From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
Stars shone both above and below the water here, and Hadama swum slowly between them. Dark skin and dark scales blended into the dark sea, but the steely-silver of his hair and the golden lines that crossed his body in mute testimony of past hardships survived gleamed with pale highlights as the glow of the basin's living stars caught them and reflected back.
The third source of starlight came from the tines of the trident he carried as he moved with care over the dangerously sharp coral of the basin, seeking something tucked within the hungry, flesh-flensing colonies beneath his muscular body.
This was no place for carelessness, but Hadama was patient and every move he made was deliberate as he threaded his path with slow precision, ignoring the fish that swum slowly through the razor-edged reef but occasionally pausing to study a particularly bright sea star.
Kaiden had sought out a safe place to crash for the night and had come across the basin. What should have been an instant no, instead caught this attention. There were a few sparse sections where the razor-sharp coral was absent. The mershark's best bet was that whatever had been present had either died or been eaten. Regardless, a small clearing surrounded by sharp coral was perfect.
Kaiden had swam down and curled up, letting the fauna around them act as a natural bodyguard. They were woken up much later to a shadow passing over them. They came to without moving a muscle, but they did cautiously open an eye. Spotting Hadama, they startled. Sitting up, the mershark stretched their arms over their head and scowled at the King, What are you doing here? Dropping their arms, Kaiden rubbed the sleep from their eyes as they waited for Hadama's response, annoyed at being disturbed.
If he was startled, Hadama didn't show it. As Kaiden unfolded beneath him the mermanta paused in his passage and rippled his fins to keep himself balanced against the current, essentially 'hovering' in place. Hello, Kaiden, he responded, imperturbably polite as he considered the mershark's chosen resting spot.
Regardless of whether it was a commoner's place to demand answers of a king, the mermanta saw no reason not to respond. I am seeking an offering for Safrin. The explanation was accompanied by a careful gesture with the trident at the nearest glowing sea star. The tines seemed to glow a little brighter as they neared the living star, but perhaps that was just his imagination.
He paused and then inclined his steely head in apology, hair billowing slowly behind his shoulders in a silvery cloud. I am sorry to disturb your rest.
Kaiden glanced from the King to the sea star. Pretty. They mumbled before freezing when they realized that they accidently sent that through the bond. Damn the thing, why was it so hard for them to control? Regardless, the creature was beautiful as it glowed softly in the otherwise dark waters. The light reflected off the sharp coral, giving them the illusion of being tipped in bioluminescent blue.
You're doing it for a god? Then I forgive you. Despite their scowl, Kaiden didn't want to accidently piss of Safrin by getting mad at Hadama over gathering an offering. Sleepiness dissipating, the mershark flickered their tail nervously before deliberately calling through the bond. Once you get the star, does that offer for combat training still stand? Their voice was reluctant but a tad hopeful. They'd been considering the offer since it was given but hadn't gotten up the nerve to seed Hadama out and accept it.
Hadama only nodded once in agreement of Kaiden's opinion of the star, and a quiet wavelet of agreement returned through the bond, subtle enough to be easily missed in the mershark's sudden preoccupation. Meanwhile Hadama studied the star; it was the largest he had seen yet, and the brightest, and he nodded again in satisfaction.
Kaiden's forgiveness was met with a solemn tilt of the King's head, his own amusement well-hidden from the bond. Even before Kingship he had been a quiet, controlled man, and taking the throne had only trained those traits further out of necessity.
It is, he agreed, a little surprised but pleased that Kaiden had asked him. The star will wait until we are done. And that way it wouldn't have to be carried around in the thrash of a spar. Whether a sea star could get seasick was not a question he had any interest in answering.
Would you prefer shifts, or weapons? A courteous question as he set his gathering bag and tools aside from his harness, leaving them to rest in the sandy oasis that Kaiden had found amidst the sharp coral.
Kaiden was pleased when Hadama readily agreed without asking any unnecessary questions. The younger mer gave a slight shrug, Don't have a weapon so let's do shifts. They might have gotten one from Darkeye if they'd tolerated the man long enough. But that sure as all fuck wasn't going to happen.
Without further preamble, Kaiden smoothly shifted into their tiger shark form. Ready. They swam in a circle around their impromptu training grounds, To first blood?That was an easy enough measure. One that could be measured and wasn't easily fabricated for pride or greed. Though Kaiden doubted Hadama was the kind to use such means. Their own faith in the King's integrity astounded and horrified them.
The lack of a weapon could be attended to in time, if Kaiden were interested in one. Tonight, however, shifts were more than adequate and Hadama swum up above the coral as the shift flowed through him, broadening and flattening his body as he grew in size from a large merman to a significantly larger oceanic manta. Kaiden was an impressive shark with even more impressive natural weapons in the way of their teeth, but the King had the advantage in size and weight, and he considered the suggestion before adding a caveat. Or an equal measure of bruising,. Lacking teeth of his own, he was unlikely to ever draw first blood.
He made a graceful turn in the water and began to swim away from Kaiden, but it was only to gather speed as he curved his broad bulk through the water and returned with the intent to rush down on the shark from above, trapping him between the sharp coral and the ray's shadow, attempting to score a glancing blow with his left pectoral fin along Kaiden's side as he swam past at speed.
