Manorborn: The Battles Between

Chapter 16

The moment Galen entered the water, he knew he was different.

There was no sense of silence as one might expect when first entering the cerulean depths, no sense of muffled sound from above. Instead, he heard as clearly as one might in the air above the sea. He could all around him as easily as he could when he was above the water, and so much more!

He heard the clicks and clacks of rocks rolling about in the currents. He heard the sounds fish made; bubbly breathing, or the swish of their fins as they moved through the water, even the sounds they made as they communicated with one another. He heard the life of the ocean all around him!

And he could breathe!

He could breathe as easily as if he were in the air!

He did not know how this was possible, but he delighted in the moment. He took in great lungfuls of air, breathing in deeply, then letting it out, noting that no bubbles escaped his lips, no water entered his lungs, Some energy or magic was gifting him with the ability to live under the water as easily as he did above!

And he could swim.

Oh, how he could swim!

A flick of his feet, and Galen raced through the water as swiftly as a dolphin, a slight twist of his body, and he turned or changed direction as if he were a snake racing upon the ground. His body flowed through the water with a speed and ease that even the sea-folk could not match! It was not as if his body was at home in the water, it was more as if his body embodied the very essence of water; allowing him to move and flow with an ease that was well above and beyond what was the norm for any creature that called the oceans their home.

"Currents and waves!" Gasped Silent Killer as she watched the blonde-haired surface dweller move through the water with an ease not even her own people could match.

"How is this possible? What magic do you possess, Galen of the Surface? How do you move in the water with greater ease than we who are born in it?"

"I do not know." Galen confessed as he swam beside his aquatic companions. "I only know I can. It may be, as with my ability to speak your language, that this is a gift from my Lady Abhain. She met with me the night before we came here to Maa. At the time, she kissed me on the forehead and, given what has happened, I can only assume that she granted me the abilities I now have at that time."

"The waters of the worlds are deep and fully of mystery, how much more so would be the Lady of Waters? Her ways are as mysterious as the rivers and waves that wash the shores of all the many worlds in the universe." Silent Killer mused as they swam through the depths, always moving further down as they went.

All around him, as they traveled further and deeper, the sunlight faded and the shadows darkened. The oceans became more mysterious the deeper they traveled. Yet, despite this, Galen still saw all around him as clearly as he would were it twilight on the surface. All about him, light came into existence, light from sources he never noticed before. Coral and plants, floating creatures that were not larger than a dust mote, all gave off a phospherence that illuminated the undersea world; lending it a magical aura as it did so.

"Never, in all my days, did I expect to see such magical beauty under the surface of the sea." Galen breathed softly, his gaze shifting from one wondrous sight to another as he spoke.

"Few, if any, of the surface ever see our world as it truly is, Galen of the Surface." Silent Killer smiled as she swam along next to him. "We who live below thank the Maker that we live in such a world of beauty and magic as this."

"I understand why." Galen breathed as they swam on.

Yet, it was a world of danger as well.

They were moving on towards a series of underwater mountains, when one of the other Morska paused and raised a hand in warning.