ITT: We Are All Sea Creatures

That tern's dad told me that we just have to follow the shoreline north until the water turns crystal clear...I'm pretty sure he's talking about the Caribbean...and then find and follow the purple clamshells. (I explain.) Sounds simple enough.

Kelpdapple nods. Makes sense to me. I can't wait to see what happens!

"Okay, I'm ready to go when you guys are!" says Lancelot.

Same here.

"Good work, Pablo. I'm ready too."

Well, okay! (I turn to lead everybody. Wow...I never thought I'd see the day where I was the leader of a group of guys. This dream is really making me step outside of my comfort zone.)

"Looks like we're following Pablo, then. Come along."

Helga motions for the other creatures to follow her and Pablo.

Nadox does so.

I hope you know what you're doing.

"Right behind you," says Lancelot, preparing to follow Helga and Pablo.

(As we move onward, I try to make idle conversation with the others.)

So...uh...are all of you guys from around the same place or what? (I ask.)

"Well.. I've never ventured too far from here, but this is my first time meeting everyone," says Lancelot to Pablo as he swims alongside the whale shark. "That's probably because I've spent my whole life near the surface. Some of you are from much deeper in the sea, I think?"

"That's right, Lancelot," says Helga. "That's all I really remember. Darting around between caves at the bottom of the ocean, over and over for years. I never thought I'd be able to get out of there."

Huh...I mostly just stuck to my part of the ocean and didn't really go away from it except to eat. (I remark.) This is all new to me...

"Fair enough. Hey, you didn't have any... opposition, did you? No other creatures constantly on your tail?"

Uh...not that I really know of. (Of course, there was that lobster that always got on my case for blocking the sunlight whenever I went out to eat, but I don't think that really counts.)

Huh. The fact that there even is light up here is new to me.

"It's refreshing, isn't it?"

"Well... you haven't seen an orca with a gemstone in his forehead around here, have you? This orca, his name is Preston, he started chasing me about a year ago. He says he needs to bring me to "Leviti," whoever that is. I don't want to find out. He scares me..."

Uh... (The name doesn't really ring a bell. I don't think I've even ever met an orca, much less one with a gem in their head.) No, I've never even met an orca before. Or whoever this other guy is. I'm guessing they're bad news?

(Wait, if they are, does this mean they're going to start coming after us, too? Maybe leaving home wasn't such a good idea...)

"An orca?" Lancelot says, briefly slowing down for a moment before continuing to follow Pablo. "No, I've never met one either. Whatever this Preston wants, I hope we don't run into him..."

True. I would like to know more about him, though.

"Well, let me think... Preston first showed up a year ago, like I said. That was when I was, hmmmm... probably 200 exactly..."

"Anyway, I had just been living my life as a bottomfeeder in the deep sea. I'm still not sure how I got there, but I've been there all two centuries of my life, so I'm not complaining. But then he showed up. He told me the gems had led him to me. He said his mistress Leviti needed me so she could "drain my life force" or something insane like that... He started chasing me, and I ducked into a cave. I would go out of the cave eventually, and it wouldn't be long before he found me again and kept chasing me. It just went like that, over, and over, and over again..."

"But then I had that dream. That strange voice convinced me that I could swim higher and leave the deep sea. So I did. Preston began chasing me, but this time, I was finally able to get him off my trail. Who knew I could shoot ink?"

Edited by DrNoPuma on Feb 12th 2019 at 2:09:41 PM

Perhaps this "Leviti" is a servant of someone else. If it needs your soul so badly, perhaps it wants to summon something.

(Well this escalated quickly. Helga's being chased by someone who wants to suck away her life or whatever? I didn't know anything could do that...it kinda scares me...what if does that to me? Or everyone else?)

Something tells me we should get to the Grotto as fast as we can before they find us. (I say.) They don't know where we're going, right...?

Not as far as I know, but I could be wrong.

Nadox is pretty clearly scared of Leviti, even if he's right about the above prediction.

"It's strange, though..." says Lancelot. "An orca shouldn't be able to reach the deep sea. He'd need to go to the surface to breathe. Unless... do you think this Preston has the same abilities we just gained? The ability to swim anywhere..."