Beneath the waves at the border of the Sea People's realm of Undersea
Loranni anxiously stared into the deeper water that lay before her. It had been too long. To long since she had seen the man she had come to love in so short a time.
Just before her lay a vast gulf of uncharted depths that some said fell all the way to the center of the earth. Loranni did not know if that was true as no Sea Person had ever gone there, until now.
Into the depths of the ocean trench is where the city of the evil ones had fallen and to make sure of its complete destruction her father and many others had ventured down into the darkness. That was not the only reason they went in search of the city. Their loyal dragons, who had towed the city here, had not been heard from since the storm.
The expedition should have returned by now. It was dangerous to spend too much time in the deeper depths of the sea.
They should have been back by now!
Loranni twisted away from the precipice of darkness. Her face seized up in the emotion that she felt.
"Loranni."
She spun around to see her lover followed by only a few others slowly make their way up over the edge and back into the well lit shallower depths of the realm of Undersea.
"Koke! You're hurt!" She exclaimed in alarm as she went to him.
Pulling back she looked deeply into her mate's eyes and asked the question she dreaded to hear the answer to, "Where is my father?"
Koke stared back at her the look of sorrow in his eyes answer enough as to the fate of her father the King.
Koke looked past the handful of survivors behind him to the abyss of darkness beyond. His words registered into Loranni's consciousness with awful import.
"The dragons…………. They were pulled down by the fallen ones. They tried to escape, but there were too many of the enemy."
"Koke? Do you speak of the pirates?"
Koke's eyes turned back to her and she shivered at the look of angst she saw within his eyes. It was as if he had looked upon hell itself.
"The pirates are but a few of many Loranni. There are many more. One day Loranni I fear that they will be back for even now they move about freely as if released from their chains. They are just down there in the darkness waiting."
"Waiting for what?" Loranni asked feeling chilled despite the warmth of the water around her.
Koke stared into her eyes deeply and spoke with authority, "The end of the world."