· · · · · · ·
Seira surfaced at the foggy island and took in a deep breath. The magic responsible for breathing in both worlds was faltering a little for some reason, causing her to cough as water poured out of her lungs. Instinctively she brought her hands to her mouth.
Once it was all out, she stared a little stunned at the water dripping off her hands. Breathing hurt for moment and she worried over whether this was her being too tensed or whether something was amiss with the magic in this area.
"Mahahanu, Uchochikha, do you notice anything wrong with the magic?" The two nagas emerged and sniffed.
"Nothing we can detect."
Well, that would explain why she hadn't been able to directly teleport onto the beach. The corridor magic was unaffected, but something was amiss with the aquatic magic. The three swam to the island and Seira tried transforming, but nothing happened.
The nagas actually blinked in confusion, despite usually open eyed without stop.
A wave of panic set across her, but she forced herself to stay calm. Nothing else was out of the ordinary, this was just a depletion of magic. Soon enough, it should smooth out.
"Could you two please go onto the island and call Michel?"
"Off course, princess."
She waited on the beach, lying on her back and gazing up. The rising sun turned the fog in a bright veil and there was a strange green tint to the sky still visible right above her.
A few of the monsters approached her, most of Michel but also a few creatures from India; small refugees that could find a home here. She noticed many of them seemed uneasy. Specifically, those with a link to the sea. A river sprite was constantly chattering, a hummingbird-rhinoceros-seasnail fluttered about anxiously, but a serval-hedgehog-squirrel seemed perfectly at easy and a cow-chinchilla was lazily grazing on a shrub.
Hmm, the plantlife here was evolving to accommodate the animals. The flowers were definitely larger than when she had seen the island for the first time, and the trees were taking on strange shapes. Was this Michel's doing?
If his presence, or perhaps deliberate actions, could manipulate plantlife, then perhaps he could do something about the food problems in the sea. She would like to bring him down there though, and she was averse to that. Her kingdom hadn't responded too positively to the news that she had frequent company from Michel. She could understand why, off course, but their whispers hurt nonetheless.
She envied Lucia a little, who could always rely on Kaito. Seira had managed as sole monarch for more than a decade, but a little help would be nice. It might be better for Michel too if he were to come to her kingdom, rather than idling around on this island.
That was what she wanted, but it was not the wise thing to do. In a time this politically tense, she couldn't afford to divide her people even more. It wasn't just her own kingdom having doubts, Coco was having trouble too and Lucia's kingdom was a little too unattended.
But, maybe they could figure out something to harness whatever growth power was at work here in something portable. It wasn't the situation she wanted, but it would at least give Michel something to feel good about. Maybe in another decade or so, she could invite Michel over to her kingdom and ... he was going to stay on earth, right?
Mahahanu and Uchochikha's faces appeared above her so suddenly that Seira startled.
"Michel is not on the island, he is out on the sea on the other side. Will you go meet him?"
"Off course." The nagas nodded and turned into the jungle again without a word. Seira guessed they'd want to give her time alone, or perhaps they'd met interesting monsters. She never could tell easily what was on their minds.
She quickly swam around the island and found Michel far off shore, sitting on a lone rock. He was dangling his legs in the water and had his flute on his lap.
"Hey Michel, what are you doing so far out here?" she said as she splashed up.
He'd been looking at the sky, now turned to her with a smile. "Seira. I'd come out here to help some of my aquatic monsters, apparently there's an ebb in sea magic. They're back on the island, I stayed as I realized how quiet it was out here. Don't get me wrong, I love my monsters but now that it's getting so crowded ... Who would've thought there'd be a day I'd like to be alone?"
She chuckled. "I know that feeling."
"So how are you doing, Seira?"
She lightly leaned on Michel's knee. "If you mean my wounds, they are nigh gone. If you mean my magic, I just had to seal a criminal and feel tired. If you mean my mind, I'm holding up."
"Is there anything I can do?"
"Yes, you can. Please, play and grant me a few minutes without worrying about politics."
With a nod, he brought the flute to his lips. Seira laid down her head on his leg and wondered whether this little gesture made Michel as nervous as it made her. If it did, he was good at hiding it. She missed the ability to feel his emotions.
