Night...

Skylar rented two rooms in a hotel nearby the ocean for the night since Marina was not feeling well. When he got to the two rooms, Skylar carried her to her room. He glanced at her, and her expression was blank; her eyes had no life.

Marina looked dead to the world.

When Skylar arrived in the room, he opened the door and went inside. It was a simple room with a full-sized bed, a balcony, a couple of drawers, a bathroom, and a mirror. He laid her on the bed. "I'll let you rest, for it was a long day. I will be in the room next door. Give a knock if you need anything." Skylar got out of her room and closed the door behind him. However, he stood by the door. Skylar heard Marina cry. It broke his heart to listen to her pain, but he knew she had to let out her emotions. Deep in his heart, he loved Marina as a sister since he had no siblings.

He then went to his room and closed the door. Skylar could not believe that he was in Atlantis. Yet, he did not know that Trystan fellow, but felt that Trystan was selfish keeping Marina in a kingdom deep in the ocean. Sure he was grateful for that king saving Marina's life and his, but she had a life to live and so many opportunities to explore.

Marina was young; he believed she did not know that her choices had consequences. There are other fish in the sea, and he knew Marina could find happiness elsewhere.

Skylar left the hotel and walked towards McDonald's to get food for himself and Marina. He ordered food, and minutes later, he got his order. As Skylar got the food and began walking to the hotel, he stopped in his tracks. Skylar felt something in his heart and gut.

Something was wrong.

He ran as fast as he could to the hotel. After what seemed like forever, he finally got there and ran to Marina's room. He knocked on the door. "Marina, it's me! Can you please open the door!?"

No answer.

Skylar moved the doorknob; it was unlocked. He opened the door.

No one was inside.

He dropped the food and was filled with dread. 

"Marina!"

He thought about where she might have gone to. There was only one place.

Skylar ran out of the hotel, hoping he wasn't too late.

....................................................

Meanwhile

Marina ran to the docks. Renting a boat was impossible since the company that rents them was closed. She looked over and found a boat with paddles tied to the docks.

It was good enough for her. She went towards it, got on the boat, and untied it from the ports.

Marina had never felt so much sadness in her heart until she was separated from Trystan. At first, she believed that people who fell in love exaggerated. For the first time, she fell in love, and it pained her heart to be far from the man she loved.

She could not take the pain anymore; she had to go to Trystan again. She freed the boat, got the paddles, and began to row the boat. It was the dead of night in the ocean. She felt a drop on her face and realized that it would rain. Marina did not care as she paddled farther into the ocean.

............................................

Trystan was in the library trying to read. He tried to forget Marina, but it was useless. No matter how hard he tried, her image would always pop into his mind and heart.

Silence reigned in his kingdom once again; he hated it. He had enough. He could no longer stay in the kingdom with so many bad memories. Trystan felt that he had to find a way to end his immortal life.

He walked away from the library and went to the exit of his palace. He looked behind himself; his puppets stood behind him and took a bow.

The king smiled sadly as he looked at the puppet servants that served him for many centuries. "I am sorry. I was never a good king to you when we were all mortal. I am sorry that my failure was your downfall."

The puppet servants did not say a thing; they only bowed.

The doors opened. "I am sorry that I am leaving you all." The bitter memories of his failures as king. He regained the feeling of love, but if that was the case, then why hasn't the punishment of Zeus not deteriorated? He loved Marina and always would, even until death. Had Zeus lied to him?

He went to the ocean waters and shapeshifted to his merman form. He knew he could not go to the surface, but that didn't mean he could not travel more within the ocean waters. He swam away from his kingdom.

He kept on swimming until something hit him.

Pain.

He touched his chest where his heartbeat with fear. He had the feeling of going back.

"Trystan..."

Someone was calling out to him. He closed his eyes and saw the surface of the ocean. The king saw a boat, and someone was rowing it.

"Marina!" Trystan began to swim back where he first saved the love of his life!

She was in danger!

....................................................

It rained; the winds became strong, and the ocean waters became more dangerous. Marina kept on rowing the boat. She did not have a tracking device to show her the direction of the Bermuda Triangle. Marina did not care. She just wanted to see Trystan again.

Of her bad luck, she knew she was lost. The rain fell harder, and the ocean waters became rougher. Marina found it hard to see and keep her stance on the boat.

