Chapter 62: THIRD POV [BONUS Chapter]

There was nothing in this area but a dark, rocky sea floor. Strange enough, there was no vegetation whatsoever.

There were no swaying seaweeds, no colorful anemones, and no schools of small fish. It was just a barren land with large, jagged rocky hills that looked like the teeth of some giant monster.

It was a place of death and silence.

Jacob felt a chill go down his spine.

He looked at the desolate landscape and felt a strong urge to turn around. This place looked like some cursed land.

He was about to turn back and try a different direction when his pupils constricted.

A familiar scent entered his nostrils, sharp and unmistakable even in the swirling water.

’B-Blood? But whose?’ he said to himself in shock. The metallic tang was faint, but it was there, carried to him by the rushing current.

His heart began to hammer against his ribs like a trapped bird.

As if to answer his question, he saw something glimmer in his peripheral vision from down below, nestled in a crevice between two sharp rocks.

His eyes squinted, trying to pierce through the shadows of the barren floor. He dived down to get a closer look, fighting against the pull that was trying to knock him off course.

On reaching the sea floor, he saw something that caused his heart to plummet. It was small, but in this gray and brown world, it stood out like a beacon.

It was a patch of blue scales.

They were torn and jagged, looking like they had been ripped away during a struggle.

Jacob wasn’t sure exactly what creature it belonged to, as many things in the sea were blue, but seeing their color, the exact shade of Artria’s tail, only made him even more restless.

He clutched the scales in his hand, his knuckles turning white. The fear he had been carrying all morning turned into a cold, hard knot of terror.

He steeled his nerves and charged into the area the current was pulling from. He didn’t care about the danger anymore. Nor did he care about the barren land.

He only cared about reaching the source of that blood.

This time, Jacob swam until he arrived at the heart of the rocky landscape. The rocky hills opened up into a massive, circular basin, and there his pupils constricted until they were nothing but tiny dots.

In the center of the basin was an unbelievably large whirlpool, spinning at a rapid, violent speed.

It was a massive funnel of white foam and dark water, reaching from the depths all the way toward the surface. The roar of it was deafening this close up.

It shook the very rocks beneath him.

’So that’s what’s causing the pull,’ he thought to himself.

He hovered at the edge of the basin, his body being jerked forward by the massive power of the spinning water.

He glanced about, his eyes searching the chaos for any sign of life.

When his gaze reached a point not too far from the center of the whirlpool, a look of horror emerged on his face.

Two figures were caught in the spinning mess, struggling against the force and against each other.

Without hesitation, Jacob dove down.

He didn’t think about the risk of being sucked into the center.

He simply moved.

Even as the water being pulled by the current roared in his ears and the pressure began to build, he pushed forward.

Before his eyes was a scene that looked like a nightmare.

Persephone was within the event-horizon of the whirlpool, her powerful tail keeping her stable in the spinning water.

Her hair was whipped around her head like a nest of snakes, while she had one hand clamped tightly around the throat of a disheveled Artria.

Artria looked exhausted. Her hair was tangled, and more scales were missing from her sides.

Her eyes were wide with a mixture of pain and fear.

Persephone’s expression was one of pure rage, a look so dark and filled with hate that it didn’t even look like her anymore.

It was the face of the woman Jacob had grown to fear.

Artria, on the other hand, tried to struggle out of her sister’s grasp.

She clawed at Persephone’s arm and kicked her tail, but against Persephone’s raw strength and the crushing force of the whirlpool, she was simply too weak to do so.

She was gasping, her mouth opening and closing as she fought for breath.

"Persephone! Don’t!" Jacob screamed as he closed in on them.

His voice was nearly drowned out by the roar of the water, but the desperation in it managed to cut through.

Hearing his voice, Persephone’s body stiffened.

The pure rage in her eyes faltered momentarily, replaced by a flash of shock.

She turned to glance toward him, her grip on Artria’s throat loosening just a tiny bit but not letting go.

Even Artria glanced in his direction, a small spark of hope appearing in her tear-filled eyes.

But Persephone’s falter was only momentary.

The shock quickly turned back into something harder and more defensive.

She saw him coming, focused on the look of care and worry on his face, a look she knew was meant for the girl she was holding.

She pulled Artria closer to the edge of the central funnel, where the water was most violent.

"Come closer and I’ll kill her right here and now!" Persephone yelled.

Her voice was high and sharp, cutting through the rumble of the whirlpool like a knife.

She tightened her grip on Artria’s throat again, her claws digging into the soft skin.

Her words terrified Jacob. He saw the look in her eyes and knew she wasn’t joking.

She was at her breaking point. He hurriedly came to a stop, digging his tail into the water and flailing his arms to halt his forward movement.

He hovered about twenty feet away, his body bobbing in the violent current.

"Okay! Okay, I’m stopping! Just... just let her go, Persephone," Jacob pleaded, his hands held up in a submissive gesture.