Due to sickness and work obligations, our original plan of launching today with our first Episode and a video has been postponed. We’re looking at doing a Live on the 14th of February instead, with Nat hosting a chat in the following hours.
We're releasing two more vignettes to whet your appetite about the world over the next two weeks. Today, it’s about the third member of our faerie trio: Ashur. Next week, you will get the first glimpse of our villain.
The Deeps Vignette
“Remind me again what we’re doing here?” Ashur asked, looking over his shoulder. He knew they weren’t supposed to be here, but his best friend dared him, and he wasn’t about to turn away from a dare.
“I told you,” Rahmi started, “this is where she goes every afternoon. Are you scared?” Rahmi teased. He always knew how to push Ashur’s buttons in the best and worst ways, which is why he remained his friend.
“No, I’m not scared,” Ashur said, more to convince himself than Rahmi. In truth, he was terrified. The Drop Off was an area of the vast sea where male faeries were rumoured to be swallowed up by an unidentified creature. Why it only devoured males and seemed to leave females alone has never been determined. But many a male water faery have gone as close to the Drop Off as possible without totally being overtaken by it. Both Ashur and Rahmi swam closer to the ocean floor's edge, or at least the edge they could see. Beyond it was nothing. It’s believed to be the edge of existence, as well as home to a mysterious faerie-eating beast.
Too much time had passed without any sign of another faerie in sight. “I think you’ve made this up. I have more important things to do than—” Ashur turned to swim away but stopped when he heard a loud rumbling sound. If not for how loud it actually was, he would’ve just assumed it was either his or Rahmi’s stomach. But this was different. He knew it was different. “What was that?”
“What? I didn’t hear anything.” Rahmi looked around. Squinting into the murky darkness. Ashur felt uneasy. As if someone was watching them.
“This is the last time I let you talk me into something like this.” Ashur started to swim away from Rahmi when he heard and felt a loud boom that reverberated through the water and his body. He looked down at his fin, which seemed frozen in fright. His protective instincts kicked in and his wings pulled away from his skin. “No!” he shouted. It was too soon for them now. They wouldn’t work underwater. He looked up, and with as much arm strength as he could muster, he started to swim towards the surface.
He heard a scream and remembered Rahmi. Ashur looked back and saw something he swore he would take to his grave. Besides, who would believe him? No one. The beast was a myth to many and to those who believed? They would be too busy reprimanding his ignorance to hear his story. Rahmi was gone and he was never coming back. Asher survived, but that feeling of always being watched remains with him ever since.
THE END