Transformation

by Michael Ocheskey

  “Me too,” Alana shuttered. “I expected him to hit you again.”

  “Well, I didn’t know he was jealous of me. That was a surprise.”

  “I can’t believe you told him you were jealous of him!” Alana shook her head in exasperation, though she did admire his act. Then she smirked. “You know you’ve just boosted his ego about tenfold.” They both had to suppress their laughter.

  “Well I can’t help that. I figured telling him the truth was the best way to end this fighting.” Thomas grabbed hold of Alana’s hand, “Let’s hurry. I can’t wait to tell Eri. Then we can go to Dr. Algie’s and let him know too.”

  THE KRAKEN

  Five months had passed since Thomas came to live in Atlantis, but not much had changed in that time. Most of the citizens still didn’t trust Thomas. The only people who trusted Thomas remained Eri, Dr. Algie, King Aquarius, Alana, and surprisingly enough, Captain Orion. As time passed, the hostility and jealousy wore away and Captain Orion gradually became one of Thomas’ closest friends and a reliable companion and protector.

  “Thomas, it’s this way.”

  Captain Orion had been dragging Thomas around everywhere around the city over the last week, explaining to him the military’s stations and equipment and introducing him to all the military personnel. Today he was giving him a guided tour of the armory and explaining the king’s role in Atlantian military. Since Thomas would one day be the king, Captain Orion has made it his personal duty to protect Thomas and teach him royal protocol.

  “This room is where we keep all of our weapons,” Orion explained as they entered the armory.

  It was filled with nothing but tridents and armor. Apparently, merfolk didn't really use any weapons apart from tridents which Thomas felt to be very cliché.

  “The tridents we carry around inside the city are just basic weapons used to keep law and order. In here, we also keep the special tridents we use to defend the city from sea monsters and occasionally, though it hasn’t happened for almost two hundred years, other merfolk who attack us. These tridents are called Water Tridents and shoot a blast of boiling water at the enemy. As the enemy is in pain we pierce it with the tridents.”

  “That doesn’t sound very effective.” Thomas’ thought slipped out before he could stop it.

  “What do you mean, Thomas?”

  “Well,” Thomas stared cautiously at the trident like he was afraid it would attack him for insulting its power as he explained, “It sounds to me like a better weapon would shoot something other than water. I mean, the entire ocean outside this city for around a mile is warm, right? The barrier around the city heats the water so the closer you are to the city the warmer the water gets. Most of the heat from the Water Trident would disperse into the ocean water and it wouldn’t affect the enemy at all. The only way to be able to do any real damage to an enemy would be to get really close to it, endangering yourself as well.”

  “That’s true,” Captain Orion agreed, brushing aside this dreadful thought like it was an irksome fly and nothing more. “It’s not a very effective weapon in the ocean except at close range, but it’s the best we have. You see, these Water Tridents were created by the Sapphire of Power long ago to protect us.”

  Thomas’ mind formulated even more theories, something he had been doing a lot since his discovery of the ancient sorcerer race. He'd been wondering to himself which magical element each of the Gems of Power represented. He'd assumed the Sapphire was the gemstone of water due to its color and was now more certain than ever due to the Water Tridents.

  Unfortunately, he still had questions about the other gemstones. For instance, Lothanian merfolk are the merfolk who use electricity as a weapon and have electricity coursing through their bodies, but their gemstone is the Emerald of Power. Thomas had always expected the Emerald to be the gemstone of earth magic, not energy, but if that were the case, what about the electricity? Every time he thought he had answers to the mysteries of the sorcerer race, more questions filled his mind, leaving him more confused than ever.

  Captain Orion continued, unaware that Thomas had stopped listening and was lost in his own thoughts, “Of course, since these weapons have a limited range, it isn’t very effective against large sea monsters. The last time we had to fight a sea dragon, we lost about fifty percent of our entire military force. Luckily, we haven’t had to fight anything too dangerous in decades, but it leaves a constant tension in the atmosphere around the men as we anticipate the next attack. That is why the military mermen are all required to strengthen their bodies nearly to their limits. It makes us tougher so that we will hopefully not have as many casualties as in the past. Thomas, are you listening?”

