An Odyssey

Sabastian sat alone in his cave, pondering what he was going to do for the day. He definitely needed to go hunting, but he needed to be wary of when and where he did that else he antagonize his brother. He could also run errands for father and mother just to stave off the boredom. That should at least keep his brother off his tail… at least until he got out of eye and earshot of his parents. As he thought more and more, he found himself focused on avoiding the ire of his brother.

Getting irritated, Sabastian thrust himself up from the nest he made in the corner of his cave. He splashed cold water on his face from the small river of flowing water that passed through the natural pocket of air deep underground. Catching his reflection in the water, he splashed it. “Hideous,” he muttered. Once again, his deformity reminded him why his brother was always harassing him.

Standing up tall, trying his best to put confidence into his posture, he went through the cave mouth into the larger expanse of labyrinth. He had spent his whole life underground within the labyrinth. His father was cursed to wander the halls, never to leave. Mother was bound and determined to stay by his side as much as possible, but she had her own limitations. As was the life of his people.

Padding his way through the familiar hallways of the labyrinth, he came to the Moonpool Antechamber. Here, Sebastian’s family had access to the ocean, as well as a whole civilization of underwater dwellers called mermaids. In fact, that’s how his father met his mother. After decades of learning and exploring this maze, his father happened upon this exit to the ocean. He met Sebastian’s mother while she was basking on a rock, enjoying the cool breeze that seemed to pervade these hallways.

The Moonpool Antechamber was large, the majority of it having crystal clear water filling most of the floor space. There was a ring of stone brick providing a walkway around it, and an island of jagged rock right in the middle. It was illuminated by light given off from the underwater city far beneath us. That is the rock Sebastian’s mother normally relaxes on with his father. In fact, they were there right now.

“Sabastian!” Mother exclaimed, her tail flapping in excitement. “You were sleeping like the undead. I heard you walking around endlessly last night in your room.”

“You know I don’t need to sleep much, mother,” Sebastian said.

“Oh, pish posh. You’re half mermaid, you need your sleep. What is bothering you?”

Sebastian sighed. It was true, he truly did not need much sleep. “Nothing, mother. Do we need any more food?” he said, trying to change the subject.

“We need more kelp for our salads tonight. Your brother is out hunting shark for our steaks,” mother said.

“I was hoping to go out hunting as well,” Sebastian muttered.

“No need to fret about that,” Father interjected in his deep gravely voice. “Your brother is better suited to hunting shark. His horns and fins give him an advantage underwater.”

That was to say, Sebastian’s lack of horns and fins put him at a disadvantage. “Fine,” Sebastian pouted.

Not wanting to talk to his father anymore, Sebastian dove into the water. Both of his siblings were able to breath underwater because of their gills, but Sebastian lacked those. Another one of his disfigurements. His lack of fins also made it slow progress through the water, but thankfully he could hold his breath for hours at a time. He found that keeping his legs together and kicking sent him through the water the fastest, so he did so through the hundreds of feet of water down to the sea floor.

He could have simply traded for the kelp in the city, but he always caught unnerved looks whenever he went there. They always seemed scared of him, despite him never doing anything to cause them fear. So instead, he decided it wisest to forage for the kelp. It was probably for the better since it tasted better when it was freshly picked. For the next hour, he spent his time collecting the kelp while basking in his surroundings. It always relaxed him to be away from others and enjoy the sensation of cool water flowing over his skin. The resistance it offered to his movements felt like a gentle massage. And there was the ever-present feeling of flying. Being able to move in all three dimensions felt liberating to him. He felt unhindered by gravity.

Once he was done, he started his way back to the Moonpool Antechamber where he found his sister had decided to join them. He found that she had also gathered kelp.

“Second again, Sebastian,” she snorted.

“What the hell!” I blurted. “Why’d you also gather kelp.”

Mother looked apologetic. “You were taking a while, so I wanted to make sure we had enough in time for dinner.”

I looked around. “What about shark meat? Dion isn’t even back yet.” He felt a spark of anger within him at his mother’s lack of faith in his abilities. Never once has he been late coming back with either meat or vegetables for dinner, yet she insisted his siblings pick up his nonexistent slack.

“Oh stop harassing mother,” Alexandria said, putting her pile of kelp onto a platter. “She only wanted to make double sure you wouldn’t keep us hungry,” she taunted.

“You—” Sebastian began to yell, but his father growled loudly.

“Do not raise your voice, Sebastian,” he grumbled. His father looked at him with his flat pupils, horns glinting off the rippling light from the city beneath the water.

Sebastian shook his head, pulling himself out of the water so he could sulk in the corner. It wasn’t even worth the effort to continue trying to defend himself.

Just as Sebastian settled onto one of the steps leading into the labyrinth, the water burst forth as if a small explosion were set off. A figure shot up into the air. Dion. His powerful finned tail morphed into scaled legs just before landing onto solid ground. In his hands, he held a bloodied sand shark. His horns were stained with blood, the sea water having failed to fully wash them off before he came back.

“The prodigal son has returned!” Dion laughed, holding the shark above his head.

“That’s my boy!” Father said, jumping down from his perch next to mother. He walked over and embraced his son. Dion tossed the shark aside and reciprocated.

Holding Dion back at arm’s length, father said “That’s a big one. It give you much trouble?”

“Oh, I let it get a few licks in but it wasn’t much trouble.”

Father clapped him on the shoulder. “My boy,” he said proudly.

“Sebastian,” Dion called to me. “What do you say to some sparring while the women prepare dinner?” It was a simple request, but he only asked Sebastian because he knew he would win.

“I’m all set,” Sebastian responded, knowing how it would end regardless of what he wanted.

“Sebastian,” Father grumbled. “You must continue to spar with your brother to shore up the weaknesses bred into you by your deformities.”

“Deformities given to me by you two,” Sebastian retorted, referencing his father and mother.

“What did you say to me?”

“Oh, did you not hear me?” Sebastian asked.

There was a tense silence, broken by Father. “You two will spar. Now.”

Great. Sebastian stood up, stretching my muscles. He was just as strong as his brother, but Dion’s horns and hardened skull always gave him the advantage. Dion laughed at Sebastian’s prefight routine.

“Trying to show off?”

“No. Just ‘shoring up the weaknesses’ bred into me.”

“Fight!” Father said before Sebastian could get off another jab at them.

Dion charged at Sebastian, head lowered, and horns pointed directly at his abdomen. He easily dodged him, but father yelled “Do not be a coward! Minitours fight their opponents head on! We do not dance around them!”

As you have said a thousand times, Sebastian thought to himself.

Dion rounded on Sebastian again, charging at him with his head lowered. Sebastian lowered his head to meet his brother’s challenge. Their heads collided with a dull thud. Sebastian had learned long ago to weave his skull past his brother’s horns to at least attempt to level the playing field. However, Sebastian’s skull was not nearly as thick as his brother’s, so this still caused Sebastian much pain. Seeing double for a moment, Sebastian continued to push against his brother. Both of their necks bulging and straining against one another, neither seemed to gain the advantage. Dion knew they were in a stalemate, and Sebastian had much more stamina, so he always resorted to dirty tricks at this point. Dirty tricks their father knew nothing about. Dion’s face was covered in thick, course fir, which Sebastian lacked. He took advantage of this by rubbing it against Sebastian’s face. If it were just skin being rubbed, Sebastian could have powered through it, but Dion always managed to get it into Sebastian’s eyes. Sebastian would try to fight through the pain, but it distracted him enough that his muscles would give way. Dion plowed Sebastian to the ground, jamming his sharp horns into Sebastian’s abdomen, winning the fight.

Pulling his freshly bloodied horns out of Sebastian’s gut, Dion roared victoriously.

“That’s my boy!” Father exclaimed, earning him a quick wack from Mother.

Mother morphed her tail into a pair of legs and worked her way over to the gored Sebastian. “Sebastian, let me help—”

“I’ll be fine, mother,” he stated. He would be. The blood that had been spewing out of him mere moments ago was already clotting. He would be passing blood in his stool for the next few hours while his insides mended, but he would make a one hundred percent recovery with barely a scar. This ability was seen as a weakness by his brother and father. They saw it as his body’s readiness for defeat…his body’s last ditch effort to recover after a defeat. Their bodies were both extremely resilient. Whenever they spar together, their horns never pierce flesh and only leave dull bruises.

“Ah, the poor baby needs to be mollycoddled by mother,” Dion taunted. Alexandria just glanced at Sebastian and smirked while she chopped the kelp.

Father came over to his injured son. “Now, where did you go wrong, son.”

“Not having horns?” he quipped.

“No. You have not strengthened your body enough.”

No, your other son is a cheating prick, he thought to himself. Sebastian’s body healed fast enough that his father never saw the bloody scratches in his eyes.

“Have you nothing to say for yourself?” he asked.

Sebastian remained silent.

His father shook his head, turning his back on Sebastian. Sebastian managed to get to his feet, his wound reopening slightly in the process. Pushing past the pain, Sebastian worked his way into the labyrinth and began walking the familiar corridors. Moments later, Sebastian heard footsteps behind him. Turning to ensure it wasn’t his brother coming to torment him more, Sebastian found it to be his sister. She had morphed her tail into a pair of legs, allowing her to walk on land. She lacked horns like him, but had scaled legs that could turn into a tale like his brother and mother. Sebastian turned his back to her, continuing his aimless meandering through the labyrinth.

“Sebastian,” she said to get his attention.

“What?” Sebastian asked, not bothering to turn to her.

“Will you stop a moment? You know I get winded quickly walking on land.”

Sebastian rounded on her. “What do you want.”

She stepped back hurriedly, obviously scared.

“Great. You’re just like the other merfolk now. What do you want?”

“You truly have no idea why the merfolk are scared of you?”

“Obviously because I’m deformed. You’ve eyes, obviously. You can see it for yourself.”

“Oh please, you don’t seriously buy the crap Father feeds you, do you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You aren’t deformed, dummy. You are the spitting image of a human.”

“Human? The monsters from the stories Mother would tell us? Please, stop insulting me.”

