Creatures of the Light

Fourteenth Light

Fourteenth Light

Creatures of the Light

© All Rights Reserved

##### Fourteenth Light #####

--------------------------------

Look at the demons

Praying, raping and murdering

Into the dark sky

Where the dead are all there.

The water feels really cold and salty when I launch into the ocean again. The taste is just too much, until my body finally gets used to it. I hold my breath ever since I left the surface, not taking any chances by opening my mouth for the whole journey as the merman guides me to wherever he wants me to go.

But in a wrecked state like this, I doubt we can go any faster than the speed we are currently on, especially when he refuses to be healed when my shadows are trying to creep towards his chunked tail.

I want to ask, “Isn’t it painful to move in that kind of condition?” But then the water will get into my mouth and I will lose my oxygen. So instead I just follow him.

We swim into a pretty deep territory, but not too deep that the light will not shine upon our surroundings. All kinds of fish are whirling pass us in groups, but none dare to swim near us. It is probably because of the merman and the fact that they can sense him. I know that he was not exactly pleasant when we first met. He was like a predator ready to hunt, when in fact he is in a very bad circumstance. But it is the way his eyes glaring that spooked the fish away.

An entity is storming inside those emerald eyes.

So dark it feels like they are holding recondite vengeance within....

....And I know the feeling perfectly well.

Valline, I am going to take care of something. I will be back by nightfall, more or less, I tell him as I paddle my feet forward, falling just a few meters behind the merman.

“Where are you going?” he asks in casual tone.

Diving, I reply. A met a merman that needs my help. The merman is in a pretty dreadful state, so I could not say no. It seems like whatever has happened must be quite a disaster to even call for me. I will share with you the details later. Right now, we are swimming deep into the sea of Infernal Oceanfront.

“Alright. Just be careful.”

Always am.

Colorful corals and small rainbow shade of fish are seasoning the underwater scenery in front of us by the time we have swim for another quarter of an hour. I have a feeling that we are getting near to wherever the merman is taking me to.

The dome quickly turns to a much deserted area, though, and we never stop until we reach an abyss made from a giant crack from the earth beneath, where no small living brute even defiant enough to come close.

The merman dives deep into the seemingly endless pit as I pursue behind him, feeling my chest protesting soon enough for air in silence.

The rocks are in purple at this place. I can see a dark cave ahead, crowning in the middle of a batch of red corals. The merman oars in advance, waving his injured tail as fast as he can towards the cave. I am right behind him, but begins to slow down when I reach the mouth, no sign of the merman as he already swam right ahead from me.

It takes minutes before the merman finally appears again from inside. When he does, he waits for me to swim inside by myself. But there is no way I can get in. Not when it looks so enigmatic in there. And when he notices that I am not making any move, he wraps his hand around my wrist tightly and starts to yank me to get inside. I paddle the other way around of course, not willing to turn to a statue and fall to the bottom.

The merman swims around me and places his hands on my back to push me into the cave, but I refuse to let him do so, shaking my head firmly.

How can I explain to a merman that I can not go inside dark places since I will not be able to move when I am still underwater and starting to lose my stock of oxygen?

After a few attempts to push forward and backward, we finally stop at some point, which is a good thing because these actions are making me tired pretty fast. Relief is still far away from me, though, because the next thing I know, I am being impelled from behind.

Darkness surrounds me expeditiously. The force is gone from my body and I find myself soon sinking. And without air, I do not think I am going to last very long.

I am not going to die from drowning, though. That is for sure. But that does not mean that I am safe from pain. Unfortunately, once I die for a momentary short amount of time, my body will recover itself and brings me back to life again. The procedure will be a torment. And after a dozen times, it will be as worse as hell itself.

While I drift down in the water, a pair of hands grab me and pulls me up head. It feels like hours as I lose my breath before I can see a light. That is when I am able to move again, though does not make me stronger with the lack of oxygen.

The merman must have noticed it too, because he nudges my head back to face him. I find a pair of those piercing emerald spheres staring back at me, leaning in closer and closer until.... I can feel his lips on mine.

For the longest time I have no idea what else to do but to focus on breathing in and out. The mouth that is connecting with mine is supplying oxygen from what those gills of his can filter from the water. I feel slightly a bit disoriented as well, considering that I am in a lying position. But after recovering, I make sure to do it as quickly as possible to retrieve more air for my own supply, before letting go of the face that I suddenly noticed has been holding on to.

