Chapter 122 - A Soul Divided
Deep Blue’s manifestations differed fundamentally from those of the Lord of Aether. While he could adapt to a vacuous, incorporeal state instantaneously, Deep Blue required years each time she returned to her ethereal form to re-acclimatize to the essence of divinity and fully merge with the consciousness of the ocean. However, ever since she had grown accustomed to the simple, vibrant joys of the lower-dimensional world, her perception of time had sharpened. She was no longer willing to wait through those long, silent years.
Since that was the case, she decided it was better to simply maintain the status quo and live as a carefree girl of the Sea Race.
Yet, even a happy girl could not escape the occasional worry. For instance, when her beloved was feeling unwell.
Her own physical form was exceptionally cold-resistant, but the Lord of Aether’s body was built for heat. His tolerance for sub-zero temperatures was only marginally better than that of an ordinary biological organism. As the global climate shifted and temperatures plummeted below minus twenty degrees, the Lord of Aether began to falter.
On this day, Deep Blue and the Lord of Aether walked along the surface of a massive glacier. As was his habit, he remained quiet, his words sparse. Deep Blue, full of energy, chattered away with infectious enthusiasm, only to realize that his spirit was far dimmer than usual. She leaned in to inspect his face, reaching out to touch his cheek, and let out a sharp gasp of air.
"In broad daylight... are you trying to take liberties with me?" the Lord of Aether asked with a faint, weary chuckle.
"How are you this burning hot?" Deep Blue looked around at the frozen wasteland, realization dawning on her. "Are you forced to release massive amounts of internal heat just to keep the freezing air from eroding your physical form?"
"It’s fine," he replied softly. "My physical stamina is great."
"It is not fine! You’ll exhaust yourself at this rate!" Without another word, Deep Blue grabbed his hand and pulled him into the freezing seawater.
They dove deep, swimming until they reached a thermal layer with the most comfortable temperature. Deep Blue settled him onto a submerged mountain ridge. Just then, a gargantuan shadow emerged from the distant, dark blue depths. The Lord of Aether stood up alertly, intending to shield her, but she pressed down on his shoulders, forcing him to sit back down.
"Darling, you need to look after your health," she said firmly.
"Deep Blue, there’s a..." The Lord of Aether suddenly frowned, his eyes widening slightly. "What did you just call me?"
"'Darling.' That’s what the young Sea Race couples call each other these days."
"I know what it means, I just think..." Before he could finish, he stared past her shoulder. "Careful. I don't have much energy for a fight right now."
Behind her, a fully matured Cameroceras glided forward. Its tentacles alone were nearly ten meters long, and its massive, bell-like eyes glared at them as if they were two morsels of fresh, delicious fish.
But the moment its tentacles reached out, Deep Blue reached back without even looking. She grabbed a limb and gave it a violent yank. The entire Cameroceras was sent into a hundred-and-eighty-degree tailspin, crashing into the seabed where it struggled to right itself.
The Lord of Aether watched, stunned. Yet Deep Blue remained perfectly composed, as if her display of strength had nothing to do with her. She cupped his face in her hands and said tenderly, "If you feel unwell in the future, tell me immediately. I may be a weak woman, but I will do my best to protect you. Don't make my heart ache, understood?"
"...Weak?" The Lord of Aether let out a string of amused bubbles. "Understood."
"Good. Now, save your energy and let your little wife keep you warm."
The Lord of Aether had given up trying to argue the definition of the word 'wife.' He sat obediently, surrendering to her care. Deep Blue swam over, wrapping her arms around his neck and shoulders, pulling his head into her embrace.
"Does this feel a bit warmer?"
"Yes."
She looked down at the man in her arms. They had never been this close. He leaned against her chest, his high nose and long lashes casting soft shadows. Even in his stillness, he made her heart swell with a sensation like pulsing honey. He reduced his heat output, but his body temperature remained high; his breath seemed to scald the seawater as it flowed over her skin. She tightened her embrace, trying to share her own warmth with him.
"Holding a man in this position," the Lord of Aether exhaled, his eyes closed as if suppressing an emotion on the verge of erupting, "is very dangerous."
