Aquata Cove Ch. 18

"ADRA SAVARNA!!" Yelled out a blue glow from the darkness. Penina is jetting as fast as she can, ascending at top speeds towards the small mermaid, "GET BACK TO THE POD! GET BACK TO THE POD!" Savarna gasped as the jelliscent mermaid, desperately swim.

However, eventually, she came to a stop, but still kept undulating her veiled body and three stingers. Savarna gasped as Penina tried desperately to swim up, up was seemed to be being pulled back, "GO BACK TO THE POD, ADRA SAVARNA, PLEEEAAASSSE!!"

Instead, Savarna jet down, and grabbed Penina's slippery arm. "NOOOOO!! YOU'LL DIE TOO!!" The Adra pulled as hard as she could, refusing to abandon Penina.

"HHHHHHHRRRRRRREEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!"

Came an angered roar from below. Savarna looked and screamed as she saw a colossal, narrow pair of jaws open. She turned and clutched onto Penina as the huge teeth clench all round the two mermaids in a mighty SNAP!

~~~

"Merrick..." Brishen said as they explored the trench, "I do not sense ANYTHING down here..."

"Me neither... I thought they were hiding because they were afraid. They were BEFORE we came here, but... It seems as though they have disappeared..."

"You may be a Triton, but I doubt there was anything here..."

"Which is strange, because this abyss should have a lot more life than this." Merrick replied, feeling irritated and paranoid, "In case you have not noticed, those dolphins I found swam away. While you were talking, I saw a pod of hammerheads hastily moving about. And I have been sending signals in EVERY direction, and every living creature is swimming AWAY from this part of the ocean!

"Why do you think Denizyr chose to tell the story of the Phantasma Whale last night??"

"Merrick... You are starting to scare me..." Brishen said, swimming backwards a little.

"Because my Mother said Sea Mother Atargatis is going to sleep for this one night, so he told THAT story for a fearful affect - for fun!"

"Merrick, stop!" Brishen said, "That's JUST a legend!"

"No, but what IF! What IF, the legend is real?! What if the Phantasma Whale DOES exist?! WHAT IF the Phantasma swallowed Sister and Penina?!" Merrick slapped his webbed hand over his own mouth as his eyes bulged. Brishen stared at him, but then gasped as he swam back.

"MERRICK! Behind you!!"

Merrick swung his trident around him, and swiped behind him, only to find he swung at a tunnel. The Adra gasped as he swam back, seeing a white, malevolent glow around a big, black, empty circle.

Brishen stared wide-eyed as a stench and image of a rotting sperm whale head slowly glows with a ghostly aura. He sent a signal, but he cannot sense the whale's presence. It doesn't exist, or it's not supposed to, yet it is forming out of nothing, RIGHT in front of him!

The giant ghost let out a long, aggressive moan as it moved forward. As it moved, its full form developed; its pectoral flippers half rotted with bones sticking out of them, its head withered out so its shining spine and ribcage is showing, with its mighty, intact tail pushed down, with a trail of aquatic ectoplasm washing in its wake.

Merrick and Brishen stared as the giant phantom dove gradually down, in the deepest darkness.

"... It has seen me..." Merrick uttered.

"Merrick... We need to get back to the pod... Your Mother will know what to do... You figured it out; we can find Adra Savarna and Penina! We have to-"

"No!" Merrick turned around, "Remember what Denizyr said?! The Phantasma Whale swallows any living creature it sees! If I go back to the pod, it will devour them too! It is going to follow me, it is coming right now!"

"RRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHEEEEEENNNNNGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"

There came a low roar of anger, and Merrick felt himself being pulled back. He gasped as he swam forward, feeling sucked backward like a vacuum. Brishen stuck his spear into a crack in the trench, and wrapped his arm tightly around it, and held out his other hand.

"Merrick, quick! Grab my hand!" He said, reaching for his friend. The Adra Triton reached out grunting as he pushed his tail as hard as he could. He inched closer and closer, as another low call rumbled behind him. No matter how hard he swam, or how close he got to gripping Brishen's hand, he steadily was pulled backward.

Merrick winced, and lowered his hand, "Merrick, NOO!"

"Get to the pod!" Merrick yelled, "It has not seen YOU yet! You have to go to the pod! GET THEM OUT OF HERE!!" He called. Brishen looked in terror as Merrick slowly inched backward as he yelled.

"NO! I am NOT leaving you behind!! You are the Adra Triton!! Swim harder, Merrick! Keep going!"

"IT'S TOO LATE!!" Merrick called out, "GET. THE POD. AWAY FROM HERE!!" With reluctance, Merrick stopped swimming, and drifted away fast.

"MEEEERRRRIIIIIICK!!" Brishen called out as the large, glowing beast closed its jaws around the Adra Triton. Brishen flinched, and curled himself tightly under a large rocky protrusion as the Phantasma moaned out another dark call as it moved through the water, ascending up, without disturbing the water.

Brishen pulled his spear out of the trench wall, and shot up as fast as he could. He swam until he broke the surface. He turned around and looked everywhere in the sky. It is VERY dark tonight - he can only see the stars. The green-tailed merman looked carefully around, until he saw a big dark circle in the sky - it's VERY subtle, but he can see it. It's a new moon, or otherwise, "... Sea Mother Atargatis is in slumber..." He looked in horror, and gasped as he turned to his side, seeing a glowing white, mighty, rotting whale tail rise up on the surface of the water, and diving back in.

