Chapter 26

Twenty-Six

Arges

Weaving between the thick coral roots and curving bridges, he sank deeper and deeper through his home. All was quiet this time. The People of Water were licking their wounds, mourning the loss of their loved ones, and trying to hide from the folly of what they had done.

No one would even meet his gaze. Arges dragged himself along the bottom, scraping his belly and scales upon the homes of those who were lost. His blood marked the water, hopefully giving their families some peace as the true leader of their pod passed by. Giving his all to prove that he missed their loved ones as well.

He should be here with them. He shouldn’t be hiding away with a little mortal who had no idea what they had done or what they had lost. That was why he’d been so angry with her. That was why he’d argued and pushed and tried to hide his feelings by allowing her body to overwhelm him.

He hadn’t wanted to think about this. About his people and their loss and their sadness that filled the sea with a bitter scent.

It was not fair that they had suffered so. But he did not see his brother either. Catching his hand on the top of their shared home, he moved into the cavernous underwater room. Brushing aside the kelp that hid their home from prying eyes, he was disappointed to find it empty. There were only the few swaying nets that they used to hold them in place when they slept. A small bag of berry shaped food that tasted sweet, Daios’s favorite, although he would never admit such a thing. And a few of their favorite woven decorations on the walls. Gifted to them by their blood mother when she was still alive.

“Empty,” he muttered, touching the edge of a tapestry that had recently been ripped.

Where had they brought his brother after his injury? He needed to be treated. That arm wasn’t going to heal itself and there was nowhere for them to bring him other than the healing centers, but he hadn’t scented his brother there either.

Had Daios gone off by himself? His brother should know better. The People of Water were strong, but even a shark would test its luck when it saw one of them was weakened.

Stupid. His brother was so stupid, and it made no sense to him why Daios was suddenly risking his life so often for something that, in the end, didn’t matter.

The kelp shifted behind him and he drew his tail inside to make room for the newcomer. He’d expected perhaps Maketes, who had helped his brother away from that original kelp forest. The yellow scaled brother might have brought Daios somewhere safe, and therefore would have tried to find Arges. Who he did not expect to see was Mitéra herself, slowly gliding into his home and casting her gaze over the weaving he touched.

“Your mother had a talent.”

The tapestry fell through his claws, already ripped, but tearing more with every current that pressed along it. “Yes, she did.”

“You are not supposed to be here, Arges. You are supposed to be with your achromo, convincing her to tell us all her secrets.”

“She’s dying.” He’d intended to ease into this conversation. He had wanted to convince Mitéra of his kairos’s use, or perhaps that they could trust Mira to come back, even though that was unlikely. Instead, he was the idiot who blurted out the truth the moment Mitéra looked at him. “She will not last much longer without the achromos’ medicine that they take. She will die and we will get no information out of her.”

Mitéra waved her hand through the water. “Then she will die. Now we know how to take them, and that their people will not follow anyone who has been lost. You will get another.”

“I do not wish to take another.”

It was a hard truth to tell her, but one that he felt deeply. Arges was not meant for this. He wasn’t supposed to take people out of their homes and watch while they died. He couldn’t torture anymore people like this.

He was loath to admit that the achromos had become people to him. He hated that. And also knew it was right at the same time.

Mitéra watched the emotions play across his face with all-seeing eyes. “You feel something for this achromo.”

“She is honorable,” he begrudgingly admitted. “More than I expected her to be.”

“There is no honor in their kind.”

“There is in this one.”

Her usually serene expression warped with confusion, and he knew that she couldn’t understand what he meant. There was no way she could even see what he saw in Mira, and that was the problem. Mira was the enemy. And that was the only way any of his people could think.

Mitéra’s frown deepened. She shifted closer, the bell of her hair billowing around her and glimmering a hundred colors before she brushed her hand through his hair, over the glowing tendrils mixed in with the tangled locks. “You know there has never been such a pairing. We are not even the same kind, my son.”

“I know.”

“You know it is impossible, then. And that future cannot change, no matter how hard you fight against the sea.”

He did. And yet there was still something in his chest that whispered, “Maybe.”

Mitéra shook her head and backed away from him. “You need to seek the ancients. Beg them to show you the future, so that you may understand why I warn you. You seek only a life of sadness and ruin.”

“The ancients only welcome you, Mitéra.”

“They will welcome you this time.” Her features hardened, and he saw the tendrils underneath the bell of her hair lifting. “I will tell them you are coming, and you will go to them now. My son. Tell them to fix you and give me back my warrior.”

He did not want to be fixed. He didn’t want all of this to change his mind about who or what he was, it simply wasn’t... right. Arges didn’t want to forget her. Mira was so much more than just an achromo that he had stolen, and yet he was powerless to disagree with Mitéra.

If the ancients wished to speak with him, then he would do so.

Arges moved through his home with his eyes on the ground and his thoughts in the billowing sand. The sea would drag him farther down, into the very depths where all the lights went out. And even then, he did not care. He kept his own bright blue lights dim and close to his skin, so as not to attract the attention of the creatures far in the depths.

The ancients were monstrous beings who lived in the depths. They no longer moved, although legends claimed they used to in the old days. Apparently, there were many of them. Massive sea beasts with long necks and lights that dangled off the fronts of their heads, like anglerfish but infinitely larger. Their mouths were wide enough to swallow a whale whole, but they could not move very quickly.

Many of them died early on, and now his own people took care of them. Every year they made sacrifices to the depths, sending whales and sharks and other large sea creatures into the depths in the hopes that the ancients would remain hidden.

He had never seen one before, and he wasn’t certain he was prepared to see them at all.