  “Oh. Oh, yes, of course.” Thomas jumped out of his reverie. “Of course, I was....” Captain Orion gave Thomas a knowing gaze and he turned his face down, abashed. “Okay Orion, I wasn’t listening. I was thinking about the Gems of Power and their connections to the merfolk races. Sorry, could you go over it all again? I promise I’ll listen this time.”

  Thomas spent most of his days on a highly structured, and increasingly boring, scheduled routine. He would start his day by working at Eri’s, even though King Aquarius told him a future king doesn’t have to work. Thomas felt relaxed at Eri’s because it took him away from the stress of being king and he could avoid the citizen’s unwanted gazes. After that, he would spend as much time with Alana as possible, except for when Captain Orion or King Aquarius would drag him away for king lessons, as Thomas began to refer to them.

  Sometimes Alana would join Thomas for king lessons and lighten up the mood by pretending to be King Aquarius or Captain Orion, mimicking their actions and personalities when they weren't looking. Mealtimes were full of King Aquarius’s hints that the wedding should happen sooner rather than later and his reassurances that being a king is just like being a normal citizen except that you aren’t. Thomas had a hard time keeping a straight face during these speeches, especially when he looked at Alana shaking her head in a pitying manner as if to say, “Don’t believe a word of this. He’s just senile.”

  Thomas longed for a change of routine. He loved all of the time he spent with Alana, but he tired of not having any variety in his routine. He longed for the day when he would be able to, at last, leave the barrier of the city and swim in the ocean. He felt like a fish in a tank being displayed for all to see, yet wishing he were in his element. The sea was so close and yet he was forbidden to be a part of it. He had spent his entire life riding the waves and longed to feel the touch of water on his skin once more.

  Thomas couldn’t believe it when his dinner routine was broken by a new branch of conversation. It was like fate had heard his mental complaints and granted his wish.

  “So, Son,” King Aquarius hadn’t called Thomas by his name since the day Thomas proposed. “Are you excited? One more month until you are a full merman and go to touch the Sapphire of Power again.”

  Thomas had completely forgotten about his promise to speak with the Sapphire again in the midst of all that was happening. Time was passing by so quickly since he proposed to Alana and all he could think about was their future together. Thomas’ thoughts brought him courage and joy. “I’m very excited. I will finally get answers to questions left unasked and I’ll finally know more about the Gems of Power.”

  Thomas was almost completely a merman now. His ears had fully grown and his hair was now the same color as every other Sapphire merfolk. He looked exactly like the other merfolk. The only difference was that when wet, he didn’t sprout a dorsal fin or tail. He was beginning to notice changes in the water, though. Now, when he took a bath, it didn’t feel like he was submerged in water. It felt as though he were floating gracefully in the sky. Thomas was also noticing something else that slightly disturbed him.

  “Aqua,” Thomas decided it would be best to voice his concerns. “I have been wondering about something. Lately, I’ve been hearing strange voices when there is no one else around. It sounds like whisperin
g voices, but when I call out to them, they suddenly stop. I’m not going mad, am I?”

  “Oh, no,” It wasn’t King Aquarius who answered, but Alana. “That’s normal, I think. You are getting closer to becoming a full-fledged merman. You see, merfolk have a psychic connection to all animals.” Thomas pointed to his head, indicating the translator. “Oh, no. It isn’t the translator. Remember what I told you? Merfolk can use telepathy to communicate with animals. That’s how we talk to sea creatures and to other merfolk when inside the water.”

  “That’s right,” King Aquarius chimed in, trying to subtly regain control of the conversation without alerting Alana to his irritation at her stealing his brilliantly rehearsed answer. He'd known that this would happen eventually and had rehearsed how he would answer the question when Thomas asked. Now he had to improvise.

  “What you are hearing are probably echoes of animal communication. When you become a full merman, you will be able to control your telepathy and learn to ignore the constant voices until one is speaking directly to you. Right now, you are kind of tuning into the sea creatures occasionally, but the signal isn’t clear. That’s why it sounds like whispering.”

