Sanctuary of lost souls

For something New to come, something Old has to die

404 wasn't a blameless mer. He couldn't say he was proud of what he did, he couldn't even say that he was satisfied with his choices. Sure, at one point some of the things he'd done turned out to be good, but he regretted most of it. The few good things were masked by all the pain and suffering he had caused.

He regretted not helping Nightmare and Dream understand during the war that they don't have to fight. He regretted the devastating words he had thrown in Reaper's face after stealing something very important from him in anger. He regretted not calming Error's anger and jealousy. 404 regretted many things.

But there was one thing he didn't regret. It wasn't a spontaneous decision, really it wasn't planned in the slightest. You could say that it was a coincidence. It had been a few weeks after the war, and 404 had withdrawn into that little stretch of the sea that he knew was not claimed by anyone. That was where he had lived for the first few weeks, until he was hit full force with the heat of another mer. He knew the mer hadn't done it on purpose. It was just 404's bad luck that he had been around when this mer got into heat. And he doesn't know what made him accept the mer's offer, but he joined him for the heat. Maybe it was to forget that he was alone now, that it was his own fault for losing everything. But during his short time with the goldfish mer he could distract himself from reality.

Perhaps something could have become of him and the goldfish mer, but one morning the mer was gone and the cold, overwhelming magic of Reaper was nearing his location. 404 didn't think much as he quickly shot up from his position and tried to move away from Reaper. He was far from ready to face Reaper again. So he swam as fast as he could, letting his instincts lead him to a safe place. Finally he found a cave that was deep enough that Reaper wouldn't find him immediately if he looked into the cave. However, there was one thing that made 404 thwart the plans.

It was a volcano and not normal rock.

So the deeper 404 had swum, the closer he got to the actual lava. And when he turned the wrong way... The smell of burned bones lingered on his nose for a long time. If 404 had to guess, then he was lucky that it was apparently only about half of his body that had been burned by the lava. And as logical as it would have been to leave, 404 didn't. Because here he was at least safe from the other Leviathans. Since he was a Leviathan, it would be some time before the lava could actually do him any real damage.

However... After a few months, 404 had to reconsider his stay in the volcano. He hadn't noticed it at first, after all, he was losing weight more and more because of the limited food options in the volcano. But at one point he could see it. And it turned his whole world upside down.

A baby bump. He had a baby bump.

The belly was still small and 404 hoped that it was simply the development status and not the fact that he had less and less magic to give or that the lava had killed them and they were practically just a corpse now. But one thing was definitely certain. He had to get out of the volcano if he wanted a chance for his baby to survive.

It wasn't easy to get used to the world outside the volcano, even after being there for only a few months. But definitely long enough that his hunting skills were rusty. In his first few months back in the sea he caught little fish and his body was simply not healthy enough for anything that needed more activity. And while he was definitely gaining a bit of weight, it was his baby that had grown incredibly fast during that time. 404 very much hoped that his baby was fine.

And his baby had grown very big in the last month. He could feel that it wouldn't be long now and that his little baby, his precious Rune, would finally be born. He had never been more excited, not even when Reaper courted him. 404 couldn't wait to finally be able to hold his little pup in his arms. He had even hollowed out an area in the cave he was currently living in, in which his baby could live when they were old enough.

But when it finally got to the point when his little Rune was about to be born, there were complications. Or at least that is what he would call them. Because labor had just started and 404 let his instincts guide him when he heard voices outside. He couldn't stop now, so he put his hand over his mouth and hoped these Mers would just go away. And he wished that they would go away only increased when he could hear who it was.

Ink and Error were near his cave.

And while 404 had nothing against them personally, he didn't know what they would do if they found him, if they found his baby. So he hid himself in the darkest corner of his cave and hoped that neither of them would notice that he was nearby.

It was harder to keep quiet the more the birth progressed, especially after his cave had apparently piqued Ink's interest. The further he heard him come into the cave, the more he had to stifle the urge to growl. His instincts were yelling at him to remove this danger to his child and the only thing holding him back was the fact that he couldn't risk another war. But before he could even do anything, Ink was removed from the cave by Error and the two disappeared.

Alone at last, 404 looked at his newborn child, who had not uttered a sound until now, only to freeze at the sight of his little Rune. Rune had a beautiful white tail and bones which were covered with red spots. Her phalanges were also a slightly lighter red. All in all, she was a lovely little albino orca mer. But what made him cry was the fact that Rune's eye sockets were empty and her body still.

Rune, his precious little girl he had tried so hard to save, was dead. She had died before she could even take her first breath.

404 took a deep breath and averted his gaze from his daughter's lifeless body. He... he had to tell Reaper. Reaper should know where his daughter is buried. He deserved to know. 404 would accept if Reaper just hated him more. After all, he had now also taken his daughter away from him. And 404 knew how badly Reaper wanted a child. All he had to do now was figure out the best place to bury Rune. She should be laid to rest in a place that is suited for her.

A movement out of the corner of his eye made 404 look back at Rune, ready to chase away any scavengers from his daughter, just to see his little girl rocking from side to side on the floor, uncomfortable in her position. He quickly took her in his arms with tears in his eyes and gently rubbed his cheek against hers. Large dark red eyes with a black ring looked at him sleepily and with a smile and a soul beating with relief, 404 gently rocked his little daughter to sleep, humming an old lullaby.

He did not see the ghostly shadows of a seahorse with too many arms and eyes that looked like Error, and a frogfish with many black spots and intricate patterns that looked like Ink, which looked at each other with a satisfied expression and slowly disappeared.