The sun cast warm glimmers over Athena’s glistening skin as she reclined on the velvet couch beneath the swaying palms. Her white bikini clung to her form like a whisper of silk, accentuating the divine curves of her Graenei heritage. Blue-glowing eyes, half veiled behind her tinted glasses, scanned the beach lazily—until they stopped on him.

He was alone, standing where the tide met the shore. Perfectly still.

From afar, he looked like any other man on vacation—tan, relaxed, unbothered. But to Athena, something about him shattered the illusion. His aura didn’t move. It didn’t breathe. It watched.

She sat up slightly, her toned abdomen flexing like coiled energy. A subtle current of ancient instinct moved through her veins—quiet but undeniable. That was no ordinary human. Not entirely.

His eyes met hers across the distance.

For a moment, the world around her faded—the ocean, the breeze, even the sun. All that remained was the strange static tension in the air between them. Athena had faced demons in disguise, celestial beings, and fractured echoes from timelines lost… but this presence? It felt new. Uncatalogued. Curious.

She didn’t look away.

Neither did he.