~~~

Razirah Denizyr concentrated as he held his palms together, every broken shell on his body glowing and vibrating, all but two on his long tail. He hopes of activating all of his mediums in order to locate Adra Savarna and Penina, but has been unsuccessful. No matter how far a merperson goes, he should still feel the trace of their medium, but it seems as though Savarna and Penina has both-

"Oh!" His eyes opened, and he gasped as one more shell on his tail stopped glowing and vibrating, "Triton Kaiken" He said to the large, dark blue merman. Kaiken turned to him.

"What is it? Have you found them??"

"No... Adra Merrick's link... It too has disappeared..." He stated.

"No... Not my Son too..." Kaiken then turned and called out to all the nearby merfolk, "Double the search! The Adra Triton has disappeared!" The other merfolk gasped at the news, "I want every merman and mermaid on the watch for them! Summon any creature you see, and bid them to search as well!" The rest of the pod swam hurriedly away on his command, "Leave no shell or sand unturned! Not one of us will rest until we find them!"

Soon, only the meryin remained unsure of what to do. Kaiken scowled as he shook his head. "First my Daughter and Penina... And now my Son... Where is Umiato?" Kaiken asked the Razirah.

"She is tending to the meryin, Triton Kaiken."

"I need her to-"

"TRITON KAIKEN!!" Yelled a voice.

"What?" He turned around, and saw a merman of his pod, a green tail. Merrick's friend, Brishen, he believes. The young merman swam up to him frantically to the Triton.

"Adra Merrick is gone! He's been swallowed!"

"What?!"

"Impossible!" Denizyr said in disbelief, "Even of he was eaten, I should still be able to sense his shell."

"You do not understand!" Brishen yelled, "It was the Phantasma Whale! It is real!"

"Brishen!" Kaiken growled, "My Son, my Daughter, YOUR mate is missing, do NOT start prattling jokes!"

"This is NOT a joke, Triton Kaiken! I saw it with my own eyes! It's real!"

"It is only a legend, Brishen!" Denizyr said, "We have no time to waste on nonsense!"

"I am telling you, Merrick was swallowed! Please believe me!!"

"Brishen, I will not tolerate-"

"KAIKEN!" Came a stern voice. All three mermen turned to see the pearly white veil mermaid, looking quite cross. She drifted herself over to the green merman, "Alright, Brishen. Please tell me what happened." Umiato said softly.

"Adra Merrick and I were searching, and we found an abyss. We looked down there to investigate, and we found the Phantasma Whale! It appeared as a withering whale carcass! It saw Merrick, and it swallowed him! He told me to warn everyone, to get the pod away from here!" He said, a white mist forming around his eyes as he began to sob, "He said it swallowed Adra Savarna and Penina! Noita Umiato, the moon is dark tonight! The Shining Sea Mother is sleeping! The Phantasma Whale is REAL!"

There was a short pause and silence.

"RRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMMMRRRRRRRRR" Came a distant, whale call that sounded of loneliness and anger. Umiato nodded slowly.

"Very well. Take me to where you and my Son found it." She said gently to the merman.

"Y-Yes, Noita Umiato." Brishen turned around, and swam forth.

"Kaiken," Umiato said as she turned, "Come with us. If it is indeed a whale, we shall try and reason with it." The Triton scowled before he too moved beside her, "Razirah Denizyr, I want you to watch after the meryin. Keep them safe while we are gone."

"Yes, Noita Umiato."

