Citizen 217 Velmun

Velmun sat on a reclining chair in his front yard, staring out at the massive rippling Dome wall in the distance. He had already finished his choirs for the day and the elders had finally stopped the almost incessant rain that had plagued him recently. He knew the rain was necessary to ensure the farms across the Dome got enough fresh water to saturate their crops but nearly a week straight of nothing but rain was starting to wear on him. As he sat, he hummed quietly to himself and let his thoughts wander. He had finally moved away from The City of Atlas about a year ago and living out here on the outskirts has been fantastic. The blissful quiet, slow days where he could do whatever he wanted or needed whenever he wanted was everything he had dreamed of. Yet somehow, he still felt a little restless.               He frowned slightly as he tried to locate the source of his discontent. He’d only had two visitors in the entire time he’d been out here, nothing major had gone wrong when building his home, the amenities, or his field… What could it possibly be? As he internally questioned himself, his eyes unconsciously wandered back to the Dome. His frown deepened and he got up from his chair and walked the relatively short path up to the wall. He’d managed to carve the beginning of a path in the ground with how many times he’s walked from his house to the wall. When he was finally standing in front of the wall, he put his hands on his hips and stared up at the hexagonal plates of magic that separated him from the void of the Posian trench.               Was the ominous black void of the open ocean what was bugging him? That shouldn’t have been it, after all he loved the stark contrast between the bright blue “sky” of the upper Dome to the dark void of the Dome where it met the ground. Maybe… maybe he felt uneasy because he hadn’t fully explored the area around his home beyond the Dome? Every time he had left the Dome, he had only swum around in about a 2-mile radius, and he had never swum to the bottom of the trench before. ‘That has to be it.’ Velmun thought to himself firmly as he started to take off his clothes and set them to the side of the path. If he finally explored everything around his home then he’d feel better, he was sure of it!               Velmun stepped forward through the Dome, enjoying the familiar electric feeling that tickled and pulled against his scales as he entered the ocean. The black void of the ocean loomed in front of him. If you looked straight up you’d see nothing but void, and directly below him was a steep muddy slope that rapidly disappeared into the darkness. He knew that about a mile straight out there was a lovely bioluminescent reef that was a good hunting place, about a mile west there was a cool shipwreck, and there wasn’t anything cool in the east. As he floated not far from the Dome he stared straight down into the darkness beneath him. He’d never swum to the bottom of the trench before, and he wasn’t sure how deep it really was. It took multiple hours to swim straight up to the surface, but it couldn’t possibly take that long to reach the ocean floor right?              With mixture of excitement and apprehension fluttering in his chest, Velmun followed the steep muddy slope at the base of the Dome and started his descent. The water around him was cold and clear. It wasn’t uncomfortably cold, but it was always a bit of a shock to the system every time he entered the ocean. As he followed the slope down the bright glow of the Dome steadily faded away above him until he was finally in complete darkness. Without the insanely bright dome backlighting him, Velmun’s eyes finally got a chance to adjust. He blinked a few times as the pitch blackness slowly brightened into various shades of grey and he could finally see his surroundings. A few smooth rocks dotted the muddy slope beneath him but otherwise it was completely smooth and flat beneath him.               As he swam, he dipped closer to the slope and let his claws dig into the mud slightly, scattering a small cloud of sediment around him as he went. The deeper he went the calmer he felt, there was something about the emptiness around him that made him feel at ease. Nothing but the occasional underwater click, and the sound of his own blood rushing in his ears could be heard. If it wasn’t for the fact that he couldn’t maintain his breathing magic forever he would have loved to live out here in the void. He sighed inwardly as he regretted not being born as a fully aquatic creature.              Eventually the angle of the slope got less and less steep the deeper Velmun went. He wondered if he was approaching the bottom of the trench as the slope was almost back to being horizontal with the surface. He couldn’t tell quite how long he had been diving but it felt like it had been about an hour. Despite swimming so far down he still hadn’t seen anything of note, no plants, no animals, not even a particularly neat rock. He was starting to feel disappointed with his decision of checking out the bottom of the trench when he noticed something odd up ahead. The water up ahead looked weird, it was rippling strangely, almost like a strong breeze was ripping up the muddy sand. Puzzled at what he was looking at, Velmun cautiously approached and stopped a short distance away.               