The Nameless Heir-Chapter 88: Sea and The Sky

While walking back, he made sure to pick some flowers from his mother’s garden—for Liz, just in case she was still mad.

Maybe they’d soften the blow. Hopefully.

But she wasn’t mad. If anything, she looked happy.

She was sitting beside his mother, their heads leaned close like they were sharing something sacred.

Persephone touched her arm and laughed—soft, easy. Like his mother had someone to talk to. The sight hit him harder than expected.

Relief. Joy, maybe.

He couldn’t remember the last time she smiled like that.

Their laughter wasn’t loud, just soft. Like they’d done this a hundred times before.

Then she saw him.

"Those for me?" she said, raising a brow.

He held the flowers out without a word. "In case you were still mad."

She smirked. "I was. But not anymore."

He was about to smile, maybe say something else—but he couldn’t waste any more time.

"I’m going to leave today," he said. "To find the island. The one where the Labyrinth is hidden."

Just like that, the warmth in the air faded. Persephone’s smile dropped first.

"The Labyrinth?" she said quietly. "Kael... that place is cursed. Even the gods stay clear of it."

That thought crossed his mind—for a brief second—but he pushed it away.

He had no room for doubt.

His mother, Liz... their lives were on the line.

The gods weren’t finished.

And he was not about to let them lay a finger on her. He had to make sure that even if he died, they could hide in the Underworld—where no one could touch them.

"I know," he said. "But I have to."

Liz stood up, already moving to his side. "Then I’m coming with you."

He didn’t answer right away. Just looked at her. Like he’d already played this out in his head.

"You can’t," he said finally, voice calm. Steady.

Her expression didn’t change. "Why not?"

"Because I don’t know what we’ll find. And I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep you safe."

He saw the look forming in her eyes, so he kept going. "But that’s not the reason."

"I know you can protect yourself," he said. "That’s not the problem."

"Then what is?" Her tone tightened. "We’ve been through worse."

He looked down for half a second. Then met her eyes.

"It’s the kind of place where everyone gets lost. If we’re separated... we might never see each other again."

That hit something in her. She didn’t say anything at first. Just stared at him, shoulders still squared, jaw still set—but her eyes softened.

"Liz..."

His voice came low, quieter than before. He couldn’t look at her.

"If something happened to you... I don’t know what I’d do."

There was no tremble in his tone, but the weight was there—buried under restraint.

"And I’m not risking that."

Kael stepped closer and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I need you to stay and look after my mother." He turned slightly. "I need someone to keep her safe while I’m gone."

Liz didn’t answer. She just looked at Persephone, then nodded slowly.

"Fine. I’ll stay."

The Queen of the Underworld rose to her feet with that quiet, commanding grace and embraced Liz.

"Let me teach you. You’ve already come this far. Let me show you what it means to be Queen of the Underworld."

She didn’t fight it. But just before Kael turned to leave, she gave him a look. Quiet. Heavy.

"I’m not saying goodbye," she said. "So don’t take too long."

Kael gave a faint smile. "I’ll be back before you know it."

He took off with his dragon.

He left Cyrus with Liz and his mother. It felt like the right call—for once, he hoped he wouldn’t need to fight with everything he had. Not yet.

As he soared through the dark skies of the Underworld, the wind cold against his face, he picked up a soul.

A child of Poseidon.

He wished there were more like him. More demigods down here. But the truth was, most of them didn’t end up in his domain. They died like heroes. Glorious, tragic, remembered. And they went to the Elysian Fields—where light still touched the ground.

The ones he had?

They were the outcasts. The ones who defied the gods. The ones too stubborn or cruel to be saved.

Like the one riding behind him now.

Once, he had been a pirate. A killer. A thief. A man who lived for chaos. He’d raided ships, slaughtered crews, burned coastlines. And one day, drunk on his own power, he attacked the wrong vessel. Killed the son of Ares.

The gods don’t forgive insults like that.

Ares made sure he and his entire crew were obliterated in a single scream of divine fire.

Boom. Just like that.

His soul had been cast into Tartarus, where the air burned your lungs and the walls knew your name—repeating it until you stopped recognizing it as your own.

Most of the demigods now under Kael’s command had managed to escape when Kronos shattered the gates of Tartarus. The Underworld split open.

Other demigods broke free before the chaos swallowed them again.

But it didn’t last too long.

The escape ended the moment Hades sacrificed himself. When he became the gate, the door slammed shut.

Now, they followed Kael. Not because they believed in him.

But because they knew he could grant them their desires.

That’s how he escaped. And that’s how Kael gained control over all of the demigods.

They made sure to fly high—so no one could spot them. Flying without Zeus trying to strike them down... which Kael found odd.

