Four guards grabbed Conger and Trench. “Any last words?” they asked as they dragged the two dragons to the execution room. “I admit it! It was me!” Conger cried. “Trench is innocent, he arrived just as you got there. It was me, not Trench!” the guards stopped. Two of them knew Trench. “Do you think Trench would do such a thing?” Conger pleaded. The guards thought about it. The queen had posted five guards around where the box had been found. There was a search party looking for anyone who might have it, and they had already searched the three and found nothing. Isthmus cut himself and stumbled back to the Deep Palace. “Your Majesty, I am wounded! Those two terrorists tried to kill me!” Isthmus whined dramatically. “Send him to the healers.” the queen said lazily. Isthmus’ eyes burned with hate. You will pay… I will kill your guards and show you who is the king!

Trench stared at the guards with understanding eyes. He knew the hardships of being a guard more than the rest, and understood if they decided not to let him go. “We- we can't exactly let you go…” one of Conger’s guards said. “I understand. And I’m sorry about this…” Trench kicked them off and yanked Conger away with him. “We should go after them.” one of the guards said. “We should.” the other replied. “So are we gonna?” another asked. After a moment they all said “Nah.” “Why did you rescue me?” Conger asked. “I really was helping Isthmus.” “Well, you might have been but I know you were only in it for the food.” they both laughed. “Come, I have something to show you.” Trench led him down a dark tunnel. Polyp met them there. “How is Cerith?” Trench asked. “She’s with Coral. I don’t think Coral will let her away from her sight ever again.” they were all silent for a moment. “Polyp, I believe it is time to retrieve the object.” Trench said.

“My thoughts exactly. I brought the instructions.” Polyp said. “Good. We’d best be on our way as soon as possible.” Trench said. “What is going-” “SHHHHHH” Polyp shooshed Conger. She opened the old scroll. Inside it was a small needle with instructions written underneath it. “By animus alone can it be revealed. Twice times might the wave crash yet it will remain unseen.” Polyp read. They sat in silence thinking about the riddle for a bit. “What is this about two waves?” Conger finally spoke out. “Two waves! Animus!” Polyp burst out. She waved her claw twice over the needle. It started spinning and eventually stopped facing northwest. “That’s our direction!” Trench said. They all swam out of the tunnel and made their way toward the ruins of the Island Palace. Isthmus got up from his lying spot. The dragon in the room jumped with surprise. “That snivelling little Trench!” he yelled. He had heard the healer talking with a guard about Trench and Conger’s escape. “Oh! Your Highness, I must insist that you-

-remain lying down until tomorrow, those are some bad cuts you have there.” she gently laid him back. Isthmus growled. She quickly stepped away. Cero swam for miles and miles until he reached the crystal shores of Cey’s Cove or “the Thousandth Scale” as it is sometimes referred to in old writings. . “I should have known, Cey’s Cove matches the riddle. The key will be here.” Cero walked deeper into the cove. After about 30 minutes he came to a pool with a small waterfall leading to it. Cero stared into it. There was an inscription on a rock at the bottom. He dove to retrieve it, but found that he couldn’t get back out as easily.

He burst out of the water only to find that he was being pulled back in. He looked back to see crystals forming on his scales. They had already attached themselves to the sides of the pool. Cero’s gills were being burned by the mineral water. He tugged his tail. It came free, but half of the scales were missing and the mineral water burned on the raw flesh. He struggled to get back to the sea. Just before he could dive into the water he collapsed on the white beach. “Mother.” “Yes my little shell?” Queen Coral replied. “Why are you executing Trench? He didn’t commit any crime. He was just- well- at the wrong place at the wrong time.” Cerith pleaded. “Well my darling, what is the problem? He is just a guard.” Queen Coral patted her daughter on the head. “He’s not just a guard…” Cerith mumbled. “What is it? Do you like him?” the queen asked. Cerith was silent. she turned pink. “Well, I suppose I could spare him. GUARDS!” Coral yelled at four guards who were walking by. They saluted. “Go tell the executioner-

