Chapter 18

Lexander started holding rallies of Elemental Supremacists, inciting riots and protests against the Tarrus government. The police force, which had recently started calling themselves Patrollers, had no recourse against Elemental rioters. Lexander became more and more politically outspoken, even drawing some Pureskin supporters. There was a burgeoning cult among the people of Tarrus which theorized that Elementals were the descendants of Greek Gods from Ancient Earth, and that this endowed them with the divine right to rule their mortal inferiors. Lexander, of course, thought these theories idiotic, but he didn’t deny the rumors for the political gain they brought him. With the cultists partisan backing, Lexander and his followers were more than just a fringe rebel force. They were quickly becoming a legitimate political party, one that threatened the stability of the still-growing human race.

Thazia’s eyes snapped open as a loud groan burst from her dry lips. She became aware of several facts. One, her hydration levels were severely low. It reminded her of a time when she was little and explored the beaches of Nepton without the proper equipment. She would’ve died of dehydration if Jorrez hadn’t found her in time. It seemed as if the heat was smothering her. She felt so dry. She needed water. She needed the ocean. It could mean that her atmospheric converter had been damaged, or perhaps even removed altogether.

The second thing she became aware of ... she couldn’t move. She tried, but there was ... something. Something holding her down. A force without substance or mass; just an overwhelming sense of pressure, like traveling to a deep part of the Atlantean Seas. She suspected that she was being held down by some kind of forcefield. At first, the only thing she could see was a bright light shining directly in her face. The only thing she could hear was a dull humming noise and the sound of her raspy, frenzied breathing as her lungs barely processed the liquid-lacking atmosphere. She took a moment to center herself, remembering what her brother taught her about breathing air outside the water without an atmospheric converter. Her exercise worked somewhat as her breathing evened out. Even the fear of dehydration dissipated as she reasoned that her captors likely wouldn’t leave her unattended long enough for her to die. Unfortunately, her momentary calm didn’t last as other factors came to mind. Panic started to well up in her chest as she remembered the Sharkmen and the Morlocks, how they slaughtered her guards and her friends ... skewered her brother like a harpooned whale. Her ... her brother! He was still alive, wasn’t he?

“Jorrez!” squeaked out Thazia, afraid to ask. She was afraid because he might not answer.

As the silence nearly drove her mad, she heard the sound of her brother’s concerned voice. “I’m here, Thazia.”

She sobbed for joy, trying desperately to move her head. Seeing anything but that glaring, yellow light in her face would’ve been nice, but seeing her brother’s face would’ve made her happy beyond words. Horror started to take route in Thazia as she found she had no motor controls whatsoever. She couldn’t move her arms, her fin, not even her neck in the slightest. Had those Morlocks paralyzed her?

“J-Jorrez,” cried Thazia, tears welling up. She closed her eyes, trying to blot out that horrible light in her face. “I ... I can’t move! What have they done to me?!”

“It’s just the forcefield they have you under,” he said reassuringly, his voice sounding much softer and less authoritative than usual. “It’s some kind of paralysis field ... psionically based. They probably want to keep your psions suppressed since they saw you using Water Elemency.”

From the sound of his voice, he seemed close. Probably no more than a few feet behind her. She wished she could turn her head to look at him, move her arms to touch him. She wished she could do something, anything, to feel her brother near. Hearing his voice but not being able to see or touch him might’ve been the worst possible torture.

“Where are we? How long have I been unconscious?”

“I ... I’m not sure,” said Jorrez. It was perhaps one of the few times that Thazia heard genuine fear and uncertainty in her brother’s usually fierce voice, and it sent her heart reeling. “I ... I think we’re on board the Morlock ship. I only woke up a few minutes ago myself. I felt some rumblings throughout the vessel. It was likely turbulence from the ship moving somewhere.”

Thazia’s chest rose and fell in tandem with her rapidly racing heartbeat. She was scared enough as it was, but she had to cope with all of this while missing the comforting touch of Atlantis’ sweet oceans. Oh, how she missed water. How she missed the soft pillows of her bedroom. From what she could tell, she was lying on her back on some kind of cold, metal table. The metallic nature of the entrapment only heightened her dread.

“If the ship is moving ... could that mean that they’ve already taken us off-world?” Thazia asked, wishing with all her might that it wasn’t true.

Just the thought of being taken from Atlantis, from her family ... Oh, how she missed her beautiful mother. How she longed to see her proud sister again. But most of all, she wanted nothing less than to look upon the kindly face of her sweet, simple father and give him the biggest hug of his life. The thought that she and Jorrez would likely never see any of them again broke her to the very marrow of her soul.

