Since he was given permission to browse the ocean and granted a magical air bubble that would probably save him from drowning, Milo had three goals in mind. First, he wanted to see the seafloor. He had been interested in seeing what was at the bottom of the ocean since the moment he realized that this was a thing he could do. Which, to be fair, was only a few minutes ago. But still, a dream was a dream. And this one was quite achievable. It was right there, just a hundred feet below.

Second, he wanted to see Naia. Milo wasn’t sure if it was possible to go to the depths where his serpent friend was staying, but it would be nice to see them in the water instead of in the air. Naia was a sea serpent, after all. Not an air serpent. It made a lot more sense to visit them at the proper place.

Thirdly and finally, although he didn’t really want to…he had to go back to the boat. As nice as Gu and Nahla and Senan were, there was also something really scary on board that he wanted to avoid at all costs. The fear and dread of a single Viyas was enough to counter all the happy feelings that the others gave him. It was kind of a sad thing to think about. Was one bad person really worth more than three nice people? Milo didn’t want to think so, but he also couldn’t deny that, at this moment, his fear was stronger than his love. The boy thought about just staying in the ocean forever. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. At least there were no bad people here.

Squeeze.

Milo felt pressure on his hand. When he looked up, he saw Miri smiling at him just like Little Spirit always did when she had something to say. It helped a lot that she looked almost exactly like Little Spirit. It also probably helped that she could read his mind to know exactly how that particular ‘look’ looked. In any case, he pretty much knew exactly what she was going to say without her even saying it.

“En. I know I can’t stay here forever.” Milo looked at his other hand. “I’ll just keep getting more wrinkly if I do. Still, it would be nice to just stay here some day. Maybe when I’m older and wrinklier, nobody would be able to tell the difference between the water wrinkles and the old people wrinkles. It would probably be okay then.”

Miri wrinkled her nose at the boy. A creature of land talking about staying in the water forever was nothing but ominous portent. Countless sailors, sea birds, and hopelessly lost animals had found their way into the boundless depths without ever finding their way back out. It wasn’t hard to stay in the ocean forever. Quite the opposite. There were as many options to stay as there were creatures in the sea. But there was only one way to safely return to land. To visit as a guest – an invited one if possible – and to leave just the same. It was otherwise all too easy to stay here in the watery realms forever. Miri didn’t want this child to become a part of the ocean in that way. She brushed the unlucky topic away with a wave to the sandy seafloor. “The first of the goals that you wanted to see in the sea is below to peruse as you please.”

Before Milo had even realized it, the two of them were already at the bottom of the ocean. Or maybe it was the sea as Miri said. He didn’t really know the difference, but he liked the sound of being at the bottom of the ocean. Whatever it was, by the time he rejoined reality, Miri had already guided him down to the not-so-terra not-so-firma below. Milo felt the fine grains of sand running through his toes as he dug his feet into the seafloor.

They were about three to four Naia-lengths below the surface. The inverted waves above were barely visible from this depth. The silhouette of the boat as well was nothing but a little black speck. Miri let go of Milo’s hand and floated in place, tail fins waving, while the boy left to explore.

Hundreds of shining fish moved together as one, darting away in a flash when Milo approached and then slowly circling back around whenever he looked away. Their scales reflected the rays piercing down from above in a show of light that dazzled the eyes and confused the senses. They continued this back and forth – approaching then fleeing – until Milo swam over to a large “boulder” made up of a dozen different flavours of not-rocks. The school of fish scattered and regrouped far away from the colourful array on the floor. Past experience had taught them that nothing good came from the rocky growths. Milo, however, happily looked around and inside the assortment of connected rocks that were not rocks.

Hard-shelled sea spiders jousted each other on top of bony logs. Claws bounced harmlessly off of natural armour as they fought without leaving any trace of damage behind. It seemed like they were having fun.

Soft worms stuck their heads out of the not-rocks. Their bodies, embedded deep into the structure below, were completely out of sight. The wormy mouths that were visible started to open when a group of small fish swam by. Dozens of feathers unfurled from each of the worms’ orifices to gently sway in the water. They danced lightly, twisting and tangling their prey in an inescapable formation while tiny hidden barbs on the plumed tentacles locked them in place. With a steady and controlled withdrawal, respective feathers curled and rolled back into the mouths of each worm, dragging helplessly twitching fish along with them. It did not seem like they were having fun. Milo shuddered and swam on.

Wiggling red not-vegetables formed a layer that covered one segment of the not-rock boulder. They pulsed left and right in a rhythmic flow that might have looked normal had it not completely ignored the direction of the currents. Curious, Milo touched one of the waving tentacles. It retracted in an instant, shrinking back into a small nub. The ten tentacles surrounding it did the same. Then slowly, insidiously, the outer ring of fleshy vegetation elongated and crept up to surround Milo’s finger. He took his hand away right before the tentacles closed in and sealed themselves shut into a dome. It didn’t look like anything could get in or out of the red barricade. As he watched, the dome gradually tightened its structure. It became flatter and flatter until there was nothing left but a smooth disc surrounded by a forest of tentacley vegetables. Milo was reminded how nice it was to not be a fish. Being caught and squished down like that would probably not be very fun either. It seemed like there were a lot of things that weren’t very nice to fish. He thought back to Gu’s lesson about the natural cycle of life and death. There was definitely a lot of that here. Equal parts beauty and danger with traps lurking around every enticing corner.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Plants gobbled up fish while fish nibbled on plants. Sea trees reached dozens – maybe even a hundred – feet into the air. Their labyrinthine roots and branches both obscured the ambush of predators but also provided places for prey to hide.

