Chapter 93: Caught in the Currents

Grace’s wings flapped hard as she approached the temple entrance.

Her body ached in places she hadn’t known existed before Diana’s light-dick marathon. Her thighs burned, her back was sore, and the place between her legs felt like it had been through a divine war.

[Walking would’ve been a mistake. Flying hurts less. My poor kitty needs a spa day. And therapy. And possibly an ice pack the size of… well, me.]

She landed awkwardly on the wet stone, wincing as her thighs protested. The temple entrance gaped like a hungry maw, dark and wet. Water trickled down the walls, more than before. The tide was rising.

“Meridian?” Grace called, summoning her Blade of Dawn for light. “Uh, are you in here?”

No answer. Just the echo of water dripping from stone.

[Of course she wouldn’t answer. That would be convenient. And nothing about this mission has been convenient. Not the water zombies, not the horny goddess, and definitely not Meridian’s academic death wish.]

Grace stepped inside, blade held high. The golden light lit up the ancient corridors, casting creepy shadows along the walls. The air smelled of salt and age and something else—a faint sweet scent like flowers blooming underwater. Now that she wasn’t fighting for her life or feeling up Petriel, she noticed details she’d missed before.

Carvings lined the walls. Not just the wave patterns they’d noticed earlier, but scenes from daily life. People—or angels—working, playing, worshipping. And between those normal scenes were others… Far less innocent ones.

[Oh wow.]

Grace stopped at a particularly graphic carving. Two figures tangled together in a position that looked physically impossible. Unless you had wings for balance. One figure was clearly Eternia, her distinctive features unmistakable even in stone. The other appeared to be some kind of water being, their body flowing around Eternia’s in ways that defied normal anatomy.

Grace sighed.

[My goddess really is something else.]

More carvings followed as she went deeper. Eternia featured prominently in many, recognizable by her features—the same features Grace saw in the mirror. In some, the goddess was healing the sick. In others, she was battling strange creatures.

And in quite a few, she was ravaging or being ravaged by various beings. One carving showed Eternia taking three different beings at once—one on her dick, one riding her face, and a third that seemed to be made entirely of tentacles wrapped around her entire body.

[ No wonder The Tide has tentacles.]

A splash up ahead made Grace freeze. She raised her blade higher, spotting something moving through a shallow pool. A water creature, smaller than the knights they’d fought, slithered away at her approach. It looked like a cross between a snake and an eel, with glowing blue spots along its transparent body.

“Great. More friends. Just what I needed today.”

Grace continued forward, passing through a section of the temple they hadn’t explored before. The corridors widened into what might have been living quarters once. Stone beds with rotted fabric. Tables with ancient, disintegrated food. A civilization frozen in time.

She paused at one room that seemed like it had been some kind of bedroom. A large stone platform that must have been a bed dominated the space. Chains were still attached to each corner, rusted but intact. The walls were covered in more of those explicit carvings.

[What am I even looking at?]

On a table in the next room, looking super out of place among the ancient debris, sat a journal bound in blue leather.

[Meridian’s. That nerd would bring a journal to her own execution. Probably take notes while getting stabbed. ’The knife appears to be entering my abdomen at approximately 3.7 inches per second. Fascinating!’]

Grace picked it up, flipping it open. The latest entry was from earlier that day:

Temple offers unprecedented opportunity for research. Pearl’s properties require additional context. Cannot wait for others. Academic discovery waits for no one.

“Seriously?” Grace slapped the journal shut. “She didn’t even get mind-controlled. She just wanted to nerd out alone.”

She stuffed the journal into her robes and pressed on, muttering about scholars with death wishes and the stupid risks they take for dusty old knowledge.

The air grew damper as she continued, the sound of running water louder. The stone floor beneath her feet was slick now, forcing her to walk carefully. Twice she nearly slipped, catching herself on the wall at the last second.

The corridor ended at a massive circular chamber—not the one with the pearl, but something bigger. A dome held up by columns rose above a pool of water that took up most of the floor. The water glowed with a creepy blue light, and the room hummed with energy, making the hair on Grace’s arms stand up.

Suspended above that pool was Meridian.

