"So, you're a female who's lost her mate," Ecco reiterated back, "and you are a kind of orca known as a Transient, which means you like hunting other singers as well as the occasional shark. Am I right?" The large orca nodded her head slowly in agreement. She had eyes that were as black as the night sky in colour, but unlike those of the Great White Sharks, they had emotion in them. This creature was full of sadness, remorse and loneliness. In spite of the size difference and this new knowledge, Ecco could sense this predator was not going to harm him. They swam slowly through the gloom, trying to understand how they had come to be in one another's company.
"I am known as Cariu," the orca sang, "I was here with my mate not long ago, but we got separated after being attacked by a terrible creature called Ligalotean. She said something about wanting us to join with her, otherwise she'd kill us. My mate tried desperately to take her down, but none of his attacks hurt the beast. She wounded him terribly, tearing a chunk from his dorsal fin and ripping one of his eyes out. We decided in the end to confuse the monster by separating and one of us distracted Ligalotean while the other sped to freedom. Okura, the hard-headed brute he is, took it upon himself to keep her busy while I got away. I've been wandering the seas every since, hoping against hope he's all right. I'm just so lost without him!" Ecco was at a complete loss when he saw the larger singer start to shed tears from her eyes. He gently reached out with one of his pectoral fins and rubbed it against her enormous one in an attempt to comfort the female. He then swept the area with his sonar to locate any fish nearby. Spotting a school of small yellow fish just behind the next ice floe, Ecco sped over and began driving them out into the open with his song. Catching onto the dolphin's plan, Cariu sped forward and snapped up several of the fish present in one bite. This seemed to calm the orca and Ecco was thankful that she had stopped crying at least. Ancient songs of wisdom began to fill the dolphin's ears and they made his heart soar within his chest. Wanting to confirm his suspicions, he began combing the area with sonar once more and was amazed to pick up a shape so big his sonar didn't capture it all. Sensing this presence wouldn't bring him harm, he swam to where it was drifting with Cariu keeping pace alongside. There was a long tunnel with beautiful white ice walls, with no trace of sharks or the bizarre crab-like creatures. This was truly a place of peace. After swimming a good way along the tunnel, Ecco came face to face with one of the noblest creatures in the ocean. In his short life, the bottlenose had only encountered one other creature such a great size.
"Big Blue, I have travelled far to reach you," he sang while dipping his head in a bow, "I am here to seek your counsel about the monster known as Ligalotean. I was advised to come to you in search for an answer as to how this beast can be destroyed. This orca has suffered greatly at the jaws of the monster and I want to avenge her pain by bringing this nemesis to her death." The blue whale swam over so one of his gigantic eyes was level with Ecco's head. The orb cast a glance over at the orca before returning to the dolphin, appearing to be deep in thought. It was some time before the giant responded to Ecco and when his song rang out, it shook through his body and that of Cariu.
"Yes, young Ecco I have heard of your journey here," the song was old and wise, "many singers have sang of your brave exploits with your companion, the Irrawady dolphin called Sarastro. How you both escaped the jaws of Ligalotean, and then made friends with a resident orca before taking on a school of Great White Sharks by yourselves. The matriarch of the Northern Humpback pod, Waverider, sang her praises of you and your bravery in getting here. I shall impart what I can to you, young singer, before my time in this sea is over. From what I know, there is only one alive who knows the true origins of Ligalotean and she herself is just finding her fins in our time. The great Delphineus himself came to me in dreams to tell me this, he too informed me of your journey here. He instructed me to tell the bottlenose singer bearing his crest of a place where the only weapon capable of ridding the world of this threat lies. You must travel to where the salt water of the seas meets with the fresh water of the rivers. A very ancient yet powerful order of singers live in the fresh waters and they safeguard the device. However, to gain possession of this weapon, you must also strike an alliance with one of the beaked whales who swim a solitary life in deeper water. The great Delphineus has decreed only when the three sides of the triangle are united shall the singer bearing his crest be able to wield the greatest of cetacean treasures." Ecco waited a while before responding, letting the words of the blue whale sink into his mind. His markings were no mere accident, he had been chosen before birth by the God of the cetaceans to be his crusader. With only an orca by his side, the young bottlenose was expected to once more travel across open waters in order to reach a place where a river met the sea.
