ASCEIA SHRIEKED IN so much pain that the fishes near her burst into pieces. She kept hearing these destructive sound waves that were like digging into her ears and tearing her brain. The pain was excruciating and unbearable that her head was like it was about to explode. She lost strength and control of her body, she just sank and let the strong currents carry her body. She was feeble and disoriented. She barely had the energy to maneuver and swim against the current. And with her remaining strength, she opened her mind and established a telepathic connection to every sercean.

“Everyone, t...to the surface! Destroy every buoy and head to our nearest refuge on land!”

It was a risky move, it had the greatest chance of exposing them to the humans, but it was the only way to save themselves. Going deeper doesn’t help also. Asceia swam up and rode along the currents until she reached the surface where she attack one of the buoys. She pulled it down and screamed at it before it could release another sound. The weapon broke into pieces, she took one of the sharp metal parts and let the rest sink. Another wave of deadly sound was emitted again and she groaned in pain trying to withstand it. With her telepathic connection to others, she felt her sercean people gave up and die horribly, they died without even having their chance to fight back. And this enraged her so much.

She kept dragging down the buoys and destroying them using the sharp metal she was tightly holding. She only stops whenever another deadly frequency was released. She tried putting her head out on the surface, but still, the sound affects her flesh and bones. She continued swimming. Along the way to the nearest land, she found out that there was a one-minute interval for each sound, a very short time for her to destroy every buoy scattered everywhere. As the number of buoys decreases, the effect of sound on them was also minimized until they can manage to bear it. But still, some serceans, specifically the kids, died on their way to land.

Asceia reached Bugsuk Island in Palawan, one of their privately owned island that served as their stopover before joining the humans. As she swam out of the water and crawled on the white sand of the beach, she was unscathed but her head was ringing so bad that she can’t hear anything. Exposed to the air and sun for a minute, the metamorphosis kicked in. The pain was doubled when she started shedding her spine, scales, and thick skin. She and the other serceans transforming screamed and hoped for the process to be quick to end their torment. But while they were still in the middle of changing, three choppers flew overhead them and one landed on the beach.

••°°••

AFTER ALMOST HALF an hour ride, Frejean reached the shore near her school and the first thing she noticed was the armed men stationed and standing at the seawall, scattered along the coast. She moved carefully and made sure not one of them noticed her enter the small snack house owned by her uncle. There, she waited for Troy for another half hour. When he came, they instantly initiated their plan.

Frejean borrowed one of the motor bangca of his uncle and used the “school project” card to grant its approval. They were accompanied by her cousin who also needs to go out for a dive. Luckily, they were able to bring the boat to the water without any complications or reaction from the armed men. Her cousin held the tiller and the three of them headed to the deep. In between the light and dark shades of blue of the open sea, Frejean’s cousin jumped off the boat bringing only its spear gun and a net bag.

“Be back after an hour,” he said and dove under.

Troy took control of the boat, he sat on the stern or the rear end and held onto the tiller, a stick used to control the direction of the boat. He powered up the engine and they traveled forward, heading towards the horizon, and looking for something. Their movement was slow to ensure they will sweep the area surely. The weather favored them and the waves were small and not a hindrance to them. The sun is just overhead with no clouds surrounding them. The heat was strong and burning, but the cold and light breeze of the sea eases it.

“What exactly are we looking for?” Frejean asked aloud against the noise of the engine.

“It should look like a black cylindrical buoy!”

“What if there’s no device here?”

“Malita was inhabited by Leyrosa and visited by Asceia, among all coasts, this municipality should be one of their priorities!”

Together, they look around in every direction hoping they will find one of the devices. As they go farther from the coast, Troy can’t help himself but feel afraid. He always finds the deep, the portion of the sea where no light can reach the ocean floor a scary place. But for the sake of Asceia and her kind, he will do anything.

“There!” Frejean pointed at the black buoy that was very noticeable because of how the sunlight was reflected by its surface.

He felt the relief of finally having one. He doubled the speed of the boat and while his eyes were locked upon the device, suddenly, from his far peripheral vision, he caught another motorboat rushing towards them, and two armed men were riding on it.

“Oh, fuck me!” he groaned. “Frejean! Take this tiller!” 

“What? Why?”

“I’m going to grab the device and you take control of the boat right now! Before they could catch us!”

Frejean managed to keep her balance as she crawled her way to the rear of the moving boat. She took control of the tiller while he crawled to the bow or the front. As they come closer and closer to the device, the patrolling motor bangca was also charging toward them.

“They’re going to hit us! We’re going to die!” Frejean cried.

“No, we’re not! Not today!”

Right at the perfect moment, Troy successfully grabbed the buoy and put it in the boat, luckily it was not chained or anchored. Frejean on the other hand didn’t slow down in fear of being caught. She turned around and rushed to the shore. She kept looking back, eyeing the distance they have from the men in uniform who happen to be very dangerous.

“We’re not going to make it!”

“Just focus, Frejean! Don’t slow down!” Troy pulled his backpack and put it on his lap. He took out his laptop and opened it. Splashes of seawater were showered on him and his laptop, but still, he continued with his plan. “Fuck! We need to get closer to the shore! The internet connection here is not helping!”