“…” Grace’s eyes bulged out of their sockets.

The scholar hung in the air, held up by see-through blue tentacles that wrapped around her limbs. Her robes were gone, her naked body on full display as more tentacles explored her mouth, between her legs, basically everywhere. Her blue hair was slick with water, plastered to her face and neck. Her eyes were half-closed, her body limp.

“Meridian!” Grace shouted.

A familiar chuckle echoed through the chamber. The water in the pool rose, shaping itself into The Tide’s curvy form. Today she looked even more like Eternia—like Grace—except for those creepy black eyes. Her watery body glistened in the blue light, curves shifting and flowing like she couldn’t decide on a final form.

“You’re early,” The Tide said, her voice rippling like water over stones. “Our appointment isn’t until the new moon.”

Grace raised her blade.

“Let her go.”

“I think not.” The Tide stroked a watery finger along one of the tentacles shoved inside Meridian. The scholar moaned around the appendage in her mouth, her body shuddering visibly. “She came to me willingly, seeking knowledge. I’m simply providing… hands-on education.”

“This isn’t education! It’s kidnapping!”

The Tide’s expression hardened. Water droplets around her began to vibrate, the gentle rippling of the pool turning choppy and agitated.

“Like you would understand the difference. You who came to me under false pretenses, claiming to be alone when you brought that warrior.”

[Crap. She’s still pissed about that.]

“That was… a misunderstanding,” Grace said, taking a step forward. Her boot slipped slightly on the wet stone.

The tentacles around Meridian tightened, making her whimper around the tentacle gagging her. Another tentacle emerged from the pool, wrapping around Meridian’s throat.

“Stay where you are,” The Tide warned. “I’ve waited millennia for your return. I can wait two more days for our proper reunion.”

“And Meridian? What about her?”

The Tide smiled, cold and mean.

“She’s my guest until then. My very willing, very vocal guest.” She ran a watery finger down Meridian’s spine. “Consider it punishment for your deception.”

Grace tightened her grip on her sword.

She could attack, but in a chamber full of water? Against The Tide’s full power? With Meridian as a hostage?

[Not sure this is a fight I can win. At least, not right now.]

“Let her go,” Grace tried again. “Uh, take me instead.”

“Oh, I will have you.” The Tide’s voice darkened with promise. “But on the new moon, as agreed. When you come alone and surrender yourself properly.”

One of the tentacles around Meridian thrust deeper, making the scholar arch her back and moan. The sound echoed off the chamber walls.

“Until then,” The Tide continued, “your friend and I will get better acquainted. You’re dismissed.”

Grace stood frozen, rage and helplessness fighting inside her. The Tide clearly wasn’t going to negotiate. And Meridian…

Meridian’s eyes had rolled back, her body no longer struggling but moving with the tentacles’ rhythm. Her hips thrust forward to meet each penetration, her hands clenching and unclenching in their watery restraints.

“Two days,” The Tide said, turning her attention fully to Meridian. “Come alone, or I keep her forever.”

Water rose around The Tide’s form, hiding both her and Meridian from view. When it receded, they were gone, leaving only the empty pool. The blue glow faded, plunging the chamber into darkness except for Grace’s blade.

“UGH!” Grace shouted, disappearing her blade. The calm diplomatic approach had failed and now Meridian was paying the price for Grace’s earlier deception.

[Guess I really will have to seduce her to save the day. What even is my life anymore?]

She trudged back through the temple, plans forming and discarding themselves in her mind.

The Tide wanted Eternia. Wanted what only Eternia had given her before—connection, understanding, pleasure. Based on that memory Grace had experienced, the goddess had used sex to calm The Tide before.

Maybe Grace could do the same. But better. More thoroughly. Enough to secure Meridian’s release and the village’s safety, at least.

The walk back felt longer somehow, the temple corridors stretching endlessly. By the time Grace reached the entrance, her emotions had cycled through anger, fear, and determination at least three times.

Outside the temple, the sun was setting, painting the sky orange and red. Two days until the new moon. Two days to prepare for the most important seduction of her life.

[Diana, I’m going to need a lot more training. Like, a LOT more.]

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep