Chapter 173: 173
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The creature coils its way around my leg, slimy against my skin and ever tightening its grasp before yanking me back into the depths and the dark, murky abyss that surrounds us, jolting my heart inside my chest with a fearful trepidation.
Kal barely has time to register what is happen before his eyes grow wide, reacting a little too late as he desperately grasps out for my hand, but by them I am already gone, sliding through reeds and fast flickering silver shoals of fish. So much for being cautious down here.
Half panicking and doing my best not to scream (for the loss of air would surely be fatal) I attempt to latch onto something, anything that will prevent me from being dragged backwards towards my almost certain and soon to be imminent death. But the vines are slippery, and the water weeds weak, only serving to entangle me more so in their entrapping grasp, and never aiding in my endeavours. Faster and faster I am tugged back, unable to think, or breathe, the darkness wearing away at my ability to think, let alone act.
It is a nightmare.
Kal trails after me, swimming as fast as he can, spreading out his hand for me to latch onto, but the gap is too far, and the gesture a second too late: I can't reach, no matter how hard I strain for it. As bewildered as he looks, it's clear from the startled look swimming on his face that he can see that tentacle like creature dragging me away as much as I can. In fact, he seems positively repulsed by it- his face rippling with a sickly green- whether from the ethereal underwater lighting or his own panicked terror though, I cannot rightly tell.
But there is one thing about this that is certain, one solid, absolute truth that niggles away at my insides like a shark taking chunks out of a fish. This isn't an illusion- this is the real deal. And wherever this thing plans to drag me, to tie me up or hold me hostage, it is undoubtably going to kill me too. There is no two ways about it.
Time to take things into my own hands, I suppose.
Straining, I do my best to aim my hand in the direction of the creature, at the tentacle wrapped firmly around my leg, digging into my skin, uncaring for what pain it might be causing its victim. It squeezes and constricts my flesh into a vile contortion of colours and skin, turning it purple from the pressure the more I wreath and struggle against it. A dull ache forms under my skin. Perhaps if I were still mortal, I might have lost my leg.
But being dragged endlessly through an innumerable amount of water plants and slapped against at least a dozen unsuspecting fish, I soon discover after a few failed shots of heavenly fire that this is not going to be as easy as anticipated. I can't aim- at least not without endangering Kal or myself- and down here at such a pivotal point in time, I hardly dare to risk it.
Up ahead, Kal motions something to me in a frenzied manner, half of his actions discernible against the flurry of bubbles that multiply from his form. It is only a second later that I come to understand what he means. And by then it is seconds too late.
Dragged out into a clearing from the reeds and water plants, an enchanting grove surrounded by corals and brightly coloured fish, I suddenly realise what I am up against. Initially, I had thought it might be some starved, overgrown octopus, or something of a similar calibre, but looking at it now, this is much, much worse.
Holy shit, I think to myself, gazing up in horror at the creature that drags me in, panic bubbling through my insides like a wildfire. What in the fresh hell are you?
The creature is nothing like I have even seen before- mutated, slimy, and deathly pale, stuck out like a sore thumb in its gorgeous and enchanting surroundings Oddly enough, despite the oddities of its form, its grotesque looks and misshapen body, the little creatures that dart and swim around it do not seem to mind, content to play games around the humongous terror, as though they got used to living with it a long, long time ago.
I however, do not share the same sympathies.
The creature is a monster. It appears to perhaps once have been humanoid- or close to it as its mutations could possibly allow, for its top half consists of a human body, frail and withered right down to the bone. It's skin is chalky, pale, carved right down to make every jut and curve of its face visible.
Its ears are splayed like fins, and its eyes are a cold, transparent white, dead and unseeing. The only dash of colour in its face at all resides in its hair, which is long and luscious, sprouting out in thick, vine like projections, dangling in the water in an elegant array of silken threads. Its skin is a combination of slimy flesh and scales, a thin glossy coating its body that even in the darkness gleams and glistens under the pale light, glinting green and blue with a radiant luminosity.
