Fantasy Tales Series: Rise of The Merfolk

Chapter Twenty-Five- Edited

I stood on the beach and robotically waved goodbye to Cora as I watched her pink tail fin glinting in the sunlight splash down in the foamy waves as she swam back out to sea. I decided I needed to wait a for ten minutes to make sure Cora wasn't hanging around when I dove back into the sea and headed towards the Mermen territory. They claimed they wanted peace- if it was true than I might be able to get them to make a show of peace and this whole thing could be resolved. Hopefully. I was already starting to feel a little bit guilty, like it was my fault the war was being planned in the first place. If I kept my mouth shut maybe they wouldn't have sped up their plans. 

On the other hand, if I hadn't of said anything at all I could be the whole reason the two sides never saw peace, ever. I was stuck and I figured kicking things into action and then battling the consequences was a better option than keeping quiet and never getting anywhere. To soothe my anxieties I tried thinking of what the world for me would be like if I succeeded. I imagined reuniting with the Mermen, a clean slate. New cave systems being built as the two sides joined together. I thought of people getting along, maybe some of them mated (oh god now I was speaking like Cora?) and more hands able to recruit and find more undiscovered Merfolk.    

It worked, my breathing became easier and I found myself smiling. The rewards would be worth the panic of today. 

The minutes passed by quickly and I tore off my clothing again, rushing and splashing into the water. My body temperature was still well adjusted to the cold water so it wasn't a gasping shock when the waves hit me again. I dived in and felt my legs tingle as they transformed into a tail. I once again had no time to appreciate my surroundings and swam as fast as I could towards where I found the Merman. The second time around, it was easier for me to muster up courage to travel into the darkness beyond what I knew and past the glowing plants. Down into the caverns and god knows what else.

I adjusted my swimming to be slower, keeping an eye out for any Mermen lurking in the shadows. I couldn't see anyone and it slightly disappointed me. I didn't want to journey any further into the territory alone, I was hoping for some sort of guide or a guard, either way they would still show me the way to their cave entrance. I looked around for any sea life I could talk to and would show me the way like the Orca's did but I couldn't see any around. I felt slightly like an intruder, like i wasn't meant to be here. Which was true- I was supposed to be preparing myself to fight for the Mermaids. 

I kept swimming straight in the darkness and past the glowing sea life for what felt like hours on end before I came across another cave entrance much like the one the Mermaids had. I knew they would probably have a similar cave system to the Mermaids, they weren't as different to us as everyone else seemed to think.

I froze at the outside of the entrance. I wasn't sure of my blustering confidence anymore. My mind became full of doubts. Why didn't they have any guards posted outside the cave? Perhaps they were so sure their reputations proceeded them that they didn't worry about intruders. The intruders would worry about them. 

I took a deep breath and took the plunge. The cave was a black  hole but soon I was rewarded for my perseverance with a little bit of light from more glowing plats indicating a hole above that lead to the cave tunnels. I poked my head up out of the water cautiously. My stomach twisted with knots again and I felt the urge to throw up. I had to breathe through it- I had to get this over with. It needed to be done.

No one was around. It was strange and silent. The cave floor was not covered in sand like the other ones instead it was black and rocky and bare. There were no flowers or exotic plants flowering. Instead there was a strange white coral growing and it sort of seemed to glow if I focused on it long enough, those must have been the same corals that reminded me of glow sticks planted all outside the caves. Strange. I wanted to take one home with me, but I didn't have any pockets.