Nexus: Well, it's been a while but here is the anticipated Chapter 5!
Crew: ...
Nexus: What?
Zac: Now you're just messing with us aren't you? First I get into trouble with a scientist who didn't want to expose me, now you stick me with a mermaid hunting group who either want to kill me or expose me!?
Nexus: Don't forget I roped Tanya and Isis in with you
Tanya and Isis: Don't remind us...
Evie: And if you go along with your plan, it's going to be dangerous for all of us!
Nexus: It's my story, you will get your happy ending, you just have to wait and be put through torture first. Don't forget, the true point of this story hasn't even come into light yet.
Chapter 5: IMH Live: Exposure
"Merpeople?" This general chatter came from the crowd all around the Cafe. The girls, Rita, Evie, Cam and David tried their best not to look phased by it, even though they knew exactly what was going on.
"Now I know you're probably all watching us thinking we're loons right?" Richard stated. "But we're not. We're from the IMH, International Mermaid Hunters. We've been doing this job for years, and the time has finally come to show you all that they are real. I'm talking about the three you see here."
Isis, Tanya and Zac were still under from the knock-out liquid, and Zac was also blindfolded. If he saw what was going on, his Overdrive might explode and that would risk their chance of a successful operation.
Carly tried to change the channel over to something else, but it was no use. They were on every station. She couldn't even turn the TV off.
"Oh yeah, some of you might have noticed that you can't switch your TV off or change channel," Lucas added. "Don't worry, once our little show is over, we'll give you control of your TV's again. Also, you might recognise who these guys are."
Everyone in the Cafe took a long hard stare at the TV, the group of 7 just trying to act indifferent about it all. Inside, they were all incredibly worried and felt rather sick.
"Isn't that Zac Blakely?" Someone called out.
People took another good stare at the man blindfolded and hung by chains.
"Yeah, it is!"
Now that they knew who he was, everyone was feeling a range of emotions. Confusion, panic, shock.
"Aren't you guys worried about this!?" A man called out, looking at Rita, Lyla, Nixie, Sirena, Evie, Cam and David. "That guy is your friend!"
"We're worried trust me but there's nothing we can do. We just have to listen to their silly little false announcement and then go find him," Cam replied on behalf of the group, the others around her giving a general nod.
Back at the IMH base, Richard was glancing at his watch. 30 seconds. "In 30 seconds they will awake and the show can begin."
Lucas looked down at his own, counting out the seconds out loud.
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Time to wake up." The second Lucas said his last words, Zac, Isis and Tanya shot awake.
"What the heck!?" Isis shouted once she noticed that she was standing on a beam, being chained at her hands and unable to move. She looked to her right to see Tanya right along side her in the same position. Looking down to her left, she saw Zac.
"Zac!"
He tried to move his head to look at them, but it just wouldn't do so. "Isis?"
Tanya looked down at him, noticing he was blindfolded.
"Isis, he can't see us, he's blindfolded," she kindly pointed out.
"Why is he blindfolded though?" Isis asked herself.
"Simply because if he could see what is going on, he would go into overdrive, and we can't risk that happening," Lucas explained as he slowly walked over to Zac. "Such a perfect specimen cannot be allowed to slip out of our hands," he said as he caressed Zac's cheek.
"On with the show then," Richard began. "For thousands of years, and even many years before then, creatures of the sea known as mermaids have always existed. They still do to this day, populating the seas of our world. Even though they are bound to the sea, several mermaids have learnt how to take on a human form. The answer to this, magic. Every mermaid has their own magic, pretty much all of them have control of water, the essence of their spirit and life. For the ones fortunate enough to get legs, they do not dry out on land like every other mermaid would. Over time, mermaids have become more and more reluctant to humans, with only the curious few dare trying to get legs and venture onto land. The perfect example would be the two girls you see up there!" He pointed towards Isis and Tanya.
"But of course, they aren't just any regular mermaids these two," Lucas interrupted. "They are elemental mermaids, born from two of four very rare pods, being situated in England and Russia respectively. And these two, are the pod leaders, containing the souls of Elicia and Marina, two of the true original four elemental's, their souls passed down into new bodies over time, currently residing in these two."
