The cool night breeze carried the moonlight settling on top of the quiet ocean.
Then all of a sudden, a wretched ship burst out of the ocean, with water cascading off it. The ship was covered in barnacles, corals, and seaweeds.
When it finally settled, Neo gasped for air as if he had escaped someone trying to strangle him to death.
Neo quickly stood up. He had just been kidnapped right in front of Hera and Esme.
"Another shit that wasn't explained in the book," Neo muttered, his eyes scrutinizing the Flying Dutchman.
It was like the legend. However, it wasn't mentioned and had never appeared in the novel.
So what exactly was happening?
Soon after, he began hearing footsteps approaching him. First, he saw a half-man, half-hammerhead shark that seemed wounded across various parts of its head.
Neo turned and saw another monstrous sea figure that growled when their eyes met.
Over time, a total of ten different cursed Atlanteans gathered on the deck of the ship with him.
"Shit," Neo tightened his grip. Even though his heart pounded, he managed to retain his composure.
"Hahaha, the boy is shitting his pants," one of them laughed in a hoarse voice and shoved Neo by the shoulder.
"Hahaha, look how he's trying not to be scared."
At that moment, they taunted him, tossing him around as if he were a table tennis ball.
However, when Neo saw the familiar figure walking toward them, the crew members quickly composed themselves.
"He brought us back, and this is how you treat him?" said the figure.
Neo swallowed hard. "Davy Jones is real?" he wondered.
Hearing that, the tentacled man turned to Neo and walked toward him.
He circled Neo before stopping inches from his face.
"I go by the name King Atlan, the first ruler of Atlantis," he said.
A character who had never made any appearance in the novel Neo read now stood right in front of him.
But Neo didn't doubt the man. After all, he possessed the dark scepter capable of commanding the sea.
"King Atlan is dead."
When Neo said that, the crew members burst into menacing laughter.
But then, Atlan's growl silenced them once more.
"Why would you kidnap me? I'm just a surface dweller, and I have nothing to do with the sea," Neo said.
Hopefully, Davy Jones, claiming to be Atlan, would let him go.
In the end, the man snorted. "Come," he said, walking into the cabin of the ship. "There is much you don't know."
"Haha, the boy is thinking of jumping off the ship," a crew member sneered, noticing how he glanced toward the side.
For a moment, Neo considered jumping, but he barely knew where they were in the ocean or how long he could swim.
If he could even swim.
As he carefully followed the tentacled man, they entered the captain's cabin, which was also filled with seaweeds and corals.
Even the ship had leaks.
"Don't mind the surroundings. This is the first time in centuries we have finally escaped the Trident," he said, lighting a few candles.
"Out of everyone there, you decided to kidnap me. I feel so honored, sir, but I'd like to go home now."
When Atlan stepped forward, Neo stepped back, his hands stretched out, signaling the man to stay where he was.
"I won't hurt you."
"Yes, yes, you said you've been locked away for centuries. Clearly, you lost access to paste," Neo replied.
"Is that a compliment?" he asked. However, he quickly smiled, understanding what Neo meant. "My breath is bad. I shall keep my distance then."
Neo blinked. "Thank you. So why was I kidnapped?" he asked.
"Because I need your help before the evil queen Ivy sacrifices another royal blood."
"Ivy is the queen of Atlantis? I said it, but why is she pretending to be the princess?"
"I shall come to that soon enough, but first, you must know how Atlantis began."
Atlantis did not fall because of pride, as mentioned in the novel Neo once read.
It fell because the king tried to defy the gods. He was too desperate to touch forces he did not understand.
That was when the primordial god Pontus responded.
When Pontus decided to flood the entire city of Atlantis in an attempt to erase an entire civilization, King Atlan made a bargain.
The Trident was never freely gifted by the gods. It was a bargain with the sea god, power in exchange for a price.
"Take what you want, but allow me to save my people."
Atlan came to regret those words. The price was his wife, or rather, his bloodline.
So while Atlantis sank, she was taken, torn away, and bound into the Trident.
This activated the Trident of Neptune, which stabilized the underwater city.
Atlantis did not survive. It was preserved.
The royal family? They weren't rulers but caretakers of a system that required a living soul.
"Because the truth is simple, the Trident does not run on power," Atlan sighed. "It runs on a person."
Neo was shocked, torn between believing it or not. Why was something so important not mentioned in the novel?
Over time, the Trident weakens, and the soul inside it erodes. And when that happens, it must be replaced to stabilize the Trident for the next ten centuries.
"The queen is the replacement."
"Shit, now it makes sense why she's been hiding herself as the princess. Then wait, if Ivy is the queen, who the fuck is Elizabeth?"
"Her daughter," the tentacled man, or rather Atlan, replied, surprised by Neo's expression.
Neo stepped back, barely steadying himself from falling.
Ivy had been putting on an act so that when it came time to sacrifice a bloodline, she wouldn't offer herself but her daughter?
He understood that part now. What he didn't understand was what it had to do with him.
I mean, he wasn't married to any of them yet.
"Elizabeth and Ivy have found out you're from my bloodline. They'll kill you instead now, but if you help me get the Trident, I will stop this bloodshed."
Neo paused, processing those words. "What do you mean, from your bloodline?"
"Because you're my son, Neo. You're a king of Atlantis."
In that moment, Neo's heart stopped beating.