His eyes opened wide when he realized what he was looking at. The ground up ahead of him disappeared sharply and stretching out beyond the sudden cliff was a familiar wave pattern rippling under the surface. Velmun approached cautiously, digging his hands and feet into the mud as he approached the cliff to anchor himself. The strong pull on him confirmed his suspicion as he finally reached the edge of the cliff. Stretching before him was a massive sea of black water complete with a riptide current. ‘Is this a massive brine pool?’ he thought to himself confused and a little frightened. He had read about these before back when he lived in the city. A brine pool is basically saltwater with a significantly higher concentration of salts and minerals that was so dense it sat under normal saltwater. Brine pools could form bizarre phenomena like underwater lakes or even rivers but he had never seen one so massive. The book he had read didn’t mention anything about brine pools in the trench, but obviously there were things even the elders didn’t know about.              Velmun grinned to himself in excitement, this area must be undocumented! Who knows what he could find down here! With reckless abandon he launched himself over the edge of the cliff directly into the rip current of the brine pool. The rapidly flowing currently sucked him out away from the cliff and launched him down into the murky almost slimy feeling water. His body felt weird, like he was both simultaneously covered in crust but also wet. It was uncomfortable and his muscles ached slightly as he rapidly moved deeper into the abyss around him. Velmun tumbled end over end in the swirling current for what felt like ages until he noticed a faint glow beneath him. He tried his best to focus on the glow that was steadily growing brighter but his rapid ungraceful decent made it hard to get a good look. Right when the origin of the glow could be clearly seen Velmun was finally freed from the current and he gently rolled back into an upright swimming position.              He sighed with relief as he examined his new surroundings, a gorgeous glowing landscape spread out before him. Various species of plants and corals glittered around him and stretched up the rocks and spires that erupted from the barely visible sandy floor. The sea floor was almost completely covered in a bizarre bulbous carpet on anemone like plant growth. It glowed a bright light purple and swirled like a grassy plain on a windy day. Velmun swam through this mesmerizing seascape, his eyes sparkling with delight as he took in the marvelous creatures around him. As he progressed, he saw odd creatures swimming or crawling near the thicker sections of vegetation. Bizarre squishy creatures unlike anything he had ever seen before, they moved oddly and many of the swimming ones had tentacles. A small creature that almost looked like a midget squid with large rippling fins along its body rapidly squirted itself out of Velmun’s way as he passed.               These odd little creatures were fascinating, and he loved how dopey they looked as they shot themselves backwards away from him by squirting water from their bodies. He laughed as he practically frolicked through the oddly beautiful area. As he continued to lightly harass the squishy denizens of the deep a bright reflection caught his eye. Leaving the mini squids alone he turned his attention to the odd object that was protruding from the bulbous plant carpet. As he got closer, he was shocked to realize it was not a natural rock or particularly bright fish. He swam over to it and carefully tried to pry it free from the sea floor. It was wedged into the ground pretty deeply, and the plant life had done its best to root it to the spot but with a firm tug it finally came free with a burst of sediment. Velmun turned away from the cloud he had drudged up and brushed the remaining debris that was clinging to the object off as he examined what he had found. In his hand was a gorgeous obsidian obelisk that was about 2 feet long and was so thick his fingers could not touch if he wrapped them around it. Its surface was carved with an intricate pattern, and it was probably well polished at one point in time. Velmun marveled at the beautiful object and smiled broadly. He loved collecting odd little objects and things like this, and this little spire was the perfect size to sit beside his mantle back home. With the obelisk in hand, he continued wandering the gorgeous landscape for a while before deciding to head back home. It took him quite a while to find an area where the current that had brought here wasn’t blasting down but once he finally found a spot to ascend, he slowly began the journey back up out of the trench’s deepest depths. Even though he was super excited about his new decoration he was a little afraid that he wouldn’t be able to find his way back to the dome. His thoughts were a mix of excitement and anxiety as he finally broke through the brine pool barrier and the feeling of leaving the extra dense salt water was almost exactly like breaking through the surface. He had to fight back his instinct to open his nose flaps and mouth to breathe. The feeling of crust on his scales and the muscle aches persisted for a little while but as he slowly followed the slope back in what he hoped was the direction of home it steadily faded away.              As he swam, he happened to spot a darker line in the muddy sandy seafloor and decided to swim over to it. Velmun smiled to himself as he recognized the spots in the sand where he had dragged his claws earlier and turned his back on the direction of the brine pool. With renewed confidence and feeling of excitement to get his new treasure fully cleaned off and set on display Velmun followed his trail back up out of the Posian trench.</div></div></a><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/an1k3t0s/art/Blessing-of-Life-Velmun-966382905"><div class="bolimage"><div class ="scrollboxmagic">    Velmun tugged at the straps of his bag as he nervously triple checked his supplies. A small first aid kit, some food, and an emergency air flask were neatly arranged in the small bag strapped to his waist. Velmun grimaced as he double checked the cork of the air flask making sure the highly concentrated air supply was still properly sealed. He prayed silently that he wouldn't need it but it was always best to be prepared just in case. With the final preparations completed he closed the flap of his bag and turned his attention back to the massive rippling dome wall in front of him. He’d been standing in front of the dome wall for at least an hour now, hesitating to take the next step. He wasn’t afraid of the dome wall, after all he made regular trips out into the depths of the Posian Trench often. Today he wasn’t swimming down, today was finally the day he made the journey to the surface.     He shifted his weight from one leg to the other and his tail twitched nervously behind him. During his time in the city Velmun had heard many horror stories about the surface. Vicious pirates that patrol the surface, strange animals that guard the mesopelagic and epipelagic zones, and worst of all the all encompassing fog that has driven his species to live in the dome in the depths of the Posian Trench. He took a shaky breath as he tried to calm his frayed nerves. Velmun slapped his checks roughly trying to forcefully expel his fear. He clenched his fist in determination before swearing out loud, “$%^$ it. We’re doing this.”  Before his rapidly crumbling resolve could fully dissipate Velmun stepped forward passing through the magical wall of the dome out into the bitter chill of the open ocean.     Not wasting any time Velmun began to swim straight up slowly. He figured even if a current pushed him as he went, it was probably still a good idea to try to go straight up and straight down. Before long the blindly bright light blue glow of the dome faded into the complete darkness of the deep ocean. This was by far the worst thing Velmun had ever experienced. Without the glow of the dome or any sort of point of orientation around him it was impossible for Velmun to tell if he was truly swimming up. He didn’t dare to look away from the direction he had started swimming in for fear of accidentally changing directions and ending up lost between zones. He instinctively felt the urge to head in the direction he had started in but his anxious thoughts plagued his mind and made him doubt his instincts. Velmun swam up through the black void for approximately thirty minutes before pausing to take a break.     Before Velmun had committed to making this journey he had thoroughly done research in preparation for anything he might encounter or have to deal with on the way up. One of the things he learned is that the water at the lowest the lowest zones are under significantly higher pressure than the upper zones let alone the surface. Because of this, if he were to ascend too quickly he would develop a condition known as “The Bends” which was where nitrogen bubbles formed in the blood which could easily be deadly. To counter this condition you merely need to ascend slowly and take ten minute breaks as you go to give your body time to adjust. Velmun sighed internally as he floated in the void, he wasn’t entirely sure how long it would take to reach the surface but had heard from others that the trip could take several hours. He glanced at his black empty surroundings and frowned. Several hours of this was going to be boring… Why the heck was he so worried?     Once his break finished Velmun continued to swim up. After what felt like an hour he was just getting ready to stop when he caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head quickly in the direction he almost opened his mouth in surprise when a rippling rainbow glimmered on the edge of his vision. As he stared at the rainbow small pieces of it seemed to break free and as he floated still in the water the pieces of the rainbow swam closer to him. Illuminated by the glow of his apertures and halo, Velmun realized he was surrounded by a shoal of small squid. The small tentacled creatures approached him cautiously, attracted by the bright purple light emitting from Velmuns body. The squids were mainly a  deep brickish-red color but their bodies rippled a bioluminescent rainbow of colors as they darted around him. Velmun watched the shoal ebb and flow as if it were one entity around him as he stopped ascending. It was an absolutely gorgeous sight to behold and he had to consciously make an effort to keep his mouth closed.    After a minute or two of encircling him, the shoal darted away, disappearing just as rapidly as it had appeared. Velmun continued to sit where he was, watching the direction the shoal had disappeared into replaying the fantastical memory in his head as he silently thanked his little friends for visiting him on his journey. He smiled happily to himself as he turned his attention back upwards. Hoping to see more incredible things Velmun once more resumed his journey to the surface. He swam and swam for what felt like ages and unfortunately didn’t encounter anything else for the majority of the swim. Just as he was starting to feel a little anxious and lost he began to realize the unending void around him had changed. He blinked his eyes a few times trying to make sure he wasn’t just hallucinating after staring at nothing for so long but it was true! The deep black of the void was slowly but surely lightning and turning blue.    Velmun smiled broadly as he forced himself to take another break. It was just light enough for him to see his body against the void around him! After so long of not being able to see anything the entire ocean around him was growing brighter. Velmun did a small spin in the water excitedly as he thought, ‘Finally! I must be in the bathypelagic zone now! Halfway there!’ his excitement was short lived as he spotted something moving in the gloom. He froze and tried to focus on the blob and realized that there was something glowing in front of it. He squinted his eyes and tried to make sense of what he was seeing as the creature got closer. It was a grotesque creature with razor sharp teeth that jutted out from its boney face, huge milky white empty eyes bulged from its harsh features. Its body was shaped like a malnourished teardrop and it had spikey fins protruding from its back and from its side. The strangest part of this creature wasn’t its corpse-like features but was the odd appendage dangling from its head. It was thin and boney just like the beast's body but at the end was a brightly glowing tear shaped orb. Disturbed by the creepy creature Velmun immediately was on guard as the gross fish slowly approached.     The creature fearlessly approached Velmun until it was about a foot away from him. Just as Velmun tensed up to lash out at it, the fish quickly turned and darted away as if it had not seen him until just then. Velmun slowly released the tension that had been building in his shoulders and decided to cut this break short. With unease fueling his ascent he started swimming again. Slowly but surely as he went the faintly blue void continued to lighten around him. As he went he saw more and more creatures as well but thankfully the higher he went the less disturbing they were. He felt very strange everytime he paused to float in the blue waters. Not only was it unfamiliar to be surrounded by the endless blue instead of black but he feared he might have ascended too quickly as he felt slightly dizzy as he stopped and rested for longer. The dizzy feeling didn’t go away as he rested for well over an hour and Velmun slowly realized he wouldn’t be able to reach what he considered normal.     Inwardly groaning at the sensation of vertigo, Velmun eventually forced himself to continue on toward the surface. He didn’t have much choice at this point, his breathing magic would run out in about two hours so he couldn’t descend even if he used his emergency air supply. Slowly but surely Velmun continued to ascend the water around him seeming to rapidly brighten from deep blue to a deep aqua to finally a crystal robin's egg blue. The light shining down from above was practically blinding compared to the darkness of the ocean or even the light within the dome that he was so accustomed to. The feeling of vertigo had also been steadily building which was not helping the dark rexals discomfort as he forced himself to steadily continued his journey. It was getting harder and harder to tell which way was up as his vision swam before him. He was so dizzy he couldn’t tell if he still had time left in his breathing magic either. He paused and clumsily reached down into his bag, retrieving his air flask. As he held the bottle ready he forcefully expelled all the air from his lungs. After the explosion of bubbles cleared from his vision he placed the neck of his flask into his mouth and used his tongue to remove the cork.     An explosion of air rushed into his lung as the highly condensed air within the flask burst free. He paused for a moment letting his lungs get used to the new air and for his breathing magic to replenish. The effect the air had was greater than anticipated and Velmuns' dizziness and discomfort significantly subsided. He inwardly sighed with relief as the world around him stopped spinning. Apparently his breathing magic had run low a lot faster than he expected. He thanked his past self for being so well prepared and rested for a moment longer before continuing along the last stretch. The water was crystal clear above him at this point and he could just make out the rippling of the water's surface. The surface of the water glittered like a kaleidoscope above him and Vlmun marveled at the array of color. He paused just below the surface, hesitating once more before finally taking the last push and breaking through into the open air.    He opened his mouth wide as he greedily sucked in the fresh air of the surface. It was weird and strange compared to what he was used to. It was thinner, cooler and tasted almost exclusively of salt unlike the thick humid air of the dome. The water around him was almost glass like as there was next to no wind, allowing the water to reflect the gorgeous blue sky above him. He stared straight up and marveled at the open sky. The pulsating blue tiles of the dome were nowhere near as breathtaking as this, there was no haze to obscure his vision and there were no clouds in the sky. Velmun laughed out loud to himself as he enjoyed how marvelous the surface felt. He floated happily on his back for a few minutes before flipping onto his stomach. He scanned his surroundings trying to see if there was anything around him but no matter what direction he looked in there was nothing but open water.     He chuckled at himself for being so scared of the surface. In his mind he had pictured a smog covered region where danger lurked behind every wave. He had encountered some bizarre creatures on his way up but not all of them had been bad, heck even the “bad” ones had been interesting. As he continued to scan his surroundings he realized that he also couldn’t see any of black fog. He frowned to himself, confused, the scriptures and stories he had read made it sound like the fog was right outside the Posian Trench, constantly looming over them and threatening to swallow them whole. Could the stories have been exaggerated or maybe even made up? Velmun smiled to himself as he started to swim in the first direction that fit his fancy. There was only one way to find out and he didn’t plan on going home any time soon.

Author: Anicetus