Prologue: Raised by the sea
The wind was blowing that morning, a warm morning breeze. The calm sea that covered the entirety of Equos, save for the small islands that were spread far and wide. These islands were not big enough for cities to settle in, let alone the fact that most of these islands were infertile grounds. And the ones that allowed life to grow were filled to the brim with strong creatures that were too aggressive to live near.
There were also the sky islands, huge chunks of land that floated over the sea due to the even bigger crystals that were deeply embedded into the islands. The inhabitants of these islands were the creatures known as Diamond Dogs, Dragons and to a much lesser extent, Pegasus, and Griffins.
In order to survive, the inhabitants of this world lived aboard great ships that sailed all over the world seeking for food, supplies and fresh water. And in this peaceful morning, where no ships were battling, a single cry disturbed the entire silence. A baby's cry, due to careless parenting, that baby found himself falling all the way from the sky islands. A light grey diamond dog, its little arms had a hint bluish gray on his arms and tail.
The baby kept spinning around in the air, he was about to hit the water when a yellow and orange blur swooped in and caught him in the air. Then it proceeded to land on the water's surface, two other figures popped out of the water's surface.
"What do you think you're doing, Nyl?! You could have been spotted!" The yellow one turned around and showed the little one that was still crying. "Oh, did he fall all the way from the island?"
"It's either that or he was tossed off of it," Nyl replied trying to make the puppy stop crying.
"But..." The third one spoke up. "What should we do? We can fly only about 45 feet off the water's surface because of the spell. That island should be at the very least about 9000 feet at its lowest point. We can't fly him back."
"Let's take it back to the island and then ask the queen," Nyl said holding the baby and swimming on the water's surface.
Her friends accompanied Nyl by swimming underneath her. By the time they had arrived at the island, the baby had already stopped crying and was sleeping on Nyl's arms. Looking down, Nyl saw one of her friends wave at her before diving deeper into the ocean. Soon the remaining friend dove in as well, Nyl floated to a group of rocks that were nearby and hid a group of rocks and waited.
While she was waiting, the baby opened its eyes and looked at her. It had amber eyes, he started to smile and laugh as its little hands tried to reach for Nyl's face. It's toothless smile caused Nyl to return the expression.
"You just fell off the sky and now you're laughing away. You're either very brave or very dumb."
"Nyl, your friends tell me you saved a surface dweller?" Nyl heard from outside the rock circle.
"Yes, Queen Novo," Nyl replied while heading out of the rock shelter. "I saved this baby from crashing into the sea. We wanted to know if there is any way to send him back."
Nyl watched the queen move closer and look at the baby, she stared at it and then looked up to the skies again. After a few seconds, she backed away and turned around. There was only the sound of the winds and the waves having a conversation for several moments.
"I'm afraid there is nothing we can do. I won't send any of our soldiers out there to get him back up there. Not when we don't know the whereabouts of the Storm King's fleet," The Queen finally spoke up looking over her shoulder, her head hanging low. "We can leave him on the top of our old mountain. That way he won't drown, but we can't keep sending any of our own to check on him."
Nyl's eyes widened, she looked back at the baby then back at the Queen. "Can't we use our magic on him? So he can stay with us?"
"You know that can only use our spell to fully convert those who have a certain degree of similarity to us. We managed to help a few ponies that we stumbled upon, but he doesn't have any traits that match our species. At the very best he will be able to breathe underwater. However, you can expect some side effects."
"At the very least he gets to live," Nyl commented holding the baby closer to her.
"Do you actually think he can survive with us? He won't be able to swim like us, he won't be able to keep up with us."
"BUT. HE. GETS. TO. LIVE!" Nyl shot back with a scowl on her face, as soon as she realized that she had raised her voice at the queen, her ears dropped. "I-I'm sorry. It's just...we went hiding underwater so that our species could live. Can't we share our gift with somepony that can't go back to his home so that he can live?"
