"We made it! We actually made it!" Kyana was so thankful that she was now touching the surface again. She hated being on the water, and hated being in water even more.
"Ha, look up." Kai teased.
Kyana, a bit nervous, looked up, and what she saw nearly made her heart sink. Above them was a dome, but beyond that dome was water. Tons of water as if they were in the middle of the ocean.
"N-No!"
"Yes. Remember that place I told you guys about? The city underwater? Well, this is this place." He informed them. Although, it seems like they were on the outskirts of they city, not in the heart of it or near the population.
"Wait." Cornelia stood up, slightly disoriented from the wormhole. "You’ve been to the lost city before?"
"Well, yes and no. Yes, because on our way here, I swam to the bottom of the open ocean and spotted a domed city. No, because I had no idea it was the lost city, and I’ve actually never been inside this place before. Also, that mountain range is a massive sea serpent."
"Great, more sea monsters for us to deal with," Gwen grumbled.
"No, that monster is like a guardian. It won’t harm you. It spotted me, looked into my eyes, then went back to sleep. We should be fine."
All of them breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that. Then a loud banging startled all of them, causing Kai to yelp and jump into Sasha’s arms.
"Ahem, I wasn’t scared or anything. I was just testing your reaction times." He jumped down, looking away slightly embarrassed.
Sasha, liking this side of Kai, couldn’t help but tease him. "Aw, it’s okay, my little baby. You can come to Mama Sasha if you’re scared."
"Shut up! I wasn’t scared!"
"Totally was." Kyana grinned.
"Whatever, come here." Kai blanketed them all with his mana, and gills grew on their necks.
"What the hell?"
"Now that you can breathe underwater, let’s go welcome our guests."
Kai opened the door, and water rushed into the ship, but it was fine. Just as quickly as it rushed in, Kai put the ship in his inventory.
In front of them were five people holding spears. They all looked human, but it was clear that they weren’t. Three of them had fish tails and gills on their neck, meaning that they were mermaids. The other two, while they didn’t have tails, still had gills on their necks.
"Who are you people?!" They demanded to know.
"How did you get into our home?!"
Kai swam forward, trying to de-escalate the situation. "Wait, wait! We’re kin, see." Kai showed them their gills.
"My god! They are kin!"
"Wait! Remember, 300 years ago, when a group of our people said they wanted to find the outside world? Maybe they’re related to them!"
"Only her majesty will know."
All of them came to a silent agreement.
"We’ll take you to her majesty. For now, you’ll be taken to the dungeons and await further questioning."
Kai shrugged. "Fair enough."
"Psst, Kai. Can’t you like...I don’t know, compel them to let us through?" Gwen whispered in his ear.
While they all didn’t know about his hypnosis, they knew that he could mess with people’s minds slightly. They just thought he could use his mana to overwhelm their brain, not full-on hypnosis.
"Sure, but that’s no fun. Let’s see where this goes. If anything goes south, I’m sure we can handle it." He smirked
"I guess you’re right."
The seven of them were cuffed, then taken further into the city.
When they reached civilization, they were taken aback by how beautiful the place was. It was an endless expanse of shimmering towers and graceful arches carved from coral and crystal, with vibrant colors.
Those colors danced across the structures, shifting like living rainbows through the water. Spirals of luminous runes wove along the walls, hinting at forces far beyond simple craftsmanship, and delicate bridges arched between towering spires like strands of spun glass.
If there was a word to describe this place, it would be paradice, but underwater.
"Amazing! I’ve never seen any place like this in my entire life! I can’t believe I’m setting foot into the lost city!" Cornelia continued to look around, even when the people here started looking at them with suspicious expressions.
"What is this place called?" She wondered.
Kai chuckled, knowing what this place would be called. "Wait, before you answer, let me take a guess."
The guards shrugged. "Go ahead."
"This place is called Atlantis. Yup, I know, you don’t need to act shocked or give me a round of applause. It’s just obvious." Kai has read tons of stories, and every time there was an underwater city, it was called Atlantis, or some form of Atlantis, like Ataland.
"Actually, this place is called Pacifica."
Kai nearly malfunctioned. It had to have been a mistake. There was no way this place wasn’t called Atlantis. That was normal, a given, a staple of underwater cities. But unfortunately, it was the truth.
"W-What?! What do you mean? H-How...like, Atlantis. It’s always Atlantis. How can it be Pacifica? Atlantis is in the Atlantic Ocean!"
"Uhh, is your friend okay?" The guard asked
Kyana nodded. "He gets like that sometimes. Don’t mind him."
"Got it. Well, here we are, the city jail. You’ll be staying in a cell while we schedule a meeting with Her Majesty." The guards put the seven of them in the cell and closed the door, locking it before they left.
"Don’t take too long. I don’t wanna be in here longer than a day." Kai shouted.
"A day? I don’t wanna be in her longer than an hour!" Kynana fell on the floor, swallowing water only for it to bubble out of her gills on her neck.
"Do you think their queen will let us go?" Nadya wondered
Kai leaned back on the wall, pulling up a chair to sit on. "Probably. They’ll think we’re kin and simply ask us how we ended up where we were."
"And what if she finds out we’re not from here?"
"Don’t worry, babe, I’ll take care of that."
’I hope she’s hot as fuck.’