Dark Water: The Ruined City of the Annihilators
The obsidian floor of the Great Hall of Kandrakar vibrated with a low, ominous hum.
Prince Phobos leaned over the balcony, his brows furrowed as he watched towering, shadow-draped figures retreat into the fog at the edge of the city.
"Who were they?" Phobos muttered, genuinely puzzled as he turned to his sister, Will Vandom. "They weren't... were they? From your description, they sound like something I never thought I’d see in my lifetime. Annihilators—fearsome juggernauts of evil. Yet, they disappear whenever Queen Elyon enters Meridian..." He paused, pointing a pale finger toward the glowing horizon. "And look at them now. They're on a straight line to the palace."
Will gripped the Heart of Kandrakar resting against her chest, its usual comforting warmth feeling icy cold. She looked around at the dimming light of the hall, panic tightening her chest.
"We'll never get back to our own world," she whispered, looking down into the abyss below the pavilion. "We're buried here deep in the earth. Many have come down, and few have returned to the sunlit land of Meridian."
"You're going to want to see this," a young voice interrupted.
Eli Shane, up from the subterranean caverns of Slugterra, gestured urgently toward a shimmering pool at the center of the chamber. The liquid inside wasn't the usual translucent azure of Kandrakar’s sacred springs; it was pitch black, swirling like liquid night.
"Dark water," Eli said, his face grave as he knelt beside it. "It's what's been poisoning Kandrakar."
Before Will or Phobos could respond, the heavy, gilded doors at the end of the hall swung open with a resonant strike.
Leif, the young King of Deltora, stepped across the threshold, his hand instinctively resting on the hilt of his sword. He paused, scanning the massive, floating architecture around him with wide eyes.
"This looks like some sort of hall..." Leif murmured under his breath.
Suddenly, a sharp, searing heat bloomed against his waist. The Belt of Deltora was glowing through his tunic, and the ancient nursery rhyme of his childhood leaped unbidden into his mind:
*> The Ruby, red as blood, gets warm in the presence of danger, or when evil threatens.
Leif drew his sword as the crimson gem pulsed with a blinding, feverish light.
"We have company," Leif called out, his voice ringing through the chamber.
At the edge of the dark water, the shadow of the Annihilators began to reform.
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