They left at dawn.
The expedition numbered twenty the best of the best. Warriors from the Iron Dominion, shadow assassins from the Lotus Archipelago, deep divers from the Sunken Court, and sky knights from the Zephyr Palaces. Each of them had volunteered, knowing the odds. Each of them had said goodbye to their families, not knowing if they would return.
Lee led them to the edge of the Sea of Renewal, where a new rift had opened in the earth a wound in reality that pulsed with dark energy. The rift was three hundred feet wide, its edges glowing with the same sickly light that had once filled the Sunken City.
"The old entrance is gone," Vesper said, studying the rift with her intelligence gatherer's eyes. "The city has shifted. Grown. It's not just underground anymore it's elsewhere. In a pocket dimension that's bleeding into our world."
"Can we survive the trip?" Lee asked.
"Maybe. The scouts who went in didn't. But they weren't you."
Lee nodded. He turned to face his team.
"Listen," he said. "I'm not going to lie to you. This is dangerous. People are going to die. Maybe all of us. But if we succeed if we find out what Amaranth wants and how to stop it we could save millions of lives. Maybe billions."
He drew the Dawnblade. The light blazed, pushing back the darkness of the rift.
"I'm not asking you to follow me because I'm the Light Bringer. I'm asking you to follow me because I'm Lee Zaou. And I have never asked anyone to do something I wouldn't do myself."
Kira stepped forward, fire dancing on her palms. "I'm in."
Taro stepped forward, his flexible body coiling like a spring. "Me too."
Inyocha stepped forward, his Eclipse blade gleaming. "Always."
Ren stepped forward, his calm eyes holding a fire that had nothing to do with flames. "Until the end."
One by one, the others stepped forward.
Lee smiled.
"Then let's go."
He stepped into the rift.