Well, it was kind of a bowl, geologically speaking.
Tal wasn't exactly an efficient swimmer, but he had strength and endurance on his side, even if he didn't have much else, so he gamely kept up with Koa as the Dragoon led the way. Even when the waters grew darker and the Merfolk became fewer and farther between, he figured they were maybe just going to some tucked away little dive bar ba dum tiss or local attraction that tourists didn't normally flock to.
Eventually, though, he slowed to a halt as the crater spread out beneath them, abyssal black except where twinkling bioluminescence gave it the unnerving appearance of a star-filled sky. The courier was looking decidedly green at the gills as he clutched for a corner of Koa's swim trunks to hold on to, fighting a sensation of deep vertigo as up and down seemed to swap places. The weight of the water above him had been bad enough when he at least knew what direction the surface was. Now he pawed at the choker around his throat holding the manta stone in place, needing physical reassurance that it was still there and working as he realized that he didn't know which direction up was.
Yeah, so Koa's not, like, loving this. What had seemed initially like a Cool Zone for Cool People is beginning to feel more labyrinthine than Queen's Gambit, despite not having walls. Any sense of spatial orientation fades the deeper they go, until Koa, too, is not entirely sure where the laws of physics end and gravity's pull begins.
Not that he's going to tell Tal this. Having gotten them into this mess with his enthusiasm and penchant for exploration, it's the Dragoon's responsibility to get the pair back out. Luckily, he has a plan - thanks to Safrin, in fact. The memory of gazing upon constellations with the goddess humming reassuringly against his mind, Koa forces himself to relax, his eyes glancing across bioluminescent creatures that shine and wink like stars. There- a familiar-ish pattern, five in an arc with a sixth in the middle. Like all constellations it isn't perfect, but the boy remembers noting it when they swam in. The disc, he'd mentally dubbed the arrangement, thinking it looked like a frisbee waiting to be thrown.
Now he begins to swim up towards it, gesturing for Tal to follow along and hoping the water that brushes his legs doesn't host any particularly mouthy fish.
Tal was easy enough to convince. All Koa had to do was start swimming and he'd have a loyal courier following almost as close as a remora. Although Tal had a slight advantage in that his Goggles let him see thirty feet ahead in the Stygian gloom of the water underworld they found themselves in, it turned out that they weren't all that useful, since thirty feet of dark, empty water didn't exactly give him much in the way of context clues. The glowing starfish that Koa could see just as well as he could were a much more useful orienteering tool.
And one that Tal hadn't thought to utilize to find their way back. It was a damn good thing he had Koa with him to make the most of their shared brain cell!
But speaking of fish...
Something cool and scaly and unpleasantly slick slid past Tal's leg, startling a yelp from the courier that came out as a sort of strangled blorp. A second later Koa would feel it too - for several long seconds as it slid and kept sliding, indicating something uncomfortably large passing them in the weightless dark.
Ah nope nope nope nope.
Any sense of triumph felt as the sea stars come closer into view is quickly and violently upstaged by the sheer horrifying ick of whatever had brushed against his leg. Above water, in full Dragoon mode, Koa may have been able to keep it in stride; 20,000 leagues under the sea Koa doesn't stand a chance. He yelps, or tries to, and jumps, or tries to. Ultimately all Tal will see is a burst of bubbles and a half-sommersault, but the idea is there.
Spotting stars and deciding they have to be the right ones because fuck this noise, Koa makes a beeline in the direction that feels up, and thus away from the unseen terror. And, yes, he makes sure Tal is coming. No soldier left behind.
But for fuck's sake, buddy, vamanoose
Oh, come on, boys. Maybe it's friendly?
But Tal wasn't sticking around to find out.
He didn't see the head of whatever was going past them, but he saw the long, silvery body and a few splashes of red as it slid past Koa like a living ribbon that just kept going. It was longer than both of them stacked together, and if he could have read his friend's thoughts they would have been on the same wavelength.
Big fuckin' NOPE.
He flailed at top speed after the dragoon, vamanoosing as fast as he could. Terror lent strength even if it impeded skill so it more or less evened out. If the long fucking fish had been looking for lunch, Koa would have been safe thanks to Tal's combination of churning the water and not being as hydrodynamic as his buddy, but luckily nothing tried to nibble the courier's toes as they made their escape from a potential watery grave, fleeing towards the less-dark and lighter pressure of someplace less bowl-shaped.
Anyplace less bowl-shaped, as far as Tal was concerned!
~Fin
|