Nyl watched the Queen turn around with a small smile, she pulled out the necklace she used years ago to allow hippogriffs to live underwater. The pearl that was hanging from it started to glow, Nyl then saw the Queen scratch the surface of the pearl. Now Queen Novo's claws were glowing, she swam closer to Nyl and then made marks on the baby's body using each one of her claws.
White trails stayed behind after each mark was made, after using all of her claws, the marks and the trails disappeared. Nyl looked at the baby for few moments, there wasn't anything different about him. Nothing had changed.
"My Queen, did it work?"
"Yes. But looks like I managed to change more than I thought possible. Whenever his head is completely underwater, gills will grow around his neck and the fur around that area will be switched over with scales, his body will also be able to survive the pressure, and his eyes will adapt to the sea water and the light available. When he gets out, he will switch back," The queen replied hiding the necklace again. "Now, take him back to the town. You need to get him something to eat."
Nyl smiled and dove underwater. 'Okay little one! You'll need a name and some clothes!'
(Ten years later)
The years passed, the diamond dog grew up amongst the hippogriffs. He was relatively well known since he was the only one that didn't have any fins and was the slowest swimmer in the kingdom. However, he was the craftiest of the kingdom. A few weeks after he started to talk, Nyl, who he called mother, taught him how to read and write, as well as messing around with chemical stones once he was 9 years old.
He was named Makan Sirds, according to Nyl, his name meant 'heart of the winds'. His clothes were made using scales and the skin of underwater creatures. His diet, like the hippogriffs, was composed of fishes and underwater creatures. But unlike them, he had a bit of a temper issue. And that caused him a lot of trouble, Nyls told him it was part of his nature and that he had to learn how to control it on his own.
"Makan! Makan!" He heard from outside his closet, where he had gone into hiding. "Are you okay? I heard that you were left behind by the others again today."
Makan kept quiet, he didn't like being left behind whenever they went outside the city limits. That forced him to go back without seeing anything of the sea floor outside the town.
'Up and down the waves move,
Moving and moving again,
Let them wash it all away,
All the pain and all the loss.
Hear the winds whisper,
Hear the wind howl,
Let it take that which will make you stray,
Let the anger flow to the sea,
And the storm will go away.'
Makan repeated the verses Nyl had taught him in his head again and again. It wasn't much in terms of rhyming, but it always helped him calm down and think straight. It was a lullaby she used to sing back when he was a baby.
'They leave me behind because I can't keep up. I don't have fins so I'm screwed when it comes to speed. But...maybe I can make some fins...I can probably use that strong alga that grows near the castle to fashion a shoe of sorts where the fin can be attached to. But still...it won't be enough, the fins will make me faster, however, I'll still grow tired and fall behind.'
The closet's door opened and a light shone through. It was Nyl, she was carrying one of the lanterns that were powered by a reaction between chemical stones. Makan' eyes widened, he started to imagine a device that could make him go faster without him getting tired.
"Makan," Nyl called him once again offering her hand. "Come, let's get something to eat."
"Mother," He muttered swimming out of the closet. "Do you think that those stones could power up something like cogs and gears?"
"Huh?" Nyl replied tilting her head. "I don't see why not. But, why do you ask?"
"I was thinking of making some sort of machine to make me swim faster. That way I can keep up!" He responded smiling, Makan saw his mother smiling back as she pet him.
After that, Makan spent a lot of his time working on the fins that ended up working like a charm. He became able to explore a bit more of the sea floor out of the town, which led to him discovering a few wrecks and ruins around the area. It was within those areas that Makan found a lot of parts, gears, cogs, pieces of metal.
With these new resources, Makan started to try to construct simple devices. Small mechanisms to push objects, reel in lines, making clock pointers move. As he got older, the devices became more complex. A portable welder that could keep a flame lit underwater, a crossbow that he could quickly reload by simply rotating a lever, and a LOT of failed attempts on making a propeller that Makan referred to as water-glider.
