Nana glanced back and saw Nicole withdrawing her hand, her voice echoing in Nana’s ears.
Nana looked toward Silvanus. He still had his back to her, saying nothing, showing no sign that he intended to look her way.
Nana clenched her fists, emotions churning inside her, but of course she wasn’t foolish enough to confront Nicole.
She could only remain silent.
Nicole frowned at Nana for a mont. At the sa ti, a sound like a great curtain of water being torn open suddenly rang out.
Silvanus focused intently ahead and sure enough, the deep blue curtain of water tinged faintly with black before them split apart like an enormous drape rather than water at all.
The surface rippled and shifted endlessly. Two hands rested on either side of the "curtain." They were hands bathed in a bluish glow, faint scales shimring across the skin. A thin webbing stretched between each finger. Their nails were long and sharp, gleaming strangely in the depths, looking razor-sharp at a glance.
Imdiately after, "people" began to appear.
Of course, they were not human.
Their upper bodies were human-shaped, yet distinct features stood out: ears edged with a thin mbrane like small fins, fin-like bones jutting from them as if they were natural ornants. Scales could be seen scattered across their faces or bodies, and from halfway down their arms, more and more scales appeared. Their fingertips glead a deep blue. In their hands, they held tridents taller than themselves.
And their legs were, naturally, replaced by fish tails.
Ordinary fish tails ca in many colors, but the royal guard seed to be unified by a single hue: gray fish tails with scales that overlapped like tiny tal plates, flashing silver whenever they moved.
Their tails were far larger than the rest of their bodies. They looked soft and fluid underwater, yet every record stated that a single strike of a rfolk’s tail could shatter a shark. Their claws could slice through stone, and their fangs could tear through anything.
Moreover, as the legends described of a race favored by the gods, their beauty was flawless.
Their long gray hair drifted like seaweed, and their bright red eyes fixed on others with pupils that narrowed like those of predators.
There were more than twenty mbers of the guard, standing on both sides as if forming a path. Farther in, even more rfolk could be seen lined up in ranks.
Nicole lifted her head to look at the rfolk. Standing before these beings, she seed even smaller, yet the smile on her face did not waver in the slightest.
"Greetings. I co bearing the goodwill of all of Lumina and am here to offer Her Majesty our most sincere invitation. May I have the honor of eting Her?"
The captain of the guard lowered his gaze toward Nicole. Silvanus noticed that they were almost looking at the group with only half an eye.
Even so, the captain eventually stepped aside and said, "Please proceed. The Queen has been waiting for you for quite so ti."
Hearing this, Nicole couldn’t help pausing for a mont. The captain then smiled.
"How could we rfolk possibly forget Lumina’s 100th founding anniversary?"
His smile was thick with hidden aning, so much so that even Silvanus began to wonder whether the headmaster or Lumina as a whole had so personal feud with the rfolk.
However, that thought quickly vanished as the sight before him overwheld everything else.
They had truly arrived in another kingdom—an entirely different realm: Aqualon.
Just monts ago, they had been stepping on sand, but after passing through the watery curtain, they were suspended within the vast ocean. Above them, the water’s surface shimred with a faint blue glow, looking as if the sun were within arm’s reach.
And below them lay Aqualon.
Its buildings resembled enormous seashell dwellings—massive conch-like structures shaped either round and smooth or tall and spiraled, decorated with sea grass, moss, or starfish. Each "shell house" stood as tall as a multi-story human building. There were also giant clam-like structures nestled among rock formations or coral reefs.
Seaweed-like plants grew everywhere, so swaying and shifting colors. Still, the most common sight was the coral. So coral formations were larger than houses, blocking out everything behind them. So towering flowers with slender stems rose even higher than a human ho, their glowing blossoms radiating natural light like lanterns.
Silvanus noticed that those flowers were plentiful—did the rfolk use them as lamps for their doorsteps? How incredible.
There wasn’t a single small fish anywhere.
