Chapter 128 - Smell Of The Moon

While the sun shines brightly against the Solaris, two thousand feet below the undying seas, the masters of the earth found themselves in a predicament they had already foreseen.

They came across a mermaid and the same living thing was now swimming its way in their direction. It was advancing at an incredible speed, gracefully swaying its tail against the dark blue surroundings. 

Utterly besieged by water, however, Christopher had all the power he needed to fight against the vicious mermaid. Once was a fairytale princess was now an enemy in Christopher's eyes. 

He powered up and willed the water, creating a cyclone effect in the direction of the mermaid. 

As the masters move away from the approaching half fish, Christopher tried to bring it further down. It left the mermaid rotating helplessly. 

To his surprise, however, the mermaid let out a scream. 

It was a screeching sound that hurt the master's ears. Christopher ended up letting go of the task at hand, enabling the mermaid to recover and be free of the swirling water. 

Faced with another possible attack, Brody stepped up. He said, "Taara, keep giving me air to breathe! I'll take care of this fish!"

He turned himself into solid steel, impenetrable to the mermaids' sharp fins and teeth, but as soon as he completed his transformation, he began sinking deeper into the darkness. 

"Fuck!" He screamed in annoyance. 

Brody was too heavy! He could not stay afloat. He had to shift himself back, otherwise, he would sink too fast and lose track of his co-masters. Abasi quickly brought him back next to him. 

The mermaid continued to shriek, moving forward in their path, and soon enough, they heard the same exact squeals from the depths of the water. 

One by one, more mermaids came about and it utterly frightened them. One was already a handful, but eight to ten was frightening, even for the powerful masters of the earth. 

Speaking through their heads, Taara proposed, "No time to waste. Chris, let's freeze these mermaids!"

"Right!"

With the strengths combined between the blue crystal and that of the white one, a stretch of ice began to form in the angle of the first mermaid. Its torso was the first to catch the cold ice, and its body gradually froze the rest of its body. 

Freezing one mermaid to another, Abasi aided in moving Taara and Christopher away from the reach of the finned beings. 

When a mermaid would close in at Christopher, Abasi would move him back or sometimes deeper, away from the attacking fish monster. He did the same with Taara. 

Brody also acted quickly, creating a metallic blade in his hands. He could not turn himself into a weapon, but he could at least create one sharp enough to cut through their enemies' flesh!

He had to momentarily leave the bubble of air Taara made for him in order to slice through the mermaids before them. He earlier saw the water was melting the ice. It was only a matter of time when the creatures would find themselves free again. 

After slaying two mermaids, Brody called in his head, "Give me air, Taara!"

Following Brody's call, Abasi promptly pulled Taara back to aid Brody.

It was overall a team effort. It had to be done as they were not only fighting against sea creatures, gravity was also weak considering they were under the water. 

The masters dealt with ten mermaids, all in all. Following Brody's quick slashing of his sword, their half bodies bled, floating in the water and slowly sinking into the abyss. 

The battle between mermaids was so intense, the maters did not realize how far deep had they gone under the water. 

They looked around and recognized the darkness. There was barely light from where they stood afloat. 

"Well, I will surely not look at mermaids the same way again," remarked Christopher. He was staying the furthest away from all the masters, deeper into the water. 

"You got that right," echoed Taara. All of them remained speaking in their heads. 

"I am now thinking... this is a bad idea," Brody said. "We should consider getting powers from another world. We are at an incredible disadvantage here."

Just when they all thought their worries were over, they felt a wave of water going up in their direction. It signified that something big was coming their way. 

"What - is - this?" Christopher asked. 

"It feels enormous," remarked Abasi, sensing himself getting pushed up by the water. 

Not a moment too soon, they saw two huge light blue eyes speeding in the direction of Christopher. Clearly, it was gigantic. 

Those eyes resembled that of a snake but gleamed like crystals. They looked fuller than Christopher's head, and it was getting bigger by the second. 

"Let's - let's go back to the surface!" Suggested Abasi. 

They did not know what they were facing. Even if they have to start all over again, it was safer to temporarily run away from the unknown. 

With the force against the water, Abasi shifted them, reappearing two hundred feet higher from where they used to linger. 

For some odd reason, something was hindering him to bring everyone out of Solaris itself. What he could do, however, was take them every two hundred feet higher. 

As the waters became clear, the masters could make out the image of what was running after them. It was long and beastly, a creature of the sea like no other. 

It was definitely a sea serpent, but the masters did not expect to see one so big. 

"Fucking hurry, Abasi!" Brody was screaming in his head, feeling his heart race. No matter what, they were inconvenienced. It was very tasking to fight in the middle of the sea where darkness surrounded them. 

"Almost there!" Announced Abasi. 

As soon as they reached the surfaced of the water, Taara did her job, maintaining the wind beneath their feet. It ultimately allowed them to stay adrift in the air. 

To their dismay, however, they could still see the beastly serpent storming their way and it left the masters gasping and widening their eyes further. 

"What the - Urrggghhh!" Christopher hastily let out his wings, but as he attempted to escape, he felt himself being pushed up into the air further. 

The sea serpent came out from the water and purposely bounced Christopher up instead, unable to recover and make use of his wings. 

He landed on a hard surface, his body facing the rest of the masters that remained to float thanks to Taara's air. 

"Where - where did I land on?" He asked them through his head. 

"Whatever happens, do not move," that was all that Abasi said. "I'll get you out of there."

Brody and Taara were scared out of their wits. They watched as Christopher settled on the bridge of the serpent's nose. Its eyes were looking straight at them while its tongue was stretching out from its humongous mouth. 

Whatever it was that Christopher landed on, it was obviously moving, sensing it ascend, moving closer to the rest of the masters. 

"I'm going to get you, Chris. In the count of three," said Abasi. 

Christopher merely nodded. 

"One. Two - "

"You smell of the moon, creature. What are you?" Their eyes enlarged, hearing the sea serpent speak to them! Rather, it was speaking to Christopher!

Its voice rebound against the seas, very audible from meters away. "What are you, I asked? And what brings you to Solaris?"

"Get up and speak to me creature with wings!" Ordered the sea serpent. "Don't worry. I don't eat bones like you. You won't be enough to fill my stomach!"

Poor master of water could utterly feel his heart ready to jump out of his chest, but when the serpent spoke again, he finally stood up and turned around. 

'Yup! The thing is colossal,' He told himself. He gulped at the sight of the serpent's light blue eyes and said, "Hello, just in case you change your mind, I - I absolutely taste bland."

"Hmmm... Humorous, I see. Just like someone, I know," said the serpent. 

Christopher was standing on the serpent's nose, right in between its bright blue eyes. From its head, it looked like a dragon, only that it had no wings. 

Its skin was covered in scales in the color of aqua blue. From its head, fins the size of his body formed, clearly doing down to the rest of its frame. 

"I'm asking you, again, flying creature. Why do you smell of the moon?" Asked the serpent. "Do you come from the moon?"

"If - if I say yes, would that mean you would let us go?" Christopher said, raising his brow. 

"I have no time for humor, creature! Tell me, how do you smell of the moon?" The serpent asked again. 

"I - I have no clue what you are saying. I don't even know what the moon smells like. Must smell great!" Christopher added. "I came from a world called Pelagy."

For seconds, the serpent squinted at Christopher, doubting his words. When it spoke, it said, "Impossible. You have the blood of someone from a moon. That's how you smelled of the moon."

*****

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