“I don’t think so,” Jorrez finally answered at least. “It didn’t feel like breaking through the atmosphere. But still, we are moving somewhere, but there’s no way of knowing where.”

Thazia continued to whimper pathetically, wishing she could move enough to at least wipe away her tears as they dribbled down her cheeks. “We’re never going to see them again, are we? Jezrin ... mommy and daddy. They’ve probably already taken us for dead.”

“Thazia, you mustn’t speak that way,” chided Jorrez, some of his old confidence coming back. “In times like these, we must keep our spirits up. According to my training, the key to keeping a captor from breaking you is to-”

There was a loud hiss! like an automatic door opening. And then there was the horrible clanking of boots upon a metallic floor. Thazia’s breath congealed. She knew the sound of those boots all too well. They were softer and more harmonic than the less organized patter of human boots. Only Morlocks walked with such a mix of militarism and subtlety.

A face appeared in front of Thazia, blocking out the light. She might’ve been grateful to have that awful light out of her eyes if not for the fact that it was Savin’s pale face blocking it.

He smiled that eerie smile of his that was both polite and predatory. “Good to see you awake, dear princess. Your host is most eager to meet both you and your gallant brother.”

In that moment, Thazia wished desperately that Jorrez had been allowed to finish ... to impart some apparent secret to resisting interrogation. She didn’t know what these creatures could possibly wish to interrogate her for, but just seeing the look in those cold, yellow eyes, she knew one thing for certain. These creatures intended to break her. Even worse, she knew that she’d likely be broken very easily, if she wasn’t already. She wasn’t a soldier like her brother. She was just the spoiled little sister.

Dear Lord Poseidon, if you have any mercy, then take my soul to the Eternal Seas before these monsters have their way with me, she prayed silently.

Before Thazia realized what was happening, the room started moving. As the walls moved around her, all she could make out were dark, metallic corridors of a black, obsidian-like material. She saw other Morlock faces moving around as she realized that they were shuttling her somewhere.

Struggling to catch her breath as a deep-seated fear took hold, Thazia gasped out, “Jorrez!”

“I’m still here, Thazia. I’m still right here.”

His voice sounded closer. Straining with all her might, Thazia could just make out the figure of her brother to her left. He was bare-chested and strapped down on a hovering, metal table as a Morlock in a gray uniform that looked like a scientist’s lab coat pushed him down the hallway. The wounds on his arms and tail had been treated, but he still looked unhealthily pale, like he’d been spending too much time outside the water. With his armor gone, she could make out the small birthmark on his chest that looked strangely similar to a crescent moon. Their father had a similar birthmark. Jezrin used to tease him about it when they were younger, calling him Moony Junior. He tried to reach for her with the tips of his fingers, but the metal bindings held fast his wrists. Out of reflex, she reached for him as well to find her efforts to be similarly futile. So close to touching, and yet still so far. She didn’t know if the Morlocks were purposefully torturing her with all this, or if they simply didn’t care.

As they moved through the corridors of the dark ship, she heard the hissing! and whooshing! of more metal doors. Then came other noises she wished she didn’t hear. Crying. Sobbing. Moaning. Wailing. Screaming. It was the kinds of noises she only heard in her nightmares. The kinds of noises from the horror-based holo-novels that she guiltily perused as a child. Whatever the source of those noises was, one thing became all too horribly clear. Men and women, and even quite a few children ... they were in agony.

She could see her brother looking around, his mouth wide with the terror of it all. He locked his gaze with hers, his pale blue eyes pleading with her as he said, “Close your eyes, Thazia.”

But even as he said it, she couldn’t help but notice the Mermaid on the wall behind him. It was a blonde Mermaid, probably about Thazia’s age. She had purple seashells as a top and a purple tail fin. She could’ve been a classmate for all Thazia knew. Just another face she might see at the Royal Atlantean Academy. She probably would’ve been popular with the boys like Thazia given how pretty she was. But that future was impossible for this Mermaid now as metal bindings strapped her to a wall, forcing her into an uncomfortable upright position, especially considering that she was outside of the water. That might’ve been torture enough if Thazia hadn’t noticed something else about the poor Mermaid girl. The top of her skull had been removed. Somehow, the girl was still conscious as she whimpered and shivered with her brain fully exposed to the air. Mechanical arms from the ceiling were prodding her pink brain tissue, poking and jabbing with unfeeling metallic fingers. The girl’s tear-filled gaze locked eyes with Thazia, and that’s when Thazia did as her brother asked and closed her eyes.

