The Primitive Age, Lament of an Immortal(A mythological xianxia story)

"What is this?"

Holding a thin book, Zeus glanced at a smiling Da Hai. Morning had come with little fanfare and they parted ways with the traveling group of strangers.

They were nervous at being unable to hug the invincible thigh that was Zeus, until their destination. But they knew they couldn't force what they assumed was a powerful demigod.

"A Manuel for cultivation. The type of orthodox method I used to get to where I'm at," Da Hai said cheerfully. "Of course this isn't my creation. It's more suited for your quirks. I modified it a bit from its original form too to suit this world and yourself."

"And why would I need this exactly?" Zeus was in disbelief. Da Hai always had the strangest things to say and gift.

Something like this almost made him believe his story. Even if it was just a little bit.

Even so, he opened it to take a read. Thinking he couldn't exactly refuse.

The words were strange, almost unintelligible. Zeus certainly understood them as Greek writing, testament of the modification. But the way it was put together made almost zero sense.

"Cultivation techniques aren't as simple as descriptive words on a page. They are meant to build a suitable foundation for the eventual separation from a given Chaos World in order to become an independent entity.

"They are laced with the author's insight. Containing their Dao in a more simplified form. Contains any heavenly secrets they gleamed, and modifications to internal structures they would create.

"For us, these structures are the backbone of a cultivator's foundation. That foundation is the source of not only longevity, but also knowledge. Magical power as well as physical prowess occurs as a byproduct of that."

"Right…" Zeus took a bit of time to understand Da Hai while reading through the text. 'Athena would've loved something like this if she could look past the fact that it's not herself that wrote it.'

Confusing to the point of riddles. Yet Zeus could seemingly gleam random facts from it. It was the strangest phenomena. As if something inside of him could comprehend it easily, while he himself struggled to.

Da Hai observed Zeus' changes with enthusiasm. The two were traveling again, walking and reading would be dangerous for anyone were they not a celestial.

The Heavenly Lord of the Universal Transformations, who's Thunderous voice resounds throughout the Nine Heavens. Haotian's chief of the lightning department wasn't a simple man.

Da Hai would've assumed it was some bureaucrat assigned to the God Sealing Scroll. But this man was clearly a lighting based immortal of great skill.

His technique spoke primarily of the nine types of lightning, followed by the sonorous resonance of voice that shakes all of heaven and earth with a shout. Strikes that were fast and smited evils. Incantations that resembled the beating of drums.

For Zeus, it wasn't a hundred percent suitable. He came from a different system after all. But Da Hai had gleamed enough to change what energy was needed for the foundation. The rest? Zeus can figure it out himself and construct his own internal constructs.

The reason Da Hai offered this was very simple. Not just to get some good will out of Zeus, but to help him break out of the system the sisters of fate created in the Hellenistic Chaos World.

He had the power of a third order celestial lifeform, but all the qualities of a second order. More similar to an immortal under the path of the heavens then even the Earthly Divinities.

In the Three Realms, numerous yuanhui had passed since the Heavenly Dao took power, and Hongjun propagated the path of the heavens, also known as the path to sainthood.

It shared essentially the same characteristics as the path the Chaos Godfiends created, which was also what was cultivated in the most primitive eras up until the end of the anti-devil war. Except for the characteristic of an independent entity.

Zenith Heaven Golden Immortals, or saint to Bes, were bound to the Heavenly Dao. Chaos Immortals were independent from any Chaos World.

Zeus was…a confusing entity to Da Hai. He was bound to a domain, like all other gods in this universe was. But easily surpassed what the sky could provide. He was bound by the moirai, connected to it like an extra limb. But could also think for himself.

Zeus could command all the powers of the universe as simply as thinking. His body was absurdly powerful, far more so than any god Da Hai had encountered thus far.

When trading blows with the young man, the signals pinging off of Zeus felt closer to the Protogenoi that answered the moirai's call than the quadumvrite that attempted to ambush Da Hai.

And upon closer inspection after travelling Together for some time, Da Hai had come to a startling realization. Zeus fought with the primordial's power as if they were his own.

Those slight differences were merely the same power interpreted through Zeus' self.

"I don't get it."

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Da Hai felt his eyebrow twitch uncontrollably. He could've sworn he'd broken down everything to an understandable level in the manual. He turned to Zeus as if he was looking at a simpleton.