But the worst part is not the broken humanoid form, the scaly skin or the white, dead eyes, but what lies beneath its body, extending down from its torso. Some horrible wreathing mass of tentacles amass below its body, squirming and coiling outwards from its body, as though each orifice possesses a mind of its own. There are a series of bioluminescent lights strung across its tentacle limbs, casting pale shadows into the sickly water, spiking the darkness with a pale, transparent light. As it drags me in, tentacle winding further up my leg, I realise with a pang of terror where I am heading.
Right into the maw of the creature.
Helpless and struggling as I am pulled further in, I pass through something, some invisible barrier of cold, followed by a sharp, shifting pain at my neck. I wreath for a second, almost distracted from the hideous ghostly creature that haunts the waters before me, my fingers skimming the sides of my neck to find a set of raised slits trailing down my neck. And all at once I find that I can breath.
Gills. So this is how Delina does it.
But I hardly have the time to boast on that short lived victory.
It is soon after this revelation when the humming of the creature becomes awfully apparent.
"Pretty little morsel, down in the depths, deep dark down," twin voices sing in a watery tune, its strange, nonsensical lyrics rising up into the waters around us, slithering through the current to dance with the glistening shoals of fish. The song is peculiar, almost harmonic, like two voices rising as one. Yet the creature only has one face- thankfully for me.
Its tentacles continue to wreathe, swaying the patches of water weeds around me. It doesn't seem to notice Kal swimming into the clearing, brandishing his knife frantically, and freezing in sheer terror at the sight of the beast that towers before us. A logical reaction really, it is after all, three times the size of him. Meanwhile the beast keeps on humming, its white eyes searching through nothingness, tentacle tightening around my leg.
"We's catch a girl, it has no hearts, cold little fishy girl dark deep down," it continues to sing, its wailing tune neither unpleasant, but not exactly joyful either. The council certainly wouldn't approve- it's much too contemporary for them.
Nervously, I try out my voice, testing the extent that I can speak under these watery depths. There is a flow of something going through my neck, and a new, swaying motion that has become apparent- the tiny little gill filaments on my neck brushing into action. Gingerly, I brush my hand up to touch it, grateful for the timing, but not so much the situation I find myself in. Given the fact I can breathe, that must mean we have passed through the barrier surrounding the Siren's city- we are inside somewhere its walls. But that still doesn't help the fact I am going to be eaten alive by a massive tentacle, half humanoid monster.
"We's catch the girl, we picks her clean, tiny little bonesy, we make her screaaaam!"
"Excuse me," I start, nervously at first as I am tugged ever closer to the mouth of the creature, up to those dull and blank eyes, the pale chalky face and empty gaping maw. But it doesn't seem to hear me over the sound of its own watery, sullen tune.
Swiftly, I glance down at Kal, swimming and darting around the tentacles of the monster, knife ready, hand wisping over his neck, clearly having acquired the strange gill-like apparitions on his neck that I have too. There is a determined look on his face, as he dodges past wreathing masses of tentacles, and in that moment, with a sudden pang of realisation, I understand what I have to do.
I clear my throat....
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The creature coils its way around my leg, slimy against my skin and ever tightening its grasp before yanking me back into the depths and the dark, murky abyss that surrounds us, jolting my heart inside my chest with a fearful trepidation.
Kal barely has time to register what is happen before his eyes grow wide, reacting a little too late as he desperately grasps out for my hand, but by them I am already gone, sliding through reeds and fast flickering silver shoals of fish. So much for being cautious down here.
Half panicking and doing my best not to scream (for the loss of air would surely be fatal) I attempt to latch onto something, anything that will prevent me from being dragged backwards towards my almost certain and soon to be imminent death. But the vines are slippery, and the water weeds weak, only serving to entangle me more so in their entrapping grasp, and never aiding in my endeavours. Faster and faster I am tugged back, unable to think, or breathe, the darkness wearing away at my ability to think, let alone act.
It is a nightmare.
Kal trails after me, swimming as fast as he can, spreading out his hand for me to latch onto, but the gap is too far, and the gesture a second too late: I can't reach, no matter how hard I strain for it. As bewildered as he looks, it's clear from the startled look swimming on his face that he can see that tentacle like creature dragging me away as much as I can. In fact, he seems positively repulsed by it- his face rippling with a sickly green- whether from the ethereal underwater lighting or his own panicked terror though, I cannot rightly tell.
