Just moments ago I was still feeling fatigue from my previous endeavours but all of it had been— washed away. Forgive my pun but the experience of diving into the ocean while riding on top of a horsette at high speed is extremely exhilarating. It's one thing to view the ocean depths from inside a ship, but feeling the water rushing across your skin as we head deeper was certainly a very surreal experience. Not to mention being able to breathe and survive underwater is something I will never get used to.
Despite moving at such high speed, I had never felt that I would be blown off into the darkness. It would seemed that Kelpie had made his hide sticky to prevent us from dismounting unnecessarily. Here's hoping that he would actually release us once we reached our destination.
There's something strange throughout the journey though, why is Rose being so— quiet? Did something happened to her? Is she sleeping? In such a situation? She shouldn't be as tired as me and even if she was, what we're experiencing right now should had exhilarate her!
I took a quick glance behind to check on her and— oh my gosh! Her eyes were glowing with a golden hue as her head was cocked backwards due to the water movement!
"Rose! Talk to me! What's going on with you?!" I shouted at her, hoping my voice would reach her despite being underwater.
Her right arm moved like some zombie and smacked her hand at the back of my head, which instantly transported my conscience into some world that was filled with nothing but white. What the hell? Am I dead? Just like that? Give me a warning next time!
I quickly glanced around and saw Rose kneeling in prayer towards— something. I can only see a silhouette of something hiding behind what looked like white curtains, and by the looks of it, she appears to be well-endowed. I approached Rose carefully so as not to startle her, but without even batting an eye, she asked me to sit beside her as she continued praying. I kept quiet so as not to disturb the ambience, but the silhouette started addressing me directly with a rather soft, polite tone.
"I see that you're here, Zen Hawthorn," spoke the voice.
"Are you— the Imperatrix of Mortal? I thought I would have to perform a T-pose to talk with Cosmic Beings, but I guess there's another way. Should I be kneeling since you're the reason why I'm still alive currently?" I asked politely while already assuming a kneeling stance.
"You need not fret. The both of you have done so much more than any mortal in this realm, and your wife is the reason as to why I managed to regain myself. It is thanks to both of you that I am where I am currently. Asking for respect is the least of my concern," she explained.
"Both of us? What about Father, who had erected a church under your name and his followers? Isn't he serving under you?" I asked curiously.
"That man— only time will tell on his true intentions. As of now, he's serving another being. But let's forget about him and focus on your upcoming task," she waved him aside.
"What about Rose? Last I saw, her eyes were glowing. Should I be worried about her?" I asked.
"Rose? She's fine. When she communicates with me, she loses control of her body. As for her kneeling, well, you can be my guest in trying to stop her. Believeme, I've tried," she shrugged. Despite only being able to see her silhouette, I can see her movements clearly.
"If she's fine, then I have nothing to worry about. I know how stubborn she can be when she's made up her mind. Let's hear your insight about what we're about to face. For you to be setting up an audience with Rose right now, you were expecting me to join, isn't it?" I asked.
"I may be kneeling in prayer, but I can still hear conversations. Don't start belittling me, please," spoke Rose.
"No one is belittling you, dear Rose, it's just simply who you are. That aside, heed my warning and proceed with caution, both of you. A Cosmic Being had broken the rules and used his powers directly to control the city, while his Champion spearheaded the massacre. The Being in question is the God Of Disorder. I believe you've made acquaintance with his Vessel recently, am I right, Zen?" she asked.
"Indeed. She almost tore the realm apart with her shenanigan. I didn't expect that God to continue wreaking havoc," I sighed.
"The other Beings had already taken action in controlling this young Being— and it's only a matter of time before his power is stripped from this realm. However, I believe there will be some Beings that will side with the God of Disorder, which may incite a war among the Gods. Take care when you're in the city, and don't ever leave its premises," she warned us.
I bowed to her for providing valuable insight before we reached the city. For both the Underwater Dragon King and the Imperatrix to share their concern, the situation must be grimmer than I thought. Here's hoping Rose and I will make it out alive.
