Outcast

Cordelia's home,lit by thousands of bioluminescents was lightly decorated for the once in a hundred years celebration of the cobalt moon. Cordelia was in the galley cutting up fish.

Nherisa swam up to her sister.

"Done?"

"Yes" Cordelia said.

Nherisa carried the tray of fish and placed it in the oven. She picked up a little cage from the ground beside the oven. From inside the cage, a frigil fish stared at her. She threw the cage into the darkness of a little space under the oven and closed it up. The scales of the frigil produced light and heat, filling the oven with heat. The water within a metre radius was extremely warm.

Cordelia, unable to stand the heat, swam out into the hallway. The intense heat was too much for her. She stopped moving. She had seen something crying out to her from the corner of her eye. She turned her head. Right under her a rock carving of her mother's profile was a little necklace: a piece of rock with a string attached to it.

Cordelia held the necklace in her hand. It seemed like an electric shock moved through her body from her hands to her eyes.

Suddenly, a clear image of her mother appeared in front of her.

Beautiful.

Her mother was beautiful. Hair almost red. Emerald green eyes. Blue-purple scales. She looked just like Nherisa. Her fins fluttered as she swam forward.

Cordelia followed her, noticing that she had a baby in her arms. They reached home only to find the rubble that used to be their house and five year old Nherisa laying half dead on the floor.

Pherisa went down to sit beside her daughter and put Nherisa's head on her lap.

Then she picked a piece of rock from beside her that had Nherisa's blood stained on it. Her fingers shook as she attached a string to it and tied it around her neck.

Cordelia could hear her thoughts. She could hear her mother promise to find whoever had done this to her daughter.

Cordelia returned to reality. She dropped the necklace back on the table.

No one had informed her about that night. No one had told her anything;no one ever told her anything. She picked up the necklace again and headed back towards the kitchen.

Halfway there, her eyes glowed green again. The force of gravity acting upon her grew stronger and she fell to the ground. All she could see was black ⚫️,although her eyes were open.

Slowly, the darkness disappeared and she could see eight year old Nherisa holding a Nherisa year old Cordelia. Pherisa headed towards the doorway.

"Where are you going ,mother" Nherisa asked. She didn't want to be left alone again ( not after what had happened the last time.

"I'll be back soon dear" Pherisa said "mother has some work that she needs to attend to." With that,she was gone.

The pictures turned to dust in front of Cordelia's eyes. Then out of that same dust, another scene emerged. One rather terrible.

Cordelia saw a head stone with the initials Pherisa Tide carved on it.

Cordelia's eyes opened. Her eyes raced. Her gills refused to respirate. What had she seen? Who had killed her mother? Why? Cordelia had questions and only Nherisa could have answers.

She paddled back into the kitchen to find that Nherisa wasn't there.

Cordelia darted out of the house. She kept swimming until the shipwreck where she used to play as a child. She sat on the exhausted rail. The wood creaked under her weight. Splinters pricked against her scales.

The vertical city of Encrea reflected in Cordelia's eyes. It had come a long way since the last time she had seen it from that angle. Builders layered rocks on top of each other, at the top of the vertical cities. Cordelia imagined - nay,visioned - her mother being buried with that view in sight.

A shadow covered her. She looked up to find a large ship over her head heading towards Encrea on the surface. She watched it stop right over the underwater city. After a few seconds,a long harpoon line ( the longest Cordelia had ever seen in all her twenty years of life) was cast from the ship. It lowered down into the vertical cities of encrea. Slowly ,the line drew up again with a little orealea caught by a webbed foot.

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Cornelia stood on the fore deck of 'the regal',looking down into the water. She could imagine people - humans - just like her swimming around and getting about their daily businesses down there. She had seen something that day. It was no beast or sea monster or fish or siren or even a mermaid.

It was human.

"This is not right." She said partly to herself.

"I know " Roland's voice came from behind her. She turned around to see him walking up the stairs with a harpoon in his hands "but what other option do we have?"

"The option of leaving them alone." Cornelia almost shouted, She could cry "Only you and I know what we saw that day."

"That's the only reason why we're here." Roland had walked up beside Cornelia by now. "Our people need to know what's down there."

Uniformed guards Carrie in a pulley with a long cord connected to the harpoon wrapped around it.

"But why does everyone have to know everything?" Cornelia asked

"It's called curiosity."Roland said like he was talking to a five year old "and then comes science then technology after that. It's how we grow, Cornelia."

'Men really are stupid' Cornelia thought. She felt like it was all about dominance to them. But what could she do? A wife must submit to her husband and a queen to her king. "Just, please, don't hurt them too much." she finally said, wishing he didn't have to hurt him at all.

She clasped her hands together. Her eyes turned blue,her lips moved, chanting spells.

