Chapter 2
“Unholy fucking shit!” Akira gasped when I opened my eyes, and my entire body felt like numb jelly. “Master… look at your hands.”
“And Marina’s tail!” Morgana squealed with delight. “Beatrix, you did it!”
When I looked down, I realized my hands and feet were webbed and scaled, but I was having trouble breathing and speaking. As I turned to look at Marina, she immediately dove under the water, and the last thing I saw before she disappeared beneath the surface was a bright-purple tail.
I quickly followed Marina’s lead and plunged into the cool, deep blue water, and when my body was fully submerged, I could breathe again. I felt a flapping sensation beneath both of my ears that I thought must be gills as I paddled my long legs and arms, and I followed the newly-transformed Marina deeper into the water. Everything around me was a wash of sapphire, azure, and cobalt blues, and brightly-colored fish of all shapes and sizes swam past me as I moved my body with ease and followed Marina deeper into the ocean. When I caught up to her, she flashed me a smile and then gestured down to what appeared to be an underwater cavern.
I nodded my head in agreement as we swam down toward the underwater cave, and as I paddled after the gorgeous siren, we soon found ourselves right outside of a giant but closed off cave. We hovered in front of the giant rock covering the entrance way for a moment, and then Marina turned her head to look at me and opened her mouth to speak as if we were on land.
“You’ll have to use your mind to move the boulder out of the way, master,” she said, and I could understand her clearly even though her voice was slightly distorted. “I’m not powerful enough to do it.”
“No problem,” I replied, and even though I knew my body was now adapted to water, I was still amazed that I didn’t swallow any ocean water as I spoke. Then I pulled my wand from my waistband and aimed it at the giant rock. “Motus!”
Suddenly, the large boulder rolled out of place and allowed us to swim inside the mysterious black opening. The sensation behind my ears intensified as I pushed myself to keep swimming and not back down from the heightened pressure, but even though the water was pitch black, my newly developed eyesight permitted me to see exactly where I was going.
The ocean depths were as ebony as night, but I could still see every type of fish swim by as if the water was crystal clear. My gaze flickered to the beautiful Marina, who swam just a few feet ahead of me, and I studied every multi-colored scale on her new slender but strong tail. Her purple hair flowed behind her like the finest threads of glistening silk as she pushed forward with her porcelain and toned arms, but she must have sensed me staring because she flashed me a small smile over her shoulder, and even her pearly-white teeth shone through the black water.
“We’re almost there, master,” she said with ease. “I can feel the pull of whatever we need to find dragging us closer. Do you feel it, too?”
Before I responded, I took a moment to feel deep inside my heart. It was beating fast and hard, and in my mind, I could sense a strong magnetic pull drawing me closer to whatever we were looking for like a moth is drawn to a burning, bright flame.
“Yes,” I replied with a small nod. “I can feel its power growing closer. Whatever it is, it harbors strong holy magic. I sense both its beauty and atrocity.”
“I feel the same thing,” the beautifully transformed siren remarked. “Whatever it is, it’s been dying to be pulled from the water for an extraordinarily long time, and the deeper we venture, the stronger the sensation becomes… Wait, look up, I think there’s a small air space. Must be a cave within a cave.”
When I glanced upward, I saw exactly what Marina described. It looked like the surface of a small pool, so we both swam toward it, but I gasped and struggled to breathe when we broke the surface.
“F-Fuck,” I sputtered as I reached for my throat, but the painful sensation behind my ears seemed to suddenly seep back into my skin, and when I looked down at my hands and feet, they were no longer webbed and scaled.
I glanced over at Marina, but for some reason, she still had her tail, and when she looked at me, there was a helplessness in her eyes.
“Master,” she began. “I can’t crawl up onto the surface as you can. I can breathe, but I believe it is you who needs to find the missing clue.”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “I think the charm Beatrix placed upon us only works for me when I reach an air pocket… or it has simply worn out.”
“Let’s hope it’s the former,” Marina sighed dramatically. “We still need to swim back.”
“It’s alright, Marina,” I said in a reassuring voice. “I still remember every word Beatrix uttered if that’s the case.”
“Master, you’re incredible,” Marina said with adoring, lavender eyes, and I couldn’t help but smile back at her loving face.
“Wait here,” I ordered. “Let’s see if I can find this mysterious clue on my feet.”
“Yes, master,” the siren responded in an obedient tone. “I will keep a lookout.”
I grasped the edges of the stone surface and carefully pulled myself from the cool water, and when I managed to stand steadily upright, I scrunched the water from my shirt and shook my head to get the ocean water out of my ears. I quickly rubbed the saltwater out of my eyes, looked around the dim cave, and then pulled out my wand.
