“Meet him.” I repeated. “Meet him where?” I asked nervously as I shot Byron a glance. My apparent twin had a fork in his mouth as he simply waited for Trei’s response. Skyr was trying to busy himself by eating, but you could tell that he was listening as well.
I mean, hearing the leader of the sea people, a race that was once thought of to be extinct is kind of…
…Let’s just say that even though we were trying to act normal, we are still trying to adjust to the fact that we are in a cafeteria full of them.
And it wasn’t easy to stop ourselves from staring at them.
“I’ll take you both there when you finish eating.” He assured us. “And as for the general, it might be difficult since it will be in cold waters. We haven’t invented the right breathers that wouldn’t freeze and break at the drop of temperature.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll train.” He says and continued to eat.
“So…” Byron started to say. “If your great grandfather is the leader, or let’s say king, does that mean that you’re like a prince here?”
Trei was taken aback by his comparison. “I...I guess you could say that? But I don’t even want to think of it that way.”
“Wow.” Byron, despite being a legendary demigod himself, still seemed fascinated by him. “Can you show us your skin again?”
Skyr almost choked at what he was eating while I reached under and kicked his foot. “Byron, I think that’s rude!” I hissed and looked around us in case anyone heard it.
Trei simply laughed and didn’t seem offended. “It’s fine. We’re all used to it that it doesn’t bother us anymore.” He says, then he looked at Byron. “Unfortunately, this is the skin that I am born with. The blue skin that you saw before only appears when I am underwater.”
“How is that possible?” I asked.
“Most of us here have more than half sea people blood. In my case, I belong to those under the fifty percent cut. That is why I have the skin of a human when I am on land. And,” He paused and looked at me apologetically. “It is also part of the reason why I am chosen to be the one to watch over you. Only I was human enough to look after you.”
Now it all makes sense why Trei was afraid of pool and beaches when we were kids. He was actually afraid that I would find out about….his over nature.
I moved my gaze back to my plate. “Right. How can I forget?” I said and then continued to eat. “You know, I can’t wait to meet this grandpa of yours. I bet it’s his idea, isn’t it?”
Trei didn’t respond after that. But I took his silence as confirmation for my suspicion. We all ate in silence after that. Once we were done, Skyr headed in another direction to head for the training room, which I was jealous of since I miss the exercise.
“Come on, Nat.” Trei called for me as he and Byron her already a few steps ahead of me. I glanced in the direction where Skyr went one last time before I followed them.
***
“You have got to be kidding me.” I said. Trei led us to an elevator that took us down to a secret underwater cave. “You guys connected your facility to a cave underwater?” We got out of the elevator. It was very dark and the only light that we have right now is the one from the elevator.
Trei got out three glow sticks and handed one to me and one to Byron.
“Cool!” Byron says just as the elevator closed. His voice now echoed into the cave.
“Byron!” I hissed lowly and pulled him back when he looks like he was about to run forward. “We should stick together. We know nothing about the cave and what’s inside of it. Also, aren’t you cold?” I asked. We weren’t exactly wearing anything except for the full rashguard that they made us change into before coming here.
“Not really.” He shrugged. “But don’t worry, Nat. Your body will get used to it soon.”
“We’re in Antarctica! Ice basically surrounds us!” I almost screamed.
“Your brother does have a point, Nat.” Trei inserted. “Atlanteans barely feel the cold. In fact, they feel the heat more than the cold. And since you are also a demigod, well...you should technically not feel it. It’s just in your mind.”
I could feel that we are somehow getting closer to the water because of the moist rocks under my bare feet. And I had to grit my teeth whenever I feel icy cold water. I shivered.
All in my head they say. Easier said than done.
My twin, Byron, doesn’t seem to be having any problem at all as he would simply run whenever he sees a clear path. When he crossed a small puddle, he even jumped on it, causing it to splash on us.
I growled in annoyance after I wiped the water off of my face. Byron turned back and flashed me a nervous smile. “Sorry.”