"What about this creature who knows of Ligalotean's past?" his questions sang loud and clear, "where does he or she swim now? Who are the other two singers whom I must bring together to unlock this weapon you sing of?" The mighty blue whale appeared to be weakening severely and Ecco noticed, although there was an air pocket within the cavern, the mighty singer did not once surface for air. The humungous bulk of the animal began to spasm with what the young dolphin knew to be final signs of life before death. Before the light of life left his body entirely, the giant of the sea sang a response. Although weak, it did reach the ears of both Ecco and Cariu.
"The creature is a singer, you will meet her soon enough," his final song rang out, "you must unite demon dolphin, deep wanderer and blind guardian. Farewell, Ecco." The spark of life left the blue whale's eye and its body rolled limply to one side. It shook Ecco to the depths of his heart to see such a majestic creature die in front of him. The young male felt tears prick at his eyes, grief deeper than any he had ever known in his short life at the death of this animal. Cariu was unaffected, as she was used to seeing creatures die in front of her, having brought about their deaths herself on more than one occasion. However, seeing the little dolphin get distraught struck a chord within her heart. She swam over and gently licked his tears away on one side. Once Ecco had stopped crying, Cariu swam a short way off and gestured for him to follow.
"I think I can get us out of here and back into warm waters," she sang simply, "This place is not far from where Okura and I came from when we first arrived in the cold seas." Ecco followed mutely, not sure how to respond at first. Everything was still sinking into his mind; all which the Big Blue had told him as well as seeing the majestic singer die a natural death.
"You're coming?" he asked when he found his voice, "but your mate, Okura, could be in these freezing waters somewhere. Would you not rather search for him instead of helping a creature you would normally have for dinner?" Cariu gestured to a point where the ice was thin on the surface and broke through to the open atmosphere. Both she and Ecco expelled the stale air from their lungs and inhaled a fresh, life-giving breath of oxygen in return.
"I believe Okura is still alive and well," she sang firmly, "while I pine and long for his presence, you are in far greater need of my presence than he is. If you were indeed chosen by Delphineus to defeat Ligalotean, then I am more than happy to help you in any manner that I can." Nothing more was said between the orca and the bottlenose dolphin as they sped off towards the ice floes, in the direction of warmer seas.
Okura cast a wary eye over his beluga captors. They had escorted him to the break in the surface ice where he could get fresh air in his lungs before making sure he stayed in the same place he had been in previously. In all of his experiences, the orca had never encountered a group of singers with enough courage and skill to render him helpless and at their mercy. Songs of the orca had sung about belugas being swimming piles of blubber, ripe for the picking and extremely tasty. His experiences with them had completely contradicted this arrogant view his kind held. He could see, though, that several of his captors were covered in deep scars, which suspiciously looked like they had been made by hungry orca jaws. It was obvious these singers held an intense hatred for orcas, yet unlike the narwhals he had previously encountered, the belugas were organised enough not to let anything take advantage of them. Okura was shaken from his thoughts when he spied the beluga male he had encountered earlier returning with the smaller singer he had tried to hunt down and what looked oddly like a cross between orca and beluga. This strange swimmer approached the orca and cast her cold eyes over the orca's body. His blood bubbled with rage as he saw the same aqua colour which had been in Ligalotean's eyes.
"What do you want us to do with this demon dolphin, Queen Okapi?" Saleiro asked with barely-contained contempt in his song. The mutated beluga did not at first seem to hear the male, as she continued her examination of Okura. Each time the orca went to lash out at her, she subdued him with a single glance.
"So, Ligalotean tore your eye out with a single tooth, did she?" Okura flinched visibly at the same old song being sung to him which Ligalotean had used. It also unnerved him how this Okapi creature was able to tell what had happened to him without asking him. He could sense this singer was to be respected, as much as he hated bowing to anything other than orca.
"Yes, she asked my mate and me if we would join with her," he explained, "I tried my best to fight the monster, none shall dictate or rule over me! She tore my eye out, and then screamed her name so the ice floes themselves shook violently. I drew the beast's attention towards myself, allowing my mate time to flee. I can only assume she is alive and well now. You have the same cold eyes Ligalotean had, how do I know you're not working with her?" Okapi's eyes flashed with a hint of aggression before she fired a silent blast of sonar at Okura. Curling his back in agony, the orca couldn't help the screams which he uttered. Something in the back of his mind was telling him to surrender, to give into the will of this strange singer. If I were like Ligalotean, you would not have a choice on whether to obey me or not. She is ruthless, cold and any creature she truly wants on her side, they have no option. I'm not like her; hence I'm not making you bend to my will. Now, be silent! Immediately, Okura felt the intense pain leave his head and his thoughts cleared completely. He could no longer hear Okapi's voice in his mind and was thankful for this. Not wanting to antagonise her further, he fell silent and merely looked at her with stubbornness in his eye.