  “Yes, it’s either that or,” Alana stopped and questioned her father with her gaze, asking for permission to continue. He nodded and she concluded, “Or the fairies.”

  “Fairies?”

  “Yes,” Alana held out her hand and a twinkling light landed in her palm. “See? These are the fairies that live inside Atlantis. Fairies are an endangered species. They are completely extinct on the surface world. Down here, there are only about three hundred in the entire city. All of the Seven Cities have fairies, but they are all in small numbers. The fairies are what provide us with all of the plant life you see. Our gardens, trees, and the other plants in the city, they all grow with the magical power of the fairies. If the fairies ever died, then Atlantis would be barren.”

  “Why haven’t I ever seen one before?” Thomas was staring suspiciously at the light in Alana’s hand.

  “It’s because you weren’t a merman. The fairies cannot be seen by those who cannot hear their voices, but the telepathic connection merfolk possess allows us to hear a fairy’s voice. For this reason, we can see them. Since you are finally starting to awaken to your telepathic sense, you can now see the fairies. You won’t be able to see them all of the time until you have completely awakened, but now you know. It may be more likely that the whispering you heard was the fairies.”

  The light inside Alana’s hand disappeared, but he could tell by the way she still held it that the fairy was still there. Thomas had once again lost his ability to see the fairies. He longed for the day when his senses would awaken and he would be able to see them clearly. Not only the fairies, Thomas wanted his senses to awaken so that he could communicate with the sea creatures around him, especially Tiger, whom he wanted to thank personally.

  Thomas sat, digesting the information he was given, when the entire palace shook violently.

  “Sire!” Captain Orion burst into the dining room. “Sire, you must get out of the palace right away. It isn’t safe to be indoors. The Kraken has arrived!”

  Thomas wasn’t sure what was going on, but Alana screamed and jumped into his arms. King Aquarius stood up with complete composure and signaled for Thomas to take Alana outside. All of them left the dining room at a relaxed pace, as if it were nothing but a fire drill, and headed outside. Once outside the palace doors and what was thought to be a safe distance from the palace, Thomas froze, Alana holding tight to him.

  “What the hell is that!” Thomas couldn't stop himself from shouting.

  Thomas’ thoughts became rather jumbled as he gazed wide-eyed at the Kraken and his mind seemed to jam momentarily.

  The Kraken was an enormous octopus almost as large as a blue whale. As Thomas’ mind started processing again, the first thought he had was that he'd never tasted octopus. Then the realization of danger hit him. The city was under attack and the guards were charging toward the barrier with their Water Tridents in hand. The next thought Thomas had was that they were doomed. What chance did those stupid Water Tridents have against something that big?

  Thomas’ mess of thought was interrupted by a loud crash. One of the Kraken’s tentacles had smashed into the ground just outside the barrier. It felt like someone picked up a sky scraper and used it as a bat on the ground. Thomas heard a cracking sound behind him and turned in time to see a large stone from the palace flying straight for Alana and him.

  “Look out!” Thomas forced Alana to the ground, stood directly over her, and held his hand out toward the boulder like a traffic monitor ordering a car to stop. This wasn’t the brightest of plans, but in his panic the only thing he could think of was making sure the stone hit him alone. If he could protect Alana, he didn’t care what happened to him. He braced himself for the fatal impact, shutting his eyes as he accepting his inevitable death, and waited, but there was no impact.

  At first, he thought he'd died too quickly to feel the pain, but then he heard the screaming of the Atlantians as the Kraken continued its assault. He opened his eyes and gazed in awe and wonder at the sight directly in front of him.

  The deadly stone had frozen in midair, held suspended a few feet in front of its potential victims. Thomas switched his gaze to his outstretched hand. He couldn’t see anything coming from his hand, but he could hear and feel a hurricane level wind gushing from the palm of his hand. Everything in front of his hand was being held in place. Taking his other hand and extending it toward the boulder, Thomas put all of his concentration on creating a strong blast of wind.

