The Corruptor smiled.
Its molten crimson eyes glowed with terrifying intelligence as its enormous body pulled itself completely free from the abyss beneath the Royal Sanctuary.
Obsidian scales scraped against shattered marble, each movement sending tremors through the palace.
Dark mist seeped from the cracks in its body, poisoning the once crystal clear waters around it.
The floating Tidecaller’s Trident shimmered above the ruined altar, untouched by the destruction.
Waiting.
Watching.
Almost…
breathing.
Commander Kael lowered his stance, silver trident raised.
“Royal Guard!” he bellowed.
“Protect the Trident!”
More than fifty Atlantean warriors surged forward, their weapons blazing with brilliant blue light as they formed a defensive circle beneath the sacred relic.
The Corruptor tilted its head.
Then laughed.
A deep, ancient laugh that echoed through the sanctuary like grinding stone.
“You never learn,” it rumbled.
“Seven hundred years… and you still choose hope over survival.”
Without warning, its massive tail swept across the sanctuary.
“DOWN!” Kael shouted.
The tail smashed through three towering pillars, sending enormous chunks of marble hurtling toward us.
Ethan reacted instantly.
Blue shield orbs burst into existence around the falling debris.
BOOM!
The rocks shattered harmlessly against his barriers.
Carlos stared at the broken pillars.
“…Okay.”
He blinked.
“I officially withdraw my application to become an Atlantean.”
Sarah shot him a look.
“You applied?”
“I was considering it until five seconds ago.”
Despite myself, I laughed.
Only Carlos could joke while standing in front of a monster the size of a cathedral.
The Corruptor’s burning gaze shifted toward me.
“There she is…”
“The last blood of Nerissa.”
I tightened my grip on my staff.
“My name is Emma.”
The creature smiled wider.
“You wear a different name.”
“But your blood remembers.”
Before I could answer, Kael lunged.
His silver trident sliced gracefully through the water, striking the Corruptor square in its chest.
CLANG!
The impact rang throughout the sanctuary.
The monster barely moved.
Instead, it looked down at the trident lodged against its scales.
“…Finished?”
Kael frowned.
Then the Corruptor flicked one claw.
Kael was launched across the sanctuary, crashing through an ancient mural before tumbling across the marble floor.
“Commander!” several guards shouted.
“I’m alright!” Kael coughed, forcing himself back to his feet.
“I’ve had worse.”
Carlos whispered loudly,
“Has he though?”
One nearby soldier snorted before quickly pretending he hadn’t.
The Corruptor inhaled deeply.
Dark energy gathered inside its mouth.
The Oracle’s face changed immediately.
“Scatter!”
A beam of black fire erupted across the sanctuary.
Atlantean soldiers dove aside.
Crystal bridges vaporized instantly.
The blast raced straight toward us.
“Ethan!” I yelled.
“I know!”
His palms slammed together.
A massive dome of blue light surrounded the four of us just as the beam collided with it.
The entire sanctuary shook.
Cracks spread across Ethan’s shield.
“I…”
He gritted his teeth.
“…could really use a break!”
Carlos pointed at the Corruptor.
“Can somebody politely ask him to stop trying to kill us for like… five minutes?”
The shield exploded.
The force knocked us backward, but we escaped the full impact.
The Corruptor stepped forward slowly.
“You fight well.”
“But none of you understand what you protect.”
The Oracle struck his sapphire staff against the floor.
Golden symbols lit every wall of the sanctuary.
“You were once Atlantis’ greatest guardian.”
The old man’s voice echoed solemnly.
“Remember who you were.”
For the first time…
The Corruptor hesitated.
Its molten eyes flickered.
Just for a heartbeat.
Images flashed across its face.
Pain.
Confusion.
Then rage consumed it once more.
“I REMEMBER!”
It roared so violently that the sanctuary ceiling cracked.
“I remember watching Atlantis drown!”
“I remember your kings abandoning us!”
“I remember the demons promising freedom while your rulers offered sacrifice!”
Its voice shook the entire palace.
“The age of Atlantis is over!”
The dark mist surrounding its body exploded outward.
Atlantean guards were thrown to the floor.
Even Kael struggled to remain standing.
The floating Trident suddenly pulsed with brilliant sapphire light.
It wasn’t reacting to the Corruptor.
It was reacting…
To me.
The familiar warmth spread through my chest again.
The pendant Grandma had given me floated gently from my neck.
Its glow matched the Trident perfectly.
Soft whispers brushed against my ears.
Protect them.
As she once did.
Do not fight for power…
Fight for your people.
I looked around me.
Kael was bleeding.
The Oracle could barely stand.
Ethan’s breathing had become ragged from holding up shield after shield.
Carlos was helping injured soldiers to safety one minute and making terrible jokes the next just to keep everyone from panicking.
