Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2017 09:54:06 +0000 (UTC)
From: Andrew Bailey <feare909@yahoo.com>
Subject: Aquata Cove - Chapter 85: We Fight To Protect (Revised)

Aquata Cove
Chapter 85: We Fight To Protect


"MERRICK! MERRICK!" Comes a loud, frantic voice. They both turn to see a
panicking sailfish merman racing their way.

"Halio?" Merrick said as he turns to him. Kaiken's eyes easily sees the
intricate black symbol on his left arm as he comes.

`A Coshiton...?'

"MERRICK! Thank the Sea Mother you are here!" He said, panicking, "Razirah
Ebba sensed your link, and she sent me to find you! We need you right now!"

"What has happened??" He asked.

"The Kenovani is under attack! The dark depths have opened up, and an
endless school of Nalcious Eels have swarmed us! We traveled above a nest,
Merrick! Us and another pod of Pisciens! It is a plague of them!"

"No!" Kaiken said before his tail kicks very hard.

"Lets go!" Merrick says as he follows suit, matching his speed, while Halio
shoots below them, out-swimming them and leading the way.


~~~


"RAHHH! HAAHH!" Samudra whips around endlessly around the horde. Nalcious
Eels, everywhere, all of them slipping, biting, tearing into the
merfolk. Nalcious Eels, one of the most vile, gluttonous animals in the
ocean. Their blood-red eyes look for any living creature they can find, and
rip them to shreds, regardless of anything. Even infants are indiscriminant
with full-fledge savagery. Their body has thin spikes on both the top and
bottom of their thin bodies. Orange spots align on either side of the body,
leading from their eyes, all the way down to the tips of their tails.

Brishen points his spear as he, Penina, and their child are backed into a
rock. "... Eaahhh! GHH!" Brishen stabs and cuts an eel down as it lunges at
him, before whipping his tail and striking down another one.

"Gather! Closely!" Razirah Ebba called, the Scouts and the few meryins
coming together in a small cluster.

"No! Do not gather yourselves!" Razirah Denizyr called out to them, seeing
the Coshitons huddle together. "You make yourselves a larger target!"

"Hurry, together!" Ebba says. The non-combatants look in terror as one of
the infinite eels jets for them. A paluga mermaid shrieks as one of the
eels opens its jaws, right before a Capricorn bleats aggressively as it
tackles it from the side!

"Ehh-ehh-ehh-ehh!" A second Capricorn circles the cluster of merfolk, with
Ebba residing above them. Arnaav flinches and hides behind a sunfish merman
as he squeals with fear, shaking as the endless monsters snapped their jaws
at them, just barely kept at bay by the brave and surprisingly agile
Capricorns.

"Now." Ebba closes her eyes, and claps her hands together. She focuses her
energy directly below her, the links of the scouts and infants gradually
entering a type of phase where the bonds are both strong and non-existent,
extinguishing the very perception of their own presence.

"Fools..." Denizyr dismisses as he can only dodge and attempt to navigate
through the horde.

Missiles of ice energy shoot and sew in and through the water, driving the
eels away as Umiato turns herself into an aurora storm. She pants as her
eyes try to distinguish from the many merfolk to the eels that easily
outnumber them, both pods. She turns around, and gasps as she sees a
particularly large eel jet for her, letting out a defensive scream before a
three-pointed lance pierces RIGHT into it! A dark blue blur then cycles
like a rabid disk until it hits the eel, slicing clean through!

"Kaiken!" Umiato says as her mate takes his trident back, "There are too
many, we cannot-"

"We must get the non-combatants away from here quickly! The hunters and I
will hold them off while you and the others leave!"

"Kaiken, there is no way!" Umiato exclaims, suddenly seeing several eels at
once, "Look out!"

"Hhh!" Kaiken whips around, before a loud, raspy roar calls out as a savage
sea serpent mermaid grabs the attention of the eels. She rips into one with
her jaws, before stabbing into another with her hand pointed into a
blade-like appendage. Two eels bite into her long tail, but she merely
twists and butchers into them as if they are mere sponges.

"Lacerta!" Merrick says as he swims to her. The sub-intellegent mermaid
turns to him, her needle-like teeth barred as she glares at him and
recognizes him.

"S-Son..." Umiato breathes.

"Where are the others?? Arnaav, where is he?!" Merrick askes. Lacerta gives
another illegible cry as she points to the invisible dome below Ebba,
accompanied by the Capricorns. Merrick sees the face of the young otter
among all of the chaos. "Right, please be careful!" Lacerta shrieks again
before she lashes forth with feral fury.

"Son, why are you here?!" Umiato asks him, "It is not safe! I thought you
were on the land-"

"Behind you!" Merrick grabs his mother, and ducks them down, before Kaiken
bashes his sharp arm-fin into an incoming eel. "We'll have to fight them
off! I'll try and call Guardian Leviathan at the first chance I get! If
not, Triton Samudra or Adra Hecolt will call Guardian Kraken!"

"Who are you talking about!?" Kaiken demanded as he battles the nearby
eels.

"The Coshiton Triton and his Son, Father!" Merrick answered, "They are here
with us!"

"Ghhh!" Kaiken looks around, spotting a several different species of
merfolk along with his own pod members, all of them fighting. "Tell your
comrades to gather the scouts! Yours too! The hunters are doing all they
can just to stay alive!"

"That will not work!" Merrick yelled as he whips around his father,
striking at an eel, "There are too many we cannot outrun them! Tell Razirah
Denizyr to focus his power solely on the non-combatants! NOW!"

"What will THAT do?!"

"Just do it!"

"Rrrrgghhh" Kaiken says as he blocks another eel.

"Denizyr!" Umiato calls out, spotting the large, thick grey merman,
frantically trying to gather himself around the swarm of ravenous eels,
"Look to the scouts and babies! Focus your attention on them! Hurry!"