She listened for a while, peacefully. The sea magic continued feeling weak around her, but Michel's music had magic of its own that oddly gave her strength. Not just metaphorically, she guessed it was through the earring he'd given her.
She had another gift from another source, namely a phone, which she wanted to crush as soon as it rang. Michel stopped playing.
"Aren't you going to take that?"
"Yes," she said grudgingly. She conjured up the phone, an orange little mobile, and answered.
"Oh, Hanon? Yes, I did notice something odd ... no, I haven't been near a television anytime recently ... no, no human civilization at all."
Michel worriedly looked down at her, she was about to ask him more about what he'd noticed. Just then, Hanon said it.
"Lucia did ... no, no no no ... WHAT?"
· · · · · · ·
Lucia was getting a little impatient. There were so much helicopters, surely they could bring someone over here to greet her formally?
The great wall of water still stood behind her. Perhaps they were frightened by it, though she thought that the song she had sung upon arrival would have made it clear that she came in peace.
She decided to lower it.
When she did so, the helicopters dared to come a little closer and startled circling her. She raised herself in the air on a water tentacle and grabbed the nearest helicopter by freezing water around the lower end. The blades kept spinning and the machine threatened to break the ice, so she froze those too; this took a little more effort. She hoped she wasn't messing up the aquatic magic balance with all this.
That done, she stepped before the window and knocked on it, smiling. The man inside looked terrified, plus he wouldn't be able to hear her with that helmet on.
Oh, right, she had magical microphones. She conjured up her microphone, adjusted it for passing matter without being painfully loud and said, "Hello, I am Lucia, empress of the Seven Seas. I come in peace, please take me to the president."
He mouthed something, and she realized she had no idea how to get sound to come to her. She gestured at the door, and after some hesitation, he stepped out onto a small ice platform that she made.
"So?"
"Eh, lady ... whatever language you're speaking, I don't speak it."
Oops. She was so used to speaking to magical creatures she'd been expecting the translation magic to work for humans as well. She had been speaking Japanese the entire time.
English it was!
"Oh, I'm so sorry! I spent most of my time in the human world speaking Japanese. My apologies. So, I was saying that I come in peace and would like to speak to your leader."
The man blinked, then wiped a hand over his face, mumbling something before finally forming a coherent sentence : "Right ... ehm, eh ... who are you?"
"Like I said, Lucia, the queen of the seven seas. Nice to meet you, may I know your name too?"
"What ... what are you?"
"The queen of the seven seas."
"But ... just ... I mean ... I'm human. What are you?"
"Huh ... I used to be a mermaid, but I think I'm a goddess now. At least, as far as the powers are concerned. So can you take me to the president?"
"If you come in peace, then why did you threaten to flood the city?"
"Oh, it did? It wasn't supposed to look like a tidal wave. I tried making shapes of flowers and dolphins in the waves to make it clear it was peaceful. I guess that wouldn't be too obvious though, if they didn't understand what my song was about. Anyway, I tried phoning people for a normal appointment, but nobody believed me when I said I am the queen of the seven seas, so I decided to make a big entrance."
That, and she was a little afraid she'd skewer the teleportation magic. For that same reason, she accepted a helicopter ride.
The White House was very formal and colorless, Lucia thought. It was better than the palace of the Aqua Regina though, especially if they'd agree to let her touch up the place a little. No algae or mucus or other itty bitty things crawling everywhere.
The president was likewise very formless. He introduced himself as indistinct, for some reason. He even signed his letters with N. Distinct. Some of those letters had fallen to the ground, reminding her a bit of her own chaotic desk. He must have been very surprised to hear about his visitor.
He certainly didn't quite know what to say, so Lucia just cheerfully introduced herself, performed a little magic by letting her regal staff grow coral and then launched into exposition for the president and the staff, which was gathering around. She was offered a chair, but declined it. In all honesty, she was way too excited herself to sit still.
She talked of the nature of magic, of her kingdoms, her idol powers and the hidden magic across the world, nature being destroyed and various other things that randomly came too mind. She was sure she wasn't turned the global mermaid population to foam by sharing this all — she would have noticed the shift in the world's lifeforce — so she just gleefully kept going to her increasingly confused audience.
"See, the former Aqua Regina lost all her power while sealing a dangerous enemy many centuries ago. I've recently been appointed as her successor and now I am here for world peace," Lucia said to conclusion.