Sarah was struggling to contain the spreading corruption creeping across the sanctuary floor.
None of them had given up. Find the original chapter at g.com.
How could I?
I looked at the Trident suspended in the air.
“I don’t know if I’m worthy…”
“…but I know why I’m fighting.”
The sanctuary answered.
Every rune carved into the walls burst into dazzling blue light.
The waters around the Trident began spinning in a powerful vortex.
The Corruptor’s confident smile slowly disappeared.
“No…”
It whispered.
“…it has chosen.”The Corruptor’s roar rolled across the sanctuary like thunder.
Broken marble lifted from the floor, suspended in the violent currents swirling around its massive body.
Black veins spread across its obsidian scales, pulsing with crimson light as if molten lava flowed beneath its skin.
Its enormous eyes settled on me.
Then…
It smiled.
“So…” its voice echoed through the sanctuary.
“The bloodline survived.”
The Tidecaller’s Trident vibrated in my hands.
A ring of silver water spiraled around me, responding to every beat of my heart.
The Corruptor lowered its massive head.
“I remember your grandmother.”
Silence.
My grip tightened.
“You knew her?”
A low growl escaped the creature.
“I knew every fool who stood against the Abyss.”
Without warning it lunged.
“Emma!”
Kael’s voice echoed behind me.
Instinct took over.
The Trident moved before I could think.
I swung it sideways.
A wall of water erupted from nowhere, slamming into the Corruptor’s jaws with enough force to send the colossal beast crashing through three towering pillars.
The sanctuary shook violently.
“…Okay,” Carlos muttered.
“I officially vote we never make Emma angry.”
The Corruptor burst from the rubble, laughing.
“Excellent.”
“It remembers.”
It charged again.
This time I didn’t hesitate.
The Trident answered every movement.
With a sweep of my arm, streams of water wrapped around its forelegs.
Another motion.
The water hardened into gleaming chains.
The monster strained.
The entire sanctuary trembled.
Cracks spread across the floor.
“Emma!” Oracle Thalos shouted.
“Don’t overpower it!”
“What?”
“The Trident responds to emotion!”
“If you lose control—”
Too late.
The chains shattered.
A violent wave exploded outward.
Everyone was thrown backwards.
Carlos crashed into a statue.
“I miss sharks.”
The Corruptor rose again.
“You possess tremendous power…”
“…and absolutely no idea how to use it.”
“I’ll learn.”
“You won’t have time.”
It slammed both claws into the floor.
Dark spikes erupted beneath me.
“Ethan!”
A shimmering blue shield appeared just as the spikes burst upward.
The impact sent Ethan skidding across the polished marble.
“I really,” he grunted, reinforcing the shield, “need stronger shields.”
Sarah thrust out both hands.
Dark mist surrounding the creature twisted unnaturally.
Its movements slowed.
“Now!” she shouted.
Kael darted forward.
His silver trident flashed.
He struck the Corruptor across the shoulder.
The beast roared.
Carlos vanished.
A heartbeat later he appeared directly above the monster’s head.
“You ever hear about personal space?”
He kicked off its horns before teleporting away again just as enormous jaws snapped shut where he’d been.
“Missed me.”
The Corruptor snarled.
“Insignificant insect.”
“I prefer devastatingly handsome insect.”
A massive tail swept toward him.
Carlos disappeared again.
The tail instead demolished another marble column.
Dust billowed through the sanctuary.
The Oracle watched me carefully.
“Emma!”
“The Trident isn’t merely a weapon.”
“It is listening.”
I frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“It chooses intent.”
“Don’t fight the water…”
“…become part of it.”
His words echoed in my mind.
Become part of it.
I closed my eyes.
The crashing currents.
The heartbeat of Atlantis.
The distant songs carried through the sea.
For the first time…
I stopped trying to command the Trident.
Instead…
I listened.
Everything became quiet.
The rushing water slowed.
I could feel every current flowing beneath the city.
Every drop.
Every tide.
The Trident glowed brighter than ever before.
When I opened my eyes…
The entire sanctuary answered.
Crystal pools rose into the air.
Waterfalls curved upward instead of downward.
Silver streams circled around me like living dragons.
The Corruptor hesitated.
For the first time…
Fear crossed its face.
“No…”
It stepped backwards.
“You’ve awakened it.”
Not with anger.
Not with fear.
With purpose.
“Leave Atlantis.”
The waters obeyed.
Thousands of streams converged into one colossal tidal serpent that surged across the sanctuary.
The Corruptor tried to resist.
It dug enormous claws into the marble.
The tide swallowed it whole.
The beast screamed as silver light wrapped around its body.
Black smoke hissed from every crack in its scales.
Its corruption began burning away.