"Noita Umiato!" Denizyr calls out, panicking as he tries to make his way to
him, "I-I-I-I cannot- There is- I- Help I- GAHH!" A huge eel suddenly digs
its fangs into his tail, "AHHH!"

"DENIZYR!!" Kaiken roars out as another eel launches at his throat! Denizyr
screams out as third, and then a fourth eel digs into him, "DENIZZYYYRRR!"
Kaiken looks in horror as a cluster of eels writhe around, as a red mist
started to glow around them.


Rinami the purple mermaid feels a small impact inside herself as she
watches the fellow mermaid fight to protect her, who also is hesitating
from sudden feeling of isolation.

"No..." Kaiken gazes with complete terror as more and more of his members

"Hhh?!" Brishen suddenly feels... Different. Alone... He looks at his shell
necklace, which up until now has been glowing and vibrating, before it
stopped... "No, Denizyr!" He looks up, and spots almost a dozen eels
digging into a dark red fog above them, "The pod... Where is the pod..." He
asked, taking a moment to fight back two eels at once. He circled and
whipped his tail to slash apart them, with his family shaking behind them.

"I cannot... Feel anyone..." Brishen hushed, turning to his translucent
mate, who is also looking at her fragment, and then looking at him with a
clueless look, "Is this... Is this what Merrick felt?"

"Brishen... What is going on?? Is the Razirah..." Penina asks with a
dawning look of fear.

"Fah... Father?" Brishen's daughter asked, "I feel alone..."

"Denizyr... Has perished..." Brishen said as he backs up to his mate and
child, "When the Razirah has perished, his ties to the entire pod is
severed..." He said, looking up at the crimson frenzy, "He was always a
stern one, but this..." His eyes glared with tearful anger.

"DO NOT STOP!!" Kaiken roared as he started to race around, lashing and
cutting down eel after eel, "WE ARE STILL TOGETHER! WE WILL SURVIVE THIS!!"
He strikes and kills another eel as he commands his hunters, "KEEP
FIGHTING!"

Rinami screams as an eel opens its jaws, and grazed her back! "Adra
Savarna, help!" She cried blindly.

"They are panicking!" Kaiken said to himself, "They are losing focus,
without Denizyr... They will..."

"I... I do not know what to do." The fighting mermaid covering Rinami said,
her core shaken completely as another Piscien comes to her aid, "Denizyr is
gone... W-We are no longer connected... We are alone!" She hyperventilates
as the blood-shot eyes of the monsters dive and swerve around her, "We will
die!" She shrieked as an eel opens its jaws to her face!

"NNHHH!" A hammer of a fist bashes into the eel, knocking it away from the
three Piscien merfolk, seeing a mighty walrus merman with a garish black
symbol on his back and one of his tusks broken off as he grabs and crush
the eel after eel, "Crying in terror when things look scary... Are you
legal merfolk really that complacent and pampered?" He growls.

"HHH!" Rinami is suddenly grabbed and swept away. She can only see a cloud
of black following her as yellow-pale flesh holder her, while a squid
mermand propels himself with his tentacles. Deilan focuses on a single
spot.

"HNGH!" Brishen holds an eel at bay, his arms shaking as it bares down on
him, before another eel crashes its teeth onto his spear, pushing him down,
with only his own body between the eels and his family, "NNnnnnnooooo!"

"Brishen!" Penina calls, too scared to move as the green merman fights with
everything he's got.

"I cannot..." He grunts, his arms burning like crazy as a third eel lunched
at his weapon, "RNNHH!"

"RHH!" A shiny, metal blade then pierces into one of the eels, before
Merrick dives down, and whips his tail at another eel -- his fins are no
where as sharp as a regular Navyn Tail because of his mother's genes, but
he can force them back. Merrick jams his hand into the gills of an eel,
making it cry out in rage, "Mindal! Now!"

Brishen gasps as he looks, and sees a manta ray merman swoop in, and takes
Penina holding the child in a fast glide. "Penina!" Brishen reached out.

"FOCUS!" Merrick yelled as he drives the hook of his harpoon into another
beast. He looks to the swarming horde, all of them, then to the trench
where they are pouring out, like a bonfire on a forest, streaming up.

`I... I came back to the ocean... To forget the land... I wanted to leave
everything behind... Including my love...' Time slows around him as he
gazes into the mass of death before him, `I... Still don't know what I want
to do... If I want to die, this is as good an ending as any... Adam... I am
sorry...' His eyes give a glimpses of tears as he closes them, taking a
breath, and looking up, `I hope you can find another man to make you
happy. You will not miss me, but I...' He huffs as he pushes down his
emotions, `I will miss you, on the Shores of Light... Because I will not
survive this... I love you... Adam...'

Time moves faster again, before Merrick whips up, and darts around to let
an eel crash its head into the reef rock, before stabbing it's head. He
takes a sharp breath, and lets out a shrill roar at another eel coming at
him, before jetting up at it, and piercing it with his harpoon!

An orange Navyn merman holds two of the meryins as he tries to dodge the
eels, looking wide-eyed as another eel aims for him, before a massive crab
claw bashes into it, spotting a simplistic symbol on the crab mermaid's
abdomen. Before he can say anything, the crab mermaid scuttles in front of
him, as well as several different species of merfolk surrounds him, before
spotting Rinami being delivered by a squid Holsien, and then seeing Penina
coming from a flying manta ray.

"Brishen!" Merrick yells.

"Lets go!" He said as they both evade a pair of eels. Brishen flips his
tail and guts into an eel, before Merrick incapacitates another one with
his weapon, and kills it. Brishen clenches his jaws as he puts his whole
arm down the throat of another eel, before making a blink-fast jerk motion,
and his arm-fin cuts the eel from the inside!

Brishen takes out a dagger made of a rock handle tied with a sharpened
sea-carp scale. On instinct, Merrick lets fly his harpoon into an eel's
head, and instantly kills it, before his hand grasps the scale dagger, and
twirls through three eels to take his weapon back.