“Illuminana,” I whispered before the tip of my wand glowed bright yellow.
The spell lit up the entire inside of the small cave, and I studied every feature of the black rocks and darkly-hued sea pebbles. As I looked closer, I noticed some carvings were embedded and splayed across the entire cavern walls, and it looked like random drawings etched deep into the greenish-black stone.
But then I realized one carving depicted two men with wings and long, spiked tails. They were both placing a glowing circular object inside a large chest with no lock, and behind them lurked a giant squid with razor-sharp tentacles and menacing eyes. Just the image itself sent a violent shiver down my back, and goosebumps covered my entire body.
“Did you find anything yet, master?” Marina called out as she slapped her tail against the water.
“Not yet,” I shouted back, “but I have a feeling that whatever we’re looking for has got to be around here somewhere.”
“What about there?” The purple-haired Wicca pointed to a corner covered with massive stones. “I’m sensing something underneath.”
I gazed at the pile of rocks and could feel a formidable force pulling me toward it, and as I took a few steps closer, I could sense the magnetic power growing stronger. I approached the heap, and I knew deep in my bones that something holy and potent was hidden beneath the rubble, so I closed my eyes, opened my soul to Satan, raised my hands, and pictured the stones hovering in the air to uncover whatever laid beneath the debris. Then I took in a sharp breath and steadied my breathing before I uttered the proper incantation in my head.
Motus.
Suddenly, the rocks began to tremble and slowly lift upward, and as I held onto my inner strength, I commanded the stones to move out of the way and reveal whatever laid beneath the bottom of the rubble. I guided the rocks away from the corner and placed them in different spaces around the small cave, and Marina began to clap her hands with glee and splash her tail up and down. I did not know what she was so excited about since my gaze was focused elsewhere, but when I turned to her, there was a wide bright smile plastered across her flawless face.
“Master!” she squealed with joy as she pointed to the corner. “Look! I knew there would be something hidden beneath the rocks!”
I averted my gaze from the transformed siren, and I saw a large, dark-brown wooden chest. The wood looked weathered and worn out, but tarnished gold trimming sparkled along the edges of the heavy lid.
Then I realized this box looked exactly like the chest in the cave wall sketches.
My eyes immediately widened with curiosity as I drew closer to the mysterious container. I tentatively reached out and touched the lid, and a heavy, electrifying sensation shot up through my entire body. Then my fingers caressed the wood, and I could feel holy energy flowing through my veins and sending a painful thrust into my heart. My heart began to beat wildly like a drum inside my chest, and the pounding was so intense and agonizing I thought it would burst through my ribcage, but I fought off the sensation and forced myself to lift the lid and peer inside.
Down deep in the bottom of the chest laid something covered in a piece of filthy, moldy, and tattered cloth, but as soon as I tore off the rotted fabric, I saw a round wooden item connected to a thick gold chain. I pulled the object out of its hiding spot and lifted its small circular lid to reveal a compass. The glass was cracked, but the thin silver needle was wildly spinning in every direction, and the tighter I held onto it, the faster the pin spun.
“What is it, master?” Marina asked from the pool of water.
“It’s some kind of compass,” I replied as I stared down at the spinning arrow. “I’m not sure what it’s saying, but I feel like this is the clue we’ve been looking for.”
“Then let’s take it and go,” Marina suggested with an arched purple eyebrow. “You need to recite the charm and get down here, master. I have a feeling we can’t stay long…”
“I agree,” I said before I tucked the compass and my wand safely into my clothing, and I moved to the edge of the pool. Then I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Satanae concedere potestatem faceret Bina Aquis nature sub gratia vires dum patitur! Mutantur et errant respirare possunt in eis qui mare oceanum!”
Even without my wand, my body began to transform, and I felt myself changing both inside and out. I gritted my teeth and crouched down in pain as gills sprouted from behind my ears and grew like petals on a flower. Then my entire body shook with agony as my feet and hands became webbed, and scales grew all over my hands, up to my forearms, and slowly spread up from my feet and up to my knees. My lungs instantly felt as heavy as lead, and I struggled to breathe as the painful transformation took over my body once more.
When I was fully transformed, I was about to hop into the pool of water and back down into the submerged ocean cave with Marina until there was a sudden explosion from one of the cave walls. A rain of stones went flying in my direction, and one hit me right in the head. I fell down, and as I laid there, I struggled to breathe and stand. The salty ocean water was quickly overflowing the cave, and something was trying to break through.
