"Ah s**t, here we go again." Soon, a massive school of fish could be seen dashing towards him at high velocity. Fishes of all shapes and colors were harmoniously communicating with each other as they maintained their group. What's odd, however, was the lack of enormity. I'm fact, the biggest fish was only about a foot in length. Harmless! Every single one of these fishes could be considered guppies when facing against an awakened life form. Yet, they didn't show the least bit of fear when in the presence of this young master. No, they welcomed him, as if he were their long lost brother. Swimming around him in swirls, the happiness of the fishes clashed with his feeling of dread and despair. Having such a horrible nightmare and then for it to suddenly change into a cheery seascape caused his head to go into turmoil and his vision quickly blurred. Strange twists and turns in his eyesight became increasingly more troublesome for him until he could no longer handle it; and vomited blood. At that moment, after vomiting, his thoughts became as clear as day, like all his negativity was banished from his body.
The fishes ignored the dissipating vomit, like it had disappeared, and continued to swim around him in content. One of them even swam up to him and kissed on the cheek! "Uh, was that my first!?" Ran widened his eyes in shock and he quickly tried to catch up to the speedy bugger. That was my first, oh God, have you forsaken me!? No! There's one way to end this and that is to remove all evidence of this transgression! The fish quickly ran away in a scurry as Ran trailed behind it, infuriated. Before long, they had already separated from the group and were just swimming into emptiness, however it did not last long either. In the distance, several structures could be made out and upon reaching close enough, they revealed themselves as a coral reef!
"Well, that explains where they came from. Haha, when I get my hands on you, oh ho hoh! Damn I wish I had butter in this place." Once they had reached only a couple meters from the entrance, the fish stopped. The fish itself wasn't extraordinary, being one of the most common fishes freshwater could create; though at least in here, it and the rest of the school showed an uncanny amount of intelligence, at least a heck of a lot more than they have in real life. Looking at Ran dead in the eye, it released bubbles. "Fish can't talk, at least this one can't so if it was trying to communicate to me, what is it saying? Oh most handsomest master, forgive my indecency, for I could not help myself? Yeah that sounds about right." Except, he didn't notice the entire school behind him right away, a look of solemn twinged in their fish eyes. When he did find them, however, he was given a great shock, "God sang it, are you guys about to jump me? Why do you surround me at all times!? I'm not that kind of person alright, orgys with fishes just aren't my thing." To this joke, the fish did not laugh, and they even appeared slightly angry. Well, more like frustration.
After blowing some bubbles, the school suddenly shifted shape. Communication is key, after all! Boom. A huge hand with a finger sticking outwards toward the entrance threatened to pick Rans nose… wait, that's not what I meant. They clearly are pointing somewhere deep inside the reef and they want him to go inside. They even started to push him in, not allowing for any escape whatsoever!
Upon being forced in, the fish sighed in relief (they tried to anyway) as they blocked the entrance. Ran was not looking good as he was pale and frightened. He swore he could have sensed a presence in this reef just now. Ever since Olly had given him that blood core infused with her life force, he had gotten these dreams and, well, the water seemed to be increasingly more familiar to him. He could see farther, swim faster, and sense things in the water like it was a part of him. "This couldn't possibly be one of Ollys memories right?" He shook his head upon asking that question because he knew the answer. Ollys memories were very vivid, to the point where he couldn't recognize those very same memories as someone else's. Those were his memories now. But they had a different vibe to them. In the memories, he could feel Olly's presence, meaning during those moments, he was both Olly and himself. "In Here, though, I feel like I've been transported. These fish are real, I can feel it, I can feel.. them. This place really… gives me the creeps though." Remembering that Bottomless abyss, cold sweat had unknowingly formed and his spine shivered.
During that moment of thought, Ran had failed to notice a pair of cold, dead, eyes staring at him for a second before disappearing. Not wanting to completely massacre the school of fish, Ran could only resign to his own humbleness "Danger means an opportunity they said. Kiss me on the cheek and lure me into a trap they said. Well, you want to know what I said? f**k off… please."
