Screams echoed around her, the sharp sounds of pain and terror vibrating through the water. Stella squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block it all out, but the voices found their way in, cutting through her thoughts.
"Milor, you will pay for this," Kiaro groaned, his voice strained and desperate.
"Oh, I won't. You're going to die in a few seconds," Milor's voice came, cold and mocking. The words hit her like a slap, each syllable heavier than the last.
It was familiar. Too familiar. She knew this voice. Her heart skipped a beat, and everything around her seemed to freeze for a moment.
"The Siren of Cosmos and the mermaid of Cosmos are both born. I can't wait to start the war. I can't believe my niece is the mermaid of Cosmos. Too bad she'll die in my hands." Milor's words twisted in the water, and Stella felt the weight of them crash into her chest. The realization hit her like a tidal wave—this was no stranger. This voice belonged to family.
Her family.
"That will never happen," her mother's voice rang out, strong and unwavering, despite the chaos. "I will protect her."
"We'll see about that, Anne. Everyone will think you died in Alloan, but I'll be the one who knows the truth," Milor taunted, a dark satisfaction lacing his words.
And then, everything stopped. A suffocating silence swallowed the water, the screams fading into nothingness. Stella's heart pounded, her chest tightening, not from the physical strain of swimming, but from the weight of the truth that now pressed against her.
The ache in her chest wasn't just from the heartache—it was the truth sinking in. Her parents had kept so much from her, and now, the pieces were falling together, creating a picture she wasn't ready to see.
With her heart racing, she swam deeper into the cave. The pressure of the water around her seemed to match the pressure in her chest, but she couldn't stop. She had to keep going.
As she swam, the dark water grew thicker, colder. She was moving further into the unknown. The narrowing passage made it harder to breathe, but Stella pushed through, desperate for answers, no matter the cost. The pain in her chest intensified, but it was nothing compared to the hunger for truth that gnawed at her.
The thread around her wrist turned red, but she didn't see it. She didn't feel it. All that mattered was the answers ahead, even if they led her straight into danger.
I will find them, she thought, her determination stronger than the fear.
No matter what it took. No matter how much it hurt. She had to know.
Soon, she opened her eyes, finding herself in a vast chamber. The walls shimmered around her, covered in ancient symbols and texts that seemed to pulse with a life of their own. She was surrounded by words—foreign words that felt strangely familiar. Her gaze locked on the flowing script around her. It was the mermaid language—Aqauroil.
The words spoke to her, and without thinking, she began to read. The text mirrored the one from the grimoire, but it was incomplete—just stories of mermaid clans, nothing more. Her pulse quickened as she scanned the words. She needed to find more than this. She needed to understand who she truly was.
The text shifted before her eyes. The symbols rearranged into something different. The names of various mermaid clans appeared, but none of them meant anything to her. Her family, her lineage, was unknown. She had nothing to latch onto.
Her thoughts turned to Lyra, to the conversations they'd shared. Lyra had mentioned her family—the guardian mermaids. Guardian... that word. It had to be in there. She combed through the names again, her eyes scanning for a match. And then, she found it. Abysswraiths.
Her heart skipped. Abysswraiths. It was worth a try. With a sense of purpose, Stella moved toward the word, her hand reaching out. As her fingers brushed against it, the entire chamber seemed to shudder. The walls dissolved around her, and she fell.
Her tail jerked instinctively, slowing her descent. She landed softly, but the pain in her chest remained. It had lessened slightly, but still, it lingered, a constant reminder that something was terribly wrong. She glanced down at her wrist, where the crimson thread had deepened to a blood-red hue. She knew Simon would be worried, but she couldn't afford to stop now. She needed to stay strong.
Alloan knew her questions before she even asked them. It had shown her what she needed to see, guided her to the answers.
The water around her shimmered again, and as it did, a tree formed in the depths. It was a family tree—woven from water, the faces of her ancestors appearing one by one. The faces weren't like pictures. They were fluid, constantly shifting, as if made from the very essence of the ocean.
Stella's gaze moved upward, tracing the faces of her ancestors, each one a part of her legacy. She memorized every detail, every expression, moving down the line until her eyes stopped at the last face.
Beside her father's face was another face. The name beside it read Milor.
Her heart froze, and the world around her seemed to collapse. Milor. Her uncle. But more than that—her best friend. The man she had trusted. The man who had always been there for her, who had helped her through her darkest moments. The man who had become her first friend in college.
It was him all along, she thought, her chest tightening with the unbearable weight of betrayal. Milor. The man who killed her parents. The man who had manipulated her, tricked her into thinking he was her ally.
The realization hit her like a tidal wave. Milo is Milor. Her uncle. Her betrayer. The man who had killed her parents. The man who had helped her, teased her, laughed with her. The man who had been her first friend in college.
Her chest tightened as memories flooded back. Every smile, every word of encouragement, every moment of trust—they were all a lie. He had been playing her from the start. Pretending to care. Pretending to be her ally.
Her heart broke as the truth settled in, heavy and unrelenting. Milo, the friend she had trusted more than anyone, was the same Milor who had destroyed her family.
Tears mingled with the water around her as betrayal coursed through her veins. Stella clenched her fists, her determination hardening. This wasn't over. She would uncover the full truth. And she would make him pay.
It was him all along.
Stella pressed her palms against her face, trying to steady the chaos within her. The betrayal, the lies, the weight of her past—it all felt unbearable. Her mind raced with questions she didn't want answers to, truths she didn't want to face.
She wanted to go back. Back to the safety of her life before this journey, back to a time when things were simpler, even if they were built on lies. She wanted to escape the crushing weight of what she'd learned. She wanted to breathe without the suffocating heaviness in her chest.
But there was one last question.
One last question lingered, but what she didn't know was that the answer to it would shatter her completely.