80 Days: Under the Waves

by Sharp Spark

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I froze, clutching my assailant as we hit the water. I expected at any moment for sharp teeth to pierce my flesh and braced myself to strike back in a moment of weakness, but no attack came. Instead, the sharkpony shifted his grip, carefully holding me with all four of his limbs as he used his powerful tail to swim down into the depths.

The eerie silence of the water unsettled me as we traveled further and further down. I wondered if he intended on drowning me at the bottom of the ocean, but could not imagine such great expenditure of effort. My lungs were just starting to ache when I saw a light beneath us.

A dome of magic flickered with phosphorescence at what had to be the very ocean floor. Countless ships nestled amongst rocks and sand, from ancient triremes to grand galleons to modern steamboats. Lights and movement revealed an entire city bustling with activity deep beneath the waves. It was enough to take one’s breath away--had my own not been so pressingly important, I would have gasped.

As we swam further down and crossed the boundary of the dome, I found that the magic dome functioned to preserve air, even at this depth. I greedily drank in the oxygen as my captor gently released me onto a soft patch of sand. When I had recovered, I looked up to find him watching with glittering eyes and the same crooked smile.

Madame Fog arrived not long after, deposited onto the same patch of sand at the outskirts of the sharkpony city. Our captors explained: we were prisoners, awaiting a decision from their leader as to the nature of our ransom. Their Princess would return from leading a more distant expedition within a few days. Until her arrival, we were free to explore the city at our leisure--the nature of our confinement made any escape obviously impossible.

I sought for something familiar in the alien place…
I stumbled across a bar when exploring the city…
I was overcome with curiosity about their society…