Ever After #7: Waves of Scales

Chapter 17.3 The Mind

ASCEIA OPENED HER eyes with relief that finally, Yrevia will never wreak havoc in the world. While she was still catching her breath, she closed her eyes back again and started establishing a telepathic connection to all serceans, including the remaining Parents of the Order that were still alive.

“Yrevia’s gone and she’s not going back. Serceans, if we wanted to be part of this world, to have a space for our kind, this is not the way. We can’t just live on the land where too much blood was spilled. Our kind and their kind have conflicted for centuries, we did unforgivable things to each other…and today is the day we will end it. Enough with the deaths and pain. I will not control you all but please, help me take out those beasts.”

“I’m afraid I’m going to disagree with you, Asceia,” a sercean said that echoed to her mind. “You can’t just decide this for all of us. Our kind remained in hiding just to stay alive, while they populated the whole world and made changes that slowly kill us.”

“I am so tired of sending my family to observe them. I am tired of being invisible. Yrevia was right, our kind is meant to rule this world!”

“Why are you doing this? Why are you siding with those humans?”

“Yrevia was doing what’s best for our kind, what we really deserve.”

“Yrevia was right!”

“This is war, Asceia. This is survival of the fittest kind. To end this war, only one kind must remain.”

“Bring back Yrevia!”

“Bring back Yrevia!” they all chanted.

“Leave us alone, Asceia! Get out of our minds!”

Asceia was shocked to hear those words from her people. She wanted to stay in their collected minds but they were pushing her out. They succeeded in cutting her influence off of them, but she was still tapping into their sense of sight and hearing. She can’t explain her disappointment and fear of seeing all of the families of the serceans surface and left the sea. They were marching on the coast, in the same direction as the beasts. They were carrying weapons they picked along the way and started murdering any humans they encountered.

“Asceia…”

“Troy!”

Hearing his voice, she quickly tethered her mind to him. She found him still trapped in the cylindrical glass tank, breathing well, and pounding the glass.

“Asceia, please help me.”

“I will come to you, but first, you need to get out of here. The serceans and beasts are out for blood. You’re not safe.”

She sang the Song and channeled her powers to Troy. She used the force of the water to push the glass until it caused a crack. With one last push, the glass shattered into pieces and the water flowed out. Being exposed to air, Troy’s gills under his jaw were closed and sealed by his skin, leaving no trace of their presence. He gasped for air and coughed when he started breathing through his nose again. He carefully stepped out of the tank, avoiding the sharp pieces of glass scattered everywhere.

He quickly headed for the door when suddenly, it opened, revealing Frejean’s presence. She had a small wound on her forehead that was still bleeding. But the expression on her face was unrecognizable, she wasn’t the Frejean she used to know.

“She killed Fatima…” Troy said to Asceia and he stopped walking.

“And she will pay for that.”

Frejean stepped inside the room, pulled out a gun from behind, and pointed it at him. “Tell Asceia to stop these attacks or I will pull this trigger,” she warned. But Troy wasn’t bothered, he didn’t move and just stared at her. “I know she’s with you now! Call her or I will fucking shoot you.”