"I'd say it's about time, especially after that disaster in India," one of the men muttered.
"Well, I'd love to help make India better! I have the power to control water, but I don't really know how to best use it ... I mean, you have all these weather balloons and stuff, you can tell me where to use my powers, and I'll do it. Really!"
"Given that giant watery wall, I believe you," the indistinct president said.
"You and the Indian government get all the people to safety and give them food and everything, while I restore the lands. I'll need them to be out of the way so I can make a storm to carry the water off and you'll tell me where to put the water best. And then we can go fix the deserts. You'll do the agriculture part and the plans, I'll do the ecosystem. How about it?"
"Queen .. eh, Lucia, please, let us take this slowly. We cannot drum up a rescue operation right now or think about deserts just yet. Our nation is in chaos. The entire world is. Do you realize the panic your appearance has caused?"
The man gestured, a television was wheeled closer and switched on.
Nearly every channel featured a news report on the event. When the water wall was not depicted, it was the opinions of people. The first report of other magical activity came from Australia, where a lungkata had been dragged from its cave and beaten to death. Next was in Russia, where a fight had broken out over an alleged feather of the golden bird. Nessia wasn't in Loch Ness at all, nor a plesiosaur. Just a waterhorse on the shore, a very mortal waterhorse. The police claimed the body, but people kept hunting for the rest.
"What ... why is this happening?
"You don't understand?" one man said, utterly baffled. "Mass paranoia and natural phenomena can no longer be used to explain the unexplainable. Now there's actual mass paranoia. Queen Lucia, your actions have launched a world wide hunt for the supernatural."
Lucia's lower lip started to quiver as the realization sank in. Off course she had heard humans might harm the mermaid kingdom if they ever found out, but she had thought it would just be a few humans out for money, hunting them. She hadn't considered what fear could make ordinary people do. Heck, it still seemed absurd to her. For Lucia, it had always been reality that when she sang to people, the world became better.
The entire room watched her intently. Before she could speak to them, the door burst open. There stood a shirtless, upset Kaito with one of the Panthalassa rods and black suited people flooding in to grab him. Kaito spun around, somehow gathered the lot behind the rod and shoved back towards the door.
"Enough, will you just let me talk?" he shouted. Something white and blurry appeared from behind right then and a few of them men fell. Them gone, Kaito managed to get them out of the door before any guns were fired.
"Oh, he is my husband! Please don't hurt him!" Too late, Kaito already slammed the door shut and spun around to face Lucia.
"What have you done?" He sounded like he spoke to a stranger.
She looked away. "I've ... I guess I made a mistake."
"This is exactly why I didn't want the Panthalassa Clan to go up! One mistake, and they would have caused something like this! I've explained you this countless times!" She was used to Kaito always having a shred of kindness for her, but it wasn't really the first time he'd fallen out against her, nor was it the first time she had been shortsighted. In light of what she'd just seem happen on television, it actually seemed irrelevant that Kaito was angry at her. There were a lot of others with a lot more reason to be angry.
"Yes, you did," she said with a weak smile.
The door burst open again, but Kaito's shirt wrapped around the nearest man's arm and pulled him out again. The entire room just stared, until the president remembered to sign his security to a stand still.
"Magic shirts ... why not?" Lucia heard him say.
"Ehm, Kaito, meet the president! He hasn't told me his name yet, though he is indistinct ... it's kinda funny, I always thought that was a word and not name ... " she trailed off, her eyes on the television again. She was distantly aware of the president and Kaito speaking. The griffin being shredded by a plow was rather distracting.
"Queen Lucia, I will need to address the nation now. Please do us the honor of appearing with me. It is crucial that the world is assured of your good intentions."
"Oh ... off course."
· · · · · · ·
Seira felt something wrong before they reached the end of her stairway. When she stopped, Michel nearly bumped into her.
"Someone took control of the end of my stairs," she whispered.
"Let's go back."
Right then, the stairs collapsed. As they were only a few steps from the bottom, they didn't fall hard. Michel helped Seira stand and they looked around.
The light of Michel's halo fell onto a smooth gray floor, but otherwise it was pitch black. The magic that allowed her to see at the ocean floor didn't work here. Seira rubbed a pained shoulder and took a step closer to Michel.
