Ever After #7: Waves of Scales

Chapter 5.1 The Voice

“Telepathic shield activated...”

Mr. Santos took out his phone and dialed Rick Corpus’ contact number. From above, he watched him put down his tablet and reach for his phone in his pocket, and then he answered.

“What’s the status, Rick?”

“I just watched the live feed on our test subjects in the chambers, Mr. Santos. They felt it too. I believe we finally have access to the minds of other mermaids in the ocean. We can send sensations and control them. I think we’re ready for the harvest.”

“How much time do you need for that?”

“We can do it by tomorrow. We still need to recalibrate and amplify the helmets and produce more drugs.”

“If they all can feel what these five have felt, shock them again. This time make it last longer, just enough to harm and not to kill them. Let’s send them a message that we are not the kind to mess with. Don’t waste time. The sooner we have all of those mermaids, the better. We can’t have them threatening us again.”

“On it, sir.” Rick ended the call and spoke to the scientist in control, “lower the shield on my command.” He turned his gaze back to the mermaids and turned the shock baton on.

They continuously supplied the drug that partially worked on Asceia, unlike the other species that were subjected to tests, she was conscious of what was going on but she has no control over her body. Staring at the ceiling and the faces of the guests, she sensed the electricity that was about to touch her body. Once again, she felt the burning pain that enveloped her body and mind. She wanted to scream to let out the pain, but the gag and paralysis prevented her.

Her body trembled and struggled due to the shock, but still, it was not enough to break them free of the chains. The pain was too much that her sight was switching from blur to darkness, then back to vivid colors of the laboratory. Her system wanted to pass out to shield her from pain but the drug was keeping her and the others awake. Until her body can’t take and hold it anymore. She gave in and was blinded by darkness.

She felt herself floating in an infinite void with deafening silence. She still can’t move her body as if she was detached from it. But in that darkness, she saw flashes of images and heard voices. Right there she realized she was in their minds, all serceans were merged into one mind: sharing memories, senses, emotions, and skills. For the first time, the pain they shared broke the wall of their minds. They were not just communicating anymore, they were unified.

She saw everything, right in front of her, she witnessed how their kind survived for thousands of years. From the fall of the asteroid that changed the ocean, the dawn of their species, the rise of humans, the wars, and the evolution that took part on this planet. She was so overwhelmed and felt bliss. Until the flashes of images vanished and turned into a big figure of a beautiful serceana with a glowing golden tail, shimmering scales, and a golden coral crown.

“Goddess Aesercean,” she uttered in awe of her majestic beauty. She can’t believe that she was facing the goddess they worshipped for centuries.

“My child...” the goddess reached for her. She wanted to take her hands but only her ears and eyes were working at the moment. But she felt the goddess’ palm gently pressed to her chest. “Fear not for I chose you to be the warrior of serceans. You will change the world. Greater purpose lies ahead. You still have battles to win.”

“B...But how? I don’t deserve to be a warrior. I failed to save our kind.”

“This was always meant to happen, Asceia. Your people gave their lives for this day. It doesn’t matter what you did before, what matters the most is what you will do now.” The silence of the infinite void was broken when Goddess Aesercean hummed a calming harmony. It was the sound of the waves; the pulsed calls, and whistles of whales; the clicks of dolphins---it was a mixture of sounds in the ocean created by marine life. She was enchanted by the goddess’ song that was registered in her mind.

The Song ended and Goddess Aesercean dispersed into small glowing particles, like stars in the night sky and flying fireflies. The lights converged in the middle where they fused into one ball of glowing white light. She was about to reach for it when the light flew into her and burned inside her with heat enough to warm her soul.

••°°••

FROM THE BASEMENT-1, while the guests enjoyed watching the demonstration, Mr. Santos was approached by Diego, their guard, and whispered words to his ear, “Sir, we have Troy Aguirre and the woman in our custody.”

He excused himself from his guests and talked to the guard far from the ears of others.“I expected a dead body. Damn it!” he hissed in low voice, trying to contain his disappointment and anger.

“They’re transporting them now on a chopper. They said they can’t kill them in public, so they brought them here for yourself, sir.”

“I’ll kill them too after I killed Troy.”

Diego went back to his post and as he returned to his guests, his gaze was shifted below. His brows furrowed in confusion when he saw that the mermaids were still shaking even after Rick removed the shock baton. But what’s more intriguing was only one of them, the mermaid with a gag did not struggle. He saw how four of their test subjects screamed in pain until minutes later, they all stopped with smoke escaping out of their noses and mouth. They’re dead.

“What’s wrong?”

“What happened?”

“Oh, dear.”

He was dumbfounded and his guests kept uttering questions. He didn’t answer any of those and immediately, he left the floor and went down to see their test subjects, and his guests followed him down too. As he made his way closer and closer to the mermaids, he saw the scientists and doctors were also baffled by the results they didn’t anticipate. Four of their test subjects’ eyes and mouths were burned, except for the one with a gag.

“What the fuck happened?”