1828 A place to die

As they went through the tube, the two sisters felt tremendous g force on their bodies. It was hard for them to move, if not at all. They thought of trying to break out of the tube to get to the other two, but Wince instantly scrapped the idea after thinking for a while.

Breaking the tube wasn't an option. Even if they somehow managed to destroy the building, they would have brought a lot of unnecessary attention to themselves for destroying the Hydro System, not to mention they would be in the middle of the deep ocean alone. All in all, destroying the tubes wasn't worth the risk.

'I'm sorry, guys…you came here to help me, and now I don't know what is going to happen.' Wince clenched her fist, and finally, the siblings were chucked out of their tubes into the deep ocean.

Instantly, they felt something strange ensue as soon as their body crashed into the water. Their legs started to merge and grow as they stuck together, then their scales on their body grew and covered their whole face, and at last, a fish tail protruded from where their feet were.

For Wince, the scales on the bottom half of her body were a glittering blue, while her sister Ceril's scales were shining in bright pink. The two of them had transformed into what most people on Earth called the mystical creature, a mermaid.

In front of them, there was a large city of some sort, and its familiarity confirmed that they had reached the right destination. This city was called Mercil, the capital of the Meremerial race. Just like the city from earlier, there were several skyscrapers here as well. Only these were more like a palace, with giant swirls all around them, making them appear grand and added a majestic aura to them.

There was also an elegant shine to the whole city, and at the end was the royal palace, which even in the deep sea, shone with bright glittering colour all around and illuminated everything. The two can see everything clearly even though they were still far from the place as they were chucked into the deep ocean by the Hydro Tube.

This was the same for the others that had come out from the tube, only they were already swimming towards the Hydro station, which was at the city's base and was around five times bigger than the one they had departed from.

At the same time, they also noticed several tubes, like the one they had used, coming from different directions, and more people were being shot out of them and just like the others, they swam towards the station.

'What is with all of these people? Something is definitely going on.' Wince wondered, and this thought made her feel even more anxious than before. Although the city was a popular destination, this was completely different. Everyone was running to it as if their life depended on it.

Doing a quick turn in the water, Wince looked towards her sister, who was clenching her hands in nervousness.

"What happened, Ceril? Where are the other two now? Why aren't they with us?! Did you not know the tubes would send them in a different direction?" Wince asked.

"I didn't know, I didn't know!" Ceril replied. "When I bought the tickets at the counter, they didn't ask any questions or anything. So it looked like no one noticed anything, and I bought the same tickets for all of us. I'm sorry."

Ceril burst into tears, thinking it was her fault, and her sister seeing this, couldn't shout or blame her anymore. Swimming through the water, she went to her sister's side and pulled her into a hug to calm her down.

"It's okay, Ceril. These are tough times, we have a lot on our minds, and in the first place, this is something the two of us need to do. Maybe they've been watching us from the beginning and wanted us on our own? We need to be careful from now on," Wince said.

"But we can't distract ourselves. We need to continue on our task. We have to enter the city and somehow get to the Royal Vault. It's up to us now, and we must do our part so the others can help us." Wince started to swim off, and Ceril was not too far away.

———

Quinn and Nog walked through the dense jungle and now had entered the city. There were large, open, wide streets that allowed them to explore the city easily. The only thing was, the two of them noticed something very strange.

"Hey, don't you think this place is a bit empty?" Nog asked. "Compared to the beach and everything, it looks like everyone was heading to the station. Are they running away or hiding?"

Hearing this, Quinn nodded. He had noticed this as well. It was more like the place was deserted than anything. In the end, Quinn spotted an old man in a shopping stall. The latter had barbecued small fish and shrimp.

'Does this count as cannibalism? I guess even fish eat fish on Earth, so it would make sense.' Quinn said.

The old man had a large fin on his back, webbed hands, and wrinkles all over.

"Why is the city so empty?" Quinn asked.

"Empty? Are there no people here?" The old man replied as he turned his head left and right. "You're right. No one is here. Hmm…I do remember some customers talking about a royal ceremony. Was that today? I can't remember. Would you like some fish?"

The old man was jumping from subject to subject, but Quinn had gotten enough information he needed from the man.

"A Royal ceremony? Is that why everyone is in such a rush? Is everyone going to the Capital City? Maybe it's to crown this Yanny guy? Anyway, we shouldn't worry about them so much, right? Your captain is a strong guy?"

"Yeah," Nog replied. "As long as your friend is as strong as you say he is, the two should be okay against any trouble they come across."

Although Quinn agreed, he started to look around the place. Maybe there was something that the two of them might need to do to perhaps attract some attention, so the others had an easier time.

"Well, I don't want to get in the water, but maybe there is another way, another large force that would be sure to get their attention." Saying these words, Quinn looked into the distant sky, where the large ships and fleet of ships could be seen. It was a backup plan, but the question was now, how long would Quinn wait until he decided he would need to act himself?

——

At this moment, a human and a Dalki were moving through the tubes at a fast rate. It had been a while since their tubes got separated from the two girls. Unlike the girls though, both the Dalki and Sil were confident that they could break out of the tube. The only thing was if they did, where would they end up? And where would they have to go?

They had no clue where and how long to swim in the vast ocean to find the city. In the end, it was better to at least let the tube take them to some place, wherever it was, and plan from there. There should be another Hydro station they could access from that location.

Out for the bottom end of the tube, the two of them crashed into the water. There was no change in their bodies, but Sil immediately started using the Water ability around him to ease his movements and breathe underwater.

'Hey, I can move easier than I thought. Controlling the water in the sea makes my movements slower than on land, but it's not too bad. Maybe as I get used to the speed, it will be alright.' Sil thought.

He turned around to look at how Doguth was doing, and the latter looked fine as well. Using his large tail, the Dalki swam through the water relatively easily. Now that they had regained their composure, the question was, just where were they?

They stared at the front, and the sight was not like they had expected. There was no city, or at least not one they were expecting. Instead, there were underwater ruins of what once was a city, and it was now covered with strange green moss all over the place and more.

And, there wasn't a single structure in sight that looked to be well, someone or something had destroyed everything, and the ruins looked to stretch to miles.

"What is this place? Why would they even have something like this?" Sil said.

Just then, shutting out from one of the tubes behind them, a fish person had turned into what looked like a sick turtle. Slowly he started to float his way towards them and into the ruins.

"Hey!" Sil called out. "Sorry to bother you, but what is this place? Is there a Hydro station nearby so we can leave this place?"

The turtle man slowly turned his head. His eyes looked dead as he stared at the two.

"What is this place…you came here, and you don't even know? This is the place where people who no longer wish to live...come to die." The turtle expressed as he continued to drift towards the ruins.

*****

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