The net that had captured Athena was, when examined closely, crudely woven out of things that might have been humans, or gods, or fae—or perhaps something else entirely.
Caught in that net, Athena struggled helplessly underwater, unable to breathe like the humans and creatures entangled beside her.
‘Ghk… at this rate I’ll… die….’
For the first time since her birth, Athena felt the terror and agony of drowning. Just as her strength began to fade—
A light leaked out of Hera’s pouch, Kibisis, and one of the items Poseidon had given her—
Hestia’s Lantern—lit on its own.
Fwoosh.
Warm light spread through the dark, cold sea, opening a path for Athena to breathe again as she nearly drowned within the net.
“Kehk—keek—!”
Gasp.
Athena coughed out the water she had swallowed and barely came back to her senses.
At the same time, the old woman who had trapped Athena screeched as if she had seen something filthy.
“Damn it!! Extinguish the Hearthfire of the Goddess this instant!!!”
Seeing the fire that now symbolized Hestia, the ancient flame that once illuminated the world before Hestia herself existed, the old woman recoiled in disgust and released Athena.
At that moment, Sleipnir rushed in to rescue Athena, scooping her onto his back and fleeing.
Once Athena safely escaped, Hestia’s Lantern gradually dimmed and went out.
And the old woman with the net swallowed her rage as she began chasing Athena.
“You dare think you can escape the Goddess of Drowning, Ran?”
The monster who considered herself a goddess had no intention of giving up.
* * *
Athena, having escaped, could not regain her strength—perhaps because she had experienced for the first time the hideous form of death called drowning.
“Uuuugh….”
Such a traumatic experience carved deep wounds into the mind of a young god, not easily healed.
Sleipnir, being Poseidon’s steed, could run perfectly well even while Athena was barely conscious.
But the problem was that the old woman with the net was still chasing them.
“Do not run from me. I will use your tender young skin to replenish mine!”
The relentless monster Ran.
And neither she nor Sleipnir had noticed that the old man from the island was also closing the distance behind them.
“Uugh… I have to… pull myself together….”
Perhaps sensing her suffering, Kibisis glowed again.
This time, a single leaf came out.
The leaf released a gentle brownish light that healed Athena.
That light felt like a mother’s hand… and like the firm strength of a father’s back.
“Aaah….”
The light expelled the divine power of Ran, the drowning monster goddess, freeing Athena from her influence.
It was a leaf grown directly by Demeter, infused heavily with her divine power—its quality was on an entirely different level.
Before long, Athena fully recovered.
Under normal circumstances, she would have needed days to recover. But Athena was the daughter of Zeus and Metis, and Demeter’s blessing was not something these sealed powers could restrain.
Prrr!
When Athena regained her senses, Sleipnir neighed loudly with a face that clearly said, ‘Thank goodness!’
Athena gently stroked Sleipnir’s neck in gratitude.
“Thank you for saving me, Sleipnir. If it weren’t for you, I would’ve been in real danger.”
Puhiiing.
“Yeah, I’m fine now. I must have still been under that monster’s influence.”
When Athena glanced behind her, Ran had gotten a bit closer.
Hup!
“Let’s get out of here first.”
Now fully alert, Athena pushed Sleipnir to his maximum speed, shaking Ran off.
—You little braaaat!!!
Ran’s frustrated, shrieking scream echoed behind them as she failed to catch up, but Athena and Sleipnir ignored her and ran like mad.
* * *
Athena and Sleipnir easily outran Ran.
Ran still seemed to chase them, but whether she could catch a fully recovered Athena riding Sleipnir remained doubtful.
“We’re almost there. Once we get out of this place, we can go home.”
With only the final stretch left, Athena and Sleipnir slowed to a walk, just like at the beginning.
Clop, clop.
Having exited the monsters’ territory—more precisely, Ran’s domain—the fog grew even thicker.
As they pushed through the fog, Sleipnir suddenly stopped.
And trembling violently beneath Athena, Sleipnir stared at someone standing before them—
The old man from the island.
“H…hel…lo?”
“…….”
Completely different from when she first saw him on the island.
The first time, he had been grotesque, but unreal—like an illusion.
But the old man standing here now felt entirely real.
And the aura he emitted was the same kind Athena had sensed the first time she met Poseidon.
‘Is that old man on the same level as Poseidon’s father?’
No. Impossible.
If he were that strong—and a god of the sea—he wouldn’t be trapped here.
“Won’t… you… say… hello…?”
Whether he understood Athena’s hesitation or not, the old man wanted a greeting from her.
“Ah—yes. Hello.”
“Mm… a good… child… must greet… politely…”
Athena nodded, then glanced behind her.
Luckily, there was no sign that the monster Ran was approaching.
But the old man ahead also made no move to step aside, continuing to talk to Athena.
