Portals to Maestosia

Chapter 9: Heroes and Traitors

I woke up, the sun reflecting through the giant crystal ball that Amara and I were held in and spreading hundreds of rainbow prisms of light around us. For a few quiet seconds I felt peaceful lying there, as if I really had nothing in the world to care or worry about. Of course, that was until reality kicked in.

I sat up and quickly woke Amara up as well. We were still stranded here, in the middle of the sea, with no sense of direction. The escape vessel was much too heavy for us to try to roll or push it from the inside, so that was out of the question. I wasn't a strong swimmer either, so getting out of the pod also wasn't going to happen. Our stomachs growled as we hadn't eaten since yesterday, in the evening, mine still wincing in pain from the poisonous scratch. I believed I only had a few hours left until it killed me.

Another wave of panic settled over me as I looked everywhere around me for a solution. While staring into the murky depths beneath us, a shimmering, green glimmer of light caught my eye. It came closer towards us, and what I was looking at became more apparent as it swam by. It was a mermaid. I banged on the bottom of our escape pod with all my strength to get her attention, and I succeeded. She stopped in her tracks, her long black tresses floating around her head in the water like seaweed as she looked up at us.

"Can you hear us?" I yelled frantically. "Please! We need help!" With that, the mermaid burst above the surface to lift her head above the water while her tail kept her afloat. She looked pretty young, probably about 12 or 13.

"Yes?" She giggled, and a bunch of other mermaids her age came up from the water to join her and stare at me with puzzled expressions. They then began to chatter excitedly among themselves, speaking so fast I could barely understand them.

"Woah!"

"A human? I've never seen one before! Have you?"

"Do they all have a weird robot arm like that one?"

"What in the nine seas would a human be doing out here? And in a weird crystal ball thing no less!"

"Listen," I interrupted, trying to keep myself as calm as possible. "We're NOT supposed to be here. Have you seen any other escape pods like this one? And if you did, where did they go?"

The mermaids all looked at each other inquisitively, before one of their faces lit up.

"Yes, yes, I did see another pod! But where did it go...? I think it went north, in... that direction," she pointed.

"That's southeast, you fish-head!"

"Look, Vinnie, maybe I have more important things to be doing than helping you guys out."

"Yeah? You never do anything other than-"

"Ladies, please,"  I stressed, trying to stop their bickering so that the we could all get back on the right track. "So, they went southeast. Is that where the port is?" They whispered among themselves before confirming that it was.

"So... maybe you could help us get there...?" Amara hinted shyly. The mermaids frowned and gossiped quietly again.

"What's in it for us?" they chorused, all crossing their arms. I froze, quickly looking around the pod to see what I had. It was almost completely bare, except for the two of us and another thing that I had brought along.

"You can... you can have this crystal ball," I hesitated, then decided that I had had enough of it and never wanted to see it again.

"Oooooo!"

"Wow! I bet it's magical."

"But what does it do?"

"You're absolutely right! It is magical. It allows you to see into anyone's past, including your own, if you ever wanted to," I confirmed slyly. The girls chirped and giggled before deciding that they would take it. As they pushed the vessel in the direction of the port, they constantly chattered and hummed, letting me catch on to the fact that they were extremely obsessed with the drama and news of their underwater world. I suppose that infinitely more things than I was aware of were going on, down in the depths of the ocean. Apparently, there was some sort of territorial war between all of the sea creatures, mermaids, and mermen that had been going on for centuries. They talked endlessly on how it wasn't fair that they had to go to war themselves when they became of age, when all they really wanted was peace between everyone under the surface.