Phmyn, Ikne, Sutec, Adnarim, who else was there? While Melusine learned of Adnarim, Cormac inquired about Poseidon and Neptune. Alas, there were none who would speak of the Earth-Shaker or his Roman counterpart, yet when he inquired about the gods of Pacifica, Cormac learned of Yu the Great, the Chinese king who became a god of water and the sea and ever since his ascension had become less and less human in appearance. When Cormac asked what this Chinese monarch-turned deity had to do with Pacifica, he learned that while the Profound Ones of Pacifica had worshipped Phmyn, Inke and Sutec before turning away from them, the royal family had always claimed descent from Yu, founder of the Xia dynasty, a man whose reign had ended eight hundred and twenty-seven years before the reign of Ramesses II in Egypt.
Cormac was only left to wonder, when had the Profound Ones settled in the sunken ruins of Pacifica in the Mariana Trench? How long had it been that Yu's appearance had become less human? Was this the way of all humans who became gods? Were there any who had retained their human appearance? What did Yu even look like now? Alas, there was no statue of Yu to point Cormac towards to. As for his relation with Ronemun, it was known that Yu had been both ally and enemy to the Sea King. He was a god, more specifically a god of water and the sea, it was to be expected. The sea could just as much take life away as it could provide it.
Eventually, a connection between Yu and Adnarim came up. Yu had fathered a daughter whom he had named after the goddess of the mermaids. Upon asking of this other Adnarim, Cormac learned that this daughter of Yu had not been seen for three decades and it was unknown if she still lived. What was known was that she had been a mermaid, though what kind was unknown. Thus, did Cormac wonder if the identity of the other Adnarim's mother could answer what manner of mermaid she had been.
As for Melusine, she learned the goddess Adnarim was a benevolent deity. While Phmyn, Ikne and Sutec demanded blood sacrifices and their faith was intolerant of other religions, the goddess Adnarim demanded no such thing and promoted harmony between her worshippers and those of other deities. By all accounts, she seemed like a perfect deity, but alas, she had not been seen in a thousand years.
Continuing on their way, the two redheads discussed their relations with religion. Cormac had been raised Catholic and Melusine Protestant. While Cormac's minister had been cold and distant, yet ultimately friendly, Melusine's had been warm and close to his flock, albeit extremely harsh and not just when it had come to sermons, to the point that Melusine had dreaded Sundays. As for their views of God, Cormac and Melusine shared similar views, views of a kind and benevolent, if mysterious and sometimes misguided deity.
And yet, which deity had been responsible for the storm that had resulted in their transformations? There was room enough in the world for many gods, so was it the Abrahamic God or someone else entirely? Cormac's grandmother had always said that the old gods were not dead in Ireland, so could it have been Manannan mac Lir? Perhaps, it had even been Lir himself.
Gods could be mysterious and yet they could be alien as well, sometimes they even looked alien. Gods in the shapes of men and women, but with the heads of birds and beasts? Why did the Egyptians of yore depict their deities in such a way? What manner of animal did Set's head even belong to? It was the most alien of creatures and for all Cormac and Melusine knew, it actually was an alien.
Once again Cormac wondered what Yu even looked like now since his ascension to godhood. What did Phmyn, Ikne and Sutec look like? This Acclaimed Avatar, Paterfamilias and Materfamilias, gods of the Deep, but unlike the goddess Adnarim, the Children of the Storm had seen no depictions of this divine trinity.
"Perhaps…" began Melusine. "Ikne and Sutec are the father and mother of the Profound Ones, thus the reason for calling them 'Paterfamilias' and 'Materfamilias.'"
"Not unlike how Goidel Glas is called the Father of the Gaels." Cormac commented. "If that is the case then Inke and Sutec may not look that different from the average Profound One."
"If that is the case, then how do we know if we have met them?" asked Melusine.
Melusine's question was a good one. How were they to know Inke and Sutec from any other Profound One?
"They would have to still be alive by this point." Cormac replied. "If they truly are the father and mother of the race, then they must be long dead by now and long since deified, but if Yu still exists as a deity, then maybe Ikne and Sutec do as well."
Melusine was about to answer when swimming in their direction was a creature nothing short of colossal. It resembled a stockier whale shark, which was already large enough being the biggest fish in the sea, but the largest they could go was sixty-one feet in length, this creature was sixty-seven feet at least. To the shock of Cormac, there was a set of teeth like those of a great white or bull shark, not like something that would belong to a gentle filet feeder like the whale.
Her voice mixed with terror and awe, Melusine asked: "What in Heaven's name is that?"
Cormac was not entirely sure, though he had heard of a prehistoric species of shark of such a size, a beast known as megalodon… A species that was supposed to be extinct. If it truly was megalodon then this creature was a living fossil.
"You could go up to it and ask." Cormac replied. "After all, you can understand sea life."
Understandably, Melusine said: "I'm not sure I want to."