Prologue – The Sun That Set
The sun hung low above the Aegean Sea, the water shimmeringlike liquid silver as Eamon slipped beneath the waves in a smooth, effortless dive. From the veranda of their beach house, Iris watched him, following the rhythm of his movements with a blend of admiration and familiarity.
After a moment, she turned and walked into the study. Over the past months, she had spent countless hours here translating ancient manuscripts and yellowed books—each word a puzzle, each sentence an echo from the past. She settled at her desk, briefly letting her fingers trace the edges of the pages.
There was one book that still held her captive: Les Prophéties, Volume II by Nostradamus. Its cryptic symbols and enigmatic verses continued to evade her, as if the book would only reveal its secrets once she herself was ready.
The thought of the hidden knowledge it might contain made her heart beat faster. She shook the feeling away. This was no time to dwell on what might be.
With a deep breath, she returned her focus to the manuscript before her. The inky letters seemed suddenly more alive, the ancient language almost whispering to her as she worked on. Each word brought her closer to a fragment of truth, even as that one book stubbornly refused to yield its secrets.
The sea murmured in the background, a constant reminder of Eamon’s presence—and of everything they had survived together. Yet the calm of Lesbos seemed to whisper that their story was far from finished.
Eamon swam farther out into the sea. His body moved automatically, each stroke steady and unhurried, but his thoughts drifted far away—deeper than the water beneath him.
Once again, he thought of Nostradamus’ final words, spoken as the old man nearly crumbled into dust, his voice fragile but his gaze razor-sharp.
“And he who waits…”
The sentence had never been finished. No explanation. Just those words—like an unfinished breath.
The more Eamon thought about them, the stronger his conviction grew: this had not been a loose prophecy. It was a warning. Not for the world, not for kings or empires—but for him. For more than a year now, he had carried that thought with him, like a stone in his chest he could neither remove nor ignore.
He dove under, letting the water close over him, then surfaced again. The sun burned warmly on his skin. Lesbos was quiet. Truly quiet. No hunt. No shadows. No sirens.
And now he was here. With Iris.
The thought grounded him. She was his anchor in the present, his proof that time was not only something to endure. He loved her, and she loved him—not despite what he was, but with full knowledge of it.
Iris had left everything behind in New Orleans. Her work. Her certainties. Her old life. Yet here she was, happy. And that made him happy too. For the first time in a long while, he felt no guilt in that happiness—only gratitude.
Eamon turned and began swimming back toward the shore. Toward her.
What Nostradamus had meant would one day become clear. Of that, he was certain.
But today… today he did not wait. Today, he lived.
Eamon emerged from the sea, water running in salty rivulets from his skin as he looked toward Iris. She stood by the beach house, a loose notebook in her hand, her posture relaxed but her gaze as attentive as ever—as if she always saw just a little more than the world revealed.
“Shall we walk along the beach together?” he asked, extending his hand. “Watch the sunset.”
Iris smiled, warm and without hesitation.
“With you? Always.”
She stepped toward him and placed her hand in his. Together, they walked along the waterline, their steps calm and in sync, as if they had chosen the same rhythm without thinking. The wet sand yielded beneath their feet, cool and firm at once. The sea breathed beside them, waves coming and going without hurry, as though it too had nowhere else to be.
The sun slowly sank toward the horizon, painting the sky in layers of gold, copper, and deep red. Light shattered across the water, casting long shadows behind them in the sand. From time to time, a wave brushed their ankles—a fleeting touch, just enough to remind them where they were.
No words were needed. Their silence was full—of everything they had survived, everything they had released, and everything they had built together. It was a silence without questions, without fear. Simply being.
For a moment, the world seemed to contain nothing else but this. No past tugging at them. No future pressing in. Only the here and now, held between breaths.
But what they did not know was that on the other side of the ocean, something was stirring. Something ancient, long dormant, now slowly becoming aware of itself again. Not with violence. Not with haste—but with memory.
Movement emerged where silence had ruled. Patterns once forgotten were being read again. Not as myths. Not as warnings. But as direction. Names were whispered—first tentatively, then with growing certainty.
And somewhere far from Lesbos, far from this beach and this setting sun, an old danger was waking once more.
Not because it had to—
But because the time had finally come.