Or an equivalent bruise. Kaiden agreed, seeing the logic in the addition once Hadama shifted. As the King rushed them, the mershark attempted to dodge but ended up pinned against the coral. Distracted as they were by the slight prick against their skin, Hadama's blow landed solidly. That would certainly bruise.
Before the King could pass by however, Kaiden attempted to retaliate by thrashing their tail in the hopes of slamming it into Hadama. Maybe if they could stun the King, they'd be able to move into open water and away from the coral. It was a goal at least. Even better if it left a bruise too.
There was no need to lecture; Hadama preferred actions to words, and if Kaiden desired advice the King hoped they would be wise enough to ask for it after their training bout ended. For the moment they were only just beginning, however, and he felt his blow strike true against the shark's body.
The contact as he swam by was sustained enough to feel Kaiden's muscles begin to twitch against the edge of his fin and Hadama twisted away, surprisingly lithe for such a large creature. He might have had neither teeth nor venomous barbs to defend himself with, but he had speed and agility all out of proportion to his size and he used both to evade Kaiden's thrashing tail.
Knowing that his best course of action was to deny his opponent the freedom of open water, the king continued to swim swiftly as he angled his flexible body up and around in a loop, coming back to strafe Kaiden again on his other flank and hopefully keeping him pinned low against the sharp coral below, letting it do what his own toothless maw could not.
As Hadama moved to repeat his attack, Kaiden prepared themselves as much as they could. If they had one thing going for them, it was that they learned quickly. Just as the manta drew closer, Kaiden surged forward, hoping to shove Hadama with their flank and against the coral.
Regardless of the success of their attack, Kaiden quickly continued thier momentum beyond the coral before twisting to once more face Hadama face-on. They still weren't in open water, the coral only about 5 meters or so below them, but it was certainly an improvement. Perhaps they could have swum further out, but Kaiden had a feeling that Hadama would have caught up by then and they didn't want to get stuck with their back to the King.
The thing about sharks was that one end of them was very pointy and obviously dangerous and it was easy to focus on that and lose track of the rest of them.
Although Hadama was wise enough not to start a land war in Asia or to go in against a Sicilian when death was on the line, he'd made perhaps the third classic blunder, and that was to pay more attention to the teeth of the shark than the mind behind them. He had started to shift his broad wing in a partial roll, lifting it away from those deadly jaws when instead Kaiden twisted to hit his body with their flank. He had no lungs or air with which to grunt in this shape, but a rumble of surprise and a flicker of pain - quickly dampened - filled the bond as he felt the scrape of coral against his scales.
Shaking off the blow, he flexed swiftly to lift himself away from the coral and, seeing that he had lost the high ground, instead rose at an angle from beneath Kaiden, gathering speed to ram the shark's underbelly amidships.
Kaiden felt the thrill of success when the faint whispers of pain passed through the bond. They'd caught the King off guard! Out of marginal respect, they two dampened that emotion. Although the mershark could certainly be called arrogant, they at least believed in mutual respect. Most of the time.
The electroceptors along the shark's jaw reacted to the sudden shifts in the water, giving Hadama's next maneuver away. Perhaps it was simply because the manta was in the perfect position to be noticed by such mechanisms. Regardless, as Hadama approached, Kaiden twisted downwards to dodge the would be strike. At the same time, it gave the mershark a rather open opportunity to snap their teeth at the manta's side.
Ironically, if he'd had more distance to cover to reach the shark he could have built up more speed and had more time to adjust to Kaiden's dodge. The manta's greatest weapons were speed and momentum, and lacking the full measure both in the short distance between them he was unable to gain either the force or the maneuverability on which his large shift relied.
But credit where it was due: the shark reacted quickly to his charge, and was unexpectedly nimble in the water as he twisted and returned an attack of his own that Hadama was unable to completely avoid as he attempted to mirror Kaiden's spin. He was too large, however, and there was simply too much of his mass to move out of the way as he took a glancing blow down his side.
Only his flattened body saved him from the shark getting teeth into him, but there was certainly a bruise that he'd be feeling for a few days. Well done, he rumbled through the bond, granting approval in spite of the cost to himself.
It was tempting to call the fight there, but even before he'd become a King Hadama had had his pride. Shaking off the pain with stoic determination he folded himself to follow Kaiden down, spreading his wings wide in a smothering blanket like his species was named after and using his greater size and weight to attempt to force the shark down against the coral one final time.
Although their hit didn't land as intended, Kaiden was still thrilled at the small victory. They just barely managed to keep the emotion from spilling into the bond as they sent back a slightly reluctant, Thank you. Manners were difficult but given that Hadama was technically doing them a favor, the bare minimum was due.
Hyper focused as they were on the fight now, the mershark managed to realize that the King was making a similar move once more. The bite of the coral was still fresh in their mind and Kaiden refused to deal with it again. As such, they let Hadama get closer and at the last moment, barrel rolled out of the way to let the manta move past them.
Turning as fast as they could, Kaiden once more moved in, attempting to bite the manta's wing. Just enough to draw blood but not to truly harm the other mer.
