Chapter 14

Donnie Gryphon, the third runner up dunked in the water and gasped emerging, his black hair soaked and stuck to his forehead as he floated and paddled getting a view of the uncharted waters and clear sky he did not know when his hair changed into the blond kind and his brown eyes turned green, his round face was structured, his beefy no-neck shrunk in and he could talk easily now without snorting. His nose_god-knows-how_looked like it had been broken twice and he had smaller ears. His gills opened and his limbs merged into a specialised tail similar to a shark's, he had wings under his not-so-fat but fit arms and wondered how he could float so easily.

"Why did it have to be water?" He whined taking a look at his webbed hands, and white scaly skin, he recognised the mermaid blue gauntlets with spirals around them, in stifled awe deciding whether to believe it or not.

He looked up when his brown scoreboard showed, the seashell above it gleamed with gold light.

[ Congratulations, you have successfully reached Okeanos ] said Struvek, the rocky one with hollow eyes and a mouth that equally glowed in orange light, he was the heart of Monteberg.

Name: Ogsydane

Age: xx

Homeland: Okeanos

Height: 5 ft 10

Weight: 150 lbs

Weapon: Any if harnessed.

Skill: Sonic scream, shapeshifting (Evolution)

Achievements: 1

Level: 4

"What am I supposed to do?"

[ Collect the treasure ] The words appeared before his eyes.

He gazed around and there was vegetation in sight, his vision stayed on the island and was hopeful again.

He arched and dived in and he had no issue with swimming, at first he was hesitant about sharks and other dangerous apex predators, his eyes scoured the deep blue sea and the rocks, with exotic looking fish that possessed visually appealing scales gliding by, their heads were orange with blue eyes and pupils that were so thin that it gave them a more cautious and terrified look, lips that puckered, their dorsal fins were on-top of their heads as pronounced as a shark's and their scales was an overlap of different colours and they glittered at every slithering movement. Their tails were pale yellow. They moved in the same directions as tight as sardines in fear of any threat. They were called Dorios. "Wow"

He forgot that he was holding his breath too and let go, distressed about instant death but he breathed quite well and was relieved, he saw a group of merpeople hovering by the top of a rock with their tails in the water, he swam up to meet them.

The trio looked unwelcoming and didn't mention a word to him-Ogsydane-until he met them halfway.

"Where's the treasure?" He admired the deep solemn voice than his pitchy voice in real life and laughed to their disgust, the girls exchanged looks.

He amped up the rock they were on and opted his fins for feet, he came up to view covered in a pair of dark blue tights and thin royal blue strips around them, the water on his hair and torso gleamed under the sun and he had tattoos around his arms. He gazed at the island that was close by and the palms and bushes stirred in the wind,

"What treasure?"

His words raised curious stares despite their hostility and their eyes scraped his legs. He hopped when a black-haired merman swiped his tail under him, his relief was short-lived when he slipped on the wet rock and a amber-haired mermaid screamed when he fell over her.

She brushed her long hair away from her face with a furious stare at him, while the other two laughed hysterically.

"What are you doing here, Ogsy? Come to taunt us again with your sea legs?", asked Shoredale, his brother.

He had long black hair, demeaning black eyes, a straight nose and the lips of a fallen angel, his skin was darker compared to his from the sun and he had a black tail in the shape of a barracuda's, his wings showed where he stuck on to the rocks leaving a weird image of a lizard reclining in Ogysdane's_Donnie Gryphon's_head. Oddly he felt like he had known him for "aeons" and perceived him to be a self-absorbed, level 10 bully_which explained his broken nose_ but he had no time to waste.

He didn't make the mistake of climbing on again.

Although a merman, evolution had taken its place for Ogysdane, a reject from Okeanos whose father was a ruler, the only one known to have sprouted legs with an affinity for the land. They didn't trust land-livers_that was what they called them_ and Ogysdane just happened to have an advantage over the others. Be it spite or distrust, he was not unaccustomed to it, he was just too different

He swam backwards gazing on he saw a herd of Water-Skitters fluttering and gliding over the water. The water-skitters look like anchovies yet they possessed ink blue skin, they had yellow fins beside their gills, they skittered by and he saw their thin long legs on their bodies, working furiously to stay above water, they used their bodies to rebound if gravity took its toll and if there ever was a wave, they would free fall into the sea and continue swimming. Usually, the water-skitters were thought to be easy prey for other fishes but they were fast and hardly ever caught even if spotted. Oddly, they only migrated when the currents were severely cold,

"It's warm out here," Rena, Shoredale's mate said pulling up her black curly hair to watch them go, she winced at the Dorio that popped up from the water with a blue pearl in its mouth. She took it and added it to her beads tying it up with a radiant smile.

He didn't have time to waste and the trio were reluctant to answer, he turned when a pirate ship hovered by with black smoke pumping into the blue sky, it looked like pollution to the serene waters of Okeanos and the ship happened to sail by, they started to pull apart at the bell ringing and his eyes narrowed when he saw a canon groan while the men hoisted it up in their direction and gun powder exploded BOOM!