Time seemed to freeze.
The air was thick with the smell of salt and rust. Below was the sound of splashing water. Above was the sound of Liora's panicked breaths. But for Aarav, all those sounds faded away. In his ears, only one name, one voice, echoed.
Rohan.
'No… this can't be happening. This is a joke. A nightmare.' Aarav's mind screamed. He shut his eyes tightly and opened them again, as if trying to change the scene before him.
But nothing changed.
Below, stepping out from the shadow of the cliffs, he stood. The same Rohan. But this wasn't the Rohan from school. His clothes were dirty and torn. His face held a strange weariness and hardness. But his eyes held the same old hatred, now a thousand times deeper and more dangerous. In his hand, there was no longer a cricket bat or a football, but a real, sharp-edged sword.
"Surprised, Mr. Perfect?" Rohan said with a venomous sneer. There was a smile on his lips that held no joy. "Thought you got rid of me in that pond?"
Aarav, hanging from a rope, couldn't utter a single word. His body went cold. To him, this was more terrifying than any monster or sea pirate. Because this enemy wasn't a stranger. This was the enemy who had made his life a living hell.
"How... how are you here?" was all Aarav could manage to say.
Rohan laughed. A hollow, chilling laugh. "What did you think, that the portal only opens for 'special' people like you? When you fell into that pond, I was right behind you. That light... it pulled me in too."
He swung his sword through the air. "But my luck wasn't as good as yours. No girl with glowing hair came to rescue me. I fell into this hell alone. I had to fight to survive, had to kill. And then... then the Master found me."
"The Master?" Aarav said, an alarm bell ringing in his mind.
"Yes, the Master," Rohan said proudly. "The one who gave me strength. The one who told me that someone called the Tideborne had arrived here. I knew... I just knew it had to be you. Fate has always been kind to you, hasn't it?"
Liora's voice came from above. She had peered over the edge. "Aarav! Who is this?"
"Stay away from him, Liora!" Aarav yelled.
But it was too late.
"Oh, so this is the little witch," Rohan said, looking up at Liora. He pulled a strange, black stone from his pocket. "The Master planned for everything."
He tossed the stone into the air. As he did, Liora, who was gathering green light in her hands, suddenly weakened. Her light extinguished.
"What... what is this?" Liora said, panting. "My Aether... I can't feel it."
"A Shadow Crystal," Rohan said with a smirk. "It absorbs all the Aether around it. Your magic won't work here, pretty thing."
Now Aarav understood. He was completely trapped. Above, Liora was helpless. Below, Rohan stood ready to deliver his doom. And he was suspended on a rope, right between them.
"Alright, playtime's over," Rohan said and raised his sword. "The Master wants you alive. But he won't mind if you're a little roughed up."
He stepped forward and prepared to strike the rope with his sword.
Aarav had no time to think. He refused to give up. A wave of anger and adrenaline surged through his body.
He pushed off the cliff face hard with his feet.
The rope swung like a pendulum. Rohan's strike missed, his sword slicing through the empty air beside the rope.
Aarav swung to the other side and collided with the cliff.
"Playing smart, are we!" Rohan growled. He wasn't going to wait for the rope to swing back and forth. He began to climb the cliff face himself, trying to reach Aarav.
Aarav looked up. Liora was still weak from the effects of the black stone. She couldn't do anything.
He had only one option left. An incredibly dangerous one.
He drew the wooden sword tied at his waist.
"What are you gonna do with that? Tickle me?" Rohan mocked, now much closer to him.
Aarav ignored Rohan. He raised his sword... and began hacking violently at his own rope.
"Have you gone mad?!" Rohan was shocked by his action.
Thwack! Thwack!
The fibers of the rope began to snap under the blows from the wooden sword.
Above, Liora also understood Aarav's intention. "Aarav, no! Stop!"
But Aarav didn't stop. He knew that if he stayed on this rope, Rohan would capture him. By falling... there was a small chance of survival. In being captured, there was none.
The last fiber snapped.
For a moment, Aarav was airborne. He felt that same old, gut-wrenching sensation of falling into the pond.
And then, SPLASH!
He plunged into the cold, copper-colored water below. Underwater, a sharp ringing filled his ears, and then everything went silent. It was dark. The cold bit into his bones.
He began to swim upwards with all his might.
When he surfaced, he was on the other side of Smuggler's Cove, hidden behind some old, broken boats. At the spot where he had jumped, Rohan was standing, searching for him, his face contorted with anger and hatred.
Aarav brought his breathing under control. He had survived. At least for now.
But he was alone. Wet, exhausted, and in a strange, dangerous place. Liora was trapped on the ship above. There was no sign of Mara and Kael.
And his greatest enemy, the ghost of his old life, now stood before him in this new world.
He reached inside his shirt. The red, throbbing compass was still there. Its hostile light colored Aarav's face even in the water.
The enemy wasn't just outside. It was pressed right against his heart.