Beneath the Waves

Rite of Dissolution

It was late when Ria finally got home, and for once since this whole thing started she felt really good. Not worried about hiding something from Chris, not scared about what she was, she just felt alright.

She decided to open the book again, to read through it some more to see if there was anything important that she missed. Especially since she was so ill prepared when she transformed that first time. She didn't even know how to turn back.

Making a cup of coffee, she sat down at her desk and opened the book. The next few pages just contained anatomical information about her transformed state and her human state and how they differed. She turned the page and was surprised to find a folded piece of paper stuffed between the book's pages. Weird, she thought, but opened it regardless. On the page, which turned out to be two pages folded together there were two different, very confusing things. The first one showed a drawing of some kind of ghostly figure holding a gigantic sword. There was no information other than a scribble of "chayal + enemy" she didn't know what the first word meant but she definitely knew the word enemy. So they had an enemy? This weird ghostly nun looking creature. It looked like something out of one of Chris' horror movies and Ria knew if she ever had to face one of those she would probably just run away screaming. Terrifying. Hopefully they stopped existing like most of the others probably had.

The second page was more confusing. At the top it read 'Rite of Dissolution'. The rest of the page seemed like an intricate ritual explaining some kind of ritual. In contrast with the other page, this one seemed to have been ripped out of a book, the edges of the paper carelessly torn. She read through it. You needed special minerals, of course there was cutting and blood again, she turned the page over and found another vetruvian man style drawing of the sea monster form with an arrow pointing to a vetruvian man drawing of...well... a human man. Under the drawings, in the same handwriting as that on the other page, stood one word, 'irreversible'. Then it clicked. This was a permanent transformation. This was a way to turn back into a human and denounce her 'monster'. She remembered in the book, part of the bible read that God gave a choice to the monsters whether they would like to become human or remain what they were, being able to move between the two worlds. She guessed some of them chose to become human and passed that down with them.

It was still confusing though. What did chayal mean, and what was this ghostly being supposed to be. Should she be afraid?

She honestly thought that everything was okay now that she had told Chris, and her reaction was reall not as bad as Ria expected. It seemed that as soon as one thing was solved some other bullshit came up that she had to deal with.

Tired and overwhelmed, she got up from the desk and got into bed hoping that sleep would come easy tonight. It rarely every did anymore. She closed her eyes, and before she knew it was lost to the land of dreams.

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Amma led Chris down a narrow staircase. Dungeon walls close on either side, they walked down deeper (what must be underground) and deeper. The only sounds were drops of water in the distance, echoing as they fell into their little pools. There were lights on the walls, torches lit, fires burning lighting their way down into the depths.

They finally reached a gigantic door. Wood and metal married to create something she had only seen in her dreams. Wait she had literally seen this door in her dreams, it looked exactly like the cathedral door. Except it wasn't underground in her dreams. Amma raised her hand and the doors seemed to open of their own accord. They stepped across the threshold. Silence and darkness greeted them. Amma raised her hand again and the torches on the walls lit up as they walked to the front of the church.

Once at the pulpit, Amma pushed on the cross carved into the wood and stood back as a trap door in the floor slid open. Chris gasped, startled for a moment (even though at this point she shouldn't really be shocked by anything). They started down the stairs, this time not as many as the spiraling narrow ones leading down to the church. Going through yet another door, Chris' jaw dropped. A giant room, with the highest ceilings she had ever seen. It had to be some sort of library. Floor to ceiling bookshelves stacked literally to the rafters with book after book.

"Have you ever heard of the library of Alexandria" asked Amma

"I... I thought that burnt down" Chris replied, in awe of her surroundings

Shaking her head Amma said "not burnt, just hidden. No one could be trusted anymore and we had to keep the information, the truth a secret, we weren't even allowed down here except to guard it from intruders"

"So why are you letting me down here now?" Chris asked confusedly

"I am not sure. Things have changed. I want to know the truth" she replied honestly "Somewhere in here we will find the book you need to help your girlfirend transform back into her human self. It will take time, and we do not have much of that, so we had better get started"

Chris looked around at the gigantic room filled with books. She knew somewhere in here there was a way to save Ria. Thinking of it like that made her feel dirty. Like Ria didn't really need 'saving'. She pushed that thought to the side and gave Amma a determined look,

"We'd better get started then" she said, looking at the thousands of books before her "it's going to be a long night".

___________________________________________________________________

It was indeed a long damn night. They both spent hours combing through books, trying to find the one they were looking for. You would think that the OG bible would have a special place. From a western perspective you would think that sure. As Chris discovered, there were millions of 'bibles' some she knew like the Quran, others she had never heard of like something called The Coffin Texts. Thousands upon thousands of religious texts and still no sign of the one she needed.

Just as she was losing hope completely she heard Amma from the back of the library "I found it, my child. It is here"

Chris ran towards her almost knocking her off her feet as she hugged her "finally I really thought we were going to be down here for days"

"Time moves differently down here, child, you should know this by now"

"I know, I know it's just a figure of speech" she said, rolling her eyes

They took the book, dusted off the front cover and opened it. They paged through it, it looked so much different to the bible she had come to know. It was way thicker for one, and had so many more books that were definitely not in the bible on her parents' nightstand. There were more illustrations too, of things she had never seen, creatures that looked like dragon-people, and on the next page she saw the same drawing that Ria showed her, of the sea-monster people. She traced her finger over it. Beautiful, she thought.

They continued paging through it until finally they reached what was supposed to be the page they were looking for. Amma seemed to have a vague idea of the order of events so that was their guide in finding what they were looking for. She traced the remains of a page that seemed to have been ripped out of the book.

"This is where it was supposed to be. This is the page with the rite of dissolution" Amma whispered

"What?! Someone ripped it out? How is that possible who even has access to this place?" Chris shouted

"I don't know, I thought it was only us chayal, but it hasn't been guarded as heavily as it used to be. It has only been me and two of my sisters for about a thousand years. I don't know when or how this might have happened" she said, sounding worried

Hearing worry in Amma's voice was so unnatural, it made Chris' heart ache and she tried to soothe her.

"Don't worry, we'll get it back somehow"

"I don't know child. I have failed you. For that I apologize" she said timidly

"It's okay Amma, we'll find the person who took it and we'll find a way to help Ria, we have to. I have to"

Amma nodded, and as the world started to fall away around Chris, she thought she saw a tear find its way down Amma's cheek.

"Amma!" she shouted, but before she knew it she was back in her bed as if nothing had happened. She looked at the time, barely any had passed since she left. She sighed and got up. Maybe there was something Amma missed in their book.

She sat down at the desk, opened the book and started reading it again. Determined to find a way to help Ria.