Ame Perdue

Chapter Seven

The other creatures in the lake stayed far away from him, sensing the darkness that had taken root within the male. It made it a quick trip to the bottom of the lake. It took him a moment to locate the cave, a moment more to push away the stone that he had used to block the entrance. Swimming inside, he sent out a burst of power, forcing all of the water that was inside the underwater cave to rush back into the lake. Rich oxygen filled the opening, he breathed it in greedily, panting softly.

Standing on the solid ground, he blinked the water from his eyes. His clothes stuck to him as if they were a second skin, but he couldn't find it in himself to care about that. He was softly panting as he flung his damp hair out of his face, automatically moving to tie it back at the nape of his neck. He had just barely enough hair for it to all fit behind his head, the stub behind the band being exactly an inch long. His eyes traveled over the tunnels that he had explored after killing its former inhabitants.

The merpeople lair was large, he knew that the tunnels stretched far beyond the lake itself, its web branching far within the forest. It even branched out underneath the stream that fed into the lake, the tunnels reaching as far as the burning town not terribly far from the lake. It was once a bustling place, providing a home to the countless inhabitants of the lake. It was a place that hadn't been empty since the say that the merpeople carved it out of the bottom of the lake. Nor had it ever been emptied of water like it was.

Ignoring the way that his shoes sloshed with every step that he took, he made his way through the deserted caves. Although he hadn't been there but twice before, every step that he took was sure as he moved. He never guessed which turn he needed to take, the path as clear as night within his mind. He traveled underground until he was far underneath the forest, the roots of the trees above him starting to get thicker the deeper he traveled.

There were no doors in the caves, so when he finally made it to his destination, the room's inhabitant noticed him instantly. It was a wide room, far larger than the purpose that he had needed it for. The male almost wouldn't be surprised if the ceiling collapsed. The mermen had no built-in support beams in their caverns, trusting the water to hold up the ceilings. Looking up, he could see a slight bend in the center of the ceiling, threatening to crush them in if it was hit with enough force. He could clearly picture himself being crushed under the weight of the ceiling, the earth burying three people underneath her core.

He smiled. It was, after all, the reason that he had chosen this room.

If it hadn't been for the chains that were holding his prisoner up, he would have been on the ground as he emptied his lungs of water. The first male leaned against the entrance as he watched the boy try to catch his breath, mildly amused. He wasn't sure if the wind spirit would still be alive when he returned, but it looked as if he had managed to pull enough oxygen out of the water to survive.

The was a wispy look to the male, his blonde hair so light that it was all but see-through, especially weighed done with water as it was. It matched his pale skin well. Everything about him was colorless as if he would fade into nothing at any given moment. It had been a challenge to find chains that would hold the male. Finding something that would lock his ability to turn into vapor while being small enough to lock around his thin wrist had taken the male quite some time. He had almost worried that he wouldn't find it in time, but he had found the perfect solution before it was necessary.

The water that they were surrounded by was an extra caution. If his bindings failed, the water would naturally drain the creature of his air affinity. He may be able to draw oxygen from the water for a short amount of time, but the very substance would slowly deplete his natural energy until he was left with no options left but to drown. Looking at him now, he knew that he had almost been at that point. If he had remained gone another few hours, he would have returned to find a body.