Bastian's Song [Complete--Editing]

[ 21 ]

Bastian rubbed at his eyes for the tenth time since he'd woken only minutes ago. Despite the relative safety of traveling in a pack, he hadn't slept very well. Now the water was dark around him, and his friends were travelling in a more circular formation.

Varya was at the lead, and Bastian could see Varick just to the right of her tail. The Selach glanced back every now and then, and his eyes moved over everyone in the group like he was counting them.

Zareb was on Bastian's right hand side, where he belonged, glaring at everything around them. Lachlan was swimming in the middle, opposite Ambrosia. The pink-haired Atlantean didn't scan her surroundings at all, instead focusing only on the way forward.

What a strange collection of people. Bastian frowned as he considered what they were all doing together, on this ridiculous journey. He knew he had the biggest role to play, and he hoped he could do it well, but doubt was like a shadow that wouldn't desert him.

Zareb interrupted his thoughts with an aggravated flick of his tail. "Be on alert!" His deep voice rumbled into the water, setting the entire group on edge immediately. 

When Bastian looked up, there were stars in the water. Beautiful little spots of bright light in the darkness. They twinkled merrily, winking in and out of sight, floating as far as his eyes could see. Varya cast a stoic look at her brother, who gripped the strap of his bag tightly in response.

"Stay close and keep up!" Varya barked at the group, and then took a deep breath. Without warning, she dove forward and further down, bursting into the stars with the force of her dive. Varick stayed hot on her tail, his arms held close to his body.

The stars around her closed up and swam away. Not stars then. Creatures?

Ambrosia dove after Varick, her pale gold tail glittering in the false starlight. Lachlan glanced over his shoulder at Bastian, and then followed, his eyes glowing green with some sort of magic.

Zareb grabbed Bastian's arm and dragged him forward, into the thick of whatever was floating in the water. Even though he knew he should be focused on swimming, Bastian couldn't help but marvel at the creatures around them. 

Jellyfish. They were tiny, strange looking jellyfish that did not look big enough to sting much of anything. A soft red circle was the center of them, but their arms spread out in an x and glowed so sweetly that Bastian had mistaken them for stars. 

A spark lit the water, fizzling into nothingness. Another spark jumped far to the right. Then one above him.

Zareb's voice rose in song, his magic spreading outward like fingers wrapping around a weapon. The fingers enclosed Bastian, making his vision blur for a moment.  

Then the stars exploded into lightning.

Arcs of electricity jumped from jellyfish to jellyfish, illuminating an invisible web of power as it raced towards the merfolk. Varya shouted something that was lost to Bastian, and Varick yelled in anger.

The raw lightning slammed into Zareb as he jumped in front of Lachlan, shielding him with his body. The sparks surrounded them and hid them from sight as they raced over the magic defense Zareb had shrouded Bastian in. 

Bastian squinted against the light, feeling the waves hum with the jellyfish's natural power. So much power would be able to paralyze anything, but it couldn't last forever. He squared his shoulders and shoved forward until the light faded into blackness once more.

It took a moment for his eyes to adjust, but when he could see again, Zareb was twitching in the water. Lachlan had hold of his arm and was dragging him downwards. Safety lay beyond the reach of the jellyfish.

Zareb's shield was holding, for now, but another hit to it would surely crack it; worse, another hit would probably shatter it. Bastian shot forward, his tail pumping hard to propel him as quickly as possible.

Just before he could reach Lachlan, another spark lit in the water. Time seemed to slow down as the lightning flickered back into existence, racing from star to star.

To Bastian, it seemed the lightning took the form of some fanged beast, baring its teeth at the mermen as it opened wide to devour them. Lachlan wasn't going to make it in time. Zareb still lay motionless in the water.

A shadow hid them from his view as the jellyfish moved in on their prey.

Bastian reached out, his eyes flashing gold light as he commanded the water. "Disperse." 

His magic rose within him and flowed out into the ocean, rushing in a tidal wave of unstoppable strength. The water flowed with the magic and moved to his will; it formed the fingers of Bastian's hands and struck the jellyfish aside, casting them into the darkness of the water to reveal his friends to him.

For a brief moment, he could see Varick holding Zareb tight in his arms. Lachlan let out a whoop of joy as the tiny jellyfish around them scattered away from them.

But the jellyfish had numbers, and they turned to face Bastian, swirling around Zareb's shield until his vision was pure light. Their tentacles struck out, sparking electricity as they slapped against the magical barrier that protected him. 

Cracks glittered into life, spreading in a spider web of danger. Each one brought him closer to their stinging wrath. In that moment, Bastian was acutely aware of how easily he could die.

The ocean terrified him for the first time in his life.

His shield shattered. Bastian lifted his hands, cowering against certain death. The jellyfish spilled through the shards of the magical barrier, tentacles outstretched to catch him.

Music filled the water and the jellyfish froze less than a finger away from him on all sides.

The frozen jellyfish began to glitter. 

Bastian cracked open his eyes and gasped. Crystals were growing over the bodies of the tiny jellyfish. The crystals caught the bio-luminescence of the fish and glowed softly, looking even more like the stars than they had before.

One by one, the jellyfish drifted harmlessly into or away from Bastian, their life draining from them as the crystals overtook them.

Bastian swam carefully forward, following the beautiful alto voice that was casting its magic.

His eyes landed on Ambrosia, her fingers resting gently on her moonstone amulet as she sang the jellyfish into eternal sleep. For a moment, she was frozen in time too, her entire body glowing gently gold.

Bastian's heart leaped from his chest. 

He was alive.

He was in love.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note:

I am SO SORRY. I did NOT mean to take this long! But I am really glad I had the chance to travel to where my family lives and see them all again. Y'all, my nephews and my niece are hella cute. Pardon my french.

I hope I can get at least one more chapter of Bastian up before NaNo eats my face, but we shall have to see. For now, I hope you will enjoy this chapter. I fought with it a lot, because action is something I'm still working on learning to write. 

I think I did okay on it, but you guys should let me know if I confused you anywhere. I'm always looking to improve.

And what did you think of Ambrosia's song/power? Does it suit her? How do we feel about Varick? We loving the ocean?

The jellyfish is real, btw, but the above gif is the first time anyone's seen it, and it ran away almost immediately. So we know nothing about it. I totally made up the lightning bit, but it's not too far off what real jellyfish can do so I don't think it's too much of a stretch. :)