"Merrick!" Brishen comes up beside him, and quickly wraps a rope of razor
sharp thorns around Merrick's other arm, with a finely sharpened carp scale
to cover over his arm. Over the years, Brishen has become extremely
inventive with tools and weapons, really earning his title as the Theros
Hunter. "You cannot survive on your movement alone."

"I have for this long!" Merrick says as he spins, and rips into an eel with
his arm of thorns.

Umiato grits her teeth as she guides a cold current around her, focusing
her state of mind into an unfamiliar hostile sense in order to fight. She
never likes to fight in danger, she has always chosen to be the shield for
her pod. They are scattered right now, she is unable to make any kind of
wall shell to safeguard the others.

Her eyes look to the sandy bottom, and gasps lightly as she sees the
non-fighters being gathered together.

The Coshitons surround them, while the glowing Capricorns evade and drive
away the eels. More of the young ones and the non-aggressive Pisciens were
being herded into the circle of rogues as Ebba swims to the top of them.

"With what little we have," She says, "We WILL protect you!" An eel
attempts to tackle her, only to have a narwhal mermaid stab it with her own
spiral tooth, which was broken off of her head a long time ago, and now is
used as a saber. Arnaav looks up from the cage-like structure of his allies
at the swarm, shaking with terror as he watches them all.

"They are safe..." Umiato breathes, before gasping, and swimming up to
evade an eel. "What must we do to end this??" She asks as shards of ice
orbit her arms. She looks in grieving anger as the eels start to dart and
wriggle at her, "EnnnNNAAHHH!" Her beautiful voice echoes as she spins and
lets out a wave of freeze, instantly solidifying and shattering the eels,
like a destructive pearl-like nebula. The wave of her power sweeps over a
mermaid, dusting off of her safely, instead destroying another eel.

An eel swoops in, and closes its jaws on a Navyn, along with another eel
taking a bite into him!

"No!" Roin says, reaching out, before narrowly dodging another eel, he
swims faster up, before he is tackled by the jaws! "AHHH! NOOOO!"

"ROIN!" Samudra yells out, but watches helplessly as the dolphin merman is
eaten alive. His insides dive tragically as he watches his ally disappear
in a mixture of blood and elongated bodies. Roin was always an obnoxious
type who never regretted killing one of his own kind, but he still deserved
a chance!

Samudra growls lowly as an eel suddenly tackles onto one of his heavily
plated arms. He glares darkly as he turns his trident to the chewing beast,
and slays it in a single strike.

"Hhemm... Eeeng!" Arnaav shakes as he looks up, quivering madly as he looks
onto the onslaught. There's so much blood, both from the fighting merfolk,
and the countless eels. Looking over the crab mermaid's shoulder, he gasps
as he sees Merrick! He's fighting up there, beside an emerald green merman!
"Merrick!" On one hand, seeing Merrick gives the otter confidence as he
watches Merrick's skillful conduct, looping and striking like it's
nothing. But on the other hand, he's up there! He could be killed!

Trembling from head to paw, Arnaav takes his survival knife, and his
dagger, and climbs up from the crab. "... Arnaav?" His little footpaws then
pushed himself up from the safety of the others.

"Arnaav NO!!" Ebba shouted after him.

"Heehhh! Ahhheehhh!" Arnaav frantically makes his way through the eels,
swiping occasionally around and on him, getting only eye-hits on the eels
that come near him. He cries and pants loudly with fear and deafening shock
as he swims faster and faster, the foul stench of blood everywhere around
him and stinging his eyes. It's not long before that blue and pearl Triton
turns around and looks at him, "Merrick!"

"Arnaav!!" Merrick gasps as he whips around, and kills off a following eel,
"What are you doing?! Go back!!"

"You will be killed! Come with m-" He squeaks in terror as he ducks his
furry head and puts his arms around Merrick, before Brishen cuts down
another eel.

"You are too young to be here!" Merrick gasps as he growls, putting his arm
around the otter, and striking away from the on-coming eels. Arnaav
scurries up, and screams as he sinks his knives into an eel, tearing into
it like twin fangs.

"He can fight! We will watch after him!" Brishen said.

"Arnaav, damn it!" Merrick growls as they keep fighting.

"We are getting nowhere!" Vanora says as her glowing yellow power form
protective ribbons with cycling spikes of venom, "Why as Samudra not called
the Guardian yet??"

"He is trying, Mother!" Nerissa answers, watching her father from afar
fight against a bunch of the eels gnawing unsuccessfully onto his mighty,
rock-hard body, "But he cannot gather his focus enough to call ti! And
Brother is still unconscious with the others!"

"This is madness!" Vanora fights as she lashes out with an arm of long
thorns, taking extreme care that no merfolk is scratched by the spikes of
her light, "They are going tire all of us at this rate! HH! DAUGHTER!!"

"WHA-" Nerissa turns, before they see a flash of white, and a huge block of
ice incases an eel.

Savarna pants with panic as she whips around and around, her hands shining
with light as she instantaneously freezes each eel as it comes to
her. "M-Mother! Where are you?? Mother!" She cries out, seeing nothing but
the Nalcious eels circle around her.

"Arctic Veil!" Vanora calls out, "Master your fear! Do not let it consume
you!"

Savarna is unable to hear her, breathing out constantly as she tries to
stay alive.

Brishen grunts as an eel bites his arm, and forces him backward!

"Brishen!" Merrick calls out, darting around.

"STOP! Look after the Amnien!" Brishen said as he takes out yet another
short blade, and begins to fillet into the eel, "I will be fine!" He yells
while being taken deep into the frenzy.

Merrick whips around, and yells out as he then goes up, launching his
harpoon at another monster about to eat Arnaav, before swoop, and tackling
it down! Arnaav backflips through the water, stabbing into an eel with one
knife, before piercing into its brain with the other blade.

Yunmaj the angelfish merman echoes an invasive sound to drive the eels away
from, him, flapping his tail as he looks around in horror. "AAAAHH!" He
screams out as an eel bites his arm! "NNNN!" With one chomp, the eel bites
his arm right off! "NOOOOO!"