I knew I had to dive back into the small pool before whatever was trying to break through found me in a weakened state.
“Master!” Marina cried out before she lifted her arm and aimed her wand at the shattered wall. “Something is crawling through! I can see its limbs! They’re as sharp as daggers!”
I instantly recalled the crude painting on the walls and the giant squid splayed across the rocks. I tried to move my fishlike body and plunge myself back into the water, but it was difficult to move, even with the incoming water.
Finally, I pushed myself upward with all my might and pulled out my wand right before I dove back into the water to join Marina. We both ducked into the ocean water and submerged ourselves deep back inside the underwater cave, and we paddled through a sudden current that was trying to push us back like a strong gust of wind.
“What the hell is going on?” Marina screamed underwater.
“I think the beast that’s guarding the compass is controlling the current,” I shouted back as we tried uselessly to swim out of the deep-sea cave. “I don’t think we’re going to make it out of here without killing it first!”
“Unholy shit!” Marina shrieked when she looked up. “Look out, master!”
The giant squid-like creature was breaking through the small pool, and large pieces of the cave roof were falling down.
I quickly dodged each rock sinking down, but when I looked at Marina, a large one was falling straight toward her tail.
I aimed my wand at the rock. “Dissulto!”
The giant boulder shattered into a thousand pieces, and when Marina and I swam apart to avoid any more falling rocks, I looked up and saw the ocean beast in full view.
It was a giant gray squid-like creature with tooth-covered tentacles, dagger-sharp ends, and glowing yellow eyes. Its mouth was at the bottom of its hefty body, and when its jaws parted open, I saw rounds and rounds of giant teeth as yellow as parchment and as sharp as the daggers I had in my waistband. Its menacing eyes glanced down at me, and a terrible shiver ran down my spine before it tried to shoot one of its knife-like tentacles in my direction. I swerved out of the way just in time, right before its long, deadly tentacle could pierce me right in the heart.
“Secare!” I cried out, and a bright light left the tip of my wand and hit the bladed tentacle.
My spell snipped the rubbery but lethal limb from the rest of its body, and the beast let out an underwater roar that made my eardrums vibrate and bleed.
I gritted my teeth through the haze of pain, and I aimed my wand at another tentacle. “Secare!”
Another sharp limb fell to the ocean floor, and inky blood leaked from its open wounds as the beast’s eyes grew even more expansive, bloodthirsty, and demanding.
“Volant!” Marina screamed as she aimed her wand at the beast.
The giant squid flew back and smacked itself against a cave wall, but then the menacing creature turned its neon-colored eyes toward Marina, and my heart hammered more violently in my chest.
The beast used what strength it had left to spring toward the siren, and I knew Marina wasn’t prepared for it to come so quickly for her. Before either of us had time to react, the ocean beast wrapped its remaining teeth-covered tentacles completely around Marina’s slim body and began to squeeze her with all its might. The purple-haired witch automatically dropped her wand and thrashed around as she tried to fight back, but the creature was at least ten times her size and far stronger.
Blood immediately began to spurt from her mouth as she tried to cry out my name, and more blood seeped from her skin and tail as the creature tried to squash her like a grape.
My strength and power were waning from moving the rocks with my mind, but blinding, boiling anger welled through my entire body as I stared hard at the creature. I quickly opened my heart to Satan and willed the unholy spirits to be with me, even in this deep, dark, and blood-filled cave, and I pictured this disgusting creature’s massive head exploding into bits of gore.
I wanted him to become a feast for the fish and nothing more, and as my body trembled, and I felt the dark lord’s power surrounding me, I uttered the ancient, unholy spell in my mind and willed what I pictured to come to life.
Modus antiquorum.
Suddenly, the giant squid’s slimy, bleeding body began to tremble, but it still maintained its firm grip on Marina. It killed me to see my witch in such agonizing pain, but I knew I had to keep focusing on the beast, which had its tentacles still wrapped around her wounded body.
I continued to keep my heart open to Satan, and I prayed for the beast’s strength to wane and for its massive head to explode into a hundred bloody pieces. The creature may have been a hideous creature on the outside, but deep in its core, I knew there was holy power coursing through its body to prevent my dark abilities from quickly killing it. I fought against the creature’s holy life force with all my might and willed my dominating darkness to take over its mind, body, and soul. I knew I was more powerful than whatever was controlling this entity, and my whole body shook with determination as I imagined its heart withering and its mind exploding.