"Yes. But mermaids who come on land have one weakness, a single drop of water will cause them to revert back and gain their tails again. Once they are dry though, they return to human form. This has always been our greatest advantage, for unless they can dry off every single drop of water before roughly 10 seconds, they turn back," Richard explained. "Maybe, a demonstration is in order?"
Lucas grinned when he heard those words. He clicked his fingers and watched as the bar beneath Isis and Tanya's feet collapsed in the centre, leaving them dangling by the chains. Both girls had shrieked a little when it happened. Lucas clicked his fingers once more and the chains on their wrists opened up, leaving Isis and Tanya to drop into the tank of water below them with a mighty splash.
Richard began smiling, knowing that once the bubbles cleared, they would be seen by everyone.
What he saw though, made his face drop into confusion. "What!?"
Isis and Tanya were using their new shape shifting magic to stop themselves from transforming. Both of them surfaced, keeping a very clear mind on keeping themselves like this.
Richard looked at them for a few seconds, before the shock on his face faded, leaving a smirk as a replacement. "Oh I see. Looks like somebody was busy figuring out forbidden transfer magic. Naughty boy aren't you?" He stated looking over at Zac. "Well, thank god we come equipped."
Richard snapped his fingers and watched as a new set of chains rose up from the floor of the tank, snapping themselves around the girls ankles. He flicked his fingers down and watched as both girls were dragged down to the bottom of the tank. "Lets see how long you can focus and hold your breath for. Sooner or later you'll snap and transform."
Both girls were surprisingly very good at breath holding, everyone in the Cafe was glued to the screen, watching in anticipation to see if it would really happen.
After 2 minutes, neither of them could hold it any longer. They both looked at each other and swiped their hands across in front of them turning invisible and releasing their hold on their shape shifting.
"Woah!" People in the cafe exclaimed as Isis and Tanya suddenly disappeared from view. "They really do have magic!"
"So, now we're deciding to play a game of hide and seek are we?" Lucas teased. "Come on, I'm pretty sure we'd all like to see you're true forms. After all, everyone is watching you."
"Everyone?" Zac spoke up suddenly. Even though he couldn't see, he'd been listening to every detail.
"Didn't we tell you?" Lucas asked, beginning to laugh. "Everyone in Australia is watching you right now. We hacked the system, and every channel is us. They can't even turn it off. This is IMH Live: Exposure after all."
Zac gritted his teeth. This was a strange deja vu feeling, but worse, because this time he really would be exposed if he didn't do anything. He tried to get any part of his body to respond with him, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't move. This was really it for him.
"Hmm, come on now girls, you can stop hiding," Richard teased, as he prepared to click his fingers again. "If you don't come out of hiding and show all the ladies and gentlemen your faces, we'll force you to instead."
He gave them about 20 seconds, and still no response. "Fine then!" He clicked his fingers and watched with glee and purple electricity began to flow into the tank, and electric wave surging through the water. Moments later, Isis and Tanya let out a horrifying scream, releasing themselves from their invisibility, a general shock and awe coming from everyone watching in the Cafe.
"No way," someone said breathlessly.
A pair of males sat their in shock, one of them reaching into their pockets to take out at $50 note and handing it to the other. "You were right."
The group of 7 sat their with incredibly worried looks on their faces. This was it for them. Mermaids had finally been exposed.
Isis and Tanya tried to move but they were still being held down by the chain which now latched onto their tails.
"Go on and tell us then," Tanya began. "Why go to all this trouble, what's the point of exposure?!"
"It wouldn't be any fun if we just came out with the truth behind this all now would it?" Lucas replied smirking. "All I will say, is that this is all for a greater cause. You'll find out about it soon enough. Once our programme is over, you'll be taken to our mistress."
"Mistress?" Isis asked confused.
"Yes, and she's very interested in both of you," he replied. Then he turned around to face Zac head on. "But she's even more interested in you."
