Ah, the Caspian Sea... It's a LOT bigger than you'd think. Even so, it's still just as inland as you'd think...although there are many channels flowing into it. Each channel seems to be controlled by a different nation.
A long desert coast separates this part of the sea from dry land. And it is VERY dry land. Few ever come out here. And those who do would be unwise to do so without aerial transport.
Here, the cliffs are high...but not too much so. Waves crash up against them. They're stacked atop one another; hence, the local seals use them as steps to get up to certain basking grounds.
These are Caspian seals. Like dogs with fins, they lap up the good life. They're not considered dangerous...alas, both sexes can be rather overprotective of their pups.
Atop a peak, a bunch of bull seals bask. It's hard work, getting up here. But then, they wouldn't know. As strong as they are, you'd expect them to take all distances for granted.
Into their midst, a merman teleports. It's En Sabah Nur. His company only hesitates for a moment...before giving him too much space. They flip and flop downhill, leaving his ex-majesty alone.
En Sabah's got a lot of scars all over his body. They're lycanthropic scars. Apparently, the moon has set over Saladin...and En Sabah must've teleported in his sleep.
En Sabah acknowledges his scars; they hurt like hell. He tries to use his self-molecular control to patch them up; alas, the scars of lycanthropy don't heal easy. It doesn't even seem to make a difference that En Sabah's one of the Externals...
His presence atop the rock attracts the attention of several cows in heat. (Seal cows; not the other thing.) They ascend up to him, and start licking his wounds. Some of them...start licking him in mating-related areas. En Sabah doesn't know if he's ready for this...as better as the scars already feel, because of the cows' care of them...
Out there, that sea sure looks good. En Sabah thinks so. His hide is thirsty for its nourishment. So, he abandons the cows, and starts flipping and flopping downhill, to the bluff.
From each side, several bulls try to broadside En Sabah, as he makes her merman way downhill. They seem to hate him, for having stolen the hearts of their women. Sad thing; that was never En Sabah's intent...although he is semi-pleased that he CAN...
At last, En Sabah barrels down to the bluffs. He plunges over, falls, and splashes down into the ocean's salty water.
Down there, instant therapy accommodates for his lycanthropic scars. It feels MUCH better than the seal cows' licks...as much as En Sabah would hate to insult their hospitality.
Arms spread and tail bobbing up and down, En Sabah takes off, through the sea...like a manta ray. He closes his eyes, grows gills in his neck, and allows the sea's therapy to do its thing.
The farther out he swims, the less visible his lycanthropic scars become. Soon, they've vanished entirely. Sea water might not be a cure for lycanthropy...but naturally, En Sabah would take a heap of THIS over wolfsbane potion any day.
By now, he's lost himself in the sea. If he's not careful, he just might lose himself AT sea. By now, the shore is nowhere to be seen. But of course, being a teleporter has its advantages...as does being an External...as shocked as En Sabah is to find out that Externals are no more immune to the burdens of lycanthropy than humans aren't...
En Sabah doesn't know it yet...but the closer he gets to the center of the sea, the closer he gets to a place underwater; a place that just might be, at first glance, the HQ of Goblet of Death...
Far beneath the sea's surface, the sea gets darker. Along the bottom, the terrain is very hilly. Every here and there, there's a crevice. Those crevices can plummet rather deep into the land...or rather, the badlands beneath the sea.
Here, one tops a hill. And from atop that hill, one is mesmerized by a domed city of merfolk. Or rather, they would be...if the merfolk hadn't bewitched their lovely shining city with many muggle-deterring hexes. Hell, some of these spells are even WIZARD-deterring. This isn't illegal, because even in Turkic wizardry, the merfolk are classified as beasts, rather than beings, under the regulations of the region's DRCMC (i.e. the magic ministry's department of the regulation and control of magical creatures).
As glittering as this mercolony is, it's merely where the following villain was born and raised. He now lives far from this...in the Badlands Beneath the Caspian.
In many ways, these submarine badlands are reminiscent of the Barren Badlands of South Dakota. It's unclear, though, as to what eroded the passages between these small mesas, if not water... But then, they just might be the remnants of an ancient geological flood...
Downwards, towards the badlands, enchanted motorcycles dive. They've been bewitched, by dark merfolk, to travel underwater. Their riders have also cast charms that form a bubble of air around them. The bubbles are shaped like manta rays...and even move like them.
To breathe, some of these dark merfolk have bewitched the areas around their heads, to where a flexible globe of water surrounds it. All merfolk have some capacity to breathe air out of water. Alas, some merfolk depend on water more than others. But thankfully, being a merman has its advantages.
As aesthetic as they seem, the ray-shaped bubbles haven't been conjured for the dark merfolk. They've kidnapped a muggle child...from the British embassy in Ankara.
