Without another thought, I flew fast enough to reach my powers in two hours. They were trapped deep under an ocean ruled by multiple gods. This is a problem because I am nowhere near ready to battle even one God. I cannot risk being seen by a god in general until I'm strong enough to kill them or intelligent enough to manipulate them. As of right now, I need to bring people to my side instead of killing them, but the problem is that many of the gods are either one of his siblings or children. In some areas, they might be lovers of some sort, or even worse, under the control of a god called his friend, which means that I have to find a desperate and uncared-for god. 

I have only one choice in the matter, seeing as my only current power is far too weak to be used on a god. My current option would be to force them into my favor, which will be easier than most since Poseidon takes all the glory of being the God of the ocean and leaves the rest in grey. I need to gather intel. The best way to do so is to gather information about Pontus in whatever way I can.

My first thought was to locate a Mer village under the sea and find information about a malleable god, but that wasn't going to work since the ocean is ruled by multiple gods and Poseidon covers their names with his glory, and I'd be noticed by one of the gods almost immediately. My next thought was to start some sort of civil war between the ocean gods to distract them while I discourage Poseidon's belief, but that might not be the most comfortable choice or even a possible choice. Unfortunately for me I don't think there is another choice. My main option is to start a civil war between gods and use that window of opportunity to enter a Mer village and start gathering as much information as possible while ruining Poseidon's name. The question is, how will I start such a war?

It would seem my problem is solved. A 6ft tall fish-man with golden laced scales and a rather interesting pattern on its head is harvesting berries into a glass jar. I can only assume he is some form of worker of the merpeople's King. I concentrate my energy, making myself invisible, and float over to him behind his ear "don't yell," he yelps and turns around, trying to look for me. I put my hand on his mouth to keep him quiet and move to his ear "hush now, my child," I take my hand off him slowly so that he calms down "who are you?" he asks in a very shaky voice. I enter his mind and start manipulating his memories. "I am now your new god" after a few minutes, I completely eradicate his sense of morality and his memories. I then appear just over his head and put my hands behind my back with a smirk, "and YOU are mine."

He drops to his knees and closes his eyes for a few moments. I floated to the ground and waited in front of him, he woke up not too long after I did, and was quite reasonably perplexed and filled with questions. "Where am I? Who are you? Who am I exactly?" I levitate a few inches in front of him and put my hands on his forehead. "I am your god, you are where you need to be, and you are my creation" I'll have to use him to get what I desire, which will be difficult knowing I can not lie for it. I never lie. How do I know that? I’m not sure why, perhaps simply because it’s a socially rude gesture. Even if I did lie it’d decrease the strength of the manipulation and he’d get his memories back. How do I know that? Doesn’t matter. I fill his head with fake memories and thoughts that shift his moral compass and force him to believe that I am his God and created him for one purpose only, to destroy the Merpeople in any way possible, preferably cause a war, or rebellion to the gods.

I shove him into the ocean, and he swims to the depths where his kingdom lies. My only hope now is that nothing breaks the corruption in that merman. I sat there waiting for a few days enjoying the view, and carefully plotting every little detail of what I must do next. I try to tap into my future sight but to no avail, can it not be activated on command? Does it simply pick and choose when to appear? That’s annoying and somewhat throws a wrench in my work, I suppose I’ll just have to hope it comes when I most need it. While looking into the horizon, the clouds darken, the waves roughen, lightning rumbles in the sky, and typhoons form. I see a hand coming out of the water, pulling itself onto land, and then three beings crawl from the sea onto the earth.

From their immediate appearance I can safely assume that these beings are Suijin, Poseidon, and Sobek. Where might the other water gods be? And why is Suijin with those two? Of all water gods his powers aren’t as extraordinary and not a lot of humans know about him, at least outside his worship. Whatever, the one that poses the most threat now is out of his comfort zone, this means I have a small amount of time to get what I need. I turn invisible and enter the sea before they can entirely get out, making it so they don't notice my entry. I was capable of getting to the nearest village. I change my form into one of them and allow me to breathe underwater as they do.