“No…”
“The Abyss cannot lose…”
The silver currents tightened.
The creature collapsed onto one knee.
When it looked up again…
The hatred was gone.
Only exhaustion remained.
Its crimson eyes slowly faded into brilliant sapphire blue.
The entire sanctuary became silent.
“I…”
Its deep voice sounded different now.
Calmer.
“I remember.”
Oracle Thalos lowered his staff.
“The corruption has been broken.”
The Corruptor lowered its enormous head.
“I have guarded Atlantis since before the seas swallowed this kingdom.”
“It twisted me.”
“It made me forget.”
My chest tightened.
“You weren’t evil.”
“I was imprisoned inside myself.”
The massive guardian slowly turned toward the palace entrance, its sapphire eyes filled with sorrow.
“There is little time.”
“They know the Tidecaller’s Trident has awakened.”
“They will come.”
Before anyone could ask another question, the leather-bound book strapped to my side suddenly vibrated violently.
Golden light seeped through its pages.
“Oh no,” Carlos sighed dramatically.
“Either we’re about to get another lifethreatening prophecy… or the book is overheating.”
The book floated gently out of my hands.
Its pages flipped on their own, faster and faster until they stopped at a blank page.
The blank parchment shimmered.
Golden letters slowly appeared before fading away again.
Then the page rippled like the surface of water.
A familiar figure stepped gracefully out of the book as though the pages were a doorway.
Long silver robes drifted around her.
Her auburn hair floated weightlessly behind her.
She balanced effortlessly atop the open pages of the Book of Origins.
“You survived.”
Laetitia smiled.
“I must admit…”
“…I expected at least one casualty.”
Carlos folded his arms.
“Wow.”
“You really know how to encourage people.”
Laetitia tilted her head.
“I deal in facts.”
“Not comfort.”
Sarah rolled her eyes.
“You disappear, then come back just to insult us.”
“I wasn’t insulting you.”
Laetitia replied calmly.
“I was complimenting your survival.”
Carlos looked at Ethan.
“I think she’s getting nicer.”
“I wouldn’t push it,” Ethan murmured.
Laetitia’s gaze settled on the Tidecaller’s Trident resting in my hands.
“So…”
“It finally chose.”
“You knew it would?” I asked.
She looked at me with that same mysterious expression she always wore.
“I know many things.”
“I simply choose which ones deserve to be spoken.”
Carlos threw both hands into the water.
“There she goes again.”
“Why answer one question when you can answer half of one?”
Laetitia ignored him.
“The Trident has accepted its rightful bearer.”
“But your journey has only just begun.”
She lifted one elegant finger.
The pages of the book began turning once more.
This time…
They didn’t stop on words.
An illustration slowly formed across the parchment.
Golden sand stretched endlessly beneath a blazing sun.
Half-buried among towering dunes stood the ruins of an enormous temple.
At its center…
A brilliant golden crystal shone like a miniature sun.
Beneath the illustration, elegant ink wrote itself across the page.
THE SUNSTONE WAITS WHERE THE SUN NEVER DIES.
Another line appeared beneath it.
Beware…
The words hesitated.
As though the book itself were deciding whether to continue.
Finally…
The remaining sentence appeared.
Beware the King Who Wears No Crown.
Silence settled over the sanctuary.
Carlos leaned over the book.
“…That’s it?”
Laetitia nodded.
“Yes.”
“Care to explain?”
“No.”
Sarah sighed.
“Why am I not surprised?”
Laetitia smiled almost mischievously.
“Because if I solved every mystery for you…”
“…this would be a remarkably short adventure.”
Carlos muttered under his breath.
“I miss Google.”
Even the Corruptor turned protector blinked in confusion.
Laetitia glanced toward the guardian.
“So…”
“You remember now.”
The ancient creature bowed respectfully.
“I do.”
“Then your duty is complete.”
The Corruptor slowly closed its eyes.
“For now.”
Laetitia looked back at us.
“The Desert of Solara lies beyond the eastern border of Atlantis.”
“The Atlanteans will guide you safely to the edge of their kingdom.”
“After that…”
She gave the faintest smile.
“…you’re on your own.”
“Wait!” I called as she began fading.
“Who’s the King Who Wears No Crown?”
Laetitia was already dissolving back into golden light.
Her voice echoed through the sanctuary.
“If I told you…”
“…where would the fun be?”
The pages closed with a soft thud.
Carlos stared at the book for several long seconds.
“I’ve decided.”
“I like the book.”
“It’s the lady that’s the problem.”
Outside the sanctuary, the bells of Atlantis rang once more.
Not in warning.
But in farewell.
Our time beneath the sea had come to an end.
Beyond the borders of Atlantis…
An endless desert waited.
And somewhere beneath its burning sands…
The Sunstone was waiting for us.