Unknown Location.
Pain woke me up.
It wasn't sharp pain. It was a dull, throbbing ache that covered my entire body like a heavy lead blanket.
My right arm the one that swung Zev in Overdrive felt like it had been put through a meat grinder.
I tried to move my fingers. Stiff. Numb.
I tried to open my eyes. The light was too bright.
I smelled something strange.
Not the rot of Sector 13. Not the ozone of acid rain. Not blood.
It smelled like lavender. And deep sea salt.
Expensive.
"He's awake," a soft voice said.
I forced my eyes open, squinting against the glow.
I was lying on a bed. A real bed with soft, white sheets that felt like silk against my skin.
I looked up.
The ceiling wasn't metal. It was glass.
Thick, reinforced glass.
Above me, schools of glowing jellyfish floated in deep blue water. A massive manta ray glided past, its shadow covering the room for a second.
I wasn't in the city.
I was underwater.
"Maya!" I gasped, sitting up too fast.
My body screamed. My ribs burned. The room spun.
I grabbed my chest, coughing dryly.
"Relax," the voice commanded. It was calm, authoritative. "She is safe."
I looked to my right.
Sitting on a high-backed velvet chair was a woman.
She was stunning.
Her skin was pale as moonlight. Her hair was silver, falling down her back like liquid mercury.
She wore a white dress woven from what looked like pearls and spider-silk.
Her eyes were the color of the abyss. Dark blue and endless.
"Who are you?" I rasped. My throat felt like I had swallowed sand.
"My name is Riley Luxena," she said. Her voice was melodic but cold. "And you are my guest."
I scanned the room.
It was luxurious. Ancient stone walls decorated with glowing coral. Furniture made of polished driftwood. It looked like a palace room, but the door was heavy iron with no handle on the inside.
A prison cell for a king.
"Where is my sister?" I demanded, ignoring the pain in my arm. "If you hurt her..."
Riley stood up. She moved with an unnatural grace, her feet barely making a sound on the marble floor.
She pointed to the other side of the room.
There was another bed.
Maya lay there, sleeping peacefully under a warm blanket.
But something was different.
The black veins on her neck the mark of the Mana Rot were gone.
Her skin was rosy. She was breathing deeply, steadily.
For the first time in three years, she didn't look like she was in pain.
"What did you do to her?" I asked, my suspicion rising. "Jiro said she was dying."
"I stabilized her," Riley said, walking to the foot of my bed. "I gave her a purified Elixir. The rot is suppressed. For now."
"You're a doctor?"
"I am many things," she replied. "But mostly, I am someone who cleans up messes. And you, Ren, made quite a mess."
She tapped a crystal table next to her. A holographic screen flickered to life in the air.
News footage played.
The ruins of the alley in Sector 13. The shattered buildings. The pieces of Captain Arlong scattered across the street like wet confetti.
The headline scrolled in bold red text:
[TERRORIST ATTACK IN SECTOR 13. SQUAD 4 WIPED OUT. SUSPECT: UNKNOWN MALE. BOUNTY: 50 MILLION.]
"You killed a Captain of the Poseidon Clan," Riley said. "Do you know what that means?"
"That he was weak," I spat.
Riley smiled. It wasn't a kind smile. It was the smile of a shark seeing blood in the water.
"It means the entire Clan is hunting you. Every Hunter, mercenary, and assassin in Yorknew is looking for the boy with the black sword."
I clenched my left fist. My right arm was in a sling.
"Where is my sword?"
"Safe," Riley said. She nodded toward a weapon rack in the corner.
Zev was there. Resting. The black crystal looked dull, dormant.
"It is... a unique weapon. I have never seen metal like that. It absorbs light. It feels cold even near fire."
She leaned closer, her blue eyes piercing mine.
"It reeks of something old. Something dangerous."
[She is dangerous,] Zev's voice echoed in my mind. He sounded weak, distant. [Do not trust her, Ren. She smells like the ocean. She smells like Her.]
"Why did you save me?" I asked. "If I'm worth 50 million, why not turn me in?"
Riley walked to the glass wall, watching a hammerhead shark swim by.
"Because Arlong was a nuisance. He was corrupt, greedy, and loud. You did me a favor by removing him."
She turned back to me.
"And because I need a weapon."
"I'm not a weapon," I growled. "I'm a person."
"Are you?" Riley raised an eyebrow. "A person doesn't butcher twenty elite soldiers in a minute. A person doesn't heal from shattered bones in hours. Your regeneration is unnatural."