The transmutation was more difficult than I had hoped because they have different organs than us, gods I mean, and they have scales covering most of their bodies; they also have fins on their feet and hands. I was still able to do it after a long while. It generally took me 10 minutes to accomplish but this is as close to a merperson I can get without knowing their exact biology and anatomy.

I walked into the village without arousing suspicion at all; which is shocking because by the looks of it, the mayhem that my little beasty did had reached very far and wide. The people of this village had looked at each other with a large amount of suspicion and hate, food was charged at ridiculous prices, and multiple guards were abusing anyone who even looked at someone slightly hostile. From its looks, those gods must either blame each other or look for some solution for this dilemma so that they may fix their creations’ mess. If they're at each other's throats just trying to find who is at fault or who must fix this, then they'll be up there for quite some time. If they're figuring out how this happened, then they'll be up there for longer, seeing as though I made it so the saboteur I set would kill himself after he succeeded and made sure he wouldn't have been seen no matter what. For him to have failed he would have died instantly and I’d have sense his death. I have approximately thirty days to gather information and force the weakest water god into my hand. I had better get some sleep before I do any form of surveillance.

After a full night's rest, I was ready to go and find a local fish pub. I suppose that even merpeople desire some kinds of pleasures in the world. How the hell do they drink alcohol underwater exactly? Meh, who cares. I found a stumbling fool walking out with loose currency falling from his body. He walks into an alley, allowing me to rob him blind and take the money he already had falling from him. I walk in, and to my surprise, their drinks are rather delicious, and their people are hardly drunk here. On the other hand, one man seems to be rather drunk and obnoxious, the perfect candidate!

I walk over to him and buy him a drink. He notices my hospitality and starts the most undesirable conversation I have ever heard. "I couldn't help but notice that you'd gone and bought me a nice little ol' drink for lil ol' me" I believe he's putting on a fake Irish accent; he's doing so poorly. Nevertheless, he hiccups after every few words but keeps going. "I ought to repay you in some way. Hows about I give ya a warm welcome at home" I raise my hand just in front of my neck to signal his silence "all I desire is some information from you" he takes a hearty swig of his ale and coughs on some of it while it goes down. "and what would ya like to know matey?" I glare at him and grab his shoulder "where is your king located?" he chortles at mi admittedly stupid question in the eyes of a merperson

He realizes I’m being serious and points in a direction. "It's just a few dozen miles east of here. I honestly can't believe that you don't know where your own monarch's state is" I get up and put a tip on the table. Quite lucky for me to have found that moron who was losing coins from his pocket without care. "I have no kings. I have divinity." I leave the bar and head out to the kingdom where the King sits.

Within a day and a half, I reach the merpeople's capital and find a temple that could help me discover what Poseidon fears most. As I enter the temple I notice that people pray to Poseidon and no one else. This seems to be the only temple for a few dozen miles. I suppose I could find anything I can about Poseidon while I'm here.

I found the high priest blessing some of the praying merpeople and moving on. He moves towards me, thinking that I am a patron of this somewhat egotistical temple. "Welcome, brother, to the temple of the one true god of the seas," he clasps his hands together and bows, expecting me to do the same. If I don't wish to uncover my deception, I'll have to copy his current movement and maintain my act for as long as possible.

