The three keys floated before us, suspended in the water as though guided by an invisible force.
The Diamond Key sparkled with dazzling brilliance, scattering tiny rainbows throughout the ocean with every gentle movement.
Beside it, the Emerald Key pulsed with a rich green glow that resembled the steady rhythm of a heartbeat, while the Crystal Key shimmered with icy silver, tiny snowflake-like patterns dancing beneath its smooth surface as though winter itself had been trapped inside it.
For a long moment, none of us spoke.
We had actually done it.
Every terrifying encounter…
Every impossible puzzle…
Every demon that had tried to tear us apart…
Every argument that had nearly divided us…
Every sacrifice…
Every step had led us here.
Carlos let out a long dramatic sigh.
“So…” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Can we all agree we’ve officially earned a vacation after this?”
Sarah slowly turned toward him.
“A vacation?”
“Yeah.”
“We’re underwater…”
He nodded.
“Correct.”
“…Searching for magical artifacts.”
“Still correct.”
“…While demons are literally trying to destroy humanity.”
Carlos spread his hands innocently.
“So… stressful.”
Despite everything, Ethan burst into laughter.
“I can’t believe you’re still making jokes.”
Carlos shrugged.
“If I stop joking, I’ll probably start screaming.”
“I think we’re all already screaming on the inside,” Sarah muttered.
Emma smiled despite herself.
Somehow Carlos always managed to make impossible situations feel…
lighter.
Maybe that was his gift too.
Not teleportation.
Hope.
She glanced at each of her friends.
Ethan looked exhausted.
The constant use of his protective shields had left dark circles beneath his eyes.
Sarah tried to appear calm, but Emma noticed the way she repeatedly rubbed her hands together whenever she thought no one was watching.
Carlos still smiled…
But even he looked more tired than he wanted everyone to notice.
None of them were the same teenagers who had entered the forest outside Ravenwood.
They had changed.
“We should go,” Emma finally said, locking the three keys safely inside the void.
“We’ve come too far to stop now.”
Nobody argued.
The journey back to the Atlantean gates was strangely peaceful.
The ocean around them seemed almost…
respectful.
Huge whales drifted silently overhead like ancient guardians.
Schools of glowing fish swam around the group before disappearing into forests of colorful coral.
Strange jellyfish floated lazily through the water, their translucent bodies glowing with blues, purples and soft golds that illuminated the dark ocean like floating lanterns.
Carlos stared upward.
“You know…”
“What?” Ethan asked.
“If sharks weren’t trying to eat us every five minutes…”
He looked around in amazement.
“…I’d actually consider living here.”
Sarah laughed.
“You?
Underwater?”
“Why not?”
“You complain every ten minutes.”
“I’d adapt.”
“You’d spend all day asking mermaids where the nearest Starbucks is.”
Carlos looked genuinely offended.
“I’d ask politely.”
Emma shook her head, laughing softly.
“You really don’t know when to stop.”
“It’s a gift.”
“No,” Sarah replied.
“It’s a problem.”
The four friends continued swimming through towering forests of coral.
The deeper they went, the more breathtaking Atlantis became.
Bright red coral stretched like enormous trees.
Golden sea plants waved gently with the current.
Tiny seahorses danced around crystal formations.
Even the sand glittered with fragments of pearls.
It looked less like an ocean…
And more like another world entirely.
Emma slowed.
Something about this place felt…
Familiar.
Not familiar because she had seen it in a dream.
Familiar because…
Her heart recognized it.
A strange warmth spread through her chest.
Almost like someone invisible had wrapped a comforting blanket around her shoulders.
She frowned.
Why?
She had never been here before.
Had she?
“Emma?”
Ethan’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
“You’ve stopped again.”
She blinked.
“Oh…
sorry.”
“You’ve been doing that a lot.”
“I know.”
“Everything okay?”
Emma looked around once more.
“I don’t know.”
She hesitated.
“It feels like…”
She searched for the right words.
“…like I’ve been here before.”
Sarah frowned.
“That’s impossible.”
“I know it is.”
“But I can’t explain it.”
Carlos swam beside her.
“Maybe that’s your Atlantean blood.”
Everyone looked at him.
“What?”
“You literally move faster than the rest of us underwater.”
“I noticed that too,” Ethan admitted.
“And you somehow keep knowing where to go.”
Emma looked down at her hands.
