The tiny, blue girl summoned another ball of black energy while observing Finn and the giant snail behind him. Her tentacles helped her keep balance in the water above him, while the eyes on her torso and arms turned and twisted in random directions.

‘My name is Finn. I’m from the empire on-shore, and I plan on going back, even if it means crushing a certain kingdom in my way.’

‘How arrogant,’ the girl’s lips curled up.

‘Are you friend or foe?’

‘Neither.’

‘Will you report my presence?’

‘To whom? Like your people, I despise the echidnas. Except, humans despise everyone, do you not? You call us mutants, abominations to be killed on sight.’ While talking, her injuries healed. She then summoned a third ball of magic, just in case, and asked: ‘Why do you delay your attack?’

In response, Finn turned his back on her and started conversing with the snail. Caroline was not invited to their telepathic conversation, and she did not want to intrude.

‘I should withdraw while they’re distracted,’ she thought. Yet for some reason, she didn’t. ‘He’s definitely human, yet his energy pathways resemble my own. No, they’re superior…’

After a long exchange between the man and the snail, a small piece of shell broke off from the latter, and the human placed it in his breast pocket. Then, he waved the massive creature goodbye, as it turned its body and slowly went back from whence it came.

Finn watched his friend trudge away for quite some time, his eyes moving between him and the piece of shell. Eventually, he took a deep breath and turned back towards his goal.

‘Goodbye, old friend.’ he whispered at the shell. ‘Caroline, was it? If you go after the snail, I will kill you.’

‘I have no reason to do so.’

Finn began swimming away, towards the echidnas’ kingdom, and soon the blue girl gave chase.

‘Leave or I’ll attack.’

‘A guide will serve you well.’

‘I’ll figure it out on my own.’

‘You’re swimming towards a military stronghold. If you plan to wage war on the entire kingdom, then I commend your bravery and pity your foolishness.’

Finn stopped in his tracks.

‘There’s nothing ahead for another 10 miles.’

‘There is, but you won’t sense it until you’re right above. It’s what caused my recent predicament.’

Caroline descended to the bottom of the ocean, leaving her energy balls behind as a sign of good will. Once she was face to face with the demonic human, she bowed only slightly, and smiled pleasantly.

‘Allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Caroline, I’m 509 years old. I am also a former resident of the kingdom you wish to infiltrate.

Fate has it that our goals are similar. You need to cross the echidnas’ territory, and I need to collect some items along the way. If you can assist me in obtaining them, then I will help you avoid a direct conflict with the enemy.’

‘So you’re a thief?’

‘No, I assure you. They belonged to my father.’

The mana inside her body suddenly boiled as she spit out that final sentence. The ocean around her trembled, and the black balls above her head broke apart into hundreds of shards. As they fell towards the ocean floor, Finn noticed they were crystals, no different from the ones in his memory.

‘Hey, did your kind send goblins to attack the empire five years ago?’

Caroline paused for a few seconds and then swam off in a certain direction. ‘Let bygones be bygones.’

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’

The echidna kingdom did not originally belong to them. Before Loki bestowed his 'gift,' several tribes of merfolk populated this part of the ocean.

They gathered around underwater volcanoes to counter the deep, ocean chill and feasted on the nearby fauna which gathered there for similar reasons.

As one of the oldest inhabitants of the kingdom, Caroline knew where most of these hot-spots were, which areas were safe and which were guarded by echidnas.

After two days of swimming on the ocean floor, the two reached a canyon and went further down. However, the further they descended, the deeper the canyon went.

Only after half a day of swimming, did the two finally see the bottom.

'Echidnas dislike the water pressure at this depth and the heat. There will still be an appointed governor, but his power and influence should be limited.'

The bottom of the canyon was like nothing Finn had ever seen. There was a huge, extinguished volcano in the middle. The water was boiling at its very top.

However, at the bottom of this mountain, all around its base, there was a living carpet of red.