As he rises, I do the same. I copy and then shake his hand. "I have but one question, priest, what of the other gods of the sea?" he shakes his head at my question and gestures to the statue of Poseidon and the smaller statues of other ocean gods behind it. "Poseidon is the one true God of the seven seas in the mortal realm and the infinite seas of the aether. He is even the God of the seas in other ocean gods' plane of existence. He is the God of all waters, be it the one in a human's cup or the rain in the sky" I look at him skeptically and turn him towards me "if he is the god of all water, including mortal seas, then why does he not go to the mortal plane nor other gods plane of existence?" the priest eyes me suspiciously and vexed "for it is forbidden for gods to enter the human realm whatsoever. And because mortals refuse him! Humans neglect the gods as it is. Other gods dare to resent his authority, but he has power over them all!" a few disciples look at us. I think my veil of secrecy is slowly becoming unlifted "the God you follow has no authority. He presents himself over all else, making it seem like he is most powerful, but he isn't, for Sobek is stronger as are a mass variety of gods! Including Ojom!" All the merpeople stand and shriek at me at the sound of my accursed name. I think it's time for a bit of a magic trick. "Your god is weak, and I think it is time you see that."

I start floating a few feet above all the merpeople and send out an explosive wave of weaving, one that leaves me drained, and them loyal. All they know about Poseidon has been erased, and their memories are being changed to what I please. their thoughts are manipulated to the point where they worship me as a god and see Poseidon as one of the weakest gods. Suijin seems unappreciated as the God of water, even in the already unbalanced hierarchy that is set in place. Perhaps I can use him to my advantage. They now follow Suijin and me as their gods. My work is done here.

I leave these people to tear down the statue and rebuild it as Suijin. I make my way through the rather large Atlantis and head off to the castle where the merpeople's king lyes, but I'm stopped by two guards holding silver spears. "Halt! You may not enter. You don't look like someone the King would waste time with. The energy I used to manipulate that group of people took a lot out of me. I'm not going to be able to do much of anything like that for another while, or at least until I get my full energy back. I would throw fire at them but seeing as we are underwater, I don't think it'll do much. "Fine then, I'll just leave" I have barely enough energy to go invisible for nearly thirty seconds, and then I'll be as useless as an average merman afterward. But it doesn't seem I have that much choice.

I go and hide behind a wall and go invisible. As soon as I can, I rush into the castle before losing my powers for a short period. I get into the castle before I quietly fall to the ground and pass out. The sound of guards footsteps wakes me. Who knows how much time I’ve wasted already, I can’t afford to waste any more. The first instinct is to run to the next corner next to a staircase. Then I hear a few guards coming up the same spiral staircase I'm just next to. I hide behind the wall next to them, and they walk in the opposite direction without noticing me. it's a bit worrying how oblivious they are

In a short amount of time, I scramble down the spiral staircase and check around in an attempt to make sure no one is on duty. "Who is out there?" I hear the raspy voice of a man, it actually sounds somewhat similar to the human Mark Hamill's voice whenever he does the voice of joker, but they don't seem to be that alert. He can't be a guard. Otherwise, he'd start looking for me. "I can sense you coming. The strange thing is that you don't seem to be a guard. you don't even seem to be a proper merperson whatsoever, which leaves me with the simple and yet confusing question," I hear the pleasantly familiar voice emanating from a hall filled with cells. "What the hell are you?" I should find the strange being that can somehow sense my presence. My aura isn't strong enough to sense yet, and even then, the small one I have should be hidden by the merperson facade and lack of energy. I find the cell that the voice is coming from, but I don't find a merperson. But instead, I found a human without eyes. "I'm more concerned as to what you are. You're clearly a human, yet you have no eyes and can breathe underwater. So what the hell are YOU exactly?" he stands up from the corner he was sitting in and walks towards the bars. "I'm the forgotten sacrifice to the gods, at the beginning of time my people were primitive, and they were terrified, when the gods could first enter the human realms they presented themselves to us and revealed what they were, and we were afraid, so we all bowed down to them and sacrificed many of our people, I wanted this incredible amount of respect that the gods had." He looks down as if he were about to cry. This seems to be a painful memory to him, making it all the more valuable to me. "I made several attempts at becoming a god, and I almost succeeded, but the gods found out about what I had done to become a god beforehand, and they were furious with me." I cock my head to the side and take a step closer to him. "What did you do to make the gods so mad?"

