Chapter 182: 182
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Areen ponders over this for a moment, scanning my face to detect any sort of indication of a lie, her eyes narrowed, lips puckered into an impetuous snarl. She searches, once over, then twice, then her face falls as realisation hits her- there is no lie to tell, and that all that I have told her, everything, is the biggest truth she will ever hear in her lifetime.
"I told you the truth, Areen," I say, lowering my voice as I lean towards her, causing the Siren Queen to all at once stumble back through the water, taken off guard by the forwardness of my motion.
"Whether you choose to believe it is up to you, but know that nothing good will become of you if you let Azrael continue with his work. That will be my final warning."
Areen's mouth trembles in silent movement, words stuck in her throat as she stammers to voice them, but each string of syllables appears merely as a flurry of empty bubbles as she finds that for once in her life she is unable to respond. As I lean back to watch the scene, she shakes herself, straightening her hair in an attempt to maintain some composure, deadpans her face, and all at once I am facing the cold, merciless Siren Queen again, the feeble image of her counterpart quickly obliterated.
Flicking a finger insistently, she indicates towards the wall for me to get a move one.
"Right then," she says, but her usual authoritarian tone has somewhat depleted. "Best get a move on then, young Queen. It would appear you have your work vastly cut out for you. Besides," she adds, gracing me with her usual biting snarl.
"I don't want you landwalkers sticking around in my palace any longer."
Silently, I wonder if that last part was a baseless attempt to make me feel scared of her once more. But the feeling has long since departed.
Sighing, I nod my understanding. Then, without a second thought about it, I swim out through the wall.
***
I am not sure what I was expecting to see when I stepped through that wall- perhaps some monster, a trick, or to be led straight into a dungeon? All seem likely options in this chilling palace of fish and merfolk, ruled by a Siren Queen with enough spear-like fangs to tear my head clean in two. Besides, what do I know about the art of walking through walls? Aside from being dragged- or occasionally pushed through them- I certainly am not adept enough to figure out how such an illusion is created. Anything could lie behind them. Anything, and anyone.
But after the temporary rush of cold air, a sharp pain on my neck, and the realisation that I am no longer surrounded by water, but a vacuum of air, I presume it is safe to conclude that whatever theories I had about wall travelling prior were completely and utterly wrong. At least, in this case.
By the time I step out into the room, Kal and Delina are already waiting, pacing impatiently across the length of the room, both arguing amongst themselves how long someone can realistically take to travel through a simple wall. As soon as I stumble out, both their faces light up in unison, sighing a hot breath of relief upon realising that I have neither been killed nor captured.
Kal stumbles over, looking over me, turning me around, before voicing an extra sigh, shutting his eyes as he deems me unscathed and thankfully still alive. Then, squeezing me against him, he pulls me into a tight hug.
"She didn't, you know, try to-" he makes a biting motion with his mouth, clicking his teeth together. Nervously, I laugh.
"No, no, Kal. It was fine, don't worry."
Delina however, is not so sympathetic.
"What took you so long?" Delina grumbles lowly, but I can tell by the slight twitch of her upper lip, curving into a smile, that she is somewhat relieved to see me. Laughing lightly, I brush myself off, breathing in the familiar cold air around us, savouring the feeling of having my lungs no longer clogged with a salty brine of the ocean.
It is such a wonderful feeling.
"Your grandmother wanted a little chat before she sent me in. But it was nothing to worry about," I assure, tucking my white blouse back into my trousers which had come undone from the fall.
I do not tell them that I do, in fact, have some worries over the inherent trustworthiness of Areen, preferring to let them be content in the knowledge that we will soon be reuniting with Soren. Instead I continue to brush myself off, hoping that my suspicions will soon be proven otherwise.
Remarkably, even my clothes seem to be dry, crisp even, as though they had been run through a very short lived, intense blow dry. Not that I am complaining, really. Having wet clothes stick to your skin is not a feeling I am entirely fond of.
In the brief silence that accompanies my arrival, I take a short moment to survey my surroundings.
We are in a rather small room, about five metres across and largely circular. I say largely because their walls consist of rocks and above ground corals, a vast array of crustaceans, and a fair amount of glimmering mother of pearl, shimmering faintly under the faint light that surfaces from my body. There are an array of glowing plants lacing the edges of the room, straggly and overgrown, creating a cave like appearance and giving the room an eerie, wild atmosphere that makes me think this room hasn't been visited for a very, very long time.
