Epilogue: Currents Ahead

Darkness swallowed everything. A void expanded endlessly around him. Then Rokuro heard a voice. Distorted, broken.

“…isn’t▒▓█░—▒#¤…first▒~░—▒▓¤time…”

“…fail▒░▓—▒█¤burns…”

“…drag▒█░—▒#¤back▒░▓—▒¤start…”

He couldn't understand. His head spun.

Then finally, Rokuro’s eyes cracked open to the sound of water… but not crashing waves. A muffled hum, a constant push and pull. He sat up groggily, blinking—

The walls around him were glass. Beyond them, an endless dark-blue void stretched in every direction, dotted with glowing plankton and the pale silhouettes of drifting leviathans.

“Hey, Roku...” Kagi sat across from him, composed as ever, her violet eyes scanning the strange space.

Rokuro rubbed the back of his head. “Where in the blue hell are we now…?”

The answer came when the figure at the front turned. A man in scaled armor sat at controls shaped like a coral wheel. His eyes bulged when he noticed the two figures suddenly awake inside his vessel.

“WHAT—?!” The driver nearly fell out of his seat. “How did you get in here?! This is a private dome! Get out, get out!”

“Hah?!” Rokuro barked, lurching to his feet. “Oi, we didn’t sneak into your fishbowl, pal!”

The man fumbled for a shell-shaped horn. “I’m calling the guard—”

“Not good.” Kagi’s hand closed on Rokuro’s sleeve. In a blink, they darted past the startled driver—just as the vessel docked. The hatch hissed open into blinding light.

They bolted out.

And froze.

The world that swallowed them whole wasn’t sky and land. It was ocean.

A colossal dome stretched overhead like the ceiling of some divine cathedral, its walls holding back the abyssal deep. The entire city beneath shimmered like a golden jewel, built from pearl, coral, and steel that curved like the hull of a massive submarine. Towers rose in spirals, streets twisted like kelp fronds, and bioluminescent signs flickered in every direction.

Rokuro’s jaw went slack. “We’re… underwater.”

Kagi’s gaze swept across the spectacle, quiet awe softening her usually sharp face. “…A city beneath the sea.”

They didn’t have long to marvel.

Guards with sharklike helmets surged into the dockyard, shouting orders. The driver behind them yelled, “There! Those two stowaways!”

“Shit! Do we have to run from the law every damn time?!”

Rokuro grabbed Kagi’s hand and dove between a row of crates. They slipped into a side street, heartbeats pounding.

When the shouting faded, Rokuro leaned against a wall, panting. “…The hell was that? Where even are we?”

They stepped back into the open—and immediately got another shock.

The streets were alive with people—though none of them were human. A woman with translucent fins along her arms haggled over glowing shells. A crabfolk peddler clacked pincers as he showed off coral trinkets. Jellyfolk drifted above like floating lanterns. Sharkkin in armor prowled in tight patrols.

“…Oh hell no.” Rokuro pinched his nose. “We’re in a fish market nightmare.”

“Must be what the locals look like…” Kagi deduced. “Try not to stare.”

They slipped into the first building they spotted—a seashell-shaped sign identified it as an in. Inside, the light was dim, the air thick with salt.

“Let’s try and get some info out of the people here.” Kagi said.

“Let’s get something to drink first.”

Rokuro dropped a heavy gold coin on the counter. For the first time he’d put the gold from the king to use!

“Two drinks of… whatever it is you’re serving the most.”

“…What’s this?” The bartender squinted at it, “It’s a crime to try and pay with trash.”

“Trash? That’s gold! Universal currency!”

“Not here. That’s worthless scrap. This is Aqualantis, stranger.”

Rokuro’s eye twitched remembering the words of the king of Portalia. “…That damned king scammed me!”

Before Kagi could quip, the inn’s doors slammed open.

A squad of armored fishfolk swept in, cloaks gleaming with royal sigils. The chatter died instantly.

Their eyes locked on Rokuro and Kagi.

“You two.” The leader’s voice echoed like a tidal current. “Come with us.”

For a minute they thought of fighting back. But they didn’t have the luxury to be runaways in yet another realm so early on.

Minutes later, they stood inside the highest hall of the domed submarine city. Coral pillars glowed with golden veins, and at the far end sat the ruling council—merfolk elders draped in fin-lined robes, their faces heavy with worry.

The eldest leaned forward, his trident glinting. His words carried like a verdict.

“Lock. Key. At last, the legends stand before us.”

Rokuro stiffened. “…You know who we are?”

The elder’s voice trembled, not with fear—but urgency.

“We need your help, Lock and Key of Legend…”

Rokuro and Kagi exchanged a sharp glance. The next words fell like a stone in the sea.

“The Queen of Aqualantis is missing.”

— VOLUME 1 END —