SNNN!

A blink of a dark blur, and the eel is sliced clean through. Yunmaj looks,
and sees a large Navyn Tail merman rolling in the water to a slow, before
he kicks forward, and cuts deeply through another eel in between throwing
his trident at another.

"Do not stop moving!" He yells out, "Or the Nalcious will over take you!"
Yunmaj cries in total shock, looking at the red wisps of what used to be
his limb.

"My arm! My aarrrmmm!"

"Keep going!" Kaiken commanded before he snaps his body forth in another
lightning-fast fell swoop.

Of course, Navyn Tails are known as one the speed-based variety of merfolk,
but their asset lays in the sharpness of their arms and tails. With a
weapon to attack an enemy, they can race with a burst of speed, and use the
fins on their arms and tailfins as a sort of blade to whip and cut into
targets. Even in one spot, they can whip and whirl their lean bodies for
several swift dices.

Arnaav squeaks and growls with intense panic, partly regretting his
decision to back Merrick up. His young mind laments dramatically as his
body is getting tired, his adrenaline overtaking him as he tries to focus
on the monsters that come at him alone. He whirls around, and jolts with
shock as he sees a cocoon of circling eels around a young white mermaid,
creating large blocks of ice, but doing very little to make any progress.

"Merrick! Over there!" Arnaav calls out. Merrick turns, and gasps as he
sees Savarna, trapped in the endless barrage of eels.

"Sister!"

"You have to help her!" Arnaav yells, whipping back, and retreating a
couple of feet. Merrick pants as he looks about, and spots Jegola the
octopus mermaid nearby. She releases her ink as she fights back. She spots
Arnaav, and propels right over to protect him. "Merrick, GO!" Arnaav
squealed, narrowly dodging another eel at his leg.

"No..." Umiato utters as she looks upon her daughter. The eels have
isolated her a fair distance from the pod, "She is panicking. She will
exhaust herself!" Umiato takes an attempt to go to her, but these demons
keep getting in her way. "Out of my SIGHT!" She lashes them with her
shattering magic as she swims forward, but is still plagued by the horrific
eels. "No, this cannot be! DAUGHTER!" She called out.

"Hhh Hhh Hhh, ULLHH!" Savarna freezes another eel, only to have two take
its place! She cries as she grows weak and terrified, overwhelmed
completely by the sheer number. "Help me... Mother! Fatherrrr!" She cries,
her power sparking feebly around her arms, the eels glaring down at her
malevolently as they come closer.

"EEEEEEERRRHHHHHYYYAA!"

A shrill noise divided the cage of eels as a bright blue flash whips in
there. Savarna gasps and huffs with hope as 5 eels are slain in one hit!
"Broh-Brother!!"

Merrick clenches his teeth as he bares his wrath on the eels, his weapon
dancing to his body as he slashes with one of Brishen's dagger, gashes
another with his spiked arm, and dispatching another beast with his spear.

"Sister! Stay close!"

`His eyes...' Savarna thought, seeing Merrick's aura flare and blaze with
his energy, his eyes glimpsing his soul in full throttle as he battles away
at the horde. `He is not dead...' She weeps, `He is not dead anymo-'

"AEH!" She screams, before freezing another eel solid.

"Sister, keep your energy small and wondering! Like Mother!"

"Yes!" She said, allowing the ice power to become like a swarm of homing
arrows, immobilizing each eel it strikes. She looks to Merrick, struggling
with the weapons. She closes her eyes, and channels some of her power to
Merrick.

"What?" Merrick looks to his arms, his short fins on his forearms are
extending into blades, as well as the edges of his tailfin.

"Ennhh..." Savarna tries to focus both on the eels, and the aid to
Merrick's body, as he now becomes even more versatile in his combat. This
is proving harder than she thought.

"Ennh! Gulhh!" Samudra grunts deeply as the many eels tackle and push onto
his very hard shell, "It is no use... Gnnhhh!" He feels himself pinned to
the sand by the multitude of eels trying to dig at his thick body, "I
cannot call the Guardian... If Son does not wake up... Where is Merrick??
And the Triton of THIS pod, why has he not called their Guardian??"

Arnaav slashes and spins, turning his head to check Merrick and his
sister. It's not looking good -- Merrick is thinning out the numbers, while
Savarna is freezing the others, but like with everyone else, the monsters
just keep coming.

"They are in trouble!" Arnaav pants as he pushes up on the body of an eel,
and stabbed into another one, patting his thick tail up.

CULLKK!

"AAAAAEEEHHHHH!" Arnaav screams at the top of his lungs, a huge eel
suddenly sinking its fangs right into his stomach!

"HHH?!" Merrick looks with terror, seeing that little otter inside the
eel's mouth, shaking him about, "ARNAAAAAAAAV!" Merrick jets forth, but his
blocked by the eels. Another row of fangs bite onto his thorned arm, the
eel irking and biting down. Merrick's sapphires lock down onto the eel on
him. The reflection of those devil eyes flash several faces before his
mind. Keith the homophobic guard. Static crashes inside his head as the eel
bit harder, before it changed to Kaiser's images. Nigel sneers at him as
the eel snarls at him. Then the judge who condemned Adam, and the two men
who were pardoned and rewarded for their attempted murder!

"RrrrrrRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Suddenly horns of ice shoots through the
eel's eyes and gills, before Merrick turns into a blue twister, and turns
the eel into ribbons!

`Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!!!' Merrick ranted in his head, `FUCK THIS GODDAMN
WORLD!!!'

"AAAHHHHH!!" The ice on Merrick's tail and arm fins turn into curved swords
as Merrick's rampage turns into a flurry of carnage. Savarna gasps as she
sees Merrick's aura burst into white fire, his soul burning with absolute
fury! All she can see is sheer destruction inside her brother, holding her
staff as she descends slowly down, watching and whipping around as he
pierces though their cloud of blood and monsters.

`His anger...' Savarna thought with ear, `It's distorting my power... It's
almost yanking it out of my body.'

