"In the way of the water, ever flowing in the direction of a peaceful world, standing against the darkness–open," Bastian spoke the mystical words that seemed attached to the door.
As the words left the lips of the nomadic man, a "click' resounded before the twin, scale-etched doors parted for the two, opening up to reveal what lay beyond. The way the doors opened, with an old, drawn-out groan, it definitely seemed as though they weren't used often.
"--"
Standing at the threshold, he looked into what awaited inside of the secretive temple. The interior was made out of a material foreign to him; lined with cerulean marble that sparkled against the faintest glimmers of light.
Providing light within the interior of the temple were torches attached to the walls, providing soft, verdant flames of a unique shade.
He stepped in right after Bastian, looking around as he found the architecture of the temple to be fascinating; the walls had curves to them, as if frozen as cerulean waves in time. Each step against the beautiful marble echoed through the quiet domain; it was vast, astonishing in nature, yet felt empty.
"Is there anybody else here?" He asked, looking around.
As he walked into the center of the lobby of the temple, he looked up, gazing upon a sparkling chandelier that carried many, verdant flames atop its sublime structure.
"There are, but as I said, Atlan isn't what it used to be. Here, come on, I'll introduce you–they've been waiting to meet you, Emilio," Bastian gestured for him to follow.
The bearded man was approaching a large set of immaculate doors on the other end of the room, made out of a different shade of marble, resembling the same shade of pink that the outside coral had.
"Waiting to meet me?" Emilio muttered, following.
With a push of both hands, Bastian opened the marble doors, parting the way to the chamber kept behind them as they both walked through. It was dimly lit in the chamber beyond the doors, though unmistakably a large, circular area.
'Where are we?' He thought.
As he stepped into the room, the dormant torches suddenly awakened with flames that cast light throughout the mysterious chamber. There was a deep, dark hole in the center of the room, which began rumbling with the arrival of the two humans.
"...Nnnrghh…"
What sounded like tired grumbling, akin to a yawn of something that had been slumbering for time unknown, resounded before a figure ascended from the large hole in the center of the room.
'What the…?' Emilio thought.
It was anything but human; a large, serpentine like body that swam through the air like a snake, with ancient whiskers that flowed from its head. The creature had dark-brown skin, seeming opalescent at certain glances, swimming around as half of its body still seemed anchored to the hole it came from.
The mysterious creature brought its face down to Emilio directly, gazing at him with its old, wizened gaze, "...I see. So, this is the Dragonheart?"
It spoke with a deep, bellowing voice, like that of a wise, old man, though each word spoken echoed with a slight tremor in the air.
'It…talks?!' Emilio thought.
Bastian stood beside him, "Emilio, this is Garguna–the caretaker of this temple. He's been here since the inception of Atlan."
After everything he had seen, it was hard to be awestruck by mystical existences, though this was certainly an exception to that as the existence of the gargantuan, ancient eel that spoke the same tongue as him was surprising.
"Many years have passed in wait of this moment. Your arrival is a monumental shift in the tides of coming days, Dragonheart," the great eel spoke, "The prophecy inches closer to its dawn. A fine development, indeed. Hrm…Seraphheart, are you going to see His Majesty?"
"That's right. Is he around?" Bastian asked.
The eel moved fluidly through the chamber, curving its seemingly boneless body around like an airborne serpent, humming to himself before responding, "His Majesty awaits in the throne room, as always. It seems he has foreseen this arrival on your behalf–the both of you."
Emilio found it hard to get any words out in the presence of the colossal, wise eel, merely listening as he found himself captivated by its existence. Every movement the great eel made caused the chamber to lightly rumble, presenting itself in an unintentionally imposing fashion.
"We'll be moving ahead, then. Thank you, Garguna," Bastian said.
"Yes, yes," Garguna bellowed.
Before the two left the chamber of the great eel, Emilio found himself suddenly blocked in his path towards the next door as the serpentine colossus curved around in front of him, meeting him face-to-face again.
"To be careful, Dragonheart. You may find that the Sea of Twilight is one that does not take kindly to terrestrial creatures. So long as you stay within the halls of His Majesty, you will be safe. Do keep that in mind," the great eel warned him.
As it spoke directly to his face, he found its breath to be lightly repugnant, smelling of a distinct fishiness as well as the sour breath of an old man, though he did his best to hide his visible disgust at the eel's breath.
"Yeah…I'll keep that in mind," he said, leaning back as the colossal eel was far too close for comfort.
The response he gave seemed to suffice as he watched the gargantuan being unravel itself away from him, pulling away as the wizened eel left back into its abyssal abode.
"Take care, then," Garguna's bellowing voice echoed from the hole it retreated back into.
Just the sight of the colossal, serpentine entity slipping away made his skin crawl, even if it was an ally to him. As he stood there, looking towards the pit in which Garguna rested, he was called by Bastian, who was holding open the door.
"What're you waiting for?" Bastian asked.
"Nothing," Emilio said, following the man through the door.
A corridor through the submerged temple laid ahead; there were surprisingly paintings that sat on the walls, though not painted onto any normal canvas; the frames held stone canvases, etched into and painted with ink.
'A place like this really exists? Or…existed,' he thought.
It was a quiet, melancholic walk through the lengthy hall as he looked to the right, finding the walls to the right to be made out of some sort of durable glass, looking into the great sea that laid beyond nothing but the see-through material.
"Just how deep under the sea are we?" He asked.
Bastian answered while walking, "Around five-thousand meters, I believe."
"Five-thousand? That's incredibly far down," he remarked, looking outside of the glass panes as he followed the man.
There was light even as deep as they were in the ocean, stemming from marine life that glowed, or the seagrass that emitted a soft, verdant glow, being brushed along by passing fish that swam in dense groups.
"If somebody even had the capabilities to dive that deep, they'd have the "Leviathans" to worry about," Bastian told him.
"Leviathans?"
"Like that one out there. See it?" Bastian pointed to the right towards the wall of glass panes.
As Emilio looked to the windows again, seeing the vast, boundless depths of the deep blue, he saw what was pointed out: it was merely the silhouette of "something" impossible large, swimming through the deep with a size that caused the floor he walked on to subtly rumble.
"That's a 'Leviathan'?!" Emilio said.
Walking up to the window, he pressed against it as he watched the colossal, deep-dwelling creature swim in the distance with its horrific size, hidden by the veil of darkness that came with the depths of the sea.
Bastian stopped for a moment, watching with him as the creature moved through the sea, "They're the guardians of Atlan. Should anybody get close to the temple, they'll be swarmed by those. That's how Atlan has remained untouched all of this time."
"I can see why. You couldn't pay me enough to swim in waters where things like that are lurking," Emilio responded.
Reaching the end of the hall, there were a pair of statues that stood like guards of the golden-plated doors, holding tridents up and coated in platinum paint. For a moment, Emilio didn't know if they were alive or simply statues, but it was clear upon closer inspection.
"Seriously, where is everyone…?" He quietly muttered.
"You're about to find out where everyone went," Bastian told him quietly, "Just make sure not to speak out too much when we enter this room, alright? The Oracle is…a unique person."
Emilio looked over at Bastian, who was a full head taller than him, definitely heads and shoulders above the average man in height, "Alright."
Through the gold-plated doorway, he entered alongside Bastian, walking into a throne room that was dimly-lit by only a couple torches. The cerulean marble extended to the other end of the royal keep, though the other side of the throne room was different; barnacles grew along the walls, running along most of the ground in a light shade of crimson and azure.
'It's hard to see,' he thought.
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