I must know if I can trust him. This may determine that. He looks up at me and stares at me with the holes in his head where his eyes should be. "I committed the first genocide, killed an entire village of humans, and literally bathed in their blood. I let some of the blood go out to a nearby river and turned it a crimson red. Then I consumed five human hearts and cut my wrist and let the blood cover a tiny baby's body, then I plunged my dagger into that same child." Interesting how far a human would go to get what he wants. After a breath or two, he continues on. He seems to be scarred as if he were reliving the memory of being punished by the gods. "Just as I finished writing about it in my journal for the next human who shared my ambition, the sky around my peoples' tribe had turned black, and the beach sea turned crimson red while the sand turned black like ash. Lightning leaped from cloud to cloud, and the sea had opened up a whirlpool in front of the docks, making it so we couldn't take the boats to escape, then wild animals had come from the forest blocking off our only exit. We were all so terrified, but I knew what was happening. The gods demanded justice for my crimes, so I walked to the front of the beach, and the sand shifted and made an opening for the red water to enter it." For a small moment, I could have sworn I heard shifting sands and raging tides, as well as a variety of fierce animals growling and screaming women and children and men being torn to shreds.

Could I be seeing the memory in his mind as clear as day? "The sand opened to make a pentagram with the water, and three people came out of the water. These people I now know as Anubis, Zeus, and Fortuna. Zeus spoke first and told me that I had committed unspeakable crimes and I shall be punished. Fortuna spoke and said that for my desire to be a great part of the aether I shall eternally rot in it, then Anubis said because my desires had made me so blind I shall lose my eyesight and never see the light of day again" He touches his face just below his eyes. He then puts his hand on the bar and grips it tightly. "then Anubis waved his staff and the sand shifted and took a solid form holding me down as Fortuna plunged her hands into my skull and ripped out my eyes. As they finished, I slumped to the ground, and Zeus summoned a bolt of lightning that hit us all. When I came to, I realized I was in the prison of Atlantis." He gestures to the cell he is currently in. "since that day, I've been attuning to the depths of the sea, feeling the movements and patterns of the water. Though I am blind, the water helps me see it all."

He puts his hand back on the bars and looks directly at me as though he could actually see me as I see him. "Now it is your turn to answer my questions." He lowers his voice into a low growl "who are you?" I'll have to avoid the whole truth to the best of my abilities. "I'm afraid I don't know who I am. You may call me Ojom. and I'm a god of some sort" I look around his poorly kept cell. I shudder at the coldness just before I finish talking. I break the chain poorly, holding the gate. "Suijin is above the sea. Help me find and threaten the King, and I will help you with anything you desire" he walks out of the cell and puts a hand on my shoulder.

"I have had a lot of time to atone for what I have done in the past. I have come to terms with the fact that this is what I deserve." There must be something to change that. I just have to find his weak spot. "I can bring your eyes back. I can give you power. I can be your friend." He takes a second to ruminate on this new option that I have just bestowed upon him, but in the end, he comes to see reason. "I will help you with this, but in turn, I desire my eyes once again, and I wish to live in the mortal plane once again" I give him a confused stare, but in the end, I cannot choose what it is that he desires from this bargain and I can only help him to the best of my abilities. After all, I need him as well as he needs me.

We make our way to the spiral staircase and begin to ascend upwards and make our way to the kings' chambers. It was not an easy task seeing as though we had to duck and dodge multiple guards. "What will we do exactly when we get to the king?" My friend asks. I hadn't thought that far, but I suppose I'll just put a manipulation on him so that he may give me the information I need and run this city to the ground. Still, I shouldn't let my new friend know this. If he finds out I can manipulate beings' minds, he may become upset with me, and his morals may suddenly change, so I'll have to avoid telling the truth for now. "If you're insinuating that I don't have a plan, I'll have you know that I do." He shrugs it off. I suppose he doesn't much like to question things that often. "If you don't mind me, ask, my mysterious new friend. what might your name be?" He looks over to me with a warm, trusting smile, "Topulas, you may call me Topulas," A strange name, but I suppose that will do.

