Sanctuary of lost souls

A Little Encounter

Balance, well he.. she supposes that her name is Rune now, had a pretty decent puphood in this new body. She had her mother, 404, to fall back on if trouble arose and her parent always looked after her, grooming her scales regularly, helping her if parasites managed to wedge their way under her soft belly and feeding her whenever she got hungry. Not to say that she was a sitting duck, on the contrary. 404 always marveled at her intelligence, at the fact that she didn't flinch the very first time she had to hunt under his keen eye. Her mother sometimes joked that Rune was "beyond her years" and the orca always had to hide a little smile, indulging him.

Mistake and Paint were always there, keeping her company and warning her of any incoming danger, much like her own little ghostly alarms. They'd always find ways to make light out of any situation, no matter how dire. Rune got stuck in a crevice she was too stubborn to pass off as too small? They made jokes that the situation could be worse. She dropped something on her tail? They were there to poke light fun at her, always knowing when to stop.

Her coloring was unique, said her Mama. Mama said that she was so special and wonderful, and that he was so lucky to have her, alive, in his arms.

She knew that it was going too well, so when she found herself in a bit of a pickle..

The albino mer found herself surrounded by a shiver of shark mers, all looking thin and starved. One was eyeing her chubby tail with a particular hunger, eyes hazy and unfocused. She knew that she practically attracted danger but really, Universe? Really?

She trilled deep in her throat, alerting anyone nearby that she was in trouble, hoping that she made it loud enough for her Mama to hear. And oh boy was she hoping that Mama heard, because if not, she was in trouble.

She desperately tried to make light conversation, her hands up in a pacifying gesture, chuckling awkwardly. "I don't think that you want to do this, you're just hungry right? I can bring you food, you just have to-" she got cut off with a squeak as one of the mers charged forward, trying to land a bite and failing as she twisted away desperately.

After that everything kept on moving at a very fast pace and Rune was just in constant motion, the Shiver chasing her back and forth the whole time. She was lucky to have Mistake, her seahorse mom, and Paint, frogfish dad, as otherwise she would have been bitten by the sharks a few times. And it wasn't that Rune didn't understand. Rune knew the feeling of a growling stomach after having had nothing to eat for a long time. But it was still no excuse to want to eat her in particular!

But even with the help of her ghost parents, Rune couldn't hold out against a Shiver of hungry sharks for long. It had started small, just a few scratches from which red magic oozed. But soon there were more and Rune could feel a bite being taken from her dorsal fin. The great surge of magic that poured from the wound just seemed to frenzy the sharks even more. They tried to tear several pieces out of it, but even with a sore fin, Rune was able to avoid it. She had to hold out until her mom was there!

"Behind you!" Paint shouted in a panic. And Rune turned, trying to dodge, only to find that her body was not cooperating with her. She had to watch with horror as the shark approached at a rapid pace. Would this be the end? Would Rune die here? But her new life had only just begun! She didn't want it to end yet...

Rune waited for the shark bite to hurt. Instead, she heard a loud, painful wail. When she opened her eyes, Rune saw 404 before her eyes, the many blue-white and black-and-white spines rising threateningly. Rune could also hear a faint growl in the distance, along with a slowly rising temperature. But what sent a shiver down Rune's spine was the low roaring growl that her mother uttered. It certainly frightened the sharks enough that the shiver disappeared as quickly as possible.

"Rune! Are you alright little light?" Her mother asked worriedly and Rune let the blue, white and black lionfish Mer inspect her. Rune knew from experience that there was no point in hiding wounds from 404.

“Mom it’s fine. Just a few scratches and a small bite wound.” And while Rune had tried to reassure 404 with this statement, it had the opposite effect. 404 immediately searched for the bite, only to see Rune's bitten dorsal fin. His expression darkened and Rune could feel the thirst for blood rise rapidly from 404. Even though she couldn't understand why 404 was so angry, she still tried to calm her mother down. However, it was only mediocre.

404 couldn't heal, that magic was only available to female mers and very, very few male mers, but instead her mother was very skilled with herbs. So Rune was dragged home so that 404 could heal her there.

But neither of them noticed the small, dark figure with violet eyes that followed them incessantly.