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     The sun was setting on the horizon, its rays making the surface of the water look orange and yellow. Underneath the water, the waves were stained a beautiful lavender color. Its ethereal glow seemed to be unfitting at the events happing down below. Kyran and Evan had agreed to leave that night with as little to no supplies as possible.

Kyran had his bag tied around his tail, tighter than before. Inside it, he had a small silver compass, a few sand dollars he had managed to scavenge up, and the blue gem hidden in a pocket on the side. He had been preparing for this moment his whole life. Waiting for a chance to go beyond and see so many new things. He used to dream of what new things he would find. In one of his dreams, he had traveled out and found a whole other kingdom. They took him in and showed him the differences in their culture. Sadly, the dream ended abruptly when Lucas had practically thrown Kyran out of his bed.

Evan had a small pouch tied around his back, the hilt of a small dagger shoved into a smaller scabbard on the lower side of it. He hadn't packed anything but that, cause he wasn't planning on staying out longer than 10 minutes.

"C'mon! Let's go!" Kyran was already swimming way ahead of Evan, determined to get to the barrier as quickly as possible. He didn't want to waste any time. Evan followed slowly behind him, his scales changing quickly from green to a pretty teal color. He was getting more confident. At least that's what Kyran remembered teal meant.

     Eventually, the pair got to the border. Evan had taken a seat in the sand, watching Kyran's movements as he swam closer to the invisible wall. He held a hand out, trying to find it. Eventually, Kyran felt a strange amount of force. Like the north side of one magnet trying to tough the north side of another. It pushed him away from it.

     "Another reason why this is a bad idea!" Evan yelled from behind him. Kyran looked back and gave him a pout before pushing his hand through the strange force. From where Kyran stood, his hand looked as if it had been dismembered from his body. He put the other hand through, just the same as the one before. He could feel the water on the other side. It felt a lot colder and dirtier. He pulled himself through headfirst. Evan watched as Kyran's tail soon disappeared through the barrier. His skin rippled itself with goosebumps at the sight of Kyran disappearing. His scales turned the same acid green color as before. He had no idea what was happening on the other side. Kyran still hadn't appeared like the scrolls said. He grew terribly worried.

Soon enough, Kyran's body appeared on the other side of the invisible wall. He was twirling around taking in the scenery around him. Evan felt calmed by this and repeated the same thing Kyran did.

Kyran saw the green scales of his friend appear where the kingdom should have been.

"See? It wasn't that bad." Kyran motioned towards Evan. He was looking around the area
in disdain.

"It's so different than what I imagined.." Evan's voice trailed off as he swam closer to a patch of kelp and coral next to a rather big rock. "I thought everything would've been dead, or at least dying. That's what the books and scrolls described it as.." His voice trailed off once again as he kept inspecting the area. "..but it's all so similar to the plants inside the kingdom. Of course, it's a little darker. And dirtier. Nonetheless, it isn't that different from what we're used to," Kyran had swum closer to the green merman, who was sitting on the sand below. Evan picked his head up to look at Kyran, his scales changing to a green darker than his regular color. "Did they... lie to us?" The look in his eyes glowed with betrayal and heartbreak. "What if they're lying about so much more? What if they're lying about everything out here? What if everything we've ever been told is a lie?! What if—" Kyran cut him off by slapping his hands over his mouth.

"You're overthinking this way too much. Our people probably haven't had the guts to even try to explore the good parts of this land. They probably only see it for its negatives. They were told stories about the dangers and monsters out there, but never the ones about the beauty of it," Kyran had removed his hands from Evan's face and was motioning to the colorful plants and coral around them. "That's why I wanted to come out here. No one knows for sure what lies out there.

"Now.." kyran held out his hand to the boy, "You coming with me?"

«««

     "So this way, we won't get lost, and we'll know our way back to the kingdom," Evan explained. He was carrying a long log in his hands. He was going to drag it out where they were going so that it left a line in the sand. Although they said that they were going to swim in a straight line, Evan said that they could never be too careful. Kyran had jumped in front of him, wanting to take the lead. The pair swam out at least 3 miles before Evan spoke up.

"Ok, I think this is far enough." He said from behind. Kyran turned to see his scales a pale green. Scared.

"Are you seriously scared?! This is so out of character for you. We haven't even encountered anything dangerous. C'mon, just a bit more," That was a lie. They had come across a couple of fish with sharp teeth that had tried to attack them. Evan had handed his dagger to Kyran since his hands were full.

