Chapter One:The Rift Beneath the Waves
978 Words
The sea glowed.
Not from the moonlight, not from the stars, not from any ship’s reflection — but from something deeper. Something ancient. Something alive.
RYAN🌊
Ryan Moore adjusted his ID badge as the sleek glass doors of Hydrosight Innovations slid open with a whisper.
Inside, everything shimmered with light — digital panels, AI interfaces, research tanks bubbling with experimental aquatic tech. Hydrosight was at the forefront of water-based technology and deep-sea exploration, pushing past what most thought possible.
Ryan passed rows of engineers and biologists, a silent blur of concentration surrounding him. Though respected as one of the youngest analysts in the company, he wasn’t here for today’s projects. He had other motives — older, more personal.
He moved quickly through the upper floors, his footsteps quiet but deliberate. His father's old office, long decommissioned, now used as an archive, sat at the far end of a locked corridor. Few came here. Fewer still remembered that Nathan Moore, his father, had been one of Hydrosight’s leading minds… until the day he vanished.
They had called it a dive accident. But Ryan never bought that.
He keyed in the override code, the one his father had left scribbled behind a bookshelf in an old textbook — "Never trust what floats. Seek what sinks." The heavy door slid open.
A soft scent of old books, sea salt, and machine oil hit him.
His father’s world.
Stacks of old data drives, prototype blueprints, and handwritten notes were piled like relics. Ryan’s fingers trembled as he opened one of the older binders marked "Black Zone: Trench X9-A."
Inside were maps. Coordinates. Notations. One phrase underlined multiple times:
> "Anomaly not visible to sonar. Not a natural formation."
There were other scribbles:
— “Biometric lock — blood signature?”
— “Energy field reacts to proximity.”
— “Heard something on the descent. Not alone.”
Ryan’s heart pounded. This wasn’t ordinary research.
And there — near the bottom of a brittle page — his father’s signature glowing faintly under UV ink.
A small circular seal drawn in red ink. A symbol. One Ryan didn’t recognize. Yet it stirred something deep in his gut.
This wasn’t an accident.
His father was trying to tell someone something.
He closed the binder slowly.
He could have reported it to Hydrosight's team… but no.
This was personal.
He would go himself. Alone. He needed answers.
LIRA🌀
Far beneath the waves, the kingdom of Aerynth was crumbling.
From the royal observatory, Lira stared out into the abyss. The crystalline towers that once shimmered with power were now smoking ruins, their bioluminescent veins dimming. Screams echoed through the deepwater currents as the rebel factions closed in.
She pressed her hand against the cold glass, heart breaking.
Behind her, chaos raged — flashing energy spears, wounded guards shouting orders, and the distant tremor of another explosion rocking the palace.
“They’re coming!” gasped Selya, her mentor and royal advisor. “Lira, you have to go now!”
“But my parents—” Lira choked, stepping back from the window.
“They made their choice. You are the last key. If they capture you, they’ll open the barrier and reach the surface.”
Another guard, Taron, stormed in, blood on his shoulder. “The throne room is holding them for now — but not for long. Princess, the portal must be activated.”
Selya grabbed Lira’s wrist. “Your blood, your line. You are the last gatekeeper. Go!”
Tears blurred her vision. Lira turned and ran.
RYAN🌊
Hours later, the skies above the Atlantic were dark and endless. A single private research vessel floated silently in open waters.
Ryan stood at its edge in a sleek black dive suit, oxygen tanks clipped, sonar scanner blinking quietly. There were no crew on deck. No one knew he was here.
He dove.
The water swallowed him instantly, cold and quiet. His heart thundered in his chest as he sank past the continental shelf, past trenches he'd studied on screens but never seen with his own eyes.
He followed his father’s map.
Straight into the dark.
Suddenly — static flared on his goggles. A soft hum.
His sonar scrambled, then stabilized.
> ANOMALOUS ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED.
The trench wall in front of him shimmered. Like a mirage. A ripple in the water — but… solid?
He reached forward with his gloved hand.
LIRA🌀
The gate chamber pulsed with energy.
Ancient markings lit up the walls as Lira stepped forward, Taron and Selya close behind. The rebels were only moments away. Shouts echoed down the hall.
“Your hand!” Selya cried.
Lira pressed her palm into the carved seal.
The room lit up like a star being born. A sphere of liquid light opened in the center of the floor — the gateway to the surface. A path only her blood could open.
“Go,” Taron whispered, his weapon drawn, facing the chamber doors.
The rebels burst in.
Lira screamed — and jumped.
RYAN🌊
The wall exploded.
A sudden force slammed into Ryan, knocking his scanner loose. His goggles cracked. He spun in the water, bubbles rushing upward.
Something — someone — was holding onto him.
Soft skin. Glowing eyes. Silver hair drifting in the current like silk.
He stared into her face — her otherworldly, terrified, yet fierce expression.
And in that moment… he knew.
He had found something far greater than he imagined.
Something real.
Someone alive.
THE REBELS⚡
In the shattered remains of the throne room, the rebel leader stepped over the fallen guards, eyes burning.
“She escaped,” hissed a lieutenant.
The leader smiled coldly. “Then we find her. The surface is no longer myth.”
Behind him, forbidden machinery powered up. Stolen energy surged.
“If she won’t open the door again,” he whispered, “we’ll break it."
- Writer
