Hello! Guess who procrastinated enough homework to work this chapter out? I DID! Muahahahahahahahahaha MY GPA IS DROPPING MUWAHAHAHAHAHA. Sorry, lol. It really is dropping but it's not because of this. Anyways, things heat up again in this chapter. It's a little bit long, and it's definitely taken a while to write. I hope you enjoy it, happy spring! Remember, review!
"I'm going out again tonight." Zen said over his measly dinner.
Shirayuki let her krill go in disbelief. It floated lifelessly in the water. She stared at the Prince of Wisteria in shock. "Again?" She asked in English.
Zen avoided her eyes. The blue in his irises had gone from azure to stormy, with bags underneath them. "Yes."
Every day since the first attack of the Xerturts, mers had to go outside and defend their homes and themselves against the vile creatures. Still, no matter how many they seemed to kill, the Xerturts just kept coming. Shirayuki had to give up the bottom floor of her home for all the wounds she patched up from the Xerturts. They clawed away at every mer they could, regardless of who it was. They went after anyone who was alone. Since recently the mers had always been in groups, they had been getting braver. They struck at the young ones, the sea creatures mers kept as pets and companions, and worst of all: the men ready to defend them. They worked so well with the monster that swept back and forth over the village, so much so that a few buildings had been knocked over just from the force of the monsters might as it swept by.
"Zen, you've gone out every night. Let someone else take over." Shirayuki sighed.
The Prince seemed desperate to help the pod in any way he could. He had barely slept the last few days, and was never without the sword he had been given by the Elder to fight off the Xerturts. Even now, it floated in the water in his arms reach just behind him. "There just aren't enough mers, Shirayuki." He responded numbly.
Loji made a small sighing noise from underneath them. The manta ray had been unable to leave the top room for a while, and since he couldn't leave the room, neither could Shirayuki. Not that he really needed to. Shirayuki had managed to move her tail enough to propel her downstairs where she could treat those who had been injured. Almost full recovery of her arms meant she wasn't able to work with all the vigor as she usually took her work, but it was enough that she could instruct other who could move to help. This included Kihal, who was learning how to navigate life without her left arm.
"You're going to just end up hurt at this rate." Shirayuki insisted. She grabbed her krill and shoved it in her mouth angrily. Food was running low in the pod. They couldn't leave their home to go hunting so long as that monster was around. This also meant Shirayuki was almost out of seaweed to wrap. She was getting desperate, as most of the wounds the Xerturts left were flesh wounds.
"We're a prime target for the Xerturts." Zen persisted. "They target this building every night because of all the hurt."
"I'm very aware of that." Shirayuki's fin twitched and she winced. "But you swimming until your scales fall off won't help."
Zen opened his mouth, when Kihal slammed her tail on the ground. "Enough of your weird secret language!"
Both Shirayuki and Zen closed their mouths and leaned back. Zen stuffed his mouth with krill.
Kihal took a deep breath. "I'm going to assume you were fighting over whether or not Zen goes out tonight."
"It doesn't matter. I'm going." Zen lifted off the ground as he spoke, looking out the window.
Far away, Shirayuki heard the swish of the monster as it came for another sweep of the pod. She tried to lift off the ground as well, but she couldn't sustain herself and sank back down. To make matters worse, Zen swam over to her and grabbed her elbows, gently lifting her. She gripped his forearms tightly, feeling how taught his muscles were. She glared into his eyes. She didn't think she would miss any shade of blue; living in the sea meant that blue was the all-encompassing color. But the dimmed color in Zen's eyes made her sad."Zen, you can't do this. You don't have their kind of energy right now. Stay and help me heal those who have already been hurt."
"Tonight's my last night I'm going, I promise." Zen tried to reason.
Kihal tensed. "Here it comes."
Sure enough, the house shook and the Vidre turned to a scared yellow lighting. Shirayuki winced and saw Kihal lean into Loji with clenched teeth. She worried for her the most, as she was petty sure Kihal had some PTSD from the battle with the monster. But as she was looking, she suddenly realized Zen had wrapped his arms around her.
She blinked and whispered into the water; "Zen?"
"Just one more night." He whispered back. "I promise." He let her go as the shaking stopped.
Shirayuki looked out apprehensively as Zen donned his sword and swam outside into the dark water. As soon as he was outside and out of sight, she took a deep breath. The patient she was working on looked at her. "Something wrong?"
She blinked at him. "Nothing you need to worry about now. Do you think you can help Kihal wrap some bandages for me again tonight? Your wound is healing well."
"Of course. I'll help in whatever way I can." He nodded.
