Natalia let out another soft whimper when more messages popped up and then disappeared. As much as she would have loved to take a moment to read them, she was a little busy trying to NOT die.

Natalia swore if she ever saw Death again she was going to have a LOT of words for her. Most of them would not be kind. She dug her nails into the hands gripping her and tried to make them let go. To her surprise, they suddenly did.

A moment later, she heard a pained shriek and whatever was sitting on her toppled off. Then there was loud, angry growling of all things. Natalia gasped for air and tried to quickly crawl away, wildly reaching out until she felt the wall.

Natalia heard more shrieking and fighting in the darkness, but she couldn’t see anything to identify it. All she could see was that strange menu again. Nervously she reached out and touched the spells option again.

Undead control, raise dead, guardian black dog, spirit of envy.

Nervously she reached out and tapped on undead control. To her delight, instructions appeared a moment later. Simple ones, all Natalia had to do was give a command and any nearby undead who could hear the command would follow it to the best of their ability. She glanced around in the darkness for a moment. She wondered if that was why the vessel had stopped, maybe it counted as undead.

A gurgled scream tore through the air, making her jump and close the menu. Natalia could hear the growling and snapping dog in the darkness, even if she couldn’t see it. She wondered if she should call it off. Whoever it was attacking had obviously intended to kill her and nearly succeeded, would they try again if she called her guardian off?

But listening to the gurgling shrieks was too much, she couldn’t bear it. “Stop. Don’t kill it,” she said.

There was a light growl but, slowly, the shrieks became slow, agonized sobs. Whoever they were, they seemed to be pretty hurt. Not that she could see anything they did like this.

Could she?

She paused for a moment before she decided to test out her theory about the vessel. It still hadn’t started moving again since they’d landed. “Go to the surface!” she called out.

The ground under her began to move and Natalia let out a startled yelp when the sudden movement sent her to the floor. She struggled desperately to grip the wall, but the surface was so smooth there wasn’t much she could do but push herself against it to try and be stable.

However Natalia could feel them rising, her stomach sinking slightly with every second. She was also beginning to make things out in the darkness and so she was pretty sure it was getting brighter. She reached out to the menu and quickly started testing the different buttons to see what they did.

The first one Natalia pressed was the ‘quest’ button. It only had a single quest in it. ‘Dethrone the Red Empress’. For a moment she felt annoyed, but then saw there was a small button that said ‘Hints’ just beneath it. She reached out and pressed it.

Natalia felt nothing but annoyance when she read the single tip listed. ‘Don’t die! - Death’.

“Death is a real bitch,” Natalia said under her breath before going back to the main menu. Traits was next. She wanted to scream when she read that one. She had two, a minor and a major one.

The minor one was ‘translation’ which, according to the text, would help her understand the spoken word of other species. Apparently it didn’t work both ways, but it was definitely something she wished she had known before. The other one was ‘attract friends’, which apparently attracted undead to her. “That’s not what I meant you and knew it,” Natalia said bitterly, though she honestly didn’t know if Death had known it or not. She wondered if this was all a game to that creature. If this was some kind of game, then the tutorial it had was really terrible. She’d almost died at least three times just getting to the point she could look at the menu.

She had an inventory, but it was empty. How she could even store things in it she didn’t know. There wasn’t any stat options either, not that she was certain she’d trust them if there was. She went back to her spells and went through them one by one. At the very least they seemed intuitive enough.

Undead control just required her to give an order to undead. Raise dead allowed her to touch a corpse and then do an incantation that would make it come alive, though it had a bonus. Apparently because she had the spell, she was immune from any harmful effects of touching a corpse and wouldn’t smell death as strongly. “Well, isn’t that just wonderful, I guess I can go frolic through a graveyard now, can’t I?” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

She received a light whimper in response.

“Err, sorry, talking to myself,” Natalia said to the figure that was laying on the ground. She could almost make them out now. Guardian black dog apparently summoned a black dog that would keep her safe, though what that had to do with necromancy she didn’t know. Spirit of envy apparently allowed her to possess either herself or another creature with a spirit of envy, which made it take energy and health from anything it touched. It also let her communicate with envious spirits, assuming there were any nearby.

