlike the gods of sky and land, sea gods , which could shapeshift to their preferred form, valued the richness and uniqueness of one's divine aura over physical form when evaluating beauty. The more distinctive and radiant the essence, the more beautiful one was in the eyes of the sea.
“ A rare gift, even among gods. Indeed, she will bring beauty wherever she walks—but guard her well.”
Keto and Phorcys exchanged a glance.
“Beauty without strength invites ruin,” Nereus said solemnly. “Dolus, too, carries that glimmer, due to his shared birth—quieter, but no less potent. Be careful. The world is not always kind. You must protect them before they can protect themselves.”
Phorcys and Keto nodded. They understood the precarious nature of their children’s existence. With beauty but no strength—even gods often faced dire consequences at the hands of their own kind. That was simply the way of this world.
Phorcys gently took Aphrodite from Nereus’s arms. "Thank you for your wisdom, Brother. We will heed your advice."
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
“I know,” Nereus smiled, returning the children. “And know that my doors are always open.”
He paused, then added, “There is another your children should perhaps meet—Metis, daughter of Oceanus. She is newly born, like them. A goddess of wisdom.”
Phorcys’s expression darkened for a flicker of a moment. “Oceanus,” he said, the name like a cold current.
“This isn’t prophecy,” Nereus reassured. “Just advice.”
Phorcys exhaled. “We’ll consider it.”
The sea was a complex realm with many gods and divine beings, born primarily from two major sea gods: Pontus and Oceanus.
Pontus was an ancient, pre-Titanic sea god. Born alongside Uranus and Uriah. After the fall of Uranus, Pontus layed with his mother Gaia and fathered 5 children; Nereus (the Old Man of the Sea), Thaumas (the sea's dangerous aspects), Phorcys (the darkness and depths of the sea), his sister-consort Keto, and the "Strong Goddess" Eurybia. Later, he consorted with the sea goddess Thalassa, with whom he fathered the Telchines and all sea life.
Metis, however, was born of Oceanus.
Oceanus was the eldest Titan offspring of Uranus (Pontus's brother) and Gaia. His various Titan siblings are Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys, and Cronus. Oceanus married his sister Tethys, the goddess representing the fertility and vitality of the sea, and together they fathered numerous minor deities—the river gods and the Oceanids.
Each was in charge of managing a certain area of water, from rivers to lakes to minor seas bestowed upon them by their father.
Oceanus wanted to use his children to take control of all the ocean. However, due to Pontus and his siblings, Oceanus was unable to truly rule over the ocean.
While he could manage the water and rule over various parts of the sea through his countless children, there were already rulers that managed the state of the water—leaving aside a domain he could not reach.
Hence, the relationship between the two factions has always been tense but relenting, as neither side could do anything to the other.
Each of Pontus's children with Gaia was powerful and feared, yet Oceanus's children were necessary for the steady management of the vast and never-ending sea. This is why both sides have reluctantly accepted the presence of the other in this vast sea for ages.
This began to change when Metis was born. Metis, unlike her numerous siblings, was born with a divinity that hadn't been bestowed upon her by her father. Metis, born of Oceanus, was something new—not strength, nor beauty, but cleverness. A different kind of power.
Phorcys didn’t like it. But he was wise enough to stay open—for now
In truth, Keto, Nereus, and Phorcys had little concern for Oceanus’s ambitions. Nereus, embodiment of peace, cared nothing for power. Keto’s domain lay with monsters, not sea rule. And Phorcys’s realm—the dark abyss—was undesired by even Oceanus’s weakest children.
But their siblings Eurybia and Thaumas, the strongest of the five, were fiercely territorial—especially after their father fell into slumber.
With all that needed to be said now spoken, the trio parted ways.
With final farewells, Keto and Phorcys returned home, the children nestled in their arms.
And in light of Nereus’s warning, they set a plan in motion: guardians would be chosen—beasts of the deep, bound by blood and magic.
For Aphrodite: two serpentine sisters with human faces and potent venom.
For Dolus: a kraken-child the size of a ship, and a shapeshifter with obsidian skin who melted into shadow like smoke.
Over the years, each guardian began to reflect the child they served. The serpent sisters grew more crystalline and humanoid in Aphrodite’s presence, drawn to her radiance.