Richard began speaking to the public again. "It's not just mermaids we're here to talk about either. Besides them, they also have a male counterpart, mermen. Long ago, there were peaceful times when mermen first came into the world. No-one truly knows where they came from to begin with, but mermaids seemed fine with it, accepting them as their own counterpart. Though after a while, a war raged between them, and mermen were practically wiped out into extinction. Though one or two did survive, turning to the human world and passing on their genes into human babies, in the hopes that the genes that made them what they are carried down into them. After a while, it was successful, and nowadays most people who have mermaid or merman blood within them have the chance to turn into what they were born to be when they being to reach the age of 16, 17 or 18. Research with us shows it can be just about anywhere within these ages. Changes happen but ultimately they are given a choice whether they want to become a merperson. If the accept, they get a tail. If they refuse, then all magical properties are drained from their bodies, removing all mer-blood within them. Though there are one or two more recent known cases where the final offering never came."
"Though that's not the only way to get a tail," Lucas interrupted once again. "You know that don't you Zac? The night you went camping on Mako Island, the night you discovered the land entrance, the night you fell into the moon pool, the night you were changed forever."
Lucas dipped his finger into a nearby glass of water and walked back over to Zac. He held the finger just above his shoulder, watching as a single drop of water fell onto it.
Zac tried his best to think about not transforming, but he could feel inside that the signals from his brain weren't getting any response from the rest of his body. There was literally nothing he could do. In a matter of seconds, he too, would be exposed.
After those few seconds, Zac's beautiful long blue tail took place of his legs, the chain that was around his ankle now around the base of his tail.
Everyone that was watching, was even more shocked when they saw Zac transform.
"If some of you are a little confused, let me help you." Richard walked up the camera and looked head on at it.
"Memory Meta-code 237,429, release."
At that moment, everyone who had had their memories changed by Aquata and Maya, began to remember what really happened.
"You all remember the case with Joanna Fischer, her death? The whole mermaid business? Zac here was the one she found. Along with this, we were the ones who created the Sea Demon that took over her and killed everyone. She was an experiment so to say, and she gave us our results. We don't even need to tell you anything else to piece most of it together, from his disappearance until now." Richard then stepped out of the way and allowed focus back onto Zac.
"Zac," Tanya whispered under her breath. She couldn't bare to see him exposed, with her in the same room unable to do anything about it. She felt hopeless, just like Zac did.
"We'll give you a parting gift though Zac, you have one minute to say anything to your loved ones, for you may never see them again."
Zac's brain was working overtime to try and think of something to say.
"Evie. If you're watching me, then I'm sorry. I've let you down, and not for the first time either. But please, tell Seiger of this news and the words I speak." His body entered Overdrive, the strange golden glow returning. "Heltrana Eslcura Meintei Lestou Fertoura, Heltrana Prophecia Tellara Eradia Gresceila Fe Heltrana Poura Mermaid Vescanta. Fe, Dousille Letousche. Eldichie... Sarah." Afterwards, the Overdrive faded away.
"Ah, so not only does he know of Transfer Magic but he also knows how to speak Ancient Mermaid, aren't we skilled?" Lucas then grabbed Zac's face and turned it towards his own by force. "To think you were once a mere human, and now you're the perfect specimen we've been searching for." Without any sort of indication or warning, Lucas suddenly forced his lips upon Zac's own, earning a general gasp from everyone watching and from Isis and Tanya.
Evie and Lyla were absolutely furious with his actions, and Evie was even more worked up because Lyla was showing just as much anger. Why did she care so much for him all of a sudden?
Lucas eventually parted from him. "You even taste perfect." Before Zac even had a chance to reply, Lucas brought him into another kiss, grabbing a vial of knock-out liquid from his pocket and jabbing it into Zac's tail. Within seconds, his body became limp again, his head dropping after Lucas released the kiss again.
"Let this serve as a warning to all mermaids and few mermen out there. The IMH has begun its final act for the prophecy, and within 4 days, the final bell will toll and Eradia will rise."
With those final words, the TV went blank.
Pretty much everyone was still speechless. Not only themselves, but everyone is Australia had just witnessed proof that mermaids were real. No-one knew what to say really, nothing made any sense to them. But to mermaids, they knew what this meant for them, even if none of the six knew about a prophecy or whoever or what Eradia is.
Evie suddenly jumped out of her seat and literally ran out of the Cafe, down towards a secluded area of the beach.
