The shifting dunes of Tartarus rolled endlessly beneath the crimson sky as Altopereh surged forward at impossible speed. Ever since leaving Kalian's domain, the God Orbiton had flown without slowing once, its restored frame cutting through the wasteland like a black spear cast across creation itself. Sand exploded behind it in colossal waves, entire ridges collapsing under the force of its engines.
Inside the cockpit, warning lights flickered softly across the dark interior while Youri stood behind the main control seat, staring ahead in silence.
Lea remained beside him, her hood lowered slightly as the crimson light of Tartarus reflected over the rough wooden mask covering her face. Neither of them spoke for a long time.
Something about the desert ahead felt wrong.
Not hostile.
Not violent.
Ancient.
The further they traveled, the more the world itself seemed to distort. The dunes no longer remained still. Entire mountains of crimson sand shifted slowly across the horizon like living creatures crawling beneath the surface. Massive spirals formed in the distance before collapsing again. The sky above trembled faintly, as though reality itself bent around whatever lay ahead.
Then the terrain changed.
The endless sea of dunes suddenly split apart.
Youri narrowed his eyes.
At first, it looked like a canyon opening beneath them. But the deeper Altopereh descended, the clearer it became.
It was not a canyon.
It was ruins.
An entire civilization buried beneath the desert.
Massive stone structures emerged slowly from beneath the shifting sands, revealing broken towers, shattered roads, and colossal walls stretching farther than the eye could follow. The city looked ancient beyond comprehension, as though it had existed long before even memory itself.
And then Youri saw it.
Atlantis.
The sunken city loomed beneath the crimson heavens like the corpse of a forgotten god.
At its center stood a colossal spire so massive it defied understanding. It pierced upward endlessly into the sky, disappearing somewhere within the blood-red clouds above. The structure looked less like a building and more like a world carved into a single tower. Endless arches lined its pale surface. Hollow chambers and gigantic circular openings covered its body. Entire civilizations could have existed within its walls alone.
Around the spire stretched the remains of the city itself.
Massive avenues cut between gigantic stone structures layered with stacked balconies and weathered facades. Broken statues stood frozen beneath centuries of sand. Great bridges connected towers that had partially collapsed into the earth. Entire districts had sunk beneath the dunes while others still remained standing defiantly against time itself.
The city felt dead.
Yet alive.
Like something was still watching from within its hollow streets.
Youri slowly stepped closer to the cockpit glass, unable to hide the shock in his eyes.
"So this is Atlantis..." he whispered.
The very origin of the God Orbitons.
The birthplace of the machines that had reshaped his life forever.
Every nightmare.
Every battle.
Every death.
It all began here.
Even Lea stood motionless beside him. Though she had once walked among the Sacros, even she looked shaken by the sight before them.
Altopereh hovered silently above the ruins for several moments.
Then its voice echoed through the cockpit.
"You should look for the ship," it said calmly. "It seems Almesis is not around."
Youri immediately frowned.
"So you're telling me you want control?"
A low laugh echoed through the cockpit walls.
"Yes."
Dark energy flickered briefly across the Orbiton's frame.
"If I want to face Almesis at full power, I need to be free. And lucky for you, this is the only place where I can separate from the vessel without you sitting on that cockpit seat."
Youri's eyes narrowed.
He did not like the sound of that.
Not even slightly.
Altopereh continued before he could object.
"So get out and find what you came here for. The ship should still exist somewhere within Atlantis."
The cockpit fell silent.
Youri stared ahead at the endless ruins below.
Everything inside him screamed that this was a mistake.
Leaving Altopereh alone inside Atlantis sounded like handing a blade to a monster and hoping it behaved itself.
But they had come too far to turn back now.
Slowly, Youri took a deep breath.
Then he released the cockpit restraints.
The hatch above them hissed open.
A wave of ancient air swept into the cockpit immediately—dry, cold, and heavy with dust older than worlds themselves.
Youri climbed upward first, stepping carefully onto Altopereh's massive shoulder plating. Lea followed shortly after, her dark cloak flowing behind her as the crimson winds of Tartarus swept across the city.
From outside, Atlantis looked even larger.
The streets below stretched endlessly in every direction. Gigantic statues towered over shattered plazas. Half-buried structures leaned against one another like ancient corpses refusing to fall completely.
And not a single sound echoed from anywhere.
No wind.
No creatures.
Nothing.
The city was completely silent.
Youri turned back toward Altopereh one last time.
The massive God Orbiton stood motionless above the ruins, dark energy pulsing faintly beneath sections of its black armor.
"No matter what," Youri said seriously, "don't take this too far. Once we find the ship, come back."
For a moment, silence answered him.
Then Altopereh laughed.
A deep, monstrous laugh that echoed across Atlantis itself.
"Who do you think I am?" it said.
Dark antimatter energy rippled softly across its body.
"Just go find that damn ship. The rest... is for me to decide."
Youri frowned.
That answer did absolutely nothing to reassure him.
Lea stepped beside him quietly.
"We should move," she said softly. "The deeper we stay exposed, the worse this place becomes."
Youri nodded slowly.
Together, the two descended from Altopereh onto one of Atlantis' massive stone platforms below.
The moment their feet touched the ancient city, Youri felt it.
A strange pressure.
It flowed through the ground itself.
Like the city was alive.
He turned slightly, looking down one of the endless avenues stretching deeper into Atlantis.
Far away in the distance, enormous structures disappeared into darkness between the towering buildings. Bridges connected entire sections of the city overhead while gigantic statues watched from broken plazas.
Some of them resembled the Sacros.
Others resembled things far older.
Lea slowly walked ahead.
"Atlantis was never just a city," she said quietly. "It was the center of everything."
Youri followed beside her.
"What do you mean?"
She looked upward toward the colossal spire piercing the heavens.
"The Sacros built their empire from this place. The God Orbitons were forged here. Their weapons, their armies, their technology... it all began in Atlantis."
Her voice lowered.
"And so did their sins."
Youri remained silent.
As they walked deeper into the city, he noticed strange markings carved into the stone beneath their feet. Massive circular patterns stretched across entire streets. Some glowed faintly with golden light despite their impossible age.
The deeper they traveled, the stranger Atlantis became.
Entire buildings floated partially above the ground.
Broken machines taller than mountains remained frozen where they had collapsed.
Some streets looked untouched by time.
Others looked as though entire wars had been fought there.
Then Youri stopped suddenly.
Ahead of them, partially buried beneath the sand and ancient stone, stood something massive.
A ship.
Only part of its structure remained visible, but even buried, its size dwarfed the surrounding buildings.
Its dark metallic surface was jagged and uneven, layered with overlapping plates that resembled armored scales.
Youri's eyes widened slightly.
"The ship from the vision..."
Lea stared silently at it.
"It's real."
The two slowly approached the colossal vessel.
Ancient symbols covered its surface.
Some sections looked broken beyond repair.
Others still pulsed faintly with dormant energy.
Youri could feel it immediately.
This ship did not belong to Tartarus.
It came from somewhere else.
And somehow...
It still remained alive.