"Br... Brother..." Savarna said weakly.

"DO. NOT. STOP!!!" Merrick shouted, his horrible rage striking fear into
his little sister's heart. He looks so much like a demon...

"AHHHH! HLLGGG!" Arnaav screams as his vision completely blurs in his
delirium, shrieking nonstop as the eel opens its mouth, and plunges deeper!
"AAAHAAAHHHHHHOOOOO!!"

GLK! CRK!

The eel suddenly stops moving, but instead is quivering.

"Urrrrrggghhhh!!!" Sounds a deep voice while Arnaav squirms wildly as he
oozes blood everywhere, gagging and crying as a pair of large hands pry the
eel's jaws open. The eel wiggles violently as the hands forced its mouth
open, a keen cracking sound being heard, "HHHHRRRHHH!" Kaiken forces those
jaws to open, and then breaks the eel's jaw entirely in one harsh crackle.

"Oh no! NO!" Brishen sees the floating otter twitching before the Triton,
before he jets up, and takes him. "Stay with me! Stay with me, Amnien!"
Kaiken looks with shock at the young otter, the poor thing gagging and
choking on his own blood, his arm reaching and ragging beside him trying to
point to the horde Merrick has.

Kaiken gasped and slain the next few eels to come their way, shielding
Brishen and Arnaav from several more, looking back at the suffering otter,
and at the symbol on his chest. "That is..." That's the same little otter
he bellowed at... All those years ago... A Coshiton so young, and he
treated him like an evil deviant. And now here he is... He's still so
small...

"No! Stay with me! Hold on, please!" Brishen begged as Arnaav continues to
jerk and gurgle. Brishen's eyes immediately spots a lionfish mermaid, and
another one with a more bluish color and thick armored arms, both of them
letting off light to fend off the eels.

"THERE!" He jets forward to those mermaids, dipping and dodging the eels,
Arnaav's blood leaving a trail, but is diluted with all the other blood,
causing a few of the eels to start attacking each other.

"HELP! I NEED HELP!" Brishen yells as he goes to the younger mermaid.

Nerissa turns, and gasps in completely shock as she sees Arnaav twitching
and writing in the green Navyn's arms, "Arnaav!!"

"Please, save him!" Brishen pleaded, almost falling into tears with each
heartbreaking gag the boy makes, "He is too young! Please!"

"I have him!" Nerissa exclaims as both of her arms becomes consumed in
light, and she takes Arnaav, and dives down. Arnaav gasps as his adrenaline
keeps him awake through this ordeal.

Merrick rips into one eel, then another, and then three more, shouting
wildly as he mauls and disembowels the eels after that.

Savarna looks with terror as she sees the ice and blue beast before
her. She shakes in fear as Merrick races in circles, giving random strikes
in every direction, wasting nothing in his movements, his eyes... The
sapphires aren't there. His eyes hold nothing but primal rage. Her hand
covers her mouth while her staff shakes in the other, her connection to the
ice on his body becoming unstable.

`Brother.' She wept, watching Merrick slaughter creature after creature,
`This is not my Brother.'


"I have had enough of this!" Umiato says as she gives one final whirl of
her body, sending another twin waves of glittering diamond dust, freezing
and instantly shattering any and all nearby eels. Her thumbs, index and
pinky fingers meet while her middle and ring knuckles curl against each
other.

"This is MY will now." She said, her veil fins shimmer and glow like an
aurora borealis, "I will not fight. No more. My soul will take the weak,
and let them hurt no more!" She closes her eyes, and opens them up to show
they are bursting with light. Orbs of light shoot and spiral away from her
body, leaving trails of beautiful, curling lines that race and dance
through the water like elegant surges of white lightning.

Yunmaj pants as he struggles to swim, trying to reach Ebba and the others,
terribly unbalanced due to his missing arm, swiping desperately to pull
himself away, before an eel comes right beside him! "NAHHH!"

~Snnngghhh~

"AH!" Yunmaj flinches and squirms, suddenly finding himself surrounded in a
sphere of graceful curls, solidifying into a thin crystal cage. Several
eels attack Yunmaj's sphere, only having bits of their teeth breaking here
and there.

A dark blue Navyn Tail pants as she takes another mermaid by the hand,
trying to keep their heads low from the bristling horde, a few rabid glares
of red eyes, and a rush of orange dots, and they scream, before they are
blind-sighted by a rush of cold light. The mermaids gasp as they find
themselves encased by a sparkling ice cage.

"Nnnhhh..." Samudra grunts. At least 20 eels are digging into his shell
now. He clenches his eyes, feeling his own armored body about to
break. "So... This is... Where... Hhh?!" He feels a very keen chill run
under his body. The sheer cold slithers and race around his body, before he
is blinded by a flash of light, and he suddenly feels so much lighter. He
gasps as he looks up, seeing himself in a dome of elegant ice. "This
ice... The style..." He says, putting his rock-like fingers to the
beautiful spirals of the growing ice, "This is just like when Merrick..."
His memories go way back to several years ago, when Merrick and Arnaav were
trapped on the Sazae Graveyard, and all they found was a tower of ice
sculpted in angelic curves. He turns around, and sees the Arctic Veil
mermaid above the horde, lines and bursts of light coming from her body,
"Is she his Mother, the Noita??" He asked in amazement.

Umiato's light shines as more bolts of ice shoot from her, locating the
most wounded first, encasing her members as well as the Coshitons in a
protective sphere of ice. The orbs rush themselves through the fray,
instantly tracking down those who have lost blood and energy. An eel flies
up behind her, opening its fangs before it dives upon her.

"Worthless..." She hissed. Just when the eel's teeth grazed her delicate,
pearly flesh, it was immediately sent asunder by a protective cage of her
own!

"If we cannot slay them all... I will protect every single one of us!"
Umiato says as another sphere of light flies to the group of
non-combatants, and exploded into a magnificently carved dome of ornate
crystal, while the Capricorns still circle around them.