“What in the world is a spirit of envy?” Natalia asked.

A low growl made her go still and she quickly pushed herself back up against the wall and looked out. The darkness was melting away now and she realized that there were more of the fishmen out there.

She suspected they could see just fine in the dark, but she unfortunately couldn’t. Fortunately, none of them seemed willing to come closer now and her new guardian didn’t seem to have any problem seeing in the darkness.

“Keep me safe,” Natalia said to her dog, which let out another low growl.

The growing light allowed her to make out how many of them their were. Four of them, as well as the fifth on the ground. At least the one on the ground wasn’t whimpering anymore. She hoped that--

Natalia let out a shriek when the light from above finally allowed her to see more of the area. The reason they likely weren’t whimpering anymore was because, as far as she could tell, they were dead. The fishman’s throat, chest and stomach had been torn into and she could see a pool of blood under the body. As the room illuminated more and more she was able to make out more details of the grisly scene.

Worse, she could now see her new guardian. The dog itself was massive, coming up to her chest with ease. There wasn’t any fur, instead its body was black and almost glistening as if it was made of obsidian. Worst of all, there was no blood or any markings on it, in fact she could see through it slightly.

Natalia slowly tried to inch away from the body. “Oh god. I didn’t mean to, I didn’t, they were trying to kill me, they--” She froze in place when she realized that the others were definitely there. Four of them, all watching her and, more closely, her guardian.

They were almost up to the surface now and she could make out more of the area than ever. The vessel itself wasn’t nearly as massive as she had thought, though it was still fairly large. The ‘wall’ she had run into wasn’t even that big, only a little wider than she was tall and seemed to be made of smooth coral.

But now that she could see out she could see that the ‘vessel’ was entirely surrounded by that strange green field that covered long, serpent-like bones. The floor and walls (the few there were) seemed to be made of a light green, blue and orange coral. When she peered past the wall, she could see that the vessel itself didn’t appear to be very long at all, she could easily look up and down it from one end to the other. Maybe a few hundred feet.

There wasn’t really anywhere for her to hide even if she had wanted to. While there were a few areas she couldn’t see into, namely small rooms that seemed to be made of the coral, the vessel itself seemed quite open.

“What do you want?” one of the fishmen asked.

“What?” Natalia asked.

“What do you want, human? Why have you come here?” the fishman asked again.

“I don’t know. To not die,” Natalia said. She could see almost everything now and, after a few more moments, the vessel finally broke the surface.

Almost instantly she regretted this decision. The wild waters began to toss and shake them and she fell back to the ground with an undignified shriek. “Go down! Go down enough to stay stable!” she yelled.

There was a moment of silence before, very slowly, the vessel began to go back under the water. While the water movements rocked it slightly, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the surface had been. At least she could crawl back to her feet this time. “Okay, I don’t want to have to fight any of you. I don’t want to fight anybody,” Natalia said, looking over the four remaining fishmen.

“Your beast killed Leven,” one of them said.

Natalia reached up and gently rubbed her neck, cringing when she felt the tender soreness. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, but they were trying to kill me,” she said softly, though the response felt slightly hollow to her. “Why were you all trying to kill me? Why did you even bring me here if you intended to kill me?”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The four fishmen started exchanging looks and, once more, they were whispering amongst themselves. Finally, one stepped forward. “Leaving one of the Red Empress’ subjects to drown is a capital offense. Once we realized you were there, we couldn’t take the risk that you were one of hers and leave you out there. But you said you didn’t know who she was. You are human, are you not?”

“I am,” Natalia said before motioning to her dog. It slowly lumbered towards her, though it made no sound when it did. She reached out and put a hand on it. It felt, oddly, like very firm gel. Slightly warm and solid, but it felt as if her hand would go through it if she pushed too hard. “But I’m new. Sort of. It’s a long story and uhhh…” She found her eyes drawn back towards Leven’s body. “I’m sorry. I was just trying to defend myself. I know this is very strange and awkward, but I need to ask a lot of questions. If none of you try to hurt me, I swear I won’t hurt any of you. If there’s anything you need to do with, err, Leven, please, do so. I won’t stop you.”

