The Spirit of Halloween: The Haunted Kelp Forest

The Haunted Kelp Forest

The shadows stretched out across the ocean as the sun set beneath the waves. However it wasn’t bedtime for little aqrions just yet. It was the festival of Hallow’s End, and that meant making time for spooky stories! Tonight was to be an especially frightful one, and it was being told by none other than Tallulah.

“Miss Tallulah!” A little polar called out when she saw Tallulah in the lagoon. Tallulah was easy enough to spot; a beige body with bright seafoam coloured fins. And of course, always sporting a friendly smile. “We’re here for the story!” 

“I hope it’s not too spooky,” Another of the little ones, an abyssal, said, looking a bit nervous. 

“Don’t be a scaredy fish!” The third aqrion, a phin singer, snickered, playfully thwacking the nervous abyssal with his tail.
 

Tallulah came over to the trio and gently bapped the troublemaker on the snoot, before leading them over to a cozy bit of ocean floor to rest on. She nodded with a smile, writing in the sand to ask if they were ready to hear the story.

“But how are you going to tell the story, Miss Tallulah?” The little polar asked curiously. After all, everyone knew that Tallulah was mute; born that way, though it never stopped her from being a well loved member of the community.

“Don’t be rude!” The phin singer pouted. “Everyone knows she talks with pictures. Right, Miss Tallulah?”

Tallulah nodded at that, pleased that the little phin singer remembered. To prove it to the other two, she drew a picture of a young giant aqrion in the sand. 

“Is that you, Miss?!” The polar asked excitedly. 

Tallulah simply shrugged at that, suggesting the aqrion could be anyone. However, as she drew in the sand, various images flashing across the ocean floor, letting her audience know that the story she planned to tell was about a young aqrion; likely as young as her audience. 

That got the three little ones excited, and they all grouped together, eagerly waiting to watch Tallullah tell her stories through the sands. Tallulah couldn’t help but smile fondly at the three, and so, with a flick of her tail to smooth out the sand, she took to drawing images, and so her story began.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took place at night, during Hallow’s Eve, much like today. A little aqrion, a giant, decided she wasn’t going to listen to her parents about going to bed early. No, she decided she was going to spend all night awake so she wouldn’t miss anything. Besides, how often did little aqrions, such as herself, ever get the chance to explore the ocean this late at night? Not very often, that’s for certain!

And what a sight the ocean was in the dead of night. The various bioluminescence of the creatures and plant life lit up the dark ocean floor, making for a spectacular trove of wonderment for the adventurous little aqrions. However, what the giant didn’t quite realize is that as she followed the trail of glowing life, the trail was leading her closer and closer towards the Cursed Kelp Forest. 

All of the adults knew to avoid the Cursed Kelp Forest. The majority of aqrions who went in never came out, and those that did, their bodies were wrapped with twisting growths of vegetation growing right out of their flesh. It was corruption, and they knew how important it was to stay away from that. 

Unfortunately, the little aqrion did not, and soon enough, she found herself lost within the twisting vines of the dense dark forest. “Oh no, how am I supposed to find my way home now?” she thought to herself as she searched the ocean floor for a path back to the glowing trail that led her here. She searched and she searched, looking in all directions, but she couldn’t see any glow anywhere. That’s when she started to panic. 

The young giant began swimming frantically left and right, up and down, looking for any sign of a glow. In her panic, she ended up running smack into something quite solid, which was odd for a kelp forest. 

Backing up slowly, the little one looked up in horror as an adult polar floated there, bound to the ocean floor by a variety of plant matter. He wasn’t moving. In fact, as she inspected the polar closer, she found the polar was dead and the vegetation was growing out of him!

Letting out a scream of terror, the little aqrion bolted from the scene, only to come across another aqrion, this time an abyssal, in the same situation. Lifeless; nothing more than a host the plants that had taken over. 

Terrified as she was, it also dawned on her that she wasn’t as alone as she really thought. Taking a look around her, the kelp forest was more of a graveyard than anything! Multiple aqrions, of all ages, had been devoured by the plant life.

This was too much for her, but luckily, at long last, she finally spotted something glowing in the distance. A way out perhaps! As she hurriedly swam towards the light, doing her best to ignore the long dead aqrion around her, as she hoped this was finally her chance to escape this nightmare. Unfortunately, the glow wasn’t the salvation she had hoped for. 

Instead that glow came from a ghostly looking polar, with cruel, lifeless eyes. Eyes that were immediately upon her. She let out a wail and turned to swim away from the spectre; but the escape would not be so easy as the ghost immediately gave chase. 

The little aqrion swam for her life as the spectre got closer and closer and then……!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“RAWR!” An adult polar roared, covered in kelp and plants, spooking the three little aqrions who were listening so intently to Tallulah’s story. 

“Eeeeeeee!” The three little ones squeaked out in fear, diving behind Tallulah hoping she would protect them. However Tallulah just smirked, shaking her head at her polar friend, before writing thanks for adding the surprise element to her story. 

“Anytime, Tal!” The polar laughed heartily.

“You scared us!” The little abyssal squeaked out at the polar. 

“Yeah, you meanie face!” The phin singer grumbled indignantly. 

“Did you plan this Miss Tallulah?” The polar hatchling asked, looking up accusingly at Tallulah, to which Tallulah nodded. “That was so awesome!”

“Yeah it was awesome!” The phin singer exclaimed, coming out of hiding as he felt a bit braver now. “Best Hallow’s Eve ever!”

“I would like to not be scared next time though….” The abyssal pouted.

“Well, there’s nothing to be scared about, so long as good little aqrions go to bed at the right time, and don’t wander off from home.” The polar grinned.

“We’ll be good!” The three little ones chimed.”

“Good, it’s back to your parents then, alright?” The polar asked.

“Okay! Good night mister! Good night Tallulah, thank you for the story!” The three said before swimming off back home. 

Tallulah smiled, watching them swim home before turning to her friend and helping brush off what plants she could. Some of the plants unfortunately couldn’t be removed… and she frowned at that thought.

The polar caught the look, and smiled. “I’m fine Tal. Honest I am.” He said, trying to reassure her. “Though I won’t deny the call of that kelp forest grows stronger every day.”

Tallulah nodded at that as the two looked off into the distance, as a subtle glowing figure swam off in the distance. At least for now everything would stay as it was in this moment. Just a scary ghost story for children. Nothing to worry about… yet.