And with that, they swam quickly.

~~~

The three of them swam swiftly through the open water, the Triton, the Noita, and the merman.

"Umiato, we are wasting time," Kaiken stubbornly said, "I do not sense a single whale anywhere near here."

"That is because it is a ghost!" Brishen said, "It is not alive, Adra Merrick and I were not able to sense it."

"Then how have you and Son found it?" Umiato asked.

"... We heard a whale calling, and he traced it into a trench..." Brishen said, "I could not help him... I was useless... I did not even believe him..."

"No, Brishen," Umiato said, as she gently felt his shoulder, "You reported what happened. You helped in bringing us a moment closer to finding the ones we love."

"You had better not have been wrong, Brishen," Kaiken said, "Or else, you have only-"

"Stop!" Umiato said, coming to an abrupt stop.

"What? What is it, Umiato?" The mermaid is looking directly up. Brishen and Kaiken tilted their heads back, and looked up.

There it is, the underside of the phantom. Half decayed with its head, flippers, and tail flipper preserved, and its ribcage and spine cleaned out. It glows with an eerie, ghostly aura as it floats near the surface of the ocean.

Kaiken sent a few signals to it, but felt and heard nothing between himself and the surface. It does not exist.

The Triton then let out a long, deep call to the giant phantom, as he would communicate with a whale. The ghostly apparition did nothing as it lingered there.

"... It will not respond... I cannot feel it, Umiato..." He muttered.

"It is a dead soul," Umiato said, "It is not of this world. It should not exist, and yet it does," She narrowed her eyes, before waving her veil-like tail, and ascending up to the whale. Brishen suppressed a whimper as the Noita approached the creature. Triton Kaiken rose up, following his mate to the unworldly beast.

Noita Umiato then came eye-to-eye with the ghost. She looked into the big black hole, an empty eye socket that she could just swim into. She glided along the rotted head, and faced the front of it.

"Phantasma Whale! Horror of the sleeping moon! Devourer of life itself!" He called out to it, "You have consumed some things I hold very precious to me." Her eyes then glared in anger at the whale.

"You will give them back."

The colossal demon opened its narrow mouth, withered and decayed, and let out a low grumbling noise. Kaiken gasped as he felt the water pulling himself and the Noita toward it. Umiato stayed still, allowing the ghost's inhale to draw her in. Brishen gasped before he kicked his tail hard to shoot up!

Right before Umiato could get near the rotting phantom flesh, she waved her frilled hand. Her pearly palm then lit up brightly, and outshined the whale itself! The flash caused the whale to roar in pain. The ghost writhed as the light of the Noita shocked it to its core.

"You WILL give them back to us!!" Umiato called out in anger.

The whale moaned in outrage before it dove down, and loomed into the sea. Umiato simply turned about face, and drifted to her mate.

"Alright, my love," She said calmly, "This is what I want you to do..."

~~~

Brishen panted as he swam quickly up. He has NO idea what Noita Umiato is playing at! She PRESENTED herself to the Phantasma! Why would she do that?! Didn't she listen to the story?! That ghost will NEVER let her go!

The merman turned and panicked as he say the giant carcass turn about, getting ready to charge at the Triton and Noita.

~~~

Kaiken and Umiato faced the incoming creature. It let out a low, enraged moan as it opened its large, rotting jaws.

Triton Kaiken opened his own mouth, and released a mighty roar. Umiato placed her hands onto his back, and channeled her power into his body. Kaiken felt a surge force out of his throat and from his mouth, his eyes glowing bright white as his voice became distorted with the magic of the Noita.

Immediately, the Phantasma Whale stopped in its tracks. Its moan became haltered as it froze on the spot. The remaining meat of its form blinked out. It shuddered and rumbled in sheer agony before it became a shambling skeleton of a colossal sperm whale.

With the Phantasma locked in the bewitched sound, Umiato began singing a battle melody as she drifted up, and swam into the shaking bone maw. Her song made the ribcage of the whale shimmer and glow, before a school of different kinds of deep-sea animals swarmed out of between the ribs of the Phantasma bones - the species of fish that live in Deep Ocean trenches.

Brishen looked in awe as the Phantasma quaked, stopped dead in its tracks as it rumbled its dead call in pain. He gasped as his eyes spotted a translucent, jellyfish like mermaid, with her arms around a shorter mermaid with frilly head-fins. "PENINA!!" He jet right up, and in-between the ribs of the whale skeleton. Penina lift her head from Savarna, hastily taking Brishen's webbed hand, and swimming with him out of the Phantasma. Noita Umiato came behind her son, him turning his head, and both of them looming out of the ghost whale.

Kaiken stopped the call, and rubbed his very sore throat, his gills flaring as his the inside of his neck burned from both the effort, and the spell from his mate. Upon spotting Penina holding Adra Savarna in her transparent arms, and Umiato guiding Merrick with her, Kaiken kicked his powerful tail to join them.

The Phantasma Whale raged as its decayed flesh returned to its form. It turned around, and opened its huge mouth to suck them in, RIGHT before it dissolved into nothingess, vanished without a trace.

Above the surface of the sea, the darkened moon had a very sliver of white peeking from it. Besides that, the sky is beginning to lighten up from the morning rays.

-One Month Later-

Adam stared wide-eyed at Merrick, "So... It's gone, forever?"

"No," Merrick shook his head, "You can't kill the dead. Not even a Noita has the power to end ghost. She was only able to save us..." He rubbed his arm, "I asked how she could do it, but she said it was too complicated to explain.

"Anyway," He said, "I wanna hear another human story~!" He said with a smile. Adam chuckled as he picked up a purple and magenta book.

"Ok, this one is called, 'Sleeping Beaut-"

*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP*

"Ty'." He grumbled and sighed, "I'm sorry, Merrick... I have to go to work."

"Awwooooo!" Merrick whined, "NOW? But I feel spooked from remembering the Phantasma! Please, can't you stay for a little while longer?"

"I'm sorry, Merrick, I can't." Adam said as he got dressed, "I told you, that's why I woke up early this morning, so we could cuddle and chat." Merrick sighed in disappointment. Adam tilted his head to him, "I'm sorry, sweetie. I have to work. Otherwise, I can't live here..." The merman sighed and nodded. Adam kissed his lips, and stood up, "I'll be back soon, sweetheart..." Reluctantly, Adam walked out of his room.

"Yeah... I'll be here..." Merrick said, taking the pillow, and hugged it close, "Like always..."