There was more murmuring and then two of them walked forward and began to, slowly, pick up the body and pulling it away towards the edges of the green aura. They then leaped through the ‘wall’, taking the body with them, into the water’s depths.

Natalia made a quick mental note that the green wall would not prevent her from falling out from the vessel. She was lucky she hadn’t run off entirely and gotten herself killed.

“My name is Marena,” the fishman said, making her focus back on them.

“Natalia,” she said, eyeing the fishman. She looked them up and down for a few long moments before giving a gentle sigh. “I’m really, really sorry. There’s just no way to say this without sounding rude. But, err, you all kind of look the same to me and at the time you were trying to kill me so I wasn’t exactly looking that closely. Were you one of the ones who I met at first?”

“Yes,” Marena said, their eyes narrowing on her. “I was the one who rescued you.”

“Oh,” Natalia said softly. “Were you the one who tossed me outside?”

“That was Leven. Orman was there as well,” Marena said before motioning towards the other fishman. Natalia looked at the two and tried to come up with something about them she could identify as different. To be honest, though, aside from the fact that Marena was a head or so tallerer than the other one and the fins on their neck had little points and firm edges, while Orman’s were gently curved, they looked too much alike for her to tell apart.

“Right. About that, why?” Natalia asked before glancing down at the blood on the floor. “Why just try to kill me like that?”

“You’re human,” Marena said coldly. “Why would we not?”

“But didn’t you save me because I was human?” Natalia asked.

That made the fins on Marena’s neck flair out and a low hiss come from the creature. “Do not mistake the laws of the betrayer god as a desire to protect any of your kind. Had I known that you weren’t hers, I would have dragged you deeper into the depths and torn out your throat.”

“Marena,” Orman said softly before reaching out to grip the fishman’s arm. “Careful.”

“This human--”

“Seems to be incredibly stupid, or at least ignorant, of everything. We should take it to Pierpont. There’s no telling if it is another one of the Red Empress’ tricks.”

Natalia gave a soft sigh. “Who is Pierpont?”

“Our god. The divine sea serpent, child of Poseidon,” Orman said.

“Poseidon?” Natalia asked. “Like the olympian god?”

“I’m sorry?” Orman asked. “The what god? But yes, Poseidon was the god of the seas, before the Red Empress betrayed and devoured him.”

Natalia cringed and glanced towards the menu once more. It seemed that this Red Empress was her enemy judging by the message she received. But it also seemed that these fishmen were also the empress’ enemy, but also the enemy of humans. Could her enemy also be the enemy of her enemy and then become her friend? Judging by the look that Marena was giving her, she had her doubts.

“Where would Pierpont be?” Natalia asked.

“See how it mocks us?” Marena said bitterly. “As if ou--”

“Marena, please,” Orman said, lifting a hand and shaking their head. “My apologies, Natalia, was it? I am sorry if I cannot pronounce the name well.”

“I’ll be honest, I’m not even sure what you’re saying is what I’m hearing at this point,” Natalia said with a soft sigh.

“Excuse me?” Orman asked.

“Nothing, ignore that,” Natalia said with another soft sigh. She supposed she was just lucky that they could understand her at all. “I’m really not trying to mock you or anything. I swear. I am just entirely unaware of what’s going on here.”

“I see. Then please, tell me. Are you intending to kill us?” Orman asked.

“I already said I wasn’t,” Natalia said.

“You appear to be in command of the spirit of the wayfarer,” Orman said. “And are taking us towards the red wall. If you don’t intend to end all of our lives, please, stop.”

“What? The red what? The spirit of the wayfarer?” Natalia asked.

“Listen to how it butchers the divine,” Marena said bitterly.

“I’m really not trying to! What is the red wall? Why is it bad? How am I taking us to it? Why--” Then she stopped and glanced up. “You mean this thing? The skeleton--”

“HOW DARE YOU!” Marena yelled before charging at her.

Natalia’s hound darted forward, its teeth bared and lunging at the fishman. “Stop!” Natalia yelled.

The hound froze in mid stride at the same time the vessel did as well, sending all of them to the ground once more. Natalia really hoped that the constant sudden stops would get a bit easier to deal with over time.

