03 The wonderous deep waters

The two siblings headed to one of the mechanical gates, that looked rather primitive. Made from only hand carved stones and some ropes. It was a rather impressive system for its simple design and materials.

The gates were scattered on different heights on one side of the bubble. The bubble that kept the water from entering Coralopolis and kept anything from going into the waters.

The royal family built these gates a long time ago, so that they can freely enter and exit. Well, not so freely as they were heavily monitored by the royal family.

"How did our ancestor manage to build these things. I mean, only using some simple stones and ropes. And it allows us to go in and out of this shield from the grand coral, without damaging it. It's so amazing." Hayley said as they passed the first door in the gate.

"Yea, I agree. I remember how they taught us that we are only able to live here due to the grand coral. I don't quite understand it, but I can see the massive amount of energy that gravitates towards the grand coral. That's why the bubble is also so energy dense." Liam explained what he remembered to Hayley.

"I really don't understand how those strong spiritual herbs grow in the deep waters. The energy density is so low." Liam continued to blabber.

"Yeah, yeah. There you go again with that boring stuff. Let's go already." Hayley was getting rather impatient.

"Be careful, you know father said the pressure of the deep waters is a lot greater than you could imagine. We must make an energy aura in this chamber, so when the water comes in, we can handle it." Liam reminded Hayley as they both started creating their aura without much trouble. They had previously been forced to practice this very thing, and the strength of their aura was also tested. Until the royal family was sure that it was strong enough to withstand the pressure of the deep waters.

"Sis, are you ready?" Liam asked, just to be sure.

"Of course, let's destroy this record." Hayley responded.

The gates started opening from the bottom up. Large air bubbles exited the chamber as water started flowing in. Liam and Hayley were prepared for all of this and waited until the door fully opened and the chamber was full of water, then they made their exit.

"Wow! It looks so different than what could be seen from Coralopolis." Hayley remarked.

"I agree." Liam said almost absentmindedly as he was captivated by the dancing fairies of energy, that shined a deep blue color. "The walls of the bubble always stopped me from observing the energy flow in the deep waters, now I can see. My thoughts on the deep waters were so wrong before. All of the lights are constantly headed towards Coralopolis. They are dancing in a beautiful conga line."

"Wait, what is this. Is the energy from the deep waters empowering the bubble? Is that why the energy density inside Coralopolis is so high. It looks like the grand coral is somehow attracting all the lights. The same energy from the water, is the energy that keeps it from destroying Coralopolis. Because of the huge density of energy, the water cannot pass through." Liam continued to think, as he often did. Those dancing fairies seemed to have a special property to always distract Liam from the rest of the world. From the outside it looked like he was in a whole other dimension, some would say.

"Liam!" Hayley tried shouting, but barely anything was audible under water, so she resorted to giving him a good slap on the back of his head. "How do you expect us to beat the record grandfather and his brother made, if you keep zoning out."

"Sis, don't act like you aren't also amazed by the sight before us, but you are also right. Let's go explore a bit. We should have a slower pace at the start. At least until we get accustomed to this." Liam said, as he got focused on their task ahead.

They started slowly swimming across the deep waters, staying close to the sea floor. Their routine consisted of, Liam scouting out for plants, by tracing the little lights. Then Hayley rushing in to collect the herb.

They also encountered a lot of sea creatures. They even found one that made Liam want to question everything he knew about probability.

"Hey, Liam! Look over there!" Hayley shouted to her brother.

before Liam could see what, it was, Hayley continued shouting.

"Look! It's a yellow shark with blue dots! I told you we were going to find one." The excitement on her face, as she looked towards her brother, was unexplainable.

"You sure about that? How about you go and take another look at your yellow, blue dotted shark." Liam said.

"Huh? What do you mea…n" To Hayley's surprise her magnificent discovery of the yellow blue dotted shark, had turned into a simple yellow shark, with a few blue jellyfish swimming around it? "It was just a common yellow fined shark. Let's go break this record at least." Hayley not wanting to think about her silly mistake anymore, continued searching for spiritual herbs.

"Don't be too down on yourself sis. I think I might have found something to cheer you up." Liam said, as he looked towards his sister with a bright smile.

"What is it? A yellow, blue dotted shark!?" Asked Hayley, exited again.

"No, no. This is no animal, and it's even better than that. Follow after me, but not too close. I want it to be a surprise." Liam said, still smiling, as he started swimming towards an underwater cave.

"sigh*" Hayley was rather disappointed again, but she didn't lose all hope this time, as she started following, a few meters behind her brother.

"What the hell is inside that cave. The energy density on that thing is comparable to the grand coral. Though the grand coral is a lot bigger so they are definitely not on the same level. I think I can see a bubble keeping the water out, just like the one protecting Coralopolis. If we can collect that herb, we are sure to break the previous record." Liam was in deep thoughts, analyzing the herb inside the cave. And as he got closer, he noticed something else.

"There is a huge build op of energy around the edges of the entrance. I wonder what that's all about. Ugh, I can't see anything like this. The bubble is blocking most of the details. I'll have to head inside and take a look from there."

As Liam got to the edge of the cave, he jumped into it. Not waiting for his sister Hayley. As soon as he passed the bubble and entered the small cave. a series of vines went over the entrance and closed it off.

Liam, not even noticing, as his mind was too preoccupied with something else. His eyes couldn't leave the sight of the herb in front of him. It was like looking at the whole of the grand coral all at once. Every single detail was right in front of him. He just couldn't resist the urge to grab it.

"mWuahahahhah, finally! After waiting for so long. I have lost count of the years passing by. My chance finally appeared." A menacing voice said, but it was not audible.

"I can finally be reborn! After I take control of his mind and then his body. I will be back for revenge on that creature. I just hope his natural talent is pretty good and it would make my life a lot easier if his spiritual root was aligned with the darkness element. Well, I guess it's time to find out how lucky I got. I can always switch to another body later on." The same menacing voice talked, still there was no sound.

"Ergh, what is this!" Liam said in panic, as something started to invade his mind, as soon as he touched the energy dense herb. "Why am I in so much pain, I am starting to lose control of my senses. I don't think I can take much more of this… Thud*" Liam fell to the floor, unconscious.

"Liam! At least wait for me." Hayley said in slight anger, as she saw her brother enter without her. She hurried a bit, only to find that the entrance to the cave was closed off.

"Ergh!"

"Liam! Are you alright?" She heard Liam's grunt and panicked a bit.

"Thud*"

"Liam!" She was starting to get really nervous, as she was getting no response and she couldn't see if her brother was fine.

"Wait just a second. I'll come right now." Hayley shouted.

But no matter how she hit, those vines were not budging even a bit.

"Liam has been completely silent for a while now. If I can't get through these somehow. I don't even want to think what might happen to him.

"If I use more energy, I won't have enough to form a shield to come back to Coralopolis. But none of that will matter if something happens to Liam. I have to try." Hayley then gathered almost all of her energy into her fist and flew straight into the vines.

When her fist and the vines collided, her fist easily tore through.

"Yes, I made it."

But unfortunately for her. The vines had quick regenerative abilities. And even with her fast speed, they recovered and cough around her leg, as a poison seeped into her blood stream from the tiny punctures from the thorns of the vines.

"No! I can't fall asleep now. Liam is right there! He is completely unconscious. I have to help him." Hayley struggled but it was too late. The poison quickly put her to sleep.

The brother and sister pair both found themselves unconscious in a small cave, deep onto the sea floor. With no one around to help them. Their fate, undetermined.