Kairos 59: Death March

“Have a nice day!” Doris bade goodbye to her latest customer. The merfolk merchant thanked her with a nod, leaving the florist’s shop with a bouquet of bright red anemones he meant to offer his aunt. Doris let out a tired sigh, exhausted by a day’s hard work.

It was quite late in Orichalcos, though its oceanic markets never slept. While the florist would close her shop for the night, another would immediately open to take her place. Not that Doris complained, as night visitors were often an unsavory sort, drunks, knaves, or merchants of ill-repute.

She was in the process of putting her flowers aside when one last customer entered her shop. A familiar one.

“Hey, Doris!” Her friend Alexis was a handsome merfolk, with light brown hair and a comely face. In his city-watch obsidian armor, he looked halfway like a daring warrior from singers’ ballads. “Are you still open?”

“Why is it that you always visit me when I’m about to close?” she asked with a bright smile, her crimson hair floating in the water. “Red algae with purple coral?

“You do know me well,” the guard replied. He always asked for the same bouquet. Though he had never told Doris to whom he offered them, she had her suspicions. One of her colleagues had noticed that Alexis often visited stonemaker Othon’s wife, but only when her husband wasn’t in town… “Is it true you’re leaving for the surface?”

“It is,” she replied, while arranging the bouquet. “I was on the fence, but a wise shark convinced me to take the risk.”

“I wouldn’t call this choice wise.” Her friend crossed his arm, his obsidian spear strapped to his back. “A human [Demigod] is still a human. For all you know, your ‘friend’ won’t let you leave when you move in. He’ll throw you into a pond.”

“You don’t know him,” she replied with a smile. “I do.”

“I’m just worried. I heard Vali’s king keeps a harem of three hundred, his star general probably has half as many.”

“You would be wrong.” Her love hadn’t taken a wife since pirates widowed him. Doris still remembered the day she found him, half-drowned after the Travians sank his ship. He would have perished if she hadn’t brought him to shore, and what started as an act of kindness evolved into something more…

“As for the pond part…” Doris blushed. “He ordered the creation of a lake near his palace.”

Alexis choked. “A lake?”

“Men are all gallant fools,” she replied, still a bit embarrassed by the attention. “You could come visit, if you like.”

“Mmm, and why not? I doubt I will come often though, I’m expected to become the new captain—” He froze in place.

“What is it?” Doris asked, as the guard looked at the ceiling.

“Do you hear that?”

The florist frowned, but when she focused she noticed it too. A distant rumble, like an underwater landslide. Her hand moved to the walls of her shop, sensing the vibrations coursing through the stone.

A quake?

Impossible, the city hadn’t seen one since its construction. Did the city’s [Alchemists] cause an explosion again? Doris remembered they had destroyed part of the port five years ago after a magical mishap.

“It’s getting stronger,” Alexis replied before hastily swimming out of the shop. A worried Doris followed him.

The market was abuzz with activity, but not the good kind. The nacre shops were empty, both sellers and customers now gathering in the coral streets. A whale transporter had interrupted its circuit above the area, casting a long shadow above Doris’ shop. Jellyfishes, merfolks, and other fishfolk muttered words to each other, all of them looking south with confusion and worry.

“What is this?” Alexis whispered, his eyes widening.

Doris couldn’t even say a word.

A colossal current of smoke, dust, and steamy waters had risen to the south, coloring the whole horizon white. The sight reminded Doris of the clouds in the surface’s skies, but she had never seen one so big before. The phenomenon covered hundreds of kilometers, and rose as high as her eyes could see. Maybe all the way to the surface. Even the royal palace looked like a child compared to this monument of nature.

Strange currents of air made the strange cloud swirl on itself like a whirlpool, blowing tons of sand and seastones where it touched the seafloor. It was… almost beautiful in its majesty. Even so far away, Doris could sense the vibrations in the waters, the rumbling spreading through the earth.

Was that a sea storm? She had never seen one so big, so powerful, so—

So quick.

