Thanks for the quick reaction to chapter 1 everyone. Special mention Mathea2005 and SalvatoresILY for their reviews, it's highly appreciated! I hope you'll like the next installment, too!


2

We were at the bottom of the wooden tower, at the surface of the ocean. The fishmen slid into the water one by one.

"I think you forgot something…" I leant over to check the number on the leader's water tank, "…41."

I pointed at my face. 41 shook his head but 17 exclaimed with the new discovery:

"She can't breathe under water!"

I nodded approvingly. Dreams aside, I was not ready to drown. It's such an ugly death. 41 turned to his men.

"Any ideas?" he asked. I thought that was clever from him. I can appreciate a leader who doesn't pretend to have all the answers himself and clearly, he was confident enough to admit that. I petted his shoulder encouragingly but he shook it off.

I sat down on the board we were standing on, took of my shoes and hang my legs in the ocean. It was just as it had always been. Cold, salty, deep, dark, magnificent. 17 squatted down.

"Don't be afraid, we'll use one of the bubbles" he said.

"Bubbles?" I looked up at him and he nodded. "You don't mean actual bubbles, do you?"

"Take her down!" 41 instructed his people before I got my answer. They grabbed my arms and took me under water. I tried to protest, kicked around and pulled my arm but they were a lot stronger than they looked. And apparently, stupider. They didn't quite grasp the concept of not being able to breath under water, I thought.

But I was wrong. Two other fishmen swam along, holding something in their hands very carefully. They put that things over my head and slowly pulled it around my body. It was a bubble, an actual air bubble, and I was standing right inside it! I didn't dare to move in fear of bursting it, and took really small breaths to make sure I use the air very economically. But one fishman put a tight belt around it and the bubble was still there. They installed a hook on the belt and started to move it (and me) down.

"Are you OK?" one of them asked swimming beside me. He pushed his tube over his head, like a weird little cap that omitted some gentle, calm, green light. He turned the number carefully to the front. It was 17.

"I'm not sure it's a good idea to tell you the truth" I admitted. "It's a small bubble – I'll run out of air eventually."

"You won't. It works for long, you'll see" he said. It was still weird to see his mouth, it was a proper fish mouth, no teeth, thank god for that, but no lips either. How did their speaking work, I didn't understand. But I had more pressing problems.

"Have you tried it before?" I asked him about the bubble.

"It is being used in the Elder's Council" he said.

"And it's never burst?"

"Never. It's safe, I can assure you. Look!" he started to push the side of the bubble but it only changed shape at his touch momentarily and bounced back to the egg-shape it had before straight away.

"See? Don't worry!" he held up his palm by the side and hesitantly, I pressed my hand on the other side. It was weirder than I even imagined. It felt rubber, or those gummy bears we used to have like 10 years ago. It was completely transparent but it was strong, I could feel that.

I started to panic less about me and air and looked around. As we were descending in water I saw how many of those fishmen were around us. Their green lights lit up the ocean like little fairies. Ugly little fairies at that but they seemed harmless and that was enough for me. I felt their excitement, and I understood that I was the cause of it. I smiled as I turned my head around but still didn't dare to move my feet. No matter how solid this bubble seemed, I didn't want to challenge fate more than necessary.

Then I spotted the blue box. It was also in a bubble and pulled down, apparently in the same direction as me. They only took the part of the whole building that looked like the police telephone box from the 1960's but strangely enough it still had the four walls. But it didn't have a wall when I was inside, as far as I could tell. Maybe it was just the door on the other side. Or…

"Hey!" I shouted out as I fell on the ground of the bubble. My pulling fishmen changed direction too abruptly. We must've been close now, we were surrounded by buildings of stone. They stood there, tall and proud just as if they were on land.

"Wait a minute!" I said out loud to no-one in particular. 17 swam closer, paying attention but I was more occupied with the buildings. They were very familiar. They looked exactly like…

"London!" I exclaimed and now I turned to my companion. "Is this really London under water?"

He shook his head.

"Not London, Lolo!" he said.

"Lolo?" I repeated. "Well mate, this looks a helluva lot like the London I know! Look at that! It's the Big Bang. It's exactly like the Big Bang!"

"That's the Tower" he corrected me.

"No, the Tower is…" I turned around now in the bubble fearlessly, partly due to my enthusiasm, partly because I already fell hard on it and nothing happened. "Look, it's over here, just below us!"

He shook his head again.

"That's the Palace of the Elders, that's where we're going!"

So. I was going to the Tower. It might have been a different world but history said, this was not a good thing. What did these creatures want from me then?

"What exactly are the Elders, 17?"


THE FIFTH

Diamond. Light. Choice. Flames and screams and darkness and black. Nothingness.

Destiny struggles with absorbing all these emotions.

"It was the choice, not the diamond" a kind voice says approvingly but Destiny can't take her eyes off of the vast space outside the windows. It looks endless.

"He'll return" someone else says and the thought makes Destiny shiver.

"He can't..." she whispers. "It'll ruin everything."