Trei laughed. “It’s not so bad. We’re going on a swim anyway.”
“Great.” I tried to sound excited, but just imagine myself swimming in icy cold water doesn’t sound appealing to me. “Can’t wait.”
We continue to go deeper into the cave until we a huge opening with a pool in the middle. “This is it.” Trei says as he placed the glowstick on the ground.
“We’re not bringing the lights?” Byron asked, looking like he doesn’t want to part with the glowsticks at all.
“No. If they break, it would be hazardous to the sea life.” As soon as the words left Trei’s lips, Byron immediately dropped the glowstick like it was the most offensive item that he has seen in his entire life.
Well, it probably is.
Trei wasted no time and dived into the pool. Byron followed next. Seeing as I was the only one left, I pushed all of my worries behind and jumped.
As soon as my body touched the water, all I wanted to do at that moment was to resurface and swam to the shore. But I stopped when something caught my attention. The area underwater started glowing all around us that I found myself swimming even further. The deeper I went, the brighter it got.
Just then, something grabbed my wrist. When I turned around, it was just Trei. His skin was light blue once again. Gills once again appeared on his neck and arms.
‘Breath.’ He mouthed.
If he hadn’t told me about it, I would have actually forgotten about my other ability to breathe underwater. Or even remembered to breathe at all.
As my lungs started to fill themselves, Trei grabbed my hand and swam deeper into the hole and through a cave. As we continued to swim even further, I realized that the lights were coming from colorful green and blue stones on the walls. I was actually curious and would have swum closer, but Trei was pulling on my hand.
The further we swam, the bigger the gave got. I saw Byron just in front of us. Unfairly using his power to swim effortlessly.
Finally, we reached the end of the tunnel and found ourselves in a large cave full of those glowing stone crystals. There were a lot of them situated just at the center. They formed some sort of throne.
And there, sitting on it was an alien-like humanoid sea creature. His skin was in a darker shade of blue. Darker than the other sea people that I have seen. His eyes were double lidded, white, and glassy. He doesn't have a nose. Only gills at the side that help him breathe underwater. He was bald as well and instead of ears, he has fins.
So this is the current leader of the sea people.
I remember Trei saying that he was the old advisor of the first demigod. But looking at him now, he doesn’t seem to be old. In fact, his figure reminds me of a muscular man with his bulking muscles.
Well, I really can’t judge him properly since I don’t know what old sea people look like.
I looked at Trei for confirmation. Then I saw him bow down in front of the man. Byron and I did the same.
‘Welcome, demigods. My Lords!” A voice spoke in my mind making me look up in surprise. And when I did, I saw the man smiling at us with razor-sharp teeth before he got up and bowed to us instead. ‘I have waited patiently for your arrival. There are a lot of things that we have yet to discuss.’
‘Who has the gift to talk to the sea creatures?’ The Sea king continued to ask. When I looked at the others, it seems to appear that only Trei and I were able to understand him.‘I do.’ I responded with my mind.‘Ah, the female. A pleasure to meet you, my lord. My name is Grukren. And in your past life, we were acquainted.’ He says.I met Byron’s gaze and saw that he was looking at me in confusion. He has probably guessed by now that I was communicating with the leader of the sea people.I raised a hand to Byron and gestured for him to wait. ‘Grukren, was it? Is there a way for Byron to hear your thoughts as well? If it is something that you need to tell me, then it is only right that my brother gets to hear it as well. Aft
“Nat? Do you think that they are looking at us?” Byron whispered to me.“Wow, Byron. I wonder what gave that away. Surely it’s not because of the crowd gathering around us, right?” I asked in a deadpanned tone.Byron turned to look at me with a fascinated look. “How did you know!?”I blew air out of my lips in exasperation. Byron and I stood awkwardly at the sea of crowd that was forming around us. News that we were demigods spread around the district and people were curious about us. To Byron, it might be normal for him, but for me, it was a new and foreign feeling.I bit the inside of my cheeks as I played with the hem of my shirt. Again, I kind of miss the jumpsuit that I wore back when we were in Atlantis. It was way mo
The door lets out a bang as I kicked it open. Several people, who were just passing by, jumped when they saw me leaving the training room with a very red face.I was furious and embarrassed. But more than that, I was disappointed with myself.As I continued to walk aimlessly in the hallway, I could not help but remember the instant that my body suddenly moved on its own as if it was on autopilot.I was pretty certain that it wasn’t the first time that this ever happened. I remember a few times that it happened when I was back in Atlantis.And most of the time, it usually happens when I become emotional or just in a pinch.I flinch the longer I walked that I started to become more aware of the state that I was in.