An eel partnered with a big-mouthed grumpy fish to hunt. One slithered through the gaps in the not-rocks while the other lurked above to snag the escapees. Any prey that couldn’t be reached by one was made up for by the other.

A blue fish with a long ribbon-like fin trailing behind it swam through the carpet of red not-vegetables. The tentacles didn’t react at all to its passing. But when a needlefish darted in for the kill, the blue fish dove into the vegetation while the tentacles shot out to ensnare the would-be attacker. The needlefish barely had a chance to struggle before the dome of tentacles sealed its fate. Its outline struggled in futility against the prison of flesh before ceasing altogether. Meanwhile, the blue fish continued swimming along, ribbon trailing indolently behind.

Similar scenes were taking place everywhere Milo looked. Hunters. Prey. Violence. Peace. Cooperation. Betrayal. Life. Death.

It seemed like very few things were exempt from this natural flow. Out of all the creatures that Milo had the joy (and horror) of watching, only three played special roles. One was a slug. Milo only ever saw it get eaten and never saw it even get remotely close to eating anything else. He wondered how they were even able to survive. Maybe there were armies of them munching on the sea tree to keep the leaves trimmed down and these ones on the floor just fell off by accident. It seemed like a sad life to do nothing except be eaten, but he figured that since there were so many of them, they were probably doing fine.

The other was a jellyfish. It seemed to never get eaten. It floated around gently and transparently, just minding its own business and being a jellyfish. Milo shot a glance over to Miri who was also floating transparently nearby, minding her own business. With the cyan air bubble dying everything in its shade, Miri wasn’t quite as invisible as she was when they first met. Just a bit watery and see-through…like the jellyfish. Milo thought that the two had a lot in common but he would avoid thinking that thought in her presence. Sensing the boy’s gaze, Miri looked in his direction. Milo waved and went back to looking at the final oddity.

The last exception to the cycles of nature was a cute little fish with giant eyes. Its flippers flipped flippily but uselessly, doing nothing but push water back and forth. What meager bit of forward movement the fish did achieve was instantly negated by the return stroke that sent it right back where it started. The only progress it made in getting anywhere came exclusively from its tail. The fish’s entire body wiggled left and right as its tiny tail flapped with great enthusiasm. For every ten flips of the majestic creature’s mighty flippers, it managed to propel itself an entire inch forwards. It was kind of adorable. Milo knelt on the sand and watched it approach. Centimeter by centimeter it slowly swiggled towards him.

Somehow, despite how easy it would be to gobble this little guy up, none of the predators made a move. Maybe they also felt the same way – that this thing was too cute to eat. Maybe in being completely useless, it had won the hearts of the entire ocean. In some kind of pathetic sympathetic way, it kind of reminded him of hims–

“!” Milo jumped. Or rather, was pulled back at full force. His legs dangled in the water in front of him as Miri picked him up and dragged him several feet back.

The tiny fish kept swimming towards them in earnest futility.

“Anything else in the sea you can play with as much as you want, but the danger that lurks in this loveable fish is not something to taunt.” Miri, with both hands under Milo’s arms, swam until they were far, far away from the fish. From their new spot hovering dozens of feet up in the water, the invisible zone of influence around the lone fish was obvious. Whether by instinct or experience, not a single creature dared to come anywhere near it. Wherever this fish went, all other ocean life fled.

Milo looked down at the tiny little guy with its tiny little flippers flipping around all by itself. No friends. Nobody to play with. Just loneliness and isolation. He couldn’t help but feel that it was even more pitiful than before. “It must be really sad to be this little thing. How come nobody wants to be near it?”

“‘The Darling of the Sea’ is baleful existence to creatures of three.”

“Oh. That’s really sad.”

Miri nodded but said nothing more.

The two of them floated in the water, ocean currents mussing their hair back and forth as they watched the Darling of the Sea very gradually swim off into the distance. The creatures resumed their cycles of life and death once it was gone and out of sight.

“One day, I’m going to come back and be its friend,” Milo promised.

The boy wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination or a trick of the light, but the sea suddenly felt a little bit warmer and brighter than it was before. In his mind, it seemed like the water also thought that this was a good idea. Milo imagined that The Darling of the Sea was like a bullied child that Oceanmother was always worried about but helpless to help. He nodded silently to the vast blue entity, all-present, yet barely noticeable, and doubled his resolve to come back to the water and settle in after all was said and done. Wherever there was water was wherever his home would be at the end of his days. And he would make friends with everything within it.

“Miri has faith that the Child Who Is Balanced will bring the impossible dream into being. For now, though, request from a slithery friend asks that we make our way to the Cliff Of The End.”

Hand in hand, the two departed to find Naia’s home.