  To his surprise, the wind from his hands increased to such force that it blew the boulder back into the palace. He hoped the king wouldn't be mad that he'd just put a hole in the palace. Unsure what was happening, Thomas remained rooted to his spot, thoughts racing through his head, trying to wrap his fingers around the situation. Then things begin to unfold in his mind and everything was becoming clear.

  All of the crazy and improbable theories he’d created over the past five months were forming clear connections and answers in his mind. Faced with the possibility of death, hadn’t he twice protected himself? Once by electrocuting his assailant and now by blowing his assailant back. As if by design, something incinerated in Thomas’ mind. It was as if there had been a wall around his mind sealing his power and it had been burned to ash, leaving an immense power coursing through him.

  What if he was a descendant of the sorcerer race? He'd been told that the sorcerer race was destroyed, but what if some of them survived, unbeknownst to the Gems of Power? It made sense in a round-about way. Although he didn't have a family tree that would date back far enough to prove his theory, there was plenty of circumstantial evidence to support it. It explained his strange obsession with the Gemstones of Power and it also explained why he could speak with the Sapphire. The Sapphire had told him that only the sorcerers of old had the ability to speak with them.

  Determined to protect his family and test his new-found power, Thomas poised himself and marched diligently toward the edge of the city.

  “What are you doing, Thomas?” Alana shrieked in horror as she tried to catch up with him.

  “I’m going to fight the Kraken. No one tries to hurt my family and gets away with it.”

  “But you can’t! If you leave the barrier you’ll die!”

  “I have no intention of leaving the barrier! Get a little further away from the palace, but stay away from the barrier to be safe.”

  Thomas felt resolve flooding through him. Resolve rivaling the time when he had rushed unthinking to protect Jenna on the plane. He began taking large strides toward the barrier. As he got closer, he confronted a large number of citizens standing in the street, unable to take their eyes off of the Kraken’s destruction.

  “EVERYONE OUT OF MY WAY!” The crowds turned to look at Thomas, then ran in fear. He had become an almost demonic sight. His hair was flapping straight
up in the air as wind wrapped itself around his body. His eyes had changed from sapphire blue to a deep, fiery red. Large fangs had grown from his mouth, almost a full inch, and he was snarling like a wolf. His fingernails had turned into claws. The closer Thomas got to the barrier, the more wind whipped his body. As he got close enough to the barrier to strike, the wind around his body ignited, creating a swirl of flames that engulfed him, yet didn’t burn him, “EVERYONE BACK INSIDE THE BARRIER NOW IF YOU DON’T WANT TO DIE!”

  All of the military guards fighting the Kraken stopped abruptly at the sight of Thomas’ burning body. They swam for the barrier as fast as they could, not caring if they were close to the ground or not. Some landed safely, while others fell to the ground, breaking limbs as they hit the floor inside the barrier with a crunch. Once all of the soldiers were inside the barrier, Thomas commenced his assault.

  Thomas stretched his hands out as if gripping the ocean water. He pulled his arms apart abruptly. As he did, the ocean around the Kraken began to part, creating a whirlpool around the Kraken. When the water had fully parted, it took a spherical shape around the Kraken. The Kraken hit the ocean floor with a loud crunch. Angered by its lack of mobility, the Kraken began wildly flinging its tentacles around. Thomas roared out a battle cry that sounded like a loud snarl. He dropped one of his arms leaving the other one up to keep the sea parted, but it was a difficult job. His arm shook violently and seemed as if it would snap off at any second.

  “Would you quit flopping around!”

  Thomas’ eyes continued to burn with anger and flames burst from them. Thomas rose his free arm above his head. His hand resembled a talon preparing to strike. Pointing his hand toward the Kraken, Thomas brought it slashing down. At the same instant his hand fell, ten enormous blades of ice, as large as the Kraken itself, fell on top of the Kraken. Eight of them pierced the Kraken’s tentacles, one in each tentacle, nailing them to the ocean floor. Two of them crisscrossed and pierced the massive body of the Kraken. It wasn’t enough, though. The Kraken was still moving, trying desperately to free itself from the ice. Thomas was sweating profusely. The arm keeping the ocean parted was shaking worse than ever and veins were protruding from the skin.