Trei led us to some sort of back garage. How do I know? Because of all the snowmobile lined all around us.As we entered, Trei gestured for us to follow to one side of the room to get some thick coats for us to wear. He handed us some gloves, snow boots, and some googles.“I thought that as Atlanteans, we can hardly feel the cold?” I asked him but still wore the gear anyway.“True,” Trei says. “But for safety precautions, just wear it. We are immune to the feeling of cold, but that doesn’t mean that our bodies won’t get sick in the process.”“But you made us take a dive ice-cold water to meet your great grandfather,” Byron says as he struggled to pull the thick coat over his head. “Um...Nat? Help?” He says as his arms got stuck in t
Later that day, Trei tried to ask permission to see his grandfather, but unfortunately, Grukren couldn’t talk at the moment because there were matters that he needed to attend to. I told the others about what I saw. About SIlisk and how it must be connected to the prophecy that Grukren told and warned us about.He was conscious. And he was waking up.Honestly, I was still a bit shaken up that I was afraid to even think about it. And so, while Trei was trying to fix me with a schedule with his grandfather, Sky and Byron decided to give me a tour of the facility.But it was mostly Skyr who was doing all the work while Byron was simply tagging along. The facility wasn’t that huge like Atlantis, but it was big nonetheless. It can cater to at least half a thousand people. From what I heard, there are ot
Trei led us to another part of the facility. Somewhere deep and cold. The place was similar to the entrance of Grukren’s cave, but this cave is made up entirely of ice. But it wasn’t even dark. More like the ice was glowing. It’s like a sort of light was trapped inside of it.We followed him all through the cave and as we did, we arrived at a dead end. Well, not really.In front of us was still water and the only land that we could find was the one that we were currently on and the other one was at the center. There was no other opening in the cave except the one where we just came from.“Okay…” I said while backing away to avoid slipping and falling into the water. “Trei, please tell me that we are not going to swim. I mean, look at us.” I gestured to Byr
Trei and I both held our breaths as the sea creature continued to stare down at us. Its whole body was submerged in the water and only its long neck was visible for us to see. It was flashing us with its long and sharp teeth and lets out a dangerous hiss directed at us.“Young Lord Nathalia, do not falter and command the creature!” Guill yelled. He and Byron were still at the middle of the platform and directly behind the sea creature.For a brief moment, I was actually worried that the creature would turn to them and attack them instead. Fortunately, the monster was only interested in me.‘You? A young brat like you dares to command me? I am Arion and this area is MY domain!’ The creature lets out a breath that sounded like a scoff.
“Remove that fabric and get in the water.”At that statement, Byron and I exchanged a look before looking at Guill like he’s crazy. My eyes darted towards the icy waters of the ocean. Today, my brother, Trei, and I are out in the field with Guill for the official start of our training wearing only our swimsuits like we were going to the beach. Trei was our chaperone for the day to ensure that Guill’s training won’t kill us, considering the stunt he pulled yesterday.I have to admit that I was pretty excited and I could tell that Byron was as well. That was why we wore the best training gear that we could find in our closets. But it turns out that we were supposed to go in the water and were forced to change into a swimmng trunk and a bikini.I gulped and looked at Guill to m