The tentacle crashed down with such force that the entire chamber trembled. One moment Thorin stood defiant, axe raised in his good hand, the next, only rubble remained where the dwarf had been, crushed beneath a mountain of writhing flesh.

"THORIN!" Nik's scream tore through the chamber as he lurched forward, his injured leg forgotten in his desperation. Water surged around his knees, fighting his every step.

"Nik, stop!" Apollo shouted, but his warning was lost in the chaos. The gold in his veins burned cold with urgency as he nocked another arrow. 'Not Thorin. Not like this.'

Nik reached the edge of the impact zone, hands clawing at the massive tentacle. His efforts were futile, like trying to move a mountain with bare fingers. Blood from his reopened wounds clouded the water around him.

"Help me!" he pleaded, looking back with eyes wild with panic.

Mira responded first, her hands moving in those strange, fluid patterns that seemed to speak directly to the water. The liquid around her rose in response, twisting into a concentrated stream that shot toward the crushing tentacle. It struck with surprising force, carving a groove in the kraken's armored flesh.

"I can't hold it long!" she gasped, blood trickling from her nose with the effort. "Cale, help me!"

Cale staggered forward, his face ashen beneath its tan. He raised trembling hands, joining his power with Mira's. The water between them harmonized, their separate streams merging into something stronger, more focused. Together they forced a thin wedge between the tentacle and the shattered floor.

Apollo could see the strain etched on their faces, Mira's lips pulled back in a grimace of effort, Cale's shoulders shaking as if bearing an immense weight. The bow thrummed against his palm, eager for release, but Apollo hesitated. 'One shot,' he thought. 'I might only have strength for one shot. I can't waste it.'

The water around them suddenly shifted, no longer merely churning but actively rising. What had been ankle-deep now reached their knees, then their thighs, the level climbing with unnatural speed.

Lyra's voice cut through his deliberation. "The floor, it's sinking!"

She was right. The broken marble beneath their feet was disappearing section by section, dropping away into newly revealed depths. Columns that had stood firm moments before now teetered as their foundations eroded. The entire chamber was transforming, the battlefield itself becoming a weapon in the kraken's arsenal.

"It's pulling us deeper," Apollo realized aloud, watching as a section of floor vanished completely, leaving only dark water in its place. "It wants to fight in its element, not ours."

The kraken's massive eye swiveled toward him, its golden fire intensifying as if confirming his assessment. More tentacles emerged from the depths, thicker and more heavily armored than before. They circled the chamber's perimeter, cutting off any possibility of retreat.

"Lyra, Renna, higher ground!" Apollo shouted, pointing toward a massive column fragment that still rose above the rising water. "We need a vantage point!"

Renna moved immediately, her hunter's grace evident even in these impossible conditions. She reached the column in seconds, scaling its slick surface with practiced ease. Lyra followed more cautiously, her movements hampered by the water that now reached her waist.

Apollo turned back to where Mira and Cale still fought to free Thorin. Their combined efforts had created a small gap beneath the tentacle, but not enough to extract the dwarf, if anything remained to extract. The thought sent a chill through Apollo that had nothing to do with the cold water surrounding him.

A violent tremor shook the chamber as another section of floor collapsed. The water surged higher, now chest-deep on Nik as he continued his desperate attempt to reach Thorin. The current pulled at them all, drawing them inexorably toward the central pool where the kraken had first emerged.

"We're losing ground!" Renna called from her perch, loosing arrows that bounced harmlessly off the kraken's armored hide. "There's no stable footing left!"

She was right. What had been a chamber with a flooded floor was rapidly becoming an underwater arena. Only scattered islands of broken stone remained above the surface, and even those were disappearing quickly.

Then, just as hope seemed lost, the water around the massive tentacle erupted.

A violent geyser of bubbles and debris shot upward, temporarily blinding Apollo with its spray. When his vision cleared, he found himself staring at an impossible sight. Thorin stood atop the kraken's tentacle, bloodied but alive, his broken arm still cradled against his chest but his other hand—

His other hand held something that glowed with blue-green fire.

It was a fragment of a larger weapon, that much was clear, a broken piece of what must once have been a magnificent trident. Three tines, the middle one longer than the others, crafted from some metal Apollo had never seen before. It hummed with power that made the gold in Apollo's veins resonate in recognition.

'Poseidon's weapon,' he realized, watching as the fragment blazed brighter in Thorin's grasp. 'A piece of his trident, hidden beneath the temple floor.'

"The sea's fire answers me!" Thorin roared, his voice carrying above the chaos of rushing water. He brought the trident fragment down with all his considerable strength, driving it deep into the kraken's flesh.

Blue-green light exploded from the point of impact, racing along the tentacle like lightning through water. The kraken's scream shook the entire chamber, stones falling from the distant ceiling to splash into the rising flood. The wounded tentacle thrashed violently, throwing Thorin through the air.

