Chapter Six: Leviathan's Lair
I continued to float for what felt like forever, allowing the ocean currents to pull me along. Exhausted and weak, I had little energy to start actively swimming, but I couldn't keep floating like this the entire time.
I needed to find Kale and Chrystal, but I couldn't catch the scent of either of them. I had no idea how far apart we had been separated. Maybe they had been caught by that human ship too, experimented on and dumped back into a different part of the ocean. Or maybe the waves had dragged me so far off-course, I wouldn't be able to find them again.
Rather than continuing to float on my back, I flipped over and welled up all my meager energy to swim. Even if it was slow, at least I could hopefully realign myself this way. Right now, I needed to place my trust in my instincts. My biological compass always set me on the right path no matter what. I just needed to keep following it. Thankfully I hadn't sank too far, I still remained in the sunlight zone. When I looked up and saw the bright rays beaming down, all I could think of was that huge, beautiful blue sky. A blue even more vivid than the sea, speckled by splotches of wispy white clouds. I had never witnessed such an incredible sight before. If nothing else, that was the only thing in the outside world I truly wanted to see again.
It made me realize just how tiny and insignificant I was in this great wide world. I really hadn't seen anything outside of my own little aquatic bubble. Even the sea was full of amazing and frightening things. But with all the danger and terrifying situations I had gone through, I almost forgot what the point of this journey even was. Were Chrystal and I really risking our lives so immensely just to deliver a wedding proposal to the prince of the Antarctic Ocean? Was all this really worth it? Even if it was supposedly for the sake of my kingdom...with every passing moment, I feared that I would never see my home again. With every mile I swam, I drifted farther and farther away from everything that was familiar to me.
I kept swimming along, lost in my own thoughts, until a flurry of little creatures flew past me. They looked like very tiny shrimp. But I noticed these animals. They usually moved in large groups like this, clustered together in a massive cloud. They had a name. I believe they were called krill. But to be moving in such a hurry, they must have been trying to escape from something. A large, distant thumping noise soon alerted me to the 'something' the swarm was trying to escape from.
A gigantic creature, far bigger than anything I had ever seen. It occupied my entire field of vision and took up a huge chunk of the surrounding water. It flapped its finned tail up and down to move forward. Its entire body was a dark gray, and its humanoid upper half had a distinctly masculine appearance, with a sharp-angled face and messy blue hair that undulated in the waves. He had shiny blue eyes and pointy ears that he wore the anchors of large ships in like earrings. I hadn't expected to see his kind so far out to sea. He was a whalefolk. To be specific, he looked like a blue whale, though aside from his eyes, none of his body was blue at all. Those sleepy-looking eyes scanned the water, likely focused on the fleeing school of krill.
I decided to call out to him. "H-hey there, uhhh...would you have happened to see a black jellyfish girl and a squidfolk with big fins anywhere around here?"
He didn't respond. It didn't seem like he heard me at all...probably because he didn't. He wasn't even paying attention to my presence, because he kept on coming straight for me. My eyes widened almost as big as his gaping jaws did when he spread them open, revealing the void within his maw. I could feel a suction, like I was being pulled toward that huge mouth...and that was a very bad sign. Panicking, I gathered up my strength to swim with all my might, catching up with the krill and trying to swim above them to escape the beast's range. But my tiny body could only move so far so fast, and with every flap of the whalefolk's massive tail, he propelled himself closer, covering a wide distance in a short time.
The darkness closed around me, and the force of the currents swept me away- straight into the monster's jaws. I flailed, trying to fight the current with all my power, but it was no use. I was sucked in, along with the horde of krill that were easily swallowed up. I desperately reached out, clawing at the blackness, until I latched onto something. I tightly clutched it, clinging on so I wouldn't end up being part of his dinner, like the rest of those poor little creatures.
Eventually the tugging currents stoppeed, and my bioluminescence kicked in, lighting up the expansive space I had been sucked into. I sloshed around in a shallow pool of water, resting on the beast's tongue. As much as I wanted to escape, I didn't want to sting him, because that would be a quick method to get a one way trip to his stomach. All that surrounded me were walls of fleshy pink, coupled with the wide gullet in the distance that I wanted to stay far away from. What I had been clinging to the whole time were something kind of like...teeth, I suppose. But not really teeth, because they weren't sharp fangs, and the whalefolk didn't use them to bite his prey. They were more like layers of bristles. They were used to filter out the food that he usually dined upon, and as far as I was concerned, it was the only thing that had kept me from meeting an early death.
