Maren's POV - Present Day
The ocean rose like a living wall.
Water shot up from all sides of the warships, towering fifty feet high, blocking out the sun. Inside each column, I could see shapes moving—sharks, eels, things with too many teeth that shouldn't exist.
"Holy—" Marcus stumbled backward on the deck. "FIRE! FIRE EVERYTHING!"
Harpoons launched from all five ships. Arrows filled the air. Magic-enhanced nets spread wide, designed to capture and bind divine beings.
They didn't even get close.
Vaelen flicked his wrist, and the water obeyed. A wall of ocean rose between us and the weapons, swallowing them harmlessly. The harpoons dissolved. The nets tangled and sank. The arrows turned to driftwood.
"Impossible!" my father shouted. "The chains should prevent him from—"
"From what, Father?" I called down, my voice amplified by Vaelen's power. "From defending himself? From fighting back against the people who've been torturing him for two thousand years?"
The water columns began to close in, preparing to crush the ships like toys.
"Wait!" My father held up his hands. "Maren, please! Let's talk about this!"
"NOW you want to talk?" Rage burned through me. "Where was talking when they took Lira? Where was talking when you called me a liar in front of the entire Guild?"
"I had no choice!"
"LIAR!" I screamed, and the water responded to my fury. The columns pressed closer. Wood creaked. Soldiers screamed and abandoned ship, diving into the black water.
Vaelen's hand tightened on mine. "Careful. Lose control and you'll kill everyone, including yourself."
He was right. I could feel the power burning through my veins, demanding release. My skin glowed brighter. But I forced myself to breathe, to think.
"I want Marcus," I said loud enough for everyone to hear. "And Selene. Bring them to me, or I sink every ship here."
My father's face went pale. "Maren, you don't understand what you're asking—"
"I understand perfectly." My voice was ice-cold. "They murdered my crew. They sacrificed my sister. They tried to kill me. Now they pay."
"The Guild needs them," my father said desperately. "They have knowledge, connections—"
"They're murderers!"
"So are you about to be!" My father pointed at the drowning soldiers. "Look at what you're doing! These are innocent men following orders!"
"No one's innocent." But I looked at the struggling soldiers, and something twisted in my gut. They were just doing their jobs. They didn't know about the conspiracy.
I loosened my grip on the water. The columns lowered slightly, giving the ships room to breathe.
"See?" My father's voice turned gentle. "You're not a killer, Maren. You're my daughter. Come home. We can fix this."
For a second—just a second—I almost believed him.
Then I saw Marcus whisper something to Selene. Saw her nod and slip below deck. Saw the way my father's eyes tracked her movement and didn't stop her.
"It's a trap," Vaelen murmured in my ear. "Whatever they're planning—"
The water beneath us exploded.
Something massive shot up from the deep—a second serpent, but wrong. Its scales were gray and dead-looking. Its eyes leaked black ooze. Runes covered its body, glowing with the same dark magic as the ritual anchors.
"What is THAT?" I gasped.
"A corrupted sea guardian." Vaelen's face twisted with rage and grief. "They took one of my kin and turned it into a weapon. Forced it into service through blood magic."
The creature wrapped around us before we could react. Its coils squeezed, cutting off the power flow between me and Vaelen. Our hands were ripped apart.
I screamed as the connection severed. It felt like losing a limb—sudden, violent, wrong.
"MAREN!" Vaelen fought against the coils, but the corrupted guardian held firm. The chains on his body blazed brighter, burning into his skin. He screamed in agony.
"Let him go!" I tried to summon water, but without touching Vaelen, I had no power. I was just human again—weak and helpless.
The corrupted guardian dragged us down, back toward the black water.
"Good work, Selene!" Marcus called from the ship. "The binding runes are working!"
Selene emerged from below deck, holding a glowing staff covered in the same runes as the creature. "Told you my blood magic would come in handy!"
"Blood magic?" My father looked shocked. "Selene, we agreed no dark arts—"
"We agreed to do whatever it takes," Marcus cut in. "And this takes dark arts." He turned to me with a triumphant smile. "Thanks for coming back, Maren. We needed you for the ritual. Your blood and the serpent's together will seal him permanently."
"You used me as bait," I realized. "You WANTED me to come here."
"Obviously." Selene rolled her eyes. "Why else would your father slip up and admit he knew about the conspiracy? We knew you'd sail straight into our trap."
The corrupted guardian pulled us underwater. I held my breath as long as I could, but eventually my lungs gave out. Water rushed in—
But I didn't drown. Vaelen's mark on my chest pulsed once, and suddenly I could breathe again.
"The bond..." I gasped. "Even separated, it's still there?"
"Weakened, but yes." Vaelen struggled against the coils. "They can't completely sever it without killing us both. But they can drain it."
I felt it then—something pulling at the mark on my chest. Draining the power, the life force, everything the bond had given me. The corrupted guardian was feeding on us.
"We're going to die here," I whispered.
"Yes." Vaelen stopped struggling, his body going limp. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let you hope."