"Actually, we have encountered dangerous things. MANY dangerous things. I'm not dying out here. And I'm not going to let YOU die you here!" Evan had set his voice in stone. He was trying to be assertive without coming off as mean or rude. His scales had shifted to a gradient of dark blue and mint green. Kyran could help but feel flattered at the change. Those two meant he was being thoughtful and truthful.

"I- okay. Let's go," Kyran said sullenly. His shoulders dropped as Evan's face followed the same motion. His face dropped at the sadness in Kyran's tone.

"Hey, c'mon man. At least now I don't have to carry this huge log." Evan joked, trying to lighten the mood. He dropped the log with a loud thump as he led himself and Kyran back, following the line in the sand.

Evan and Kyran slowly swam at least a mile back before the pair felt something pull them to the right.

"Woah, what was that?" Evan questioned

"I'm sure it was just a school of fish or something. They usually cause small gusts like that when they swim fast," Kyran said, his voice rather quiet.

Soon, the two got shoved again, this time more violently to the right and left.

"What the heck is that?!" Evan yelled out to no one in particular. The weird force pulled the both of them once more to the right.

"Wait a minute.." Kyran's voice trailed off as he tried to connect the dots. He knew what this was. "EVAN WATCH—" before either of them knew it, they were thrown out from where they were into a large current of water, flowing in the exact opposite direction they were planning to go. The two of them stayed together, luckily, as they were thrown around. Both of them flailed and flopped numerous times as they were pulled far away from the barrier.

In the commotion, Evan lost the pouch he had around his back, but Kyran held tightly onto his bag, fearing the contents spilling out everywhere. They were both thrown around for what seemed like hours before the current faded off and they were spat out harshly into the sand. The bits of grained rock and sediment scattered everywhere. In their hair, all over their skin, and in between scales.

Kyran picked up his head first, scanning the sand for any sight of Evan. It ached with a harsh burning pain that couldn't seem to go away. It felt like a million embers had dropped down onto his nervous system. Despite the growing pain, he got the strength to pick himself up and sloppily swim around. He kept searching the area, but his vision was becoming foggy and his eyelids were becoming heavy. So very heavy. He resisted the urge to pass out and kept looking for his friend. He eventually found a huge indent of scattered sand a few feet away from him. It was next to a huge boulder surrounded by smaller boulders. At the very bottom, he saw Evan crouched uncomfortably. He had a trickle of blood running down the side of his face, and his scales were painted pure white. Kyran immediately swam up to his friend as fast as his body could let him.

"Evan! Evan—" Kyran's words cut off as he tripped over himself and fell to the sand. Evan's eyes were starting to peek open, the small green shine slowly starting to emerge underneath his eyelashes.

"Are you okay?!" Kyran questioned. His hands went to the source of the blood to find a small cut on the side of Evan's head. Evan squinted, adjusting to the light now in his vision. 

     "Fin... rock..." Evan tilted his gaze to the fins on the ends of his tail. Part of the boulder had fallen on top of it and was holding Evan there. Kyran immediately swam to it to try and pick it up. He latched to the underside of it with both hands and tried to lift it. After 3 failed attempts l, Kyran let go of the rock and tried to think.

     "Ok, um... I'm going to try and pick it up from one side. Do you think you try and move your fin out from underneath?" Kyran asked. Evan gave him a small nod as Kyran turned back around to the rock. He tried again to pick it up, this time bringing it above Evan's fin a little. Evan quickly removed his fin from underneath. Kyran immediately dropped the rock, his arms aching from the weight.

     Evan grabbed the end of his tail and curled himself up. One hand when to his head, to feel where the pain was coming from, and the other hand when to his fin. It was bent in a weird direction. Like when you accidentally fold paper the wrong way and you have to get the annoying crease out. Kyran scooted over at sat right next to his friend. He took a couple more looks around before frowning. They were lost. Blown away from their home with nothing but a cracked compass, 5 sand dollars, and a useless blue rock. Kyran's shoulders slumped down in defeat. He glanced over at Evan, whose scales had shifted from white to a blue-gray color. Kyran could help but take the blame for everything. He couldn't help but feel that he was responsible for this.

He was why they would die out here. Sad, cold, and alone.

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𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 - 𝘧𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘺 9, 2020
𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 - 𝘫𝘶𝘯𝘦 20, 2021
1915 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴
~𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙖