The air outside the cave was cold, crisp, alive. For the first time since waking in this world, I felt the wind on my face—the kind that carried the faint smell of sea salt and storm clouds. Lightning flickered faintly somewhere beyond the horizon, a reminder of what flowed in my veins.
"Let's go meet my foolish little sister," I said aloud, a smirk tugging at my lips. "Thalia Grace."
The words hung in the air, soft but electric. The daughter of Zeus. My sister—at least in this strange tangle of worlds and bloodlines. I wondered what she would think if she knew who I truly was. Would she sense it, the divine current humming beneath my skin? Or just see another wandering boy with too much mystery in his eyes?
Black Zetsu emerged from the shadows behind me, half of his body already sinking into the ground like liquid ink. His golden eyes gleamed with quiet obedience. "Shall I accompany you, Master?"
I nodded. "For now, yes. But stay beneath the surface once we reach open ground. I don't want mortals—or demigods—seeing something that shouldn't exist."
He inclined his head. "Understood."
We began walking, my boots crunching against the rocky earth as the forest opened around us. Sunlight filtered weakly through the canopy above, thin and pale. I could feel the faint presence of distant life—animals, monsters, a few humans—flashes of chakra and divine energy mixed with mortal blood.
After a few minutes, I stopped. A sudden thought hit me, cold and sharp.
"Wait."
Black Zetsu paused, half his face peering from the soil.
I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling uncharacteristically sheepish. "Make sure you start producing more White Zetsu before we go too far."
A faint tilt of his head. "Why the sudden urgency?"
I sighed. "Because once I join up with Thalia's group, I can't exactly create more without raising suspicion. Can't exactly sit down in the woods and start spawning clones of living darkness in front of them."
For a second, the silence stretched between us. Then, to my eternal annoyance, I saw the faintest hint of amusement in his glowing eyes.
"Understood," he said, voice smooth as always. "You wish to appear… 'cool,' as mortals say."
I groaned quietly. "Don't start."
"I would never, Master," he replied, sounding far too smug for something technically made out of living shadow.
I turned away, trying to hide the faint heat creeping into my cheeks. "Just do it, all right? The more White Zetsu we have, the better. I'll need a network ready before I even reach Thalia."
He dipped beneath the earth, his chakra signature spreading in every direction like a web. Within minutes, faint pulses reached me—new lives forming in hidden places, feeding off roots and soil. My web of watchers was expanding again.
Good. That was the kind of insurance I needed.
As the forest thickened, I focused my senses outward, the world sharpening under the Sharingan's clarity. The faint traces of divine scent—ozone, pine, a spark of something wild—drifted in the air. Thalia. Somewhere far ahead, she was moving. I could feel it like static across my skin.
"Black Zetsu," I said quietly, "locate them. Thalia, Luke, Annabeth. I want to know their exact position before sundown."
His muffled voice drifted up from the ground. "It will be done."
I nodded once, pulling my cloak tighter around me. The anticipation hummed inside my chest—an energy that felt both alien and familiar. This was no ordinary meeting. I was about to step into the story I'd once read, but this time as a player, not a spectator.
"Let's see what kind of sister you are, Thalia Grace," I murmured to the wind. "And let's see what kind of storm we'll make together."
Lightning flickered again on the horizon, brighter this time, as if the world itself was answering me.