The river widened as they pushed deeper into the fog-soaked gorge, its waters dark enough to reflect only shapes, never faces. Their wooden skiff cut through the current in uneasy silence. Kairo sat at the bow, fingers grazing the surface as if listening to the river's heartbeat. He didn't speak. He hadn't spoken much since the Beast's cave. Something in him was shifting—something he hadn't yet admitted even to himself.
Reina stood behind him, trying to hide the anger still simmering in her chest. Ayo lounged near the middle, pretending not to notice the tension, while Kasai kept his eyes on the cliff walls. And Kaito, the quietest of them all, trailed his fingers across the dagger strapped to his waist, watching everything with unreadable calm.
The river bent to the left, narrowing into what looked like a throat carved between two towering cliffs. Moss and roots hung from above like ropes. The boat creaked.
"This river feels wrong," Reina murmured.
"It's not wrong," Kaito replied. "It's old."
Kasai squinted. "Old doesn't mean friendly."
Kairo didn't join the conversation. His eyes remained fixed on the water. He could feel something beneath it—an echo, a pulse, like the river carried memories older than Athens, older than the clans, older than Aether itself.
The air thickened. A low hum trembled across the water.
Ayo sat up. "Did anyone else hear that?"
Before anyone could answer, the surface of the river broke.
Shapes rose.
Not fish.
Not spirits.
Not beasts.
They were faces—pale, drowned faces, stitched from shadow and water.
The boat lurched. Reina instinctively summoned her Onyx Bloom, purple Aether flickering around her fingertips.
"No," Kaito whispered sharply. "Don't use Aether here."
Reina froze. "Why?"
"Because…" His eyes widened. "These things feed on energy. They're Siren Remnants—the dead echoes of Sirens that drowned centuries ago. This whole river used to be their feeding ground."
Kasai hissed, "Great. Ancient ghosts. My favorite."
The faces drifted closer, whispering words that weren't words—longing, grief, hunger. Their eyeless sockets locked onto Kairo first.
"Kairo…" they breathed, somehow knowing his name. "Lost heir… marked son…"
Kairo snapped back, startled. "How do they know—?"
The water exploded upward.
Not faces this time. Bodies.
Twisted, half-formed Siren creatures clawed onto the boat, dripping black water that smelled like rotting lilies. Their hands were webbed bone, their teeth long like broken needles.
Reina struck first, blasting a wave of Aether without thinking.
The nearest Siren shrieked—and grew.
"Kaito was right!" Ayo barked. "They absorb Aether!"
The boat tilted violently. One Siren lunged at Kairo, its teeth inches from his throat—
But Kairo didn't move.
His Mark burned.
He whispered the chant under his breath, too soft for the others to hear.
"Astra…"
The world slowed.
Kairo surged upward like a blade through water, moving faster than instinct, faster than thought. He grabbed the Siren's skull and crushed it with a burst of raw Aether—but not Aether he shaped. Aether that shaped him.
Reina stared, shaken by the unnatural glow beneath his skin.
"Kairo… what was that?"
He didn't answer. He could barely hear her. The river's whispers grew louder around him. They weren't speaking to the group anymore—they were speaking to him.
"Stolen child… lost bloodline… power taken… truth hidden…"
He froze.
Father…?
Another Siren climbed aboard. Kasai sliced it in half with a flaming arc. Ayo kicked one back into the water, cursing under his breath. Kaito held the front steady, fighting without flair, only precision.
But Kairo didn't fight.
He was staring at the river like it was telling him a story.
The Siren whispers filled his skull—
"…your clan's fall was not fate… it was betrayal…"
"…the thief walks among you…"
Kairo's chest tightened. For a heartbeat, he couldn't breathe.
Not now.
Not here.
Not this.
"Kairo!" Reina shouted. "Focus!"
A Siren leapt at him.
Kairo reacted late.
Reina slammed into him, shoving him aside as claws sliced across her shoulder.
She winced. "If you die spacing out, I'll kill you myself."
That snapped him back.
Together, the squad forced the remaining Sirens off the boat. Their bodies sank, dissolving into the current like ink returning to a well.
The river quieted. The whispers died.
But inside Kairo, the echo remained.
Kaito steered them toward the bank. "We walk from here. That river isn't worth crossing twice."
They dragged the boat ashore and moved inland, stepping into a forest lit by faint blue fireflies. The path felt ancient, untouched by time.
Reina walked beside Kairo, eyeing him carefully. "Talk."
"I'm fine."
"You're lying."
Kasai laughed. "He's always lying."
Ayo smirked. "He's cold. It's his personality."
Kairo ignored all of them.
But as they walked deeper into the glowing forest, the team's earlier irritation resurfaced. Reina felt used. Kasai felt overshadowed. Ayo felt ignored. And Kaito—he watched but said nothing.
Tension simmered.
Then, halfway through the trail, it finally snapped.
Ayo shoved Kairo lightly. "Next time, don't freeze in the middle of a fight, bro."
Kasai added, "Yeah. We almost became fish food."
Reina's silence said more than their words.
Kairo clenched his jaw. "I said I'm fine."
"But you're not," Reina shot back. "And when you break, we break."
Those words stunned him more than any monster had.
They walked in silence for minutes that felt like hours.
Then Kaito, calm as ever, spoke quietly:
"We are a gang. Not rivals. Whoever falls behind, we carry. Whoever loses control… we pull back."
Kairo looked at each of them—Reina's bleeding shoulder, Kasai's bruised knuckles, Ayo's torn clothes, Kaito's tired eyes.
They had fought for him even when he wasn't fighting for himself.
For the first time, guilt replaced anger in his chest.
"I'm… sorry," he whispered, barely loud enough.
Reina nudged him with her elbow. "Good. Now don't do it again."
Kasai grinned. "We good, yeah?"
Ayo slapped Kairo's back hard enough to sting. "Better be."
Kaito nodded once, satisfied.
They continued through the forest until they reached the end—a cliff overlooking a vast expanse of shifting sand and ruins. Beyond it, faint lights shimmered like stars fallen onto earth.
The Desert of Fallen Gods.
Their next trial.
Their next war.
And beneath Kairo's ribs, the whispers repeated softly…
"…the thief walks among you…"