Chapter 2
DRAYA
Cool water drifted over my skin and tail as I raced through the current towards the Talassian Capital.
I’d been out on a solo mission for roughly two weeks, eager to return to my home.
Unfortunately, I would be arriving without any of the information I was assigned to retrieve, not unlike the other unsuccessful missions my comrades and I had been sent on over the last few years.
The human I’d been following had left his ship at a port along the northeastern coast of the United States. I lost his trail after he spent two weeks traveling further inland, too far for me to pursue. Frustrated, I’d given up, unwilling to leave the safety of the shoreline too far behind.
Relations between humans and the Talassi have always been shaky.
Things took a turn for the worse in the last few centuries as they began sailing their massive, destructive ships further from the coast, invading and destroying more of our territory in a careless grasp to expand their own.
They dropped waste, garbage, bodies, and more into the water, never caring that what they left behind caused havoc for those who inhabited the ocean.
Decades ago, we attempted to negotiate a truce between our species, which lasted for a few calm years until the humans began ensnaring the Talassi.
We had no idea what they were doing to our people after they were captured, only that they were never found again.
Their constant technological advances kept our retaliation at bay, as any time we made progress, they’d dispose of another Talassian body into the depths, or dump a fleet’s worth of garbage over one of our habitats.
As of now, the truce had all but dissolved.
We knew of one fleet in particular that was especially dangerous to our kind, and did our best to keep our distance, keeping our homes as free of their waste as we could.
Occasionally they antagonized us, and we would fight back, but it always ended up with more dead Talassi than any of us wanted to acknowledge.
Something caught my eye in the distance, a small disturbance interrupting my wandering mind. I squinted, focusing on the anomaly, and a faint streak of white flashed against the ripples in the deep blue expanse.
Strange, I thought. It was late in the night, far too dark for any light to be reflecting at this depth.
I approached with caution, slowly creeping towards what appeared to be a tattered nightdress, floating and barely illuminated against the deep blue water.
The humans and their new technologies were getting ridiculous. As if their normal metal and rubber garbage wasn’t enough, now they’d found a way to make their garments light up underwater. Like a deep-sea predator. Disgusting. Humans could never pass as true predators.
Nearing the torn pieces of fabric, I paused as I noticed pale limbs floating beneath.
Slender hands and petite feet stuck out from the threadbare nightdress.
Ah, so it is another body, I shook my head, wondering how this one had met its fate.
They did not look prepared for a journey this far into the ocean, let alone this deep.
I circled the body, wondering why it wasn’t sinking the way corpses typically did. Instead, it stilled in the water, almost looking peaceful. Long pale hair undulated in the soft current, contrasted by a few streaks that were just barely glowing light blue. Strange.
Who are you? I wondered, gathering the body in my arms. My limbs seemed to move on their own, drawn to the body despite the haunting sense of dissonance.
I brushed a strand of hair away from a pallid face, only to be greeted by the sad expression of a beautiful young woman. Her skin was covered in splinters and bruises, and her ankles and wrists still held the remains of a frayed rope binding.
What in the world did they do to you? I thought, my heart aching at the thought of her dying alone and bound in these freezing depths.
Humans were weak, vile creatures. But they were just as cruel to each other as they were to us and the lands and waters they infected with their presence.
It seemed as if this poor soul was a victim of that same cruelty, and I felt it was only right that I made sure her body found a proper place to rest.
I removed the last of the fraying rope from her ankles and wrists, then tucked her small frame against my torso, feeling a pang of sadness as my fingers grazed her soft skin.
Her hair was still glowing faintly, which gave me pause, considering that humans didn’t typically glow, but there was no conceivable way she was anything more than a corpse at this point.
We were far too deep for any humans to survive, let alone last this long without air.
As I pushed forward, my eyes adjusting to the dark depths, I soon found the answer to my question of why she had been floating aimlessly in the ocean.
A shipwreck. And a bad one, from the looks of it.
It looked as if the ship had exploded, leaving broken pieces of wood and iron scattered across the surface of the water. A few bodies hung entangled in what was left of the wreckage. From the looks of it, there had been no survivors.
This is quite an inconvenience, I thought.
Securing the girl’s body, I kicked my tail to move us around the debris, checking for any survivors and noting the distinct splintering of the wooden pieces of the ship.
It wasn’t uncommon to find shipwrecks in the open ocean, but only certain horrors that lay hidden in the deep could cause damage in this way.
Once the last body sank to its demise, I turned to swim away from the wreckage.
At the time, I didn’t know why I held onto the body of the girl, but I attributed it to not wanting to lay her to rest amongst the sailors who had abused her.
The otherworldly landscape of a nearby reef seemed like a better place to lay this poor thing to rest.
As I coiled my tail and prepared to move, I could have sworn I felt her hands move against my torso. I readjusted her, staring down into that sad, beautiful face, and nearly threw her body far away from me when her glowing hair flickered brighter and she opened her eyes.
Piercing hazel eyes stared at me for a split second, illuminated by the bright blue light shining from the streaks in her hair. I held her at arms length, examining her body, wondering how in the world she was still alive, and wondering if humans could open their eyes again once they’d been dead.
In a moment of panic, I pulled her against my chest and bolted towards the surface. A rocky island lay nearby, and I kept her head above the water as I pushed us through the currents until we reached dry land.
Shifting mostly into my human form, I hauled her body onto a flat boulder, frantically pushing the stray seaweed away from her mouth. Her hair was still slightly glowing, and she looked utterly ethereal under the dim light of the crescent moon above.
I searched her face, hoping that against all odds she was still alive.
She was young and beautiful and had clearly been a victim of whatever mess those sailors had gotten themselves into.
But what would I do with her if she was?
The closest human settlement was far away, nestled in the rocky waters around Akala Island.
The island where they sent humans they no longer wanted to deal with. Surely she wasn’t headed there, was she?
I leaned down to place my ear against her chest, the fins along the side of my ear fluttering as they made contact with her body. Her warm body. And sure enough, after a few seconds, I detected the faint thump of a heartbeat.
Sitting up, I cursed myself for ending up here in the first place. In no world was I, a Talassian Warrior, one to pick up responsibility for a human. I didn’t even like shifting into my human form! What was I supposed to do with this helpless, tender little thing?
Before I could make any more terrible decisions, she abruptly sat up, coughing as a torrent of water projected from her mouth.
Unsure how, exactly, to help her, I placed a gentle hand between her shoulder blades to steady her. She kept coughing and heaving, trembling against my fingertips as more water exited her body.
“You’re alright,” I said, moving my hand up and down as she wretched. “You have to get it all out.” I tried to keep my expression neutral, though watching her expel her insides was not something I ever desired to see again. It was quite disgusting, if I’m being honest.
By the grace of the spirit of the sea, she eventually stopped, holding her face in her hands until she caught her breath and looked up.
When her gaze met my face, she let out the most blood-curdling shriek I’d ever heard in my life, and I threw my hands over my ears to stop the grating noise reverberating through my body.
“Who are you?!” She rasped, eyes wide with terror.