“I am not trying to insult you…this time at least. I’m telling you to try and help all of us.”

Sebastian looked at her. “Explain.”

“You’ve never been to the surface…you can’t hold your breath long enough to make the journey. You’ve never actually seen a human before.”

“What, and you have?”

She nodded shyly. “I fell in love with one…once. He made me believe I was special, unique. But he betrayed me. He tried trapping me, with the help of other humans and these contraptions. I managed to get away with Dion’s help, but they all looked exactly as you do.”

“You keep saying that. I am ugly, yes, but the humans Mother would tell us about were things from horror stories. There’s no way I can look as horrible as that.”

“We…I tease you because you don’t have fins on your legs. You aren’t nearly as ugly as Father and Dion say you are. I did tell you that I fell in love with a human.”

This was rare praise from Alexandria. “Why are you telling me this?”

She rung her hair in her hands nervously. “Father and Mother have been arguing more as of late. With your horns never having grown in, and you looking so different from what they expected, Father has treated you harshly. Mother tries to molly coddle you, but Father hates when she does that. He tries to compensate by being harder on you.”

“Being harder on me? That’s how you see it?” I hissed.

“Stop, you know what I mean—”

“No, I don’t think you understand exactly what I’ve been—”

“Will you just stop and listen to me!”

Sebastian quieted himself, pushing back his anger to listen to what his sister had to say.

“I’m telling you this because you have a place among the humans.”

Sebastian pondered what she said for a moment. “You mean to say I don’t have a place here.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“You didn’t have to.”

“Sebastian, I’m trying to help you.”

“No, I don’t think you are. You’re trying to keep Mother and Father from fighting. You’re trying to keep your family together, but trying to make yourself feel better about how you’re going about doing so. That, or you’re trying to trick me into getting killed by humans.”

A tear rolled down Alexandria’s cheek.

“Oh, stop the tears. You’ve made your point.” Turning his back on his sister, Sebastian made his way into the bowels of the labyrinth. He traveled for days, pondering what his sister had said. He made his way from familiar corridors into unfamiliar corridors. Soon he was lost, but he cared not. He could survive for months without feeling a single pang of hunger. His Father always thought of it as a weakness. A hungry body made a strong body, so what did it mean if you didn’t feel the need to eat?

Sebastian came to a crossroads at one point. One path led upwards at a steep, rocky, gravely incline. The other led downwards at a gentle, smooth, paved decline. All of his life he lived underground…beneath the surface. He was never able to make it to the surface because of his physical limitations. Just this once, his endurance would grant him the ability to move up. And so he set forth, trekking up the treacherous climb. He cared not for the consequences if he fell. What of it? He was on his own regardless. At least he could test the boundaries of his endurance.

He continued this climb for what he could only guess to be days. He stopped every once and a while when he felt tired and needed sleep, but he never needed to sleep long. Never once did Sebastian think to stop, never wondering where the top might be. His only thought was to climb. As he entered into a sort of trance, he didn’t even notice when he got to the top of the steep incline. He walked into a chamber which came to a dead end. As his body came to a standstill, his consciousness kicked back in and he became puzzled.

This can’t be it, Sebastian thought to himself. Days of climbing just for a dead end. He inspected the room, finding it completely empty. No significance to this chamber at all. At least that was until he gazed at the ceiling. What he found there puzzled him. They were things he only ever saw when he dug up kelp. What Sebastian saw on the ceiling was roots.

“No,” Sebastian muttered to himself. “No way.”

He walked to the wall and scurried up it, digging his pinkies into the smallest of handholds in order to do so. The wall was about twelve feet tall to the ceiling, and Sebastian didn’t think twice about the short climb. At the top, he grabbed hold of one of the roots. He began to pull and rip chunks of the tightly packed soil from their resting place in the net of roots. Soon he had the beginnings of a hole. Continuing his labor, he pulled himself up through the soil. As he ascended, the dry dirt became moist and somewhat slimy. Where it used to be tightly packed, it turned loose. His hole collapsed in on itself, but he wormed his way through.

With a push of effort, he clawed above his head and his hand burst into what he thought was a pocket of air. As he dragged his body through the soil, he was stunned to find that it wasn’t an air pocket, but rather open air. At the same time, he was nearly blinded by the brightest light he had ever seen. Up until that point, the only lights he had been exposed to were the artificial lights of the merfolk’s underwater city. This was magnitudes brighter than that.

His eyes did adjust though. As they did, he focused on a wide eyed woman in front of him. She had the upper body of a mermaid and the lower body of a minotaur, just like him. He stood about two heads taller than her, and compared to him she was downright dainty. Was this a human? She wore strange cloth over her skin, as if she were hiding it. Mother did say that humans always covered their bodies with something they called clothes.

“Excuse me,” Sebastian said, approaching the woman. As he did so, she let out an ear piercing scream and ran away. Sebastian grumbled. His sister was a lying whore. If he looked so much like the humans, why were they running from him too?

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It’s been a while since I’ve posted. There’s more coming for this particular story, so be on the lookout for that. There will also soon be an update coming out detailing why I haven’t posted in so long. For now, please enjoy!