"We're going to the pool if anyone wants to come."
Without waiting for any responses, I pulled my head out the door to our dorms and started walking to the Hub.
Accompanying me was only Peter and Zakira, as Slate sunk like a rock and Els had an adverse feeling towards open water. Many of the other Inhumans were averse to the water as well. Though, for much more respectable reasons than Els,' 'I don't like to get wet.'
The others, however, had developed an utter fascination with water sports after I showed them my jet-board at the cove the day before.
Since then, it seemed like all our party wanted to do. Even to the point where they started to mope once it was time to leave. But after reminding them of the pools found on campus, they seemed all too eager to return and make swimming plans for the entirety of our last day off.
Though, their reasons for doing so were much different from mine. Their reasoning was for fun and leisure. My reasoning was to develop some new techniques for underwater exploration.
I'd never been one for open water, in my past life at least. I didn't suffer from thalassophobia, but the idea of gargantuan creatures emerging from the depths kept a powerless human like myself far away from such things.
In this life, however, things were different. On top of that, I gave Henry my word that I'd recover his ocean crawler one day. His pride aside, such a thing would prove to be an invaluable resource to the Legion. I didn't want to waste the time developing the means to find it when I could do so now. So I brainstormed on my way to the pool and left the digitized ideas floating in the air.
The pool was an indoor space measured to be just as large as the gym floor next to it. Comparing it to an Olympic swimming pool wouldn't have done it justice. It was essentially an indoor sea. Complete with towering skies that contained an oppressive source of light and heat and waters that were deep enough to keep such an intense light from ever reaching the bottom.
Even then, the perimeter of the room had been filled with the same desk-like seats found in both the arena and the gym.
Unsurprisingly, Zakira made her way to them to lounge about and suck on a blood pack. Swimming wasn't fun and water burned, according to her. But I still didn't know if she hated garlic or could enter a house unannounced.
But I digress.
While most of the space was either sand, seats, or water, a cliff structure had been constructed along the far right wall to make for a diving platform and waterfall.
At its basin, slumped across large flat rocks, was Zohnos and his assumed sister. Both of whom dove into the waters after noticing my presence.
Within moments, they were beaching the shores to my front. Eyes focused on me with no concern to the inquires and cacophony coming from those I came with and those who followed.
"Amun." Zohnos bowed. "I'm surprised to see you here. Did you wish to continue our conversation?"
"Not quite." I politely waved him off. "I'm only here to train."
So saying, I moved a few meters away to tend to my business.
More specifically, I turned my focus to the first of the digital widgets floating above.
[Task 1: Replicate Respirocytes.]
After the paradigm shifted on old earth, Respirocytes was the first piece of technology given to humanity by the Starfarer. Though, they weren't conceived by him. They were conceptualized in the 1990s. Around the time I was born. It was the Starfarer who developed the technology- molecular manufacturing, that enabled humanity to produce them in excess.
Composed of a diamond shell, Respirocytes ran on glucose to not only mimic but exceed the function of a red blood cell by multiple orders of magnitude.
They were over 200 times more efficient than their biological counterparts and half of a person's blood volume could be safely augmented with them.
As many people at the time did, the first thing I did after augmenting my blood was a breath test. And even being an old, unhealthy chain smoker, I managed to sit on the couch for almost four hours on a single breath.
And that was just the basic function.
Regardless, everyone who went off-world was required to have them. And one day, I'd redevelop the real thing in this world and pass it along to my Legions.
But the Legions were one thing. I was another. I had no intentions of relying on potions or even enchantments to replicate the effect. Those wouldn't always be accessible, so I needed a more immediate solution.
As of now, my only options were to make a bubble of pressurized air around my mouth and exhale it through my nose. It greatly increased my time underwater, but I was breathing pressurized air, with brought about the risk of decompression sickness. One of many ailments Respirocytes made a thing of the past.
I could've expanded the bubble around my body and lowered the overall air pressure, I was aware of that much. Though that didn't exactly solve my problem, it only intensified it. As I'd lose the ability to swim in a bubble of air and maneuverability with water manipulation in such a situation was less than favorable.
"Would you like to race?"
'What the fuck is wrong with you?' Groaning, I turned to Zohnos' sister. A carbon copy of the Prince, albeit a well-endowed one with a trio of blue-white shellfish-looking scales covering her modesty.
Minus her ass crack.
'You know what?' I grinned. "Sure."
Moving quickly through the water wasn't my issue. Neither was the pressure. Nor was breathing underwater, really. I could cover my mouth and breathe through the Fell without any effort.
