Chapter 2012

The old man said, "Senior Fremont made an agreement with the merfolk emperor Ramos who ruled the entire merfolk population. That agreement would come into effect automatically the second a human being made it to the merfolk world."

"An agreement? What kind of agreement?"

"There are nine checkpoints. If we pass all of them, Ramos will give the eighth dragon cauldron back to us and we'll be able to return to the human realm safely."

"Well, what if we don't pass?"

The old man turned to look at Wilbur meaningfully. "If we don't pass, we'll have to stay here forever."

Wilbur looked around him and realized the view of the underwater city was quite beautiful. "The place looks great. How dangerous could it be?"

"Wilbur, you must remember that unknown dangers lie beyond a beautiful surface. It's important to never be tempted, even if you see something beautiful."

Just then, the two merfolk in front of them stopped in their tracks. They bowed to a slightly larger merfolk, who chatt