The sixteenth year of Seraphina's life began with silence.
It was the kind of silence that felt wrong — heavy, unnatural, the kind that pressed against the skin until every breath seemed too loud. The sea outside her cavern slept beneath the moon, its waves glimmering faintly like polished steel. Even the gulls were quiet.
The serpents upon her head stirred uneasily. One hissed, its tongue flicking the air. Another curled tighter around her neck, as though trying to anchor her to the stone. They were never so restless unless danger neared.
Seraphina sat at the mouth of the cave, knees pulled to her chest, staring out at the horizon. She had been tracing her mother's story again — the shallow carvings etched into the cavern floor. They told of Medusa's curse, her exile, her endless loneliness… and her fall at the hands of Perseus.
"Is this what you wanted for me, Mother?" she whispered, pressing her palm against the cold stone. "To live unseen, unheard, forgotten?"
Her serpents stirred again, louder this time. The air shifted — a weight fell upon her chest, pressing so heavily that she gasped. Above, the clouds thickened, coiling in unnatural spirals. Lightning tore across the sky like claws of fire.
And then the voice came.
> "Daughter of Medusa…"
The sound was not heard so much as felt. It shuddered through her bones, filling the cavern, rattling stone loose from the ceiling.
Seraphina staggered back, clutching her ears. "Who's there?"
> "You are the blood of a Gorgon. Your existence is no accident of fate. You were born for this moment."
Her serpents hissed furiously, striking at the air as though the voice itself were a foe.
Seraphina's throat tightened. "I never asked to be born. I never asked for these—" She yanked at the snakes, who recoiled but hissed angrily. "—these curses!"
The storm rumbled, answering her fury with its own.
> "A curse? Or a gift? Hades stirs in the underworld. He seeks to raise legions of stone, warriors who cannot bleed, cannot die. And only you can give him what he desires."
Seraphina's blood ran cold. "No… no, I won't."
> "The gods will not ask. They will come for you, as they came for your mother. Zeus demands you bound. Athena, who cursed your bloodline, demands you destroyed. You will not be left in peace."
Tears welled in her eyes. "Why me? Why must I suffer for their cruelty? Why can't they leave me alone?"
The thunder cracked so loud she thought the mountain would split.
> "Because you are power. You are fate."
For one fleeting instant, she thought she saw it — a figure in the storm, tall and blinding, crowned in light. Then the vision vanished, and the storm broke.
The silence was shattered.
From above came a rush of wings — hundreds of them. Shadows darted through the clouds, screeching with voices that chilled her blood. Harpies, their claws glinting, their eyes wild with hunger.
And below… fire. Torches, carried by men in silvered armor. Hunters. Their voices rang out across the cliffs.
"By the will of Apollo! Find her! Bind the gorgon's spawn!"
Seraphina's serpents writhed, shrieking with rage. Her chest heaved. The voice of the storm had spoken true.
Her hiding place was no longer hers.