I just wanted breathing to be optional.
"Right." Zohnos pushed himself away to make room for me. Then pointed across the way to Zakira. "You! Announce our start."
"No!" Came the long drone of her reply.
"What!?"
"Um, Me! I'll do it!"
Turned in tandem with Zohnos, I saw Toni paddling forward on a platform of ice. Much to the Triton's dismay.
"Very well." He grunted. "On her start, we'll race to the far wall."
"Fair enough."
"You!" He pointed to Toni. "Smack the surface thrice with your paddle. Our race will commence on the third strike."
"Um. Okay." Toni rapidly blinked as we dipped under the surface one by one.
I, however, couldn't help but grin in anticipation at the thought of their reactions to the marvelous effects of supercavitation.
With a dull thud and ripple from above, my anticipation grew into unbridled eagerness. I began to prepare by getting a feel for the water around me.
And the second slap came. Zohnos and his sister splayed their limbs out to their sides. Their webbed hands and feet grabbed onto the water as if they were stones on a mountainside and they pulled. Creating miniature currents to form a ring of spinning air before them while I floated there.
When the final thud came, it triggered a jetstream of water to plume out behind the three of us. With nowhere to go, the shockwave slammed into the coast. Blasting sand and water against the ceiling while we were sent rocketing through the depths.
But even with supercavitation, I was no match for those born in an environment such as this. So I did what only the most-successful individuals did.
I cheated.
I pulled shadow mana out of my Well and let it flow into my body. In doing so, the effects of water resistance and the need to manipulate the water around me were removed from my incorporeal form. At the cost of a sliver of arcana, I flew through the depths to catch up with the two Tritons just before we made contact with the finish line.
Though I still lost, it was only a second or two after them. And at least one of them was impressed. She swam around me like a curious dolphin while I lazily floated on my back.
"Wow!" the sister's voice rang through the water like a whale call. "I never knew humans could move so quickly underwater. I am Vlorlyn Lagunath, High Princess of the Nautilus Protectorate."
"Impressive, yes." Zohnos awkwardly interjected and quickly shied away. Though it was all-too-clear that he wanted to say more.
"Thank you." I bowed as much as I could in the water. Much their amusement, I was sure. "Since we're already conversing, mind if I ask you a question?"
"What is it you wish to speak about?" Zohnos asked.
"I'm curious about life beneath the sea. The creatures, the societies. What are they like?"
"We Triton's are at the pinnacle of all aquatic life." Zohnos proudly spat with a webbed hand laid across his scaled chest. "Our homes can be found in the deepest depths of the Mortal Plane's oceans and seas. It is our kind that has selflessly protected the surface world from the dangers of the deep since time immemorial.
"Now." Zohnos leaned far too close. "For what reason does your curiosity stem? Is it because you wish to do as other humans do and impede on, take from, and litter in the waters of the realms?"
'Seems like I struck a nerve.' I snorted to myself before calmly saying. "I only seek knowledge. I'll give you knowledge in return if you like?"
His sister, Vlorlyn swam forth at once. "What kind of knowledge?"
"Knowledge of my homeworld, Maru." I shrugged. "Or of magic. Or science or technology."
"Science. Technology." Zohnos slowly repeated as if to commit the terms to memory. "I've never heard such terms before. What do they mean?"
"Science is a term that describes a particular method one uses to study and come to understand the truths hidden in the natural world. Why does lightning strike? Why does water boil into steam and solidify into ice? Why does light cast a shadow and influence what we see? These questions can be explored and eventually answered through science. Technology, on the other hand." I grinned. "Is applied science. Technology is how we use the knowledge gained from science to make things that can do things that we can't do ourselves."
"I think… I understand." Vlorlyn said after a few moments of deep thought. Then looked to my eyes with a sort of pride and hope that I couldn't quite place. "Are enchantments an example of this… technology? Or armor?"
"They are." I nodded. Then switched my expectant gaze between them until one of them spoke up.
Unsurprisingly, it was Vlorlyn. "There are as many creatures in the waters of the realms as there are grains of sand on their shores. They range from creatures far too small for one to see, up to the leviathans of the deep- creatures that would make this great tree appear to be but a small sapling in comparison."
"That is the true scale of the world's depths, Amun." Zohnos punctuated his sister's explanation by swimming between us. "It's a realm that the denizens of the surface have no business exploring. If they know what's good for them."
"You speak as if you own the seas." I snorted. "If that's the case, why are you here?"
"We do not own the seas!" Zohnos protested. "We protect the world's waters from all threats! That includes those of the surface world who pollute and poach our waters! The depths are no place for surface-dwellers! You people lack the grace and agility needed to survive down there! And you can't even breathe!