"I will hold them all in my light until these wretched monsters devour
themselves..." Umiato said angrily as glowing, curving frost started to
connect the spheres, like a large, white tree spiraling up to her, "I will
protect us for an entire moon if that is what it takes!"


Arnaav breathes and whimpers out loud as his arms secure around Nerissa as
she tries to take him to a safe point within this battle, unable to
immediately find the protective circle of her allies, all the while panting
as her vision blurs.

Finally, the Coshiton Adra finds a rock that is away from the school of
ravenous eels, where she places him down, panting loudly, "You... You are
safe... Hhh... Hhh..." Having using so much offensive power, AND a huge
surge of healing took a major toll on her overall.

"Hhh!! A-Adra Neri-Nerissa!" Arnaav coughs violently, trying to hold his
arm out, "Look out!"

"Hhh?!" Nerissa looks, and barely has enough time to hold her plated
forearms up with a small shield of yellow and bronze spikes before an eel
descended upon her!

"Noooo!" Arnaav squeals as he holds his little arm towards her, before
clutching onto the rock, and coughing horribly.


"Ghh! Hhhh... Hhhh..." Kaiken pants, looking at the everrising tide of eels
coming from the depths, as if infinity truly is their current number. They
just keep coming! They won't stop! And all of them have a ravenous hunger
that can never be sated. He looked deep inside himself, his throat growling
weakly, before he too chocked a little.

"I... I do not have the strength..." He muttered weakly, `I have been
fighting and signaling for too long... I do not have the strength to call
the Guardian...'

He kicks his tail up, and strikes down several eels at once, whipping his
tail, and cutting down deep into another one. "Son..." He said under his
breath, now choosing evasive tactics to conserve what energy he has left,
to last as long as he can, `It is up to you... Hurry and call the
Guardian..."


"RAHHH! HAAHH! GHHH!" Merrick's berserk rage continues to blaze inside him
as he tears through one eel after another, not able to stop as much as they
seem to dwindle in numbers.

Savarna hyperventilates as channeling her power to Merrick's limbs AND
fending off the incoming eels prove to be too much. "HhhHHhHHHHHhhhhHH,
g-aahhh!" Suddenly her link to Merrick breaks, and suddenly, the jagged and
smoothly pointed ice blades on Merrick's tail and arms shatter into shards.

"What?!" He looks upon himself, before swiping his harpoon to fend off
several eels away.

"I am sorry Brother, I am sorry!" Savarna says in complete hysteria, "I
cannot go on! I-I-I-I-"

"Sister!" Merrick whips himself over to her, and stabs into an eel before
it can touch her. Merrick looks up to the storm of monsters, holding his
weapon at the ready, before cycling around her, his mind spinning several
miles a minute, and unable to focus on anything else.


"Nhnnn!" Umiato flinches as her brain feels a sudden strain pushed into her
brain, and pulls inside of her body, "No... No! I must hold them!" The
elegant ice cages waver as the branches of her power weaken as the eels
bite and chomp on her solid magic, "It is too much! I cannot..." She closes
her eyes as she tries to focus.

"Hhh?!" Noita Vanora sees the blinking ice around her, her eyes following
up to their source, and perceives a struggling white mermaid above the
entire horde. "She needs help." She said, before whirling around, and
dipping down. The lionfish mermaid swims forth, and finds a strong, solid
block of frost. With a glowing hand, Vanora slammed down upon it! She
grunts and winces and screams for a brief moment, as does Umiato, who feels
a very strange shock buzz madly inside her!

In a flash of a moment, glowing yellow and black spikes of light shoot from
every bit of the outside ice! The sharp protrusions sting and stun many of
the eels, before Vanora's hand is thrown right off of the ice, and the
spikes disappear.

"Nnnhhh! Come now..." Umiato winces as the orbs get significantly slower,
reaching one member after another, connecting to each other, and holding up
against the force of those jaws, "There are too many..." She clutches onto
her head as she pushes the very task to the front of her forehead. The
gnawing and chomping of the eels is like a separate headache that hits into
her mind, hammering, ripping, tackling her psyche as she tries to hold them
back.

"Hh?!" Several exhausted hunters look with fear as bits of ice break from
their crystalline cage as the eels gnaw and group against them, "No! Noita
Umiato, please hold on!"


Vanora pants harshly as her sharp missiles grow fewer and weak, one of them
being crunched into dust by an adult Nalcious. She grunts as she channels
her energy into her many long spines in a last-resort effort just to keep
them off of her back.

Nerissa is backed into a collection of rocks, holding up her own net-like
wall of poisonous spines to shield herself from the bashing creatures.


Merrick shouts as he fights back at the eels, the attacks getting less
frequent, but the number still climbing and him and his
sister. "This... This is not going to end..." He said. For the moment the
eels stop attacking them, instead completely blocking his light of sight in
another cocoon of cycling eels, all of them leering at him with malicious
gluttony, like a flock of carnivorous vultures gloating over the battle's
outcome.

`Here I am... Once again...' Merrick thought, time slowing down again, `I
don't know why I cam back to the ocean... As Father said, maybe to run
away? I just wanted to forget what happened. I wanted to leave behind those
memories... I suppose I did want to die...'

Savarna cries behind Merrick as she buries her face into his back.

`And now, now that I am facing the end of this life, now all I want is to
hold out longer, so that I may find some other answer, how or what should I
do... Maybe even go back to the land, and see if Adam can remember me if I
come see him everyday... Maybe he'll remember me again...?'

Merrick bows his head, his weapon pointing downward.

`But now... I will never have that chance... I knew I was never going to
survive this battle... So why am I so let down?' Merrick feels a sloth
despair pull inside him, `I guess I hoped in the back of my mind that I
would somehow make it out of this...'

Merrick looks back up to the approaching wall of eels.

`It's as Father said. I failed as a Triton, I abandoned the man I love, and
I cannot even make any true difference in protecting the ones I hold
dear... I gave into the darkness, and this is my penalty. Even when I
allowed my anger to turn me into a monster, I am still no longer able to
fight anymore...'

