Citizen 75 Rhem

Rhem looked up towards the sky one last time before he would take his dive to the depths of the posian trench. Soon, all of the sun's light would be a memory as the water would swallow all traces of light the deeper would go. He was scared. Scared but excited. This marked the day when he would become an adult, at least ceremony-wise. He was desperate to be his own man now, to explore without the restraints of his parents or anyone else, for that matter. He needed to be free, and to prove that he could handle it, he was more than willing to descend into the dangerous gaping mouth of the deep sea. He took a big breath and descended.

His strong limbs carried him deeper and deeper into the waters, and just as he predicted, the light became more scarce with each motion of his. After one point, however, he was surrounded by nothing but complete darkness. For the first time in months, he felt scared. He could not tell what was up and what was down anymore, the only indicator he had left was to maybe breath out and have the bubbles show the way, but that would have been a waste of energy, something that he was not keen on doing. If he wanted to turn around, this was the time to do it, but he refused. He kept on swimming.

Suddenly, a small dot of light appeared at the bottom, which made him stop swimming.

'Did I actually get confused and head towards the surface?' He asked himself as his eyes were bothered by that dim light. But as he kept looking at it, he realized that it was not of the sun. It was too green-tinted for it. So, he swam closer to it, and as it grew bigger and started illuminating everything around it, so did Rhem's eyes widened in surprise as he finally reached the lit bottom. A whole new world just appeared in front of his very eyes, and he could not help but feel envious of all the creatures who could call the bottom their home.

The soft luminous colours were dancing on the rocks and sand at the bottom as they came from dozens of corals and other interesting kinds of fauna, and the creatures that were hiding within them were a sight to see. Rhem could not help but swim closer to the corals, his hand gently feeling them up, but suddenly, he felt a sharp pain upon his entire hand, so he immediately retracted it.

He looked at his palm, which was covered in several small, but heavily bleeding cuts. He watched as his blood stained the waters.

'So this is why we are not supposed to touch anything," he marvelled as he ignored the itchy pain that the cuts caused. These would serve as a memory, and he had hoped that at least one of them would leave a scar so that he could remember the first time he descendant into this place.

As he swam along, he could not help but notice a small school of particular fish following closely after him. They were barely the size of a banana, but they had a terrifying look to them as they all carried a sort of dangly light that regular anglerfishes would. They were seemingly attracted to his blood but were not so brave as to attack him, despite their sharp-looking teeth that peaked out from behind their mouths. They just followed as if they were waiting for him to drop dead. Maybe carrion eaters of the sea? He would not be surprised. However, as long as they did not bother him, he sought no further interaction with them. He kept on swimming, and so did the fish after him.

Rhem was simply too amazed. He even came across an area that contained nothing else but deep sea snails, who were curious and shimmying towards him at their own pace when he stopped swimming for a bit to regain his strength.

'Looks like everything else finds me as entertaining as I find them' He chuckled to himself. However, when a sharp pain struck his palm once again, he could not help but coil with his entire body.

When he looked at his palm, he realized it was still heavily bleeding. Whatever that coral had on him, it prevented his wound from closing. At this rate, he was going to pass out if he did not seek help. He would not have minded dying here, his body would at least sustain the marvels of this second, hidden world, but just like anything living, he kind of wanted to survive. He was dangerously close to getting too tired to swim back to the surface.

When the realization hit him, he started swimming upwards. He knew he had to leave now, or he would not make it back. For some odd reason, the thought of swimming up hurt him. Not physically, more so emotionally. Something in the depths called for him, the unknown he wanted to discover. And now that he was heading towards the opposite direction, he felt the connection to be severed. As his strong limbs slowly but surely carried him up, he promised himself that he would return here as soon as possible.

ForgottenCerberus