As time moved on, not only did his devices change, his appearance changed as well. A good amount of bluish-gray fur grew on top of his head, forcing Makan to tie it up so that it wouldn't fall in front of his eyes. The constant swimming also strengthened his body, however, the spell used to make him able to breathe prevented him from getting yo much muscle mass, or so did Nyl tell him. Another thing that changed was his clothes, Makan managed to get his hands on his some types of cloth. And Nyl fashioned him actual clothes, yellow and orange based on her own pattern.
His water-glider seemed to be getting some lead way when he was about twenty-one years old, it was working, but the chemical stones he needed to use in order to make it function were consumed way too fast. He had at least thirty to forty minutes of use before needing to change the stones. And the procedure to change the stones took about two minutes.
On the day of his twentieth second birthday, Nyl gave him a necklace she made out of shells and some ore she and her friends found during an expedition to the outer areas around the city. Everything on the day was going great, Makan was making progress in his projects, his life was peaceful, and his little devices were helping the hippogriffs.
However, on that same day, there were big explosions over the city by the water's surface. The explosions caused some pillars to crumble, there was panic and a lot of Makan's friends were hurt by the shockwaves. Luckily, there were no casualties.
'Come on, Mother! Where are you?'
Makan ended up separated from Nyl during the chaos, he kept swimming around as he tried to find her. When he finally found her, Makan saw her floating in front of a new shipwreck. It had a unique pattern etched to its side, Makan saw Nyls staring at it with her eyes wide open.
"Mom, are you okay?" He asked placing his hand on her shoulder, she was trembling.
"I-it's him..."
"Who? Who is it, mother?"
"The Storm King," Another voice came from behind Makan, he turned around and saw none other than Queen Novo. "Our location might be compromised if they try to recover anything from the wreckage. We will need to leave our kingdom, now. Nyl, Makan, please notify the others."
"Y-yes!" Makan and his mother replied in unison.
For the first time ever, Makan saw his friends and his mother desperate. He had seen them scared, panicking, and so forth. But the looks on their faces, that made him scared of the crest that was on the ship. Following the Queen's instructions, Makan helped by warning everypony.
After warning the citizens, Makan returned to his home and started to prepare his bags.
'I can't take much, we are traveling light. The water-glider won't hold too much with extra weight. Better take only the light tools and a set of clothes. As well as some of the chemical stones to power up the water-glider. And my favorite book.'
With those thoughts in mind, Makan got his travel bag ready. Then he headed out with his mother and the others, they were all gathered at the central area of the town with the Queen.
"My subjects. Let us leave this place so that we can find a new home where we can be safe!"
There was no response from the others, they simply looked down and started to swim away. Makan didn't understand why all of them were so scared and depressed, it was starting to bother him. Nyl told him that the hippogriffs were once a race that soared the skies, but one day they went underwater. The reason for it, however, she never told him.
As he glided along with his mother and the others, Makan started to want answers on that subject.
"Mother, who is the Storm King?" Makan asked with a hint of hesitation in his voice. "Why is everypony so scared of him?"
Makan watched his mother bit her lip and almost crash into a rock that was resting on the sea floor. "He...he is the one that forced us to live underwater. We had way bigger numbers. But he chased us out of the skies and killed many of our brothers and sisters. His storms shot us down from the skies. His soldiers hunted us when we hid on the islands. And that's when our Queen saved us by allowing us to live underwater."
"He systematically hunted you all?!" Makan exclaimed as his grip around the handles on his water-glider. "Why?!"
"He seeks to rule the sky and the sea. And to do that he wants the magic from the strongest magical creatures on the world," Makan saw his mother's eyes, she seemed off. Almost as if she couldn't focus, she didn't seem to be paying attention to her surroundings. In fact, all of the others seemed to be distracted.
'Kill and terrify others for power...I don't think that somepony who rules that way is going to live for very long,' Makan thought to himself as he continued to keep up with the rest of the group.
As they kept swimming, Makan realized that his device was running out of power. He was forced to stop to refill it, the others kept moving on. By the time he had finished, Makan came to realize that he was on his own. The sea was dark, there was no sign of the others. Makan put his water-glider to work at full speed, swimming in the same direction they were heading originally.