If the situation is this dire, did the Underwater Dragon King request help from the East as well? I wonder if Lily is already protecting the city right now. I would prefer to have more people that I can trust to be there when godly powers are at play.
Rose stood up from her prayers, adjusted my clothing for some reason, and smiled. "Let's save Marrydia, my dear husband," she spoke, and my vision began to whiten. Guess the audience is finally over.
***
I regained consciousness and was genuinely surprised when I saw Kirin and Byakko's spectral bodies floating at my side despite being underwater. Did something bad happen while we were having an audience with the Imperatrix?
"You were unresponsive, so we thought you needed help. We're almost to the twilight zone now, no place to fool around. Ready yourself," spoke Kirin.
I did a quick glance to check on Rose, and she met my eyes looking all lovely with her hair floating about. She gave me a warm smile and hugged me tightly from behind, making my hormones confused as to whether to be worried or horny since her guild's clothing was tight and her breasts were pressing against me. I thought I was supposed to be tired, but calm down, you. Sit… SIT! Don't you dare!!
"Keep your eyes peeled, we're in the twilight zone now. You shouldn't be able to see anything now, so we'll keep a lookout for you," said Byakko.
"Pretty sure I can see clearly right now. Any chance you've mistaken how deep we had travelled?" I asked.
"That cannot be possible. It's pitch black around us aside from the flashes of bioluminescence. There's just no way you can actually see much. Unless— damn the Underwater Dragon King. He even gave you sight to see in darkness," Byakko sulked.
Seemingly confused, I turned around to glance at Rose and her eyes were glowing once again. It wasn't gold this time but rather glowed according to her eye colour. I guess mine should be glowing too. Alright, enough fooling around, our safety is at stake. Although I don't know what I can do in this situation aside from steering Kelpie away from danger.
Both of us kept our eyes open wide, staring into the darkness around us. The twilight zone is usually where we start seeing weird creatures swimming about. As for the midnight zone, well, let's just say there are some things that God doesn't want us to see. We were already terrified when we came down here with the safety of a ship, now we're directly exposed to the dangers of the deep. One thing for sure, if I were to piss myself, no one would ever know.
We proceeded deeper into the depths in silence. What's strange is there were no creatures to be seen. That's odd; usually by now we would have been seeing strange creatures swimming around us. Aside from the flashes of bioluminescence from the plankton, I don't see anything else, not to mention how quiet everything was.
"Incoming from the left!" shouted Byakko since he was tasked with protecting our left. There was no way Kirin was giving up his right as my right-hand beast.
Both Rose and I quickly turned to our left but saw… nothing. It was just darkness that seemed to be looming closer to us? Wait a minute… what the hell is that?!
Kelpie started grunting and grew fins that looked like seaweeds. It would appear that the fins are boosting our speed as we started picking up the pace, but whatever was approaching us was stupidly massive and I don't even know whether we're able to move out of the way before it swallows us.
"Need to pick up the pace, Kelpie. That thing is massive!" I shouted.
He grunted once again and tried to swim even faster. There was nothing any of us could do but depend on Kelpie to get us out of harm's way. The darkness was approaching closer by the second, and I finally understood what creature it was. Despite only seeing its narrow, pointy, and upturned nose, the creature approaching us was certainly some sort of basking shark, but its size was rather ludicrous. We were directly in the middle of its approaching mouth, and we needed to move much, much faster if we didn't want to get swallowed. No wonder there were no creatures around us aside from plankton. They had already moved out of the way!
Kelpie started growing even more fins and started grunting even more. It would seem that having more fins helps him to swim faster somehow; no idea how it works, but I'm not complaining.
"He said to hold on tight and be aware of any decompression sickness as he'll need to boost his speed significantly. Should there be any, let him know, and he'll cure you," spoke Kirin.
"I didn't know you can interpret what Kelpie is grunting, but I'm glad to know what he's trying to convey to us. Either way, we're all set. He can do what he needs to now," I told Kirin.
