Disclaimer: I don't own the characters but I own the plot and this world I built
A/N: Hello, another day, another chapter. Unfortunately, this is as far as I've written so far, so the chapters will be coming out slower than before :/ But I hope you like it!
Chapter Three: Chasm
"I thought I told you to hold it vertical. You're leaning it."
"Would you stop acting like my mother?"
"If you actually listened to me, I wouldn't have to." The deep sea diver rolled his eyes under his thick goggles, which his co-diver didn't see. Nor cared. "If you tilt it at an angle, it'll hit the wall and we won't be able to read how deep it is." He swam barely above the other, who was holding a pole that extended down into a black looking pool. A lake underwater. They were studying how deep it would go, the last recorded find being 62 feet, and never touching the bottom.
"God, if I knew you were going to complain this much, I would have switched with Carson." He tilted the pole slightly to make it more vertical, but didn't acknowledge he was complying to his co-diver.
The grouchy diver folded his arms, his webbed shoes keeping him from sinking to the bottom. "Why don't you just let me do it?"
The pool was called the Hot Tub of Despair, a well known phenomenon of what looked like a lake underwater. It was made of salty brine tinged with hydrogen sulfide, and methane, killing anything that came into contact with it. That was living. The pole wasn't harmed, and if they touched it, it wouldn't hurt them as long as they wore their gloves and diver suits.
"You'd complain either way, at least I'm doing something instead of just swimming there like a flounder." Growled the other. The bossy diver gave him a pointed look, but he was unaffected. Unlike when he snipped at him. "Hey, I think the sonar located the bottom."
"Where are we at?" The diver asked, immediately invested in their research instead of critiquing his co-diver.
"I made it to 72 feet, and it's registering at 102." He paused, shivering. "Did you hear that?"
"Outside of your annoying voice?"
"No, it sounded like something swam by."
"I'm beginning to question your basic education."
"Argh! I'm serious! It sounded like something huge!" He pointed his forehead light at his co-diver, who, with body language alone, didn't look impressed. "It could be a shark."
"Our sensors would have picked it up."
The diver ignored him and continued to look around, but nothing seemed to be swimming. The water was still, and any sign of fish was gone. It was eerily quiet.
"Wait, I saw something." The other diver started looking around, shining his light into the thick darkness of the open waters. They didn't have proper lighting to illuminate the area around them. Mainly because of budgeting.
The diver with the pole began reeling the sonar back up. "Let's get back to the surface."
"Okay, yeah, I gue-AAHHH!"
"What?!" The diver watched as his comrade turned on his jets and stated speeding for the surface. "What?" He didn't listen to his better judgment, and turned to see what had frightened his co-diver.
Light shined on sharp, multiple rows of teeth in a wide maw like a shark's. The diver screamed, barely giving himself enough time to register exactly what he saw, but the clawed hands and murky colored skin made it look like a drowned ghoul.
He dropped the pole, the sonar falling into the black pool, forgotten, and pressed the button on his jet back to shoot him to the surface.
A high trill of laughter escaped the Mer's lips, shaking him uncontrollably as he grasped onto his sides like he could somehow keep them from hurting. His laugh was melodic and alluring, bringing the fish closer for inspection. He wiped at his stinging eyes, like there was something there, and finally started to come down from the high as another Mer swam up.
The Mer looked worried from the affects of the laughing Mer's actions. His golden tail sparked brightly in the dark waters, hard to conceal from prying Land Walker eyes. He avoided them as much as he could, but he would still follow his friend into trouble. "Lance, I think that was a bad idea. You know we're not supposed to interact with Land Walkers."
"Oh relax." The Mer said, finally able to contain himself. "They only saw me for a second and probably thought I was a shark or something."
"You're swimming a tight cave! We're too close to the Shoal and they could come back looking for us." The golden Mer swam in nervous circles. "What if they discovered us? What if they started hunting us? What if history repeats itself and we go to war? We're in the middle of a Gulf, we couldn't protect ourselves! We're trapped my land!"