“We’re almost there,” he says, but this time, his voice sounds better ─ much more steady and smooth to the ears. Most probably because he is underwater now. Mermaids and mermans sound better here than on the surface, after all.

We swim towards the light right away. And when I reach it, I can feel my face being hit by air, causing me to shiver a little.

Turns out there is air in this cave, the wall inside looking like layers from thousand of years’ creations being combined naturally.

If the merman had told me about this earlier, I would have let him dragged me here.

“So what is the emergency ─ other than your body, which certainly looks like it really needs some major healing time?” I turn to him, who is resurfacing just a few meters distant.

His lips clap into a thin line. “What matters most is that you need to know who did this to me and the reason why it was done.”

“And that is?”

He tries to reach the edge, intending to lean himself against the buried rocks that circle the water. He slips once, but I have a feeling that he might just going to decline my help, so I do not do anything and just simply watch as he finally able to rest his slashed skin against the purple rocks.

“I am sure you are aware of who Karina Pearlstone is?”

I make myself comfortable as well by lying against the rocks athwart from him and cross my arms on my stomach. “The Queen of the Sea? Is she the one who gave those scars to you?” But imagining her doing so will be slightly hard. With big doe eyes and graceful features, not to mention how she always faints every time I and Artro brought our hunting meat near the sea.

“No, but this matter is concerning her. I was sent by the queen to monitor the area around the Atlantic Ocean last month. Everything was doing fine, until two weeks ago. I was attacked by half a dozen of sharks when I was on my way to make it to the south side. I was outnumbered, and my injuries were unavoidable.”

“Well, that explains the bite marks. But how about the scars?”

“There was a man. I was not sure whether he was a creature like us or a human. He was using a blade to cut me, after I passed out from the brutal attacks of the sharks and found myself in a closed room. The room was dark, so I had no idea where I was.”

“What did he want?”

“He was asking me questions.... about something related to the queen. But I was bleeding hard, and the cuts were not helping as well. I could not keep myself conscious for long. He must have thought that I was dead ─ Creatures! I myself would have thought that I was already dead myself ─ because the next time I woke up, he was already gone.

“It took me quite a while to find water again. I almost gave up with the state of my body at the time. But I finally made it, with help from a few friends. Being underwater helped me recovered a bit, though I still am not able to restore what has been lost.”

“Why didn’t you let me heal you, then?”

“I needed the injuries to stay there as proof of the attack. If else, how can I have a say to Her Majesty after disappearing without a single word or report for almost half a month?”

He is a smart merman, I must say. And he must be a soldier to the kingdom, though not just any soldier. Higher ranks such as spies are stronger than a normal soldier. That is because they are always sent alone, which means that they have to fight alone when danger comes upon their missions. But I must say, surviving such brutal attack and still refusing to be cured is something else.

“So you need my help in bringing you to Karina?”

“Not before we find out who attacked me first. I must say that I suspect that something is wrong at the south side. After all, why go so far by attacking the Sea Queen’s merman if not for something suspicious? Once we do, I think that will be the perfect time to show up at the castle again.”

“But you are still not in good circumstances. If you want any of us to be involved in this search, at least you have to make yourself useful than slowing me down. So that means we have to get you to the mer castle first. After we show your proof to Karina, you can come with me for the search.”

The soldier is silent for a few minutes, seemingly to be deep in thought, trying to consider my words well. “Waiting for me to recover completely will take a longer time, so I guess I will just have to lean on the kingdom’s doctor.”

“And I have told you that I could help with that.”

“Queen Karina might not agree to this search right away, though. She still has a lot of duties to attend, so I am not sure if we can even see her the moment we arrive at the castle.”

“You do not have to be concerned about that. I and Karina are quite good acquaintances. I am sure she will understand if we steal a few minutes of her tight schedule just for the sake of her spy.”

I think I can see a light blush creeping towards his cheeks, but it might just be the reflection of the water playing with my sight, since the blush leaves as soon as it arrives.

Perhaps he fancies Karina more than just because she is his queen. Well, I can not blame him. The woman is fairly beautiful and wise, so it is not really such a big question why he fell for her.

After staring at the water intensely, he finally lifts his gaze to meet my eyes and mutters, “Alright. I will agree to your plan.”

At that second, I swim forward towards him faster than any sea creatures, before grabbing one of his uninjured shoulders and teleport us.