"What am I supposed to be inferring from this…book?" Zeus tossed manuel back at Da Hai. "It's all just riddles and vaguely spiritual talk. Nothing substantially needed."

Da Hai felt the rate of twitching grow. "It's a method of empowerment and apotheosis. For you, it helps your existence catch up with the power you wield."

"I…you think there's something wrong with me?" Zeus scoffed.

"Exactly," Da Hai immediately cut him off. "By all right, you should be exploding from the weight of your own power. Imagine a castle with no foundation. That's you."

Da Hai wouldn't even compare Zeus to a true third order celestial being either. The former were born at a transcendent level that no longer needed the foundation. Zeus was fundamentally still below that threshold.

As for why he couldn't understand it, Da Hai quickly began calculating. Ultimately, he deduced that Zeus' own spiritual awareness was too low to comprehend that level of technique.

It was not a knock towards his intelligence, but a sign that he hadn't awakened the degree of cosmic awareness an Immortal's nascent soul provided.

"Well…I guess I understood the first few paragraphs. Nine myriad thunder forms, the drums of the heartbeat reminiscent of booming thunder. And the flashing pulse sequence of energy movement."

"We can circle back to the advanced portion later then. Because for now, I will you along the basics until you manifest the Nascent Soul." Da Hai stopped his steps.

With a clap of his hand, he formed a stiff barrier around them both. Turning to the surprised Zeus, he quickly tapped the silver haired youth's forehead.

"Ah!"

Reeling from a sudden surge of pain, Zeus fell back. His forehead felt sizzling until he got his bearings back. Glaring at Da Hai's sudden attack, he grew aggressive.

"The hell was…huh?"

Zeus stumbled two steps forward. No lightning came, neither did he surge forward in speed.

Something within him was muted. Not gone, he knew it was there. If he called to it, it would still answer.

In fact, if he forced it, he could feel that his powers would have no issue surging to the surface. But it was the shock of the sudden restraint to this ability that shocked him.

"I merely placed a suppression seal on you," Da Hai said. "To not allow your godly domain to distract you. A simple barrier that separates Zeus from the god of the sky."

What Da Hai did was merely growing a membrane between the surface(Zeus) and the depths inside him(his domain). Though Zeus retained the ability to break out of that restriction.

It did however, greatly reduce his situational awareness. The loss of hearing from the wind itself, seeing from the clouds up high. For a god, it was like the loss of a thousand different senses. Incredibly disorientating.

"Why did you do that? What was the point?" Zeus growled. He found Da Hai taking a seat on a hill of grass, and followed him with more questions.

He had no desire for more power. Nor did he have any desire to learn more. He'd had enough of that from his childhood.

The memory of Rhea sitting him down in their home and forcing him into training regiments surfaced.

"You have a lot of nerve Da Hai."

"I'm aware. This is for your own sake. You are disproportionally weak and strong at the same time. Unbalanced in a way I've never seen. Rectifying it would do wonders…"

"I don't care!" Zeus held a finger in front of Da Hai. "To Delphi, that's all we're here to do. Not for some asinine magical mumble jumble, or some fake attempt at playing a wise old man."

On the surface, Da Hai didn't seem to take offence. But inwardly, he felt a bit insulted.

"I've been watching you this whole time." Da Hai gestured for a patch of grass beside him. "God king of the universe and overseer of all reality. You help the common man when you see injustice. You are the first to come running when a threat presents itself.

"Yet why do you close yourself off from everything?" Da Hai bluntly asked.

"I… what do you understand." To say Zeus was in disbelief was an understatement. He deeply felt like banging his head with his own hand if it didn't make it look pathetic in front of another.

Why was Da Hai so fixated on this? He glared fiercely at the godfiend with no small amounts of contempt.

Was this really fate torturing him again? That it did so time and again, with seemingly no end. He believed this was merely the latest attempt.

His mother never did have any advice for this stage of his life. She never even considered things the moment her vengeance was achieved.

"I was akin to you once," Da Hai said with a sigh. Even he didn't particularly like reminiscing about a particular stage of his life. Yet to show genuine empathy, he had to.

"Bull…"

"Let me finish Zeus. I don't have any desire to hurt you anymore." Da Hai once again invited Zeus to sit down with him.

