The journey to the sea took half a day. We were all on the boat. I was getting a little worried. Ombak was at the helm. He did not say much. He just sat there staring at this compass. The compass needle was moving over the place like it was trying to decide which way to go.
"The thing we are looking for is affecting the compass," Ombak said. "The closer we get, the more it gets all mixed up."
Raka was sitting at the front of the boat. He was holding on tight. He looked really pale. Kirana was beside him. She did not look much better. The sea was not their thing.
Maya was sitting behind Ombak. She was watching him all the time. I knew she did not trust him. I did not trust him either.
Lina was sitting beside me. She was holding my hand. "Kael," she whispered. "Do you feel something?"
"Feel what?" I asked her.
"Something there," she said. "Something moving."
I looked at the sea. I did not see anything. The water was dark. I could not see very far. The scar on my hand was hurting, and it was hurting more than usual.
---
We got to the middle of the sea. Ombak turned off the engine. The boat stopped moving. It was really quiet. All we could hear was the sound of the waves hitting the boat.
"We are here," Ombak said.
We all looked around. We did not see anything. Just. Sky. The sea and the sky were two colours, and they did not really meet.
"Where is the door?" Kirana asked.
Ombak did not answer her. He just stood up. The boat moved a little bit. He was wearing this necklace with a blue-green stone. The stone was the same colour as his eyes.
He held the stone. Closed his eyes. Then something strange happened. The sea around us changed. The water did not move. We could see this light down below. It was like stars. They were underwater.
"That is the door," Ombak said. It will not open until tomorrow. We have to wait."
---
That night we all slept on the boat. The stars were really bright. I could not sleep. I was sitting at the front of the boat staring at the sea. The water was really still like something was holding its breath.
Lina. Sat beside me. "You should rest," she said.
"I am trying," I said. ". I just can't."
She did not say anything. She just sat there with me.
"Lina," I said. "When we go there I do not know if I can keep everyone safe."
She turned to me. Her eyes were really warm. "You do not have to keep everyone safe," she said. "We will all look out for each other."
I did not say anything. I felt a little better.
The boat was moving gently. The stars were moving slowly across the sky. Down below us something was waiting.
---
The morning I woke up, Lina was holding my arm. Her hand was really cold.
"Kael," she whispered. "Do you hear that?"
I. I did not hear anything at first. Then I heard this knocking sound. It was like someone was tapping on glass or stone.
"It is coming from inside the earth," I said.
Lina's hand was still cold. Her eyes were strange. I saw something moving behind them. It was not her.
"It knows we are here," she said. "It has been waiting for us."
---
Ombak was standing at the helm. His eyes were fixed on the water. The stone was around his neck. It was pulsing with the same rhythm as the knocking sound.
"It is time," he said. "The door is opening."
We all gathered at the edge of the boat. Raka, Kirana, Maya, Lina and me. We were all staring at the water.
"How will we breathe there?" Raka asked. "It is seven thousand metres deep. There is no air."
Ombak looked at me. "The Ember Core will keep you safe," he said. "It will give you what you need. Air, pressure, everything."
I looked at my hand. The scar was pulsing. It was like a heartbeat.
"I do not know if I can control it," I said.
"You do not have to control it," Ombak said. "You just have to let it work. Your grandfather could not control it at first. When it mattered, it kept him safe. It will keep you safe too."
I looked at Lina, and she nodded.
"Let's go," I said.
---
I jumped into the water. It was really cold. The pressure was crushing me. The scar on my hand was burning. Then the pressure was not so bad. I could breathe. It was hard. The air was slow and heavy.
I opened my eyes. The water was dark. I could see shapes and shadows. I could see Lina beside me. Her skin was glowing faintly.
I tried to talk. No sound came out. Only bubbles.
Lina turned to me. I heard her voice in my head. "I can hear you," she said. "Just. I will hear you."
I looked at her. Her eyes were glowing. They were like moonlight under the sea.
"Lina", I thought.
"I know," she said. "I do not know how. I can hear you… I can talk to you."
I did not have time to ask her anything. Maya appeared beside us, and her silver bracelet was glowing. She made a gesture like she was asking how we would go down.
I pointed to my chest, to the Ember Core, and then down.
"Follow me," I thought.
Lina. Maya told Raka and Kirana to follow us. They came down. They looked really scared. They came.
We swam deeper.
---
The deeper we went, the darker it got. There was no light, no sound. Just the pressure, pushing against the Ember Core.
I could feel it now like it was inside me. Protecting me while waiting.
"Kael," Linas's voice in my head. "There is something there."
"I know," I thought.
"It is moving," she said.
I looked down. I saw this light. It was a faint pulsing like a heartbeat.
We swam toward it.
---
The sea floor appeared beneath us. It was not sand or coral. Stone. Black, smooth, and polished like glass. In the centre there was this circle. Large, with twelve points of flickering in the darkness.
"The door," I thought.
We landed on the stone. The pressure was heavy. The Ember Core was holding it back. I could stand; I could move.
Lina stood beside me, her eyes still glowing. Maya and Raka Kirana were behind us looking really tense.
I walked toward the circle of light. The scar on my hand was pulsing hard, matching the rhythm of the lights.
I reached out. My hand touched the edge of the circle.
Then we heard the knocking sound again. Slow and rhythmic.
Waiting.
I pressed my hand against the light.
The door opened.
---
The water did not move. Where the light touched it, it just disappeared. Replaced by air.
Old air, thick. Like it had been trapped for centuries… in air. I could breathe it deeply without effort.
I stepped through.
My foot touched stone, solid and cold. No water.
I turned, and one by one the others stepped through. Lina, Maya, Raka, and Kirana. They stumbled a little getting used to gravity.
"We can talk," Raka said. His voice echoed in the space. "We can actually talk."
Kirana looked around, her eyes wide. "This is inside the sea. There is no water."
"This temple is older than the sea," Maya said. Her eyes narrowed. ". Older than water itself."
The circle of light behind us was not steady. It was going on and off. The water was still. It was being held back by something that we could not see.
Then we heard a noise. It was coming from inside the stone. It was coming from the walls and the floor and the dark place in front of us.
The knocking sound came again.
I thought to myself, We are here now.
Linas's voice was in my head. She said it knows we are here.
I turned to look at Lina. Her eyes were normal again. They were brown and warm. I saw something in her eyes that was not there before.
I asked her, 'What is going on?'
Lina did not say anything. She just kept looking into the dark.
Something was waiting for us in the darkness.