The Heir of Depths

The air was wet and suffocating and her back was aching due to the position she was in. The place she woke up in was completely strange to her.

Her eyes revealed a poorly lighten, circular, with several ivory columns, covered by moss and algae, that almost acted as a cage. A dome was above her, holding water and making the environment breathable. She distinguished mermaids that looked more like skeletons with scales and decolored hair that started growing seaweed on its ends.

Arline tried moving into an upright position when she noticed her wrists and ankles were chained to the white marble ground. But the real shock came when she looked in front of her. A horrifying creature was standing in front of her, scanning her. It had the long head of an eel but the body of a built man, entirely scarred, helping as a reminder of the seniority of such creature. She deducted it was Pelagius by the way he presented himself.

“You shouldn’t exist” he hissed at her, his tone towards her was of disgust, rage and even disappointment.

"What a way to greet a guest" she thought for herself. She didn’t have the nerve to even speak to such thing, let alone disrespect it.

Pelagius was looking at her with dead eyes and smiling, showing his crooked and pointy teeth. She couldn’t help but notice the tight knot that was forming on her throat and looked away before she began crying.

In that place and time, the only thought invading her mind was the one of death. That it was her first and last option. And this time neither Larsin or Merrick were going to save her and her so called powers were not even showing. She was doomed and cursed herself for ever agreeing to this ridicule voyage.

“Look at me” he ordered her. Arline thought it was best not to make him more angry, so she complied. She looked at him. He looked pale and she couldn’t tell if it was thanks to the little light it entered the room or that he was just malnourished and weak. But what did a god needed to survive?

His moves were careful and slow yet she perceived anger in the way his shoulder stretched, straightening his back. He was uncomfortable, a sensation she knew very well.

“You will die, as it was meant to be since the day you got selected and bring me the strength I need to complete my mission” his voice was growly but clear. She tried to keep the tears to herself and chose to take the idea of her death wholeheartedly “You were never meant to wear the Crown” to this comment she just frowned in confusion but Pelagius just walked around the room and then left, leaving her guarded by his mermaids. She could finally hyperventilate in peace.

But she did her best to calm herself quickly, trying to look around for a way out. She didn’t want to die yet, despite not having a place to go to for shelter, she wasn’t ready. Arline noticed the guards weren’t violent to her moving around frantically around in the chains. So she started doing it, finding uncomfortable positions to try and break the rusty old chains. The rattle of the metal was unbearable to hear and hoped Pelagius was far away from that cave.

After a few minutes, she felt her wrists loosening the grip and started undoing her ankles. Her skin was heated and numbed due to the pressure she had put on it, even cut herself a little bit. But she was free and headed to the hallways on the opposite side of the cave and went through the path with less light. She might not know exactly where she was, but she was aware she was in deep waters right now.

Arline rushed across the long hallways and made it outside, avoiding any kind of passive guards. She hadn’t thought about what she would have to do to reach above the water without drowning.

I really didn’t think this through. It was her first thought when she was standing on the edge of what seemed like a cliff, with the immensity of the big blue extending everywhere she looked. Desperation was overwhelming her when she felt the ground beneath her shake and a loud screech scratched the fragile coral walls. Now that was a good stimulant for escaping.

A forest of tall seaweeds took the immensity of what was in front of her and escalated high enough for her to use them as a ladder. It was her only option. She took a deep breath and threw herself to the open sea and started swimming towards one of the strange looking marine trees.

It was slimy and slippery but she tried to grab it as firmly as she could and started going up. From the corner of her eye, she distinguished the same skeletal figures that guarded the dome on a hibernating state. But now they were swimming at full speed towards her, with spears and tridents.

She sped up her pace, but it wasn’t enough. The mermaids got to her in no time and pulled her away from the seaweed despite her best intentions to hold it as much as she could. They started dragging her to the bottom, by her throat.

His servants weren’t just growing her, they wanted to torture her. She was losing consciousness. Arline’s chest started aching because of the lack of oxygen and her head started pounding because of the pressure of the water. She could feel her eyes leaving their orbit. But in some point when her surroundings were unrecognizable, the boney hand pulled away from her neck quickly and forcefully.

She hurried back with the little strength she had left, to the edge of that cliff. She coughed water and tried to compose herself and to adjust her eyes to the light, that’s when she saw what had made the mermaids release her. It wasn’t a miracle but it might’ve been a coincidence.