But...now what? I was trapped in his mouth, being taken away to wherever he happened to be going, and I had no way to get out. Even if he did spit me out, who knew where I would have ended up, or how long it would take me to get back on course, if I could even get on course at all. I could be lost at sea forever...and I wouldn't be able to see Chrystal and Kale ever again...
The thought made me burst into tears. I sobbed into my hands. If I knew the trip was going to be like this...I would have never taken Princess Tamayori's request so readily. Or would I? I likely would have naively taken it anyway, because I knew nothing about how dangerous the sea really was at the time. If I had known then what I know now...I would have asked for more help. Maybe that was why Her Majesty chose me. She knew I would take up the mission, no matter how dangerous. Because I was stupid and blindly devoted to her, I would have done anything she asked me. She did save my life all those years ago, but I had nearly lost it so many times just in my time out here alone.
What happened to me? When did I become so jaded and disillusioned? Right now, all I wanted was to see Chrystal and Kale again. I wanted to hug Chrystal tight, to take in her warmth and never let go. I wanted to ride on Kale's shoulder and pet his fins, complimenting him on what a great swimmer he was. Even though I may have met him as a terrifying predator, I had become so attached to him since then. Kale and Chrystal were my friends. I had never made true friends in my life before them. But now I had to face the reality of possibly never seeing them again...and I couldn't handle it. All I could do was cry.
A rumbling voiced echoed around me, not seeming to come from the whalefolk's throat. More like the sound was being streamed into my mind. "Are you alright, little one?"
"Y-you...can hear me?" I asked.
The creature responded. "Yes, I can. I didn't notice you at first until I felt you in my mouth. Then I heard you crying, and I became concerned...my name is Itazura, by the way. I travel through this area a lot looking for food. Don't worry, I don't eat jellyfish, never mind jellyfish folk. Some Seafolk think it's okay to cannibalize each other...that's just not right to me. The feral creatures of the sea are for us to eat, we aren't supposed to be devouring each other. It's likely why our kind can never manage to work together, when everyone's arguing over who's going to be dinner."
"Yes, I suppose that's true," I mumbled. "My name is Kurage. I'm on a journey to the Antarctic Ocean where Prince Stellaris reigns. He's supposed to be wed to Princess Tamayori of the Sea of Japan...I was sent as her messenger to deliver the betrothal declaration, but I've had nothing but setbacks since the very beginning."
"The South Pole, huh?" Itazura asked. "Yeah, I can understand why. It's a long distance and there's a lot of dangers on the way. I'm surprised you've made it as far as you have. I've never met the fellow myself, but I've heard Prince Stellaris' kingdom is isolated in an underwater glacier. He's something of a recluse. I'd be careful if I were you."
"What kind of Seafolk is he?" I asked. "Princess Tamayori never told me."
"I was once friends with someone who met him, so it's all secondhand," Itazura said. "But Prince Stellaris is a jellyfish folk, like you. At least that's what they told me. But he's different from other jellyfish folk. His species is very rare and only lives in deep Antarctic waters. They call him a Deepstaria Enigmatica. A bit of a mouthful, I'd say."
"Deepstaria Enigmatica...I've never heard of it before," I said. "He sounds like a strange person. I wonder if Princess Tamayori knows anything about this. Umm, Itazura? Have you seen a black jellyfish girl and a squidfolk with big fins while you've been swimming?"
"I did, actually," the whalefolk answered. "They were a bit far off, but I'd notice Seafolk that out of place from a mile away. This part of the sea isn't the natural habitat for any of you."
"Those two are my friends," I said. "Can you please take me back to them?"
"I don't see why not, I was heading south anyway," Itazura replied. "Besides, I can't keep you in my mouth forever, I gotta spit you out somewhere."
I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much...and thank you for not swallowing me. I've already had too many things that have tried to eat me."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Itazura sighed. "Unfortunately, small and squishy Seafolk tend to be targeted as prey, regardless of their stinging tentacles."
Speaking of tentacles...I just remembered that. I poked around in my gown-shaped bloom of tentacles, noticing one that felt heavier than usual. It was the appendage that human had attached the tracker to. I had nearly forgotten about it, but I couldn't just leave it like this. If it really was tracking all of my movements...that was a very bad thing. Humans were not to be trusted, and if they knew my location, they could track down all the places I had visited. They could even pinpoint the locations of Prince Stellaris' palace and the coral city. I could not allow that. If our kingdoms were discovered by humans, it would no doubt be the end of us. Human beings had a habit of destroying what they didn't understand. Considering all the damage they had already done to the world's oceans...there was no way I could let them in on any knowledge of the Seafolk's existence.