She walked to Maya's bed. She brushed a stray hair from Maya's face with a gentle touch.
"And a person doesn't have a sister who... glows."
My heart stopped.
I looked at Maya.
In the dim light of the room, Maya's chest was glowing. A faint, rhythmic blue light pulsed beneath her skin, syncing with her heartbeat.
"What is that?" I whispered.
"Mana," Riley said simply. "Pure, raw Mana. She isn't sick, Ren. Her body is generating energy. Too much of it. That's why she was in pain. Her vessel is too small for the power she holds."
"Vessel?"
"If the Poseidon King finds her," Riley continued, her voice hard. "He won't see a child. He will see a battery. He will strap her to a machine and drain her until she is a husk. She will live in agony for a hundred years powering his city."
I tried to stand up again. Pain shot through my legs, but I forced myself to sit on the edge of the bed.
"I won't let that happen."
"You can't stop it," Riley said coldly. "Not as you are. You are weak. You survived Arlong only because your sword took control. Look at your arm."
I looked down at my right arm.
It was purple and black. The muscles were torn. The veins were swollen.
"Overdrive destroyed you," Riley said. "If you use it again, your arm will explode. You have a god-slayer sword, but you have the body of a malnourished scavenger."
I fell back onto the bed, defeated.
She was right.
I had Zev. I had rage. But I had no training. No technique. No stamina.
I was a child playing with a nuke.
"What do you want?" I asked.
Riley walked back to me. She placed a hand on my chest. Her touch was freezing cold, like ice.
"I want to make a deal."
"I will hide you here, in my private sanctuary. The Poseidon sensors cannot penetrate these walls."
"I will give you the resources to keep your sister stable."
"And in exchange..."
Her eyes glowed with a faint blue light.
"You will be my blade."
"Blade for what?"
"To kill the people I cannot touch," she whispered. "The political enemies. The corrupt nobles. The Usurpers who sit on my mother's throne."
I looked at Maya.
She was safe here. For now.
Riley Luxena.
She was dangerous. Manipulative. A princess playing a deadly game.
But she was the only lifeline I had.
"If you betray me," I said, looking Riley in the eye. "I will kill you. I don't care who you are. I don't care if you're a Princess."
Riley laughed. It was a melodic sound, like bells underwater.
"I count on it, Ren. A dull blade is useless to me."
She turned and walked toward the heavy iron door.
"Rest now. Your training begins tomorrow. I will teach you how to swing that sword without breaking your own bones."
She looked back over her shoulder.
"And Ren? Don't try to escape. The pressure outside this glass is enough to crush a submarine. You wouldn't last a second."
The door closed with a heavy thud. Click. Lock.
I was alone with Maya.
And Zev.
[We are in a cage,] Zev grumbled. [A gilded cage. But a cage nonetheless.]
"It's better than a grave," I replied.
I got out of bed slowly. My legs shook, but I managed to walk to the weapon rack.
I touched Zev's hilt.
It was cold. Comforting.
"Zev," I whispered. "You said she smells like Her. Who is she?"
The sword vibrated.
[The scent is faint, but it is there.]
[Royal blood. Siren blood.]
[She is the daughter of Lixenda.]
My eyes snapped open.
"Lixenda? The Queen mentioned in the old myths?"
[The Traitor Queen,] Zev hissed. [The one who betrayed my master a thousand years ago. The one who sealed me in the mud.]
Zev's voice trembled with hate.
[Riley carries the blood of my murderer.]
I froze.
I stared at the iron door.
Riley Luxena saved me.
But her mother killed Zev's master.
And Zev wanted revenge on the entire bloodline.
"Fate has a twisted sense of humor," I muttered.
[Kill her,] Zev commanded. [Tonight. While she sleeps. Slit her throat.]
"No," I said firmly. "We need her. Maya needs her."
[She is the enemy!]
"She is a tool," I corrected him. "Just like she thinks I am a tool."
I looked at Maya sleeping.
"We use her resources. We get strong. We heal Maya."
I gripped the hilt tighter.
"And when we are strong enough... we decide who dies."
Zev was silent for a moment.
Then, a low hum resonated in the blade.
[Acceptable. Use the daughter of the traitor to sharpen your blade. I like the irony.]
I walked back to the bed.
I lay down, staring at the sharks swimming overhead.
I was trapped 20,000 leagues under the sea.
Wanted by the world.
Bound to a vengeful sword.
Dealing with a manipulative princess.
I closed my eyes.
"Training tomorrow," I whispered.
I needed to get stronger.
Fast.