Reincarnated As Poseidon

The ocean trembled beneath Poseidon's bare feet.

It was not the calm, docile sway of a tide greeting the shore; it was a deep, resonating shiver, as if the very bones of the sea sensed what was coming.

Above him, clouds swirled in an unholy spiral, jagged streaks of silver lightning slicing the heavens apart. The salty wind carried with it a metallic tang — blood. Somewhere beyond the horizon, something ancient stirred.

"Thalorin…" Poseidon muttered, his voice a low growl, yet layered with a strange echo that didn't belong to him alone. The name tasted like iron on his tongue, sharp and unforgiving.

He was no longer Dominic, the boy who had been weak, dying in a sterile hospital bed. He was Poseidon now — Lord of the Deep, a vessel for the forgotten god whose essence coiled through his veins like a serpent. But today, he would no longer be merely a vessel. Today, the storm was his weapon.

From the rolling mist, a figure emerged — cloaked in kelp and shadows. Aegirion. The newly crowned god of tides, bearing the trident forged in the abyss. His eyes glowed with a cruel luminescence, the color of a storm-lit wave.

"I expected the sea's corpse," Aegirion said mockingly, his voice like the crash of distant surf. "Instead, I find you standing here. Tell me, Poseidon… are you here to beg for your life, or to surrender it?"

A thin smile crept across Poseidon's face. "Neither. I'm here to take back what's mine."

The wind screamed as he raised his hand. The ocean answered, walls of water surging upward, each wave curling into the form of a massive leviathan. The beasts roared, their translucent bodies thrashing toward Aegirion.

But Aegirion did not flinch. With a flick of his trident, a maelstrom of black water erupted around him, swallowing the leviathans whole. The sea boiled where he stood, as though the depths themselves bowed to him.

"You play with tricks, child," Aegirion sneered. "But I am the tide. I am the storm."

Before Poseidon could answer, the god lunged forward. The trident shot toward his chest, faster than the eye could follow. Instinct screamed at Poseidon, but something older — something other — moved his body before thought could catch up.

Thalorin's voice surged through him, cold and commanding.

Dodge left. Take his arm at the wrist.

Poseidon obeyed. His hand shot up, not to block, but to redirect. The trident sliced past him, missing his heart by inches, and his own trident — summoned in a flare of blue light — locked with Aegirion's weapon. The clash rang out like a bell tolling the death of an empire.

The sea around them raged in response, waves colliding like mountain ranges in motion. Lightning struck the water, yet neither god flinched. The storm was theirs to command.

"You move like him," Aegirion hissed, pushing forward. "The old one. Thalorin."

"He moves through me," Poseidon said, his voice a dangerous whisper. "And he's not fond of pretenders."

Aegirion's expression darkened. He shoved Poseidon backward, the force sending him skidding across the surface of the water. Before Poseidon could steady himself, a column of seawater surged upward, hard as iron, smashing into his ribs. Pain bloomed white-hot through his body, but he did not fall.

The old Dominic — frail, coughing blood — would have stayed down.

Poseidon rose.

"You want a god?" he snarled, lifting both hands toward the sky. "I'll show you one."

The clouds ruptured. A torrent of rain cascaded down, but each drop froze midair before touching the surface, suspended by Poseidon's will. He clenched his fist — and the raindrops sharpened into crystal spears.

With a roar, he sent them hurtling toward Aegirion.

The god of tides swung his trident in a furious arc, shattering the first wave of spears, but three pierced his shoulder, spilling ichor the color of midnight. Aegirion gritted his teeth, wrenching the weapons free.

"This sea," he growled, "is not big enough for two gods."

The ocean beneath them began to whirl, faster and faster, until they stood atop the gaping mouth of a vortex. The pull was monstrous, dragging ships from miles away into its maw. Poseidon's muscles screamed against the force, but his eyes never left his enemy.

He felt Thalorin's power coil tighter inside him, not as a whisper now, but as a pulse — the heartbeat of something unfathomable.

End him, the voice urged. Claim the depths for your own.

And Poseidon wanted to. He wanted to tear Aegirion apart, to scatter his essence into the trenches where no light could reach. But as the thought burned in his mind, a flash of memory struck him — a girl's voice, faint but warm.

Don't lose yourself, Dom… Promise me.

It was Evelyn. His Evelyn. From before all this.

For a fraction of a second, his grip faltered.

Aegirion saw the hesitation and struck, driving his trident toward Poseidon's heart. The impact sent a shockwave that split the sea for miles, exposing the black floor of the ocean. Water roared back in, but Poseidon had already twisted away, the weapon grazing his side instead of impaling him.

Blood — red, human blood — spilled into the water.

"You bleed," Aegirion said in disbelief. "You are no god. You are a man in stolen skin."

Poseidon's gaze hardened. "Maybe. But even a man can drown a god."

He slammed his trident into the vortex, and the ocean responded with a force neither of them had commanded before. From the depths rose a shadow — vast, serpentine, crowned with jagged coral horns. The Leviathan.

Its roar shook the bones of the world.

Even Aegirion stepped back, eyes widening. "You can't…"

"Oh, I can," Poseidon said, voice steady as the beast coiled around them. "And I will."

The Leviathan struck, its jaws closing around Aegirion in a cyclone of foam and teeth. The god of tides screamed, his form flickering like a flame in a gale, before the creature dragged him into the abyss.

The ocean went still.

Poseidon stood alone in the silence, his trident's tip resting on the water's surface. Rain fell once more, this time unshaped, natural. But inside him, Thalorin's heartbeat still thundered.

You hesitated, the voice said, not angry, but curious. Why?

Poseidon stared into the dark horizon. "Because I'm not just you," he answered. "And I never will be."