I expect if I knelt down beside one of the cracks and crevices that adorn the sides of the room, and dipped my hand around, it would come back in a thick layer of dust and mouldy decay. Fortunately, the thought of which is enough to ever prevent me from doing such a thing.
However, aside from the sheer wondrousness of the room, the coral, the dust, tiny nibbling crabs and the strange etherealness of it, it is not the reason why we are here.
What we are all really here for lies in the centre of the room: a wooden hatched carved out with the swaying designs of merfolk and the sea and spiked with a glittering gold: a careless throw away of riches and wealth.
"This is it then? The entrance?" I remark, plodding over the damp floor to tap it lightly with my foot, inducing a hollow thrum that descends downwards seemingly without end. A dropping weight falls inside me as I realise that unless this thing has stairs, we are due for another very long, very dangerous fall. Kal and Delina cluster round, scanning over the hatch with a mixture of awe and fear, each taking it in turns to silently speculate over what lies below. Nothing but the heavy pitter patter of water drips around us, inducing a memory that lies deep within my mind, not fully yet forgotten.
A place underground… the ardent dripping of water against stone, a chamber at the end of an unlit corridor, where the only source of light is through the crack left open in the door. Screams. That is what lies below us- the final lair. I am not sure whether to be excited, or completely and utterly terrified.
A cold voice behind us jolts us to our senses.
"That is the entrance to the final segment of this labyrinth we live in. I have never been down myself, for obvious reasons, but I can assure you that once you do head down, you will not be coming out quickly," Areen assures, stepping into existence- which is quite odd really, as I am almost certain she didn't have a pair of legs a minute ago. Fortunately, her legs aren't as scantily clad as her top- instead she boasts a draping shawl that covers her lower half, draping down like a waterfall of watery blue fabric from the belt of her dress. The belt disturbingly appears to be made up of some sort of enamelled bone, but I try not to focus on that uneasiness too much for fear of bringing up the scant contents of my stomach onto this nice cave floor.
Much to my relief, Kal manages to speak before I can start to make a scene for myself.
"You look, er, lovely Areen," he points out, giving a nervous laugh as he scans her new form. "Very… threatening."
Areen smiles in stony approval, surveying her legs as she stretches them out beneath her, muses over the fine pointed fins that jut from the back of her calves like a series of aligned stakes on a firepit.
"Yes, it is rather nice for a landwalker. I wouldn't want anyone to not take me seriously, especially as a landwalker," she laughs cruelly, flicking away a loose black strand of hair from her pace, and then giving me a pointed look, enough to make anyone's bones crack from the pressure. Shooting her a wily smile, I grimace:
"Why do I get the feeling that was aimed at me?" I ask under my breath, not really intending to answer. But Areen, in the flamboyant and charismatic way that becomes of any good siren, merely sneers and remarks:
"That was meant for you, girl."
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Areen ponders over this for a moment, scanning my face to detect any sort of indication of a lie, her eyes narrowed, lips puckered into an impetuous snarl. She searches, once over, then twice, then her face falls as realisation hits her- there is no lie to tell, and that all that I have told her, everything, is the biggest truth she will ever hear in her lifetime.
"I told you the truth, Areen," I say, lowering my voice as I lean towards her, causing the Siren Queen to all at once stumble back through the water, taken off guard by the forwardness of my motion.
"Whether you choose to believe it is up to you, but know that nothing good will become of you if you let Azrael continue with his work. That will be my final warning."
Areen's mouth trembles in silent movement, words stuck in her throat as she stammers to voice them, but each string of syllables appears merely as a flurry of empty bubbles as she finds that for once in her life she is unable to respond. As I lean back to watch the scene, she shakes herself, straightening her hair in an attempt to maintain some composure, deadpans her face, and all at once I am facing the cold, merciless Siren Queen again, the feeble image of her counterpart quickly obliterated.
Flicking a finger insistently, she indicates towards the wall for me to get a move one.
"Right then," she says, but her usual authoritarian tone has somewhat depleted. "Best get a move on then, young Queen. It would appear you have your work vastly cut out for you. Besides," she adds, gracing me with her usual biting snarl.
"I don't want you landwalkers sticking around in my palace any longer."
