Free Write #1

A Luminance Short Story

Shadow's eyes snapped open. Dark, empty water stared back at him. He instinctively shoved himself upward, his hooded cloak dragging him down. His eventually head broke the surface and he gasped and coughed, but the air stung his lungs. Shadow tried to ignore the sensation as he swam to a ledge of rock. He was in a large cavern, with a pond reflecting light onto the walls. The ceiling was shrouded in darkness. He didn't mind though. Shadow could see fine in the dark. It was his to command, and there was no reason to be afraid of it. But Ally may have a problem. Her light magic wasn't nearly as stable his shadow magic. Wait a second, where was Ally?

Shadow looked around frantically and called her name, but she was nowhere to be found. He took a deep, scratching breath and dove into the deep waters. He spotted a plume of long, blonde hair and swam to it. Sure enough, it was Ally. Shadow grabbed his friend and pushed them up toward the surface. But he struggled. His lungs wouldn't hold the bit of air he'd taken earlier forever, and the extra weight slowed his progress. Not to mention his legs refused to kick, but he was too focused on saving them to look down.

Finally he was able to lay her on the rocks and catch his breath. After a few moments, he checked Ally's pulse. It was there, thankfully, but he noticed something else. There were three long slits on each side of her neck, and they weren't bleeding, but what were they? He had no clue.

Suddenly Ally gasped and began fighting for breath, sitting up. Once she was done coughing, she looked him over.

"What happened?" she rasped.

Shadow could only shrug. He didn't even know how they were alive. They couldn't have been in the water that long, or they would have drowned. That still didn't explain why they had been in that pond in the first place. And then he thought back.

Ally and Shadow had gone to seek out a man who was often responsible for the disappearance of people. They were building an army to retaliate against the queen, and decided that, although trifling with the man would be dangerous, he would be a good asset to the rebellion, if they could get him to help. They'd gone to his cavern, but Shadow couldn't remember what had happened afterwards. They'd just woken up in that dark, bottomless pit of water.

Suddenly Ally squealed and grabbed Shadow's ankles and pulled them up, forcing his upper body into the ground.

"Ally, wha . . . ?"

"You're a mermaid!" she shrieked in excitement. "Well, merman."

Shadow's jaw dropped as his light aquamarine eyes widened. He stared at the black shape that came into focus. The scales glittered like tiny interlocking bits of onyx, and the long, jagged fins looked as though they were carved from obsidian.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so jealous!" Ally then dropped the tail and shreeched again, looking at her own legs, which had been replaced with a sky blue tail that turned to a sparkling white on her flowery fins. "Okay I'm not jealous anymore but this. Is. Amazing!" and she dove into the water.

Jolted away from his shock, Shadow rushed in after her, worried it wasn't real and that she would drown. He instinctively took a deep breath before plunging in. He saw Ally doing loop-de-loops and was surprised he could hear her airy, heartfelt laughter. She swam up to him and pushed in his cheeks, letting the air out. He couldn't help panicking as she grabbed his arms to hold him under, even though she'd made it clear they could breath in the water.

"Ally, let go!" Shadow growled.

"Only if you relax," she giggled as he wrenched himself out of her hands.

"How can you be playing around? This is serious!" he argued. "We have to get our legs back. There is a war going on and we don't have time to dawdle in ponds!"

Ally frowned with puppy eyes. And then she perked up, as though she'd gotten an idea. She grabbed his arm. "The man that turned us into merfolk probably can turn us back into humans. If we find him, we can bargain with him to join the rebellion and give us our legs back. And if he turns others into merfolk then surely he must be able to turn into a merman himself. Sooo . . ." she smiled as he saw what she was saying.

Shadow gave a long, throaty sigh. "Fine. But if he turned into a merman he would've gone into the water, and it looks like the only way out of this pond is down. Will you be okay in the dark?"

Ally waved away his concerns. "Oh, sure, I'll be fine. I've got you after all," she smiled and grabbed his wrist. They began to swim down. Shadow resisted thinking about how deep they were going, how the pressure might kill them, how they might stop breathing in the water, and how-

Ally wriggled her hand, reminding him to not get so worried, and he loosened his grip. But it was hard, plus it was her job to be carefree and positive. Not his.

They came across the dark bottom of the pit. There were several tunnels, but only one would lead to where they needed to go. He knew Ally was practically blind in the dark, just like anyone, and he had to lead her around gently. Shadow felt the water in the tunnels, and decided to take the one where the current held a slight tug, and followed it, hoping it would lead out to somewhere good. The two swam through the dark for a few minutes until they reached another similar problem, and Shadow used a similar solution. This went on for what felt like an hour, until light started to filter into the water. He thought for a moment that it was Ally, getting sick of the dark, but upon a glance forward he realized they'd reached the end of the tunnel.

The current was fast and sloped forward, no longer hugging the ceiling. Ally whooped as though they were on a water slide as they came out of the tunnel, the water pushing them into the sea, about twenty feet below the hole. Shadow instinctively closed his eyes and yelled out. He didn't care if the gushing water made the transition safe; he hated heights!

Ally laughed and twirled around in the water as Shadow shot toward the surface. Ally followed him and looked out at the hole they'd come out of. Then she looked out over the open sea.

"I never knew this place had an ocean! I thought it was all land," she commented.

Shadow took a few deep breaths. "No, there's a large body of water in the northeast." He glanced toward the far shore, where there was a white beach. "We're probably in a more southern part of it though. I don't see the Rifter docks." Rifter was a city by the coast, full of merchants and traders, despite the fact that the land was alone in the universe, and there was no where else to go. You could literally fall off the edge.

"Huh," was all she said in reply. Then she dragged him back under the surface. "Come on, we have to find that guy."

Shadow wanted to warn her to be more careful as she swam freely in the clear water, but he knew she'd never listen to advice like that. Especially when there was the wonder of the sea to explore. He had to admit that it was interesting to see the underwater life so close. There was coral and seaweed and fish that swam by. He even thought he saw an octopus lying in the sand.

"Shadow, come here! I think I see something!" Ally called back to him. He swam up her, and she smiled again, her violet eyes sparkling. She pointed to something in the distance.

"Is that . . . ?" his voice trailed off.

She nodded. "It has to be." And they swam toward the city of the merfolk, hoping they'd find the man they were looking for.