Feeding the Mark

"What the hell is going on here?!" I thought while I narrowly dodged a heavy spear. Fighting underwater was such a drag. Literally.

Every move I tried to make took at least a couple of seconds, if not more. The fact that our enemies were not at all stopped by this fact added insult to injury. The soldiers were built for combat underneath the waves. I wasn't, to put it mildly.

"Argh!" A whole heap of bubbles escaped through the mouth-mask that produced my oxygen. Something pierced my right leg. I grunted and fell to the white sandy floor. When I grabbed my leg, I felt something long and thin rub against my fingers.

An arrow?! How did a friggin' arrow hit me underwater?!

That's when I noticed some kind of light-blue stone at the end of the arrow's wooden shaft. The stone ejected bubbles in one direction, like exhaust fumes. I couldn't pull it out; It sat way too deep in my skin.

I grunted and tried to ignore the weird feeling of salt water washing on my open wound. Just when I looked up, I saw how Lily had trouble fighting against her opponents.

On top of moving sluggishly due to the surrounding water, her powers didn't seem to have any effect. I saw her eyes glow in the same pinkish hue like always, but somehow, her powers didn't take hold of her enemies like normal.

Was it because of the goggles covering her eyes?

I had no time to think about that any further as a couple of soldiers decided to end this horseplay. They dashed through the water and immediately surrounded me. Their spears waved back and forth, reaching for me.

Until now, I managed to keep my distance from our attackers. It was hard, with them being excellent swimmers and all, but I managed to scrape by. Now, they were making an effort of cornering me together.

And it worked.

"Carnel!" Angelique's voice echoed throughout the massive audience hall. The squid-girl placed her hands together and created a magic circle. I recognized the symbols lining the circle as those belonging to her trademark 'Righteous Inferno'. A couple of soldiers near her noticed the magic circle and immediately closed in on her.

Lily shot Tanya a quick glance and both women moved to help. I couldn't escape from the four soldiers surrounding me. Whenever I tried to escape, their weaponry crashed down towards me. This sucked; I was at a clear advantage if they couldn't use any magic.

The small knife wasn't any help either; I couldn't even reach my enemies! God, I had to pick that crossbow when I had the chance! Welp, no use complaining about it now!

When Angelique's spell activated, a thick stream of heated bubbles exploded outwards. I never knew that spells still were affected by their surroundings. I made a mental note of that; Maybe I could use that to my advantage in the future…

"What in Neptune's name are you doing?!" A regal voice cut through the salty water. The soldiers immediately reacted as they stiffened up and saluted on command. I glanced at Lily, who shrugged and relaxed. The soldiers threatening us immediately pulled back and swam towards the entrance of the audience hall.

The woman who stood that looked royally pissed. Crevices appeared in her blue-skinned forehead while the fins hiding her ears flapped smoothly. Her long, black hair floated behind her while she stepped towards the throne at the end of the hall. In her right hand, she carried a long ornate staff with a golden ring on top. Hanging from the big golden ring, smaller silver rings were interlocked with it and jangled along with her steps.

Her long marine-coloured dress flowed along her scaled, long legs. I'd heard the queen could freely switch between legs and a fishy tail. Seems the rumours were true. Her dress had a slit in the middle, revealing her scaled legs and exquisite heeled slippers.

So this was the Queen, eh?

Well, she had that regal aura down hard. When she fell into her throne, her black hair cascaded past her shoulders.

"Forgive us, Your Majesty! But, these land-walkers, they—" The queen cut off the soldier without a second thought.

"They what?" Her voice was as cold as ice. "I've stated numerous times that you should treat them with respect. And what do you do?! You get into a fight with them!" The soldiers didn't answer. They just shuffled around, not daring to look the queen in the face.

"…I'm sorry for the behaviour of my subjects." Her face changed from furious to benevolent in a heartbeat. I found it unsettling, to say the least. Her smile was soothing, but the image of her furious face was still burned in my mind.

