“All Aboard!” One of the crewman of the submersible shouted.
The prisoner wagon has been docked and locked down.
The injured guards were in the infirmary, while the remaining guards took their rest.
In the main bridge, Prince Thalassos the Drowned took the helm.
Lord Styx took one of the seats in the bridge and sat down as well.
The iron hull of the submersible groaned under the immense pressure as it plunged deeper into the dark waters of the Great Rift.
Leo stood up and went over to the observation deck near the front of the vessel, leaning against the thick, reinforced sea-glass viewport.
Outside, the view was unlike anything he had ever seen.
On the left side of the vessel, the water was a freezing, deep blue, illuminated only by the faint glow of massive creatures of the deep and bioluminescent flora.
On the right side, just meters away, across a narrow tectonic trench, subterranean magma rivers snaked along the seabed, spewing boiling bubbles and steam geysers into the ocean.
Taking off his spectacles, Leo wiped a smudge off with his sleeve before putting them back on.
He stared out at the surreal landscape in disbelief.
“Abyssal Prince,” Leo spoke up, turning toward Thalassos, who was sitting at the helm, with his trident resting against his shoulder.
“I’ve been wondering about something since we left the capital.” “Ask, Lord Styx,” Thalassos replied, his gargling voice echoing softly.
“You are a guest in our realm.” “Us surface folks know that our world is a floating Ziggurat in the sky,” Leo said, gesturing toward the ocean outside.
“How is it possible to have an entire ocean, sea trenches, and subterranean magma caverns up here without all this water and lava simply spilling over the edges into the clouds below?” Prince Thalassos let out a low rumble laughter that sounded like grinding sea stones.
Tears almost forming at the corner ducts of its eyes.
“A common question for those who live above,” the Abyssal Prince explained.
“During the First Age, an ancient event known as The Great Separation occurred.
When the ancient Dark Realm was severed from the mainland and threaten to wreck the whole civilization, the King at the time elevated it into a massive flying Ziggurat.
The mana pulled an entire intact sector of the ancient world’s seabed, tectonic plates, and mantle along with it.” Prince Thalassos pointed through the sea-glass toward the pitch-black bedrock floor below them.
“Ancient bedrock runes and dense gravitational mana barriers line the entire bottom perimeter of the Ziggurat.
It creates a closed-loop elemental ecosystem.
The water that drains down into thermal fissures gets vaporized, rises through the steam geysers in the Black Crags, and falls back as dark rain.
The magma is continuously recycled by the core heat of the Ziggurat itself.
Nothing is lost.” “A closed-loop system built by ancient magic…” Leo muttered, adjusting his glasses.
“That explains why the mana felt so strange back in the pass.” “I doubt that is due to the abyssal realm, Lord Styx” The Abyssal Prince interjected.
“Even I did not feel that the mana was normal in the black crag.
Something must have been done to the mana density in the air.” “Maybe Lord Acheron would know, seeing as it came to our aid.” Leo responded.
Hours went by while the submersible traveled through the underground currents, heading down to the center of the area.
Finally, the completely dark trench opened into a huge, empty cave filled with light and living things – Hades, the Capital of the Abyss.
Leo looked in amazement as the ship docked at the big harbor.
The city looked like a huge town, built with a strong theme of fire and water.
The parts of the city higher up were built above the water using basalt and obsidian.
They had giant towers and areas with forges built right over canals of hot lava.
The lower parts of the city were completely underwater, made of coral towers and glass domes connected by bridges underwater.
Even the Abyssal Palace was built right where the land met the sea, partly underwater and partly over an active volcano.
As the group unloaded the wagon onto the stone docks, Leo saw the different kinds of beings watching them arrive.
Merfolk with blue scales and Sirens swam through the water channels, while devils with curved horns worked at the open lava forges.
Large Trench Goblins and Cave Trolls walked along the docks, carrying large pieces of metal, while tamers who rode manta rays through the harbor’s water.
“Your realm is surprisingly balanced despite having two opposing elements,” Leo remarked as they began wheeling the transport toward the palace grounds.
“It is a balance maintained by tradition and law,” Prince Thalassos replied.
“The Princeship of the Abyss alternates every reign.
One term is ruled by the Sea-kin, and the next term is ruled by the Crimson Devils.
My second-in-command is a Devil Lord.
We will meet them soon.
When my reign ends, the crown passes to their tribe.