"As for your second question." He swam a meter or two away to take in a deep breath. "We are here to grow in strength and knowledge."
"To grow in strength and knowledge," I slowly repeated. Then gestured around us. "Here, on the surface of Nonus. You will explore, study at its finest institution, and return to your home as a better version of yourself. All while denying those on the surface the same right in your world. All while acting as if you own the seas while claiming that you don't in the same breath. Zohnos Lagunath, you are a hypocrite." Shaking my head, I re-assumed my Semi-Wraith Form and descend to the deepest parts of the pool, to where the shade was dark enough to shroud me in my full Wraith Form.
"Worse than a hypocrite. You're an arrogant shit-talker. People like you make me sick." I spat. Then sent out echoes upon echoes of laughter as I circled them.
"Where are you?" Zohnos spun about.
"I am everywhere, for I am darkness itself." I laughed. "Down here in your dangerous depths, I can breathe darkness. Down here, I can be invisible at will. Down here." I wheeled around to whisper in the Triton Prince's ear. "I have just as much grace and agility as you do, Zohnos. I have power. I have control. I have a darkness in me that will occlude the greatest leviathan able to be conceived by the depths. More importantly, I have the power to make theirs my own."
To punctuate my claim, I opened a chasm of darkness and watched their faces crumple in anger once Hatch swam out into the darkness. Followed by Chako. Then Jima. Followed by Orpheus. And finally Blante.
"Whether they be alive or dead, I can force any creature into submission. So your claims of the ocean being too dangerous for me to explore is nothing more than a paltry excuse to me."
Again, I couldn't help but laugh at Zohnos' response. A disgruntled sneer pulled his face up on a single side. The veins in his brown and neck bulged scales in aberrant angles, causing them to stand out in the grayscale depths of the pool floor if only a little. His clenched fists tremored at his sides. Subtly, but enough to induce small vortexes around his arms that increased as the piercing silence loomed on.
After willing myself to be seen, I sat cross-legged on the floor and waited for them to swim around me before I immediately spoke. "The other day, you said you were relieved to find that I'm not a tyrant in the making. Considering your logic behind the waters of the realm, however, I find that statement to be quite derisive at best, if not just a nugatory excuse to shy such a claim away from oneself.
"If I were to operate under your logic, Zohnos." I continued without pause. "Then it'd be well within my rights to claim that shadows- darkness itself, as my domain. As I was born a Sorcerer, it would be natural to assume that everything that finds itself shrouded in darkness is mine to… 'protect' as well, right? As you can see." I gestured around us, grinning all the while. "That includes the bottom of this pool. And the bottom of your precious oceans as well.
"Not only that." I continued before they could respond. "But the darkness is but a fraction of the power that is my birthright. My power revolves around all things related to death. Which means every living being that has ever died falls within my domain as well. And if we take my other affinities into account: the void, gravity, electromagnetism, space-time, and nuclear magic, that would imply that the universe itself is my domain to protect and shape as I see fit.
"So." I clapped much in the same way Zeff did. Only with an influx of gravity mana that pulled water away from me. Opening up a cylinder that led to the surface over a kilometer above us. "I hope you understand now. First, that you sound like a fucking idiot. Second, the heavens, all the realms, the Darkworld, the ocean depths, even the Underworld, are all free to be explored by whosoever is strong enough to make the journey. Even if they aren't strong enough, they're free to die in the pursuit of their dreams. It's their choice. And no one- not the gods and certainly not you, Zohnos, will ever tell me- or anyone else otherwise."
Ever so slowly, Zohnos leaned forward to break the vertical surface of my enclosure to growl in a warnful tone."Be careful who you make an enemy of, Amun. You may be powerful, but there are forces in this world that not even you can defeat. I will teach you that lesson come next week." He spat. And in a powerful wave that failed to breach my cylinder, he darted off.
"If I can't defeat them then I will die trying." I shrugged with a smug grin, knowing the echoes of darkness would make through to his ears. "But even death won't be the end for me."
"You have my admiration!" Vlorlyn said, clearly amused. "I cannot find a flaw in your logic."
"And your brother can't in his." I snorted.
"We are a prideful people, but what we speak is truth. That said." She sighed. "Zohnos' intentions weren't to make an enemy out of you. It was to serve as a warning. The depths can be dangerous. That is all."
"Well, he sure has a way with words." I chided.
Besides, it can't be more dangerous than the Darkworld.
Or the Under.
And certainly not the Hells.