The palace courtyard was unusually quiet that morning. Adelasta, Narisva, and Elyonari stepped through it together only to stop dead in their tracks.
Anamorsia leaned casually against one of the pillars. Leon stood beside her while Leones mirrored him with the same posture but with sharper eyes. Milliania sat on the low fountain ledge, humming softly as if this were a pleasant outing. The moment they noticed the three approaching, Anamorsia stood upright.
"Oh good. You're all here."
Leon grinned. "You're going to die."
Narisva blinked. "Morning to you too?"
Elyonari sighed. Adelasta pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I assume this is not hyperbole."
Anamorsia shook her head slowly. "No. This is mother's training."
"Vastarael survived it."
Anamorsia let out a dry laugh. "Barely. It's still a miracle he's alive. She started training him when he was eight, I guess."
Elyonari's ears twitched. "And… you?"
"I trained under her for a while but didn't last. I couldn't handle it do my father took over after that."
Leon shrugged. "Mother Opera tracked us constantly. She wouldn't let Mother go all-out on us."
Leones nodded. "She said survival mattered more than 'forging monsters.'"
Milliania smiled faintly. "Mother Caresse trained me. Mother Lysameria's methods are not."
They all fell silent again. Despite their casual tones, the respect in their posture was unmistakable.
A string pressure filled the courtyard. Lysameria stood before them. Her gaze swept over the assembled group.
"Are you ready?"
They nodded.
"Good."
She raised one hand and snapped her fingers.
They slammed to their knees as if crushed by gravity. Divine Energy was ripped out of their pseudo-cores violently, leaving behind a hollow ache that made their limbs tremble. Narisva gasped. Elyonari nearly screamed. Adelasta clenched her teeth so hard they almost cracked. Lysameria held a condensed orb of golden Divine Energy in her palm, swirling like a miniature star.
"You will not use Divine Energy until training is done."
Before anyone could respond, water engulfed them. A hemisphere of water formed around them, swallowing light, sound and sensation. They hit cold ground hard and coughed violently.
They were underwater. Above them was a colossal transparent dome, holding back an immeasurable ocean. Bioluminescent currents drifted beyond the barrier, illuminating ruins that stretched endlessly into the dark. There existed collapsed towers, coral-encrusted spires and broken buildings.
It was a dead abandoned city. Lysameria stood before them as if the crushing depth meant nothing.
"Welcome to Aquamarine, the earliest city ever built in Spheraphase..The Hydroborn were the world's first civilization. They're the reason this world operates under matriarchal law. Eons ago, before land mattered, the Hydroborn ruled the Ocean of Origin."
She raised her hand and faint silhouettes appeared made from water.
"Two Nexuses of the Oceans understood a universal truth: life begins in water. So they created life. From sea creatures, they shaped sentience. From instinct, they carved reason. They built Aquamarine in the deepest trench of Spheraphase. This is where the world began."
Lysameria's expression did not soften when she continued speaking.
"The Hydroborn no longer dwell solely beneath the waves. They walk upon land now, build kingdoms and wage wars like everyone else. But they never lost the ocean. Water still remembers them, and their bodies still remember water. Only Hydroborn can truly survive where the ocean decides to reclaim its dominion."
She lifted one hand with her palm upward.
"The first step of your training is simple."
The word 'simple' felt like a lie the moment it left her lips.
With a casual flick of her wrist, the immense transparent dome surrounding the ruins of Aquamarine shuddered. A sound rippled through the water, like glass being stressed beyond reason. Fine fractures raced across the dome's surface in branching, spider web patterns, glowing faintly as pressure from the surrounding abyss pressed inward.
"You will survive the pressure of the ocean for five minutes. If you do, the first phase is complete. I will not allow you to die so good luck."
The dome shattered.
The full pressure of the Ocean of Origin slammed into them all at once. It was like being buried under a mountain. The pressure hit instantly.
Their bodies were driven into the stone ground as if gravity had multiplied a hundredfold. Their knees slammed down hard enough to fracture ancient stone as the water crushed them from every direction. Breath was ripped from lungs in violent, involuntary bursts as their chests were compressed.
Bones groaned. Muscles seized. Blood vessels felt like they were about to rupture under the strain. Their vision blurred as pressure clawed at their skulls. The water was freezing as well. They could hold their breath—Spheraphasians can hold it in for ten minutes at maximum—but breath meant nothing here. Air was irrelevant when the ocean itself was trying to compress you into something flat and lifeless.
They saw Lysameria move.
Even as they struggled, half-blind and shaking, they watched her body flow and reshape. Her legs merged into a powerful tail as she became a mermaid. She hovered effortlessly among them, undazed by the crushing force that was breaking everyone else apart. She swam as if the pressure didn't exist. Around her, the others began to fail.
Adelasta was the first to break. Her body trembled violently. Her eyes rolled back and she went limp. Her consciousness wad snuffed out in barely twenty seconds.
Narisva tried to scream. Water flooded her mouth instantly and she collapsed next. Leon and Leones didn't last long either. Their expressions twisted into raw disbelief as the ocean proved, without mercy, that lineage meant nothing here. They lasted twenty seconds, maybe less. Milliania's breath escaped her in a bubbling gasp as pressure crushed her chest inward. She reached out blindly then fell still. Anamorsia was next.
Elyonari alone endured longer.
The World Tree's chosen one knelt there, trembling but still holding on. She lasted for a full minute before her body finally betrayed her. She slumped forward. Her consciousness slipped away seconds after.
Lysameria watched them all with a serious expression before she lifted her hand. The water obeyed instantly, swirling back into place as the shattered dome reformed around them, sealing the abyss away once more. Pressure vanished in a single merciful instant, replaced by blessed lightness as gravity returned to normal and water drained from lungs and mouths. They lay scattered across the ancient stone, coughing violently as air burned its way back into their chests.
Lysameria shifted again, her mermaid form flowing back into her usual humanoid shape as she landed lightly among them. She looked down at the unconscious group and sighed.
"I really do have work to do. If Vastarael wasn't part Hydroborn, this training would have worked exactly as intended for him. Get ready. We are doing this again after five minutes."