Silently, I wonder if that last part was a baseless attempt to make me feel scared of her once more. But the feeling has long since departed.
Sighing, I nod my understanding. Then, without a second thought about it, I swim out through the wall.
***
I am not sure what I was expecting to see when I stepped through that wall- perhaps some monster, a trick, or to be led straight into a dungeon? All seem likely options in this chilling palace of fish and merfolk, ruled by a Siren Queen with enough spear-like fangs to tear my head clean in two. Besides, what do I know about the art of walking through walls? Aside from being dragged- or occasionally pushed through them- I certainly am not adept enough to figure out how such an illusion is created. Anything could lie behind them. Anything, and anyone.
But after the temporary rush of cold air, a sharp pain on my neck, and the realisation that I am no longer surrounded by water, but a vacuum of air, I presume it is safe to conclude that whatever theories I had about wall travelling prior were completely and utterly wrong. At least, in this case.
By the time I step out into the room, Kal and Delina are already waiting, pacing impatiently across the length of the room, both arguing amongst themselves how long someone can realistically take to travel through a simple wall. As soon as I stumble out, both their faces light up in unison, sighing a hot breath of relief upon realising that I have neither been killed nor captured.
Kal stumbles over, looking over me, turning me around, before voicing an extra sigh, shutting his eyes as he deems me unscathed and thankfully still alive. Then, squeezing me against him, he pulls me into a tight hug.
"She didn't, you know, try to-" he makes a biting motion with his mouth, clicking his teeth together. Nervously, I laugh.
"No, no, Kal. It was fine, don't worry."
Delina however, is not so sympathetic.
"What took you so long?" Delina grumbles lowly, but I can tell by the slight twitch of her upper lip, curving into a smile, that she is somewhat relieved to see me. Laughing lightly, I brush myself off, breathing in the familiar cold air around us, savouring the feeling of having my lungs no longer clogged with a salty brine of the ocean.
It is such a wonderful feeling.
"Your grandmother wanted a little chat before she sent me in. But it was nothing to worry about," I assure, tucking my white blouse back into my trousers which had come undone from the fall.
I do not tell them that I do, in fact, have some worries over the inherent trustworthiness of Areen, preferring to let them be content in the knowledge that we will soon be reuniting with Soren. Instead I continue to brush myself off, hoping that my suspicions will soon be proven otherwise.
Remarkably, even my clothes seem to be dry, crisp even, as though they had been run through a very short lived, intense blow dry. Not that I am complaining, really. Having wet clothes stick to your skin is not a feeling I am entirely fond of.
In the brief silence that accompanies my arrival, I take a short moment to survey my surroundings.
We are in a rather small room, about five metres across and largely circular. I say largely because their walls consist of rocks and above ground corals, a vast array of crustaceans, and a fair amount of glimmering mother of pearl, shimmering faintly under the faint light that surfaces from my body. There are an array of glowing plants lacing the edges of the room, straggly and overgrown, creating a cave like appearance and giving the room an eerie, wild atmosphere that makes me think this room hasn't been visited for a very, very long time.
I expect if I knelt down beside one of the cracks and crevices that adorn the sides of the room, and dipped my hand around, it would come back in a thick layer of dust and mouldy decay. Fortunately, the thought of which is enough to ever prevent me from doing such a thing.
However, aside from the sheer wondrousness of the room, the coral, the dust, tiny nibbling crabs and the strange etherealness of it, it is not the reason why we are here.
What we are all really here for lies in the centre of the room: a wooden hatched carved out with the swaying designs of merfolk and the sea and spiked with a glittering gold: a careless throw away of riches and wealth.
"This is it then? The entrance?" I remark, plodding over the damp floor to tap it lightly with my foot, inducing a hollow thrum that descends downwards seemingly without end. A dropping weight falls inside me as I realise that unless this thing has stairs, we are due for another very long, very dangerous fall. Kal and Delina cluster round, scanning over the hatch with a mixture of awe and fear, each taking it in turns to silently speculate over what lies below. Nothing but the heavy pitter patter of water drips around us, inducing a memory that lies deep within my mind, not fully yet forgotten.
A place underground… the ardent dripping of water against stone, a chamber at the end of an unlit corridor, where the only source of light is through the crack left open in the door. Screams. That is what lies below us- the final lair. I am not sure whether to be excited, or completely and utterly terrified.
