[DOA] Halloween Tales: Luna's Madness

“Listen, young ones, listen closely to the tale I am about to weave for you, the whispers and rumors that I am here to confirm. Listen well, and be warned. For we aqrion are not the only things that dwell in these depths.” Callisto began the tale with a warning, her voice carrying across the gathered aqrion.

“Deep below, long before even I swam these seas, a race of ancient aqrion dwelt, their sizes larger than even the Fluke Singers. They ruled the seas with a gentle will, treating everything with respect and grace. This rule of kindness lasted for many decades, rulers rising and falling, seas shifting and moving, alliances forming and dissolving. Everything was peaceful. Everything was right and just. Yet, where did they go? For we no longer have ancient aqrion ruling our depths. Yes, some of us may be larger than others, but none are as large and well adapted as they were. Well, my dear listeners, this is where the story gets strange.” 

“One aqrion, whose name has been lost to time, but who I will refer to as Luna, was the heir to the throne, learning her position and rank from her mother, the current queen. Luna’s life was well, good, quiet, safe. She could come and go as she wished. She could race and dive, flirt and play, explore all her heart desired. She had taken an interest in a female her age, whose name has surprisingly stuck through all the long centuries since her life, Sol. Sol was the only one Luna ever had eyes for, and the pair were virtually inseparable. They would go everywhere together, from the surface to the depths, to  the great ice floes where the Polars live to the gentle embrace of the kelp forest. Sol herself would have been Luna’s wife, the second queen of the kingdom at the time, once Luna had taken the throne. But, one morning, Sol was nowhere to be found. Luna and Sol together had fallen asleep, each of them held in the other’s fins, but when Luna awoke, she was alone, with no signs of her lover. The only signal that Sol hadn’t left willingly was a necklace that she had worn, twisted and warped in ways that no aqrion could do on their own.”

“Luna was distraught, her lover having been stolen from her fins, with something keeping her asleep through the entire ordeal. No matter how hard she searched, hoping, praying for signs of her lover, she came up empty finned. Search parties were formed, sent out, and returned. Days turned to weeks, turned to months, turned to years, and yet, there was still no sign of Sol. Occasionally, there would be rumors of a body part being found, yet nothing was ever confirmed. Slowly, ever so slowly, Luna began to heal from her grief, her heart still broken, but her soul still able to go on. That’s when things began to get strange.”

“Other aqrion began to be reported as missing, all stolen from their lovers fins, their mother’s home, their sister and brother’s beds. It was eerily similar to how Sol had been stolen, and each time an item of the stolen was found, it was twisted and warped beyond repair, to the point that the original form was nearly incomprehensible. No aqrion knew what was stealing and likely killing them indiscriminately. Each morning, aqrion woke in fear of having their loved ones gone from their homes. Stolen from their beds. The seas became thick with fear and no aqrion went to sleep easily.”

“All that was left of the stolen was twisted pieces of items, until there was more than that one morning. A young aqrion had been stolen from his lovers arms in the late hours of the night, but instead of going missing, his body was found, twisted and torn until he was barely recognizable by even his mother. It was the first time the body of a stolen had been found, the first time that  the aqrion of that age had even known how their loved ones had been at death. Keep in mind, young listeners, that these aqrion were massive, larger than even the largest of our time. Whatever was killing them was the same size, if not much, much larger.”

“Luna, determined to avenge the death of her lover, and the deaths of all the other aqrion who had been stolen from their loved ones, decided to try to follow whatever trail she could to get to the bottom of the mystery. Luna’s determined travels led her far and wide as she searched for any sign of the lost aqrion. She would pick up a trail, only to lose it, find a whisper of words that led to a silence. A song that was cut off entirely. The longer she traveled, the thinner she got and the more crazed. She would go from pod to pod, city to city, home to home, looking for any sign of her lost lover. Her bedraggled appearance pushed aqrion away and she began to earn a reputation of being the crazed royal, something that hadn’t been seen for decades. Each time she came to a dead end in her hunt, she would get more and more crazed and more and more rumors and whispered stories were passed around.”

“After nearly two years of crazed searching, in which time she was mutilated to the point of being barely recognizable from a contagious disease and many attacks by fearful aqrion, she finally found a concrete trail of clues. Bones of aqrion became more common, deep in a trench that was barely explored by the aqrion- even the deep sea dwelling Abyssals, for there was little of interest so far below. With each bone found, Luna would let out an anguished cry that resonated throughout the trench. When she finally found the lair of whatever had been stealing the aqrion, she began to weep, as the most prominent of those she had found was her lover, Sol, identified by the crown of golden threads that Luna had given her, so many years before. Anguished, she finally gave into her ails and curled around her lover’s bones, defeated. She was too weak to go on, and all signs of whatever had been stealing aqrion had disappeared, aside from the bones it had left behind. It is said that she is still crying now, and that if you take a moment to listen, you will hear her wails echoing up from the deep trenches.”

“As for whatever was hunting the large aqrion of that time? Well, nobody knows what happened to it. Rumor has it, that Luna was never killed by the monster, as it had moved on by then, but then again, its only a rumor. Maybe it still lurks in the deep, planning another killing spree. Maybe it died with Luna, centries ago. Maybe it is among us today, blending in as easily as an octopus blends into the rocks.” Callisto finished, her many eyes bright from the story. The aqrion who had gathered around her gave a collective shutter, before beginning to move away, intrigued by something more interesting. Callisto smiled to herself as the aqrion moved away. Yes, it was just a story she had told. Yes, she had embellished a lot of details. 

But, aren’t all stories rooted in truths?