"Evie!" Nixie called as she began running after her. Lyla, Sirena and Rita followed, David and Cam staying behind in the Cafe. Joe had also been in the Cafe at the time, he himself knowing where the whole thing was going. David knew as well, and so did Cam. He didn't know that everyone else knew about it as well, he could tell from their expressions compared to everyone else's. "Bro and Cam, I need your help out in the store room for a minute."
Both boys rose up from their seats and made their way out to the store room with Joe. Once they closed the door, they felt a little less pressured.
"Care to tell me why Evie just up and ran out of the Cafe like that?" Joe asked politely.
"She must have just been shocked seeing Zac like that," Cam suggested.
"No way. I was watching the facial expressions when he was exposed, and all seven of you seemed rather scared. Not shocked, scared. I know that you and bro know about Zac, but do they?"
David looked over to Cam who just nodded his head.
"Yeah, all of us know that Zac's a merman," David replied.
"So why did you all look so scared when those guys said that it was a warning for merpeople. How can you be scared about it? It's not like-" Joe would have carried on his sentence but as he spoke, pieces finally came together.
"Lyla, Nixie and Sirena, they're mermaids aren't they?" Joe asked, not shocked by the thought of it at all.
David just sighed. "Yeah they are."
"What about Rita Santos and Evie?" Joe asked. "Last time I checked, both seemed pretty much human."
"Joe, Miss Santos is a mermaid, that's why she was looking after Sirena, Lyla and Nixie. As for Evie, it requires a little bit more explaining."
"Evie's one too?" Joe asked with surprise. "But I've seen her diving, she doesn't just suddenly grow a tail."
"That's because she never used to. After the incident with the Sea Demon, she was discovered to have mer-blood in her body," Cam began to explain.
"Blood that came from my mother," David finished off, looking his 'brother' directly in the eyes.
"I was wondering how long it was going to be before you eventually found out that mum couldn't have a second child, and used a surrogate mother instead." It hadn't hit Joe yet that David and Evie's mother were one in the same. "Woah there bro! If Evie's mother was your surrogate mother, then you have mer-blood in you too!?"
"Yeah, I didn't get the option against not becoming a merman, it just happened," David replied, still wondering how his brother could sometimes be really smart but at the same time so dense.
"Prove it then," Joe eventually said. "Do something only they could."
The easiest thing that David could think of, was to turn invisible. He swiped his arm across his body, disappearing.
Joe didn't even know what to say, staring at his brother dumbfounded after he released the invisibility. "Okay, so you really a merman. Wonderful, just when a group of mermaid hunters expose your existence and say that in 4 days you're basically all fucked."
"There's only one thing we can do. I have to go with the girls to see Seiger," David explained.
"Who is this Seiger anyway?" Joe asked confused.
"Zac's Grandad, the leader of a powerful council of mermaids. Zac was speaking in Ancient mermaid to us, and Seiger has 5 massive books on every single translation for the language. It's not used any more but for some reason, Zac knows how to speak it," David explained. "Now, if you'll excuse me." He opened the door and looked at casual as he could, walking out the front door to find his friends.
Several hundred metres up the beach, David could just make out 5 bodies diving into the ocean. Knowing that it would be Rita, Lyla, Nixie, Sirena and Evie, all heading out to Mako, he decided to run down to the beach and jump in after them.
After a few minutes, David swam in through the Moon Pool entrance and saw all 5 mermaids sitting around the edge, almost as if they were waiting for him. He moved himself over next to Sirena, and waited for someone else to break the silence.
"So now what do we do?" Lyla asked. "3 of us have been exposed to whole of Australia and they all know that mermaids are real. If we try to find and rescue Zac, Isis and Tanya, there's a good chance we'll be caught ourselves, and god knows what they'll do with us. But if we do nothing, this prophecy will come true and it'll be the end of us apparently."
"Rita. You're good with mermaid history, know anything about a prophecy?" Nixie asked, looking over at Rita.
"Sadly no," Rita replied putting her head down. "The only person who might know is Seiger, but with Zac gone I don't know how we'll get to the HMC. Only Zac or other HMC members can open a portal to it."
"Makes me wish Aquata was here to help us," Sirena said to herself.
As luck would have it, at that moment, Aquata swam up through the entrance herself.