"Trystan! I'm here! I came back!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

Marina only heard the ocean waters, the rain, and the winds.

Marina cried.

Her tears mixed with the rain. She put her arms around her; she felt lost.

Then, a giant ocean wave formed, but Marina knew it was hopeless deep down.

She did nothing, and the ocean wave turned her boat, making Marina fall into the ocean. The ocean currents were so powerful that the boat was destroyed. She tried to swim, but the ocean was pulling her to the depths of it is waters.

Marina struggled for air. She felt weak.

Water filled her lungs and her heart; it burned.

Marina stopped swimming. Her heart got weak.

"Trystan..."

.............................................................

Trystan swam as fast as he could. He felt his heart in pain. "Marina! Marina! Marina!" he thought repeatedly.

The king made it to the portal of the Bermuda Triangle.

Suddenly, Trystan felt a painful sensation going through his entire body. His merman form disappeared; his legs appeared. Light got out of his body, and it vanished before him.

He felt...

His powers...

Pain in his chest...

Wait...

He was mortal again.

That was when Trystan remembered. His immortality would end until he loved that he would still love until death.

His heart was filled with terror when he saw someone sinking.

Marina.

Trystan swam with his arms and legs. He didn't have time to think about how he got his mortality; he had to get to Marina. Trystan then felt the ocean pressure crushing his lungs. He ignored the pain and swam as fast as he could.

He saw Marina sinking lower to the ocean. He swam to her. Finally, Trystan got her and held Marina in his arms. He shook her.

Her eyes were open; however, she did not react or move.

That was when Trystan realized that Marina was dead.

Trystan felt his heartbreak. The love of his life was dead.

He got his mortality, but it came with a heavy and painful price. It cost him Marina, his love, his life.

Trystan looked at her lifeless eyes. He touched her face and kissed her. He looked above and finally could go to the ocean surface but felt it was pointless.

The former king felt no reason to live.

He opened his mouth and breathed the waters he had lived with for many years. The water filled his lungs, and he was losing air.

With the strength Trystan had left, he held onto Marina and kissed her again for one last time. He closed his eyes and breathed his last breath.

Both sunk deeper into the ocean.

As for Atlantis, the legendary kingdom, it began to tremble. Cracks appeared on its walls, and the entire empire crumbled into pieces. The rubble crushed the puppet servants within.

Atlantis was no more.

..........................................................

30 Years Later

Skylar, in his mid-fifties, sat on a boat with his wife, children, and grandchildren; his family decided to spend their summer vacation on a boat trip.

He thought about what occurred after Marina's disappearance. When she ran away, Skylar never found her. There was a storm that day, and deep in his heart, he felt she was gone.

Skylar never told anyone that he saw her one last time, no one would have believed him, and so he kept silent, as well as about Atlantis.

The elderly Skylar thought back to when he could not stop Marina from going to the ocean. He didn't know if she was alive or dead. There was a part of him that hoped Trystan got to her.

He would never know. He did know that Marina's parents never had the opportunity to see their daughter again. He couldn't tell them that he was able to; it would crush them. However, a part of him didn't know if her parents would have believed him.

The government prohibited anyone from going to the Bermuda Triangle, including researchers and scientists. As for Professor Diotami, Marina's disappearance affected her career; it tarnished her reputation. She was fired and was never hired by any university.

As the elderly Skylar looked at the ocean, he shed a tear. He did not know why, but his heart felt saddened. He looked at his family on the other side of the boat, eating lunch. He then got the rose that he had brought with him.

On the anniversary of Marina's disappearance, he would buy a single white rose every year. Skylar kissed the rose and threw it into the ocean. He watched as the rose floated farther to the ocean.

Skylar went back to his family and kept on living his life.

As the rose floated, it then sunk deep into the ocean. The white rose sank deeper and deeper into the ocean ground. There were piles of rubble on the sea ground where there was once a mighty empire. Within the ruins and bones scattered on the ground were two skulls, one big and one small. The bigger skull faced the smaller one as if the smaller skull was the most precious sight of all.

The white rose landed between the two skulls.

People in future generations will always learn about the legendary empire of Atlantis. Still, they will never know that a love so powerful lived within its walls, deep in the ocean waters.