Cursed Child

'Girl, we seriously need to schedule a session with this lady.' Her left brain, Leah as she fondly calls it, said out of the blue.

'Hmm… Even me the emotional side, is a bit confused as well. Yes, let's schedule a session soon ok Red? Your emotions are kind of fucked up.' Rhea seconded. 'Oh, wait that's me.'

"Fuck you both." Blurted Red.

"What?"

Oh no.

Shit, that wasn't supposed to come out.

"What was that?" Ari asked again, this time his voice cracked and Red couldn't hold her laughter at the silliness of how it sounded.

Goddammit.

That wasn't supposed to come out as well.

"Uhh what? Did you say something Ari?" she asked back. She will just have to fake it till she makes it.

Ari's face twisted in confusion for the merest second and then went back to the cool and gentle guy he was. "Never mind. Maybe it was just the sea pressure messing with my ear."

Red heaved a huge sigh that she held on for so long. Damn those voices in her head won't let her be a girl for once.

Good thing Ari let the issue go.

She clicked her pocket watch and peered on the dial's face. The hands had turned non-stop in an unsynchronized manner when she pointed the timepiece towards the trench's depths.

Her fear crept in again and her breath came in short gasps.

"I'm scared." She finally admitted as she closed the watch and turned to Ari. "I'm so scared of the dark."

"If you don't overcome your fear, then the crown isn't for you." Her warrior told her.

True enough, she didn't have qualms with his opinion. The big capital Q U E S T I O N here now is:

Does she really want the crown?

At first it was just out of curiosity, afterwards it was the sense of obligation for grandmama's safety if she has to be honest.

Grandmama was the only family she had left. She can't imagine how life would be without her sweet grandmother and her wonderful cooking.

Red's mouth drooled and she wished grandmama's cooking could just magically transport to where they are now.

A taste of home in the deeps of the ocean.

"We must get going Red." Ari nudged. "What do you want to do?"

This is it.

The inevitable is crashing into her like a bullet train on schedule.

She snorted.

A bullet train sounded a lot better than the deep unknown.

"We shall never know right? Let's go." she said half-heartedly and nodded at Ari. He obliged and commanded their magical air ride to go down the trench.

Descending, Red shivered in fright and she felt Ari wrap his arm around her. She welcomed the reassuring gesture and buried herself in his chivalry.

Slowly, her racing heart calmed down.

The darkness crept in like winter, unknowingly seeping into their systems and Red heard both of their teeth chatter in the abyss.

They huddled together with Red's fire in the center, keeping themselves warm for even just a tiny bit as they dropped slowly and blindly down, down, and down.

When Red thought it was never going to end, they hit rock bottom and sea dust scattered creating a wave of yellow tiny flashes.

The flashes came in steady pulses, like a heart beating in the dark. Luminescent sea life that flashed rage when Red and Ari disturbed their peace beneath.

They continued to tread the deep murky waters and as they passed, the flashes came like warning signs.

Or was this what the herald meant as the path lit by stars?

Red strained her eyes to observed their surroundings.

The light from where the edge of the trench was seemed to be so far away, like heaven and hell. To her front; a vast collection of shrines to long forgotten sunken treasures of the sea.

The trench was wide enough to house all sorts of shipwrecks. Deep sea creatures scurried to hide away into the rock's crevices.

Life was barren save for those that survived the harsh living conditions of the dark.

Treasures, bones, tiny shipwrecks.

Monsters.

Flashes of bright yellow lights continued to alight as they passed.

They continued towards where the clock's hour hand pointed as the minute and second hand dialed in different speeds, clockwise and counter. As they winded away at the biggest shipwreck there was, Red saw something flash in her peripheral vision.

Down under, the prodigious form with glowing red eyes was staring intently at them. Waiting to launch at the merest sign of hostility.

Ari felt the ominous energy it emanated and readied himself for defense. The dark entity shuffled and there it was, a huge doorway carved at the converging walls of the trench revealed.

The doorway was tightly guarded by the monster. Even a stray crab side-stepping his way unknowingly, was smashed into smithereens by a sudden whipping black tentacle.

Just as quickly, the dark monster slithered its outstretched tentacle back to its body that twisted and formed into different shapes. Like a dark storm cloud slowly building up, ready to pour down one hell of a raging rain.

There it was.

The gates beneath the sea leading to the second trial.

Pillars of Romanesque features towered above them; flutes and swirls of symmetrical designs adorned the top. But before they could enter though, they must find a way to get past the guardian.

"What is that Ari?" she asked her warrior who had already shielded his self to protect Red.

"An ancient malevolent spirit I surmise. An accumulation of all the negative energy trapped within the abyss." He replied. Ari was brave and all, but he had to admit this was the first time he had ever encountered such a fearsome being.

The monster's eyes glowed bloody red, darting from Red and Ari as if contemplating which one of them he should do away first.

Red's sweat went dead cold.

She wiped at her forehead; her stray locks combed back to reveal her face while the monster's eyes followed the slow, wary flick of her hand.

Red found it hard to register what happened after. The huge dark mass suddenly cowered and wailed like it was tormented by something they didn't see. Rocks fell down from above the trench and the monster began to change.

It shrank to the size of a ball and silky laces of tentacles like that of jellyfish shot at the bottom. But unlike the boneless planktonic marine, it squirted a huge cloud of ink black liquid and darted far away.

"What the fuck just happened?" asked Red to nobody in particular.

"I have no idea as well. Maybe it was scared of you?" Ari suggested in a joking tone.

Red couldn't help but think of the mermaid herald's words. She spoke as if Red was somehow cursed or something.

She touched her left brow and stared at the huge gate in front of them.

Soon she will know.