"No." I refused to accept this. Not after everything. "There has to be a way—"
"There isn't." His eyes were dull with centuries of defeat. "The ritual is already starting. Can you feel it?"
I could. The mark on my chest burned as something tried to rip it away. The corrupted guardian's grip tightened. Above us, I could see the ritual anchors descending again, all five at once.
"I survived three months of hell," I said through gritted teeth. "I sailed into the abyss. I bound my soul to a god. I am NOT dying because of some corrupted fish!"
"It's not a fish, it's a—"
"I DON'T CARE!" I grabbed the corrupted guardian's scales, ignoring how they cut my hands. Blood flowed into the water. "You were like him once, weren't you? Free and wild and powerful. They took that from you. Made you a slave."
The creature's grip loosened slightly.
"They did the same to me," I continued, pressing my bleeding hand against its head. "Took my sister. Took my ship. Took everything that made me who I was. But I didn't let them win. And neither should you."
The corrupted guardian's dead eyes flickered. For just a moment, I saw something underneath—pain, rage, a desperate plea for freedom.
"Fight them," I whispered. "Just for a second. That's all I need."
The creature's entire body convulsed. The coils loosened—
I lunged for Vaelen's hand.
The moment we touched, power exploded through both of us. But this time it was different. Stronger. The bond had been tested and survived, and now it burned brighter than ever.
The corrupted guardian released us completely and turned—
Toward the surface. Toward the ships.
"NO!" Selene screamed. "The binding runes! They should be—"
The creature smashed through her magical controls like they were paper. It shot upward, massive and enraged, heading straight for the warships.
Chaos erupted above. Men screamed. Ships scattered, trying to escape.
"We need to go," Vaelen said urgently. "Back to the abyss before—"
"Before what?"
His face went grim. "Before your father activates Plan B."
"There's a Plan B?"
"There's always a Plan B." He pulled me deeper into the black water. "And if I'm right about what it is, we have about thirty seconds before—"
Above us, all five ships exploded.
Not from the corrupted guardian—from inside. Self-destruct charges. The explosions were massive, turning the water above into a churning mass of fire and debris.
"They blew up their own ships?" I stared in horror. "But their crew—all those men—"
"Acceptable losses." Vaelen's voice was bitter. "The Guild doesn't care about individual lives. Only their power."
The burning wreckage began to sink, raining down around us. We dodged twisted metal and burning wood as we swam for the palace.
But something else came down with the debris.
Bodies. Dozens of them. Dead soldiers from the exploded ships.
"Oh god," I whispered.
"Don't look," Vaelen tried to pull me away.
But I couldn't stop looking. Because one of the bodies wore a Guild Master's coat.
My father.
He floated past us, eyes wide and unseeing, mouth frozen in a final scream.
"No," I breathed. "No, he couldn't have—they wouldn't—"
"Marcus and Selene survived," Vaelen said quietly, pointing upward.
Through the debris, I saw them. They'd escaped on a small emergency boat before the explosions, watching from a safe distance as the ships burned.
"They killed everyone," I said numbly. "Their own people. My father. Just to stop us."
"And to send a message." Vaelen's jaw clenched. "This is what the Guild does to threats. Complete destruction."
We reached the palace and collapsed inside. I couldn't stop shaking. Couldn't stop seeing my father's dead face.
"He wasn't always bad," I whispered. "When I was little, he used to teach me to sail. He'd let me steer his ship even though I was too small to reach the wheel. He'd lift me up and—" My voice broke. "He loved us once. I know he did."
"Love isn't enough," Vaelen said softly. "Not when power corrupts it."
I looked at Lira's sphere. She was awake now, having seen everything. Tears streamed down her face as she reached for me through the barrier.
"We failed," I said. "We're still trapped. Marcus and Selene are still out there. And now—" I gestured at the sinking bodies. "Now we have more blood on our hands."
"You tried to save them."
"I didn't try hard enough."
Vaelen was quiet for a moment. Then: "The corrupted guardian broke free because of you. You gave it hope. Made it remember what freedom felt like."
"For all the good that did. It probably died in the explosion too."
"Maybe." Vaelen stared up at the surface. "Or maybe it's up there right now, hunting the people who enslaved it."
I thought about that. About Marcus and Selene in their tiny boat, thinking they'd won.
"Good," I said coldly.
We sat in silence, surrounded by trapped souls and sinking corpses, while above us the Guild celebrated their victory.
But something moved in the shadows of the palace. Something I'd never noticed before.
"Vaelen?" I pointed. "What is that?"
He followed my gaze and went very, very still.
"That," he whispered, "should be impossible."
A doorway. Hidden behind fallen pillars and centuries of coral growth. Glowing with the same light as Vaelen's chains.
And carved above it, in ancient letters that somehow I could read:
"THE HEART OF THE OATH."
"What does that mean?" I asked.
Vaelen's hand trembled as he reached for mine. "It means there might be a way to break the chains after all. But—" He looked at me with something like fear. "But the price will be higher than you can imagine."