The journey back to the Academy took two days. We did not talk much during those two days. Lina just stared at the horizon. Sometimes her eyes. Sometimes they did not. Maya held her silver bracelet the time. Raka and Kirana sat apart from each other and from us. They did not speak to anyone.
I sat at the front of the boat. The stone, Aegis was in my pocket. It felt warm. The light inside it was like a heartbeat. Ombak was at the back of the boat. He was steering it. He had not spoken since we left the temple. Not to me. To anyone else.
When we reached the shore Ombak stopped the boat. We drifted towards the pier. It was made of wood and had rusted nails. It was the pier we had left a few days ago.. It felt like we had been away for years.
Ombak spoke to me. His voice was hoarse. He said "Kael." I turned to him. He was looking at me. His eyes were different now. They were not friendly like before. They were not angry either. They were like a warning.
He said "You took it. The lock. The heart of the seal." I said "I took it." He nodded slowly. He looked at Lina. She was standing at the edge of the boat. Her back was to us.
Ombak said "And she spoke to it. Commanded it to wait." I did not answer. Ombaks hand went to the stone around his neck. It was the color as his eyes. He said "I have been here a time Kael. Watching. Waiting. Hoping the creature would never wake. Hoping your grandfather would come back and fix what he broke."
He looked at me. His eyes looked old. Really old. Like he had been holding something for long and was finally letting it go. He said "Hes not coming back." I said "He's not." Ombak smiled. A small smile. Not bitter. Not sad. Just tired.
He said "No. He's not.. Now you carry what he carried. The blood. The lock. The choice." He stepped off the boat. He walked towards the shore. He did not look back. He said "The creature will wake. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow.. It will wake.. When it does it will come for you. For the blood that took what was theirs."
He walked away. His figure got smaller and smaller. He said "Find another way. Before it's too late.". Then he was gone.
When we got back to the Academy it was quiet. Too quiet. The halls were empty. The training fields were silent. No students. No instructors. No one.
Aldo was waiting at the gate. His pale blue eyes looked at each of us. He said "You have it." I took the stone from my pocket. The pale blue light pulsed. Aldo stared at it. His hand reached out. Then stopped.
He said "It's not a shield." I said "No. It's a lock." Aldo nodded slowly. Like he had known all along. Like he had hoped he was wrong. He said "Come. There's something you need to see."
He took us to Room 13. The door was open. The chair with my name on it was still there.. Something was different. The walls were covered in writing. Old writing. Faded. Like it had been there for a time but hidden until now.
Aldo said "Your grandfathers journal. The pages you couldn't read. They weren't blank. They were waiting." He touched the wall. The writing glowed faintly. Blue. The same blue as the light in Aegis.
I read the words. "I opened the door. I took what was not mine. I thought I was saving the world. I was only waking the monsters." The words trembled. Like my grandfathers hand had been shaking when he wrote them.
Aldo said "There's more." He pointed to another section. I read it. "I went back. Once. To return it. To close the door.. The door wouldn't close. The lock was broken. The heart was gone. I had already given it away."
I said "Given it away?" Aldo looked at me. "He didn't keep the stone, Kael. He gave it to someone. Someone he trusted. Someone who would keep it safe." I said "Who?". Aldo did not answer.
He pointed to the section of writing. "If you're reading this you found Aegis. You know what it is. What it was. Now you need to find the rest. The other artifacts. The other locks. Before they do."
The writing said "They will come for you. For the blood. For the stone. You have to be faster. You have to be stronger. You have to find what I couldn't." It said "Go to the Mariana Trench. Not for Aegis. For Core. The heart of the lock. The one I couldn't take. The one that will tell you what you need to know."
The writing ended. I stood there my hand on the wall. Behind me no one spoke. Kirana said "Mariana Trench. That's where we're going next." Aldo said "Yes." Raka said "We just survived one nightmare. Now we're going to another?" I said "You don't have to come."
Raka looked at me. His eyes were not like a rivals. They were like someone who had lost much to stop now. He said "I'm coming." Kirana nodded. Maya did not speak. She just held her silver bracelet. Looked at the wall. At her fathers words. At his failure. At his hope.
Lina stood beside me. Her hand was in mine. Her eyes were distant. Like she was listening to something away. I said "You heard them again." She nodded. "They're waking. Not fast.. They're waking." She looked at me. Her warm brown eyes. The same eyes that had held mine through everything.
She said "We have to be faster." I squeezed her hand. I said "We will be."
That night I could not sleep. I sat on my bed the stone in my hands. The pale blue light pulsed. Slow. Steady. Like it was counting time. Lina was asleep beside me. Her hand was warm. Her breathing was steady.. Sometimes in the dark her eyes flickered. Silver-white. Just for a moment. Then back to sleep.
I looked at the stone. At the light inside it. At the lock that had kept the creatures asleep for long. I thought about my grandfather. About the man who swept his porch every morning. Who drank tea from a chipped cup. Who told me stories of heroes before bed.
He had been here. He had opened the door. He had taken the lock.. He had spent the rest of his life trying to undo what he had done. I put the stone on the table beside my bed. There was a cup of tea on the table. Steam rose from it. Warm.
I stared at it. The cup had not been there before. No one had entered the room. Lina was asleep. The door was locked. The window was closed.. The tea was warm. I picked it up. The ceramic was warm, against my fingers. The tea inside was dark. Strong. The way my grandfather used to drink it.
I lifted the cup. Took a sip. It tasted like home.
Summary
Morning arrives. Kael does not talk about the cup of tea. He is not sure if it was really there.
Aldo calls them to the hall. There is a table with a map on it. This map is not like any map. It is a map of the Mariana Trench. The lines are all wrong. The depths are all wrong too. There are places on this map that're not on any other chart.
Aldo says, "Your grandfather made this map." He tells them "Your grandfather went back to the Mariana Trench three times. Each time he went he went deeper into the Mariana Trench. Each time he went to the Mariana Trench he found something."
He points to a spot near the center of the map. There is a symbol. It is the symbol they saw in the temple on the stone and on the walls of Room 13.
Aldo says, "This is where the Core is. The Core is the heart of the lock. It is the one your grandfather could not take."
Kirana asks, "Why could he not take it?"
Aldos face turns pale. He says, "Because something was guarding the Core. Something that was awake and waiting. Something that did not wait for anyone."
He pulls out a piece of paper. The paper is old and torn. The handwriting on the paper is my grandfathers handwriting.
The note says, "Do not go to the Mariana Trench. I tried to go to the Mariana Trench. I lost everything. I lost Bayus eyes Renos hope and my soul. Do not make the mistake I made."
I look at the note. I look at my grandfathers words. I look at his warning.
I say, "We are going to the Mariana Trench."
Aldo looks at me for a time. Then he nods his head.
He says, "Then you need to get ready. The Mariana Trench is not like the temple. The Mariana Trench is deeper. The Mariana Trench is darker. The pressure in the Mariana Trench is worse. The cold, in the Mariana Trench is worse too.. Something is waiting for you in the Mariana Trench. Something that has been waiting for twenty years. Something that will not let you take what it is guarding in the Mariana Trench."
He rolls up the map of the Mariana Trench. He hands the map of the Mariana Trench to me.
He says, "You have three days. Use these three days well."