Tanya shook her head before a bounty of bubbles escaped her breathing mask. The queen chuckled softly before she tapped her staff twice against the floor.

I felt a rush of something pass through my body. My Mark reacted as the misty jaws hungrily appeared. But after looking around, it seemed to sigh and retreat back into my body. If that was magic, why couldn't I…?

"There. That should suffice for you to speak freely. Please, you can take off those masks as well. My spell will protect you." I had my doubts about that. It wasn't that I didn't trust the queen, I just didn't want to suffocate with my lungs filled with seawater.

Lily was the first to throw her mask away. She carefully opened her mouth and let a few words slip through her lips. I was as shocked as she was when her voice reached my ears. Tanya followed suit and handed her mask to one of the soldiers near her.

I was more reluctant to get the thing off my face. I didn't know if my Mark would just activate on its own; The last time I fed it any magic was… Well, a long time ago.

I reached behind my head and fiddled with the straps holding the mask to my face. I took a deep breath and immediately pulled the mask off in one fell swoop.

From the moment the steel left my face, my Mark activated and licked its misty jaws. It hungrily gazed at the queen's sceptre, including the brightly-coloured gem.

So that's where the spell originated from. I've never heard of magic imbued in an object; was there something special about it?

Right before the monster of my Mark readied itself to pounce towards the gem, I grabbed its misty form. The surprise I felt when my fingers grabbed the mist and managed to hold the beast back was something else! It glared at me and roared angrily. However, I wasn't about to give up!

"Hey, Angelique! Fire some spells this way! You too, Tanya!" It must've been quite a weird sight for anyone looking at me. I grasped at nothing and struggled with nothing else but air while my Mark glowed eerily in a bone-white colour.

My squid-like friend hesitated to bombard me with her fire-spells, but Tanya didn't waste a single second. She ran towards me and created some magic circle that floated above her shoulders. The monster of my Mark reacted to the new sources of magic and roared at me.

"Fine. Fine. Go get your food, but only those spells, yeah? No eating the gem." I commanded. The beast seemed slightly bummed out but when it saw the plethora of Gaia-spells of the Fairy-kind, it still drooled.

I let it loose on the spells. It continued to eat through any magic circle it saw. The only thing that connected it to my body was a thick strand of broiling black mist. Angelique was creating magic circles as well, but they burst into pieces before she could fully fill them with her magic energy.

After ten minutes, the monster of my Mark seemed to finally calm down. It nodded at me and flashed me a beastly grin before it retreated back into my body.

"That was… tiring." Angelique mumbled. She fell to the floor and swayed with her hands. Even if there were no flames, channelling the energy of her Mark had the same effect as burning her webbed fingers. The blonde teacher groaned and leaned against the nearest pillar she could fine while breathing heavily.

"What… just happened?" The queen said. Her eyes dashed from Lily to Angelique to Tanya and rested on me. I grunted; She had a really piercing gaze!

"Oh, that… was Carnel's Mark, your highness. We have absolutely no idea what it is, but it breaks down magic, apparently." Tanya answered when she managed to catch her breath. The queen's eyes narrowed when she heard that. Her aquamarine eyes rested on me and scrutinized every inch of my body.

"Get Laphicia here, immediately!" She ordered the nearest group of soldiers. They shrieked and swam out of the room.

"Incidentally, queenie…" Lily began. Tanya hissed through her lips, but the redhaired vixen ignored her. "What's the green gem on your staff?"

If the queen had been offended by Lily's loud mouth, she didn't show it. The woman only chuckled while she affectionately patted the gemstone. Which made me think: I could still be hit by spells. Only if the monster inside me devoured the spell, I could re-use it… I should keep that in mind.

"This beautiful stone is called Neptune's Eye. Long ago, it had been given by our kind to humans as a sign of respect and peace. However, the ruler at that time didn't want the stone and returned it to us. It had an ancient spell inscribed into it that lets humans breathe and walk underwater like they would on land." How curious. I've never read any story like that. Let alone heard about objects being inscribed with anything…

Tanya seemed at an equally big loss as I was. And she was a magic teacher!

