At the same time...
POV- The Goddess Twuli
As I stood outside the giant doors, I listened in.
"Lord Cupid, Lady Twuli is here. She wishes an audience." "Send her in. I've been meaning to talk with her."
The doors swung inward and I stepped in. "Cupid," I acknowledged, dipping my head in respect. Cupid bowed his head in mutual respect. Good, narcissism hasn't consumed him.
I expected Cupid to ask why I was here, but he just looked at me sadly. "She's going to die," he said.
"Who do you mean?" I asked, confused.
"Her lover," Cupid said. "Twila's lover, Uah."
"No!" I shouted, losing my temper. "I forbid it. They're perfect together. I will not see that bond broken."
"Twuli, I understand you're upset. But I must beg you not to interfere with Uah's death. You're daughter will find someone else, later."
Me and Cupid looked down at the mortal world and watched. Nevaeh was the world of the Gods and deceased mortals who led good lives. The mortal world is held in a pocket dimension within Nevaeh.
In the mortal world, I spied a pod of merfolk swimming together. I turned to look where it was they were swimming to and saw a dozen or so sandtiger sharks ahead of them. Were these delphapiens (merfolk) suicidal?
POV- Twila
I spotted the first shark and gripped my trident tighter. As we got closer, I saw the rest of the sharks. We can't face these monsters without losing a lot of our own lives, but we had to protect our home and the hundreds of eggs stored in the reef.
I tensed up even more. I expected the large carnivorous fish to notice us by now but they didn't stir. Nor would they ever again.
Our group stopped, just feet from the nearest shark. "It's dead." Someone said. The shark? Did someone already kill it? I thought to myself.
All of the sharks were dead. Every last one. At first we had no idea what happened. Then I noticed something on the underside of a shark.
"Come look," I called out. An older merman, maybe 17, swam over and examined the tiny marks on the fish.
"Bite marks," he said. "Octopus."
We had a new enemy. Sharks were the least of our problems. It was as if the octopodes new we discovered their deed. As soon as the mernan said "Octopus," the sea floor rose. No, it wasn't rising, something was swimming up from under the sand.
At least a hundred blue ringed octopodes rose up, swimming towards us with great speed.
I'm glad mermaids are smart. Before they octopodes could reach us, an idea spread through the pod. We needed to lead the foes into the fire coral.
We took off as a group, swimming almost as quickly as the octopodes. It would be a close race. The fire coral was a league away and the eight legged feinds had a head start.
I glanced backwards a few times. Each octopus was so small that they could fit atop my palm. I wasn't sure why we were afraid of such little creatures. Maybe it was their numbers that was daunting.
We arrived at the fire coral bed not a moment too soon. We swam as low as we could without touching it. Touching fire coral is... well... a bad idea. Luckily these octopodes preferred attacking their prey from below. They swam lower than us, swimming right into the fire coral.
One by one they all died. Needled to death by the spiny coral. We thought they were all dead, but that's when I spotted it. Us merfolk were still in the middle of the fire coral. Hovering right next to Uah's head was a octopus.
Opi swung her trident towards the octupus without hesitation. Maybe she didn't see Uah there... Maybe she didn't think about it...
"No!" I screamed, as her trident went right. Into. Uah.
POV- The Godddess Twuli
I watched as the girl's trident tore through another mermaid's midsection. There's no coming back from that. As quickly as it happened, several merfolk lifted the impaled girl up and swam her off to lay her down on a rock ledge, away from the dangerous coral.
The girl who welded the trident was sobbing. Twila comforted her.
I did what I could to keep Uah from feeling pain. Being a god, 'what I could do' surficed. Uah didn't feel any pain as she laid flat against the rock.
Several mermaids stayed by her side, including her friends, Twila and Opi. After almost an hour, Uah died.
The mermaid funeral process was to beautiful for me to put into words just now. Cupid stood up from his criss-cross-pineapple-sauce posture.
"What are you doing?" I asked him. He didn't answer me but picked up his bow and two arrows. The arrows were tipped with blackened and shallow hearts.
"I must apologise. Your daughter is already going through so much right now, but this will better her future." Who was this lowly minor god to tell me what must be done? I didn't stop him, however.
Cupid knocked an arrow and drew back the string. He aimed and released the arrow then did the same with the second. One arrow hit Twila and the other hit Opi, poisoning Twila's heart against Opi.