For a moment, he wondered if they wanted him to find the Labyrinth. Just so he could disappear into it—and never come back.

But he was wrong.

Once they arrived above the sea, everything changed. The sky darkened, and thick fog rolled in. Kael could barely see—but Victor could.

He led the way, guiding them through the haze.

Still, they couldn’t stay high in the sky. Lightning cracked from every direction.

His dragon did whatever he could, maneuvering through it, but it was getting too risky. Small storms were forming inside the clouds, cutting off their vision. Winds slammed into the dragon’s wings, forcing them lower.

And the sea was ready for them.

Tiny waterspouts began spinning beneath them. One of them surged into a full tornado—fast, violent, aiming straight for them.

Victor, son of Poseidon, couldn’t overpower it directly. But he did something smarter. He twisted the tornado in the opposite direction—reversing its spin. The two forces collapsed into each other, and the resulting clash weakened it just enough.

Kael’s dragon roared and tore through the opening.

But it didn’t stop there.

Storm after storm. Trial after trial. It didn’t stop—not until the sea swallowed the sky.

Now, there was nothing left to see but water.

That’s when the monsters appeared.

Three Cetus rose from the depths, towering above the waves.

Hideous things.

They crawled out of the water like bloated corpses that forgot how to rot.

Each one looked stitched together by someone blind and angry.

A serpent’s head, stretched too long, with teeth jutting out in crooked directions.

A horse’s body—swollen, pulsing, skin sagging like it was waterlogged.

And a tail... not quite a mermaid’s. More like something that used to be human, now dragged across the seafloor until it forgot what legs were.

They breathed wrong. Their joints cracked when they moved. One twitched like it didn’t know which way its spine bent.

Their eyes glowed—not divine, not powerful. Just wrong.

Like someone melted glass and shoved it into sockets that didn’t belong.

Kael wasn’t scared. He’d seen worse. But these things... they were disgusting.

Twisted. Wrong. Not even worth fearing.

He just stared.

Whatever these things were, they weren’t born.

They were spat out. Left behind by something that didn’t care if they lived.

They were massive. And ugly.

He called for Shadowbane.

In a single motion, he shot toward the first Cetus—instantly severing one of its heads. Before the body could fall, he used its weight, its mass, as leverage. He pushed himself off it, launching toward the next one.

Another head fell.

Then another.

He landed on his dragon, barely winded. He glanced back at the creatures.

But the bodies didn’t sink into the sea.

Instead, they twitched.

Twisted.

And then... they started to regenerate.

Slowly, flesh began to reform. New heads grew where the old ones had been.

So he cut them again.

And again.

Each time, they grew back. The storm above them raged harder with every strike. Lightning cracked louder. Winds screamed.

Kael narrowed his eyes.

"Fine."

He coated his blade with his dragon’s destructive flame. The metal pulsed, glowing red-hot, burning with divine fury. Then he struck again—harder this time.

When his blade cut through its flesh, it sizzled. Boiled. Almost made him throw up.

"Damn you, sea god. At least have some standards when choosing who you sleep with."

The regeneration stopped, and their bodies sank.

Then the sky screamed.

A massive tornado began to form in the distance—far larger than before. It wasn’t just wind. It crackled with lightning. Roared with sea water. Like two brothers had merged their powers into a single attack.

Kael landed on his dragon again, watching it build.

They couldn’t fly through that. Not without being torn apart.

He looked up, jaw tightening, eyes narrowing at the storm above.

Then, slow and deliberate, he raised his middle finger to the sky.

"Try harder."

The sky didn’t wait.

A yellow bolt split the clouds, fast and surgical—aimed straight at him.

Kael didn’t flinch.

He launched upward—straight into it. No hesitation.

The blade met the bolt mid-air. It hit hard. Light tore across the sky, white and searing.

The air cracked. The force almost threw him. But Kael didn’t let go.

His arms shook. His body locked.

Veins lit up, burning with the charge.

The lightning didn’t pass. It stayed.

It crawled through his body, wound tight in his chest—alive, screaming, trying to break free.

He didn’t fight it. He turned with it.

Midair, Kael twisted his body and swung downward—dragging the bolt with him, forcing it to go where he wanted.

The lightning ripped from his blade. He hurled it.

It slammed into the sea and hit the base of the forming tornado.

A violent explosion of water erupted outward, the rotation disrupted.

Above, the clouds trembled.

Kael smirked again.

"Both of you are horrible at working together."

The storm began to clear.

Most likely, the two brothers were now fighting—arguing over who just messed up their own plan.

Once all the haze cleared out, they were able to see the island.

It was massive—but barely anything was left.

Broken brick houses. A castle crushed to the ground. Not a single tree in sight.

Like it had been slammed by waves... or monster attacks.