Señorita Pufferfish | ONC 2020

Chapter 1 The Challenge

As a Goddess of Love and Beauty, Aphrodite reveled in the seductive allure of the ocean. The myriad of colors intermingling within its crowning waves and exquisite parade of marine life hidden beneath its secretive depths warmed her immortal heart. However one sea creature fascinated her more than any other. Merpeople.

She likened them to humans who swam with the effortless grace of fish. Blessed with longevity that far outweighed their land-dwelling counterparts, merpeople flirted with the line between mortality and immortality. Magic and beauty flowed through their veins, but they were not nearly so fragile as their supernatural cousins. The nymphs.

"Die, Anguis scum!" A Bellator merman snarled as he surged forward, his navy blue tail smacking into the black serpentine of a mermaid.

"Hold steady, Brothers and Sisters. We will never allow the barbarians to overtake the Bellator Capital. CHARGE!" A Protegere with an enormous golden tail punched the water above him, his voice crackling through the saltwater with the force of thunder.

Perhaps he was one of Zeus's many love children.

Whatever the case, it seemed some things were universal. It was of no consequence that this battle took place under the sea or that the fighters had tails instead of legs. Merpeople could be just as vicious as humanity.

Sometimes more so.

Aphrodite sighed as she ran her fingers through locks so golden they could rival the treasury of King Midas. It was a shame to see such lovely creatures at war with one another, but not unexpected. With seven species of merpeople swimming under a sea, it was nothing short of a miracle such events weren't more commonplace.

Each of these aquatic species was as unique as the gemstones adorning her necklace. Everything from the reddest of rubies like the aggressive Bellators to the most luminous of pearls like the dreamy Calidums. Poseidon had created himself a diverse underwater empire.

It was simply too bad he took a hands off approach to running it and now, his 'children' were warring with one another.

Would the glorious Bellator Capital still remain standing by the next tide, Aphrodite wondered?

The fabled wall of stone surrounding the Bellator Capital had already begun to crumble. Portions of it had been reduced to rubble.

"Get away from my sister, you bastard!" A merman with serpent scales as white as snow hurtled forward, slamming his fist into the jaw of the other merman.

Aphrodite winced as bones shattered, wails of agony erupted, feral hisses slice through the water, and swords clashed. She withdrew her fingers from her hair as she considered how best to proceed. True she had been blessed with beauty beyond compare and a complexion that resembled the afterglow of a sunrise, but she wasn't nearly delicate as her appearance might imply. She was also a goddess. Perhaps she should intervene.

"Sapphire, we can end this. Use the trident!" A handsome merman, Bellator judging by that crimson tail, barreled towards a mermaid with Poseidon's trident in one hand and a scythe in another.

Aphrodite almost giggled. He was a clever one. The merman wanted to use the God of the Sea's power to amplify whatever magic Sapphire had. Only one question remained to be answered. Was it already too late for his plan to work?

The scent of blood and battle cries was everywhere. Hundreds of merpeople had thrown themselves tail first into the fray. Bodies had begun to fall. Graceful mermaids and men had toppled over, never to rise again. The ocean floor was now covered in a grisly rainbow of scale colors. Red currents now gushed from injured warriors. It was nary impossible to determine from whence all the gore came from.