A cold voice behind us jolts us to our senses.
"That is the entrance to the final segment of this labyrinth we live in. I have never been down myself, for obvious reasons, but I can assure you that once you do head down, you will not be coming out quickly," Areen assures, stepping into existence- which is quite odd really, as I am almost certain she didn't have a pair of legs a minute ago. Fortunately, her legs aren't as scantily clad as her top- instead she boasts a draping shawl that covers her lower half, draping down like a waterfall of watery blue fabric from the belt of her dress. The belt disturbingly appears to be made up of some sort of enamelled bone, but I try not to focus on that uneasiness too much for fear of bringing up the scant contents of my stomach onto this nice cave floor.
Much to my relief, Kal manages to speak before I can start to make a scene for myself.
"You look, er, lovely Areen," he points out, giving a nervous laugh as he scans her new form. "Very… threatening."
Areen smiles in stony approval, surveying her legs as she stretches them out beneath her, muses over the fine pointed fins that jut from the back of her calves like a series of aligned stakes on a firepit.
"Yes, it is rather nice for a landwalker. I wouldn't want anyone to not take me seriously, especially as a landwalker," she laughs cruelly, flicking away a loose black strand of hair from her pace, and then giving me a pointed look, enough to make anyone's bones crack from the pressure. Shooting her a wily smile, I grimace:
"Why do I get the feeling that was aimed at me?" I ask under my breath, not really intending to answer. But Areen, in the flamboyant and charismatic way that becomes of any good siren, merely sneers and remarks:
"That was meant for you, girl."
Areen ponders over this for a moment, scanning my face to detect any sort of indication of a lie, her eyes narrowed, lips puckered into an impetuous snarl. She searches, once over, then twice, then her face falls as realisation hits her- there is no lie to tell, and that all that I have told her, everything, is the biggest truth she will ever hear in her lifetime. "I told you the truth, Areen," I say, lowering my voice as I lean towards her, causing the Siren Queen to all at once stumble back through the water, taken off guard by the forwardness of my motion."Whether you choose to believe it is up to you, but know that nothing good will become of you if you let Azrael continue with his work. That will be my final warning."Areen's mouth trembles in silent movement, words stuck in her throat as she stammers to voice them, but each string of syllables appears merely as a flurry of empty bubbles as she finds that for once in her life she is unable to respond. As I lean back to watch the scene, she shakes herself, straightening her hair in an attempt to maintain some composure, deadpans her face, and all at once I am facing the cold, merciless Siren Queen again, the feeble image of her counterpart quickly obliterated.Flicking a finger insistently, she indicates towards the wall for me to get a move one."Right then," she says, but her usual authoritarian tone has somewhat depleted. "Best get a move on then, young Queen. It would appear you have your work vastly cut out for you. Besides," she adds, gracing me with her usual biting snarl."I don't want you landwalkers sticking around in my palace any longer."Silently, I wonder if that last part was a baseless attempt to make me feel scared of her once more. But the feeling has long since departed.Sighing, I nod my understanding. Then, without a second thought about it, I swim out through the wall.***I am not sure what I was expecting to see when I stepped through that wall- perhaps some monster, a trick, or to be led straight into a dungeon? All seem likely options in this chilling palace of fish and merfolk, ruled by a Siren Queen with enough spear-like fangs to tear my head clean in two. Besides, what do I know about the art of walking through walls? Aside from being dragged- or occasionally pushed through them- I certainly am not adept enough to figure out how such an illusion is created. Anything could lie behind them. Anything, and anyone.But after the temporary rush of cold air, a sharp pain on my neck, and the realisation that I am no longer surrounded by water, but a vacuum of air, I presume it is safe to conclude that whatever theories I had about wall travelling prior were completely and utterly wrong. At least, in this case.By the time I step out into the room, Kal and Delina are already waiting, pacing impatiently across the length of the room, both arguing amongst themselves how long someone can realistically take to travel through a simple wall. As soon as I stumble out, both their faces light up in unison, sighing a hot breath of relief upon realising that I have neither been killed nor captured. Kal stumbles over, looking over me, turning me around, before voicing an extra sigh, shutting his eyes as he deems me unscathed and thankfully still alive. Then, squeezing me against him, he pulls me into a tight hug."She didn't, you know, try to-" he makes a biting motion with his mouth, clicking his