"Where are we?"
Michel took the halo from his belt and balanced it atop his fingers, pouring his magic in it and lightening up the space around. Seira saw his eyes widen, but had to wait a moment for her own eyes to adapt before she saw it herself.
They were in an underground hall so vast they could not see any walls. Pillars surrounded them at even intervals, their surface carved with ornaments that led up to domed ceilings. It had something of a cathedral or a tower ... not unlike Michel's tower had looked years ago.
"It must be the remnant of one of our old cities," Michel whispered in amazement.
"Are you certain? How can they remain undiscovered for so long, when no one magical is around to attend to it? With all the modern day technology, your old cities should have been discovered."
"Someone probably did, otherwise we'd be in the White House by now. My people used to have some control over the spirit world even before fully moving there, it's not unreasonable that anyone could influence your stairways if they control this place."
"So how are they doing up there?" said someone neither herself nor Michel. Startled, the two turned around and saw a redhead in black leather step from behind a pillar. Her bluehaired sister appeared on the pillar's other side.
Seira relaxed, but only a little, as she recognized the Black Beauty Sisters. She had spent some time with them while locked inside Michel's wings and knew them to have a kinder side. Still, they were mercenaries and had never truly reconsidered that.
"Mimi, Sheshe, what are you doing here?" Michel said, clearly stunned but not suspicious.
"Welcoming you two, obviously!" Mimi said with a smirk.
"Why?"
"Our bosses thought you might like to see a familiar face. We may just have represented our relation with the mermaids a little more rosy than realistic, you see."
"Your bosses?"
Sheshe nodded. "There's plenty of shapeshifters around, but they're usually magical creatures who turn human. We were ordinary but obscure creatures turned into magical ones. You have no idea how happy they are to have agents that can infiltrate almost any place because the magic barriers aren't calculated for Linophryne Densiramus. Now, why don't you two follow us?"
Michel looked at Seira and hesitated.
"Come on, it's no trap. We forgave you for the whole cannibalism thing, you know that. Got no problem with your princess either," Sheshe said. "Now, if you'd have brought a certain little siren along, that's be a different story."
"I guess it won't hurt more than standing here," Seira said. Michel nodded and took her hand, going ahead.
The Sisters led them to a far end of the hall, where they passed into a door and into a brightly lit room. What once had been a solemn ruin had been transformed into something akin to a modern day office. The walls had been repainted and humans muled about carrying boxes, papers or nothing. Some slowed down to look at Michel in wonder, but none seemed too startled by the existence of angels. Nobody stopped or addressed them, save for a few polite greetings.
It was quickly apparent the business wasn't at all in ordinary state, if the coffee stains, anxious looks and lost papers were any indication. The name Lucia was dropped a few times.
They were led to a large office where only one person was, seated behind a desk before a wide but closed window. The back of the rotating chair was towards the door, so Seira only saw a hand. It was the hat she recognized first, it was on a standard near the door.
"Boss, did you order a fish and bird for dinner?"
The man turned around in his rotating chair almost as if he came straight from a corny action movie, the leader of the secret hero organization about to dispatch the protagonist. He certainly had the old looks and smile for it.
"You?" Michel whispered.
It was the old man who had come to applaud him after his battle in the Taj Mahal.
"Yes, me," the man said. "You may call me mister Archon. I am pleased to finally make your acquaintance, Michel and princess Seira. I've heard you two were involved in saving the world once, which means we have a goal in common."
The Sisters walked over to him, Mimi sat on the desk before him while Sheshe leaned on the back of his chair, pointing a flat hand at the man. "Our new boss. Not as pretty as our previous fare, I admit, but he pays much better."
The man chuckled, then said, "I reckon you two must be confused, so let me explain. We are an organization sworn to protect the magical creatures from the human world. At the Taj Mahal, we were about to make a move on the smugglers ourselves when you appeared. I came personally as I was curious since it happens so rarely that someone beats us to it. There aren't many trying, you see."
Inwardly, Seira cringed. It wasn't an accusation to her, but she knew where it fell.
"I see. What else do you know of us?" Michel said.
"He knows what we told him," Sheshe said. "The whole freaky alter ego deal of Michal and her daddy's experiments. That's about it."
"You know about the Amagi family?" Michel asked.