But the thing that drew the eye most of all was the tall tower rising from the heart of Aqualon.
The center of Aqualon was the royal palace complex of the Aqualon dynasty, the residence of the queen and the princesses or princes.
The palace architecture was both mysterious and grand, its sharp Gothic spires rising upward—yet instead of somber gray, it resembled a castle inlaid with gold and gems. Even underwater, it glead brilliantly, almost too dazzling to look at directly.
And farther beyond it stood the tower whose sheer size defied comprehension.
From this distance, Silvanus couldn’t see the full height of it. The tower appeared slender and impossibly tall, vanishing past the ocean’s surface above, faint shimrs of light flickering from it now and then.
Aside from its terrifying height, it seed unremarkable—but to Silvanus, that tower shone even brighter than the Aqualon royal palace, as if sothing within it were continuously calling out to him.
Looking downward, he could also see the patrolling enforcers maintaining order throughout the streets—though they were different from ordinary rfolk.
These patrollers had large, slightly bulging eyes like those of insects. Two long antennae extended from their heads, swaying in the currents. Their arms weren’t human arms but massive, powerful limbs resembling those of a mantis shrimp. Their bodies were hunched, their movents quick; yet because of the angle and the long cloaks they wore, it was difficult to tell whether they even had legs.
Farther out stretched vast marine landscapes of endless architecture—reef formations or coral ridges hundreds of tis larger than anything on the surface.
With the guard captain guiding them, they reached the very heart of Aqualon almost in a single step.
Countless figures glided gracefully through the waters—rfolk, forming small groups as they swam freely, their tails in various colors and their wide, flowing fins trailing like silk ribbons. Underwater, their beauty was even more vivid and radiant.
A few rfolk caught sight of the humans and imdiately shot them curious, probing looks.
Silvanus could feel their gazes fixed on his legs, as if these rfolk could leap forward and tear them apart at any mont.
Comparing them to the Elves he knew, Silvanus had to admit the rfolk’s looks were just as extraordinary.
If the Elves possessed a serene, natural beauty tinged with coldness, then the rfolk were stunning in a way that was dazzling, seductive, and dangerous—beauty like poison.
"Let’s go," the guard captain said.
They said "walk," but in truth they were swimming forward.
With magic in their bodies, moving underwater was no different from flying through the air—effortless and natural.
The great tower of Aqualon seed close enough to touch, yet in reality they still had a long journey ahead.
Along the way, Silvanus saw many other "strange" beings.
So Aqualon wasn’t inhabited only by rfolk—there were all kinds of marine creatures in humanoid form, such as sea-urchin folk.
However, compared to the rfolk, these beings were far smaller and simply enjoyed the peaceful life of Aqualon.
Nicole explained gently, "They’re the commonfolk of Aqualon. They don’t divide themselves by race—everyone speaks the sa language and lives together under one nation."
Of course, these other species didn’t possess anything particularly special. They were almost entirely ordinary aside from being able to communicate like regular people.
Moreover, Aqualon’s civilization functioned differently from that of humans. They had no food shops, no farms. They swam freely through the ocean and ate whenever they wished, since the ordinary sea creatures outside could hardly resist once caught.
Most species in Aqualon lived peaceful lives. As for the rfolk—rulers of the sea—they blocked strange currents from nearing Aqualon, warded off massive waves, and even prevented geological shifts that could threaten their realm, creating a paradise for countless species.
They lived freely and without restraint. So rfolk spent their entire lives roaming distant seas; sotis they would find an untouched, remote island and build nests there, weaving shimr weave.
rfolk lived long lives, yet every life eventually reached its end—and its beginning.
When their vitality ran dry, they returned to Aqualon to rest eternally in the place of their birth, beneath the Azure Depths. They traversed countless waters, but the waters that held their bones must always be those of Aqualon.
.
From the depths, the pearl bursts forth, a rfolk soul, at ho in the endless sea. Wandering distant waters, calling wind and rain, the ocean’s power, never to fade.
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