"Hunk, calm the quiznak down." The Mer frowned at his friend, a look that couldn't mar his beautiful face. "It's not like we see a Land Walker every day. And maybe scaring them will keep them from coming back."
"If they're anything like you, then it won't."
The Mer rolled his glowing blue eyes and swam to the black pool. His friend almost started protesting in fast clicks when he grabbed the pole that had been lodged in the side when dropped. He pulled it free and flashed a pleased, toothy smile at the golden Mer. "I got you a souvenir out of it."
Hunk was torn between swimming in giddy delight and angrily trilling at him. He stuck to taking the pole grumpily. "This is the only reason I'm not telling on you."
"Yeah right, you're too loyal." Lance swam in graceful loops with the subtle current of the dark waters. His beautiful blue scales glistening in the waters at the glow of any light. His scales freckled his naturally tanned skin and danced around his shoulders and up to his blue glowing eyes, slitted like a cat's. They were captivating even to a Mer. Subtle transparent fins flowed around him, decorating the sides on his long tale to the fins at the end. His dorsal fin was as equally beautiful and ridged like sharp masts guiding his rhythmic dances through the water. Smaller fins extended from his wrists like silky lace, his blue scales painting his forearm to his hands and stretching to the webbing between his fingers. His ears were acute to the sounds of the ocean, sharply webbed and blue as the brightness of his tail. He was both frightening and breathtaking.
The two Mers heard an echo of a high frequency whistle calling through the water, and Hunk visibly sunk. "Crap, she sounds pissed."
"If we leave now, we might be able to make it home before she actually finds us." Said Lance, swiping his tail up to propel him in the direction of the sound. He paused, looking back at Hunk. "This never happened."
The Mers swam through the dark waters lit by only their glowing eyes, only so many feet above the sea floor within sight. Their noses led them through the waters like a magnetic pull. They came to a dark cave carved out of the side of a reef, and swam inside.
The darkness started to lift the further they went in, the walls littered with mussels and small glowing stones. The cave opened up into another pit in the floor, and inside were a twist of thin, crooked pillars leading to a chasm of caves and brightly glowing stones decorating the walls.
Mers gracefully danced in schools through the magnificent bowl of glistening scales and crystals. The cavern floor was filled with shops and melodic songs of pulsing rhythm, the Mers chirping and clicking to each other. The dome on the cavern echoed the sounds, bringing the illuminated city to life.
Lance smiled as he entered the great chasm, his heart filling with comfort and fullness being in a place he felt so apart of. As much as he liked to adventure out into the vast open waters, he was always happy to be home.
Unfortunately, right now Home involved a very grouchy looking Mer with similar coloring to himself, almost identical, with longer hair that floated around her threateningly. He grinned with a twitch in his eye, and prepared for the worst. "Hey Rosa…"
"Were you outside the Shoal again?" She started without hesitation. "Don't lie, I will hear it in your trill."
He gulped down his nerves, then bolstered his chest in feign confidence. "I was exploring like every good Mer when they come of age. I want to be with the hunting team, so getting to know our territory is a good training. Besides, you wouldn't want me to take the trial unprepared." He flashed his shark teeth in a grin, as if saying "check mate."
It didn't work. "Don't try that pathetic attempt at reverse logic on me. You aren't allowed out of the Shoal unless you're already enlisted as a Hunter." He snorted out bubbles with a pout. Her expression turned soft and understanding, making him immediately feel guilty. "Lance, I know this is important to you, but you have to understand why the Laws are in place." She sighed, looking to the golden Mer. "Could you please excuse us, Hunk?"
He didn't need to be asked twice. "Yes ma'am."
When he was gone, Rosa floated over and twirled her tail around his, pulling him into a warm embrace. "I may just be your big sister, but we love you, all of us; we just don't want you to make the same mistake as father."