“You… said… you had… a guardian….”
At his question, Athena’s “wisdom” sounded its alarm again.
She was in danger. If things continued like this, she would die.
“Ah… they went ahead and are waiting for me over there.”
The old man nodded, twisting his head as if accepting her explanation.
Athena was about to feel relieved when—
“Kihik, you believe that? Obviously it’s a lie.”
“But… the pouch… there. A… precious… thing.”
“What’s that got to do with it.”
“A lovely… pouch. I… want… it…”
“Idiot, maybe she just stole the pouch. Who would entrust something like that to a child? Kihihihihih.”
“That… pouch. Smells… like… me.”
“Could it be that bastard Pontos?”
“But… if we… make the child… cry… Mother… will be… angry…”
A wave of instinctive rejection rose inside Athena.
The old man’s clean voice and the crackling voice conversing with each other were grotesque, and their dialogue grew increasingly mismatched.
It felt like each voice was saying only what it wanted—despite both coming from the same old man….
His divine power smelled like rotten water, and the scent of blood on him grew heavier.
* * *
After rambling for a long time, the old man abruptly fell silent, then asked:
“…….”
“Whose… child… are you…?”
“I’m the dau—of Zeu—”
Athena stopped mid-sentence without meaning to.
Suddenly she remembered Poseidon’s warning.
And although Zeus was her father, she had never once felt as though he were one—so answering with his name reflexively felt strange.
‘What… is this?’
Athena’s confusion deepened as the old man’s divine power grew larger and larger.
“Zeus…? Who… is that?”
“Idiot, it’s the Zeus we’ve heard rumors about.”
“Is… that so. But… the child… in front of us… stopped speaking.”
Along with the old man’s muttering back and forth with himself, Athena realized something.
‘The more I speak falsely, the more that old man’s divine power grows. And with it, that divine power is forcing me toward the truth.’
At the same time, Athena’s divine spirit rang.
And she understood.
The monster Tlaloc—who catches children, eats them, pulls out their fingernails, and uses them as decorations.
In front of this monster, truth or lie did not matter.
The only thing that mattered was whether Tlaloc accepted the answer.
‘In short, I must be consistent. If I started with a lie, I must continue lying. If I started with the truth, I must stick to truth. Only then will that monster accept it.’
And now Athena understood why Pontos had captured and imprisoned this old man.
This old man was a monster that tested, tricked, and devoured the children of all creation—gods, humans, fae, nymphs, everything.
Now that she looked closely, she could see how Tlaloc twitched with the desire to devour her.
“Erm… not Zeus. Poseidon is my father.”
“Poseidon….”
“The God… of the Sea….”
“The one who captured… our enemy Pontos.”
“…….”
When Poseidon’s name was spoken, the old man muttering to himself suddenly fell silent.
The drool and the protruding teeth receded.
The grotesque old man stroked the ornaments made from children’s fingernails and, instead of looking at Athena, stared directly at the Kibisis and shouted.
—Ah, damn it, to let a fully caught prey escape!
—Just a little more and I could’ve filled my starving belly with those bones that look like they’d crack so nicely, that tender flesh, and those cute little eyeballs as a special feast!!
—Just a little… just a little nibble, wouldn’t it be fine? We always crunch-crunched bad little liars.
—Ah… no. No, I can’t. I can’t let that creature into Mother’s Strait.
—Hold it in… I can do it….
—Child, child of Zeus. Next time you come, I will crunch-crunch you whole. With that damn pouch as well!!!
After spitting out his chaotic rage for a long time, Tlaloc muttered one last line and twisted his neck grotesquely.
—Poseidon. A terrifying god. Even in this sea his divine power flows in….
—I must protect Mother’s Domain.
With those words, the old man vanished instantly.
And the fog that had filled the entire region disappeared.
Then the true sea of monsters—where storms raged—revealed itself.
“That monster was blocking the whole sea by itself….”
Athena felt how close she had come to truly dying.
That this raging sea had been held in place ever since Athena entered it….
It was something even many great gods would not be able to do.
But instead of fear, Athena felt pride in the monster’s power.
Because it meant Poseidon was so great that even such a monster feared him.
“For that monster to run away just by hearing Father Poseidon’s name!”
Normally, one would question why the monster reacted that way.
But to the young girl-goddess Athena, her heart only raced with admiration.
“Yes! Father Poseidon really is amazing!!”
Athena—who would one day become the Goddess of War and Victory—showed early signs of it. Once everything ended, this whole experience felt like an exciting adventure.
Athena’s “wisdom” seemed to approve, remaining quiet for once.
Soon after, far behind on the now-clear sea, she saw Ran running toward her.
Seeing that, Athena quickly grabbed Sleipnir’s reins and bolted out of the sea.
