Thetis's face shifted subtly, her amusent giving way to mild confusion. "She didn't tell you?"
"Tell
what?" I asked, my unease growing.
Continue your journey with empire
Her reaction surprised . For the first ti, Thetis looked genuinely taken aback. Her usually composed deanor faltered as she seed to grapple with an internal conflict. After a long pause, during which she seed to weigh the consequences of her next words, she finally spoke.
"Khillea," she began, her voice quieter but no less firm, "is Achilles."
The words hung in the air, heavy and charged, their impact imdiate and undeniable. My breath caught, and a sudden silence enveloped the space as her revelation sank in.
Achilles.
I stared at her, my mind reeling. Every interaction I'd had with Khillea, every word, every glance—it all rushed back to , tinged now with a deeper, more profound significance.
Thetis watched
closely, gauging my reaction. Her gaze was sharp, yet there was an undercurrent of sothing else—concern, perhaps? Or maybe it was expectation.
"Achilles," I repeated softly, the na feeling foreign and familiar all at once as it rolled off my tongue.
"Yes," Thetis said simply, her voice steady. "The one and only."
"But… Achilles is a man?" I muttered, my voice trailing off in disbelief as my thoughts raced.
Thetis, her serene expression betraying a hint of curiosity, tilted her head slightly and regarded
with her piercing gaze. "Did you et Achilles up close?" she asked, her tone calm yet probing.
"No, not up close," I admitted, the mories surfacing in fragnted flashes. "I saw Achilles from afar…" I paused, a wave of realization beginning to dawn on . Each ti I had glimpsed Achilles, the warrior had been clad head-to-toe in a full suit of armor, concealing their form entirely. At the ti, I'd assud the resemblance to Khillea was simply a sibling similarity. But now...
"I don't understand," I murmured, my brows furrowing as I grappled with the implications. "Achilles should be a man," I added, the myths I had learned on Earth echoing in my mind. Every tale, every depiction, had painted Achilles as the archetypal male hero—strong, brave, and unyielding. Until now, every character I had encountered seed to align with those ancient stories. Why would Achilles be any different?
"Should be?" Thetis repeated, her voice laced with confusion.
Realizing I had spoken too freely, I quickly shook my head. "No, I'm just… lost," I replied, my words evasive, as I tried to reconcile the contradiction between myth and reality.
Thetis sighed, a soft yet weary sound, and her gaze grew distant for a mont as if she were sifting through her own mories. "It's understandable," she said finally. "That foolish daughter of mine... I would have thought she'd tell you the truth, given that you are her first man and seem so close."
Her words struck
like a thunderclap. I fell silent, the pieces of the puzzle falling into place. My mind replayed every interaction I'd had with Achilles—or rather, with Khillea.
Thetis' revelation explained so much. Why I had never seen Achilles and Khillea together. Why Achilles had directed , with an almost unsettling ease, to "spend the night" with Khillea, his supposed sister. It was because they were not two separate people. They were one and the sa.
"I raised her as my daughter," Thetis began, her tone steady but tinged with a faint sadness. "Both my husband and I did. But in the Achaeans' world, n hold the reins of power. A ruling queen, especially one leading warriors, would never be accepted by their rigid traditions."
She paused, her gaze fixed on , as if gauging my understanding. "Khillea, even as a child, possessed a strength and boldness that surpassed most n. She made the choice early on to conceal her true identity, knowing it was the only way to attain the status and respect she holds today. Only a select few know the truth—among the Greeks, only Patroclus knows. And now, you."
I stared at Thetis, the weight of her words settling over
like a heavy shroud. Khillea's secret was both staggering and strangely fitting. She had always carried herself with a fierce determination, a presence that commanded attention and respect.
But sothing still gnawed at . "There's sothing I don't understand," I said after a mont. "She seed… desperate, almost, to have a child. Why? Why the urgency?"
Thetis nodded solemnly, her expression darkening. "Before Khillea left ho, I received a prophecy," she said, her voice quieter now, almost a whisper. "It foretold that if Khillea joined the Trojan War, she would never return. She would et her death on the battlefield, without a child to carry on her legacy."
Her words sent a chill down my spine. My eyes widened as the gravity of the prophecy sank in.
"At first, Khillea didn't care," Thetis continued. "The promise of eternal glory was all she desired. She believed that was enough. But as the years went by, perhaps she began to feel a yearning for sothing more—sothing beyond glory. Sothing that would outlast even her na in the annals of history. And that… was a child."
Thetis' gaze softened as she looked at . "Despite the prophecy, she tried. And against all odds, she succeeded. You," she said, her voice filled with both pride and sorrow, "you are that miracle."
"Then the reason she wants to leave the child's raising to you is because…" My voice trailed off, though the answer was already clear to .
Thetis nodded solemnly, her expression unreadable but heavy with emotion. "Yes," she confird. "She has accepted her death. After giving birth, she plans to fight again. She is rely waiting for Agamnon to co crawling back, begging her to rejoin the battle."
Her words struck
like a hamr to the chest. "Why… why is she so obsessed with dying?" I demanded, my frustration boiling over. "Why does she cling so desperately to this war?"
Thetis sighed, her gaze distant as though she were looking far beyond . "Glory," she said simply. "But more than that, she desires acknowledgnt. At the war's end, she wants to be rembered not just as a warrior but as a woman who conquered Troy. A woman who surpassed even the greatest of the Greek kings."
She paused, her voice softening as the weight of the prophecy returned to her words. "And the prophecy predicts exactly that. She will achieve her goal, but only at the cost of her life."
My hands clenched into fists at her words. Khillea's voice echoed in my mind, the mory of her plea cutting deep.
"How about you co with ?"
"I just want you to stay with … until the end. Until the war ends."
It had all been for this, then. Every word, every glance, every touch—it had all been spoken with the knowledge that she was preparing herself for death.
I felt my chest tighten as anger, frustration, and a strange sorrow flooded .
"I won't," I said, my voice firr than I expected. I raised my gaze to Thetis, eting her eyes. "I won't let her die."
Thetis blinked, surprised by the resolve in my tone. She opened her mouth, perhaps to protest, but then closed it as she studied . A small, knowing smile tugged at her lips. "I don't want her to die either," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. "But you won't be able to convince her. She doesn't listen anymore. Not to , not to anyone."
"Then I'll force her to listen," I replied, my voice cold and absolute.
Thetis frowned, her serene composure cracking ever so slightly. "Force her?" she echoed, her tone skeptical and laced with concern.
I didn't respond imdiately. Instead, I reached for the ring on my index finger, the one I had worn for so long to keep my true strength hidden.
There was no point in concealing it from Thetis any longer.
She cared about one thing above all else—her daughter. And I would trust in that love now.
With a sharp motion, I removed the ring.
BADAAAAM!
The air around us exploded with raw power, waves of energy rippling outward and shaking even the confines of Thetis's dinsional space. The atmosphere grew heavy, almost suffocating, as my suppressed strength surged forth in a torrent of unchecked force.
Thetis's eyes widened in shock, her composure finally shattering as she stared at .
My skin had turned a shade of alabaster white, flawless and smooth, reminiscent of Khione's own ethereal complexion. My hair, now a pure, shimring snow white, lifted slightly in the energy surrounding , as if caught in an unseen breeze.
And my eyes—one glowed with an icy blue, piercing and cold, embodying the essence of Khione herself. The other burned with a dark gold hue, a demonic slit cutting through its center like a predator's gaze.
I was utterly transford, my strength magnified beyond anything I had shown before. To anyone else, I would have seed like an entirely different being—a force of nature, unrecognizable and terrifying.
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