"Thank you." Once he swam off, Shirayuki managed to rise. Her movements were stiff and far from graceful, but she relied on the water the best she could to swim upstairs. She landed on the ground by the small hole with a small grunt and found Lioj ready for her with her purse. "Oh, thank you Lioj. You're a lifesaver." She grabbed it from his mouth and he slipped under her, lifting her into a sitting position by fanning the water around her, then giving her something to support her back on. She reached in and grabbed the clam holding her magic pearls.
She opened the clam and looked through her pearls. She had three white ones, two red, three yellow, and one black. She grabbed a white one and closed her clam, letting it sink slowly through the water. Then she grabbed her knife and took a deep breath. She hadn't been able to cast a proper magic spell since her electrocution, but she had to try.
Lioj moaned at her warningly.
"I'm not letting him kill himself just so he can be a hero." Shirayuki hissed. She took a few more deep breaths, then crushed the pearl in her fist. She felt the magic tingle at her fingers, caressing against her skin as if it was trying to get out. To me, please. I need help. Zen needs help. She thought desperately.
The magic stilled, and she took her chance. She tossed the dagger into the water and opened her fist, letting the magic dust swirl around. It glowed faintly and cast a shadow on Lioj's face. She took a deep breath, and blew the dust towards the dagger. "Defend this place from the Xerturts, and defend Zen from them as well." She hadn't had to actually speak her order to white pearls in the longest time, and yet here she was.
The dust swirled around the dagger, disappearing into it. For a moment, it didn't seem like anything else was going to happen, when the dagger suddenly twirled by itself. With précises movements it charged out the window and into the dark of night with barely a sound.
Shirayuki grinned to herself, then suddenly felt very faint. She looked at Lioj worriedly. "I need to get back to my bed."
Lioj wrapped his fin around her and flew towards one of the seaweed beds she had made. She only realized when he set her down that she was in Zen's mattress, but she didn't have time to correct Lioj before the exhaustion grabbed her like the jaws of that monster. The magic spell took so much out of her she didn't have to give, but still she fought desperately against the sleep spell her body was forcing over her. She hated sleeping at night, when fights against the Xerturts happened just outside her window. They couldn't get in, the house enchantments made sure of that, however that wouldn't protect Zen.
And could one dagger really do that much damage?
Lioj, sensing her anxiety, gently slid up the bed until he had a wing over her like a blanket. He kept his head perked up, and Shirayuki felt she could rest easier knowing he was there.
Her body grabbed her consciousness and yanked her into darkness.
In her dream, her head broke a still surface into air. She could see her breath, which was something new. But it rolled out of her mouth as steam, slipping straight into the air only to disappear a just a little bit away. She looked around. She was swimming in cold water and she could see Above Surface a little bit away. The land was covered in ice and completely white. Shirayuki had to stare at it for a while, trying to think what it was. Then she remembered: snow. She had only heard rumors of it from travelers from the North and South.
"Shirayuki." A voice said. Shirayuki turned and found herself staring at a snow covered iceberg floating by. On the iceberg was a beautiful mermaid. Her tail was a million colors, all laced with gold. Her skin was dark and her hair flowed out in beautiful ringlets down into the sea, covering the ice chunk. Her hair was the color of the waves at sunset. White and orange and overall blue, yet somehow managing to match. She had a beautiful moonstone on her forehead and was bare besides jewelry around her wrists and around her neck.
"Hello?" Shirayuki responded unsure. She moved a little closer, and with a jolt realized she could move freely again. "Oh my goodness." She sighed in relief. Happily, she ducked her head under the cold water and pushed herself up and completely out of the water, curling and diving back into the sea like a dolphin. She laughed as the bubbles tickled her skin, then swam up again and spun like a seal.
"I am sorry I couldn't stop the eels in time." The woman said, interrupting Shirayuki's twirl of joy.
"O-Oh." Shirayuki shook herself from her high. She looked at the mermaid again. "Who are you?"
The mermaid smiled and opened her palms. "I am the Sea. This was my domain thousands of years ago."
Shirayuki looked around again. While beautiful, it was pristine and dead. Everywhere was cold and harsh, and the sky seemed like a cruel mockery to the white and blue world. Nothing moved, and even the water Shirayuki had displaced stopped quickly. Shirayuki could feel no currents pushing against her scales, and even when she reached with her senses; the closest current was leagues below her. "Oh." She said again, not sure how to respond. "Am I dreaming?"
The Sea shrugged, causing a ripple to run through her hair. "I suppose so."
"Then…why am I here?" Shirayuki looked up at the mermaid.
"Because I have to explain myself to you." The Sea took a deep breath. "We do not have much time. Your mind needs to rest just like your body after using magic like that."
Shirayuki felt the urge to defend herself, but she swallowed her words and waited.