"Hmm?"
Deep Blue’s mind went blank for two seconds before she suddenly recoiled, the blood rushing to her cheeks. Her eyes darted around, not daring to meet his gaze. "Th-that... anyway, I like you. We’ll do that kind of thing sooner or later, so it doesn't matter..."
Seeing her turn and flee in embarrassment, the Lord of Aether laughed. He surged forward, catching her wrist and pulling her back through the current. "Come here."
But as she turned back, she saw a vast, oppressive shadow appearing behind him. Her eyes widened. She broke free of his grip and swam toward the darkness. The scent of the water became choking, and as her vision cleared, she felt as though her entire being had been turned to ice.
It was a field of corpses. Cameroceras, sharks, nautiluses, schools of small fish, and members of the Sea Race.
The Lord of Aether had promised to wait for her. But he hadn't expected that the wait would yield such a devastating result so soon.
This was Earth, 439 million years ago. Six thousand light-years away, an aging star had exploded, releasing a burst of gamma rays that pierced the ozone layer. The radiation struck the Earth's surface and penetrated the oceans, killing off vast quantities of plankton and shattering the marine food chain. Furthermore, the gamma rays disrupted the chemical composition of the atmosphere, creating toxic gases that blocked out the sun. Global temperatures plummeted. The seas retreated as the southern supercontinent moved into the polar region, altering ocean currents. The first mass extinction event in history had begun, wiping out eighty-five percent of all species. Simultaneously, thirty-six percent of the Sea Race perished in the first great famine since the dawn of their civilization.
This disaster was like a comet—beautiful and insignificant when it was merely a streak in the sky, but heavy with the weight of the world once it crashed into Deep Blue’s reality.
And she knew that if she hadn't chosen to become a physical entity, she might have been able to prevent this catastrophe.
The Lord of Aether sensed her emotional turmoil and tried to comfort her. "The purpose of natural law is to select the organisms that can adapt. Those fragile lives, even if they vanish into the long river of history, are part of a natural phenomenon."
Deep Blue listened to his words, repeatedly trying to convince herself that there was no rule stating she had to be responsible for the lives she had created. Moreover, this was a natural disaster; she wasn't the cause. There was no need for guilt.
Choosing to be a girl instead of a god was a neutral choice. There was no right or wrong.
However, when she returned to her ethereal state and looked down upon all living things from a divine perspective, she saw small Sea Race children being left on glaciers by their dying parents, their underdeveloped throats wailing in agony. She saw swaths of poisoned horseshoe crabs flipping over on the beaches to die, eventually dried out by the sun. She saw the massive bodies of the Cameroceras lose their spark of life and sink into the abyss... The prosperity of the Ordovician period came to a crashing halt at this turning point.
The phrase "her choice was not wrong" felt hollow and powerless.
The Lord of the Endless Ocean summoned the Glazed Legion, manifesting them into reality to save and protect those suffering in the depths. They became the earliest ancestors of the Sea God Race.
With their birth, Sea Race culture took a leap forward. They created the earliest script—Ancient Sea Language—and established the Temple of the Glazed Legion at the center of the ocean where Deep Blue had summoned them, using it as a place for gathering and council. Near the temple, they built residences of painted glass, chapels, altars, schools, training camps, and markets. Facing the rising sun, they constructed the Gate of Creation in honor of the Lord of the Endless Ocean. Gradually, these sprawling structures connected to form a sacred and noble capital.
This was the first civilized city of the ocean. The Sea Race named it "Saint Yegana."
In high-dimensional space, the passage of time was almost imperceptible. Deep Blue often heard the prayers and confessions of the Sea Race. In the blink of an eye, the Sea God Race had flourished through more than four thousand generations.
Sensing Deep Blue’s self-reproach, the Lord of Aether no longer remained in his ethereal form. Instead, he lived within the ocean under various identities, helping the Sea Race through their hardships. As before, he continued to accompany her silently. Only this time, she no longer took the initiative to speak to him.
The progress of wisdom often brought with it unease. The birth of religion also brought the contemplations of many theologians. They loved to ponder the nature of evil and suffering.
