Harmonic - 25
When Abyss woke, the world was stone and iron.
Chains dug into his wrists, his body still sluggish from what he had done to Loki. His last memory was fire unraveling, a god's smirk crumbling into ash. Now there was only the taste of smoke in his mouth and the echo of guards dragging him through marble halls.
The air here was different. Dense. Ordered.
Not Olympus, not Tartarus—something between.
A voice, sharp and commanding, cut through the fog.
"Bring him forward."
The guards shoved him onto the polished floor of a great hall. Golden braziers lined the chamber, but the throne drew all eyes: a high seat wreathed in banners of deep crimson and black. Upon it sat a queen, radiant yet unyielding, her gaze like a blade honed for judgment.
"Your Majesty," a guard knelt, pressing fist to chest. "The prisoner. The council warned us of his coming. Abyss Isad—the god killer."
The queen's lips tightened. "So those ashes… were all that remained of a god." Her tone burned hotter than the braziers. "And you brought me the one responsible. You shall pay with more than your sanity, divine abuser."
Abyss lifted his head lazily, dark hair spilling across his eyes. Despite the chains and bruises, his grin was intact.
"Big words. I've heard fiercer threats from Tartarus itself."
The room stilled.
The queen's eyes widened a fraction. That voice—mocking, sharp, familiar. She leaned forward, her knuckles whitening on the throne's armrest.
"…No," she whispered, almost to herself. "That tone. That arrogance. It can't be—"
Her voice cracked as the word left her lips.
"Harmonic?"
Abyss froze for only a moment before the smile twisted into a snarl. He yanked against his chains, the sound like grinding teeth.
"Don't call me that." His voice was venom. "stop calling me that lame name . I am Abyss now live with it Harmonic died in Tartarus."
The silence that followed felt heavier than iron. The guards shifted uneasily, looking between them, but the queen—Harmonia—sat frozen, her fury collapsing into disbelief.
Later, when the chains were loosened but not removed, she walked him through her halls. He kept his hands shoved deep into his pockets, eyes darting to every exit, but she spoke as if he were still the boy she remembered.
"Do you still fall asleep in people's laps when you're tired?" she asked suddenly, a faint, bittersweet smile tugging at her mouth. "You once collapsed right into Hera's lap. She nearly dropped her goblet from shock."
Abyss groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "I was three. Let it go."
"You used to hum, too," she pressed gently, undeterred. "Little melodies whenever you were nervous. Fitting, for your name."
His jaw clenched. "That name doesn't belong to me anymore."
Her smile faltered, but her eyes softened. "Then I'll carry it for you, until you want it back."
She guided him to a balcony overlooking the city below. Lanterns swayed in the night air, streets glowing with an otherworldly hum. Her voice lowered, losing its edge.
"You were born with weak sight and hearing," she murmured, almost like a confession. "I worried it would hold you back. Did it… restrict your life?"
Abyss leaned against the railing, refusing to look at her. His wind curled faintly around him, tugging at his cloak.
"Does it look like I need eyes or ears? The wind tells me everything. Clearer than sight, sharper than sound. I've never needed anything else."
She turned to him, grief and pride tangled in her expression.
"You've changed," she whispered.
Abyss finally glanced at her, his gaze a storm without mercy.
"Change is all Tartarus leaves you."
And with that, the weight of his words crushed the space between them
Clarita's POV
When Clarita's eyes fluttered open, the air around her was sticky and damp, the smell of dust and old silk clogging her lungs. At first, she thought she was trapped in a cave — until the walls blinked. No, not walls. Eyes. Dozens of massive, glowing red eyes stitched into the dark, watching her every movement.
A voice like silk torn on stone hissed above her.
"Little daughter of wisdom… your mother's blood is foul in my veins."
Clarita staggered to her feet, staring in horror as the monster descended from the ceiling: half woman, half spider, draped in endless threads of black silk. Her face was cruel, sharp, and still hauntingly beautiful in a way that unsettled Clarita.
"Arachné…" she whispered.
The spider-woman bared her fangs.
