MistNovel - Read Web Novel Stories & Fiction Online

The maintenance tunnel was far worse than Coralina remembered. As a child, she had only explored the first few dozen yards, her youthful curiosity giving way to caution when the passage became too narrow and the darkness too complete. She had always turned back. Now, with no choice but to continue, she discovered just how treacherous the forgotten route truly was.
The walls pressed close on either side, their rough stone surfaces scraping against her arms and catching at the remains of her ceremonial gown. With growing frustration, she pulled at the fabric, ripping away layers of silk until she wore only the simple underlayer. Even that felt like too much, but she could not discard everything. The water this deep within the kingdom was cold, far from the thermal vents that warmed Caelumaris proper.
Behind her, muffled by stone and distance, she heard the palace alarm bells begin to ring. The sound, a deep, resonant toll, sent a fresh wave of terror through her chest. They would be mobilizing every guard now, sending dedicated parties to every conceivable exit point, alerting the perimeter patrols that guarded the kingdom’s borders. Her father would accept nothing less than her immediate capture.
Coralina forced herself to swim faster despite the narrow, claustrophobic space. The tunnel twisted and turned unpredictably, sometimes rising, sometimes descending, following no pattern she could discern. Whoever had built it centuries ago had clearly been following the natural formations of the rock, creating a path of least resistance rather than a direct route.
Her natural bioluminescence, normally kept at a low, controlled glow in public, flared brighter as her fear and exertion increased. The pale blue light illuminated the tunnel for a few feet in each direction, a small comfort in the oppressive dark. At the same time, it made her more visible. She tried to dim it, to control the involuntary reaction, but her emotions were too raw, her control too frayed.
After several minutes of frantic swimming, the tunnel suddenly widened, opening into a small, natural chamber. Coralina paused there, her lungs working hard despite the water providing oxygen. Her muscles ached with a deep, burning fatigue. She had been swimming at full speed for what felt like hours but was probably only a fraction of that time.
In the brief respite, guilt crashed over her like a physical wave. What had she done? She had humiliated her father before his entire court and the representatives of allied kingdoms. She had destroyed a priceless, sacred artifact. She had single-handedly ruined an alliance that Caelumaris desperately needed to maintain peace. And for what? For a five-year-old memory? For a boy on the surface who might not even remember her name?
No. She pushed the doubts away violently. William would remember. She knew it with an absolute certainty that defied logic, a conviction rooted deep in her heart. Their connection had been real, had been profound. He would not have forgotten.
And even if he had, she could not go back now. The moment she had shattered the altar, she had burned every bridge behind her. There could be no forgiveness for what she had done. Her father would never understand, would never accept that her personal happiness could be worth more than her duty.
The sound of voices echoed through the tunnel behind her. They were distant, but growing closer. The guards had found the entrance to the maintenance tunnel.
Coralina forced her exhausted body back into motion. The chamber had three exits, all leading into more narrow passages. She chose the one that angled sharply upward, hoping it would lead her toward the kingdom’s edge and, eventually, the surface. The tunnel narrowed again, forcing her to swim sideways, her cheek pressed against the cold, rough stone.
Fragments of her ceremonial pearls, snagged on the rocks, snapped free and were left behind. She did not bother to retrieve them. Let them mark her path. It did not matter. The guards already knew which direction she had gone.
The tunnel seemed endless. The minutes stretched into what felt like hours. Her arms burned with fatigue. Her hydrokinesis, pushed far beyond its normal limits by the maelstrom she had created in the throne room, left her feeling drained and shaky.
Just when she thought she could not continue, the tunnel opened abruptly into open water. Coralina emerged into the outer regions of Caelumaris, where the elegant, sculpted architecture gave way to natural rock formations and wild, untamed coral growths. The bioluminescent lights here were sparse, creating vast pools of shadow between scattered points of illumination.
She had made it out of the palace. But she was far from safe.
In the distance, she could see the organized lights of patrol groups. They moved in standard search patterns, their beams sweeping the perimeter with cold efficiency. Her father had mobilized the entire guard force. There would be no easy path forward.
Coralina stayed low, using the natural rock formations for cover. She moved away from Caelumaris proper, swimming toward the deep trenches that marked the absolute edge of the kingdom. Few merfolk ever ventured into those depths. The pressure was immense, the native creatures were dangerous, and the darkness was nearly absolute.
But right now, danger was better than capture.
She swam silently, keeping her bioluminescence dimmed to almost nothing, navigating by memory and instinct. The sounds of pursuit faded behind her as she left the kingdom’s boundaries. The water grew colder. The light grew dimmer. The familiar world she had always known gave way to the unknown.
Twice, she heard patrols pass nearby and had to freeze, pressing herself into crevices in the rock faces, barely breathing. The guards moved efficiently, their lights sweeping across the terrain. They did not see her hiding in the shadows.
After what felt like an eternity, Coralina reached the edge of the trenches. The ocean floor dropped away abruptly, disappearing into a darkness so complete that even her enhanced vision could not penetrate it. These were the Whispering Trenches, ancient, dangerous, and avoided by all but the most desperate.
She was desperate.
Without allowing herself time to reconsider, Coralina dove over the edge and into the abyss. The darkness swallowed her completely. The water pressure increased dramatically, making her ears ache with a sharp pain. Strange, unsettling sounds echoed through the depths, the calls of creatures that had never seen the light.
This was madness. But it was also freedom.
Behind her, the distant lights of Caelumaris flickered and faded as she descended. Her old life receded with them. Ahead of her lay only darkness and uncertainty.
And somewhere far above, beyond miles of ocean, past the crushing pressure and the predatory creatures and the impossible distance, the surface world waited.
Coralina swam deeper into the trenches, leaving everything she had ever known behind.