The confusion turned to fear, and the screams became deafening. Merfolk swam away as fast as they could, while the market’s shops started to collapse, their walls cracking. The cloud was moving closer to the city, swallowing the aquatic hinterlands and quickly reaching the outskirts.

The storm flattened buildings, uprooted anemone trees, and shattered all in its path. The wave of destruction moved more swiftly than a shark on the hunt, relentless and unstoppable.

Doris didn’t have the time to flee, or suffer. Her mind didn’t even register Alexis’ hand grabbing her by the shoulder in a futile attempt to escape. She didn’t have time to understand, as the wave hit the market with godly strength and debris tore her body apart. She didn’t have to think of her love, or the bright future she had hoped for.

Death claimed thousands in an instant, and Orichalcos trembled.

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“Rise, surface-dweller,” said the mermaid queen.

Absyrtus, personal assistant to King Mithridates of Pergamon, moved back on his feet. At his side, three chests overflowed with his master’s gifts to the rulers of Orichalcos: silver, gilded swords and armors, emerald statuettes from Alexandria, ivory horns, and a dazzling gemstone tiara for Queen Pallas. Absyrtus had done his research, and knew that the inbred child-king on his sister’s lap was a figurehead at best.

“Your gifts are welcome,” the queen said, though she didn’t offer any to Absyrtus in return. The emissary was wise enough not to ask for any. He had spent enough time around royals to know that most were quick to swear revenge and slow to forgive. “Orichalcos values friends, especially those who show us proper respect.”

“What else can we do but celebrate Poseidon’s heirs and the masters of the sea?” Absyrtus said with honeyed words, though he didn’t believe any of them. His voice felt sore from the breathing spell cast on him. “We understand that we can only travel the Sunsea safely thanks to your merciful rule.”

Thankfully, the queen was as venal and prone to flattery as his spies’ reports implied. “All our subjects are entitled to our protection, whether they live above or beneath the seas,” she said, her fish tail slapping her throne. “Though we made a treaty of friendship with the Travians too.”

“Savage barbarians who respect nothing,” Absyrtus said, though he carefully avoided mentioning the ‘incident,’ as his spies called it. “Your Majesty does not need to take up arms, or even concern herself with our trifle conflicts. You only need to tell us where this so-called Travian king will move after he leaves your fair city… and we will take care of the rest.”

Queen Pallas smiled. “We will entertain your proposal with great interest. You may go for now.”

“I will duly report this news to His Majesty,” Absyrtus replied, though he knew he wouldn’t need it.

His master was a [Hero] Ranked [Spymaster], with the Skills to match. King Mithridates could see through Absyrtus’ eyes and listen through his ears, so long as he focused. His assistant always knew when his master was watching; he could see the [Poison King]’s long shadow at the periphery of his vision, a ghost haunting his senses.

Though Absyrtus was granted more autonomy than most, his superior always wanted to observe important meetings from afar whenever possible. The [Warp Necklace] around Absyrtus’ neck, a powerful gift from Medea of Achlys, also allowed King Mithridates to teleport him back to Pergamon.

Though Mithridates had planned a diplomatic trip to Orichalcos for a while now, he had sent Absyrtus earlier than expected after learning of Kairos of Travia’s visit. The [Poison King] had feared an alliance between the expansionist merfolk and the Travians, but thankfully the pirate had botched his diplomatic trip… leaving a gap for Pergamon to exploit.

However, these talks of prophecies he kept hearing from merfolk merchants concerned Absyrtus. He had informed his master as soon as he heard the rumors, but the [Poison King] had dismissed them. “Ask the likes of Oedipus and Kronos about fighting prophecies,” Lord Mithridates had answered. “The more you try to avert them, the more you strengthen them. Prophecies are best left ignored.”

Still, Pergamon’s king worried about how anti-surface and old god sentiments spread among the merfolk population. King Mithridates hoped that redirecting their wrath against Travia would give him the time window he needed to fully unlock the trident shard’s power, and complete the Thalassocra—

The throne room shook so violently that Absyrtus was almost thrown to his feet.

