Chapter 5

In a forest just outside of Orario, a layer of mist formed a line that gradually expanded into a doorway four feet wide and ten feet high. On the sides, mist poured down like cold gas that spread across the ground, and then rapidly vanished into droplets of condensation.

At the center of the doorway, the mist shimmered before a hand popped out followed by a foot and a head with glass-like eyes. Peeking through the veil and ascertaining that there was no danger nearby, the mist began to shimmer.

Thereafter, Iris stepped through the doorway completely while adjusting her glasses. Ryuu Lion came next, features dark and clouded, not in the mood for pleasantries.

A moment later, Thetis stepped through with her thumbs needling together. She was still pouting at Iris.

Iris was the Goddess of rainbows, communication, and messages. The mist was her veil, and her perception equaled all places the mist touched. In her weakened form, she couldn't easily perceive everything at once, but her authority over the mist remained. She could venture from place to place by creating cloud doors through her divinity.

"The horse thief is near," Iris divined, light glinting off her glasses.

Iris's words were all Ryuu needed to hear.

All around Ryuu, green spirits of light began to dance and disperse around her. She was serious, not wasting a single second to the point that it was clear that her mental state was fraying.

Glancing at Iris, Ryuu wordlessly urged Iris for direction while Thetis moped in the corner, a cloud hanging over her head.

Iris shook her head at Ryuu. "There is no general direction. He's just somewhere here. Shall we split up and search?"

"Hn," Ryuu didn't argue and immediately started scouring the area, vanishing up onto the branches of the nearby trees. As an elf, she was essentially like a fish to water in the present scenery.

"Thetis, will you help?" Iris asked.

"I think I'll rest a bit." Thetis huffed. "You guys can go search around if you want."

Iris figured as much from Thetis's attitude.

"Suit yourself."

Iris began her own search, leaving Thetis alone as the doorway through the mist closed.

Pursing her lips, Thetis sighed and slumped her shoulders. Even until now, a part of her didn't know how to feel let alone approach recent developments. Perhaps the source of her greatest confusion was 'how?' more than anything.

Thetis was sure that if she had a kid, she would know it. What mother would forget their own child?

At least for Thetis, the guilt of such an action would debilitate her.

Shaking her head, Thetis realized that she was in no condition to think too deeply on anything. For all she knew, there was a logical answer to her musings, and she was simply getting ahead of herself.

However, how could she?

What if Iris or that Ryuu Lion girl found who they were looking for and brought him back? What would she do then? Break him free?

Thetis had some confidence against Iris, but Ryuu looked like she'd kill if anyone got in her way. It would be no problem if Thetis wasn't restricted to a weaker self in the lower world, but Gods could die here just as easily as any mortal if they weren't careful.

Fortunately, it didn't seem as if Iris or Ryuu were having any luck.

"One, two…six."

Thetis began to count the number of times she spotted both Ryuu and Iris rounding back where they started before then resuming to search in another direction.

Thetis could only marvel at the spectacle.

A person dared to play hide and seek with Iris, and was actually succeeding in eluding her. Either the target had a divine authority of concealment and stealth, or the target knew Iris's habits well enough to work around them. But such a case denoted a relationship that was closer than mere acquaintances.

'Aunt Iris, did I finally win this time?'

'You brat.'

Thetis pressed her hands over her eyes and rubbed them with a hint of melancholy. There really had been such a scene depicted in the vision she'd witnessed, hadn't there?

Iris had been indispensable to Thetis in the vision she'd had in order to help conceal her young child away from those who'd do him harm. It was inevitable that they spent a lot of time together.

He was a mischievous kid, utterly unable to keep still unless…he was near water.

Thetis perked up, her gaze shifting to where she could sense a small pond hidden within the jumble of trees.

Thetis was a Divine with ties to the ocean and water itself. The water practically called and resonated with her, allowing her to subconsciously make her way through the forest until she reached her destination.

The trees parted in a small clearing that formed a tranquil meadow surrounding a pond. The pond was in the center of a small depression, creating an elevated hillside that sloped around the perimeter of the pond's water banks.

Thetis felt her breath catch in her throat.

It really was as she'd expected.