An enormous pearled white dragon was on full attack mode against the fish people, who were trying to defend themselves with no success at all. In a moment, it came by the edge and offered its back. She didn’t think about it twice and hopped on it, making the dragon to pull up. She held on tight to the big twisted horns of its head and looked up. She started having hope again when she realized she was escaping.

⎯

Merrick was still waiting for her on the shore, dozing every now and then. He not only was exhausted but felt nervous, annoyed and even scared. That night, the only thing that could be heard was the light crash of the water against the sand. It was almost silent. That ’s why the splash that came out from a distance disrupted the sense of peace on the island. An elongated shadow emerged from the water into the night scene.

The dragon flipped its torso in the air, leaving the small frame of Arline’s body to fall back into the sea once again. Well, there goes my chance she thought.

Except that instead of sinking into the shapeless floor, she landed on a solid surface. The tension of the water formed a stable ground for her to walk on. “Just trust this nonsense” she said to herself and started running. To her surprise she didn’t fall through so she increased her speed and started directing her feet towards the silhouette of the island in front of her.

She sensed something beneath her was following her footsteps and it wasn’t just the dragon. Her pace increased even more when she noticed the shadow of an octopus as big as Merrick’s ship was following. Arline had to keep herself from stoping, no matter how tired she felt, how out of breath she was or how her muscles were stinging from tiredness.

Land was closer and somehow she spotted people on the shore. She made one last effort and leapt her body, directing it to the sand and landed on the ground with a loud thud. Arline was out of breath and dizzy, not to mention exhausted. She stayed on the sand trying to catch her breath but suddenly she felt a tight grip on her ankle and the same force from the ship pulling her towards the sea again. Except this time it was cut short when the dragon came to her protection and slashed the tentacle out its body. The octopus flew away, back to its master letting out a lamenting screech.

She let her body laying on the ground and tears started to wet her eyes, she didn’t know if the reason was because she was tired, scared or relieved. Some unknown faces started surrounding her to make sure she was okay but a familiar voice came from afar “Arline” Zeroun approached her and kneeled to her level to take a good look at her, Merrick followed him “Thank the gods you’re alive” her friend embraced her in a hug.

She retrieved it tightly but when she noticed Merrick, she got up. Every muscle hurt but the rage that was inside her toned the pain down. She approached him and slapped him across his cheek. Arline was livid, with all reason. He knew it and took it as man, he didn’t flinch, somehow he expected it. But when she was ready to slap him again, he grabbed her wrist and stopped her “I take the blame” his voice was filled with remorse and relief.

“You damn well will” she thought she could stab him a thousand times with how mad she felt “I hate you” she said to him as she tried to pull away.

“And I respect it” he let her go “Now come with me, I need you to meet someone who’ll explain you certain things”. Arline casted a look at Zeroun, who nodded in approval. So she followed him to the Regent’s cabin and entered the simplistic hall where this muscular yet grown man was standing

“Arline” Merrick said “This is Tua Nui, Regent of Tessenisit but more importantly he is also a Water Guardian” he introduced and she politely bowed down her head, showing respects. She fell as she might fall into the ground and sleep right there.

“Very brave, young Arline” Tua Nui addressed her “Not to mention gifted” Arline had a confused expression on her face.

“I think I was more lucky than anything, sir” she could barely form a cohesive thought at this point, but she tried to speak clearly.

“Not a lot of people can make it out of Pelagius’ cave alive” he softly said as he handed her dry cloth “And even less people are able to say they have been saved by dragons of this kind” the Regent then signaled to the strange looking dragon that was waiting outside of the cabin, devouring the ripped tentacle of the octopus.

“What does it mean?” She was divagating, her head couldn’t form one coherent thought but she remembered what Larsin had told her back in the cave: dragons only appear on behalf of those with particular abilities.

“You can’t tame such animal but it has a bond with you, so it will respond to your calling” Arline just nodded “Go with your crew, eat something and rest, we will talk tomorrow”

Both of them exited the cabin and started heading back to their crew. She caught Zeroun and he helped her get settled. Merrick could just watch and hope her anger would dissipate over time.

The Prince understood better than anybody what it was like having your powers flourish in such a way. Every emotion was magnified. That didn’t mean he was going to be easy with her. Right there, he chose to treat her as any other soldier and teach she wasn’t the most powerful member in the crew, but was willing to help her.