teeth together. Nervously, I laugh."No, no, Kal. It was fine, don't worry."Delina however, is not so sympathetic."What took you so long?" Delina grumbles lowly, but I can tell by the slight twitch of her upper lip, curving into a smile, that she is somewhat relieved to see me. Laughing lightly, I brush myself off, breathing in the familiar cold air around us, savouring the feeling of having my lungs no longer clogged with a salty brine of the ocean.It is such a wonderful feeling."Your grandmother wanted a little chat before she sent me in. But it was nothing to worry about," I assure, tucking my white blouse back into my trousers which had come undone from the fall. I do not tell them that I do, in fact, have some worries over the inherent trustworthiness of Areen, preferring to let them be content in the knowledge that we will soon be reuniting with Soren. Instead I continue to brush myself off, hoping that my suspicions will soon be proven otherwise. Remarkably, even my clothes seem to be dry, crisp even, as though they had been run through a very short lived, intense blow dry. Not that I am complaining, really. Having wet clothes stick to your skin is not a feeling I am entirely fond of.In the brief silence that accompanies my arrival, I take a short moment to survey my surroundings.We are in a rather small room, about five metres across and largely circular. I say largely because their walls consist of rocks and above ground corals, a vast array of crustaceans, and a fair amount of glimmering mother of pearl, shimmering faintly under the faint light that surfaces from my body. There are an array of glowing plants lacing the edges of the room, straggly and overgrown, creating a cave like appearance and giving the room an eerie, wild atmosphere that makes me think this room hasn't been visited for a very, very long time.I expect if I knelt down beside one of the cracks and crevices that adorn the sides of the room, and dipped my hand around, it would come back in a thick layer of dust and mouldy decay. Fortunately, the thought of which is enough to ever prevent me from doing such a thing.However, aside from the sheer wondrousness of the room, the coral, the dust, tiny nibbling crabs and the strange etherealness of it, it is not the reason why we are here.What we are all really here for lies in the centre of the room: a wooden hatched carved out with the swaying designs of merfolk and the sea and spiked with a glittering gold: a careless throw away of riches and wealth."This is it then? The entrance?" I remark, plodding over the damp floor to tap it lightly with my foot, inducing a hollow thrum that descends downwards seemingly without end. A dropping weight falls inside me as I realise that unless this thing has stairs, we are due for another very long, very dangerous fall. Kal and Delina cluster round, scanning over the hatch with a mixture of awe and fear, each taking it in turns to silently speculate over what lies below. Nothing but the heavy pitter patter of water drips around us, inducing a memory that lies deep within my mind, not fully yet forgotten.A place underground the ardent dripping of water against stone, a chamber at the end of an unlit corridor, where the only source of light is through the crack left open in the door. Screams. That is what lies below us- the final lair. I am not sure whether to be excited, or completely and utterly terrified.A cold voice behind us jolts us to our senses."That is the entrance to the final segment of this labyrinth we live in. I have never been down myself, for obvious reasons, but I can assure you that once you do head down, you will not be coming out quickly," Areen assures, stepping into existence- which is quite odd really, as I am almost certain she didn't have a pair of legs a minute ago. Fortunately, her legs aren't as scantily clad as her top- instead she boasts a draping shawl that covers her lower half, draping down like a waterfall of watery blue fabric from the belt of her dress. The belt disturbingly appears to be made up of some sort of enamelled bone, but I try not to focus on that uneasiness too much for fear of bringing up the scant contents of my stomach onto this nice cave floor. Much to my relief, Kal manages to speak before I can start to make a scene for myself."You look, er, lovely Areen," he points out, giving a nervous laugh as he scans her new form. "Very threatening."Areen smiles in stony approval, surveying her legs as she stretches them out beneath her, muses over the fine pointed fins that jut from the back of her calves like a series of aligned stakes on a firepit."Yes, it is rather nice for a landwalker. I wouldn't want anyone to not take me seriously, especially as a landwalker," she laughs cruelly, flicking away a loose black strand of hair from her pace, and then giving me a pointed look, enough to make anyone's bones crack from the pressure. Shooting her a wily smile, I grimace:"Why do I get the feeling that was aimed at me?" I ask under my breath, not really intending to answer. But Areen, in the flamboyant and charismatic way that becomes of any good siren, merely sneers and remarks:"That was meant for you, girl."