The man, Rider, lay resting by the elevated hill of the pond with his back on the ground, and head supported by clasped hands behind his neck. He'd been staring at the small pond while lost in thought until the sound of grass and twigs crunching beneath Thetis's feet caused him to glance in her direction.

For a second, Thetis was hit with apprehension, but that died when she finally got a good look at Rider in full.

Her face, Peleus's hair, the same snarky grin, and most of all, a divinity that dwelled within him identical to Thetis's own.

Thetis ended up swallowing, something like instinct forcibly pushing back all doubts and uncertainty.

It was an inherent intuition. A certain knowing that was difficult to explain.

"...May I sit?" Thetis broke the tentative silence in the air.

No longer alone, Rider cautiously sat up and collected his expression. "If that's what you want."

"Mhm," Thetis nodded.

She chose to sit a couple feet away from Rider, neither too far or too close, conscious not to agitate him with her own nervousness.

She wet her lips as a hand tentatively brushed back her hair behind her left ear.

"It's a beautiful pond," she murmured, a soft wind blowing and dancing around her as if in welcome.

She was a Nereid, a Goddess of water, and a sea Nymph.

Nature itself welcomed her, and in that regard, Thetis could feel the soft wind blowing around Rider gather near him with the same regard.

He too was loved.

"It is." Rider agreed.

Thetis pulled her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, leaning her chin over her knees.

"The waves are clear by the shores, and the scent of water lilies linger in the air," she said.

Thetis would have been more believable if she'd actually been looking at the pond, but the entirety of her attention was focused on Rider. Of course, that didn't mean her words were wrong. She knew these things intuitively with any lake, pond, or sea she was near.

"Yeah." Rider agreed again, growing conscious of Thetis's staring and focusing his gaze on the pond. "I've always found water to be calming."

"Hehe," Thetis covered her mouth with a hand to hide the smile threatening to split over her face. "Me too."

The two fell into silence. Rather than awkward, there was a type of familiarity that filled the air such that Thetis could picture a little boy playing in front of her as she stood guard. The boy was a little gremlin, always getting into trouble, and worrying his mother to no end.

Thetis blinked, realizing that she'd somehow inched closer to Rider, a hand reaching out to him.

Catching herself in the act, she blushed and quickly pretended that she was just fixing her hair. Fortunately, Rider didn't seem to notice as his gaze was focused on the pond.

"Uhm ugh, may I ask what you are doing here?" Thetis quickly composed herself.

"Thinking."

Once again, the answer was short, but in no way did it come off as dismissive. Rather, it was full of inexplicable nostalgia.

"Oh."

"What about you?"

"Thinking." Thetis splayed her fingers out, staring at her nails in a bid to make herself seem nonchalant. It was a failure. "Maybe we could think together? If there's something troubling you, I'll listen. Surely, no- without fail. I will do so. If I can, I could just take care of it!"

"Even now, huh?" Rider snorted with melancholy. "Still the same as always."

Helplessly doting, to the point of tears when it ended in tragedy.

Thetis inwardly flinched but outwardly pretended not to understand even if she did.

The same as always?

Thetis had seen glimpses in a vision that came and went like a mirage, but she was a Goddess that was still able to piece things together.

She bit down on her lips, her stomach cramping from that feeling of despair she'd endured at the end of her vision while staring helplessly at a broken body.

"Y-Yes?" She stammered.

"No," Rider shook his head wryly before his lips tugged up into a depreciating grin. "It's nothing but the words of a bastard who made someone who deserved better, grieve for him. He's not about to make the same mistake again-"

"He already is!"

Thetis glared at the back of Rider's head, her eyes wavering before shooting down to stare at her feet at her outburst. She swallowed the lump in her throat.

Was she cursed? She couldn't even get angry at him.

"Hmm?" Rider shifted his gaze away from the pond, then back at Thetis whose hands were clutching anxiously at her heart.

Thetis opened her mouth, having gathered her courage through a rising sense of bitterness.

Why are you blaming yourself?!

The words were on the very edge of her lips, but someone ruined it.

"-Thetis! What did I tell you about wandering off on your own without our Familia?!"

