Hello my beautiful mers and humans! It has been a while. It's always a while. *sigh*, I'm sorry! Things are hard right now, and I'm struggling through a very huge case of writer's block. But! I want to share this little ditty of a story before I send you into the depths to read this chapter!
Imagine me, a tired college study watching a Netflix show called Myth and Monsters and loving it because I'm a nerd. And at the end of the episode, as they wrap it up with temptation to come and watch more, a random artwork appears. This is of a creature leagues under the surface, looking like something that crawled out of a chemically infected lake. With the head of a fish, and the body of a human. Covered completely in bloody red scales and its limbs ending with webbed hands and feet with sharp claws. The artist has the creature looming over the view, reaching its clawed hand up through the water as if to strike you. Imagine me, seeing that at roughly 2am and experiencing a huge jolt. Imagine me tapping my feet and barely listening to the last sentence of the episode, and as soon as the next episode is about to start exiting the Netflix app and booting up her Microsoft word.
If you can imagine all that, you can come to understand how this chapter was written so fast in two hours with a day of editing afterwards. This is the first thing I've written in months I actually feel proud of (even though it's gory as all heck and a trigger warning needs to be given for blood and...well, gore?). I'm so glad to share with it and I sincerely hope you enjoy this new twist in our never ending plot. Until next time, stay safe and happy, and remember, review!
Zen did not sleep fitfully under the sea.
While that was always true, it was especially so the few weeks after the Stalking. That's what the village –er, pod called it. The monster would swim back and forth over the village, never consistently. It was always at random points during the day and the night. Its swooping fins shook the water around them so the buildings felt like they would fall down. Almost all of the Vidre crystals were ether a dark green or bright yellow; full of the fear the mers were feeling.
Zen couldn't fault them. The monster was unlike anything they had ever seen, and it was out to get them. The first time it had passed over, nobody had moved. But believing it to be gone, a small troop of mers went outside the village to scout. Only one returned, with a severed arm. The mers had to put aside their distrust of him and contempt of Shirayuki in order for her to try and save her. Zen had helped the best he could, but his main job had been fetching herbs for Shirayuki and when her arms wouldn't respond, he had to follow her instructions. Needless to say, it had been a stressful day.
There were attempts on what to do to handle the beast, but no plan seemed to be working. It didn't respond to the shark repellent magic pearls that mers and most creatures of the sea hated so much. The pod had sprinkled the dust all around the edge of the pod and over ever building, which made Zen sneeze and put Loji on edge. Shirayuki gave no complaints, but the urge to flee was rampant through every mer's blood while that was in effect. Still, the monster circled almost teasingly over the village. It even made a point to dip down so close the roof of some buildings had been rubbed off.
The next plan was to set up a bunch of shiny jewels and gems over by a massive seaweed net. This was used to catch fish sometimes, as fish were naturally curious of anything shiny enough to catch their eye. The monster paid it no heed. The trap was still sitting out cold, waiting for something heavy enough to lower its head close enough for it to spring.
And the last trick had been something Shirayuki had severely advised against. They released a group of poisonous jellyfish into the open ocean. This created a cloud of electric tendrils and murky jelly above the pod's head. That many jellyfish caused the air to crackle and the scales of each mer's tail to itch madly. And all of it was for nothing, as the monster was so armored it swam through the cloud angrily. It was getting zapped, as referenced by the thousand bolts of light erupting around its body, but the monster pushed through and tossed the jellyfish into the depths of the sea, lost to the currents.
The pod was at a loss to what to do. The monster had them all trapped and fear was running rampant through the small niche they called home. Shirayuki was sharing her home with Kihal, the poor scout that had lost her arm. Kihal was very heavily injured and Shirayuki wanted the guard under her eye until she was sure the scout would be safe from infection. Loji was now more serving as a guard to Kihal than to Shirayuki's service animal.
Shirayuki was perhaps the only bright side to all of this, which seemed almost comical to Zen. Every day she recovered more and more movement, even enough so in the mornings she could almost sit up on her own. She kept a level head and seemed to get along great with Kihal. Zen had never heard her snort from laughing so hard before, and he found the noise absolutely endearing.
Because of the lack of sleep, however, Zen was awake when he heard the shriek pierce the water.
He sat straight up, looking out the window. He expected the monster to make a reemergence, but he saw no such thing nor did he hear it. He looked back at Shirayuki and Kihal's sleeping forms, but they had not stirred.
After a moment of consideration, Zen swam upwards from his bed. He swam out the window and looked around cautiously. He didn't want to swim upwards for an aerial view of the pod in case the monster was around, but instead he swam down to Loji. The streets were empty, but Loji had his tail lifted over his head in a menacing way that kind of reminded Zen of a scorpion.