The kraken and the shapeshifter, serving Dolus, became masters of deception. The shapeshifter, known as Loi, learned to mimic the aura of divinity itself. Though the illusion was brief, it was convincing enough to fool even Dolus’s parents during games of hide-and-seek—much to their dismay.
(Extra: A Magical game of hide and Seek)
The palace echoed with laughter.
Somewhere between coral colonnades and pearl-tiled halls, a golden giggle bounced from wall to wall like a bubble.
“Found you!” Keto called, swooping past a pillar.
But it was only a school of illusionary fish, scattering in a chorus of laughter as they vanished into a swirl of glitter.
“She got you again,” Phorcys floated above the scene, upside-down, his long hair drifting like seaweed. “Aphrodite’s getting better.”
“She’s cheating again,” Keto huffed good-naturedly, her eyes glowing with playful fire. “She lit the fish up like lanterns.”
Behind her, the two serpentine sisters—Aphrodite’s guardians—giggled softly, transformed into ribbons of silk draped around the underwater garden. Their eyes sparkled with mischief, their crystalline scales pulsing gently with the same golden-pink hue as their charge.
“I didn’t tell them to help! They did it by themselves!!” a tiny voice called from nowhere in particular.
Then, with a shimmer of light and a chime like bells in the tide, Aphrodite popped into view. She twirled mid-water, her little body glowing with joy. “You were soooo close, Mama!”
Keto darted forward and scooped her up, nuzzling her giggling daughter. “No fair! You cast a spell over your aura again!”
“Only a tiny one,” Aphrodite said innocently, batting her lashes. Her laughter chimed through the castle, carried by the currents.
Meanwhile, Phorcys was having a troubling time finding Dolus. He narrowed his eyes, scanning the dark crevices of the sea. His gaze settled on a shadow beside the table. There, nestled in a chest, the boy’s raven eyes sparkled with mischief. But something seemed off.
“Aha! Got... you?”
Phorcys frowned as the divine aura of the boy flickered. Unable to maintain the illusion any longer, a soft ripple shimmered—and then a shape peeled away from the shadows. It was Loi, Dolus’s shapeshifting guardian, obsidian skin smooth and glistening like oil on water.
“...Where?”
“He asked me not to tell,” Loi said solemnly, blinking silver eyes.
Phorcys sighed and turned to the other guardian—an enormous kraken-child coiled gently in the nursery’s garden. “Did he leave any clues this time?”
The kraken lifted one massive tentacle and waved innocently, its many eyes blinking out of sync. “Not this time.”
“Hmm,” Phorcys muttered, scanning the room.
Then he frowned.
Keto followed his gaze.
“Wait. Was that statue always there?”
On the far side of the hall stood a stone figure—a perfect replica of Nereus, beard and all, holding a seashell staff. Its eyes twinkled just a little too knowingly.
Keto and Phorcys exchanged glances.
“Gotcha!” Phorcys said, surging forward.
The statue melted instantly into smoke—then reformed as a cackling toddler, chubby and slippery, wearing a seaweed cape.
Dolus!
“I almost fooled you!” he squealed, darting off into the coral maze.
“Loi taught you that trick, didn’t he?” Keto called, swimming after him.
“Noooope!” came the cheeky reply. “I taught him!”
Phorcys reached in, scooping him up gently. “Clever boy.”
“I was a statue,” Dolus said proudly. “Like Nereus!”
“Except statues don’t giggle,” Keto teased, pressing a kiss to his forehead.
Eventually, both children were caught and returned to the central hall, tangled in hugs, seaweed, and sleepy laughter.
The two guardians swam close and coiled nearby protectively—Loi slipping into a relaxed humanoid form and nestling beside Dolus, the kraken softly humming through its gills. The serpentine twins curled around Aphrodite like warm blankets.
Keto and Phorcys tucked their children into a bed of woven seaweed and soft sponges, the glow of bioluminescent coral casting a gentle light across their small faces.
Peace settled over the palace once more.
Phorcys let out a satisfied sigh. “I think we won that round.”
“Hmm... It’s embarrassing enough that we had to use our abilities just to catch and find our kids. They're only three years old,” Keto murmured, draping her tail over the children.
Phorcys laughed, pressing a kiss to her brow. “For our pride, let’s call it our victory.”
(End of Chapter)