Before the missile fired
The water split.
Not at the shore.
Not near ships.
But in the deep center of the ocean.
Like the world tearing open.
A spiral formed.
Huge.
Wider than the city.
Clouds above twisted with it.
"What is that?" Anna whispered.
Lila felt cold fear crawl through her.
"That's not the Sea King…"
Something else was waking.
Something older.
The spiral deepened until the water looked bottomless.
Then
Light rose from below.
Blue.
Ancient.
Broken.
Rafi's heart pounded. "Is it another monster?"
"No," Lila said.
Her voice shook.
"It's the source."
Visions hit her again.
Long ago.
Before humans.
Before cities.
There wasn't just one guardian.
There were two.
The Sea King.
And something beneath even him.
The Deep Heart.
The first balance.
But it had been buried.
Sleeping.
Forgotten.
Until now.
"The Sea King wasn't attacking us," she whispered.
"He was trying to stop this."
Marco stared. "Stop what?"
The spiral pulsed.
And from the darkness
A shape rose.
Not an animal.
Not alive.
Not dead.
It looked like a giant cracked sphere made of stone and coral and bones of ancient creatures fused together.
Energy leaked from it like smoke.
Angry.
Uncontrolled.
Rafi stepped back. "It feels… wrong."
Because it was.
Lila understood.
"The Heart we healed…" she said slowly, "was only a piece."
"This… is the original."
"And it's broken."
The ocean trembled.
Creatures didn't obey it.
They feared it.
Even the Sea King surfaced far away
Not roaring.
Guarding.
Like a shield.
Marco swallowed. "So this whole time… the sea wasn't invading us?"
"No," Lila said.
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
"It was protecting us."
The cracked Deep Heart pulsed again.
And this time
Every screen in the world flickered.
One message.
Glitching.
Ancient.
Not the Sea King's voice.
Something colder.
Something older.
"BALANCE FAILED. RESET REQUIRED."
The sky darkened.
The sea began rising again.
Not as revenge.
Not as warning.
But as a system…
Restarting.
Like the planet itself had decided:
Humanity was an error.
And Lila realized
This wasn't a war anymore.
This was extinction.
And the Sea King…
Was the last thing standing between humans
And the end.