Seemingly understanding what I just said, Kelpie neighed loudly and sped up as though he had nitro coming out of his ass. We sped up significantly, but the mouth of the basking shark was approaching ever closer. Will we be able to make it out of the way in time?
I held the rein tightly as Rose hugged me even tighter. Good thing Kelpie had glued us to its hide, or we might really end up disappearing into the abyss at this speed. The giant mouth of darkness was extremely close to us, and I haven't the faintest idea whether we'll make it out of the way in time. Truth be told, I'm not even sure I'd realised that we had been eaten since we can literally swim inside its mouth.
With a split-second boost of speed, we avoided the inner part of the mouth but ended up knocking onto the side lip, which sent us into a spiral descent. Good thing Kelpie was an expert with deep dives and quickly orient us back to normal. Phew, glad we made it out of its mouth way; I wasn't in the mood for being fish food anytime soon. Alright, time for a quick body check to see if everything is alright.
"He asked whether the two of you are fine. Should anything feel out of place, you must let him know," said Kirin as Kelpie grunted something.
"I feel fine, nothing abnormal so far. What about you, Rose?" I turned to ask her.
"Seems good. Just a bit of aching in my elbow and some itching on my skin, but either than that, all good," she spoke while adjusting her elbow.
"He'll cast a spell to remove those symptoms. Left unchecked, you'll end up dead. Take note that he can only cast this spell three times a day, so every cast must count," explained Kirin.
Kelpie's body started to glow and unleashed a wave of cooling water that washed over us. Brrr… that was cold despite already being deep underwater currently. Hopefully, that helped Rose with her decompression sickness, as I heard that it was one of the most dangerous sicknesses one can get when going underwater.
"Hoooo… that was cold. But glad that helped. The symptoms are gone now, nothing to worry about," sighed Rose.
"Hopefully, it's smooth sailing to the city now. Look, I can already see lights— there…" I trailed off as I realised that there should be a couple more kilometres down before we reached Marrydia. Why are the red flashing lights approaching us?! The cops?!
"Evasive actions! Dragonfishes incoming!" shouted Kirin, and Kelpie neighed loudly once again as he tried to steer clear of those skinny fishes with scary teeth and jaws.
Bloody hell! Why is our descent towards Marrydia have to be this "exciting" every… single… time! Why can't it be just a casual relaxing ride for once? Just once!?
***
"We're approaching the midnight zone now. Keep your eyes and ears peeled and no fooling around here. The creatures around here are… questionable," said Byakko.
We just kept quiet as Kelpie swam deeper into the darkness. We can see many fish around us and all of them are weird or terrifying to look at; thankfully, they didn't seem to bother us for now. From viperfishes to fangtooths and gulper eels, there's no shortage of weird deep-sea creatures around us. Let's not forget the giant sperm whales and squids all around us. At least in my previous trips, I had the safety of the ship as my comfort. But right now, we're exposed to everything! The only thing I can find comfort in are the lanternfish that provide small flickering lights for us.
Silence engulfed us as Rose and I kept our lips shut to not make even a peep. The occasional clicks and groaning sound from the whales were intimidating enough, but sure, why not throw in their fight with the giant squids too? Not to mention the staring eyes from the dozen of drooling fish surrounding us; now is not exactly the best time for a chitchat.
Kelpie had informed Kirin that he cannot rush inside this zone as it would be dangerous for Rose and me to adapt to our human bodies. We just have to trust in his expert navigation in keeping us alive from all the dangers of the deep. And I can say for certain that he's an expert indeed as we miraculously had not attracted any creatures at all. I exhaled a sigh of relief as the sight of Marrydia revealing itself finally appeared in our vision. The view of the city was certainly a sight for sore eyes, but there was something different about it. Some sort of green field was covering the entire dome, that gave it a rather ominous presence as we approached closer to it.
I glanced toward Rose once more, and she nodded to me. Whatever it was that we're about to face in there, we're ready for it— or so I thought.