Tubular, red plants covered the entire ocean floor. Each individual strand was no wider than an arm, but Finn could not predict their length.

Someone had weaved them together, like fabric, into a huge canvas which covered the sand.

'What's underneath?'

'I suggest you take on your demon form.'

Caroline and the demonic, red warrior Finn arrived at the edge of the plants and swam down.

From the side, the structure looked like a forest of red tubes, so thick and intertwined that not even a child could pass through.

Fortunately, there was an entrance. Unfortunately, it was guarded by two merman guards, with scars and missing scales on their tails, and by almost 2000 goblins who were riding sharks.

Caroline and Finn had no choice but to descend right through the middle of this ball of mutants, all the way to the bottom where the two mermen were waiting.

'Are you sure we're invited?' Finn was getting slightly nervous. He could probably escape this encirclement, but not without some injuries.

'Follow my lead. Greetings.' Caroline directed her thoughts at the merfolk. 'I'm the loyal servant of Trianon, adopted cousin of Mammon and ruler 6th platoon of the 8th demonic legion. My master wishes to explore.'

Immediately, the mermen made way and bowed politely. Finn saw them shiver slightly while taking a look at his horns, but perhaps out of fear, they did not say welcome or anything at all.

Since it would be beneath his brand new, mighty, status to salute first, Finn followed after Caroline in silence.

The world within the tubular forest was like a fantasy space ship. The tubes were braided into larger, tubular pathways which merfolk swam through as if floating between the rooms of an international station.

However, there was no trace of metal within the huge, hidden, city. Only mutant bones and stone pillars could be seen here and there, giving the structure a bit of rigidity.

After crossing various tubes of various shapes and sizes, Finn and Caroline reached a market of sorts. It was a large open space, the size of a city square, sustained by pillars and lighted by bright, brown flowers, giving the entire area an earthy feel.

Finn followed Caroline into a protrusion in the walls of the tube cave, with tubes dangling from the top at the entrance and two glowing, brown flowers above.

As he got closer to the flowers, Finn raised an eyebrow.

'They look like roses…'

'Follow me.'

'Where can I buy one?'

While Finn talked with his 'loyal servant,' they entered a bar unlike any other.

It was like the inside of a ball, a circular structure, with tables placed on all sides. Some merfolk were eating on the ceiling, while others were sipping some strange fruit, six feet above the floor on the side of the walls.

'Come.' Caroline swam to a floating bar in the middle and ordered an orange shaped fruit. They were purple in color and came with a straw-like tube which Caroline stuck inside before sipping out the juice.

‘That’ll be four bags,’ said the bartender straight into their minds. He was a stocky merman with large shoulders, a unibrow, and a mean look. ‘If you cannot pay…’ He gestured towards the entrance of the bar where two even stockier mermen had now blocked the entrance.

‘You must be new here,’ Caroline smiled.

‘I’m not. This bar has been my father’s. It’s now mine.’

‘How is your father?’

‘Dead. Now pay up.’

With a sigh, Caroline lifted her somewhat functioning arm and placed it face down on the table. When she lifted it slightly, a small, round, black crystal appeared, which she pushed towards the merman.

The bartender’s eyes went wide; he grabbed the crystal and hid it under the table. A second later, Caroline revealed another small crystal and pushed it towards him.

‘This is for accommodation,’ she smiled and summoned a third crystal. ‘And this one’s for your friendship.’

Caroline’s smile was as sweet as her body was eerie. The eyes on her limbs kept rolling in their sockets, never focusing on any one thing. Finn learned during their short time together that there was no consciousness attached to these eyes; they were useless organs she had no choice but to endure.

‘You knew my father?’

‘Yes, how did he die?’

‘He joined the war to save me, grew too strong for his own good.’ With a frown, the bartender grabbed and ripped one of the scales from his tail. He then leaned forward and asked: ‘Miss Caroline, yes? Why are you still here?’