Ever After #7: Waves of Scales

Chapter 5.2 The Voice

FROM THE DEEP, the serceans struggled and shrieked again as they collectively felt the excruciating pain in their brain. The Sireceans can’t stop themselves from releasing their destructive screams and sound waves that caused the death of fishes and other serceans near them. A few seconds later, they lost energy and their sight was welcomed by darkness.

They were paralyzed, they can’t feel any of their hands, even their tail. In that darkness, a light sparked into small glowing particles that were scattered for a second, until they formed into a large image of Goddess Aesercean in her serceana form. She was looking over them. Her appearance united all of them, the barrier in their telepathic abilities crumbled, and they finally became one.

Mother Senthuria was speechless when their eyes met, she and the other species saw glimpses of the future; plans that were given for them to act before it was too late. But as they looked into the window of the future, they all saw Asceia of Family Sirencean, in her human form, with irises like the clear blue sky looking back at them.

“Bring the ocean to the land and drown those who wronged us,” Goddess Aesercean firmly ordered that was echoing in their minds.

“The warrior was born!” one of the serceanas shouted with pride.

“The chosen one!”

“All hail Asceia of Family Sirencean, the warrior of serceans!”

“The warrior of serceans!”

The image of Asceia and Goddess Aesercean faded, and Mother Senthuria found herself panting and leaning on a rock for support. She was overwhelmed by what she saw and she immediately regained her strength. She was so proud of her daughter for being the chosen warrior. Finally, after centuries of silence, Goddess Aesercean blessed them with hope and powers during these times of crisis. Their kind will never suffer anymore.

She closed her eyes and called all of the Sirenceans, “it’s time.”

All Sirenceans scattered throughout the Philippine Seas swam to the nearest fault lines, seamounts, and other underwater landforms. Together, with her signal, they all screamed so loud like they never did before and used all of their energy. They directed their sound waves to the fault lines and the weakest spots of landforms, triggering powerful earthquakes and landslides. These actions created a series of tsunamis that were formed in different parts of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

••°°••

AFTER EXPERIENCING THE nerve-wracking earthquake, the Filipinos near the coast heard the ocean roar and witnessed the sudden recision of water farther than it used to be. They were terrified of the corals and the only thing that was registered to their mind was to get away as far as they can. Everyone panicked. They immediately left their homes bringing their most important things and rushed to the elevated parts of their town. The screams of people trying to get far as possible, the cries of kids and parents who got lost in the way, honks of cars and motorcycles, and sirens of ambulances and other rescue units filled the air, adding so much fear.

A few minutes have gone by and the destructive waves finally hit the towns near the coasts. Water flooded the land, destroying the homes, and establishments; uprooting the trees; and drowning the people who failed to evacuate quickly.

••°°••

“I THOUGHT THE building was going to collapse!” Mrs. Rodriguez cried, with her trembling legs and hands, she was aided by a guard to stand back up.

“What was that?” Mr. Santos asked Rick.

Rick tried to compose himself and control his shaking hands, he picked up his tablet from the floor and checked the data, “B...Based on our instruments, there were multiple earthquakes detected in the o...ocean floor of the Philippine Seas---”

One of the scientists from the controls interrupted him, “Sir! The surveillance cameras caught the water receding too fast. We need to evacuate, right now!”

“Sedate this remaining mermaid and transport the other mermaids from the chambers to our nearest bunker!” Mr. Santos instantly ordered and turned his attention to his panicking guests. “Come with me.”

He quickly escorted them out to the elevator. They all rose back up to the rooftop where their chopper was prepared. From the top, Mr. Santos and his guests saw the terrifying exposure of seafloor, corals, and fishes left out in the open. A strong gust of wind was blown to him when the blades started to spin, he turned around and watched his men help his guests get inside the chopper. He didn’t waste any second, he was the last to get in the chopper and sat in between a guard and Mr. Diaz. Before the tsunami could hit their building and the shore, they flew and left.

••°°••

AFTER A LONG ride, the chopper carrying Troy and Frejean landed at the foot of a mountain, inside the private property owned by the Philippine government. The armed men did not remove the thick bags over their heads and brought them inside the artificial cave located at the base of the mountain, which led to their underground bunker. Everyone was busy preparing and setting up everything they lost in their laboratory. Troy and Frejean only heard the noise of the machines and the people’s voices overlapping as they walked to nowhere.

After a long walk, they were pushed inside the cold room and heard the door close. They still have the bags over their head and both hands tied at the back. The deafening silence that filled up the room made Troy conclude that they were alone. He was about to speak when he heard the door hiss and was opened again. Footsteps broke the silence, followed by the sound of the door being closed again.

He sensed the presence of the stranger near him and judging by the scent of its perfume, he knew it was a woman. She removed the bag from his head and he quickly closed his eyes with his brows furrowed when he was greeted by the blinding light. When his sight adjusted to the sudden introductions of vibrant colors of the room, he saw himself standing in front of a woman dressed up as a nurse. She also removed Frejean’s bag and set her hands free from the nylon cable tie. He found no words to utter and just watched and let the woman use its cutter to sever the nylon. But he noticed something about her, the woman was in a hurry and acted so nervous.

“Troy,” he was dumbfounded when the woman turned to him and cut him loose. And she hugged him. “I know this is too confusing, but I was a friend to your mother back when we started building the foundation.” She let go of the hug and took something out of her pocket. “We don’t have so much time so I prepared this when I heard you were captured and brought here.” It was a flash drive. She handed it to him. And he accepted it and kept it in his pocket. “Let’s go.” She went to the door and put her key card on the scanner.