AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Isped through the ocean, each thrust of my fluke propelling me forward through the murky water. The moon sparkled on the surface like glittering diamonds. It would have been a perfect night to explore the waters I now found myself in, but instead the call had come again. If I wanted peace, I needed to deal with this quickly.
I slowed as the ocean became shallower. Boats of all sizes floated on the surface above me. Debris littered the sand beneath me, with small fish and crustaceans darting among the trash. Carefully, I wove through broken wood crates and submerged netting.
I gagged as I drew in a breath of the filthy water and wished like crazy that I was back in the clear depths far from shore.
Just get it done, and you can go rest.
I tried to give myself a pep talk, but my anxiety continued to climb. Voices from the humans near the docks began to bombard my mind. I could handle one or two voices, but so many voices at once was unbearable.
When I had awakened, I had found myself being pulled by a current from cool waters to these warmer ones. During that journey, a large metal vessel had floated above me. I was still struggling to comprehend the human speech of this time, but I had understood enough to know that they were soldiers. They thought about missions, leaders, training, and battle. All things that I understood well.
The problem was the number of humans that resided on the vessel. There had to have been more than two hundred men, and I could hear every single thought that went through their minds. To escape the mind-shattering pressure, I descended deeper into the icy abyss beneath me, much further than I had ventured before.
Thankfully, my body had adjusted to the drastic change in temperature. My body still shivered, but I hadn’t frozen. Another surprise had come when my body had lit up like a lantern as the sea around me turned midnight blue and then obsidian. My scales had pulsed with a soft phosphorescent green light. I had avoided the depths. Just the thought of that absolute darkness and the odd creatures that dwelled there made my insides churn in fear, and the skin on my arms and neck prickle.
While it wasn’t an experience I was eager to repeat in the near future, I couldn’t deny the peace that had come over me as the voices had faded and my mind quietened. My vision blurred as white-hot pain sliced through my skull and I slammed hard into a wooden beam supporting a dock. The water vibrated with groans from the old wood and my pain.
Letting out a string of curses in a language I imagined was long dead, I began to move forward again, far more cautiously this time. Several male voices cheered and shouted like they were watching fierce gladiators, while their private thoughts were a drunken jumble. Another male shouted orders at the men working on his boat; they obeyed, but their thoughts were filled with nasty comebacks they weren’t brave enough to voice aloud. The pressure in my skull built with each passing moment as thoughts of love, heartbreak, sorrow, joy, hope, and anger overwhelmed me.
Desperation bubbled up inside me. I needed to hurry, answer the call, and get the Tartarus away from the humans and their incessant thinking. The number of changes to my body and the world around me were overwhelming. For the past few weeks I had shoved down my panic. I focused on surviving; emotions would have to wait. Hearing the call had been both relieving and terrifying. It was the one single thing that was familiar to me in this new world, but to answer, I had to venture closer to the humans and away from the relative safety of the ocean.
I was near the source of tonight’s call. She sat on the peer, her bare feet swayed, kicking up glittering sprays of saltwater. Her thoughts pushed forward from the rest of the din in my brain. Sadness. Rage. The small female hadn’t always been this way; something had changed in her life, and it left her open.
Surfacing slowly, I allowed her to see my face. With some of the others this had shocked them, and they had toppled into the water. This girl was not easily scared.
“Haven’t you heard?” she said softly. “There’s some freaky fish in the water attacking people. The people on the news are telling everyone to stay away from the ocean.” She studied the scales on my face, her eyes showing only curiosity.
“Why then do you have your feet in the sea?” My voice was throaty. A lack of speaking and the constant salt of the sea had taken a toll on my vocal cords.
I watched as she threw back her head and laughed, the sound melodious as it filled the humid air around us.
“Maybe I want to meet this predator.” Her gaze was steady as it met my eyes. She brought a small metal container to her curled lips and took a long sip.
I sniffed, prepared to feel the burn of the foul-smelling beverage. To my surprise, it didn’t come. Squinting at the scribbles on the container I tried to decipher the language. Thanks to my unique heritage and the gifts that came with it, and the thoughts of the humans that forced themselves into my mind, I was catching up quickly with the modern world and the language spoken in this area. I recognized the individual letters on the can but couldn’t yet read them as words.
“It’s called soda.” She answered my unspoken question. “Here, try one. It’s a sugar drink with caffeine.”
I caught the can she tossed to me, some of the bubbly liquid sloshing out. My head pounded mercilessly from the call, but my curiosity got the best me. Lifting the can, I took a careful sniff before cautiously taking a sip. It was unlike anything I had tasted before. The sweet beverage tickled my tongue and throat as I swallowed.
“Pretty good, right? I’m Yashy, by the way.”
“Yes. Strange, but not unpleasant. I’m Zosime.”
“So, you’re the one killing off the people around the bay?”
Her tone was indifferent, as if she didn’t really care about the answer. How was I supposed to respond? I had never told a lie; I would not start with this female. I simply nodded, sipping more of the syrupy drink.
“Huh. Why? Just for fun? Or is there a deeper reason?” She leaned toward me. I wished she would lean away; the call drummed louder with each passing moment.
“I swore an oath to answer the call,” I replied firmly. “It pulls me where I am needed, to where the Lure has taken hold and eroded. Please, you could turn back.”
Even as I spoke the last words, I knew it was too late. Her thoughts of knives, pain, and revenge ran in circles in my mind. She had been hurt beyond what a human should ever have to bear. The Lure had eroded away every bit of human decency from the men who had tormented her and left her broken. In turn, she had allowed the Lure to seep into her soul and numb her pain. She had served up her revenge with an ice-cold heartlessness that was both terrifying and inspiring.
“I can’t though,” Yashy replied. “I made my decision knowing what that meant for me. Those men paid, and they will never touch another human again. The desire for bloodlust hasn’t died along with them though, but I don’t want to hurt someone. I’ve gone past the point of return, but I don’t regret my decision for a single second.”
Her words held a touch of sadness, but her lips and eyes twinkled at her remembered revenge.
“Alright, so what’s next?” she said with a sigh, turning to face me. “Do you morph into something terrifying? Do I jump in the water? Do you sing? Ugh, please don’t tell me you sing country music.” She yanked free the two bloody knives she had stabbed into the wooden dock and tossed them into the ocean.