He deflated in guilt. "I know…" He hugged his sister back, resting his face in her shoulder. She was broader, her tail longer, but she was comforting all the same. "I just don't like being cooped up in this cave." He pulled away, his bright blue eyes glowing with transparent emotion. "I've been stuck in here for seventeen migrations, and I've just aged out of Juvenile, I should get a chance to explore."
Her smile calmed him. "You will." She booped her nose on his. "Eastern Mers are migrating through, visiting for the Festival of Songs. Who knows, maybe you'll find Your Glow."
Lance could not contain his eyeroll, and covered it with a meant-to-be-charming look. "And deprive the ladies of this beauty?"
She snorted out bubbles. "When you meet Your Glow, you'll be too occupied for 'the ladies'." She didn't wait to hear a retort, and swam out into the open waters. "The Glow is the most wonderful thing a Mer can experience. It's a connection no one can break."
Lance felt a tightness in his chest. It wasn't that he didn't want to find His Glow, he was just…a little scared. What if they…what if they rejected him? "That's if they accept it."
Her frown turned sorrowful in thought, until she forced back her smile. "Anyone would be lucky to have you."
"Anyone would have been lucky to have Alara." The words hung between them with tension, ending their conversation.
He followed her as they swam down, entering into the city and following a large opening into a larger cavern. The gems illuminated the city brighter than any light a Land Walker could produce, glistening off the coral and algae decorating the walls and buildings.
The city wasn't built on the cavern floor, but in pillars that reached varying heights and melted crystal forming domes reaching from the walls. The city was the cavern, filling the space in it's entirety. Mers swam and looped in all directions, swimming up to crystal domes crafted to create shops and buildings, all connected by structured rock. This was the Industrial and Arts district, away from the private homes of the Mer pods. In the center of the city stretched a towering, cylindrical rock connecting the floor to the ceiling of the cavern. It was built in beautiful designs and magnificent artwork of strong rock. Many Merfolk swam in and out of the structure, but the top was reserved for the most important of Mers: The Royal Family.
Lance had met the princess before, they used to play together when his mother worked on the council. When his father passed, she retreated to her home, and Lance hadn't seen her but from afar. She was the most beautiful Mer he had ever seen.
And, of course, he flirted with her. At first she was annoyed, but it steadily grew and she would giggle at him, saying "stop it Lonce", but still smiled. That had been over a migration ago.
Lance spotted the Eastern Mers his sister had talked about. They were beautiful, and many of them were female. He blushed in anticipation, a small part of him hoping to find His Glow, but otherwise just interested in flirting. They were beautiful, and they should know it.
They were Fully-Scaled Mers, their tails and bodies taking on multiple colors, but they had no exposed skin like his own. Their hair was made of fins, and their eyes were like obsidian orbs of captivating beauty. Their features differed in many ways, but all Mers believed they were all One Mer, celebrating in their divergence and cultures.
He smiled when a couple of Mers looked to him and giggled. They swam away but his confidence was already boosted. "Well, I'll be over there and you can find me later."
"Oh, no, what about your Trial?" His sister trilled, catching him by the tail.
He frowned, having forgotten about it. He struggled with his desire to be something and the cute smiles of those Mers. He conceded to his insecurities, wanting to be something more than just a normal Mer with no defining features or unique skills. He felt so…ordinary, despite his bravado. He hoped the more he acted confident, he would eventually be confident. Fake it till you make it, right? "Are they having trials today?"
"When the crystals dull, yes." She said. "Or you'll have to wait another Moon Glow."
He pouted, looking off in the distance towards the Central Pillar. If he wanted to venture out, he would have to take a trial to become a hunter. He wasn't worried about failing, he had one of the best noses, it was just the first chance he would get since turning eighteen migrations. He wasn't going to wait any longer.
Filled with determination, he set his glowing eyes to his goal, and swam to the Hunting Bowl.
My conclusions are getting boring, I'm usually better at ending with cliff-hangers. But oh well, I hope you guys look forward to the next one :)