“I’ve noticed it…”
She hadn’t wanted to say it aloud.
“Ever since we entered Atlantis…”
She looked around.
“…everything feels easier.”
Swimming.
Breathing.
Even using her powers.
It all felt…
Natural.
Before anyone could respond…
The enormous gates appeared before them once again.
They stole everyone’s breath away.
The towering stone gates stretched impossibly high until they disappeared into the shimmering blue above.
Ancient carvings covered every inch of their surface.
Atlantean kings holding glowing tridents.
Queens wearing crowns fashioned from living coral.
Warriors riding giant sea horses into battle.
Massive sea serpents coiling around towering temples.
Mermaids dancing beneath crescent moons.
Leviathans clashing against dragons made entirely of water.
Every carving looked so lifelike it almost seemed ready to move.
Carlos slowly circled one section.
“Whoever built this…”
He whistled.
“…had way too much free time.”
Ethan ignored him.
“These aren’t decorations.”
Emma nodded.
“They’re telling a story.”
“What story?”
“I…”
She frowned again.
“I don’t know.”
“But somehow…”
She reached toward one of the carvings.
“…I feel like I should.”
The instant her fingertips brushed the ancient stone…
A pulse of blue light raced beneath the carvings.
The entire gate hummed.
Everyone jumped back.
Three circular keyholes slowly emerged from the center of the massive doors, glowing with soft sapphire light.
Sarah’s eyes widened.
“They weren’t there before.”
“They reveal themselves only to those worthy of entering.”
Emma froze.
Everyone turned toward her.
Carlos blinked.
“…Did you just know that?”
Emma stared at the gates.
“I…”
She honestly didn’t know how she’d known.
The words had simply…
Appeared inside her mind.
Almost as though someone else had whispered them.
A soft breeze—or whatever passed for one beneath the ocean—stirred around them.
Ancient runes began glowing across the gates one after another.
Thousands of symbols.
Thousands of years old.
Waiting.
Watching.
Almost…
Expecting them.
Emma slowly lifted both hands.
The void shimmered.
The three keys emerged once more, floating gracefully before the giant doors as if answering an invisible summons.
Behind them, somewhere deep within the stone…
Something ancient began to awaken.
The commander slowly rose to his feet, but his eyes never left mine.
“You bear the blood of Queen Nerissa,” he repeated, his voice almost reverent.
“I… I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else,” I stammered.
“No.”
His answer came without the slightest hesitation.
“There is no mistake.”
He stepped closer, studying the silver pendant around my neck.
“That pendant belonged to the royal bloodline of Atlantis. It disappeared centuries ago… on the day our queen vanished.”
A strange ache stirred inside my chest.
Grandma had given me this necklace when I was seven.
She had simply smiled and said, Never lose this, Emma.
One day it will help you remember who you truly are.
At the time, I had laughed.
Now…
Those words no longer sounded ordinary.
“They’re descendants of the Order of the White Lotus,” another soldier whispered.
“So the prophecy is true…”
The soldiers began murmuring among themselves.
“The four heroes…”
“They’ve finally come.”
Sarah leaned closer until her shoulder brushed mine.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I wish someone was.”
Carlos folded his arms dramatically.
“So… does this make me royal by association?”
Sarah elbowed him.
“Read the room.”
“I’m trying! But everyone keeps bowing. It’s making me uncomfortable.”
Even Ethan smiled despite the tension.
“You’ll survive.”
Before anyone could say another word—
BOOOOOOM!
The explosion ripped through the water with terrifying force.
The entire city trembled.
Windows shattered.
Ancient statues cracked.
A flock of glowing fish scattered in every direction.
Citizens screamed.
Smoke—dark even beneath the ocean—rose from the eastern district.
“My Lord!”
A wounded Atlantean soldier swam toward Commander Kael, his armor cracked and stained with black ichor.
“The eastern wall has fallen!”
“They’ve broken through the defenses!”
“They’re inside the city!”
Kael’s expression hardened instantly.
“So soon…”
He turned toward us.
“I’m sorry, but introductions will have to wait.”
He raised his silver trident high into the water.
“Royal Guard!”
Dozens of armored warriors rushed from every street.
Then dozens became hundreds.
Within seconds, disciplined lines of soldiers stretched across the avenue, their silver tridents glowing with pale blue energy.
“For Atlantis!” Kael roared.
“For Atlantis!” the soldiers answered in perfect unison.