He kept on swimming for hours, stopping only to refuel his device. The process repeated itself until Makan had no more stones, and yet, no sign of the others. He had been left behind again, now he had to figure out what to do.
'I can wait here, mom will probably...she'll probably come back for me. They will come back, won't they?' Makan thought as he looked around for some stones or some wreckage he could use to pass the night.
Makan managed to find a group of rocks where he could hide and pass the night, that way avoiding bigger fishes that could be around. The night passed by, and the symbol of the crest on the ship kept showing during Makan's dreams. Memories of his mother and her scared expression at the very sight of that crest, how some of the others tended to look to the surface with sad faces and sighing at it.
Shadows and silhouettes formed on his mind, he had never seen him nor could he start to fathom how the Storm King looked. However, one thing was sure on his mind: if the Storm King wasn't around, he wouldn't have needed to leave his home. If that bastard wasn't around, his family probably wouldn't need to hide anymore.
'I'll find a way to rid us of that monster. Then all of them will soar the sky again!'
The sound of explosions caused the water to vibrate, and that made Makan wake up. Looking to the surface, Makan saw something he hadn't seen very often, not one, but TWO ships. One of them was considerably larger than the other, and from underneath the water, Makan could see some blurs hopping from one ship to the next.
'Are they...fighting? Maybe I...no! I was told not to approach the surface. But...what if it's the Storm King's fleet? Whoever is in trouble up there could need help! I should...no. I shouldn't meddle with their affairs...'
More explosions happened and some bodies fell in the water, Makan saw the water surrounding them turn red. His heart started to race, he couldn't tell from which ship they belonged. He wanted to help, he wanted to prevent other beings from suffering in the hands of the monster that drove his family under the sea.
Without realizing, Makan found himself swimming up to the surface at the highest speed his legs could muster. And soon, he found himself at the water's surface. Climbing up the ship's side, Makan found himself on the deck. Where a bunch of creature's had an even stranger creature with an eagle's head and a lion's hind legs.
As he managed to get his feet on the deck's floor, a strange feeling took over his body. Makan began to choke and cough, and then he threw up water. As he puked the liquid, his lungs began to feel different as he started to breathe through his nose.
"Who is that freak?"
"What is it?" The strange creatures said as Makan tried to understand what was happening.
"I don't care what it is. One of you idiots go handle the creature now!"
'What did I just get myself into?' Makan thought to himself as he tried to come up with something to say.
"H-Hi!" That was all he managed to say to the group, earning a very confused look from them. "Ok...er...why are you..."
"Ponies?" One of the creatures surrounding the eagle-headed one said tilting their head.
"That's what you guys are? Ok, why are you ponies ganging up on that..."
"I'm a griffin, you idiot."
"I don't think the 'idiot' was necessary. But anyway...the question remains."
"We don't need to answer to you," One of the so-called ponies said pointing their blade at Makan.
"Right," He replied scratching the back of his head. "And you don't need to see the fist flying towards your head."
"What?" The pony asked right before the Griffin attacked him sending the pony flying, making him crash against the mast at the center of the ship.
Makan dashed towards the unconscious pony and grabbed the sword it was holding and tossed it to the Griffin. The creature grabbed it and started to use the confusion caused by her attack to fend off the invaders. The Griffin kept the other ponies at bay with no issue. Makan, on the other hand, was having trouble just keeping himself out of the blade's path.
Makan realized that out in the surface, his body seemed lighter, there was no pressure compressing his torso. There wasn't a constant blue color in everything he saw. The pony kept its assault while Makan kept on dodging and ducking and rolling. The pony eventually started to lose speed and its breathing began to get heavier, it continued to attack until it was only able to stand by using the sword as a crutch.
"Er...Do you...need some help?" Makan asked seeing the pony struggling to keep itself standing. "You don't look well. How about you just..."