We come to a corridor with a large door at the end of the hall. Any moron can assume that this is most likely the kings' chambers. Now it's just a matter of getting inside. "Shall we proceed?" Topulas suggests. Though it would be ideal for entering the room and doing what we came to do, we should find out how many people are in there first. Every equation has an infinite amount of possibilities until you find every variable. Then it sums it down to a certain amount of outcomes, meaning if I know how many people are in the room, I shall be able to properly devise a plan of action. Looks like a job for my new blind friend. "Topulas, I need you to see just how many people are in the room currently" He nods and closes his eyelids so he can get more in tune with the currents and the waves. "There is no one in the room, but we should hurry. The King is coming from the castle kitchen" I should wait for the King to come so that we can ambush him. Still, we should probably find as much information as physically possible to use it to my advantage, knowledge is power, and I intend on destroying Zeus. This is the best way I can think of. "Come, my friend, if we are on borrowed time, then we must find as much information as we can quickly." We make our way into the room and immediately start searching through chests, desks, bookshelves, and all across his bed. "Ojom, I've found something," I drop the books I was scanning through a moment ago and walk across the room to where Topulas is.

He's holding a journal with no title. Whatever could it be? Topulas feels the cover of it and hands it to me. "What is this?" Topulas asks me. I almost forgot how he cannot read, for he cannot see. "one moment as I scan through it." After a few moments of reading through the mystery book, I've found out it's the kings' personal log of what happens in his day-to-day life, and according to it, he had a talk with Poseidon just the other day before I began my chaos, the pages stop there. Perhaps if I got a hold of the King, I could scan his memories and precisely determine what that glorified fish tamer has planned.

Suddenly something pierces my chest. I look down and see that a trident has gone through my body, and I'm now bleeding out while my friend is already dead next to me. Then it all goes back to normal, Topulas is standing next to me, and the door has closed. Was that an aberration? But of what? I didn't get that good of a view. Then it happens again, but this Topulas dies first, and I turn around fast enough to see the King walking through the door. I imagine the pain would have been excruciating if I had felt it. Topulas and I turn around to the door and say, "the king is coming" at the same time. With that in mind, we are now battle-ready, and the doors open to what we can only assume is the King. He has a pearl and marble forged trident with narwhal horns tipping the edges in his hand, and he is prepared to strike us down without hesitation. "Unless you want to be executed, I advise you to stand down" he points the trident at me and then grips it, ready for battle. "Insolent merman" as soon as I finish my statement, I see an aberration running at me at full force and slicing my abdomen. As the vision ends, he begins to reenact what I saw, and I easily sidestep him, and he falls to the floor like a stumbling baby. 

He gets back up, baffled, and I see another aberration of him plunging the weapon into my stomach with a single thrust. The vision ends, and he tries to repeat it, but I grab the trident and pull it away from him. I jab his stomach with the blunt end of it and turn it on him then grab him by the throat to force him to his knees. "Scream, and I'll kill you along with any merperson that comes through that door or even sets foot on that staircase" I throw him to the farthest end of the room and close the door. "You have something I want," he crawls backward into a wall like a scared little dog "what do you want, demon?!" I pick him up by the throat and pull him to the balcony at the end of his room, looming over the entire city of gold and corral, then I hang him over it. "I want your mind," almost in cue, as I say that I regain enough energy for me to manipulate him, and that's just what I did.