My fishbone blade was lost, so I couldn't just cut off the tentacle, which meant I'd have to tear it off myself. It would grow back with time, but that didn't change the fact that it was going to hurt. "Itazura? I'm going to do something...I need to get something off my body. If you hear me screaming, don't worry. I'm okay."
The whalefolk sounded confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"
I needed to get it over with quickly. I sharply yanked on the tentacle, but it didn't come off in a single pull like I expected. I winced in pain. Clenching my teeth, I tugged again. And again, and again. I kept on tugging and pulling, trying my hardest to endure the pain coursing through me. Though their sting was painful to an attacker, my tentacles were rather fragile and could break off easily, at least that was what I thought. At last, I could no longer hold back.
I let out a scream as one final pull split the tentacle, ripping it clean off. It still limply wriggled, though it was no longer attached to my body. There was one place where I was sure it would never be found again. I tossed it into Itazura's throat, allowing the appendage, tracker and all, to fall into his stomach, where it would soon be digested and gone for good. I flopped down on the beast's tongue, trembling and exhausted.
"You okay?" Itazura asked. It didn't seem like he even felt the tentacle I threw into his stomach.
"I'm...fine," I muttered. "Just...hurting a little bit, but I'll be okay."
I felt him stop moving. "We're here, Kurage." The space around me started to rattle as he opened his mouth and spat me out into the open sea. I floundered around for a moment, trying to regain my balance and properly float.
Itazura lowered his hands beneath me and gently lifted me up. "There ya go."
I raised my head. Sure enough, right ahead of me, there was Chrystal and Kale. They both came swimming toward me, and I flew out to them. I launched myself into Chrystal's arms. As her warm embrace enveloped me...I had never felt so happy before in my life. Her voice was no longer harsh and biting, but kind and happy. "Kurage! Thank goodness you're okay! I thought we lost you forever..."
Kale gently brushed me with his thread-like tentacles. "I'm glad to see you back in one piece too, I wasn't sure what I was gonna do if I couldn't ever see your cute little face again!" Even Kale, the predatory bigfin squid, valued me as a friend. With these two, I wasn't a servant, or a pathetic creature to be pitied. I had value as an important person to both of them, even in the time we had been traveling. As loyal as I was to Her Majesty...this feeling was something she could never give me.
I turned to Itazura and bowed before him. "Thank you so much. I won't forget your kindness."
He looked a little blushy and embarrassed. "Ah, it was nothing. Don't worry about it. I'm the one who almost accidentally gobbled you up, after all. It was the least I could do. Good luck on your trip to the South Pole. Stay safe out there, alright?"
I nodded. "I will, thank you."
Itazura flipped over on his back, and with a flap of his tail, he plunged into the dark depths, probably to search for more food. I couldn't imagine how much he must have had to eat every day just to stay alive. And I thought Kale had a big appetite.
"Did you two get captured by the humans too?" I asked.
Chrystal shook her head. "No, we felt the electric shock, but we were able to cut through the net before it scooped us up. By then, we could barely move at all...we were lucky we even managed to get ourselves out. I'm sorry we couldn't save you, Kurage. I know I'm your partner, and I said I wouldn't babysit you, but...I should have done something more to protect you! If you hadn't been released, and if that whalefolk hadn't brought you here, I might have never seen you again...I'm so useless..."
I stroked Chrystal's head. "Don't say that. You're not useless. What's important is that we're all back together now. We must be really far off course, though..."
"Not really," Kale said. "It's something of an alternate route, but we are getting closer to the Antarctic Ocean. I can sure tell, because this water's getting chilly. At this rate, it should only be a couple more days till we make it to your beloved prince's palace. I'd sure like to have a word with this fellow myself, maybe squeeze him with my tentacles for making two adorable jellyfish girls go on such a dangerous trip because he's too lazy to get off his ass and get married himself. Can't be that desperate for a wife, I suppose."
He had a point. After what Itazura had told me, I was growing increasingly skeptical of Prince Stellaris, and this trip as a whole, but we had gone too far to quit. We were the couriers of the sea, and this message was going to get delivered no matter what. So we set off into the great blue once again, ready to finish this mission once and for all.
Species Introduced in this Chapter
Itazura- Blue Whale (Eschrichtius Robustus)