It ensures that each race has the right to rule.” Passing through the palace perimeter, the convoy descended into a stairwell carved into the bedrock beneath the capital.
As the cave’s mouth came into view, the entrance to Tartarus, the deepest prison dungeon in the Dark Faction is revealed.
The air grew heavy instantly.
Here, at the deepest point of the Ziggurat, the crushing pressure of the ocean above converged with the intense thermal heat of the mantle below.
The walls were lined with gates and ancient Mana-Suppressing Runes.
It was meant as a one way trip for its occupants.
No way out.
Finally, they reached the central containment chamber.
In the middle of the massive cavern, hung a single obsidian cage, suspended over a bottomless magma trench held by thick chains.
The guards unlocked the transport wagon and unchained Ex-Prince John, guiding the former royal across the narrow stone bridge toward the suspended cell.
Throughout the entire journey, John had remained completely silent.
But as he stepped onto the threshold of the obsidian cell, he paused and turned his head toward Leo.
His eyes met Leo’s, carrying that same zealous calmness.
“You locked me in the dark, Lord Styx…” John spoke softly.
“But the throne you serve is built on a far deeper shadow.” Leo narrowed his eyes, offering no response.
John stepped inside.He began to recite something.
“On this day…
I see clearly…
Everything’s come to light…” The doors slammed shut.
Prince Thalassos stepped forward, pressing King Kenius’s royal crest seal against the door.
A surge of abyssal-magic reacted, locking the runes and sealing the cell permanently.
“It is done,” Thalassos declared.
“Ex-Prince John is now sealed.” Leo let out a sigh, feeling a slight relief that the mission was complete.
However, just as he turned to leave, a violent wave of pressure reverberated into his chest.
The atmosphere of Tartarus—the crushing weight of the deep ocean and the intense thermal energy of the magma trench—flooded the chamber as the ancient seals locked into place.
The Dark Talent Seed embedded inside Leo, reacted violently to the raw abyssal mana.
Leo gasped for air, dropping to his knees.
As sweat began pouring down his face, it instantly fogging up his spectacles.
He clutched his chest with both hands as his heart began beating super fast.
“Lord Styx!” Thalassos called out, stepping forward.
“What is happening?!” “Stay…
back!” Leo grunted.
“Everyone leave!” Defensively, Leo channeled his mana to stabilize his body.
Lightning Magic-Electrical Burst Arcs of lightning erupted from his skin, crackling across his arms and claw gauntlets.
As his lightning magic interacted with the dense abyssal mana in the room, something strange happened.
The blue electricity didn’t discharge, it began to absorb the surrounding ocean pressure and fiery heat.
With electricity as it source of energy, it used the abyssal mana to tear open a rift.
Purple Black lightning were emitted from Leo’s hands and into the rift, stabilizing its opening.
“Abyssal Magic…” Prince Thalassos answered.
“Its Abyssal magic!” Suddenly, a being from the rift extended out its hand through the rift, long fingered, sharp nails, scaly skin.
Its like something from beyond is trying to cross over to our world.
As the Abyssal Prince and his cohort prepares to fight the abyssal beasts, Leo regained his sense of self and tried to stop channeling the energy.
With much difficulty, the purple black lightning was not powering the rift, and it collapse on itself, sucking the abyssal arm back in.
Leo sat on his knees, breathing heavily as the thick purple static hummed softly around his claws.
When he opened his eyes, a heavy, pressurized purple light glowed brightly from behind his spectacles.
The abyssal mana rested and coalesce into his eyes.
Prince Thalassos stared at Leo in utter shock, holding his trident tightly.
“A secondary awakening…
You have absorbed the raw essence of our realm, Lord Styx.
You have unlocked Abyssal Magic.” Leo slowly stood up, he glanced back at the suspended cage in the magma pit.
Inside the darkness of his cell, Ex-Prince John was watching him through the iron bars, a dark, knowing smile creeping onto his pale face.
Leo turned away from the cage and looked at Prince Thalassos, his voice carrying a heavy, vibrating resonance.
“Task complete.
Let’s return to the King.” CREATORS’ THOUGHTS MishuAurius With this, we reach the end of Lord Styx’s POV.
Up next, I am thinking to explore Lord Acheron’s POV.
2 things.
1.
I added a reference in this chapter.
A little easter egg.
See if you can identify it.
2.
I am working in part to put this on Royal Road as well.
I am waiting for them to approve it so I may observe to see which side does well.
It is available here: https://www.royalroad.com/profile/1039247/fictions