As suddenly as the bubbles encased her, the bubble swept down into the watery depths, taking Emma somewhere down below.

“Where is this bubble taking me?” Emma asked Demeter.

“To the palace of my brother. Poseidon. Be prepared. There is a lot of dangerous creatures there who will mean you harm.”

Emma was not keen on traveling to this palace. But once the bubble arrived at its destination, and popped, leaving Emma exposed, she had no choice in the matter.

Running passionately despite nothing being around, Emma’s heart shook. She was like a wild dog trying to get abreast of the situation. Once Emma had stormed across several hallways and rooms — all coral based — she was able to calm down some.

“Wait,” Emma asked, “I do not see any creatures.”

“They are there. The palace is big. But my brother never expects visitors, so few guards are posted at any given area. Keep that cloak tight.”

Again, Emma followed orders. But as she was searching the palace, waiting for Demeter to talk again and point her to the right direction, she became frustrated and lashed out. “What the crap am I looking for, Demeter?”

“Hold your tongue, mortal, you—” but Emma was no longer listening to Demeter.

In fact, Emma had stripped off her cloak, exposing her completely naked form to the world.

“W-what are you doing?! You will die without the cloak!” Demeter squeaked.

“Bullshit. The cloak means nothing, just some fun from your bit, eh? Care to tell me, dear Demeter, what you are really after?”

Emma’s patience was at an end. She had suspected that Demeter’s intentions were off — but that was a given, she was a divine being, after all, her morality was non-existent from the get-go, or at least skewed beyond normal reckoning. Emma had her suspicions about the cloak as early as the beast field with the manticores — the manticores had milky, white, eyes. Meaning, Emma knew they had been blind; Demeter’s advice on staying away from them had been sound, but that was nothing which could not have been inferred by Emma herself; Emma rationalized that since the beasts were blind, they found their way in the world by sound and vibration. Although she could not confirm, Emma thought that the solid water of the outside amplified vibration. The cloaks, then, were pointless theatrics meant to endear the petty mortals to the all-mighty divine.

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But Emma was an atheist and a feminist. She wasn’t about to let some pantheon bitch use her in her elaborate chess game.

“If you don’t put that cloak back on right now, I am going to—” Demeter began.

“Going to what?” Emma interrupted. “Come through the veil and force it back on me? Please. There’s rumors of what happened to you. You’re brother’s a bastard. But because of that, you are not going to come out from the veil. The second you step foot in this palace, he will know you’re here. And you are terrified of him. As I would be too, if I were in your shoes.”

For a while, there was no response. Emma believed it was the bit about ‘if I were in your shoes.’ Placing oneself in the position of another was empathy, and immortal beings like gods and demi-gods had no capacity for empathy as they were too involved in themselves to consider another living creature.

Demeter then raged, “You slimy, little, daughter of a wh— listen, I saved you from certain death and you will obey me!”

But Emma wasn’t listening. Although, Demeter did not realize that Emma knew. As far as Demeter knew, Emma’s silence was rapt complicity. Demeter was explaining in detail her plan to get revenge to her brother. It was a strange plan. One that involved overloading a series of valves and computers or something. Essentially, she wanted to blow up the palace. Thought it would be a great prank to play on her brother. But this circus was not Emma’s own, and the monkeys within her not her own. Demeter’s demented plan was bold, but it would not be happening, at least not today and not by her hands. Although, Demeter’s plan did give Emma a way out; as Demeter was going on about this tech or that feature of the palace, she had mentioned an experimental room.

Playing along long enough to get directions to the room, once inside, Emma wasted no time. She slaughtered the inhabitants within using her magical powers of sharp-shooting and found what she had hoped to find — a marine craft. A submarine.

“What are you doing? You have to be quick. There are still more valves to overload and…” Demeter started before realizing she was not being listened to. “You really are the worst. Fucking mortal shits.”

Emma pushed the submarine onto the loading dock and hit the button to open the docks.

Just as Emma was about to jump into the tiny one-person sub, however, Demeter parted the veil and charged her…