More screams. More moans. Then came the sound of others pleading and begging for mercy. Others begged for death. No one responded to their pleas. She could make out Morlocks mumbling in their strange, harsh language, but they didn’t seem to be talking to the prisoners they were torturing. Why? Why weren’t they asking any questions? Wasn’t this some kind of interrogation room? Unless, of course, their aim wasn’t to get information, but something far more diabolical.

Then the moaning and the screaming blessedly stopped as another pair of doors opened and closed. Thazia kept her eyes firmly shut, too afraid to see what other horrors awaited her in this place.

And then she heard a voice, a man’s voice. “Das prince and princess, I presume. Mein apologies for the meager accommodations, sires. We do not entertain royalty very often.”

The man’s accent, or perhaps not a man but certainly male, sounded different from the subtle, threatening tones of the Morlocks. His accent was strange as well, though somehow familiar. She could’ve sworn she heard some humans speaking like that. Perhaps even a few nonhumans. Humans learned their languages from Demihumans, after all, so it was entirely possible that the man speaking might not be a man at all.

“The Atlantean government will not stand for this!” she heard Jorrez scream, his old fire returning. “The treatment you’re subjugating my people to constitutes as one of the most heinous war crimes in history! Once my family reaches out to their allies in the Water Ministry, and the universe becomes aware of these atrocities, you’ll have the full might of the Tarrus Empire bearing down upon you! I hope you got a thrill from all the innocent Merfolk lives you’ve tormented, because you won’t live long to enjoy your sick pleasures!”

“Such aggression,” said the voice calmly, sounding bemused. “Such vociferous mannerisms. These traits will be useful in time, but for now, they are a minor nuisance.”

Thazia heard someone making a blowing sound, and then her brother grunted softly. She didn’t know if they had done something to Jorrez, but she was too afraid to open her eyes and find out. In just a few short hours, she had already seen enough death and pain to last a lifetime. Beyond that, there was just something so unnatural about that voice that somehow eclipsed all the terrors she witnessed up till now.

“Oh, this one is frightened. Look how das young fraulein shivers. Open your eyes, mein fürstin. Do not fear me. I am not here to harm you.”

There was something in the voice that was commanding, perhaps even regal. It was also somewhat lulling ... soothing in a way that seemed unnatural for a male. And the scents in the air. The smell vaguely reminded Thazia of her mother’s perfumes, or even her father’s pipes. Without realizing it, Thazia found herself relaxing. A part of her told herself that she should be even more afraid now that she felt strangely relaxed, but she still ended up doing as the voice said. Her eyes drifted open. It felt like dreaming, only in reverse.

Thazia found she could move her head more freely now, but still, her limbs remained useless. She and Jorrez were in a large, dimly lit corridor. There was a faint, blueish light illuminating the chamber. Along the walls were dozens of glass pods filled with a blue glowing liquid of some kind. Inside each pod was a Mermaid. Each Mermaid stared ahead blankly with a glazed, empty expression, her hair undulating softly around her. Wires were sticking out of their heads as they floated aimlessly in their tube-shaped, glass canisters. By the expressions on their faces, they looked dead, and yet their tails were subtly moving as they treaded water. Whatever was happening to them, it looked like they might’ve been suspended somewhere between life and death. A few Morlocks walked down the dimly lit corridors with datapads, scribbling speedily as they occasionally glanced up at the Mermaids with mostly disinterested expressions. By the look of their generic uniforms, they were likely technicians of some kind.

Thazia doubted she would like to find out what was happening to those Mermaids, but for some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to care all that much. She should’ve been terrified, but she could only muster a vague sense of mild curiosity. That voice, and that smell. Somehow, all her fears had been replaced by idle apathy as her eyes lazily scanned the area. As she glanced at her brother still strapped on a floating medical table beside her, he too seemed to be lulled into a stupor much as she was. He looked ... at ease. Perhaps she should be grateful for that. Perhaps they wouldn’t do anything horrible to him, and even if they did, maybe it wouldn’t hurt that much.

“Ja. That’s it, mein dears,” cooed the strange voice once more. “Doesn’t that feel better? Mein new pheromones are working splendidly. We can now converse rationally as civilized beings without all those pesky emotions like fear or anger getting in the way.”