The man nodded. "Off course. Who do you think provides them with bodyguards silent enough to not say a thing about all the supernatural ongoings at their house? Now, I will admit I am curious to your nature, especially since my lovely ladies here are rather vague about the scientific side. However, this will have to wait. Princess Seira, my deepest apologies that we redirected your attempt to teleport to your queen's side. We have set out magic to blocking all such attempts by default. You see, you are not the only ones to attempt to pay the White House a visit right now."
Spinning around again, he opened the blinders on the window behind him with a button on the seat's edge. It gave sight onto an adjacent hall, this one full of magical life. Makeshift walls had been thrown up for the monsters to have some privacy as they waited, a few were detained in corners. Humans walked around them to distribute food and pamphlets, as well as breaking up a few fights.
The old man pointed out various creatures and explained why they were here. Anansi had teleported in to start a nice game of deception. A youkai group from the far east had come to assassinate Lucia before she could spill anything. Bastet wanted to announce herself as empress of the lands, ruling together with her good friend Lucia (Seira knew they had barely met and Bastet had an unsavory tendency to talk about mermaids as fish and of fish as food).
"We're currently working on allowing your staircase to go through our shield. When this occurs, it would greatly help if you bring in the other mermaid princesses. It is of great importance they establish themselves as queens of the oceans, that is, on paper in the human world."
He had a point. Seira took out her phone and managed to reach everyone but Hanon, who was apparently busy with finding in a way of her own. If so, the barrier would probably lead her here.
It was Rina who asked first whether there was any way to undo what Lucia had done, a desperate bid that she probably knew would not work. Seira asked Archon anyway.
The old man smiled bitterly and tiredly said, "How? Our best shield was that few really wanted to believe and even then we were constantly removing evidence. We barely managed to pass up that global monster invasion as mysterious solar rays effects, accused all recordings we couldn't erase as fabrications. But that invasion, who ever led it, didn't exactly leave a lot of corpses. This time, it's the humans who are doing the damage. Even if there would be another global mindswipe spell, they would eventually find out." He leaned his forehead on a hand and closed his eyes. "So many years trying to keep the world at balance. And now, poof, my family's legacy gone."
Seira sighed, she could sympathize there. Sheshe and Mimi couldn't, they just rolled their eyes and looked bored. Michel though seemed rather tensed and was glaring at the floor, for a moment Seira felt glad they hadn't managed to appear right before Lucia. Michel might just have lost his temper at the wrong time.
Herself, she just felt tired and a little bit hopeless. Oh, Lucia, once she had been Seira's protector and teacher, now it seemed Lucia needed a protector against herself.
"We know she caused the disaster in India. I would have thought she would have learned her lesson from that," said Sheshe.
"Maybe she learned the wrong lesson," Mimi said mischievously. She took up a remote and turned on a nearby television. "Let's have a look."
Lucia and the president were giving a speech to calm the word. Seira had never before seen Lucia put the words love and peace into a sentence without looking like a shining beacon of altruism. She looked unusually serious and gloomy, despite a dim little smile.
One channel further, and it was clear it didn't do much. People were still fleeing from the east coast, with was solemnly covered by a somewhat disbelieving and confused reporter. "We urge people to stay at home, our nation is not under attack. Please remain calm."
On another channel, the whole matter was discussed by someone someone in gleeful denial. "We caught some glimpses of what insiders say is her husband. Mermen apparently have a cultural taboo against covering their chest."
"It's going to be a blast when they hear that whole thing with Lucia not even being raised as a princess!" Mimi chirped. "Cause we all know the best way to prepare someone for a job is to prepare them as little as possible, preferably by not telling them they're even supposed to do the job! How's your country doing, Seira?"
"I should get us some of that stuff that that fortune teller of hers was smoking when she decided that ignorance is the best preparation for a hard future," Sheshe said. "Must be fabulous."
"Oh, sister, about that, someone should tell the humans soon that fate exists and can be predicted. Won't it be hilarious to see a whole slew of fake prophets take their chance? Should we?"
The man raised his hands. "Dear ladies, please, let's not make it anymore difficult than it already is."
"Oh, don't worry, old man," Sheshe said, patting him on the shoulder. "But seriously for a moment. You pop up again, Michel, and not too much later Lucia starts screwing up this big?"