***
After searching for what felt like nearly an hour, Ran could find nothing, not a single fish or corpse. The scene, on the other hand, was simply a sight to behold. The coral reef was practically the size of a large town. Every coral was at least the size of a three story building with the largest being over fifty stories. With each being different colors as well as having a different function. Some were clearly for living purposes, what with all the Pringles floating about. Some were more sophisticated, like one building that wasn't very tall but was very wide instead. This building was used to store all of their food (seaweed) as well as a vault to hold their safe keepings, whatever those were. Sun rays from God knew where were shining upon the reef from all directions like it was a sacred land, but without warning, a scent of blood pierced his nose.
Smelling the direction it came from, Ran turned his attention towards a certain coral. This coral was actually the largest of the bunch, towering over the rest. What was truly peculiar, however, was that it had a uniform shape. It had been carved into! In fact, it was the only coral to have been seemingly created for a specific purpose. Looking at the castle de la coral, curiosity bore into Rans brain. This was where the blood scent came from. Launching himself forward, Ran shot out like a torpedo towards the castle. It had only taken him a couple minutes for him to reach the base to the inside. The entrance was about 4 meters, over 12 feet, in diameter with deep scratches along its walls. Some parts had even cracked. Looking at the walls, he spotted scales embedded in them with some floating near the floor. Curious, Ran tried to dig one out of the walls, but he couldn't even when he used all the force he had in him.
Finally opting to use his sword, he was finally able to pry the scale off the wall. Holding it in his hand, it felt cold to the touch. Feeling its edges, it felt completely blunt. "Uh, how'd it get in there if it wasn't sharp?" Only one answer. It went in there forcefully! Some of the scales were dark green and the others were white in color. At that moment though, he sensed something. The stench of blood had inexplicably grown stronger. So strong in fact that all he smelled was iron and he began to become nauseated from the overwhelming olfactory sensation.
All of sudden, his vision began to redden. Very faint Streaks of red wind came from somewhere and flowed into his nose. Though they were very faint, they were extremely noticeable to Ran as he knew it was the stench of blood. Following the trail, it led outside, but then took a straight shot towards the very top of the castle. Continuing to follow it, Ran swam towards the top of the castle and along the way he found several more instances of scratches and scales embedded in the walls of the coral. Soon, he reached the top castle and an entrance about the same size of the base awaited him. However, Ran couldn't see anything! Why? It's a simple matter really…
During his way up, the blood wind became denser and bigger in size. The entrance ended up being full of the stuff! Everywhere he could see, blood mist, blood mist and more blood mist. It was so dense it blocked his view from seeing anything going on the inside. Knowing staring wouldn't get him nowhere, he entered the blood mist.
"Phew, no pain no gain. Phew, phew. Is it me or is it getting hot in here?" Having walked into the blood mist, even though the mist was about 2 humans thick and would take only a couple of steps to pass through, Ran was already sweating. He felt a stifling feeling in his heart as dread filled his mind; barring access to his peak performance.
Oh, s**t! He's already walking into this with one hand tied behind his back! Turn back, you're not allowed to die yet! You hear me… alas.
"Ah s**t, I fell for it again. Shoot." As he was finishing walking through the mist, he got a blurry glimpse of the best in front of him. A fuzzy image of a dark fish that was a staggering 4 meters in width and 6 meters in length astounded him. Seeing the beast with his own eyes was the final straw that broke that one camel's back. The stifling feeling in his heart broke out of control as it invaded his entire being. His mind grew hazy as his ears heard ringing noises. His body felt numb and as stiff as bones. His teeth were clattering and his eyes were fear stricken. Something inside him was telling him to fear the creature beyond the mist. It was telling him to run, an animalistic instinct welled up inside, this beast was superior to him.
THAT'S A PREDATOR! AND HE'S THE PREY! "I'm the prey, I'm the prey, I'm the prey, I'm the prey, i'm the prey…" He just kept repeating this to himself as he had already finished walking through the blood mist and fearfully looked at the beasts back. Then, the beast looked back and towards Ran.
Cold eyes. Dead eyes. Those eyes couldn't be considered eyes anymore, as they were emotionless; just two signs of imminent death. In its mouth was a newly born guppy while various eggs were broken and strewn across the battle stage.
No Pain No Gain.