Artemian stood in a large, empty room, save a few benches, couches, chairs, and a massive round window that bulged outward. The domed window was the largest one in the entire vessel and, after multiple reassurances that it wouldn't crack, the huntsman took a chance and gazed outside of it. The constant creaks and bangs of the metallic ship resisting the water's intense pressure would take a little more assuring, however. 

The vessel trolled slowly but steadily and occasionally passed by schools of fish or deep-diving whales. The view was little more than dark water, but Artemian found it rather beautiful and calming.

Behind him, Allan Quatermain and most of the submersible's crew lounged about, sipping ale and chatting amiably. Captain Nemo turned out to be a dwarf, to no surprise, as was his entire crew, save Allan. There were seven of them in total, including the captain, and Artemian didn't care enough to remember their names. For the most part, he stayed alone. Tonight was a rare exception.

"I have yet to see this glittering underwater city of yours, Nemo," Artemian said impatiently. "We are so deep little light seeps through; how do you suppose it glitters?"

Nemo, seated on the largest and most comfortable chair, chuckled. "Oh it's there, all right. Should be passing over it soon, I reckon. Never seen it from the Nautilus, though."

Artemian turned from the window and, arms held behind his back, raised an eyebrow at the captain. "Then how do you know it is there?"

"Plenty of tales about Guldlys, lad. It's rather difficult to see it from the surface but when my beard was shorter and my eyes clearer, some good friends and I took sail in a rickety old sloop and dumped our diving bells in search of it. The tales gave us a general location so we set out, determined to find it. After we dove underwater so many times I swore we was growing fins, we found it. 'Course, even from a diving bell you could only swim so far and from where we were it looked like a great pile of gold scattered all over the ocean floor. It glittered just fine, even without any light from above."

Artemian reflected on the story for a moment and then shrugged. "Well, there is nothing there yet. Does this craft move any faster?"

Nemo frowned. "She's made for exploring, lad. The Nautilus isn't no swift schooner or pirate-hunting brig. She takes her time and lets you enjoy the view."

Artemian glanced back at the dark water. "There isn't much of one at the moment."

Nemo began to growl but Allan, seated beside him on a smaller chair, intervened. "Patience, Artemian. It will take us several days to reach the island, perhaps weeks, thus is you are in any hurry then I suggest you take one of the rowboats and find another ship next time we rise for air. What's the rush, anyhow?"

Artemian jerked his lip irritably. "The woman I seek is sought by others, or so I am told."

"Ah, there we have it," Nemo said, raising his arms and bringing them down to slap his knees. "You want this girl all for yourself and you're worried when you get to the island she'll be grabbed already."

Artemian narrowed his eyes. "Yes, that is my concern."

"Rightly so. It is indeed, your concern, and none of mine, my boys', or Al's."

"I understand that."

"Good, then don't be rushing us."

Artemian simply rolled his eyes and turned around, facing the window once more. There was little to do in the submersible and he had no intention of making friends with any of the dwarves therefore his patience was low and his irritability was high. He hoped beyond hope that he'd arrive in time to capture Selvina before any other bounty hunters arrived, those lucky enough to sail on far swifter vessels than this underwater slug. He needed that bounty money to reclaim a small piece of his old life. Selvina herself could perhaps direct him to Belle as well, clearing a path for his next hunt.

Behind him, the five dwarves—two were required at all times to man the vessel and monitor the propulsion method—guffawed at some joke that Allan had told. The mood was jovial and carefree and, despite wanting nothing to do with them, Artemian found it infectious. With this strange band of underwater sailors and hunters he was at ease. It felt good to have a purpose again. He would have preferred a faster means of transportation and more privacy but he was grateful that he was moving forward. He closed his eyes and could already envision himself plant an arrow between Beast's eyes, closing that chapter of his life forever.

"See anythin' out there, huntsman?" asked one of the dwarves. "Hopefully it ain't one of those Krakens!"

"You jest, Bash," Nemo's voice spoke, "but if we see one of those we're all doomed. Nautilus has no weapons."