"Ligalotean's not at her full power yet," Okapi sang to Saleiro, "otherwise, this orca would be under her power. Now, you said the waters around here are full of sharks. You also mentioned these along with Ligalotean have severely reduced the beluga numbers, am I right?" The beluga swam over and nodded in agreement. Okura noted the other male's pectoral fins were now a deep red colour which stood out in stark contrast to his natural white.
"Due to this creature, Ligalotean, two thirds of belugas have been wiped out;" he sang sadly, "The ones she didn't slaughter herself were picked off by the legions of sharks that followed her trail of blood. We were once in the region of twenty thousand, now we are down to just over a thousand in number. Most of the females are pregnant with the next generation and we must reach warmer waters before they have their young. However, due to the sharks, we cannot think of swimming from here without being picked off." Sarastro reached out a pectoral fin and stroked one of Saleiro's red ones in an attempt to soothe him. Although she was not one of them, the Irrawady felt a strange connection to these singers of the North. Okapi watched the smaller singer's attempt to soothe the beluga and this stirred something inside her heart. A feeling she had not known for a very long time.
"Then, we shall need this orca to swim with us; at least until we reach your breeding grounds," Okapi kept singing above the cries of outrage from the belugas, "he's strong enough to fight off creatures like sharks better than we can. Unless you want to go extinct like the narwhals, you will heed my advice to you!" This immediately shut up the protesting singers. Okapi turned and looked straight into Okura's eye before once more singing straight into his mind. If you swim alone, you will be completely powerless against Ligalotean if you meet her again. I doubt she will let you live a second time. If you swim with us, I shall help you find your mate once the belugas are in their breeding grounds. Consider this bargain. She broke the mental chain once more and approached Sarastro, gesturing that they go off alone a short distance. The singers only stopped swimming once Okapi was sure none of the other singers could hear them.
"Young singer," her song was full of tenderness as she addressed Sarastro, "this is not your fight. Ligalotean's a monster like no other which has existed in the seas. The carnage she has caused so far is nothing compared to the devastation she can inflict when at her full power. I'm giving you the option of swimming with the belugas and myself to their breeding grounds, and then you can swim to safer waters from there." Sarastro pressed one side of her body against that of Okapi's so they were looking directly into each others' eye. This completely surprised the mutated beluga and this showed in her aqua eye.
"My name is Sarastro, Okapi," she replied gently, "I came this far with a bottlenose dolphin named Ecco, in search of a way to defeat Ligalotean. I aim to see this to the end, no matter the outcome. Until I find Ecco again at least, I'm not going anywhere that you're not. Besides, you need a friend who can sing your ancient song." Okapi was silent for some time after this, deep in thought. Images of her past circled her mind, haunting her and shaking her entire body. She snapped out of her reverie when she remembered where she was and who she was with.
"That's very noble of you, Sarastro," Okapi sang softly, "in that case, I shall teach you tricks and abilities none but the Atlanteans have used. They will help you stay clear of Ligalotean's jaws and fight back enough so you can get away from her. When we get to the breeding grounds, would you like to learn from me?" Sarastro could only nod in agreement. She knew this singer was unique and anything Okapi could teach her could only be good. As both singers returned to the belugas and orca, they separated and Okapi once more approached Okura.
"Have you considered my offer, orca?" she sang icily. Okura circled the mutated curiosity, trying to think of an answer that would at least protect his pride. There was no way he would simply bow to a creature he would normally hunt without something in it for him.
"I will escort you and your pod, squid-sucker," he growled lowly, "but if you can't help me find Cariu, I'll tear the Irrawady dolphin to shreds and take great pleasure in doing so!" Okapi suppressed a surge of aggression towards the orca. Getting angry would make her no better than Ligalotean, so she simply dipped her head in a nod of agreement. Swimming over to Saleiro, she gave the song of gathering to him so he could call the other belugas out of hiding and they could set off. Not waiting for everyone to gather around her, Okapi swam off in the direction of the open sea with Sarastro by her side and Okura following a short distance behind.