"Lioj." Zen whispered.
The manta looked up at Zen.
"Did you hear that?"
Lioj nodded and looked around.
Zen took a deep breath and forced himself to still except for the gentlest fluttering of his fin to keep him afloat. He closed his eyes and listened. Where was the water moving? This was a trick he had slowly begun to learn somehow. He wasn't sure what it meant or if it was something all mers experienced, or even if it had developed in response to the constant fear of hearing the monster come by. Whichever way, he saw no reason not use it right now.
There was the constant, never too far away swish of the monster's fins as it circled. It must have been miles away, but the monster was always nearby. Zen shivered and tried to focus in to the pod. There was a few swishes of a tail where the nearby mer couldn't sleep and were up and moving around their house. There was the brief movement when a mer would twitch in their sleep. The scream had only seemed to disturbed him. And there, there was a desperate, crazed clawing of the water. The water went in all directions; no creature who was trying to swim was that uncoordinated. This was mad flailing.
Zen opened his eyes. He swam back into the house quietly, stealing the small dagger that Shirayuki had first threatened him with when they had first met just in case. Hopefully she would forgive him for opening her purse, but he thought he needed some kind of protection.
Lioj looked at him, and then lifted off the ground with a gentle twitch of his wings.
"No, you should stay and protect Shirayuki."
Lioj just looked at Zen. When Zen tried to move away, Lioj followed.
Zen looked up worryingly at Shirayuki's home, then decided he didn't have time to argue. "Fine, but let's be quick." With that, Zen flicked his tail and shot off towards the sound. He stayed low, gaining momentum by swinging himself around homes and small formations in the rock.
He had to say if he had to list the pros of being a merman, night vision was definitely one of them. He could see almost everything, just in black in white. The occasional splash of color when a Vidre glowed. He passed over one, and it turned from a relaxed blue to a tightened yellow from his worry. Zen had become excellent at using his tail to the full extent, swinging it left and right and spreading his fin when necessary.
It was because of this that the Prince of Wisteria managed a complete and total halt when he rounded a corner.
It was a horrible, horrible sight. Lioj swam underneath Zen and audibly gasped; which was something Zen did not know manta rays could do.
The water was clouded with what Zen could obviously tell was blood. The cloud curled up and around in a horrible billow, the current lifting it to the open sea. The mer it came from was frozen with her mouth open, her eyes wide and glazed. Her head was tilted back and her throat had been ripped out, bits of her esophagus lifting upwards in the blood cloud. Her skin was uneven and ragged around the hole. Her tail was curled backwards, the fin untouched but where it met her stomach was more tears in her skin.
And the creature that had caused the damage was still there. It had been the crazed motions of the creature ripping the flesh from her body that Zen had felt. The monster was almost as horrifying as the one currently causing the Stalking. As it paused in its molestation and destruction, it leaned its head forward through the blood to see Zen.
The face was one of a fish. With the wide, pure black eyes and the lipless, circular mouth, the lower lip opening and closing as if it was sucking in the blood. But at the head was where the similarities to the fish ended. It had two arms, and two legs. Its feet had three huge toes stretching down and connected by webs, with wicked nails looking more like talons at the end of each. Its hands were like a more horrible version of Zen's; scaly and connected by webbing with those talon like nails as well. It was small, smaller than Zen. Maybe about the size of a monkey. It had extra fins all around its body, on its forearms, its back, its thighs and the sides of its head. Zen could clearly see the huge gills looking like jagged cuts just in front of the fins.
The monster paused when it stared at Zen, then pulled its lips in. It opened them again to something different; somehow it had flicked its mouth into a maniac grin with the teeth of a shark, blood stains included.
"What are you?!" Zen demanded, holding Shirayuki's knife at the ready. He remembered his underwater lessons from Sanjay, one of the mers willing to talk to Shirayuki and him and desperately wished he had more.
The creature pulled itself over the poor mer's body. As it moved closer towards Zen, it landed its back legs on the mers body. It scrabbled desperately, adding to the plumage of blood and tearing so much into the mer Zen thought he might be sick.
Then it jumped down and touched the ground, meeting Lioj's eyes. It kept its maniac grin as it tilted its head left and right.
For Lioj's part, the manta barely flinched. Zen heard his tail sweeping through the water menacingly.
Zen's tail fluttered nervously and he leveled himself out onto his stomach. This was a good way to start a fight, as most sea creatures usually looked at this as a sign that they were about to charge. But Zen wouldn't mind killing the creature.
Suddenly, the creature pressed its talons into the mer above it. It pushed her upwards, through the blood and into the open ocean.
Zen heard the monster coming before he saw it.