"Should have fitted it with some spikes or swinging axes like I told ya," grumbled another dwarf. "A great big cannon would have worked all the same."

"We're underwater, Grum! How's the powder supposed to light?"

"You light it from inside the Nautilus!"

"And let water seep in from around the cannon? The pressure's too high to have cannons and axes poking out of the sides! We'd take in water in seconds, lad. Come on now, you know this."

The one named Grum grumbled something but ceased his arguing, much to Artemian's relief. Swinging axes sounded ridiculous anyhow.

Gazing out of the window while his mind focused elsewhere, Artemian nearly missed a dull glow emanating from deep below. His vision focused and he stepped closer to the window, gazing down. Unable to restrain his awe, he let his mouth open and his eyes widen.

"See something, Arty?" asked Nemo.

Artemian's reply was silence, until a disembodied voice was heard from one of the speaking tubes that stretched along the entire spine of the vehicle. "You're going to want to see this, captain!"

Nemo shot up to his feet and pointed to one of the other rising dwarves. "Ope, go and get Neez in the engine room. He'll be wanting to see this too."

Artemian, still gazing out of the window, heard the dwarf named Ope running out through the room's heavy, metal door and deeper into the vessel in search of the one named Neez. Indeed, everyone should have a chance to see this sight. As much as he wished not to admit it, Nemo had been right.

The city of Guldlys truly did glitter on its own.

Sprawled out across what seemed like the entire ocean floor were spires, domes, blocks, and towers of coral, rock, and black, hardened lava. The city's buildings were covered in sparkling orbs of light of various colours, though most were golden. Kelp as tall as castles rose up along both sides of the wide, empty areas between the buildings which resembled streets and roads. They added some type of greenery to the glittering city of multi-coloured buildings.

Standing beside him, Nemo sighed in wonder. "By Grandalir, have any of you seen anything so beautiful?"

No one answered him.

Ope and Neez soon returned and they too were speechless. Artemian, ignoring the fact that he was pressed up between six dwarves and Allan, took his time to examine the city. Most of the buidlings were covered in coral of all colours, anemones, sea spunges, and countless other specimens he didn't know or even recognize. The select few structures that were uncovered were all black and unblemished.

"Those ones made of lava rock look like temples," Nemo said, pointing to one of the black structures. "The stone ones seem to be of a military type of nature."

"What are all them floating fish-like creatures?" asked one of the dwarves. "They look asleep or something."

Artemian had seen them too, though he thought they were simple ocean creatures. Upon closer inspection, however, he determined that they were merfolk. There were scores of them laying flat against the ground or on top of buildings, as if tossed there haphazardly.

"Looks like they all had one too many to drink, eh." Bash commented, to which a few of the dwarves chuckled.

Nemo, however, wasn't. "They aren't feeling last night's party, lads. They're dead. Look closer and you'll see some of them are missing pieces of themselves."

The other dwarves quieted immediately, their expression solemn.

"Some of the buildings appear to be damaged as well," noted Allan. "What could have done this?"

Artemian didn't have to ponder long to come up with a likely suspect. The damage was exceedingly similar to what had befallen Our Lady. A chill ran up his spine as he searched the city, half expecting to see the culprit at any moment.

"The Black Knight went through here," he said quietly. He pointed at the middle of the city. "You can even determine the path it took simply from the destruction it left behind."

"Straight as an arrow, by the gods," Nemo breathed in shock. "Nothing could stop this thing."

"The legends say Guldlyn is the capital city of the merfolk," Allan said, his brows furrowed. "How can the Black Knight pass through unchallenged?"

Artemian frowned. "Don't you see the dead bodies?! It was challenged! Nothing can stop this demon, not even the magics or fighting skill of the merpeople."

Nemo was shaking his head slowly. "Look at it's path. It's parallel to the Nautilus."

"It's going the same way we are," noted Allan, his face growing several shades paler.

Nemo looked up slowly, fixing Artemian a hard gaze. "Tell me again the name of this woman you're after, Arty?"

