A thousand years ago, before the gods relinquished their power to mortals, the world was different.It was a savage era — an era still scarred from the long, merciless war between the gods and the dark lord Hades.Among the deities who remained, there was Poseidon, the Sea God, and it was his name that Zeref's people worshipped with trembling devotion.
Zeref was born under a cursed sky, where the stars seemed to weep, and the oceans raged without reason.He was a boy of privilege once — his family, renowned traders, basked in wealth and comfort. Yet that life of silk and silver was not meant to last.
At the tender age of eleven, fate tore Zeref from his safe world.Captured during a pilgrimage to a sacred shrine, he was seized by those who sought human sacrifices to appease Poseidon's wrath.To them, Zeref was nothing more than another lamb for slaughter.
Thrown into the dungeons alongside the forgotten souls of his people, Zeref met a boy named Eric — ragged, thin, yet with eyes that still shimmered like stars in a night without a moon.
Despite their different blood, Zeref and Eric became inseparable.They would often sneak away from their masters' watchful eyes and lay beneath the broken sky, counting the stars, dreaming of a world where no one had to bow, bleed, or die for the whims of unseen gods.Eric taught Zeref how to survive — how to find joy in nothing, how to smile when the world tried to silence them.
Yet Eric also showed him the truth.The truth of the suffering — the endless line of slaves, the sacrifices made in Poseidon's name, the cries that rose each dawn as another soul was dragged to the altar.The cruelty shook Zeref to his core.That night, swearing on the stars they both loved, Zeref made a vow: he would save them all.
Together, the two boys devised a daring plan.They crept through the labyrinthine tunnels beneath the village, stealing keys, picking locks, whispering hope into hearts long broken by despair.They led small groups of slaves toward the forests during the dead of night, making narrow escapes under the noses of the guards.
But on the third night, everything collapsed.Their plot was discovered.
Eric was struck down — a blade through his back as he tried to shield Zeref.Blood stained the earth where they had once dreamed of freedom.
And Zeref…The villagers, unaware of his noble birth,Beat him half to death, Zeref was thrown into the mines — branded a slave.
Thus began ten years of hell.
The slaves were no more than insects to the overseers.Worked to exhaustion, building monuments to the gods that they would never live to see completed.Murdered for speaking, beaten for breathing, they were cattle fattened only for the day they would be marched to the sacrificial altar.
But Zeref never forgot.Not the stars.Not Eric's blood on his hands.
On the tenth anniversary of his capture, the day he was meant to die upon the altar, Zeref stood beneath the weeping heavens — and refused.
No more.
With a spark of will that could not be broken, he rallied the other slaves.Whispers became chants.Chants became roars.The rebellion surged like a wildfire, burning with desperate hope.
For three days and nights, they fought.They had no swords, no shields — only broken tools, shattered chains, and fury.But in the end, hope alone was not enough.They were crushed by the guards' steel
Zeref, bloodied but unbowed, was dragged before the village lord — Master Valtorien.
"You are unworthy even of being a sacrifice," the old tyrant sneered.
Forced onto his knees, Zeref braced himself for the final blow.Valtorien raised a gleaming sword — but as the blade fell, it shattered like glass against Zeref's neck.
Murmurs of fear rippled through the crowd.In rage, Valtorien fetched a heavier, mightier sword — one forged in divine fire.Again, it broke.
Seething, he summoned the executioner — the infamous Justice Blade, a man so skilled it was said he once beheaded a demigod in a single stroke.His sword, glowing with sacred aura, cleaved the air — but the moment it neared Zeref, the executioner gasped.A presence — ancient and overwhelming — poured from the boy's body.
Trembling, the executioner dropped his blade and fell to his knees.
Confusion swept through the crowd. Fear rooted them to the ground.
And then — the world around Zeref shattered like mist.
He opened his eyes to find himself standing in another realm.A vast plane of endless ocean and sky, where islands floated in midair and waterfalls cascaded upward into the stars.Clouds shimmered with golden light, and colossal thrones of stone sat empty, cracked and abandoned.
This was the Realm of the Gods.
Before him stood a lone figure — tall, regal, cloaked in robes of swirling blue mist.Poseidon.
The Sea God's voice rumbled like distant thunder.
"The war with Hades left us broken, our wounds eternal. Most gods are dead, or fading.We seek protectors — champions among mortals to guard the keys to Hades' prison.You, Zeref, have been chosen."
Poseidon spoke of the gods plan' last gifts to humanity.
How Zeus bestowed the gift of lightning to all of his worshippers, but only one the strongest and the most worthy in every generation would wield the excalibur and be able to use the true power of zeus How Chronus, the Titan of Time, gave his power to one bloodline — the Sato family.How Hecate, the goddess of magic, gifted a royal house and a few worthy commoners with sorcery beyond mortal comprehension.
But Poseidon...He had chosen Zeref alone.
"Among humanity's treacherous hearts, yours burned with true compassion," Poseidon said."You fought for the broken even when you had everything.For that, I grant you the power of the Sea — and the life everlasting, to guard the key for eternity."
Zeref listened, awestruck, as Poseidon named his gifts:
The ability to manipulate water in all its forms — hotter than molten lava, colder than the void itself.
The power to shape water into anything his mind could conceive — blades, wings, armor, storms.
Flight through streams of water summoned at will.
Complete dominion over rivers, lakes, oceans — his imagination was the only limit.
"I will not fail you," Zeref vowed, his voice echoing through the sacred halls.
With a nod, Poseidon raised his trident — and Zeref was hurled back to the mortal world.
Awakening in a burst of divine power, Zeref rose from his knees, eyes blazing like the sun.The guards rushed at him — and died in waves, crushed by summoned tsunamis and frozen mid-charge by spears of ice.
Master Valtorien screamed — but it was futile.
With a roar that shook the heavens, Zeref struck down the tyrant and shattered the chains of every slave.
The people fell to their knees before him, weeping with gratitude.Zeref, once a forgotten child in rags, was now their savior.
Crowned the leader of the Water Village, he ruled with wisdom and strength for a thousand years.He was the first mortal blessed by the gods.The first protector.The first legend.
And his story was only just beginning.