There were no shores.

  Not in the land of the dead.

  “HEAVE!!!”

  They all held fast in their small realm sailor. They were God-Kings, all of them. But here they were nothing but men floating atop a careless sea.

  The Sea of Death roiled as the God-Imperiums clashed. Thankfully, the ship was at the edges. The impact was all held within the Sea and they merely floated on it.

  But still, the two beings clashed below and the sailors held strong.

  Arthur and Lancelot, the Broken King and the Usurper.

  The Kings of ancient lore smashed in wrath and fury.

  “Collect!” The Captain yelled.

  Every member of the ship sent out their hands and reached for an impact, a piece of the God-Imperiums’ power carelessly thrown into the void. To the God-Imperiums, it was a breath of effort, an attack they had already thrown away, but to anyone beneath their rank, it was a vital cultivation tool.

  The Qi of the Imperium. The power on high. It could give breakthroughs and insights into the next realm.

  The problem was grabbing it. How could anyone beneath the Imperium Realm grab at such concentrated and powerful power? To even sail near this battle would be suicide to most.

  But not to the sailors. This was their job, their duty, and they had purchased the right equipment for it.

  The only thing that could touch a God-Imperium was another God-Imperium.

  And so that was what they used. The corpses of long-dead God-Imperiums were their ships, and their skins covered their hands like gloves.

  Wukong watched from a distance. He was mainly watching the fight, but his eyes wandered on occasion to the small beings at the edge of the Sea.

  “A shame isn’t it,” a voice asked him.

  Aphrodite stood next to him. The personification of love and lust.

  Wukong snorted.

  “Was this not your doing?” He asked.

  “My daughter moves on her own, contrary to what you may believe.”

  “She moves with her nature,” Wukong replied.

  “Ah the fault of the beautiful then?”

  “What do you want?” he asked.

  “I want nothing but to be wanted.”

  Wukong stared at the realm sailor. It was a piece of a God-Imperium, reshaped and fashioned to float through the Sea of Death. When a God-Imperium died, they were erased entirely from existence. Laws and concepts, ideas and stories were broken into nothingness.

  They were utterly erased. But even in annihilation they left something behind and that something became the shadow and corpse of what they were. It became empty strength only waiting to be given form.

  Primordial Qi of the highest quality.

  Given a good blacksmith, someone around the ninth step of the sixteenth rank, it could be forged into something that could interact with a God-Imperium’s power.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  And regardless of how powerful God-Kings were thought to be, this was how they lived. Under the rule of the God-Imperiums, fighting to prove their strength and begging for whatever they could receive.

  Wukong envied them.

  Aphrodite, the Lady of Desire. She was said to have seduced the leaves off of a tree at one point.

  “I’ve heard things recently,” She spoke. “Things you might care to know about. I’ve been approached by a few of my friends and they have knowledge that would interest you.”

  “Tell it to The Tome,” Wukong replied.

  “That dry old thing? I’d rather make love to a mortal.”

  “I’m sure you will.”

  “You three obsessive children and your little city never listen to anyone do you?”

  Wukong shrugged.

  He watched the battle from a distance. Arthur and Lancelot were always fighting each other. Gwenuvier, Arthur’s old wife had betrayed him and married Lancelot. Arthur had nearly died but been given a second chance by the Fey, and with them on the brink of death, he had established Avalone.

  An island of Fey, death, rebirth, and power.

  Gwenuvier was Aphrodite’s child. And the woman took after her mother very well.

  Wukong could see her in the distance, watching the two men fight face full of concern and fear. She couldn't see him of course, even if they were both at the seventeenth rank, she was only of the first step while he was of the ninth.

  And steps meant all that much more in the realm of God-Imperium.

  “What do you want to say Aphrodite?”

  “There are whispers of a war in the distance, I hear these whispers and I am afraid.”

  “You're at the ninth step of God-Imperium, you have no need to be afraid.”

  “I’m not worried about myself you fool. I’m worried about my children. And why do you take the news of war so insouciantly?”

  “There’s always news of war,” he replied.

  “Yes, but this time I’m the one telling you. I wouldn’t confuse mere rumors with credible threats.”

  “No, you wouldn’t.”

  “Then-”

  “It’s just not news to me,” Wukong replied.

  Aphrodite looked at him, now with all of her being and all of her presence. She flared to fullness as her entire existence came to be in that one spot and the two men in the distance stopped their fighting and stared at her. All of the beings with the Sea of Death did the same. The gods of death looked from their realms and all that occupied their lands did as well.

  Beauty overwhelmed them. Desire ran true. They saw perfection, absolute and true, they saw love, truth, and purity and their minds existed only for her.

  Beauty was all they saw and desire was all they felt.

  “Stop it,” Wukong spoke.

  Then the flare died down.

  And just as quickly, everyone returned to their previous actions. Some came sailing this way, others sent out messages to certain factions, notifying them of Aphrodite’s presence.

  Few collected whatever bit of her essence they could and stared making their way to the market to sell whatever concept of beauty they had collected.

  “You shocked me,” she filtered.

  Wukong snorted. Her power wouldn’t affect him, but the same could be said for her.

  Aphrodite was the woman of desire. Love, lust, worship, she commanded them all and she could inspire it in all beings. She was the love of a married couple and she was the passion in the heart of all beings.

  But she was also the lust in an evil man’s eyes and the delusions of love in a rejected lover. She was desire, in all its beauty and its horror.

  Though Wukong could hardly claim to be her better.

  “No I didn’t.”

  “Well, I did like the attention. But truly, war? Is it coming?”

  “I couldn’t tell you,” Wukong said with a slight smile on his face. “But it seems to be ringing in the distance. Even the Fisherman senses it.”

  Aphrodite straightened.

  The Fisherman was a powerful being who’s warnings should have been trusted. But even then, what brought concern to Aphrodite’s heart more than even that was Wukong’s smile.

  The Knights fought in the distance, a woman looked on with sadness and concern. God-Kings tried to make their fortune in depths of death itself and Wukong smiled.

  She was the woman of desire, and even if she could not seduce Wukong, she knew his desire. Everyone knew his desire.

  And that made his smile even more unsettling.

  “How close is it?” She asked.

  “Not close. I think its still a long ways away.”

  “Then can it be prevented?”

  “No,” Wukong said with a shake of his head. “Too many beings have made too many plans for it to simply dissipate. And I think it’ll be everyone this time. Like the First War of Instinct.”

  “I… that was before even me,” Aphrodite whispered.

  “That was before most God-Imperium, back when birth came from spontaneous creation. When there were no realms or lands. Back in the first steps of existence.”

  Aphrodite was no longer flirting, and not even Gods knew how that could happen, but now for the first time in a really long time, she fell silent.

  Not many things could overwhelm a God-Imperium of the ninth step. And almost nothing could make them feel fear.

  But Aphrodite felt that now, and so did Wukong in his own way. Fear, anticipation, joy, and Wukong thought about the last emotion. It was something he hadn’t felt in a long time.

  Excitement.

  will get a four chapter update on Wednesday.

  Also, check out my other fiction. It's a superhero fic, inspired by Super Minion and various other superhero stories. Also, you can worldbuild in a superhero story and it can be cool and fun. Its sci fi with superheros and space roaches and mars colonies and horribly addictive drugs. Give it a spin if you want to.