Chapter 1594: The Arctic Sea
It was a desert, endless and vast, mounds of pure white snow. Blindingly bright, bathed in the frigid breeze and piercing light of the two glorious suns above.
Spanning as far as the eyes could see, the blue sky conjoined at the horizon with white ground into one blinding haze, only broken by the towering mountains reaching to the heavens.
A white polar bear crawled out of the pristine snow, shaking its head and back. It looked around. Something was wrong; the ground had shaken.
Silence, nothing but the faint whisper of the wind, but then, the ground exploded from below. An appalling jaw opened, and the bear was nowhere to be seen, swallowed by the titanic black and white killer whale jumping out of frozen depths.
As the killer whale landed back on the ground, it shattered the snow into a massive splash of water that rose several meters into the air, freezing into a small glacier.
The whale disappeared back into the sea, and in seconds, the glacier sank as well, ready to get covered with snow in just a few hours.
The entire plain was an endless sea, frozen solid and covered by snow, making it a deadly place where the ancient, massive, and appalling horrors of the sea could leap from anywhere to consume whatever poor soul dared move.
Atop one of the snow mounds, a young white haired man landed, looking at the vast land with his glowing blue eyes. The entire world reflected back on itself in the depth of his pupils. This was his land, the endless Arctic kingdom of pale white snow, everlasting blizzards, and blinding light.
Behind Gojo, Arad appeared like a towering dark mountain, standing far taller than his older brother, wearing all black, and gazing into the horizon with radiant purple eyes, swallowing everything in existence into the darkness of his stare.
"A human would get sunburns standing here." Arad looked around, then shifted his gaze to the two suns illuminating the sky. "I guess it wasn’t this bad before."
Gojo nodded.
"Thanks to Eris, this place is even brighter. We can see just fine, but a human would just get blinded here now."
Gojo looked back at Arad with a smile. "I got a spell called [Cast Shade] to work, it just lowers the brightness the caster sees by muffling the light coming toward their eyes."
Arad looked back at the snow.
"Would they need it? No one would come here. The monsters here would eat anything." Arad looked down.
"And I mean anything. There is one that is a hundred meters long. Is that a whale?"
Gojo smiled. "That’s one of the small whales here. They are the only ones who swim close to the surface. The big ones stay far deeper. They feast on the smaller whales." He looked at the snow with a smile.
"But you’re right. They will eat anything."
He looked back at Arad. "But they know we’re a problem."
Arad walked to stand beside Gojo and closed his eyes, sending his senses deeper into the frigid snow beneath them. He couldn’t sense the ocean floor.
"How deep is this place?"
Gojo shrugged. "I honestly don’t know. I couldn’t dive deep enough. I reached like a hundred kilometers and had to swim back up."
Arad frowned, "That doesn’t make sense. I can sense anything for at least four thousand kilometers."
Gojo smiled. "That’s why we’re here. You know how every region in this world is bigger than it should be. Hati’s Beast Lands, the dragons’ flying kingdoms, the Titans’ domains." He pointed down.
"This sea extends far beyond what it should be. I don’t know why, but I believe that’s the case." He pulled a pocket watch, but instead of time, it had some strange numbers and letters dancing in it.
"I dove down for two weeks straight. I thought I might reach the planet’s core, but when I returned to the surface." He shook the pocketwatch.
"Just that, a hundred kilometers."
"Did you get disoriented and swim sideways?" Arad looked at the snow and then extended his senses once more. It was only then that he noticed it.
"Wait, the sea..."
Gojo’s smile grew wide. "You’re right. That’s why we’re here. Blue Ice is this thing’s beauty, now, I can’t say I rule this land without taming it."
Arad lifted his hand.
"Rilyeh, what is this?"
Rilyeh, the Water Spirit Queen, appeared sitting on his palm. She yawned, then looked down at the snow. "Are you blind. What else. An Ooze, a Titanic, Ooze.
The entire Arctic frozen sea was one massive, living Ooze, the same kind as Loci in Alina, but much older, larger, and stronger.
"So you know about it? This is even bigger than some continents, and it’s powerful." Rilyeh looked at Arad.
"Of course, it’s powerful, this thing, it predates all living beings. From what I know, the first Overgod AO created it to balance the world’s heat. The magical battles generate a lot of heat after all, so this Ooze’s job is to keep the world at a steady temperature." She stood, then flew back to Arad and sat on his head.
"It is old, arrogant, hard-headed, and ruthless."
Gojo looked at Rilyeh. "Can I tame it?"
That sounded like a stupid Question. How would you tame a being from the forgotten ages, an integral part of the world’s balance?
"Is there a need to do that? This thing is better left free, unchained by anyone. Taming it would only break the world." She glared at Gojo. "But if you insist, I suggest you play around with Blue Ice instead. That Nymph is the embodiment of the Ooze’s deadly beauty."
Gojo sighed. "You don’t seem to understand. I can’t spread my domain over the sea. This Ooze’s will always overwrite mine. Thanks to that, I can’t deal with the blizzards or the snowstorms at all, let alone the raging monsters of the deep."
Rilyeh shook her head.
"You’re the one who doesn’t seem to understand. If this Ooze spawned a blizzard, it’s to cool the world back to normal. It doesn’t care if humans and monsters die or live; all it cares about is keeping the world balanced."
She sighed, crossed her arms, and stared down at the snow.
"Go dominate Blue Ice instead. If she bows to your will, you’ll be able to use her authority to predict the blizzards and snowstorms, even control the monsters of the deep to keep your kingdom safe."
Rilyeh shifted her gaze back to Arad. "From what I heard, some devils and some weirdos are trying to do something around here, right? And Blue Ice is involved."
Gojo nodded. "Yes, where did you hear that? I’m sure I didn’t tell you."
Rilyeh looked at him with a smug smile. "Do you drink water?" She lifted her hand, and he felt his chest growing tighter.
"I control all water; it is my body, eyes, and ears." She released her hold on the water inside Gojo’s body and stood.
"You’ve got a far better chance with Blue Ice than this ancient fossil."
"What about you? Can you control it?"
Rilyeh shrugged.
"A relationship of mutual respect. That’s why I’m telling you to respect its role in the world. See you later." Rilyeh disappeared, leaving no trace behind.
Arad looked at Gojo for a second, then smiled. "I guess we have to talk to that Nymph."
Gojo took a deep breath, "I’m not looking forward to that."