Because Deep Blue had not manifested physically for a long time, some members of the Sea Race began to question whether this legendary supreme deity of the ocean truly existed.
"If there truly is a god who cares for us, how could she allow the disaster that nearly destroyed the world twenty million years ago to happen?"
"If such a kind god exists, why does she allow so much evil to fester in the ocean?"
Skeptics favored these two questions above all others. Some members of the Sea God Race would bring out records of Deep Blue creating their ancestors, engaging in fierce debates every time.
Having returned to her ethereal and rational state, Deep Blue realized through her reflections: without value, there is no so-called good or evil. If nature consisted only of electrons and gene transmission, there would be no such thing as joy or pain. Looking at this lower-dimensional world from a high-dimensional space, without projecting emotion or desire, everything that happened in this world was meaningless.
But for lower-dimensional beings, it was not so. They lived in a world that mixed gene transmission with physical forces—a world without rules, full of probability, where some found luck and others suffered pain. There was no fairness to speak of. Even she, the Creator of the Ocean, could not grant them absolute fairness. Her detachment and indifference could even bring them total destruction.
The Sea Race had created the prototype of a great civilization, yet they were powerless against the vast, cold laws of nature. All they could do was strive to step in rhythm with the universe's operation under its great black curtain. How tragic.
Suffering was the privilege of lower-dimensional beings, the privilege of independent individuals, and the privilege of the selfish. It should not be a trait possessed by a god. Even if a god could not create fairness for them, she should not add to their injustice.
Thus, the Lord of the Endless Ocean decided that, barring exceptional circumstances, she would no longer enter the lower-dimensional world in physical form.
One morning, 430 million years ago, Deep Blue heard the prayer of a Sea God girl: "O Lord of the Endless Ocean, the man I secretly love is right beside me. I hope he can fall in love with me..."
This was a common enough prayer, but within the girl's consciousness, Deep Blue saw the likeness of the Lord of Aether. Driven by a sudden curiosity, she focused her attention on the girl’s location.
Then, she truly saw that familiar face. The white, messy hair, the white toga, and a countenance that always spoke of indifference and elegance. Then, she saw the girl leaning into his embrace.
Something snapped. In an instant, Deep Blue manifested and appeared before the two of them.
They were in the Temple of the Sea Light in Saint Yegana. The Lord of Aether was indeed holding the girl.
The girl had golden hair. Even as she wept, it was easy to see her fair skin, her charming face, and a figure that would make any male of the Sea Race of any age lose his mind. At that moment, she was burrowed in his arms, her eyes brimming with tears, looking like a little girl who had fallen for the first time, crying her heart out.
Deep Blue stood frozen.
Though she had intended to live forever in her ethereal state, she had never considered one possibility: the Lord of Aether might not wait for her forever.
And in the moment he looked up and their eyes met, she finally knew she had to accept her fate. She had thought she had returned to her divine nature and could no longer love, but she had only been deceiving herself.
Her love for the Lord of Aether had merely been hidden for twenty million years; it had never vanished. Like wine stored in a cellar, it had only grown more potent with time. And upon realizing he might love someone else, she felt a surge of aggression toward the girl in his arms.
*How dare this fragile life I created try to steal my lover?!*
She gathered her Arcane Divine Power, her gaze cold, wanting nothing more than to strike the girl down.
The girl continued to sob, choking out, "Sir, I have loved you for so long. Since you don't live with your wife, why are you so cruel to me? I want nothing—even just one night of love is enough. I won't betray your responsibility to her. Why refuse me..."
"I've already told you the reason. It's not about responsibility to my wife. It's that, besides her, I have no interest in any other woman. Even if she allowed me to touch someone else, I wouldn't want to."
Though he spoke to the girl, the Lord of Aether’s eyes were fixed on Deep Blue.
After twenty million years, Deep Blue looked exactly as she had before: a waist one could almost circle with a single hand, long hair as damp as seaweed, soft lips, and fair, slender fingers. Every inch of her skin, every bit of her warmth... he had missed it all.