At the edge of the badlands, there's a huge plain. It's not what it appears. It's got enchantments sewn up all around it.
Upside down, a dark lord among merfolk awaits his acolytes. He wears a wreath of thorns around his head. He wears a harness around his torso; its borne load is both halves of a staff, bonded to his back. Clearly, his guard is down; if it were up, he'd be right-side up...and his staff would be assembled.
Sound waves resound across the badlands. They blow right past the dark lord, like a sonic wind.
He opens his eyes. He reaches out his arm, and summons something with a night charm.
From a small hoard of silver nearby, a flask levitates. Lord Veneris takes it, and gradually rotates until he swims right-side up.
A trio of the underwater motorcycles arrive. One of the dark merfolk riding it shoves some gillyweed down the muggle boy's pharynx. It makes him gag...many times.
Hence, the dark merman hurls the boy through the border of the bubble, submerging him. Once submerged, the poor Briton continues to writhe and gag.
Lord Veneris waits until he's reached homeostasis. Once he's grown fins and gills, he casts some dark magic, and ensnares the boy in conjured bonds. Next, he summons the boy, grabs him by a bond, and holds his silver flask up.
On its own, the lid of the flask unscrews itself, and levitates away. From the flask, a creepy-looking fluid flows, like a cloud, all around. It surrounds the muggle boy, and penetrates his being.
The creepy liquid is wolfsbane potion. Assuming that the boy doesn't OD, it should ease his rise to lycanthrophy, if he were to ever contract a werewolf bite. But of course, Lord Veneris can't guarantee he won't OD. It's a sad thing; most merfolk are natural potioneers...and Lord Veneris is hardly an exception.
At last, the boy's had too much. And now, he's hurled again...this time, by the Dark Lord Veneris...and this time, into the protective enchantments that surround the undersea plain nearby.
Lord Veneris has temporarily weakened part of the wall, to let the boy in. Once it has, the wall of enchantment remakes its own protective nature.
Now, the boy is exposed. His bonds vanish, and he treads water. At first, he doesn't see anything. So clearly, these enchantments don't so much hide anything, as they do act like an invisible wall. But then, why would someone NEED an invisible wall here?
Far in the deep, across the undersea plain, something howls. And its sound waves blow like a sonic storm. The boy shudders, when the storm gets to him, and then rebounds off the wall behind him.
That was no wolf. That was a wereshachi. (That's like a werewolf, only aquatic. They're mostly black, and have orca/seawolf traits.)
Soon, a small pack of them are upon the English boy. Their fangs are bared. And those fangs are a LOT more developed than a muggle orca's teeth...
The boy screams, whirls, and hammers against the wall, begging to be let out. Lord Veneris only smiles, treads water, and watches, as the seawolf pack has their fun with the little muggle boy.
They rip him to pieces, of course...right after playing catch with their food. (Sadly, wereshachis love doing that just as much as muggle orcas do.) There's a small chance that a brood of little wereshachis would regenerate, and rise from the boy's remains... Alas, Lord Veneris is more likely to expect the same thing from a newly-sired vampire.
Naturally, Lord Veneris is upset by the delivery. He'd thought that this boy was strong enough to become a wereshachi. So, he spins around, and murders the delivery boys, with a great flash of green light.
Now, the dark merfolk's corpses float into the shallower parts of the sea...like a prophet rising into the heavens. Alas, these merfolk aren't going to heaven. They were dark magi in life; hence, their souls are MUCH smaller and scarred now, than they were at birth.
At Lord Veneris's telepathic command, a swarm of hagfish rise from a badlands gulley nearby. They chase the corpses down, cover them, and start sucking their blood.
From one of the corpses, the soul of Xian'yao emerges. He's used this recently-murdered merman as a portal into the realm of the Caspian merfolk.
Xian'yao has been betrayed and murdered by the subordinate monks of his order...even so, he still owes his loyalty to the Goblet of Death. The Realm of the Emerald Twilight has endowed his soul with power. Alas, a host body would really bring out his power.
Below, disappointed by the day's failure, Lord Veneris returns to his hideout. It's a dead-end in one of the badlands' canyons. He dives, hits the sandy bottom, and buries himself in a cocoon beneath the sand...as a lot of sea creatures do.
In the dark lord's blindness, the soul of Xian'yao follows him here. To a material eye, Lord Veneris is invisible. Alas, the soul's senses see all, and track all. And the soul of Xian'yao is no young one.
The soul dives, and takes up refuge in the dark lord's body. The dark lord tries to resist...but in vain. The soul of Xian'yao is now very strong. Lord Veneris might not like it...but he has been hijacked...and is now the host body of the soul of Xian'yao.
Thanks to this union, there is now more unity in Goblet of Death...if not brotherhood.