I use my small amount of power to make his mind in my image and steal his memory from when he met with Poseidon. I get a vision as though I were actually there. Poseidon is hovering away from the balcony, and the King is bowing. Poseidon speaks in a deep, echoing voice. "By orders of my brother I intend on killing Suijin and taking his power to restore the vast amount I lost in the final battle of Evil and Thunder, and have since then failed to recover. In order to achieve my goal I require your kingdom to aid me in his death, will you obey?" the king nods, and then the vision ends, and the kings' mind is entirely under my control. He now belongs to me, and all he does is what I command. I think that I can rather absorb his memories instead of completely erase them; let's give it a try. I take a string of memories full of what he knows about the sea gods, and then I consume them like a noodle of spaghetti. All I get out of them is that Suijin is jealous of Poseidon, and he will do anything to rule more of the sea than he already does. "You have just given me the greatest help I could hope for. You have served your God well" I absorb his essence and drop him to the city he so loves and protects where he dissolves into energy and ash, the energy automatically comes back to me and the ask disperses into the water

Because I absorbed him, I can now wholly mimic him in shape and voice and naturally breathe underwater without transforming my organs. With this new upgrade, I transform into the now fallen King. "I shall return to give you your eyes back and send you to the humans soon, my dear friend." I fly to the surface, waving goodbye to Topulas, as all of the gods except Suijin dive back into the depths of the sea. I rise from the ocean and float a few inches above the waves, "Who are you?" Suijin asks. I extend my hand out to him and change my form to normal and make it appear as though I'm glowing. "I am your ascension to great power. I am your hope. I am your salvation." He takes my hand, and I come to the ground and stare at his eyes. "I can make you the most respected god of the sea and make it so that not even Poseidon may question you." He looks at me, baffled by my offer. "How can you promise such power?" He asks in a gasp of amazement and intrigue. I gesture to the small part of the ocean that he rules. "By giving me my powers back."

He gasps and falls to the floor and starts crawling backward into a palm tree. "Y-you're the corruptor that Zeus warned everyone about. You're the ultimate evil!" He points at me in purebred fear and terror. "I won't give you your powers! Poseidon will either kill us both or tell Zeus!" I shake my head and pick him up from the ground. "Unfortunately, you have little choice in the matter. Without my help, Poseidon will kill you anyhow." He shakes his head in disbelief "no, I don't believe you. Poseidon may be an arrogant control freak, but he wouldn't kill me!" He crawls back a little more and looks doubtful "would he?" I kneel before him and put my hand on his head. "Let me show you" I show him the memory of Poseidon conspiring to kill Suijin and take his power and territory. As soon as the vision is done, he starts venting, "I can't believe he would do this to me!" He looks maddeningly confused, shocked, and furious. Now, with little choice and intense motive, he starts pondering on his offer, "the one true god of the sea? you can grant me this?" he says while thinking it over. Perhaps I should clear the air “All I need is your loyalty and my power, then you will need to follow me for however long it takes and then you will have your wish. You have an eternity to wait.” When he comes to a conclusion, he looks back at me. "You have 30 minutes to consume the energy of your old form, then you need to get back up, or Poseidon will feel your dark presence." I shake his hand and give him an assuring nod. "When I return, you will become my apprentice and soon we shall kill Poseidon, and you will become the one true god of the seas."

He nods, and I dive deep into the ocean. After a minute and a half, I reach the ocean floor and find an underwater volcano with a significant upstream of air pockets. In the core of the underwater volcano is a giant ball of raw power and natural energy. Is this my energy? Yes, it must be mine. I dive into the volcano with the scalding air pockets burning my face, but I'm only a few inches away from an infinite possibility of power. With that in mind, I must persevere. I must become a god again!

I grab hold of the essence, and the heat scalds my hands, swirling around the core of the volcano, and all of the air pockets that were going to the surface of the ocean are now suddenly getting sucked into the volcano once again. As all the energy is sucked right back into the orb of power, a sudden wave goes across the entire sea and forces a tidal wave onto the beach shore. My power has been restored, and I know what I can do now.