The eels sneer at the two merfolk, the sobbing of the mermaid whetting
their appetite, while the silence of the merman satisfies their lure to
circle closer.

`Adam...' For a moment, Merrick remembers a few days ago, when he held
Adam's hand. That man looked right into Merrick's eyes and... He smiled. He
smiled right at him, and held his hand tighter.

Merrick's mouth gave a small smile itself as his eyes gave a slip of
glittering mist. "Adam. I love you."

"Brother..." Savarna cried, "I am scared..."

"Sister..." Merrick turned and held her in his arms, one hand still holding
his harpoon, and the other scratched slightly from Brishen's invention. "I
am sorry..."

"Brother... Brother...!" Savarna clutches onto him as she sobs freely,
terrified beyond belief, feeling the eels press further on them.


"Hnnnhh!" Umiato's crystal cages break in bigger chunks, unable to keep
them together. She's used up to much of her power destroying the eels to
keep up this many protective spheres. Her eyes open, and gasps lightly as
she sees the auras of her children far to the right. She reaches her hand
out, and let out several weak orbs down to them.

Kaiken looks, seeing his wife pushing more of her power to a cluster of
eels circling each other, before his eyes catch a glimpse of Merrick and
Savarna, "No...!" He swims forward, before both of his arms were bit into
by a pair of jaws, "Nooo!" He kicks his tail harshly, pushing through very
slowly. His stomach sinks as he realizes he will never make it in time.

Umiato's eyes flow with tears as the orbs grow more and more faint, seeing
the life forces of the Adras. She can make out Merrick's form hugging
Savarna, and herself holding onto him in turn.

"My children..." Umiato says weakly, blinking, and for that moment, sees a
small merman, holding a very short trident, with his little arms holding a
tiny mermaid, crying into him, before she blinks, and sees them as they
are, "My babies..."


Arnaav looks with terror as he looks at the massive horde, "No..." The
mighty fish Triton who once cursed him, and then pried him free of the
eel's mouth is now fighting with sheer force just to move, "No..." The eels
are beginning to overwhelm Razirah Ebba and the other merfolk hiding there,
the scouts and the meryins cowering in fear as Capricorns are unable to
deter them any longer. "No..." Vanora is turning to avoid the incoming
tackles, one by one. "No..." Merrick can no longer be seen, or his
sister. The trench keeps flaring with more eels. "No..."

Umiato breaks, and her ice formations break apart completely, unable to
hold them any longer.

Arnaav's eyes dilate as something huge pushes in his gut. His throat closes
as his head reflexes down, before his spine erects,
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

His high-pitched voice echoes loudly into the ocean, crying out a very
young roar that shakes every living thing.

DNNNNNNN

"NOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Arnaav cries out, his insides going on fire as he
strains himself, unable to control anything, really.

"WhhhhhLLLLLLLLLL!" A low, loud whine sounds from the vast depths.

"What!" Kaiken looks as the teeth suddenly release his arms. The Nalcious
eels are now in a whole different frenzy as the young voice keeps a
thorough call. His eyes see a huge mass rotating in the distance, before
also noting the water as well as bits and pieces and carnage are moving
deliberately away. "One of the Guardians! Which one?!" He looked around,
signaling to locate the sources of the call, before he locked onto the
young otter boy. "Him! He is a Triton?!"

"NOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Arnaav calls again, before doubling over onto
the rock, coughing and hacking violently. His insides are still in agony.

"WHHHLLLLLLLLL! UUUUUUUUMMMMMMGGGGGG!" Comes another mighty song from the
deep.

The eels swim all around, now no longer interested in the merfolk as a
great gravitational pull was instilled into the area.

Umiato undulates weakly, moaning until Nerissa races beside her. Tucking
one of Umiato's arms over her head, the two mermaids swim lower to the
others.

"Guardian Charybdis...!" Vanora said as she looks into the developing
vortex. "I... I still have power left!" She looks to the trench were the
eels are spawning. She growls melodiously as every single fin on her body
flares up. Swimming over to the gap of eels, Vanora's spines now begins to
shoot shining yellow bullets all around her. The shots race and scatter,
her pin-point accuracy spotting every single eel in sight, even those
trying to escape.

The bullets of poison pierce into their targets, quickly paralyzing the
eels before falling to the rising current of the whirlpool.


"Brother!" Savarna shouted. Merrick gasped as he looks up from her
shoulder, and sees a large, whale-like creature spinning in the far
distance, at the end of a growing whirlpool. He also notices all of the
eels being drawn in, helplessly struggling in the spiraling drain.

"This is not good." Merrick said. "We are too close!" He then holds her
tighter, and starts to kick his tail as hard as he can!

Kaiken stabs the stand with his trident, looking over his shoulder, feeling
his own muscle-heavy body being pulled. "Why is it trying to swallow us?!"
He pondered aloud. He spots Arnaav on the high rock, clutching for dear
life. "Grrrggghhh! He has not tempered his command! HUNTERS!!" He called
out, "Collect the others! Hurry to the Coshitons!!"

With that, he leaves his trident firmly mounted and immobile, before
whipping like a bolt. The faster of the hunters race and dart about to
gather who ever is left. Even with the distance put between them and
Charybdis, they are still needing to swim constantly to not be sucked in.

 Samudra grunts as he tries to push himself up, his body still wracked with
pain, feeling himself drift backwards, until Brishen tucks one of his arms
over his head, as does a few other Navyns until they are able to carry the
heavy turtle Triton.

Umiato closes her eyes as she gathers her remaining energy,
"Hnnhhh... Annhh!" Her light shines as she casts a large, sparkling coral
branch of ice! Her graceful power reaches and twirls itself, reaching out
and wide, just when several merfolk gave in to exhaustion, and landed right
into the crystal structure.

"Son?? Daughter??" Umiato called out to the others, her eyes sifting
through the many auras, "I cannot see them!" She turns around, and gasps as
she sees them.

