Lukas had just finished collecting earth from four different continents. While merfolk can walk on land as easily as humans, using tentacles, slithering, or using fins, they needed to be hydrated. Lukas was given a special pendant that used the moisture of the air to keep him hydrated. \u201cThere! That\u2019s all four!\u201d He looked at his pendant and saw that the glow was only half as bright as before. \u201c\u2026Huh. I guess this thing runs better than Calliope thought. I\u2019ll have to tell her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTell who what, escaper?\u201d hissed a voice. Lukas froze. He turned to see a dark-robed mermaid cracking her knuckles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026Sea-storm!\u201d he whispered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t return to us for too long, Miner 746!\u201d hissed his tormentor, Megan Sea-storm. \u201cYou will return to us for punishment!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026No!\u201d he said defiantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh, a bit of defiance, huh? I\u2019ll personally beat it out of you!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou never did value your own freedom! Your power granted to you!\u201d said Lukas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat could you possibly know?\u201d scoffed Megan. At that point, Lukas decided to get serious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat Sly and Maria are hunting you!\u201d Megan stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026How do you know those names?\u201d she demanded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLet\u2019s just say I now serve a mighty beast, the same mighty beast you pricked the side of and failed to run away from. Really, Megan, I admire your courage, I should like to admire it from afar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou went to Calliope? She doesn\u2019t know what I\u2019m doing! She\u2019s been ignorant of my activities for years!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou really think so? She\u2019s very protective of those who work for her or are actively paying off their debts. Right now, she\u2019s probably assigned Sly and Dr. Maria De La Mariana, her scouts, to find you. They\u2019re probably ransacking your flunkies\u2019 homes, poor devils.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou think she views what I did for our tribe as a breach of contract?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou think she doesn\u2019t?\u201d Lukas smirked. \u201cIf that particular sea witch is collecting on your debt to her, the Gods help you. And the Gods help those in her way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d demanded Megan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026Matron Sea-storm, all those stories you heard about her, they\u2019re not stories. They\u2019re true. Honestly, you\u2019re not telling me you\u2019re ignorant of what awaits you this month?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026I\u2019ll see you back in the tribe! And you WILL return!\u201d hissed Megan as she headed to the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur tribe\u2019s home, the cave we mine, do you know why they call it Evil\u2019s Retreat?\u201d Megan turned back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow did you know the cave\u2019s name?!\u201d she demanded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA few of your goons are customers of Calliope\u2019s currently serving in the Garden of Centuries,\u201d replied Lukas. \u201cThey\u2019ve each got about 50 years left in their sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe cave\u2019s name comes from some old saying,\u201d scoffed Megan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe oldest, Megan. And a slight mistranslation. There shouldn\u2019t be an apostrophe in Evils. The full sentence is \u2018All Evils retreat when one good person goes to war\u2019!\u201d Megan said nothing and dove under the waves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Megan swam for home, she felt like she was being watched. She carefully reached for her sword, then Sly sprang from the rocks and grabbed her, wrapping his tail around the mermaid. \u201cGET OFF ME, YOU BASTARD MORAY!\u201d she shouted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFat chance! You\u2019re gonna pay for what you did to Lukas!\u201d snarled Sly. Maria then swam out and opened a portal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBoss! We have her!\u201d called Maria. Sly backed off as three of Calliope\u2019s tentacles wrapped themselves around Megan and pulled her into the portal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lair was pitch-black, showing how angry Calliope was. She slammed Megan into a rock wall, forcing her to collapse to the lair\u2019s floor. Megan looked up. All she could see were Calliope\u2019s lips, hair, the underside of her tentacles, her sleeves, and her angry eyes. \u201cI told you that I would grant you immortality and, in return, you would use it to help your tribe! You chose to abuse that gift!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI abused nothing! I did the right thing! I made people tough! I-!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYOU ENSLAVED YOUR TRIBE! YOU BROKE OUR CONTRACT! YOUR ENTIRE IDENTITY IS FORFEIT!\u201d A swirling green light then surrounded Megan and a horrific transformation began. Her arms fused to her sides as her tail became green roots. Her chest shrunk into itself as her eyes bulged out and became yellow. Her teeth sunk into the gums as her vibrant green hair became a sickly gray-green. All she was now was a polyp with very rare distinguishing features. The ground opened up beneath her and she fell into deeper waters. \u201cTo the Garden of Loss with you!\u201d said Calliope. \u201cAnd may the Gods have mercy upon you because I have none!\u201d The hole closed above Megan as she fell, condemned to lose all her features and her identity over a century, becoming a mindless filter-feeder in the dark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lukas had just finished collecting earth from four different continents. While merfolk can walk on land as easily as humans, using tentacles, slithering, or using fins, they needed to be hydrated. Lukas was given a special pendant that used the moisture of the air to keep him hydrated. \u201cThere! That\u2019s all four!\u201d He looked at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1022,1023],"tags":[1038,1027,936],"class_list":["post-7246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-calliopes-lair","category-the-labors-of-calliope","tag-confrontation","tag-labor","tag-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7248,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7246\/revisions\/7248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}