Deeper (Three Kingdoms Series)

1 - Genny

I rose through the calm water, staring up at the ship's hull as it appeared to grow larger and larger. Lagging slightly, my team swam up, each member located the same distance away from me. They formed a ring with me in the middle. 

From the sheath I wore around my waist, I pulled out a sizable dagger. Placing one hand on the bottom of the ship to steady myself, I used the other to force the metal though the hull. It cut though the weak, human-made material like a crab through sand. The weapon I held cut a large, even circle that spanned the entire shape of the vessel that was visible underwater. When I finished, I pulled it free, and quickly swam out of the way. Though the cut was almost perfect, a few others had to pull down the circle of hull material. 

Once it was finally dislodged, it slowly began to fall down through the water, and the people who had been detaching it from the ship were now swimming up into the now exposed interior as it filled up with water. The ship was being torn apart with various weapons by stronger members of the pod. I waited as the ship sank deeper into the water, then swam up to the very top level of it where many humans had rushed to.

I grabbed onto the side of the ship, and climbed to the top where I was met with screams. As I dangled off the side, I lifted my knife and held it level with the ship. I muttered a spell underneath my breath, and it elongated into a long, thin sword. I forced the sword down, and let go of the side of the ship. I fell quickly as the sword cut easily through the metal. I reached the bottom of the ship again, where I shrunk the sword and sheathed it.

Six others, three on each side, grabbed ahold of the ship on either side of where I had made the cut. They swam In the opposite direction of the other trio, ripping apart the boat. Though most of the humans remained at the top of the ship, some were jumping into the water, some had fallen, and some had already been dragged down by other members of the team.

I pulled out a net that I had tucked between the strap of the sheath, and my waist, and swam towards a few of the humans who had jumped. For each of them, I clamped my hand over their mouths, muttered the spell for air bubbles, and forced them into my net.

After the fifth person was breathing and tucked away for easy transportation, I sped away from the shipwreck with a flick of my tail. They could make me participate, but they couldn't make me do more than the bare minimum.

—•—

I entered the conversion center, dropping off four of the humans in the lobby. The last one, I brought to one of the white rooms. I dropped the human onto the floor, then quickly left, making sure to close the door behind me. I returned with a small vial of the shimmery purple elixir that would forever change the identity of this human I'd brought down to the ocean floor.

I swam back into the room, and stared down at the human who lay unconscious on the floor of the otherwise empty room. The human was small, with long, dark hair. Covering its chest, it wore a red shirt made of cloth, and its legs were covered with a pair of blue cloth pants. I knew these would become a problem during the transition, so I floated down to the floor, and worked them off of the human's short, pale legs.

I righted myself again, holding the blue garment along with the smaller, white piece of cloth the human had also been wearing. I bunched them both up, and dropped them in the corner.

I waited for a little while longer before the human regained consciousness. When it did, it was wide-eyed and immediately backed up to the wall. It tried to pull down its shirt before attempting to speak. When it finally managed to open its mouth, it demanded, "Who are you? What do you want?"

"Well, that's rude," I complained, glaring at it. "Don't they teach you manners up there?"

"Did you kill them?" it asked.

"Kill who?" I asked, indulging in the conversation.

"My classmates. The other people who were on the boat." It continued frantically.

"No." I admitted. "But I'm going to kill you."

"What?" The human's mouth was wide open and fear was evident in its eyes.

In under a second, I was in front of it and had forced the vial into its mouth. The human tried to spit it out, but I clamped my hand over its mouth. The vial was rapidly dissolving and the liquid within was entering the human's bloodstream.

I let go when the human started shaking uncontrollably all over. The human spat out a small lump of transparent material, and screamed as its legs fused together, and became a long grayish brown tail. When the change stopped, and the air bubble around its face disappeared, I floated down so that my body was parallel with its.

"This is going to hurt," I said, more to myself then the now former human. I grabbed the sides of its head with my hands, and concentrated. After about a second, I let go, and left the room.

I was almost at the exit when I heard a familiar, grating voice.

"Hi Genny. Just checking to see that you've-"

I cut off the ramblings of the green-tailed mer with, "I changed one. Its in room 875. I also brought down four others. They're in rooms 876 to 874. Do with them what you will. I'm leaving."

I could tell that Jeff wanted to say something else, but I didn't hang around long enough to find out what.

—•—

The conversion center was on the outskirts of the kingdom, like my home. It wasn't directly next to where I lived, but close enough that it only took roughly ten minutes for me to get there. I swam higher than most others did, so I easily avoided swimming into anyone.

When I entered my home, I first removed the sheath around my waist, and tossed it onto the floor. It fell with a dull, slightly metallic thud. I swam across the room, and fell into my bed, where I lay on my side, staring at nothing.