Finally, the beast began to tremble more violently, and it released its grip on Marina just enough for her to swim away from the creature. But then, her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she sunk to the bottom of the cavern. She laid there as still as stone and bleeding from the wounds the creature inflicted upon her, and raw, sizzling anger boiled in my blood as I kept my focus on the giant squid and willed it to die a painful and brutal death.
I shook with rage and resolve as the head of the squid quivered, and its eyes were nearly bulging out of its giant sockets by now. I refused to look away until its massive head burst like a colossal, ripe melon, and as the beast sunk to the bottom of the cave, bits of gore, flesh, and viscous substances floated everywhere like chunks of bloody rain.
I swam down through the cloud of carnage and picked up the unconscious Marina, and I also snatched her wand. Then I did my best to carry Marina, push through the cave entrance, and then swim toward the shallows, where I knew the others were waiting for us.
Before I could reach the beach, though, I could feel my gills retracting back into my skin, and when I looked down at Marina’s tail, it was slowly splitting apart into two flesh-colored legs.
“Fuck,” I muttered in a spray of bubbles, and as the salty water went down my throat, I knew I was running out of time.
I kicked my feet frantically and pulled the bleeding and unconscious Marina up to the surface to allow her to breathe, and relief spread through me when we broke through the waves. I gasped and gulped for air as I treaded water for a moment, and when I looked toward the beach, I saw the others all anxiously waiting for us. They began to shout incoherently from the red beach, and I used every ounce of strength I had to bring Marina safely back to shore.
By the time I was in shallow water, the others ran to help, and Akira and Morgana both grabbed Marina by her underarms and dragged her half-naked toward the red beach. Meanwhile, Penelope and Nyx ran to help me up as I pushed through the water and stumbled toward the shore.
“What the hell happened down there?” Vanessa asked as she gazed at the bleeding Marina, and she waved her wand in the purple-haired witch’s direction. “Pallavi.”
Suddenly, a long skirt appeared on Marina’s legs and covered her up while the others attended to her wounds. She didn’t seem to be breathing, and she continued to bleed onto the red sand.
“She’ll be okay,” Beatrix said as she looked at the two of us. “We just need to wake her up.”
“Give her a moment,” I said. “The pact will heal her soon, and then she’ll wake.”
“Do I need to repeat myself, Cole?” Vanessa snapped as she stared coldly into my eyes. “What the fuck happened? Did you find whatever we were looking for?”
“We were attacked,” I snipped back. “Samara clearly had one of her beasts guarding the clue--”
“But did you find it?” the professor asked in an eager and impatient voice. “Please, Satan, tell me you did.”
“We did,” I replied with a firm nod before I stuck my hand inside my pocket and retrieved the cold, wet compass. “Here.”
I passed the clue to Vanessa, and her lips parted open as she stared down in awe at the relic. She caressed it like it was made of fragile glass or the rarest gold, and when she opened it, her hands were trembling as if the slightest touch would destroy it.
“This is an Orbis,” she whispered just loudly enough for everyone to hear. “Satan, I can’t believe you found one.”
“Unholy shit,” Morgana said from behind me, and when she approached the two of us, her blue eyes widened with both awe and surprise. “Cole… do you know what this is?”
“The clue.” I shrugged. “One that will lead us to the final artifact.”
“But do you realize there are only three in the entire realms?” the brunette gasped. “They were crafted during the First Dawn by the very first women of the High Council and spread all across the worlds. They are meant to guide you when you’ve reached the most perilous corners of the realms, and now, we have one. I can’t believe it.”
“We need to be careful with it,” Vanessa said in a stern tone before she handed it to me. “I trust you enough to hold onto it, Cole. You were the one who went down there, after all.”
“Thank you, Professor,” I said before I carefully placed the compass around my neck. “I promise to guard it with my life.”
“I know you will,” she said before she took in a deep breath and looked down at the compass. “Besides, only the one who retrieves it can know where it truly points to… so, where do we go next, Cole?”
I looked down at the fragile compass around my neck before carefully lifting the scratched, worn-out wooden lid. The needle was still madly spinning until it finally stopped and pointed north. I looked up and only saw miles of red sand, but perhaps there was something beyond that.
“There,” I said as I pointed ahead. “We need to walk down the beach until the compass tells us otherwise.”
“Alright.” Vanessa firmly nodded before her eyes glanced back at Marina. “How is she doing?”
“She’s waking up,” Akira called back in a sure voice. “Her wounds have nearly healed.”
“Excellent,” the professor said with a smile before she glimpsed down at the compass. “Now, let’s head north and see where this clue finally takes us, shall we?”