But as soon as he neared the depths, three lights illuminated everything around him. He saw in a sudden flash the skeleton creatures who had trailed along with him. Fish with sharp, massive teeth. Sharks larger than he was with dead eyes that had not seen anything in the darkness for a hundred years. Strange, alien squids with tiny bodies but arms that were longer than he was in thin, razor sharp lines.

All of these creatures fled the moment he came close to the ancients. And he knew why.

They truly were terrifying. Their massive bodies were nearly as large as the achromos’ cities were tall. Covered in massive, thick plated scales, they were impossible to kill unless through starvation. Their long necks led only to mouths. He could not even see their eyes. Didn’t know if they even had eyes. His gaze remained on their teeth, and their gills that opened and closed with breaths that were so slow, he feared they might no longer be living.

“Arges.” They spoke as one. Three of them with booming voices that were so loud he felt the delicate membranes of his ears seal shut in an attempt to not bleed through the power of their voices. “You are here. Mitéra said you would come.”

“I seek my future,” he said quietly, trying not to show fear. “She said you would show it to me.”

“You have two.” The nearest ancient shifted, and he realized they actually had fins. Short, stubby fins, like a seal. With bones inside them that moved like a hand, even though they were encased in a thick layer of blubbery fat and leathery hide. “Your futures have always intrigued us. You are an outlier, Arges. A creature who can defy the natural order of things.”

He didn’t want to hear their opinions of who he was or what he could do with his life. He wanted to know what the truth was. He wanted to know... “Two?” he asked. “How is that possible?”

A great wave of energy blasted against his spine. Though he knew it was a deep sea shark with smooth skin that had bumped him nearer to the ancients, he couldn’t stop himself from struggling. He also did not want to get anywhere near these massive creatures and yet, he was forced. He wasn’t given the option to remain far from them.

Instead, he was ushered closer to the first one’s teeth. He stared into that maw and then froze as the mouth opened. “Come.” He watched as the massive tongue moved to shape the word. “Seek out your future, Arges of the sea.”

The current moved him even closer, and before he knew it, he was inside the maw of the monster. There was only a split second for him to feel the massive tongue against his back before something sharp nicked through his scales. He arched into the pain, surprised by the sudden poisonous heat that flowed through his veins and then... he disappeared.

Arges wasn’t here. He wasn’t in the monster, nor was he even in the sea. He was in the middle of nothing, darkness that stretched out from all angles until a light bloomed in the distance. The moment he noticed it, the future barreled toward him.

Striking the wall of that memory, he floated like he was observing himself. He was right there, in a kelp forest with a strange device attached to his hip. He had more tattoos, more muscle as well, but he hunted through the kelp with a single-minded intent. Perhaps this memory was to warn him that if he wasn’t careful, the achromos would spread out into the water just like Mira had done.

But what moved through the water toward the image of himself was not a strange achromo or even a creature he was stalking. Instead, it was her.

Mira.

Unbound red hair trailing behind her as she swam up behind him, fins on her feet and a smile on her face beneath that strange bubble around her mouth. She attached herself to him, wrapping one of her legs around his waist because that was as close as she could get.

He noticed the tattoos of his pod winding down her arm and across her chest. She wore a top woven out of kelp, just like his mother used to make. And her belly was so round she could barely hold on to him.

She tilted her head back with laughter, eventually allowing herself to flatten out in the water and gripped him with only her legs as the image of himself reached for her belly. He watched as he touched the rounded mound, running his fingers carefully over her skin and then pressing his webs against her. There was slight movement underneath her skin, large and rippling, just like a tail moving inside her.

It wasn’t possible. Surely the ancients weren’t telling him that he could start a new species. That he and Mira could be the link between their kind. It wasn’t possible.

But the smile on her face... It was one of so much love as she looked down at his hands on her belly.

The memory was ripped from him, and he felt it tear away from his mind like he had been clutching it close to his chest. He wanted to look at it a little while longer. He wanted to see them together. Just like that. The happiness on both of their faces had been so far from anything he’d ever experienced. And he... he wanted it.

A second future barreled toward him, striking him even harder than the first. He saw himself and his pod. He saw Beta falling in the distance and knew they were chasing the small escape bubbles that achromos used to get out of their city when anything went wrong. His brother, one armed and angry, speared through the glass of one such bubble. It shattered, and he heard the muffled screams of those within it.

Maketes swam ahead of him, zeroing through the water with all the speed of lightning as he slammed against the side of another bubble. His people descended upon it, ripping the glass open and yanking out achromo bodies that writhed in their grips as they drowned.

And him? He moved toward one of the escape bubbles and froze above it. He saw himself staring at Mira. He saw her glaring back at him, one of her welders in her hand.

“Stop,” he cried out at the image of himself. “Don’t do it.”

But he did.

Arges watched himself wrench the glass free and yank her out. He saw the spear sliding through her soft flesh where he had just seen their child. She hung suspended in the water by only his weapon. And then he watched as she turned her welder on and tried to burn him through his chest. His kind were too strong for it, so she would be the only one who died in this battle, but he would wear her scar over his heart in more ways than one.

The visions faded, and he was spat out by the ancient onto the foggy, sulphuric seabed around them.

Hissing, he coughed out whatever strange poison had flowed through his veins. “What was that?”

“Your futures, warrior.” The ancient shifted, its massive fin placed on the ground too close for comfort. “There is benefit and loss in both futures, Arges. You are the only one who can choose. Lose her, or lose your people’s dream.”

“I will lose neither of them.”

“You have to lose something,” the ancient chuckled. “No one has ever beaten their own fate.”

As he forced his tail to move, forced his body to rise from the dirt, he vowed that he would be the first. He would keep them both.

Because he wanted that future with her. But he also wanted to see her city fall.