The Unwanted Wendigo [ManxMan]

Chapter Eighteen: I See Dead People

[WARNING: Implied and somewhat detailed gore. Also, as the title points out, death.]

~Chapter Eighteen: I See Dead People~

Now, admittedly, I did not think they would go for the idea when I requested to tag along. I expected an argument that ultimately ended with me being sent back to Valentin and Giselle, who would then be told in a very dramatic fashion to watch me. What I got instead, though, was the start of an argument before someone brought up the concern of what would happen if I was seriously injured and died, to which I replied, "There's only one way to seriously hurt or kill a wendigo that I know of, and nobody's gonna be able'ta do that in water. Not unless they spill an oil rig or somethin'."

And when faced with the idea of what is basically an unstoppable killing machine, the already-stressed king made an interesting choice. "If you want to go, then fine, but you have to promise to stay out of the way if there's danger," he had said.

Admittedly, I was not actually all that interested in going. I had just wanted to give them the appropriate lesson in finding a better place to have a super secret meeting about their super secret mission. However, if they are going to actually let me go - not that I need permission to do anything in the first place - I might as well make use of that. Plus, Atasah looks positively scandalized at the mere idea of me tagging along with his husband, so I obviously have to now.

Of course, then Fish Man had to go and ask how much I overheard about the mission, to which I had to reply that I knew next to nothing - this had the added benefit of making Atasah put his head in his hands in despair - so I ended up receiving a crash course on the situation. Because it is apparently important to understand the situation before rushing in head first.

Who would've thought?

Since the crash course was pretty boring, I largely just tuned out the details, but I did learn that there was an attack on a city a few hours from where we are in the main Pacific city that only one known survivor managed to escape from. Said survivor claimed to not know what was attacking, just that the attack alarm went off - their magical dome does not have the same protections against malicious intent that the capital city has, apparently, so an alarm is necessary - so he swam all the way here.

Kind of a long time to swim for backup, though. Are Mer cities normally that far apart?

Shortly after the not-so-brief briefing, Nero's team of thirty Mer soldiers was hastily assembled, with more Mer prepping to be sent as the second - though they are hoping it will be unnecessary - wave. And then we left the palace in the middle of all the festivities, leaving Fish Man and Atasah behind to handle the rest of the ceremony, which is how I end up being once again tugged along by a Mer holding my hand while a strong current pulls us both along and I do little more than hold onto my mask to keep it from slipping off.

Since the journey is a long one and I still hate the ocean - and spending time in the ocean, and swimming in the ocean, and looking at the ocean - I try to keep myself busy by thinking about random things, and one of those random things is the promise I did indeed make to the new king about staying out of danger. After all, though I made the promise to stay out of danger, he should have been more specific as to what he meant by that, as danger to me probably means something very dangerous to him. Because if someone or something attacks, unless they can breathe fire, I am not likely to see them as a legitimate threat.

That is, if they're even still there. It has been hours; there is no guarantee anyone will still be fighting.

And, unfortunately, no one is still fighting when we arrive just inside the magical dome. In fact, the entire city is completely silent. Now, this would normally not mean all that much, as the ocean world can be pretty quiet down this deep compared to the almost constant noise of chattering animals and human development on land, but it is also still. So serenely still.