Main Character Crusades: Pehlagos Meets Laguna

The constant swaying of the steel hull of the ship never bothered him. He was a large, imposing, mammoth of a man- there was no shaking him. He sat on the deck, watching his fellow shipmates preparing for the visit they had come to expect in this fathom of the sea.

And she came, just on time. A jet of water burst out from the ocean blue before them, swinging over to the side of the ship before fading, a young woman hopping out from the surf and spray. She smiled, her tail whipping back and forth. None of the shipmates were fazed. They continued their work, putting away fragile items and personal belongings, before going down to the deck and dispersing.

“Kayne!” she exclaimed, rushing over to the aforementioned, giving him a bear hug. “You came out this far again!”
“It’s good to see you too,” he simply said, patting her head.

She took her time hugging him, as Pehlagos often did, before breaking away, her grin now larger than before.

“You’ll never believe it!”

He raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to continue.

“Kory’s found himself a girlfriend!” 

As she finished her sentence, he coughed a bit and glanced away into the sea, hands in his pockets.

“Good for him.”

“Dad’s so happy, you know! I mean, he wishes you’d come by more often.”

“Does he? Or is that just you?” he looked back at her, a smirk gracing his often serious face.

At the callout, her face went slightly red, and she turned away.

“Hah! No, those are his words!”

“Sure.”
She chuckled, her body language now slightly closed. Her tail lashed behind her; it was always easy to read her emotions, especially when she was like this. After a bit of giggling like a young schoolgirl, she turned back to him, eyes gleaming, and mouth open to say more.

What she did say was unable to be heard, even by her. Instead, a melodic call summoned them, or rather, Kayne. Evanora watched him with an extreme confusion as he walked down from the quarterdeck and up to the bow, without a single other word to explain his actions.

“Hey,” Evanora said, following behind him, “what’re you doing?”

He gave no answer, which made her more concerned.

“Uh, hello?”

And without another moment wasted, he dived headfirst into the water, and began swimming further and further down, bubbles rising to the surface. Evanora let out a small cry, looked around for the other shipmates, before jumping into the water after him.

It was no competition. Even though he had a few second’s head start, Evanora had him in her grasp before one could say knife. Kayne grabbed onto her arms, and the true hard part began- trying to get this massive man to come back to the surface of the water with her, when he was so intent on going deeper. He bashed and kicked and struggled, nearly flinging her off with every push and shove.

In the midst of all this chaos, the singing grew dead quiet, and a slight current blew past the two of them, one which caused Evanora to be alert. This current was one which sent a shiver down any Pehlagos’ spine, which no land-lover would ever be able to understand. She drew some bubbles from the water and combined them with her magic, before placing the larger bubble over Kayne’s mouth.

Then, a dead hush. Evanora had fully quieted, and Kayne had stopped thrashing. Even the currents had come to a halt. A hand grabbed onto Evanora’s shoulder, which she had thought was Kayne’s, only to realize that his hands were limp at his sides.

She slowly turned back, filled with horror, to see a beautiful merwoman with ginger hair, her eyes filled with anger. Before Evanora could understand what was happening, Kayne had been ripped from her arms and was in the possession of the woman, her angered stare switching between the two of them.

“Who are you, and why are you touching my brother?” the woman hissed, pushing Evanora back.

“Wait… Kayne, you have a sister?”

As Evanora waited, his dull eyes slowly filled back with life, and he became more cognisant. He looked at the woman, then Evanora, immediately ready to defend himself.

“Kayne? This is Ronin, my brother! Or do you think you’ve changed your name now?” she addressed Kayne directly.

Now, Kayne, being the man he was, was not going to allow himself to be held captive by this woman. Just as she finished her sentence, he curled his arm back and punched her square in the face. Blood mixed with water, thickening it and reducing visibility to a zero.

The woman let out a wretched squeal, which was luckily muffled by the water. Evanora, now taking this chance, grabbed Kayne out of the woman’s hands and swam up to the shore, holding him close to her. It was only a few short moments until they were back on the deck, dripping water onto the metal of the deck.

They sat, panting, trying their best to comprehend all that had just happened. Kayne looked to Evanora, his previous anger now replaced with extreme confusion. Evanora wiped some water from her face, flicking it down as icicles into the salty sea below.

“Why did you do that?..” Evanora asked, shaking her entire body, water droplets flying every which way.

“Don’t ask me. I can’t tell you.” he responded, turning around and walking to a wall, leaning against it.

“So… you have a sister?” she asked as she followed, eyebrows raised with curiosity.

He sighed in irritation.

“No, Evanora. No, I do not.”