Apollo watched as the dwarf tucked into a roll that would have impressed the most agile acrobat, landing with a splash but immediately regaining his footing. The trident fragment remained clutched in his hand, its glow illuminating his blood-streaked face and the fierce grin that split his beard.

The kraken's response was immediate and devastating. Its central eye blazed with fury as it plunged multiple tentacles into the depths below. The water began to spin, no longer merely rising but forming whirlpools that pulled at everything in their path.

Debris, broken columns, and Apollo's companions were all drawn toward the central vortex where the floor had completely vanished.

"Cale!" Mira shouted above the roar of rushing water. "Together, like before!"

They joined hands, their previous competition forgotten in the face of imminent drowning. Mira's fingers moved in intricate patterns while Cale's eyes closed in concentration.

The water around them responded, forming a counter-spiral that fought against the kraken's pull. For a brief moment, they created a zone of relative calm, a small island of still water amid the chaos.

Apollo watched in fascination as a sigil began to glow beneath their feet, visible through the now-transparent water. It pulsed with the same blue-green light as Thorin's trident fragment, responding to its proximity.

The pattern was complex, concentric circles intersected by waves and what looked like ancient script, all centered on a perfect trident symbol.

'Another part of the test,' Apollo realized, the gold in his veins warming with recognition. 'The sigil responds to the trident, just as the temple doors responded to Cale and me.'

But their reprieve was short-lived. The kraken redoubled its efforts, the whirlpools intensifying until even Mira and Cale's combined power couldn't hold them back.

One by one, his companions were pulled toward the central vortex, Nik first, then Renna as her column finally collapsed, Lyra barely maintaining her grip on a floating piece of debris.

Apollo saw Thorin struggling against the current, the trident fragment blazing in his hand as he fought to reach Mira and Cale. The dwarf's face was a mask of determination despite injuries that would have felled most mortals.

He reached them just as their protection failed, the three clinging together as the whirlpool dragged them toward the depths.

There was no more time for caution.

Apollo drew his bow, allowing the gold in his veins to flow freely into his fingertips. It burned as it gathered, his diminished divinity straining against mortal limitations. A shaft of pure light formed between his fingers, blazing with blue-gold radiance that illuminated the entire chamber.

He sighted along the arrow, focusing on the thickest tentacle, the one generating the strongest whirlpool. The bow sang in his hands, a note of perfect pitch that resonated with the sigil glowing beneath the water.

He released.

The arrow cut through water and air alike, leaving a trail of golden light in its wake. It struck the tentacle with the force of a thunderbolt, not merely piercing but slicing clean through the armored flesh. The severed end thrashed wildly as it fell, crashing into the water with a splash that temporarily disrupted the whirlpool's pull.

The effort nearly broke him. Apollo's knees buckled as the gold in his veins dimmed to a faint flicker, barely visible beneath his skin. His vision darkened at the edges, the chamber spinning around him as he fought to remain conscious. The bow cooled in his hand, satisfied yet hungry for more, always more.

He would have fallen if not for Lyra. She appeared at his side as if conjured, one arm wrapping around his waist while the other gripped his wrist with surprising strength.

"You fool," she hissed, her green eyes blazing with fury inches from his face. "You're burning yourself out. What good are you dead?"

Apollo couldn't answer, couldn't find the breath for words. The gold in his veins had retreated to his core, abandoning his limbs to conserve what little strength remained. He leaned against Lyra, hating his weakness yet grateful for her support.

Below them, something changed. The sigil that had been glowing beneath Mira and Cale expanded outward, its blue-green light spreading across the entire chamber floor. The concentric circles widened, the ancient script flowing like living things as the pattern grew. The kraken's remaining tentacles froze mid-attack, trembling as if caught in an invisible grip.

The water stilled, not in the unnatural mirror of before but in a new kind of stillness, expectant, waiting. Apollo and his companions found themselves floating in the now-stationary water, neither rising nor sinking, suspended in perfect equilibrium.

Then, beneath them all, something opened.

It was an eye, but not like the kraken's. This eye was vast beyond comprehension, filling the entire chamber floor with its vertical pupil. Ancient, calm, and impossibly aware, it gazed upward through the water at the suspended figures above. Its iris shifted colors, blue to green to gold and back again, each hue deeper and more profound than any mortal palette could capture.

The kraken drifted upward, its own massive eye dimming in deference to this greater presence. Its tentacles curled inward, no longer weapons but supplicants before something far more powerful than itself.

Apollo felt the gold in his veins pulse once, weakly, in recognition. 'The sea itself,' he thought, staring into that colossal eye. 'The voice of the deep. My uncle's true power.'

The eye blinked, a motion that sent gentle ripples across the entire chamber.

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