Thazia traced the voice to its source. Among the Morlock technicians was another being in a dark hooded cloak. He seemed to be recording data as well as he scribbled on a datapad with his back to her and observed the Mermaids in suspended animation, though his bearing showed far greater interest than the technicians. He was definitely not a Morlock as he balanced on a long, pale tail instead of legs. At the end of his powerful tail was a long, straight barb that looked similar to a stinger, or perhaps even a syringe. Thazia realized that she had heard of this creature. A Lamia, or perhaps a Gorgon. One of the Snake Demihumans. Her people had not had much contact with Lamia. Though they were a fairly advanced race, she heard they were reclusive and could even be aggressive when provoked. She had no idea why a Lamia would be on a Morlock ship considering that Morlocks were some new breed of Hobgoblin, and Goblins had no relations with Lamia. Though her political mind drilled into her from years of studying to be a diplomat desperately sought an answer, she couldn’t puzzle out the mystery.

“Who are you?” Jorrez inquired dazedly, his voice mirroring the trance-like state of his face. The creature seemed to ignore Jorrez as he continued his work.

“My Lord Dredge,” said Savin solemnly as he knelt to the robed figure. Unlike when he spoke to the Sharkmen, Savin sounded respectful now. No, more than respectful. Reverential, as if he were reciting a prayer to some ancient deity. “The young male royal is strong and sturdy, as you surmised. He will make for a fine test subject in our Deep Sea Project. And the girl has shown nascent abilities with Blood Elemency, a rare trait among Water Types. I know she will be beneficial to your research.”

The Lamia gave a dismissive wave of his hand, still engrossed with his observation of the Merfolk in the test tubes. Thazia caught a glimpse of a pale, scaly hand with long fingers and sharp claws. “Yes, yes. Go ahead and fetch the injection serum for das prince. I wish to verify a few variables with das fraulein before we begin.”

Savin bowed even lower before rising to his feet and disappearing down the corridor. A part of Thazia told her she should be worried about said ‘injection’ for her brother, but that scent in the air ... it was so calming, just like her bed at the bottom of the ocean. If anything, she might fall asleep given how nice it felt.

Handing his datapad to a nearby technician, the Lamia turned to face Thazia. With the hood of his outfit up, she couldn’t see his head as he faced away from her. When she did see his face, she suddenly remembered what fear felt like as she recoiled in disgust. The pale, snake-like face was not altogether surprising given the tail. Not even the barbed tongue that shot out of his mouth periodically was that disturbing. No, what frightened Thazia were his eyes. Four blue glowing eyes without pupils, burning with an unknowable energy. In those blue-tinted eyes, she could see depths deeper and darker than any ocean ... and it terrified her utterly. Those four unnatural eyes possessed supreme intelligence and knowledge that made Thazia feel as little more than an amoeba beneath their gaze. It was the same kind of fear as a mouse fleeing from a cat, or a bird freezing at the sight of a serpent. No, more like the fear of an animal facing a hurricane. She tried to squirm away, and her brother sensed her distress as he too struggled against his bindings, though somewhat sluggishly.

“Dear fraulein, did I not tell you? I’m not here to hurt you, so you have nothing to be afraid of,” he said in that effeminate voice of his, his eyes occasionally glowing brighter as he spoke as if indicating a slight change in mood.

The creature with the four glowing blue eyes then inhaled and blew softly into her face. A blue mist emanated from his mouth, enveloping Thazia’s nostrils. Once again, that feeling of serenity and dullness washed over her. Thazia then forgot why she should feel afraid. She didn’t know why she should feel anything other than cold, rational logic. She was a royal, after all. A representative of the tolerant and enlightened Atlantean Society. Perhaps there was a diplomatic resolution to be reached with this being.

“My ... my name is Thazia, second in line to the throne of Atlantis and regent of the Aquatic Alliance,” Thazia said tiredly, remembering the proper protocols of etiquette when dealing with a new species ... if that was indeed what this creature was. He could’ve been a Lamia, but then again, she never heard of a Lamia with eyes like that.

The creature, Lord Dredge, drummed his fingers together as he held up his scaly hands in front of his large mouth, his claws clicking rhythmically. He didn’t say anything for a while, silently observing his two captives with those strange eyes of his.

“We ... we respectfully ask you to inform us of the nature of our imprisonment,” Jorrez said uncertainly, that same hazy expression on his face as before. “If it is ransom you require, you need only contact the Queen and King. For the safe return of Thazia, they will gladly pay you any-”