The Sea of Glass peeled open like a curtain of silver mist, parting for Skyla's immense form. With a single beat of her thunderous wings, she descended into the depths, where no sun could reach and even light dared not linger. Kaelos stood at the edge of her back, gauntlet glowing softly, the pendant at his neck vibrating faintly with each heartbeat.
Around them, the sea churned with ancient silence. Not dead—but dreaming.
As they traveled deeper, the water itself began to change. It shimmered with strange shapes, faces whispering against the current, fragments of long-forgotten gods and monsters bound in watery prisons. Kaelos could feel their pain—and their power.
Skyla finally spoke, her voice echoing across the water. "We approach the threshold. Beyond this point, Olympus holds no dominion. Only Wrath lives here."
A great chasm opened below them, like the mouth of an ancient beast. At the bottom, glowing faintly with volcanic light, lay a massive cavern—the prison of Othrys.
Kaelos leapt from Skyla's back, landing on scorched stone. The air was thick with sulfur and heat. Lightning sparked from his fingertips unconsciously. The pendant glowed brighter now, as if recognizing the presence of something once familiar.
The cavern pulsed.
Chains thicker than mountain roots crisscrossed a central pit. They stretched into the walls and ceiling, humming with divine magic. And at the heart of them all was a figure so massive he seemed more mountain than man—his body forged of magma and obsidian, his eyes two glowing furnaces.
Othrys.
The Titan of the Pillar. The Forgotten Flame.
His body was broken, his form scorched and cracked, yet still he pulsed with terrifying strength. He had not died. He had simply waited.
Kaelos approached the pit, unflinching. "Othrys."
The titan stirred, and the entire cavern shuddered.
"Who dares speak my name?" His voice rumbled like tectonic plates grinding against one another.
"I am Kaelos. Stormborn. Son of Zeus."
Othrys's eyes narrowed. Chains groaned as he tried to rise.
"Another child of the Sky-Thief," he growled. "Come to mock me?"
"No," Kaelos said. "I've come to free you."
A long silence followed.
Then a deep, unsettling laugh. "Free me? You? You wear his blood. You wear his curse. Why would I not crush you where you stand?"
Kaelos raised the gauntlet. Lightning arced up his arm and into the chains.
The ground split.
Othrys paused, intrigued. "That… is no common gift."
Kaelos nodded. "I don't want Olympus. I want to burn it. And I need your fire."
Othrys studied him for a long moment. Then, with a low hiss, he leaned forward as far as the chains allowed. "Break these bonds, Stormchild. And I will give you more than fire. I will give you vengeance."
Prometheus appeared behind Kaelos, panting from the long descent. "Careful, boy. Othrys does not serve. He devours."
Kaelos didn't blink. "Then I'll feed him the gods."
---
With a surge of power, Kaelos raised his hand.
The Gauntlet of Arkrion sparked—and the first chain shattered.
The mountain roared in reply.