Youri and Lea stood before the colossal vessel in silence, dwarfed completely by its sheer scale.
The ship stretched across the ruined district of Atlantis like the corpse of a fallen god, its immense body partially buried beneath oceans of crimson sand and shattered stone. Entire buildings had collapsed against its hull over countless ages, yet despite the erosion of time, the vessel still radiated an overwhelming presence.
It felt ancient.
Older than the city around it.
Older than the Orbitons.
Older than the wars.
Youri slowly stepped closer, his boots grinding against the dust-covered stone beneath him. The dark metallic plating of the ship towered overhead in massive layered sections resembling overlapping scales. Jagged protrusions lined the hull like the spines of some gigantic beast, while enormous fractures stretched across parts of its surface where time itself seemed to have tried and failed to destroy it.
Yet it endured.
Even now.
Lea approached the vessel quietly.
For the first time since Youri had met her, her movements seemed hesitant.
Almost reverent.
She slowly raised a gloved hand and placed it against the cold black plating.
The moment her fingers touched the metal, she froze.
Youri noticed immediately.
"So this is where you were..." Lea whispered softly.
Youri frowned and stepped closer.
"You've seen this before?"
Lea slowly shook her head beneath the hood.
"Not personally," she answered. "But when I was among the Sacros... there were murals of this ship everywhere."
Her voice echoed faintly against the dead silence of Atlantis.
"Ancient carvings. Massive temples. Entire halls built to honor it."
She slowly walked alongside the hull, her hand brushing against the ancient metal.
"To the Sacros, this ship wasn't merely a vessel."
Her tone darkened.
"It was salvation."
Youri looked up toward the endless structure stretching into the distance.
"What exactly is it?"
Lea stopped walking.
Then she turned slightly toward him.
"This," she said quietly, "was the first step the Sacros ever took toward becoming what they are now."
The crimson wind swept through Atlantis.
Far above them, the colossal spire at the center of the city loomed silently beneath the blood-red heavens.
Lea continued.
"Building this ship changed everything. Before it existed, the Sacros were trapped within their own realm. Limited. Weak. Mortal."
Her hand tightened slightly against the metal plating.
"But this vessel allowed them to break the barrier between worlds."
Youri's eyes narrowed.
"The corridor..." he muttered.
Lea nodded slowly.
"Yes."
A faint sadness crept into her voice.
"It was the first vessel ever capable of traveling through the corridor."
Youri stared silently at the ship.
So this was it.
The beginning.
The thing responsible for all of it.
The Sacrosian expansion.
The God Orbitons.
Tartarus.
Even Altopereh's imprisonment.
Everything traced back here.
Lea suddenly brushed away a thick layer of dust from a massive section of the hull.
Ancient symbols appeared beneath the grime.
The language looked unlike anything Youri had ever seen—sharp, elegant markings carved deep into the dark metal itself.
Yet Lea recognized them instantly.
Her movements slowed.
"To think..." she whispered. "I'd actually get to see it."
Youri stepped beside her.
"What does it say?"
Lea gently brushed her hand across the ancient text once more.
Then she read it aloud.
"The one who started it all..."
Her voice lowered slightly.
"Tartarusios."
The moment those words left her mouth—
The entire city trembled.
A violent rumble exploded beneath Atlantis.
Youri and Lea immediately turned.
The ground shook hard enough to crack the ancient stone beneath their feet. Massive towers across the city groaned loudly while clouds of dust erupted from distant ruins.
Then the wind came.
A colossal sandstorm rose beyond the outer districts of Atlantis, spiraling upward into the crimson sky like a living wall of destruction. Entire waves of crimson sand twisted violently around something massive hidden within the storm.
Youri's eyes narrowed.
Something was inside it.
Slowly—
The tornado began moving toward the city.
Each step it took caused the ground to quake.
Ancient buildings collapsed in the distance beneath the sheer pressure of its presence alone.
Lea immediately stiffened beside him.
"No..." she whispered.
The sandstorm slowed as it entered Atlantis.
Then suddenly—
It stopped.
The swirling dust dispersed violently outward.
And the thing inside finally revealed itself.
Youri felt his entire body tense instantly.
Almesis.
The ruler of the endless desert had finally appeared.
The creature towered over the ruins of Atlantis like death given form.
Its body was horrifyingly skeletal, impossibly tall and thin, as though its flesh had long since rotted away and only fragments remained stretched over an ancient frame. Jagged black bones protruded outward across every inch of its body, piercing through dark flesh in uneven growths.
Its torso looked hollow.
Entire cavities gaped open between its ribs, revealing endless darkness within, as though there was nothing inside the creature at all.
And yet it moved.
Alive.
Its head resembled a twisted crown formed from bone and shadow. Two gigantic horn-like spires rose straight upward from its skull like blackened lances piercing the heavens themselves.
Its face barely resembled anything living.
There were no visible eyes from that distance.
Only a cavernous mouth filled with countless needle-like teeth stretching endlessly into a permanent grin.
Not a smile.
A predator's grin.
Something ancient.
Something starving.
Then Youri noticed the wings.
They were colossal.
Vast skeletal appendages unfolded slowly behind Almesis, their torn membranes hanging between elongated bone-like fingers. The wings looked less like something meant for flight and more like the remains of an angel stripped down to raw anatomy.
Each movement caused the air around Atlantis to distort.
Jagged hooks protruded from every joint of the wings, while uneven spines erupted from its shoulders, hips, forearms, and legs like its own skeleton was trying to tear free from the inside.
Trailing behind the creature, a long segmented tail dragged across the ground, carving deep trenches through the streets of Atlantis as it moved.
The entire city trembled beneath its presence.
Youri could not move.
Neither could Lea.
For the first time since arriving in Tartarus, Youri truly understood what fear felt like in this realm.
Tikadello had been monstrous.
Albatros had been terrifying.
Even Kalian carried overwhelming pressure.
But Almesis...
Almesis felt different.
This thing did not feel like a domain ruler.
It felt like the desert itself had taken form.
The creature stopped moving.
Its enormous skeletal wings spread slowly outward, covering entire sections of Atlantis in shadow.
Then—
That grin widened.
A deep sound echoed across the city.
Not a roar.
Not a scream.
Laughter.
Low.
Ancient.
Endless.
The sound alone made the ruins tremble.
Lea instinctively stepped backward.
But deep inside the cockpit of Altopereh, another voice answered.
Altopereh laughed.
Not nervously.
Not cautiously.
Excited.
"So," it echoed through Youri's mind, "the king of the wasteland finally shows himself."