So, apparently, the mermaids were at war against the Hermons. Both were technically fishpeople. They had their own intricate history, a bit different from the stuff above. Sadly, I had no way of knowing what went down in the past, and frankly, I wasn’t interested right now. I had to worry about getting out of here first.

But how? How could I get out of this coral?

And even if I could, I couldn’t outrun fish in water. Moreover, there was a good chance they would really fry us this time.

So, despite the urgency of the situation I couldn’t help but take a seat on the bed and just lie down.

A lot of this place wasn’t making sense to me. If Fish could float, why were beds necessary? If most fish people ate seaweed, how come they offered soups and bread to me?

And how come, despite everything, I didn’t feel wet?

“Is this some sort of illusion?” I spoke aloud.

The mermaid stared, kind of surprised. “You can tell?”

Nope. Absolutely not. I just felt… like there was a huge probability.

“How do I- we, get out of this illusion? I’m not sure if you’d believe me but I want to return you to your family, and find my own.”

“We cannot. We cannot leave,” she said. “They will kill us.”

“It’s best to have risky freedom, than to be a slave in peace.”

She didn’t say anything, she just stayed put. And I genuinely thought she was offended. “My father used to say that.” She sighed once. “We cannot do anything about the illusion. It is part of the ocean. We can, however, leave.”

“How? They have bars and-”

I traced her vision.

The water closet.

“Fuck.”

***

“Are you sure?” I said, staring at the big pipe before me. We’d detached it from a joint and now it had a hole we could dive into.

It looked clean (for what it was).

Why do they have such big pipes? I mean, I could easily fit in, despite being a bit… chubby. So, maybe this pipe wasn’t used for what I thought it was it used for?

“Yes. Close your eyes, and dive in. Do not look back or even attempt to open your eyes; after a minute, we’ll reach an intersection and you’ll feel like falling but still don’t open your eyes.”

“Any special reason?”

“Trust me.”

Yes, trust the girl who I thought was a man and had kept as a prisoner on board. But I didn’t have any other choice.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Is it me or is her speech waaay better now?

“Okay,” I said.

It looked utterly dark, so it didn’t matter if I opened my eyes. She was probably just being cautious about my eyes in general. The salty water wasn’t burning it though and I didn’t feel any discomfort, so I was probably fine.

Anyway, with that said, she jumped in. I took a second to rethink my life choices but in the end came up with the same answer; ‘Fuck it.’ I jumped in myself.

For the first few seconds, it felt like a general water slide. But as the seconds passed, warm water gushed in from all around me and propelled me forward. There wasn’t anything solid about the water, that was a good thing, but I could have sworn it had a distinct smell to it and it kind of wrapped around like a rope? Where was it coming from?

This pipe was one of the master pipes, so other pipes were connected to it and the water was probably coming in from those ones.

Huh?

Wait… I was falling.

Falling fast.

How the hell do you fall underwater!

Despite my best efforts, my eyes opened and… oh.

“I told you not to look!” She yelled, face flushed.

Something white stretched from just beneath her waist, something like a spider’s web, just thicker, creamier. And yes, that was the warm thing, or at least one of the warm things. The water was warm for very different reasons… And that was the thing that was propelling, or rather dragging me forward. The smell wasn’t coming from her though.

Nothing solid about the stuff near me; somewhat grimey but definitely not solid….

Just a big area of coral and emptiness, and mermaids.

They were just there, at the very bottom. Some lying around like their lives were over, others staring at us with those dead eyes.

“What are they doing?” I managed.

We’d stopped falling and somehow hung in the air. This place was really throwing me off.

“Cleaning,” she said. “Close your eyes.”

I did. We probably went into another pipe or someplace narrow.

Roughly five minutes and the smell disappeared and I could have sworn I could sense light.

“We good?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said.

I opened to find myself behind an alleyway in the north. Didn’t look to be the same neighborhood. Fishpeople were all around us but they were either too far away or too disinterested.

I could vaguely make out a sun in the sky. It was near the boundary, so not necessarily in the middle. Either morning, or evening. Considering I didn’t see anything when I first opened my eyes, probably morning.

“Cleaning, cleaning what? Why?”

“They were cleaning everyone’s wastes. We possess the ability to keep the ocean clean for everyone.”

“But they looked so miserable.”

I mean, I’d met plumbers who were miserable before. But a solid bunch of them were really hard workers and loved to chat and often had plans for a better future. But the mermaids… they really looked like they were ready to die.

“It’s because they can’t leave,” she said. “They’re trapped here forever.”

“But we got out.”

And the mermaids weren’t chained or anything.

“Their families are captive. They can certainly run… but,” she paused. “We will wait here till midday, and when they’re sleepy, we’ll slip out of town.”

“Right.”

Was it me or was she super reliable now?

Fast, smart, capable. And kind of pretty too (still no curves though). She’s too young, you idiot!

But this was odd, she wasn’t like this even just a few hours ago. What changed?

“Did you see what happened to Shia and the others?”

“Hermons left just after they captured us, so I’m sure they’re fine.”

“How can I go back? Go back to the ship?”

“We’re in a different part of the ocean now. Monsoon currents will soon disrupt the way. Even if we had a navigator, it would take months. It’s wise to wait for everything to calm down first; besides, it’s not like they would just stay in the same position for months.”

“I see.

“How about the forbidden continent? How close are we to it?”

She stared at me for a good few minutes before gulping once. “It’s only three days journey from Dkionbra.”

Without Alustur’s protection, it was going to be impossible for me to make the journey or attempt a rescue. But I didn’t just come here all this way to sit back and wait.

I sat back and waited for the morning to pass anyway though….

[A/N]

I understand there are some things that don't make sense in this chapter. They will be explained later on.