The Pantheon sailed across the Aegean, the sun glinting on the restless waves. The salty wind tugged at their clothes, carrying the faint hum of divine energy that clung to the sea. Kairo leaned against the railing, letting Voltis pulse gently through him. His mark throbbed faintly as he scanned the horizon, his mind still replaying the fight with Brontes.
Raijin stretched, sparks of electricity crackling across his skin. "Sea air does wonders for the nerves. Makes me almost forget we're about to fight something that could eat us alive."
"Almost," Kairo muttered dryly. Selene shot him a glance, lips twitching at his understatement.
The island rose from the mist, jagged cliffs guarding a hidden cove. This was their target—the resting place of the Siren's Tear, a gem said to be protected by Thalassa, whose song could twist minds and warp even the strongest Aether.
As they approached the shore, Orion spoke quietly, almost as if confessing a secret. "Before Akairo found me, my clan was destroyed in a single night. No one survived… except me. He didn't just train me; he pulled me from the ashes and gave me purpose. Taught me to control powers I never should have had."
Kairo listened, eyes narrowing. Another story. Another piece of the pattern forming in his mind. Akairo's reach, his influence over fate, seemed impossible. How could one man have shaped so many lives so thoroughly?
The first song hit before they reached the temple ruins. The water shimmered unnaturally, ripples forming patterns that teased the senses. Thalassa's melody curled through the air like smoke, and Kairo felt the pull immediately—a tug at his consciousness, urging him to let go, to follow the music.
"Resist it!" Selene shouted, her hands weaving illusions that distorted the sound, cutting it into manageable pieces. Kairo clamped down on his Aether, whispering Voltis, arcs of controlled lightning flaring around his body to steady his mind.
Thalassa emerged from the water, ethereal and terrifying. Her eyes glimmered like shards of sapphire, and her long, flowing hair moved as if alive. She smiled, a haunting expression that made Kairo's chest tighten.
The battle was a test of mind and body. Selene's illusions created multiple images of the Pantheon, confusing the Siren. Raijin's lightning strikes were precise, aimed at disrupting her resonance with the waves. Darius used water currents to shield the weaker members from her song. Kali and Orion attacked from shadows, striking with speed and precision.
Kairo's focus never wavered. He whispered Voltis, letting Aether flow in tight, controlled pulses, countering the Siren's distortions. But as the fight continued, he noticed again the anomalies he had begun to see before: Raijin's attacks carried a subtle shadow energy, Orion's strikes seemed to channel a secondary divine force, and even Selene's illusions shimmered with faint dual resonance.
Why do some of them have more than one power lineage? he wondered, unease growing. He said nothing, focusing instead on the fight.
With a final coordinated strike—Selene blinding her with illusions, Kairo striking precise arcs of lightning, and the rest of the team combining their Aether—the Siren recoiled, her song shattering as she submerged beneath the waves. The Siren's Tear glimmered on a rock, untouched.
As the Pantheon retrieved it, laughter returned, tentative but genuine. Raijin shook water from his hair. "Well, I almost drowned, but at least I didn't get hypnotized into singing like a fool."
Kairo offered a faint smirk but didn't join in. His mind was elsewhere, replaying what he had seen: patterns in powers, subtle dual energies, and the unnerving way each member's abilities complemented another. Something wasn't right. Something was being hidden.
Selene noticed his distant gaze. "You're thinking again," she said softly.
"Just… noticing things," Kairo replied quietly, letting his thoughts linger on the faint anomalies he could not explain.
As the Pantheon sailed back, the sun dipped low over the horizon, painting the sea gold. The laughter and light teasing returned, but beneath it all, Kairo's unease grew. He could not yet name it, but a subtle storm had begun, whispering that not everything in this mission—and in this group—was as it seemed.