But there is one thing about this that is certain, one solid, absolute truth that niggles away at my insides like a shark taking chunks out of a fish. This isn't an illusion- this is the real deal. And wherever this thing plans to drag me, to tie me up or hold me hostage, it is undoubtably going to kill me too. There is no two ways about it.
Time to take things into my own hands, I suppose.
Straining, I do my best to aim my hand in the direction of the creature, at the tentacle wrapped firmly around my leg, digging into my skin, uncaring for what pain it might be causing its victim. It squeezes and constricts my flesh into a vile contortion of colours and skin, turning it purple from the pressure the more I wreath and struggle against it. A dull ache forms under my skin. Perhaps if I were still mortal, I might have lost my leg.
But being dragged endlessly through an innumerable amount of water plants and slapped against at least a dozen unsuspecting fish, I soon discover after a few failed shots of heavenly fire that this is not going to be as easy as anticipated. I can't aim- at least not without endangering Kal or myself- and down here at such a pivotal point in time, I hardly dare to risk it.
Up ahead, Kal motions something to me in a frenzied manner, half of his actions discernible against the flurry of bubbles that multiply from his form. It is only a second later that I come to understand what he means. And by then it is seconds too late.
Dragged out into a clearing from the reeds and water plants, an enchanting grove surrounded by corals and brightly coloured fish, I suddenly realise what I am up against. Initially, I had thought it might be some starved, overgrown octopus, or something of a similar calibre, but looking at it now, this is much, much worse.
Holy shit, I think to myself, gazing up in horror at the creature that drags me in, panic bubbling through my insides like a wildfire. What in the fresh hell are you?
The creature is nothing like I have even seen before- mutated, slimy, and deathly pale, stuck out like a sore thumb in its gorgeous and enchanting surroundings Oddly enough, despite the oddities of its form, its grotesque looks and misshapen body, the little creatures that dart and swim around it do not seem to mind, content to play games around the humongous terror, as though they got used to living with it a long, long time ago.
I however, do not share the same sympathies.
The creature is a monster. It appears to perhaps once have been humanoid- or close to it as its mutations could possibly allow, for its top half consists of a human body, frail and withered right down to the bone. It's skin is chalky, pale, carved right down to make every jut and curve of its face visible.
Its ears are splayed like fins, and its eyes are a cold, transparent white, dead and unseeing. The only dash of colour in its face at all resides in its hair, which is long and luscious, sprouting out in thick, vine like projections, dangling in the water in an elegant array of silken threads. Its skin is a combination of slimy flesh and scales, a thin glossy coating its body that even in the darkness gleams and glistens under the pale light, glinting green and blue with a radiant luminosity.
But the worst part is not the broken humanoid form, the scaly skin or the white, dead eyes, but what lies beneath its body, extending down from its torso. Some horrible wreathing mass of tentacles amass below its body, squirming and coiling outwards from its body, as though each orifice possesses a mind of its own. There are a series of bioluminescent lights strung across its tentacle limbs, casting pale shadows into the sickly water, spiking the darkness with a pale, transparent light. As it drags me in, tentacle winding further up my leg, I realise with a pang of terror where I am heading.
Right into the maw of the creature.
Helpless and struggling as I am pulled further in, I pass through something, some invisible barrier of cold, followed by a sharp, shifting pain at my neck. I wreath for a second, almost distracted from the hideous ghostly creature that haunts the waters before me, my fingers skimming the sides of my neck to find a set of raised slits trailing down my neck. And all at once I find that I can breath.
Gills. So this is how Delina does it.
But I hardly have the time to boast on that short lived victory.
It is soon after this revelation when the humming of the creature becomes awfully apparent.
"Pretty little morsel, down in the depths, deep dark down," twin voices sing in a watery tune, its strange, nonsensical lyrics rising up into the waters around us, slithering through the current to dance with the glistening shoals of fish. The song is peculiar, almost harmonic, like two voices rising as one. Yet the creature only has one face- thankfully for me.
Its tentacles continue to wreathe, swaying the patches of water weeds around me. It doesn't seem to notice Kal swimming into the clearing, brandishing his knife frantically, and freezing in sheer terror at the sight of the beast that towers before us. A logical reaction really, it is after all, three times the size of him. Meanwhile the beast keeps on humming, its white eyes searching through nothingness, tentacle tightening around my leg.