-to release Trench. NOW” she commanded. Cerith looked up at her mother. the guards smiled and tried to suppress the chuckling as they slid away. “What are we doing?” Conger asked. “We’re going to find an ancient animus touched object hidden in the Island Palace ruins.” Polyp said. “Whaaaaa- I thought it was in the S-” “Nope. Island Palace. Now keep your mouth shut we don’t want attention.” Trench said. After about an hour of swimming they arrived at the ruins of the summer palace, the west side. “According to this needle, the object should be right in front of us.” Polyp said. “Wooow! I’ve never seen the Island Palace before…” Conger looked around at the crumbling island. “It is amazing isn’t it?” Polyp said. “It is, but we need to get it fast and get out.” Trench said shortly. “Why the rush?” Conger asked. “Because we overlooked one thing.” Polyp was staring attentively at the scroll. “It says here that the box Isthmus has contains a statue of the Island Palace.” “But that would lead him….”

“CERO!” Isthmus yelled as he flew over Cey’s Cove. He noticed the mangled body of his trusted advisor strewn over the beach, waves licking his lifeless snout. The prince quickly swooped down. “Cero? Can you hear me?” he asked. Cero’s claw twitched. claw. “W-Wa-t-te-r” Isthmus dragged the limp SeaWing into the ocean and swished him around. The crystals started dissolving or falling off in the water. Cero started breathing again. He was covered with scrapes from the crystals. His gills were red and swollen. The scales on his tail had been ripped off. “Y-Your H-highnes-s.” Cero sputtered. A small trickle of blood came from his mouth. “I-I ha-ve t-the key.” Cero held out his claw with the rock inside.

Isthmus grabbed the rock and threw it at the ground. It burst into many pieces revealing a small rusted key. “Good work Cero.” he said as he stared at the key. Cero got up and walked over to Isthmus. Isthmus opened the box. They both looked into the box to find a small colored statue of the Island Palace. “Here it is Cero! I control the WORLD!!!” Isthmus shouted. He held the statue up. “I command the water to rise up and flood this island!” Isthmus shouted. A wave rose up and hit Isthmus, knocking him down. He growled at the sea. “Fine then, I command this cave to come crashing down!” He held the statue up once more. A gull cawed and pooped on Isthmus. He growled and threw the statue in the ocean. “It doesn't WORK!” he pouted. “Your Highness, could it be that we are to look for the object at the Island Palace rather than using its miniature replica to cast the spells?” Cero suggested. Isthmus smiled. “It looks like we’re going to the Island Palace.”

Cerith was leashed to Coral with a harness. Coral dropped a stuffed shrimp into her daughter’s reluctant mouth. Now I know how Anemone felt… she thought. “Your Majesty, we have looked everywhere for the object, but no one has yet found it.” the head of the search walked into the queen’s room. “Well keep looking then! Now didn’t you say something about Trench knowing where it was?” Queen Coral looked at Cerith. “What? Oh. No I di-” Cerith began. “Guard! Bring me Trench!” Coral yelled at one of her guards. “Yes your Majesty.” he scurried off.

Isthmus and Cero began swimming to the Island Palace, which was not far from there. “Your Highness, if we should meet, well, opposers who might be out for the object themselves, would you like me to dispose of them?” Cero asked. “How can you? Aren't you weak?” Isthmus asked doubtfully. “I can manage.” “The diary is unclear about how to get the object though.” Polyp said, moving it to see if she was reading it wrong. “It only says ‘animus’”. “Well then I suppose it means you should use your animus to pull it out or something.” Trench suggested. Polyp nodded and tried to make it rise from its hiding place deep in the rocks. The rocks started shaking and crumbling apart as a small decorated capsule seemed to rise out of the ruins. The capsule seemed to have spiral designs on the outside, although it was too rusted to tell. “Wow that’s ama-” Conger turned to see two shapes swimming in the distance.

i just put dots but i changed the transparency- beta is epic-

theyre roots-

not the point its backround s0-

shh no spoil-

hello-

E

thanks!