“Marena, calm yourself,” Orman said firmly, before quickly getting to his feet. “A thousand apologies, Natalia. The red wall is the end of where we are allowed to travel. Beyond that, the Red Empress’ servants will kill any of our kind. We may not travel beyond those walls.”

Natalia nodded and stared at the two. “So this is your territory and you can’t go beyond it? And this, err… this spirit of the wayfarer, it’s what we’re traveling in?” she asked, struggling to sound as inoffensive as possible.

“Indeed. The fact it listens to you at all is quite interesting. Especially as it no longer responds to any of our commands. For it to show favor to you over its subjects is very strange,” Orman said. “Pierpont resides in Atlantis, the only city our kind now holds, at the bottom of the sea. The spirit of the wayfarer knows the way. There the divine serpent could answer any questions you have.”

Natalia gave a small nod before looking between the two. “Atlantis? That actually sounds pretty awesome, I’d always wanted to go there. Though something tells me it’s not quite the same place I’d imagined. And sorry about your, uhhh, spirit of the wayfarer. I guess it counts as undead, since my necromancy is--”

“Necromancy?” Orman asked, cutting her off.

“Yes,” Natalia said slowly, unease beginning to wash over her once again. “It’s not what you—”

“You’re using necromancy to bind the spirit of the wayfarer?” Orman asked, his own neck fins having spread out and gone entirely still.

“Sort of, I think,” Natalia said softly. “But I’m not--”

“YOU HERETIC!” Orman yelled before both of them lunged at her.

Natalia shrieked tried to crawl away. “Defend me!” she screamed. She had expected her hound to strike and charge the two. Unfortunately, that wasn’t at all what happened. Spikes of coral erupted from the floor, impaling the pair. She watched with wide eyed horror when the two gurgled and shuddered for a moment, before finally they went still and dropped to the ground, the spikes retracting back into the floor.

Natalia stared at the bodies for a few moments, her heart pounding so hard she thought it might burst out of her chest. They were dead. It had all happened in an instance, she hadn’t even realized it could happen. She hadn’t meant to kill them. But she had. Or the vessel had. The coral had. She’d killed three of them now.

“Help me,” she whispered to her dog. It walked to her and she, slowly, reached out and used it to pull herself to her feet. “I’m going to call you Fido, okay? Yes. Fido. You look like a Fido,” she said, trying to not look at the two bodies. “Take me to the front of this thing, okay? The head?” she asked.

Slowly, Fido began to walk away from the mess she had made and she clutched the dog tightly. Fortunately, it seemed it was solid enough that it could help support her weight. She felt like she was going to throw up. “I didn’t mean to do it,” Natalia said to the dog. “Any of them. I never meant to hurt anyone. I didn’t mean to kill them. I didn’t know they’d get upset about that. I didn’t even know I could do it. It was an accident.”

Fido didn’t respond. He just silently guided her towards the front of the spirit of the wayfarer. She still had so many questions, no answers and now? A fear of what would happen if she met with any more of the fishmen.

However, when she was in the head of the wayfarer she could see out and ahead and she, finally, understood what they had meant by the red wall. Off in distance she could see a swirling red wall through the water, one that seemed to go off in all directions.

Apparently the edge of their territory. What would happen if she went through it? She wasn’t a fishman, would the creatures of the Red Empress come after her? She then glanced back deeper into the vessel. There were still two fishmen out there, should she wait for them to come back and try and explain things better? Try and come up with some lie and hope that they’d accept that everything was an accident?

There was still one other option, one that, as difficult as it may be, could be her best option. Try to find Atlantis to meet Pierpont. If the Red Empress was her enemy, then maybe Pierpont could be her ally against her.

Natalia fell to her knees and stared out at the wall. Forward into the unknown, wait for something that might not come or try and find Atlantis.

Current spells:

Undead control

Raise dead

Guardian black dog

Spirit of envy

Current trait:

Attract ‘friends’: Undead are drawn to Natalia from up to a mile away and, if unintelligent, will not attack her unless directed by another force. Undead will, in most cases, see her as a fellow undead. Undead near Natalia become slowly stronger.

Minor – Translation: Translates the spoken words of other species. Does not translate your words for them.