Three of the seven metal pillars supporting the ceiling snapped, while the shining coral throne of Orichalcos lost its glow for a moment. Queen Pallas instinctively grabbed her child-husband as he threatened to fall off her lap, while her golden guards immediately gathered around her.

The quake lasted only for a few seconds, but the entire palace felt it. Cracks spread through the audience room’s crystal floor, while its transparent doors flickered for a brief instant, their magic disrupted.

“What’s happening?!” Queen Pallas snarled, while King Triton started crying in fear. The royal throne shone with a blue glow, and a colorful bubble two meters in diameter formed in the middle of the room.

A picture of the city outside formed on the sphere, showing an apocalyptic vision that gave even Absyrtus pause.

The sea had split around the royal capital and kilometers beyond, a hurricane of magical wind opening a path to the red twilight skies above. Swirling walls of water kept the ocean out, leaving the seafloor to dry out.

As for the city itself…

Even the jaded Absyrtus had been left speechless when he first entered the royal capital, and marveled at its wealth. But where towers of coral once stood, only broken rubble remained. A mighty blast had tossed away shell houses as if they were made of straw, shattering them. With no water to support them, the countless fish and other aquatic lifeforms thriving in the city had fallen down to earth like wingless birds. Whales had crashed on pearl monuments or merfolk, and now agonized on the ground.

Powerful winds had uprooted the glorious, luxurious underwater forests, leaving nothing but sand and mud where algae trees once stood. Giant pearls had rolled away from their previous locations and ravaged the streets. No house remained standing.

Everywhere Absyrtus looked, he could see corpses half-buried in debris, or fish agonizing from the sudden lack of water to breathe. The survivor merfolk fared better in that they didn’t asphyxiate, but while they had looked gracious in the water, they could only hop on land.

“This…” the queen choked at the sight. The royal palace’s divine magic had spared it the city’s fate… but not for long.

Absyrtus squinted upon noticing forms appearing in the city’s outskirts. As they came closer to the focal viewpoint of the monitoring magic, the ambassador noticed a tide of tentacles, pincers, and monstrous maws.

“Cetae!” a guard shouted in panic, upon recognizing the creatures. “The Cetae are attacking!”

A whole army of them had invaded the city from the south, stepping on the helpless merfolk and crushing them underfoot. A monstrous ship led the vanguard alongside a mighty sea serpent, carried by crablike legs.

The Foresight.

“Betrayal!” The mermaid queen’s horror turned into fury, as she immediately barked out orders. “Guards, secure the palace and repel this rabble!”

The captain of her guard nodded, though reluctantly. “Your Majesty, the air outside—”

“Will soon bow to the sea’s might!” The Queen answered, before putting her hands on her throne’s armrest. Immediately, the coral seemed to thrum and sing, an ancient power awakening within its confines.

This does not bode well, Absyrtus thought, before smiling as magic coursed through the queenling’s throne. The [Poison King]’s shadow loomed larger at the edge of his sight. Or maybe not...

Chaos and opportunity walked hand-in-hand, after all.

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Nausicaa Seastar knew this moment would come.

She had waited a great many moons trapped in this coral cage, dreaming of release and freedom. Even after the feeble thralls of Orichalcos chased her tribe from its ancestral lands and captured her, Nausicaa had never lost hope. She had known she would escape, deep within her bones.

No house built on rot could survive long.

Imprisonment had been difficult. The magical choker around her neck felt heavy and burdensome, and the cage was too small for her to exercise as she wished. Without meditation, Nausicaa might have grown mad; and even then, the [Rogue] could hardly enjoy a few hours of quietness without onlookers disturbing her.

Four guards always kept her company, though they changed every moon or so. They hated their trapped foe, but desired her even more. They would have raped her, if they had been brave enough to. Nausicaa’s choker prevented her from using most of her Skills, and the right password would [Paralyze] her if spoken out loud, but none of these cowards had even dared to open her cage.

Instead, they had mocked her, pissed on her cage’s bars, or paraded their feeble cocks at her face. Merchants also jeered about bedding the trapped warrior, only to wet themselves when she glared at them.

