All charges against Max and Daniel were eventually cleared after the brain scan evidence confirmed Anthony as the true killer. Authorities dismantled the warehouse facility owned by Anthony and arrested all the goons who had previously worked alongside him. The intense speculation surrounding Max and Daniel being half-Mermaidian finally died down, and both New York and the Mermaidian Kingdom returned to a state of peace and harmony. As news of the Mermaids' existence spread across the world, other Mermaidian habitats also emerged from hiding, revealing that humanity was no longer alone as the world quietly shifted into the reality of two coexisting forms of life.
With everything gradually returning to normal, Max and Daniel resumed their everyday lives. Max took possession of Andrew's lab, keeping it intact in his honor. He continued his daily experiments and deep-sea research, spending most of his time there, which made it clear how much he still missed Andrew. He often found himself having dreams of saving him during the chaos that had unfolded. One night, Max woke up to get a glass of water, when suddenly his wristwatch began to glow, subtly urging him to follow a specific direction. As he followed the signal, he found himself walking all the way to the ocean, but the light did not fade, indicating he needed to go deeper. He hesitated and briefly turned back, wanting to return to sleep, but the watch continued to pulse, as if insisting that something awaited him in the abyss. Reluctantly, he transformed and entered the water anyway. The sea was darker than ever, but his bioluminescent tail illuminated the path throughout his journey. He teleported part of the way, trying to speed up his journey through the ocean depths. When his watch finally stopped glowing, another light of the same color appeared far out in the sea. As he approached it, the light seemed to drift even farther away, revealing it was a bioluminescent creature luring him deeper. Using his speed, he managed to close the distance, but just as he was about to get a clear look, the light vanished and reappeared elsewhere. Each time he reached it, the same thing happened, leaving him circling in confusion and frustration. Feeling trapped in a looping chase, he grew annoyed and was about to turn back when hundreds of similar lights suddenly surrounded him. In an instant, the smaller creatures pushed and guided him forward, forcing him into a dark underwater chamber hidden deep within the abyss. When the creatures disappeared, a strange magical energy filled the chamber, and suddenly Max lost consciousness. Hours later, he woke up to the sound of an alarm clock, safe and lying in his bed. Shocked, he tried to convince himself it had all been a dream, but it felt far too real. He asked his watch what it meant, and after a brief pause, it responded in a short message: "…it's time."
Max was confused and asked it what it meant by that. The watch then replied, saying it was time for Max to know the origin of it but Max cut it off, saying the watch could just tell him the origin, after all the watch was there. Unfortunately, according to the watch, it had a Self-protection protocol and it was only programmed to avoid full disclosure and give compressed responses or phrases. In other words, the watch couldn't explain itself because it was programmed to unlock only through discovery. The more Max figured out on his own, the more the system trusted him, gradually removing restrictions and releasing new abilities. Upon hearing this information, Max knew what had to be done, he needed to wait till night fall and go back to the same area where he would be challenged. The day passed quickly, and Max prepared himself for the deep-sea challenge. After transforming, he headed toward the habitat of the bioluminescent creatures. As he drew closer, his watch began to glow, signaling that the trial had begun. One of the creatures shimmered in the far distance, and when Max approached it, the light vanished as usual. Almost immediately, another glow appeared elsewhere. He rushed toward the second one, but it disappeared the moment he got close. The same thing happened with a third, and just as he caught up to it, hundreds of glowing creatures suddenly surrounded him. Together, they gently but firmly pushed him into the underwater trial chamber. As the creatures faded away, the same strange energy filled the room, enclosing Max in a shimmering aura. He tried to remain focused, but the weight of his grief and his desire for revenge clouded his mind. The pressure became overwhelming, and he eventually lost consciousness, signaling that he had failed the test. Moments later, he woke up to the sound of his alarm clock, lying safely in his bed. Confused and frustrated, he wondered what he had done wrong, but when he asked his watch for answers, it simply responded that it would take time.
