Asterion chastises himself for his optimism.
It is nothing new, only his hopeless dreamer’s heart leading him into trouble once more – but he had truly thought the god had called them there to help. He knew the distrust that lived, well-earned, in Calliope’s heart, the warning that flashed in her eyes as they made their way up to the mount. He knew the war she had raged in Ravos – freedom for the mortals from the whims of careless, cruel gods.
But he had known those gods. The water-gods had been there when he needed them for advice, and never punished him for his questions, for his unwillingness to belong.
There had been an instinctual worry in him, as they each stepped into the meeting-place. A prey’s concern of being trapped.
Surely, he had thought, surely this god would not do that. But as he listened, aghast, to the squabbling of unseen figures as the wind began to whip and howl and lash the branches of the trees, he began to wonder if he was wrong. And he was not entirely surprised, though he pressed up against the golden side of his sister, to see the stones cast from their places. There is something in him then, dark and ruthless and secret, that says You fool - you should have known.
Well. Now he knows.
As the gray mist of rubble and dust settles around them, dusting them like ash, the bay watches Seraphina step toward the statue. Each word of hers is a lash of rage, dripping with disdain, and Asterion agrees with every one.
Oh, he is a fool to have thought these gods were anything more than what they’ve shown themselves now to be. And he thinks with grim satisfaction of Calliope, just outside these god-shaped walls, and the wrath she must be feeling.
When Seraphina addresses them he nods, thinking of what they had spoken of at the festival. She is a far different creature now, and he suppresses a shiver as the ground trembles again.
The bay moves toward her, but casts a glance back at the rest of them before setting his shoulder to any stone. There is too much of it, and nowhere for it to go.
“Does anyone have magic that can help?”
Perhaps they had been trapped here to starve, so Tempus might begin anew. Perhaps he did not think of them at all, or had questioned them, chastised them, provided no answers and then abandoned them for his own amusement.
Whatever the reasoning, Asterion vows he will never again bow to the whims of a god.
and curse the waves that push you deeper*