Nausicaa wouldn’t have answered their provocations, even if she could. The cetean mermaid was born mute, her throat as dry and dead as a grave. She never minded much. She preferred to speak through her actions, or with sharp blades. Silence was her armor, shielding her while she approached her prey undetected. The mermaid had been her tribe’s knife, sent to slay those who would do them harm or invade their ancestral homes. Over time, Nausicaa had grown so good at it that even Abyssean warlords called upon her services.

Overconfidence had caused her capture, but she wouldn’t make that mistake again.

And now, the opportunity for vengeance had come.

Nausicaa had sensed the storm approaching long before her guards did, and buried herself in her cage’s sand floor. Debris snapped her cage’s bars and wind pushed out the waters, but she endured.

When she emerged from her broken prison to breathe air instead of water, Nausicaa thought that it tasted like liberty.

Though she had weathered the storm, the mermaid [Rogue] couldn’t say the same for the coral reef where she had been kept imprisoned and paraded. The wind had blown away the Orichalcosians’ stupid shops, and the merchants alongside them.

Some of her guards were still alive. One laid on the ground near her, his fish tail crushed underneath a coral shard, his hand struggling to reach an obsidian spear. Two others struggled to hop on the uprooted seagrass, and the fourth lay broken on a destroyed shop’s remains, his gut impaled by his own spear.

Nausicaa wouldn’t give these weaklings the time to activate the choker.

Though she couldn’t use her best abilities, the necklace didn’t deprive her of her strength and experience. While these weaklings struggled to crawl on the seagrass without water, Nausicaa used her hands to close the gap between them with frightening speed. She quickly reached the closest guard, right as he managed to grab his weapon.

He didn’t hear his death coming.

Nausicaa swiftly grabbed his head with her hands, and twisted his neck on itself with all her strength. A sickening crack echoed as his vertebrae broke and his flesh bent to her might, separating the skull from the torso. The blood drops felt warm on her skin, and a delightful sensation filled Nausicaa’s innards.

She had almost forgotten the thrill of the hunt.

Immediately tossing the head aside, she grabbed the dead guard’s obsidian spear and attacked his two companions. They turned their heads in her direction after hearing the cracking sound of their compatriot’s neck, but they didn’t react swiftly enough. Nausicaa had disemboweled one before he even raised his own weapon, and impaled the other through the throat. The [Assassin] looked on with satisfaction as the light went out from his eyes.

Freedom tasted better when purchased with blood.

She heard a sound echo from the south, the rumble of monsters approaching her location. Nausicaa didn’t try to escape. Instead, she patiently waited for their arrival, and the shark that led them.

A powerful Cetus climbed into the coral reef, its crablike legs stomping onto debris and corpses both. Its fin was a sail, its belly a hull. A winged beast flew above it, carrying a shadow with a spear, while a Scylla with a staff crawled after the ship. Nausicaa observed them in silence as they surrounded her.

“That’s her?” The mighty Scylla asked in the old tongue. In response, the flying beast landed at her side, a strange bird that Nausicaa had never seen before.

Its rider was a human, one with a crown of hydra fangs, a golden cloak, and a spear of silver. It was a war chieftain of some sort, Nausicaa could tell it on sight.

A king.

“Do you understand us?” he asked in the old tongue. Nausicaa nodded. “Do you recognize me?”

Yes, she did. The human could change his form, but not his gaze. As a shark or a man, his eyes were always as cold as the sea. Eyes like Nausicaa’s own. This human was cunning, ambitious, and battle-hardened…

And yet, there was a hint of something else in his gaze. Something she had rarely seen, even among her tribe.

Compassion.

Cold, but not heartless, Nausicaa thought.

“Good,” the human answered when she nodded, a bright warm smile on his lips. The Scylla raised her staff, and the choker around Nausicaa’s neck fell down on the ground. “Tell me… are you looking for a job?”

Nausicaa widened her lips, but behind the grin there were fangs.

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A/N: chapter made possible by you, dear patrons. Also, the final Underland trailer is now available on youtube.