But he could also feel that the look in her eyes had changed completely. Her sea-colored pupils were filled with tears, yet she stubbornly refused to let them fall.
Deep Blue swam back a few paces, barely able to keep her balance.
She was terrified by two things. The first was the thought she had just had. The second was the realization that followed. All dissatisfaction stemmed from unfulfilled desire. She wanted to return to the Lord of Aether’s side and become a woman controlled by desire once more.
In that final physical meeting, the Lord of the Endless Ocean fled in a panic.
As she swam away, she couldn't help but look back one last time. She found him still watching her, smiling calmly and politely throughout, without a hint of the flustered heartbeat she felt. It was as if he had already guessed the choice she would ultimately make.
They had known each other for so long; he understood her too well.
In the end, Deep Blue split herself into eight parts, sealing away the portions of wisdom and selfishness, allowing the seven Sovereigns of the Holy Sea to enter their gestation period.
Deep Blue’s greatest love was always the ocean. The sea was her soul, her hope. To the Lord of Aether, he had lost her forever. But to Deep Blue, she had simply merged completely with the ocean she loved most.
The Lord of Aether accepted this with equanimity. He built a Temple of Memories in the deep sea, creating an amber dreamscape that belonged only to him and Deep Blue, and from then on, he never left.
And so, a hundred million years—both long and fleeting—passed by.
Within a single week, the seven Sovereigns Deep Blue had conceived were born one after another, spreading powerful Arcane Divine Power through the oceans and guarding their respective territories. What a monumental change their birth meant for the ocean went without saying. Even sealed within the Temple of Memories, the Lord of Aether could feel their presence.
They were so similar to the Lord of the Endless Ocean, yet so fragmented and different.
On the eighth day, the entire sea turned red, as if signaling the end of the Sovereigns' birth.
The Lord of Aether left the Temple of Memories and visited each of the seven Sovereigns in their respective seas. But once he actually saw them, he finally accepted the reality: soul fragments were just soul fragments. They were not Deep Blue. Even all of them combined were not her.
Yet, for some reason, he felt she was still there. Unrelated to these seven Sovereigns, the woman he missed had not completely disappeared.
He wandered aimlessly through the ocean until one day, while passing through the Bodhi Sea, a powerful sense of familiarity overwhelmed his senses. Then, in the glow of dawn, he saw a woman with short white hair floating just above the surface of the water. She held a crying infant in her arms, patting the baby's back with a loving gaze.
The Lord of Aether recognized her—it was the Sovereign of the Bodhi Sea, Mise Rere.
"Lord of Aether..." Mise Rere was startled for a second before quickly bowing her head in greeting. "I didn't expect to encounter you here. We all thought you had left Earth."
"Is that your child?" the Lord of Aether asked directly.
"No. This is the final soul fragment of Deep Blue."
"She had eight fragments?"
"Yes. It's just that this fragment is the part she didn't want. Therefore, this child can never see the light."
"The part she didn't want? Let me see."
The Lord of Aether swam closer and looked down at the infant in the swaddling clothes. It was a little girl with curly, rose-colored hair. Though she had only just been born, her hair was as wild as a mushroom cloud. She had been crying loudly, but the moment she saw the Lord of Aether, she stopped.
As her cries ceased, the nearby open waters became silent, leaving only the sound of the water and the distant song of whales. She looked at the Lord of Aether quietly, her large deep-blue eyes wide and round, blinking occasionally.
The Lord of Aether moved his finger in front of her. Like a kitten, she turned her head left and right to follow it, then reached out a chubby little hand, grabbed his index finger, and began to giggle.
"Why are the rest of you born as white-haired adults, yet this child is a red-haired infant?"
"That puzzles us as well. Perhaps because she is the most unique fragment," Mise Rere sighed helplessly as she looked at the child. "Deep Blue wrote on the stone tablet she left behind that if this child is not sealed, the ocean will fall into chaos. We followed the instructions and sealed her within ten years, but every time we do, she wakes up again very quickly. Actually, I've always been curious—does she really have such destructive power? She's clearly such a cute child..."
"What is her name?"
"Su Yi."
***