Iris's calls suddenly began to echo throughout the general quiet of the secluded meadow. She was nearby.

The tension in the air was shattered.

An immensely petty part of Thetis immediately started cursing Iris in her head when Rider got up onto his feet.

"Well then, I guess I'll get going."

The words were like ice pouring down Thetis's back, as she too shot herself up to a standing position. "Wait, please. Just a bit longer!"

Rider shook his head and let out a low whistle. "I'm afraid not. Your friend's eyes are too much for a game of hide and seek to be fair."

Dammit Iris!

Thetis started panicking. There was so much she still had to say and know.

"Hold on, don't go!"

Stubborn until the end, Rider would not change his mind once he'd decided on an action. A chariot pulled by three horses instantly appeared, Rider hopping on and grabbing the reins.

"Until next time-"

"...Achilles?" Thetis blurted the name that had always been at the tip of her tongue.

The man froze in his tracks, body going stiff.

Thetis could tell that Rider likely knew her Divine Perception wouldn't work unless she touched him, but from the very beginning, there had been no need. Rider was the spitting image of the Achilles that Thetis had held so dear.

Her dearest baby boy.

"D-Don't leave me."

The words Thetis had said at the end of the vision she saw came gushing out, resonating with her current emotional state.

"My entire life," Achilles sighed, muttering to himself. "Nothing but regrets."

Shifting inside his chariot, Achilles suddenly grabbed something with his hands and then tossed it to Thetis.

"Here. Take it."

Stiffly, Thetis raised her arms and caught the object before it could land on the ground.

"A shield?" She murmured, one that was familiar to the shield she knew, yet different in that it was now also a crystallized legend.

"I won't be needing it anymore." Achilles shrugged, making up his mind. Once that was done, there really was no going back. "Use it well. It will protect you."

"Then-"

"Thetis!"

Iris's voice cut in once again, causing Thetis's expression to fall miserably, and Achilles to laugh in fond amusement.

Nothing ever changes, but even without saying it, Achilles could guess what Thetis wanted.

In the end, he played a prank and said nothing.

With that, Achilles urged his horses forward, riding off into the horizon.

/-/

"Thetis, you're glaring."

Iris knew that she often bickered with Thetis, but even she could tell that this time was worse than any other.

"Am not." Thetis hissed, unable to even look at Iris for fear of homicide.

"You are." Iris raised a brow. As far as she was concerned, she was on the side of reason and Thetis was overreacting again.

"You're annoying. AAAAHHHHH! You're Annnoyyying!"

Iris sighed. Thetis was throwing a tantrum again for no reason.

A lost cause. That's what Thetis was right now.

Then there was Ryuu who was biting the nail of her thumb out of desperation, but Iris wouldn't judge. She partially knew Ryuu's circumstances. She'd heard from Astrea before Astrea departed Orario at the murder of Astrea Familia.

Ryuu was the last surviving member, or at least she should have been.

Now, Ryuu's anxiety was driving her down a rabbit hole of no return. A pity because her level was fairly high as a former adventurer.

-BOOOM!

Birds took to the air as a shockwave sent a gust of wind as far out as where Iris and the others stood.

All three glanced in the direction of Orario where the tower of Babel was now oddly tilted. It was far from a good sign considering that both Thetis and Iris had their Familia lodging in an inn near the tower.

The thought was sobering.

"P-Peleus!" Worry immediately clouded Thetis's mind while Ryuu paled at the thought of losing even more people dear to her.

Thetis and Ryuu anxiously stared at Iris whose countenance twisted in grim apprehension.

With a thought, Iris tore a two-way portal through the mist.

/-/

Smoke was rising over the horizon as screams and the snapping of wood had another building broken into ruins.

Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.

Why was this happening?!

Loki gnashed her teeth.

How could she not be worried when her Familia was out there and likely at the forefront?

The situation was dire given the chaos, but there was no choice as one of Orario's foremost powers. She had to resolve the situation somehow.

Fuck you Freya- Where are you?!

/-/

Somewhere, Freya's expression twisted in frustration.

"Ms. Syr, quickly, this way!" Bell shuddered while pulling Freya along through the rubble.

This had not been the best time to be posing as a waitress…