★
In truth, while “wisdom” remained silent, and Athena was dazzled by how amazing Poseidon seemed, several truths were hidden.
For example, Amphitrite’s glass bottle and Eurynome’s rope—both of which had been inside Hera’s pouch—had already been used, and the real reason Tlaloc withdrew.
First: the storms raging in the monsters’ sea came from the storm that had been sealed inside Amphitrite’s glass bottle.
Because of that storm, the other monsters were swept away and unable to chase Athena.
In truth, except for the fog from the beginning, the monsters’ sea had originally been a silent, soundless place.
Second: the reason the Goddess’s Springwater could only be drawn by children, and the reason Tlaloc withdrew, were the same.
The “Mother’s Domain” Tlaloc had spoken of.
In the deepest part of this sea slept Tiamat, the mother of all sea monsters.
Tiamat, together with Eurynome, was a being worthy of being counted among the Protogenoi—a womb of the primordial sea.
She allowed only children to enter this sea.
And Tiamat had a hobby: placing young, unformed beings into her womb and rebirthing them as monsters.
Her unconscious instinct had already tried to pull Athena into her womb from the moment Athena entered this sea, to rebirth her as a monster.
What prevented this was Eurynome’s rope.
And also the Trident that Poseidon had secretly placed there.
In fact, the Trident fiercely opposed secretly protecting Athena, but what could it do—its master had ordered it.
Thus, Tlaloc had not withdrawn because of fear of Athena, but because of Eurynome’s and Poseidon’s threats.
Under normal circumstances, Athena’s body would have been eaten, and her still-unformed divine spirit delivered to Tiamat.
* * *
Having escaped safely from the sea of monsters, Athena immediately fed her younger brother Metel the Goddess’s Springwater.
As she planned, Athena gave Metel the springwater little by little.
And just as Athena had seen, Metel—who had the body of a boy—began to feminize.
Of course, during this process she fought fiercely with Hades and with Zeus, who still wasn’t convinced, but that was a trivial matter.
At least no god or creature died in their fight.
Originally, when they first resisted Hades’s army, Poseidon’s forces had been more for show anyway.
A brief peace returned.
Time passed, and Athena left behind the last traces of a girl and took on the appearance of a young woman, running across the fields.
Behind her ran Pallas—the daughter of Triton, Poseidon’s son—and Athena’s closest friend, chasing after her fiercely.
Huff, huff, huff, huff.
When their running match ended and both lay under the shade of a tree, a stunningly beautiful woman brought them cold water.
“Here you go, sisters. Another draw today?”
“Kibele, I won by a hair’s breadth.”
“No, I got in just a tiny bit before Athena.”
“What?”
“So you’re saying I’m wrong?”
“Ha! Then prove it—with strength.”
“Oh my, Athena, you’re still so barbaric. But I cannot back down.”
The woman called Kibele seemed all too familiar with this sight, simply leaning against a tree and waiting calmly while the two of them grabbed their spears, shields, and swords.
“Really, the two of you have so much energy. Fufu.”
And so all the gods ended the matter peacefully.
Except Poseidon.
“W-wait… you want to have a daughter like Athena…? I—I don’t— w-w-wait, don’t do this, we’re family, you can’t—!”
[Record]
In the original mythology, Kibele was born androgynous. At the same time, she possessed the dual divine spirits of death and rebirth, making her a powerful earth-mother goddess.
Here, Kibele is depicted as the daughter of Poseidon and Metis, and thus Athena’s half-sister.
She—yet also he—considered Poseidon to be her father. However, unlike Athena, she accepted both Zeus and Poseidon as her fathers.
By her side always stood a male lion and a female lion, and the crown that Poseidon had the Cyclopes forge for her was her symbol and authority.
Kibele, being both “she” and “he,” was revered as the protector of gender minorities, and as she shared the divine spirit of rebirth and protector of voyagers with her father Poseidon—
She became the first and last god to possess the divine spirit of Hope, which does not exist in the original Greek mythology.
She was also a protector of humankind, and among the fourth-generation gods, she was one of the most powerful alongside Athena—sometimes even standing shoulder to shoulder with the Three Great Gods in certain eras.
Thanks to this, Poseidon firmly established his status as the overwhelmingly powerful authority among the Three Great Gods, to the point where no god capable of rivaling him was ever born afterward.
Because the goddess Kibele always followed Poseidon like his living shadow.
Moreover, the divine spirit of Hope—a power most desperately desired by humankind—became so strong that even gods could be swayed by it.
And because of her, Poseidon became the only god whose fate could not be read.
As a side note, she loved her father Poseidon so much that she even bore a son, Attis.
There are many stories about Attis’s birth—some say she gave birth alone using her power to change between male and female, while others say she assaulted her father Poseidon and became pregnant.