Calm and Calamity

Chapter 17

Day: 305 (Blood Moon)

Days Left: 5175

Lives Saved: 1

Seeing the shrivelled and peeled skin of the water nymphs and their sunken faces, Lili steeled herself and continued to paddle with her paws furiously to keep up with Harmony. As she was entranced, Harmony was undeterred and unresponsive to the horrifying creatures and swam directly towards the mask despite a wall of water nymphs blocking her path.

Daina zoomed effortlessly through the water and positioned herself in between Harmony and the nymphs. She recoiled her head back then screamed. Though it could not be heard, it reverberated and rippled the water, causing a wave to send the nymphs back. Not reacting at all to what just happened, the entranced Harmony continued onwards to her mask. The nymphs that had been knocked back by the soundwave flailed their arms in a futile attempt to return to their previous position.

This was easy, thought Lili. A little too easy.

Gliding over, Daina shrieked at the other water nymphs, the soundwaves sending them flying back. As their legs were still tethered to the large rocks that kept them grounded and underwater, the nymphs would eventually float back to their original position. But it was a long enough time gap for Harmony to swim past them all.

With every scream, Daina was getting weaker and weaker, running out of energy. She had never had to use her banshee powers this frequently before and it was starting to take a toll. The soundwaves barely moved the nymphs. Fortunately, both Harmony and Lili were now out of reach so Daina could have a quick rest. The nymphs attempted to grab at her with their rotting hands but they merely phased through the banshee's spectral body.

Everything was going smoothly.

That was until Harmony's body began to writhe and jolt. Her mouth gasped open and a jet of bubbles escaped, allowing the black water to go in. Though in the Eternal Abyss you could hold your breath for longer, it seemed that Harmony was at her limit. Despite suffocating, the entranced woman continued swimming down to the sea-bed, her hands clawing at the dark sand to uncover her mask.

Lili dove down, her legs aching. Tigers weren't exactly built for swimming this deep. They had to finish this quickly. She was herself almost at her limit, her chest twisting and pressing down from the lack of air in her lungs. Using her paws, she assisted Harmony in digging up the mask, the green wisp swirling around it.

About to grab the mask, something grabbed Harmony instead. One of the water nymphs had yanked at her ankle and pulled her away. In her tranced state, Harmony was a weak and easy target, unable to fight back. Trapped in the nymph's grasp, the young woman continued to flail her arms and legs to continue swimming towards her mask but she could not escape.

Kicking her paws, Lili swam upwards and slashed at the nymph's hand. The creature recoiled, releasing Harmony as its hand quivered, trickles of blood mixing in with the water. Snarling, the nymph lunged forwards but Lili easily evaded despite her energy levels almost depleted. She clawed the creature once again, propelling herself away from it... and into something else. Lili glanced back and saw that she was now surrounded by more nymphs. They all yanked at her fur and tugged at her tail. No matter how hard she tried, Lili could not break free as the nymphs swarmed around her.

Daina screeched at them but her banshee howling had become so weak that the nymphs barely flinched as she screamed directly into their faces. There was nothing she could do to help. In her banshee form she could not touch anything as it would all phase through her nor could she transform back into a human as it was a blood moon. All she could do was scream in futility as she watched her friend be swarmed by the horde of nymphs.