Great Spirits

∆ Twenty-Eight ∆

Wren sat up, his gaze fixed on Silas, who kept his eyes lowered to where Wren had once lain.

"Me?" Wren's voice trembled, his brows furrowing in disbelief. "How can that be?"

"Wren, I..." Silas began, his tone heavy with unspoken words.

Wren shook his head vehemently. "You were in a cage when I first saw you. And that happened well before I was born. How can I be to blame for--" His words caught in his throat as a chilling realization swept over him like an icy wind. Could it be that he is...

"No," Wren murmured, shaking his head in denial. But then it would explain everything - the peculiar interactions with Silas, his unwavering attachment. It would make sense of it all. Yet, it couldn't be that simple. It couldn't be. It was impossible.

"I believe it is too early for you to understand everything," Silas interjected gently, his voice breaking through Wren's thoughts. "Yet, I must tell you before Rsan does."

"Tell me what?" Wren's voice wavered with uncertainty. Silas reached for one of Wren's hands, but Wren pulled them both to his sides as he rose from the bed, wary and distrustful.

"You were once very important to me," Silas confessed. "My sky, my seas, my stars. Nothing mattered more to me than you. But you loved them, the humans, more than me. More than the favor of the other gods."

"What?" Panic surged through Wren, his mind reeling with confusion. Silas' words seemed disjointed, as if he were speaking of someone else entirely.

"Perhaps I am mistaken in my assumption, for I had no way of truly knowing your mind. But that was the perception I held. When you faced punishment, I could not idly stand by... And now, here I am, a fallen god, a spirit once revered, now diminished. Yet, despite it all, my singular focus remained: finding you. And find you, I have."

Wren parted his lips, intending to refute Silas' words, to insist that he was mistaken, but the words remained lodged in his throat, refusing to escape. Even if Silas were mistaken, Wren hesitated to speak, fearing the loss of Silas' affection, even if it were misplaced. His thoughts swirled in confusion, none of them making sense, while his heart twisted in his chest as he met Silas' gaze.

"Te'a," Silas whispered, his voice filled with longing and love that Wren had never imagined possible.

As Silas reached out for him once more, Wren's resolve shattered. Without a word, he stormed out of the room, the stifling air suffocating him.

Once Wren emerged on deck, a fierce gust of wind lashed at him, accompanied by a torrent of cold rain that stung his skin like tiny needles. The weather had deteriorated drastically since he last saw it. The ship pitched and rolled, throwing Wren off balance and sending him sprawling across the deck. He struggled to regain his footing, but the relentless wind seemed determined to keep him down.

"Captain, the winds are too strong! We can't bring down the sails!" a crewman's voice shouted over the howling wind, barely audible amidst the roar of the storm.

How? Seti would never steer them into such a massive storm. It seemed to have materialized out of nowhere.

"Get below deck with the others! Where is Seti and Calla?" Wren shouted, his voice strained against the wind.

"Manning the wheel," another crewman yelled back.

Wren gripped onto anything he could find to steady himself as he made his way across the deck toward the stairs leading to the wheel.

"Seti! Calla!" Wren cried out as he crawled up the stairs, his heart pounding in his chest. There they were, both clinging to the beam that held the wheel in place, their faces grim as the storm raged around them.