Her

#Eighteen

When Sovack and Hajjar saw the surface of the water stir, they got up and stepped closer to the river ready to fight if necessary. Nova joined them not long after.

Hajjar looked at her. "Stay with Kally and use your sonic scream if necessary."

Nodding her head, she went to sit next to Kally.

"Hajjar, Sovack, please be careful," Kally whispered loud enough for them to hear.

A beige sand-skinned quibasson, with the back of his body, completely covered with dark blue scales fish and short hair as the same colour as his scales came out of the lake.

He stared at Sovack and Hajjar with great caution. "Who among you sent a signal that came from there?" He pointed where Nova dived not long ago.

Hajjar lifted his hands to show that he had no bad motivation. "My name is Hajjar and this one here is Sovack. We're sorry to disturb you. We wouldn't have done it if we weren't so desperate. There is someone here who needs your help. Her life depends on it."

"I came to see what made that sound that I never heard before. Now I see it was a ruse to get me out of the water. A pangarion teaming with a sergozard. Something doesn't smell right."

"It's not a trick! We do need your help. If you allow me to explain." Hajjar insisted while trying not to lose his patience, which was hard for him.

"I've seen enough, I'm leaving." The quibasson said, walking back over the shore.

Hajjar wanted to stop him and before he could do so, he saw something else coming out of the lake. It was another quibasson. This time it was a female. This one had pinkish beige skin with long aqua hair. Her entire spine, hands and feet were covered with fish scales that were the same colour as her hair.

"Echo, what are you doing here? I told you, I will handle this." The male said to his companion.

"I'm sorry, Zan. I don't know how to explain it, but I felt like something drew me here. Don't be angry."

He cupped the side of her face. "I'm not mad, just stay behind me."

Hajjar couldn't stop looking at Echo when he noticed her eyes. Zan saw him staring at his mate. He didn't appreciate the way Hajjar was looking at her. "Are you done staring at my mate?" Zan growled at him.

"I wasn't staring at her, I was just looking at her eyes," Hajjar hurriedly said to him.

"What, now you have a problem with her eyes? Do you think you're the first to judge her? Let me tell you that you aren't the first and you certainly will not be the last."

Echo took her mate's hand in hers. "Zan, Please calm down."

With his thumb, Zan stroked under Echo's eyes. "I'm just tired that everyone we see is judging your eyes. That's what attracted me to you." If they were alone, Zan would take Echo in his arms to comfort her.

"Let me introduce you to the rest of the group. After that, you'll understand that there is no judgment here. In your turn, I will ask that you won't judge or stare at what you're about to see." Hajjar referred to the mutations that Kally's body had suffered.

After Hajjar introduced Nova and Kally, Echo felt relieved to know that she wasn't the only one with that colour in her eyes.

None of them had to explain who Kally was, even though the quibassons were mainly in the water, they also knew the story of the goddess Lerial. Echo was poorly judged mainly by jealousy in the others. They were all asking the same question. Why was she the one to be chosen and not someone else? What had made her so special? Was the goddess was blind not to see her flaws? Those were the replies she got from everyone who passed on her path.

"I can't believe it, Zan! Do you realize that if we hadn't answered their call, we wouldn't have met or known about her.? Did you see them, I am not the only one like we thought." Echo said happily.

"I'm happy for you, my seashell. What happened to her?" Zan asked, looking at Kally, directly.

Hajjar sighed. "She is weak, which is why we need one of you to volunteer. If she cannot collect the last essence for her body, she will weaken until death devours her."

Zan rubbed his mouth, thinking. "And how will she get our essence?"

"Nova, you're the best of us to explain this to them," Hajjar turned to her for help.

Hajjar left Nova with the quibassons and returned to Kally's side. He hugged her gently, kissing her forehead.

Nova did her best to explain Kally's situation and what she represented.

"I've heard enough! Echo, come on, we're leaving!" Zan took his mate's hand and went toward the lake.

"Zan, don't you see how important this is?" Echo tried to reason with him.

He inhaled sharply. "We don't even know them, my seashell. We don't owe them anything."

Echo caressed her mate's cheek. "Think about it, darling. If I were in her situation, wouldn't you want someone else to help me if you couldn't?"

He didn't even have to think about it, he already knew the answer. If he needed a stranger to save her, he would do it in a heartbeat.

He sighed, hoping he wouldn't regret his decision. "Okay, but I'll be the one to do it."

Echo smiled at his answer. "Zan, I love you and I love that you want to protect me, but we both know that I have to do this."

Zan nodded. "Very well, you know that I will follow you wherever you go, even if it means until the end of time."

Echo jumped into Zan's arms. She knew it wasn't easy for him. She kissed him to show him how grateful she was.

"And now what?" Zan asked after Echo gave a little of her blood to Kally.

"Wait, it's not over yet." Said Sovack. He was relieved because he now knew that his queen's life was no longer in danger.

Kally felt the mutation in her body begin. The skin on her feet changed and was covered with fish scales, the same colour she had on her arms. Gills appeared behind her ears. This time, the mutation was more tolerant, her body was stronger now.

"The process is finally over. The fourth has flowed into this body. Now go back to where it all started and give what you took to make it whole again." Kally said with an echo as her eyes were covered with a bright blue light.

"It's finally complete." Nova, Sovack and Echo said in union with their eyes covered in the same light as Kally.

"It's finally complete," Someone else said, who was far from them.

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