"We's catch a girl, it has no hearts, cold little fishy girl dark deep down," it continues to sing, its wailing tune neither unpleasant, but not exactly joyful either. The council certainly wouldn't approve- it's much too contemporary for them.
Nervously, I try out my voice, testing the extent that I can speak under these watery depths. There is a flow of something going through my neck, and a new, swaying motion that has become apparent- the tiny little gill filaments on my neck brushing into action. Gingerly, I brush my hand up to touch it, grateful for the timing, but not so much the situation I find myself in. Given the fact I can breathe, that must mean we have passed through the barrier surrounding the Siren's city- we are inside somewhere its walls. But that still doesn't help the fact I am going to be eaten alive by a massive tentacle, half humanoid monster.
"We's catch the girl, we picks her clean, tiny little bonesy, we make her screaaaam!"
"Excuse me," I start, nervously at first as I am tugged ever closer to the mouth of the creature, up to those dull and blank eyes, the pale chalky face and empty gaping maw. But it doesn't seem to hear me over the sound of its own watery, sullen tune.
Swiftly, I glance down at Kal, swimming and darting around the tentacles of the monster, knife ready, hand wisping over his neck, clearly having acquired the strange gill-like apparitions on his neck that I have too. There is a determined look on his face, as he dodges past wreathing masses of tentacles, and in that moment, with a sudden pang of realisation, I understand what I have to do.
I clear my throat....
The creature coils its way around my leg, slimy against my skin and ever tightening its grasp before yanking me back into the depths and the dark, murky abyss that surrounds us, jolting my heart inside my chest with a fearful trepidation.Kal barely has time to register what is happen before his eyes grow wide, reacting a little too late as he desperately grasps out for my hand, but by them I am already gone, sliding through reeds and fast flickering silver shoals of fish. So much for being cautious down here.Half panicking and doing my best not to scream for the loss of air would surely be fatal I attempt to latch onto something, anything that will prevent me from being dragged backwards towards my almost certain and soon to be imminent death. But the vines are slippery, and the water weeds weak, only serving to entangle me more so in their entrapping grasp, and never aiding in my endeavours. Faster and faster I am tugged back, unable to think, or breathe, the darkness wearing away at my ability to think, let alone act.It is a nightmare.Kal trails after me, swimming as fast as he can, spreading out his hand for me to latch onto, but the gap is too far, and the gesture a second too late: I can't reach, no matter how hard I strain for it. As bewildered as he looks, it's clear from the startled look swimming on his face that he can see that tentacle like creature dragging me away as much as I can. In fact, he seems positively repulsed by it- his face rippling with a sickly green- whether from the ethereal underwater lighting or his own panicked terror though, I cannot rightly tell.But there is one thing about this that is certain, one solid, absolute truth that niggles away at my insides like a shark taking chunks out of a fish. This isn't an illusion- this is the real deal. And wherever this thing plans to drag me, to tie me up or hold me hostage, it is undoubtably going to kill me too. There is no two ways about it.Time to take things into my own hands, I suppose.Straining, I do my best to aim my hand in the direction of the creature, at the tentacle wrapped firmly around my leg, digging into my skin, uncaring for what pain it might be causing its victim. It squeezes and constricts my flesh into a vile contortion of colours and skin, turning it purple from the pressure the more I wreath and struggle against it. A dull ache forms under my skin. Perhaps if I were still mortal, I might have lost my leg. But being dragged endlessly through an innumerable amount of water plants and slapped against at least a dozen unsuspecting fish, I soon discover after a few failed shots of heavenly fire that this is not going to be as easy as anticipated. I can't aim- at least not without endangering Kal or myself- and down here at such a pivotal point in time, I hardly dare to risk it.Up ahead, Kal motions something to me in a frenzied manner, half of his actions discernible against the flurry of bubbles that multiply from his form. It is only a second later that I come to understand what he means. And by then it is seconds too late.Dragged out into a clearing from the reeds and water plants, an enchanting grove surrounded by corals and brightly coloured fish, I suddenly realise what I am up against. Initially, I had thought it might be some starved, overgrown octopus, or something of a similar calibre, but looking at it now, this is much, much worse.Holy shit, I think to myself, gazing up in