Merrick growls and grunts as his tail starts to burn with fatigue, flapping
his fins as hard as he can, but is fighting a losing battle. Savarna holds
on to him as she too kicks her tail hard, both of them moving backward as
the many eels, both dead and alive, spiral down the vortex. Finally, the
blood and the creatures are clearing away.

"No!" Umiato then kicks her tail fast.

"Umiato!!" Kaiken called after her. The white frost magic connects Umiato's
body with the diamond net pulls her down a little. She reaches out her
hand, and sends an orb of light towards the two of them.

"Get the rest, Kaiken!" Umiato called back, indicated the last few merfolk
remaining, trying to fight the current. Kaiken growls as he then jets forth
towards a straggling seahorse mermaid.

"No... No!" Merrick swims as hard as he can, holding his sister close as
they fight the barrage of the current.

"Brother! Look!" Savarna yells. Merrick looks, and immediately spots his
mother, coming for them, reaching out for them. Merrick immediately swerves
to the side to align with Umiato's approach.

"Sister!" Merrick shouted. Savarna stretched out her arm, and sends her own
trail of icy power towards the Noita.

`I am too far...' Umiato lamented, her eyes seeping with white mist,
`I... I will not reach them...'

Kaiken tucks the last merman into the crystal coral, and looks up. Kaiken
snarls as Arnaav remains on that upper rock, still doing nothing. Kaiken
kicks his tail, and whips at high speeds to the baby otter, his fins
cutting through the water as he shoots like a dark blue arrow, jolting
sideways, right before taking to the rock.

"Ahghghghghghg!" Arnaav sobs uncontrollably, hold his little arms onto the
rock, and pushing his face to the surface. He just wants it all to stop,
he's so scared, and he still feels sick.

Suddenly, Kaiken's strong arms land onto the rock, "Call it off! NOW!"

"Ahghghghgh! Ghaallhhh!"

"Stop crying, Amnien! You summoned, but you did not guide the Guardian, and
now it will swallow us all if you do nothing!"

"I-I do not know what to doooo!" Arnaav cried out, "Make it all stop! Just
make it stop!"

"I CANNOT!" Kaiken braced himself as another sweep comes over him, as the
whirlpool gets stronger, "Guardian Charybdis will obey no one else! You
must tell it to stop!"

"I cannot! I do not know how!" Arnaav sobbed, "My body is hurting so much!"

"You have to! Did you Father teach you nothing?!" Kaiken shouted. The otter
cried as he struggles, his eyes clenching as he holds on, "Without a guide,
a Guardian will keep fighting for an entire moon! If you do nothing, we all
will perish!"

"Wha-What do I dooo?!" Arnaav asked desperately, "AEEEHHH!" He screams as
he looses his footing, flying off, but not before Kaiken grabs his leg, and
pulls him back down.

"You must call out to it! Roar as loud as it can! It must hear you!!"
Kaiken gasps as he can see Merrick and Savarna, barely inches from the
depths of the whirlpool, "CALL IT OFF NOW!" Kaiken holds Arnaav in place.

The poor otter pants and cries as he looks to the spinning mass,
hyperventilating as doubts and fear claw at his head.

"DO NOT QUESTION ITS OBEDIENCE!" Kaiken yelled, the noise everywhere
getting louder, "IT WILL DO AS YOU COMMAND!!"

Arnaav coughs, gagging with emotion, before he looks at the massive
creature and the spiraling wall of water. "Haahh... AHhhhkkkkhh!
STOOOOOOAAAAAAAAHHHH!!"

His voice releases a young howl, echoing once again across the immediate
sea.

"WIIIILLLLHHHHHH!" Charybdis whines right back out.

-KWUUUNG-

A loud, and forceful shockwave erupts from the whirlpool! Kaiken gasps as
he looks to see Umiato's ice coral shatter into pieces, and everyone forced
forward, with the initial whirlpool having been eased down by a lot, but
still with so much force remaining.

Charybdis, an enormous, dark purple whale titan, bigger than a Blue Whale,
slows its spin, its four huge flippers twirling with its body as it closes
its colossal mouth. Water propels its revesred spinning from its 70
blowholes all around its body as it gains speed again, expelling a
different current to undo its previous vortex.

-KWUUUNG-

Another shockwave sounds from inside Charybdis, striking the vast area with
a sound assault to further stun the water from any further
movement. "AAaaauuuuuullllllllll..." It sounded deeply as its calm eyes
look up, as if waiting for further instructions.

Arnaav's gagging and coughing breaks what silence there is, his throat sore
beyond belief, as well as his insides feeling horribly sick, as he is still
recovering.

"Amnien." Kaiken said softly, "Amnien..." He puts a hand onto Arnaav's
shoulder as he jerks and chokes, before a mermaid swims up to them, another
Amnien, but larger with shells all around her body. Ebba picks up Arnaav,
giving Kaiken an estranged look. Arnaav tucks his arms around her before
she turns, and swims down.

"Umiato." Kaiken jets up, and dives down, looking at the scattered merfolk,
"Umiato?!" He calls out. "UMIATO!!" He whips around, his keen eyes
searching desperately for his wife, son and daughter. He bolts at high
speed, looking all around, signaling erratically.

"UMI-" He stops, finally finding her, in view in front of Charybdis.

Umiato cries constantly, her face tucked between two other faces, and her
arms holding very tightly to Merrick and Savarna, her veils and tail
swaying as she holds them tight. Merrick huffs as he holds his mother, as
does Savarna, trying in vain not to cry too.

"I almost lost you again," Umiato wept as she holds her children, "I almost
lost you both again..." She sobs as she hugs them tighter.

Kaiken comes up to them, and looks sadly onto the three of them. He's
already felt a great loss a few times... To feel the possibility of it all
over again... "Sea Mother bless us..."

He puts his hands onto Savarna and Merrick, his insides quivering as he
comes closer, bowing his head onto Umiato's, his strong arms moving onto
his two children.