Their voices echoed across the city.
Then…
Everything went silent.
An uneasy silence.
The kind that came moments before disaster.
A low growl echoed somewhere beyond the broken walls.
Another answered.
Then another.
The water itself seemed to darken.
“They’re coming,” Kael whispered.
The first demon burst through a shattered tower.
It resembled an enormous eel wrapped in black flames, its mouth opening impossibly wide to reveal rows upon rows of jagged teeth.
Another creature followed.
This one looked like a shark fused with a spider, eight enormous legs propelling it across the ocean floor while crimson eyes searched hungrily for prey. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
Winged demons swooped overhead, their skeletal bodies dragging terrified civilians into the darkness.
“Protect the citizens!” Kael shouted.
The battle erupted instantly.
Atlantean warriors charged forward.
Silver tridents clashed against claws of black fire.
The once peaceful streets became a battlefield.
“Ethan!” I shouted.
He didn’t need another word.
Blue light exploded from his hands.
A gigantic protective shield expanded across half the street just as burning debris crashed from a collapsing tower.
Families huddled beneath it, safe from the destruction raining around them.
Carlos vanished in a flash of silver.
One second he stood beside us.
The next—
He reappeared beside an elderly couple trapped beneath fallen marble columns.
“Excuse me!”
He grinned despite the chaos.
“Emergency evacuation service!”
With another snap—
They disappeared.
A heartbeat later he returned, slightly out of breath.
“They’re safe!”
Sarah stretched both hands toward a possessed Atlantean soldier who was attacking his own comrades.
Black mist poured from her fingertips.
“No…”
she whispered.
“Leave him.”
The demon shrieked.
It resisted.
Then, inch by inch, it was ripped screaming from the man’s body.
The soldier collapsed unconscious.
Nearby warriors immediately struck the spirit with silver tridents.
The creature dissolved into ash.
“It actually worked!” Ethan shouted.
Seeing everyone fight gave me courage.
I raised both hands.
Psychic energy surged through me like electricity.
Ancient symbols appeared beneath several charging demons.
“Lock!”
Invisible chains burst upward from the ocean floor, wrapping tightly around three monstrous creatures.
They struggled.
Roared.
But they couldn’t move.
“Now!”
Atlantean warriors rushed forward without hesitation.
Their silver weapons pierced the immobilized demons.
One after another, the creatures crumbled into black dust.
Cheers erupted around us.
For one glorious moment…
It actually felt like we were winning.
Then—
Every demon froze.
Completely still.
They all turned toward the same direction.
Toward the dark waters above the city.
Their terrifying faces slowly twisted into smiles.
Cold fear settled inside my stomach.
“Why did they stop?” Carlos whispered.
No one answered.
The sunlight vanished.
A massive shadow spread across Atlantis.
Even Commander Kael’s confident expression disappeared.
His face turned deathly pale.
“No…”
he breathed.
“It can’t be…”
A deafening impact shook the city.
The ocean floor cracked.
Ancient pillars shattered.
A colossal figure landed in the center of the battlefield, sending powerful shockwaves through every street.
He was enormous.
Nearly fifteen feet tall.
Black armor covered his body, etched with crimson runes that glowed like molten lava.
Two massive horns curved backward from his helmet.
A dark crimson cape floated behind him like living smoke.
Resting casually across one shoulder was a gigantic sword forged from pure darkness.
The blade pulsed…
Almost as if it possessed a heartbeat.
Every demon immediately knelt.
Atlantean soldiers instinctively stepped backward.
Even Kael tightened his grip on his trident.
The stranger slowly looked around the battlefield.
Then…
His burning crimson eyes settled on us.
A cruel smile spread beneath his helmet.
“So…”
His voice echoed across the entire city like rolling thunder.
“These are the children who have caused Lord Malachar so much inconvenience.”
My heart pounded painfully.
Every instinct screamed at me to run.
But I couldn’t.
I stepped forward anyway.
“Who are you?”
The armored giant chuckled.
A deep…
Terrifying sound.
“I…”
He slowly lowered the enormous black blade until its tip pointed directly toward the four of us.
“…am General Azrath.”
Dark energy exploded from the sword.
The surrounding water turned almost black.
His smile widened.
“And unlike the monsters you’ve faced before…”
“…I have not come to test you.”
He took one slow step forward.
“I have come…”
Another step.
“…to kill you.”