Artemian didn't reply immediately. He already knew where Nemo was going. The Black Knight seemed to be heading to Skull Island, which Artemian feared was the truth of the matter. It had already destroyed much of Our Lady and now had gouged a path of death and destruction through Guldlyn. Its path had not erred or turned once; it was firmly set.

His body growing colder by the second, he recalled the name of the doomed soul the Black Knight sought. He had known that she was sought by others but, too anxious to capture her and then find Belle, he had momentarily forgotten that one of those others was the Black Knight. He was surprised that it had traveled so far already. It had been last seen walking into the ocean at a leisurely but steady pace. There was no way it could have reached Guldlyn before he did.

Remembering that Nemo was waiting for an answer, he straightened himself, inhaled deeply, and said, "Selvina. I'm after the same woman the Black Knight seeks."

Nemo narrowed his eyes and growled through gritted teeth, "I'd flay you where you stand, Artemian, if you'd have been leading us to the demon intentionally. The fact that we were already going to Skull Island, with our without you, is the only thing saving your life right now. How about next time you don't skip those rather important details?"

Artemian frowned, not willing to back down. "How could I have known that it could move so quickly underwater? It is walking, Nemo! It should be leagues to the north of us, not ahead of us!"

"Artemian is right," Allan said softly. "The Black Knight will reach the island before we do. I do not know how but, personally, I'd rather not risk journeying onto an island with that thing on it."

"I'm with the longshanks, cap," said Bash. "We didn't sign up for any demon-slaying."

"We don't have the weapons to fight it either," grumbled Grum.

"You can't fight this thing," Artemian said grimly. "It's already attacked four cities, gone up against each of their best fighters and passed through without any injury. How much damage can seven dwarves and two hunters do something like that?"

"Then what do we do?" asked Ope. "Turn around?"

"There's a blockade behind us," Nemo said with a shake of his head. "There ain't much of a point for us to go back to that. We'll have to head west."

"To Noyr, captain?" asked Bash.

Nemo groaned. "We'll take the Nautilus up for some air and wait for the stars to show us where we are. Once we've got that determined, we'll get our heading. All that I know is that Noyr doesn't have any blockades around it. The only other choices are Nordara or New Avalon and they might be blockaded right now, for all we know. It's a simple thing to dive under a blockade but our fuel is burning faster than I thought it would and we might have to make a good chunk of this journey from the surface."

"You want to put those power mirrors to the test, captain?" Ope asked.

Nemo nodded. "They better work or we'll have a long way to row, lads."

Artemian, already knowing the answer, asked, "So this means we aren't going to Skull Island?"

"Not with the Black Knight there, we aren't," replied Nemo firmly. "I've got my lads to think about, not to mention my own future, and I don't want to endanger any of those things by meeting face to face with the City Smasher."

Having witnessed the destructive power of the Black Knight personally, Artemian had nothing to argue with. He found himself relieved that they were changing their direction. As desperately as he wanted to capture Selvina, he was not eager to engage the Black Knight. With a war waging between New Avalon and Noyr, perhaps the empress had a few bounties on some of her enemies. They probably wouldn't pay as much as Selvina, but they would be far easier to claim.

Artemian recalled an old memory of himself with his father, one of the few he had of him. They had been hunting together and had stopped beside a field where a pack of wolves were devouring a recently downed deer. Moments later, a single bear had charged out of the forest and chased them all away. The wolves had growled at it but dared not challenge it.

"They outnumber that bear, father," he remembered his much younger self saying. "Why do they let it steal their food?"

"Well, son," his father replied in his deep yet clear voice, "the wolves are predators, like the bear is, but they need to be healthy if they wish to catch themselves another deer. If they fight that bear they might win but some may get injured or killed and that weakens the pack forever. They might reclaim that single deer but they'll never be able to take another one down again. If the hunter can't catch or hold on to its prey without getting hurt, it's often best to hunt something else. There aren't any healers you can run to in nature, my boy."

Artemian nodded to the captain's decision. "I'll take my chances on easier prey."

Recalling the memory, he couldn't help but wonder if there was a deeper meaning to it. Why would it reveal itself now, when he never thought of his childhood?

As preposterous as it sounded, were the gods trying to tell him something?