"Aquata?" Sirena asked in disbelief.
"You all have a lot of explaining to do," she replied in a low angry tone. She herself had seen what had happened on TV. She was out finishing a job when she walked by an electronics store, and saw the events unfold.
"There's nothing to explain," Nixie fought back. "Zac, Isis and Tanya obviously stumbled upon the IMH base and those two idiots who exposed them were waiting there to catch them."
"It's not that I'm entirely worried about, even though their exposure is a massive issue for us, we can hide it out in the HMC, there's no other way to get to is unless you're a member. It's this Prophecy and Eradia I'm worried about," Aquata replied. "I presume you all want to see Seiger right?"
Everyone nodded their head in response and watched as Aquata created a white portal to the HMC for them.
Sirena swam over to her sister and gave her a massive hug. "What would we do without you sis?"
Aquata just smiled at her, before rushing her and the others through the portal, going through last herself.
When they landed on the other side, Aquata had dropped them straight off into Seiger's room. "I'll see you all later. I'd love to stick around but I've got to report on my mission to Rowina." She walked back through the large double doors, leaving the girls, Rita and David to break the bad news.
"What happened this time?" Seiger asked as turned around to see the six, Evie looking like she was ready to burst out crying.
"Seriously bad news," Rita replied in a sad tone. "Zac, Tanya and Isis, were... captured by the IMH."
Words could not even describe the look of sheer terror on Seiger's face. "Oh no. Please tell me you're joking."
"We're not," Nixie replied harshly. "They've just gone and exposed the three of them to the entire of Australia on TV! No-one is safe any more."
He just couldn't believe it. "This is bad. I suggest that all of you remain inside the HMC until we sort this out."
"Might have some issues there," Lyla interrupted. "They spoke of a prophecy, set to come true in about 4 days?"
Seiger rattles his brain until he remembered what it might be. "Did they happen to speak of Eradia?"
"They did mention Eradia yes. Do you know exactly who or what it is? Or this whole prophecy?" Rita asked.
"I know it all too well. The prophecy they speak of is known as Eradia Archelist. Eradia was an ancient spirit who came into being about the same time as mermen did. She was a horrible piece of work, fed off of mermaids for our life force but she also fed on the blood of a merman, giving her supposed immortality. Luckily, we ourselves know that it doesn't last forever, the immortality from a merman only gives 1050 years give or take. We managed to seal her spirit away inside of an Archelite shell, tossed into the darkest and deepest trench we could find. When those 1050 years are up, she'll die. It's now been 1044, and we thought everything would be okay. Turns out we were dead wrong. The IMH managed to somehow find her, triggering the Eradia Archelist Prophecy."
He took a breather.
"When the shell of Archelite is found by the eternal rivals of merpeople, in seven days she will revive in her new vessel and destroy the source of what sealed her up. Mako Island will fall victim, and the one courageous merman who tries to save them all, will die during his effort. Eradia will not live for 1050 years though, the combined blood shed on Mako Island will suffice enough to become truly immortal. From then on, the world will slowly fall and bend to her will, raging floods destroying the land."
"That is all I know of it I'm afraid," Seiger apologised. "If only we had even the first clue about where to start with it all."
The question is, why did they expose us, why do they seem so keen on Zac and two of the original elemental mermaid?" Rita asked herself.
"Remember what Zac said to me? Tell Seiger of this news and the words I speak," Evie replied. All of a sudden, her body began glowing with the same golden glow of Overdrive.
"Heltrana Eslcura Meintei Lestou Fertoura, Heltrana Prophecia Tellara Eradia Gresceila Fe Heltrana Poura Mermaid Vescanta. Fe, Dousille Letousche. Eldichie... Sarah." Much like Zac, when she was finished, the glow faded.
"Overdrive Transfer?" Seiger noted. "That boy's got a number of tricks up his sleeve. He must have transferred it to you during the shape shifting transfer. Overdrive Transfer allows him to send out important messages to people and then have them repeated through someone else."
"That aside, what do all those words mean?" Nixie asked impatiently.
"It's just a good thing I've now read and memorised all 5 books on Ancient Mermaid, since Zac somehow seems quite acquainted with it."
