The ocean was quiet—eerily so.
Kurai opened her eyes to see Helios lying still next to her and she instinctively reached her hand out toward him. She stopped a few inches away from him as she did not understand why she did that. Did she wish to reach out to him or to harm him? Either option was not in her best interest so she shook him awake and pulled away.
Ursula, bound in thick coils of conjured shadow, remained unconscious beneath them, her body shriveled and pale, draped across the seabed like a discarded relic.
The Trident of Atlantis hovered next to Helios, glowing faintly. Opening his eyes he turned toward Kurai who had already moved away.
"Sorry. Ready?" he asked.
She stretched a shoulder and cracked her neck. "I've been ready. It's you who insisted on taking a nap."
He smirked but didn't argue. With a gentle movement of his hand, he grabbed the trident, raised the trident, and with a wave a change occurred. The sea itself obeyed. A stream of light twisted into existence, forming a rapid underwater corridor that stretched far into the distance.
Kurai's eyes narrowed. "You're getting disturbingly good at that."
"I guess the trident likes me," Helios replied with faux arrogance. "Maybe I should keep it."
Kurai raised an eyebrow. "You planning to become a sea god?"
He tilted his head, pretending to consider it. "Tempting. But I've already got a being of absolute darkness to deal with. Besides…" he glanced toward her with a crooked grin, "Thalen's more useful than this oversized pitchfork."
"Wise choice," Kurai said dryly. "If you had said otherwise, eventually I would've stolen it while you slept."
They vanished into the stream. With underwater currents pushing them to their destination it didn't take long for them to arrive.
The city of Atlantica loomed ahead—but it wasn't as they remembered it.
The once serene kingdom was now a fortress of desperation. Towering coral walls had been hastily reinforced with crystal barriers, and soldiers patrolled every corridor with weapons drawn and eyes sharp. Alarm bells made from enchanted sea shells rang through the water like warning pulses.
And then the Heartless came.
They weren't the aimless shadows they'd encountered before. These were twisted, scaled, and armored in reef-like bone. Eyes like glowing lanterns, mouths filled with lamprey teeth. They moved in formation—attacking in coordinated waves, their bodies crackling with the same dark magic that had once infected Ursula.
"The parasite must have given them orders to attack while we were fighting," Kurai said, eyes narrowing.
Helios nodded grimly. "We were so focused on taking down the queen, we forgot to clean the hive."
The duo moved swiftly. Helios summoned Equilibrium in its darkness whip-sword form, sweeping aside clustered Heartless with arcs of darkness. Kurai summoned her darkness in wide tendrils that lashed and pierced, her expression icy and calculated.
As they carved a path through the chaos, they noticed something odd—some Heartless retreated at the sight of the trident. Others charged with reckless abandon.
"It's like some of them are afraid of it," Helios said.
"And the rest want it back."
They finally reached the outer walls of the palace, which were under siege. Mermen mages fired blasts of water magic and lightning magic, while the brave soldiers engaged in close-quarters combat with the Heartless swarms. When they spotted Helios holding the trident, the soldiers shouted.
"Hold fire! He's carrying it—he has the trident!"
Inside the palace, the tension was palpable. Triton sat slouched on his throne, visibly exhausted. His beard had been trimmed hastily, his armor dented and worn from battle. Next to him, several advisors and high-ranking nobles argued in panicked tones.
When Helios and Kurai entered the throne room—trident still in hand—everyone fell silent.
"Is it done?" Triton asked, his voice hoarse.
Helios lowered the trident and planted it against the floor, causing a tremor to echo through the chamber. "Ursula is no longer a threat. We managed to retrieve the trident. Now keep your word."
Triton's hand clenched the side of his throne. "Then let's speak plainly. You want the boy."
"We came for Thalen," Kurai said coldly, "and as a show of goodwill, we're returning your trident."
Some of the nobles stirred uneasily.
"You would surrender the trident rather than use it?" Triton asked, tone careful.
"It's not mine to keep," Helios said. "And frankly, I'm tired of carrying it."
He moved to the throne and once there he raised the trident and a wave of yellow aura cascaded throughout all of Atlantica. However, as the wave died down, no one seemed to react to the act of comment on it.
Triton stood, slowly. "Your gesture is… unexpected."
Kurai folded her arms. "We're not here for gratitude. Just give us the boy."
Moments later, a group of guards emerged from the lower dungeon halls, dragging a slightly bruised but otherwise unharmed Thalen between them. He looked dazed—more from boredom than abuse.
"You look well," Helios said. "We were hoping you'd get a little bulkier."
Kurai didn't speak—she simply looked at him, and then nodded. He gave her a nod in return. That was enough.
Triton gave a final glance to the trident, then to Helios. "I'll hold you to your word. If Ursula stirs again…"
"She won't," Helios interrupted. "If anything else happens, she's your problem not mine."
They turned to leave.
As they exited the palace, the Heartless began to scatter. The trident's presence, even though it was no longer in Helios' hands, seemed to have banished the remaining parasite-born corruption in the area. The waters grew clearer. Light seeped down from the surface again.
Helios exhaled, looking toward the fading horizon of coral spires.
"This place won't be quiet for long."
"So," Kurai agreed. "What did you do back there?"
"Just a simple memory spell. Ariel will now no longer be seen as her mother's killer. I dumped the crime on a bunch of pirates. The heartless will still be blamed on Ursula but they won't think she took the trident just that it was lost in a battle and we retrieved it. As for Thalen, he was arrested and we volunteered to retrieve the trident in exchange for his release."
They turned their attention to Thalen, who had stopped floating and was now holding his arm, rubbing a healing wound.
"Next stop?" he asked.
Helios looked to Kurai.
She smiled faintly. "Anywhere but here."