Page 6

The Threat

In the lands of men, the sirens lived only in whispers, legends passed down as cautionary tales.

Mothers spoke of them to keep children close, to warn the reckless away from the sea’s edge.

Ancient Greek lore painted them as temptresses of the deep, their songs luring sailors to ruin, voices that led to wreckage, to death, to silence beneath the waves.

Feared as harbingers of doom, the sirens became symbols of peril.

But as time passed, their stories faded into myth. Most dismissed them as fantasy, fables to frighten, not to reveal. Few believed such beings ever existed.

Fewer still knew the truth.

* * *

Adrian

I woke up disoriented, the world around me spinning in slow, disjointed circles.

Lead weighed down my body, and each limb felt sluggish and unresponsive as I struggled to make sense of my surroundings.

A dull, throbbing ache pulsed behind my eyes, and my head pounded in rhythm with my heartbeat, sharp and insistent .

Groaning, I reached up to touch my forehead, the motion slow and clumsy. My fingers brushed against something wet and sticky.

Blood. Great. Just what I needed.

I hissed in pain as I felt the jagged edges of a cut slicing across my brow. The sting of the wound was sharp, but the throbbing in my skull was worse. I must’ve hit something—hard. But what? And how?

My mind was foggy, memories fractured and distant, like trying to grasp onto fragments of a dream that was slipping away. I blinked, forcing myself to focus, but the hazy edges of my vision refused to clear. Everything felt… wrong.

The ground beneath me was cold, hard, and uneven, with sharp points digging into my side. I shifted, wincing as pain shot through my ribs.

What the hell happened?

My mind buzzed with confusion, a thick haze clouding my thoughts. The last thing I remembered was hiking, a cave, water, and then nothing.

The cave was enormous, illuminated by radiant algae clinging to the jagged rock walls, casting a glow. The air was damp and cool, carrying the salty scent of the sea and jasmine, creating an atmosphere that was both serene and ominous.

Somewhere in the distance, I could hear the faint echo of waves crashing against shore, but here, everything was still, too still. An icy shiver crawled up my spine. There was something unnatural about this place, something that felt illogical and yet inescapably beautiful.

Beams of moonlight filtered through narrow cracks in the cave ceiling, dancing across the water’s surface like spectral fingers. The scene should have been peaceful, mesmerizing even, but all it did was make me feel more trapped.

I took a deep breath, trying to shake off the strange sensations prickling at the edges of my mind. My body felt heavier than it should have, as if gravity itself had doubled its hold on me.

Where was I?

I struggled to piece together the last few moments before I blacked out, but the memories remained frustratingly out of reach. I had gone exploring—

Movement interrupted my thoughts. A shadow slipped through the narrow gap between two rocks. Instinctively, my muscles tensed, every nerve on high alert. I scanned the dim light, my pulse quickening as a figure emerged from the darkness.

A woman.

She moved with an unnatural grace, her steps silent, her presence commanding. For a moment, I thought she wasn’t real, that perhaps I was still dreaming or maybe imagining. But then she stepped into the light, and I saw her clearly.

She was beautiful, but in a way that defied logic.

Her skin was as pale as moonlight, smooth and pearlescent, as if it had never known the sun.

Her hair, silver, like liquid metal, cascaded down her shoulders in waves, catching the faint light and reflecting it in a way that made her seem almost unreal.

But it was her almond eyes that undid me most, deep emerald pools that didn’t just look at me.

They saw me. Stripped me bare. As if every fear, every fractured thought, every truth I hadn’t dared speak aloud echoed back at me in their depths.

They were the color of a forest at dusk, quiet, full of secrets and wild things.

Wide, luminous, utterly unrelenting. One glance and I lose myself, like a man chasing the last flicker of light through trees that would never let him go.

My eyes scanned her body, as she moved with measure grace.

She was wearing an unworldly garment that clung to her frame, made of a fabric that seemed to catch the light of the moon itself.

Tiny, glowing specks dotted the flowing material, like stars scattered across the night sky, illuminating her every movement.

The dress had an ethereal quality, hugging her curves before cascading down in delicate folds, the fabric parting with each step to reveal her long legs. It sparkled as if woven from stardust, mesmerizing and almost too perfect to be real.