It rumbled the entire pod as it swum so low and so fast. Zen ducked in instinct. His hair all parted over to one side of his head and he was thrown into another building. Lioj was thrown on top of him and the Prince huffed, his gills flaring. When he looked up, the monster was gone again. So was the body of the destroyed mer.
Lioj moved off Zen and Zen swam back into the middle of the isle, shocked and shaken.
Zen looked down at the creature, who looked to be doing something along the lines of giggling, holding its hands over its disgusting mouth and shaking. "You're feeding it mers." Zen realized with horror.
Lioj growled and flicked his tail up, and Zen snapped to attention just as the creature lunged for him.
It grabbed onto his arm, digging in its claws. Zen's blood rolled up into the water, and Zen gasped in pain. He swam down and slammed the creature into the ground as hard as he could. The creature's eyes rolled, and Zen wasted no time in grabbing the dagger with his free hand, and stabbing the creature in the chest. The creature gurgled and flailed wildly, but Zen had him pinned to the ground. The creature made a mess of his arm, ripping at his flesh in a wild and desperate attempt to get Zen back.
Zen gritted his teeth against the searing pain, and realized his mistake. He cursed his human instincts as he ripped the dagger free, causing the monster to scream and once again dig into his arm. He felt his flesh get torn and had to let go of the creature with a huge gasp and an amount of cursing he was sure the sailors would have been proud of him for. The creature lunged for him, and Zen swiftly swam in a sharp circle. He dodged the creature's mad lunging and slashed with his knife, cutting cleanly through the gills on the monsters head.
The monster sagged and began to float upwards through the water, dead.
Zen looked at Lioj, who swam up to him and fluttered his wings in concern. "I know." Zen groaned. He looked down at his arm. He could still move his fingers and wrist, but it burned like someone had poured lava into his bones. Plumes of blood were floating away with his ruined skin like smoke from a tea kettle. "Lioj, get that thing's body. No one will believe me otherwise."
Lioj turned to the monster, which had already floated up over the entire village. As Lioj started to flick his wings, the water shifted again and Zen was thrown into another wall.
The monster swam past again, and Zen let out both a cry of agony and frustration, as his arm didn't like being pulled on and he knew that when he looked up, the body would be gone.
"Let me get this straight." Kihal said, watching as Shirayuki wrapped Zen's arm in seaweed bandages. They were working by the light of a multicolored Vidre. It was pink and red near Zen and Shirayuki, with taints of yellow rushing through the surface like coloring, and green near Kihal. Kihal was sitting on an opposite counter, her tail flicking to keep her balance. With a huge chunk of her body taken from her, she was still adjusting. "Not only is there the Stalking, there was a small creature who ripped a mer bloody and then gave it to the monster to eat?"
"Yes." Zen winced as Shirayuki pulled tight over a particularly tender spot, pressing the ointment into his flesh.
"And you killed it, but then the monster ate it again? Which is why we all felt it come over the pod twice?" Kihal continued.
"Yes, Kihal. Do you think I'm lying? Why on Earth would I make up a story like that?"
Kihal thought. "I don't think your lying. I think that this is too much for it to be real."
Shirayuki stiffened and stopped for a moment.
Zen held her shoulder with his good arm. "Are you alright?"
"It's tightening on me, give me a moment." Shirayuki murmured, shaking her head.
"Shirayuki, let me help." Kihal got up, but Shirayuki shook her head more firmly.
"Kihal, thank you, but I can do this." Shirayuki took a deep breath, and continued to wrap. Her motions were a little slower this time however. "As for your story Zen, I've never seen cuts like these before. It's like you rubbed yourself on the teeth of a shark, which I know you're just barely smart enough to avoid doing."
Kihal snorted into her hand.
"Hey." Zen said with warning, but he smiled at the joke none the less. He appreciated some light hearted-ness after what he had just witnessed.
Shirauyki smiled at him a little wearily.
Zen stared at her eyes, smiling back.
Shirayuki then blinked, and turned back to wrapping his arm. She finished off the wrap and pushed herself upwards. "Kihal, can you pass me one of the slings?"
Kihal moved and handed her the sling.
Shirayuki lifted her hands up and Zen willingly dipped his head through the sling. It was made out of the same material most of the mers clothing was from and settled comfortably on the back of his neck. Shirayuki gently guided his now almost immobile arm into the sling. Once it was in, she nearly fell over trying to back away.
Kihal caught her, flicking her tail desperately to keep them both afloat. Zen jumped off the table and held Shirayuki up on the other side with his good arm.
Shirayuki snorted. "I find it a little ridiculous that neither of you have both of your arms now, and I can barely move mine."
They all laughed a little, though it was muted.