"Once I was the most gifted of mortals. Your mother stole that from me. She cursed me with this form. And you…" her voice rose into a scream, "I will carve her arrogance from your flesh!"
The webs around Clarita tightened like a living labyrinth. Every step she tried to take led her straight into traps: sticky strands dropped like nooses, and every surface she touched shimmered with woven portraits of her own face, perfectly threaded — Arachné had been watching her, studying her, obsessed craved on floor and some places on wall her as even as a kid she can notice drawing what kind of obsession is that? Every stage of her life craved on that wall was archane watching her?.
Clarita's chest pounded. Every strike she made was caught, every retreat tangled. For a heartbeat, despair flooded her veins. Who's the most skilled fighter I know?
Athena? No — Clarita almost laughed bitterly. Her mother was a strategist and a fighter but not the best but
Abyss is.
The thought hit her like cold lightning. Abyss — brutal, unyielding, relentless. The way he moved wasn't elegant, it was raw, but it worked as a mental image of appears appeared behind her as she try to remember abyss style.
Clarita inhaled sharply, squared her stance, and dropped her shoulders just as she had seen him do countless times. The memory of him — fists clenched, wind swirling, a storm in human form — filled her mind.
"Fine," she muttered, "let's try it your way."
Arachné screeched and lunged. Clarita didn't retreat this time. She rolled under the spider's legs, pivoted, and slashed upward with brutal precision. Silk and ichor spilled as one leg gave out under her strike. Before Arachné could recoil, Clarita leapt onto her massive abdomen, using her momentum to drive her blade into the humanoid torso.
The monster shrieked in rage and flung her off, crashing her into a wall of sticky silk. Clarita hit the floor hard, coughing. Her arms shook, but a smile ghosted across her face.
"…Guess I picked the right teacher."
Abyss & Harmonia POV
Meanwhile, far across the ruins, Abyss and Harmonia sat in uneasy silence. Harmonia had fought tooth and nail to keep up with him, and for once, she looked exhausted. She leaned against a stone pillar, glaring at him.
"You could at least acknowledge me, Abyss," she said sharply. "I'm not dead weight."
For a moment, Abyss didn't answer. The breeze around him shifted, softening, as if he was listening instead of brushing her off. Finally, he exhaled.
"…You're right. I should've said something. I'm sorry."
The apology came rough, awkward, but it was real. Harmonia blinked, surprised. He turned his eyes toward the night sky, his expression unreadable.
"It's not that I don't see your effort. It's that I can't… slow down. Not now."
Her anger faltered. She studied him, realizing he wasn't dismissing her — he was protecting her in the only way he knew how: by staying ahead, carrying the weight alone.
After a long silence, her fingers brushed the pendant around her neck.
"This necklace… it's always been a curse, give me eternal beauty youth but misfortune and disasters."
At that, Abyss's jaw tightened.
"Aphrodite." His voice dripped venom. "That witch doesn't love seeing her kids happy. She chains them. Pretty trinkets to remind you of her control."
Harmonia looked away
"no it was Hephaestus though please don't kill him brother"
Abyss wasn't happy with her request
"won't and will never promise you"
Harmonia lowered her eyes. For once, Abyss reached into his coat and pulled out something small — a necklace of his own. The silver caught the moonlight, etched with faint marks of wear.
"I stole this years ago," he said quietly. "From the Harbingers(operation). It was meant as tribute to Aphrodite from the goddess of biology. They wanted peace. She wanted power. I needed survival."
He placed the necklace in her hand. It was warm, heavier than it looked.
"It negate magic. And change it. I used it against Circe once. Kept her illusions from binding me."
Harmonia stared at him, wide-eyed.
"You… you're giving this to me?"
Abyss smirked faintly, looking away.
"Don't get sentimental. I don't need it anymore. You do."
She closed her fingers around it, feeling a strange surge of hope she hadn't felt in years. But when she looked up to thank him, Abyss was already on his feet, the breeze gathering around him again.
"I've got to go," he said, eyes sharpening. "Stay alive, Harmonia. That necklace won't do the fighting for you."
And then he was gone, swallowed by the night wind
Harmonia sighted as she walked inside
"please don't be angry against the world brother".