A New Home

A strange new place

Balance didn't expect to wake up. He'd heard stories about the Void, after all. And no one spoke of the fact that you would come out alive at the end. Also, his surprise was only natural. Balance wasn't disappointed waking up, but admitted he hadn't expected it either.

However, he quickly became aware of his surroundings. And he couldn't help but to be amazed. Around him were the most breathtaking colors that Balance has ever had. And that wasn't a joke! The colors around him were so strong, both by sight and by taste. And Balance was simply enchanted by it. He'd thought Outertale was already adorable. But this, right in front of his eyes? It was the most beautiful thing he had seen.

But that was not all. When he looked down, Balance was amazed at the strange tail that started from his waist. How the blue harmonized with the violet in and of itself piqued his interest. But those silvery-white spots that mingled with the purple-blue scales?

Balance has never felt more beautiful than at this moment.

The next step, however, was figuring out how to get around like that in the first place. Keeping his balance wasn't difficult, hee quickly figured that out. However, he was having trouble figuring out how to move around now. His attempt to swim straight ended when he crashed into one of the colored stones and unfortunately destroyed it in the process. A slight whine left and he carefully picked up one of the broken pieces and only thought of how to repair it. How the stone should get stronger so that it doesn't break so easily. His magic reacted to his intention, and Balance watched with amazement as the piece drew the remaining broken pieces towards him and put it back together again. There was even a purple sheen where the break was before!

Balance trained much more carefully and although unfortunately something broke off from the few colored stones, it was never as much as the first time. But in his opinion it was worth it, because Balance could now move around without any problems. And that was a success, right?

With his newly discovered abilities, Balance also sets out to explore this infinitely tasting path. He did not notice how one of the corals that he had repaired with the help of his magic snatched a tuna and devoured it completely.

Und er did not even notice the many other times when he found destroyed things, whether they were destroyed by him or someone else. Each time the repaired items became differentwhen they came into contact with Balance's magic. And, of course, it was noticed that at some point transients suddenly started behaving more aggressively than before. It didn't take long before this was associated with Balance.

If there was one thing that was spreading quickly in the ocean, it was probably rumors. Everyone quickly seemed to know Balance. And although it was an exciting war for the new-born goldfish mer that everyone seemed to know him, it was quickly subdued when he saw the reactions. The other Mers drove him from their homes, sometimes chasing him for miles before he even had a chance to touch anything near where they lived with his magic.

Balance had been so confused when it first happened. He didn't know what he'd done wrong to upset these pretty creatures so much that their colors tasted of anger and annoyance. Balance had tried hard to make it right, even if he didn't know what was wrong. But no matter what he did, the anger and annoyance just got more intense. At one point it even went so far that Balance swore to hear the voices again.

So now Balance fled every time he could even taste the beginnings of anger and annoyance in the colors of the others. He just didn't want to go back to the voices. He never wanted to go back there.

He never stayed in one place for long, a few hours at the most. And even then, Balance always tries to avoid the people living there. That made him feel awful. He just wanted someone by his side who wouldn't chase him away right away. Swimming all alone in the now bleak-tasting blue wasn't good for Balance l. He became lonely and more and more willing to take risks. Where he had initially kept his distance, he now observed the people and could imagine how it would be like if he was there with them. He was discovered more than once. And more than once he was injured, although at least they never took any bones away from him. That was nice of them.

It has happened so often since then. The more often it happened, the louder Balance's soul called for closeness and comfort. And the more people noticed it, the quieter it got. Their disparaging words reminded him too much of the voices in the Doodle Void. And the more similar the words became, the quietere the calls for love and affection became. After all, if it wasn't any different here from the Doodle Void, then there must have been something true in the words of the voice, didn't it?

So Balance didn't expect anything else when this golden mer approached him. And although his colors tasted of curiosity, amazement and something else that Balance couldn't quite place, he didn't want to feel safe. He had seen how quickly the colors can turn sour.

But to his surprise, the colors of the golden mer never went sour. Instead, they got brighter, happier, and so much more intense. It slowly let the small, almost silent calls of his soul get louder again. In fact, it felt as relaxing around Dream as it normally was around Nobo. Balance almost didn't want to let Dream go because of his fear that these unfriendly Mers would turn Dream against him.

Fortunately, he didn't have to leave his new friend yet, it seemed. Because Dream offered him to live with him, his brother and their friends. And in the heat of the moment, Balance had said yes. He just hoped Dream's brother and friends wouldn't be like the rude Mers. (Dream had said datemates, but Balance didn't know what it was. Maybe a higher form of friendship?)

(... and the lesson about Stranger Danger that Nobody had given him before they left the Doodle Void for the first time was completely forgotten.)