He took but a few minutes to translate it all.
"Tell him of our fall to the enemy who we were useless against, tell him of the prophecy stating Eraida and her return and tell him to warn all mermaids of our situation. And, I'm sorry for everything. You have to find Sarah."
"At least he's right about one thing, we have to warn all mermaids around Australia of our current status," Nixie spoke up. "If need be, spread it to other councils."
"Nixie, I want you and Lyla to go inform them of this immediately." Seiger summoned a white portal for them. "This should take you to their chambers."
The pair hurried through the portal, leaving just Evie, Rita, David and Sirena.
Before Seiger had the chance to say something, another white portal appeared, Felicity stepping through it.
"I think you guys have at least 10 seconds to explain to me what the hell that foolish merman was doing getting us all exposed like that," she stated firmly, and she did not look all too happy either.
"We don't know the first thing about how it happened," Seiger defended. "But what we do know is that you have perfect timing as always. We need you to find Sarah."
Felicity seemed even less happy now. "You really want to try and contact my sister?"
"I know she's probably half way up a mountain on another spiritual expedition but Zac's requested that we find her. Before the IMH even mentioned the prophecy, he mentioned it in his Overdrive transfer to Evie. He knows a lot more than we do, and if he says we need Sarah, then we need Sarah," Seiger explained.
Felicity thought about it for a minute. Sarah would be pretty pissed off if she were to call her, but it seemed like she didn't have much choice other wise. She grabbed a small conch shell out of her pocket and held it to her ear.
"How is that going to be of much help?" Evie asked whispering.
"Connection Conch's have only 1 line between them. Think of them as modern cell phones will only 1 contact who you can call. Hers is linked directly to Sarah's," Seiger explained.
- Somewhere on the top of a mountain -
"Felicity?" Sarah asked as she answered her conch.
"Sorry to call you like this sis, you must be in the middle of one of your big expeditions for spiritual means but something terrible has come up," Felicity replied on the other end.
"It'd better be a good enough terrible thing or else you're gonna suffer interrupting my expedition like this," she stated rather angrily. "So what exactly happened?"
"Well um- you see... a merman, Elicia and Marina might have just been exposed by the IMH on TV to the entire of Australia." She swallowed really hard at the end.
Sarah was calm for a few seconds before loosing it. "Say what!? Elicia and Marina managed to get themselves caught by the IMH and got exposed on TV!? Worse, there's a merman involved!?"
"Look I know it sounds pretty bad and you're right it is pretty bad, but Zac spoke of the prophecy and specifically requested that we find you. How much do you know about this prophecy?"
"More than you think I know. I've lived through seeing this prophecy once and I know how it works in and out. Everything is done by the rules set in stone, they are completely unavoidable. Except for one part of it. If the correct conditions are met, we might be able to stop Eradia Archelist from happening," Sarah explained.
"Seriously? We could stop it?" Felicity asked surprised.
"Yes, but there are 10 incredibly hard conditions to meet, and our chances on two of them are very slim. I'll see you tomorrow, it'll take one day to get back here." With that said, she shut of the connection between the two.
"Oh well, spirituality will have to wait," Sarah huffed as she jumped off the mountains peak, riding down the side of it using her air magic to keep her safe.
Nexus: Sorry if this chapter seemed a little confusing but the full explanation of the plot of this whole thing will come in next chapter, along with Sarah.
Felicity: So my sister has air magic huh?
Nexus: Yeah, I'm not revealing all the details on her until chapter 6. But there is some good news for us all! I've checked it and the petition to stop SOPA getting rid of all fan-made stuff on the internet has got it's 100,000 needed signatures, so we should be all safe for another 4-ish years. It's been pretty close this year though, 102,000 was only just tonight when I checked it.
Zac: Like you said, at least we're all safe, along with your fanfics and everyone elses, which is what matters.
Nexus: You're right. I'm also sorry if this chapter seems a little poorly written, I'm in the middle of writers block but there wasn't much else to do with this chapter you see. Hopefully all loose ends from this chapter including Sarah, the Prophecy, Eradia, and the true goals of the IMH will be cleared up and put to rest. After that, the action can once again begin!
See you whenever I next see you.