horror at the creature that drags me in, panic bubbling through my insides like a wildfire. What in the fresh hell are you?The creature is nothing like I have even seen before- mutated, slimy, and deathly pale, stuck out like a sore thumb in its gorgeous and enchanting surroundings Oddly enough, despite the oddities of its form, its grotesque looks and misshapen body, the little creatures that dart and swim around it do not seem to mind, content to play games around the humongous terror, as though they got used to living with it a long, long time ago.I however, do not share the same sympathies.The creature is a monster. It appears to perhaps once have been humanoid- or close to it as its mutations could possibly allow, for its top half consists of a human body, frail and withered right down to the bone. It's skin is chalky, pale, carved right down to make every jut and curve of its face visible. Its ears are splayed like fins, and its eyes are a cold, transparent white, dead and unseeing. The only dash of colour in its face at all resides in its hair, which is long and luscious, sprouting out in thick, vine like projections, dangling in the water in an elegant array of silken threads. Its skin is a combination of slimy flesh and scales, a thin glossy coating its body that even in the darkness gleams and glistens under the pale light, glinting green and blue with a radiant luminosity. But the worst part is not the broken humanoid form, the scaly skin or the white, dead eyes, but what lies beneath its body, extending down from its torso. Some horrible wreathing mass of tentacles amass below its body, squirming and coiling outwards from its body, as though each orifice possesses a mind of its own. There are a series of bioluminescent lights strung across its tentacle limbs, casting pale shadows into the sickly water, spiking the darkness with a pale, transparent light. As it drags me in, tentacle winding further up my leg, I realise with a pang of terror where I am heading.Right into the maw of the creature. Helpless and struggling as I am pulled further in, I pass through something, some invisible barrier of cold, followed by a sharp, shifting pain at my neck. I wreath for a second, almost distracted from the hideous ghostly creature that haunts the waters before me, my fingers skimming the sides of my neck to find a set of raised slits trailing down my neck. And all at once I find that I can breath. Gills. So this is how Delina does it.But I hardly have the time to boast on that short lived victory.It is soon after this revelation when the humming of the creature becomes awfully apparent."Pretty little morsel, down in the depths, deep dark down," twin voices sing in a watery tune, its strange, nonsensical lyrics rising up into the waters around us, slithering through the current to dance with the glistening shoals of fish. The song is peculiar, almost harmonic, like two voices rising as one. Yet the creature only has one face- thankfully for me.Its tentacles continue to wreathe, swaying the patches of water weeds around me. It doesn't seem to notice Kal swimming into the clearing, brandishing his knife frantically, and freezing in sheer terror at the sight of the beast that towers before us. A logical reaction really, it is after all, three times the size of him. Meanwhile the beast keeps on humming, its white eyes searching through nothingness, tentacle tightening around my leg."We's catch a girl, it has no hearts, cold little fishy girl dark deep down," it continues to sing, its wailing tune neither unpleasant, but not exactly joyful either. The council certainly wouldn't approve- it's much too contemporary for them.Nervously, I try out my voice, testing the extent that I can speak under these watery depths. There is a flow of something going through my neck, and a new, swaying motion that has become apparent- the tiny little gill filaments on my neck brushing into action. Gingerly, I brush my hand up to touch it, grateful for the timing, but not so much the situation I find myself in. Given the fact I can breathe, that must mean we have passed through the barrier surrounding the Siren's city- we are inside somewhere its walls. But that still doesn't help the fact I am going to be eaten alive by a massive tentacle, half humanoid monster."We's catch the girl, we picks her clean, tiny little bonesy, we make her screaaaam!""Excuse me," I start, nervously at first as I am tugged ever closer to the mouth of the creature, up to those dull and blank eyes, the pale chalky face and empty gaping maw. But it doesn't seem to hear me over the sound of its own watery, sullen tune.Swiftly, I glance down at Kal, swimming and darting around the tentacles of the monster, knife ready, hand wisping over his neck, clearly having acquired the strange gill-like apparitions on his neck that I have too. There is a determined look on his face, as he dodges past wreathing masses of tentacles, and in that moment, with a sudden pang of realisation, I understand what I have to do.I clear my throat....
