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After admiring the golden mirror, Tyche took out the robe she had completed and displayed it to Astraea. The pure white robe was lined with golden edges dyed from stardust, and as she moved, tiny motes of light scattered and fell. Astraea loved it so much that she immediately draped it over herself. Tyche then placed a matching gauze veil over the goddess of shooting stars’ dark hair, the brilliant specks of light enhancing her radiant glow—so dazzling that even in daylight, she stood out unmistakably.
Overjoyed, Astraea returned the favor with gifts: a white veil woven from moonlight, a rose-red fabric woven from dawn, and a black gauze woven from the night. She also removed a glowing shooting star from her necklace and solemnly placed it into Tyche’s hand.
“With this, you can enter the realm of the stars. I will be waiting for your visit.”
With that, she transformed into a trail of stardust and returned to the heavens.
After bidding farewell to her friend, Tyche once again sealed off the sea with mist and returned to sit by the pool of her temple. Removing her golden shoes, she leapt into the water. The joy of seeing her friend was soon replaced by the sorrow of parting. At the bottom of the pool, she sat once more upon the shell where she had been born, absentmindedly turning a perfectly round golden pearl in her fingers until her heart settled again.
Traveling through the underground waterways beneath the pool, Tyche reached the ocean. She commanded massive currents, searching for the largest clams on the seabed. Astraea’s words had reminded her: she still lacked enough mirrors to present to her mother and sisters. As she focused on this task, Tyche emerged in a secluded bay. There, rising from the sea, she saw a beautiful island and a goddess sitting gracefully on a reef, smiling gently at her.
Through divine intuition, Tyche knew her name: Eurynome, goddess of sea power who embodied the tides, and goddess of the ocean’s abundance and pastures. Eurynome summoned the waves, carrying the wayward Tyche to her side. Smiling, she linked her arm through her younger sister’s, while the surf lapped softly at their ankles and bore them together onto the island.
“My dear sister, please don’t be restrained. Welcome to my domain.”
Though majestic, Eurynome’s tone was warm. She led Tyche on a tour of the island. Her abundant divine power made her territory rich with life: fragrant flowers blanketed the island, a crystalline path paved with shining gems led to her temple, pure white columns upheld its grandeur, and a spring under the shade of trees circled the temple in a perfect ring.
Tree nymphs carried silver trays laden with fresh fruit and crystal wine bottles. As the goddesses sat beneath the shaded garden trees, the nymphs gathered eagerly to serve them. Tyche, still startled at being whisked to the island, was even more amazed by her elder sister’s immense divine strength. No wonder Eurynome had not appeared at the recent divine banquet—she had already reached the rank of intermediate deity. This level of divinity was second only to the primeval gods and the Twelve Titan rulers. Even the king of the gods would need to treat her with respect; she could not be commanded about like the weak and lesser gods.
Intermediate deities, within their own domains, were as free as sovereign lords. Aside from the duties they were bound to, little could constrain them. Looking at the serene and untroubled Eurynome, Tyche quietly resolved upon her second goal: to ascend to the rank of an intermediate deity before the divine war broke out. With such a status, she would at least possess the power to remain uninvolved. Both sides of the coming conflict would try to win over intermediate gods, never daring to force them. They could stand aloof, observing the situation, and step in only at the right moment. If they chose correctly, they would be celebrated victors; if not, they could still withdraw safely. In many ways, intermediate deities were independent of the greater divine system itself.
Tyche presented a mirror as a meeting gift, and as expected, received lavish praise in return. Though they were sisters, ties of kinship meant little among gods. Apart from the reverence due to a mother who bore life, divine relations were fragile things, too shallow to withstand close scrutiny. Tyche preferred to regard Eurynome as a superior from another department rather than believe in divine “family bonds.” Only after centuries of contact might the selfish gods reluctantly acknowledge and preserve genuine feelings for one another.
With Tyche’s cautious demeanor, the banquet ended smoothly. Eurynome gifted her some seeds capable of blooming into all varieties of flowers in return for the mirror.
Looking back at Eurynome, who had resumed her feast, Tyche sighed enviously before departing. Carrying the clams and seeds, she returned to her own island. Home was always the most comfortable place. With that thought, she scattered the seeds around her pool and used her divine power to nurture them into a field of pure white lilies, their sweet fragrance spreading across the island.
Tyche then began to delve deeper into her divine roles.
Her craftsmanship divinity, though currently of little use, would become invaluable once the Bronze Age of humankind began—enough to sustain the status of an intermediate deity. But its weakness was its lack of combat power. In terms of time, this role would only shine after the divine war, once humans were created. In terms of immediate battle power, it could offer nothing, so she decided not to invest her focus there for now.
Her ocean currents divinity was developing steadily, each use strengthening the sea’s very essence. This role had great potential, certainly capable of supporting intermediate godhood, though its growth would also require time—time she could not be sure she had before the war began.
Her strongest role was her temperature divinity, providing the most direct battle strength. But since the sources of cold and heat were not in her possession, its growth was limited.
That left only her mist divinity. Though it could not directly enhance combat strength, its essence was completely under her control, and it was the one she understood most thoroughly. If she could nurture it into new concepts, there was a strong chance it could evolve—paving her path to intermediate godhood.