"She's been thinking about it for a while ... I ... I may have told her something that sealed her decision."
"Talk about good intentions gone wrong. So what did you tell her?"
Michel averted his face. Seira decided this was a great time to divert the topic.
"Is there anything we can do? What will happen next?" she asked Archon.
"I'm already sending out as much people as possible. Michel is better off staying here, I don't think it would help much of angels are thrown into the mix. Princess Seira, you should be able to start gathering your fellow royalty in about ten minutes."
"Thank you. Where should I gather them?"
"Please do so in the room down the hall. My assistant outdoor will show you. Mimi, Sheshe, please go attend to Ireland."
Seira followed the assistant and Michel followed Seira. Inside the room, Seira conjured up six other dream passages for the rest. She told the assistant they would work two ways, once the others had arrived here, they should descend back up to arrive. Hanon might either be late or already in.
She didn't want to waste more time, so she went ahead herself. Just when she was about to step up the stairs, Michel took her hand.
"May God be with you," he said.
"Thank you," she said, briefly squeezed his hand and left.
As she ran across the stairway, she wondered why of all times he'd said that now. It was his way to encourage her, but it only made her nervous. She could not even keep her own kingdom in one piece, now she had to go stand before so many more eyes. If God was indeed watching, then she hoped he'd at least be more supportive than what she could expect of the human world.
Seira stepped right out of the wall in the central room. She was under scrutiny of security guards at once, but they lowered their guns once they got a better look at her. Apparently, Hippo had joined them and had been handing out photos of any princesses that might be arriving.
She was led to Lucia, who had returned from her speech a while ago. Now she was sitting on a couch, face in her hands. Seira saw tears down her chin. Kneeling before her, she touched Lucia's arm.
"Seira," Lucia said when she looked up, quickly wiping her tears away. "I didn't ... I didn't think this would happen."
Seira had no idea what to say. Lucia was one of those closest to her heart, but what she had done was worthy of banging one's head against the wall in frustration. "It's ... it'll be alright," was all she could bring out, and even that sounded weak and faithless.
"Seira, perhaps you could call —" Kaito said.
"They should be on their way the moment they return to their palaces, where I left the other end of my stairways. Though, we might expect Hanon sooner, I couldn't reach her, so sh—." Barely had she said this, or Hanon fell out of mid air. The sizzle of a fireworks teleportation spell lingered for a moment while a singed Hanon got to her feet.
"Hanon," Lucia said weakly.
"Lucia, what in the world are you doing?"
"I ... I'm failing."
"What the ... No! Don't think like that! I don't know why the heck you did this, but you gotta stand strong now. People will surely accept the magic soon enough, you can make it happen faster. I meant, what are you doing, sitting there? Get up!" She sounded as desperate as Seira felt, albeit far less restrictive on that emotion. "Come on, there's a camera out there, right? Let's sing for the world!"
She looked between Lucia and Seira, but when neither responded, Hanon said, "I can't believe this! You two are just going to hang around here?"
"I don't think I can sing like this," Lucia said in a broken voice. Hearing that and how it resonated with herself, Seira felt like the oceans dried out.
Hanon shook her head. "We can stop this, come on!"
· · · · · · ·
They couldn't stop it.
There were virtually no laws to protect the mystical from violence. Neither world's end had achieved the level of chaos that spread across the globe now. Rampant slaughter and discrimination was exchanged between two deeply rooted world that saw one another as something to be feared.
Countries that refused to establish laws to protect the mystical came into conflict with those who did. Religions staggered or were built. Stocks crashed or skyrocketed over superstition and waves of whimsical numbers, in part due to the sudden belief in fate and enchantments.
Worst was the death. It did not take the highly connected world long to get an idea of what magic worked like, its vulnerabilities and strengths. Humans as a mass, regardless of prior affiliation, now united against the existence of magic. The 30 % of the globe's surface that made up the fractured human world suddenly realized that there was an perfectly united empire that covered the other 70 % of the globe, without them ever having realized its existence. They had something in common now.
Too late for a global memory wipe : the powers that had caused that had been linked to the Ancients itself through the splinters of Michel's dimension. Now, there was no reset button for the greatest error of judgment that Lucia could have made out of the goodness of her heart.
And the old Aqua Regina never said a word.
· · · · · · ·