The Sea looked out over the landscape. "It has been many centuries since I've see this place."
"Do you miss it?" Shirayuki asked, wondering how she could miss such a cold world.
The Sea hesitated. "Sometimes. But times are changing, and if I am ever to change with it, I need your help."
Shirayuki had asked Zen to explain his meeting with the Sea at least two times. She was still having a hard time believing it. But now, as she spoke with the Sea as well, it seemed more realistic. "Zen said you needed both of us." Shirayuki managed. "And…And he said you're making me human." Shirayuki wanted to cry suddenly. Just the thought was so awful to her…how would she live? Oxygen was toxicity, feet were disgusting, and humans themselves were horrible.
The Sea closed her eyes and bit her lip, looking like she wanted to cry as well. "If only there was another fate, my dear child. But understand that if you or Zen were separated by species once more you both would suffer from the sickness again."
Shirayuki groaned and let herself sink under the flat surface. "I can't do this."
"Shirayuki, you will return to me."
Shirayuki popped her head back out of the water and angrily flicked her hair away from her face. "I don't want to have to leave in the first place." She snapped.
"Nor do I want you to go." The Sea took a deep breath. "When you are fully healed, Obi will take you and the Prince to the Tides. He will give you further instructions there. I am sorry, Shirayuki."
Shirayuki had nothing to say to that. Well, actually she did. But they mostly consisted of arguments and swimming to the bottom of the ocean to hide. But instead, she floated there in silence until the Sea spoke again.
"I understand you are being hunted." The Sea's voice lost all Her sympathy and instead turned hard like the stones She shaped with her waves. "I have sent you my Sharkmen, but they will not arrive until tomorrow. And I fear tonight is the night where my Liopleurodon will lose it's patience."
"You're what?" Shirayuki asked. She had gotten very hopeful when the Sea began talking, but as she continued her heart dropped into her stomach with fear.
"Liopleurodon. It is the massive creature that is eating your pod." The Sea sighed. "How I have forgotten their power. They have the ability to resist me, to stop my magic and override my control over them. I cannot touch them from afar." The Sea raised her hand and began to curl her fingers. She grimaced, her face turning hard and stony. Shirayuki felt a shiver of fear crawl up her spine, the Sea's eyes were suddenly black and inky. Half way into making a fist, her fingers stopped. The Sea struggled, clenching her teeth. Her lips opened in a snarl, showing how her teeth changed from gleaming white and perfect to the teeth of a shark. Her hair darkened as well, changing from the beauty of a wave at sunset to a deep gray.
Shirayuki found her tail propelling her backwards and away from the terrifying sight, when all of a sudden the Sea gave up on her fist. With a gasp or a sigh, she straightened her fingers and relaxed her body. Her teeth changed back, her eyes were back to the kaleidoscope of cool colors. Her hair was back to the color of a wave. "Even now, it resists." The Sea looked at Shirayuki. "I have frightened you, I am sorry."
Shirayuki shook her head. "What about those horrible things? The Xerturts?"
"Another set of creatures that I failed. They breed so fast, and they only search for blood. I didn't even realize they were freed."
"Who is freeing them?" Shirayuki asked.
The Sea sighed. "I keep my failed attempts in only the darkest, coldest parts of myself. They live in places like this, the last remnants of my original world. They are not able to survive in the warmth. However, a magic I've never seen before has cursed them and made them able to adapt. I do not know who cast these spells. I cannot see them. The magic must have come from the land."
Shirayuki pursed her lips. "Maybe Zen will have some ideas. I've never heard of magic on land from him before." But then again, I don't know all that much, Shirayuki thought to herself.
The Sea shook her head sadly. "Our time runs short. Listen to me. I need to protect you on land. I find no better way to do this than to give you the Aigua. Use it wisely."
The Sea's voice warbled and Shirayuki blinked, not sure if she had heard that last sentence correctly. The Sea continued before she could ask, however. "I said this to Zen, and I will say it to you." She jumped off the rock, her hair flying gracefully in the wind. Shirayuki expected her to splash into the water, but instead she stayed suspended in mid air. Her hands grasped Shirayuki's cheeks gently and she pressed her forehead against Shirayuki's. "Do not let the past control the future." She kissed Shirayuki on the nose, and Shirayuki felt her body freeze as if she was being electrocuted again. Her eyes closed and she completely blacked out, falling into absolute nothingness.
Zen was tense, waiting with his hands wrapped around the hilt of the sword. The four other mers he was on guard with tonight all stood at attention. Zen was hovering just in front of the doorway, his senses extended to feel any motion in the water.
