2147. Sunlight is a ghost story. The world drowned in the Five Thousand Currents, a swirling network of ocean flows that swallowed coastal cities and reshaped the planet. Humanity clings to life in underwater kingdoms, scavenging the ruins of a forgotten past. Liorh, a diver haunted by the memory of her submerged home, navigates the spectral underwater city of Portland, Oregon, her life a constant struggle against the encroaching depths.
One salvage run changes everything. Liorh unearths a titanium plate pulsating with bioluminescent ink — a map to the mythical Ocean’s Lock, a machine rumored to reverse the catastrophic sea-level rise. This discovery plunges her into a desperate race against time, pursued by the ruthless Aqyash Syndicate, a militaristic aquatic empire that sees the Lock as a weapon, and the enigmatic Coral Witches, biotechnological mystics who believe the ocean's power should remain untamed.
Allied with a grizzled submarine pilot and a brilliant marine biologist, Liorh embarks on a perilous quest through kelp forests that sway like phantom dancers, past the ghostly husks of skyscrapers teeming with bioluminescent life, and across treacherous volcanic vents. Each clue reveals more about the Lock and its creators, a forgotten civilization that pushed the boundaries of ocean engineering — and the Coral Witches’ hidden history as their descendants, the ones who sabotaged it, scattering its components across the Five Thousand Currents.
As the Aqyash Syndicate closes in, wielding genetically modified sea creatures and bio-engineered armor, Liorh must confront a terrible truth: the Lock doesn't just drain water, it drains life itself. Activating it could trigger ecological collapse, turning hope into a barren wasteland. Torn between her dream of a restored world and the ocean's fragile beauty, Liorh must make a choice that will determine the fate of humanity. Will she reclaim the past, or embrace the depths of a new beginning?