"Once upon a time, I fell into a spiral. I lost someone dear to me, I swore vengeance as a result. I shut myself off on my own island and became cold to any visitors, even my only other friend.

"But that wasn't all. I swore vengeance against a particular individual whom I loath to this day for the death of that person who was my big brother. But here's the thing."

Da Hai forcefully calmed himself when he imagined Hongjun's face. "I knew the future at the time. I knew everything that he could do. I even knew my brother's demise was an event that would occur.

"At that point in my life, like you, I also believed in predestiny. My and all their lives were written out for them like a story book. And I knew my enemy was destined to become supreme. I spoke about destroying him. I dreamed about tearing him apart. I schemed up ways where I could achieve that desire.

"But in reality? Deep down I still held that belief in the certainty fated events. That overcoming Hongjun would be essentially impossible because he will become supreme. And my efforts were all destined to fail. I too, would become a stepping stone on his way to the pinnacle.

"And deep down, that was what I accepted for my own demise," Da Hai said in solemn. "I believed my purpose would be to die trying."

Zeus listened in silence, strangely captivated by Da Hai's words. Intentionally or not, Da Hai's own Dao leaked into his voice. It's permeating presence even manifested scenes from Da Hai's memory.

"I know what you experienced is vastly different. But I see that same attitude in you." Da Hai gazed right into Zeus as he held a pained look.

"The moment you realized I can permanently kill you. You decided then and there, to willingly walk into it no questions asked."

"…"

Zeus didn't bother rejecting that claim this time. He wasn't dim, he'd been the one to make the discussion after experiencing Da Hai's serious strike.

He sighed, finally sitting down. He neither spoke to Da Hai, nor looked his way for a while.

The day passed with Apollo riding Helios into the sunset. Soon, Artemis would rise with Selene. Neither children of Zeus were ever people he paid attention to. Only products of him attempting to alleviate his pain.

Just like all the others, and the parties on both Olympus and Gaia. All the drinks and food. Even the battles against monsters, remaining Titans, and Gigantes. Even Typhon.

His hands trembled. But an explosion of anger never came. He just felt a sense of melancholy overcome him.

"I must've meant something to mother. But she was too far gone." Zeus spoke up the next the morning. He took a deep breath, then accepted a cup of tea Da Hai presented him. He didn't ask where it came from.

"She trained me for as long as I can remember. Told me that I had to save my brothers and sisters from him.

"I killed my father brutally with my own hands, never asked about him. Then everything became a haze. I was led around here and there. Until suddenly, everyone called me king."

"It was easier to listen," Da Hai said. Zeus nodded to that. Just by looking at his bone age, Zeus must've been terrifyingly young.

Was he even a preteen by then? Da Hai couldn't calculate exact details through the blockage.

"And then…I met a woman who seemed to know the answers. She helped me understand a lot of things mother didn't tell me.

"It was all foretold as it turned out. My father was cursed by fate to be killed by his own son. Me. It was written that my siblings would be devoured, then released by him. And the sisters even spun the event where I blasted Orthys to smithereens."

Zeus had no look of nostalgia as he spoke. "From my throne, I witnessed them in effect. I thought I made a suitable punishment for my cousin to hold up the sky. But when I visited Delphi, I saw the prophecy already written before my own birth."

"This woman who helped you…"

"She died. It was written as well. The sisters' design didn't see the need of a son from her, so it was decided.

"I killed her," Zeus told Da Hai. His voice sounded hollow.

"Being an instrument was your purpose then? Did it become easier over time?" Da Hai gave a low chuckle. He felt pity for how quickly Zeus had surrendered. If only he'd pushed back against the Moirai.

The Heavenly Dao that controlled every aspect of the Hellenistic Chaos World. Though, perhaps it was his obscenely young age at the time that made it possible for the Moirai to ingrain that mentality. After all, Zeus was born with terrifying strength.

Finally, Zeus looked at Da Hai with frustration.

"Why did you give me that book anyway? What are you hoping to achieve?" Zeus said with tiredness. The cup in his hand was still full. "You really should've completed my fate on that shore."

"Truth be told, it was an act to garner your trust. Showing my good will and all. But also, to allow you to see through the falsehood that has shrouded this universe."

Da Hai offered the manual to him again. "Want to at least give it a try?"