As always, the far away but consistent swooping of the monster as it circled – never far away. There was the motion in the building, Zen had gotten so used to every mer put in the small building he could pick out Kihal's motions just with a single motion from her. Same with Shirayuki, but it seemed like she was sleeping at the moment. Good. She needed her rest.
So did Zen, but he couldn't fall asleep without having that nightmare.
The nightmare plagued him every single night, from the moment he fell asleep to the moment he woke up with a jolt in bed, gasping and choking on water as he tried to breathe through his mouth. He would fall back asleep, and again the nightmare would plague him.
Zen shuddered just thinking about it.
In his nightmare, he opened his eyes in the middle of a fall from the plank of a ship. He would sink miles below the surface, completely human and with the pressure building between his eyes. He'd turn and find himself face to face with the monster. It wouldn't move, it would just stare at him with strangely human eyes.
"YOU WILL NOT INTERFERE." It would say, booming and so loud that Zen's heartbeat stuttered in his chest. "IF THE OCEAN WILL NOT BE YOUR GRAVE, THEN THE LAND WILL BE. CLARINES WILL SINK LIKE ATLANTIS DID, BUT THERE WILL BE NOWHERE FOR YOU TO RUN TO."
Zen would try to respond, but his mouth would inhale water. His lungs would fill and he would wake up as the monster opened its jaws and swallowed him whole.
Zen shuddered and shook his head. He ran his hands through his course hair and stretched. He listened again. Still nothing unusual.
Then someone shouted out. "Over here!"
Zen swam up to the top of the building and looked to where a merman pointed with his sword.
"I sense a whole lot of them coming that way." The merman said.
Zen readied his weapon alongside his companions for the night. As always, he felt frustration at how good they were with their weapons under the sea. He felt like a fish out of water, and he had to keep stopping himself for going for a slash, changing it last second to a stabbing motion as he had been taught.
The Xerturst came into his sensory radar. He stiffened. "There's so many."
"This will not be easy." Another mer agreed.
Zen tested his muscles. He was pushing himself already, he wasn't sure he could handle all the Xerturts coming right now. But he couldn't back down. He steadied his breathing and mentally prepped himself for battle.
That's when he sensed something else. "Oh no." He hissed. He turned around and sure enough, when he extended his palm, he felt more. "There's another whole group heading over this way. We need more mers."
The mers split up, him and a girl on one side, the other duo facing the original threat. Zen could see by the twitches in their tails no one thought this was a battle they could win. "There are no other mers." His partner muttered.
Zen cursed. He braced himself.
Sure enough, the Xerturts swam at them. There were at least twenty on each group, and they flanked the building. Xerturts weren't silent, but their war cries were unnervingly soft. They gurgled and groaned, sounding like a chorus of tortured souls. They swam like frogs, which propelled them in odd synchronicity.
So of course, Zen's body failed him at that moment.
Zen felt something like an electric zap grab him by the spine. He yelped and straightened, his sword dropping out of his hands. His fin froze, and he dropped like a stone.
"Zen!" His partners shouted. They turned away and knelt near him, touching his shoulders. His partner grabbed his face and made him look at her, but he couldn't feel her touch. His breath became ragged.
THE LAND WILL BE YOUR GRAVE.
Zen whimpered as the voice from his dreams echoed in his head, his fingers twitching.
"They're coming. Leave him!"
His partner pursed her lips then rose, taking his sword from the water and holding them both, a determined look in her eyes.
CHOOSE.
Zen flinched again. This voice was not from the monster, it sounded like the Sea's.
TAKE UP MY SHIELD.
Zen's body jerked again, but nothing else happened.
The Xerturts descended upon them, several diving straight for Zen.
Zen's gills flared in such panic it hurt.
Suddenly, just as one was about to grab him by the throat, a knife appeared out of nowhere. It stabbed itself into the creature's gills, then pulled itself free. Blood clotted the water as the Xerturt drifted downwards, immediately killed.
"What in the name of the Sea is that?!" One of Zen's partners yelled. Then the real battle begin. Zen heard the squeal of Xerturts, heard the grunts of his companions as they defended the building. But his eyes stayed locked on the knife, which twirled itself through the air before slicing through the oncoming Xeturts. It slashed, stabbed, and moved as if an invisible mer was wielding it with the mastery of years of training. As if the heaviness of the water didn't matter.
It never left Zen's side, so when there was a brief lapse in the attack of Xerturts, Zen looked at the handle and realized with another jolt through his body that this was Shirayuki's knife. She must have enchanted it.
A smile curled up at his lips, then he winced and rolled over in pain – nearly onto a Xerturt.
TAKE IT!
Zen's eyes flew open and glowed a sharp, sky blue.
Shirayuki's eyes flew open and glowed a spiky, hard green.