The acrid smell of salt mixed with the cold breeze, almost like rust, which seemed to weigh on my skin like a damp, suffocating veil. The rough texture of the sand seeped between my fingers, clinging to my skin as if it wanted to fuse with me. The sand was cold under my back, stealing the warmth from my body, but I did not move. I stayed there, motionless, while the sound of the tide advanced and receded around me, in a slow, hypnotic rhythm that wrapped around me like a lullaby.
I opened my eyes slowly. The sky above me was dark, starless. That felt strange, unsettling, but I couldn't understand why. Memories... they were fleeting shadows, as if they were trying to escape me, but never far enough that I lost sight of them.
Slowly, I turned my head. I saw six more figures to my left, strewn across the beach like corpses. I looked at my own body, just to make sure I was alive, and I realized that, unlike the others, I was lying flat on the sand, face up, as if I had settled down after a long day of work.
I closed my eyes, letting exhaustion invade me, as if I deserved the peace and rest my body so badly needed. Then I heard a distant shout. At that moment, I didn't understand what was being said, but an unsettling feeling washed over me. I knew it was for me.
— "There's another one here!" — the voice seemed to cut through the night's silence.
The six figures I thought were corpses were already awake, though exhausted. I didn't know their names or recognize their faces... Names? My name... is Kēdeia. That's the only memory I have. With exhaustion creeping over me, I decided to close my eyes once more.
— "Still breathing," — said a male voice above me, firm, almost like that of a Spartan soldier.
I opened my eyes slowly. The sky above me was no longer visible, replaced by three faces leaning over me, crouching, as if they were certain I was dead. They were speaking among themselves, and perhaps even to me, but I couldn't understand what they were saying. My eyes were still adjusting to the environment, and my ears to the sounds around me — beyond the tireless murmur of the tide.
As I gradually woke up to the situation, I realized I wasn't as comfortable as my mind had led me to believe. My lungs felt heavy and rough, almost crushed by the tide's pressure. My body trembled involuntarily with pain, and these senses hit me as though I were truly waking up only now.
— "Fuck.." — I tried to utter in frustration over the pain, but my throat rasped with every attempt to form words. My chest tightened, breathless. My dry mouth and glued lips seemed to have gone unmoved for centuries.
The figures observing me helped me sit up, allowing me to finally see their faces. The firm hands that lifted me were surprisingly warm. I should have felt relieved, but the sense of dependency bothered me. Who were these people?
One of them stood out. He was an elegant man, with a firm and imposing posture. There was something noble in his presence, even in the way he looked me directly in the eyes. He seemed like a Roman statue carved from marble, with flawless features. His short, curly brown hair matched perfectly with a neatly trimmed beard. His almost translucent blue eyes analyzed me coldly, as if he were evaluating me from head to toe.
Beside him, a woman stood out, as if the two of them had stepped straight out of ancient Rome. Her features were angelic and seductive, the kind of beauty any man would desire. Her gaze was deep and intensely fixed on the Greek-looking man, whose name I still did not know. Her hair was smooth, long, and a vibrant shade of red, and her green eyes seemed to pierce through everything around them.
As I looked at her in the same way she looked at the Greek man, I noticed another individual. A man with an ordinary appearance, with no striking physical traits. He was the type of person who could go unnoticed in most places, except for his eyes: small, sharp. His eyes were black, and his short, equally dark hair was cut in a modern style. There was evident tension in his posture, with his shoulders slightly hunched.
