Rebirth: Over the Horizon

Adam enters the water, as Emily said he didn't find any hard in breathing even his eyes and nostrils were fine.

Adam swims under the Epiphany and sees the dozens of silver chains leading down into the murky depths.

He slowly follows the chains and swims deeper and deeper into the sea.

He feels pressure in the sinuses, which makes him stop every now and then to adjust.

The sun is mostly blocked by all of the water between him and the surface, but in the darkness below, he sees something glowing.

It takes a long time to reach the source of the light and the chains.

The shimmering dome of light, through which the chains are extending.

Within the enormous dome, there is a building made of sculpted coral and reef.

It is the source from which the chains emerge from. It has great towers that look like spikes, and merpeople are swimming around it.

He swims through the dome but as he nears the doom a slight tingling sensation hit him.

The dome's magic allows him to see in the murky depths and causes the pressure to become bearable.

When the merpeople spot Adam approaching, they swim into the doors of the building and disappear from view.

He enters the tower through the roof from which the chains come from.

Suddenly he falls heavily through the entrance and discovers that there's air.

The corridors hold about three feet of water, but the top half is dry.

Adam quickly opened his mouth and inhaled some air, "It is as fresh as the surface."

The water-filled corridor spirals down and around the chains.

There are no steps; instead, it's like a watery ramp that magically keeps the same depth instead of flowing down to the lower levels.

He meets no merpeople, but unfortunately, the hallway angles away from where the chains are, and Adam finds himself splashing through the corridors of the coral structure without knowing where you're going.

"Hey! You there. Help me!" a voice shouts, using the same archaic form of the common tongue that the merman had used.

The voice comes from a mermaid who's in a small enclosure with coral covering most of the entrance, except for a few small holes.

Adam quickly recognises it as jail or dungeon of some kind, and that the mermaid is being held prisoner within.

"I'm Lana," she answers.

Lana is very pretty. Although she's a fish from the waist down, from the stomach up, she's a well-proportioned, blue-tinged woman with deep brown eyes and matching hair.

Her hips curve sensually below her narrow waist and flat stomach. She's also topless, and unlike the mermaids from storybooks, nothing covers her perfectly formed breasts.

"This temple holds the heart of the Sunken God known as the devilfish, and I'm here to destroy it."

She replies cooly, even though her hands and legs are tied firmly with the wall.

"Are you one of the people sent here by the 1st prince, Alec?"

"Huh? I'm surprised, I am, but I would like to know who told the Atlanta kingdom's affairs"

"Emily told me."

"Huh!? Do you know Emily? How is she? Is she fine? Are you sent by her? More than anything where is she?"

"Stop, I don't have time to chat around, I will tell you one thing she is fine, but do you think you can help me in destroying these chains"

"Yes I can, but in return, you also have to help me."

"Okay, let's first hear, what is it that you want my help with?"

"I saw your ship coming a few days ago and sought to use it as a distraction to sneak inside and destroy his heart"

"The altar's priests and guards changed the currents to draw your ship over their time so they could catch you as a sacrifice," she says.

"My allies are watching from a distance, but I was caught before I made it to his Life Crystal."

"If I can make it to their Life Crystal and destroy it, the sunken God will die, and the people controlled by him will also be freed"

"Help me escape, and I'll free your ship when I destroy the Life Crystal."

"You have a deal," Adam says with a small smirk and his Abyss angel slices through the coral as though it were spiderwebs.

Lana quickly wraps a cloth which was placed at the corner of the cell "Enough staring"

Adam lightly blushes with embarrassment.

"Quickly, come this way," Lana says, swimming through the water with her head and shoulders parting the surface, a V of ripples trailing behind her.

"They hid from you because they don't know what you are, but they'll gain their courage back soon."

The pretty mermaid leads him through many corridors.

Adam sees a few of the brainwashed mere people swim out of the way and peer at from other corridors.

They burst into a large hall and adam spots the silver chains again. They all meet together at a single metal sphere about the size of a pumpkin.

Also in the room, he sees a smaller white orb that seems to pulsate with magic.

This must be the Life Crystal that will kill the sunken God.

The hypnotised mere people rush forward to stop both of them.

They ignore the sphere holding the chains, guarding the Life Crystal instead.

Currently, there are four of them, but the hall will be flooded with merpeople within seconds, and Adam realizes that it might not work out if he tries to destroy both of them.

Lana looks imploringly towards him for help.

'Even if I destroy the metal sphere it will only destroy the chains holding the ship, I think it's better to destroy the life crystal and first free this merpeople's

Adam quickly rushes and stabs one of the merpeople in the stomach.

'Even if they are only controlled, they are very strong, there is no way he can defeat them without killing or hurting them'

Lana glances over him and does the same, it seems there is really no other choice.

Their Trident has the advantage of reach, but he removes that advantage by staying within their guard.

They suddenly find their longer weapons to be awkward and difficult to hit him with.

When a Trident comes in low, it badly cuts adam across the stomach.

The third Trident-wielder cuts open a long gash along your arm, and the fourth stands ready to help, as well.

[You have been affected by a deadly poison]

[You will lose your consciousness for 5 hours]

'Huh? When did I was poisoned'

Just as he thought of what notification means he starts feeling weak and drops his weapon.

Lana uses his distraction to smash the Life Crystal with her Trident.

The moment the artifact smashes, water rushes in from every window and door.

The heavy flow washes him through the halls, and adam is momentarily blinded by bubbles and debris.

Between his wounds and the lack of air, the darkness was also closing in fast.

Then adam feel hands grabbing him, 'I can only hope it to be Lana or her allies'

Darkness....