As night fell again, Max returned to the ocean, determined to pass the trial. He followed the familiar path toward the glowing creatures, his resolve stronger than before. However, his second attempt ended the same way as the first. The lights guided him into the chamber, the strange energy surrounded him, and once again he lost consciousness. Unwilling to give up, he returned for a third attempt. This time, he tried to calm his mind and focus, but the memories of Andrew and his anger toward Anthony kept resurfacing. The trial overwhelmed him again, and he failed. Still stubborn, Max went back for a fourth attempt. Despite his determination, the outcome did not change. The chamber filled with energy, his thoughts became clouded, and he slipped into unconsciousness once more. Each failure only deepened his frustration, but it also made him realize that strength alone was not enough to pass the test. He woke up in his bed frustrated after the fourth attempt and made his mind he was going to give up. The watch then explained to him that the trial in the deep sea had not been about strength, but clarity of mind. As the glowing creatures guided Max into the chamber, it was evaluating his emotional state. However, the grief over Andrew's death and his burning desire for revenge against Anthony clouded his judgment. It then further told him that conflicting emotions disrupted his focus, preventing him from completing the test and that when he lost consciousness, it confirmed he had failed, not because he lacked ability, but because his mind was not yet free. After the talk, the watch remained silent, waiting for the moment he would overcome the anger within him before unlocking what lay hidden.
Understanding what the watch had just told him, he attempted the challenge for a fifth, and possibly final time. He arrived at the habitat with a purified heart and a clearer state of mind. He completed the glowing creature test and made his way into the trial chamber. As before, the creatures vanished, and the strange magical energy filled the room, circling around him as though wrapping Max in its aura. Then, suddenly, everything went dark. Max opened his eyes but this time he wasn't in his bedroom, instead what he saw was unbelievable. The walls of the chamber were covered in layered inscriptions, half-carved into stone and half-formed from a glowing coral-like material. The symbols shifted faintly as Max approached, as though reacting to his presence. His watch began to pulse in sync with the markings, slowly translating fragmented phrases from an unknown origin protocol. Reading the text carefully, it seemed like the wristwatches were originally developed as experimental neural interface devices created by a secret research team, with Anthony serving as one of the lead scientists on the project. While the devices were sent into space for zero-gravity testing to stabilize their neural synchronization systems, Anthony secretly modified parts of the framework to introduce a hidden override layer capable of controlling neural activity. This interference eventually caused a system failure in orbit, forcing the watches to shut down and crash back to Earth years later, where they were eventually discovered by Max and Daniel without knowledge of their true origin. It all suddenly made sense to Max, why Anthony knew about the wristwatches and why he wanted them so desperately. However, what truly shocked him was the realization that the wristwatches were originally created on Earth, not as alien technology as he had assumed. The watch, now operating with an upgraded interface, informed Max that he could uncover more information by simply touching the wall and asking his question. As Max reached out and did so, the inscriptions on the wall began to shift and change before his eyes. According to the text, during the wristwatches experimental phase in space, the wristwatch system was exposed to intense cosmic radiation and unstable electromagnetic conditions. Originally designed for neural interface testing, it also carried biological data from marine research samples sent alongside the project. Over time, these combined factors caused an unintended mutation within the system, merging human neural synchronization technology with adaptive marine genetic modeling. As a result, the watches developed a secondary function, allowing the wearer's body to restructure temporarily based on environmental conditions and neural command, enabling transformation between human form on land and mermaid form in deep-sea environments.
As Max moved deeper into the chamber, he discovered a hidden rule within the system: answers could only be unlocked through the preservation of life. In order to obtain the truth to a specific question, a life had to be saved within the trial itself. The chamber did not respond to strength or knowledge alone, it responded to action. Only by preventing a death or restoring a life in real time would the system grant access to the information he sought. Max became confused because he didn't know anyone who needed saving but in order to get the answer to secret question, he had to figure it out. He returned to the surface and immediately teleported back to the apartment. His watch briefly congratulated him for passing the trial, but Max ignored it and went straight to sleep. The next morning, he woke up, called Daniel, and explained everything that had happened. He felt a sense of clarity and newfound purpose, as though the experience had changed his perspective on life. Max began to think seriously about his future and decided he wanted to pursue his own path. He considered returning to school to obtain a bachelor's degree in Marine Biology. Although he had originally studied Computer Engineering, his growing fascination with the ocean had shifted his interests toward marine science. Instead of starting completely over in full-time education, he chose to continue his learning through research work in Andrew's lab while gradually building his expertise in Marine Biology.
Max felt a sense of relief, while Daniel's time was still limited. For a moment, everything seemed to return to normal, as if life was finally settling into place. But as it had been said before, their fate had already been decided, waiting silently for the next turn to unfold.