Project Atechna

Call To Adventure

Chapter 1:

Day's end draws near as the crystals scattered throughout Gala commences to glow. Lodged within the sand, the crystals form a barrier of light protecting its citizens from predators. Once nightfall finally strikes, the glow illuminating from the barrier causes the city to shine like a star in the sky.

On this night just like any other, Dawn rests her head in the palm of her left hand—while her arms lean upon the hard inner circular surface of her room. With her body slouching onto the surface, her hazel eyes twinkle as they gaze into the night sky. Inhaling a deep breath, her upper body slowly rises straightening out her spine. After a few brief moments, she finally releases her breath with her lips puckered up in the left corner of her mouth—causing a strand of hair to levitate for a brief second.

"Why am I the only mermaid in the city still single? I thought I would've met someone who's perfect for me by now. Mother tells me not to worry about it and that I still have my whole life ahead of me... But I'm already 20 years old! I'm not getting any younger!"

In a blink of an eye, Dawn falls victim to her own binding thoughts—constantly replaying the same love fantasy in her mind over and over. It wasn't long until the reoccurring daydream overwhelms her mind and her emotions get the best of her.

In the heat of the moment, her blood pressure spontaneously rises to dangerous levels throwing her mind into a whirlwind of pain. She immediately buries her head into her arms upon the ledge with her eyes shut. Trying to relieve herself of this pain, she repeatedly takes in slow deep breaths. However, the pain in her head wouldn't leave that easily.

Trying as hard as she's able to, she can't find the strength to focus her mind on anything that doesn't relate to finding the perfect partner. She squirms her head in between her arms as her tail flails about. But it's no use. Convinced the pain wouldn't ever go away, she lifts her head from her arms and stares into the sky.

"At least it's a beautiful night out..." She thinks to herself, barely cracking a smile. Without warning an enormous harsh sound emerges and snaps Dawn right out of her pain. "Huh?! What's that sound?!" All of a sudden her troubling thoughts vanish without a trace while her curiosity spikes.

Dawn leans her upper body onto the ledge and swings her head left to right searching for the source of the sound. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, she furrows her eyebrows and straightens her body as she pounces off the ledge. Her tail rapidly thrusts up and down-eagerly racing to the top of the city.

Once she gains enough altitude, her eyes catch glimpses of an enormous bright light flashing in the far distance. Her jaw spontaneously sinks down hard as her eyes widen and her body stops in place. Left absolutely speechless, her eyes gaze into the bright light, watching it slowly fade away into nothing.

Dawn rapidly shakes her head back and forth—trying to shake off the temporal paralysis. Her mind quickly fills with wondrous ideas as her body creeps forward to the point she's swimming full speed ahead towards the edge of the city. With her heart racing a million beats a minute, she keeps her focus strictly onto the direction the light came from.

Fortunately for her, she wasn't the only one who noticed the enormous light making an appearance. Anticipating Dawn's uncontrollable curiosity, one of her childhood friends Taylor the octopus silently keeps a close eye out. Waiting for his friend to come rushing by, he slowly crawls outside of his home with his eyes peering up above. His suspicions soon become an uncomfortable reality as he witnesses Dawn racing by in the distance.

"Here we go again."

Releasing a huge sigh, Taylor tightens up his body as he presses down onto his tentacles. "Salty cucumbers, this mermaid is going to be the death of me" He whispers to himself—thinking about all the times Dawn had dragged him into her crazy adventures throughout the years. Putting as much strength into his tentacles he can muster, Taylor quickly launches himself towards Dawn's direction.