"We need to tell the pod about the little creature. I don't know who was killed tonight, but-"
"I'll come too." Kihal offered.
Shirayuki shook her head. "Kihal, you can't be moving much. A trip to the Elder would not be good for you. Please, stay here and rest."
Kihal absolutely pouted, sticking her lower lip out. "But I-"
"Will be better for it if you listen to your doctor." Shirayuki finished. She turned and whistled, and Lioj poked his head through the door. "Lioj, take me and Zen to the elders. Kihal, stay."
Kihal huffed and let Shirayuki go, pushing her weight onto Zen so much so that Shirayuki ended up with her head not an inch from his. Zen felt his heartbeat skip, but he pushed it away and pulled Shirayuki around the table in the kitchen and to the front door, awkwardly putting her on top of Lioj so she could scoot into her position on his back.
"We'll see you later. Kihal, please stay inside tonight." Zen asked the hurt scout.
Kihal, still pouting, nodded. "May the Sea go with you."
Zen smiled and swam around to sit next to Shirayuki. Lioj closed the door with his flipper and took off quickly down to the Elder Building.
The Elder was of course sleeping, and he was not pleased to be awoken so suddenly.
Shirayuki and Zen sat on their tails, fins resting flat on the stone behind them. The Elder Building was a small, temple looking cave carved into the bedrock around the pod. During some of the scarier moments of the Stalking, the young and the older mers were told to stay in here. It had ancient looking columns carved with depictions of the mers history. Basic things, Shirayuki told Zen, but the discovery of magic underwater didn't seem basic to Zen.
There was one hieroglyph that made Zen wince however. Crudely carved mers being tossed into the sea from humans wielding weapons and fire. Zen could guess as to what that was, but he had to remind himself it wasn't his fault. He didn't cause the banishment of the mers to the sea or the raze of Atlantis.
But your Kingdom did. A voice nagged at him.
Zen shook his head to clear it.
"Are you alright?" Shirayuki asked him. The room was silent while the two guards went to wake the Elder. "Is your arm hurting?"
His arm did hurt, but he shook his head. "Nothing, don't worry."
The Elder swam out then. He was a frail looking merman. His tail was turned almost completely silver and he had a beard going nearly down to his stomach. His head was bald and his eyes were wide and glassy. He blinked a few times at Shirayuki and Zen as he swam to his chair in the middle of the room. "I hope this a proper emergency." He muttered, his voice ringing low across the room.
Zen had met the Elder once before, upon his first arrival into the pod. Shirayuki had introduced him and told him almost everything, except for the fact that Zen was the Prince of Clarines. Instead, they said he was human now turned mer by order of the Sea. The Elder didn't question that anymore. From Zen's impressions, the Elder didn't seem phased by anything so long as it didn't put the pod in danger. So, Zen wasn't sure the Elder knew what to think of him. Which made this conversation very hard. "It is, Elder." Zen assured.
The Elder settled into his chair with a face of mild discomfort. Zen felt bad for having to had wake him from his slumber. "Oh? Then do tell."
Lioj had to wait outside, and Zen could tell Shirayuki was having trouble keeping her fin flat against the ground as she spoke. "Did you hear the monster sweep over the pod twice just now?"
"I was sleeping, and the currents do not affect me in my chamber. Was anyone hurt?" This had the Elder's attention, at least.
Zen broke in. "Unfortunately yes, Elder. One mer was killed. I cannot say I recognized her." He paused, expecting the Elder to want more from him right here. But the Elder remained stoic, so Zen pressed on. "I heard her shriek, and went to see with Lioj what it was. What I found…" Zen described the scene he walked into, and how the little creature had fed the monster the mer's body. How it had injured his arm, and how the monster ate its body.
"Do you believe him, Elder?" Shirayuki prodded. The Elder had sat in silence for a moment too long after Zen's story to make the Prince think that the Elder had bought his story.
The Elder took a deep, rattling breath through his gills. "I have heard legends of the monsters that used to haunt the oceans. When I was a young boy, my grandmother told them to me. Your story brings up an old memory of a myth." He held his hands together on top of his tail. "You are describing a Xerturt."
Zen wasn't sure he heard the name right. "Xer-Ker-Xerturt?" He tried.
Shirayuki nodded at him and wrung her hands. "I haven't heard of these Xerturts ether, Elder."
The Elder groaned slightly. "I believed them only to be a myth." He took another deep breath. "Xerturts are vicious creatures that serve the mighty in order to survive. There is always more than one around, and if they are helping this monster then may the Sea help us."
Shirayuki and Zen exchanged a glance. "There are always more?"
The Elder met their gaze with a deadly serious gaze that made even Zen shiver. The Elder must have been a terrifying warrior in his youth. "Always."