It was an odd outfit for an island, let alone a cave, and now I was more confused than before. I lifted my gaze to meet her eyes, not knowing what to say, not even sure if I was truly awake.

My body screamed at me to move, to defend myself, but something about her presence stilled my instincts. There was something here that I didn’t understand.

“Who are you?” My voice came out rougher than I’d intended, the words cutting through the heavy silence between us.

She didn’t respond right away. Instead, her gaze swept over me, sharp and calculating.

It was as if she were assessing me, measuring me against some unknown standard.

Her eyes lingered on the tension in my shoulders, the clenched fist at my side, the way I was holding myself, ready for a fight if need be.

“You’re in a place that’s not meant for your kind, human.” She finally said, her voice steady, though her deep emerald eyes betrayed a flicker of something. Uncertainty, perhaps.

“Human?” The word hung in the air, loaded with meaning I didn’t fully grasp.

It wasn’t just the way she said it, it was the disdain for it, like I was something lesser, something foreign.

My mind raced, trying to piece together what she meant.

Human. Of course, I was human. But why say it like that, as if I were an outsider in some hidden world?

Had I stumbled into something I wasn’t supposed to see? The water, a fluorescent glow, the exquisite beauty of this place, it all felt too surreal, like a dream I couldn’t wake from.

What was she ?

Her presence, her voice, it had an edge to it, like she knew more about me than I did. There was something unsettling about the way she spoke, like I didn’t belong here. Like this place was built for something else, something beyond my understanding.

I clenched my fists, the pressure of my confusion giving me a headache.

This was insane. I was just a guy who came to an island to get away from all the pressure my father put on me.

And yet, here I was, trapped in some cave with a woman who looked like she stepped out of a myth, calling me “human” like it was a curse.

None of this made sense. What is this place?

The question gnawed at me, clawing at the edges of my sanity.

“And yet here I am. So I’ll ask you again, since perhaps you lack of manners.” I kept my tone even, despite the whirlwind of questions threatening to spill out. My voice felt like an anchor, grounding me to the only thing I could control, my own words. “Who are you?”

I studied her, taking in the dazzling sight she was, the silvery hair, the luminous skin, and the undeniable power that seemed to pulse from her very being. She was like nothing I’d ever witnessed before, more a force of nature than a woman. The most exquisite and unique creature I have ever seen.

The air felt heavier around her, thick with tension, almost humming with energy. I felt it, too, an unspoken warning that whatever answers I sought wouldn’t come easily. But I had to try. I needed to understand what I had gotten myself into.

She tilted her head slightly, her silvery hue shifting as she moved, the light catching the subtle glint of her hair like the surface of water beneath a full moon. Her gaze held mine, piercing and unyielding.

“My name is Iryen Vasillis,” she said, her voice smooth but carrying a weight, “and you’re in the Moon Pond. And who you would be?”

The name meant nothing to me, but the way she said it, like a title or a legacy, gave me pause. There was reverence in her tone, as though her name carried meaning far beyond a simple introduction.

She spoke of herself in a way that was sacred, almost untouchable, as if her existence intertwined with this place.

“I’m Adrian Nikolai,” I replied, the words slipping out, though they felt almost out of place here. A sharp reluctance edged my tone.

Anxiety clawed at me, a creeping sensation that I was on the verge of a dangerous situation. I didn’t like where this was going, not at all.

The stillness of the water and the intensity of her gaze felt charged, as if the very air around us held secrets. The tension between us was palpable, like a taut string ready to snap at any moment.

“Why are you here?” I pressed, my voice cutting through the quiet like a challenge. I needed to take control of this chaos somehow, but everything felt like it was slipping further out of my grasp.

Iryen didn’t flinch. She seemed to study me, gaze lingering on my eyes a little too long, like she was trying to pull something from me.

What was she looking for?

I could almost see the gears turning behind those emerald eyes, weighing something I couldn’t comprehend. There was a quiet intensity about her, a certainty that unnerved me. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to sway her.

“We have kept you here under unusual circumstances,” she said finally… “And my council has decided that I am to oversee your containment.”