"Are...are you...mocking me?" The pony asked between gasps as it tried to force itself to stand. "I...I'm a...a proud pirate under...under the banner of...the...the true Sun Empress...Daybreaker...I...I won't fall..."
"And I'm a little mermaid that wishes to save the world," Makan replied making a silly pose. "Listen, I don't care about who you serve unless it was the storm king. But since I don't think that guy calls himself that. You can keep your monologue to yourself and just go to sleep."
The pony tried to get up and attack Makan again. Makan clenched his fist and hit the pony straight in the muzzle and sent it flying across the deck. One of the ponies that were attacking the Griffin passed running, grabbed the unconscious comrade and ran back to the other ship.
Meanwhile, Makan was holding the hand he used to hit the pony. "Ow! Owowowowowowowow! That hurt! I could have broken my freaking hand! Ouch, ouch, ouch!"
'Is that thing for real?' Gilda thought as she saw the stranger that came from underwater fall to his knees and held his hand while complaining about it being injured. 'I don't know what the heck that thing is. But if it can send a pony about its size flying like that. It might be more dangerous than these lousy pirates.'
Gilda realized that her attackers must have thought the same thing since the remaining two were reduced to one attacker. The last assailer went after the creature that was still examining its hand, Gilda watched the pony let out a battle cry as it charged the stranger.
The stranger reacted by moving out of the way, the pony seemed to trip on the creature's tail and landed on a barrel causing it to break.
"I'm no expert when it comes to fighting, but..." The creature said looking at the confused pony before taking the sword away from it. "...doesn't a scream like that kinda alert your opponent to your intent?"
"Why you-?!" The pony tried to get up but the stranger pointed the point of the sword to the pony's throat.
"Like I said, I'm no expert. But I guess having you unarmed at this situation means that I win, right?"
"Y-yes."
"Then go back to your ship!" The stranger said before growling and barking at the pony that simply ran away back to its ship, during that time, Gilda managed to see its teeth, they looked very sharp and extremely dangerous. Once the deck was clear, the creature tossed the sword back to the other ship that sailed away and then turned to Gilda. "Um...hi!"
"What in Tartarus name are you?"
"I...I don't know? My mom didn't go into details but she said she adopted me after I fell from the sky," It replied crossing its arms and looking at the sky. Suddenly it shrugged and approached her extending its hand, that was when Gilda saw its claws. "Anyway my name is-?!"
Gilda slashed the creature's arm and took a stance, the creature looked confused, it tried to talk again. Gilda didn't give it a chance and lunged at it sword pointing at the creature's abdomen. The creature managed to escape with only a wound to its side before it jumped back into the water.
Gilda inspected the area surrounding the ship, there was no sign of the creature. 'Good, it went it away. But what the fuck was it?'
"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ABOUT?!" Makan thought as he grabbed a bunch of algae his mother taught him that could be used to help with healing a wound and wrapped it around his abdomen stopping the blood-loss. "I just helped that surface dweller and she attacks me?!"
Makan looked around, the ship was starting to move away. Swimming as fast as he could Makan attached himself to the bottom of the ship by grabbing hold of the rudder and tried to keep himself from being in the middle of nowhere without any areas to hide aside from a small rock formation.
His grip eventually failed him making Makan be left behind again, luckily for him there was a small a big reef near him where he could probably hide and try to heal up. Swimming to it with a lot of effort, Makan found an opening that seemed unoccupied. That place seemed that had been occupied once by a serpent or some kind of predator given amount of bones that were left there.
'I should have minded my own business. The beings on the surface are nothing but trouble. First, the Storm King makes my family flee and I end up lost during the exodus. And now a griffin that I helped out tries to murder me! What is wrong with them?!'
Makan sat cleared a spot from the bones and sat down. He checked his surroundings and saw that the bones seemed to be arranged in a strange manner, like they were separated by type and size.
'Organized. This place might be a bit bigger if this trash was removed. I gues I try to settle in here for a while.'
Author's Note
And there goes another!
Thanks for reading. Please let me know what you think of it in the comments. I hope to see you all soon!