"You required my assistance, your High—Angelique?!" A familiar voice rung through the audience hall. I turned around, just in time to dodge a woman who charged forwards to my squid-like companion.

"H-Hi, mom. Long time no see… You're suffocating me…" Angelique murmured in a small voice. Her mother gasped and quickly lessened her grip of her daughter, yet refused to let her go. She waved at me and the others before returning her attention to her daughter.

"You've grown a bit since the last time I saw you. Oh, what are you doing here, anyway? Shouldn't you be at school, young lady?" I smiled gently; She still hasn't changed a bit. Still a concerned mother. It was rather heartwarming to see.

"Yes. I understand that you are happy to see your daughter again, Laphicia, but I think more pressing matters require your attention right now." The queen intervened. Angelique's mother gasped and immediately bowed for the queen.

"I trust you've heard of this boy's Mark?" Laphicia turned her gaze towards me. What was these people's problem?! I wasn't some kind of exhibition object, you know!

"Yes, Angelique wrote about it in some of her letters. I did some research and the chances that he bears its mark are… decent." I frowned; What were they talking about. The queen looked at me like I was some very interesting museum piece. It made me all wobbly inside. Like pudding that stood in the sun for too long.

"Interesting… Very interesting. However, that matter will have to wait until further research. Tell me, why did you come here, to Mersal?" Tanya stepped forwards and quickly sketched our circumstances; About the attacks, the Fairy Court Battle against Oberon and about the Acolytes of Yggdrasil.

"I see… So you essentially have fled your country to seek protection here? Hrmm…" The queen looked us over, pausing a couple of seconds with every single one of us. Why did it feel like she looked at me for several seconds?

"All right, we will give you protection. However, I want you to do something in return for us." The queen leaned back and stretched before she dismissed her soldiers. After they had left the room, she continued.

"You see, I'm in quite a conundrum. The reason why those soldiers attacked you was because they thought you …. had something to do with my daughter's disappearance." I frowned; How would that even possible? We just arrived in Mersal.

" The only thing they knew was that the culprit looked exactly like Laphicia's daughter." That made even less sense than before! It's simple not possible for one person to be at two places at the same time. Right?

"I can vouch for her, your Majesty. Angelique didn't leave our sight in the past three weeks. Not long enough to get to Mersal and back." Tanya responded in a calm tone. I had to commend her for her calm intervention. Angelique started to panic already.

"That's fine… But I don't get my daughter back by vouching for her. So, I want you to find her for me. So far, the inspectors on the case didn't make any headway into their investigation. However, that might be to other influences as well…" The queen's voice trailed off there. Lily frowned. She seemed to have the exact thought I had: What influences was she talking about?

"Anyway, I'll explain the rest of it tomorrow. You must be tired from your long journey, correct? I will have a room and food prepared for you. I'm afraid you have to stay in the palace walls for now, though. The range of Neptune's eye isn't that big." The black-haired queen explained. A couple of soldiers walked into the audience room and guided us to our lodgings.

"Laphicia… If he is truly that being, what should we do? You know going against a being of that calibre is nothing less than throwing our lives away…" I heard the queen mumble behind us while we left the room.

"He doesn't seem to be malicious at least, not like the legends say. However, his mark doesn't seem to be complete. If he really is that being… He should be much stronger than that. Something is holding him back… for now." After that, the big heavy doors of the audience room slammed shut.

What was all that about ?

When we finally arrived at our lodgings, I looked outside and saw the capital city of Mersal sprawling out in front of me. It was a rather pretty sight, with various luminescent forms of corals and seaweed lighting up the streets.

The walls protecting the palace were something to behold too; They were at least ten feet wide and more than a hundred feet tall. Pretty impressive for a castle in peaceful times.

"Hm?" I saw a figure climbing over the wall. I didn't know why, but they seemed to be looking in my general direction.

Were we being watched? By who?