"What do you see?" Roland asked

"See for yourself." Cornelia said,her voice very differentthan it was a minute ago. She stretched her hand towards the water. A fog like blue essence flowed out of her and unto the surface of the sea. On the surface appeared the image of a little girl: long hair; green, beautiful, sharp eyes; scales on thick skin; fins fluttering from her arms and legs; her feet webbed; playing around in a community of vertical cities that looked a whole lot more civilised than Roland's own. "They aren't dumb animals."

"Even better,we can learn from them." Roland said

'He doesn't get it, does he?' Cornelia thought. She couldn't let him do this to her. She wasn't that heartless.

Cornelia's Hazel eyes returned. The chesty voice disappeared and her sweet melodious voice exclaimed "No!!!"as she reached out to stop her husband. But Roland had already thrown the harpoon.

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Cordelia's webbed feet flapped vigorously behind her, propelling her forward towards the little serea. It surprised her that no one had noticed the little serea who was being pulled up,kicking and screaming by a harpoon.

Cordelia reached out to the serea and the serea reached back. Their fingers brushed, failing to get a grip.

The harpoon suddenly went up faster. Cordelia swam with all her strength,trying with utmost determination to save the little serea's life, but at that moment, it seemed impossible. Especially since she had become drained of energy. She gave up,using the little ration of energy she could scavenge up she managed to lift up her arm and stretch her hand towards the serea. Her eyes closed.

Cordelia might have been drained of all her energy but her will lived strong. She willed hard that she could save the serea.

Rip currents, out of nowhere, went around her outstretched hand. More rip currents surrounded her entirety snd before she could figure out what was going on, she was being pushed up at superspeed.

She reached the serea. She passed the serea. It was just then that the little sea dweller's mother decide to look around in search of her. She looked up just in time to see cordelia crash through the ship from the centre, dividing it into two. The water held Cordelia up in mid air.

Cornelia and Roland stared in astonishment at cordelia,failing - for a second - to notice the sinking shipthey were standing on. A few soldiers shot arrows and bullets at Cordelia. It seemed like she was invisible as the dense water stopped their bullets and broke their in two.

Cordelia dove back into the water. She swam directly to the serea, unhooked her and pulled her back down between the vertical cities of Encrea.

The mother immediately swam to her daughter and pulled her away from Cordelia's grip. The zenizens gathered around them. The mother took her daughter into the safety of the crowd.

"Witch!" Yelled an old sea dweller who stood in front of the crowd. "Explain yourself or face the judgement."

Cordelia looked around at the angry, amazed crowd. She was certainly far from the shipwreck. She looked up at a slowly sinking ship which was split into two split into two. She looked at her sister who was swimming towards her. Her day wasn't going a the way she planned. And she still had fish cooking at home.

"Nherisa!" Cordelia called hugging her. "What happened?"

Nherisa didn't answer. She too saw whatever her sister had just done. She wasn't as shocked as the other zenizens( she had seen things), but she was surprised.

"We must take her to the king" said someone from the crowd. "He'll know what must be done with her."

"And take her sister too." Said someone else from the crowd.

Cordelia's eyes didn't leave Nherisa even when a group of four men held her hand and pulled her away as they did with her sister.

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The hall of echoes.

The place where sea dwellers were taken to be brutally disgraced in front of the whole city by the trial of the king.

The cracks on the stone walls told of its age and its history. The shells on the walls gave the dome surrounded by arches a more festive appeal than it was entitled.

The zenizens floated around the room in an orderly fashion leaving a path that the guilty would take out of the hall after being banished.

The king Seward of the sea dwellers sat on his throne, trying to comprehend the accusation that had been made against Cordelia. The witnesses behind Cordelia who was knelt down in the middle of the hall.

"Now, Cordelia." Said Seward. "Are you not responsible for the shipwreck that we now find sinking into Encrea?"

"I have no knowledge about the shipwreck." Cordelia retarded

"You dare lie to my face!!!" Sewaed yelled,rising up from his throne.

"I wouldn't dare at all, your highness." Cordelia spoke back.

"So you accuse all these people of lying?"

"I said no such thing."

"Then what do you say? What do you say in your defence?" Seward asked

"That the last thing I remember before being captured was trying to save the young Serea from the harpoon."

"So you do remember heading towards the ship?"

"Y...yes." Cordelia stammered.

"Then the truth is crystal clear."declared Seward "Apart from the serea in question, only you went near the ship at the time of the incident. Numerous witnesses claim to have seen you cause the shipwreck using sorcery. Since you claim not to remember, it proves that you have no control over your powers. Therefore, you are declared a threat to all of Encrea and you are hereby banished from Encrea not to be seen for miles away. Forever. Along with your sister. My word is law." With that, king Seward went back to his chamber and the zenizens pulled Cordelia and Nherisa away.