The rush of power fills me with such an incredible feeling, one that most can only ever dream of. But despite all this the fact of the matter is Poseidon is stronger than Zues, and I currently am quite literally no match for Zues. There’s a hierarchy of gods. Most of the gods derive their power from both human belief and human recognition; these are called fidens. The rest, like me, derive their own powers from nothing; these are called princeps. Sometimes they can be both, those have no names. Though those are a rare breed and arguably higher up on that hierarchy, there are still a number of things to factor in, such as which would be where they hail from such as: Egypt, Rome, and Greek. And again there are some gods like me that have no base origin or domain. Some gods even have multiple. Those that have no hailing like me are also an extremely rare breed and once again higher up on the hierarchy. Despite this, currently the absolute top, even above the ‘vagi’ which is the name for gods without origin, are the Greeks. And of course there is also the factor of what type of god they are, gods often have multiple powers and responsibilities, like myself being both the god of corruption and mortal karma, but once again even above myself who at this point is a category IV god are the gods of the sky, and at the pinnacle of them are gods of the sun and gods of lightning. And as guessed already, Zues is a: self energy god AND a recognition based energy god, a Greek god, and a lightning god. Putting him at category V. Not to mention he is a chief of gods in the Greek region, which increases his powers tenfold, not to mention the unquestioned loyalty he has over most of the Greek. So much so that’s what elected him king of the Aether as a whole, which once again, boosts his powers tenfold.

Needless to say, Poseidon being stronger than Zues without having the boosts from his social status, I’m in no real mood to fight him any time soon. I swim as fast as I can back to the surface where I’m greeted by Suijin fiddling with a shell. “Did you get your powers back?” He asks excitedly. I respond to him while summoning pure undiluted metal into my right hand, “yes, I did, now for you to begin helping me, as promised.” He nods his head eagerly awaiting my orders like a well trained mutt. “Go and nullify the part of the ocean I’ve caused the civil war in so that I may enter freely without worry of the gods cracking down on me.” He turns his head to the ocean then back to me trying to find the words for the information I’ve just bestowed upon him. “Wait, that was you! You caused that? You’re single handedly  responsible for hundreds of merpeople’s deaths?” I nod my head without further explanation then gesture for him to get on with it. He shakingly walks into the ocean and nullifies every lick of the Atlantis I have doomed.

Soon after, I jump into the sea and go to find Topulas. I find him wandering the streets of Atlantis without much of a care in the world. He senses me and looks up with a smile. "Ojom, I take it you have your powers back?" I create a pocket of air by taking all the hydrogen in a five-foot radius and pushing it outwards by another five feet making a ten foot pocket of oxygen around us. He gasps and starts to look around frantically. "What did you do?! I'm blind!" I give him a warm chuckle and create a perfect working replica of human-like fish eyes using the stolen DNA I have from merpeople. "you won't be blind for very much longer, friend. Hold still." I plant the eyes into his skull, and they begin to morph and attach themselves to him. He closes his eyelids and lets them form. After a few minutes, he opens them, and he has eyes once again. He can see once again. He's so happy that he begins to cry, "you'd be surprised how much you miss crying when you couldn't have done it for a few dozen millennia" he laughs and hugs me. I feel the same way I felt when I had the choice of killing Dae, but this one is rather blissful. The turning in my stomach is still there but I slightly don’t want it to stop this time, and I actually feel quite warm inside despite both of our soaking wet clothes from this cold cold sea. In fact my insides feel like a fireplace inside a log cabin during the winter, so cozy and safe. Is this friendship? Why is he showing affection in this way? Better yet, why do I feel so good about it? Is it because I did a good deed, or am I simply happy to see my new friend happy? It doesn't matter. I really don't like the fact that I'm enjoying this hug. After a few minutes, he lets me go and wipes the tear from his face. "So, how do you intend on sending me back to the human realm-" just before he finishes talking, I tap him on the forehead, and he dematerializes from my world and enters the mortal plane. I hope your new life is excellent, my friend. Just before I close the pocket of air I press my chest where Topulas had hugged me, and I feel the cold wet bits from our time in the water. Then it’s joined by another one falling from my face, a tear. I guess he was a bit more than just an asset, but genuinely a friend in some area. Though our time together was short and we did little for each other, I will miss him. Why he decided to go back to those pathetic humans I will never know. But at least I know my friend has gotten what he truly desired.